Yuri Manga: Kila Kila (キラキラ)

Kila Kila (キラキラ) by Takemiya Jin, is a collection of one short serial, "Akogare no Itoshii Hito," and a one-shot with the title name from Comic Yuri Hime.

The titular story is unrealistic and utterly adorable. Sayaka is obsessed with magazine idol Ria. She can just "sense" Ria's aura she's sure so, when one day a girl walks by and she senses Ria, she pursues the girl.

Sayaka's 6th sense isn't far off - the girl turns out to be Ria's twin sister, Mari. Mari is not a model, but is an introverted, cynical girl with some understandable issues in regards to her famous sister.

Cynical as she is, Mari understands that Sayaka is befriending her to get closer to her sister and, as a result, when Ria learns of Sayaka's existence, she expects to lose her new friend. What neither Mari, nor Sayaka expected was for Sayaka to find Mari's own sparkle so alluring that she decides Mari is more important than Ria ever was.

The bulk of the book is taken up with a tale of a love triangle between sophisticated older sister Tsukiko, Nana who has a crush on her and her childhood friend Youko, Tsukiko's blunt younger sister.

Youko and Nana argue over Tsukiko's intentions and, even when Youko is proven correct about her playgirl older sister, she and Nana can't repair the damage to their friendship, when Youko admits that she's had feelings for Nana all along.

Years pass and Nana, with a new friend, Satomi, are out one day when she sees Youko....with what instantly appears to be a girlfriend. Nana is shocked, then appalled at her reaction of jealousy and suddenly, she realizes her feelings for Youko. She confronts Youko to learn if that is indeed her girfriend, and if Youko is happy. It is, Youko confirms, and she is. They part and Nana is left to realize that she might very well have thrown away something wonderful, but Satomi, in the most charmingly goofy way, picks up the pieces. The end comes with Nana realizing that she should not ignore Satomi's feelings the way she ignored Youko's  and they head off to live what we can hope will be happily ever after.

The final chapter revisits "Kila Kila" and allows Sayaka to reject Ria in front of Mari and to soundly kiss Mari so she knows these feelings are not one-sided.

As always, I enjoy Takemiya Jin's work. I'm never going to try and convince you it's beautiful and, if anything, I like it better when the characters are evil and scheming, rather than wide eyed and adorable. But still, it's feel-good reading for me.

Ratings:

Art - 6
Story - 7
Characters - 8
Yuri - 9
Loser FanGirl -  6

Overall - 8

Takemiya-sensei's work has a ring of verisimilitude when it comes to relationships between girls that series like A Channel or Yuru Yuri completely fail to capture. As a result, I can read something as utterly unrealistic as "Kila Kila" and still see the real-ness of the characters' feelings where I watch a school girl life series like Yuri Yuri and see nothing at all I can relate to. ^_^

Yuri Manga: Girlish Sweet

I officially declare this week Takemiya Jin week here at Okazu. True, I only have two books to review by Takemiya-sensei, but two is enough for me. ^_^

Today we take a look at Girlish Sweet: Atashi no Kanojo, (Girlish Sweetアタシノ彼女) a collection of stories published by Hakusensha (home of Rakuen Le Paradis, among other magazines.)

As with Love Flicker, the stories in Girlish Sweet are standalones that connect.

In "Truffe Nature" and "Thyme Orange," Kaede and Miyako deal with their feelings for one another while together in school and apart in college. A short omake covers a first kiss is aborted for a very silly reason and I know exactly what doujinshi Takemiya read to get the idea. :-) After the story is over, there is an image of Kaede and Miyako heading into a "Main Hall" to be seated.

Kinoshita has been looking after and admiring the President since they were together in high school in "Sweet Acid." It's obvious they feel the same way about each other but there's the whole ethics thing. The omake, "Best Friends," covers the two women receiving tickets from actress Yukari to her performance. We see the two of them heading to the Main Hall in the interstitial space between stories.

Hanaoka and Sonohara meet by accident, but together the tend the school's flower beds, in "Good Faith." They study together...and fall in love. The omake for this is a short with two of Hanaoka's friends, Kado and Mori, becoming closer, as well.

In "Be Connected," Kaede buys tickets for them to see Yukari, Miyako's favorite actress and it turns out that she's Hanaoka's older sister...and that Sonohara is a huge fan. They are all seen walking toward the Main Hall.

Kado, Hanaoka's friend, find herself battling for Hanaoka with Sonohara, in "Hands," and in "Be jealous of" and "April 2/3" Mori's backstory is brought to light. But by "May 3/3" Kado and Mori are clearly an item and by "tee hee hee" other people can tease them about it. They are seen heading towards the Main Hall. ^_^

"July 1/3" continues with Mori and Kado's backstory, but "3/3 Memories" picks up in a present in which the two live together. An extended, very painful backstory for Kado, takes up a good portion of the latter part of this book. This is not at all easy to read and involves some not-explicitly rendered violence against children. Given the light tone of the beginning of the book, this was a surprising development, but that's exactly what it is - character development for two side characters that become more prominent as the book goes on.

The book ends with Kado and Mori finding "Happiness" together as all of them are seated at last and await Yukari's performance.

This is one of those manga that starts off one place and, as the story progresses, it goes somewhere completely different. The worst of these are meandering and vague, but the best hold together to make a coherent, interconnected story. I consider Girlish Sweet be the latter and, in a lot of ways, prefer it to Love Flicker.

Ratings:

Art - 7
Story - 9
Characters - 8
Yuri - 8
Loser FanBoy - 1

Overall - 8

Where Love Flicker is a series of fun Story As that have an interconnected thread, Girlish Sweet starts off as a series of fun Story As, then turns into an actual story.

Yuri Manga: Love Flicker

Once upon a time, I found myself staring at my empty living room coffee table, wondering what I was going to review that day, as there was nothing really Yuri out. That was a while back and today, it occurred to me that I haven't actually *seen* my table in a while. I'm not complaining. ^_^

You regulars here know that I very much like Takemiya Jin's work. It's not that the art is so incredible or the stories are amazing, it's just that together, they are fun to read - which is my number one criteria for anything I read. I like fun things, because "fun" is better than a lot of the other options when I read.

The stories in this collection of Takemiya-sensei's work, Love Flicker, (ラブフリッカー) is fun. And, much like Hiyori Otsu's Clover, a chunk of it turns out to be an interconnected series and not just the one-shots we thought they were. Hah on us!

In the first story, Chika asks her sempai out because she likes her but, because of rumors, innuendos, a guy and other plot complications, sempai breaks up with her. Chika hits the guy on the head with an artist's palette and they resolve the rest of the issues by ignoring them.

In the second story, a woman who works at her family's bakery falls for a student who always buys one mini-croissant. After she tracks the girl, Sakura, down at the school festival, she learns that Sakura's family is in the rice business. Rice bread is born and we all live happily ever after, except...

Ichi-sempai recruits tall, athletic Miharu to the volleyball team. Miharu finds her self attracted to Ichi, but Ichi breaks down and admits that the sempai (bakery woman above) she likes has a girlfriend. Double lez gross out, huh? Miharu says that she's not grossed out by sempai's sempai, or by Ichi's feelings because she feels that way about Ichi!

At the new student ceremony, Kimura passed out. She's caught by Kado, but it's Rinko-sempai who carries her to the infirmary. Kado and Kimura decide to become love rivals for Rinko's attention, but when Kado comes right out and asks Rinko, Kimura realizies that it wasn't Rinko she was in love with. Luckily, Rinko realizes it too, and Kimura and Kado are able to get together.

Now that Rinko's free, the Student Council President is able to realize her dream and capture Rinko for her own. When she and Rinko graduate they express their "close friendship" to Kado and Kimura in the form of a passionate kiss.

The book closes with Ichi-sempai realizing that her feelings for Miharu are...well..love. She and Miharu come out to her sempai and her mini-croissant girl. Ichi's sempai responds to this with "You too?"

This wraps up what was an entertaining collection of "Story A" stories by one of my fave doujinshi to professional Yuri artists.

Ratings:

Art - 7
Story - 8
Characters - 8
Yuri - 8
Loser FanBoy - 1

Overall - 8

Want a fun collection of Yuri stories? Get this book.