[CW: emotional and physical abuse, punch-worthy male]
Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone? They paved (yuri) paradise and put up a parking lot.
Maki and Midori dated all through high school, but it was just a phase for one of them. Now adrift in the real world, Maki’s heart is still very much stuck in the past. Midori, meanwhile, has allegedly moved forward, except the changes in her life don’t especially seem to be for the better.
Two girls embraced the yuri ideal while at an all-female school, but only Maki figured out her homosexuality from it. That’s complicated. When Midori comes crashing back into her life and is the textbook example of a very bad idea, it gets worse.
And with the initial punch of Midori’s wedding, plus the second revelation, which is bog obvious but I can’t believe they went there anyway, she just upends Maki’s life like no time has passed between them. And Maki’s emotions are still mired enough in what Midori was back then to let it happen.
There’s little subtlety here, which is fine because Maki has about zero immunity to Midori and the art gamely reflects that in a really fun way. The art is worth a mention - it took time to get used to this style, but it’s really good in the end - these girls do not look like the women they become, it’s much different from the norm. More teenagers should be so believably gangly. There are some full page moments that are really well done too.
But, let’s be real, this relationship is a bad idea. Midori doesn’t have anything figured out, ten years on, so arguably she’s even worse off than Maki is because she thinks she’s left everything behind. Which turns out to include the one person who ever truly cared about her.
And that’s not to judge Midori, people think they’re a lot more put together than they truly are all the time, but it doesn’t change the fact that seeking solace with Maki (no kiss is ever just a kiss, Midori!) is straight up using her friend. Heck, Maki knows this, but, again, no resistance to Midori’s charms.
Oh and these two do have chemistry together. There’s a palpable shift in the two - it’s the only time either one of them ever seems at all happy, even if this dalliance might be tearing one of them up inside. And Midori might try to get beyond it, which is a lot easier even for her to say than to actually do.
Then there’s Tazune, Midori’s husband to be. If you’re waiting for his mask to slip, it won’t take long, as he turns out to be the toxic masculine ideal. An absolute bastard who has zero respect for women. I’d say he goes real dark real fast, but the story at least tries to show he’s one of the many losers who couldn’t handle rejection and came out a pathetic misogynist.
Tazune’s turn at the end is a little much; as highly readable as this manga is, it definitely lacks the nuance of contemporaries such as Even Though We’re Adults. But it also doesn’t contradict anything we’ve learned and, while we’re just meeting the character, he’s existed as a piece of crap for a long time (that he still draws in other women is perhaps the most depressingly true-to-life part of it all).
This is off to a good, messy start. It is complicated and, while it really goes for it sometimes, the setting and circumstances are both realistic and interesting. And it knows how to complicate the plot in some brutal ways. I mean, the fact that the second twist is still even a thing by the end of this volume? Hoo boy.
And both female leads are interesting. Midori is the pile of problems, while Maki just has no resistance, and together they might be better but being good for one another is a whole other step. I also really liked Maki’s support network, which is something I hadn’t really seen before and made perfect sense.
Plus, we get some flashbacks scattered throughout to show their evolving relationship over the years. There’s a real flair to some of this. The parting words Midori tosses off at graduation are sweet and then absolutely cutting at the same time.
4 stars - like I said, this is a really strong start. Yeah, it is sometimes going a little into the high drama range, but I can’t imagine anybody reading this and not being at least a little curious as to how this will all settle out.