Volume 1 introduced us to Minato, a girl who loves playing music, but has been hurt by schoolmates. She is discovered by Hibiki, a sempai who runs a casual band/club who encourages Minato to have confidence in her skills.

In Hello, Melancholic!, Volume 2 (ハロー、メランコリック!), the band is about to perform live for the first time, but there are no ends of problems and setbacks. For one, Hibiki’s wrist is injured and she’s had to refrain from playing drums. Secondly, Minato is near paralyzed at the idea of performing in front of people. But both these things are resolved by Minato. She suggests making plastic bottle maracas to get the crowd to be part of the show…and even though she spots classmates from her previous school in the audience, Minato find some strength in herself, leading the audience and rocking out on trombone. It is a massive success.

As she looks around after the performance, Minato spies Chika and Sakiko kissing, which throws her into a tizzy. Chika drags the hapless trombone player off to a family restaurant and regales her with the tale of how she and Sakiko met, fell in love and became a couple. More importantly, though, Chika makes Minato confront the idea that she might be falling for Hibiki. A “date” with Hibiki does not help clear that off the table.

I cannot tell you why, exactly, I want Minato to be happy – although there are a lot of superficially obvious reasons that I might feel that way – but I really want Minato to be happy. If Hibiki can make her happy, I’m all in for them. But I also know that there’s a lot standing between them before they get there…among them Minato herself. She’s a walking bundle of insecurity and hesitation. Ohsawa Yayoi’s come so far in the last few years – Minato’s expressions are really something. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9 Humanizing Chika is surprisingly effective
Service – 2
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8.5 we’re climbing, slowly

Nonetheless, we’ll watch and wait, and listen to pleasant ensemble music featuring flute, drum, piano, and trombone as we do. (Couldn’t also find one with a guitar, but this was close…)

Today I wanted to review something that made me happy. And, for several reasons, this book was just the ticket. Ohsawa Yayoi’s Hello, Melancholic!, Volume 1 (ハロー、メランコリック! ) is an emotional rollercoaster with a sound track. ^_^

Asano Minato is hiding in plain sight. She’s tall, but she’s very quiet, and very withdrawn. She keeps her hair over her face and her head down. It’s not hard to see that she’s avoiding being seen. While eating lunch alone in her secret spot, she hears what is obviously an instrument. She immediately wonders why, since this high school doesn’t have a band. She knows that…because that’s why she transferred here.

Despite every attempt to hide, Minato is spotted by an upperclassman who begins to dog her. Hibiki-sempai, it turns out, can tell that Minato is a good musician…and she wants her for her band. It’s not an official school band, just for fun. Minato says no, but ends up in the clubroom anyway, where one of the other students makes a joke about her not coming to practice with her instrument. “Read the atmosphere,” she says and Minato panics and runs away.

Hibiki follows and learns why Minato is at this school. A talented and enthusiastic trombone player, Minato was chosen for the competition band in middle school over an upperclassman….and was ostracized by the other band members for it. “Read the atmosphere” was the flail they used to torture her until she just gave up music and, apparently, life.  She explains all this to Hibiki who is very kind, but tells her to bring her instrument and come back to the room tomorrow, anyway. They’ll play, just the two of them.

Despite the stares as she carries her trombone around, Minato does come back and the two of them play a free form duet. Hibiki is once again very kind and notes that Minato isn’t just good, she’s got an exceptional ear. And once again, Minato runs away, this time because it’s too much, it feels too good.

But there she is again, the next time and she meets the rest of the band, Sakiko on flulte and Chika on guitar and Emma, a half-Russian student who can play everything. With Hibiki on drums, they’d like to perform in a local festival; Hibiki is determined to get Minato in their group. Minato concedes and her life changes radically with her new group of friends and Hibiki-sempai who makes her experience and feel all sorts of things she had given up on.

When Minato realizes that Hibiki-sempai’s hand is injured, it’s her turn to be strong enough to make demands. And she demands Hibiki care about her own body. Will they be able to play in the festival? Where is the Yuri in this Yuri manga? Tune into Volume 2 to find out! (If you’ve read ahead, please do not feel the need to spoil. I get the magazine too. This is a review of Volume 1. Thanks for understanding how this works. ^_^)

Hello, Melancholic! is a story of a life redeemed from the darkness. It’s a joy to experience sneaking out and jammimg with Minato and a delight to see her lifted by Hibiki and given space and imprimatur to spread her wings and fly.

But, even more of a delight, in the author’s note, Ohsawa-sensei commented that the first chapter has been released as a voiced manga promotional video on Youtube by Ichijinsha, who calls it a “PP” for “power push.” I immediately ran over to catch it and found myself tearing up as I watched. It was quite wonderful. The art was given color washes that were very impactful and as Hibiki and Minato play, the frames go from B&W to a kind of rainbow ink for a fantastic visual parallel to Minato’s emotional state. And they even wrote actual music for us to listen to for the jam session. It was a lovely touch for a manga so wrapped up in the idea of music. Top marks all around. Take a look and enjoy!

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 2 A bit, but Hibiki’s doing it on purpose
Yuri – 1

Overall – 8 because it’ll get better and needs room to go up. ^_^

This was definitely the manga I needed today. ^_^

When we left Kaede and Nanami at the end of Volume 7, Kaede was confronted by the fact that she was, in fact, attracted to Nanami. As 2DK, G Pen, Mezamashitokei., Volume 8 (2DK、Gペン、目覚まし時計。) dawns, she is in full-blown avoidance of the woman she likes.

Yes, Kaede has built-in excuse for it, work has never been busier. And she’s received big news, but can’t bring herself to talk to Nanami about it. Instead she gives Nanami an expensive present and hides in her room again. Nanami has to ask Koyuki for the scoop – and finds that Kaede’s manga is being turned into a drama. Big news indeed.

But the tension between them goes on, until Nanami forces a confrontation. “It’s over” she says. She doesn’t want to stand in Kaede’s way, now that she’s reached her goal. At which point, Kaede realizes that her goal now includes Nanami and, at last, they come together as equals.

The epilogue follows some of the other characters and the lives they have chosen. We meet Ruuko’s new junior (a character who gets a story of her own in the Chocolat anthology Thanks for the correction, CW, the anthologies have all started to blur a bit. ^_^; ) and find out how married life is treating Aoi and we revisit even Mahiru, whose gotten a girlfriend of her own.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 9

This final volume came with a copy of “Monthly Motivation” a booklet of inspirational quotes by Ruuko to keep us going. Ohsawa-sensei’s love affair with this supporting character absolutely cracks me up.

8 volumes is an incredibly solid run for this series. I’m sorry it’s over, but look forward to seeing what’s next for Ohsawa-sensei!

In Ohsawa Yayoi’s 2DK, G Pen, Mezamshitokei, Volume 6 (2DK、Gペン、目覚まし時計。6), we get something we haven’t seen before – Kaede’s perspective.

Nanami, having come to a conclusion for herself, confessed her feelings to Kaede at the end of Volume 5. At the beginning of Volume 6, we see, in a single panel, Kaede’s true feelings. Overwhelmed, unsure and a little horrified at the idea that both the important women in her life have confessed to liking her, we see Kaede with an expression we’ve never seen before. It’s a great expression.

And then, Kaede gets back to work. Koyuki comes over to help and takes the opportunity to berate Nanami for being clueless about her feelings for Kaede, only to find out that Nanami’s also confessed. They have a tremendously satisfying scene where they argue about each other’s relative importance to Kaede and self-deprecatingly agree to keep taking care of Kaede.

When Koyuki isn’t available to help Kaede, Nanami finds herself intruding on the other woman’s bailiwick. Unsure of herself, Nanami asks Kaede about her history with Aoi. And, finally, we get a story from Kaede’s point of view.  (I still don’t like Aoi, but it’s nice to spend a moment inside Kaede’s head for a second, even if it’s just to find out that she really is a golden retriever puppy of a human.)

The volume wraps up with a look at Nanami from her coworkers’ perspectives and an invitation in the mail. The extra chapter is a silly “what if Nanami was a hard drinking pachinko playing layabout and Kaede was the responsible one”?  

This volume is everything I like about this series. It’s not rushing to pair the principals up. It’s taking it’s time with the main conflict of most Yuri manga – what the heck to do with all these feels.

The main “conflict” of Yuri manga is not the relationship itself, but where to put the feelings the characters feel. Most of us grow up surrounded by hetersexual expectations, role models, media, and discussions. From birth we’re handed a box labeled “Love” that’s filled to the brim with gender-associated behaviors and reactions and includes, at the bottom, an assumption of an opposite-sex partner. 

Those of us who, actively or passively, reject that box, are required to build a new box, often with scraps of media and fantasies. For those people who never wanted to or cared about rejecting that box, building the new one is even weirder. For Nanami, who came into this story with a fiancé and a presumption that the initial box was sufficient, this entire series has been about her recognizing that she may need to make a new box ,after all. And now, here at the end of Volume 6, she may just start to be able to think about doing that.

As I say this story is not rushing. And with this major step ahead in the main plot, it’s time for a digression. It’s the 5th digression so far, and at this point, I’m all curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine, ready to digress. Ohsawa-sensei, take me away!

Ratings: 

Art – 9 That one panel of Kaede was sublime.
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 4
Service – 3

Overall – 9

The first volume of this series started with the message that life was messy, and it hasn’t changed a bit. I love it. Last review of 2017 and first of 2018! Bring it on!

In 2DK, GPen, Mezamashitokei, Volume 5 (2DK、Gペン、目覚まし時計。) Nanami comes to a decision regarding her feelings for Kaede, then the world conspires to make her rethink that position.

First of all, Nanami’s kouhai from school tracks her down in Tokyo. Mahiru has always been in love with Nanami and when it’s apparent that Nanami has feelings about Kaede that she’s not admitting to herself yet, Mahiru sees an opportunity to get her foot wedged in the door, so to speak. She lays down a foundation of doubt and jealousy that come to fruition when, luckily for Mahiru, Nanami is required to stay in the office for a few nights for a major launch.

Meanwhile, Koyuki can’t stand it any more and tells Kaede that she likes her. Kaede, predictably misses the point, but does let Koyuki know she’s important to her. The tension between them settles a bit, as Koyuki figures out that she has an important place in Kaede’s life.

Nanami manages to come home, only to see that (to her brainwashed and exhausted self) that Kaede and Koyuki are having the time of their lives without her around. Nanami runs back to Mahiru who tries to take advantage of her and, in doing so, Mahiru tells us and Nanami something we didn’t realize. Nanami tries to put Mahiru off by saying she’s uninterested in women – but Mahiru says that she has met (and slept with) Nanami’s girlfriend in college. Oh-ho! Nanami can no longer deny that she has been (and is) interested in other women.

The veil lifts and Nanami can see clearly once her own denial of years getting back and her denial of her feelings now. She leaves Mahiru and goes home. When Koyuki leaves, Nanami, finally, confesses her feeling to Kaede(!).

This was a tough volume to read, while Mahiru was attempting to manipulate Nanami – something that would not have worked for half a second, if Nanami wasn’t so invested in her own denial. On the other hand, it’s still pretty funny to see how much of a girl magnet Nanami is.

I absolutely adore this series for little things. Coffee at work being a life saver, all-night marketing campaign launches, and other realities of adult life. The drama is personal, the story is not-quite-realistic and I love that Nanami just has not really noticed how every adult women she knows is in love with her. ^_^ There’s a lot to love. She’s competent and cool and human. The humanity in this series is, to me, relatable and enjoyable, even when the love polygon gets a little silly. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 3 Mahiru hitting on Nanami (with all the subtlety of a bag of bricks.)

Overall – 8

This was a perfect choice for my last review of 2017. Adult characters, emotions, situations. Lesbians don’t die after they graduate high school in Yuri manga any more! We’ve come a long way baby (this year.)