In Volume 1, we met Chitose, a nice girl who has fallen for upperclassman Touka and who suffers when the girl she likes suddenly turns cruel towards her. The reason for the change is a shock….Touka has died and the person Chitose is speaking to is Touka’s twin sister, Ayaka.

In Shiori o Sagasu Page-tachi, Volume 2 (しおりを探すページたち), what might have been a good psychological horror story, becomes a bland story of romance and redemption for Ayaka. An epilogue leads us to believe that this relationship, built upon deception, is stable and lasting. Ptui is all I have to say to that.

I wish the push to create a happy romance all the time in Yuri wasn’t so obvious. It hurts when a nuanced and terrible character is cleaned up just to provide a happily-ever-after end for a story that really didn’t need it. How much better this story might have been if Ayaka’s pain didn’t just clear up like a bad case of strep? What if Chitose’s reaction to the lie was stronger, more extreme, less forgiving? How much bullshit would Rikako have put up with before she saw Ayaka’s toxicity change her friend? Or would she have been able to step in and save Chitose from herself? 

It’s true that maybe this ending was what was always intended for this manga, but after the first volume’s end, it feels wholly like a bunch of lost opportunities. Even as I read it playing out in Comic Yuri Hime, I couldn’t see that the ending was going to make sense for the beginning.

Art -8
Characters – 6 Rikako ftw.
Story – 5 
Service  – Not really
Yuri – 5 

Overall – 5

A disappointing end to something with such a compelling first half.