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Review: Boarding School Juliet Vol. 2

Boarding School Juliet Vol. 2 Boarding School Juliet Vol. 2 by Yousuke Kaneda
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5/5 stars.

I liked this second volume even more than I liked the first one. This volume was extremely juicy.

The first volume was all about Romeo and Juliet’s love origin story, which is not something I fully endorse (if you read my volume 1 review you know this already). But this volume is after they’ve already been together for a decent while and it’s been a long enough time that now they have to start facing things which they were previously able to push aside. There’s unreciprocated love, there’s civil war, there’s fighting dirty. It’s like I said: Very spicy. Drama-wise. Actual romance-wise though? Ehhhhh… Not at all.

This is the weird thing for me. In certain ways these high schoolers act way more like elementary school kids than anything else. Like… It’s been a decent while since Romeo and Juliet started dating, right? Well, I’m pretty sure they haven’t even kissed yet. Actually, forget kissing, I don’t think they’ve even hugged or held hands, for Christ’s sake. They’ve accidentally fallen on top of one another and stared really up-close at each other a couple times, but that’s literally the extent of their physical relationship.

Do you get why I say they act like elementary school kids now? Heck, they’re probably worse, actually. I’m sure even elementary school kids hug and hold hands. Jesus Christ the kids in this manga are a mess. This doesn’t actually bother me though, because I don’t read and enjoy this series for the romance, I read it for the comedy and drama/story, and it delivers very nicely on those fronts. If you’re here for proper romance though, you’re going to be disappointed.

If you want a manga that actually has a mature presentation of highschool romance (and you also really hate yourself) I recommend you to Scum's Wish. I actually haven’t read the manga, but I’m watching the anime airing right now (I’m on episode 5 as I’m writing this). And oh boy, oohhhhh booooyyyy is there a ginormous contrast in the sexual maturity present in the characters between these two series.

In regards to my main problem I had with the first volume—the unhealthy core to Romeo and Juliet’s relationship, that is the fact that it’s one-sided—it didn’t seem so bad at all during this second volume. It seemed slightly less that Juliet was just going with whatever Romeo expected of her, and was actually involved in their relationship herself. Looking back, I can still remember times where this still seems to be a problem, but while I was reading it it didn’t bother me so much.

I’m very much enjoying this series right now. I’m looking forward to more spicy drama in future volumes, and some actual romantic progression would also be nice.


Click to read all of my Juliet of Boarding School Reviews:
One-shot
Volumes: 1, 2*, 3, 4

*Current review


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