Mai no Mushigurashi

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If you want a feel good story about a couple lesbians and don't mind learning about bugs, then this is the story for you. The characters feel real and natural, and the progression of their relationship is amazingly done and sweet. You can tell that these characters genuinely love and care for each other, and the plot develops at a natural pace as they go through their lives. There are sad parts, but watching the main girls interact more than make up for it. I highly recommend this to everyone that wants a story about cottagecore farmer lesbians and their friends.

This is a beautiful love story. It can probably scare some people away due to its focus on bugs, but in the end, it doesn't matter that much. It has a touch of magical realism, which adds a lot of depth to the entire plot. Additionally, it resonates deeply in the heart of every lesbian who craves rustic happiness with her loved one amid fields and vegetables (which, I admit, I'm totally guilty of).

I can hardly say that this manga is a masterpiece. Nor would I recommend it as the first yuri manga to anyone looking to read something in this genre. But I ... sincerely loved it, and I recommend it to any yuri fan who's into rustic simplicity, magical realism, and, of course, not afraid of several sad episodes along the way.

This is a manga that I can only describe as an anomaly. An extremely touching yuri romance based almost entirely around entomology is a combination that seems so out of the box that it's honestly brilliant. I can atest that it is quite phenomenal in what it sets out to do and the way it accomplishes it.

The emotions, particularly love, comes swinging at the reader from every chapter. It's honestly remarkable how well it manages to convey every single emotion in such a short runtime, yet it never feels like its rushing ahead just to get to "the juicy bits". The manga by its nature ... has quite a slow pace and it works great with the story it's trying to tell. One of love and hope, as well as loss and despair. Mai no Mushigurashi doesn't really mince its words while taking jabs at the Japanese society and the structure of families. At times it gets overly bleak and direct with how much it wants to say families can be absolutely awful, as well as wonderful. Especially with the way it talks about death of those dearest people.

Initially, I was worried this story wasn't quite ready to commit to fully portraying love between the two leads and was gonna settle for a lot of unspoken "not explicitly romantic" tension. However I must admit I was pleasantly surprised to see it tackle it full speed in the last couple of chapters. The way it presents the natural desires and yearning for things that lesbians cannot get in Japan is honestly quite beautiful. Nana directly dreams of a wedding reception, while they throw a housewarming party and dreams about having children with the woman she loves. The usage of entomology, to illustrate one's preferences, as well as two members of the same gender pairing up as entirely normal in nature is also very clever.

The only negative I've seen with the story is that Mai's past and career as a singer feels almost entirely superfluous and doesn't really add a whole lot to the broader narrative. I don't want to say that it shouldn't be there entirely, but every time it came up it definitely felt out of place and didn't have a clear place nor purpose in the story.

And the art complements the story beautifully. A lot of the shots stay with the reader for quite a while, with all the ways they're made to stand out and the incredible level of detail that some of them have.The author really hit their stride, as the art really excels in creating extremely evocative images full of subtle, as well as intense emotions.

I'd be remiss however not to mention that my description of this manga as an anomaly doesn't apply just to its subject matter. It also does apply to its author. Ame to Toge is an author that predominantly creates horror and hentai, specifically in some of the most repulsive sub genres one can imagine. Involving gore, body horror, incest, lolicon, non consent, often in combinations with each other. This heartfelt romance doesn't resemble anything in their catalogue, so I'd heavily discourage in checking their works, in hopes of finding anything remotely similar to Mai no Mushigurashi.

With that context however, one starts to notice the influences that those of their works have had on this manga as well. Insects which are a staple of body horror, the fascination with death, often somewhat grotesque faces, and even some lite gore and supernatural elements in the bonus chapters. And I have to make this clear that Mai no Mushigurashi DOES NOT feature any of those repulsive themes, It merely takes advantage of the author's skill in making them and evoking strong emotions, putting them to good use.

As much as I don't desire to see their other works, I cannot deny that Mai no Mushigurashi is remarkable in what it sets out to do. It offers an insightful, honest and ultimately sincere look at love, even if it can get melodramatic. In terms of yuri, it really is one of the genre's most unique titles.