I watched the 2018 anime adaptation of this manga around 18 months ago and, well, it was fine. I had an all-right time watching it and I gave it a 7/10. If someone asked me yesterday to recount every show I watched in the last few years, I am certain that this would have been one of the shows I would have forgotten.
Bloom Into You is a Yuri manga that I find to be part of the pinnacle of its genre, that being romance. This is to the point where I am actually kind of disappointed that this is a Yuri manga. I personally don’t have anything against this manga being the way it is, the problem I am referring to is more so about what the genre as a whole has become over the years because at least in its current state, I find Yuri as a genre to be about as well respected as Harem. This is a real shame as, as should be obvious by now, there are a lot and I mean a lot of qualities to Bloom Into You that make for an entertaining and thought-provoking read. All that being said, there are elements I want to critique before continuing to praise the manga for the many things it does better than almost everything I have ever read.
The first problem and the one that stuck with me at the beginning was how the situation the three main characters find themselves in is contrived but more importantly below the standard that the rest of the manga reaches. It is not a good sign when the first thing you think of reading something is Citrus. No, to let me clarify this is by far not that bad but “lesbian love triangle” just doesn’t sound like anything worth my time. The fact that their teacher was also lesbian didn’t help either and only made me more concerned that just maybe the entire town might secretly be a “lesbian love panopticon” like in Citrus, fuck Citrus. Luckily this story actually treats its readers with a shred of respect, though that being said we get to our next problem.
The first and especially second arc of the manga are very on the nose about what they are saying, to the point where they literally turn the emotional situation of one of the main characters into a theatre play. This would have been fine with me if I didn’t also just find the play they presented to be even more on the nose, which I can forgive because it’s a play, it needs to be on the nose, but it is also just nonsensically written. What really gets me about this, is that it wasn’t intentional the play was even written by a student everyone always praises for her writing to the point where she literally wins awards for it. Apart from the play dialogue from time to time just doesn’t feel natural to the point where Yuu’s monologue which, while thought-provoking, made Light Yagami look like the main girl from “A Silent Voice”.
Okay, that’s all, now to the good stuff:
The Manga is absolutely beautiful and I am so happy that the scans I read were in high enough quality to take advantage of the amazing artwork. The story is also elevated by creative use of panelling and symbolism which I do not know enough about to go into depth but I noticed them, so that’s a positive. It is also really really cute.
The characters are competently written and what surprised me the most I didn’t hate any of them. I was expecting to hate a certain character, everyone who read the manga will know who I am talking about, but she turned out to be really chill with the most offensive thing she did being, taking time away from the main characters. Out of which one was really enjoyable and the other, well let’s just say she had a lot of problems.
The story is a bit of a slow burner that tries to be a bit too dramatic with a few of its plot beats in the first half but never to the point that it bothered me. There were certain elements that, while I wouldn’t say felt forced, seemed to be implemented to force conflict and nothing else.
This is a last category I would not normally have but I think it is important enough that I need to write this. The next part is about the ending so full spoilers ahead, you have been warned.
If someone asked me 2 years from now, without me having read the last six chapters of this manga, to recount every manga I read in the last few years, I am certain that this would be one of the manga I would have forgotten.
For me at least, almost everything I like this manga for can be credited to its ending. I find it to be cathartic and immensely satisfying for a lot of reasons, but it also has a huge emphasis on closure. I honestly don’t care if someone were to make a point that from an artistic standpoint, it would have more value if Yuu and Touku didn’t get together, sometimes you just need stories that make you feel good, and this is just that for me.
[end of spoilers]
I kind of miss just enjoying something for what it is, something that becomes harder and harder with every show you watch, every story you experience, because as you become a better critic you slowly lose the ability to really immerse yourself in these stories. Constantly having to judge and critique everything, while fun in its own way takes a lot of the entertainment out of the media you consume. I think I haven’t liked something this much since I finished Kaguya-Sama over a year ago, which scares me in a way I can't quite describe. It becomes rarer and rarer that I find something I wholeheartedly love, and this manga does just that for me. It isn’t perfect but I loved it nonetheless. If I were to judge it, I would give it a 9 out of 10 but trying to rate it, it can’t be anything but a 10 out of 10 for me.
