Sweetness and Lightning Volume 05 Manga Review
Amaama to Inazuma Manga Volume 05

–> Buy Sweetness and Lightning Volume 05 from Amazon.com!

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

The Story, in Brief

Tsumugi invites male classmate Suguru-kun over to her house after he has difficulty dealing with his mother’s hospitalization. Kouhei and Tsumugi get him to help make omochi. Shinobu, Yusuke, Kouhei, and Tsumugi head to Megumi’s to assist Kotori in shoveling snow. There, Kotori’s yakuza-looking father, Muneo, shows up, frightening Tsumugi. The others leave Tsumugi and Kotori to make some food, where she opens up about about her parent’s divorce.

Kouhei makes a fancy dress for Tsumugi’s birthday. Tsumugi has a party as Megumi’s. Later, Tsumugi gets to act as an oneechan to a younger girl names Sa-chan. When Sa-chan says she likes spaghetti carbonara, Tsumugi lies and says it is her favorite. When her dad makes regular spaghetti, Tsumugi breaks down and admits the lie. As such, they later go to Megumi’s to make it with Kotori.

Kouhei sends Tsumugi on her first errand. Shinobu and Kotori observe in secret. While Tsumugi makes it back without issue, she trips before entering the door of her home, fracturing her wrist. As such, Tsumugi gets frustrated at the limitations wearing a cast has on her. After an extended period of time, Tsumugi calms down. After a chat with her dad, they make croquettes.

Tsumugi Growing Up

If there were a theme to Sweetness and Lightning Volume 05, it would be that Tsumugi is growing up. The most obvious moment that suggested this is Tsumugi’s birthday and subsequent birthday party. Another is when Tsumugi does her first errand. Amagakure-sensei doesn’t stay long on this, choosing instead to have Tsumugi deal with a broken wrist.

And then there’s Tsumugi getting to act as an oneechan for a younger girl. It is a shame that Kodansha didn’t use the term “oneechan”. A common trope in Japanese anime or manga is a girl getting addressed as “oneechan” for the first time and loving the experience. So Tsumugi going through that made me smile, even if Kodansha reduced the moment for me.

I suppose Tsumugi copping an attitude about her broken wrist and then later coming to her senses is another sign of her growing up and maturing.

Cooking

As normal for this series, Sweetness and Lightning Volume 05 featured several dishes that were made during the course of the story. First up is omochi, a snack dessert. Next is buri daikon. Third is a sushi cake, which is not a dessert. Followed that is spaghetti carbonara. Wrapping things up are potato croquettes, which I have had and loved. I need to make them myself one day.

Omake

The omake manga chapter reveals that Yusuke knew Kouhei’s wife Tae from childhood. I got the impression that maybe Yusuke had some level of feelings for Tae, but she only saw him as an oniichan type figure.

Amagakure-sensei has a thank you note. Kodansha has translator notes, which is something I always appreciate. They also have a preview for the next volume of the manga. Things wrap up with ads for other Kodansha manga titles.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Sweetness and Lightning Volume 05 with some final thoughts.

• There’s no real development on the possible Kouhei x Kotori romance. Kouhei is still oblivious. Kotori clearly has feelings for him, even if she doesn’t recognize them as romantic feelings. However, Shinobu recognizes this.
• Speaking of Shinobu, I really get the feeling she likes Yusuke as a possible romantic interest. I don’t get the feeling in reverse though.
• I’m glad we got to meet Kotori’s dad in this volume. I laughed out loud at Tsumugi’s reaction to him as a possible oni.

In the end, Sweetness and Lightning Volume 05 is more of the wholesome goodness we’ve come to expect from this series.