James Nicoll Reviews

Insomniacs After School, Volume 7 is the seventh tankōbon in Makoto Ojiro’s contemporary manga series. Serialized in Shogakukan’s seinen manga magazine Weekly Big Comic Spirits, Insomniacs After School has been ongoing since May 2019. The English translation of Volume 7 was released in 2024.

In Volume 6, teens Ganta and Isaki extended their unchaperoned time together by absenting themselves from the country cottage where they were pursuing their stargazing interests. Alas, Isaki’s parents had discovered that their darling daughter was alone with a boy. They raced to the rescue. Consequences ensued.

Several months later, Ganta eagerly awaits the first day of school. This will be the first opportunity he has had to see Isaki since she was dragged off by her irate parents. Indeed, as the consequences of the escapade include Isaki being grounded and her phone being confiscated, the two have not been able to communicate at all.

Having learned their lesson, the pair comport themselves in a manner less likely to inflame Isaki’s parents’ ire. They limit meetings to school and they chat at night using radios of which the parents are unaware and thus unable to monitor. At least they still have astronomy club in common.

On the subject of astronomy club: while Ganta and Isaki’s efforts have salvaged the club and secured official recognition from the school council, the club is still extremely short on members. Therefore, Ganta and Isaki set out to recruit new members.

These bold plans go as well as previous plans. Take their scheme to attract attention by participating in the school sports day. Isaki is the logical one to take part on a foot-race in an astronomy club-inspired costume. Everyone will take note! Many will join the club!

Alas, this plan does not take into account Isaki’s potentially fatal heart condition.

~oOo~

While it is true that almost every adult who discovers Ganta and Isaki spend lots of unsupervised time together assumes that the relationship is a lot more physical than it actually is, Isaki’s parents are actually even more concerned about that potentially fatal heart condition. Isaki has gone through a lot of rehabilitative treatment. Indeed, it’s still ongoing, and her parents are always worried about setbacks.

If you haven’t read the series or my previous reviews, perhaps I should let you know that Isaki and Ganta met cute because they were both insomniac and both found that they could sleep in the isolated school observatory. Why the insomnia? She is terrified she will die in her sleep. Ganta for his part is convinced that each day will be worse than the previous one [1], thus his reluctance to sleep. Both issues seem like problems that therapy would help, but as previously established, that’s not really a thing at this place and time.

As with previous volumes, the adults assume the teenagers, all of them, have considerably zanier lives than the kids actually do. For the most part, Ganta and Isaki’s peers are sensible people proceeding prudently towards their life goals. At least one recurring character already has her own business at an impressively young age. One has to wonder what the heck the adults were up to twenty years ago that leads them to have such wildly inaccurate fantasies about what kids these days are up to.

As in previous volumes, the art is eye-catching. This volume is not as informative about astronomy, due to the focus on club events, but nevertheless, it’s a fun volume.

Insomniacs After School, Volume 7 is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Apple Books), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Chapters-Indigo), and here (Words Worth Books).

1: You’d think he would see that his relationship with Isaki as proof that’s not necessarily true.