It seems only moments ago that I reviewed the first Koi Shimai Drama CD, but actually, it was already over a month ago.

The second CD picks up where the first left off. A new student teacher has come to school – Hiiragi Touko. As befits a good anime/manga lesbian, she arrives on a motorcycle and has an indescribably sexy voice actress. In fact, Hiiragi-sensei is voiced by Park Romi, the seiyuu that so brilliantly voices Aikawa Maki in Air Master.

Haruna and Chika are happy enough being together, but they have never really talked about their feelings. When Touko-sensei shows an obvious, and wildly inappropriate, interest in Chika, Haruna withdraws into herself and watches Chika pull farther and farther away from her.

Touko-sensei flirts with Chika, takes her for rides on her bike – she’s openly dating Chika and doesn’t hesitate to tell the girl that she finds her attractive. Chika can’t help herself; Touko is too sexy to ignore. She confides in her friend Akiho that she is concerned because Haruna isn’t fighting for her and seems to be creating distance between them.

Akiho confronts Touko-sensei about the situation. She accuses Touko of trying to break Chika and Haruna up, but Touko only responds with a counter-accusation, that Akiho is really jealous of Chika, of the attention she gets from Haruna, because she wants Chika for herself. Akiho is just projecting that jealousy onto her, Touko. Because this strikes close to home, Akiho is sobered, but she still feels that Touko-sensei should leave Chika alone.

Crisis looms when Chika spends a quiet moment with Touko-sensei. When Touko begins to seduce her, Chika can’t stand the pressure and runs away. She falls down a small cliff and twists her ankle, until Haruna comes running after her (egged on by Akiho) and slips down beside her. While waiting for help, the two girls have a honest talk – about how Haruna was feeling jealous, but powerless, and how Chika doesn’t want anyone else but Haruna. By the time Akiho and Touko-sensei find them, the two are reconciled.

After Chika politely rejects Touko-sensei, Akiho confronts Touko again and Touko tells her this story: When she, Touko, was in high school, she fell in love with another girl. They spent time together, but never really discussed their feelings, so she lost her lover when they graduated. As soon as Touko saw Haruna and Chika, she knew that they were exactly the same – and she didn’t want them to lose each other they way she had lost her lover. So she forced the issue. Akiho rightly thinks that Touko’s full of crap and lets her know it in no uncertain terms, at which point Touko asks Akiho out. ^_^ Akiho concedes so far as to “allow” Touko to hang out with her while she’s substituting at the school. I kind of like to think of the two of them as a couple – just because. ^_^ (My gut sense was spot on, as we learn in a third drama CD, Hatsukoi Shimai.)

Meanwhile, Chika is spending the night at Haruna’s and Akiho’s house, in Haruna’s room. Akiho very matter-of-factly enters and basically tells them to just sleep together already, but they argue about who will sleep where, eventually, awkwardly, deciding to share the bed. While laying in bed, holding hands, Chika asks Haruna directly what her feelings are. Haruna, in a stunning display of stupidity, says that she loves Chika like a sister, but more than that (from which the whole series draws it’s name – Koi Shimai, i.e., “love sisters.”) Chika seems happy with it, but I thought it was a copout. And no goodnight kiss. Bleah. I’ll just sit here and imagine Akiho sneaking out afterwards to go out riding with Touko and end up making out in a quiet spot somewhere. ^_^

On the whole, it was a well-done CD, and Park Romi is sexy as hell as Touko, but the ending was, IMHO, lame. A real kiss wouldn’t have killed them.

On a more amusing note, as a bonus track, all the seiyuu discuss their school years – about half went to all-girl schools and talked about same-sex crushes they saw or experienced, but the common thread was that they couldn’t think of anything to say – it was actually pretty funny. :-) The seiyuu for “Girl C” was excellent – telling all the girls who were listening who loved another girl to go for it and not give up! Yay “Girl C”! ^_^

The ratings are basically the same as the first CD – there were some sexy moments with Touko, but then end was a bit naff, so we’ll drop the overall down a point to a 7. But the Yuri definitely stays up at a 10 for this one.

In conclusion – a nice addition to a Yuri-focused Drama CD collection and very well voiced. ^_^