At last, I had a chance to sit down a read the climax of Takemiya Jin’s Omoi no Kakera (想いの欠片) series. As you may remember, Volume 1 introduced us to young lesbian Mika, her classmate Harada who is gay, and his younger sister, Mayu, who falls for Mika. In Volume 2, Mika and Mayu become closer as friends, and Mika confides to Mayu that her first lover was a tutor of hers, an older woman. And we become aware that Saki, Mayu’s friend, has feelings for Mayu that are not only unreturned, but unnoticed.
Volume 3 begins during the school culture festival, with the appearance of a woman, whose very presence is enough to make Mika freeze, her old tutor. Mayu sees what is happening and drags Mika away before she can be hurt. When Mika recovers herself, she realizes that her ex is now with someone else. She confronts them and asks if they are happy. When she receives an affirmative, Mika is able to let the past go, at last.
Saki, however, is still burdened by her feelings. She confronts Mika only to be put in her place. Unbeknownst to Saki, however, Mayu has heard the whole thing. And in a moment, has had her entire world turned upside down.
The climax comes with tears and embraces and “awwwww”s all around. ^_^
But wait, there’s more! We had a thread hanging from earlier volumes. Takako, the coffee shop owner and her passive-aggressive roommate finally have it out in the extra chapters. Phew. Like Mika, I wasn’t really getting what the problem was there.
In the final chapter, all the characters reunite at the coffee shop where Mika is now working. Mayu and Saki are spending some relaxing time together, as they all make fun of Takako’s roommate. ^_^
Ratings:
Art – 9
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Yuri – 9 / Lesbian – 9
Service – 1, but not really
Overall – 10
And, on the last color page, as we close the scene on the coffee shop, we learn that Mika has found her own happiness.
And so we leave the story of Mika, Mayu and Saki, three young likable young women, in a Yuri school life/adult life story that contained actual lesbians. Yaaay!!
Takemiya-sensei remains one of the best Yuri creators out there.
I wish Takemiya-sensei’s work would come Stateside.
I felt there was something missing from this volume, in that Mayu’s emotions get a thorough workout but her identity doesn’t – she’s surrounded by people who identify as gay, and it kind of feels like a lost opportunity to see someone deal with the aftermath of “turns out I fall in love with girls” in that context.
But tankobons have finite space and we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the very, very good.
(I could have written that last sentence about Chou Choi Nan Nan too ^_^)
Exactly so. I don’t think Mayu is gay, either. She likes Saki, but has yet, in our sigh, to have any deeper feelings – and Saki is infatuated, not in love. Frankly, I’d give Mayu a ‘bi’label and let her go off and fine someone and hope Saki does the same for herself. I wasn’t thrilled we moved away from Mika as protagonist, since she was, IMHO, the most interesting character.