Aoi is an office lady who dreams of a “normal life.” She tells her her friend that she wants to get married. Chi-chan appears to accept it. Aoi, on the other hand is massively conflicted, and as she walks down the aisle is fairly certain that she has made the wrong decision.

Luckily for Aoi, Chiho has no intention of standing aside, and arrives at the church in time to speak now. Standing in front of the dearly beloved who had been gathered today, resplendent in a white tux, Chi-chan offers Aoi her hand. Aoi takes it and they run away together….

Sore ha, Haru no Arashi no You ni, Volume 1 (それは、春の嵐のように) by kurukuruhime is about learning to love what you  have and being grateful for what you love.The rest of the book is primarily watching Aoi doing this very thing. From making love with Chiho, to enjoying shopping together, Aoi learns to appreciate what she has…all those little moments that make up a life together, that my wife and I call “playing house.”

When Aoi returns to work, she finds the strength to apologize to her former fiance who is very decent about it. But, Aoi, says to Chiho, as the volume comes to a close, she still wants to get married…to Chi-chan.

kurukurhime, creator of Yuri Life, does adult Yuri stories that one can slide into like a pair of comfortable slippers. They aren’t high drama, but they are filled with emotions that are wholly relatable. And, in this case, a real-life Princess who sweeps up to save the Princess from her own terrible decision. I’m okay with that. ^_^

The book ends with “to be continued” and I hope that that is true. I see no serialization for it, but that could be anything. Fingers crossed.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – Starts off a little annoying, gets better as it goes. Average 7, ends at 8
Characters – 8, despite difficulties
Service – 4 nudity, sex, nothing explicit
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8

My copy was picked up at Animate (it says so, that helps,) so it came with a lovely color illustration card of Chiho in her glasses. Thumbs up from me! I think girls who wear glasses look great. ^_^

In Volume 1, we met Yukawa, who became friendly, then friends, then lovers with her coworker, Mizuki. Now, in Volume 2 of Teiji ni Ageretara (定時にあがれたら), they are navigating new territory as lovers.

Getting together with coworkers or old school friends now presents new challenges, as they struggle with how much attention they can pay to one another. So does working together – especially when Yukawa is assigned a newbie to shepherd….an attractive, friendly newbie, who uses Yukawa’s given name like it’s nothing! Mizuki is trying to not be annoyed or jealous and is failing horribly. It’s not that she doesn’t trust Yukawa, it’s just…she so cute and charming, who wouldn’t want her?!?

They shop together, they cook together, they spend their day off together and stay over and are blissfully happy about it. ^_^

The crises and their resolutions are quiet, small and utterly everyday. It’s lovely.  Inui Ayui’s art is loose and often unstructured, the focus is on emotional content, rather that life-like representation. But it’s so clearly a kind of story that any human who has ever been in love will understand and who will find that, almost despite themselves, there is a smile on their face as they read.

Just as a reminder (since I myself had to be reminded, thanks again, CW) Inui Ayu is currently doing an autobiographical comic about life with her girlfriend for Comic Yuri Hime right now, so clearly she’s writing this from personal experience. And it really shows, especially when Mizuki or Yukawa are squeeing over how adorable their lover is. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7 Characters have a tendency to look a little soppy
Story – 7 It’s nice, not amazing
Characters – 7 Same
Service – 0 in this volume
Yuri – 7 We end this volume at the beginning….

Overall – 7

For folks like me, who are always looking for after the “happily ever after,” this story absolutely hits the nail on the crumpet. (Points to anyone who gets that reference!)

Never let it be said that I am immune to cheap marketing ploys. Well…I am *mostly* immune to them, having worked in advertising and possessing a health dose of cynicism. But, when Gamers hands me a big ole shiny clearfile by the artist Fly, I’m in. ^_^ I’ve liked Fly’s art for some time since before they became the cover artist for Comic Yuri Hime. I had picked up their artbook, Marguerite on a previous trip and since I hadn’t yet been motivated to get this book, this was the tipping point for me. Because clear file. Which I never used to use, but use all the time now, on account of having a hundred of them somehow lying around, for some reason.  Weird. ^_^ So here we are looking at Kyou, Koshiba Aoi ni Aetara, Volume 1 (今日、小柴葵に会えたら) by Takeoka Hazuki, with art by Fly.

Sahoko shows up for a high school reunion, and immediately is greeted by her dearest friends from her school days. All the while she is looking out for someone who does not appear to be there. Eventually, speaking with another old friend, she asks about Koshiba Aoi, one of the most popular students in their year. She knows she being selfish, but…

Flashback to their school years when Sahoko is – and wants to be – popular. She works at it, but Koshiba Aoi doesn’t seem to care, or even notice how popular she is. Hoping to make herself more popular, Sahoko tries to cultivate a relationship with Koshiba…who is supremely uninterested. She was the star of the basketball team, but has recently quit.  One afternoon, while trying to get to know Koshiba, Sahoko finds herself kissing the other girl. She spends the book torn between mortification and desire to understand Koshiba better. When she accompanies Koshiba home, Sahoko learns that Koshiba is tasked with raising her several siblings. She really would love to still play basketball, but…Koshiba tears up and it’s on Sahoko to comfort her.

The final chapter flashes forward again as an old friend tells Sahoko that Aoi will not be attending today.

Oddly, this was a similar set up to the end of Amano Shuninta’s Toma-kun in Galette and, even more oddly, I ended up reading them both the same week.  But aside from the premise being oddly similar, they weren’t much alike. We never really learn about Toma-kun’s life, but here, we see the person behind the facade and Sahoko learns to trust her instincts.

It’s not a groundbreaking story, but I’m very much hoping for a solid character profile of the girl who captivated so many in her school.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 2 some random underwear for no reason
Yuri – 6

Overall – 8

The manga appears to be ongoing in Comic Rex (コミックREX), so if something develops in either the past (likely) or present (less likely), we’ll see when volume 2 comes out. (If you are following this, feel free to post spoiler-free comments.)

Resonant Blue (レゾナントブルー) is a collection of stories by Yorumo, a popular Twitter artist. Although most of the stories had made an appearance in different anthologies, they are collected together here for a lovely set of small mini-arcs and a few standalones.

The cover story, “Resonant Blue” is a schoolgirl story about a reticent girl who finds herself drawn out of her shell by a popular girl who she falls for because of her voice.

A girl falls for her hair stylist and learns that the feeling is mutual.

In “cigarette kiss” an office worker is looking for her prince when she is assigned to work with a really hot guy. Miku shameless throws herself at Akira only to learn that Akira, despite her masculine good looks, is a woman. She feels foolish, but Miku’s heart still pounds around Akira. In “refrain kiss” Miku decides that regardless, she is interested in Akira after all. Now she has to work on her jealousy.  In a little short epilogue, one of Miku’s coworkers admires her work sempai but starts to get a hint that Miku and Akira are more than just client and vendor. The art, characters and setup in this story is 100% on point for me, so two thumbs up from this reader.

Another short about two women living together and how besotted the one is of her lover. Absolutely adorable, obviously.

Another mini-arc follows Suzuka, a model student, the star of the school and the former gang-girl who transfers in and beats the pants off her in grades. Waon isn’t interested in a rivalry, so Suzuka has to figure out how to become friends. I absolutely loved this story. Everything about Waon was on point for me, as well. Former Yanki, refusing to take crap from students attempting to bullying her, unflappable personality, I found her to be just right.

And last, a quick epilogue to “Resonant Blue,” where Michiru and Kaede meet to see fireworks together.

Yorumo’s art is solid and, in entirely unrelated news, hits me in a couple of my weak spots, so I find her characters exceptionally appealing. ^_^ The stories are fun, lack any emotional manipulation…in fact , the characters often actively derail the typical tropes of bullying and ostracism. I…loved it.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – Nothing salacious, but Akira is a 9 on my service scale ^_^
Yuri – 9

Overall  – 9

The more I think about this collection, the more I like it. It was refreshingly entertaining.