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不揃いの連理 [Fuzoroi no Renri] #4
Assorted Entanglements, Vol. 4
She couldn’t care less about her teacher. But for some reason, she can’t leave her alone... When Kujo, a gym teacher whose thoughts on romance have been complicated by past disappointments, finally starts looking for a girlfriend again, she ends up enlisting one of her students as her wingwoman in exchange for not revealing that the girl, Sugimoto, works at a maid café. But it isn’t long before Kujo finds herself at the mercy of Sugimoto and her incessant advice. And yet, as the pair work towards their strangely shared goal, they find the tense distance between them giving way to feelings of affection...
162 pages, Paperback
Published February 20, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 2, 2024
[CW: child abuse]
The relationships continue their ebb and flow, with some doing better than others. But it’s what you gain when you lose what you want most that might make things better for you than you thought possible.
Which is the lugubrious and convoluted way of saying that a lot of this volume zooms in on the delinquent Shizuku, who nurses a crush on her former co-conspirator, Minami. But Minami and Iori live together now, so Shizuku is stuck at school with Saori, who is in love with her sister. Who is also Iori.
It’s not the easiest thing to keep track of, is what I’m saying. These are all messy situations, but the general theme seems to be that even the messiest situation can still be okay if there’s love there.
Even Iori and Minami, easily the most stable couple, are a bit of a disaster because Iori is about two drinks away from being an alcoholic and Minami is pretty rough around the edges. There’s definitely a hint of co-dependency, but Iori has no misconception about how their relationship started or functions. And she’s still sweet about it.
I did like the pretty intense flashbacks to Minami and Shizuku’s shared past in the system as abused children. Their relationship does seem like it was more a bond forged from necessity for Minami, but the only good thing in her life for Shizuku.
When they were just surviving, that was enough, but Minami finding Iori has changed her life for the better and that’s where her heart has gone. Which is a hard blow for both Shizuku and Saori, who keep crashing up against one another in a real love-hate pairing.
Even with its kind of unlikely or inappropriate pairings, more on that in a second, I find this series does get emotional moments really well. These women are there for one another when it counts, and when they aren’t, such as the moment it looks like Iori is being affectionate to Shizuku as Saori is spying on them, you can tell how hard it wounds them.
There’s also the ongoing drama between Sugimoto, the student, and Kujou, the closeted gym teacher. Which is annoying because parts of this are so interesting, but the inappropriate of it keeps getting in the way.
Kujou’s problems with being a lesbian are a real issue for her and when she tries to get back into the dating game and asks the lesbian bar workers for help, she gets absolutely shellacked by the owner, who points out some truths that Kujou can’t even deny.
And that all makes Sugimoto annoyed, even as she decides to reach for the ‘fake date’ playbook in the most lurid plotline of the series. I mean, I guess I’m glad they aren’t heading for the incest one? But, yeah, this one’s cringe as hell, yet with really good parts. Very annoying.
The mangaka and her editor get a little page time here and there, not enough to dwell on, and they’d be actually the most normal if they didn’t keep dancing around one another in the most frustrating ways possible.
This is fine. As you can see, it’s got enough characters to weave a strong story out of several that aren’t quite amazing. This gets the job done, and no mistake, but it has a lot that I can see people finding off-putting at the same time.
3 stars - I like this series for what it is, enough that I can accept some stuff that’s pretty yikes, and the art is really nice. It’s good, but not great, yuri that sometimes manages to go a bit deeper than you’d expect.
The relationships continue their ebb and flow, with some doing better than others. But it’s what you gain when you lose what you want most that might make things better for you than you thought possible.
Which is the lugubrious and convoluted way of saying that a lot of this volume zooms in on the delinquent Shizuku, who nurses a crush on her former co-conspirator, Minami. But Minami and Iori live together now, so Shizuku is stuck at school with Saori, who is in love with her sister. Who is also Iori.
It’s not the easiest thing to keep track of, is what I’m saying. These are all messy situations, but the general theme seems to be that even the messiest situation can still be okay if there’s love there.
Even Iori and Minami, easily the most stable couple, are a bit of a disaster because Iori is about two drinks away from being an alcoholic and Minami is pretty rough around the edges. There’s definitely a hint of co-dependency, but Iori has no misconception about how their relationship started or functions. And she’s still sweet about it.
I did like the pretty intense flashbacks to Minami and Shizuku’s shared past in the system as abused children. Their relationship does seem like it was more a bond forged from necessity for Minami, but the only good thing in her life for Shizuku.
When they were just surviving, that was enough, but Minami finding Iori has changed her life for the better and that’s where her heart has gone. Which is a hard blow for both Shizuku and Saori, who keep crashing up against one another in a real love-hate pairing.
Even with its kind of unlikely or inappropriate pairings, more on that in a second, I find this series does get emotional moments really well. These women are there for one another when it counts, and when they aren’t, such as the moment it looks like Iori is being affectionate to Shizuku as Saori is spying on them, you can tell how hard it wounds them.
There’s also the ongoing drama between Sugimoto, the student, and Kujou, the closeted gym teacher. Which is annoying because parts of this are so interesting, but the inappropriate of it keeps getting in the way.
Kujou’s problems with being a lesbian are a real issue for her and when she tries to get back into the dating game and asks the lesbian bar workers for help, she gets absolutely shellacked by the owner, who points out some truths that Kujou can’t even deny.
And that all makes Sugimoto annoyed, even as she decides to reach for the ‘fake date’ playbook in the most lurid plotline of the series. I mean, I guess I’m glad they aren’t heading for the incest one? But, yeah, this one’s cringe as hell, yet with really good parts. Very annoying.
The mangaka and her editor get a little page time here and there, not enough to dwell on, and they’d be actually the most normal if they didn’t keep dancing around one another in the most frustrating ways possible.
This is fine. As you can see, it’s got enough characters to weave a strong story out of several that aren’t quite amazing. This gets the job done, and no mistake, but it has a lot that I can see people finding off-putting at the same time.
3 stars - I like this series for what it is, enough that I can accept some stuff that’s pretty yikes, and the art is really nice. It’s good, but not great, yuri that sometimes manages to go a bit deeper than you’d expect.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews