Shimizu Makoto has a secret – she’s a Yuri doujinshi artist – and no one in her office knows. No one, that is, until coworker Maekawa Akane sees her selling her Yuri books at a comic market.
Shimizu is terrified that Maekawa will blow her cover, Naturally, she assumes Maekawa will hold this secret knowledge against her. When Maekawa doesn’t do any such thing and, in fact, seems to be encouraging her, Shimizu has no idea how to handle it. Maekawa seems to be genuinely supportive of this hobby, but what Shimizu doesn’t know is that Maekawa Akane has a secret of her own. And what a secret it is!
In Still Sick, Volume 1 (スティッルシック) by Akashi, Shimizu is completely at a loss for what to do or how to deal with Maekawa’s apparent goodwill, but when she learns her coworker’s secret, Maekawa turns stone cold towards her. Since she’d let Maekawa into her life, Shimizu feels doubly uncomfortable for being cut out of the other woman’s life, and offers support but, if anything, that seems to make things worse. Even more difficult, Shimizu is starting to feel sincere affection for her coworker. When Maekawa kisses Shimizu after they have a minor confrontation, and Maekawa passes it off as a joke, Shimizu is left wondering what she’s really feeling.
Volume 1 was marginally uncomfortable to read, mostly because Shimizu is a mostly always uncomfortable character. The story was not at all what I expected based on the synopsis, but I like the story more than I expected to based on that synopsis! Maekawa’s big reveal totally blind-sided me and now I definitely want to see what happens with the two of them.
Ratings:
Art – 7 Solid, not outstanding
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 3, with a lot of potential
Service – 0 so far
Overall – 8
Still Sick is a digital comic that has been collected by MAG Garden’s Blade Comics, a name I haven’t heard in years. Volume 1 sold out quickly on Amazon JP for the first order, and was one of two books that were on my must-get list when I was in Japan last month. I’m really glad I got it, and look forward to the next volume.
I apologize if I write in the wrong place, I just wanted to ask – Futari Monologue is yuri manga? Information about the title on the web are very much at odds with each other, so I’m confused. You in different posts call it yuri and not yuri.
Manga was never positioned as yuri and the live action adaptation was clearly made as a comedy about friends, so I thought it was just a fanboy’s imagination, but the Japanese wikipedia calls it yuri and LGBBT-related work, however, continuing to write about the characters as friends.
Different media are positioned differently, stories evolve and people’s interpretation differ. You keep asking if various series are Yuri. The answer is – and only can be – if you think it is, it is to you. There is no other answer.