Sakuraii is a model student but has a fatal flaw – she absolutely sucks at tests. If it weren’t for tests, she’d have no trouble at all getting into her school of choice, but alas… . Her teacher makes her an offer she really cannot refuse. If Sakuraii convinces a fellow classmate who has not come to class all year to show up to school, the teacher will give Sakuraii a glowing recommendation.  So, there is Sakuraii, standing in front of Honda’s house, trying to find a convincing argument to get the girl back to school. Honda, it turns out is a pretty chill person. She agrees to help Sakuraii out, but only if she gets one “wish” a day from the other girl. Fearing the worst,  Sakuraii accept the terms and indeed, the first wish is a kiss. As days stretch on Honda’s wishes range from walking home together to going on a date and Sakuraii starts to find that she’s enjoying her time with Honda. Which is good, because the teacher has added a condition – not only does Honda have to come to school, she’s got to pass class.

Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai, Volume 1 (ロンリーガールに逆らえない) is a Yuri rom-com. Like most romantic comedies, we have to allow for the abrupt destruction of personal boundaries as a condition for both the “rom” and the “com” portions…. But where the premise is absolutely suited to instantly becoming unappealing, it pulls back immediately and starts the whole thing over, letting the two girls get to learn to actually like one another. As the volume ends, it steps back into the “wrong lessons to teach” lane as Honda uses her leverage to push Sakuraii’s boundaries again.

I have no idea why I don’t dislike this story, honestly, but I don’t. I like it. Kashikaze’s art is pleasant enough. The characters are likeable, except when they are not. I’m not alone, either as this book sold out almost immediately when it was first printed and it has taken me months to get this volume (in part at least because of international shipping being messed up due to the pandemic for weeks over the spring.)

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 7
Story – 7, sometimes slipping downward with faithless teachers and the like
Yuri – 7
Service – 2

Overall – 7

 I want Sakuraii to get into her school and have opened up Honda’s life and the two of them to be forever altered in a positive way by their interaction. I’m still reading this monthly as it comes out in Comic Yuri Hime and I still like it. I have no idea why! ^_^

There are a lot of “known” things about witches. They don’t float in water. They can’t cry. They can’t pass over water, and above all things, if a witch falls in love, they lose their powers. We all know these things.

In Kujira’s A Witch’s Love At The End of The World this last thing turns out to be true….and also, wholly false.

Mari Muruguma is an outsider among outsiders. Here at a prestigious school of witches, she is powerless, lacks basic knowledge and when questioned directly, has no real idea why she is here. Alice Keating is a model student, who is assigned to tutor Mari, which makes Mari even more of a target for bullying than previously. But together, Mari and Alice discover that they can transcend not only their personal limitations, but the strictures placed upon witches. Mari becomes a key and a lock, which Alice unlocks. In doing so, she finds herself changed.

But bullying in a school of magic isn’t just screwing with your desk or hiding shoes….jealous of Mari, several of the girls plot a nefarious and permanent way to rid the school of her. When it goes awry, both Alice and Mari are caught up in the spell.

For no particular reason, I had never before read this manga beyond a few chapters in webcomic form, so the English edition from Yen Press is my first encounter with it. It’s far more interesting than I expected, with a surprising (kind of, not really, but yeah, kind of) funky twist at the end that makes me want to keep reading it.

Translation by Eleanor Summers is full of good “voice” work and Sara Linsley’s touch on the lettering is always something to be enjoyed.  Thanks to everyone at Yen who worked on this book!

Kujira’s art is sparse and simple, allowing us – requiring us – to spend time with the characters’ emotional states, as there is little detail in he scenery to focus on. The story, while combining some well-known outsider x popular girl tropes from shoujo manga and riding on the bristles of the “magic school” broom from popular YA fantasy, combines for a unique, compelling story.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8 they grew on me
Yuri – 6 but there’s potential
Service – Not really

Overall – 8

Thanks very much to the fine folks at Yen Press for this review copy. I’m very much looking forward to find out what happens in the conclusion in Volume 2!

In Volume 1 of Yuni’s office life drama, we met Komori Mio a woman who has been transferred into Human Resources instead of getting promoted in sales, at which she excels. She excels, at least in part, at sales because she is very good at schmoozing women, which suits her fine. In HR she’s mentored by Yamanobe Kyouko who initially seems very uptight, but is also, as it turns out, very good with the ladies.

Volume 2 of Hitogoto Desukara!, (ヒトゴトですから!) begins with Komori encountering a weakness in herself. She’s not great at conducting internal interviews. Having always approached negotiation from a transactional perspective, Komori isn’t suited to the more conciliatory interviews of HR.

But more importantly, the interview leads us to learn about Yamanobe’s early years, and an old love affair with repercussions in the present. And the situation just gets more and more complicated as relics of Yamanobe’s life keep her tied to her past and unable to move forward, to the detriment of her future.

The whole story is ironic in several senses, as HR reps are the ones that are meant (in theory) to help you out of sticky personal issues in the workplace. At least here in the US that’s completely fictitious as HR serves primarily as a risk management tool for corporate leadership. Reading this book with an American eye, every one of the female characters would be hounded out of their positions, while Haruma would be promoted to the position Komori deserved. But it’s not all that difficult to stay amused as these people all fail to function appropriately. ^_^

It’s bitter, it’s funny, it’s wacky….it’s a bit like being the colleague in the office who can see all the drama, but isn’t sucked into it. We’re all the older lady in the corner who thinks these young people have too much energy. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Characters – 9
Story – 7
Service – 0 More drunken, than licentious this volume
Yuri – 8 Two definitely queer woman, and two I think have potential. ^_^

Overall – 8

I do not want Komori and Yamanobe getting together, but I like that they can sort-of rely on one another enough to talk to about whatever nonsense they are dealing with in their love life. ^_^

I don’t know if Yen Press will license this series; it is a bit more real-life business stuff (there are notes in the back to the actual HR texts used as references in the back of the book) than usual for the Yuri audience, but as a corporate drone myself for most of my adult life, I sure appreciate it! ^_^