Relationships are complicated. It seems like doubting the other person’s feelings, as well as your own is a constant in everyone’s head. To have such confidence in a relationship requires one simple thing, communication. However, that is what every character seems to lack in The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend Vol. 2. Luckily for us, we can experience this awkwardness from afar as readers, even though I can relate to many of the high school romance themes throughout this volume.
We catch up with Hina and Ryou as they push their childhood friendship to its limits. For some reason, they’re allowed some leeway with their classmates because they’ve been friends for so long, but everyone is catching onto their feelings for each other. Well, everyone except for them. If that wasn’t complicated enough, Shizuka expresses her interest in Ryou only to make things more complicated. It’s a very strange love triangle because you don’t know who to root for.
The complexities of these situations reveal themselves by letting you peek into the thoughts of each of the characters. Their feelings, doubts, and truths are all on display, and you can’t help but feel empathy for each of the characters. On the other hand, it’s possible you’ll roll your eyes at their total disregard for context clues. Hina and Ryou, especially, are completely oblivious to how badly they are mentally f**king with each other. There comes a time when a simple conversation could solve everything. However, I should take my own advice. There’s been plenty of times when I never spoke up and just let opportunities pass me back out of fear of messing things up.
This relatability is where The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend Vol. 2 shines. Although it caused some tension while reading as I mouthed the words “Just kiss her” several times, I had fun witnessing how these characters navigated these situations. Although there are some humorous moments, and the premise is kept light, I believe these characters’ emotions are on full display here, which adds a dimension to their personality.
I couldn’t help be appreciate how each panel was illustrated to highlight the character narrating the chapter but also show scenes from their point of view. These scenes are reflected on several times by the cast throughout the volume to highlight how they felt as they second-guess themselves and doubt their reality. It’s a level of depth that I wasn’t expecting, but the idea that these characters can be in date situations but still consider themselves “childhood friends” can only go so far.
The illustrations highlight the humorous moments, but they also do well to show off the emotions of the cast as they sink into despair. There’s a date scene where Hina is dressed up that, shows off just how amazing an artist Yoh Midorikawa and Fly are. Each panel highlights the current mood and reads the room to immerse the reader in any given situation.
The Girl I Saved on the Train Turned Out to Be My Childhood Friend Vol. 2 could have easily been a light-hearted rom-com with a love triangle that we’ve seen before, but this is so much more. We get to see situations happen from multiple perspectives and how they deviate depending on which character is narrating the scene. It’s incredibly relatable in many of is themes, but I think it pushes it a bit far in terms of believability as the characters disregard all context clues for the sake of keeping up with this insane plot. Regardless, I love it, and I’ll keep on reading.
