Manga 110292 Tsurezurebiyori

A series that did more than the typical sequence of yuri tropes (it has some, but not as many as the drawn out yuri you have likely read). The effort put into the scenery made me pause for minutes on end in order to take in the captivating level of detail, those moments were 10/10.

Light yuri, definitely not heavy, more-so slice of life. The most disappointing factor would be the effort in the art fading away during heavy dialogue. The last chapter (released as a twitter extra) had work poured into it, rare for the dialogue focused scenes throughout the series, left me wishing ... that was the usual level of quality.

The ending is extremely unsatisfying for yuri. If a series can leave you feeling as if it isn't long enough, that can be a great problem for a series to have, but this is legitimately not long enough. Would have given this a 9.5 if I could, but it's fine for it to be docked a point for the lack of an ending. All in all it's one of the only series I was drawn here to gush about immediately after reading. I am look forward to re-reading this in due time.

All you need to know: It's slice of life. It is NOT shoujo ai. The romance is present as a part of this slice of life story, but it is no more important than the story of Minori dealing with the death of her mother, and Mafuyu learning to deal with her social anxiety that disabled her as a child. You could make an argument that this is really an Iyashikei manga.

Considering the brevity or short time commitment, it is well worth reading. And since it is a fast read, you can pause every few pages to admire the impressive artwork.

Obviously the publisher did ... not want to buy more than 3 volumes. Probably, given the slice of life genre, there just wasn't enough of an audience for a longer manga. The rushed ending may not have been the original plan. It felt as though the author had a plan for developing at least two subplots along with the main romance. Having said that, the rushed ending was the only negative for this manga. Otherwise, it was pretty close to perfect as a wholesome, slice of life, yuri romance. We just needed more of these wonderful characters and this beautiful art!

8.5/10

Tsurezurebiyori is pure joy.


Even if it might seem at times, not all Slice Of Life is all the same. Sure, more or less, the protagonists pretty much always are a group of school girls, and the story is about their more or less mundane every day life, but this "reality" usually is heightened, concentrated, an unrealistic realism.

While Tsurezurebiyori fits the standard formula of four first-year high-school girls exactly, the story is much more than the usual static daily hijinks at the core of many other manga of the genre, and much more grounded in it's telling of everyday life, with characters that are a lot ... more interesting that the usual genki girls.

But really, the slice of life story is just the backdrop, on which the relationship between our two main protagonists, Mafuyu and Koharu, develops. I don't want to spoil anything, but I'll say, that the romance here is not the cyclic fizzling you get in so many Yuri manga or anime, but a very nice, if slow, arc.

There isn't much else to say, really.
Tsurezurebiyori is my favourite manga, and if you like Yuri, and especially if you like Yuri romance that actually has a bit of development and goes beyond the typical "blushing oh-but-we-are-just-friends", or just want to see the most adorable Yuri couple, then I recommend you read this manga.

The only bad thing I can think of, is that there are only three volumes. I happily could read 100 volumes about these wonderful characters.

Sorry for the shoddy review, I'm not really sure how to sell this manga, without spoiling anything.