Sweetness and Lightning Volume 08 Manga Review
Amaama to Inazuma Manga Volume 08

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***SPOILERS***

Tsumugi gets scolded in elementary school for wanting to take some of her lunch home for her dad. Kotori enjoys a cooking session with Tsumugi and Kouhei before meeting with her parents. She tells her parents she wants to take over running Megumi’s.

Meanwhile, Tsumugi learns that Nagisa hasn’t forgiven her over the cat incident. After talking to her father, Tsumugi invites Nagisa and friends over for lunch that Tsumugi helps make. Nagisa forgives Tsumugi. Kouhei takes Tsumugi to the beach for clam hunting. She attempts to learn what her father likes for his birthday. Kotori has a long talk with Kouhei about her desire to take over her mom’s restaurant.

Tsumugi practices for a relay race at school. Kotori invites Kouhei and Tsumugi over to make tonkatsu. At the sports festival, Tsumugi gets praised for winning the race. Later, Tsumugi fears she’s getting a cavity and going to lose a tooth. As such, she confides in Kotori, who assures her Tsumugi’s adult teeth are coming in. Tsumugi wishes Kotori were her oneechan, flattering Kotori to no end.

Growing Up

Tsumugi’s adventures in growing up continue in Sweetness and Lightning Volume 08. Now that she’s in elementary school, things are somewhat different. She eats the school lunch rather than bring her own. I understood her desire to save a bit for her dad, but in reality, that’s not even practical.

In addition, Tsumugi had to resolve the cat issue between her and Nagisa. This continues a plot thread introduced in volume 6. I found that to be a nice touch.

Another thing I liked is how Tsumugi confides in Kotori. It makes sense that there are things she might want to confide in with another girl. Also, it was cute how Kotori reacted when Tsumugi said she wished Kotori was her real oneechan. 😍

Speaking of Kotori, I like how she’s also growing up. She’s come to understand that in high school, she’s just adrift with no direction. However, thanks to her time with talks with Kouhei, and spending time with him and Tsumugi, she knows what she wants to do with her life.

As an aside, Amagakure-sensei really has kept a lock down on any Kotori x Kouhei threads, other than tiny reactions from Kotori or little looks from her friends at times. I get it; a high school girl and an adult teacher can’t be in a romantic relationship, no matter how wholesome.

Cooking

The first dish in Sweetness and Lightning Volume 08 is Sawara Saikyo-yaki. Apparently it is a fish dish, but I’ve never heard of it. Next up are egg sandwich and guacamole sandwich. Hard pass on that second sandwich. When I lived in Japan, the Japanese run cafeteria at the base “airport” made an amazing fried egg, ham, and cheese sandwich called a Walkaway.

The next pair of food dishes are hamaguri clam rice and asari clam miso soup. I don’t care for clams. However, the next dish of tonaktsu is one of my favorite Japanese foods. I’ve never heard of a miso sauce though. Finally, there’s mapo tofu, with the “homemade” tag. Not sure what makes it different. I’ve had this and it is fine (if hot), but not something I’d seek out.

Omake

The extras in Sweetness and Lightning Volume 08 start with a report (in comic form) about the seiyuu for the anime adaptation. The short omake chapter displayed Kotori’s class performing Swan Lake, where Shinobu has a male role. That is followed by translation notes, an ad for the next volume, and then ads for other Kodansha Comic titles.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Sweetness and Lightning Volume 08 is another fun outing if you like slice-of-life content.