The risk in naming your manga Our Aimless Nights is that the adjective is already giving too much away. This two-volume manga has its narrative meandering around in certain areas, although this serves as a good thing. Teenage romances with all of their awkward tendencies are never exactly straightforward anyway, especially when the story’s first half involves a classic game of “Will they or won’t they?” True, the story plods around as a result, although there’s still enough substance to make the relationship between the two main characters seem plausible.
Our Aimless Nights has the young Chika yearn for the brooding loner Waya. And brooding loner he is, to the point he dresses in dark clothing and has his hair droop over his eyes most of the time. His personality is the antithesis of Chika’s highly social one, which of course has the two finding out that opposites really do attract. This wouldn’t be the first time mangaka Mori Kou would venture into this territory–a similar premise was found in the pages of Momokawa-kun to Amami-san, which also included a seemingly normal girl trying to hook up with social outcasts. There are of course differences between Momokawa-kun to Amami-san and Our Aimless Nights, but the latter seems to follow the same barebones plot lines so well that one could consider it a spiritual successor to Momokawa.
The biggest two differences of course are that Our Aimless Nights takes place in high school instead of the workplace and that this story is two volumes of manga instead of one. With an additional volume, there’s a lot more wiggle room for some cute and wholesome romance. Admittedly, the manga doesn’t have enough room to give the characters’ too much depth; Chika’s popularity fades in the background as the manga goes on while Waya’s broodiness is there for him to be Beast to Chika’s Belle. Later on, Waya suspects that Chika might be interested in someone else, so to prove his worth he joins a cultural festival’s e-sports tournament that is built up well but we barely get to see, only to get an accidental disqualification a few panels in (although obviously he still gets to remain with Chika). There is another male character whose nervous yet playful behavior is seen as being puppy-like, and honestly? I’d rather have him be the object of the main heroine’s affection. But that just might be me speaking.
Still, the moments that don’t feel rushed out are the best moments the manga has to offer. Our Aimless Night‘s title references the little private get-togethers Waya and Chika have outside of a corner store every Wednesday night. They’re brief and fleeting for the characters in the story and us as the reader, yet there are enough of these moments to ultimately bring out the tenderness of Chika and Waya’s relationship. The final bit of the second volume has the prospect of college threatening to separate the two, and it comes packed with some expected cliches while remaining simple and to the point enough to provide a satisfactory conclusion nonetheless.
The art of this series isn’t exactly the most detailed, yet it has an earnestly flat style that still compliments it well. There are quite a few moments where the art style allows for instances of minimalism that help inject some of the cuteness necessary to bring out the characters’ personalities and romance. While admittedly generic at times, there was still a sincere simplicity to it all that still worked for me.
The manga is a slim read at two volumes, and again as the title implies it can be an aimless one to boot. By no means is this a deep, page-turning tale of love and lust, and it’s not really meant to be. Our Aimless Night is there to make a light, cute read and does its job well, making for a nice little story for fans of high school romances to lap up to.
Source link
#Aimless #Nights #Manga #Review #Review
