Sasamekikoto (ささめきこと) Volume 4 is the story of a misunderstanding. In fact, it is the anatomy of a misunderstanding, built up from the bare bones of misapprehension, attached by ligaments and tendons of high-school drama, and filled in with the muscle of self-doubt, covered in the thin skin of self-awareness.

(I’m not sure if the above paragraph is accurate, but it is impressively disgusting, isn’t it? ^_^)

The days immediately following Ushio’s and Sumi’s confrontation in Volume 3 are awkward and increasingly painful for both of them. We learn that Ushio was seen to have kissed Sumi, but she vehemently denies this, claiming that Sumi is – obviously – a “normal” girl, as opposed to her own publicly, repeatedly, stated perversion.

Sumi is, of course, not “normal” at all, but beset by fear and indecision, she makes no attempt to breach the gap between her, Ushio and their true feelings for each other.

The book them takes a look back once again, continuing the story of Ushio’s arrival in middle school and the fallout after her proclamation that she likes cute girls. It comes as no surprise that the girls around her mock her, call her “Lez-ko” and are generally unkind. Sumi makes an awesome Prince, standing by Ushio, befriending her and eventually making it possible for Ushio to become part of the crowd once again.

It is on a class ski trip that Sumi is suddenly faced with the disturbing fact that her feelings for Ushio are not merely friendship.

Back in “real” time, Ushio and Sumi are >this< close to saying something, to touching, to breaking through the wall, but when the book comes to an end, nothing has been said or done. The volume begins more lightly, with a side story about the president of the Joshibu, Tomoe, who turns out to be from an extremely wealthy family. Her lover, Miyako, is seen as an affront to the family dignity as much because she is the daughter of the chauffeur as because they are both girls. But Tomoe doesn’t care – she lives openly and happily – the complete opposite to the veil of lies that have trapped both Ushio and Sumi. Volume 4 is more serious than the previous three, but that is not a bad thing. The overall impression I had is that we’re now allowed to take Ushio and Sumi a little more seriously, and the accept that this is not “just a phase” or a whim or a crush.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 4

Overall – 8

Will it turn out okay in the end? I don’t know, but I feel a few more plot complications coming on before we find out.

Today we turn our attentions once again to the trials and tribulations of Murasame Sumika, aka Sumi, and her hopeless love for her best friend forever, Ushio.

Volume 3 of Sasamekikoto (ささめきこと) begins with the advent of the school sports festival. Someone appears to be targeting Sumika in an attempt to sabotage her class’s chance at victory. As Sumi lines up for the final race, a shoo-in for her, she runs off to save a “kidnapped” Ushio. Sumi and Ushio – now in penguin costume – are happily reunited.

The school erupts in wonder at the arrival of Lotte, a cute little German girl who transfers into the school in order to experience Japanese life. Resisting Ushio’s attempts at dressing her like a doll, Lotte idolizes Sumi’s strength. In order to train Lotte in karate, Sumi picks up her own training for the first time since she met Ushio. We learn that she quit it because Ushio likes cute girls. Now back in the dojo, Sumi remember just how much she loves karate.

In trying to become strong like Sumi, Lotte over exerts herself and collapses. Ushio blames Sumi for not allowing for Lotte’s size and condition. Sumi responds that Lotte *wanted* to train hard, and likes Sumi’s size and strength – that yes, she is NOT cute. Sumi goes running out into the rain and promptly falls ill. (Once again causing me to speculate on Japan’s bacteria-endowed rains….)

Ushio comes to Sumi’s house and nurses her back to health, but pays the price and gets the cold herself. We spend a little while in Ushio’s backstory, learning how she and Sumi became friends when she transfered in, as a result of the rest of the girls in the class ostracizing her when she admitted to liking girls.

Sumi comes to visit Ushio – seeing Ushio upon the veranda, Sumi’s expression says volumes about her feelings, but Ushio runs away. Sumi bangs on the door and demands to see Ushio who, after extracting a promise that they will always be friends (despite the fact that, at this point, neither of them want to be just friends anymore) falls sobbing into Sumi’s arms.

What will happen in the exciting volume 4 of this manga? I don’t know! But I’m very much looking forward to reading more of this really quite excellent tale of best friends in love.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 5

Overall – 8

My favorite moment was watching Sumi watching Yabase Takemi fighting. The tension in her body, that desire to be out there, to test her strength against another champion…awesome. Like Lotte, I enjoy watching Sumi being not cute at all.

Yuri, as I have mentioned, is not the same thing as lesbian. There’s some overlap, of course, but Yuri as a genre has an awful lot of not-really-lesbian-at-all tropes, with which we’re all familiar.

Sasamekikoto, Volume 2 (ささめきこと)  does something quite interesting with some of our more familiar rehashed conventions – in a sort of meta-Yuri manga, we get several layers of Yuri convention running on top of one another, each at a different angle to the others.

Sumika, a girl in love with her best friend Ushio – who loves cute girls, but not Sumi – has been blackmailed to join a club that consists of women who love women (and their friend Kyori who is just a member to make the requisite number.)

But first! A “funny” chapter about Sumi on a date with the guy, Masaki, who likes her, who has a side career cross-dressing as internet idol and model Akemi-chan, and whose little sister is extremely creepy.

After that, the story settles down a bit into something that looks like this:
Classmates ask Sumi whether Tomoe and Miyako are lesbian, but Sumi avoids answering. The two come back and tell the classmates that they shouldn’t be asking other people about their identity. The classmates get all riled, calling them “rezu” and “hentai” when quiet Aoi-san stands up and tells them all to be quiet – that one, the classroom is for studying, not this, and two, real love between women looks like these novels that she obsesses about. lol The novel covers look *awfully* familiar. (And, btw, the novels are penned by Ushio’s brother, something that both Ushio and Sumi don’t want Aoi-san learning. lol)

When Aoi-san runs out after having been emotionally brutalized, Sumi goes after her to see of she’s okay. Aoi-san instantly forms a crush on Sumi and assumes that she too is a fan of the novels. Ushio walks in on them at a touchy moment, which sends her into tears, not so much because Sumi might like the other girl – she’s more worried that Sumi isn’t a fan of those damn novels!

Tomoe, as club president of the jyoshibu, decides that the club should go on a club overnight. However, a misunderstanding forces Sumi into helping Aoi-san with her doujinshi for “Yuri Fest,” a summer doujinshi event. So instead of going with Ushio to the beach, Sumika finds herself helping her new friend making a doujinshi and selling it at this Yuri otaku event. Sumi’s day is made when Ushio ditches her summer vacation, and comes to the event to visit her.

Then, everyone goes to the pool, tickets courtesy of Aoi-san’s thankful parents. Kyori, in a moment of epic genius, separates Aoi-san, Miyako and herself into the “kids” team – basing this on relative size – and leaves Tomoe, Ushio and Sumika to be together. Tomoe gets the drift immediately and goes off on her own, so Sumi and Ushio finally get some alone time. Aoi-san spends the entire time trying to escape to be together with Sumi, but finally sees what we have seen since the beginning, that Sumika and Ushio are in love with one another. And sad as she is, she backs off. On the train, Tomoe talks about how beautiful their love is – especially because they can’t see each other’s feelings. She calls it “delicious.”

The final chapter follows Sumi and Ushio just missing one another at a local festival but, when they finally do connect, the relief and joy on their respective faces speak volumes.

So the trick here is that were have a 1) girl who loves another girl 2) who loves her, 3) but they don’t recognize it yet, and who is the 4) object of a crush of a girl 5) who likes Yuri light novels, and they are in a 5) club for girls who love girls, and hang with a 6) lesbian couple. You see what they did there – the creator layered several “Yuri” tropes on top of one another for a reasonably effective comedy.

And it is quite funny. My favorite moments are when Sumi and Ushio fall into a visually wacky private language that’s basically not describable, but is lol funny.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 4

Overall – 8

I wasn’t sure if the whole “best friend who loves her best friend from a distance thing” was going to work for me, but in Sasamekikoto, it absolutely does work.

What’s a girl to do when her best friend forever loves cute girls, and she’s just not cute at all? Suffer in silence, mostly, if we learn anything from Sasamekikoto, Volume 1. (ささめきこと)  ^_^

Murasame Sumika has a real problem. She’s in love with her BFF, Kazama Ushio. Ushio is always looking for a girlfriend but, unfortunately, she’s fond of the extra-cute girly type…and Sumi’s just not that. Not at all. Good in athletics, a little rough around the edges, Sumi would make the perfect Prince to Ushio’s Princess, but Ushio just can’t see the obvious.

When Sumi and Ushio spy a couple of girls kissing in their classroom, nothing gets any easier. Miyako and Tomoe see Ushio and Sumi “practicing” kissing, while Ushio wears a plastic mask…it’s a long story…and blackmails Sumi into joining their new “Girl Club” for women who love women. Brilliance, except Sumi explains it was all a misunderstanding, and…. But Ushio jumps at the chance to join and Sumi is dragged along, dragging along another member (because remember, you need five people to start a club) who is a cute boy who likes Sumi who dresses like a girl and does modeling work.

It’s all very convoluted, and amusing.

When the Girl Club starts hanging out, Sumi bumps right up against the thing she’d really like to say to Ushio, but somehow, just can’t bring herself to do it. In the end of the volume Sumi’s forced to watch Ushio hit on another girl, again, who isn’t her.

This manga is a comedy and, while it’s basically one or two jokes repeated endlessly, it is pretty amusing. Not “zOMG bwahahahah!” but more like “heheh” amusing. And, even though it *was* only one or two jokes endlessly rehashed, I didn’t hate it by the end, which has to count for something. ^_^

The art reminds me of something else, which I am so far unable to identify – someone help me out here and tell me what it makes me think of?

Cute kisses, haha funnies, and not-fanservice filled high school Yuri drama. Lesbian approved.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 3

Overall – 8

Sasamekikoto is *perfect* for Yuri fans who like the “best friend who loves her friend in very loud silence” trope. If you were ever a Tomoyo fan, this is probably the book you’ve been looking for.