Ah! It’s the final volume say what? What originally caught my eye about this series was the beautiful art style. Although I have never read That Wolf Boy Is Mine! This is the mangaka’s other work; I have heard of it, so I decided to give this series a try; now, on to the review.
We last left Mako beside herself in confusion over Kei-chan’s confession. She eventually gets over her fever but she still doesn’t have a definitive answer for poor Kei chan.
You could say that Kei chan decides to take advantage of this indecisiveness on Mako’s part. He asks Mako to be his girlfriend and have a sort of trial period.
Mako willingly agrees to the arrangement because she cares so much about Kei chan. Everyone already knows they have become an item by the time they return to the boarding house. Their senpai, Lucas, saw their confession and decided to tell everyone in the house. (His way of trying to help Kei chan have Amemura Kun back off.) Amemura Kun tells Kei not to consider him a threat when Kei tries to confront him.
Kei chan notes that although Amemura kun says that, he never denies having feelings for Mako, which is certainly true. Shortly after the boys’ confrontation, we get more backstory regarding Amemura. Being a child celebrity, he unfortunately dealt with a stalker. Who resented him for his success because she was the mother of a wannabe star. This incident is what triggers him to leave home and hide his face.
At the same time, Kei chan and Mako are having their first date (At a cemetery near the beach because Mako wants to take pictures.) Amemura receives a letter from his former stalker, which leaves him paralyzed.
At first, Amemura tries to avoid Mako when she and Kei first get home. Eventually, the two friends encourage him to tell the truth. Mako is surprised at first to learn about his full background. Ultimately, Mako says that it may be a good idea to meet the former stalker who asked for the opportunity to apologize in person. So he can have closure and move forward.
Amemura quickly makes arrangements to meet the stalker in the presence of a lawyer. Mako is still worried and, with the help of Kei chan, decides to follow Amemura. Everything goes well in the meeting and Amemura even questions how he allowed her to affect his life so much. After this, he makes the heart-pounding decision to stop hiding his face.
This moment is revealing in more ways than one. It is at this moment that Mako realizes her romantic feelings towards Amemura. Poor Kei chan. He knew he was fighting a losing battle. No one at the boarding house is particularly surprised by the fact that Amemura is actually a hottie.
Surprisingly, Kei chan accepts his fate as the childhood best friend pretty well. He accepts that although he loves her, Mako likes Amemura. Kei chan even admits that he was aware of her feelings for Amemura before Mako herself was. He doesn’t bow out before a goodbye kiss, though.
Although Kei chan plays it cool in front of Mako and acts maturely, when Amemura wants to tell him how he feels about Mako, Kei chan ignores him. Simply admitting that he and Mako have broken up. Their short-lived trial period is over.
Unfortunately for poor Kei chan, Mako and Amemura are honest about their feelings immediately and become a couple almost instantly. I think this happening so quickly is simply the result of Love In Focus being a short series and this being the final volume. Kei chan does go into big brother mode to remind Amemura to treat Mako right.
The series wraps up with the couple having a lovey-dovey moment after we are shown that Mako has won a photo competition with a photo of Amemura.
We get a short bonus story where we learn that Mako’s favorite picture of Amemura from his child actor/model days was taken by Mako’s beloved grandfather! It makes Amemura and Mako, meeting each other, feel a little more like fate.
Overall, I really loved the series. With this being the final volume of the series, I am happy to say that it is now my first complete series review for the blog! I wish the series were a bit longer, just because I enjoyed the characters.
