Bloom into You

Up to date… Goddammit, this is good. Probably my fave yuri series so far. At least, my favorite out of the three or four I've read. >.>

 

Although, can you call it yuri when the romantic feeling is one-sided?

Hmm im terrible at explaining, but let me ask:

Why would a story about the unrequited love of a girl for another, not be yuri?

That it is not reciprocated make it another genre? Is yuri solely focused on reciprocated love?
We don't know what's gonna happen later on in the series, but whether or not Nanami's love is reciprocated, that the plot is focused on their relationship, notably one's love for the other and how the latter is trying to figure out her own feelings, make it very much so yuri

Up to date… Goddammit, this is good. Probably my fave yuri series so far. At least, my favorite out of the three or four I've read. >.>

Although, can you call it yuri when the romantic feeling is one-sided?

Read the first 5 chapters, and I LOVE this.

At first I feared that Touko was gonna be like Mei from Citrus (she kinda looks like her), but she's quie the opposite, thankfully. Actually, the two girls' dynamic is the opposite of what you would expect at first − you'd think the tall dark-haired Senpai would be the "dominant" one but it's not that simple. She's on the offensive, sure, but not unhealthily so, and by showing a touching kindness and fragility. And I like the fact that Yuu isn't forcefully denying her own feelings, but that… she simply doesn't have any, at this point, however she would like to. Yet she doesn't reject Touko's feelings either. It creates an asymetric, yet very endearing relationship. The "indirect kiss" scene in chapter 4 is really perfect in that regard.

So far, everything is done right, it is really pleasant to read. The romance is neither unhealthy, nor overdramatized or angsty, yet it's not boring to follow, far from it.

(and since it seems Nakatani Nio and Canno have become kinda chummy recently, I'm starting to imagine a YagaKimi/AnoKiss crossover… could be interesting, as both have a similar minimalistic style on some aspects)

I think I've said this once before, but I can't believe how much I'm able to relate to Koito (despite being a guy). I don't think I have ever felt this way while reading any other manga. Her thoughts, her reactions, the way she acts in front of senpai... It may or may not be believable to most people but it's super realistic to me. Almost makes me feel like I've learnt something about myself while reading this. I wonder if the author himself/herself was in such a situation. I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing this story, and Koito as a person, develop.

 

As a side note, I too found the comments here quite informative, though I do believe that starting a forum topic for it might not have been that bad an idea.

Notice me sjoe-senpai..

omgggg so cuteee

sister ships em

wait, i've already seen this chapter :X

edit: oh the new chapter is at the start apaprently

So, is Yuu just aromantic, to put it simply? I feel as though she pushes herself to try and love but she just can't bring herself to do it. It seems like the reason she feels lonely is because she wants to know what love feels like and is somewhat frustrated that she can't.

Possible though it might just go the route that she will fall in love over time. But aromantic would be interesting because it would be far harder to tell where the story is going whereas "love over time" would be quite predictable. When does the MC realize? How does Kouto handle it? Also, I rarely see aromantic characters in fiction at least among normal humans. The last I remember is in the webcomic supernormal step.

But, of course, I like it when characters actually get together* which is why I sometimes read romance manga. So I'm fine with both.

*assuming I don't hate the guts of the love interest, where I hope they won't get together while knowing they will which has severly reduced my enjoyment of quite a few urban fantasy books with romantic subplots

So, is Yuu just aromantic, to put it simply? I feel as though she pushes herself to try and love but she just can't bring herself to do it. It seems like the reason she feels lonely is because she wants to know what love feels like and is somewhat frustrated that she can't.

Yes! Money for Rireba yuri!
 
"The first volume will be released on January 3, 2017 "

So, is Yuu just aromantic, to put it simply? I feel as though she pushes herself to try and love but she just can't bring herself to do it. It seems like the reason she feels lonely is because she wants to know what love feels like and is somewhat frustrated that she can't.

I can get on board with nearly everything Koito does here except for the accepting kisses bit. Her complete lack of any emotion towards an outwardly romantic act despite being in the intense social morass that is high school adolescence makes her seem a little more sociopathic than the story probably intends.

I am 100% okay with Koito being straight up schizoid, though. She isn't, but it would be fun.

Well damn... this turned out to be a lot more complex and deep than I initially thought it'd be. 

The author did a really good job slowly fleshing out the characters and the reveal, what a pleasant surprise this chapter was.

It feels like finally we've passed through setup and reached the true conflict.

I have to agree with this, although I do have to say that I'm pretty impressed with how this turned out. You see, I set myself up here for a nice enjoyable Yuri Ride, but this actually related the motivations of the characters involved so well, that I'm now genuinely interested in how this turns out.

Yes! Money for Rireba yuri!

 

"The first volume will be released on January 3, 2017 "

 

... WHAT?

:C

It feels like finally we've passed through setup and reached the true conflict.

Seven Seas strikes!

 

http://www.gomanga.com/articles/extraextra/seven-seas-celebrates-valentines-day-with-license-of-yuri-series-bloom-into-you/870

Yes! Money for Rireba yuri!

"The first volume will be released on January 3, 2017 "

... WHAT?

Seven Seas strikes!

http://www.gomanga.com/articles/extraextra/seven-seas-celebrates-valentines-day-with-license-of-yuri-series-bloom-into-you/870

Why is this shounen instead of shoujo? Character, development, and tone all seems closer to the latter than the former. 

 

Case in point. In shounen romance the protagonists tends to be more active in pursuing their romantic interests. Shoujo usually have more passive protagonists who initially resist advances from their counterparts. 

 

If this marked as shounen because of the shoujo ai and targeted demographic, it's understandable though the tropes still feel mismatched. 

It's probably marked shounen because of the magazine's demographic.

That's how you classify series. Sometimes people argue about whether a series is shounen or seinen, like with JoJo. But it's always decided by the magazine/author's intentions.

I think I've said this once before, but I can't believe how much I'm able to relate to Koito (despite being a guy). I don't think I have ever felt this way while reading any other manga. Her thoughts, her reactions, the way she acts in front of senpai... It may or may not be believable to most people but it's super realistic to me. Almost makes me feel like I've learnt something about myself while reading this. I wonder if the author himself/herself was in such a situation. I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing this story, and Koito as a person, develop.

As a side note, I too found the comments here quite informative, though I do believe that starting a forum topic for it might not have been that bad an idea.

Whenever I go to the page for manga tagged with either Shoujo Ai or Yuri, most of the times there will be comments ranting about philosophy, belief, religion, morals, etc. Why can't we all simply enjoy the manga while it lasts? XD

I, for one, find this comments both interesting and informative. It's a nice side dish from reading the comments, so to say.

Also, I like this manga quite a bit. It makes me want to pick up Citrus again.

Spoiler

Why is this shounen instead of shoujo? Character, development, and tone all seems closer to the latter than the former. 

 

Case in point. In shounen romance the protagonists tends to be more active in pursuing their romantic interests. Shoujo usually have more passive protagonists who initially resist advances from their counterparts. 

 

If this marked as shounen because of the shoujo ai and targeted demographic, it's understandable though the tropes still feel mismatched.

Well, when I looked it wasn't listed as shounen, though that's probably just because people are playing with the tags again.....it should be tagged as shounen because it's serialized in Comic Dengeki Daioh, a patently shounen demographic publication.

Whatever category/genre tags are added don't have anything to do with the demographic it's listed as. And yeah, this one's a shounen, it just happens to have some less-common themes for a male demographic story.

this story tugs on my heartstrings more than a Nicholas Sparks novel

Why is this shounen instead of shoujo? Character, development, and tone all seems closer to the latter than the former. 

Case in point. In shounen romance the protagonists tends to be more active in pursuing their romantic interests. Shoujo usually have more passive protagonists who initially resist advances from their counterparts. 

If this marked as shounen because of the shoujo ai and targeted demographic, it's understandable though the tropes still feel mismatched.