Do you remember Blue Drop? It began as a manga, then had a couple of Drama CDs. Some years later it was given an anime that was both very interesting and kind of forgettable at the same time. Funimation licensed it, releasing a complete collection in 2010. That’s practically a human lifespan ago and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you didn’t remember it. But the point is, that the creator, Yoshitomi Akihito has gone on to make a number of stories and few series, most of which center on sexualizing schoolgirls. None of them have made it over here. I was very surprised to learn that My Future Starts Today ~Miku&Kyoko~, Volume 1 has been localized and released as a digital volume.
Kyoko and Miku have been friends since childhood, but Kyoko doesn’t really understand Miku. So when Miku tells Kyoko she’s in love with her, Kyoko has no idea how to feel about it. It doesn’t help at all, that Miku offers Kyoko her body to do whatever she wants with.
Miku sets about trying to appeal to Kyoko, to seduce her, but Kyoko…while not opposed, per se, really doesn’t know what Miku is thinking. Miku ramps up the seduction with every chapter until Kyoko pushes her away, causing a separate misunderstanding. As this volumes ends, Kyuko hears rumors in school that Miku is hanging with the predatory lesbian Nana-sempai!
The major down side to this story is Miku’s behavior. She’s written and drawn like every pervy middle-aged dude who thinks high school girls are seductive, thinks girls are like. It’s frankly exhausting. But this has always been Yoshitomi’s oeuvre, so I can’t say I was surprised. That said, both girls stay mostly full dressed (Miku does undress a little) and while they do kiss, when Miku tries to touch Kyoko is when she is pushed away.
This series is complete at Volume 2 if you’d like to see what becomes of Kyoko and Miku. I think I can guess. ^_^
Ratings:
Art – 7 Very clean and understandable, lots of “sexy” poses
Story – 5 Miku wants Kyoko, there’s not that much subtlely
Characters – 7 Other than the immediate circumstances, we don’t learn much about the as people
Service – 7
Yuri – 7
Overall – 7
I’ve encountered the publisher MediBang and Media Do Co., Ltd.once or twice, but I finally looked them up. MediBang seems to be a publishing and art platform, while Media Do describes themselves as “one of the largest eBook distribution companies in the world ” – and they own Netgalley, for those reviewers out there. On the translation side they seem to be doing a fine job, but this manga hardly had complicated ideas to communicate, either. They don’t credit humans for the production and I have a nagging feeling that some or all of this is automated. I hope I am wrong.
