Shortcake Cake, Vol. 8 by Suu Morishita
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An unflappable girl and a cast of lovable male roommates at a boardinghouse create bonds of friendship and romance.
When Ten moves out of her parents’ home in the mountains to live in a boardinghouse, she finds herself becoming fast friends with her male roommates. But can love and romance be far behind?
Ten plans a Christmas Eve date with Riku and takes him to her hometown. She hopes if Riku learns more about her, he’ll share more about himself and his past.
With this book, we are starting to see more into Riku’s life, as Ten becomes more curious about his relationship with his family. The two of them have started dating, and Ten takes him to her hometown, to meet her family, to show him her life, and she also wants him to be comfortable enough in sharing his life with her. She and Chiaki can both sense that while he is all cheery, he is hiding some sadness. Family and relationships is quite a theme in this volume, as we see Ten’s family, part of Chiaki’s family (his overbearing and clingy older brother) and finally realize Riku’s connection to Rei.
When Ten turns to Shiraoka to explain what is the source of the animosity between Rei and Riku, he agrees to a deal to let her know. So Chiaki and she both find out, and they each decide to help Riku be happy. Ten’s feelings for Riku have grown, and it is quite adorable how cute the two of them are around each other (even if I was cheering for Chiaki in the earlier volumes) and there’s plenty of romantic fluff in this book. Chiaki’s adoration of Riku is also very cute, and I loved how he told off his brother for making snap judgments on Riku. Also, I generally love Chiaki being adorable around Riku, but I wish the latter wasn’t so irritated by him (how can you say no to those puppy dog eyes, Riku, how?). But along with the fluff, the series is taking a turn into some painful places, with Riku’s family troubles starting to come out in the open.
I did feel some slight changes in the art style, and I am not sure if I am imagining them? Like, there is some difference in the character design but I can’t be sure because it has been a while since I read the last volume. Anyway, I love that Riku, too, is making those cat-eye Ten faces lol.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Viz Media LLC, via Edelweiss.
Previous books in the Shortcake Cake series
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Releases on May 5, 2020
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