Sweet Blue Flowers Omnibus, Vol. 3

Sweet Blue Flowers Omnibus #3

by Takako Shimura

Akira Okudaira is starting high school and is ready for exciting new experiences. And on the first day of school, she runs into her best friend from kindergarten at the train station! Now Akira and Fumi have the chance to rekindle their friendship, but life has gotten a lot more complicated since they were kids…

It’s time for the Fujigaya theater festival again, and this year Akira and her friends have chosen an ambitious Japanese play. Not only will it seriously challenge their acting abilities, but the number of characters in it means they’ll need all hands on deck to pull it off. But ever since Fumi admitted that she had feelings for Akira, their friendship has been a little awkward. Will the forced intimacy of collaborating on the play help them work things out, or make things worse?

Genres: Manga, Yuri, Queer, Romance, LGBT, Young Adult, Graphic Novels

364 pages, Paperback

Published March 20, 2018

About the author

Takako Shimura (native name: 志村貴子) is a manga artist primarily known for her manga works published in Japan which feature LGBT (especially about lesbian and transgender) topics. Originally from Kanagawa, she now resides in Tokyo.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still sweet as hell when the author focuses on the main couple. The storytelling technique is a bit frustrating though as the author frequently skips around between hard-to-distinguish subplots and side characters. These little moments are nice on their own, but seem increasingly unnecessary to the main story. And while there are some big relationship developments, the main story beats from the last volume -- school play, summer vacation trip, and Christmas -- are repeated as another school year passes.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half was a slog to get through, but the second half made up for it and I was squealing the entire goddamned time

[Aleksandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s very cute and sweet. I like the way Takako Shimura addresses adolescents’ sexuality. It’s genuine, it feels true and it’s not done in the sexualizing way.

[Deltora · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is great. Its beautiful art shows off an amazingly accepting story about relationships of many kinds, it talks about how lines can blur and what what once a close friendship can become something else or just how unexpected a crush can be and how that can totally rock your world.

Ii'm kind of reviewing the whole series in this review and i just really enjoyed it, all the characters and well flushed out and even a girl you've seen in maybe 4 scenes has a very distinct personality and may even get more focus later in the story (maybe dating someone's brother, i don't know)

I should add, There are some relationships that i know some readers will not approve of or like at all, and i understand that, this book might not be for everyone, but it is for me. I try to live by the precept 'Love is Love' if people care about each other i don't care who they are or what the circumstances are, love is love. some reviews have called these books sinful and disgusting, i just don't look at things that way.

Anyway, this series for sure lives up to it's name since if i had to sum it up in one word: Sweet.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm absolutely in love with this series although I did have to go back and read volume 2. Once I started reading this there were a couple characters/situations I didn't recall that were occurring at the beginning of this volume. My initial exposure to this series was the anime adaptation which made me cry SEVERAL times and which I thought ended perfectly!!! Also, totally balled during the final scene.

Well...the magna actually continues past where the anime adaptation ended. I think I prefer where the anime ended because it allowed my imagination to think about what would've happened next. The 2nd half of this volume two characters are involved in a story line I didn't actually think would happen...but is. Now I'm kinda nervous to read the next volume in fear of having my heart broken! Yes, these fictional characters have grown on me to the point where I'm literally scared of them not getting that "happily ever moment" I'm hoping for.

[Adrian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wish this author wouldn't make teacher-student and older-younger relationships seem like they are normal or ok. I understand these things happen but they shouldn't be portrayed in a way that normalizes them. I also wish they didn't skip so much time between stories as it feels very disjointed especially in this volume, some of the relationships are cute but again the problematic content significantly overshadows them.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the plays they put on every year. Deciding who gets to play who. I almost wish we got more details or had scenes play out. I'm glad in this volume the unanswered question between Fumi and Akira wasn't dragged out for a few more volumes. Fumi's declaration to Akira is answered and we get to see how that relationship evolves.

[Nadina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still feel like there is a focus on a few too many characters, but over all this felt more focused, and I will finish the series.
I am finding it hard to really connect with and care about some of the characters, and this does tie into the fact there are so many characters to keep track of.

[haku 🎐 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still a cute story as always, but still find it a struggle with the time skips and the little women series that focuses on charas I don’t really care about.. it’s kinda hard to keep up with. But the development btwn akira and fumi is rlly cute.. excited to see whr this goes!!

[Gemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main couple in this series is so cute but WHAT is the deal with incest and weird teacher/student age gaps in yuri manga?? It’s only in the background but honestly. Someone please free my lesbians from this curse.

[Emi · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Jodi Geever · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this series, and I think I will always have an affinity for it, since it was my introduction to manga. Very good, loved the art, and the story is completely sweet.

[Roo · Rating 4 out of 5]

See review for book 1.

[Megan Wagner · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was probably too much time between when I read vol 2 and 3. Also, a lot of the characters are very similar looking so I kept getting lost as to what was going on.

[ReadingFrog · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25 stars.

[Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story about girls growing up and discovering themselves.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s cute and I like the friendships

[scarlettraces · Rating 5 out of 5]

Series review on vol 1

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

June 2022. GL manga series about two childhood friends who get reacquainted when one of them moves back to the area for high school. They go to two different all girls high schools and series focuses on them and a large number classmates at each school and a couple teachers.

Overall I liked the series but didn’t love it. It suffers from feeling too unfocused with so many characters, and adds new ones in each volume. I think it could’ve been much stronger with fewer characters to keep track of that get their own plot arcs and side stories.
I did appreciate that it includes lesbian, bi/pan, and straight characters. The lovely art was a strong point and characters were likable.

Got all 4 volumes from Sac library. It was originally 8 smaller volumes in Japan but was published in English as 4 omnibus volumes containing 2 each, so the 4 English language volumes are the full story.

“Sweet Blue Flowers” volume 3 by Takako Shimura.