Reviews

Devil & Love Song, vol. 2 by Miyoshi Tomori

claire_84's review against another edition

funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

4.0

rinku's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The second volume of A Devil and Her Love Song heightens the conflict that was introduced in the first volume. The teacher of Maria’s class tries to turn the class against her, and she gets more bullied which was so hard to watch. The conflict with the teacher was actually interesting, and I’m wondering where it will lead. Besides this, a choir competition is happening, and Maria should prepare the class for it, even though one half of it hates her. Of course, there’s so much high school drama but I can’t complain since it’s one of my favorite aspects of Shojo manga. 

Even though the art style is a bit dated, it looks good, especially the chapter covers. What I didn’t like as much were some of the faces that look a bit grotesque, especially Maria’s. Talking about Maria, she’s such a great heroine. She doesn’t put up with anything, is direct and speaks her mind. We sadly still know nothing about her private life, and I still don’t like this concept of her “switching”. Of course, we also have some cliché mean girls here which was annoying. In comparison, I quite liked the love interests and it’s interesting to see how different they are. I probably prefer Yusuke since he’s so nice and funny. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Minor: Blood and Violence

lavendermarch's review against another edition

5.0

This was an interesting read. I like how Maria is tarting to change, and generally seeing her character development. I like Yusuke and Shin. The emotional stuff in this series occasionally goes over my head, lol. I enjoyed the development with Tomoyo. I don't love her, but it was interesting. 4 stars. Very unique.

Reread November 26th, 2022
This was an excellent read! I love how deep this series is. This volume in particular packed a lot in. it mainly explored Yusuke and Tomoyo's relationships with Maria and the people around them, along with themes of kindness, fakeness, and being oneself. As I said the first time I read this, it's a very unique series. I've read significantly more manga in the past three or four years than I had at the time I first read this, when I had only read a bit of manga, and I can stand by that statement. In addition, the art in this is great and the fashion is very 2000s, in a fun way. 4.5 stars, rounded up!

misssusan's review against another edition

4.0

So it turns out I was right with that love triangle prediction! Its not bothering me much though: this volume highlights how Yusuke and Maria's personalities lead them to misunderstand and clash with each other in interesting ways. I'm hoping Tomori introduces a character arc for Shin in volume three; as of right now both Maria and Yusuke are well delineated in a way where I can see how their character journeys are likely to reflect and be influenced by each other. They have distinct ways of interacting with people that they're starting to question and it's enjoyable to see. There's isn't that much development for Shin yet. I like how Maria's forthright personality acts as a catalyst to her classmates: we get to see her effect on Tomoyo this volume – ultimately positive, influencing her to speak honestly to her 'friends' for the first time – and Nakamura – the opposite, she's getting increasingly vicious the more Maria succeeds in sticking things out. Much like her teacher who ought to be fired. Anyways I thought this was a strong second volume: successfully expanding on one of the central cast and maintaining my interest in the series. 4 stars

smakakakakuk's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

thereadernerd12's review against another edition

4.0

Better than the first one.. Had my attention.. Was pretty good so 3.5 round up to a 4

readwithkyla's review against another edition

4.0

Better than the first one.. Had my attention.. Was pretty good so 3.5 round up to a 4

sarahc_98's review against another edition

4.0

Lordy, these kids is screwed up.

rach's review against another edition

3.0

It's hard to really understand Maria because she's still figuring herself out at this point. She's at least having some positive effect on those around her, though. She convinced Tomoyo she needed to be more honest with everyone, and made a sort-of friend in the process. Meanwhile, she seems to think she understands Yusuke, but he still kind of surprises her, how he manages to protect her. Both of the boys seem to like Maria, but it's hard to say how she feels about either of them. The other students and their teacher are still ridiculously mean to Maria, and it's hard to believe there are kids out there that are really like this.

I'm curious to see how things end up for Maria, but if all the volumes are as confusing as this one emotionally, I'm not sure I'll be up for keeping up with this one.

shaegeeksout's review against another edition

4.0

For more thoughts, check out this video

https://youtu.be/NfFXcsSwlPA