As we pick up Bloom Into You, Volume 8 by Nakatani Nio, out now from Seven Seas, it’s almost inevitable that the unctious strains of “My Way” come floating into our minds. ^_^
Yuu and Touko at last find each other and, more importantly, find themselves. They let go of the bonds they had imposed upon themselves, and in that, find freedom to be themselves, together. It is a fitting ending to a series that had such a tenuous beginning that I could not see them together without them losing parts of what made them, them. I wasn’t wrong, but Nakatani-sensei did it all her way…and, it worked.
When you’ve waited 7 volumes for a narrative climax, it’s often easy to feel vaguely let down by the end. For Bloom Into You, it’s very much the opposite. I originally expected a train wreck at the end, but the story and characters were given the time they needed to develop. I’m confident that Yuu and Touko can be happy together, maybe even moreso because they took the long way around.
An epilogue is always appealing to me. This volume’s epilogue is filled to the brim with catching us up on everyone and everything. If there is a flaw to this volume, its that everyone has done too well, and is too happy. ^_^ But I’m not complaining, as that is still rare and precious enough to just be enjoyed.
More importantly, we have a tantalizing glimpse into Sayaka’s future….a story that is currently playing out in Bloom Into You Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 1, Volume 2 which is out now in paperback and digital and Volume 3, which will be available later this year. I happily recommend all 3 volumes.
Ratings:
Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – There is a sex scene. Whether you consider that service or not is entirely up to you.
Yuri – 10
Overall – 9
Several of the after-series publications mentioned in the afterword have come to pass already. I’m currently reading the short story collection of Nakatani-sensei’s work from the Éclair anthology series, Sayonara Alter (仲谷鳰短編集 さよならオルタ). I have not yet obtained the artbook, Astrolabe, (アストロラーベ). If someone has it and would like to review it, drop me an email!
You made an error on the third paragraph.
“But I’m not complainin,g”
Well thank you for your unpaid editing. I am a very poor typist and make a lot of mistakes. I usually find them, eventually. I have edited.
No probs.
I watched this anime a few years ago, and I was iffy about it. The whole relationship came off as an asexual being forced into a yuri pairing with a bi girl. Does the manga do a better job of portraying the relationship? It’s evident in the anime she’s asexual, and the other girl is more or less forcing herself upon her. I found it gross that she’s using her status as a “senpai,” so the other girl accepts her advances.
As I pointed out for most of the volumes, it was never about an asexual or aromantic and it was unfortunate that people who were aro/ace identified with Yuu. It was, always, sold as a Yuri romance, and never had any intention of being anything else.
It seems to me that this is the same case as with Destruction Flag Otome or Aoi Hana. For some reason, if a character’s feelings are quite subtle or the character doesn’t seem to be completely focused on romance, then people start to read them as asexual. Even in seemingly obvious cases like Bloom into you, when the message was never subtle about its deconstruction of unrealistic media-created expectations from romance.
Perhaps it’s the influence of the novels, but most of my favorite scenes were the ones involving Sayaka.
And yes, the epilogue had a very nice bow around it.