Pink Candy Kiss, Vol. 2

冷たくて 柔らか [Tsumetakute Yawaraka] #2

by Ami Uozumi

After experiencing a whirlwind of emotions, Takara comes to terms with the new and unfamiliar impulses she feels around Ema—Takara wants to kiss her and keep her all to herself. Can Takara hold back for the sake of Ema’s marriage? Does she even want to?

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

Kindle Edition

First published December 25, 2023

Reviews

[Morgan Le Fay ✨]

This manga is so tender and sweet. I’m loving the past school friends to crushes storyline developing, but the drama of Ema actually being married to an absolute gentleman who cares deeply for her is starting to loom over this sweet new crush. P̶e̶r̶s̶o̶n̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶ I̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶d̶a̶t̶e̶.

I want all 3 of them to have a happy ending, so In both excited and nervous for the next volume!

[lauraღ]

You saved me again. Just like in middle school. And now again as an adult.

I think I loved this even more than the first volume. Taka and Ema are both sooooo sweet, and I adore the way their fumbling attraction and yearning is written and drawn. I think I mentioned it in the first volume too, but the mangaka does such a good job at portraying desire in subtle ways; those little close-ups on the lips, the throat, the clavicle. The scene with Taka squealing over the yuri book made me smile so much. And I'm just really enamoured by the way she's figuring out and expressing her feelings for Ema. There's just something so sweet about it. Reminds me just how much I love coming out later in life stories.

The situation remains complicated, especially with Ema's husband who's still just like... a nice and normal dude, lol. I'm really glad I'm enjoying this so much, as I usually hate reading about infidelity. But this seems like it's going to be really slow burn, in the most delicious way, and I can't wait to read more.

The sweet pinkness seemed to seep through me.

[Ash(eaux)]

A manga with a small cast of characters who are all likeable yippee!!
I'm scared for what's to come though I'm sensing a bittersweet ending 😭. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Em's POV especially when it comes to how she's going to handle all the changes in her life and her conflicted feelings. (Also i do think her platonic relationship with Hario is sweet and that depending on how the story evolves I hope they can remain friends/on good terms, hopefully he doesn't turn into an asshole out of nowhere, we've seen enough shitty men take the spotlight in the plot)
I lovedd how Takara deals with her feelings in this volume, she respects her friend's other important relationship and faced with a barrier on the romantic side she chooses to focus more on her sense of self and identity in general, going out to meet more queer people. (Her straight friend supporting her is awesome too)
Slice of life Yuri is such a comfort.

[Mark]

[Thanks to Viz and Edelweiss for an ARC of this manga in exchange for an unbiased review.]

With a very good first volume under its belt, I had been hoping that we might have a worthy successor to the brilliant Even Though We’re Adults. I am now more convinced that this is likely to be precisely that, albeit with a different flavour.

The arc of many a romance manga gets elongated through artifice, where characters just don’t talk or are scared to because the plot dictates it. Less so here, where the characters are scared to talk for very good reasons.

This makes all the difference in the world. You have two people who are very much reading the same book, but seem to be on different pages. Was Em ever in love with Takara? Is Takara’s love in the past tense? We know, but they don’t.

And Takara refuses to do anything anyway, since Em is currently married, at least at the moment. Takara’s affection and general lust starts to go through the roof this volume and both of them have their desire written all over their faces. This volume is chock to the brim with stolen glances and longing looks.

As for that marriage, well, it’s… actually really not in a bad place. Em’s husband isn’t doing anything particularly wrong, that we know of, and the two of them seem very loving. But the passion isn’t there and it’s not a situation where that’s okay for the two of them.

(There is no mention of the potential affair from last volume and I would love for this to not give an easy out for our leads.)

Em is a good character, but Takara is the lead of this volume and story right now. Her exploration of a whole new side to her sexuality, one she didn’t quite know existed, is fantastic stuff and what sends this volume soaring.

I love when yuri gets real queer, it’s nice to have something doing a little more overt and real world, and boy this one just goes for it. The last chapters have Takara deciding that she wants more than anything to know her sexual identity, regardless of Em, which is such a smart idea for her.

So she and her straight gal pal head off to a gay bar and all of this segment is a delight. Her married friend putting her hottest outfit on because she wants to stand out even if it’s a same sex establishment is peak ‘straight person goes to a gay bar’ if I’ve ever seen it (and I assure you, I have).

From Takara’s obvious nervousness to the way she has a fabulous meet cute that probably won’t go anywhere but totally could, this is just a really fun bit of exploring yourself amongst people who might be just like you.

There’s a great discussion of love and desire and the way that two very different lesbians get drawn into this whole debate and discussion is absolutely adorable. Takara’s innocence starts drawing them into her story and it’s just a blast.

Basically, this is what I had hoped the second volume would be. I wanted more of Em and Takara exploring one another, I wanted more discussion about sexuality, and I wanted to come to just love what it was doing. Every box? Checked.

5 stars - absolutely killed it and, with most of the more serious adult yuri either finished or winding down, there’s no better time for something this strong to be coming out. Huge recommend.

[sin]

[3.25 stars!!!] i liked the first volume more, but this one still delivered! seeing ema through taka’s eyes… i think i’m falling in love with her too. this volume also showed us more hario-ema dynamics and i’m honestly so scared for hario because he looks so soft and he is truly in love with ema. but anyway, LET’S GO LESBIANS!!!

[Josei Decay]

Loving this series so far!

[Tianna Groth]

Not as sad as the first book but her trying to figure out her identity and who she is now, well I can relate to that. I love how she can now finally accept her feelings and sort through them with help of course. This number is just truly beautiful in rediscovering who you are from your heart and thats just so flipping cute to read.

[Danika Dayman]

Slow burn lesbian love is where it’s at

[vi ☽ .☆ﾟ.]

I am falling in love with Ema-chan just by seeing her through the eyes of Takara-chan. That’s one of the ways to know when someone loves someone too much.

Also, I love Hario-kun. He is so kind-hearted. I hope he doesn’t get hurt and even if he does, I hope for the hurt to go away soon.

Ah comphet really is the enemy to queer relationships.

I LOVE THIS MANGA SO MUCH!!

[givememycheetos]

4.5⭐️

OH MY GAAAWWWDDD, amo amo amo amooooo. Amo que de hecho Takara no quiera meterse en el matrimonio, asi que quiero pensar que NO normalizaran la infidelidad. Em me da tanta pena porque siento que necesitamos mas de su POV en la secundaria y universidad. Y bueno ame demasiado este tomo sobre todo el approach de la comunidad, la amistad de Momo y el ultimo cap en el bar 🥹🥹 NECESITABA EL DRAMA Y QUE EM VOLTEE Y VEA A TAKARA CON LA OTRA CHICA LINDAAA

[isbah ♡]

ahhh my favorite ongoing doomed yuri, feels a bit more doomed after this volume and now i just want all 3 of them to have a happy ending somehow :/
loveeee how this volume involved takara exploring her sexuality and so many of her thoughts were super super relatable
anyways, yes to the slowburn and chappell roan discography vibes as always

[Shania]

“I’d never thought I’d see her again. The girl I loved so, so much told me that she wanted to kiss me. If only my lips my and my whole body could taste like strawberry milk”

AHHH YEA THEY IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER AND SO EXCITED TO SEE HOW THEIR RELATIONSHIP CONTINUES DEVELOPING. AND THE ART IS BEAUTIFUL. Very shoujo— esque

[marcia]

Vol. 1 ★★★★☆

Not gonna lie, I'm a bit disappointed by this series. The premise is already convoluted; now the pacing is crawling to a halt and there's not much progress in this volume. It doesn't help that Ema is such an enigma, making it difficult to root for them.

[Luv.abbi ˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆]

All the characters are honestly so sweet!! I can’t help but root for all of them. 🌸💕

[Jade ♡]

“if only my lips and my whole body could taste like strawberry milk.”

i loved this quote out of everything in this volume… i love slow burn yuri 🥹 i can’t wait to see how their story plays out

[lamp]

Hario do you know you have 30 minutes

[Kimberlyyyreads]

They’re clearly so in love with one another

[James DeSantis]

Still cute. Still can't just kiss and fuck. But that's okay, slowburn lesbian romance is still great.

But for real, so refreshing to read about adults in Manga. We need more of this!

[Sucre]

really adored this volume. we go to a gay club! there's a butch there!!!!! the women in this fantasize about sex and have sexual thoughts about each other! things are complicated and there's a lot of opportunity for drama, but the core of this is the relationship between the two women and i'm very interested to see where that goes. it's clear ema is keeping some secrets, and i'm excited to see those explored more and what that means about her sexuality + her relationship with takara. there's some real swoonworthy moments in this and it's definitely my new fave yuri being published right now.

[Cynthia]

The soft and tender and mature nature of this manga makes it not at all frustrating to read for me, even after a second volume with no visible progress either way.

[Devinne Ch]

A lot of the Gl manga's I've read start with one of the leads having a male partner, I don't know if it's actually a common thing in the genre but it happens so much I don't know if I should find it funny.

This time the love interest is not even a boyfriend it's a HUSBAND, and I feel quite conflicted about it. Most of the time I can at least gaslight myself to support the girls' relationship just because I don't like the guy, but this time the husband just so happens to be the biggest green flag, he's such a gentleman and he totally supports and adores his wife, he's even better that most of the male leads from some shoujo manga's. The relationship between the girl and her husband seems to be so sweet too, from an outsider point of view they seem quite happy. The girl still keeps giving mixed signals to our lead though, it really makes me wonder how everything is going to develop.

Our protagonist is aware of the morally implications of her feelings (liking a married woman), she doesn't pretend to act on them but can't help to have them. She suffers a bit from that, but it's nice to see how she addresses those feelings, and while treasuring them she knows she'll have to move on from them.

I really love the artist's style, it's so beautiful, the characters, especially in the covers are completely gorgeous, I really love it.

I also really like how our protagonist wants to explore her sexuality regardless of her feelings for the married girl, she wants to understand herself better and ends up going to a lesbian bar and talking with other lesbians about her feelings, they talk (very subtly) about how LGBT people live in Japan, and I can't help but finding really interesting. It made me really happy see that, even in most of bl/gl manga's those kind of topics are rarely touched, so it's good to have that kind of representation.

[Lena]

I will say that I did like the first vol better than the second one but, I still enjoyed reading This. Self discovery can be a big part of someone's life, and Takara really showed it. Her finally starting to accept that she loves Ema, and not only that, she was starting to accept that she likes girls too.(Even if it's something she doesn't fully understand yet.) The way that Taka and Ema bond and rekindle their friendship is super sweet and tender. It is a very slow burn, but I actually like that a lot. I love the way that they were still trying to figure out who they are in the process of falling in love.

The part where Ema told her husband that she wanted a place to herself made me a little sad because of Hario. But, it was nice hearing Ema, Taka, AND Hario's(kinda) point of view on everything that was going on in the story.

Again, sure, I did like the first vol better but this was still such a sweet story. I still LOVE this second volume. Can't wait to read vol 3!!

YURI YURI YURI!!!

[Emily]

(review of vol 1-2)

reunited childhood friends, slow burn romance. I don't find the characters that compelling (I don't really get Ema yet, she's got these vibe switch-ups that I find a little off-putting) and the story feels like it's on rails, but it's got juice. I think my favorite part of these two volumes was Takara going to a lesbian bar with her friend and meeting other lesbians, which just felt refreshing to me. probably this is just that I haven't read very deeply in this genre but idk, I'm all for the acknowledgment of and interaction with the broader queer community. tbh my ideal would be that Takara explore dating outside of Ema before any of that progresses, but who knows.

the art on the covers is not really my vibe (it's really... model face) but the actual comic art is fine.

bye

[Emma]

Thank you NetGalley and Viz Media for the digital ARC of “Pink Candy Kiss” vol. 2! I was a big fan of the first volume, and I was pleased with this next installment. Ema and Takara’s romance is slow burn at this point, both of them dancing around fully confessing their love, so only a bit of progress is made unfortunately. I was happy we got a little bit of Ema’s perspective and could confirm that the feelings are mutual! The art and paneling is beautiful, and the character interactions are so cute. There was a bit of a cliffhanger, was that Ema she spotted? I can’t wait to read the next volume to find out! If you’re looking for a thoughtful yuri manga that isn’t just another high school romance, I recommend giving this manga a try.

[♡ zuly ♡]

Pink Candy Kiss picks up where the last volume left off both literally and in my sentiments about it. It was as likable as the first volume, and the tension between the two characters was amped up. Their chemistry versus the reality of their circumstances makes for a very compelling narrative.
It was nice to see our lead Takara with the help of a friend dig a little bit deeper into understanding her sexuality, and I'm really interested to continue this series. I enjoyed the introduction of some new supporting characters, and I'm excited to see where the story takes them as well. Definitely a great read for June!
Thank you to Netgalley and Viz for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Mumtaz Maryam]

4.5⭐️

I loved this volume, especially the second part! It was cute and emotional and Im loving Ema and Takara as both individual characters and their dynamic together.

Takara confessing her actions in middle school and the feelings she had for Ema was so adorable. And then the tension between them throughout this volume??? Chef’s kiss!! Like the apartment hunting??!!

In this volume we switched to Ema’s perspective and learn that she has always loved Takara as more than a friend. We also learn that she’s hiding something that she thinks Takara and her husband will hate her for.

I’m curious to see how the plot line of Ema and her husband will go. He’s a really good husband who seems to deeply love Ema, and Ema seems to deeply care about him. And what is it that Ema is hiding? Was that her at the lesbian bar?

My favorite part of the volume was Takara going to the lesbian bar. We got to meet two queer characters who are basically helping Takara figure out her feelings for Ema and sexuality. I really hope this manga will go into queerness and queer community.

[Kait W]

I loved this volume and it has me really excited to continue the series. It's a fascinating exploration of figuring out your sexuality as an adult, facing emotions and relationships you struggled with as an adolescent before you were willing to acknowledge those aspects of yourself, and the way your friends and loved ones contribute to your understanding of yourself. I'm definitely feeling like I have a strong sense of each individual character and their relationship ties and I've become invested in seeing how those relationships shake out. The artwork is still very beautiful, and the emotions feel very authentic.

[Noortje]

I want to read the next volume😭 So far I think everything's being handled very tactfully, at least concerning Takara's feelings. I also love how chill and supporting her friend is, even going to a lesbian bar with her!
Idk how to feel about Em yet bc.. is she alreading cheating on her husband? I hope she's just hanging at the club but.. She did say she already did something bad :/ I really like Hario too so I'm a bit scared. I'm lowkey glad he isn't an abuser or anything tho, even if it would make rooting for a relationship between the mc's easier. VERY curious to see where the story's gonna go.

[Valeria]

Honestly a 4.5 this one was better than the first one i really like taka but i feel like ema is hiding a good amount of personality i want to see more from her, my favorite part was when they went to a lesbian bar i think is the first time i have seen a manga mention that, i think overall this is going to be a really good series, the only thing i think could ruin this is the fact that ema is married and the husband is actually super nice i think the way the relationship between them is being portrayed is good but ema is being shady idk if is the fact she doesn’t know how she feels about taka but still i find it to be wrong, its not her husbands fault shes gay and had a bad life.

[fox]

such a good volume, like seriously. this series has yet to disappoint me. i loveee how human and flawed these characters are—some of the most interesting stories come from the perspectives of deeply flawed and complex characters, and i love that this mangaka isn't afraid to explore that! but despite the fact that it's clear these characters won't always make the "right" or "harmless" decisions, they're still very likable, relatable, and understandable. ema and takara are so sweet together and i love their romance. i'm just hoping hario doesn't get hurt in the crossfire!