Shortcake Cake: Volume 2 manga review

Shortcake Cake Graphic Novel Volume 2 cover image

Ten Serizawa, high school freshman, has a two-hour commute through the mountains, both ways, in order to attend Nekochiya High School.  Ten's friend, Ageha Haruno, suggests that she move into the boarding house where Ageha stays.  If she does move in, Ten will have to contend with three high school boys who, to varying degrees, are attracted to her.

As Shortcake Cake, Vol. 2 (Chapters 6 to 10) opens, Ten Serizawa directly asks housemate, Riku Mizuhara, if he likes her.  He answers that he does, but does Ten want a relationship?  Meanwhile, another housemate, Chiaki Kasadera, looks on with mixed feelings because he is also smitten with Ten.  Meanwhile, the mysterious 16-year-old, Rei, throws the house into turmoil.

[This volume includes bonus manga and eight pages of cover and chapter-page illustrations.]

THE LOWDOWN:  The Shortcake Cake manga is a like a warm cup of cocoa, which I think makes it similar to the shojo manga, Honey So Sweet.  Shortcake Cake is a bit off-beat as far as shojo high school romances go because it is set in a boarding house.

Shortcake Cake Graphic Novel Volume 2, after the introductions of Vol. 1, delves into the relationship dynamics.  Romantic triangles, complex family dynamics, and secret histories are front and center on the stage of this manga's drama.  Creator suu Morishita is quite and gentle in the way she creates conflict and confusion, and Emi Louie-Nishikawa captures the straight-forward nature of this series' dialogue in clean and captivating English.

Could Shortcake Cake turn out to be a big deal shojo manga?  It certainly deserves a chance... via readers discovering it.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of high school shojo romance will want to read the “Shojo Beat” title, Shortcake Cake.

A
8 out of 10