When I discovered Nishio Yuhta’s After Hours (アフターアワーズ) back in 2015, I really enjoyed the quirky adult life relationship. Not set in an office, it delved into less regulated lives, lives that were built up on the fly. I was very excited that it was licensed by Viz Media. And, once it was done, I was very much looking forward to Nishio-sensei’s next work. Mizuno to Chayama (水野と茶山) is that next series. Volume 1 and Volume 2 came out simultaneously in Japan.

Mizuno and Chayama are schoolmates. Their families are rivals; competing for political power and social standing, as well as natural resources in the form of their companies. But Mizuno’s family is clearly on top of the hierarchy, while Chayama’s struggles to hold their position. The kids in the school respond to this with violence and bullying, locking Chayama in the trashed bathroom, beating her after school and generally making her life a misery.

What their schoolmates don’t know is that Mizuno and Chayama are lovers. Yes, it is a modern Romeo and Juliet. Thankfully, without the dire ending.

Although a particularly mean bully keeps torturing Chayama, long after everyone else has stopped, it’s Mizuno that finally fights back. Mizuno does what she can to help Chayama get out of their shitty town and away from their shitty parents.

This series was a little heavy on lowest denominator service and was not at all respectful of the characters’ bodies, something I had found very appealing in After Hours. The ending a was little less ridiculous than After Hours‘, but I’m not entirely sure you could call it happy, though.

I don’t really know what to say about this series. The art was pretty good – it fit the tone of the story, but I didn’t honestly enjoy reading it all that much. I wanted Chayama out of there, but really out of there, far away, safe, taken care of and never going back to that shitty town. Your mileage may vary, of course. ^_^;

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 5
Characters – 6
Service – 8
Yuri – 8

Overall  – 6

This past March I became enamored of Akegata Yuu’s Tsuki to Suppin, a Jousei Yuri manga from Feel Comics, about Akari and Shiho, an odd-couple who are nonetheless very happy together. We ended Volume 1 with Akari taking Shiho to her hometown to meet her parents, which went very well.

In Tsuki to Suppin, Volume 2 (月とすっぴん), we meet Shiho’s sister with whom Akari gets along famously…to Shiho’s vague concern. ^_^ You know how it is, if your lover and your relatives are laughing together, its a good bet that they are laughing about you. ^_^

We watch Akari and Shiho move through the year together, through holidays and birthdays and sick days. There’s no doubt that they love each other, although we rarely see them engaging in anything more intimate than hand-holding or a kiss – a choice I appreciate. In fact, there is a vignette in which Shiho is getting a solo photography show and she is asked if the show can use some of the photos she’s taken of Akari on vacation. She talks to Akari about it, but ultimately decides that her private life is private and chooses not to use them…even if they are great photos, they are great photos for her and Akari’s own enjoyment. Which is how this story plays out – we see that they love one another and are in love, but that is as far as we have access. I like the restraint of that access. I don’t need to see them having sex to know they are intimate. It feels very adult and very much like we are friends, rather than voyeurs.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 10
Service – .5 Cat ears for Halloween is about as racy as this series gets.

The story is ongoing, and you can read new chapters (in Japanese) on Manga Jam on Pixiv. I recommend it highly for relaxing Jousei Yuri manga.