Chidori and Nanoha have a secret, we are told in Volume 1 and Volume 2. They are lovers, we are told. And we will have to believe what we are told, because what we are shown is two young woman in a romantic relationship that, for completely sensible reasons, they prefer to keep secret from their friends. They aren’t doing a particularly great job of hiding it, but the relative self-absorption of people means they are hiding in plain sight. The only one who has cottoned on to their relationship is Nanoha’s younger sister. She, admittedly, has had the benefit of seeing them during their off-school hours when they, for one moment, let their guard slip and were holding hands, while on a date.

In love, probably. Lovers? No. Not yet. They are still in very early stages of their romance. Holding hands is where we are at.

In Volume 3 of Hana ni Arashi (はなにあらし), we accompany them as they celebrate Chidori’s birthday, and the gang goes over Nanoha’s house for a summer sleepover.

Unusually, this volume does not just end on a generic feel good moment, but with Chidori spotting someone we don’t know, but she clearly does, talking about her “kouhai” on the phone. What this will mean to us will wait until the next volume to find out.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 3
Service – 2 There was some gratuitous Chidori decolletage for us, the readers, not for Nanoha, which was depressing.

Overall – 6

I guess I am reading this series now. ^_^

In Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi, Volume 1 (百合と声と風纏い) Matoi is a young woman who doesn’t really get love. She can see her sister and her friends on about romance and attraction all the time, but it just doesn’t touch her, until… One day, while running late, a thunderstorm makes walking home seem very unappealing. She can’t reach her mother by phone, so she resolves to wait it out. A woman, older than Matoi, but not by much, enters, sees Matoi waiting and offers her a ride home on her motorcycle. Matoi takes the offer. When she gets home, she finds she’s kept the other woman’s extra helmet. 

Matoi learns that the other woman is Yuriko, who runs the gas station in town. She lived with her grandmother until the old lady died, and her parents are out of town. Matoi finds herself intrigued by Yuriko. They start spending time together, share their lives;  they take rides on Yuriko’s bike, Matoi shares the music she composes with Yuriko. Yuriko has reasons to avoid intimacy, but she’s finding herself wondering what she thinks about the young woman who watches her with such interest.  Matoi wonders if she’s falling in love and what that means when shes leaving for Tokyo in a few months to go to college.

This series is the first I’ve seen from the Lilie Comics imprint, from a publisher Dogenzakashobo. A quick visit to their site tells me they also do BL titles and have other Yuri titles by Hakamada Mera and Kabocha, so I’ll be back to take a look later, for sure. ^_^ I know I picked this volume up when I was in Tokyo at one of the Yuribu, although I can’t remember which one. I know I did, because it came with a illustration paper as they often do in the stores.

This story was quiet, and complex, happening primary through Matoi and Yuriko’s respective inner dialogues. Of course I want to know what happens, but I expect no high drama, nor a particularly happy ending. I won’t complain if I’m wrong about the latter. ^_^ What I like best in this story is that characters feel fully developed. They aren’t constrained by oddly conservative values, they have agency and society.

RenMei’s art is competent enough, if not nuanced. We are expected to understand the meaning of things like glances, without them being all that clear. But that is a mere quibble and overall the art is decent.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 3 A shower scene (for plot reasons, could also have been done differently)
Yuri – 3

Overall – A strong 7

Whether Matoi and Yuriko ever develop a relationship beyond this friendship/infatuation thing that they have now remains to be seen and I remain here to see it. ^_^