Sakuma is a scriptwriter, but when her boyfriend dumps her, she probably hadn’t counted on a chance encounter with Wako, a young voice actress who quickly falls for the older woman. As we come into the story a couple years into the relationship, the two are living together and, well, that’s the book.
It’s one thing to be a bit of fluff, but it’s something else entirely to be well-written fluff and that’s where this series distinguishes itself enough to be worthwhile. Sakuma and Wako are absolutely adorable and quite the unlikely pairing.
This manga is the first thing I’ve seen from Takashi Ikeda in ages and it’s no exaggeration for me to say that Whispered Words was a formative work in my appreciation of yuri, so seeing they had a new series was a delight and set my expectations quite high.
Now, this lacks the excruciating tension and drama of its predecessor, but otherwise it’s a real treat seeing just how far Ikeda has come in their writing. Looking at this on the surface, I read this because of the author but I figured it would bore me into a coma. Not so much.
On the face of it, this is a simple story about a pair of lesbians, but as many, many stories have shown us, writing an established couple in a way that holds the reader’s interest isn’t exactly easy. Although you wouldn’t know it from these two.
Sakuma and Wako are very sweet on one another and they flirt and bicker and do all the couple things and are equally charming in different ways. Sakuma is ten years Wako’s senior and an established worker, plus the slightly more mature one. Wako is still trying to make a name in voice acting and definitely has a youthful immaturity that can get her into trouble.
There’s a lot of play, a lot of heart, and some damn funny jokes in this and, while some stories work better than others, these are all quick little vignettes that do a thing, typically quite well, and move on to the next one. Ikeda uses this to focus on all the aspects of the relationship and that really keeps things fresh - especially after the first few chapters look like they’re about to strike a very repetitive tone for the series.
The natto story that lands Wako in couples jail is great, and I love the poor female colleague of Sakuma’s who has been crushing on her for years and never been able to confess. Wako’s very childish jealousy plus Sakuma’s utter obliviousness makes this one land really well. Sure, this is an old joke, but you can make anything work if you put the effort in, as we see here.
Saruma gets her moment to be the brat during the cough drop story, which echoes a much nastier version from Namekawa-san Won’t Take A Licking, but to infinitely better effect. These characters have traits, sure, but they are more than that.
And if you want to see some heart, the chapter where Wako spends most of it staring at a blank phone screen is a highlight, although this story has lots of sweet little moments besides. That ending is predictable, but no less enjoyable for it.
Now, there is no dramatic heft here, so don’t expect any. Our leads have a life so sliced you could make an open-faced sandwich with it. But I personally came into this expecting to be bored, frankly, just from the description, and it is so much better than that. It is infinitely cozy.
4 stars - maybe even 4.5 if I thought on it more. A wonderful couple being wonderfully charming and finding their way through life together. It might not seem like much, but this is a mangaka who knows what they’re doing and it shows right on the page.