Back in June 2013, I reported about the existence of an odd little webcomic by Akili, called Stretch. Some time after that the Shogakukan Big Spirits Comic imprint must have picked the comic up. (The website now even says, “Big Comics Spirits Presents”.) In March 2014, I noted that it had been published as a collected volume.

And so as I wandered around the various bookstores in Tokyo, seeing Volume 1 of Stretch  (ストレッチ) (also available on JP Kindle) on the shelves was a bit like running into an old acquaintance. “Oh, hey, how you doing? So good to see you again…” ^_^ I picked up Volume 1 to reacquaint myself with Ran and her sempai at school, now roommate, Keiko.

The two women have a casual, almost cheerfully antagonistic relationship. Ran appears to work at a club as a hostess, Keiko in a respectable office a a career woman, but both of them drink too much and bicker in a friendly way. Ran is a fan of stretching, and she has taught Keiko some good basic ones. They stretch in every chapter, and teach us how to do this healthful exercise, as well. Nothing here is beyond the ability of any sedentary chair-sitter.

Each chapter is wrapped around a snippet of their exceptionally average lives. Work, home, friends, food, drink, stretch. There’s hint of relationships outside their own here and their. Ran had, at the very least, a boyfriend, and we are given the merest glimpse of a failed relationship in Keiko’s life as well. Work friends and school friends provide very normal society, which makes this just about the realest manga I have ever read.

There’s a fair amount of service. We get regular underwear shots and crotch shots, but they are presented without eroticism. The women wear underwear that lacks decoration – exercise bras look like exercise bras. They wear sweatpants or pajamas. We’re looking at a crotch covered in a pair of quilted, loose pants and I have to hope that Akili is doing this on purpose to mock the obsession.

There is a Yuri-ish vibe between Ran and Keiko, but it’s mostly because while they like each other, their relationship isn’t formal…or even nice all the time. They grope each other as just another stupid prank among many.

The end of this volume details how the two met in school and how their relationship developed, but not how they became roommates. Volume 2 is now available as well, and I know we’ll get more information about them in this volume. (Please refrain from spoiling if you’ve been reading the webcomics or the scans of same. Thanks.) I’m a big fan of stretching myself (like Ran, as a result of injuries), so I’ll be tuning in again.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Simple, solid, unadorned
Story – 6 The story is presumably the stretching, but the real story is told in the scenes around it
Characters – 8 Human, petty, a bit snarky, I quite like them
Yuri – 1, mostly in our heads in this volume
Service – 4 Perfunctory, maybe even satirical

Overall – 7

It’s a little weird, reading a manga about stretching, but it’s a pretty good manga. And we can all use a little stretch.

Every New Year’s Day in Japan, stores sell “Lucky Bags” which are blind grab bags with you-do-not-know-what in them. ^_^ You have to trust that the store is putting $200 shoes in a $100 bag. I love this idea, so once again, if you really like getting cool stuff and you really want to reward yourself, I have Lucky Boxes!

For those of you unclear on the idea of a Lucky Box or Grab bag – these are blind bags. You don’t know what you’re getting. There are no refunds, so if you’re not comfortable buying a box of you-have-no-idea-what, don’t worry, I’ll do less blind contests in 2015 again. I can’t tell you what is in each box anyway, because I just crammed stuff in as tightly as possible. ^_^ (We’ve had a few folks unclear on this in the past, so really please don’t buy one if you don’t like getting utterly random things.)

Just like as we’ve done in previous years, these are medium USPS flat rate boxes crammed full of things like magazines, postcards, doujinshi and manga, DVD/Blu-rays, games, figurines, clearfiles and stuff I picked up in Japan in October special for you! This time I will have three boxes, all with *varying degrees* of appropriateness and Yuriness (and there’s some BL in there too. If you don’t want it, please feel free to gift the to friends who might.)

Grab boxes are limited to the contiguous 48 states of the USA, because of the shipping, and people who are 21+ only, on principle.

Grab Box A – $35  Claimed!

Grab Box B  – $50  Claimed!

Grab Box C – $50 Claimed! Damn these things go fast.

Thanks to the folks who bought the Lucky Boxes -here’s to a happy holiday season!

It’s a holiday weekend here at Okazu, and we’ve been stuck inside with a sick spouse and a bunch of tight deadlines for work. So I’m taking today off.

We’ll be back tomorrow with business as usual. Have a lovely day!

As most of you know, today is Thanksgiving in the USA, and over the past few years I’ve written posts outlining my gratitude, because as far as I’m concerned, I can’t thank you enough.

Thank you Okazu Guest Reviewers – You are so important to me. You give us all unique perspectives and teach me something about something every time.

Thank you Okazu Sponsors and Subscribers – I quite literally could not do this without you. Heroes one and all.

Thank you to YNN Correspondents and Okazu Readers – everyone who reads, shares news and comments here on Okazu. I appreciate your fact-checking and your opinions. You are all the fabulous Yuri Network and without you, there’s be no point to doing any of this.  ^_^

Once again I am humbled by your support and enthusiasm. Wherever on the globe you are, have a wonderful day and thanks to you all. ^_^