Quite recently, we had a wonderful review on Okazu by Christian LeBlanc on Yuri is My Job!, Volume 11. That review motivated me to reach right into the middle of my to-read pile and pull out the Japanese edition of the next volume, Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!, Volume 12 (私の百合はお仕事です!). Volume 11 leaves us in a tense spot, and I knew from reading chapters in Comic Yuri Hime, that Volume 12 was gonna be explosive. Re-reading it all together was…phew. I want to say Content Warning, but explaining why is a spoiler, so please check at the bottom of this post.*

At the end of Volume 11, we are left with Kanoko in a very tight spot – “in a pinch” as they say in the manga/anime world rather more often than we do in English. She has, for better or for worse, been invited to Youko’s hotel room. Of course that leaves us, the readership over 30 or so, screaming our lungs out at the page. \(‘O’)/

What follows is two delusions colliding, like a truck into a overpass pile. Kanoko, obsessed with Hime, unwilling to see past her, is a unmovable object wholly unprepared for Youko’s delusion. Youko, used to using her body and using other women, doesn’t take Kanoko’s personality into account at all…in fact she barely sees her as she slams her use of sex into Kanoko at 100kpm. The whole situation is messy and appalling, and hurtful, even if no one gets hurt. Kanoko takes a couple of emotional hits. That they were deserved does not take away from the fact that it didn’t have to be – should not have been – like this. Youko is wholly loathsome throughout.

So, the finale, when it comes, is a less of a balm to raw emotions (that will come later) than another vehicle slamming into that same accident under the overpass.**

Finally, Sumika and Kanoko actually talk.

And here, at last, is where I disagree with my esteemed colleague Christian. I completely see his interpretation of Miman’s story calling out “S” culture, but I believe that this whole story has been validating it. Yes, what ‘S’ has become – a pastiche, a trope – can be harmful when people who don’t understand their own feelings find solace in a fantasy that has been handed to them that they don’t really understand. (This is exactly what happened to Sumika and Nene.) But at it’s core, being sisters, being bosom friends, having someone to just talk to, is a powerful thing for girls in a world that invalidates and mocks girls’ feelings and interests.

Although I am looking into an uncertain future, it is my belief that Kanoko and Sumika will actually become a very strong Schwester pairing. And in making that prediction, I think I see the end game of this whole series. Hime, Mitsuki, Sumika and Kanoko will have all been thrown into this ridiculous set-up, with personalities that do not mix or match…but out of all of this, they will become fine sisterly pairs that perfectly match the setting and feel of Liebe Academy and confirm the timelessness of the iconic pair of “sisters” in Yuri manga. Where Mayu, Matou‘s message was “We can leave all this behind now,” this manga might well be saying ‘There will always be a place for you in our book.”

Or, I’m wrong and we’ll see what happens! ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7 As a study in horrified faces, this is a great reference
Story – 9 Explosive and powerful, also horrifying
Characters – 8 Phew
Service – Yes. Youko’s large breasts. Yes
Yuri – 0 Whether there any Yuri in this volume is very much open to debate. I say no.

Overall – 9

* Spoilery Content Warning for sexual assault…although that doesn’t happen, it is very much a thing and must be dealt with by those of us who must deal with it. The story does address it.

** It’s a closed fist.