Forum › Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink now in print

Yuri Girl 1001 Uploader
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Fly by Yuri
joined Mar 29, 2013

It's out!! Just got my copy of Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink from Seven Seas. Buy one, buy one; support Morinaga Milk and Seven Seas yuri.

Seven Seas has been making a new stab at yuri; let's support it.

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joined Feb 17, 2013

Will be buying soon!

joined May 22, 2013

...i totally bought girl friends...pre order and everything...but the nana hitomi saga...mmmm...idk...maybe....i'll think about it....

edit....ok i just read it again...it's a definite must buy...

last edited at Jun 4, 2013 7:52PM

41066419
joined Nov 11, 2010

My copy is shipped along with some other manga stuff. Looking forward to it very much.

1330771601188
joined Jan 30, 2013

I'm going to be ordering this on Friday when I get money and then it should get to my house just in time to distract me from studying for my exam!

230px-ray_the_animation
joined Feb 2, 2013

is there the second part too ? where they run away ?
i really want to re-read it but i can't find it anywhere !!!

last edited at Jun 5, 2013 12:13PM

joined May 22, 2013

is there the second part too ? where they run away ?
i really want to re-read it but i can't find it anywhere !!!

you can find it at [no]...is it alright to say that?...the name of another site?... [not that site]

Forcefully edited by MrE

last edited at Jun 5, 2013 6:55PM

Sk_fb
joined Feb 17, 2013

Huh, must start checking bookstores...

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joined May 20, 2013

I've been waiting for it, so I ordered it with others which I postponed until its release. It'll still take a while to get here, though. I hope the translation is a bit closer to the original than in Girl Friends' case. Not like having 3 different English translations would be bad, but as I prefer books the most, I'd like them being as faithful to the original as the digital versions.

last edited at Jan 17, 2014 1:54PM

230px-ray_the_animation
joined Feb 2, 2013

is there the second part too ? where they run away ?
i really want to re-read it but i can't find it anywhere !!!

you can find it at [no]...is it alright to say that?...the name of another site?... [not that site]

Forcefully edited by MrE

then i can immagine why i haven't find it, i haven't look in certain reader, in this case i prefer to buy it, but i want all the 2 part

Phyis Moderator
Midori-facepalm
Yuri Project
joined Dec 12, 2012

then i can immagine why i haven't find it, i haven't look in certain reader, in this case i prefer to buy it, but i want all the 2 part

The book has all the parts.

41066419
joined Nov 11, 2010

Got my book on Friday, and just finished reading it today (Amazon kinda skimped on the shipping, grr...one of the corners of the volume got a bit smudged). Really fascinating to discover that the serialization/collection of stories took 9 years and the completed 2nd volume only came out about a year ago in about April. A few of the older miscellaneous stories which got included in the collection are noticeably less compelling than Nana and Hitomi's story, but a couple of the other ones are quite worth it as surprising hidden gems.

In any case, chapter 7 of the volume (or the 4th of Nana and Hitomi's story) is absolutely striking as one of the most profound/evocative of Morinaga's chapters I've ever read. The translation in the book didn't catch me quite as much as the scanlation I read here a while ago, but the overall effect still comes through. Morinaga captures, in a single moment of confusion between dream and reality, both the depth/pervasiveness of Hitomi's longing for Nana romantically and the scars of uncertainty carved into her by her resignation and fear of rejection/the world around her. It's a revelation in the narration which manages to evoke both heartrending anger at the society which managed to inflict such fear/uncertainty, as well as hope for the healing she can attain from the happy future before her. It's that very chapter which manages to lodge Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink as one of the very best of Morinaga's works in my personal canon.

Aside from that, I also have to say that the ending always surprises me with how awesome it is and that this rereading managed to give me a soft spot for Nana's friend/the protagonist of one of the sidestories, Abe-chan. Her cuteness seriously reminded me of Yoshino from Marimite and I really wish we could've gotten a bit more exposition for her, whether in Nana finally coming out to her about her and Hitomi's relationship, or in how she and Tachibana-sempai finally got on in the end during/after college.

All in all, a pretty good read. This current format of getting big, extended series in a single, complete lumps is pretty enjoyable. I definitely hope Seven Seas will be interested in following up with further omnibus yuri releases.

Nezchan Moderator
Meiling%20bun%20150px
joined Jun 28, 2012

I would love to see a story with Abe and Tachibana as adults, either in college or out in the workforce. They aren't as definite a couple at this point as Nana and HItomi are, so it'd be nice to read about them confirming things.

There aren't nearly enough stories with college students or adults, although I suppose most of the Touhou stuff qualifies. I don't have anything really against high school stories, but still.

41066419
joined Nov 11, 2010

Saw this on /u/:
https://twitter.com/gomanga/status/345272311106113536

Seems like Seven Seas is looking for more yuri series. Have to use twitter, but you can sign up/in and vote. Hanjuku Joshi is the really obvious next classic series I'd like to see licensed, but there seem to be a lot of other possibilities.

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joined May 20, 2013

It finally arrived, relatively fast in fact, so I spent the night reading it. I'm happy it was released next, especially because Nana's and Hitomi's story is a more fond memory for me than even Girl Friends. That's probably because the first chapter stood out among other stories in that it didn't remain as bittersweet and ambiguous as most I encountered, back when I started reading yuri manga, besides the pretty art and detailed characters.[1] It might have been around the time it got scanlated but that's a bit hard to confirm after this long. It's a bit shameful to admit that I found out there are 5 finishing chapters only by the time I ordered this publication, but it made me very happy as I always wished for the story being continued when only occasional follow-up chapters appeared time-to-time.

I expressed earlier that I'm concerned about the quality of the translation. As of the result, it's quite acceptable and I'm sure it was a lot of work, but I'm a bit disappointed too. It's not that big of an issue I suppose, but I don't really like the title of the first chapter that much in this version. Moving on, there are only a few typos, about 5 or 6 altogether, but besides the obvious letter doubling there are some that make sentences grammatically wrong, or that could've been two different correct sentences but is neither. What I'm more concerned about are the potential mistranslations. To me it appears as if Lililicious' work carried more meaning and/or details here and there. If it's an effort for a more fluent or familiar experience then I'm not convinced it's really for the better. Translation matters lead to what keeps bothering me the most (the rest of this part might be a spoiler); It's the "We can register our..." sentence on the very last page of the Hitomi & Nana chapters. Did I miss the news of certain changes in Japan or is it indeed a glaring fault? I considered the possibility of it being a reference to opportunities abroad, but then the lines that follow seem controversial.

About the stories, I didn't like the one-shots nearly as much, but it's nice how they expand the setting a bit. The ending of the main storyline is both appealing and sudden. If I'm not mistaken, I read the author once stating that she intended to continue their story past high school, as they face problems during college and so on, while they keep working for a life together. This may be referred to in the afterword too. I'd also like more stories about grown-ups instead of those bound by school years, which, regardless of everything, remain uncertain to a great extent regarding the future. Stories that still start this early and continue that far could be even better, so I'm sorry for this missed opportunity. I wonder if, or preferably when, we could expect more stories about coming outs and facing discrimination differently than hiding, from authors, including Morinaga-sensei.

I don't have any basis for this, but I though some time ago about how nice it'd be if that the elderly couple at the Amber Teahouse (chapter 5) could be Nana and Hitomi or another couple Morinaga-sensei depicted, as their features match her usual designs.

[1] The word straightforward came to mind around that sentence, then that gayforward would be more suitable. That made me wonder if others would take that as an insult, if it has ever been used, or if it is just a really pathetic attempt at making up a word. Probably the latter only so I should apologize keeping this in the post.

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