i... honestly kind of liked it? i agree the ending was rushed, but if anything i thought yuzu was very sympathetic. she was just missing (or didn't trust her ability to read) all the social cues, and tbh felt very autistic. with a better conclusion this could have been a solid work, and i was surprised how much i liked all the side characters by the end too. reminded me of girl friends (morinaga milk) in many ways, but i guess that's why? like, this is more "classic" in terms of yuri writing, and if you ignore the art style etc it could've easily been a 00s work.

yes it doesn't reinvent the wheel, but imo it was cute and a fun enough read. i've read stories waaaay worse than this and yall are grossly exaggerating. like, has anyone here ever tried to read sasameki koto? shit is 99% filler, it's downright painful. i'm someone who generally does not like childhood friends in yuri at all, and will even root for the ship that isn't that in a love triangle. it's kind of overused and rarely done well. but when it's cute and i like the characters involved, it's not bad. i'd rate this a 7/10, personally. it was better than i expected. i'd like to see more from the author as they refine their craft

Sasameki Koto is definitely all over the place, but at least it has real gravitas, and is pretty artful in some of its direction. The chapter with the books (you know the one) was kind of perfect. And it actually tried to tackle what casual and persistent homophobia looks like. Is it perfect? No, it's a tonal mess, but by the time we get to really dramatic parts I was really invested.

I have nothing positive to say about this one other than it being cute. The confession happening in the last chapter is disappointing, but not its biggest negative. It's the pointless and poorly thought out misunderstandings that make this bad. A few times can be entertaining, but at a certain point it becomes boring and annoying.

And I agree with you that there are worse stories, but stories have to be evaluated based on ambition and intention. What was this trying to achieve, and did it achieve it? Clearly it was trying to be a cute childhood friend romance, the type that makes the reader feel fluffy and want to root for them. Instead, I felt aggravated, so of course my rating is going to be harsh. I'm not comparing this to Bloom Into You or Kill Me Now. I'm rating it against things like I Want To Be Liked By That Shy Girl or Our Yuri Started With Me Getting Rejected in a Dream.

Okay, but there are popular stories more recently that have gone beyond confession.
...arguably Bloom Into You...

Why "arguably"? Even if we discount the confession in literally chapter 1, there's an entire volume set after they unequivocally start dating. Mind you, I think the confession in chapter 1 does count, as it is unambiguous and understood as such (at least by the end of chapter 2). It makes it a story about working out what being in a relationship means to them as well as what they mean to each other instead of yet another "will they, won't they".

But I get and share the frustration. The majority of my favorites do go beyond "becoming a couple" in at least some way, and as fun as a chase can be, it's been so done.

last edited at Jan 30, 2025 5:53PM

i... honestly kind of liked it? i agree the ending was rushed, but if anything i thought yuzu was very sympathetic. she was just missing (or didn't trust her ability to read) all the social cues, and tbh felt very autistic. with a better conclusion this could have been a solid work, and i was surprised how much i liked all the side characters by the end too. reminded me of girl friends (morinaga milk) in many ways, but i guess that's why? like, this is more "classic" in terms of yuri writing, and if you ignore the art style etc it could've easily been a 00s work.

yes it doesn't reinvent the wheel, but imo it was cute and a fun enough read. i've read stories waaaay worse than this and yall are grossly exaggerating. like, has anyone here ever tried to read sasameki koto? shit is 99% filler, it's downright painful. i'm someone who generally does not like childhood friends in yuri at all, and will even root for the ship that isn't that in a love triangle. it's kind of overused and rarely done well. but when it's cute and i like the characters involved, it's not bad. i'd rate this a 7/10, personally. it was better than i expected. i'd like to see more from the author as they refine their craft

No way you're shitting on Sasameki Koto while defending this.
Sasameki Koto is messy as fuck but it's a classic that's full of soul and a lot of genuine heartfelt moments, genuinely comparing it to this bland paste makes me feel old as fuck with how tastes seem to shifted on it.

I cared more about that side “couple” and once more it’s all left up to my imagination, sigh

At least we got to see evidence that no, getting a girlfriend does NOT magically fix being a useless lesbian. You just move from being useless about one thing to another.

This whole final volume has had "whoops we just got axed" written all over it.

The last straw for me was the Failure To Confess at the ski lodge, especially after such a big build-up. I stopped following the strip at that point and it wouldn't at all surprise me if enough other people felt the same that it tanked its monthly rating in whatever magazine it's published in.

Why "arguably"?

Mostly because I don't remember Bloom in detail enough to recall when they got into something resembling a normal relationship.

Sasameki Koto is definitely all over the place, but at least it has real gravitas, and is pretty artful in some of its direction. The chapter with the books (you know the one) was kind of perfect. And it actually tried to tackle what casual and persistent homophobia looks like. Is it perfect? No, it's a tonal mess, but by the time we get to really dramatic parts I was really invested.

I have nothing positive to say about this one other than it being cute. The confession happening in the last chapter is disappointing, but not its biggest negative. It's the pointless and poorly thought out misunderstandings that make this bad. A few times can be entertaining, but at a certain point it becomes boring and annoying.

And I agree with you that there are worse stories, but stories have to be evaluated based on ambition and intention. What was this trying to achieve, and did it achieve it? Clearly it was trying to be a cute childhood friend romance, the type that makes the reader feel fluffy and want to root for them. Instead, I felt aggravated, so of course my rating is going to be harsh. I'm not comparing this to Bloom Into You or Kill Me Now. I'm rating it against things like I Want To Be Liked By That Shy Girl or Our Yuri Started With Me Getting Rejected in a Dream.

we'll agree to disagree there i guess. the filler in sasameki koto wore me out so bad i couldn't even bring myself to care about the main couple anymore, or any of the characters at all. there are slowburn classic yuri that are very good, but i wouldn't call that one (personally).

misunderstandings are a common romance trope in all romance, definitely not yuri exclusive. if you replaced yuzu here with a guy, it'd be an average shoujo manga. i'm not saying you shouldn't criticize it. like, by all means do! but critique it based on what it set out to be, as you described. meet it on its merits and terms. Rejected in a Dream was one i personally dropped for being boring, so it's all personal taste anyway. there's no such thing as a story everyone enjoys!

after reflecting, i realized a better comparison for my part might be citrus. that was another manga with way too many "you thought there was progress? ha! sucker!" moments and out-of-left-field drama that i resented for it. this manga however was a pleasant surprise? it was silly at many times, but it never (for me) crossed the line of "kind of dumb" into actually annoying. i think because the leads clearly cared about each other and were both slowly coming undone, so even when it was status quo it never felt like they went backwards. i appreciated that

No way you're shitting on Sasameki Koto while defending this.
Sasameki Koto is messy as fuck but it's a classic that's full of soul and a lot of genuine heartfelt moments, genuinely comparing it to this bland paste makes me feel old as fuck with how tastes seem to shifted on it.

bro, what on earth are you talking about. i've been religiously reading yuri since the 00s up til now and i thought it was mid. it's not because i'm some clueless zoomer (which i'm not even young enough to be), i just have different taste. i think you might have some rose colored glasses, to be honest

This honestly feels like a story that was published 10 years ago rather than something that should be coming out now. It feels like the "beige mom" of yuri

I feel like Hinori wasn't used well by the author, either. Even if you're not like me and don't think they should be a throuple (not sure how, HiYuMi is high-concept and extra cultured), I still think she has the sort of personality that would get frustrated and push them together fifteen chapters ago.

Also, very impressive that a random love rival brat appeared but didn't even manage to catalyse anything useful. Minami and Yuzu are like cyanoacrylate and fucking teflon.