The first volume of Sakura Hamada’s Friday at the Atelier presented us with a unique and quirky premise with the burgeoning romance between its two main characters, office worker Emiko and artist Shunsui, as she agreed to model for him nude and covered in fish, with the bonus of eating a meal together afterwards using the props!

Despite the weird hook line, the series is a character-focused romance that gradually shows them opening up to each other and changing for the better, and this is the main focus for this volume, looking at Shinsui’s growth as an artist and Emiko becoming more confident and wanting to look good.

It takes a little while to really get into this however, as the first couple of chapters of the book still struggle with the stiff dialogue and clunky plot development that also caused the first volume to suffer.

The initial chapter here revolves around a specific Japanese custom of children throwing their baby teeth out of the window for good luck, presented here with Emiko doing something similar with a wisdom tooth she has had removed. While fundamentally the custom isn’t too different from the western myth of the tooth fairy, it’s just difficult to grasp in the way it’s presented here, as I didn’t quite get why they have to traipse round to Hirano’s house (Hirano being Shinsui’s agent) to do it rather than just doing it at Emiko or Shinsui’s place. Nevertheless, it throws up some funny moments as they initially try not to disturb Hirano but end up being invited in for a cuppa anyway.

The comedy itself is often rather deadpan, but you find yourself more laughing at the book rather than with it because of how clueless the characters are and how these scenes are presented in a pretty serious way. It works to a point, but there’s a tendency early on to treat Emiko as a damsel, with Shinsui not wanting her to be with another man on her own, or, as we see in the second chapter here, Hirano not wanting her to be out alone after dark or how she shouldn’t look after her weight if Shinsui hasn’t told her to (although the former point is a sad reality that women shouldn’t have to deal with). There are probably good intentions here, but I just think it’s often a bit too blunt in the way it words things and robs Emiko of making her own decisions at times. If these points had been phrased a little differently, it would have come off a lot better.

It does start to pick up from Chapter 10 though, as it occasionally drops a positive message or a life lesson, like in this one where it tries to say that you should look good for yourself and not for other people.

And I think it starts to take this to heart itself as it moves on as it begins to give Emiko more agency as she begins to not only model for Shinsui, but also starts helping out on his projects. A contract to design a new make-up case proves difficult until Emiko surveys her friends and colleagues on what they’d like to see.

It’s just good to see them working together and this really opens up an exploration of the creative process for the second half of the book, as it dives more into Shinsui and his own lack of self-confidence in the direction he’s taking. He’s getting more commercial work, but he feels like he’s abandoning his surrealist, quirky nature by doing so. It’s then up to Emiko and his friends to provide both reassurance and a source of inspiration to make him believe that what he wants to paint and what he’s paid to paint can work together.

This all makes the last couple of chapters here a fascinating read as you begin to understand Shinsui a bit better and see where not only where he has come from, but also how his mind works. There’s a Sherlock-like mind palace here that really gets across the depth of his imagination and creativity that I really liked, while flashbacks to his university days fill in some of the blanks on his personality.

Taking this into account, it’s a pretty decent turnaround from the beginning of this volume and you can start to feel this series is coming into its own as we reach the end here.

Visually this remains a pretty series to read as it has some great character art with strong, emotive expressions, while it’s eager to covey a realistic but glamorous sense of beauty. When Emiko changes up her make-up for example you can see it not only on her face, but her whole demeanour changes and she does look sexier and more confident in herself.

I haven’t mentioned the food yet either, as that still plays a big part and although this isn’t a gourmet manga, it really does the meals the characters have justice, from ice cream to soba noodles to a rice bowl. It all looks pretty scrumptious!

Friday at the Atelier is being published by Yen Press both physically and digitally. This volume has been translated by Matthew Alberts and has no issues to note. Like the first volume you can also find some helpful translation notes in the back, which are particularly useful for that opening chapter.

Overall, in this second volume of Friday at the Atelier, we are beginning to see this series come into its own as it starts to explore its characters and what makes them tick and uses them to dive into an exploration of the creative process. It’s just a shame it has such a clunky start, but even then, it’s not like it’s not enjoyable to read, it just really holds it back in certain areas where it needs to push itself forward. If the second half of the series (tapping out at 4 volumes) can take this momentum and run with it, it could make for quite a rewarding little quirky romance.

Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.