A whole bunch of volumes ago, when Liebe cafe was having it’s Blume competition, Sumika pulled Hime and Kanako aside and told then a story. It was a sad story, about how a conniving cast member stole her little sister away. Sumika blamed love. She dislikes romantic loev because it tears people apart. As Blume, all she wants for the cafe is that everything remains the same as it is right now. Even at the time, Nene pointed out that Sumika’s version of that story wasn’t complete.

Here in Watashi No Yuri Ha Oshigoto Desu!, Volume 11 (私の百合はお仕事です) we learn the rest of that story.

But first, we must spend time with an increasingly unstable Kanako. It’s not because she’s isolated. Hime and Sumika attempt to reach her. But she’s convinced herself that the problem is not her.  She may be partly correct, but that still leaves a lot of the problem being her.

We kow understand Nene a little better, we think. But it turns out that Nene may not have understood herself back then…and no one understood Youko. She’s not playing a manipulative character, she is manipulative because it is fun. Consider this a warning. She plays this game hard and doesn’t seem to care about casualties.

We finally get all the pieces of that above story, when Nene and Sumika finally talk it all out. This was an outstanding scene. There’s a lot of movement on the page, a lot of references to Nene’s and Sumika’s time as schwestern and some fantastic body language and expressions.

But that still leaves Kanako hanging out there, vulnerable and manipulable. And Youko is right there to pick her up.

Next volume is gonna be a thing, let me tell you. I’m reading the current chapters doing a lot of screaming at the page. ^_^

But here’s the amazing thing…this manga is getting better. It started so funny and cute and now it’s deep and darker and I feel like the goofy characters are turning into people. Miman’s art is getting better and better – how about that cover? Here we are, an unthinkable 11 volumes into this series that was a goofy comedy and we’re getting better mood and narrative than ever before.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 2 There is  bit of body staring, especially in the decolletage. It’s not appalling, but it is there.
Yuri – 10  It doesn’t get Yurier, surely
LGBTQ -10

Overall – 9

This series has been a real surprise in every way, not least because this “S” Yuri concept cafe story is actually quite queer after all. ^_^

Volume 12 is not yet out but get those vocals chords ready. It’s a screamer. ^_^

Now that an anime for Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! is in our future, I think it’s important that we stop and evaluate just how far we’ve come with this story. The goofy set-up is that a Yuri Light Novel-themed concept cafe exists, in which the staff perform as students who form bonds as “schwestern” at a private girls’ school. It seems very silly, but almost immediately we were able to see that the relationships here are not at all what they seemed. Protagonist Hime found herself involved in an uncomfortable triangle made of her closest friends from past and present – two girls who cannot and will not like each other. This issue is relevant to the current arc.

And now, in Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu! Volume 10 (私の百合はお仕事です!), Sumika, the fourth inthe cast is herself bound by ties  that connect the cafe’s past and present. Former cast member Youko understood herself well when she, Sumika and Nene formed the first full cast with Mai, when she chose an “evil girl” as her persona.

Where Mitsuki’s love for Hime is pure and one-sided, and Kanako’s love for Hime is obsessional and not particularly healthy, what we learn lies between Nene, Sumika and Youko is far more adult, complicated and toxic…and breathtakingly sad. And so we watch the only lesbian in the story, Nene, navigate a complicated forest of thorns between Sumika’s cluelessness, Youko’s manipulation and her own desires. Only this time, Youko has help…and it’s not good for anyone. I read each chapter holding my breath.

In short, this volume is summed up with “Yikes.” But what amazingly scripted and drawn “yikes” it is.

Ratings:

Art – 10 Outstanding, Miman-sensei excels
Story – 10 Yikes, but I want to know what will happen
Characters – 10 Nene is now my favorite character. Sumika, you’re killin’ me.
Service – 5 Some more large breasts
Yuri – 9 Looking for love in all the wrong places.

Overall – 9

I’m waiting for the boots to begin dropping and trust Miman-sensei, but argh!. Again…what a long, long way we’ve come in this story from it’s goofy premise. At this point, an anime can barely scratch the surface. I expect a 3-season live action series next. ^_^

When Miman-sensei created a series about a concept cafe based on a popular novel series about ‘S’ relationships at a mission school, I was hooked right away. I honestly would never have believed we’d be 9 volumes into it and still ongoing…and still amazing. But here we are. Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!, Volume 9 (私の百合はお仕事です!) is an endless series of small delights and mortifications. ^_^

Having finally settled the major drama (but not the minor, daily, drama) between Mitsuki and Hime, we turn our eyes to the senior figure at Cafe Liebe, Sumika. Her character at the cafe is both bookish and suggestive, cornering her cute schwester to make her blush. In daily life, Sumika is said to be a bit of a gal, but I’m not convinced, honestly. Nonetheless “gal-sempai” has been a bit of mystery to us. We know her one desire is that everything stay the same at the cafe, and we know why – her first little sister was stolen by another member of the cast. Nene, the former little sister, thinks Sumika’s version of the story is full of horsepucky, but it is true that she’s moved into the back of house since.

Sumika has been obsessed with trying to get Kanako to stop obsessing over Hime, so far unsuccessfully. And now Sumika has another problem…she’s starting to have raunchy dreams and romantic thoughts about her reluctant little sister.

And all of that is about to come to a head when the woman who stole Nene from under Sumika’s protective wing shows up at the cafe! What does Goedo Youko want?

This volume was amazing, from beginning to end. It had everything, suspense, drama, fakey romance, real….something, if not romance, then what? And a new back of house employee which gives is the brilliant opportunity to ask all the cast what the S-style sister relationship means to them. When Shinooka is debriefing with Mai, she says that her favorite definition comes from Sumika who says that it is “A Romance, with the romance taken out.” I can’t imagine it better said.

Miman-sensei ends the volume with process discussion, which is always enjoyable and now, as soon as I am done with this, I’m cracking open the next Comic Yuri Hime, so I can see where this new arc is headed. And you will get to read Yuri is My Job, Volume 8 in March. Trust me, there’s a lot to look forward to!

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 4
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

A fantastically unpredictable volume from a series that never stops surprising me.