Takako Shimura

A genre-defining saga of love and friendship between girls. 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… Fumi is glad Akira is back in her life. Even in kindergarten, Akira knew how to stand up for herself, and she was always willing to stand up for Fumi too. But Fumi’s first love recently got married, and Fumi is grappling with a broken heart and the fact that her sweetheart was another woman… Can Akira’s open heart help dispel the gloom Fumi has been caught up in?

Sweet Blue Flowers

Ken Yuen

A cute manga from the author of Wandering Son. Another pretty slice-of-life film with romances and heartbreaks across the spectrum. It's pleasant enough to read, but it can be hard to follow the large cast of characters.

One problem that's my own fault was that I mistakenly assumed all the characters went to the same school (different school names and uniforms, not sure how that happened). So when I realized my mistake a third into the book, I had to start over.

I think I had this problem with Wandering Son too, but it's sometimes hard to keep track of the pacing of the plot. For example, there's one part which starts with what I believe to be a flashback, then returns to the point in the story where it ended in the last chapter. It can be confusing in that sense.

Sans

Sweet, slow, and a little childish. Very much a shoujo manga with a yuri twist.

Sweet Blue Flowers

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