Genre: Romance/Drama
Age Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Price: $8.99

Sweet 16-year-old Ann returns to rural Shimane from Tokyo for the summer, eager to reconnect with her boyfriend Daigo.  But will the allure of their close friends--wealthy brother and sister Fuji and Shika--sunder the romantic ties that have bound Ann and Daigo since they were 12?

This volume is less about the temptations of Fuji and Shika on Ann and Daigo, and more about Fuji and Shika just breaking out of their shells and becoming their own people.  Ann and Daigo are more catalysts than victims of temptation.

This volume covers the late summer to fall.  Ann has returned to Shimane for summer break and Oban holiday.  It starts out dealing with Ann and Daigo's relationship.  They laugh, fight, and make up, but this becomes pushed to the sidelines as Fuji and Shika are given center stage.  Fuji's search for the truth about his legitamacy in the family backfire onto Shika.  An unexpected revelation causes her to rebel passively against her mother and skip her classes.  She starts to hang out with Daigo, who treats her like a little sister, though she sees him as something more.

At the same time, Fuji starts coming to Ann's part time job and seeing her more, though Ann tries to avoid him.  She wants to be friends with Fuji, but is afraid it might cause problems between her and Daigo.  An observation by Kaede makes Ann reconsider though, and she spends a day with him, helping him do all the things he could never do as a kid, but wanted to, like going to the amusement park.

Fuji and Shika find ways to rebel against their strict family upbringing through Ann and Daigo.  Shika finds a place to go and to be accepted for who she is and not just the outward appearance of a spoiled rich girl through Daigo.  She isn't isolated anymore and can finally start being the person she wants to, not what her mother wants.

Fuji's feelings for Ann, and her devotion to Daigo helps Fuji let go, not just of Ann, but of all his family's burdens of responsibilty and decorum.  He decides to quit Prep school, and with Ann, has all the experiences he never had growing up.  He takes a step away from the path his parents had planned for him, and starts on his own.  Both Fuji and Shika are able to grow into their own selves, break out of their shells which are left behind like a cicada skin.

It was good to see Fuji and Shika grow as we've seen Ann and Daigo.  They've seemed more like support characters up until now.  Fuji a pseudo-rival for Ann's affections, and Shika just a friend.  But now, they've become full characters, and I look forward to seeing them more, and how they affect Ann and Daigo's long distance relationship.  Another plus for this volume is that there is less "mela" in the drama.  As Ann and the group grows up, things don't seem so blown up.  The drama comes in smaller, though no less felt, doses.  It makes the story all the more enjoyalble.

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