I bought a yuri manga!? That's right! I did! Look, now that I basically stopped buying anime DVDs, I needed to expand my manga purchases, if only a little. After reading some user reviews on Amazon.co.jp, I decide on this one.
Art is cute and pretty, and characters are likeable. Actually, it's more of not dislikeable than likeable for many of them. First, I'm not sure how realistic they are. After reading so much of "Joshikousei Girls - High," I came to distrust the more normal behaviors expected of high school girls. Then again, they're not attending a girls only school, so maybe the comparison isn't fair.
Even getting past the realism hurdle, there are other factors that border annoying, at least to me. I hate extremely unnatural things, like makeup, nail polishes, and refined sweets. There's far too much of such things in the manga. In fact, I felt like Akiko is a bad influence on Mariko. However, chapter 3 kept things from becoming too annoying. Overall, it's borderline okay to me. I'm sure people like me are rarity, so don't let what I say keep you from reading this.
On an unrelated note, I came to realize that becoming familiar with another culture, or even one's own culture, is a never-ending quest for information. On page 88, "AN'MIRA" is mentioned. If I read this before the Hawaii trip last month, I would not have had any idea what that was. It's "Anna Miller's" restaurant!
So, in the end, what do I think of this? Hmm, I think I'll pick up the second volume and see where it goes.
