The winner of my 2013 Best Yuri Manga of the year was Amano Shuninta’s Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na Nanika (私の世界を構成する塵のような何か). Volume 3 wraps up the series with drama, but without crisis, which is pretty much the reason I voted this Yuri Manga version of The “L” Word as my #1 manga of the year. In case you missed them, here are my reviews for Volume 1 and Volume 2.
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Graduation is approaching and Ruki and Sacchi are awkwardly dealing with their obvious feelings for one another and Ruki’s unsuccessful attempt to move their relationship to a new level. The awkwardness grows when they run into Sacchi’s ex by chance; it’s obvious he’s matured and moved on. Ruki worries about them getting back together and about her inability to become stronger. Meanwhile Sacchi begins to worry about Ryuu’s interest in “her friend” that day – with a final text, tells him never to contact her again.
Asuna and Sacchi begin student teaching at a nursery school, Maasa takes control of her own company, while Meru tries to help her, Ruki starts driving lessons, as they all take steps to build adult lives.
Ruki has something else to worry about when she learns Sacchi has spent the night with Remia and the playgirl has indeed struck again. She takes Sacchi on a drive, but ends up getting them lost and, mortified, is forced to let Sacchi rescue her. They have it out between them, finally about how they feel. Whether they will get together is left up to the future, since they don’t know where their lives will take them.
Both groups run into each other one last time at graduation. Fueko gets one last chance to blow Asuna off, we learn that Maasa has hired Meru as her personal assistant, thus proving that she’s been a total softy all along. Maasa gets a personal powerup, trading in her weird shirts and cheap flipflops for a sharp haircut and suit, now that she’s a CEO. Remia is a wolf as she always is, and Sacchi and Ruki walk off together, with all the possibilities of life swirling around them, like the dust that constitutes their world.
I am unremittingly in love with this series. The characters are imperfect, sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, sometimes annoying as hell – in other words, realistic. The art is exactly the style I like best. The story-telling is quiet, understated and unpreachy. There’s no drive to pair everyone up, but the potential Maasa-Meru pair gives me hope for both of them. Maasa’s tender side is safe with Meru, and Meru’s fragility is safe with Maasa. In any other series Fueko and Asuna would have reuninted, but not here. Like life, relationships are sometimes messy.
Ratings:
Art – 9
Characters – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 4 Nudity
Overall – 9
Terrific series, executed with skill. More of this, please.
I really, really hope someone licenses this series.
My favorite thing about this manga is that it takes place outside of high school, which means no uniforms. Each character is then allowed an extra level of individualization since we can see their personal style, and I *really* love how this artist puts together their outfits.
But with uniforms…I find them so visually suffocating. They just dilute the characters so much for me.
I’m also glad that they are in college, if only so that we see life in Japan does not end at graduation. The characters are all “adults” but some are still quite childish, while others are more mature and the whole is much more like life than school ever is. ^_^
“Yeah, I cheated on you. It felt pretty good. I realized I’m actually a bitch.Still wanna date?”
“…yes :'(”
“K cool”
Superficial, if not entirely inaccurate.
This manga is the only yuri manga that really bothered me and yet like it at the same time.The way I understand it, Sacchan should not have been in a relationship with Ruki to begin with, right after her horrible break up with the guy. Cheating is not an excuse yes, but I think it is only after she did that that she found her identity and became ready to really be in a relationship with Ruki.
A lot of my acquaintances who like yuri – literary yuri, which is the kind of yuri I like – hated this series, mainly because they hate, hate, hated Sacchi. I re-read it for the nth time and I thought – did i ever see what Erica Friedman said about it? So I looked at all 3 reviews. One of my all-time favourite manga and Sacchi is a favourite character of mine. I thought people ignored all the good in her relationship with Ruki – especially the scene with her little sister where she tells her straight out she’s with Ruki and doesn’t give a damn if she’s cool or not. It would make a great series. If there’s a manga out there that Japan or more likely Korea should make a live-action series of this is it.