By Kazumi Tohno
Netcomics, 200 pp.
Rating: 13+

In this collection of short stories, the reader is treated to a slowly budding romance between a college professor, Miharu, and her student, Hasumi. What starts out as a casual friendship between neighbors winds up causing Miharu’s engagement to fail, and Miharu turns to Hasumi for comfort. Shortly after the night of consolation, the question “would anyone have done?” comes between the couple, and the rest of the stories focus on the pair coming together, little by little (or centimeter by centimeter, as you prefer).

The format of the volume is unusual in that it’s rare to see a couple-oriented book like this presented in a series of short stories. The format reminds me of a condensed Tramps Like Us, which had chapters that functioned mostly as short stories, but each chapter also contained plot development and growth in the relationships between the characters. Actually, this volume is a lot like Tramps Like Us because of the older woman/younger man relationship where neither of them wants to acknowledge more than friendship, too. I would hesitate to call it Tramps Like Us-lite, though, if only because it’s not as enjoyable.

I never quite took a liking to either one of the main characters, though Tohno does a good job at portraying both Miharu and Hasumi as real people and they react how you would expect adults to act in their situations. There just isn’t anything particularly endearing or unique about either of them, and once you figure out the basic personality for each, it’s pretty clear how most situations in the stories will pan out. There are a few side characters that pass in and out of the story, which include Miharu’s friends, other students at the University, Hasumi’s mom, a jealous female friend of Hasumi’s, and Miharu’s family. While plot elements in all the stories hinge on these characters, they really don’t amount to anything more than background noise, with the possible exception of Miharu’s father. He is in two or three of the stories, and the climax at the end of the book involves him as well.

Bizarrely, much is made by Hasumi’s friends about how she’s dating a guy four years younger than her. It doesn’t really seem like a big difference, especially since I believe the ages are 20 vs. 24, but it comes up a few times. I was initially very put off by the teacher-student relationship, but I must say it works much better when the setting is a college; it’s more believable in that environment.

Unfortunately, the stories themselves are kind of bland and cover a lot of the types of topics you would expect in a volume like this. Things start out interesting enough since Hasumi and Miharu sleep together in the first chapter and then are promptly driven apart and estranged. The idea of them slowly being drawn together through the volume is also a very good one. But the stories all cover pretty well-traveled shojo territory. There’s a story about Miharu’s parents meeting Hasumi. One story is about her getting in trouble at work because of rumors. Another is about Hasumi acting distant after mistaking a night out with friends for a matchmaking date for Miharu. And the ending, while sad, is also about what you would expect and it holds no surprises for the reader.

The book has a lot of promise, but it’s unfortunate that the interesting beginning is followed up with flat characters and story. It’s not terrible, and not a bad read for fans of the genre, but it’s also pretty unremarkable as far as one-shot romances go.

cm0 is available online at NETCOMICS.com.