Marika idolizes a “normal” life. Meet a guy, get married, have children…the usual. So when she wakes up to find that she is suddenly in a world in which there are no men, and all the people around her normalize relationships between women, she..freaks out. One classmate, Lily, says she believes her, and offers to pretend to be Marika’s beard as she figures out what happens. The Whole of Humanity Has Gone Yuri Except for Me by Hiroki Haruse is half science fiction and half shoujo-ish romance.
The main thing about this series is that it has actually got some great moments, but almost every one of them is sandwiched between thick layers of “D…d…d…date!?” and surprise kiss and rain fevers and, and, and. As I read, I remembered why I had read the Japanese chapters online and just never managed to pick up the series, Watashi Igai Jinrui Zennin Yuri (私以外人類全員百合) in Japanese. It wasn’t bad, but it just never quite managed to be great.
The science fiction just happens to be exactly the same plot as something else I’m reading, which is not surprising as humanity is pretty obviously an extinction event on this planet; but, the flight of fancy for this protecting earth somehow is lost in the physical gags. The romance here is inevitable and the story takes no chances with the ending. I mean, obviously I probably would have enjoyed a more explorative approach to an all-female planet, but this story is not that. It’s a rom-com wearing a lab coat.
Before you think I hated this, (I did not) let me talk about the thing it did get right. Marika’s perspective of “normal” is put into stark light at the beginning of the book, as she is thrust into a world where “normal” is just not within her operating parameters. But that is not what makes her question her own interpretation, nor is it really her relationship with Lily that changes her perspective. Simply by seeing, and living in, a society that has different norms opens her to the idea that her own idea of “normal” is a construct. And that, in a nutshell, is a message I can get behind. Seeing how other people live changes you. Our “normal” is not universal.
I would say that I enjoyed and eyerolled this self-contained 2-in-1 volume in equal measure. I’m ready for “being shocked at the concept of going out on a date” to drop out of manga for anyone over 12 or so, and, as this manga ran on Kadokawa’s Shounen Ace plus service, I’m willing to let it go here, (that also explains the “wow what big boobs!” that happens every other chapter,) but still done with it, as a whole. It’s a date, not a commitment; you’re getting a bubble tea, not a wedding ring.
Both art and writing were loose and flexible, with occasional flashes of something great. Eleanor Summers had to make sense of a lot of vaguely-formulated theoretical concepts, so props for the translator. Lettering by Erin Hickman was quite good, with a lot of translucent word balloons which allow us to see the background, but also be able to read the text clearly. Fine job from the team at Yen Press.
Ratings:
Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 4 Mostly comments about Marika’s chest. But a fair amount of that.
Yuri – 8
Overall – 7
For a no-stress science fiction about love and the end of the world as we know it, check out The Whole of Humanity Has Gone Yuri Except for Me by Hiroki Haruse. Out now as a 2-in-1 omnibus from Yen Press.
Thanks very much to Yen Press for the review copy!
From your description, it sounds like I enjoyed this about as much as you did; which is to say, it was nice, it had its moments, and also had its problems. For me, the biggest problem was that the great message about normal being a construct was subverted by the primary plot twist, which to me seemed to suggest that everything has its place. Won’t go into more detail because spoilers, but that aspect did leave me shaking my head at the end.
I also ended up too invested in the sci-fi and asking myself a lot of questions – how was human asexual reproduction invented with the state of science 100 years ago? Are all the straight women now partnerless? – that the manga wasn’t interested in going into.
I thought the ending would have been more thematically interesting in terms of the theme of what is “normal” if after what she’d learned in the other world the MC had gone back to her own world and now lived openly as a queer woman. I understand why the story didn’t go that way since, its a Yuri manga, it has to end with the main pairing together, but it still felt like a missed opportunity.
Despite the missed potential, it was fine for what it was going for and at a single long volume in omnibus form it didn’t outstay its welcome. The art was also quite well done, I’d be happy to check out a more traditional Yuri comedy from this author (turns out this is apparently their first Yuri work – their current serialisation since this ended is an adaptation of Idoly Pride)