By Kaori Yanagida
NETCOMICS, 115 pp.
Rating: 16+

In this volume from the creator of 3H Before Kiss, we get three short romance stories. The first and longest of the stories, “How to Make Her Delicious,” is about a guy named Atsushi who couldn’t be happier with his relationship with his girlfriend… except he desperately wants to eat her cooking. He does all the cooking, which makes Yumiko happy, but nothing he says can convince Yumiko to cook for him since she thinks her cooking is terrible. Of course, Valentine’s Day is coming up, so maybe Yumiko will break down and try to make some homemade chocolate. Next, in “20th Birthday,” a woman who stands to inherit her late parents’ estate is forced into an arranged marriage, and her lover doesn’t seem all that opposed to their separation. In the final story, “Summertime Puppy Love,” a new teacher with an obnoxious student winds up caring for her after some hypnotherapy goes wrong.

I was much less impressed with this volume than 3H Before Kiss. As you may be able to tell from the descriptions, these stories stick very close to the standard shojo plot devices. There are still a lot of twists and personality so they stay entertaining, but don’t expect anything too spectacular to happen. Really, the only unexpected (and mildly disturbing) twist happened in the final story, but even then, the fairly generic plot played out exactly as you would imagine. The first story is mostly just a light romance with a lot of humor, while the second one is fairly serious and the third is a bizarre mix of both. I was a little worried about the third story since it implied a student-teacher relationship, but it never really goes that far, and actually goes out of its way to cater to my tastes in this regard.

While the characters aren’t particularly deep or unique, they are sincere. Yumiko and Atsushi from the first story are probably the best, and I think that story was my favorite in general because it had such a positive opening (the story is narrated by Atsushi, and he talks about how good his life is and how much he likes Yumiko with a decent dash of humor to get things started). Unfortunately, the couple with the least amount of chemistry is the pair from the second story, Yurino and Masumi. Masumi is a servant on the orphaned Yurino’s estate, and the point of the story is supposed to be their deep bond and how it withstands both an arranged marriage and a really wicked betrayal. Masumi doesn’t really seem all that interested in Yurino, though, and even after the reason is revealed, they still don’t seem like a very good couple.

The art is pretty standard shojo art, with some average character designs, minimalist backgrounds, plain clothes, et cetera. There’s not really anything at all that stands out about it. The boys and girls manage to be cute enough, and it serves its purpose as far as telling the story goes.

I suspect this book came out before 3H Before Kiss, since it seems to fall short of it in almost every way. It’s still a fun read, but there are so many other things you could be reading that it’s almost not worth it. The price is right though, and I can’t argue with the fact that it’s only a dollar to read online.

How to Make Her Delicious is available online at NETCOMICS.com.