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Did You Think My Yuri Was Just for Show?
Suzune Senmiya, a young voice actress, has been struggling for six months to get over the retirement of her favorite idol, Karin Kanezuki. One day, Karin appears as a new voice actress in Suzune's agency! While Suzune tries to play it cool and keep her distance, Karin aggressively closes the gap between them. As Suzune starts to see unexpected sides of Karin, she begins to perceive her not just as an idol but as a woman.
212 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 10, 2023
17 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 5, 2025
3.5⭐️
June 3, 2025
This is a short and sweet yuri that also has some interesting background of the voice acting industry in Japan that I’d recommend to even non Yuri fans for that fact alone. The one thing that I didn’t like was that the main couple doesn’t get together until the end, and then it well, ends. I would love a sequel to see how their relationship progresses in the future!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 21, 2025
A book set in Japan about two ethnically Japanese women, one of whom had been a member of a girl band in Japan (not at all the term they used in the book) who leaves one entertainment industry for another (singer/dancer to voice actress). The other woman in this book, is a long time voice actress and the point of view of this book. She's ~28 and has been in the industry since she has been something like 8 (though 'only a professional' for ~4 or 8 years, and I have no idea what that means, though I assume it has something to do with having it be their full time career).
Right, so, solo point of view book, Suzune Senmiya begins the book by telling her work colleague how sad she is that her oshi had graduated. Did I mention that this is a book set in Japan starring Japanese people, written by, presumably, a Japanese author, originally in Japanese? Well, partially mentioned before. Point of diverting myself there is: it is neat to see a lesbian book set in Japan starring Japanese people, and it is neat to see a culture I do not know that well. Like that oshi thing. And 'graduated'. Here oshi is referring to Suzune's favorite member of a music group, Karin Shotsuki (the Goodreads description uses a different last name, Amazon uses Shotsuki, and I recall seeing Shotsuki in the book itself, but Kanezuki might have been used as well at some point, I don't recall). Hmm. I'm not wording that well. Suzune idolizes Karin; Suzune sees Karin as her oshi (at least that was the way it was worded in the book). Graduated? Um. No clue the backstory behind that word. I know how it is being used in this book, but not why that word. Right, so, Karin had been with a specific band for a while, most of the time the 'center' (lead singer) on most of their songs; but her contract came to an end and so Karin has 'graduated' from the band. What a long paragraph.
Right, so.
Suzune is sad because she no longer can follow Karin, though she still listens to her music. At the place she works as a voice actress (her agents? something like that), a group meeting of most of the 'staff' is held - a new member of the team is introduced. Karin Shotsuki. Whereupon Suzune almost dies from a heart-attack/orgasmic moment type event, but restrains herself long enough to not die. Or reveal her feelings.
Karin shares the same agent with Suzune, which leads that agent to get/ask Suzune to tutor/help/mentor Karin in her job change. Which means the book .... hmm. I was going to say 'follows the two as they get closer', but that would imply something more than what occurred. To a certain extent, that is what happened. But more it was like two co-workers who bumped into each other every once in a while over roughly a year as they both work in the voice actress industry.
Right, so. As noted: interesting to see a lesbian book set in Japan, starring Japanese women, written by a Japanese author (again, presumably, I do not know the author's backstory). Fun quick book. Liked it.
Rating: 4.33
May 20 2025
Right, so, solo point of view book, Suzune Senmiya begins the book by telling her work colleague how sad she is that her oshi had graduated. Did I mention that this is a book set in Japan starring Japanese people, written by, presumably, a Japanese author, originally in Japanese? Well, partially mentioned before. Point of diverting myself there is: it is neat to see a lesbian book set in Japan starring Japanese people, and it is neat to see a culture I do not know that well. Like that oshi thing. And 'graduated'. Here oshi is referring to Suzune's favorite member of a music group, Karin Shotsuki (the Goodreads description uses a different last name, Amazon uses Shotsuki, and I recall seeing Shotsuki in the book itself, but Kanezuki might have been used as well at some point, I don't recall). Hmm. I'm not wording that well. Suzune idolizes Karin; Suzune sees Karin as her oshi (at least that was the way it was worded in the book). Graduated? Um. No clue the backstory behind that word. I know how it is being used in this book, but not why that word. Right, so, Karin had been with a specific band for a while, most of the time the 'center' (lead singer) on most of their songs; but her contract came to an end and so Karin has 'graduated' from the band. What a long paragraph.
Right, so.
Suzune is sad because she no longer can follow Karin, though she still listens to her music. At the place she works as a voice actress (her agents? something like that), a group meeting of most of the 'staff' is held - a new member of the team is introduced. Karin Shotsuki. Whereupon Suzune almost dies from a heart-attack/orgasmic moment type event, but restrains herself long enough to not die. Or reveal her feelings.
Karin shares the same agent with Suzune, which leads that agent to get/ask Suzune to tutor/help/mentor Karin in her job change. Which means the book .... hmm. I was going to say 'follows the two as they get closer', but that would imply something more than what occurred. To a certain extent, that is what happened. But more it was like two co-workers who bumped into each other every once in a while over roughly a year as they both work in the voice actress industry.
Right, so. As noted: interesting to see a lesbian book set in Japan, starring Japanese women, written by a Japanese author (again, presumably, I do not know the author's backstory). Fun quick book. Liked it.
Rating: 4.33
May 20 2025
March 24, 2025
This story is fairly unique among yuri LNs that've been translated into English, and it's worth a read.
This is a story about adults making decisions that make sense, with drama that exists, but doesn't get drawn out, while getting surprisingly real about feelings and issues faced by a 'yuri for real' actress navigating her dreamjob in an entertainment industry that sometimes uses likes to use 'yuri buisness' as a somewhat diminishing "the fans see it as cute and harmless so it's okay, lol" type of advertising.
I was legit surprised at how the anime-style scenarios presented in the series all took a refreshingly realistic turn -- fun to read, and doesn't require you to turn your brain off to enjoy what's happening.
This is a story about adults making decisions that make sense, with drama that exists, but doesn't get drawn out, while getting surprisingly real about feelings and issues faced by a 'yuri for real' actress navigating her dreamjob in an entertainment industry that sometimes uses likes to use 'yuri buisness' as a somewhat diminishing "the fans see it as cute and harmless so it's okay, lol" type of advertising.
I was legit surprised at how the anime-style scenarios presented in the series all took a refreshingly realistic turn -- fun to read, and doesn't require you to turn your brain off to enjoy what's happening.
November 28, 2025
this was so cute! i love books that take place in otaku-adjacent industries, like vtubing and anime and what not, and it was super cool to learn more about yuri business and voice acting.
our main character is suzune, a demi sexual closeted lesbian, who's oshi is an idol who just graduated. she's sad, but then her idol starts working at the same agency as her, and decides suzune is going to be her new bff! it's super sweet, a little slow burn, mostly slice of life. i really enjoyed it!
i hope to find more yuri light novels! manga is great, but i really enjoy the novel form as well.
our main character is suzune, a demi sexual closeted lesbian, who's oshi is an idol who just graduated. she's sad, but then her idol starts working at the same agency as her, and decides suzune is going to be her new bff! it's super sweet, a little slow burn, mostly slice of life. i really enjoyed it!
i hope to find more yuri light novels! manga is great, but i really enjoy the novel form as well.
July 28, 2025
This is the first light novel I have ever read and was shocked by how captivating the storyline was. This book is easy to read and easy to digest. I also like that the main characters are in their 20s. The storyline is not that deep and easy to follow along.
December 2, 2025
This was super cute! I loved the setting of them being voice actress and the whole worldbuilding around that. I thought it was so funny that her oshi became her co-worker - I enjoyed the idol/oshi/fan thing a lot, it was an absolute delight. Very sweet, very charming, I really liked this one!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews