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Strobe Edge: Extra Story – April Betsuma 2015

Thanks to the live action Strobe Edge movie that debuted in Japan last week, the most recent edition of Bessatsu Margaret had Strobe Edge: Toku Betsu Hen, or Strobe Edge: Extra Story. Since I just covered the series Strobe Edge a couple of weeks ago, I thought I’d do a quick take on this short that ran in Betsuma.



First I’ll show you the furoku that came with this issue. There’s a plastic sleeve that can hold small pages with Ren and Ninako on the front. There’s also a small volume with the first chapter of Strobe Edge in it.


SE_furoku

The magazine has the special story with a colored frontis page. The frontis page pictured below has a greeting to the characters in black text – “It’s been a long time! Ninako & Ren, Andou! and now Danchou!”




SE_frontispage

The story is shorty after the ending of the series, and revolves around Danchou, who you may remember as the third-year cheerleader guy that has to quit school. He’s the dark-haired character in the background.



Here’s a summary with a few pics:

Ren is jealous of Danchou because he sees him talking one-on-one with Ninako. The guys in class are giving him a hard time about it. When he asks Ninako about their conversation she tells Ren about it, but he thinks Danchou is still trying to make a move on her. When Ando confronts Ren about his feelings, Ren can’t understand his jealousy towards Danchou.




Ren tells Ando he doesn't understand why he's jealous

Ren tells Ando he doesn’t understand why he’s jealous



Danchou runs into them on campus, and starts talking to Ninako. Ren interrupts and asks him why he’s decided to share his story and feelings with Ninako. Of course his response is that Ninako isn’t really involved and is unbiased. He tells them all about breaking up with his girlfriend even though they still love each other. He doesn’t want to be a burden to her since he won’t have a completed education in the future. Said girlfriend Aoi overhears the whole conversation and jumps in.




SEspecial_punch

I love how Danchou’s neck is wrapped around multiple times! One hard slap there.



Literally, she slaps Danchou in the face. She tells him not to make that decision for her. Not to isolate himself when he needs someone the most. Couple is tearfully reunited. Ando, Ren and Ninako reflect on the older couple’s situation. Ninako tells Ren that she hopes that their relationship can be like Danchou’s. She wants them to make up whenever they fight, and she tells Ren that she wants them to have an even better relationship every day. Which makes his heart squeeze, and he hugs Ninako. 🙂




The chest grab and huge blush are cute. I love the hearts around Ninako as well.

The chest grab and huge blush are cute. I love the hearts and sparkles around Ninako as well.



The story ends with Ando realizing that his feelings about Ninako make him still a kid, and the idea of giving things time for the kids to mature into adults.



My Take: I thought this was a cute short story that wrapped up a plot line we didn’t even know was going on in Strobe Edge. We knew Danchou had to leave school and that he was dealing with things, but didn’t know about the girlfriend. That Sakisaka-sensei made him a little story was nice, and it also gave the readers a chance to revisit the main characters and see how they are all doing. I would personally love to see Sakisaka-sensei write a crossover story with Strobe Edge and Blue Spring Ride now. That could happen sometime eventually. 🙂 We’ll see what her next series is this summer.




AprilBetsuma
If you want to read this story yourself you can order the current issue of Betsuma from amazon.jp – it also comes with the furoku I showed you above. I’m sure you can find it if you look, but it would be better to support Sakisaka-sensei by getting the magazine.



If you haven’t read Strobe Edge then maybe it’s time to check it out. It’s a total of 10 volumes from Shojo Beat.











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