Adachi to Shimamura

Adachi and Shimamura, two young women who attend the same high school, are inseparable friends. Whether playing table tennis, chatting about favorite TV shows, or just relaxing together, they're happy to share their days. When Adachi's friendship turns into romantic attraction, the relationship begins to change, one day at a time.

(Source: Seven Seas Entertainment)

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Adachi to Shimamura has been published digitally in English as Adachi and Shimamura by Seven Seas Entertainment since April 16, 2020, and in print since July 14, 2020.

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Alternative version:	Adachi to Shimamura, Adachi to Shimamura
Other:	Adachi to Shimamura: Koushiki Comic Anthology
Adaptation:	Adachi to Shimamura

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Characters

Adachi, Sakura

Main

Shimamura, Hougetsu

Main

Nagafuji, Taeko

Supporting

Chikama, Yashiro

Supporting

Hino, Akira

Supporting

Adachi, Atsuka

Supporting

Tarumi

Supporting

More reviewsReviews

Jun 6, 2020

-YaniHan-

Recommended

Preliminary (35/? chp)

My decision to start reading this novel was after I started reading the manga adaptation (Moke's version), as a friend's recommendation, she said I was missing a lot of the point of view of the two MCs. She was completely right.

It is from the perspectives of Adachi and Shimamura, two friends who met at the start of the high school year. The first volume starts about a month after that. The premise is relatively simple but the way it is executed is simply magnificent.

This is not like in other books. In other Japanese romance books, both sides are usually at least a little interested in ...

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May 14, 2020

arcaneghost_

Recommended

Preliminary (35/? chp)

Honestly, Adachi and Shimamura’s story is one of the best out there in the yuri/lesbian media. It’s not your typical slow burn, angst-romance story. Something I really get annoyed with is that 90% of female characters in shoujo act like genuinely good people. I know that’s something weird to get annoyed with, but it just doesn’t feel real or human. Everyone has selfish desires, everyone goes through this limbo of not knowing what to do with their lives, we question our existence and we wonder whether we are good people despite our flaws. Adachi and Shimamura's story not only takes time to build the most ...

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May 15, 2020

emmeka

Recommended

Preliminary (57/? chp)

Adachi and Shimamura is, simply put, yuri's masterpiece - if not perhaps one of the greatest romance series to grace light novels as a medium. It is a shame that it remains little known and that most people come to the series by way of the incomplete anime and manga adaptations, which fail to grasp most of the nuance and introspection from the novels. Do yourself a favour and read this, even if light novels aren't usually what you opt for. It's just that good.

-Characters- 10/10

The main duo are the highlight of this series, and certainly some of the best written and most relatable out ... of all the yuri I have read. Both are extremes of emotional states all of us have felt at one time or another, and both are fundamentally flawed human beings, an improvement over the contrast of plain and perfect that makes up the usual leads in romantic fiction. Both main characters are delinquents (in their own words) at the beginning of the story. It is their gradual emotional development, both in general and towards one another, that makes up the substance of the series.

First, we have Shimamura. Shimamura is a reasonably functional and sociable teenage girl who just has no real attachment to life. Relationships with others, hobbies, school - she is unwilling to put in anything beyond the bare minimum effort towards them, being herself completely disinterested in all things. She is passive, never taking initiative, never voicing any preference or resistance about where the flow of time carries her. If you had to sum her up in a word, she is listless. It is this listlessness which causes her to skip class, and it is her indifference which initially causes her to accept Adachi's own flaws and behaviour without a fuss.

Adachi, on the other hand, is Shimamura's opposite. She is painfully unsociable, and aware of it. She finds herself totally incapable of connecting with others or even conversing with them smoothly, the entire experience of it is grating and difficult to her. She is a loner in every sense of the word, without a single substantial relationship in her life, even with her own family. It is this suffocating loneliness which causes her to skip class, causing her to encounter the indifferent and all-accepting Shimamura, the first person she ever truly wants to interact with.

The main pair are complemented by a suite of minor characters, who appear both in their own self-contained mini-stories and in the main chapters. Namely, there are the main pair's classmates who attempt to befriend Shimamura: the cheery and petite Hino, and her childhood friend the busty and airheaded Nagafuji. These two are very entertaining and often the source of comedy in the series, and their grounded and open natures are the perfect foil to the main characters.

On top of those two, recurring characters are both main characters' mothers (who are decidedly present in the series and have characterization of their own, against light novel norm); Shimamura's estranged childhood friend Tarumi, Shimamura's shy but energetic little sister; as well as Yashiro, an enigmatic being who proclaims herself to be an alien that seems to be possessed of supernatural powers. While the latter might seem out of place in the series, her presence is oddly fitting. Yashiro is given a fairly large amount of the series' text and at one point or another forms bonds or interferes with every character in the series. Her guileless attitude and honesty often serves as contrast to the emotional deficits of other characters, to their benefit and to the benefit of the story.

-Story- 8/10

Fundamentally a slice-of-life series, there isn't much plot to speak of to the series besides the slow but steady advance of the relationship between the main characters as the months and seasons come to pass. The story is told primarily in the form of alternating moments of day-to-day life from either Adachi's perspective or Shimamura's. Almost all of the text itself is made up of the two's inner thoughts and dialogue, giving you an idea of how character-driven rather than plot-driven the story is. For people who don't normally enjoy slice-of-life, they may initially find this lack of anything substantial occurring to be dull. They may also find the rate at which the romance progresses to be painfully slow - whole volumes can pass without any sort of major development. However, though drawn out, there is substantial character progression in this series to make up for the lack of more dramatic plot.

Though it is slow-going, the romantic development in the series is painfully good. By that, I mean it is very realistic for a couple of awkward teenagers going through the unease of gay romance. Adachi especially spends page after page agonizing over her feelings, testing herself, trying to decide what it is she actually feels and how to communicate it. She is ashamed and unsure, and you can sympathize. Adachi is aware that she isn't very good at her romantic overtures, but she persists through all discomfort regardless. The result is both endearing and hilarious in various doses. Shimamura in turn is hard to hate, she wonders what it is she wants from Adachi, or from others more broadly, and how to react to Adachi's intense feelings and actions. Both make plenty of mistakes in these efforts along the way. You can find yourself laughing and having your heartstrings pulled in the same chapter, with both humour and heartache generally being caused by the aloof Shimamura's reactions to Adachi's angst.

There is also the subplot of Tarumi, Shimamura's best friend in elementary school. Tarumi and Shimamura try to awkwardly bridge the years they've spent apart, and both want to grow close to one another again - to the detriment of the jealous Adachi. She seems poised to play the roll of the rival-in-love to Adachi, but since the story is still ongoing at the time of this review, she has yet to play a major role.

Additionally, those larger chapters are usually interspersed by brief 2-3 page vignettes from the lives and perspectives of other minor characters, such as their classmates Hino and Nagafuji, Shimamura's little sister Shou, or the mysterious blue-haired alien girl Yashiro. And yes, you did just read "alien girl" again, there is some subtle and unique magical realism to this series in the form of not only Yashiro but also seemingly genuinely powerful fortune tellers, none of which is elaborated on to an extent that you'd call it a subplot. Like the main characters do, you are supposed to accept their existence at face value as a part of the scenery.

-Overall- 9/10

To summarize, of the dozens of yuri series I have read or watched, this is by far my favourite. It's been quite a few years since any novel made me laugh aloud and then nearly brought me to tears the way this one has. I wholeheartedly recommend it and can barely wait for translation of it to continue.

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Confirmed to End of Volume 12 + volume 11 release ItzElite - Dec 9, 2022	3 replies	by EurekaDForte »» May 15, 6:28 AM
Volume 11 Chapter 1 discussiob ItzElite - Dec 10, 2022	0 replies	by ItzElite »» Dec 10, 2022 4:48 AM
Volume 10 Chapter 7-9 Discussion ItzElite - May 11, 2022	1 replies	by Minihornet »» Sep 16, 2022 5:11 PM
Volume 10 Chapter 5 & 6 Discussion ItzElite - Mar 14, 2022	1 replies	by Mrbing90 »» Apr 9, 2022 7:51 PM
Adachi to Shimamura Volume 10 Coming Soon KoitoSuki - Jul 5, 2021	3 replies	by Aasgo123 »» Sep 15, 2021 7:34 AM

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