Girl Friends

Quite a nice read. Not at all bad for an introduction into the world of Yuri.

Tis amusing to go back and look at ye-olde comments, get to see how much one changed throughout the years.
I haven't changed for shit. I'm still an argumentative bastard, soz Purple-guy d: Tis not but a feral handshake, and the grump is apparent on the avatar.

Also, my feelings about this manga are around the same, minus the criticism what is "proper" or "productive", with the essence of Thorn Delwyn's comment: better just enjoy them kitties cuddle.
P.S: 2015 woo. woo.

I'm so full of skweee I can't even hold it.

Akko and Mari are the only reason i keep reading until the end. I don't really care about their classmates and i always skip the part where it's mostly about girl-talk (which is a lot).

 

Blushing Akko always make my heart goes HNNNNNGGGGGGG

Solipsist: Don't generalize next time? Maybe you should rather parse what you read. I didn't say anything about you being an otaku. I used an example. I see no reason you should be an arbiter of what examples I choose. You presume too much.
Your post is mean-spirited. It shows to me less the quest for meaning and depth you seek to convey, and more a quest for opportunities to denigrate, put down, disapprove, to stoke one's own ego with superiority. Everyone must do things my way or they're shallow and meaningless.
People with genuine depth don't need to posture about how deep they are compared to the rest of the world. You strike me as smart, but young, in love with some new concepts and feeling that they explain the world. The world is not so simple that an approach of relentless paring-down-to-essence will leave nothing valuable out.

 

When reading your comment I just remembered when I was 15 or 16 years of age I read Nietzsche, Heidegger, Satre and so on...I thought I understood the world and asked myself why everyone else was so damn stupid not to recognize it as well. 

 

Luckily I grew old enough to learn that it wasn't all to know about the world. Now I think I am mature enough to enjoy Mangas like Girl-Friends without a worry. The characters are just so cute. Just like watching little cats playing around and being clumsy.

I re-read this every now and then.  Whenever I get to chapter 14, I find the tears rolling down my cheeks all over again.  Hardly any other manga ever does that to me.

I'm upset that I avoided reading yuri and shoujo ai until recently. This is probably the best romance manga I've read so far in terms of pacing and character development. 

Haha this is the first one i ever read and then i started thinking i find same gender romance more interesting...

I'm upset that I avoided reading yuri and shoujo ai until recently. This is probably the best romance manga I've read so far in terms of pacing and character development. 

Ok this looks good... BUT I am concerned with the ending.. I like Romance manga. How does this stack up with others? Is the ending Open or Conclusive? Is it a Happy warm feeling ending, or does it leave a bitter taste in your mouth after? PM me or reply with a spoilers. (no need to ruin it for others just for me)

I can't believe Dynasty Reader removed it from their excellent reader. Good thing I still have Batoto and the downloaded volumes to fall back on for the nth reread.

Dynasty always remove anything that has been licenced.

I can't believe Dynasty Reader removed it from their excellent reader. Good thing I still have Batoto and the downloaded volumes to fall back on for the nth reread.

This manga has opened my eyes and led me to discover the wonderful world of yuri. Viva yuri!

d'awww so sweet <3 character development was awesome. art is great too, and the 2 heroine just look so good together <3

masterpiece indeed.

Masterpiece. No less.

Solipsist: Don't generalize next time? Maybe you should rather parse what you read. I didn't say anything about you being an otaku. I used an example. I see no reason you should be an arbiter of what examples I choose. You presume too much.
Your post is mean-spirited. It shows to me less the quest for meaning and depth you seek to convey, and more a quest for opportunities to denigrate, put down, disapprove, to stoke one's own ego with superiority. Everyone must do things my way or they're shallow and meaningless.
People with genuine depth don't need to posture about how deep they are compared to the rest of the world. You strike me as smart, but young, in love with some new concepts and feeling that they explain the world. The world is not so simple that an approach of relentless paring-down-to-essence will leave nothing valuable out.

Solipsist, why do you disagree with what you think?

A few things, purple;
First of all, you made me giggle from the thought I would comprehend the mindset of an Otaku. I read this sort of stuff, but it doesn't make me an Otaku. Don't generalize next time. <:

Secondly, I find any sort of activity which premise is extrinsic - is eventually Materialistic. I said that I am aware of the fact that such habits exist, but I personally condemn it. Basing a relationship on extrinsic values turns the basis of the relationship into a shallow one which could be easily replaced : When you sugar-coat something, eventually you cannot have one without the sugar. Just like strawberries and sugar, just like hanging out with people and movies; coffee shops, bars, shopping, school, work..It's one of the reason people don't keep in touch after their agenda changes. Like school, work, army and so forth; the premise is broken, it's no longer convenient and the basis of the relationship is deconstructed.

Although, I can totally understand using these shallow methods in order to get to know people better, you start with shallow and slowly dive into the deep water. Hoping for it to change. But if the only thing these people have as entertainment is shopping and looks, you know it's just a mask used to keep people away. Some people break apart that stage, but it's rarely so; Akko and Mari managed to break it and went intrinsic. But the rest of their friends are just extrinsic, replaceable "friends".
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Solipsist, I think what you're missing is that the banal preoccupation with makeup, clothes and whatnot is not actually a primarily materialist project. It's not even really about "being attractive". It's a set of social rituals that creates a shared space and defines a fellowship among these girls. They cement their social ties and build their friendships by exchanging little tidbits of knowledge, lending makeup and clothes and so on.
Lots of different kinds of social group do similar things, just with different subjects--so anime otaku would exchange trivia about anime, lend each other videos, let each other know when significant shows were going to debut and whatnot; same process, different focus.
So while it's not my schtick personally, I came to realize that this too is part of the realism of the manga, showing the girls' normal lives and the way they interact, not just in dramatic moments, but in the normal day-to-day chit-chat they use to create their social world and define their relationships. And this extends right into the plot--to a large extent, it's what Akko uses to transform Mari's social universe.

Man I love this series its like a roller coaster of emotions. :')

I should really stop writing scrolls when I'm sleepy, that is one incoherent rabble which makes me quite lugubrious about it. Beh.

I enjoyed the character's psyche and awareness (self and enviromental) development, how Mari slowely grasped the fact that she is attracted to the same gendre, without even defining it, even the what seemed to me small like the fear of change, rejection, redicule.. ; it has it's innocent approach that quite suprised me, it was not as straight-forward as I thought it would be. The characters were actual young, oblivious teenage girls. And this story depicts splendindly how they grew to learn themselves and each other.
(Notice that in the manga, they never define anyone's sexuality. 'gay' or 'homosexual' never comes in contact, they just say things like 'isn't it weird for me to want to kiss my friend?!": In that sense, it had alot of aspects to discover because none of the characters were genre-savvy. But I'm just repeating myself here)

Becides the lovely psyche of the characters, this manga has alot of bad points aswell. Like the depiction of teenage girls as rabid, materialistic creatures whom past-time is shopping and attempting to be pretty. I won't say this sort of trend does not exist, it surely does. But to present it as a positive life-style does not seem productive.

Also, I found most of the interaction among minor characters (basically anyone whom is not Mari or Akko) to be pointless jargon. Admit it, you guys. The only thing that's really interesting in this manga is how the character's develop their definition of themselves and how they cope with it. Their psyche. Not what they think of lip gloss and makeup. I had alot to skip in this manga to reach the "Saucy conclusion".

That being said, I still like this manga very much. It's hard not to, especially as this is the first yuri I have ever read. ~_~ The only thing I was aware before are retarded ecchi pieces like "To Love Ru" which made me carve a hole in my forehead from face palming.

Final notes: Kodus to the author for the splendid, semi-realistic contents of this work. But too bad there are alot of jargon regarding banal matters.

Best Yuri ever hands down.

Easily the best yuri i've read up til now

This one is so amazing. I probably read this one once every few months just because of the emotions it moves you through. I can't reccomend this one enough.

Well, you never know. Before Girl Friends she did a number of things, but the longest was a set of stories about Nana and Hitomi, and her most recent was a continuation of that.
So if she comes back to one set of characters, why not another?