Since the English release of this second series, Ammitsu has unofficially emerged as one of my favorite authors. She takes the cliché of the childhood buddy and mixes it with the celebrity romance in Gazing at the Star Next Door, and somehow manages to create a story that is cozier and more enticing than ninety percent of the series that have attempted that combination previously. It’s probably not surprising as Ammitsu is a creative who can work with clichés rather than around them. Her previous series, Ran the Peerless Beauty, took the cliché of the exquisite, sheltered beauty and molded it into something more than the sum of its parts.
The show centers on Chiaki and Subaru, two lifelong friends from childhood. Despite what transpired in middle school, Subaru has been employed in the modeling industry ever since she was scouted. His career is starting to take off now that he is in high school, and at the opening of the story, he has just landed his first acting role. Even though Chiaki believes he lacks acting talent, she nevertheless admires him. But she also knows that this implies that he’s going to become even more well-known and well-liked. She makes an effort to put emotional and occasionally physical distance between them between them, but it’s a harder task given that they live next door and spend a lot of time together. Although she feels uneasy about his growing prominence, she is unsure of how to handle it as neither of them wants anything to change.
She’s been exposed to a lot of socially acceptable bullshit about how she’s not “good enough” or a “threat” to him, which hurts. Even though she knows this is ludicrous and that Subaru is clearly expressing his desire to stay in a relationship as a duo, she still feels inadequate for Subaru. He’s not as adept at expressing the fact that he probably has a crush on her and would prefer to bring their relationship closer together. However, at sixteen, they are twirling between the societal pressures they both face and their fear of something new. Chiaki is terrified that he will keep edging away from her, and both she and Subaru are grappling with his fame and what it implies for their relationship.
The effortless feeling of intimacy this book offers is among its best features. Ammitsu has a gift for crafting cozy high school conversation that reveals how close Chiaki and Subaru are (and extra props to translator Nicole Frasik for making the tone cringe-free). Chiaki’s conversation with Subaru is clearly different from that of her female friend Ha-chan; she seems to be holding back a little bit, interpreting Subaru’s social cues in a way that she doesn’t feel is necessary despite her concerns about his celebrity. Contrary to how this scenario typically plays out in shoujo romance, it turns out that their comfort level appears to be a contributing factor in others not viewing them as a viable relationship. No one advises her to act before it’s too late or that she has an in. Furthermore, none of them appear to be aware of Subaru’s apparent interest in Chiaki, at least to us. The clichés Ammitsu is using—such as Chiaki waking Subaru up in the morning, his scaling her window from his bedroom, and him storming into a group date to get her—make that intriguing. All of those would be huge, flashy pink flags in most other series, indicating to everyone how much he loved her. Not everyone seems to mind, however Ha-chan might not be as unaware as she appears, since they simply take it as another proof of their closeness.
It’s also important to note that Subaru’s mother isn’t usually home. There’s no mention of a father, and although she might enjoy her job, it seems more likely that Subaru works in entertainment because he wants to provide for his family. Though this is merely speculation, it sounds interesting to watch because it might eventually shed light on the romantic story that Chiaki is frantically attempting to keep simmering beneath the surface.
On paper, stargazing at the star next door is nothing extraordinary. It’s another story about a childhood friend who becomes a celebrity, and it draws inspiration from the numerous shoujo novels that came before it. However, under Ammitsu’s direction, it has a coziness and warmth that many other series fail to achieve, and it becomes effortless to root for Chiaki and Subaru as a couple. This is a series worth checking out if you enjoy sweet shoujo sweetness.
