Bloom into You, Vol. 8

やがて君になる [Bloom Into You] #8

by Nio Nakatani

LOVE IN FULL BLOOM After Sayaka confesses to her, Touko must face her own feelings! Just as Yuu begins to lose all hope, Touko asks to meet with her. Is this the beginning of the end or the blossoming of a beautiful, new relationship? The final volume of the touching yuri series, Bloom into You ! The final volume!

Genres: Manga, Romance, LGBT, Yuri, Young Adult, Queer, Lesbian

215 pages, Paperback

First published November 27, 2019

About the author

Nio NAKATANI 仲谷鳰 is a Japanese mangaka and doujinsha.

Associated Names:
Rireba リレバ

Official site:
Doujinsha site: 「リレバ」 rireba
Pixiv: 仲谷鳰[Nakatani]

Reviews

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought I would write a big review but after completing I am like

WOW!
JUST WOW!❤️

[E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have waited so long for this!!!
They are so soft and mushy around each other I was swooning the whole time! I couldn't imagine more perfect ending for them. I will miss them but it was cut in a perfect moment so I'm glad they didn't drag it out or wrap it up too fast like in many romance mangas I've read before.

[Wei Le · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sadly Goodreads splits up the manga by volumes because I would've loved to give my review/perfect score to the whole series. Bloom Into You has consistently impressed me with how maturely it handles its romantic themes, and how realistic and nuanced its characters are. Yuri has been a genre steadily growing in popularity over the years, but I've never seen another manga/LN handle its relationships with as much care as this series did. With many other series taking a majority of their long runtimes to lengthily draw out the ups and downs of courtship, it's nice to see intimacy and platonic/romantic closeness explored from so early on. If I had to name one flaw, it would be that the side characters don't get nearly as much love as they deserve (Maki is such a great foil to Yuu so it's a wasted opportunity), but that's to quibble.

Oh yea, chapter 44 is pretty good too. ;)

[Nea Poulain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es una absoluta preciosidad, lo adoré muchísimo. Touko y Yuu son personajes adorables. Leanlooooo. Empezaré mi campaña para que lo lea todo el mundo.

https://www.neapoulain.com/2021/06/bl...

Llevaba un tiempo buscando y apilando manga GL para leer en mi lista de pendientes y justamente Panini México anunció que esta sería su publicación de un manga sáfico (me parece que los tomos empezarán a circular este junio) así que yo empecé a leerlo por curiosidad y me seguí de bajada. Tiene ocho tomos, es una historia de romance entre dos chicas donde aparecen otras parejas de mujeres sáficas y se piensa mucho en cómo se experimenta el amor y el romance. También justamente tiene algunas visiones sobre el espectro asexual y/o arromántico en varios personajes, lo cual me pareció bastante interesante (no privilegia al amor romántico por encima de otras maneras de sentir amor o expresar afecto por el otro) y cada una de las protagonistas tiene un arco de personaje distinto que no es su relación pero acaba influyendo en todo su mundo. En general, me pareció suficientemente interesante discutir un poco la obra en una reseña, así que henos aquí.

En fin, también me pareció bonito iniciar el mes del Orgullo LGBT con una entrada así (además, aquí todo el tiempo hablamos de este tipo de obras, qué es una más).

Bloom Into You es una historia de dos estudiantes de preparatoria. Yuu Koita acaba de entrar y no sabe muy bien a que club o actividad extra unirse (ya que en japón es obligatorio). No sabe muy bien qué hacer hasta que termina metida en las elecciones del consejo estudiantil y, además, ve a un chico que se le declara a una estudiante un año mayor, Touko Nanami. Allí es cuando nos enteramos que nunca ha estado enamorada o no sabe lo que es enamorarse y duda que sea algo que vaya a sentir en la vida (o, al menos, en un futuro cercano). Aquello parece crearle un conflicto, considera que es raro o, al menos, no es demasiado común. Un chico de la secundaria se le declaró y ella todavía no le ha contestado, conflictuada por su falta de sentimientos.

¿Será que realmente nunca podrá enamorarse? ¿Es algo malo? ¿Bueno? ¿Normal? El manga jamás le pone nombre (de hecho, no etiqueta a ninguna de las personajas y las inserta en este mundo donde aparentemente es muy normal que otras mujeres amen a otras mujeres o, al menos, es un menor motivo de escándalo, lo que me parece muy importante) a lo que le ocurre a Yuu, pero creo que, en estos tiempos, podríamos pensar en el espectro ace/aro. Los términos y etiquetas llevan muchos años fluctuando; poder nombrar el amor entre mujeres, por ejemplo, es algo relativamente nuevo si lo vemos desde una perspectiva más histórica. Así que me parece bien lo que Nio Nakatani deja abierto a la interpretación (sobre las formas de vivir el amor y romance) siendo especialmente clara, sin dejar ningún lugar a dudas, que sus personajas son mujeres que aman a otras mujeres.

Touko Nanami, senpai de Yuu y presidenta del Consejo Estudiantil se enamora de ella (o al menos, es claro que le gusta) e inicia una relación con ella, no necesariamente romántica en el sentido más mainstream. Es obvio que hay amor (porque amor hay mucho fuera del concepto del amor romántico, debo decir), pero fluye de manera diferente y las personajas se van entendiendo poco a poco. La trama de fondo nos muestra como Touko desea hacer una obra de teatro que hace mucho tiempo era tradición del Consejo, pero dejó de hacerse y lidiar con la ausencia de su hermana (que murió años atrás) y volver a enfrentarse a una especie de duelo. Es un personaje súmamente complejo en su relación con Yuu y fuera de ella. Sus matices me parecen muy importantes, sobre todo porque Bloom Into You se da el tiempo de mostrarnos a varios personajes desde muchas perspectivas, no sólo desde el "hola, soy un manga de romance y es lo único que obtendrás de mí". Una de mis quejas más grandes respecto a las historias LGBT es que hubo un momento en el mundo mainstream en el que los personajes LGBT eran quizá sólo secundarios cuya única personalidad era una orientación sexual o identidad de género, sin tener historia propia, tan sólo un token para demostrar "inclusividad" o no tenían permitidas otras historias que no fueran salir del clóset.

Una de las razones por las que yo escribo mis propias historias imaginándolas en mundos donde ser LGBT sea completamente normal (entre otras cosas) es porque acabó por hartarme que sólo esas historias fueran visibles. Se le exigía a esos personajes ser perfectos (porque sólo ese tipo de representación es buena) y contar una única historia repetida. Se convertían en fábulas con moraleja y nada más. La manera en que Nakatani aborda a las mujeres sáficas (con distintas orientaciones sexuales, maneras de vivir el romance y e enamorarse) me pareció refrescante en ese sentido. Se nota la diversidad dentro de la diversidad y se hace todavía más obvio que se pueden contar todo tipo de historias. Una nota que quiero hacer es que cuando hablo en general de las personajas de Bloom Into You digo sáficas como un término que engloba otros dentro de sí porque, aunque el manga no es explícito como tal usando etiquetas, si es muy obvio en que en la historia hay mujeres lesbianas y bisexuales. Una de las personajas secundarias lo menciona de pasada, por ejemplo.

El tono de toda la historia es sensible, con muchos momentos adorables, pero también otros más reflexivos. Touko no sabe exactamente quien es lejos de emular a su hermana y por eso le da miedo que otros se enamoren de ella; Yuu no entiende cómo es su modo de vivir el romance, debe conocerse también a sí misma. El arte del manga ayuda mucho al tono que tiene toda la historia, muy preocupada por los detalles, los pequeños momentos y mostrar que incluso un ambiente cotidiano tiene cosas hermosas.

Las historias más realistas me gustan cuando son así, en vez de ese realismo color caca del que de repente quieren pintar historias como estas: hubo una época en la que parecía que si no habia sufrimiento a causa de la homofobia, transfobia o cualquier tipo de discriminación, no estabas escribiendo una historia LGBT y a veces eso cansa; no está mal que existan esas narrativas, pero también es importante reconocer que las historias con personajes LGBT pueden ser de tonos felices. Cada tomo trae arte a color (al menos en la edición en inglés, no sé si Panini en México los dejará, que a veces salen en blanco y negro para hacer más accesible el precio), usualmente spreads en dos páginas donde podemos ver a las protagonistas y que creo que ayuda mucho a situarnos dentro del ambiente de la historia completa.

¿Recomiendo la historia? Por supuesto que sí, si les gustan las historias tranquilas, reflexivas, que invitan a reflexionar un poco sobre el amor y cómo nos enamoramos o qué entendemos por enamorarse, definitivamentees una historia para ustedes. En México se acaba de licenciar por Panini Manga, así que seguro lo encuentran pronto con ellos. En España la licencia es de Planeta y en inglés, que fue el que leí por temas de accesibilidad, es de Seven Seas. (E igual hay scanlation, si es que no está accesible en otras partas). Si lo leen y les gusta, me cuentan qué tal.

[Dawid]

[ananya ྀི · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel empty this was so pure and romantic I can't. Bloom into You is one of the most unproblematic yuris I've watched/read it's so good. I'm so happy my adorable lesbians got their happy ending<3


credits to owner

[Toya (thereadingchemist) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so sad it over! I loved this series!

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last parts of Bloom into You have a lot of typical romance story elements. A (mild) third-act misunderstanding and breakup, coming back together, sealing the deal by doin' it, epilogue a few years later with our main couple and their friends thriving and moving forward with their adult lives. Of course, it's the author's own spin on these things that makes a romance interesting, and the idea of fearing change--either in yourself or the other person--and sticking with the other person through those changes, was one I hadn't seen before in manga.

This line from Touko puzzled me: "I've been trying to act more like a senpai for you, but I can't anymore." Is acting like a senpai being dignified and responsible, not taking unfair advantage of being higher in the pecking order, or...? Well, whatever it might be, she got over it all right. :)

I continue to be impressed with Nio's point of view in his afterwords. "Comments and reviews are a form of creation, and I like people who create things." That's sweet. I mean, he probably couldn't finish a single panel in the time it took me to write this, but hasty, messy creation is still creation, I suppose.

[Eressea · Rating 5 out of 5]

20250420 2nd read
過了五年，心境變不少
在糾結何謂喜歡上，多了幾分從容
不過畫風的喜好真的回不去了Orz
--
20200902 1st read
被糖淹死了
堂島雖然有點輕浮但也是挺可愛的暖男
朱理應該很幸福吧

最慘的只有佐伯了XDD
雖然作者也給他一個女朋友了
但這得慢慢等外傳3了...

[Alice4170 &#x1f319; · Rating 4 out of 5]

5/5 ⭐️

[Rod Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasure cruise on the seas of denouement and our sweet little story is done. Watch out for the buffet though, the chef goes a little heavy on the spice.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were tears in my eyes as I finished the final volume of Bloom Into You, which I feel is as good a review as anything I could write, but I like writing so let me expand upon that sentiment.

The end of last volume promised so much and it is delivered here and then some. Everything this series has built up in its arsenal of moments and glances and small details is brought to bear (if it had ended after the first chapter here when the girls split up for their homes and both steal a last glance at the same time it would still be getting five stars).

Nakatani has seeded an amazing amount through these 8 volumes and watching things pay off that you never realized were supposed to pay off is just breathtakingly good.

For example, early in the series Yuu is literally reaching for something that isn’t real, based on a gift from Touko. One of the last shots has her reaching for the real thing and I never even realized that early scene would ever pay off in that way as this perfect metaphor. It’s such a moment.

On top of that, that scene also has a very important detail that made me incredibly happy, but should have been included in the previous chapter as well. Well, it is, but no attention is drawn to it until that particular moment and you’d likely miss it if you weren’t looking. I went back and checked to make sure it was there and it turns out that if you want to see if Touko’s on the same page you HAVE to go back and look.

This is the kind of unabashed glee I got from this series. An author who cares as much about the romance and symbolism as the most passionate reader is worth my highest praise. The art and dialogue and characters have always been very good, but this volume gets everything just right.

Then, two mundane household objects appear at the end of the series and, yes, I scrutinized them to see if they were identical and they are. It is the perfect little capstone to the series - it says an incredible amount with so little, but reaffirms the love that Yuu and Touko have shared (and make no mistake, their dating is as charming as anything that came before).

Are there things I’d change? Sure - I’d add another hundred pages and two more volumes, but that might affect the overall quality eventually.

In all seriousness, you could say that the ending is a little too pat in where it leaves everybody (there’s certainly a stealth advertisement for the third Sayaka novel in here), but if any book earns and sells a happy ending it’s this one. I DO wish that they’d shown any coming out scenes - they’ve clearly happened, but we only know this obliquely from the dialogue.

I could pile superlatives on this series for a long time, but it’s enough to say that this is one of my favourite reads ever. It’s emblematic of how good manga can be and why I keep reading it.

[natsuki jam #1 fan • wari · Rating 5 out of 5]

i’m glad that everyone got their happy ending 🥹 i think the series captured the toxicity and confusion that can occur in teenage relationships, but it also showed the strength of friendship and that change isn’t always bad.

[Jen13 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahhhh! Such a satisfying conclusion to a sweet and heartfelt series. I will miss spending time with these two, but I'm really happy with the way the story ended. I went into this series pretty blind and was expecting no more than a fluffy girl's love manga. What I got was a lovely romance with themes of self discovery and healing. I can't wait to recommend this series to coworkers and patrons at my library.

[Agu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, wholesome story about two girls finding love. It was so good, my heart melted.

[lauraღ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought love was this huge, inexplicable thing that would totally overwhelm me.
But I don’t think my love is like that. It’s something I chose to reach for myself.

 
Been a minute since I finished an entire manga series, so this feels good to me. And I loved it, so it feels even better! This was a really sweet, really cute conclusion to the series. The writing felt tight, like we really brought everything full circle, and address all the issues and insecurities that Yuu and Touko had, and why their evolution and the ways they changed made their HEA possible. It was really cute! And I'm glad that the manga didn't end with their resolution; it was really nice to have a few chpaters with them being happy and adorable together, going on dates, figuring out their next steps, seeing them in college. I kinda wish some of those scenes hadn't taken place until college, lol, but whatever. This was mostly just so cute. I loved seeing Yuu being blushy and shy, swept away by her feelings, and just being able to securely bask in loving and being loved. We got a little mini wrap up for most of the other characters as well, and some hints as to what's going on in Saeki's life. A nice teaser for her spin-off series. 

I really enjoyed my time with this series. Some parts of it were a bit shaky and not as well-written, but it pulled through in the end. This last volume is probably more of a 3.5, content-wise, but I'm still thinking of it as a 4, because it was just so sweet.

[Alba Munarriz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personas que no se ven capaces de cambiar por el miedo a no saber quién deberán ser en el futuro, personas que no pueden enamorarse porque creen que el amor debe ser algo fácil que viene dado del cielo. Relaciones que mutan sin saber hacia dónde nos llevará, sin poner nombre a la logística del momento presente, lo único certero es que te quiero y que tengo la esperanza de poder seguir queriéndote en los años que vienen

[Det. Nidhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is my favourite Yuri manga as of now, the story developed so well, and it was so tasteful. I loved the anime so I really hope the rest of the manga can be animated too. That being said, it was really well written, the way they resolved their conflicts and then accepted each other. It left me happy and I'll definitely reread this because it's so good :)

[julita · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in all, I think this was a good Yuri! It's definitely lower on my ranking, though, because despite the great communication and the emotional growth that both characters go through, there are some implications about their relationship that I can't overlook. Touko confessing to Yuu after one meeting was a little unbelievable, but somehow it worked. Touko is a year older than Yuu, and she has spent her entire life trying to live up to the person she thought her deceased sister was. She's obsessed with perfection, and she tries to be the best in every aspect of her life: the best student, the best student council president, the best friend. She's quite popular as a result, and she gets love confessions quite frequently. Touko always rejects these confessions, because she believes that anyone who is in love with her is simply in love with the idea of her, because at the end of the day, she's just going through the motions of how she thinks her sister would have acted. Yuu, who believes she is incapable of love, then makes a perfect target for Touko's affection: Anyone who isn't in love with her is the type of person Touko can fall in love with. She makes Yuu promise, however, that Yuu will never fall in love with her, because of Yuu does, she'll be just another person who has fallen for the idea of Touko Nanami.

Yuu, who loves shoujo manga, is surprised when a male classmate confesses to her and she feels nothing. After this encounter, she's convinced she can't love anyone, which she shares with Touko. Touko is relieved, and she goes forward feeling confident about the fact that even though she loves Yuu, Yuu will never love her back. What Touko doesn't know is that her best friend, Sayaka, is harboring romantic feelings for her. Sayaka quickly catches on to the dynamic between Touko and Yuu, who are overly familiar with one another and spur some jealousy within her. The trio have some awkward moments, particularly when they attend a summer camp hosted by the student council, but there's no real competition between Yuu and Sayaka.

Over the course of the series, Yuu discovers that she was wrong: she can learn to love, and she loves Touko. Simultaneously, Touko, with the help of her friends and the student council play, discovers that in the time she's spent trying to become her sister, she's actually been herself all along. This creates a bit of the conflict we see in the last 3 volumes, though not in the way that you would think. Despite Touko's insistence that Yuu could never fall in love with her, she's actually happy that Yuu has fallen in love with her and feels bad for never considering her feelings. In the end, the two truly do bloom into one another and themselves, and we are rewarded with a "years later" sequence wherein Yuu and Touko are still dating and will likely move in together. Yay!

Anyway, no one cares about that, let's talk about why I felt like at its core, this relationship was fundamentally a little screwed up. Yuu and Touko are not dating, which is fine, and Yuu has also said that she doesn't feel romantic feelings for anyone. This somehow results in Touko asking to kiss Yuu, and their relationship progresses with a lot of kisses, almost all of which are initiated by Touko. She also has some lines that accompany her kisses, which are often along the lines of "I can be really needy" or "I just can't help myself," which come off sounding predatory, especially consider that, again, Yuu has said that she is not romantically interested in anyone. Yuu does consent to the kissing, and toward the end of the series she starts to initiate the kisses herself. This clearly demonstrates her coming into her own and accepting her feelings for Touko, but I cannot look past the fact that Touko, who knows that Yuu believes she does not feel romantic feelings and does not like her back, repeatedly kisses Yuu and can be quite pushy about it. Their relationship is built around this, and it made me uncomfortable the entire time. Additionally, in this last volume, Yuu wins at bowling after her and Touko have agreed that the winner can ask for anything they want of the loser, and aish... It just sounds so bad on paper, and then Yuu is going through some sort of crisis where she wants to use her prize to sleep with Touko, but it's like... Why does that have to be a prize to be won and an action to demand of someone? I wish they would have just made the decision to sleep together after talking about it. The whole "winner can ask the loser to do anything they want" is what creepy boys at high school parties say to girls and it's just a gross way to frame what is otherwise a very sweet moment.

I do think that Bloom into You does a great job of developing Yuu and Touko as characters individually. I really enjoyed the growth that both characters experienced, and Yuu and Sayaka convincing Touko through the play that she was her own individual person and not just a shadow of her sister was my favorite arc of the story. The characterization was great; I loved how both characters were confident in who they were to the other person, and I also liked that Yuu was more "take charge" than Touko was. If you can look past the entire basis of their relationship, or if it just doesn't bother you, then I'm sure it will be a 5/5 read. For me, this series got an overall rating of 3.5/5.

[Des Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Just a perfect ending for these two. I'm so happy we got a happy ending, and not only that, but a whole epilogue of queer joy. I'm so happy with how this wrapped up. This was incredibly sweet, (and spicy!)

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

J’ai fini cette histoire avec les larmes aux yeux 🥹

L’histoire entre les deux personnages est juste tellement cuuuuute 😭😭

Les sujets abordés sont intéressants et c’est une lecture pas prise de tête!! 📖

Je recommande 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩

[Iz · Rating 5 out of 5]

the longing, the yearning, the moments in early relationships!! this volume made me kick my feet and rlly felt like a great ending to this story that has come a long way. with each volume I enjoyed this series more and I will be forever happy I picked it up

[Scarlette Josie (scarlettereads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ Four and a half stars

This is happiness.

So very nearly made me cry, but just missed the mark. Had I cried, it would’ve received a full five star rating. A lovely end to the series. I wish the anime had’ve ended like this too.

[新新 Xin-Xin · Rating 4 out of 5]

完結了好棒啊

[Jillian -always aspiring- · Rating 4 out of 5]

2020 Read #566

This final volume was sweet and a little bit sexy. I really liked the resolution for the characters, and I look forward to what Nakatani Nio creates next!

[nico · Rating 5 out of 5]

amé absolutamente todo): me encantó su desarrollo como personajes y el final me dejó enamoradísima.

pd: me gustó q le hayan dado final feliz a sayaka pero es mi novia.

[Tayjah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is just a reminder of how lonely I am 🥲

[Inês · Rating 5 out of 5]

MEU DEUS QUE FOFO!!! WHAT NOW :((

[Thanh · Rating 5 out of 5]

ok yeah....what the hell sure! holy shit did i EAT this entire series UP in the span of 3 hours and i'm watching the show right now. you didn't think i was a yuri manga consumer? well I didn't think i was a yuri manga consumer >:( was i twirling my hair and giggling? yes OK you know what don't judge i need to cope with the absence of my roommate 💔

i'm afraid this won't be the last yuri manga i will speed through YOU SHUT UP

[ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

don't be afraid of change guys :)