Blue Box (Ao no Hako)

Chapter 42: Presenting pillbug Chinatsu.

That was great. I hope we get more moments like that for her.

Sorry, our allotment of Chinatsu POV for this volume was exhausted before the end of the chapter.

Edited by thatother1dude on Mar 4th 2022 at 6:23:08 AM

Chapter 43: I just KNEW Chinatsu was going to miss that one crucial shot. Ugh.

Hina also makes her shot, finding an excuse to tell Taiki she likes someone ahem ahem. Of course I don’t think she’s going to confess to Taiki, but she does want to say she’s a girl in love.

I guess Hina failed to *puts on glasses* knock it out of the park.

Loved the parallel montage, some creative touches like this don’t hurt.

Yeah the parallel between the basketball and the shoe was neat.

Chapter 44: It's NOT a blueball, Hina goes through with the confession and scores a critical hit on Taiki. And unfortunately, also Chinatsu. Not looking forward to the misunderstanding that will ensue. Chinatsu is going to become a pillbug again.

Anyway, Hina you madlass. I love that she's outright flirting with Taiki now. "Don't look at me as a friend, but as the girl who's in love with you." Really cute. And formidable.

Oh thank god it wasn’t a cop-out this time.

She took a big risk for sure, but at least she has the upper hand now. Though our old friend Contrived Coincidence makes sure nothing’s easy.

45 is out too! Where Chinatsu’s getting a promotion in the team… and starts aiming for a promotion on the other front, maybe?

Edited by Lyendith on Mar 18th 2022 at 6:25:25 PM

Chinatsu now has one of the classic sports shonen backstories— “I failed at the most critical moment and now I must make up for it.”

Move over Pillbug Chinatsu, blushing, shy Chinatsu with the full page spread is wowza.

Gotta respect Hina for fighting the good fight. Taiki’s already told her up front he’s going for Chinatsu and she’s fine with it.

I mean, imagine if she told him "Nope, you’re gonna aim for me, no matter what." That would paint a slightly more unpleasant picture of her. >.>

Honestly Hina reminds me of the second girl from Kagami no Kuni no Harisugawa where she (spoilers for that manga) acknowledges the MC is in love with someone else, but she’s fine waiting in the wings, so on the chance the MC gets rejected she’s willing to go out with him.

It’s sort of noble but at the same time, move on, find your happiness please

It’s not illegitimate to expect a shallow crush on a pretty girl to not last − like "he’ll get bored of her soon enough, I’ll just have to wait a year or two at most". The thing is, Taiki literally lives under the same roof as said crush, so he’ll soon have spent more time with Chinatsu than he ever did with Hina.

Well it’s not like I’m expecting Hina to stay passive anyway, she’s already confessed after all. She’s well within her rights to “steal” Taiki away.

Imagine if she did win. Now that’d be a twist on the formula.

Chapter 46 is out, aka the chapter full of absolutely beautiful shots of Chinatsu. She’s radiating that primary love interest energy. Taiki gets to have a mini birthday celebration with her by the beach, and now they’re hit with the classic romance trope of… do we have a name for it? When it’s rainy or stormy and the buses aren’t running and a boy and a girl have to stay somewhere for the night?

Dunno if there’s a trope for that, but yeah, that’s one more box ticked, ha ha.

Chinatsu’s showing more of her cute side lately, it’s great.

That's the one! I was positive it had to have a trope name.

Chinatsu, it seems, it part parrot.

Part pillbug, part parrot, all perfect.

Chapter 48: Just when they've dissolved the awkward distance between them, Chinatsu has to give up her home turf advantage to stay with her mom. More chances for Hina, I guess!

Or Taiki could learn to interact with her when he has to act slightly more forward.

Edited by thatother1dude on Apr 11th 2022 at 7:30:33 AM

Okay, that head-tilting scene was adorable. And so is the what-if classroom scene. These chaps do a good job at showing the distance between them naturally shrinking.

Now, since Chinatsu got hit with an unexpected "go back to live with her mom" debuff, will Hina take advantage of the "school play" buff to score a critical hit? Because come on, we already know who will be Snow White and who will be the Prince.

Edited by Lyendith on Apr 11th 2022 at 3:55:36 PM

Yes. Kyo will obviously be the prince.

…I didn’t think about that, but that could work too.