In Volume 1 of Blue Friend (ブルーフレンド), we met Ayumu and Misuzu. Ayumu is popular, athletic and smart and although Misuzu is cute, she is the class outcast.

At the end of the first volume, Misuzu’s horrible past is revealed to the entire school and Misuzu collapses from stress.

In Volume 2, we learn more about Misuzu’s horrible past trauma and it’s pretty much what we guessed (dead mother, neglectful father, sexually abused by an adult.) Bizarrely, Satsuki, who showed up in the role of gadfly who knows all, turns out to be on our side, although she does it in the meanest, most tedious way possible.

It turns out that the culprit in the serial harassment of Misuzu was someone who should really be ashamed of themselves – an adult who was there during the past circumstances. It was really hard to understand – from my perspective, anyway – why anyone would blame *Misuzu* for anything that went on. It was more and more obvious with each new indignity, that she was the victim in the past and was being victimized again, now.

And, indeed, the student body seems to sort of think that too. So, when the school festival rolls around and the class choses a play, they rally behind Misuzu, as she struggles with the lead role. By the time she’s managed not only the lines, but the body language and the final embrace – of a boy! – the class is 100% behind her.

At which point, I thought – there are two ways this story could go and the one that seems “happy ever after” would be the worst choice possible. Because, at this point in the book, Misuzu is happy because she is making Ayumu happy. Even worse, Ayumu is starting to convince herself that Misuzu *needs* her – in a way that would never allow Ayumu to have her own life.

Amazingly, the story did not go there. Instead, the story chooses the harder road – the road in which Misuzu and Ayumu do not go walking off into the sunset happily ever after, in a horribly unequal and co-dependent relationship. Misuzu, having finally been allowed to shed her past, chooses to become a person on her own, so that, should she and Ayumu continue as a couple, she can stand on her own as an equal partner. I admit, had the story gone the other route, I would have been disgusted with it. This ending is less apparently “happily ever after” but it is definitely more “healthily ever after.”

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story- 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – 6
Service – 1

Overall – 7

Blue Friend was a throwback to some of the classic shoujo Yuri of the 90s, with a fresh, healthy, hopeful perspective on their future. Whether they move on as friends or lovers, we can smile, certain that Ayumu and Misuzu will both be okay.

When you’re a writer, every once in a while, you’ll open up your file of story ideas, or the stories you started, but got sidetracked on and so never finished. And, every once in a while, you’ll come across a story and wonder, “What on earth was I planning to do with this?”

Which leads nicely into Zettai Shoujo Astoria (絶対少女アストライア), by Shininome Mizuo. This particular combination of girls at a private school, battle lines drawn in war between two girls who seem to like one another, each carrying a secret from the past, ought to have been better than it was. Unfortunately it was hard not to wonder where they were going with this – a feeling that continued right through the rushed ending.

Rito is the rather unfortunately typical clueless transfer student into this iteration of the prestigious girls’ school. She is instantly befriended by Nadesico beauty Iori-sempai, who turns out the be the school star and a member of the Student Council. Iori and Rito are instantly close and, if Iori has her way, they’ll shortly be even closer than that…until Iori sees the pendant that Rito wears around her neck. A pendant that, we learn, comes from Rito’s grandmother.

Instantly Iori declares Rito her enemy, then declares war on the current Student Council, asking all her fans to rebel with her. Almost 3/4 of the school does. Lines are drawn, sides face off…and Rito, who has been here a total of a week, and most of the reading audience, has no idea why.

Rito is adopted by the current Student Council, which also adopts her ideas to regain supremacy (primarily through the tactic of not being insane) and incidentally we get to see that the President and VP are kind of an item. But eventually Iori will have to cough up her reasoning for declaring war…right?

Well…no, she never does, really. But we do learn why she declared Rito to be “the enemy.” And let me tell you, it was a total hairball of a reason. I don’t want to spoil it, on the chance you like Shinonome-sensei’s art and want to read this book. But I can’t say that the Reason For It All^TM impressed me much. I’m not a big believer in holding grudges. I’m certainly not going to credit anyone for holding someone *else’s* grudge.

In any case, the book comes to an end with a giant leap of logic and a switch of relationship dynamic that can only be called bipolar.

The character designs are, like most of Shinonome-sensei’s work, cute. But they are so reminiscent of her other work that it felt like it could easily be an alt-universe of at least one of her other series. In the end, I’m sorry to say this was a pretty forgettable story.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – Starts 7, but goes downhill from there, ending at a 5
Characters – 7
Yuri – 5
Service – 1

Overall – 7

I was looking forward to something new by Shinonome-sensei, and given the uniform designs was holding out for something a little more action-oriented. At this point, lover’s spats aren’t quite enough to hold a story together for me.

I do have some good feelings about this book, though, as it was provided by Okazu Superhero George R.! Thank you George for the pleasure.

Otomo Megane’s Himitsu (ひみつ) is a series of good ideas that don’t live up to their potential for two very specific reasons.

The plot follows a series of girls falling in love with other girls, at least one of these is meant to closely parallel a second story from the past – in which one of the main players is an adult in the present.

This shouldn’t be particularly complicated, except that Otomo has exactly three character types – blonde glasses girl, short-haired girl and long-haired girl. Each story follows possibly the same three, or three so similar that it’s impossible to tell the difference – other than names, which were never presented in full, so we aren’t *really* sure who we’re looking at without working at it.  Yes, it was absolutely true that, after I figured out which story I was following, I knew who was who. But overall, I’d rather not have to work that hard at it.

None of this would have been problematic if the stories were standalones, each telling a slightly different variation of three similar young women. Unfortunately, several of the chapters were continuations, not always in linear order. And the parallel stories were meant to be similar, which further blurs the lines. None of the stories were particularly memorable, which doesn’t help.

Individually, the stories are a variation on the theme of young love. There’s one of everything, from love triangles, to unrequited crushes, to crushing on an older girl and that old chestnut “she left to get married.” None of the stories themselves were bad, and the art is pleasant in a minimalist way.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Stories – 6
Characters – 3 They felt like the same characters over and over – even when they weren’t meant to be
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 5

The bottom line is that the artist’s lack of variety forced me to work harder at following the stories than the work itself warranted.