Title: まほらば (Mahoraba) Vol. 3
Artist/Author: 小島あきら （Akira Kojima)
Book Size/Pages: B-6, 178pp., w/furigana
Original Serialization: Monthly GANGAN WING 1/02-6/02
Rating: 3/4
To Purchase

And on goes the story about a boy in a an apartment full of female residents (sounds familiar? :) )

Cover features Megumi and Tamami in the foreground with the rest of the residents in the background doing some yard work. The covers under the dust-jacket contain mini-comics of the subcharacters (Ryuushi's classmates from art school). There's a summary of characters at the beginning with hosts Megumi and Tamami along with a bonus at the end where they observe the life of the manga artist.

Book 3 features mostly filler stories, not too slow, but I had hoped that they would go into the story a bit more. The strongest points of this volume is the character development for Megumi and her relationship with Ryuushi as well as the introduction of Kozue's 5th personality. The whimsical intro summary was a nice touch.

12. 今この時を (Now, This Time): A short chapter that features regular comic layout and the 4-panel comic layout. Megumi decides that they should go on a picnic and the entire chapter is devoted to seeing how the antics they go through in order to wake up and prepare for a picnic.

13. ハル (Spring): A heartwarming story about a boy and how he deals with loss. This tory is actually a book within a book, and the story is Ryuushi's assignment for art class.

14. あの子 (That Child): Ryuushi receives a box of apples from his parents and he distributes them out to the residence as gifts. Kozue offers to peel and eat them with Ryuushi, however, as she cuts her hand, ends up in an embarassing situation, and switches to a new personality; one that is reclusive and shy.

15. 。。。かも (...maybe): The other residents know about this personality, however, none of them have ever been able to talk to her nor do they know her name. They try to strike up a conversation, but to no avail. Ryuushi finally breaks through and finds out that her name is Natsume Konno.

16. 想い (Memories): Megumi decides to ask Ryuushi on a date after having bumped into some old friends of hers. They go watch movies and such. At end, we find out that she has someone she loves and she just wanted to test herself to see if she could love another.

17. 部長 (Club President): At school, Tamami bumps into the president of the occult club which she is a member of. The club president gets invited to Narutaki apartments where she predicts the fortunes of the residents with tarot cards. When she leaves though, she reminds them that they have an infinte number of possible futures to live and the book ends with Ryuushi contemplating that though, sitting next to Kozue.

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