How Do I Turn My Best Friend Into My Girlfriend? Vol. 1

どうしたら幼馴染の彼女になれますか！？ #1

by Syu Yasaka

Minami and Yuzu have been besties since...well, forever! Or at least that's what Minami thought. But when some rando confesses to Yuzu, Minami realizes that her feelings might not be what you'd typically call "friendship" anymore. It doesn't take long for Minami to realize she wants to change their relationship status, but will she be able to muster the courage to confess? Or will she simply be happy being by Yuzu's side?

Genres: Manga, LGBT, Yuri, Romance, Queer, Contemporary, Lesbian

152 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 19, 2024

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

So few childhood friends get the win in manga, and poor Minami is both Yuzu’s childhood friend AND a girl besides. But when a random guy confesses to Yuzu, it triggers a tectonic shift that paves way for a disaster lesbian of epic proportions.

There are confection books and there are CONFECTION books and this one is both terribly charming and made of the highest grade sugar you can possibly imagine. Sometimes you want high drama yuri, sometimes you want lurid trash (when is that next volume of Citrus+ coming out?), sometimes you want something like this.

And this series just starts off strong and doesn’t bother to stop. It makes immediately smart first steps by showing the pivotal event that sets this off, then rewinding to show our characters and how they got there.

Which, no, doesn’t sound amazing, but that opening chapter provides oodles of information on our two leads beyond ‘girl’ and ‘other girl’. Yuzu is the smaller introvert, a very smart astronomy nut, while Minami is the bigger of the two, more outgoing, and the linguistically inclined one.

We learn how casual their relationship is, too casual to make it easy on Minami as it turns out, how comfortable they are together and we even meet the friend group. I would be remiss if I didn’t single out the wonderful, expressionless Tsubasa, who doesn’t utter a word this entire volume. I love her.

Then Minami overhears that confession and gets incensed, gets jealous of having to let Yuzu go, and then comes to the conclusion that the most perfect person for Yuzu is clearly her. At which point she completely melts down over everything, even though Yuzu rejects the guy anyway.

This is written very smartly for something that doesn’t need to be. Minami is absolutely hilarious as she goes and starts making everything awkward trying to win Yuzu’s heart, even though it’s clear that Yuzu’s head is in the clouds. On another planet. In a distant galaxy.

Wisely, rather than having this all be totally introspective, Minami recruits their friend Tatsumi to get help and Tatsumi is the exact right level of super supportive and ‘oh lord, this girl’ to make it all work.

Thus, hi-jinx ensue as Minami attempts to woo the oblivious Yuzu, while Yuzu just continues as before. And, of course, before includes all sorts of things like sitting in Minami’s lap and wearing her clothes.

It’s the portrayals that really make this; I love well realized characters something fierce. Yuzu being an introvert is so well written - she’s utterly different at school, where she’s mostly polite, to the energy she manifests when she’s comfy with Minami.

Yuzu also has twinges of social anxiety, she gets incredibly claustrophobic on a train trip to a cute date, and we learn that she and Minami didn’t have the best first encounter. Her tendency to push people away is relatable and I like that the story doesn’t just make her perfect.

Sure, this isn’t necessarily new in terms of anything, but as it sometimes goes, you can make the old really good if you have the ability to polish it and this one gets to a very high shine. If you don’t want light fare, this won’t do it for you, but in that space it is one of the best examples I’ve read in a bit.

4.5 stars - let’s leave a round up to a full five for another volume, but I am very, very tempted to do so. I genuinely don’t think this puts a foot wrong and was engaged from beginning to end.

[Robert Pierson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is cute and the artwork is nice I can’t wait to see how Minami confesses to Yuzu. It’s really cute

[Albs · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Capitols 1 al 28*

[Ayxan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chapter 1 was great! Them being so casually and sweetly close, typical CGDCT-besties, a moe couplet!

But then … one of them starts to feel more than platonic love, and suddenly realizes how couple-like their relationship is, making it difficult to catch a break from blushing and heart-racing!

It's cute to an extent, but I guess not so much my target group anymore. Especially when the other person in the relationship is completely dense! (Although I do think that Yuzu knows more than she shows.) While the other one is constantly gasping for air, not trying to be a tomato all the time.

It doesn't help that she treats this like a math exam, reading books on how to date and love, making plans with her friends, as if this is a criminal case that the police has asked her to solve. I know this is not a new trope, I've read it a hundred times in fact, but because of this, and the fact that I've been through this time waste myself, makes it so frustrating!! Having a 'ba-dump' plus a blush on every page, also spikes up my anxiety …
The lines between a thriller and an angsty romance is quite blurry, if you ask me …

I will still continue to read this because I want to see how they end up together (although I'm sure it'll be very cliché), and because I'm curious about Kosame x Tsubasa.

-24.02.25

[Salem · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was honestly not too bad but I will say I wish this book had gone on a bit longer than what we were given. However I still enjoyed the short read and hope the story takes it’s time to really develop itself into something better than we expected!

[cyd⭐️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

editing style was really cute- and i loved what they were trying to do.. but the execution was really wack.. in a world full of men who love little girls i think they made the main girls look a little too young in way too short skirts, maybe it’s just a me thing..

(3/5)⭐️

[Chantal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series I can tell is gonna be super sweet! This is super sweet and cozy, and I also love that Minami's friends don't make her feel weird about her crush on Yuzu. Their advice and everything with their support was so sweet. I want the next ones ASAP because of the cliff, this one ended on.

[lcvesbooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

this had the potential be so good but the fact that Yuzu looks way younger than Minami makes me uncomfortable to be honest.

[mimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

soooo cuteeee

[Zero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was cute very fluffy but it kinda just felt pretty generic ig it is the dusty volume so I might read a bit more to see if it gets interesting

[Andrea Luna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 estrellas
Yo creo que a Yuzu si le gusta Minami

[Leeni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Söpö mutta vähän tavanomainen yurisarjan aloitus. Ei missään nimessä huono, mutta jatko näyttää, onnistuuko sarja löytämään omat uniikit vahvuutensa. Lapsuudenystävien faneille?

[Luce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suitably cute, Minami is pretty collected... until she isn't. In her defense, she does act on it by inviting Yuzu out on a date, and fully intend to confess at the end of that, until they're interrupted. I'm not sure how long this series is, but I hope they don't drag out the time before Minami confesses too long - I think in this case it would be interesting how their dynamic changes if/when they get together. I liked that the friend was supportive, and no one has a 'but she's a girl?!' moment.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far it's hitting many of the expected beats but, despite that, I don't find it hackneyed, and the characters are both sweet and cute, and smart and sensible, and they are just so caring for one another.

[tova · Rating 4 out of 5]

complete mindless fluff and the plot is very stereotypical/predictable - but sometimes that's exactly what you'd want for a cute read , sooo

[Maialen Uzumaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Justo el yuri que necesitaba

[mykittyquest17 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

[nibha ⋆˚꩜｡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

super cute first volume!!