There may be no more snow in this volume of A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, but Konatsu gets to return to the spotlight. She was practically a no-show in the previous volume, so it is nice to have her back.
This volume contains chapter, or tanks, twenty-one through to twenty-four.
Front cover of the sixth volume of A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, featuring Kaede Hirose and Konatsu Amano
Koyuki and Konatsu have both started to see the other as important, but they’re still unable to be honest about their feelings. This leads to frustrating days when they’re never in sync, and they begin to drift apart. Then one day Konatsu sees Koyuki and her classmate Kaede spending time together as if they’re the best of friends, and she can’t contain agitation. Konatsu and Koyuki feel so strongly about each other that they feel uneasy even when there’s nothing to worry about.
Well, this volume of A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow went in exactly the direction I expected it to. One day it would be nice to have a character see their love interest hang out with a friend and not immediately assume the worst.
I guess slow burn romances can be a thing, but I feel certain decisions taken at this point are solely for creating melodrama. As it stands, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of neither Konatsu or Koyuki in this volume.
Though I will admit that Konatsu does manage to do a good thing, but still might need to do a bit more to make up for the melodrama…
Fortunately, there are other characters in this story. Kaede and Fuyuki are the stand outs here. OK, Kaede admits to meddling with Konatsu and Koyuki in order to bring them together, but I think that meddling will pay off in the end.
As for Fuyuki, he cares a great deal for his older sister. At least Koyuki has people looking out for her.
Got to give the manga props for the loneliness vs. being alone thing, though. You can be surrounded by people but still feel lonely, and that is the root cause of Konatsu’s feelings in this volume.
Still kind of feel it’s melodramatic, however.
Hopefully both Konatsu and Koyuki can resolve all this melodrama sooner rather than later. Perhaps they’ll get back on track with the next volume. At the moment, the side characters are shining more than their relationship is.
If only they could pluck up the courage to talk to each other… but, as I’ve mentioned before, that would make many stories so much shorter.
Rory Muses 