Strobe Edge Volume 9 cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

Rated “T” for “Teen”

Ninako Kinoshita, a 16-year-old, has a complicated romantic life.  Ninako loves Ren Ichinose; she loved him even when he loved someone else.  Just before summer vacation begins, Ninako tells Ren how she feels about him, and that begins a complicated romance... that keeps getting more complicated.

As Strobe Edge, Vol. 9 (Chapters 31-34) begins, Ren is ready to tell Ninako that he loves her.  However, he believes that she may have moved on, especially after spying her talking to upperclassman, Toda.  Meanwhile, Ando is determined to be the one to win Ninako’s heart, but his ex-girlfriend, Mao, who is a new student at their high school, has something surprising to tell him.

THE LOWDOWN:  The Strobe Edge manga is a typical high school shojo romantic manga.  Strobe Edge Volume 9 is one of those volumes that show just how typical it is. 

I have said before that this series can be a bit repetitive in themes and plot, but that I still like the series.  However, reading Vol. 9 made me feel as if I were stuck in a loop in the shojo high school romance wheelhouse.  One character needed to talk to another and was interrupted.  One character set up a meeting with another to reveal a big secret, and someone caused the meeting to be cancelled – over and over again.  But the ending of this volume makes me ready to read the next.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Fans of Shojo Beat high school romance will want to try the Shojo Beat title, Strobe Edge.