Once again we welcome you to Guest Review Wednesday and welcome Luce back as a Guest Reviewer. This is an ongoing series – we have reviewed Volumes 1-3 on Okazu –  so we’ll get right into it. Take it away, Luce!

Yuri Espoir, Volume 4 opens where the third volume left off, with Kokoro on her date with Mr Hanakago, and goes further into her discomfort with him and the way the world sees her. Amami and Mitsuru see Mr Hanakago, and it turns out Mitsuru knows something of his past, that we get glimpses of, but not a full picture. Amami and Kokoro spend the night at Mitsuru’s house, then we get a few imagine spots by Kokoro about Yuri couples, as per usual.

I will start by saying this volume, and therefore review, has some trigger warnings for self inflicted throwing up, homophobia, depression and suicide.

Some good things about this volume: I liked the relationship of Mitsuru’s parents, and how she doesn’t care how other people see them. They’re all happy, and that was nice to see. There are also three female schoolmates, now grown up, that live together happily, which sounds pretty ideal to me. Kokoro does have two imagine spots, and it’s nice to see her enthusiastic about something, doing her drawing and thinking about cute relationships. I quite enjoyed the last chapter in the main story, the reality being two step-sisters learning to get on, as their parents have moved in together. I do like the variety of relationships portrayed. We also get to see Mr Hanakago’s face and an allusion to his past, the implication is that it wasn’t great.

However. The first scene, we see Kokoro have what looks to be a panic attack. Feeling ill during her date, she tries to make herself throw up, and panics when she can’t, seemingly because if she takes too long, Mr Hanakago will tell her father. It appears to be a one off thing, but still, not exactly what I wanted to see.

But the thing that really got me was that the truth behind one of those imagine spots is, in my opinion, needlessly dark. A girl who clearly has depression starts dating another girl in her class who likes her. Fine. This relationship continues for several years it seems, as they move out and attend college. But her depression stops her from appreciating it, and they start fighting more and more frequently. Snubbed by her girlfriend, they go home separately, and she then sees her girlfriend kissing another of their friends. It turns out that earlier she had killed herself, which is shown on page, and was following them as a ghost – maybe? The time line is a bit confused. But she is a side character. Her death does not advance the main story. The chapter ends with that. It is not discussed, nor the impact shown. The girlfriend’s reaction – whose mother had killed herself when she was younger – is confusing. Not sure if that was a translation thing (seems to be alright for the rest, so possibly more likely the original thing). I might have missed something with regards to that.

If a manga is going to include suicide, I would rather it show the aftermath, not be an afterthought, not shown for the shock value. It may be an end for the person who has died, but it has reverberations for everyone left behind. It happens, I know that. But it’s so far away from what I thought this manga was going to be, I can’t recommend it. It’s been descending into darker tones, with the previous review touching on Yuri Espoir‘s somewhat tone deaf approach to sexual assault allegations, and I’m very disappointed it’s continued this way. I’m also quite disappointed that no helplines or advice are shown at the end of the volume, as it often done when things touch on these topics.

It also concerns me that with the manga going darker – Kokoro has said that she will ‘die’ after high school if she has to marry Mr Hanakago. This was, I believe, started to be that she would cease to be herself in that marriage, but with this volume, I cannot help but wonder if this has a more literal interpretation. I hope I’m wrong, I am hoping for a happier ending right now, but. Who knows? I want to see how it continues for now, but don’t be fooled by the cover – this is no longer a cute Yuri manga.

Really, I feel like this manga can’t decide what it wants to be. Does it want to focus on Kokoro and Amami? Kokoro and Mr Hanakago? Mr Hanakago and Mr Asahina? The Yuri subcouples? Instead it seems to do everything and not really succeed at much. I’m not against having various story threads, and it has been some time since I read the last volume, but it all seems confused. Additionally, I understand that acting against your family can be difficult, but we don’t see Kokoro try much. She complains that the world sees her as a guileless girl who needs help… But she’s not really done much to even give the reader much evidence to the contrary. About the most subversive thing she does is draw Yuri couples and imagine their life. But she’s doing that for her own benefit, basically just shipping strangers together. It was a nice mechanic when there wasn’t so much else going on, but now it’s just cluttering up the book, especially with such dark stories. I want to see Yuri joy, or even just interesting relationships, rather than darkness.

I’m hoping that this manga turns a corner soon – that Kokoro herself makes a real effort to avoid what’s being decided for her. But with whole chapters dedicated to one off stories, I think the going will be slow.

Story: 5, there are lots of words and not much action
Art: 6
Yuri: 8, mostly for Mitsuru’s family
Service: 0
Unexpected trigger warnings: 9

Overall: 5

I will end as Tokyopop didn’t: suicide is not an answer. There are helplines and advice, and things can and will get better. You are more than your darkest hour, and people will miss you, even if you think they won’t. Please seek help.

Erica here: To continue from Luce’s last point. Here in the United States, 988 is the Suicide Help Hotline. Please call.

Thank you Luce. I also hope this story turns a corner soon. It had a great premise, but is still taking itself very seriously in a way that isn’t working for the story…or for me.

Welcome back to Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu. Today’s review is by veteran guest reviewer Luce!

In this sixth volume of My Idol Sits The Next Desk Over, Sakiko finds out the results of her photo competition and reveals the motivations for wanting to be an official photographer of Spring Shine to Chihiro. Chihiro and Maaya (the latter somewhat begrudgingly) make a surprise cake for Sakiko. Sakiko comes up with an idea for the school festival – an idol cafe! Complete with pretend groups. Maaya makes a friend – sort of… Finally, after a shake up with Spring Shine, Chihiro is troubled, Maaya comes clean, and Sakiko feels like she can’t say the things she ought to as a friend while also being a fan, upsetting Chihiro in the process.

These volumes always feel like there is a lot going on, but they’re not particularly longer than other manga; they just seem to have a succinct story-telling style which keeps the pace of the story fluid. This volume stretches over several months, and yet I don’t feel like it’s unduly skipping sections or skimping on the emotion. It doesn’t dwell on anything too long, but not in an erratic way.

The idol cafe was a genius idea, and although I’m sure it’s not completely new, really made the school festival arc memorable. I’m glad the mangaka decided to change up the usual ‘haunted house/maid cafe’ tropes we usually get – it’s even cuter to see Chihiro teaching them the routine. I’m sure that some classes are probably putting this into action in Japan! Plus, when one of Sakiko’s group (the Masked Group, since they’re quite shy) feels ill on the day, Chihiro steps in to cover. It’s adorable. Also the face Maaya makes when she realises that Sakiko is getting idol lessons off their idol is hilarious.

Maaya’s new ‘friend’ – in so much as Motoyama befriends an apathetic Maaya – seems a little thrown in there initially, but I like her, her bluntness is quite refreshing. She likes Maaya for just putting up with her, even getting disappointed when she realises that Maaya puts a front on for Chihiro, and it helps that her bluntness isn’t mean, like Maaya’s can be – as she says, she just has no filter. She also helps serve a role – an impartial person, not blinded by love for Chihiro as an idol, able to make comments without being pulled either way like Sakiko and Maaya.

The end of the volume comes with two big emotional hits: Maaya coming clean about her long history as a fan prior to meeting Chihiro at school, and Sakiko feeling guilty about keeping Maaya’s secrets from Chihiro. I’m not quite sure it’s a love confession when Maaya tells Chihiro, but it sure feels like one in some ways. She’s come a long way from the start of the series, even admitting that she’s done wrong by other fans and Sakiko. The volume finishes on a whole page panel of Chihiro that stuck in my mind such that I went back to look at it. The art is perfect for an idol manga, but it can sure hit the emotional sections too.

In a volume that goes from cute to funny, adorable to heartwarming, it finishes on very much an emotional cliffhanger. I’m very eager to see where they go from here – Maaya can’t avoid Chihiro forever, Sakiko’s despondency has seriously hurt Chihiro in her hour of need, and the future of Spring Shine seems uncertain.

Story – 9
Art – 9
Yuri – 7? It seems fairly certain that Maaya likes Chihiro a lot, although whether that’s as a fan or a person seems muddled, likely on purpose. I doubt even Maaya knows.
Service – 0
Overall – I personally really enjoyed this volume, so 10.

I feel like this is an idol manga that doesn’t idolise idols, and I’m really enjoying it. I only wish they were releasing it in physical, as I love the art and story. Kodansha’s store says Volume 7 (potentially the last) is coming out in May!

Erica here: Thank you so much for keeping us up to date on this series, Luce. I look forward to reading (about) the climax. ^_^

Welcome to a very special Guest Review today! Luce has returned and is shouldering a three-piece review for us! Given how hard writing even this intro is, I cannot express how much I appreciate this. Kick back and let’s dig into all three volumes of If You Could See Love!

Mei Haruno has decided to start in a new school where no one knows her, owing to issues in middle school, stemming from the fact that she can see arrows above people’s heads, pointing to those that they like. Swearing off romance altogether, she assumed an all-girls school won’t have romance… Oops, looks like it’s a lot gayer than she thought! There, she finds Sayu, her best friend from elementary school, who confessed when she had to transfer away, and what do you know, Mei sees an arrow pointing to herself. Later, Mei meets another girl, Rinna, who quickly gains an arrow pointing to Mei.

In the second book, having admitted to a girl on the roof about setting the arrows, Mei is recruited to the student council as a ‘love advisor’: helping other students with their relationship troubles.
There was a chapter in this book that I really liked, where we encounter a Yuri throuple between adults. They even mention that they had to work hard at it, but it’s lovely to see them together.

In the third book, Sayu and Mei go on a date to the amusement park, and Mei loses the ability to see the arrows?

The arrows, and whether their shape means something, isn’t really explained – it’s implied that the strength of the arrow is equivalent to the strength of the person’s love at that moment, so it ebbs and flows a bit. A weak connection is a small wobbly one, and sometimes they fill the page. There is a small section where someone’s arrow, pointed at an idol, gets ‘sharp’ and goes black, so clearly there is some meaning to them. I quite liked it as a mechanic, and actually thinking about it, anyone would probably get into the same mess as Mei. A nice touch in the manga is that it uses colour pages throughout to highlight the arrows in pink- sometimes the background is pink or other things are highlighted, which adds to the art.

I quite like the characters, although I would have liked to spend more time with some of them, like the throuple. Mei being incredibly anaemic as a hold-over from her (you guessed it) Ambiguous Hospitalising Disorder kind of made sense, but was a little annoying at times – although there was a panel in the amusement park where Sayu forbids Mei from going on a ride since the sign says ‘not for those with medical conditions’ which was funny. For all I’m not a fan of the sick child trope, at least it stuck to it without being too overbearing.

I’m going to talk about the ending, although I will give it it’s due that I don’t think it was super obvious who (or if) Mei was going to end up with, if anyone, at the start. But as seeing as they even including a canon throuple, I hoped this would somewhat foretell the ending, especially considering that it seems to be setting itself up that way, with Rinna starting to see Sayu romantically at one point. If you’re looking polyamory here, I hate to disappoint, but it doesn’t happen. I think it actually would have been a fun ending. The second book really seems to lean into it, which makes me wonder if it got vetoed by an editor.

Nonetheless, it is a cute story. It’s not going to challenge you, but you could do a lot worse than this: it’s finished at three volumes, which is probably about right for this; it doesn’t feel unnecessarily dragged out or curtailed, and the epilogue was really nice to see.

Ratings:

Story: 7
Yuri: 10 – I mean, I don’t think there is a man drawn on page that has a face, in so much as they’re all background characters. Three Yuri pairings, and more implied offscreen (plus a point for a character that is implied to be and I’m taking for aromantic)
Service: 2? There are a few bath scenes with minimal service, but there is a scene where someone imagines a kiss going a bit further. It’s not explicit.
Art: 7 (I doubt any panel would stop you in your tracks, but I didn’t note any particular anatomy issues, and some panels are quite pretty. The pink as a highlight helps, but I didn’t think it was overused)
Overall: 7

A cute, fairly quick read. The poolside read of the Yuri world – not going to knock your socks off, but it’ll probably make you smile.

Thanks so much Luce! You’re a true Okazu hero today. ^_^