The Wallflower 36

In 2016 we downsized a lot, and I gave all my manga to a secondhand bookstore, including the complete run of The Wallflower. For years I have been posting commentary all over the place, for Kodansha (or whoever) to release it in Kindle form. When I discovered, a few weeks ago, that it had been, I eagerly splurged on the whole series and settled in to reread. In my memory it was the second funniest manga I'd ever read, after Pretty Face.Well, I must have matured or something. It was..."nice"...to revisit these characters, but there were only a few LOL moments (like when Sunako and her aunt have a beef bowl eating contest) and a handful of smile-worthy moments. The rest of it was quite typical of any shojo manga and I am pretty disappointed overall. The main enjoyment for me is always goofy character interplay, and other than Ranmaru acting over-the-top, there really isn't a lot of goofy stuff in this series. I probably won't reread.

The road to becoming a lady has come to close as Sunako and party have one last round of adventures in the final volume of The Wallflower. Does Sunako finally become a lady? The answer according to her aunt is no. After fifteen years that Tomoko Hayakawa has been writing this series she apparently didn't feel like giving an ending that felt finished. To me it felt like all the other volumes with crazy Sunako vs Kyohei hijinks, a Halloween party, a school festival and a party with Sunako's aunt. Don't get me wrong I loved reading The Wallflower and will read it again at some point, but I felt let down. All us shojo fans reading every volume waiting for that volume where Kyohei and Sunako finally get to be together and it's left up in the air. The last words that Sunako says to Kyohei are "Only you appear to be particularly dazzling in my eyes. It's like there's something strange about your eyes." So even though it's not actually said Sunako finally realizes that she loves Kyohei, and Kyohei doesn't really respond either. I felt like one more volume or at least one more chapter would have made a better ending. All that time and effort on their relationship just to call him dazzling. The rent issue is never resolved, aunt is still mad and the last page of the story shows Sunako in her chibi form fighting with Kyohei. So did I like the volume over all yes I did. There was a really good Kyohei and Sunako romantic moment, a fun Halloween party, another crazy school festival and the aunt hoping for her niece to fall in love and become a lady and was disappointed yet again. I don't feel that this work is finished but when it says final volume I can only assume that it's really over and we're left with what was given. I'll take it

OMG! This writer had 15 years with these characters and could not wrap up happy endings. So disappointed. Maybe that is a Japanese thing? Idk. K and S didn't have to be together but they both should have at least been given a happy ending instead of a hinting that they MIGHT be looking at each other. Really just wanted to smack the author.

This is the last book in the series. I'm so disappointed it's over and was slightly disappointed with its lackluster ending. I'm still happy to have found this manga and read them all... I'm just still wanting more!

The final volume where nothing was resolved. The author prolonged the story for nothing.