Sweetness and Lightning Volume 04 Manga Review
Amaama to Inazuma Manga Volume 04

–> Buy Sweetness and Lightning Volume 04 from Amazon.com!

* * * S P O I L E R S * * *

There are twelve volumes in this series, so with this volume, I’m now a third of the way through. I still haven’t hit the area that wasn’t covered by the anime adaptation. And as before, no comparison between the anime and manga due to time constraints as well as the anime’s unavailability as it is no longer on Crunchyroll, and was never given a physical release in America.

The Story, in Brief

Kouhei accidentally cuts himself while preparing a meal. This disturbs Kotori and Tsumugi greatly. Kotori opens up on her own fear of knives. One of Tsumugi and a friend have a falling out over Tsumugi’s desire to dress up as Galigali-san for a school event. Kotori has Kouhei and Tsumugi over as well as well as Shinobu and Yusuke to make crepes.

Tsumugi wants to try different things at school, such as ballet. Kouhei and Tsumugi go to Megumi’s to cook a meal with a special, vegetable side dish. Kouhei takes Tsumugi to an okonomiyaki restaurant. However, Tsumugi becomes disappointed when all they are allowed to do is cook it. When Kouhei tells Kotori, she has them come over the Megumi’s to make it. Shinobu and Yusuke come by as well, as does Kotori’s mother.

Tsumugi hears that there is no Santa. Kotori gives Kouhei a suggestion on what to make for Christmas. On Christmas eve, Kouhei leaves Tsumugi with Yusuke at his cafe. Tsumugi and Yusuke make cupcakes after Kotori and Shinobu arrive. Kouhei makes stew for Christmas. Yusuke comes by, dressed as Santa, and delivers the cakes Tsumugi made for her dad.

Just Some Slice of Life

In terms of story, there are no ongoing story issues that get dealt with. There’s nothing spoken about Kotori and Kouhei’s friendship. They continue to enjoy spending time together, making meals that they and Tsumugi can enjoy. It did seem like Shinobu and Yusuke (Yagi) were involved more than in the previous volume. And when there are more folks involved, any kind of romantic elements don’t have time to do anything.

Sweetness and Lightning Volume 04 does spend more time with Tsumugi’s school life. As such, I like seeing Tsumugi going through things for the first time. It sucks when you have a fight with a friend. So I could appreciate Tsumugu’s first experience in this area. Then there was Tsumugi hearing that there was no Santa. I will admit, I’m thankful my parents didn’t teach us Santa. But for Kouhei in the story, he wanted to not have Tsumugi’s dreams crushed. As such, it was kinda cute that Yusuke dressed up as Santa.

Beyond that, there wasn’t anything too dramatic that happened. Well, there was Tsumugi and Kotori’s discomfort and the like when Kouhei cut himself. But in reality, that’s not much.

Cooking

As usual, there were several Japanese dishes made in Sweetness and Lightning Volume 04. The first was shougayaki. Next was a specific crepe, namely the sweet potato and cream crepe. Doesn’t sound like something I’d like. I also don’t think I’d care for the vegetable dish kinpira gobou. 😅On the other hand, I have had authentic okonomiyaki, which isn’t my favorite, but it was fine. Calling it a “Japanese pancake” does the name “pancake” a disservice, in my opinion.

Wrapping up things was beef stew. I know the Japanese eat nikujaga, which is kinda like beef stew, only with thinly sliced beef and a thinner stock. (Well, there are some other differences as well.) Regardless, it kinda surprised me that beef stew would be something the Japanese would be into.

Omake

The omake manga chapter sees Kotori dressed as a witch for the culture festival. It is pretty cute, especially since Kotori gets relieved that no one has any interest in Inuzuka-sensei.

We have the thank you note from Amagakure-sensei. There are translator notes, which I like. Then there’s the preview for the next volume. After that, there are just ads for other Kodansha products.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Sweetness and Lightning Volume 04 was a lot of wholesome fun.