Mikanuji’s Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 5 (不揃いの連理) continues as a  smorgasbord of miscellaneous relationships between various couples.

In this volume, we take time to expand on a few previously established couples. A mangaka and her editor who bond in their game world, take their relationship into the real world, and it turns out it works rather well.

Two women meet in university and everything just works beautifully.

Minami has Iori now, but Shiori remembers when they had no one else to rely on but each other. She’s not ready to move on, but Minami seems so happy now, Shizuka finds it hard to not be jealous…and she’s maybe not winning that war. The epilogue spends time with Minami and Iori and their happy life together and, finally, we see Saori reminding Shizuka that there is someone there waiting, if she cares to look.

The art here is primarily cute, emotional and sweet. The couples are living in that world where expressing one’s feelings is fraught, but the real world considerations that make that true, are absent.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 3
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8

As a light snack of happy Yuri couples in Mikanuji’s cute art style, this volume is sweet treat.

No author’s note this time, but the book came with a comic on cardstock as Shizuka has a smoke while chatting with Minami.

In Volume 1, we met Iori and Minami, an career woman and a server at a izakaya whose relationship is surprisingly not fraught, and Saori and Shizuku, Iori’s little sister and Minami’s “sister” at the orphanage whose relationship is more of a light hand-to-hand combat than a battle.

In Volume 2 we added manga artist Heke and her editor Shinohara, who are partners in an onling RPG, but not quite there in real life.

Volume 3 of Fuzoroi no Renri (不揃いの連理), by Mikan Uji, adds a new couple to the collection. Kujyo-sensei is interested in women but cannot bring herself to go into the lesbian bar, so she keeps visiting the maid cafe next door. Sugimoto one of the students at  school, works at the cafe and thinks Sensei is kind of cute and awkward.

The remainder of the volume is snips and clips of the various couples’ lives, as they deal with whatever life throws at them. The art is cute and also kind of dynamic. The stories are slice-of-lifeish scenarios and the characters are all pretty cute. Although I really hope that Shinohara manages to finally confess to Heke-sensei soon.

This manga is light-hearted and fun. It’s a lovely distraction in these stressful times. I’m glad for Mikan Uji-sensei having three volumes so far and think Kadokawa seems a good fit for their work.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 2 Even less than usual, as we spend time with more couples, less of it is intimate.
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

I’m always happy to see Shizuku and Minami’s piercings and Minami’s tattoos, just because we so rarely get characters that look like that, but also because I like piercings and tattoos! If you’ve seen me in person you know I have my own collection of holes in my face and a couple of tattoos that are waiting patiently to be added to. ^_^

In Volume 1, we met Tanaka Iori, a careerwoman with a job that she does not love, and a former juvenile delinquent girlfriend, Minami, whom she does. Ultimately, we also meet Iori’s obsessive little sister, and Shizuku, who was Minami’s closest friend in juvie.

In Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 2 (不揃いの連理),  a continuation of the Pixiv comic by Mikan Uji, Minami and Iori, and the almost-relationship between Saori and Shizuku, are joined in shenanigans by a third couple. This couple consists of manga artist Heke and her editor, Shinohara, whom Heke has no idea is also her partner Lala in an online RPG game.

And shenanigans is what volume 2 brings us. This volume is less coherent narrative and more short gag scenarios, than volume 1. Some short flashbacks into Minami and Shizuku’s time in reform school are joined by Heke avoiding work and declaring her love for Lala, without putting two and two together when she’s with her editor. Iori’s complaints about work take a back seat to her relationship with Minami. No one gets a narrative arc; it’s all small, sometimes, goofy moments. And, in the odd moment, there is very sweet romance.

Mikan Uji-sensei’s art is solid, the vignettes are amusing, sometimes sweet, and I am really enjoying this series. I feel like we’re getting a glimpse of people we might not normally see, behaviors not normally looked at and very little fetishizing of any of it.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 3 Some light nudity, nothing salacious
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

This is a fun manga and I’m glad we’re getting more of it.

Tanaka Iori is a 28-year old OL in a stressful and not very satisfying job. Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume １(不揃いの連理) begins with Iori on her way home after a hard day, stopping by a local izakaya for a meal, some drinks and a vent with Minami, the cute girl who works there.

The next day Iori wakes up very naked next to an equally naked Minami and learns that the night before she had been very drunk and had been sick over both their clothes. Mortified, Iori wants to make it up to Minami. She gets her chance when Minami hurts herself. Iori invites the younger woman to stay with her. And the mishap is forgotten as they- much less drunkenly this time – become lovers. Iori’s still got some dealing to do when she learns that’s she’s now going out with a much younger woman. Yes, Minami is an adult, but that doesn’t stop Iori from feeling kind of old.

Minami has tribal tattoos on her arms neck and back and multiple piercings (thus, perhaps for the first time in non-gang ouvre do I see someone who is my type in a manga. ^_^) but is not a juvenile delinquent or gang girl. Iori learns, though, that Minami grew up as a foster kid and her foster sister, Shizuka, and she did get int a lot of trouble. When Shizuka shows up at the door, Minami is very firm that Shizuka should leave Iori the hell alone. But Iori has her own hands full with her younger sister, Saori, who is giving Minami a hard time for having moved in with her older sister. When Shizuka and Saori encounter each other in school, it s match made in somewhere tangential to heaven. ^_^

Iori is a pretty good partner, noticing when Minami gets a new pierce and gets one of her own to understand Minami’s life. Minami is likewise a good partner, cooking for Iori and helping her get ready for work. Coworkers have noticed the change in Iori, too.

The drama in this slice-of-adult-life is relatively gentle, with a few not-gentle punches and kicks from Shizuka and Saori…but once they have each other to abuse verbally, that settles down. ^_^;

I really enjoyed this book, enough that I finished it and started again to see what I had missed anything the first time around. I generally like Mikanuji-sensei’s art, even if it is a tad moe for me. The scenario of a mis-matched pair who completely work for and with each other appealed and it was especially nice to see tattoos and piercings not evidence of criminal class existence, just as body art.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 3 Some light nudity, nothing salacious
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

The initial drunknness aside, both Iori and Minami are hardworking, decent people that I quite like…and would very much like to continue to read about.