Yuri Manga Reviews

My Broken Mariko by Waka Hirako

Content Warnings:

• Suicide (Not Shown)
• Self Harm (Shown)
• Depression, Grief
• Physical Abuse (Shown)
• Sexual Assault (Not shown)
• Smoking, Alcohol (Shown)

Pros:

• Beautiful art
• Sensitive topics are handled well
• Good writing
• Emotional, impactful

Cons:

• None

My Broken Mariko is a beautiful, gorgeous, and impactful story. It's painful, and it hurts, but it's a bittersweet story. It delves into sensitive topics like abuse, grief, and the complex emotions someone has when dealing with the loss of a loved one, especially to suicide, which is the case in this story.

A lot of manga try to touch on this topic, but I haven't seen any get it quite as right as My Broken Mariko does. It feels so real. So raw and powerful and tragic.

Its art style is stunning, and the way the artist portrays emotions of characters so viscerally is just... Amazing. I read it when it first came out in 2019, and I havent forgotten it since. Every time I think of a good yuri manga, I think of this one.

As for the yuri/lesbian part, it's very obvious that the two main characters had something more than friendship. They were undisputably in love, and the manga makes that very obvious. So don't worry about queerbaiting in this one.

I want to urge anyone who is able to just read it. It's an absolutely beautiful story, and I plan on getting a physical copy of it when I can. I'm really glad it got a physical translation here in the states so that I can support the author somehow. Just please take note of the content warnings. This manga is really heavy.

There's also apparently a movie adaptation that released last year, but I haven't watched it, so I can't give a proper review of it here. From what I've seen, it seems very faithful to the manga, at least.

Score: 10/10

The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't A Guy At All

Tags: Cute, Suitable for all audiences, baby butch/high femme protag, the femme one is bi (probably...?)

Content Warnings:

• N/A

Pros:

• Awesome Art
• Adorable Protags
• They're highschoolers, but nothing even remotely gross happens to them
  • (a breath of fresh air for yuri lovers around the world)
• Constantly updating
• baby butch protag has a hot uncle
• The mangaka released an official spotify playlist "made by" the main characters, which includes Mitski, Black Sabbath, Paramore, and Weezer. Which is awesome.

Cons:

• The name is way too long to keep typing into google
• No official US translation (yet)

"Aya Oosawa, a gyaru high school student, frequents a small record store and develops a crush on the clerk, who has dark hair and wears a hoodie and a face mask. There's one problem— as the title implies, the clerk is actually her nerdy female classmate Mitsuki Koga. How will Aya react when she learns her crush is not actually a boy?" -TV Tropes Page

If you're looking for a cute, feel good yuri manga to read, this is an ABSOLUTE MUST!!

If you're sick of yuri featuring highschoolers, I completely understand. Most of the time, they're written by men who completely fetishize us, and you're stuck with reading the same tired yuri tropes that end up leaving you feeling gross.

With TGSWIIWAGAA, you absolutely don't have to worry about that. It's a cute story about two girls getting into shenanigans and catching feelings while also talking about Slipknot. The relationship between the protagonists feels natural, and their mutual love for music is a great plotpoint that comes up many times. If you're a fan of rock/punk music, you'll absolutely love it.

The story is juicy, funny, and an all around joy to read, and I can't reccommend it enough. It's obvious the author put a lot of love and thought into these characters and their story. An absolute diamond in the rough.

Unfortunately it doesn't have an official US release yet, so I currently only own a japanese copy. It's a great find though, especially because it has the signature black and green coloring style throughout the whole thing.

Score:

10/10