In Volume 1, we met Shimizu Makoto, a fairly successful team leader at a company, who has a secret life as a Yuri doujinshi artist. When her co-worker, office lady Maekawa Akane discovers her secret, she’s sure the jig is up. Only it turns out that Maekawa has a secret of her own, she’s a former manga artist. In Volume 2, as Shimizu encourages Maekawa to return to the world of manga, they both struggle with their relationship; Shimizu with accepting that she is a woman who loves women and Maekawa with human relationships at all.

In this final volume of the series, Still Sick, Volume 3 (スティルシック), by Akashi, Maekawa and Shimizu’s gavotte around one another is not yet over. Shimizu will be more honest about her feelings, and so will Maekawa, but love isn’t the only thing Maekawa has to deal with. She’s got a LOT of issues on her plate. We, and Makoto, watch over her as she deals with each layer of the walls she’s built around herself. Only when all that has been addressed, will they be able to just…be together.

It seems a lot of plot for one volume to cover, but in all honestly, I think this volume really does the job. At no point did I feel that this end was rushed, or aborted. Sure, I’d like to have seen them more after this story ended, but when it ends, there’s no dangling plotlines or handwaves needed to fill in a gaping hole. As a narrative effort, I give it top marks. I think to do so much character development, the art suffers here and there, but as this series has never been about the art, it’s a small, acceptable sacrifice.

For an office romance Yuri based on a really silly plot, Still Sick has turned out to be a pretty satisfying meal in three volumes.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 9, LGBTQ – 7
Service – 3 some noodling around, underwear, bed

Overall – 9

I look forward to Tokyopop’s Volume 3 in English, which should be headed our way in February 2021!

In Volume 2, I noted that this series is detailing a love triangle, but only one participant seems to have noticed. In Mayu, Matou Volume 3 (繭、纏う) by Hara Tsukiko, two students of the three are now aware that something is happening and with that, the triangle may at last be broken.

It’s time for the seniors to have their long tresses cut at Hoshimiya Jogakuen. That hair will become the uniforms worn by future generations of students…but not everyone finds it easy to part with something that has been an element of their lives for so long. If you think about that for even a moment, that’s an obvious truth. Hair is so key to our own identity of ourselves, and for these girls, even more a huge part of their existence.

But, beyond their personal struggles, something is unraveling in the school. Rumors are flying like…well, like the strands of hair that this school has got to be covered with. Youko hears that student body’s Prince, Hana, has left the school – we know, and she guesses, why.  Beyond belief she finds Hana at the waterside and finally, Hana’s eyes are turned towards this underclassman who might just be able to save her from herself.

This is the first volume where the hair doesn’t get in the way of the story. If anything, this volume is filled with hair being cut, separated, tied up and likewise moved both allegorically and literally out of the way. And, for the first time, Hana realizes that there is a way out of her self-imposed servitude to someone who either does not (or perhaps, can’t,) want her. When Hana looks away from Hoshimiya, Youko is there. When Hana finally turns to Youko for salvation, we feel that maybe the ghosts of the past might be set aside yet.

The cover of this volume is some damned fine art. It completely captures the veil of hair the students wear, and the entire story of Youko and Hana in one breathless moment.

Ratings:

Art – Outstanding
Characters – 8
Story – 7
Service – N/A
Yuri – 7 One side of the triangle is filled in

Overall – 8

This was a very good volume of a series I didn’t think would actually ever be likely to engage me, what with all the hair.

I’m waiting on a pinhead for Volume 4, hoping to see a Youko and Hana freed from the emotional and physical burden of their hair but, hopefully, not their love.

Volume 1 and Volume 2 of Cocoon, Entwined are available from Yen Press. Volume 3 is out late summer 2021. I hope you’ll take a moment to notice the unbinding of both plot and hair. ^_^

When Hayama-sensei and Terano-sensei show up to school one day, everyone can see that something’s up between them. The shared looks, the blushes… Sure enough with nary a panel’s worth of prevarication, it turns out that Hayama Asuka, the gym teacher and Terano Saki, the science teacher, are dating. News gets around pretty quickly, but students, teachers and administration have no complaints, in fact, it is pretty universally agreed that they are darling together. It’s all good in Pikachi Ohi’s Our Teachers Are Dating!, Volume 1.

I’ve been raving about this series since it’s launch in Comic Yuri Hime in August 2018, for a number of key reasons. The most important part is that it is so incredibly adorable and charming, with oodles of sugary sweetness, your biggest problem is worrying about tooth decay. ^_^

But in small, yet significant ways, this series, as moe as it explicitly is for the characters and even, for once, this reader, Ours Teacher Are Dating! actually treads some new ground. First and foremost, both Terano-sensei and Hayama-sensei are wholly equals in both a personal and professional sense. They are eachers, of an age, of very similar personality and admirably suited to one another. We don’t *actually* get that all that often in any romance manga. Stories, even romances, are driven mostly by conflict, and opposite types make for good easy conflict. Here conflict is driven by communication issues. What conflicts we do have are exceptionally small and personal, relatable, if we work from the idea of two extremely shy adults have who never had to feel or deal with any of this.

Secondly – and this is a bit of a handwave, something we must accept without question – everyone around Hayama-sensei and Terano-sensei are absolutely fine with this and have overtly, publicly, accepted their relationship. This will continue as the story goes on. Small, personal miscommunications / world-changingly huge public acceptance. Friends, family, colleagues, even new encounters with queer folks. Hayama-sensei and Terano-sensei will change their world for being visible within it. I can testify to that from personal experience. ^_^

All that said, what we read this book and it’s following volumes for is the sheer joy Hayama-sensei and Terano-sensei take in one another’s company. There is a sex scene, but it is arguably not very service-y at all, as it presented as two adults learning about each other in a realistic and uncontrived scene.

Technically, this book is quite wonderful. Erika Teriquez’s lettering absolutely captures the fully goofiness of our lovestruck protagonists. Jennifer Ward’s translation, and Rebecca Scoble’s adaptation all give us the seamless feeling we look for in an English-language edition of a manga.

Emotionally and physically, Hayama-sensei and Terano-sensei give freely of themselves and we get to enjoy their enjoyment of these new feelings and experiences.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Super fluffy and adorable
Story – 8 Fluffy love story
Characters – 9 Fluffy lovers
Service – 3 Some nudity and underwear
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

Another authentic manga reading experience, a great Yuri manga, Our Teacher’s Are Dating! by Pikachi Ohi is an absolute delight for anyone who loves love. ^_^ I look forward to you all telling me how squee-worthy they are. Okay-sauras!

Thanks very much to Seven Seas for the review copy!