By Burkely Hermann, Guest Reviewer
In this heartwarming, and ongoing, young adult romance, readers are introduced to Alice Elena Tan, otherwise known as Athena, a young woman who struggles to date women. She has tried everything, whether workouts, specific skincare, an array of various outfits with a distinct style, or attending a certain university for her journalism degree. Nothing seems to work. With her confidence at rock bottom, she meets a barista named Levinne “Levi” Cruz-Santos. She doesn’t want this to go wrong. So, her friends help her by putting together a girlfriend manual, hence the comic’s title.
Girlfriend Manual was originally on Webtoons Canvas, with over 17 issues posted from late July 2023 to late January 2024. The current version supersedes that version of the webcomic. Saefira is the comic’s artist and author. She works as a full-time artist and part-time student. She is Filipino and known for a fantasy drama, Merlin. That comic is also on Webtoons Canvas and on hiatus. For Girlfriend Manual, Sonia Tagari serves as editor and Kole Hunsinger as assistant editor.
The Webtoons Originals version of Girlfriend Manual, which is reviewed in this posting, officially launched on February 14 on the Webtoons website. Saefira described it as including rewrites, hard work, and a “labor of love,” hoping that it would bring joy to fans. Apart from the official Webtoons site promoting the series on social media, the series has been a hit elsewhere.
People have posted about Girlfriend Manual on YouTube and TikTok, often praising the series. Others have posted about it on the usually chatty yuri subreddits, which at times focus only subtext rather than textual yuri. Some there described it as a girl’s love manhwa. There were further posts about it on Twitter, Threads, and other social media sites. Dedicated fans even created fanart.
Yuri themes are at the heart of Girlfriend Manual, which nicely mixes slice-of-life, comedy, and romantic elements. Athena brings magnetism to every panel she is in. She can be dramatic and exciting at the same time. She is jealous of what other people have and their romances, saying they are “lucky,” and wondering why she is single. She turns down an interested man, in episode 1, telling him she is gay. Her friend Melissa “Mel” suggests dating her, as she’s also gay, in episode 2. But Athena turns her down. With dating apps giving her trouble and her friend Nicolas “Nico” telling her that she should be okay being single, she agrees it is a risk.
She pushes that aside. She wants to be with someone and wonders what it is like to be in a relationship. She goes a date at a local cafe, Cafe Dream, but the person never shows up and ghosts her. At the same cafe, her friends Nico and Mel console her. She happens to meet Levi there and instantly falls in love with her. Mel comes up with a “girlfriend manual,” in an effort to give Athena confidence, rather than directly beginning a romantic relationship. It is likely that what’s inside the manual is what Mel wanted to do with her, but was unable to do. The plan is to approach dating carefully, so that she can go out with Levi without any misunderstandings.
This involves trying to determine if Levi, who manages her parent’s cafe, Cafe Dream, is romantically interested in women through some unsavory means by secretly watching her, then asking someone close to her. The latter is Tojiro Sato, a local artist, who works at the same cafe. Nico asks out Tojiro, but spills the entire plan, seemingly ruining their second attempt to glean information. Nico ultimately succeeds as Toji agreeing to be a “middleman” as long as Levi isn’t hurt. He wrongly thinks that Athena is a “fangirl,” when she is actually more than that. In the process, Toji ends up casually revealing that Levi is gay and has been for years.
As the comic goes on, Levi admits she is open to love, after much heartbreak in the past and failed dating. She surreptitiously meets Athena in a local park. They hit it off. Athena wonders why she should even follow the girlfriend manual. Mel tells her to not disregard it, saying that queer dating has complicated rules, and she has to avoid “potential landmines.” This doesn’t stop her from having a major misunderstanding: she thinks that Levi has a girlfriend. Athena, at Mel’s urging, aims to learn if Levi is single. They later learn that the “mystery woman,” who held hands with Levi, was actually her sister, a superstar named Annika “Annie” Starr. At one point, she teases Athena, saying she should ask her out instead. It turns out this is actually just a test, which Athena easily passes.
Athena attempts to ask out Levi but fails. She struggles with creative writing for a contest, which could lead to her being published. One of the characters in her essay is partially based on Levi. While Athena’s crush on Levi develops more as the series continues, she tries to get close to Levi. The latter gets a crush on Athena as well. Even so, her insecurities come to the surface. She sees Athena’s school ID with a different name, thinks that Athena might be a reporter, and is reminded of her terrible ex-girlfriend. Despite teasing from her sister, Annika, she aims to “expose” Athena, even secretly following her to learn “the truth.” Toji suggests she date her to learn what is going on, saying she is projecting her insecurities. Later, Athena’s friend, Mel, composes a list of dating spots. It is implied she planned to use this for dating someone, specifically Athena herself, before Athena turned her down in episode 2.
They end up meeting each other in the library, where Athena gives her a copy of The Seven Husbands of Hugo, likely a reference to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which is about Hugo’s life during the seven marriages, and affairs, she experiences. If so, that book somewhat refers to the insecurities both Athena and Levi have about dating. Soon thereafter, Athena musters her courage and asks Levi out on a date. A few days later, they travel to an amusement park, including going into a haunted house, on a rollercoaster, and other rides. Athena brushes away her thoughts that it will go horribly. Everything seems to be going well until Levi hears from Josh that someone was assigned to write about her sister Annika.
Levi incorrectly assumes that the person Josh is referring to is Athena even though no photograph is available to prove her suspicion. When Athena comes back with soft serve ice cream, unaware of the conversation that Levi had with Josh, it all begins to fall apart. Levi wrongly believes that Athena is leading her on, dressing her down. This causes Athena to lash out, telling her that she doesn’t get to decide which parts of her are real and says she really did like her, and that the date was a mistake. Levi is clearly shaken.
The would-be couple breaks apart. This is even indicated in the ending message for each episode, which has nothing written in the section that Athena writes (presumably), unlike in previous episodes. Athena ends up dismissing the idea of romance. She decides to jog, do mediation, drink water, study, and write instead. She aims to focus on herself, rather than anything else, even though this seems wholly unhealthy. This is also reflected in the ending message for each episode. Toji and Annika end up talking about what happened, with Levi falling deeper into herself. Athena feels that what she did was a waste of time and that she should have asked Levi directly instead. She tries to not think about what happened the day of the failed date, at all.
Annika calls out Levi on her error. Levi says that Athena reminded her of the producers who treated her sister terribly and feels pressured by everything. She admits that if she did apologize, and was wrong (which she was), it wouldn’t fix “anything.” However, she feels too far gone to do anything and is unsure she can accept her sister’s advice. At the same time, Athena reflects on what happened and impugns Mel’s manual, with Mel even agreeing with her. She claims that the manual was made from “observation.” It is abundantly obvious she made it because it included things she wanted to do with Athena.
Ratings:
Art: 8 out of 10
Story: 9 out of 10
Characters: 9 out of 10
Service: 3 or 4 out of 10 (This comic is pretty mild, but Levi and Athena sometimes wear partially revealing outfits)
Yuri: 7 out of 10
Overall: 9 out of 10
I look forward to seeing how the series resolves the severe misunderstanding between Levi and Athena. You can enjoy Girlfriend Manual, which is still going strong after almost 70 issues, on Webtoons Originals, with various issues available for purchase on the app. Saefira can be supported through Patreon.
Burkely Hermann is a writer, researcher, and former metadata librarian. His reviews can be read on Pop Culture Maniacs or his personal WordPress blog. He can be followed on Instagram, Bluesky, or on Mastadon communities such as library.love, glammr.us, genealysis.social, and historians.social.
