Fumino, known to her friends as Bun-chan, is really irritated by that cool, mischievous Kiko-sempai. For on thing, she’s pretty sure that, while her best friend Mahiro really likes Kiko-sempai, things will go badly and Mahiro will be hurt.

Hamano Ringo’s Sora-iro Melancholic, Volume 1 (空色メランコリック ) is the fist volume of this series that runs in Galette magazine.

When Mahiro loses something that Kiko-sempai gave her and Bun-chan finds it, she pretends she knows nothing about it, until something snaps and she gives it back. Even then she isn’t entirelyhonest about it. There is something about Kiko-sempai that just annoys the daylights out of Bun, although we’re able to put our finger on it pretty quickly. Kiko-sempai also seems to be aware of it. Bun-chan is jealous of Mahiro and of Kiko-sempai.  And Kiko knows it. Initially it looks like Bun-chan is jealous that Mahiro is thinking about Kiko so much, but maybe that’s not the problem.

When club activities forced her to go out shopping for materials with Kiko, the older girl confronts Bun-chan by kissing her, thereby making her confront the way she feels about the older girl. As the volume comes to a close, Mahiro can see that something has happened between Kiko-sempai and Bun-chan, and, maybe, she too, can guess.

This series is ongoing in Galette magazine, and the characters have changed considerably from these early chapters. In a later chapter, too, Bun-chan will have a very edifying conversation with an adult who also fell in love with a girl during her school years. I look forward to that being collected up. I like Hamano-sensei’s sketchy art style, and while these early chapters seem very typical Yuri, one can feel a depth that this part of the story barely touches upon.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service  – 0

Overall – 7

The cover design is lovely – what you can’t see in the picture here is the lustrous pearly quality of the book cover. In fact that’s probably how I think of this series – a pearl seed, still developing. We’re waiting to see what kind of gem we’ll have at the end of it all.

Watashi no Kobushi wo Uketomete, Volume 4 does something wonderful. But first….

Soramori and Takebe are taking a trip. To an onsen. Overnight.

Yeah, and don’t think they haven’t considered that. It’s all they can both think about. But, before that, they play a little Edo period dress up and Takebe sucks at shuriken, but looks cool doing it. When bed time comes around they are bot so sure they are the only one with those thoughts, it doesn’t happen.

The rest of the volume keeps that level of tension, just about ready to burst. Until it’s just too much. Takebe has something she has GOT to say to Soramori but she just can’t quite find the right atmosphere. Finally alone, on a paddle boat in the middle of a lake Soramori says she knows that Takebe doesn’t like her. Horrfied that her message is not getting across accurately Takebe grabs Soramori by the collar and kisses her. As Soroamori struggles, Takebe *finally* says what she wants to say, what she’s thought all along….that she likes Soramori. When Soramori opens the gift Takebe brings her and sees that it’s a bouquet of origami flowers, there’s no doubt, finally, that Takebe has made her point. At last.

I’m not generally a fan of sudden kisses, but this one felt pretty good after 4 volumes of Takebe just not being able to deal with her feelings, then not able to communicate them. But this was not the wonderful thing. The wonderful thing was that now their feelings for onw another were made plain…they talked about them a bit and Soramori ends the story with her own confession of love. THAT was the absolutely wonderful part – that they were able to say that to one another, at last. This was followed by a couple of shorts that give us a sense that this relationship is going to be okay. Also that Soramori’s apartment is oddly empty. It’s one of those moments that you’re reminded that, while Takebe appears to be less able to adult, Soramori is kinda faking it as well. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 7

Overall – 8

Murata-sensei really sticks the landing here.

I understand why no one but me might care about this story, but something about gang girls who have aged into adulthood and managed to find love and share ridiculous hobbies together makes me really happy. I’m kind of a sucker for post-gang life characters generally, but also a huge sucker for Yuri couples that live happily ever after, after all. ^_^