Riko acts like she doesn't care when Ran comes back from a trip with Rinko, the fiancee his dad picked out for him, in tow. However, she can't bring herself to just stand back when Rinko admits she wants to marry Ran for his money. Then Riko and Ran celebrate Christmas together at one of Ran's swanky parties. As Riko sees Ran schmoozing with all the rich people, she begins to doubt that their relationship will last.

I liked this volume more than the first, if only because I could pretend that Ran and Riko's relationship hadn't begun with him repeatedly forcing his presence on her. Also, Ran had fewer opportunities to behave horribly towards others.

That's not saying this volume was good, just that it was better than the first. It was a bit of a rushed mess, actually. There I was, expecting more over-the-top goofy fluff, and instead what I mostly got was a tragedy-tinged love story. Riko worried about the difference in their social classes, Ran worried that the difference in their social classes would cause Riko future pain (never mind that he originally forced himself into her life without any regard for her desire to live a normal life), and Riko occasionally remembered that she was supposed to feel a little awkward about her super-strength. There were some over-the-top moments, like the terrorists (who were also Ran's family's business rivals?) and the bit with Ran's fiancee, but I honestly think Takagi would have been better off increasing the goofiness and scaling back the “tragic lovers” stuff. The difference between volume 1's tone and volume 2's tone was off-putting.

Takagi's focus felt off, like she didn't quite know what kind of story she wanted to tell or how to carry it through more than a single volume. There were bits here and there that were good, or would have been good if Takagi had pushed them more. For example, at the end of the volume Riko did things to save Ran that she'd have felt too insecure to do before, due to her desire to be an ordinary girl. This could have made a nice volume 1 finale (if their "romance" hadn't been awful), because that volume mentioned her negative feelings about her physical abilities a lot. However, volume 2 was primarily focused on Riko and Ran's differing social classes. It just didn't fit.

All in all, this was a mediocre ending to a disappointing series. The best thing this series had going for it was its artwork, and even that wasn't anything special.

The volume also included an unrelated extra story, “Warm to the Touch,” which starred a high school student named Kashu. Kashu was terrified of people touching him, due to bad childhood memories of his aunt forcing her affection on him. I know that a lot of people see nothing wrong with relatives forcing hugs and kisses on kids, but since that kind of thing is part of the reason why I have touching hang-ups of my own, I totally understood, although Kashu's reaction was more extreme.

Anyway, the only person he could tolerate touching him was Sayuri Kimura, the biology teacher at his school. When he injured himself, her touch as she bandaged him was reassuringly impersonal. Unfortunately, this led to him deciding he was in love with her. The teacher gently but firmly turned him down (yay!), but then changed her mind later on (boo!).

I'm sure that Takagi intended for this to be a sweet love story, but I just couldn't take it that way. Kashu needed counseling, especially considering that he

Extras:

Several author sidebars and a 4-page bonus comic featuring Ran and Riko's wedding.

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

This is such a mess, and yet I still like this volume more than the first. It's like Tachibana tried to fit every reason Ran and Riko can't be together into 150 pages.

One of the sidebars mentions that the ending is a little different (slightly extended) from what it was in the serialized version, and there's a little image of Tachibana's editor telling her that the ending is unhappy (she disagreed). If that additional stuff is what I think it is, I agree with her editor, the ending was tragic. Which is weird, considering that volume 1 seemed to promise goofy, over-the-top fluff.

Now it's time for a short extra manga called "Warm to the Touch," which begins with this sentence: "Almost no one ever thinks they don't want to be touched."

I finally made myself finish reading this. Yay! Except I still have to get through volume 2...

Riko Kunimi wants nothing more than to be an ordinary high school girl. Unfortunately, her amazing physical abilities (super strength, ability to survive a three-story fall without injury, etc.) bring her to the attention of Ran Tachibana, the 17-year-old heir of one of the world's richest families. Ran is determined to marry her. He tells her he'll give up if she can evade him for the next 25 hours, but the deck is stacked against her. As Riko spends more time in Ran's world (because she has no choice), she learns that he's constantly in danger. And now that Riko is his fiancee, so is she.

I requested this one via interlibrary loan for two reasons. One, I liked the artwork on the cover. And two, I learned that the series was only two volumes long. Which I knew probably meant it was going to feel rushed, but short series are so much less daunting and time-consuming that I couldn't resist.

This first volume was a mess. It was too over-the-top and ridiculous for me to truly be enraged by it, but boy am I glad that I got this through the library and didn't buy it.

Ran's reason for falling in love with Riko was pretty silly, but I liked that his reaction to her physical abilities was usually a great big grin and some version of “Isn't she amazing?” He didn't seem to care that she could probably wipe the floor with him.

That said, as a romantic hero Ran sucked. He first met Riko when his driver almost ran her over. As the accident was happening, his first thought was “How am I going to hush this up?” Later, he arranged it so that he and Riko were locked up together and then got mad when she accidentally hit him while trying to get him to leave her alone. His exact words: “I'm being nice and you give me this attitude? What don't you like about me? My looks, family financial situation and prospects are great. If you ignore my personality, I'm perfect!” (29) That last line showed that Takagi was at least a little aware of how awful Ran was, and it might have worked out okay if he'd realized the error of his ways and backed off a bit (okay, more than a bit), but no. He basically badgered Riko into spending time with him, and then she let him convince her that she was falling in love with him.

Riko and Ran's various adventures, which included an assassin and a jealous rich kid, were pretty forgettable and weren't fun enough to make up for their terrible budding romance.

The volume included an extra unrelated story, “The Need for Artificial Respiration,” which was a bigger mess than the main story. The premise: Kiyoharu becomes curious about Toko, a girl in his school who once kissed him out of the blue. She doesn't seem to be dating anyone, but she spends a lot of time around one particular guy and is known for kissing a lot of guys.

Takagi tried to tell a serious story about a girl who

, but the end result was muddled and confusing, and the characters were under-developed. Also, the sudden romance between Kiyoharu and Toko made me uncomfortable. Kiyoharu had no reason to fall for Toko, other than that one kiss she forced on him, and I got the impression that Toko had emotional problems she was trying to fix with boys.

Extras:

• A three-page Flower in a Storm bonus, in which Ran worries that he may be gaining weight.
• A one-page author's afterword.
• A brief note about the poem Ran quotes earlier in the volume.

Rating Note:

I initially considered giving this 2 stars, because I usually think of 1- and 1.5-star books as being memorable in their awfulness, and Flower in a Storm is fairly forgettable. However, writing about Ran reminded me of how much I disliked him. Enough to drop my rating a whole star! So there you go, 1 star.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

I finally started listening to the "Hamilton" soundtrack and have particularly enjoyed the "America's overly controlling boyfriend" King George III songs. Unfortunately, they mesh a little too well with this manga. Ran proposed to Riko with a gun, told her he'd only give up if she could manage to evade him for the next 25 hours, and then went after her with a helicopter, armed personnel (tranquilizer darts, but still), and her fellow classmates, who'd been bribed. And he had the gall to get mad when she accidentally hit him in the face while trying to keep him away from her.

At least until the next time I request stuff.

When I learned that this series was only two volumes long, I took a chance and requested both at once. Happily, volume 1 came in before volume 2.