Saki likes the piano, but her teacher is retiring and that’s a harsh blow for reasons (and she may not even like the piano). Kanon catches her eye, but won’t lend her an ear, since she’s hard of hearing. But not much is going to stop Saki, to both of their benefits.
Well, here’s something with some promise to it. It’s been a while since a new schoolgirl yuri came along that felt truly unique and this one acquits itself quite nicely, if not perfectly.
I really like the vibe this starts off with - our leads literally run into one another and while Kanon is very polite, she doesn’t engage much, but the whole thing is entirely awkward because Saki doesn’t yet realize that her meet cute is with somebody who can’t hear well.
Kanon is the typical person who isn’t ‘like everybody else’ in that she not only doesn’t want people’s help (allegedly), but she’s also sick and tired of being treated differently and the exhaustive effort of trying to accommodate people accommodating her. You can tell there’s a lot of bitterness in those walls.
What really makes this work is the writing, which absolutely lands the two sides of Kanon. You can see a completely different side to her when she finally begins to open up to Saki that’s exactly the opposite of her more guarded school persona.
And the romance is delightfully understated, being left largely to the reader to interpret all the blushes and nuances of their interactions. Neither of the two has come out to one another yet, but there are hints that these two are behaving on more than a friend level.
Which feels more interesting, honestly, than a lot of these ‘sudden confession’ or ‘love out of nowhere’ stories. There’s a sense that these two are quite guarded about some aspects of their life and it makes a story that’s very, very focused on them really engaging.
It’s pretty obvious that Saki’s reason for her piano lessons is her female instructor, who winds up getting married in a move that will accidentally lead to sign language just breaking her poor heart in two. The slow dance between our leads is such a believable picture of a friendship that is in a very fragile place, yet both parties want it to work.
Kanon is a little harder to read, but a chance encounter during a shopping trip suggests that her past has had a Saki in it before and it did not end at all well, which is also part of her attitude issues. There’s a lot left to come to the surface later on.
Amidst all this we get some classic schoolgirl awfulness and Saki trying her best, plus lots of very interesting tidbits about hearing loss. It inserts a lot of information and cites sources, which I thought was a great touch.
The school stuff isn’t as novel, high school girls are gonna high school girl, and i could definitely do without Saki’s new piano teacher, who is such a battle axe that a Viking could use her to plunder England. She has a point in the story, but could be better written.
But most of the page count is spent on our two leads learning more about one another and that’s when this thing absolutely sings. There are so many unique aspects to what would normally be a very pedestrian story that it’s a real breath of fresh air. Kanon’s room is especially cool.
On balance, this is great. If you like yuri it’s an easy recommend and avoids the temptation to make Kanon anything but a girl, at least so far, and not her disability. Parts of it are well worn, but the majority is a new voice doing good work that I really liked.
4 stars - I’m almost tempted to give this 4.5, it’s a delight once it gets going, but I’d like to see what it has in store next time before I get too ahead of myself praising it. It’s definitely (potentially) one of the best school stories I’ve seen since Whisper Me A Love Song.