Love Roma 2

Hoshino and Negishi have been together for a while now, but what do they really know about each other's lives? I mean, for instance, this volume includes the first time that Negishi actually visits Hoshino at home and meets any of his family. She meets his sister, Rei, whose name also conjures up images of Japanese WWII Zero fighter planes, and she can't really tell if the meeting went well or not. While Hoshino still has a love that maybe borders on the creepy or at least too idealistic, he decides to get a part time job at a restaurant in order to expand his outlook on people. It doesn't help when he's honest with his do-nothing co-worker, flatout telling the loser that he doesn't like him. This isn't good because the lazy bum is actually the owner's son! This second volume also hits on some school manga mainstays such as a "haunted school" story and the school festival in which Negishi and Hoshino star in a play whose plot and characters sometimes mirror their real lives too closely. Love Roma has an elusive charm that you can't quite put your finger on. The art is pretty simplistic and reminds me more of Western style comics than manga. While slightly tapping on more mature issues, it firmly falls into the category of appealing to a high school audience and the young at heart. These are not flesh and blood characters but romantic stereotypes pushed into a comedy, and that's what makes it funny. The romantic, wooing lover a la Pepe Le Pew pursuing his reluctant but ultimately willing object of devotion. Don't expect a real love story here. But if you like a cartoony kind of love, have at it.