Choir (ちょいあ!), Volume 1 was an easily forgettable 4-koma manga centered around otaku activities of a bunch of girls who hang out and do otaku stuff together. It had a Yuri romance and, at the end of the volume, Shousei and Mayuko are indubitably a couple.

I know I read Volume 2, but did not review it here. I believe that was because in Volume 2 the fanservice switched with the Yuri, so that Yuri was pushed to the background and moe lolicon cat-ear-wearing became the focus. In fact, I cannot remember exactly what happened during Volume 2, which is always a sign that it wasn’t very good. ^_^

In Volume 3, Yuri and fanservice collide in a massive matter/anti-matter explosion of drama without content. Given that the premise of the series is “a bunch of girls hang out” and the drama is “they all want the loli” it gets pretty tired, pretty fast. Complicating factors for me is that Shiroyuki and Shousei look so similar that I have to keep checking which one is with Mayuko at any given time.

In the other Yuri affair going on, Mawata is a inconsiderate Dom to Kyouko’s very sensitive Sub, and I found myself repeatedly frustrated and annoyed at the way Mawata treated Kyouko. When Mawata consented to pay attention to Kyouko, they weren’t a bad match, but quite inexplicably, Mawata insisted on pursuing Mayuko.

The tedious fanservice is at red-alert level. If naked moe loli cat-ear-wearing girls is high priority for you…this is the book you’ve been waiting for. They all go to a hot springs so they can be naked for many chapters.

The drama is mostly “everyone in the series pursues Mayuko,” who also drove me crazy with her inconsistent affections. She was not a particularly riveting character and seemed to be appealing to everyone only because she was the loli. In every way she’s just…annoying.

Mayuko and Shousei end up still together although I have to be honest and say, I don’t know how. Shousei is practically a non-entity in this volume and Mayuko treats her terribly. In my review of Volume 1, I wrote, “Mayuko appears to find it amusing to string Shousei along, then push her away. (Run, Shousei, run! Don’t do it!)” and I stand by those words here in Volume 3. Shousei will be better off after she graduates and finds someone less of a tease than Mayuko, Shiroyuki will be better off with anyone than Mayuko, and Kyouko will be better off with someone other than Mawata.

Ratings:

Art – 3, unless you like moe loli with characters that are hard to identify
Story – 6 It’s situation comedy.
Characters – 5 After repeated “treating their partner badly” scenes Mayuko and Mawata drop down to a 3
Yuri – 8
Service – 9

Overall – 6

Isn’t Lesbian Drama hi-larious?

College student Maki meets and clearly falls for the new student on campus, Kanna. But, like a good little lesbian, she prefers denial to pursuit, even when her best friend, Lilia, pushes her to make a move. Thus begins Rikachi’s Ibara no Namida (いばらの泪 ).

It’s very apparent to us and Lilia that Maki is attracted to and intrigued by Kanna. But, for whatever reason, she just can’t seem to make that move and, as we and Lilia watch, she loses Kanna to another woman without having said a word. As Maki suffers, Lilia suffers twice as much, because – it is apparent to us from the very beginning – Lilia is in love with Maki.

Miserable from her loss, Maki thinks back on previous aborted relationships she’s had and, we learn that this Maki is in fact the same Maki as Hiromi’s best friend from Sora-iro Girlfriend. We relive Hiromi’s and Juli’s relationship from the point of view of the best friend who was cut out of Hiromi’s life by a jealous girlfriend.

After moving on to a new school, Maki meets and becomes friends with Lilia. She also meets a very cool, popular and fun classmate, Yuki. Without realizing it, Maki starts to compare Yuki to Hiromi and slowly, finds herself interested in the other girl. Lilia warns her off, but it’s not until Maki learns Yuki’s secret that she gives up.

Which brings us back to the present. Maki is mourning having yet again lost a girl without ever having her, but Lilia is trying to fill that space in her heart. So caught up in her own issues, Maki is inadvertently heartless to Lilia. And then…Lilia disappears.

Maki suddenly realizes the extent to which she had been selfish and inconsiderate to Lilia – and she realizes just how self-absorbed she’s been all this time. Although she’s been friends with Lilia since high school, Maki realizes with shock, she knows just about nothing about her. A handwave meeting saves her and off she runs to make it up to the best friend who has been by her side for all these years. The story ends with the retelling of Sleeping Beauty as the Princess wakes the Princess with a kiss and they live happily every after.

The final chapter is from Lilia’s point of view, expressing her desire to wake Maki from her Sleeping Beauty phase and make her aware that there was a princess willing to wake her with that kiss right in front of her all along.

While I did not love Sora-iro Girlfriend, I very much liked Ibara no Namida. There’s no doubt that Maki did far, far better for herself than Hiromi did and Lilia was all kinds of sympathetic and likable in a way that Juli never was. Lilia played the lovesick best friend in love with the lovesick best friend, a take on that particular trope I’ve never seen before. I found it kind of charming. And this story was set in college, which appeals to me more than a high school setting.

Maki made it a little hard to like her, being at first apparently wimpy, then serially kind of pathetic, but I find that at the end, I felt she and Lilia felt more three dimensional than anyone in Sora-iro Girlfriend.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – 9
Service – 1

I’ve always had a softer spot in my heart for Sleeping Beauty than Romeo and Juliet, and I’m always pleased when the Princess wakes the Princess with a kiss. ^_^