The characters take you on such a difficult emotional journey. Somehow, volume 7 turned me inside out in ways the previous ones did not (and I loved all of them!).

Conversations, conversations, conversations – they hit you, they don’t let go. I find that I am in the story up to my ears and have trouble coming back to my world.

The aftermath of Toma’s confession becomes a whirlpool that sucks everyone in.

It’s fascinating to watch these young people discussing and clashing over gender roles, HBTQ, friendship, and differences of opinion in general – even though I’ve heard it all before, both the stupid crap and the wise things.

Futaba, Masumi and Mami have yet another conversation that leads to an emotional explosion.

“There’s no way you could understand what it’s like… for people who don’t dare whisper what they want to shout.”

Phew. I want to give everyone a hug and make it better. I wonder what will happen in volume 8? It’s the final one... ( )

There was a lot of discussion about homophobia in this volume, and in an unfortunate misstep for the series, it came off a little, well, homophobic to me, with one character seemingly getting a pass for his position due to . . . special circumstances? Mixed message to say the least.

The teen drama of the early volumes has given way to preachy teens who are very earnest but whose arguments don't seem well thought out. ( )