In Volume 1, we met the popular and charming work sempai, Hiroko, who is the object of Ayaka’s ardor. Ayaka tries very hard to gain Hiroko’s attention, but Hiroko remains a bit stand-offish. What can Ayaka, a woman who loves women, do to gain the woman of her dream’s attention? Unbeknownst to Ayaka, she is making an impression. The only problem is that Hiroko, also a woman who loves women, thinks Ayaka is a clueless straight girl sent to torture her.

In Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koi Shiteru, Volume 2 (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる), the heat ramps up as Ayaka drowns her misery at a local lesbian bar, only to learn, that Hiroko-sempai is a regular!

In the meantime, Hiroko is trying to resist the irresistable Ayaka, not realizing that she’s also queer as the day is long. But, even if she was, would a workplace romance be a good idea? The chaos levels rise, until Ayaka can stand it no longer.

She bursts into the office and demands everyone listen to her publicly and clearly state her feelings for Hiroko-sempai.

This is very much a “wackiness ensues” farce of a Shakaijin Yuri manga. You can just about hear Khaturian’s Sabre Dance playing in the background, while doors slam and people run to and fro. The resolution of this manga will also be anticlimactic. It’s the tension between ladies’ woman Hiroko unable to give in to her desires and Ayaka wearing another tantalizing – yet professional – outfit and trying to get sempai’s attention that is the plot.

Those readers who find the Black & White series by Sal Jiang a bit too much to swallow, might enjoy the playful goofiness and cuter art of this series. I’m here for the ridiculousness of the scenarios that surely could not exist in a real office for even a second. The more ridiculous this story gets, the more I enjoy it.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 10
Service – 6 When Ayaka stops dressing for attention, it’s actually pretty funny
Yuri – 7
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 8

In Volume 1, we met Shirakawa Junko and Kuroda Kayo two high-spec, elites in an international sales department, who are natural enemies. They don’t just fight…in fact, they don’t fight at all. Their battle is in the world of reputation. Who among their colleagues loves them best, who respects them the most. They go for the throat in business…and in bed. This hate-hate relationship consumes them both.

In Volume 2 of 白と黒~Black & White~ by Sal Jiang, both Kuroda and Shirakawa find themselves facing a new, unwelcome problem. They may not actually hate one another! Certainly, the people around them are sure that the two of them are close. And they are…physically, at any rate. HR has housed them in the company dorm as neighbors.  Shirakawa befriends Hashimoto, another lesbian in the ranks, who has just been surprise promoted in HR. It’s easy for Shirakawa to get Hashimoto as a confidant, but when Hashimoto asks her to say exactly what Kuroda is to her, Shirawkawa has no answer.

Kuroda is gung-ho when the entire sales department visits Singapore. So gung-ho, that she oversteps her authority and makes a deal she had no right to make. Kuroda, who had been taken under the wing of an established exec, Sakakibara, was feeling pretty chuffed, but now she’s in a tizzy. Reprimanded, she apologizes for making Sakakibara look bad.  Kuroda is also asked what Shirakawa is to her and she also has no answer.

Both women are driven and, now, jealous, and neither will give in. Where can Kuroda and Shirakawa even go from here?

There’s less overt violence in this volume, with one exception, but still, Shirakawa and Kuroda are a “yikes” couple in every way. Their loathing of each other is Shakespearean in scale…love would not help. But jealousy? That’s right in their wheelhouse. Two terrible people being terrible, but only to each other and only in a way that hurts no one else. This is perfection. I love this manga so much. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – 7 Not a lot of nudity, but a lot of sex and violence
Yuri – 7 Above, and now, jealousy!

Overall – 10

Best manga since GUNJO for best worst couple. I mean, just look at that cover! ^_^

You too will be able to enjoy this manga in English when Black & White Tough Love at the Office comes out in October from Seven Seas!

Ayaka-chan is fashionable and cute. As a result, she’s super popular with her male colleagues. Unfortunately for them, she isn’t interested. Ayaka only has eyes for her cool, competent sempai, career woman Hiroko.

Hiroko is put out greatly by Ayaka’s flirting. The problem isn’t that Hiroko isn’t interested…the problem is that she is. Very interested. And this apparently straight girl is driving her out of her mind. Poor Hiroko drinks away her pain every night at a lesbian bar, screaming at how vexing this all is!

In the meantime Ayaka amps up her seduction techniques. It drives her crazy that Hiroko never seems to notice her, no matter what she does. There is a punchline of course: What Hiroko will do when she finds out, is the subject of Volume 2. ^_^

And so their days go, each driving each other crazy in Sal Jiang’s office romance, Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koishiteru, Volume 1 (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる).

As usual with a Jiang story, the art is stylish, the characters feel completely real and the collision that’s coming is set up in a way that could be amazingly fun or bad (or both at the same time!) and still be equally entertaining.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 10
Service – 5 Ayaka is not above using her assets to get Hiroko’s attention, so mostly T&A.
Yuri – 7
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 8

I’m interested and pleased that this book is a Futabasha book. I’m always glad when Futabasha puts out openly queer work. You can read sample chapters in Japanese on Web Action, if you’d like to get a feel for this – I know there are plenty of Jiang fans reading this blog.

I’m going to hope that if her Black & White (which I reviewed here earlier this year and has since been licensed by Seven Seas,) does well, we’ll see this goofier story in English as well. ^_^ Normally, I wouldn’t assume, but Seven Seas already licenses stuff from Futabasha, so it’s not a stretch.

Content warning: The plot here is 100% manipulation, violence and sexual violence.

Shirakawa Junko is beloved in her office. The younger employees look up to her with deep admiration, bordering on crush. She’s competent and, of course, completely suited to onboard the new employee, Kuroda Kayo. Almost immediately, Kuroda and Shirakawa begin to undermine each other, each seeking to establish dominance in the office, and in sex.

白と黒~Black & White~, Volume 1 by Sal Jiang, is so frickin’ nasty, I literally grinned my way through it. ^_^ Kuroda and Shirakawa constantly snipe and undercut each other in public, they attack each other in private in the office, The sex they have is full on power performance. This is not a pretty book about an office romance. This is a violent story about two terrible people being terrible to one another.

I love it. ^_^

For one brief moment, the two principals gang up to take down another terrible person and that’s a fantastic moment of triumph, but it does not change their relationship one iota. Moments after they bask in the glory of destroying a go-between and getting the business for themselves, they are at each other’s throat. Literally. My favorite panel is an image of Shirakawa about to slam her teeth down on Kuroda’s neck. Which she totally does.

You may wonder how no one in the office notices that the two other hate each other? Well, their boss totally does…and set them up as partners because he thinks it’ll be funny.  Did I mention I love this manga? I really do.  The first volume ends with the most delightfully improbable plot complication, as Shirakawa and Kuroda find that they are now neighbors. ^_^

Jiang’s art is terrific – clean and stylish, cute and approachable, and nasty af, in turns as the narrative requires. The characters are terrible people, but they sometimes do good or kind things, which gives them nuance. Neither of them is a sadist to the pleasant office drones around them. They are, however, two dominant humans fighting for dominance in every way possible.  Yeah, baby. I’ll take as much of this as I can get.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – 7 Not a lot of nudity, but a lot of sex and violence
Yuri – 7 See above

Overall – 10

You can read sample chapters of 白と黒~Black & White~ in Japanese on the Comic Ruelle & Comic Jardin site online.

Volume 1 is available in print from Amazon JP, CD Japan, in digital format on JP Kindle or from Bookwalker JP. However you get it, be ready for a throw down. ^_^