Story A: There is a girl, she likes another girl who likes her. They like each other. The end.

As you might expect, there are a *lot* of iterations of Story A in the Yuri Manga world. These stories come in all shapes and sizes…and varying degrees of quality.

Kono Kutsu Shirimaskenka? (この靴しりませんか？) is a collection of Story As created by Mizutani Fuuka, that ran in Tsubomi magazine. Some are stronger than others, of course, but the collection as a whole stands up as an entertaining read.

The title story is one of the few “before Story A even happens” that I feel works. Mismatched shoes lead two women to discover each other. The story ends as they meet for the first time, but in both cases, the characters charm the socks right off you. The poster Chishina creates to get her missing shoe back is worth the price of admission.

The next story is an unlikely pairing of a tall, cool elevator woman and a goth-loli who rides the elevator.

Is there a more perfect story for a young gay person than “The Ugly Duckling?” It’s hard to imagine that there is. In “Beloved Duckling,” a girl finds that the object of her affection is too appealing to others once she’s become a swan.

“The Snow Princess” was a pretty thin story about love between leads in a play, which is followed by equally thin stories about love in the clarinet section, which appealed to me on an entirely personal level, as my wife I am were both clarinetists. ^_^

The final few pages tell the story of the missing shoe from the other woman’s perspective. As an iteration of Cinderella, it’s a sweet, slightly goofy just “before Story A happens.”

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – Variable, but average 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 7

This fairy tale collection is good for a smile, something we can all use from time to time.