Paradise Residence Chapter 15 Manga
パラダイス レジデンス Chapter 15

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Suzuka assures her family on the phone that she’ll be OK staying at the dorm for the Obon holiday. Hatsune asks what Suzuka is going to do for Obon, but when Suzuka indicates she’ll be staying at the dorm, Hatsune points out that the dorm is closed for Obon. Suzuka freaks out since even the family maid is on vacation, so she has no way of getting into her home.  The other girls of the dorm are amused by how Suzuka is the one who didn’t see the notice about the dorm being closed, since Hatsune is the one to miss these kinds of things. Komatsu tells her that she can’t stay at the dorm by herself since the real Dorm Mother will also be gone.

Little Dorm Mama suggests Suzuka stay with Hatsune’s family, so arrangements are made. Suzuka is a little nervous since this is her first trip like this to a friend’s house. Suzuka’s family also owns a motorcycle repair shop and are greeted by Hatsune’s mother Akiko, who’s on her way out to buy meat. She takes off on a motorcycle as Hatsune escorts Suzuka to Hatsune’s room. On the way there, they pass the shop, where Suzuka sees Hatsune’s father hard at work on a bike, which impresses her greatly.

Going into the residence part of the building, Hatsune opens her door to find her little brother (?) Hikaru reading manga on her bed. Hikaru is dazzled by Suzuka formally introduces himself. When Hatsune teases him, he retorts that it is hard to believe that Suzuka and Hatsune are the same gender.

That evening, Akiko makes sukiyaki, under Suzuka’s watchful eye, after which the whole family comes to the table to eat. Hatsune’s dad (Papa) asks why Suzuka didn’t come into the shop, so she explains that she was taught it was rude to enter a workplace without permission. Suzuka’s charm hits the whole family, leading Akiko to say she wants to make her a bride. Papa volunteers for the job, leading Akiko to shoot him down since she wants Suzuka. Hatsune and Hikaru jump into the fight as well as Suzuka decides to ignore them and continue eating.

Thoughts/Review:

The setup for this story was initially a bit stretched for me. Suzuka is talking to her family and electing to skip out on doing an Obon trip with her family. When she learned that the dorm was going to be closed, I’m not sure why Suzuka couldn’t have just called her folks back and said, “Um, yeah, the dorm is closed this week so I guess I’ll have to tag along.” It is only a minor thing, but it stood out to me as it was clearly a plot point to get Suzuka to go to Hatsune’s home.

That aside, I did like taking this trip to the Takanashi home as it helps flesh out Hatsune as a character. When they showed the motorcycle shop, I chucked because I remembered a similar shop in Ah! My Goddess. Hatsune’s father continued that Ah! My Goddess feel as he looked like an older version of Keiichi.

As to Hatsune’s family, it was a little creepy for Hatsune’s mom and dad to suggest making Suzuka their bride as well as having Hatsune and Hikaru fight over her.

As to Hikaru, I’m presuming this is a male, though the name is used for males and females in Japan.

The trip also helped flesh out Suzuka as well. Since Suzuka’s family has a maid who apparently also lives with the family, that makes me wonder if Suzuka is an ojousama. I hope we learn more about her as well.

Beyond that, there’s not a lot to say. Still, I enjoyed the chapter a lot because of the visit to Hatsune’s family.