Cheers for Hanakage Alt! Not only is this book her big debut in manga, she has created something I have longed for – a book that is centered in reality, but leans into queer joy. Unnie ‘tte Yondemo Ii Desuka?, Volume 1 (オンニって呼んでもいいですか？) is a story of fandom, love winning the day and changing the world. It is absolutely delightful. 

Natsuki is a K-Pop super fan. She has poured her heart and soul into being the fan of Sora, the lead of LUXION. But two years ago, Sora left the group without a farewell. No graduation, no message. Nothing. And Natsuki has not been able to move on. Even her junior at work, another K-Pop fan, thinks it’s time for her to find someone new to stan. 

Natsuki isn’t entirely alone in the world. She has her best friend Kaede, the woman who introduced her to K-Pop. One day, wile hanging with Kaede, Natsuki’s junior colleague wanders in, with a boyfriend she met on a new app for fans.  The colleague becomes a bit pushy, asking Natsuki some personal questions about her sexuality, but in the end, Natsuki is persuaded to just try the app. 

She gets a hit almost right away and when she meets Haneuil, she cannot believe just *how much like Sora* her new friend is. She’s a dead ringer. 

… because we are not stupid, we can see that Haneuil is Sora. This is not a spoiler. It is really that obvious. ^_^ It’s also only half the story. The other half is why Sora left and what did become of Sora when she walked away from LUXION and, of course, what she and Natsuki become to one another. This main plot is cute, and a little bit silly since, as I said, Haneuil’s real identity is so obvious. 

Hanakage-sensei does some other things with this story that I think are praiseworthy. The first discussion of Natsuki’s potential asexual identity is rude as fuck, but at the same time, it feels real, as well as really intrusive, This kouhai, trying to “help” her sempai is just steamrolling over her. Later Kaede will also discuss her own sexual identity and be very honest about being aro/ace. In between there are some other conversations about Sora being a lesbian.

And our favorite queer Yuri cafe, where Hanakage-sensei held a series of signings of this very book(we have an event report coming soon!) makes an appearance. ^_^

But, even aside from discussion of sexual identity, the end of this book is 100% queer joy. 

I have recently found myself longing for stories that don’t just show bias. Yes, we know society is broken. I am hoping for more authors who will imagine a world that is not broken. I believe from the bottom of my heart that we don’t need more stories about how awful and isolating it is to be queer (which, every generation will create for themselves anyway,)  but we do desperately need a lot more stories where we push back against these stupid fucking limitations and break  through to queerness being accepted. 

Let’s just think about it. If a K-pop singer is best known for business Yuri on stage and hints and teases fans that they are gay and everyone talks about how they must be, what kind of nonsense keeps that person from coming out for real? Does that make *any* sense? This manga takes management being homophobic and ends by stomping it down flat. As it should be.  The end of this one-volume manga is made of the purest queer and K-Pop joy. ^_^ It’s adorable. 

Again, congrats to Hanakage Alt-sensei and to us for this mashup of two great things – Yuri and K-Pop- that do, in fact, go great together.

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story – 7 Silly, and fun
Characters – 8
Yuri/Lesbian – 9
Service – Eh, not really

Overall – 8

For some of Hanakage Alt’s work in English, check out Manga Mavericks’ Store where they are carrying the Red Strings’ translations! This book would make a great licensing suggestion next time you’re talking to companies that have Kadokawa contacts, like Yen Press.)