Sal Jiang made quite a splash last year with both Black & White (白と黒~Black & White~) and Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koishiteru (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる) being picked up by publishers in Japan, and Black & White: Tough Love at the Office making it’s debut in English.

Today we’re looking at SAL Stories About Love, a collection of shorts by Jiang-sensei, put out as doujinshi or in collections, extra chapters online and the like.

The first story is a short romance, followed by a two-chapter series about a woman and the gender-noncomforming person she falls for.

Following this is a story that amused me no end, as two women in an office fight over the same umbrella, not realizing a coworker has taken one of their umbrellas. The escalation of their war is petty and amusing and their reconciliation is also kind of fun.

This is followed by a romance between a newbie at a food hall and the employee who trains her, a large woman, who the other employees, all college women, assume is interested in the guy who comes by to talk to her all the time. When he finally confesses, she rejects him and the newb and she walk off arms around one another.

This followed by some bonus chapters from Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koishiteru. The volume is completed with a delightfully smarmy holiday season story called “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”

It’s a great volume to get a look at how Jiang-sensei’s art and story telling has evolved. If you like either of her serials, this is a nice pickup, as well.

Ratings:

Art – Some of these are early enough that we can see the development in her art
Story – Variable, but I think the stories work best when petty rivalry is the plot. ^_^
Characters – Mostly all likable and sweet
Service – There is some nudity and sexual situations
Yuri – 10

Overall –  8 A solid collection