Insomniacs After School volume 2, by Makoto Ojiro, is an excellent follow up to the last volume. It continues to develop Nakami and Magari’s relationship in a very satisfying way. This is helped along by Ojiro’s excellent art. We see Nakami and Magari work on the formation of the new astrology club. Shiromaru, an old member of the astrology club, joins the cast and is an interesting advisor to the club. This volume ends with Nakami and Magari trying to take pictures of the sky on their school camping trip.

The art this volume is much of the same as the last volume, that is, being well done and beautifully composed. The best panels are on the pages that show the sky at night filled with stars. The best scene in the volume is at the end where the water reflects the stars in the sky. I appreciate the effort that Ojiro puts into the art in this manga very much. As a romance manga, a lot of focus is on facial expressions and this volume continues have very expressive characters. Sometimes, however, I find the eyes look strange, I think this is due to me not being used to the pupils of the eyes having focus in manga. It’s a very interesting choice that I think I’ll appreciate more as I read more volumes of the manga.

I really like how much effort the author puts into drawing the camera, and how much detail and research into astrology is shown as well. I really liked learning about the aperture of the camera. The astrology section is something I’d generally expect to be backdrop so to see it feature so prominently in the story is something I’m impressed with.

The story is very simple, but like last volume is executed with a lot of moments of pure emotion. The development of Magari and Nakami romantically is very naturally done. It feels like every step of the journey so far has been excellent. There are a lot of quiet moments where characters are just present in the moment, all the writing shown in their facial expressions. The chapter focusing on Shiromaru despite minimal dialogue, shows much of her character depth and is my favourite of the volume.

The writing itself in dialogue is very good. The characters have no inconsistencies and speak to each other true to their ages. There was not a lot of individual character development in this volume, but as the manga develops and the relationships grow, I’m sure we’ll get more changes and fleshed out backstories. The end of this volume was one of the most enjoyable scenes in the story, both in art, in plot and in romantic progression. This volume had a very strong ending.

This volume was excellent. I enjoyed seeing Nakami and Magari’s relationship develop. The side characters are entertaining, especially Shiromaru and Nakami’s friend. I cannot wait for the next volume to release in English.

I’d give this volume a 4.8/5.

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