Title: こどものおもちゃ (Child's Toy) Vol. 3
Artist/Author: 小花美穂 (Miho Obana)
Book Size/Pages: A-5, 264pp., w/furigana
Volume: 3/7
Original Serialization: Monthly Ribon 11/95-6/96
First Printing: 8/13/03
Rating: 3/4

Pretty good volume. The mystery surrounding Sana's mother has been revealed and we find out who Sana ultimately decides to stay with. The introduction of a new character adds a little humor into Sana's and Hayama's relationship as the friend is best friends with Sana, but enemy with Hayama.

These re-releases contain are plenty of colorful artwork used in the magazine throughout the years. There's a few bonus comics and an interview with the author about the uniforms in the story.

Major events in this chapter are that Sana's true mom comes forth and meets the daughter she left behind. They talk a bit and Sana finds out that she has a real family now with kids. In the end though, Sana decides to stay with her adopted mom. Meanwhile, the kids are now going onto middle school. It's an escalator school, so she's set all the way up to college. Most of her classmates are familiar, but there's a new student, 松井風花 (Fuka Matsui) from Western Japan (Osaka maybe?). Apparently she used to live in the area but moved. However, she has clear memories of her time here and remembers how Hayama stole her first kiss. Hayama later decides to go train in the martial arts and at the end of the volume, departs to go train for a few months.

Title: 妹 (Akane) Vol. 9 "Dear My Angel"
Artist/Author: 山花典之 (Noriyuki Yamahana)
Book Size/Pages: B-6, 193pp., w/o furigana
Volume: 9/14
Original Serialization: Weekly Young Jump Vol 11, '02 - Vol 20, '02
First Printing: 8/24/02
Rating: 3/4

This series became a little more "revealing." For the most part, the character Akane has been quite covered, but in this volume, every other chapter seems to have a chest-shot. It is a seinen manga after all, but I don't think it's that necessary. The story is holding steady with no major surprises.

There's a color page of Akane in underwear on the first page.

90. あふたーすくーる (After School): Shinpei mistakenly comes to school thinking it's parents visit day. Akane's teacher allows her to give Shinpei a tour of the girl's school regardless and the tour ends with the two of them almost kissing in the library.

91. レイ・センセーション (Rei Sensation): Akira takes Shinpei to a gentlemen's club where Shinpei sees a girl named "Akane." She turns out to be Rei, who used to be a childhood friend of Shinpei and Akane and uses the nickname "Akane" at work. Apparently, the two girls have had a rocky relationship and it still persists today.

92. レイにお・ま・か・せ (Leave it to Rei): It's been six years since Rei has been in contact so she doesn't know about Shinpei and Akane's mother's death. She stays over at their house and discusses a little history. Rei comments on how sexy Akane has become.

93. あかねを。。。 (To Akane...): Rei brings over some old video tapes with all of them together. This gets Akane interested in filming their current lives. Later that night when she falls asleep, Shinpei puts in their newly recorded tape to find a message from Akane saying that she wants the two of them to always be together. Shinpei cries because he knows they can't.

94. Innocent You〜無邪気な君〜: Shinpei and Akane go strawberry picking and then at the beach alone.

95. 女の子の思い (A Little Girl's Memory): Mio and her husband give Shinpei some advice about Akane and how he should go for it. At home, Rei is playing around with Akane teasing her about her crush.

96. Kissの世界 (A World of Kiss): Akane has fallen asleep on the front porch. When Shinpei came back, he sees her and is tempted to kiss her, but stops just a few centimeters short of her lips.

97. ナナホシテントウ (Ladybug): Akane tells Shinpei that she wants a kiss from him. He refuses the first time. Later, Akane has a talk with Rei and discuss their childhood when Akane told her that she wanted to be Shinpei's bride. Afterwards at at picnic, Akane steals a kiss from Shinpei.

98. Dear My Angel: Akane, Emily, and Marina are shopping and see a ring designed by Akane's biological mom. Marina is still naive to the whole situation, but when Emily sees that Akane pays no attention to it, she knows that Akane must know and not really like her mom.

99. イジラレたいの (I Want to be Teased): A racer, 速見光司 (Koji Hayami) drops by the shop and spots Akane. He immediately falls in love with her and asks that she be the race queen for his team. He has her dress in skimpy race queen outfits.