Danica Davidson
October 11, 2024 
Spring Storm and Monster is both lighthearted and angsty, simple and psychological. It opens with high schooler Ranko, who is so anti-social she doesn’t want any friends. She has her mother, her pet pig, and an online person she plays video games with, and that’s enough for her. One day she passes a boy in the midst of a physical altercation, and it reinforces her belief that humans are creatures who hurt one another.
Things are about to change, though. Ranko’s mom is getting married, and all of a sudden there is talk of a stepbrother who’s slightly younger than Ranko. To Ranko’s shock (but not to the reader’s) the new stepbrother was in that altercation she saw earlier!
This makes Ranko intimidated of Kaya, the stepbrother. For a while he keeps acting weird and unsettling around her, but then she starts to notice how he’ll go out of his way to help and how he wants to better himself. He insists negative stories told about him are untrue. The reason she didn’t hear about this stepbrother until recently is explained, and the manga gives the impression he’s been through some rough stuff at his age, though it doesn’t go into much detail, at least yet. Kaya becomes an increasingly more complex character as the first book goes on, and it’s done in a natural, organic way as opposed to a forced way, so that it’s hard not to become sympathetic toward him. Ranko’s own feelings of not wanting to be hurt by other people are also relatable.
The forbidden relationship between stepsiblings is something of a manga and anime trope, but Spring Storm and Monster feels different because it does bring in psychological stuff. So on the one hand, it’s an easy-to-read lighthearted shojo manga, and on the other, you can tell there’s stuff going on below the surface that could be quite explosive. This is a strong and intriguing start for the series.
Story & Art: Mitsubachi Miyuki
Publisher: Yen Press
Translator: Emma Schumacker
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
