Okazaki Miku's rival for Yabe Shinji's affection, Fujiwara-chan, has graduated, and now Miku's in her third year! Torn between her love for her "Yabecchi" and her dream of becoming a chef, this Gal has some choices to make as her last year of Cooking Club begins.
Perhaps it's par for the course and I've just been away from this series for too long but the content felt raunchier in this volume. It also feels like it was way faster and some of the character development a bit more undercut than I recall.
That being said, I do appreciate the part of this volume that focused on Fujiwara's graduation anxiety, self-reflection and further growth of interpersonal relationships. Seeing her go from the character she was in the early part of this series to someone who bonded with Miku and thus reevaluated her preconceptions of gals as a whole was touching, as well as seeing how Fujiwara has become a person capable of recognizing the importance of taking care of herself and developing friendships and stepping outside her comfort zone. Her graduation address is honestly super sweet, as are her last few interactions with Miku in this volume. It really feels like it drives home how much both girls have impacted one another for the better and really become close friends, and honestly I love that a lot.
Very bittersweet volume, on the one hand this was filled with lovely moments but on the other hand this is the second last volume of the series.
In this the student class president graduated and we got to see if she told Yatusba how she felt. There were some nice moments shared between the girls as well, as they both have a rivalry for Yatusba.
We get some nice interactions between Yatsuba and Gal, it kind of hinted at a new student joining the cooking club, where I thought the series might continue but at the end there was a note saying that this was the penultimate volume.
Sad to see it go but I've absolutely loved reading this series.
This was such a surprisingly fun series. Though it certainly rushed through the years, I love how the ending played out. I do wish we would have gotten some romantic closure for the other two girls but it was still a happy, fuzzy ending. This series, despite the sometime gratuitous cleavage and panty shots and "forbidden student-teacher romance" was so wholesome, and the teacher worked so hard to do everything the right way. Honestly, this has probably become one of my favorite mangas. If you love comedy and can stand some fan service, this is a great funny and cute series to pick up!
The author said she was crying the entire time while drawing the graduation chapter and I can believe it, the emotion so palpable, that is when you know you have written something so good. I love this series and am having a hard time bringing myself to read the final volume lol