Hey everyone, I’m Ayxan Solongo aka Arden Skye aka TimeFliesAway, a shapeshifter traveling through the multiverse.
This Story, “A curtain call for you”, volume 1, or “The day I remembered how to breathe” was quite something. 4.5 stars. Loud and performative like Tsubame, and poetic like Akutsu. And very wholesome!
“There’s no correct way to enjoy the world.”
I first followed Akutsu around. She’s a closed-off high school 2nd-year-grader, who describes her life as a “murky torrent”. She’s shy and has trouble talking to others, especially because no one’s patient enough to wait until she finds words. I can relate to her a lot, but people like this also tend to be a bit annoying (perhaps because I can relate so much). It took a bit for me to warm up to her.
Then, Tsubame storms the room, quite literally, with a bold introduction of herself! I loved her from the first page on – especially her “normal is boring” attitude. And she has peak advice. Quite an awesome person to look up to; I can totally see why Akutsu is so awe-struck about her.
But even though she’s idol-material and just seems like she’s got the perfect life, there’s more to her she doesn’t want anyone to know … which was already hinted at the way she interpreted Akutsu’s cat story. (Surprised me a bit when it’s revealed later on what it may be (she only told me snippets), ngl. But it does make sense, and when I visited their first moments again, I could actually see it.)
Thanks to Tsubame’s sweet patience, I got along with Akutsu soon as well! She’s a writing genius, too.
I can very much see myself in both of them. Introverted with social anxiety to the point of having trouble talking and finding words, while at the same time doing whatever I want because life’s too short to go after people’s expectations.
Not sure whether that’s gonna be a romance or will stay (queer-)platonic, but either way, I ship them! The fist bump and head lean was especially adorable. u3u
I just love how they support each other, so it doesn’t really matter how intimate they are physically, as they’ve already got quite the connection mentally! That’s pretty rare too, and I’d love if they could stay like that for a while, before they go further, IF it’s a romance.
Excited to see them again!
If you liked the theatre storyline from “Bloom into you”, and the story of “A tropical fish yearns for snow”, I can definitely recommend this! It’s still very different from these, but it did remind me of them from time to time. (In a good way!)
Ps. It’s interesting how my keyboard is auto-correcting Tsubame (her name) into “tsunami”. 👀 Even my phone sees they’re meant to be for each other! Or, as Tsubame puts it, fate brought them together~
PPS. That Peter Pan theatre adaptation was cool. Especially the humor with the taxes! XD Also got pretty dark/sad in there, would’ve liked to see more of the play. But was a good introduction to the new character, an actress. They just know how to do introductions in this.
| Criteria | Scores | Our Score |
|---|---|---|
| Art | 1-5 | 3.5 |
| Pacing | 1-5 | 3 |
| Characters | 1-5 | 4 |
| Writing Style | 1-5 | 4 |
| Originality | 1-5 | 3 |
Finale Grade
B
Thank you to Kodansha for sending me a digital invitation. The story was released as a manga on 25th Nov 2025 in this universe. Written down by Shiho Satou and illustrated by Kiki Emoda.
Also, the manga was a first time for both the illustrator and writer? No way! Felt so professional and experienced tho! Although some panels reminded me more of caricatures, while still being within manga/chibi comedy, but it’s exactly that charm that I loved!
Also fits to the January 2026 Book Guild theme, self-improvement, as Akutsu’s trying to improve by following Tsubame’s wise advices.
Left 23rd January 2026
~A. S.
Check my other content on this earth: Newsletter | Commissions | My books | Fediverse
Written By: Arden Skye aka Ayxan Solongo aka TimeFliesAway
Favorite game/film/book: doesn’t have one, cause there are too many good ones!
About: A child of Mother Nature, traveling through the multiverse. Likes to explore the stories of unique individuals – most often referred to as “weird” in a lot of worlds.
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