Hajimete, Kanojo to. (初めて、彼女と。), by Morishima Akiko-sensei, takes a look back at the origins of some of our favorite couples from her previous works.
First we look back at Rakuen no Joken. For Sarina and Sumi we learn how they got together and why they’ve never really been a steady item. The series ends as Sarina realizes that Sumi moving in isn’t the life she wants, but travelling the world together with her is.
Shinobu and Lalaa have been living together for a while and Lalaa is inexpressibly happy. But, as she reminisces about how they got together, she misses, just a little, the crybaby Shinobu of her youth.
We then move on to Sayaka and Ruri from Ruri-iro Yume. Sayaka’s dream has changed since we first met her, but she thinks it’s okay – and so do we.
And last, we meet up once again with Mitsuki and Kaoru from Renai Joshika (Volume 1 and Volume 2). With them, we travel back into their school years, how they met, became friends, became lovers and what went on between them during their first time dating. We can kind of see how they ended up the way they were when we met them originally – and I’m pleased that we know they end up together in a more mature version of the same relationship.
As always, Morishima-sensei’s art is cute, rather than cool. Her stories this time mean to – and do – evoke a sense of nostalgia. How did we get where we are? What paths did we take to get here? For all of us, it is a long road, and one day we look back and think, really? My hair looked like that?
Me and my wife, in 1981 or so at band camp.
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