Just Friends by Ana Oncina, Guest Review by Em Evergreeen

January 10th, 2024

Two women hold hands by a vast, purple sea under a yellow sky. One has long curly red hair, wears a hat and  and a yellow denim skirt. The other has short black hair, wears a pink shirt with long black sleeves, a backpack and shorts. A large white cloud in the distance billows up from the horizon.Em Evergreen is a lonely lesbian with a manga addiction. Find her at linktr.ee/em.evergreen.Just Friends is a one volume Yuri manga by Spanish mangaka Ana Oncina. Originally published by Planeta CĆ³mic in Spain in 2021, the English edition comes to us courtesy of Tokyopop, with translations by Nanette Cooper-McGuinness. Just Friends was awarded a silver medal at the Japanese Ministry of the Exteriorā€™s International Manga Awards in 2023.Just Friends has the form of a manga, with right-to-left paneling and Japanese-language sound effects, but the lower-line-count art style hints at its overseas origin. Itā€™s an opportunity to read a different type of Yuri, one that plays with the tropes of a culturally distinct adolescence – no sailor uniforms, student council officers, or onigiri are in evidence. Instead our story is set at sleep-away camp, where our teenage characters wear graphic tees and eat pizza and baloney sandwiches.Our protagonist, the introverted Erika, is reluctantly packed off to said camp without any close friends. On the bus there, she meets her polar opposite Emi, who takes an immediate interest in Erika and declares them ā€œinseparableā€ before they even arrive. The story of their whirlwind relationship that summer is framed by more brief flash-forwards into their future, where we see them meet again as thirty-somethings. As with any good real-life sleep-away camp, the setting gives Erika the chance to step outside her comfort zone, figure out some things about herself, and perhaps explore that most new and exciting phenomenon to a teen – romance.To some young adult readers, especially queer ones raised in a similar context, the story will at times be almost painfully relatable. The realistic depictions of social anxiety, bullying, awkwardness, and underage-drinking-fueled misadventures might resonate a bit too strongly for comfort, but youā€™ll likely chuckle more than cry. Erika and her peers donā€™t have the communication or conflict resolution skills of adults, but their conflicts arenā€™t the focus. This is a romance at its core, with a side of navigating heteronormative expectations while figuring out who you are.Just Friends is very much not a Yuri without lesbians. Its mix of LGBTQ issues and romance is distinguished from recent standouts like Shio Usuiā€™s Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon or Sakaomi Yuzakiā€™s She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat by its strong focus on the drama of adolescence. In that respect, it calls to mind Yuhki Kamataniā€™s Our Dreams at Dusk, though itā€™s lighter in tone and less ambitious in scope. Just donā€™t go into Just Friends expecting a neat and tidy ending, or a sweet story of first love. Itā€™s too grounded in the complexities of real-world romantic relationships, teenage and adult, to give us that. Like all good one volume manga, it leaves you wanting more.Art – 5, effective if not awe-inspiringStory – 8, a nostalgic, bittersweet romanceCharacters – 6, more realistic than memorableService – 3, sex isnā€™t ignored, but the teens arenā€™t leered at or sexualizedYuri – 10, Houston, we have lesbians (and/or bisexuals)Overall – 7

 

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