Yumene Connect Vol 7,8 - Oze Miku looks good. Jun continues to impress!
Volumes 7 and 8 of Yumene Connect continue right where we left off, with the entire cast being on a hentai planet trying to recover three items for the president of Nano's company. This is a risky task because of the many creatures on the planet that are, well, pretty hentai.
As a result of the various hilarious losses in the last volume, the group decides to form two parties to fight more efficiently, each composed of a Tank, DPS, Support, and Brain. The Tank receives the hentai attacks from the beasts (delivering fanservice scenes), the Support keeps the Tank alive, the Brain devises a strategy, and the DPS delivers the killing blow.
This turned out to be quite effective, even though the girls acting as Tanks ended up in hilarious situations. The final item, though, is inside a castle where the group has to face the four strongest henchmen of the boss. Yes, it's that kind of plot, and the hilarious part is that I totally didn't see where the story was going.
In the days between reading volumes 6 and 7, I forgot that Nano had disappeared earlier. I was so distracted by the other girls that I never really noticed, and I couldn't have predicted that the final boss of the castle was actually King Nano: a brainwashed Nano who ended up becoming accustomed to the planet and ruling over it.
Honestly, it was an amazing chapter, and I wish they would do more long chapters like this one, as it really gives everyone some time to shine. The teacher, Fumiko, continues to be the top-tier fanservice target because of her glamorous body, but the highlight for me was Unika with her conflicting feelings. She's totally fallen for Yuuhi, and every time he does something even remotely cool, she totally falls for him again and again. How adorable can she get?!
There were also two new characters introduced in this volume, the first being Oze Miku, whom I mentioned in the title. She's the school nurse and a stunningly beautiful woman in her late 20s. The issue is that she feels inadequate because every time she goes out with Fumiko, the other teacher gets all the attention because of her curves. Miku just wants to get married; Yuuhi should clearly pick her up!
The other new character, on the other hand, is honestly still sort of a question mark for me. Her name is Shindou Yume, but she makes everyone call her "Nightmare" and wears an eyepatch even though she has no injury whatsoever. Yes, she's a chuunibyou girl who speaks using complicated language, but she is actually extremely shy when put in a fanservice scene. She only appeared briefly, and while I like her design, which is reminiscent of Tokisaki Kurumi from Date A Live, I think I'll need a few more scenes before I can say I fully understand her character.
There were lots of other fun scenes, but the most important was clearly Momoka realizing her feelings for Yuuhi. Up until now, she was the only one who was oblivious to her own feelings, but after coming back from the planet and watching Yuuhi play with Unika, she starts feeling a grip on her heart. This leads her to go on a date with him and marks her real entrance as a heroine romantically targeting the protagonist. I wonder where it'll go from here, as I'm still cheering for Jun myself.
Volume 8 ends with a cliffhanger showing a clone of Yuuhi playing tricks on various girls around the school, lowering his reputation. Will Yuuhi be able to stop him before he's able to do something to Momoka, who appears to be his next target? I guess we'll know in a few days when I read it...