Tags: Comedy, Romance, Harem, Slice of Life, School Life

Sub-Tags: Misunderstandings, Introverts, Childhood Friends, Idols

Another Childhood Friend Appears!

Moving back to rom-coms, my latest review looks at The Girl I Saved’s third volume as a new childhood friend heats things up!

After the last volume’s revelations, The Girl I Saved’s latest volume sees the return of Ryou and Hina’s childhood friend, Ai Himejima. Returning as a late-season transfer student, her appearance causes trouble in more ways than one, especially for Hina as she’s yet another rival and causes a rift in her and Ryou’s relationship.

As if that wasn’t enough, the school trip is on the horizon and with all romantic rivals in one group, there’s sure to be no end of trouble!

Much to nobody’s surprise, the latest instalment features many more misunderstandings as Ryou remains blissfully unaware of the feelings of the women around him. This time, the author serves to further complicate matters by adding yet another love interest and childhood friend, Ai Himejima.

I’m still not totally sold on her character so far. She doesn’t quite have the instant chemistry with Ryou that Torigoe has, or even Hina, for that matter. I don’t think the volume did enough with her character, though that seems to be changing after the revelations in the epilogue.

What I did like are her interactions with Hina as two childhood friends in love with the same person. I love the fact that they’re always at odds and are constantly arguing with each other, trying to one-up each other in Ryou’s eyes.

On top of a new love interest, Ryou is finally given a character that’ll actually serve as his friend. Deguchi fits into the mould of a pervy friend type and seems to have a little bit of a connection with Torigoe. Although, his best moments are alongside Ryou through the girl’s eyes as they romanticise their friendly interactions.

The school trip arc is fine, Hina and Ryou get close once again but it leads nowhere, something that mirrors the entire feel of the series so far. Exchanging development for misunderstandings and adding possible romantic targets is fine to start with, however, at some point, the story has to move forward.

We are approaching the fourth volume and everything is at a standstill, nothing has changed and there seems to be no action on either Ryou’s or Hina’s part to move to the next step.

Overall, as much as I wished to enjoy this volume, I’m starting to feel that the gimmick is running thin. There are aspects to like here, I still like Torigoe and Ryou’s new friend is a good addition. Going forward I need to see more development, I need things to start moving and I need more focus on Ai and the reason she quit being an idol.