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

Sub-Tags: Misunderstandings, Gyaru, Introverts, Cute, Heartwarming

Impromptu Trips and Troubles with Names!

The First Trip

Hookup Hiccups’ latest volume sees Nanami and Yoshin start their third week of dating, both fully aware that the fateful anniversary day is fast approaching. There’s little time to ruminate, however, as the story begins with the couple surprised by a trip away to a hot spring.

A gift from Yoshin’s parents, the trip has both sides of the family travel and stay together in the hot springs. For romcom’s sweetest couple, the trip away provides ample opportunity for more of the series’ signature sickly sweet flirting as the two inevitably grow closer by bonding with each other.

Meanwhile, the parents are also using this trip to their full advantage. Getting along famously, it’s as if Nanami and Yoshin have been married for years, and the parental groups have been doing these events forever.

Game Friends

Having gotten even closer to each other over the trip, the third volume signals several moments of bravery from Yoshin. Unlike some of the previous volumes, the third has a heavier focus on Yoshin, his attempts at getting closer to Nanami and ridding himself of trauma. The first of these brave new steps see Yoshin introduce Nanami to his gaming friends.

Yoshin’s gaming friends have been instrumental, not only in ensuring Yoshin makes the right moves when it comes to romance but as an important social outlet for him when things got difficult at school. Thus, Yoshin introducing these friends to Nanami makes for an extremely pressing development in their relationship.

The introduction between the two groups is wonderfully wholesome. Most of Yoshin’s friends are excitable but kind, but more importantly, the interaction gives Peach a chance to apologise. The two become good friends as a result.

Say My Name, Say My Name

Finally, the third volume in the series attempts to deal with Yoshin’s long-lasting trauma, a trauma that has left in unable to make the last step in calling Nanami by her first name.

Being unable to say Nanami’s name properly causes the first major rift between the couple. As a result, Yoshin has to come to terms with his past and move forward, a gesture he makes in the most embarrassing of ways when he proclaims his feelings to a whole bunch of classmates.

Overall, Hookup Hiccups’ third volume continues with the series’ signature fluffy rom-com atmosphere. This latest volume makes leaps and bounds in its romantic development, especially from an emotional perspective. Yoshin really opens up to Nanami in this volume, showing her sides of himself he’d never show anyone else, leading to great moments of vulnerability. Mixing fluffy moments alongside graspable development holds great things for the series’ future.