Welcome to another Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu. Matt Marcus is back again to cover Tamifull’s continuing series of young adult life that has a lot of layers to parse. Please welcome Matt back and give him your attention. Matt, the mic is yours…!

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, such as the JRPG games club podcast Lightning Strikes Thrice, which is currently covering Final Fantasy VIII.

In Volume 8 of How Do We Relationship While Still Being Friends With Our Exes, we follow Miwa and Saeko as they try to learn….well you get the idea.

Saeko and Yuria are still enjoying each other’s company, but their mutual dislike of being touched has put their sex life in suspended animation. Miwa, who accidentally baited Tamaki into a confession using her cat (so this time the cat outed the girl from…the bag…hmm), is nevertheless trying to maintain the status quo with her kohai in fear that her crush will lead to another debilitating heartbreak.

During the Band Club summer retreat, Tamaki starts flirtatiously teasing Miwa, or as one chapter aptly calls it, “Messing With You, To Great Satisfaction.” Miwa continues to hesitate, but Tamaki’s escalating pursuit–and a small push from Saeko–leads her to open up about her feelings. The two begin dating, which raises the dual thorny issues of Tamaki’s plan to transfer to another school and how to handle introducing their relationship to Tamaki’s friends.

I have a confession to make: I did not like Tamaki when she first showed up. But credit where credit’s due, Tamaki steals the show here. After a volume and half of getting closer, then backing off, only to get closer again, the way in which she pushes forward towards Miwa here is a very refreshing change. Something I noticed as well is that there are moments where the art shows her in a much more attractive light, particularly when she is acting confident. Compared to previous volumes, it’s one hell of a glow-up. Plus, she gets to show some developing maturity during her date with Miwa as they discuss their potential future.  I knew that the story would pair her up with Miwa, but what I was not prepared for was coming away from this volume thoroughly convinced that Tamaki is worth rooting for.

What makes Tamaki more than just a new love interest is how she poses as a foil to Saeko. Both are quite blunt and have a tendency to drop a biting line here and there towards Miwa. In a way, Tamaki’s harsher comments resemble some of Saeko’s in the first three volumes, such as when she calls Miwa a “bit of a wimp.” However, Tamaki’s are more on the line of teasing instead of insecure lashing out. Also, as time has gone on it’s become more clear that Saeko’s “toughness” that Miwa so idolized was a falsity; for Tamaki, her “difficult personality” is just who she is, and it’s that fortitude that pushes her through the various homophobic reactions of her friends when she comes out about her relationship with Miwa. It made me think back to Volume 6 where Saeko says that Miwa’s next girlfriend would need to be mentally tough to weather the challenges of being queer in a society that is openly hostile to it. It’s as if Tamaki read the job requirements before applying, but not in a “too convenient to be believable” way. 

Just to camp out on the coming out scene a bit more, the economy of storytelling Tamifull employs is worth highlighting. There’s a denial (“No way!”), a joke (“you’re just playing at dating, right?”), a somewhat condescending acceptance (“oh that’s very trendy of you!”), AND a flat-out rejection (“I don’t like people like that, it’s gross.”), all in the span of a few pages. It’s pretty impressive stuff, plus it gets those issues out of the way so the story can focus on the relationship itself going forward.

All of that said, there are still other developments going on. The most important one is how Miwa and Saeko’s friendship has continued to change. Miwa is trying to stay close, thinking of Saeko as her best friend, while Saeko is trying to pull back because, despite what she thinks, she’s still not completely over Miwa. The asymmetry of their feelings and how they process them internally is nuanced in a very compelling way. It is also fairly evident that the next volume will put Saeko more in the spotlight, since we did not see much progress about her body issues in this volume–not that she doesn’t play a big role in these chapters, but the Miwa/Tamaki story definitely took top billing.

The last plot thread I think is worth mentioning is the entanglement of Rika and Mikkun. It’s a case of the unstoppable force of casual sex meeting the immovable serial-dating object. I’ve mentioned being curious about Rika’s role in this story in past reviews, so perhaps we may see some progress here. Or it can just be a vehicle for jokes at Mikkun’s expense. I give it 70/30 towards the latter.

There are countless little positives I’d like to call out, like Yuria’s realistic body shape, the callbacks to the first band retreat, Saeko’s many new hairstyles that have clearly been done by Yuria. I’ve found the more time I spend revisiting previous chapters, the more I find moments where these later volumes carry echoes of the earlier ones in a way that I find very satisfying.

I think this is a fantastic volume, with deliciously playful tension and gentle but meaningful character development. Also, if you’ve been waiting for Good Things to happen for Miwa, you’re gonna love how this goes.

Art – 9 Fantastic paneling, great use of light and shadow, strong perspective choices–I’d say it’s the best looking volume so far
Story – 9 There are some predictable beats here, but the timbre continues to impress
Characters – 9 Tamaki won me over this volume
Service – 4 There’s a lot of non-sexual intimacy while nude, which is a form of service
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 9 Got a complicated friendship between exes AND two couples to boot

Overall – 9 Band camp continues to deliver fireworks (just not literally this time)

Can I admit that I’m a mark for POV shots that take into account height differences? I mean, I just did, but we can be cool about it, right? Right.

Erica here: Totally cool. ^_^  Thanks very much, Matt for this insightful review. You’ve clarified some of my thoughts on this series, as well. It continues to feel more “real” than just almost anything else I’m reading these days for better and ill. ^_^

Welcome once again to a Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu! Today we once again are pleased to host Matt Marcus, with his continuing coverage of one of our favorite messy couples. ^_^

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, such as the JRPG games club podcast Lightning Strikes Thrice, which is currently covering Final Fantasy VIII.

We’re back on campus for How Do We Relationship, Volume 7. In the previous volume, we left off with Saeko growing into a more emotionally mindful partner with Yuria while Miwa has taken interest in Tamaki, a gruff freshman who resembles Shiho.

We are fully into the new normal established midway through Volume 6. It’s odd to say it this far in, but this volume is the easiest, least angsty stretch in the series so far. Not that there isn’t some tension to keep things interesting, but any conflict feels extremely low-stakes compared to the dizzying anxiety of the first six volumes. What we get instead is payoff in the form of emotional growth.

To start with Miwa, she has taken a mentor’s role to Tamaki (despite her growing crush on her). She calmly listens to Tamaki’s break-up story and is forgiving when she is hit with redirected frustration. She bears a bit of her wounds giving honest advice to Tsuruta, who is Too Nice™ to ask out a freshman girl who is clearly into him. Despite her nerves, she pursues and has a good time on a date with a woman she connected with on an app. At last, we are seeing real growth in her character, and it’s fantastic.

In contrast to Miwa, what struck me in this volume is how well Tamifull depicted Tamaki as immature. After hearing a little about Miwa’s messy relationship she suddenly becomes very vested in knowing things about Miwa that no one else does. Why? Because it makes her feel superior. She wants to dominate access to Miwa’s secrets, and not specifically out of jealousy or antagonism towards Saeko. It’s recognizable teenage behavior which puts Miwa off balance. Still, she has added an interesting wrinkle to the tapestry of characters. To be honest, I can’t help shake the feeling that we are meant to see her in a less alluring light than Miwa does and I find that fascinating.

Not to be outdone, Saeko also gets to demonstrate growth. For one, she helps out Miwa by scouting out her date. She’s been reading signals from Yuria that she interprets as lack of comfort with sex, but instead of letting things fester, Saeko decides to–gasp!–talk it out with Yuria. It turns out that she was wrong! You can really feel her relief…until the rug gets pulled under her with a familiar request. I hope the next volume finally addresses the Elephant In the Room that is Saeko’s past. I think Yuria (who continues to be a delight) might be able to break through Saeko’s emotional defenses.

I do want to take a moment to praise the art. Over the past couple of volumes, I’ve noticed more use of large panels, often filled with tons of lived-in detail. Tamifull specifically called out his excitement in drawing Saeko’s and Miwa’s rooms in the author’s comic and it’s noticeable. Also, I want to give kudos about the new students actually looking younger than the second years. Tamifull has managed to capture that sense of looking back a grade or two and realizing just how young they were only a year ago–and also how small they must have looked to their senpais. That level of verisimilitude feels rare in my (admittedly narrow) experience reading manga.

One thing I have not mentioned recently is the localization done by Kelleth Jackson, who took over for Abby Lehrke starting with Volume 6. This particular volume doesn’t have as many colorful language choices as we’ve seen before, but it remains generally strong in my opinion. That said, there is always one blatant typo or missing word in each volume.

So, something that I have been avoiding is talking about the “commentary track” comics that sit at the end of each volume. They depict Miwa and Saeko lounging around together, looking back on scenes from the chapters, heavily implying that they have gotten back together. I still think it’s an open question whether or not these scenes are diegetic, but it’s becoming more and more distracting.

To sum things up, this volume is a quiet reward for readers who stuck through all of the toxic relationship dynamics and heartbreak. What I lament is the feeling that this is one of the best currently running yuri manga that many may start, but few will finish. This volume is the first step towards justifying the drama.

Art – 9 The art has become more confident as the series progresses
Story – 9 Most of the work is character-forward and it’s great.
Characters – 9 Finally, some serious growth for Saeko and some forward momentum for Miwa
Service – 2 There’s some light canoodling
Yuri – 8 / LGBTQ – 8 Miwa uses a lesbian dating app, so up we go

Overall – 9

I do want to find out who gave Kan that shiner. He probably deserved it.

Erica here: Absolutely all of this. This is easily one of the most realistic manga I have ever ready, which can make it massively frustrating, but also incredibly rewarding as our protagonist are definitely maturing.  Thanks once again for a terrific review.

Oh, and let me assure everyone – typos happen. ^_^ No matter how many eyes go over a book, typos happen. ^_^;