Yuri-Review: Forever Girls (engl. title: I'll Send Her Home On The Last Train) by Gido Amagakure
I've recently gotten into reading Yuri Manga and after getting up to date with my first Series, I got a Selection of Manga that I hadn't heard of before to find new interesting ones to read. That inspired me to review these one after another for my tumblr-Blog and because I hadn't really have anything to post to its Sister-Blog here yet, I decided to publish them here too, some even in reworked, longer Versions. So here is the first one of those Reviews.
Unlike the other Manga I‘ve read so far this one is an Anthology of five very short Stories (or more depending on how you count). The Plot Summaries here are a bit more detailed than for other Manga I reviewed, due to the individual Stories' short Length. The first Story (two Chapters) is about two Highschool Girls, the Outcast Tsune and Asaki, who‘s on the Path to winning the School's Beauty Pageant, who randomly meet on the Train to School. Asaki falls for Tsune on the Afternoon of the same Day and over Time they get closer to each other. Both having a positive Effect on the other's Image among the School's Pupils, which results in Asaki winning the Contest and Tsune getting more Friends. When Asaki graduates they have to confront the Question what they are to each other and be open about their Feelings. I really liked Tsune (the right one on the Cover) as a Character, because „tall, shy Girl with an old fashioned/unusal Name, who wears a Mask a lot“ felt very relatable haha. The Story was very sweet and I‘d actually really like to see more of these chaotic Lesbians navigating their „new“ Relationship.
The second Story (two Chapters, but separated by other Stories) is about Highschooler Suzuki, who spontaneously accompanies Class Loner Sato to the Home of an adult lesbian Couple, she is Friends with, to use their in-Home Planetarium. Suzuki soon becomes infatuated with her quiet Classmate the more she gets to look beneath the Surface. Eventually she kind of admits her Feelings, but seems to not have properly processed what they mean yet herself, as she‘s quite surprised by Sato‘s Assumption that this was a romantic Confession. The second very short Part of their Story is about them being told how the Couple they now regularly visit together met. In this one I admittedly liked the Dynamic between the two adult Women more than the rather awkward one between the two Girls, despite them being just Sidecharacters, but the Story itself was nice too. The „let‘s be best Friends :)“-Resolution of the first Part is a bit disappointing though, because while Yuri doesn‘t always have to be explicit, a Story so short can‘t pull off that Kind of unambiguous Ambiguity as well and none of us read those Stories for Girls to just be close Friends lol. But beyond that their Story ist still touching and a nice Read.
Story number three (one Chapter) is about Classmates Choko, Hana and Mitsumi, who are in a Love Triangle, with Choko being in Love with Mitsumi, Mitsumi with Hana and Hana with Choko. There is honestly not that much Plot in this Story as it solely revolves around that Dynamic and the Characters being angsty about it and about neglecting their Friend for their Crush, so there is not that much to be said about it. It sticks out positively though that instead of this ending in Heartbreak or openended Stagnation, they more or less end up in a Throuple (or as it is phrased „all three of [them] being good Friends“….). This was in my Opinion one of the weakest Stories of the Volume, but then again I‘m just not a big Fan of Love Triangles (is anyone??) and with nothing else happening there just isn‘t much else to focus on and the Character of Choco was a bit annoying at Times, as she mostly has the Demeanour of a Shonen Protagonist. Ironically the Resolution of their Problem was also Choko‘s unexpectedly mature Idea and I liked it as an Ending. Probably would have liked it more if it had been Part of a bigger Story, so there'd be more emotional Investment in the Characters.
The fourth Story (one Chapter) is the one that gives the german Edition it‘s Name, „Forever Girls“. This one is also the only one that is described on the Back of the Book. It is about the Ghost of Mizuki, who died young, returning to the old House where her Family lived, discovering it has new Residents now. She befriends their very young Daughter Misao, who is the only one that can see and touch her. From then on she accompanies her through her Childhood and Youth, becoming like an older Sister for her. Misao eventually develops a Crush on her, but keeps herself from confessing it, due to their insurmountable Difference, meanwhile Mizuki struggles with the Fact that she remains as she is, while Misao inevitably gets older and older, thus she distances herself more and more, until she only occasionally observes her from afar. Eventually they do get together again and Misao finally admits that she wants to spend her Life with Mizuki, which she keeps to, as a Timejump reveals. This was probably my Favourite together with the first one, but I‘m rather biased as I love ghostly Romances, so it's no Wonder its Summary on the Back made me buy this Anthology. It also felt like the most well rounded Story to me and it was really cute to see their Dynamic evolve over Time.
The fifth and last Story (one Chapter) that is not a Sequel of a previous one deals with Natsu, who doesn‘t get along well with her older Sister Aki and dislikes the Friends she brings Home - until she brings along new Classmate Kuga one Day. Natsu instantly falls hard for her and even becomes a bit protective, when she overhears Kuga being badmouthed by her Sister‘s other friends. When Natsu tries to befriend Kuga during another Visit her Sister reacts very irate to that, even yells at her, but secretly regrets that quickly and it is revealed that the two Sisters don’t have quite as bad of a Relationship as it initially seemed and also that she and Kuga are actually dating. I liked this Story too, the Dynamic between the Characters was nice to observe and while just as long as the two preceding stories it felt quite short in a positive Way. I‘d even say besides Forever Girls this one does the best Job of the Anthology at telling a short Slice of Life Story, that doesn‘t feel too short either.
Overall I did like this Book, the Artstyle is very nice and expressive and I liked the more angular Look here. Narratively some Stories suffer a bit from the limited Space and Time this Format grants them, others have me wanting to read more, but I did enjoy it quite a Bit nonetheless. In general they were sometimes a bit superficial (in Exploration of Themes as well as Characters), but there is only so much Depth you can achieve within 20-30 Pages per Story, so I don't judge it too hard for that. I do think I like the Anthology concept more in regular Prose than in Manga, but I wouldn‘t refrain from reading another either. :)