Over the years here at Okazu, I have written about many nuances of relationships between women. Love, sexual desire, akogare and crushing, deep emotional connections and more. All of them fall under my personal interests and often well under the umbrella of “Yuri.” Today I’m going to talk about a kind of relationship which might be, or might become a “Yuri” relationship or might not, but that is wholly irrelevant to the magic of the story.

In A Curtain Call For You, Volume 1, Sakura Akutsu is a character we’ve come to recognize. She has difficulty speaking, and is overwhelmed by the fast-paced conversations of her peers. Prone to overthinking and missing her moment, Sakura’s anxiety keeps her from just being part of the flow of school life. Instead she confines herself to writing. When Tsubame comes in to the classroom, speaking in oddly formal, over-dramatic words, Sakura becomes swept up in the wake of Tsubame’s energy. And that is the relationship I want to talk about. There is a very specific kind of person who just *is.* They exist in full 3-D wherever they are and by doing so, they provide both a role model and a figure of authority for people around them who are merely going through the motions. I have been fortunate in having a few of these people in my life at key moments and I endeavor to be that kind of person for other people. Tsubame is exactly this kind of person and it gives Sakura the spark she was unable to give herself to become herself.

Tsubame is cringe. Boring people always see passion as cringe. Tsubame give Sakura permission to express herself. Society rewards conformity, not expressivity. Tsubame catalyzes action.  Fears keep people from acting. Tsubame is a wave of change and action in a world that rewards stagnation and inaction. Despite everyone labeling Tsubame as cringe, they come to see the play she and Sakura have created and, friends, it was magnificent. 

Is this “Yuri”? I don’t know. I don’t care.  Shiho Satou and Kiki Emoda have created a story that is exactly as captivating to me as Tsubame is to Sakura. 

A Curtain Call For You, Volume 1 is  available for pre-order now from Vertical Comics/Kodansha, with a November release date. I think you should read it and tell me what you think. I thought it was amazing. 

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – ?

Overall – 9

Thank you to Kodansha for the review copy, and thank you to ANN for giving me a chance to read it early. I already look forward to Volume 2.