Yuri Manga: Kimi Koi Limit

June 7th, 2010

Kimi Koi Limit is one of the Yuri Hime cell-phone manga releases by Ichijinsha. Drawn and written by Momono Moto, it tells the story of Sono, one of the most selfish cretins to ever inhabit a manga.

We start the manga with a scene late in Sono’s high school life when she confesses her feelings to, and is rejected by Satomi, who is leaving after graduation to go to school in Tokyo.

Time flies and we see Sono, now also in Tokyo, with a lover Hiroko. Sono contributes nothing at all to the household – she’s a slob, a slacker and a jerk. Hiroko can tolerate all that but when, not for the first time, Sono says someone else’s name as they make love, Hiroko has had it – she throws Sono out.

Sono quickly becomes homeless, because she’s a slacker. And in a crazy, unbelievable, but nevertheless predictable, handwave she is found and rescued by none other than Satomi.

To her credit, Sono moves into Satomi’s life as if she has been given a chance to find happiness by the gods. She starts to clean, cook, she even gets a job at which she perseveres. She knows she can’t stay with Satomi forever, but she can at least get herself straightened out to be worthy of her. She still lusts after Satomi and this proximity isn’t lessening that one bit.

In yet another unbelievable yet predictable handwave, not only do Hiroko and Satomi attend the same university, they work together at the same library on the same shift. In a casual conversation about Hiroko looking unhappy, Hiroko spills that she just threw her lover out and is worried that she is homeless. Satomi mentions why, how odd, she just found a friend who had been homeless, thrown out by her lover! But it’s not until Satomi *sees* a picture of Hiroko and Sono toghether that they put it all together. Hiroko’s feckless lover and Satomi’s roommate are both Sono! zOMG!

Before I go on, I have to say that, at this point, I absolutely loathed all three of them. There was no ending that was going to make me happy, unless it ended with Sono going the hell away. And what were the chances of that?

Through a series of even more handwaves, uncomfortable situations and cliches, Sono leaves Hiroko for Satomi who decides inexplicably that she’s suddenly in love with her. Honestly, getting Sono out of her life was probably the best thing for Hiroko.

In the end, we’re to believe that because she attained her dream, suddenly Sono found ambition, skills, a career, etc. We see her in typical careerwoman get-up, while Satomi plays the role of wife. And they live happily ever after.

Bleah….

While this manga is nicely drawn, extremely well-toned and really, really well-executed as compared with, say, Gokujou Drops, Kimi Koi Limit had so many things I had to just accept, so little plausibility, that *my* Koi Limit was stretched. And on top of that, Sono was just an unlikable little prat. If Sono had been a good lover to Hiroko, a kind friend to Satomi, I might have been able to hack it. But she wasn’t. She was a selfish, narcissistic jerk right to the very end.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 6
Characters – 4
Yuri/Lesbian – 10
Service – 4

Overall – 5

This is probably the best-looking of the YH cell-phone manga. I just wish I liked the story a bit more than I do.

And, in the way of such things – I have an extra copy to give away! Yes, you too can be annoyed by Sono and her inability to appreciate what she has.

To enter you must be 18 and this time, I’m keeping it domestic – contiguous 48 states only. Not because I don’t love you overseas folks, I just want to cut back on shipping.

So – if you are from the US (not Alaska or Hawaii) and would like a copy of this beautiful, but emotionally unsatisfying manga, please tell me in the comments where *you* draw the line. Keep the comments non-pornographic please. I’m not asking for your least fave sex position, I just want to know what behavior stretches your love to breaking point.

19 Responses

  1. Mara says:

    Not entering as I am nowhere near the US but…

    About two weeks after I broke up with someone I was walking with them and they happened to say.

    “Oh I can’t stand Cowboy Beebop. It was far to episodic.” Or words to that effect.

    Immediately I felt that it was better that we broke up when we did. Considering how often I was watching that series at the time (had just finished coming out in the UK).

    Not an instant kill but we still had a very strong opposite reaction that I find funny today. You shouldn’t take anything that seriously.

  2. @Mara – Probably for the best. because my wife is my first love (probably my last too, I don’t see me having much left for anyone else should this not be forever) I can’t talk about my koi limit, but I can regale you with where my friendship snapped.

    I was watching a movie with a friend who kept asking who people were and what was going on. We kept answering that we didn’t *know* yet – that’s the plot, we’ll all learn as the movie goes on so sit there and just watch the damn movie! I don’t even like movies, but sheesh. That was pretty much the last time we spoke.

  3. Ana Marie says:

    Clingyness to the point of stalking.

    Jealousy to the point of ownership.

  4. Katherine says:

    My Koi Limit: Passive-aggression through poor communication, or Person A being silently annoyed, then angry, that person B doesn’t understand that they are doing something that bothers person A, until person A explodes in anger at person B for not knowing that person A was bothered, even when person A aggressively pretended that everything was sunshine and roses.

    Or person A being mean to person B’s friends.

    Purely theoretical, of course. ;)

  5. b says:

    I had someone that I was with for several years and when she told me she wanted to move on we seperated; a few years later she invited me to her wedding (I went). Now not even a year latter the marraige has fallen apart, and she wants me to be the emotional pickup to make her feel better. I have made it clear I’ll be there as a friend but I’ve moved on and am drawing the line here so I don’t have to move on again. From Brandon J.

  6. Chilipop says:

    As a Canuckie not entering, but just for fun:

    I knew someone who would always assume I would ‘take care’ of things- being directions, finding information, etc. We were roomates on a trip and after that I found it very difficult to be genial. Babysitting is not fun, and I draw the line there. When you’re with someone in a strange place, BOTH people should shoulder their weight.

    SO-wise, no limit so far :)

  7. yadez says:

    Watashi no Koi Limit?

    Being treated like a child.

    Having your girlfriend pet you on the head and speak to you in baby-talk while you’re trying to have a conversation with someone was the limit.

    So what if there’s a six year age difference? I hardly think that in those six years of being alive longer grants a person infinite, worldly wisdom or the power to be master of the universe.

    It’s no wonder the relationship didn’t last more than six months.

  8. Quiet Person says:

    My koi limit?

    While I haven’t fully moved on from this relationship, a few months after breaking up, I found out from one of my ex’s friends that he had made mean jokes about me while we were in a relationship. That would have crossed the line for me, if I’d known at the time.

    Also, teasing when I clearly am not in the mood for it and directly tell the person to stop it, that’s an instant kill.

  9. Rachel Best says:

    I wish I’d known these were appropriate koi limits before my last relationship!
    1) Kicking me out at six in the morning in a strange city with nowhere to go
    2) Falling asleep during phone conversations multiple times a week
    3) Claiming that communication as simple as one text a day was way too much work.

    Yeah, I was the one who got dumped. Oh, well. I’ll chalk it up to youth and naiveté.

  10. @Rachel Best – I announced you as the winner of the contest! Can you email me your shipping address to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com ASAP? Thanks!

  11. BruceMcF says:

    zOMG, these are supposed to be people old enough to be in college? I though they were like fourteen or fifteen. Well, the black haired lass might be sixteen.

    Not being able to read it, I was wondering when one of their parents was going to walk in on one of the pairs in flagrante delicto.

  12. Blast says:

    Were can I get this manga please? I want read, but i cant get anywhere. Plese help me

  13. @Blast – You can buy it by clicking the picture on the review, which will take you to the Yuricon Shop. By clicking the big yellow shoppoing cart button you will be buying it through Amazon JP. All the buttons are the same size and color as on Amazon and the checkout process can be displayed in English so it it not that difficult.

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