Blue Box seson 1

Blue Box (アオのハコ) is 25 episode romance based on the manga of the same name by Miura Kouji.  The first season ran from the Fall of 2024 until the Winter of 2025.

 

    Inomata Taiki is a first year high school student and student athlete on the badminton team.   His dedication to the sport leads him to practicing first thing in the morning.  He's not the only overly ambitious athlete as he normally shares the gym in the early hours of the morning with second year basketball star Kano Chinatsu.  Chinatsu is popular and well loved by everyone in school, highly sought after by many of the boys.  Taiki is another one of the admirers and struggles with his lack of confidence, relying on these early morning sessions to be in her presence all on his own.  Those fuzzy mornings are about to come to an end when he learns that her parents are moved abroad for work.  He doesn't keep; these feelings to himself however and confides in his closest friends, fellow badminton teammate Kasahara Kyo and childhood friend and star of the girls rhythm gymnastics team, Chono Hina.  Even though Hina says shes way out of his league he still tries to interact with her, wanting to know her better.  When he learns that she will be moving he expresses his sympathy for her.  Chinatsu is working hard so that the team can enter the inter-high tournament and try to win it.  Supersized, she tells him that she will be staying behind, living with her moms friend, so she can continue to focus on her goals.  His relief is soon shattered when he learns that friend is actually his own mother and the girl he has a massive crush on will be living with them.

    This is both a curse and a boon for him as it allows them to spend more time together, to learn about each other.  But he is nervous and uncertain how to act around her and what he should do regarding his own desires.  He is awkward wears his emotions on his sleeve but earnest in his endeavors.  In order to impress her and to push himself he declares his intention to become better so he too can shoot for inter-high for badminton.  Already driven to be better, he pushes his training and focus into high gear, all while suffering an internal battle over his feelings for the girl living in his house.  His work pays off and he shows rapid improvement and earns more respect from his team mates and seniors, but he is still far from his goal as the competition from rival schools belittles his efforts.  At the same time Hina struggles for her growing feelings for one of her oldest friends.  Spurned by the competition for his heart with Chinatsu, she eventually opens up to Taiki about her feelings and wants.  This revelation shakes their friendship and causes him more internal anguish as he tries to find his path forward.  Does he have that sort of feeling for his friend and does he even have any chance of success with his crush?

     I'll just put it out in front, I am quite negative about this story.   The set up and scenario is very much that found in Suzuka, a bad shonen romance in its own right that holds a special place as the series that opened me up fully to my love of the genre.  I really dislike the character design.  Their faces and eyes are unsettling and their body proportions are wrong most of the time.  The biggest problem however is the severe dislike of Taiki and the almost non-existent personality of Chinatsu.  Lets start with Chinatsu.  Her personality type is agreeable and non-committal.  For all of the input she has in the things around her she could just as well be a toaster.  Shes obedient, likeable, easy going, passive.  That passive part is the key thing, shes the gross yamato nadeshiko thing, where the perfect woman is obedient and quiet, existing in a state of subservience and vulnerability.  Its a shame because she is ripe for a lot of complexity.  She only exists in the frame of the story as the object that Taiki chases after.  She literally has zero opinion about anything around her and adds nothing to the story when it comes down to it.  Taiki himself is a bland and uninspired archetypal shonen main character.  He's the under dog whose raw determination carried him to success, no matter how many beatings he takes.  He's boring, absolutely uninteresting and useless as a character and a narrative center.

    The story literally commits suicide when it takes an episode to focus on the romance of two side characters that blows everything since and before out of the water.  In one 20 minute arc, where a lot of it is exposition and dialogue around the actual story, more conviction and personality is expressed than all of the other episodes combined. In the 13th episode, he goes to watch his senpai on the badminton team and ends up sitting with his girlfriend.  The girlfriend, a model and friend of Chinatsu, relays the story of how they became lovers after years as classmates.  I want to see this story told in full, there is so much more room that can be given to this fantastically lovely story and its wasted on this will they won't they indecision each episode.  I'll give Blue Box this though, its not full of fan service of terrible tropes about puberty and perversion.  Many of the side characters are well fleshed out and agreeable, offering genuine interest to the story.  But I just don't care about Taiki and would really like for Chinatsu to have a personality.  Its sad, you know the outcome.  There is no way it ends without them acknowledging mutual feelings, but I really don't care either!!

The first season was simulcast on Netflix and season 2 was announced to begin directly afterwards.  I will watch that one too...so stay tuned to see if my feelings change.

The Keirin - a Specifically Japanese Bike Race

The 2024 Spring season saw a sports anime called Rinkai! that told the story of 5 young women who decide to join the semi pro ranks of the national keirin racing league.  While the keirin is an event during the Summer Olympics, it began its life strictly for the purpose of gambling.

 

    Keirin, literally bicycle racing, is one of many race formats that exist in the bicycle discipline known as track cycling or track racing.  Track cycling is a form of bicycle racing that has existed since the 1880's and involves a closed oval track with steeply banking turns.  The specialized bikes used in track racing are unsurprisingly known as track bikes.  Track bikes have a fixed drive train, which means the gear that rotates the real wheel is fixed to the wheel its self, meaning that as long as the pedals are moving so too is the rear wheel.  There is no coasting or stopping pedaling by the rider with out the risk of serious bodily injury.  No matter how big or strong the rider is, the mechanical advantage of the drive train can not easily be overcome, if you try to stop pedaling while riding a track bike there is a very real chance that the momentum of the pedals will throw you from the bike.  Due to the nature of the fixed drive train, track bikes only have a single gear, determined ahead of time by the size of the front chain-ring and rear cog.  Racers will change the size of these gears depending on  their goal for a specific rare.  Usually, the gearing of the drive train is set to be very high, to achieve as great a speed as possible without having to pedal at an impossible rate.  The final thing that makes track bikes different is the lack of any mechanical brakes.  The only ways a rider can slow a track bike down is through gradual reduction of pedal velocity, removing the riders weight off of the rear wheel enough to remove it from the surface allowing the rider to lock the wheel up with their legs or crashing.

    The race course in track cycling is known as a velodrome.  Over the almost 150 years its existed the specifications of velodromes has changed.  The biggest things that have changed are the total length which also helps determine the degree the four corners of the oval are banked.  The track is always two long stretches capped with two banked turns on either end, with varying lengths of much shorter strait areas between each sides two corners.  The total length of the velodrome and the straightaways determine the pitch of the turns.  The modern Olympic velodrome is 250m in diameter with each of the corners usually at a 45 degree pitch.  The banked corners are designed to allow the racers to be able to turn without turning their front wheel, the curve of the track carries them on a technically straight path.  The surface of a velodrome must be free of blemishes and debris to prevent crashes.  The width of the tires used in track cycling is usually between 18 and 23 cm in width and have very little to no tread.  For comparison, the standard width of a mountain bikes tire is around 58-63 cm.  Olympic velodromes are surfaced in specially treated wood planks that are designed to be smooth, featureless and offer a slight amount of traction for the wheels.  The banking of the track decreases near the lower portion of the track, the typical position for the fastest racers.  Riders that are high up on the track bank will normally have to maintain a minimum speed of around 25 kph to avoid loosing traction and sliding down the track.

    Races done on a velodrome are either lap based or distance based.  Keirin is a little bit of both.  Keirin was established in the late 1940's as Japan was beginning to rebuild its self following the lose of the second world war.  Its creation was primarily for the purpose of betting.  This necessitated strict standards and regulations to limit the chances of mechanical advantage by more financially secure racers, limit material failure and to try and curb unconventional cheating.   In Japan, from its inception to the current, Keirin is essentially no different from horse racing when it comes to why most people in the country pay attention to it, its an exciting way to gamble.  

    A Keirin race features eight racers for a heat.  The standard distance of the race is 1.5 kilometers.  The participants begin the race being paced by a motorized bike which will slowly build the field up from 30 km/h up to 50 km/h.  Once the races have reached 50kph, the motorized bike will leave the track and the racers are free to go as fast as they want for the remaining 3 laps/750 meters of the race.  The first person across the finish line wins.  It is not unusual for the racers to hit a top speed over 70 km/h.  The slow build up in the beginning is needed due to the bikes only being a single gear which is set to a significantly large ratio.  Set your mountain bike to its hardest gear then try to pedal that from a dead stop and you're still not close to what the keirin racer is doing when they start their race.

    There exists a multitude of racing formats in the world of track cycling and keirin is one of the few disciplines that has remained one of the few remaining events for track cycling in the Olympics.  It is a quick race, mere minutes instead of hours like road racing, and has a lot of excitement as the racers physically bump each other to gain the best position during the race.  It may be the most physical of all cycling disciplines and well worth checking out!

    Unfortunately, Rinkai! has not yet been made available in North America but you can check out the keirin during the 2024 Olympics as of the week that this post is published.  As with everything, there is a wealth of archived footage of keirin events all over YouTube along with the other track cycling events.  I also recommend another Olympic track cycling event, the Madison, named after Madison Square Gardens (which used to host many track events in its early days).  The Madison is a long distance lap event in which teams of two riders compete against each other.  Both member of each team remain out on the track at all times, but only one of them is accumulating a lap count.  As the race goes on they switch off which member is adding laps and they do so by a physical exchange where the rider who is transferring to be the laping member will be pulled up to speed through a hand grab by the other rider who will be pulling to the top of the track to slow own and rest, a bit of a transfer of momentum at 20+ mile ans hour...while all of the other teams are also racing and doing the same things, its intense to behold!

Suzuka - manga deepdive part 2 - the post-anime arc

  Suzuka (涼風) is a shonen romance by Seo Koji.  The manga published in Weekly Shonen magazine between 2004 and 2007.  The series was compiled into 18 tankoubon and had a 26 episode anime adaptation in 2005.  This second part is a overview of the second half of the manga that continues the story where the anime left off.  Beware, this will spoil plot points of this series...which is 20 years old at this point.

    Part One can be found here.  If you are coming to this post before reading that one, perhaps wanting to see what happens after the anime, carry on.  Otherwise it might be a good idea to read through part one before continuing.

 

    Things seem to be better between Yamato and Suzuka.  While she didn't come right out and say she likes him, her confession at the grave of her dead first crush suggest that she has feelings for him.  He isn't sure if they are officially dating or not but when he asks her to walk home after school she gives him the cold shoulder.  Bewildered he heads home and ends up waiting for her on the stoop for hours.  When she finally returns, her anger is palpable and she yells at him about being so late.  Unsure what happened he goes about the rest of his day until he notices two text messages from her.  She had asked him to meet her, outside of school, to walk home, to avoid embarrassment.  The second text signaled her anger, as she had waited for two hours for him to meet her.  Realizing the miscommunication he immediately apologizes to her, the perfect start to their semi-relationship.

   The change in their attitude towards each other doesn't go unnoticed.  After school one day Yasunobu and Honoka end up spying on the pair as they meet up after school, confirming for themselves that something like a relationship has begin.  Yasunobu consoles Honoka over drinks at a restaurant and asks her if shes going to quit the track team now.  Wondering if there's something she has more talent for than being the errand girl for the club.  As she dwells on that at home her friend Nana calls.  The response to a photo shoot that Honoka was tricked into doing with Nana had been good and Nana's talent agency wants Honoka to work for them as a model.  She takes them up on the offer as a step into a bold new direction.

    As another track meet approaches, Suzuka begins to distance herself from Yamato, wanting to be alone as much as possible.  He doesn't realize she is intent of focusing solely on her performance, trying to achieve a new record and cement her status as the best high jumper among high school girls in the nation.  When he comes to cheer her on before the event starts she yells at him about trying to sabotage her efforts.  Instead of backing down, he presents her with a good luck talisman he bought at a shrine on his way to the event.  Out of either confusion or plan negligence, the charm he gives her is for safe childbirth...not success in her event.  His mistake is endearing to her, so she accepts it for what he meant it to represent and settles down to focus on her event.  Perhaps the charm worked, or her change of heart regarding his line of thinking, but she goes on the win the high jump event.

    Honoka announces to the team that she will be quitting as manager.  Yamato feels guilty about her decision and goes to talk with her after school.  He meets her at her family shrine and she asks him about he and Suzuka's relationship.  He admits they started dating.  Honoka pivots from the awkwardness of the conversation to tell him she is going to start working with her friends talent agency doing modeling.  She tries to eleviate his guilt by telling him the decision to quit the team was so she could put all of her focus into modeling.  She thanks him for being a catalyst she needed to change her life and take action.  She is ready to move beyond her love for him and face a new future with out him, thanking him for the time they spent together.

    Yamato decides to tell Yasunobu about dating Suzuka.  When Yasunobu tells him he and Miki already know, he becomes crestfallen.  Yasunobu asks him what has changed in their relationship now that they are officially a couple.  Yamato admits it hasn't really change from how they acted before.  Yasunobu suggests trying to change something to make it more meaningful, like calling her by her first name instead of by Asahina all the time.  When he tries to do that both of them become embarrassed to the point he decides to drop it and be content with the way things are.

    They decide to go on a date in Yokohama on their next free day.  Suzuka has something to take care of at her home but afterwards they plan to do things in the city its self.  Yamato meets her older sister, Suzune again, and she warns him against meeting their over protective father.  Suzuka expected Yamato to have a plan for their date, he expected her, the life long resident of the city, to be the one to take the lead on their activities.  She reluctantly agrees to his expectations and they wander around trying to find a nice place to spend time together.  None of the places fit her vision and they wander aimlessly from area to area, frustrated that things are not working out well for them.  As night falls they return to one spot, hoping for the crowds to have cleared out, and find some beauty and peace for a moment.  In the end their day ended up being good for them and they return home, later than expected.

    Even with their date ended on a high note things still seem strained between them.  Suzuka seems to be having some issue but isn't willing to discuss it with Yamato.  He ends up going home alone one day after school and runs into one of the college drunks, Megumi.  She drags him to a pub, where she uses him to vent about her recent break up.  The topic shifts to he and Suzuka's relationship and how its not really any different than before they became a couple.  Megumi brings up the idea that hes not reliable enough to talk about important matters with, making him a bit nervous.  As he returns home he finds Suzuka chatting with Souichi about a serious topic.  Yamato confronts her after the older boy leaves, upset that she doesn't think of her boyfriend enough to confide in things with him.

    Realizing his concern, she tells him about whats been bothering her.  She has been given the opportunity to participate in a training camp over the winter break and is concerned how he will feel being separated from her during Christmas, since they are a couple now.  Yamato doesn't immediately tie the two events together and doesn't understand why she would be angry with him as he encourages her to participate in the camp. The following evening she visits his apartment and asks to make some tea.  When it takes him too long she begins to criticize his slowness, then she critisizes the temperature of the tea then about him still wearing his school uniform.  When he angrily goes to remake the tea she surprises him with a hug from behind, making him drop her mug.  Embarrassed she runs out of his apartment and back to the safety of her own, leaving him bewildered at her behavior, still no closer to understand whats bothering her.  He doesn't understand that she's upset about not getting to spend Christmas with him, upset he doesn't even realize that and is trying to figure out his size for a sweater she is trying to make as a present.

    Once again Yamato finds himself entertaining the drunk college women.  It is at this point, talking with them, he relies that Suzuka's anxiousness may be related to Christmas.  He asks Souichi if he can join the training camp as a way to ensure they can be together for the holiday.  Unfortunately he won't be able to join so close to the event so that plan ends as quickly as it began.  He begins to concoct a plan to meet her there on Christmas Eve but needs to know their schedule so he can meet her and still make it back to Tokyo that night.  He wants it to be a surprize but she immediately becomes suspicious when he starts to question her about the schedule.  She tells him that Souichi mentioned his attempts to join the camp.  Realizing he doesn't need to lie, he tells her he was trying to get there to be with her for Christmas.  The idea surprises her, but the realist in her knows it won't work and opts to celebrate it before she leaves instead.

    When the day to celebrate Christmas arrives, Suzuka ends up being stuck in a meeting about the upcoming camp.  The length of it causes them to cancel their dinner reservation and they resolve to meet at home later for cake and presents.  Yamato had been waiting at the train station for her when she informed him of the delay.  Dejected, he begins to head back home when he runs into Yasunobu who asks him to join him for dinner.  Unsure when Suzuka will be done he reluctantly agrees to go.  Unknown to him, the dinner ends up being a group date.  Reluctantly he agrees to stay for a while but sneaks out to try and find out when Suzuka will be done with her meeting.  One of the girls from the group date, a bubbly and energetic girl named Amami Yui follows him out.  She begins to aggressively flirt with him.  He tries to get her off of him, but its too late, in dramatic timing Yamato is caught with another girl hanging off of him by Suzuka...who happens to be walking with Yamato's rival, Arima.  Suzuka, furious with Yamato, leaves with him chasing after her.  They argue all of the way home, leaving Yamato to wonder what he could have done better in his situation.

    Suzuka leaves for her training camp with things unresolved between them.  Concern over the mystery girl fresh in her mind, as well as his reluctance to fully realize his errors in judgement.  Yamato struggles to accept he is fully to blame, considering her being stuck at the pre-camp meeting longer than expected, the true catalyst for the break down.  Expecting a call from her, he begins to stress out about the lack of communication.  Over the hours and series of texts he admits to being in the wrong and apologizing to her, but she still refuses to reply to him.  The following day Yasunobu visits, begging him to go on a double date with him.  He refuses at first, recognizing how damming and hurtful doing so would be, given the trouble they are having right now.  Yamato's willpower caves under Yasunobu's pressure and he reluctantly agrees to help his 'friend' out with his double date.  Yasunobu hit it off with one of the other girls from the mixer and is bringing Yui along as the second.

    Out of loneliness, boredom, guilt and maybe anger, Yamato finds him self 'dating' Yui on Christmas, while his real girlfriend is away at her camp, angry with him for what he did on the evening they were supposed to be together.  The double date takes place at the same amusement park Yamato first confessed and was rejected by Suzuka.  The day goes well enough but Yasunobu has to leave, due to another date he has planned in secret.  The girl is disappointed that hes leaving, not knowing hes seeing another girl later, but Yui wants to still do things.  She asks Yamato to stay out with her a little longer.  not seeing any reason not to....like faithfulness to his real girlfriend, he agrees.  Yui wants to see the night parade, the same event that Yamato was rejected during.  She confides in him that the same thing happened to her, the two bond over being rejected in the same way.  Talking about the effort he put into dating Suzuka with Yui makes him realize how lucky he is, despite their arguments.  His sense return to him and he understands what he needs to do to try and make up with her.

    He rushes out to meet her at the training camp, unconcerned with what time he will get there.  He arrives to find the gate closed, as everyone is beginning to settle in for the night.  Suzuka notices him by chance from the window of her dorm and rushes out to meet him.  He came with cake, but without thinking it through the container had the name of the amusement park on it.  she quickly deduces what transpired and gets angry with him and his lack of consideration.  She vents at him about her frustration over his poor decision making skills and lack of judgement regarding how he needs to treat her.  Desperate to make her understand how sorry he is, he agrees to let her slap him.  She reels back, ready to make a lasting impression on his face but surprises him with a kiss instead.  Then follows through with a severe slap and reluctantly accepts his apology.  She lays out some ground rules and expectations for him, opening up honest communication for the first time between the couple, in hopes that he will be more considerate to her feelings moving forward.

    At the first shrine visit of the New Year, the couple wishes for a better year together as they discuss when they each first developed feelings for the other.   Perhaps this last incident was the test that was needed to cement their true feelings for each other.  Before that continues the story takes a break to focus on the background of one of the drunk college students, gyaru styled Saotome Yuka.  Yuka tricks Yamato into helping her with errands, only to bring him to a meeting with a man named Sasaoke Hiroshi who works as a sales rep for a sporting good company.  Yuka ran into him over New Year when she returned to her rural home in Akita prefecture.  She used Yamato as an excuse to see him, saying the young track athlete was interested in getting custom shoes.  In reality the meeting was a way for her to try and reconnect with the senpai shes been in love with for years.

    Yuka grew up with Hiroshi, who is two years older than her.  In high school she struggled to tell him how she really felt about him.  He treated her like a kid and when she gathered the courage to confess to him at graduation he told her he loved her like a little sister.  Crushed by the rejection of the man she had sought for so long, she decided to change herself, to reflect a growth form the version of her that was seen as a little kid by him.  By chance, Hiroshi is interested in providing custom shoes for Suzuka and comes to visit her at school after the start of the new semester.  While thinking over the offer of custom shows, Suzuka lays into Yamato about his laziness, letting him know she expects him to be with her at nationals and the various training camps.

    Suzuka ends up agreeing to the sponsorship deal with Hiroshi's company.  Something feels strange to Yamato though, as Hiroshi needs to meet with her parents for the finalization.  The day they head to Yokohama to meet with them Yuka lets a secret slip.  The deal isn't about track shoes, its for Suzuka to go to America for training in the Fall.  When he confronts her about the plans she admits to it.  He becomes infuriated with her, making decisions without him and hiding things from him.  After sulking about this problem for a while he talks it over with her, first with anger then with understanding.  They resolve to enjoy the rest of their time together as best they can and strive to keep in contact over the year she will be gone. 

    Yasunobu convinces Yamato that he will need to get a computer so he can keep in touch with Suzuka via email.  Getting one is easier said than done.  Yamato realizes he will need to find a part time job to earn enough money.  He struggles to find a place willing to hire a first year high school student who is only willing to work one day a week.  After dozens of places reject him he ends up interviewing at a business run by the family of the girl from the group date, Yui.  She is surprised to see him there and tells her father to hire him, vouching for him.  Yamato realizes how bad this would look and rescinds his request for employment.  Yui chases after him and finds out the story behind his job hunt.  she understands and agrees that it wouldn't look good for him to suddenly be working with her, even if its to save money for a computer so it will be easier to stay in touch with Suzuka while shes' in America.  In the end Yamato realizes it would be a mistake and doesn't accept the job.

    Yui, not wanting to give up and feeling a little guilty for causing so many problems for her, ambushes Suzuka the following day at the bath house.  The two end up having a long heart to heart, Suzuka growing to like the girl she thought was a rival.  Yui tells her about Yamato's problem and why he ultimately decided to decline the only job he was able to get.  Yamato learned the two of them were having a confrontation and was quite surprised when they came out of the bath acting like friends.  Confused, Suzuka tells him that he should really go work for her family after all.

 

    The following Monday, Yamato begins working at the cafe owned and operated by Yui's family.  Things don't go so well for him, as he isn't prepared for the demands of a service industry job.  Yu's father is patient with him and understands that it will take time for him to get good at it.  In time the job comes easier and Yui and her father continue to express their gratitude for his help.  One day Yui decides to treat him by cooking his shift meal, unfortunately her cooking abilities may be worse than Suzuka's.  Instead of suffering through the terrible dish, Yamao offers to make the only thing hes good at, okinomiyaki.  The two are so impressed with it they decide to make it a temporary menu item.

    Worried about Yamato and all the time he's spending with the girl she still thinks of as a rival, Suzuka visits the cafe with Miki.  Yamato makes his signature dish for them, surprising Suzuka with how good it is.  Satisfied, she doesn't stick around any longer, using Miki as an excuse for an easy exit.  The following weekend the two are able to spend the day together shopping and seeing a movie.  Suzuka is concerned with how little rest he is getting, with him even falling asleep during the movie.  She presses him about how much he is neglecting his training, particularly the inter high qualification event in a few days time.  He reassures her its not a problem but when he fails to quality again, posting worse times than the prior year, she gets angry at him.  She tries to pin his efforts to earn money to buy a computer for her trip to America as the reason he failed this time.  Incensed by the efforts, altruistic in his eyes, to keep in contact with her when she's overseas, Yamato tries to defend his performance but it only backfires, causing a rift to form between them.

 

    Reflecting on his actions, Yamato decides to reduce his hours at the cafe.  The following day he tells Suzuka about his plan, trying to get her to be less upset with him.  She congratulates him on his new dedication to track but remains skeptical.  Her skepticism is reinforced when he tells her he isn't able to take the time off he was hoping for.  Before he can explain why she leaves in disgust, reinforcing her feelings about his dedication to the team.  Yamato is frustrated with her lack of patience and mulls over his situation.  Yui's father asked him to work the days he had originally asked off for due to Yui being hospitalized for a bought of pneumonia.  Later at work, Yui;s father asks Yamato to take a change of clothes to her in the hospital while the shop is slow.  While in her room she presses him about how he's doing.  When he tells her about the status of his relationship she tells him that he should just break up with Suzuka.  Telling him that shes not worth his time if she becomes upset with him for doing things that benefit her.  He brushes it off and heads back to the cafe.

    Suzuka finds out about Yui's hospitalization from Miki, but still remains upset with Yamato.  She waits for him to return home after work, to tell him she knows why he was unable to take the time off.  Instead of trying to make up she leaves things unresolved.  Yamato moves to embrace and kiss her but she rejects him outright.  Frustration boils over and he doesn't know what he can do to make things better.  Time passes and the strain remains, further frustrating him, the seeds planted by Yui begin to take shape in his mind as he mulls over what type of future he could have with Suzuka if she leaves for America with nothing resolving.  When he gathers the courage to make things better he learns that Suzuka is packed up and ready to move back home before she leaves for America.  Lost for words, he lets the door close on his chance to make up with her and she leaves the next day.

 

    A few days later Suzuka supersizes Yamato by showing up at the apartment to celebrate his birthday.  She takes him to the same amusement park that has caused so many problems in the past and then back to the apartment when they are finished.  As she reminisces about the things they have done together she asks him if they should break up.  Defeated and reading her melancholy tone, he agrees with her suggestion, ending their time together with an official whimper.  Yamato is once again by himself, the girl he liked has moved out of his life completely.  Sensing something is wrong, Miki forces Yamato to tell her whats going on between him and Suzuka.  He tells her they broke up but she can't accept that.

    With Miki's urging, Yamato rushes to the airport as her plane is about to depart, to try and resolve things with her.  He realized the day he had to work to cover Yui being in the hospital, was Suzuka's birthday and he neglected to even acknowledge it.  He understands he can't sit around and let their relationship end without any explanation and he rushes to her and to try and win her back.  He finds he's in time and expresses his love for her, but she doesn't respond, continuing to head off to catch her flight.  Yamato is unsure how to deal with her response to the outpouring of his heart and heads back home defeated.

    Depression sets in and Yamato shuts himself off, neglecting all of his duties and responsibilities.  Concerned with the number of days hes called into work, Yui contacts Yasunobu to find out whats going on.  He tells her that Yamato and Suzuka broke up and he's been secluding himself in his room since then.  He suggests that she go and invite him to the upcoming summer festival to try and break him out of his slump.  She goes along with the suggestion and heads to his apartment.  While she tries to convince herself she is only trying to help him break out of his darkness she lets her feelings for him move forward, now that Suzuka is out of the picture.  One thing leads to another and she throws herself at him, desperate for his affection.  He rejects her advances though, set deep in his depression.  Yui can't understand why he won't acknowledge her feelings for him and leaves in tears, rejected and embarrassed.

    Resolve begins to build in Yamato, resolve and perhaps insanity.  He takes the money he had been saving for a computer and donates it all to the temple he and Suzuka went to for New Years, much to Yasunobu's horror.  He hopes that a sufficient enough offering to the gods will bring him some form of success moving forward, regretting the measly five yen donation at the last visit.  He resolves to quit working at the cafe, for himself and for Yui.  As if the gods heard his prayer he runs into Honoka, who has been busy with her new career as a model.  Since she quit the track team and they wound up in separate classes as second years, they have not crossed paths.  Time has eased the sadness of their failed relationship and a return to friendship might be possible.

    Before he can worry about that, Miyamoto approaches him about being captain of the track team once the seniors graduate.  He struggles with the recommendation, considering leaving the team all together.  Honoka challenges him about why he joined the team the first place and why he's continued to do track.  He did it initially to be with Suzuka, but he's put a lot of effort into it, even if he doesn't see that.  She impresses on him that those around him see his potential and are unwilling to let him go through life without ambition.  Sasaoka, the sport company rep who arranged for Suzuka to train in America surprises Yamato with a prototype pair of cleats due to his performance at the last inter high tournament, even though he didn't win.  Yamato accepts the gift and asks him to pass on a message to Suzuka.  With determination restored, he agrees to become the next captain of the track team, looking at it as a way to prove everyone who has supported him that they weren't wrong.

    A year has passed and Yamato has found some success as captain of the team, even placing third in the recent inter high tournament.  His cousin Miho enrolled in the same school and has joined the team as its manager, as well as moving into the vacant apartment which once housed Suzuka.  Yamato thanks the team for the past year of hard work and officially retires from it, having to focus on the next stage of his schooling and a recommendation to enroll in one college to join its track team.  Before they have to focus on testing, Yasunobu suggests they all go to the beach, including Honoka.  At the beach Honoka asks Yamato if he wants to date her again.  She plays on his surprise and tells him it was just a joke.  Later that night, as he wonders about her feelings shes sends him a text asking him again, further confusing him.  The next morning he is woken suddenly by the sounds of someone moving in next door...Suzuka has returned and has reclaimed her old room.

    He's tried to move past his feelings for her over the past year, but facing her returning to his life as if nothing happened, puts a lot of strain on his resolve.  On the outside she acts like nothing ever changed and he struggles with what she really feels.  The last time he saw her he threw himself at her feet telling her not to go to America.  She has returned, triumphant, picking up exactly where she left off...with one major exception, their relationship status.  He doesn't even know if they can interact in a friendly and casual manner at this point.  To complicate things further, he and Honoka have gotten closer over the past year and he has to contend with her conflicting messages the day before.  As he mulls over talking with Suzuka about dinner, Honoka calls him and asks him to go out to eat with her.  As he leaves, he finds Suzuka at his door, wondering what his dinner plans are.  Shocked by her appearance he decides he has to stick with his plan to meet Honoka and tells Suzuka he already had plans.  Without a second thought she cheerfully accepts his refusal and lets him leave.

    At dinner he mulls over her question to him about dating again.  But before he can convince himself to go for it she surprises him by telling him she started to date a guy she met through work and they will have to stop hanging out.  Rejected, he struggles with his emotions on the way home, on the verge of tears.  He isn't able to remain in that state for long as he comes home to an apartment full of smoke.  Fearing the worst he jumps I to action only to find that Suzuk la burned the fish she was trying to cook.  Nothing seems to have changed for her and maybe for him as well.

    As Yamato tries to work through his feelings for Honoka and the return of Suzuka another layer of discomfort falls on him.  His childhood friend and the girl he failed to confess to in middle school, Saki, is coming to Tokyo for the week to check out a university she's planning to attend.  While in town she will be staying at Yamato's aunt's dorm.  His aunt tasks him with meeting her at the train station and showing her around for a while.  The minute he meets up with her she demands a guided tour through out the city.  She is moving to Tokyo to try and break into the fashion industry and makes him take her to all of the trendy neighborhoods.  As the day winds down and they head to the dorm, she asks him if he just broke up with someone, sensing his melancholy.  He tells her it was more a situation of missing an opportunity to date the girl instead of being officially rejected.  She joking digs into him about his inconsistencies, poking fun at his failed attempt with her out years earlier.  She picks up on a deeper reason why he didn't push forward with Honoka, suspecting he has lingering feelings for someone else.

    Much to his horror, Saki lays out three years of heart Yamato heartache in-front of Suzuka and his aunt and cousin during dinner.  Retelling his failed confession to her and his recent heart break over a missed opportunity.  Not missing a beat, Miho interjects about Yamato failing to catch Honoka and also causing Suzuka to break up with him.  With all of his failed relationships out in the open things become tense.  Later in the evening Saki tries to comfort Yamato with dessert and friendly joking.  The following morning Yamato is woken by a call from the school about a recommendation to a different college.  While discussing it over breakfast, Saki tells him that she is going to attend the school his first recommendation is for and makes him pinky swear with her to go to the same school.  At training he learns that Suzuka is going to the other school that he was recommended for.  Yamato is faced with a choice; college with his first crush or college with the girl he still can't get out of his mind.

    Yamato joins Saki to take a tour of one college.  Miyamoto is waiting for them and leads them around the campus and bringing Yamato to the training facility for the track team.  The other members of the team are excited to meet him and encourage him to join their school...with the exception of Arima, who can't understand why Yamato is there instead of the school Suzuka is planning on attending.  That evening Yamato's aunt throws a party to celebrate everything going on, as the festivities extend she asks him to get more soy sauce from the store, prompting others to add requests for drinks and snacks.  Suzuka offers to help carry the groceries  back and the two reminisce about the first night together in Tokyo, doing the same thing.  The following day he accompanies Saki to the train-station.  She tells him to keep following Suzuka, understanding that she is the one he can't keep out of his mind, letting the lingering feelings for him die off.

   Yuka tells Yamato that she is going to express her feelings to Sasaoka once and for all.  A last ditch effort to find the happiness she desires.  Yamato wishes her luck and doesn't think about it again until he runs into Sasaoka later that day.  Confused as to why he's at his school instead of spending time with Yuka he brushes it off and tells him he wanted to let them know he is moving to America for a number of years.  Later Yamato finds a miserable and drunken Yuka and does his best to console the lost woman.  He can't see any other option for her happiness and forces her to chase after him in the airport, to truly appeal to him from the bottom of her heart.  In an unexpected twist he confesses that he has a fiance and will be married shorty, ending any hope for the love lost woman.  

    Instead of being morose, Yuka finds a weight lifted off of her shoulder.  She loos to the future with a new goal, one that will allow her to be true to herself.  Her success in failure reinforces Yamato's own conviction and he decides that no matter what, he wants to be with Suzuka.  Yuka forces him to tell Suzuka that he's decided to go to the same college as her.  Fearing that she will start berating him for making such a decision without thinking it through, especially when his entrance isn't guaranteed, he loses his nerve and tells her about his lingering feelings.  She flees his room, not wanting to deal with a confession from him again.  Rejected once more, Yamato wallows in misery, unsure of what to do next.  Yasunobu chides him for being too rash, suggesting that things have been going well since Suzuka came back because she wants to have a friendship like they had before dating, when things were simpler.

    Yamato rushes off to apologize for trying to disrupt the normalcy Suzuka was working to maintain.  For the first time they sit down together to discus their feelings.  Suzuka explains that she's rejecting him to protect herself, that she would rather remain as friends instead of lovers, if that means she won't be hurt again from his actions.  She doesn't want to repeat the mistakes and drama of the past, even though he brings her happiness.  Yamato can't accept her reasoning and pushes the issue further, expressing his frustration.  Laying out his beliefs for why their relationship failed the first time, why it languished in misery as the pair couldn't effectively communicate with each other.  Suzuka, keeping her feelings and worries to herself, for fear of pushing him away.  Yamato struggling, focusing on how to be the ideal partner, when in reality doing everything other than paying attention to her wishes and needs.  He presses again, saying this time it will be different but she rejects him and runs off.  But something changes, she expresses he desires, she wants him to not give up so easily.

    Through all of the misery and suffering the two have decided to become a couple again, hoping this time will go differently than the first time.  Things are more serious for Yamato now though as he faces the qualification test for the university he wants to attend with Suzuka.  A greater threat appears on the horizon, threatening to crush Yamato's bright shining future.  His academic performance in the final year of high school has been horrific and he is in danger of failing outright, eliminating any chances of getting into college with Suzuka.  Instead of hiding it from her and struggling through it alone, he tells Suzuka about his dilemma.  After criticizing him she offers to help, reinforcing the need for open and honest communication in their relationship as well as the need to rely on the other.

    With studying well under way its time for the qualification race.  Yamato is distracted by everything in his head and has a bad showing in the 100 meter sprint.  Convinced he's failed to meet the selection requirements his future doesn't seem as guaranteed.  His academic skills alone won't be enough to help him get into college through general admissions.  Even if he takes a year off to study before entering, the kind of strain would this put on his relationship causes him more stress.  Would Suzuka be bothered by him and lose interest while he stalls behind her?  In the end his worry was for naught as he was picked for admission, even with his poor performance.  The future brightens once more for the young man and his life with the woman of his dreams.  To celebrate, Suzuka takes him to a baseball game in Yokohama, remembering how passionate he is about the sport.  Not wanting to end their time together prematurely, he walks her back to her parents house.  They waste a little more time at a nearby park, just enjoying their time together when a new threat to their happiness appears, Suzuka's father.

    Surprisingly Yamato survived his first meeting with Suzuka's parents, even if he embarrassed himself.  When telling Yasunobu about it he questions what he's actually doing by dating Suzuka.  Counting their previous run at it and the current time, they have been a couple for a year.  He wonders why they haven't gone further physically.  Yasunobu pressures Yamato into making a move to initial sex with her, saying he's wasted so much time at this point without getting to that level in their relationship.  After picking up a magazine talking about teenagers and their average sexual experiences Yamato becomes emboldened to try and move their relationship to a different level.  That evening Suzuka invites him to watch a movie with her, he sees this as a sign that she wants more as well.  The movie, a romance, includes some erotic content, further convincing him that the time is right.  He moves in to initiate, groping her, only to have her rear back in revulsion and slap him. 

    Yamato is lost with what to do and tries to talk it over with her.  She tells him that she is satisfied with where their relationship as it is, with them spending quiet time together.  Yamato, out of frustration says he wants more, digging a deeper hole for himself.  After realizing his false steps and forced ambitions he comes to truly apologize to Suzuka, not wanting to destroy what they have both worked to build for themselves.  Suzuka admits that she isn't against being more intimate with him but wants to move at their own pace, outside of the pressures and norms of their peers.  She confesses she is ready to be with him that way and they spend the night together.

 

    As the end of the year approaches the couple plan to go on an over night trip, to make some more memories before becoming adults.  They have to do it in secret as all of the guardians would stop them for eloping in such a manner.  The arrange for an overnight stay in Hakone in secret and drag Mika and Yasunobu in as alibi's.  With everything in place and the exhilaration of breaking the rule propelling them, the couple heads off to their destiny, a night away from family and friends in a different city, all alone.  Before they even reach their destination the plan is foiled by Yasunobu being careless.  Frustrated at being alone for the Christmas season he hits the streets to try and pick up a woman, unfortunately for him, the first one he hit on is Yamato's aunt, who believes the two are supposed to be on an overnight skiing trip.  Unaware, the couple spend a relaxing evening together, enjoying the peace.  A peace comes to an abrupt end in the morning when Suzuka's father appears at the door to their room.

    Suzuka is taken away to finish out the winter break at her parents house and she isn't answering her phone.  Yamato's aunt stresses to him that he needs to apologize to her parents as soon as possible.  When he calls her house, her father cuts him off and hangs up on him, leaving things unresolved.  His next hope is a short track camp before the end of the year, but her parents have prevented her from attending that as well, citing a cold as the reason.  When he returns home, he finds movers are clearing out Suzuka's apartment, causing the stay at home to be longer than winter break.  Suddenly, as thing have become so nice for them, it has come to an end through their indiscretions.  Left with no other choice, Yamato heads to her parents home to talk to them face to face, hoping to salvage the situation and allow his relationship to continue.

   Her father refuses to hear him out, sending him away when he arrives to talk with them.  Yamato persists, coming again and again to apologize to her father.  His perseverance pays off and he accepts but gives him a stern warning about their future, as they move on to college.  Things aren't able to return to as they were before, Suzuka will be finishing the last few months of high school while living with her parents.  The challenge melted away in the face of earnest intention and perseverance, its only a bright future for the two young lovers now.

    At Yamato's insistence Suzuka finally goes to a clinic about her persistent fever, worried that it has lingered as long as it has.  The visit brings to light a far more complicated problem then their innocent interloping to Hakone.  Suzuka is pregnant, further along than their escapade in the beginning of the winter break would suggest, exposing they crossed that intimate boundary earlier in the fall.  The future is now truly unkown.  Both are uncertain how to proceed, whether with an abortion or to see things through.  If Suzuka chooses to keep the baby, it would mean an end to the collegiate career she has been working hard to attain since middle school.  Her entire future would be uprooted and changed to being something completely different than she planned.  The harsh reality of parenthood weighs down on Yamato as he ponders what direction she might go.

    While mulling over the decisions he ends up telling his rival Arima about what is going on.  Arima shows his true colors and says if he was in Yamato's shoes he would force Suzuka to have an abortion, caring only about track.  In anger, for Arima's lack of concern over the woman he loves, he fights him.  Suzuka arrives for the New Year shrive visit to find her boyfriend bruised and bandaged.  He brushes it off, telling her it was just a run in with Arima that went a little too far.  After they each prey for the New Year at the shrine they reveal to each other it was related to the pregnancy.  They begin to discus what to do, leaning towards an abortion, fearing physical risks.  In the end, through persuasion on Yamato's part, wanting to continue pushing toward a life with her, they decide to continue with the pregnancy and do what ever it will take to ensure a successful future.  They know it will be difficult and their immediate goals will disappear, but they strive to establish new dreams together.

    Little did they know the hardest part was going to come sooner than expected.  Yamato invites his parents to Tokyo so they can tell them and his aunt at the same time.  His father takes the news rather bad and begins to beat his son for being reckless and foolish.  Suzuka arrives in the middle of the beating and pleads for them to accept their choice.  Yamato's mother soothes her husband and they give the young couple their blessings but stress how important it will be to talk with Suzuka's parents as soon as possible.  With no other choice, they head off to Yokohama to face the biggest hurdle immediatly.  Her parents surprisingly accept the news right away.  In exchange, her father demands Yamato remove himself from her life and the child will be raised in their home.  Unwilling to concede to such a harsh condition Yamato persists in convincing her father to give them his blessing to marry instead.  After a heart to heart about what being a parent means and what is important in raising a child, her father relents and agrees to see them continue their live together.  The young couple just won't be receiving any financial support from him.

    Next hurdle is to inform their teachers about the sudden change in their lives' direction.  Though disappointed they are allowed to finish their high school career but the cancellation of both of their admissions to college means less consideration in the future for their high school track athletes to have the same opportunity.  They conclude their apology tour by telling the track team about their personal developments and what that will mean for everyone's futures.  The under class-men offer their full support and send them off with a lighter heart than they expected.  The final hurtle, employment.  Yamato struggles after multiple interviews to set a good impression for any company.  Knowing the trouble he is having, Suzuka talks with Sasaoka to see if there is something he could help with in the job department.  Much to their surprise he is able to offer a recommendation for another company affiliated with his.  The future begins to take shape as they face a life together, raising a child, but through everything, those around them offer the couple their full support.

    With that we wrap up the story, Yamato wins the heart of the girl he fell in love with at first sight, through stress, heartache and uncertainty.  All it took was a year apart and for him to knock her up.  As I've said before, Suzuka is the story that really got me to become obsessed with the romance genre in both anime and manga.  It isn't the best story out there and definitely has a target audience of teenage boys.  With its flaws and its seemingly pointless fanservice segments it also contain bits of realism in its story.  Yamato isn't the hollow protagonist who fumbles his way through success.  Instead he has to grow as a person and work to understand those around him more.  While not able to fully break out of his impulsiveness and selfish decision making habits, he is able to grow into someone more confident with himself and how other see him.  Suzuka changes as well over the course of the story, from the distant perfectionist, hyper-focused on one thing, to someone who is willing to be more relaxed and accepting of the things she can not control.  The real moral of the story, if one exists, is how important communication is between couples.  Almost all of the strife was caused by lack of communication, instead of solely relying on their internal monologues, filled with doubts and fears.

     While Yamato's own failures were enough to cause his misery, his continued reliance on the Faustian advice of Yasunobu led to far more trouble that help.  Out of all of the characters actions, it really comes down to the terrible advice he continued to give Yamato that caused the majority of the problems in his relationship not only with Suzuka but Honoka.  In the end though, Yamato was able to push through his friends terrible support and find his own truth...but its hard to deny that Yasunobu is not a guilty participant in how the two lovers lives ultimately wound up.  He continued to hammer on the idea that they needed to have sex, again and again, forcing the issue, stressing its vital importance to Yamato. In the end even Suzuka caved to that advice.  If it wouldn't have been for Yasunobu, perhaps the couple would have had a different, more fruitful future together in and after college.  But they stuck with the hand they dealt themselves and worked to do the best they could.

    Suzuka has its flaws as a story.  It grinds away at the back and forth of everyone misunderstanding everyone else for too much of the drama.  As it winds down this smooths out and the characters interactions become more mature.  The reader could consider this as another layer of them growing into better people, or it could be lazy writing.  Either way, in the end it balances out and we are left with a satisfying conclusion and the set up for another story set fifteen or so years in the future.  Yet before we can get to that we have to leave the Akatsuki family behind and follow the story of another love lost boy from the country side of Hiroshima in Kimi no Iru Machi.

Suzuka - manga deepdive part 1 - the anime arc

 Suzuka (涼風) is a shonen romance by Seo Kouji.  The manga published in Weekly Shonen magazine between 2004 and 2007.  The series was compiled into 18 tankoubon and had a 26 episode anime adaptation in 2005.  this first part is a overview of the first half of the manga that was adapted into the anime.  Beware, this will spoil plot points of this series...which is 20 years old at this point.

    Akitsuki Yamato convinces his parents to allow him to transfer from rural Hiroshima to Tokyo for high school.  They agree because he will be living in a dormitory run by his aunt and her daughter.  Yamato makes this dramatic request as a way to shake up his stale and boring life, or at least that's what he tells himself.  In reality, he is trying to run away from his failed relationship goals and figures going somewhere no one knows him will help.  Yamato isn't going to be living as a freeloader in his aunt's dormitory, which coincidentally, is an all girls dormitory.  He will be responsible for cleaning and maintaining the attached bath house.

    On his first day living in Tokyo he visits his future school.  While there he see's another student, a girl, earnestly practicing the high jump.  Yamato is smitten by the beauty and determination of her, confident he mad the right choice.  As punishment for being late arriving at his new home, his aunt forces him to start cleaning the baths.  While attempting to do his work two of the dorm's college aged residents walk in on him, expecting to have a normal bathing experience.  Yamato's choice to restart his life ends abruptly when the college girls put him in a compromising situation at the exact moment the girl he saw earlier walks into the bath house.  The girl, Asahina Suzuka, also a transfer student, is staying at the dormitory.  Suzuka's first impression of Yamato are less than encouraging and get colder when she realizes he is staying in the neighboring apartment.

     Things become awkward for Yamato when he learns Suzuka is a classmate.  Along with them is a guy named Hattori Yasunobu, who has known Yamato for years due to his prior visits.  Yasunobu is a ladies man and secretive pervert.  Another classmate, Sakurai Honoka, has also known Yamato from his childhood visits.  Her family operates a small shrine that Yamato enjoyed relaxing at and they had a brief but memorable encounter in the past.  As Yamato is forced to spend more time with Suzuka, between school and the dorm, he begins to develop feelings for her.  Due to being unfamiliar with the area, she relies more and more on him, even though she doesn't like his lazy attitude and lack of foresight.

     During a physical aptitude test in gym class, Yamato shows some latent talent in sprinting as he beats their classes top sprinted in the 50 meter dash.  This perks Suzuka's interest in him but Yasunobu plays it up to mess with Yamato.  Confused by the advice from his supposed friend and the ever changing signals from the girl next door he doesn't know what to do about his feelings for her.  Sometimes she's nice to him and other times she berates him for making mistakes and not being serious.  Suzuka herself is quiet serious and straight forward.  She works hard to project an air of confidence and well thought out actions.  Things become complicated for him when he witnesses what appears to be a confession aimed at Suzuka from another guy.  After wallowing about it during a failed round of karaoke he returns home to find them both waiting for him.  The guy is an upperclassman named Miyamoto Souichi and is part of the track team.  He wanted Suzuka's help in recruiting Yamato for the team, since approaching him alone might backfire.  Even with Suzuka's help, Yamato has no interest and rejects the invitation.  As a parting shot at Yamato, he mentions that he seems like the type of guy Suzuka likes, playing of the history he has with her when they went to middle school together.

   Yamato starts to analyze Suzuka's interactions with him.  At times she is more than comfortable being around him and can act normal.  Other times she acts as if he is the last person she wants to interact with.  He begins to realize he doesn't know anything about her, instead he's been focusing on how she feels about him.  Doing so brings back an earlier conversation with  Yasunobu about love at first sight.  He begins to think he fell in love with her on the first day they met.  Once that realization sets in he finds it hard to interact with her normally, further complicating things.  In a bid to spend more time with her they visit an amusement park on a rare day off of school and club activities.  The day starts out rainy and terrible, with them squabbling over everything.  In the end the rain clears and a moment of clarity seizes Yamato, he has to confess to her instead of dragging himself through this emotional hell he's been wallowing in.  Her only response is to apologize to him and a growing awkwardness.

    Instead of wallowing in misery he decides to keep pursuing her, joining the track team to spend more time with her.  She see's through his plan and gets upset with him for being reckless and potentially causing problems for the team.  He relents and tells Souichi he wants to join, focused on getting back on Suzuka's good side.  In the punishing first day of practice Yamato learns just how hard the team pushes its members.  Suzuka criticizes him for his lack of focus, but a fellow first year, Hashiba Miki, offers some moral support for the new guy.  He continues to attend, persevering, not wanting to let Suzuka be right but also inspired by the extraordinary effort she puts into her training.

    Honoka decides to join the track team as well, to be with Yamato more.  After learning that he has feelings for Suzuka, she can't let go of the feelings she has for him.  While not physically gifted, she is allowed to join the team as its manager.   No matter how hard Yamato works and how well he does, he can't get Suzuka to change her opinion.  At one point she directly tells him that she hates him, leaving him lost for words.  As they prepare for a track meet, Yamato overhears Suzuka and Souichi talking.  Suzuka is going to take advantage of a rest day before the meet to return to her hometown, Yokohama.  While there she is going to see a boy named Kazuki.  Souichi seems to know him too.  Yamato suspects that this Kazuki may either be a guy shes dating or someone she has a crush on.

    Driven out of desperation, Yamato secretly follows Suzuka to Yokohama.   He is desperate to learn about this Kazuki guy and what he means to her.  He finds himself in front of her families home with no clue what to do next.  Before he can figure that out her older sister confront him.  At first suspicious, her sister, Suzune, decides to help Yamato find Suzuka.  On their way to meet Kazuki she hears the sad tale of Yamato being rejected and ignored by her younger sister.  To his surprise, Suzune leads him to a cemetery, where they come across Suzuka, deep in prayer in front of Kazuki's family grave.  Yamato is competing with a dead man for Suzuka's heart.

    Suzune tells Yamato about Kazuki and Suzuka being on the same track team in middle school.  The older boy was a highly talented sprinter who had become eligible to compete in the nationals tournament.  Unfortunately he was killed in a car accident the evening before the event began, leaving a great void in the track team and in Suzuka.  As Suzune recounts what type of person Kazuki was things begin to make sense to Yamato.  He shares many similar personality traits with the dead boy as well as a similar sprinting style.  He understands why Souichi said the things he did about what type of guy Suzuka likes in their first meeting.  In more way than one, he reminds her of the painful loss she experienced and continues to dwell on.  Yamato, understanding the gravity of the situation, leaves before Suzuka notices him.  He returns to Tokyo to dwell on the pain that he appears to be causing her and what that could mean for his chances of courting her. 

    Suzuka struggles with Kazuki's death because it left unfinished business between them.  Through their career together they never saw eye to eye, constantly at odds with each other on how things should be handled.  The day before he left for nationals he confessed his feelings for her and apologized for not being nicer to her.  She replied that she had to think about it, given the unexpected confession.  He told her to wait until he returns as a winner, to let him know her feelings.  Suzuka struggles with those emotions more than two years later.

    The realization about the dead guy Suzuka likes crushes Yamato's will.  After skipping multiple practice days and signaling skipping out on an upcoming meet, Suzuka confronts him.  In a moment of lost control he explodes telling her to stop comparing him to a dead person.  The sudden revelation that he knows a personal secret draws her rage and fury.  Yamato may well have put the final nail in his coffin with his explosion but the mental anguish hes been putting on himself over it reached its breaking point.

    On the day of the track meet, Yamato is doing everything he can to avoid being there, choosing to wander the empty streets with Yasunobu instead.  With nothing open and no where to go, Yasunobu drags Yamato to the field the competition is being held at.  He overhears Suzuka being bullied by the star sprinter of another team, Emerson Arima, who in turn had heard her bad mouthing him in relation to the abilities of her dead senpai.  Letting his emotions get the better of him, Yamato steps in and tells the guy that he's faster than the other boy.  Arima doesn't believe his bluster and tells him to prove it during the meet.  Against his earlier desires, Yamato is competing in the event he was selected for, to try and save face for Suzuka and himself.  Yamato ends up loosing the heat against Arima, but showed the arrogant top sprinter that he can't be discounted.  Angered at Yamato, Arima brushes him off as nothing but a annoyance and not a real threat.

    Even though he made a fool out of himself at the competition, things seem to be thawing between Suzuka and Yamato.  Unfortunately for him, Suzuka isn't sending clear signals about her feelings.  He perceives her attitude with him as being borderline hostile, but she's still talking with him.  Meanwhile Honoka is trying to figure out if Suzuka has feelings for Yamato as well.  She attempts to get the upper hand and asks Yamato if he wants to join her for a day off at the pool.  Before they can finalize the plans Miki invites herself along, bringing Suzuka into the plan as well as another team mate, Kenji.  Honoka's plans to spend some quality alone time with Yamato fail to materialize.  Yamato is determined to try again with Suzuka while the group enjoys the pool..  Honoka is determined to seduce Yamato.  Kenji is interested in Honoka.  Miki and Suzuka just want to blow off steam and have fun!

    A short time later, as the track team is about to head off to the nationals, Honoka confronts Suzuka about her feelings for Yamato.  She tells her about her intent to ask him to go out with her.  Surprised by the news, Suzuka tells Honoka that she has no interest in him.  Yamato approaches the two girls at the moment Suzuka states her disinterest in him, leaving him to misinterpret the conversation..  Instead of being crushed by the misunderstood statement, he decides to push thought of her out of his mind and focus completely on his training.

    The entire team heads to Hiroshima for nationals, Honoka comforts Yamato during special training he's being made to do by the team captain.  Even though he tried to push his thoughts about Suzuka from his mind he still becomes depressed due to the failure of his relationship with her and the way he embarrassed himself at the track meet against Arima.  As he dwells on his situation Honoka finds him alone and decides to chat with him.  Honoka, desperate and seeing an opening kisses him and tells him that she wants to be with him forever.  As quickly as her confidence appeared it went away and before he can respond she runs away from him.  As if on cue, Suzuka shows up to see why he's sulking only to find him flustered.  Yamato doesn't know what to make of the kiss and round about confession from Honoka.  The next day, and more awkward interactions lead to them being alone and talking.  Something over comes the both, Honoka goes in for another kiss and Yamato, temporarily forgetting about his feelings for Suzuka, asks her to go out with him.  Yamato tries to hide his new relationship status from everyone.  Unknown to either of them, Miki had come across them in the act of beginning their relationship.  The next day while shopping with Suzuka, she breaks the news to her.  Suzuka brushes it off and continues on her tasks acting normally.

    On the final day of the trip, Yamato falls behind buying drinks for everyone.  Suzuka comes across him on her way to the bathroom when he trips and drops the drinks.  She rushes onto the platform to help him only to have the doors close and the train take off without either of them, Miki watches helplessness as the platform slips away with them chasing after,   Yamato and Suzuka are stuck in Hiroshima while everyone else returns to Tokyo.  After failing to find alternative ways to return that day, they accept that they will have to stay in Hiroshima one more night.  Yamato calls his parents to pick him up, given his severe lack of money.  Suzuka was planning on staying overnight at a hotel but Yamato's father insists she comes with back to their home instead.  The tension is think between the two over his sudden relationship with Honoka.

    Suzuka isn't receptive to Yamato's attempts at entertaining his unwilling guest.  After server rounds of pestering she finally asks him why he's thinking about her more than his girlfriend back in Tokyo.  Yamato thinks this clears things up, but Suzuka is still in a difficult mood due to many things.  While she tries not to let it show, she does seem to be bothered by him suddenly getting a girlfriend after all the attempts he's made to be with her.  To try and cheer her up, he suggests they stay another night so he can show her a display of fireflies in the field near his family house.  Surprisingly she agrees' to extend their unintended trip.  

    That evening they head to a nearby creek, unfortunately the fireflies are no where to be seen, meaning there was no point delaying their return to Tokyo.  He brings up an embarrassing incident from middle school when he brought the girl he liked to this same spot to ask her out.  he had a plan using the beauty of the night evening and illuminated bugs to enhance the mood.  The plan didn't go so well given it was raining.  He decided to go for it anyways and was understandably rejected by the girl, who was soaking wet at this point.  As the sky gets darker and their vision adjusts they begin to notice an abundance of the bugs floating aimlessly around them.  Suzuka asks him to recreate what he was going to do in middle school.  With little better to do, he reenacts the planned moment, using Suzuka as a stand in.  To his astonishment she accepts his advances but quickly smiles and tells him is was a joke.  He once again returns to a very conflicted mental state about her true feelings.

     The following day they make it back to Tokyo without any further incidents.  Honoka meets them at the train station and reaffirms her feelings for Yamato.  The next day she shows up at Yamato's apartment intending too cook dinner for him.  He enjoys the feelings, pretending like they are newlyweds and lets his emotions start to take control.  In order to push thoughts of Suzuka from his mind he begins to get aggressive with Honoka, trying to instigate a higher level of intimacy.  Instead of responding like he thought, she responds to his changed attitude with fear and concern, fleeing from his apartment.  He quickly realizes that his actions were less then noble and didn't take her feelings into consideration.  He goes to apologize to her the following day.  She accepts his apology, but part of her tries to blame his actions on herself.

    A few days later, after more mixed signals from Suzuka, Honoka and Yamato go out to eat at a family restaurant.  Honoka surprises him by inviting her best friend.  While caught off guard by the unannounced visitor, he is stunned when the girl arrives, an up and coming singer named Shirakawa Nana.  Yamato is astonished that the quiet and diligent Honoka would be best friends with someone famous enough to be in magazines and on TV.  They change venues to a karaoke booth for more privacy.  Quickly Nana shifts the conversation to scold Yamato for being so aggressive with Honoka the other day, wanting him to understand that behavior won't be tolerated.  Honoka excuses herself to use the bathroom, to overcome her discomfort in the conversation.  Before she can return, Miki and Suzuka, who are also there for karaoke, come across them.  Before understanding the situation, Suzuka attacks Yamato, believing he is cheating on Honoka with Nana.  The misunderstanding clears up quickly when Honoka arrives and the two girls join the party.

    After karaoke, Nana confront Yamato again.  She observed his behavior, particularly in relation to Suzuka and how he presented himself to Honoka.  While hes doing a good job of acting like the ideal boyfriend, she believes hes only reacting to her assumed emotions instead of having honest thoughts on his behavior.  She stresses that he needs to really be a good boyfriend and think about her in more meaningful ways.  She questions whether he has any real feelings for her or is even aware of who she is and what she wants.  He considers her words and comes to the realization that he has not been taking her side of the relationship into consideration, choosing to go along with the idea but lacking any deeper intent.  Wanting to see her friend be happy, she offers him a life preserver and lets him know when Honoka's birthday is, so he can truly start off on the right foot.  Her birthday is close and he scrambled to get her a present.  When she asks him to spend the day with her, he lies, saying he had plans with Yasunobu, in order to hide his plan to go shopping for her.  Instead he asks Suzuka to help him pick out a gift for her.  At the end, Honoka secretly spots them shopping, realizing that he lied to her about being with Yasunobu.

    When he surprises her with the gift the next day, she confronts him about being with Suzuka instead of Yasunobu. Shocked by her guess, not wanting to lie to her, he admits to it.  She's happy that he chose not to hide it from her but when he starts to ramble about how Suzuka behaved, Honoka becomes angry.  She tells him that she doesn't want the present and runs to the safety of her home, leaving Yamato alone and bewildered.  As he tries to apologize to her at school she does everything she can to shut him down, choosing not to interact with him while she works through her feelings.  Yamato is lost, he doesn't know why his actions are having such a profound effect on her.  He struggles to understand why she is particularly sensitive about things related to Suzuka, not understanding how much she perceives his feelings for her.

    Again Yamato tries to talk things over with Honoka, going to her house in the evening.  She's bothered by this and they begin arguing.  She expresses her persistent concern with him and his thoughts about Suzuka.  She is convinced that deep down there will be a part of his heart that will be for her, regardless of how much time he spends dating Honoka or someone else.  In order to protect her self, given their relationships brief length she suggest break up.  Yamato, unsure what to feel or think, uncertain as to why he decided to begin dating her in the first place meekly agrees with her suggestion.  Both parties find themselves back at the beginning, but now that Honoka had a chance to make her long help desire for him a reality, she may be able to grow into the next phase of herself, free of Yamato.  He on the other hand, finds himself residing in a state of static ennui.  He lacks any motivation beyond obligations and struggles with anything hes tried to accomplish since starting high school.

    He returns home to sulk, only to find the two alcoholic college student that enjoy harassing him partying in his room.  He tells them that he broke up with Honoka, lying about it being he who suggested it.  After they leave Suzuka confronts him about what she overheard and he continues to claim he broke up with her.  He doesn't want to hurt Suzuka, since she's the reason the break up happened.  He convinces her of his harshness towards Honoka and she leaves in disgust, considering him even more foolish then before.  If only she knew the truth that he was foolishly trying to hide from her.  Now both girls hate him.

    Yamato and Kenji are selected to be part of the relay team in the next track meet.  After a heart to heart with Miki, he decides to let things go between both girls and just concentrate on running.  During relay training his mind continues to dwell on the problems he's facing with Suzuka and Honoka, causing him to loose focus on the baton pass.  Miki see's this and sticks around until afterwards to offer him some help with training, away from the other team mates who have lost their patience with him.  During the after hours practicing she grills him about why he's so distracted, forcing out his concerns about his personal relationships.  Knowing that he lied to Suzuka, which caused her to start hating him, she implores him to tell her the truth, in hopes it will lead to a smoothing of tensions.  He agrees to the idea and tells Suzuka about the real reason Honoka broke up with him.  She gets upset at him for lying to her as well as her being the catalyst for the break up.  Even though shes angry, she still encourages him to do well in the upcoming meet, hoping to help him focus.  She doesn't want to be blamed if he loses again.  Yamato starts to dwell on feelings he has for Suzuka, determined that he should try again, even though she shot him down months earlier and still seems to dislike him.  The biggest obstacle though is her continued obsession with her dead senpai.   He convinces himself that if he can become the top sprinter in the nation he should be able to have the confidence to ask Suzuka out again.  Until then, hes just a runner up to a dead man. 

    After doing well in another meet and qualifying for the city tournament, Yamato works with the team captain to improve his running style, frustrated that he can't beat Arima.  He works hard to change his running style to improve the loss of power he experiences in the second half of the sprint, hoping it will help him gain an edge over the more proficient opponent.  Unfortunately the change in style causes him to fail out in the preliminary round of the next meet, crushing his sense of purpose and his will to confess to Suzuka.  While sulking in his apartment the day afterwards, Suzuka decides to try and cheer him up by cooking....the only thing she can....boiled eggs.  In heat of the moment he tells her about how he planned to confess to her again  Unknown to him, his plan is similar to the way her dead senpai confessed to her two years earlier, causing barely healed wounds to reopen.  Upset by the memories and Yamato's persistence, she flees his room, leaving the dorms all together.

    Yamato decides to go look for her after hours have passed since she ran out of his apartment.  Honoka comes across Suzuka at her family shrine, in a depressed state.  She decides to confront her rival in love over the way she conceals her feelings for Yamato.  Honoka lets all of her frustration out at the other girl, blaming her for a variety of problems due to her mixed signals.  Suzuka lashes back, expressing the regret she feels for not being able to tell her long dead senpai her feelings for him and runs off again.  Before Honoka can think about chasing after her, Yamato shows up, distraught.  He tells her he is looking for Suzuka.  She replies that he just missed, seeing his face and his concern, realizing that there really is no place in his heart for her.  She points him in the direction of his hearts desire and starts to console herself in her lost love.

    He finds Suzuka at a nearby park and they begin arguing.  She yells at him for concerning himself over her whereabouts and emotions.  She breaks down, telling him that she can't like him because she doesn't want to risk the pain she felt from losing her senpai.  She wants to push him away, afraid that her feelings for him will grow, leading to incredible pain.  In the spur of the moment, assuming it might change her mind or at least keep her quite he kisses her.  In shock and horror she reels back and slaps him, telling him to get away from her.  This leaves him stunned, he has truly ended any chance he might of had in reconciliation with the girl he likes.  Taking his time returning to the dorms, dwelling on his mistakes, he see's the lights to apartment still on.  He tries to apologize for kissing her like that, realizing the sooner he apologizes the better the outcome, but she refuses to acknowledge his presence.

    The following morning he learns Suzuka has plans to return home, to visit her dead senpai's grave again.  He confronts her before she leaves, trying to convince her to stop dwelling in the past.  Instead of arguing with him, she tells him to join her.  He agrees to join her and while waiting at the grave, watching her in silent prayer, he wonders why he's doing.  He begins to consider this as some twisted punishment she ha concocted.  Before he can dwell on it any further she begins to speak.  She is speaking to the memory of her dead first love, trying to find the resolution she has been denied since he died.  She tells him that she can't go out with him, that she has someone else she likes.  She doesn't come right out and say the person she likes is Yamato, but he takes that as a chance to win her over.  All he has to do know is become a better person for himself and for her.

    This is the point that the anime adaptation chooses to end, with the possibility of a relationship between the two main characters at the wrap of the story, 72 issues out of 166.  I have said it plenty of times before, but Suzuka is the story that really turned me into a fanatic for romances.  It has its major flaws but at the same time has always been quite enjoyable for me.  I always enjoyed the romantic aspects of other earlier anime I consumed, like the central love story between Ranma and Akane in Ranma 1/2.  The soliloquy of Tenchi Muyo's mother in the Tenchi Universe cannon, Achika, moved me so much I got a tattoo of her in remembrance.   But, it was Suzuka and REC that really unlocked the path for romance anime and manga for me, being the first truly romance centered anime consumed.

    Suzuka is purely shonen in regards to its target audience.  The author is well known for his frequent nude panels and hot spring segments.  His character designs are realistic in an anatomical sense, but his characters don't represent reality in terms of how Japanese kids look!  He does have a really good eye for sexually appealing European looking women though and does everything he can to present their best assets at every chance.  He likes to use some rather unnatural poses to enhance the breasts of said woman and girls.  Suzuka is usually walking around with her hands clasped behind her back, thrusting her chest out at maximum volume.  I never really picked up on that until this read through and its rather unsettling.

    Yamato isn't exactly the empty shell of a main character either, so there is some substance to the characters and the plot.  He is pretty flawed and careless, a trait that leads to most of his problems.  It also doesn't help that Suzuka is a severe tsundere type character, always wanting to be perfect and serious, never willing to show anything like weakness.  The entire drama of the series revolves around Yamato being careless and Suzuka being a bitch about it.  He keeps coming back through the abuse because hes so infatuated with her.  Suzuka on the other hand sends all sorts of mixed signals with everything she does.  Her mood flips on a dime and confuses anyone paying attention to her.  The only saving grace are the secondary characters that position themselves are active observers.  From time to time they swoop in and tell both of the lead characters whats what, trying to resolve unnecessary drama.  Most of the secondary cast supports a relationship between Yamato and Suzuka but try not to interfere too much, only butting in when the resistance becomes too much to bear.

    The author likes to tie a lot of his works into the same world, Suzuka has some quick cameo's from characters that appeared in other stories her wrote, but it really sets the beginning of semi connected story that spans three long running manga by him.  The events of Suzuka directly lead the the events of Fuuka, with a 15 or 16 year break between the end of the first and the beginning of the second.  In between them is the long series Kimi no Iru Machi that tells a separate story which runs in a the time between Suzuka and Fuuka.  Kimi no Iru Machi ties into those at its conclusion in an interesting way.  The Suzuka project was envisioned before the pandemic when I was going through older posts and was not satisfied with how little I talked bout the plot in my original anime review. as well as not having done a review of the manga its self.  I wanted to do this series, which has been so pivotal in my fandom, a better job.  Now, its turning into a consecutive read through of all three related titles.  So after the second part of Suzuka, I will dive back into Kimi no iru Machi and break it down in a similar manner.  After that I will move to Fuuka, a series I never finished.

    Part two covers the rest of the manga that was not animated in the adaptation.  We get to see if Yamato can win over Suzuka's frozen heart and what the future may hold for the both of them.