In Volume 1 we met Nanoha and Chidori, two girls who have a secret – they are lovers. They aren’t lovers, but they are in love and they dating. In Volume 2 and Volume 3, they are still dating.
Together they do normal teen stuff. They go out with friends and hang out, they visit the beach and do school things. It’s all very pleasant, very noncommittal and very low-key. In fact, I was describing it to my wife as a series in which basically nothing happens. For a Shonen Sunday Comic, it was satisfactory. Only a little service, no weird manipulative characters, no gods-help-us-its-not-funny comedy. Just blandly pleasant schoolgirl Yuri.
And then we hit Hana ni Arashi, Volume 4 (はなにあらし) and something happened. In comparison with the little happening in previous volumes it seems really big, but wait for it, because it is, kind of, really big.
It’s summer and Nanoha and Chidori go to the beach with friends and we spend a little more time looking at girls in bikinis than I care to do. Then we return home and the school festival is upon us. Chidori is representing the literature club when her old sempai shows up. We understand immediately that sempai is Chidori’s ex who took the time honored hoary route of seducing Chidori into a lesbian lifestyle, then chickening out on it herself. Sempai dismisses Chidori’s feeling with a snide, “Are you really onna-doushi?” which proves that the folks at Shogakukan are stuck back in 2000 or so in terminology. Sempai uses the phrase the way you might expect an actual human to use “queer” or “lesbo” or something more pointed.
Chidori is fairly paralyzed by the reappearance of Igarashi-sempai and we are given a chapter to see that sempai was a fairly stereotypical Yuri villain, steamrolling over Chidori’s objections, time and time again. Like Sayaka, Chidori has learned to love herself. When Igarashi-sempai appears to be ready to tear Chidori down once more Nanoha steps up and does the thing. “Yes, we’re onna-doushi,” Nanoha takes Chidori’s hand and faces Igarashi…and here’s the thing that happens….Igarashi suddenly discovers that Chidori and Nanoha are not hiding from themselves at all. Her expression is one of shock. Up to this moment, she has bought into the idea that her feelings for Chidori had to be – must be – temporary. And here is Nanoha, without that illusion at all. Igarashi-sempai asks, her eyes wide with shock as her world crumbles…”Are you going out for real?” “Yes,” Chidori affirms.
To her credit, Igarashi-sempai covers her nervousness with a bit of normal teasing, but as she leaves, she realizes that she might well have made a terrible mistake with her life.
And, finally, later than night at the festival fireworks, Nanoha and Chidori kiss.
So, aside from the now-outdated terminology (which, to be fair I absolutely would expect nothing else from publishing behemoth Shogakukan,) this was a pretty meaty moment. Firstly, Nanoha rescues Chidori, then the two of them admit their relationship to anyone at all, and affirm that it’s real, and the result is that a girl who had been lying to herself is suddenly unable to do so anymore.
Ratings:
Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 6
Service – 4 Bathing suits and showers. So…ugh
Overall – 6
For a series which, until this moment, had climaxed with hand-holding, this was a big volume.
This is my favorite of the current school slice-of-life series where mostly nothing happens (a genre I have very little love for in general). I like Chidori and Nanoha’s personalities – they remind me of real people the way Mari and Akko did in “Girl Friends” vs. the typical manga pixie moe-child. Aside from my profound annoyance at the “we’re dating… but it’s a secret” gimmick and lack of understanding of what “lover” means, I enjoy it a lot.
It does take a LONG time to rev up, but you’re now into the volumes where there’s plot! A new character is coming soon who is a pretty good addition, and better relationship development. IMO it’s still a little glacially paced, but I’m happy that it’s continuing past the “first kiss” point where so many series wrap up.
I definitely think it’s too invested in the “keep our relationship secret” plot without context. Their friends and family are shown to be nothing but loving and supportive. It would be better if they put stakes to that; even if not a stereotypical coming-out narrative, at least some discussion of the familial or societal pressure that is leading them to keep the secret. For now it seems like they live in a manga yuritopia but internally feel it to be more like real-life Japan.