Many stories in the ‘shoujo ai’ (lesbian love) genre tend to be ‘cutesy’ and focused on girls doing cute/sexy things with one another. Basically, they’re usually designed more titillate and/or be short, forgettable, feel good stories. OnK, however, tries to take a more serious path and it does well in that regard.
The story focuses around two girls: Mika Takaoka and Mayu Harada. Mika is the more primary character.
Mika is a very serious, very somber girl who had been hurt badly in the past by someone she thought loved her. As a result, she closed off to the world and became emotionless. Through sheer coincidence, she got the attention of Mayu who became curious enough to want to get close. Through sheer persistence, nosiness, and a bit of kindness, Mayu slowly begins to break the shell around Mika.
It’s a relatively straight forward story, but the complexity makes the characters interesting. Readers can come to understand the two primary characters’ strength and weaknesses and the relationship builds up to love rather than the more typical ‘love at first sight’ thing.
The only thing I have to complain about is the art. By itself, it is not bad, but it’s difficult to tell some characters apart. This is a common problem in manga anyway, but it seems especially so in OnK. It took me a few chapters before I began to easily tell some side characters from even the primary, who are normally the most distinct looking.
Overall, though, I do recommend OnK as a read. It is short, but enjoyable to read through.
