I feel the author is lost as to what she really wants to write. I loved her Nodame book and all of the characters. In the Shinobu book, the hero is very similar to the hero in Nodame except for the love part. It seems like the author added a mystery aspect to Shinobu hoping to make it more impressive than No dame Cantabile, but she failed to address the romance. I am not excited to see the next EP anymore. I have lost hopes. The book seems to be ready to solve the mystery but the romance is nowhere to be found. The hero is still stuck with Noa referring Noa to Black Diamond is beyond precious, which seems to m e that Aki is totally fallen for Noa whether he wants to accept it or not and vice versa. Yes, there is a big age gap between the heroin and Aki, but Shinobu is the only one suffering from a pain caused by Aki and his relationship with Noa until book 21. How is the author going to deal with the relationship between Shinobu and Aki from now on? At this point, I dont even want Shinobu to be with Aki. Aki does not deserve Shinobu. Even the new Aki seems to be better than the original Aki at this point. This book should not be categorized as a Women's manga at this point. It comes off as a Boy's manga.
