Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Aya’s a fashionable gyaru type, except her taste in music runs to American rock and alternative. The only one who gets it is the guy at the music store, except that would actually be Mitsuki, her withdrawn female classmate who sits beside her�

I’d have to go back through a lot of books to confirm this, so I won’t, but I am still reasonably certain that this is the best first volume of a school-set yuri since Failed Princesses and it’s not even close.

Everything here just works. It’s got a tried and true premise: the fashionable gal and the social outcast start having the feels (shades of Failed Princesses!), except the gal thinks the other girl is the hot dude working at the music store she frequents. Together they make one another better.

For starters, I really love the colour scheme, which adds an omnipresent layer of green amidst the black and white that really makes the incredible artwork pop even harder. Except for Aya’s friend, who appears to have eyebrow eyebrows, there isn’t a page of this that doesn’t look good.

Beyond being a very satisfying yuri, this is a love letter to rock specifically and the bonds that can be formed by sharing music in general. Playlists may have taken over mixtapes these days, but this sort of connection has thrived for decades. These are two people who fit in to varying extents, but aren’t free to be themselves unless music is involved (and even then, Aya gets a lot of pushback from her ‘trendy� friends).

Yes, you have to accept the notion that Aya can’t figure out that Mizuki is the “guy� at the record store she sees every day, although they do sell this at least more plausibly than Otaku x Punk ever does. Still, it is absolutely one of those conceits that feels like it would collapse in a second and it isn’t as drawn out as it could have been.

Poor Mizuki just wants to keep her head down, but she can’t stop catching feels and her flirt game quietly betrays a side of her she seems to have not quite realized she has. Aya is also grappling with this notion of friendship meaning more than that when the jig is finally up.

The story flows organically and it’s also a lot of fun rather than a full anxiety fest. These are two people coming together because of one thing, but both are hiding aspects of themselves. Aya is just more capable when it comes to fitting in, but both of them lose their chill around one another frequently.

Even the predictable stuff is reasonable because of how it’s presented. I absolutely love the way that Aya finds out about Mizuki, which would be really sweet if it didn’t totally blindside her. And when Aya’s friends start to treat her kind of rough, it’s believable because it’s been signposted for an age.

This is just a crackerjack love story for any gender - Mizuki’s apology late in the volume is a stunner - it just happens to be between two girls. It doesn’t shy away from its yuri side, but it would be strong either way.

Wonderfully expressive, with solid gags and great characters. It uses the music side really well to show what brings these two together and their individual personalities to slowly bring them closer still. To say they’re easy to root for is an understatement.

5 stars - I would be reading the next volume literally this second if it was available. It is simply fantastic from start to finish and doesn’t do a thing wrong in my eyes. Loved it.