Shimizu Makoto has a secret – she’s a Yuri doujinshi artist  – and no one in her office knows. No one, that is, until coworker Maekawa Akane sees her selling her Yuri books at a comic market.

Shimizu is terrified that Maekawa will blow her cover, Naturally, she assumes Maekawa will hold this secret knowledge against her. When Maekawa doesn’t do any such thing and, in fact, seems to be encouraging her, Shimizu has no idea how to handle it. Maekawa seems to be genuinely supportive of this hobby, but what Shimizu doesn’t know is that Maekawa Akane has a secret of her own. And what a secret it is!

In Still Sick, Volume 1 (スティッルシック) by Akashi, Shimizu is completely at a loss for what to do or how to deal with Maekawa’s apparent goodwill, but when she learns her coworker’s secret, Maekawa turns stone cold towards her. Since she’d let Maekawa into her life, Shimizu feels doubly uncomfortable for being cut out of the other woman’s life, and offers support but, if anything, that seems to make things worse. Even more difficult, Shimizu is starting to feel sincere affection for her coworker. When Maekawa kisses Shimizu after they have a minor confrontation, and Maekawa passes it off as a joke, Shimizu is left wondering what she’s really feeling. 

Volume 1 was marginally uncomfortable to read, mostly because Shimizu is a mostly always uncomfortable character. The story was not at all what I expected based on the synopsis, but I like the story more than I expected to based on that synopsis! Maekawa’s big reveal totally blind-sided me and now I definitely want to see what happens with the two of them. 

Ratings:

Art – 7 Solid, not outstanding
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 3, with a lot of potential
Service – 0 so far

Overall – 8

Still Sick is a digital comic that has been collected by MAG Garden’s Blade Comics, a name I haven’t heard in years. Volume 1 sold out quickly on Amazon JP for the first order, and was one of two books that were on my must-get list when I was in Japan last month. I’m really glad I got it, and look forward to the next volume.

From the beginning, this series has moved slowly, and almost haphazardly, like the tropical fish of the title, lazily moving between plot points. As Nettaigyo ha Yuki ni Kogareru, Volume 4 (熱帯魚は雪に焦がれる ) begins, we pick up with Koyuki sick in bed, and emotionally wracked because she couldn’t be there for Konatsu during the summer festival. When Konatsu’s fish show goes well, Koyuki become emotionally wracked over that, too. Konatsu doesn’t need her, what does that mean for them?

And for an entire volume, a mostly non-verbal Koyuki finds it impossible to express her feelings to Konatsu. Finally, after they reprise the show (having fish jumping through hoops) at the aquarium, Koyuki *finally* finds the words she needs to express how frustrated she is with herself: She thought she was changing and becoming her real self, but she just has no idea who that self is.

Konatsu assures her that whoever she is, it’s the same sempai she cares about. They embrace as the volume comes to a close. 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 1 on principle only, there really isn’t any
Yuri – 4

Overall – 7

This series has always been, in large part, about Koyuki’s journey to find herself. It would be nice if she finds some self-confidence and we can see their relationship develop from here.

In Volume 1, we met Chitose, a nice girl who has fallen for upperclassman Touka and who suffers when the girl she likes suddenly turns cruel towards her. The reason for the change is a shock….Touka has died and the person Chitose is speaking to is Touka’s twin sister, Ayaka.

In Shiori o Sagasu Page-tachi, Volume 2 (しおりを探すページたち), what might have been a good psychological horror story, becomes a bland story of romance and redemption for Ayaka. An epilogue leads us to believe that this relationship, built upon deception, is stable and lasting. Ptui is all I have to say to that.

I wish the push to create a happy romance all the time in Yuri wasn’t so obvious. It hurts when a nuanced and terrible character is cleaned up just to provide a happily-ever-after end for a story that really didn’t need it. How much better this story might have been if Ayaka’s pain didn’t just clear up like a bad case of strep? What if Chitose’s reaction to the lie was stronger, more extreme, less forgiving? How much bullshit would Rikako have put up with before she saw Ayaka’s toxicity change her friend? Or would she have been able to step in and save Chitose from herself? 

It’s true that maybe this ending was what was always intended for this manga, but after the first volume’s end, it feels wholly like a bunch of lost opportunities. Even as I read it playing out in Comic Yuri Hime, I couldn’t see that the ending was going to make sense for the beginning.

Art -8
Characters – 6 Rikako ftw.
Story – 5 
Service  – Not really
Yuri – 5 

Overall – 5

A disappointing end to something with such a compelling first half.