Falling Drowning, Vol. 1 // light shojo manga

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Falling Drowning, Vol. 1 by Yuko Inari
Series: Falling Drowning #1
Published by Kodansha on 8 February, 2022
Genre: Fiction, Graphic novels, Manga, Romance, Young adult
# pages: 205
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Rating: ★★★★

Honatsu just started her second year of high school, and already rumors are floating around that she's dating her childhood friend, Toma. While Honatsu isn't totally opposed to the idea, she's not sure what she feels for Toma can really be called love. But when aloof transfer student Shun Tachibana appears, the waters get even muddier...

thoughts + review

• I requested this book because I wanted to read it (and I love a lot of work published by Kodansha), but had zero idea what I was getting into when I actually started reading it. 🥲
• Throughout the volume, the titular themes of falling and drowning come to light.
• Due to this volume only containing four chapters, the story does not go into much depth. I understand the importance of cliffhangers, but there is so little to go off that — if I didn’t love the amnesia + two potential love interests trope so much — I wouldn’t feel compelled to read the second volume. This is the reason for one less star.
• It feels as though the case may ultimately pan out to be more of a love square of some sort.
• The characters in Falling Drowning look like the characters in the author’s other works, which makes me wonder if those other works are hints at what is come in this one, or if they’re just her publicly fleshing the characters out.
• Considering my love for the artwork and the amnesia + two potential love interests trope, I will definitely continue reading this — but I do dislike the shortness of this volume and how I now have to wait for what could be a whole ‘nother year.

Future reviews of this series will be added to this post, similarly to the way I did with Princess Jellyfish, and the date updated accordingly. I think this is what will work best for me, considering I prefer shorter domains and permalinks. 😎