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Mar 7, 2023
Very original concept.
Kokoro sees two women/girls together, sketches their love story after her imagination and afterwards we get to see a glimpse of the women's actual realities.
Each of the short stories (both the daydreams and the reality afterwards) are very interesting; I'm honestly surprised some of these haven't been used for a stand-alone or a whole manga series. (or they have and I just don't know about it.)
The manga is similar to an anthalogy, and basically is, except it keeps going back to the main story, which is Kokoro's life. She herself is lesbian and has known for while that she has no interest
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in men. She loves daydreaming about Yuri, but the yuri sketches, together with her best friend Amami, all started after her father (a CEO) announced something very horrible to Kokoro: after graduating from high school, she has to marry an older man (he's about 30). She's marked that event in her calendar as her death (no, she's not planning to kill herself but she'd rather die than marry a guy) and the only thing that would keep her alive is Yuri. That's why she's going to fill her sketchbook with different Yuri love stories from strangers she encounters in public, and Amami helps her.
As someone who never wants to marry either, I can imagine how horrible it must be for Kokoro to be forced into a marriage, especially this young. And even more so with a gender you despise. And someone you've never met.
The way her fiancé is drawn adds also to the horror.
The yuri stories in-between really help me to get through, because Kokoro's life is pretty suffocating. It was fine in volume 1, but especially volume 3 is very heavy.
Maybe that's just me though, but either way, very recommendable. Original concept, interesting & different characters & stories, and nice art.
I can't wait to read volume 4!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 11, 2023
I really liked the "simpleness" of the first two volumes, but the 3rd one kinda ruined everything for me. It took an unnecessary plot turn, just to make it more "exciting", since the first two volumes were rather chill. I kinda get why the author would want to do it, but it's a bit of a risk to do it in the last volume and especially so sudden. It feels like he didn't really plan this originally, but then needed something to stretch the plot a bit more and maybe hook more of the readers, who found the first two volumes a bit "boring".
For me,
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personally, I loved the chillness and this sudden "exciting" event just felt off. Nothing I could enjoy. It did turn out good in the end, but it really was unnecessary and could've easily been handled differently.
Volumes 1 & 2: The story was chill, the characters were easy-going and there barely was any drama. Just daily life stuff, nothing huge. I found the music stuff really interesting – what goes into planing a DJ show, everything behind the scenes. I've never been to a club (or ay night-scene party) and never really had any interest in going, but now I'd actually want to check it out. Also maybe someday try out VJ-ing.
The drawing style is nice. Similar to the story, I found the style to be rather "simple" (in a good way) at first, but then the last volume had a more detailed and "serious" style, if that makes sense. Nothing bad, it was still amazing, but I prefer the "simple" style more – both art and story, in this case.
Volume ratings:
1st: 4.5 stars
2nd: 4.5 stars
3rd: 2.5 stars
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 9, 2023
I love how this manga series shows how much a person can mean to you, even after meeting for the first time and not knowing anything about each other. Even after having only talked once, or perhaps not even that much, maybe your eyes only have met, and now you want to know everything about that person.
Not only that, it shows that this feeling often is mutual. Yet we don’t talk about it because society raised us to think that talking about our deep feelings is embarrassing and selfish and kinda creepy. Which is sad honestly.
Looking back, what do you think how many deep
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friendships would you have had, if you were more honest with people? If you just told them how you felt?
This manga really did a great job in showing the insecurities of each person, when it comes to relationships like these. I love how slow-paced each volume is, making it very realistic.
Perhaps not even that realistic, because nowadays it’s rare to actually get this close. Most of the time, people just accept that their feelings are one-sided, thinking they can read someone else so well, that there’s not even a point in asking how they feel.
More often than not, feelings are more mutual than we think.
~
While this manga series wasn't typically Yuri, as in sexual or explicitly romantic, it was a love story and therefore I don't find the GL tag clickbait at all. It's more of a deep platonic relationship, like a QPR, but that still is love.
Besides, I did read somewhere that sometimes "Yuri" is also referred to a very close friendship between girls and doesn't have to be romantic per-se, after all.
Also, I totally didn't mind. Their friendship was just as intense as a typical romance story would have been, so I don't see the problem. Sure, there wasn't a kiss, but I don't think it was needed. Them learning to communicate and coming in terms with their feelings and their true selves was much more important than any physical stuff.
So I'm very glad that books like these still exist and not every author falls into the pressure of doing fan-service, just so their manga will do better on the market. Thanks Makoto Hagino for such a wonderful series!
I really hope this will get an anime someday because this would be exactly what our society needs to watch, in times like these.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 8, 2023
First up, I need to say this: the art is really beautiful and gorgeous! Whoever drew it, really has some talent. It's sad that this talent is wasted with such a toxic story.
I set it to "not recommended", because I wouldn't. Thing is, sadly it is enjoyed by a lot of people. I don't know why and I probably won't ever understand.
If you're into shallow relationships and just like girls being lovey-dovey with each other, even if it's just an act, then this might be for you. It's tagged comedy but it's more of a drama. I laughed maybe twice throughout the 2 volumes
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and that was only when karma hit the protagonist. (Yes, I hate Hime, the protagonist.)
Hime is that type of person, who wants everyone to love her, without returning that love. All she does is lie, keeping up that cute act of hers, because she loves being chosen by other people. Her dream is to marry someone rich and become a trophy wife, nothing else.
When she ran into someone and they broke a bone because of it, she was planning to get out of the situation without even helping or apologizing. Only because the other girl's friend was there, Hime couldn't just run away. Turns out, the girl with the broken bone is a manager at a maiden café, so Hime now has to take over the manager's part, until the bone heals.
While I'm not sure how legal it is to force someone to work somewhere they don't want to, I did like that instant karma for Hime.
It was fine at first. Hime had to pay for her actions and all. But then that drama starts with one of her co-workers, who doesn't like her. And, you know, Hime wants *everyone* to like her. She can't handle it if one person doesn't.
She even forced her co-worker to form that sister-bond thingy, even though they (Ayanokouji) clearly have stated multiple times that they wouldn't want it. Knowing Hime can't persuade Ayano behind the scenes, she does it in front of the costumers, leaving Ayano, someone who takes their job very seriously and wouldn't want to cause any trouble for the café, no choice but to accept. Even though the whole setting of the café is based on putting on a role and acting, it is still very unfair to be forced into something like that.
I thought I might give it another chance so I read the second volume, even though I had 0 motivation for that, and it turned out to be a waste. While the backstory was a good plot point, it wasn't enjoyable at all.
The 2nd time I laughed was when young Hime lost all her friends, because someone else revealed that she only lied to everyone (which was true). She totally deserved that! Still baffled that Hime apparently was hated by everyone until going to high-school, yet never learned from that and only continued her act? Zero character-development and she keeps thinking she's the hero.
It's also very obvious that Ayano and Hime will end up together, even though it's very toxic. But everyone loves toxic relationships these days, eh?
Well, I don't. I'm not giving this another chance. All I'm hoping now is that the anime doesn't stick too much to the manga and makes the characters & story more likable.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 28, 2023
Loved it!
It's kind of a mix of "Weathering with you" and "Your Name", definitely at the level of these movies, except (thank goodness) no romance, since the character are middle schoolers. I bet if it was from Makoto Shinkai, this would be the most popular anime and most talked about.
The visuals are so beautifully breathtaking. Props to the animators, I hope they're getting paid enough.
Even though the characters were pretty annoying at some parts – I mean, they're kids, they're gonna be annoying – it was very amazing nonetheless. Especially the feels at the end, damn. Due to the different natures of the characters,
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you will at least relate to one of them. For me, I related to almost all of them; not all the time, but here and there, depending on the situation.
Enjoyed every bit and didn't get bored at all.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Dec 31, 2022
I love that it exists, but I don't really like the story and characters much itself.
I love that the characters have so many flaws, which makes it realistic, but I don't like their personalities. I love that the author wrote this, but I'd never want to meet any of the characters; and if they were in my life, I'd either be constantly annoyed by them, or would have cut them off from my life asap. At least most of them; I do like a few.
I like that it shows how hard relationships can be, and I love the realistic part of it, but
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overall the execution isn't as good as you'd think. Volume 1 seemed very promising, but it really went down from volume 2 on.
Also I really hate Saeko. Either the author just forgets about her earlier actions, giving her scenes where she feels extremely off-character and confusing, or the author hates her as much as I do and wants the readers to hate her too. Either way, she's pretty badly written. I might be a bit biased, since I don't like her personality overall, but there really were often scenes where i was like: "where did that suddenly come from?!"
Maybe it's on purpose, maybe that's supposed to be her character, since in real life you don't know everything about other people either, so actions of them often seem very surprising. Who knows.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 31, 2022
It's kinda like a queer version of Twilight – toxic romance with toxic character tropes –, except that the characters are in their early teenage years, and there is no love-triangle. Plus a lot of Ecchi.
The story is pretty shallow. Nothing really happens. The characters pretend there's some kinda dramatic event going on, but it's just all exaggerated, really. Similar to politicians; they can't answer a simple question directly, but have to talk around the bush. That's basically the plot. Unnecessarily put into length. At times it is at least entertaining, but mostly just boring. One of the major backstories literally came in volume 8.
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8!!!
If you love those lengthy stories, then sure, you probably wouldn't mind reading through 8 volumes to get to the main plot. Not my cup of tea though.
What I also really don't get is Aria. Why is everyone so eager to protect her? Other than the other Lilus just doing their job as her servants, I seriously don't get what's so great about her. Everyone is praising her, but for what?
Another "wonderful" example why authors should show, not tell.
Vampires are one of my favorite mythology creatures, so I was thrilled when I found a GL vampire story, but this really is just disappointing. I will probably continue reading, merely bc of curiosity, but won't actively follow it. I doubt my rating towards this series will get better, but if, then I might update this review.
Other than that, I don't really recommend it, unless you're into shallow plot with toxic characters.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 31, 2022
It was okay. Mainly smut, so if you're into that, you won't bother much about the story, probably.
For people that come for the plot, however, you'll likely be disappointed. Or annoyed. Unless you love triangle-drama.
I'm not really a fan of love-triangles, so...
All the time I just screamed at them to get into a poly relationship, because it fit. Or go all in different directions. At first I wanted Sungji, the blonde haired, to get out of there asap, but then it turns out that she's just as toxic. Rip. (Well, not as unhealthy as the other two, but still.)
It was simply an on-and-off
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relationship between Sumin and Sungji, while constantly having Seju there too. Seriously, why not let them be in a poly? At least they won't have to be jealous over one another all the time and would fight less perhaps.
Tbh I don't ship either of them, but since the author did want them to end up together somehow, why not just make it poly. Keep the toxicity close.
Although I did love the ending, when one of them finally let go. That was so refreshing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 31, 2022
I know that this is very popular and for some reason most people are into this bs, but I'm still putting it to "not recommended". I love BL but it's merely one reason why I hate this:
The "top" and "bottom" (or Uke and Seme in Japanese) talk. I don't know why it's so popular, but it's actually extremely disrespectful to gay people. Most gays are switches, and so are girls. Feminine guys aren't the equivalent of a woman and won't therefore be the "bottom" of the relationship.
So damn annoying. When will y'all get this.
Even worse is when people label others whether they're a top or
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bottom just by the looks. That's very similar to guessing someone's sexuality. You can't tell by the looks. And if they haven't told you, you shouldn't put labels on them anyway.
It's one thing to see fans putting the top/bottom labels on characters for headcanons (even though it's dumb and I'm really hoping this trend will stop soon), but it's a completely different thing to have it in an official manga, that even has an anime adaptation. Very disappointing.
I could've actually given this 7 stars, bc apart from that, the story is cute...
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Feb 15, 2022
Story: 3 poor
Art: 9 great
Sound: 8 very good
Character: 3 poor
Enjoyment: 3 poor
Overall: 5 mediocre
I didn’t enjoy it at all, it was almost torture to get to the ending. I wanted to see if it gets better towards the end, and I mean it was only 1 and half an hour, but really, it felt like I was watching a series all day long. Time didn’t pass at all, and at some point I started drawing incidentally, while still glimpsing a few times over.
I do love the animation and I admire the work of the animators. Some transitions must’ve taken forever, and it’s amazing how
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much detail there sometimes was.
Overall you might think it was poorly animated, considering the people usually just consists of some lines and a bit of colorization here and there. It’s more comparable with a picture book for kids, but really, some parts were beautifully animated.
If only the story and characters were as beautiful as that.
I did like the protagonist somewhat, she was relatable. Marrying a man like that, I would make a Pact with the devil as well, tbh.
And there was so much sex... it’s like they wanted to do a hentai, but then decided against it, since they wanted to reach a wider audience. So instead you have this aesthetically animated sex scenes, with weird but cool transitions in-between. Sometimes it was also a bit gruesome, like the scene at the beginning, when the king raped her.
I think this would’ve had more success if it was a series of shortfilms, rather than this lengthy film, that could’ve been way more shorter and tell the exact same thing.
Or, since the songs were nice, they should’ve released it as music videos, and name the album “belladonna” or something. Music videos animated like that always are popular, so they could’ve really profited with that.
Sadly that’s not the case, and even tho I wanted to enjoy this, merely bc of the animation, I didn’t. It already started a but boring, the characters weren’t interesting at all (except our female protagonist a bit) and overall the storyline pretty much just consisted of lust and desire of power.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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