Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms, Vol. 2

黒岩メダカに私の可愛いが通じない [Kuroiwa Medaka ni Watashi no Kawaii ga Tsūjinai] #2

by Ran Kuze

Mona is the most popular girl in school and can make any boy swoon, except one: Medaka Kuroiwa. As per usual, she’s engaging in a heated battle with him to make him fall for her. This time, she also has the help of her fangirl Tsubomi. She tried all sorts of aggressive tactics during the school festival, and even shared an umbrella with him on the way to school, all in an effort to make him pay attention to her! But before she knows it, it’s her heart that’s fluttering! What’s more, she now has to contend with a formidable kouhai who’s also gunning for Medaka. The battle for Medaka’s heart is about to get even more heated!

Genres: Manga, Romance, Comedy, Slice Of Life, Graphic Novels, Fiction

156 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 17, 2021

Reviews

[Keiko the manga enthusiast ♒︎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lol, what is going on? Mona's charms are getting so tiring but the cupcake chapter is kinda fun. And then an appearance of a new rival, Asahi, who seems unaware of her showy quality. And on top of that, Mona's denial of her, what a hypocrite! Nevertheless, I did enjoy this volume too. Mona's desperate facial expressions are so funny. The chapters are too short, the dialogues are so easy to read, and the art is so fine.

This is one of those books that you're picking up on a bookstore shelf, scanning the pages and then unknowingly reading them, until you didn't know that you finished it already. A definite quick read. This really engaging.

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would Mona have a rival? Basket ball star Shounan seems to have a huuuuge crush on Kuroiwa- always perfectly blind to other’s attentions- but luckily for Mona she goes beet red and loses her grip when in front of him. Maybe there’s still hope for Mona but Shouna has other charms too...

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kuroiwa continues to put on a brave face, while Mona launches assault after assault at his defences. Can a hapless monk possibly resist the temptations of a popular girl hellbent on seducing him? And should the reader care?

I don’t know that you can justify a rom-com that is not especially rom and very, very fitfully com. In fact, your tolerance for such things and how much you enjoy some admittedly excellent art is going to form the basis of whether or not this is enjoyable for the reader.

From last volume, we have our leads mashed against one another in a locker while Mona is wearing a bunny outfit that I’m sure made sense at the end of the last book. A last second save means nothing really happens, although Mona gets called out both for being cute and showing too much skin (mind your own business, Kuroiwa) at the same time.

This segues to the school festival, which is probably the best part of the story. The crepe trope being curtailed by a rogue crow and Mona’s appetite is the best joke in the book. The second and, sadly, other joke is how much Kuroiwa loves the haunted house.

Everything else is not especially funny, to the point where you kind of scratch your head and wonder, “is this a joke?” more than anything else. Combined with the tepid romance, what’s the point?

Mona tries, Mona fails, it turns out she was closer than she thought. She says she isn’t after Kuroiwa but sure does put a lot of effort into this. And let’s not ignore that it’s known he’s studying to be a monk, so her actions come off as more than a little disrespectful to him.

Of course, he’s not much better, though at least he gets properly called out for being kind of a jerk in kind. Yeah, he’s being tormented, but he doesn’t even try to clear the air between the two of them at any time until this gets pointed out.

I just don’t see the chemistry between them at all. She’s clearly getting to a point where she’ll be interested for more than just the sake of appearances (the way this whole scenario twists in her head makes no sense) and lord knows what will happen with him, but it’s just… there… Sparks are meant to be flying but they’re not even crawling (the whole bridge of love sequence is so cringe-worthy in set-up and payoff)

They introduce a rival who I literally forgot about until I looked at the cover to the volume who this book thinks is hilarious because she talks big around Mona but gets tongue-tied around Kuroiwa. The lame fan service here has absolutely nothing on how nuts it was in the first volume. This is toned way down and it sadly turns out to have been one of the funnier parts of its predecessor.

2.5 stars - it’s a big old shrug of a book, minus the art. What is this doing and who cares? The narrative is all out of whack and Mona’s motivations are incredibly convoluted, plus Kuroiwa still isn’t interesting. I think this is only getting a third volume from me if it’s a very slow week.

[Enairolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le premier tome m’avait beaucoup plu, j’ai passé un excellent moment pendant ma lecture et vu la façon dont il se terminait, j’étais impatiente de découvrir ce que le second tome allait nous réserver. Je n’ai vraiment pas été déçue pour le coup. Ce second tome est vraiment dans la lignée du premier, c’est très plaisant à lire. C’est une histoire très rafraichissante et légère, le tout avec beaucoup d’humour, clairement le mélange parfait pour moi!

Dans ce second tome, Mona, véritable reine des abeilles, fait tourner toutes les têtes dans son lycée… sauf celle d’un garçon, Medaka Kuroiwa. Depuis son arrivée dans leur école, Medaka est complètement indifférent à ses charmes et Mona n’a plus qu’une idée en tête : le faire craquer pour elle. Par chance, elle s’est trouvée une alliée en Tsubomi Haruno, qui crée le plus d’occasions possible pour que Mona et Medaka se retrouvent en tête à tête. Lors de la fête du lycée, au bowling ou sous la pluie, Mona tente approche sur approche ! Mais c’est son cœur à elle qui flanche petit à petit…

Tout comme le premier tome, j’ai beaucoup apprécié ma lecture. J’ai passé un excellent moment et qu’est ce que j’ai pu rire encore une fois! C’est typiquement le genre de lecture parfaite pour se détendre. Le tome précédent se terminait d’une telle façon qu’on avait envie de découvrir la suite et ce ne fut pas décevant. Ça me fait tellement rire de voir Medaka essayait de se contenir, d’essayer de prendre sur lui. Il va être mis à rude épreuve en tout cas parce que Mona est pleine de ressource. J’ai beaucoup aimé le voir changé de comportement. Parce qu’il est vrai que sa façon de toujours repousser Mona est assez dure.. Parfois j’ai de la peine pour elle même. Il ne s’en rend pas vraiment compte mais il est hyper froid et parfois ça parait même être méchant. Mona est vraiment pleine de ressource, elle regorge d’idées plus farfelues les unes que les autres pour essayer de le faire craquer. C’est si drôle de la voir faire autant d’effort pour parvenir à ses fins! Sauf que pour elle les problèmes commencent… Il semblerait qu’elle va avoir une rivale et va devoir tout faire pour que Medaka ne craque pas sur elle.. J’ai hâte de voir la suite parce que ça s’annonce excellent est encore plus drôle tiens!

Ce second tome était très plaisant à lire, j’ai pris beaucoup de plaisir à le dévorer en un rien de temps! Mona me fait beaucoup rire, j’adore voir toutes les petites choses qu’elle met en place pour essayer de le faire craquer. De plus, la plupart du temps ça rend la situation si cocasse! Cette histoire pleine d’humour est parfaite si vous voulez passer un chouette moment sans prise de tête. Vivement le prochain tome!

[Squilvia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mona is hella fucking annoying 😭 she's such a pick-me-girl. Fake as fuck at that too. It doesn't make much sense that everyone loves her and thinks she's perfect. Whyyy oh whyyy is this the personality they decided to go with her? I love how the mangaka draws the characters' facial expressions though. So funny and expressive. I actually don't mind Medaka but I wished we know more about his backstory (maybe in later volumes). His early design as a delinquent with pure heart is so good. I wished they had went with that instead. Imagine the son of a monk who is a delinquent but trying his best to be a successor monk lmao

[Zian B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I still feel like this could’ve been done at a college instead of a high school, I did enjoy this volume slightly more than the 1st volume.
I like that we got to see more instances of Mona-chan flustering herself while trying to seduce Medaka-kun. I also liked that this volume showed more minor characters interacting with our main duo, including a friend of Mona-chan and even a love rival for Medaka-kun’s affections.
I’m curious to see how things go in the next volume with how the love rival, handled things in the last chapter.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

not as strong as the first volume, though the school festival (bunny cafe, haunted house, and 'love bridge') was fun. I am really not feeling the new rival Asahi, who gets so flustered and tongue-tied with kuroiwa that she literally just collapses (1000% to insert the fan-service).

I was hoping for a bit more progress in their relationship but it is exactly the same...

[AsianMerr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would’ve liked the joke of no one but the popular girl is into the main guy but we have our rival introduced towards the second half of the volume. The festival stuff was cute and they addressed him about just not liking her and not being cold which is some good progress cause I feel the cold shoulder method would’ve gotten boring by volume 3 or 4

[Yamihvi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.1

[Felicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Funny and unlikely. Again, women using their curves to attract a man. The poor guy who wants to be a monk is constantly provoked by the girls. Simple, fluid dialogues. Nice drawings..

[Sheepy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhhh those last two chapters really added to the series! What comes next !!!

[Gigi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐

[DoctorFeddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vediamo che nello scorso volume appare una fan sfegatata di Mona quasi rasente allo Stalking, che ha visto lungo sul rapporto tra Mona e Medaka, in questo volume vediamo Mona provare costumi per la festa culturale ( i giapponesi e la loro fissa con i festival scolastici) e ne prova uno da coniglietta sexy ma Medaka entra mentre lei lo indossa quindi situazione imbarazzante perché Tsubami Haruno ( la superfan) entra nel camerino e loro sono costretti a nascondersi, ma quando poi torna la calma a Medaka gli sfugge un apprezzamento per lui suona più come un monito. Altre disavventure attendono Mona nella ricerca del punto debole di Medaka per poi farlo cadere ai suoi piedi, l'entrata in scena di una nuova ragazza che sembra invaghita di Medaka ma con un modo diverso di Mona e dai toni più forti rispetto alla protagonista. Questo volume è stato molto leggero come il primo volume vediamo Mona provare reazioni e sentimenti che lei stessa non comprende essendo lei quella a cui gli altri facevano la corte, snobbandoli sempre con indifferenza, la nuova ragazza è la classica Tsundere dura e forte ma che appena vede il protagonista si scioglie come neve al sole. In questo tipo di manga ci si concentra più il personaggio che agli sfondi che sono completamente bianchi, o con il minimo sindacabile.

VOTO: 7.2/10

[Niche · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this more than the first book, but it's probably still ~2.5/5 for me. It felt like they toned down the fan service a bit (and really just a bit) and focused more on self-destructing seduction attempts and silliness. This also introduces a similarly clumsy rival at the end, unfortunately they also seem to be steering her towards being a fanservice source.