Yuri-Review: Küsse und weiße Lilien für meine Liebste (engl. title: Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl) by Canno
Time for another Manga Review (not like I got much else to post yet…)! This Time: Küsse und weiße Lilien für meine Liebste (engl. title: Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl) by Canno. I got this one in a Doublepack together with the second Volume, but will focus only on the first here.
It is set in the Yuri Classic of the Girls' Boarding School, though a pretty modern one. Here Model Pupil Ayaka finds her Ambitions to be Top of her Year thwarted by her Classmate Yurine, who effortlessly excels in any given Discipline. Ayaka won't stand for that and delves into a rather one-sided Rivalry with Yurine, who doesn't even realise that and instead takes a liking to her. At the End of their first Semester Ayaka, again having come second after her "Rival", finally snaps and tells Yurine that she is going to best her and prove that she's just a normal Human like everyone else and not some unsurpassable Genius, despite clearly being more capable than others. Yurine is completely smitten by that Declaration of War, be it for the Acknowledgment of her Talents or that of her being a regular Human, kisses her and demands Akaya to do her best to defeat her before walking away. From then on Akaya becomes even more obsessed with Yurine, not realising yet that it goes beyond academical Fervour, even still claiming she hates her.
Meanwhile Yurine seems to see it more as a friendly Game (of Courtship?). Besides our main Couple the Story also focusses a lot on Ayaka's Cousin the Track Athlete and designated Girlprince Mizuki and Moe, who's also the Track & Field-Club's Manager. They have their own, though way less intense, Rivalry with Yurine, who of course is also the fastest Runner.
I really enjoyed reading this first Volume! The Artstyle is very playful at Times and Canno has a Hand for very amusing facial Expressions. The Plot, while nothing unheard of, is enjoyable and it is Fun following the Cast of Characters navigating it. Speaking of which, I found the Characters and their Dynamics entertaining to observe. I initially had my Reservations regarding Yurine, because "better than everyone in everything" can be quite boring if not actively obnoxious as a Character Concept. Despite not even being exactly humble about it, she's still pretty likeable, because she's very genuine and unless provoked not boastful about it. Next to Ayaka/Yurine, who still have quite a bit to go to actually become a Couple, it is very nice to also have Mizuki and Moe, who, going by how they treat each other and talk to another, are clearly a deeply devoted Couple, despite it never being made 100% explicit - I look forward to see how concrete that will get too!
The main Characters all have some Kind of Baggage that shapes their Personality and Behaviour and I can imagine it to be quite interesting when that gets picked up later.
Another Thing I liked in this Manga was that after each
Chapter there was a Single-Page-Section, that told what some Background Characters were being up to in the Meantime, fills the Story's World with a little more Life.
All in all I'd say that, despite not being too spectacular, it still is a nice Read and I'm glad that I have the second Volume already at hand, because I do want to see if it will develop the Potential it has. I'm also intrigued about the Tempo at which the Story will progress, because this first Volume did Span about a Year starting at the Middle of their first Highschool Semester and the Series is completed at 10 Volumes, so the next ones either will have to focus on notably shorter Timeframes or grow beyond its initial Premise, which would be nice as well.