When you watched the Bloom Into You anime, you saw it. Maybe you understood it. Probably if you were queer, you had lived it.

You saw the way Sayaka held her coffee cup, the way her fingers tightened around it before she asked what was clearly one of the most difficult questions of her entire life to date, “Are you and Hakozaki-sensei dating?” You saw it and maybe if you’re queer, you knew what it felt like on a visceral level. The first time you said the thing. You probably knew the tightness in your muscles when you first saw someone looking at you and understood that they were looking at you that same way that you were looking at them. That you had something in common. The thing.

This is why it was so important to me that Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 1 captures Sayaka’s inner voice so well. Not because I identified with her (although we are all her, in some way,) but because of this.

As I read the first of what I hope will be three novels, this was the moment when I knew I why her voice was so important:

As my senses sharpened, the path ahead grew brighter and clearer. My defenseless heart was exposed to the picturesque sunlight. And as I observed my current self neutrally as if from the outside, I finally realized something.

I was angry.

Right now, I was incensed. But why? I plumbed the depths of my heart for the answer.

Sayaka has spent the first 14 years as a spectator in her own life. This is the moment when she ceases to observe and begins to participate.

In this volume, we learn about Saeki Sayaka from two key moments in her life. The first part of the novel follows 11 year old Sayaka’s encounters with a girl her own age who, we can see from our distance, is in love with – or more probably correctly, desires – her. Sayaka has a bit of a sense of it, but it’s not until she experiences desire that it make sense to her. The second half of the book follows her when she is approached by someone who claims to love her, who she comes to love and who, ultimately, hurts her. And when she begins to understand herself, finally.

Saeki Sayaka and I differ in one very concrete way. I read a lot of fiction as a child. This is not an aside, or an irrelevant comment. Sayaka guesses at and correctly identifies her emotions as she experiences them. Had she read fiction, she would not have needed to guess. ^_^ But we know, because we are told it, that she doesn’t care for fiction. It is a testament to the author’s grasp of Sayaka’s voice, that we can be inside her head as she objectively discusses the range of emotions she’s experiencing. It was so wholly consistent with what we knew of her, I had to be impressed. As I’ve said in previous reviews, I consider Iruma’s writing inconsistent and wasn’t sure that the Sayaka we knew would be reflected here. When I reviewed the Japanese edition, I was happy to note that it was.

I’m even more pleased to report that the translation, by Jan Cash and Vincent Castaneda, with adaptation by Jenny McKeon, and editing by Nibedita Sen and Jenn Grunigen, preserved that voice in the English edition. (I’m also chuffed as heck to see my friend Julie Davis as Managing Editor on this volume! For one thing that means that Seven Seas has gotten to the point of size, volume and sophistication as a publishing company to be hiring managing editors which is a very good thing.) I trust this team to do the best possible job with a character I actually want taken care of. ^_^

Their hard work means I don’t have to spend my energy making the novel work and can instead spend my energy resenting Yuzuki-sempai and enjoying Sayaka watching herself swear to never fall in love again, then almost immediately fall in love with Nanami Touko. ^_^

Which is how it should be.

Ratings (same as the Japanese volume):

Art – 10 well, since the creator of the original did the illustrations, that stands to reason
Story – 8 In and of itself, not riveting, but it nails the character’s voice.
Character – 10
Service – 3 bathing suits and changing rooms
Yuri – Well, now…this is hard. I’m calling it a 5 because it’s so complicated

Overall – 9

For the interior life of a young lesbian, told in a way that is completely consistent with the character as we know her, Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 1 is a very good book.

Thanks to Seven Seas for the advanced review copy!