My Love Mix-Up! Volume Three sees character progression for all four of the main characters.

My Love Mix-Up! Volume Three
Written by: Wataru Hinekure
Publisher: Shueisha Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: April 5, 2022

At the beginning of the volume, it’s revealed that Aida has a girlfriend, just in time for the upcoming class trip. When Aoki tries to get Hashimoto to not give up and confess her feelings to Aida, she points out how he’s given up just as much as she has when it comes to Ida.

A bit of Volume Three focuses on the class trip, which turns out to be a skiing boot camp. While I understand what Hinekure was trying to do with the storyline at this camp with Aoki and Hashimoto, I still found this to be a little unrealistic. The students really had no idea where they were going for their class trip and what they would be doing? And the treatment the “D” Class (which includes Aoki and Hashimoto) just seemed cruel and “over the top.”

While I really didn’t care for the skiing boot camp, a very important plot development happens while they’re there: Aoki confesses his feelings to Ida. While this is a very important plot point, I wish Hinekure had found another way for this confession to happen, in an environment and storyline that didn’t feel quite so “over the top.”

But Aoki’s confession leads to something surprising for him: Ida suggests that the two of them start dating. After they agree to try, this leads to awkwardness between the two of them, because neither one them has dated anyone before, so they really don’t know what to do. It’s awkward, but also adorable at the same time. By the end of this volume, I couldn’t help but start shipping these two.

Meanwhile, Hashimoto learns from Aida that his girlfriend broke up with him during the class trip, and it was for a very shallow reason. Hashimoto takes the leap and confesses her feelings to him, but it doesn’t work out for her because Aida just sees her as a friend. Also, it turns out that the precious memories Hashimoto had of the two of them (like the help he gave her at the entrance exam), he has no memory of. When Hashimoto shares this with Aoki, he decides he’s going to try to help… but he ultimately makes the situation worse. Aoki had good intentions, but this was really something he shouldn’t have gotten involved in. When all is said and done, though, Aida is more than willing to be friends with Hashimoto, but he just can’t see them going out.

After I finished reading this volume, I thought that the character and relationship progressions felt natural. My only gripe was the “window dressing” around Aoki’s confession to Ida because of the unrealistic skiing boot camp. But what I appreciated in this volume is how Hinekure made me want to ship Aoki and Ida, which isn’t something I thought I ever would have done back in Volume One. Back then, I found myself rooting for Aoki and Hashimoto. But over the past couple of volumes, Aoki and Ida have developed a very natural chemistry.

When it comes to the art, I really liked the art on page 18. Both of the panels on this page have great images of the four main characters, and these panels really jumped out at me. I also liked the panel on page 74 that features Hashimoto, because Aruko perfectly captured her expression in the moment. But for the most part, a lot of the art looked more on the “average” side in this volume.

My Love Mix-Up! Volume Three finally moves the story up to the next level, and at the end of it, I genuinely found myself wanting to read the next volume in order to find out how Aoki and Ida’s relationship will continue to evolve. I honestly believe that readers who have read and enjoyed the first two volumes of the series will really like how the story progresses in Volume Three.

The reviewer was provided a review copy by VIZ Media

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