Hello and Welcome to Guest Review Wednesday, where we welcome back returning Guest Reviewer Christian LeBlanc! It took me a little too long to ask him to do this, especially as he is undoubtedly this series greatest advocate in North America. So, please welcome him, thank him and let us know your thoughts on this manga in the comments. In the meantime, the floor is yours, Christian!
Before going too far into this review, let me first declare my subjectivity, so you can keep this in mind while reading: I am a huge fan of Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl. I get commissions of Chiharu and Izumi when I attend conventions. I proudly wore the 2018 Yuriten K&WL t-shirt while tabling at a con, as well as when I went to my local comic shop the morning this volume was released. I often listen to the drama CDs, even though I only understand about 5 to 10% of what is said. I have a playlist in my head of songs that I think “work” for certain characters. I celebrated when I saw my favourite couple ‘aged up’ for the Yuriten 2018 main illustration, because this confirmed they were still together years later. I loved a single chapter of Volume 5 *so hard* that Erica asked me to write this guest review for Volume 6. So when I say “Everyone should run out and buy three copies of this book!”, you should probably temper that advice and just buy the one copy instead.
So! Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl, Volume 6, introduces us to Amane Asakura and Nina Yuunagi, who are in an open relationship – except Nina doesn’t really want it to be, but is scared she’ll lose Amane if she says anything about it. This is complicated by the arrival of Ryou Hiruma, who develops a crush on Amane (Amane has been helping her out with notes and chores while Ryou’s hand heals…and the crush is mutual). This is complicated even *more* when Nina and Ryou develop feelings for each other – poor Nina gets so twisted up with guilt and insecurity that she has a bit of a breakdown at Ryou’s place, where the gang all ends up meeting and hashing things out.
To put it in even simpler terms: since Nina wants to be in a monogamous relationship with Amane, she feels jealous when Amane and Ryou start getting close, and ashamed when she, also, starts to develop feelings for Ryou.
I was hoping this review would help me ‘get’ their relationship and enjoy them more, but the opposite happened. As interested as I was in reading a story about polyamory, the more I re-read this section, the more I’m convinced that this is a very unhealthy depiction of one. Nina would be a sympathetic character, except she shoves Ryou into some wet garbage, has murderous thoughts towards her right after, and forces a kiss on her later when she starts to develop a (one-sided, at this point) crush on her. Amane would be sympathetic, except when Ryou tells her about the pain Nina is in, Amane takes it personally and gets mad at Nina for not being honest with her. And for her part, Ryou doesn’t tell Amane she wants to get closer until after Nina tells her to back off, allowing ‘spite’ to be a motivator in her relationship with Amane.
Our trio achieves perfect equilibrium by story’s end, and maybe they’ll all be happy together from here on out after they’ve had their touching heart-to-heart, but I can’t help thinking that as soon as Amane falls for someone outside their circle, their happiness will vanish into thin air faster than a fart in a hurricane.
In contrast, returning heavyweights Chiharu Kusakabe’s and Izumi Akizuki’s relationship is much stronger and healthier, and much more fun to read. Izumi wrestles with the concept of polyamory after receiving a flower from Amane (this happens early in the book, before Ryou even appears), but ends up charming the hell out of Chiharu when she gets caught returning the flower (in any other series, seeing your girlfriend handing a flower to someone else would result in chapters and chapters of drawn-out misunderstandings; Canno’s abundance of new characters forces her to abandon these clichés in order to keep things moving, which I find really fresh and appealing). For her part, Chiharu gets a surprise visit from her former crush Hoshino-senpai, forcing her to deal with the last of her lingering feelings towards her, which culminates in a beautiful scene between her and Izumi. We also get a mini-chapter with these two at the end, as well as a very quick check-in with the other couples from the series. There’s even a 4 koma that shows how Ryou hurt her hand, revealing herself to have been the reason Chiharu had to attend an emergency disciplinary committee meeting and be late for her date with Izumi (Canno puts a *lot* of thought into her linking elements).
If you didn’t like Chiharu and Izumi from Volume 2, I don’t know that this volume will turn you around on them. If, however, you’re on the right side of history and swoon over the cute interplay between Izumi’s boundless affection and Chiharu’s cool, sarcastic exterior that hides a painfully shy but deeply loving interior, then you’ll love this book. I think it’s fantastic whenever we get to see a couple being a couple – so many romance stories are about characters falling in love; we don’t get nearly enough stories like this about people just *being* in love.
There’s a really sweet moment where Chiharu tells Izumi the reasons why she’s late for their date – Izumi is stung, but she falls forward into Chiharu’s shoulder for comfort, instead of turning away in anger. That one small detail is incredibly touching to me, as is Izumi’s trust in Chiharu when she realizes, hey, she didn’t do anything wrong (it just took her by surprise).
There’s one even smaller detail which I think is even more important, and possibly more affecting. At one point, Izumi thinks to herself: “Like in a tv show, you have just this one special person…and they tell you you’re special too…maybe this thing with me and Senpai is the same old story. Someone somewhere decided on the ‘mold.'” To Izumi, her relationship with Chiharu is the most natural, normal thing in the world, because of course it is, and I love seeing anybody feel that way. I don’t know if Canno intended it to be such a powerful beat (Izumi’s only thinking it because she’s mulling over Amane’s proposal of polyamory, which Izumi had never thought of before), but it’s right up there as one of my favourite moments in comics, and I think it’s perfect that this was published in time for Pride Month.
Ratings:
Art – 10 (Very fittingly, the only rough spot is when Amane, Nina and Ryou have a group hug)
Story – 10 (I averaged 6/10 for Amane’s, Nina’s and Ryou’s section, and 14/10 for Chiharu’s and Izumi’s section. You know, to be fair and impartial.)
Characters – 10 (see above)
Service – 3 (There’s a topless scene, played with zero salaciousness, which I think is neat; no, I rate this a 3 just for the expressions on the faces of Chiharu and Izumi when they kiss)
Yuri – 10. “How on earth did they let you in high school?” Chiharu asks Izumi; because she tested so highly in Yuri, obviously, which is the most important pre-requisite for attendance at Seiran. Now that I think of it, even the cats outside the school are probably in a Yuri relationship: “You’re so cuddly. Cuuuuute! Maybe you’re sisters?” Oh, Nina. You’re so naive.
Overall – 11, and you should buy three copies.
Erica here: As it happens, I love this volume. In a series that for me is cut, rather than meaningful, this volume stands out as a really excellent and important volume. I liked it in Japanese and generally consider it to be my favorite volume to date.
