Sasameki Koto
Whispered Words

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In short, disappointing. What could've been a short and emotionally moving GL ended up a tired, worn out, and confusing wreck.

Misunderstandings, rivals, doubt, and the inability to speak ones mind are real parts of love. Unfortunately, Sasameki Koto loops through these clichés with absolutely no respect for the reader's time. Past chapter 15 character and plot progression slow to a crawl, making it genuinely difficult to remember anything changing other than circumstance or the misunderstanding of the week for 31 chapters and heartbreaking moments eventually blend into a general sense of frustration. The author in his afterword's frequently jokes, "the story will finally reach it's ... climax! Probably... Maybe..." which shows a befuddling amount of self awareness.

This disappointing midsection could be somewhat looked over if it weren't for the absolute mess of an ending. The author jumps between scenes at a frenzied pace, leaving no time whatsoever to properly flesh out what should be incredibly moving moments. The climax of the story comes out of nowhere in the form of a flashback with little if any buildup. It's a shame that the last 15 or so chapters frequently left me wondering if I'd skipped a chapter or if my reading comprehension had simply gotten up and left. Upon a reread there are simply too many threads, too many scenes being split between chapters to really feel confident in what's going on.

If you can handle a never-ending sequence of melodrama, this manga is for you. More than half of this manga's contents could've been erased from the mangaka's hard drive and the story would've been all the better for it. A shame when taking into consideration how strong the opening volumes were.

Spoiler free review: The best part of this story is the friendship/relationship and subsequent drama surrounding the main characters Sumika and Ushio. It's always a plus when the main characters are the best part of the story. Unfortunately the downside is that the story gets bogged down by way too many side characters that you don't always care for. A few side characters are very likeable and help move the story along and help to develop the main characters more. But most of the side characters were forgettable and felt like they only existed to extend the story and pull time away from the main ... characters. I was slightly underwhelmed after finishing the first omnibus and was basically skimming/skipping over parts that didn't involve Sumika and Ushio's friendship/relationship. Omnibus 2 was definitely a lot more enjoyable, but then omnibus 3 was a return to skimming/skipping due to newly thrown in characters that existed purely to cause drama.

Overall, I was happy to read Sumika and Ushio's story, but it felt like the story could've been told in half as many pages (by literally cutting out 75% of the side character stories). Artwork feels a tad cluttered in the first few chapters, but the artwork itself is lovely. The really emotional moments are well told and they hit hard. I just wish the story had been a little more streamlined.

Warning! Although I mostly liked this manga, it is definitely a product of its time. Akemiya's character is treated so poorly throughout almost the entire series. I don't expect authors to get trans stuff right all the time, but the jokes were truly heinous, to the point where I stopped reading for a bit after a particularly vile joke. I recommend skipping any section with him.

Anyways, this was pretty okay. If you're looking for a light, chill read, I'd say go for it. The karate angle is fun and at times the comedy is pretty alright.

The two main characters generally have good chemistry and ... are often fun to read. Even so, at times it feels like the author and plot forgets about them or doesn't move towards the most interesting aspects of their characters.

There's plenty of other good long form Yuri to check out before this, but this was a good enough read.