Megami no Cafe Terrace Vol 14,15 - Idol project was a success! Princess fiancée?!

Today I read volumes 14 and 15 of Megami no Cafe Terrace, which concludes the idol story arc that started in volume 13 and introduces a new temporary character called Olivia. She is the first princess of the Kingdom of Sammelheim and appears as a fiancée of Hayato Kasukabe.

The idol arc was an extremely fun one with all the parents and friends of the heroines appearing to cheer them on, much to their embarrassment. This was especially true for the cool Akane, who really doesn't want to be seen as an idol by her mother and the others.

Akane continues to lead the heroines for me as I really like her a lot, both in personality and looks. The teasing with Hayato and the chemistry I see is definitely the best among the heroines so far, but we will see if that changes once the other heroines get some dedicated volumes as well.

Then we got the huge reveal of Olivia being the fiancée of Hayato and coming to Japan together with her lady-in-waiting, Sara, searching for a mysterious recipe made by Hayato's grandmother that no other popular chef was able to reproduce in any way.

She is an ultra sweet and cute girl with sort of a deadpan face, which only makes her even more adorable. I can see why Ouka is all over her, trying to make her wear some cute outfits she designed. She is 25 though (they don't learn this until later), so she is quite a bit older than everyone else in the cast.

In the end, Hayato manages to replicate the food with the help of Shiragiku, and that settles the deal, allowing her to go back to her country. I really also liked the stupid skits of Sara and Ami having training battles while making not-so-subtle parodies of Dragon Ball.

I was a bit startled by the author adding a new heroine this late in the story, but it turns out she was just a throwaway character for one volume. She is already back in her home country and married a prince who looks basically identical to Hayato (just blonde).

By the way, I just noticed that the series is written by Seo Kouji, the same author of Suzuka, and I was honestly surprised. He made quite a jump in content to go from a drama-centered romantic story to an ecchi comedy-focused one, but I don't mind the change really. Go ahead, Seo!

It honestly felt like a filler arc as it didn't really bring much new content to the story. Yes, they mentioned a bit of the life of Hayato's grandmother as she interacted with royalty, and her past with the antagonist of the series, Fuwa. However, that probably could have been settled without having to introduce a "throwaway" heroine.

The romantic situation around Hayato remains pretty much the same with just some small progress for Akane and Shiragiku. Honestly, at this point, I am still leaning towards Ouka winning the final race as she has that "main heroine" look and personality, but I would be happy to be mistaken.

Now, the 15th volume didn't end with a cliffhanger like the others, so I am not sure what the focus will be next time. Will they go and try to tackle the Fuwa problem or introduce some other characters just to waste some time? Either way, I am looking forward to reading more about it.