The tropes of Yuri are alive and well at Liebe Academy Salon, served up with a nice cake and tea set. ^_^
Hime has always been more concerned with style than substance. When she came to a new school, all she wanted was for everyone to love her. Despite herself, she became friends with Yano, a girl who spoke her mind. With her, at least, Hime could be herself. But, Hime warned her new friend, Hime always lies.
Yano’s and Hime’s friendship becomes entangled with class relationships and both of them end up lying to protect each other. In the end, they destroyed their friendship and both feel as if they were victimized. Now, years later, Yano is Hime’s graceful, beautiful “onee-sama” at the Liebe Academy Salon and while Hime feels as if she’s the one who ought to be angry, its Yano’s anger at Hime that fills up the spaces of Yuri is My Job, Volume 2 by Miman, out from Kodansha Comics.
Tensions rise as the “Blüme” popularity contest approaches and Hime, despite playing a first-year shoots for the top, igniting turmoil among the staff.
Yano is full of rage at her version of the past, and Hime is full of desire to be liked, Kanako only desires to see Hime shine, while Chibana just wants everyone to work together in harmony. For a cafe concept wrapped around young ladies at a respectable and staid private school, there’s a lot of high emotions on display here – and its affecting their business.
The art has settled in by this volume and, as I said in my review of the first volume in English, I quite like the larger format for ease of reading. A pleasant bonus for readers is Miman-sensei’s afterword, which contains some interesting procedural content – always a nice thing when creators let us see behind the screen so to speak. Diana Taylor’s translation really captures all the various emotions of the story.
Volume 2 is a sink-or swim volume for readers. Either we are all in on this multi-leveled commentary on Yuri manga or not. I, obviously, am all in. ^_^ I’m about to start on Volume 5 in Japanese, and find I’m way more invested in the characters than I would have expected – Yano, in particular. The girl who seems likely to be the obstacle to Hime’s happiness may well be the key to the whole story.
Ratings:
Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8 Although they are often hard to like, they are well-crafted
Yuri – 4 The cafe concept is Yuri, the story is getting there
Service – 2 Still goofy Yuri fandom service
Overall – 8
The cafe clientele is visibly both more mixed gender and also fascinatingly androgynous. ^_^
