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I bought this one for the title! I think the title alone does a pretty good job of describing what the main story in this volume is about ^_^ This is a collection of 3 unrelated romantic short stories. The art is simple and nice, if fairly standard. However, something about the ratio of head/hair to face bothers me. I can’t describe it, exactly, but really, everyone seems to have a lot of hair somehow. This is a little distracting at first, but I got over it 🙂 The stories were originally published in BetsuComi magazine, and are not smutty.
The first story is the one that is about “Mama no Koibito. ” 17-year old high school student Nomi is shocked when her mother introduces her new boyfriend to her, and says they are planning to get married. As if the fact that her mom was getting remarried wasn’t shocking enough, the guy she is engaged to… well, he is…. HOT! And YOUNG! No way!! His name is KURAHARA Ryou, and he is a medical intern at the hospital where her mother is the Chairman. There is a 20-year gap in their ages!
Nomi can’t believe it. There is no way she can handle having a “Young Papa” like Ryou! However, even though Nomi is hostile, Ryou seems friendly enough. He has even moved in already! Nomi’s mother (who is often busy at work) doesn’t seem all that concerned that she is leaving her young daughter alone with a 27-year old “papa” and, in fact, seems to think that it is good that Ryou will look out for Nomi, who has become a bit wild (Nomi has previously tried to steal money from her mom’s wallet).
Ryou has a gentle smile, and while it is sort of creepy to Nomi to see him with her mom, he does seem to be a fairly nice guy. However, one day she discovers a very different Ryou hanging out at a night club. This Ryou is smoking, and enjoying the attention of other women! Wait a minute here! Ryou isn’t quite as nice and gentle as he appears to be. Ryou has two sides to his personality, and soon Nomi feels very confused by him. Could she actually be…. falling for him? Her mother’s lover? This can’t possibly go well for her!
The second story begins with the heroine, Yuki, waking up in a hospital surrounded by very worried but relieved people. However, Yuki has no idea who any of them are. One of them seems sort of familiar though… she dreamed about him! He is handsome and obviously worried about Yuki. But she doesn’t know who he is either. The girl who claims to be her sister is surprised that Yuki doesn’t recognize him. He is the guy who saved her! He is Masaki-kun, Yuki’s boyfriend! As Yuki struggles to remember her past and figure out who she is, Masaki stays by her side, helping her. But Yuki feels frustrated, especially when Masaki keeps referring to the ‘other’ Youki, the one before her accident, as if that Yuki and her current self are separate people. What exactly is her past with Masaki,will she ever remember?
Finally, we have yet another story about a girl falling for a guy she sees on the train. He is like a prince to her. Tall, handsome, and blond. Ayano-chan thinks he has a shining aura. Even better, he is wearing her school’s uniform! His name is Koumoto Rihito, a French-German mix. He is already somewhat of an idol at school. In a very tongue-tied and embarrassing fit, Ayano manages to give him (well, ok, awkwardly shove at him) a card with her information on it before running away. She is very surprised when he actually calls her afterwards and asks her to go out with him!
But the Rihito she ends up dating is not at all like the beautiful prince she thinks him to be. Instead he is arrogant, speaks in kansai-ben, and a bit of a player! He is sort of comical about it, and Ayano’s 70’s shoujo manga reactions to his antics are pretty funny. He is not at all what she expected, and even though he does seem very enthusiastic and devoted to her, she can’t some to terms with Rihito’s unusual personality and way of speaking!
I like the fact that this book contains only three stories instead of 4 or 5. This gives each one enough pages to really develop the characters and situations more than shorter stories would. This is a cute little one-shot volume!
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