Pupposites Attract 1
by Hono Natsuna, Matt Trayvaud (Translator)
DETAILS: Series: Pupposites Attract, #2 Publisher: Kodansha Comics Publication Date: October 8, 2024 Format: Paperback Length: 160 pg. Read Date: September 19, 2026
What’s Pupposites Attract 2 About?
This continues the story about the beginning of a relationship—two really. Boy walking dog meets girl walking dog. Kiyotaka’s a big guy, a little on the shy side—his dog Monjuro is a little Pomeranian who is nothing but adorable fluffiness and outgoing energy. Chiharu’s a bold extrovert and her Rottweiler, Tsubu, is a gentle giant (who may tend toward a nervousness that feels out of place for such a big guy).
A few chance encounters mark the beginning of a friendship between the two humans—and between the two dogs. The dogs seem to know before the humans do that there’s more going on between them than friendship—or at least that there should be. The relationship hasn’t budged a bit since the first volume, but they’re still cute together. Kiyotaka gets the idea for something they can do together that doesn’t involve almost-chance encounters, and spends some time working up the nerve for it.
Also, his brother and Monjuro may have made a connection on their own with an attractive young lady. The lesson of this series is get off the apps and devote yourself to a yappy Pomeranian.
We also get Monjuro’s backstory.
Translator’s Notes
As with the last volume, following the story, we get some character design sheets and a few pages of translator’s notes which talk about some of the cultural background, explain the dog names (although the story itself does a pretty decent job of that), and things of that nature. Most of the translator’s notes didn’t help me too much—but those that did were great. (and I expect other readers will have the opposite reaction to me) Regardless, it’s a nice tough for people who may not be all that familiar—or familiar at all—with manga.
Like me.
I really appreciate these notes.
A Little Word About the Art
It was good—nothing that blew me away, but I enjoyed it.
The dogs were drawn perfectly—they’re so adorable that you want to take them home—or at least roll around on the ground and play with them regularly.
Hono Natsuna nailed depicting the emotions, both human and canine. Again, there were many scenes where the text really wasn’t needed to tell the story in addition to the art.
So, what did I think about Pupposites Attract 2?
You could tell from the first book that this romance (assuming that’s what it is) would be a slow burn. But, wow, I didn’t expect it to be this slow. They almost seemed to be marching in place rather than advancing for all but a couple of pages. (I don’t know how a good fire metaphor to use there, or I would’ve). Still, watching these two shy folks try to connect is fun.
I would complain about some of the flashbacks. There’s really one important story told in the past, but the jumps back and forth in time didn’t make sense. If it had gone present-past-present, that’d be one thing. Instead, we get present-half of the past-present-the other half of the past-present. The jump to the present didn’t help out the next bit of the past, and it really threw me out of things when we took that second trip backward.
I would’ve liked a little more forward progress–and more of the potential second romance arc (although it looks like #3 could have that). But that’s not the story that Hono Natsuna is telling. This calls for patience–thankfully, treading water with these four is entertaining enough that it doesn’t bother me too much.
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