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.

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

I agree that there's no such thing as a story everyone enjoys, we all have our own tastes, and yours and mine clearly don't align. But you started off by saying "yall are grossly exaggerating". No, we're not exaggerating this type of story just irks. And yes it irks me when non-yuri stories do it too.

But also, I want to know why you think chapter 25 didn't cross the line into "kind of dumb". How does "I want you" and then trying to kiss Yuzu translate as a normal thing to misunderstand from Yuzu's perspective? Genuinely, I want to know what you think about that whole sequence.

Never have I read a series that tried so hard to be cute and funny that ended up being such a Sisyphean death march.

I don't think this story was that bad y'all lol, it was alright; good premise, cute artwork, fun dynamic, sloppy work towards the end. Definitely among our weakest longform osana stories when it's all wrapped up. Probably not very memorable but I'm at least glad I read it.

I agree that there's no such thing as a story everyone enjoys, we all have our own tastes, and yours and mine clearly don't align. But you started off by saying "yall are grossly exaggerating". No, we're not exaggerating this type of story just irks. And yes it irks me when non-yuri stories do it too.

But also, I want to know why you think chapter 25 didn't cross the line into "kind of dumb". How does "I want you" and then trying to kiss Yuzu translate as a normal thing to misunderstand from Yuzu's perspective? Genuinely, I want to know what you think about that whole sequence.

my comment about exaggeration was in reference to people talking (complaining) about yuzu specifically, not the manga. the person directly above my original comment called her a sociopath. like, she's just an awkward girl who's bad at social cues, wtf

and maybe my phrasing was bad there. i do think it was plenty and frequently dumb. my point was that said dumbness never became annoying to me, so it didn't "cross the line" into something worse than being dumb.

as for the scene from chapter 25, my grasp on yuzu is that she's very concerned with being a "normal" best friend, but the issue is that those two (even before chapter 1) had nonexistent physical boundaries. casual skinship between girls is terrifying to navigate when you can't figure out where "normal" ends. so as the story goes on and things become clearly more romantic, yuzu struggles and gets increasingly more self-conscious. i think it's pretty easy to read her rejecting the kiss as her being overwhelmed and confused. "i want you" is pretty sexual, BUT conveys none of the vulnerable romantic love part, so she couldn't read her intentions and panicked. it's actually pretty reasonable imo

I think the main problem with this series and the reason why people are getting so mad is precisely that it isn't simply a bad manga. Rather, it starts our rather nicely, getting people hooked on what is by all means a cute and somewhat silly love story about a gigantic lesbian mess of a high-school girl (Minami) trying to get together with her childhood friend and being repeatedly clam-jammed by that friends utter neutron-star-level denseness. But, then AFTER the reader is hooked, the story is dragged out painfully, with increasingly unbelievable reasons being made up why they can't get together and, most damagingly, the big revelation that the dense childhood friend isn't actually dense at all but just suffers from a rather ridiculous childhood trauma of rejection. To make matters worse, this trauma feels like a complete plot device, not really being foreshadowed at all and just generally not fitting the light-hearted comedy vibes of the earlier chapters.

This also means that the manga does not focus on its actual strengths. Because what it is really good at (besides the very pretty art) is creating nice sweet and comedic situations between its protagonists, showing their childhood friends dynamic in a really endearing way, whilst also garnishing this with a number of likeable side-characters. However, the shift happening when Yuzu's perspective is revealed forces the manga into the direction of exploring Yuzu's psychology instead, which just doesn't work with the premise. I think this is largely due to the author (or the publisher, who knows) wanting to continue the manga for longer but realising that you can't just repeat the dense childhood friend joke over and over again ad nauseum. And so some bogus underlying conflict was tacked on, disrupting the entire story.

A much better solution, in my opinion, would have been to stick to the original premise of Yuzu just being dense and then simply allowing them to get together halfway through the manga. The manga's strengths is in its cuteness and the character relations anyway, not the will-they-won't-they of romantic pursuit. Making them a couple and then using the remaining space to just deliver fluff mixed with a number of further comedic misunderstandings and relationship struggles would've been infinitely better I think. You could even continue to play the joke of Yuzu being dense, but just refreshing it through the new setting. E.g., Yuzu could behave in a way that seems intensely horny to Minami and makes her all flustered and confused, but Yuzu is actually just her normal oblivious self, which could lead to both comedy and relationship development.

Anyway, rant over. TLDR: Everything went downhill once we got Yuzu's perspective.

Anyway, rant over. TLDR: Everything went downhill once we got Yuzu's perspective.

Ironically I thought the series was going to go in a better direction when we started getting those chapters, instead of Yuzu turning into an Olympic acrobat jumping through every hoop imaginable to avoid being loved.

Anyway, rant over. TLDR: Everything went downhill once we got Yuzu's perspective.

Ironically I thought the series was going to go in a better direction when we started getting those chapters, instead of Yuzu turning into an Olympic acrobat jumping through every hoop imaginable to avoid being loved.

"Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment."

I really appreciate the "[END]" marker on a chapter so I know when to jump back into it. story wrapped up a bit too quickly but was still cute, good for them. ultimately didn't feel doki doki enough after all the build up, though

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.

We also see them seggs and a time skip, right? We ate good fr

as for the scene from chapter 25, my grasp on yuzu is that she's very concerned with being a "normal" best friend, but the issue is that those two (even before chapter 1) had nonexistent physical boundaries. casual skinship between girls is terrifying to navigate when you can't figure out where "normal" ends. so as the story goes on and things become clearly more romantic, yuzu struggles and gets increasingly more self-conscious. i think it's pretty easy to read her rejecting the kiss as her being overwhelmed and confused. "i want you" is pretty sexual, BUT conveys none of the vulnerable romantic love part, so she couldn't read her intentions and panicked. it's actually pretty reasonable imo

No…. Nope. It’s not reasonable at all. Your explanation makes no sense as we literally see her thoughts during that time.

“ANY MORE, AND YOU'RE GONNA MAKE ME WISH... FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE.”

Having skinship and being close is different from saying “I want you” and leaning in for a kiss, they were touchy feely friends, they didn’t casually kiss each other, that’s a line they didn’t cross, and Yuzu’s words, her saying “no stop. anything but this.” Yadda yadda, is her acknowledging that this is a romantic gesture (it can be read as either or, but the differentiation doesn’t matter as Yuzu was super set on the idea that she and Minami would stay friends forever.)

It’s not a “normal misunderstanding” or “reasonable” reaction on Yuzu’s part, she ACTIVELY pushed Minami away and shut her down. Realistically, no one is gonna get confused like this, under these same exact circumstances— they NEVER KISSED, that’s the one physical boundary that was set. They’ve never kissed on the lips, have they? (Please correct me if I’m wrong)

It’s not that she “couldn’t read her intentions” as in Yuzu’s mind, there was NO WAY Minami would ever want her sexually or romantically (also, I’ve literally never seen that distinction made in romance series unless there’s an aromantic or asexual character, in most romances, sex and romance go hand in hand, so it 100% not Yuzu thinking it like that)

I def disagree with calling yuzu a sociopath, but Yuzu, every step of the way was actively making sure she stayed friends with Minami. The setting and the mood, Minami’s words + her leaning in, make it abundantly clear her intentions are to kiss her, to express her desire for Yuzu. Yuzu deluded herself into thinking it could never happen.

It’s like I’m the only one who’s noticed this— it’s not a misunderstanding, it’s not Minami’s fault for not being direct until the last minute (when she herself had no clue whether or not Yuzu liked her, and didn’t even when she confessed again) it’s YUZU actively shutting down the idea of her and Minami getting together because in her mind, it was IMPOSSIBLE for them to get together. Yuzu wasn’t misunderstanding, she was in denial, very deep in denial, because she was afraid of getting friend zoned again— in her own words, she had “given up” already.

Which imo makes no sense for her to have that fear cuz Minami was leaning in for a kiss. I feel like most people, if their crush leaned in towards them with their eyes closed, they wouldn’t move and wait for their crush to act, or stop them and ask for clarification, not push them away and preemptively shut them down

Yuzu didn’t want to hope. That’s the issue, that’s why it dragged for so long. It was Yuzu turning a blind eye to all the signs, NOT because she wasn’t aware of them, but because she DIDNT want to acknowledge them or think more— it was easier to wave it all off as Minami being super friendly rather than consider it was something more than that. Giving up was easier.

Either this was very poorly written (needlessly drawing things out falls under “poor writing” to me) or there was gonna be an arc where Yuzu realized she liked Minami too much to stay friends, causing her to confess to Minami, so at the end, it’d be both of their “faults” instead of “Minami’s fault” that they didn’t get together sooner.

Imo it’s also illogical to let a friend zone from grade school, and they’re like what? 15? 16? That had to be like 5+ years ago, when they were toddlers. Being hesitant is understandable, but actively pushing your crush away when she’s leaning in to kiss you? Don’t get it other than her not wanting to date Minami

Thanks for your hard work, I enjoyed it :)

yup, it's over and there's definitely no anime adaptation

as for the scene from chapter 25, my grasp on yuzu is that she's very concerned with being a "normal" best friend, but the issue is that those two (even before chapter 1) had nonexistent physical boundaries. casual skinship between girls is terrifying to navigate when you can't figure out where "normal" ends. so as the story goes on and things become clearly more romantic, yuzu struggles and gets increasingly more self-conscious. i think it's pretty easy to read her rejecting the kiss as her being overwhelmed and confused. "i want you" is pretty sexual, BUT conveys none of the vulnerable romantic love part, so she couldn't read her intentions and panicked. it's actually pretty reasonable imo

No…. Nope. It’s not reasonable at all. Your explanation makes no sense as we literally see her thoughts during that time.

“ANY MORE, AND YOU'RE GONNA MAKE ME WISH... FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE.”

Having skinship and being close is different from saying “I want you” and leaning in for a kiss, they were touchy feely friends, they didn’t casually kiss each other, that’s a line they didn’t cross, and Yuzu’s words, her saying “no stop. anything but this.” Yadda yadda, is her acknowledging that this is a romantic gesture (it can be read as either or, but the differentiation doesn’t matter as Yuzu was super set on the idea that she and Minami would stay friends forever.)

It’s not a “normal misunderstanding” or “reasonable” reaction on Yuzu’s part, she ACTIVELY pushed Minami away and shut her down. Realistically, no one is gonna get confused like this, under these same exact circumstances— they NEVER KISSED, that’s the one physical boundary that was set. They’ve never kissed on the lips, have they? (Please correct me if I’m wrong)

It’s not that she “couldn’t read her intentions” as in Yuzu’s mind, there was NO WAY Minami would ever want her sexually or romantically (also, I’ve literally never seen that distinction made in romance series unless there’s an aromantic or asexual character, in most romances, sex and romance go hand in hand, so it 100% not Yuzu thinking it like that)

I def disagree with calling yuzu a sociopath, but Yuzu, every step of the way was actively making sure she stayed friends with Minami. The setting and the mood, Minami’s words + her leaning in, make it abundantly clear her intentions are to kiss her, to express her desire for Yuzu. Yuzu deluded herself into thinking it could never happen.

It’s like I’m the only one who’s noticed this— it’s not a misunderstanding, it’s not Minami’s fault for not being direct until the last minute (when she herself had no clue whether or not Yuzu liked her, and didn’t even when she confessed again) it’s YUZU actively shutting down the idea of her and Minami getting together because in her mind, it was IMPOSSIBLE for them to get together. Yuzu wasn’t misunderstanding, she was in denial, very deep in denial, because she was afraid of getting friend zoned again— in her own words, she had “given up” already.

Which imo makes no sense for her to have that fear cuz Minami was leaning in for a kiss. I feel like most people, if their crush leaned in towards them with their eyes closed, they wouldn’t move and wait for their crush to act, or stop them and ask for clarification, not push them away and preemptively shut them down

Yuzu didn’t want to hope. That’s the issue, that’s why it dragged for so long. It was Yuzu turning a blind eye to all the signs, NOT because she wasn’t aware of them, but because she DIDNT want to acknowledge them or think more— it was easier to wave it all off as Minami being super friendly rather than consider it was something more than that. Giving up was easier.

Either this was very poorly written (needlessly drawing things out falls under “poor writing” to me) or there was gonna be an arc where Yuzu realized she liked Minami too much to stay friends, causing her to confess to Minami, so at the end, it’d be both of their “faults” instead of “Minami’s fault” that they didn’t get together sooner.

Imo it’s also illogical to let a friend zone from grade school, and they’re like what? 15? 16? That had to be like 5+ years ago, when they were toddlers. Being hesitant is understandable, but actively pushing your crush away when she’s leaning in to kiss you? Don’t get it other than her not wanting to date Minami

I agree with your points. I feel like there could've been an arc where Yuzu had to confront her fears - if she was afraid of being rejected outright, or if there was a bigger risk to their friendship if they got together. The latter, to me, feel more believable of a direction? Like she loves her so much but is afraid of fumbling her and that ruining not only their romantic relationship, but friendship too.