Ichijinsha is doing some interesting things these days. In an attempt to discover new (presumably cheaper) Yuri talent, the editors of Comic Yuri Hime have been looking at Pixiv, as well as doujinshi,  as a farm league for manga artists.  Mimoto is one of those artists.  And today we’re going to look at her manga, Yuta-san ha Mamanaranai! (ゆたさんはままならない!).

We meet Reki, a disaffected young lady, who is going through the motions of life and school with no particular joy and the changes in her life as her classmate Yuta-san just sort of worms her way in.

Usually, when we encounter a “my pace” character they tend to be a little loopy, kind of lazy and kind of hyper, like Yui in K-On!. But in this case, the “my pace” character is actually the grounded one, and the foil is the one who tends towards overreaction and hyperbole.

The Yuri is implication and goofy situation comedy, but by the end of the story, when Reki is looking at Yuta-san and finally sees her for the lovely, kind young woman she is, you can easily imagine that there’ll be more.

The final chapters are a short about a relationship built on lies and sexual coercion, which contrasted unpleasantly with the rest of the content.

Ratings:

Art – 6 Mostly simplistic, but when she ramps it up, it has an immediate effect
Story – 8 for the main story, 4 for the extra
Characters – Same as above
Yuri – 5 for “Yuta-san”, 7 for “Usotsuki”
Service – 2 for “Yuta-san”, 8 for “Usotsuki”

Overall – 7 for the main story, 4 for the extra

The main story is a kind of sweet little tale about a girl pulling a cynical and world-weary classmate out of her self-imposed shell. It’s a manga I had no expectations for and ended up enjoying immensely. For which I am extremely grateful.

Let me wrap this up today with my annual Thanksgiving note. It’s harder for me this year than this has been in 14 years – I’ve rewritten this paragraph 6 times. But I can and will say this, I am exceedingly grateful to every one of my Okazu readers and commenters, Guest Posters, Heroes and Superheroes. You are the greatest community any writer could ever ask for and not a day goes by that I am not sincerely, deeply thankful for you all.

Thank you – all of you – for being part of the Okazu family!