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不揃いの連理 [Fuzoroi no Renri] #5
Assorted Entanglements, Vol. 5
Kujo carries the weight of a friendship broken apart by unrequited feelings... Heke and Lala are afraid of their relationship changing, and neither wants to take the first step forward... Minami cries out in her sleep that she doesn’t have a place where she belongs, and Shizuku worries for her... The past makes each recall that to be together, to have a place where they are not alone, isn’t something to be taken for granted—so they must treasure the loves they have built.?
170 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 18, 2024
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 25, 2024
Yep, entanglements. This time focused on our dear editor and the mangaka who infuriates her, who is also her best friend in gaming, as they finally drop the facade and live happily ever… eh, not exactly.
This remains an okay set of stories that is often hampered by its lack of a cast page. The characters intertwine with one another in so many different ways and the releases are so infrequent that it can be hard to follow if you’re not going back to back.
(Everybody drink - I complained about cast pages again!)
There’s a certain amount of charm to this series, even if it’s strictly lower tier in terms of art and writing. Part of me is annoyed that the video game the women play is apparently just half-naked catgirls shooting one another, but it does feel like the mangaka’s enjoying themselves (plus I’ve played Final Fantasy XIV so I know at least half that equation checks out).
Still, the transition of Heke and Shinohara from coworkers and secret buddies to something more is an enjoyable enough segment that makes up most of this volume. They show that going from online to real life isn’t necessarily an easy transition, which is true.
There’s a lot of communication to be worked on, plus some relatively okay jokes get mixed in. It was nice to see them drop this pretence and finally begin to take the necessary steps towards a relationship, even if Heke’s hero worship poses certain problems.
But the best part of this volume is probably the backstory on Kujou, our poor closeted gym teacher. Except she wasn’t always that way, and it’s kind of fascinating to see somebody who outed themselves and then regressed in the face of a bad encounter.
That’s a really interesting story, though I wish they’d reminded us who the heck it was about before diving into the flashback. But it’s an interesting portrayal of a different take on homophobia and it adds a little weight to a series that has less than it thinks (the delinquents are often milked for pathos and it rarely works for me).
There’s also the implication that Kujou’s former crush is back or has been hanging around this story the whole time. With no cast information I genuinely can’t tell you and that’s not me exaggerating for effect.
On the upside, this manages to leave us at the worst possible outcome. Either Kujou gets involved with the girl she liked who broke her heart, or she decides to illicitly see one of her students. It’s a win-win in the ‘incredibly bad idea’ department.
There are good ideas in this series and its core premise of a series of interwoven narratives is one that I have always enjoyed. It just doesn’t quite have the writing chops to execute on these to the level that I’d want. Serviceable yuri, as usual, but underwhelming for the complexity it’s trying to achieve.
3 stars - good resolution for some, good backstory for others, but the nature of the story and the deficiencies in the script means it should be better at handling its stories’ multiple paths than it actually is.
This remains an okay set of stories that is often hampered by its lack of a cast page. The characters intertwine with one another in so many different ways and the releases are so infrequent that it can be hard to follow if you’re not going back to back.
(Everybody drink - I complained about cast pages again!)
There’s a certain amount of charm to this series, even if it’s strictly lower tier in terms of art and writing. Part of me is annoyed that the video game the women play is apparently just half-naked catgirls shooting one another, but it does feel like the mangaka’s enjoying themselves (plus I’ve played Final Fantasy XIV so I know at least half that equation checks out).
Still, the transition of Heke and Shinohara from coworkers and secret buddies to something more is an enjoyable enough segment that makes up most of this volume. They show that going from online to real life isn’t necessarily an easy transition, which is true.
There’s a lot of communication to be worked on, plus some relatively okay jokes get mixed in. It was nice to see them drop this pretence and finally begin to take the necessary steps towards a relationship, even if Heke’s hero worship poses certain problems.
But the best part of this volume is probably the backstory on Kujou, our poor closeted gym teacher. Except she wasn’t always that way, and it’s kind of fascinating to see somebody who outed themselves and then regressed in the face of a bad encounter.
That’s a really interesting story, though I wish they’d reminded us who the heck it was about before diving into the flashback. But it’s an interesting portrayal of a different take on homophobia and it adds a little weight to a series that has less than it thinks (the delinquents are often milked for pathos and it rarely works for me).
There’s also the implication that Kujou’s former crush is back or has been hanging around this story the whole time. With no cast information I genuinely can’t tell you and that’s not me exaggerating for effect.
On the upside, this manages to leave us at the worst possible outcome. Either Kujou gets involved with the girl she liked who broke her heart, or she decides to illicitly see one of her students. It’s a win-win in the ‘incredibly bad idea’ department.
There are good ideas in this series and its core premise of a series of interwoven narratives is one that I have always enjoyed. It just doesn’t quite have the writing chops to execute on these to the level that I’d want. Serviceable yuri, as usual, but underwhelming for the complexity it’s trying to achieve.
3 stars - good resolution for some, good backstory for others, but the nature of the story and the deficiencies in the script means it should be better at handling its stories’ multiple paths than it actually is.
Displaying 1 of 1 review