One of the defining characteristics of an adult life is facing setbacks. You can work really hard, gambare with all you have and still not achieve the goal. Sometimes it’s hard and sometimes it’s just life. In Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji, Volume 3 (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ), its both.

Sakuma and Wako work very hard to achieve goals and sometimes is just doesn’t work out. But that is not the point of Volume 3. Of course, it is part of the plot, but what makes this, like the previous two volumes, work is not what Sakuma and Wako do…but how they do it. And how they very much do it together. This is not a happily-ever-after type story. This is a two people who love each other very much, live lives and eat meals and sometimes life is a step forward and sometimes it’s a step back.

I would gladly read this series for decades and watch these two look at each other like that and be there for one another. ^_^ This series is not about Yuri tropes, like Ikeda’s Whispered Words, it is not about office romance, or relationship melodrama…it’s a wonderfully told and drawn story about two decent people making their way through the world and us rooting for them rooting for each other. ^_^

Oh, and their friend gets some sex, finally.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Characters – 9
Story – 8
Service – 5 Light nudity
Lesbian – 10

You’ll get to read this series in April 2022, when Seven Seas releases Volume 1 of The Two Of Them Pretty Much Like This, which is already available for pre-order through this convenient Amazon affiliate link.

In the meantime, get yourself someone who looks at you the way Sakuma looks at Wako.  ^_^

Okay, so here’s a mood. You like a creator, so when they announce a new book or series, you’re cautiously optimistic at the least. You know it might not be as good as the last thing you saw or read, but you have hope. And then you read or watch the thing….

This is a choose your own adventure and we will be walking down several possible paths together in the immediate future. ^_^ Today we are going down Path #1… You liked the creator’s last work you read and Volume 1 was very good.  And then Volume 2 is fantastic. Yay! Sasamekikoto creator, Ikeda Takashi’s Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji, Volume 2 (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ) is really good. SO much better than I hoped. With one exception.

Volume 1 introduced us to Sakuma, a script writer who seems to be best known for porn, and her lover Wako (called “Wanko” for her puppy-like qualities,) a young voice actress getting her start. They live together, have careers and are generally happy people. Spending time with them is…nice.

Volume 2 is more of the same. They start the volume off by getting ready for a flower-viewing party in the spring. When they arrive, no one is there, and they wonder if they got it wrong. but no…they are there in time to see everyone else arrive. And they have a lovely time.

Wako gets a job with two other women for an on-going series and her personality is perfect for the hyper younger sister she plays. The two other voice actresses tease her a little, but ultimately ask her if they can talk with her. After work, they tell her, in confidence, that they are actually lovers and want to to start a “Yuri” entertainment company with Yuri Drama CDs and the like… There is a laugh-out-loud moment as Wako enthusiastically explains that she’s *also* got a girlfriend and heck yeah, she wants in. The next panel is a night scene of the street, with words coming from the bottom corner, “Seriously?” It completely slayed me. Even crazier, Sakuma is a script writer…and, it turns out, one of the seiyuu has worked as a voice for one of her scripts!

We follow one of their friends who is quite gay. A person working on Wako’s new series remembers her from school and Sakuma’s birthday is coming up… . Sadly, the final chapter is that godawful “surprise birthday party” plot that I want to see burned with fire and the ashes locked away forever as forbidden.

Ratings:

Art – 9 Loose, light where it needs to be, realistic and well-formed where it needs to be
Characters – 9 I’d have them over for lunch anytime ^_^
Story – 8 Slice of not-my-life. 1 point off for the surprise party
Service – 5 Nudity and acknowledgement of sex, but not more. It’s more just like, knowing an adult couple as friends.
Lesbian – 10 and then sure, Yuri – 10

Overall – 9 Fun, relatable and way better than I anticipated, but that one point off for that goddamned awful surprise birthday party plot.

With the exception of causing trauma in order to create a surprise, which I just hate in real life and fiction equally, this was a fun, sincere and funny manga – especially when Ikeda let’s his characters be goofy. For my money, that’s when his work is at its best.

Also excellent is the running leitmotif of Wako, then Sakuma, having stress dreams about Wako being an idol. That felt way real.

In the Yuri world Ikeda Takashi is best known for Sasamekikoto / Whispered Words in English, from One Peace Books. That series made fun of every Yuri trope, balled them all into one funny, poignant and, in the end, beautiful comedy-drama with the perfect ending. It’s been about five years since we got the ending of that in the west and, whike Takashi-sensei has done other series, few of them have wandered into our territory.  Until now.

Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ) is a slice of life manga about two adult women who are a couple, and who are happy and settled in their relationship. Sakuma Eri is a writer and Inuzuka Wako is an aspiring voice actress. Together they eat and sleep and do work and spend their days happily in one another’s company.  We meet some of their friends and colleagues and, ultimately family, which puts this story into one of the very few Yuri manga that provides the main characters with something that resembles an actual life.

The art is very chill and adult, even as Ikeda-sensei still uses wacky expressions and visuals. Since the scenes take place in their apartment or sometimes at the recording studio, there’s little detail or frivolous background. The story is very much centered on the relationship between Wako and Eri, and how they react to one another’s needs, both spoken and unspoken.

By the end of the volume, the story starts to take off, as Sakuma shows her understanding and appreciation of Wako’s hard work, and we finish the volume off with a visit from Wako’s mother to meet Eri that is only the normal amount of “mom is visiting” stressful and not angst from coming out or hiding. As we’ve seen mom earlier, all excited about meeting her daughter’s special person, we know it will go well. Overall, the story is comfy and not at all stressful, with added bonus heartwarming moments.

This is a story about the everyday life of two people in a functional relationship, with low drama and very comfortable affection and caring. Ikeda-sensei still knows exactly how to end a volume. Such a terrific way to end this week, honestly, and I look forward to Volume 2 when it comes out. ^_^ (Update: Volume 2 was even better.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 5 a bit, it’s a story for adult readers
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

This volume is available on Amazon JP, of course, and if you’d like to read it digitally outside Japan, it’s also available on Bookwalker Global, where you can also check out a few sample pages.