Girl Friends

[Rain1255]

it sucks that you can't rate 10 stars again after each re-read 😑

 

[Bouz]

Every time I read it this manga, I fall in love with it all over again! <3

 

[donchan]

this was just too good.

 

[210astat]

First time read it 10 years ago, highschool days... long time ago bought Japanese and English versions... and still have them in a good condition Totally agree with everyone, I can re-read it unlimited times and, always have a comfortable feeling, like I'm at home now

 

[neolaguna]

Spoiler

I agree with the author. The final wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad either. Some 5 years later oneshot was missing somehow, showing Mari and Akko living together to confirm they managed their relationship in the long run.

But anyway, both MCs were adorable. Has enough drama, but never over the top. Really solid. 👍

 

[Hexxy]

I have a hard time really seeing what other people are seeing in this manga. The protagonist is an atrocious person and the writing feels stunted, like the only plot thread the author could come up with for drama was "she feels conflicted so decides to abandon and isolate from her crush again for the tenth time"

Honestly I would rather call Fist of the North Star a great yuri classic over this garbage. (and this is my opinion as a pansexual woman who mostly dates women).

 

[lluNhpelA]

This was super good but not the best yuri I've ever read. There was good progress every volume but between those great chapters there were often chapters that felt same-y with repeated plot elements

 

[akasugi]

I fucking hated almost every second of this. So much so that I felt the need to actually leave a forum message. If anyone here just sit the fuck down and talked to each other, all this painful misunderstanding bullshit never would have happened. I hate that stupid fucking plot gimmick with a burning passion. So many goddamn secrets and arguments and sulking, none of which helped at all. The only reason anything happened in the end is because Akko basically had to hold Mari down and make her understand. If at any point Mari had decided to just say what she wanted, the useless drama wouldn’t have even lasted 10 pages.

 

[Ariiaa]

I like this kind of drama, not too heavy, no one gonna die, or parted away.
In the end they can life happily and making the audience think with their imagination what will happen after that last chap.
But still many plot hole like, that suga san still not finding her true love.
But yeah this is really good yuri, i can say underated one.

 

[DMBLaan99]

This was my first officially confirmed Yuri, and I need to add it to my reread short list, lol. And yes, I did by the 2 vol mega thicc manga of this, lol!

 

[omnomtom]

Coming back to reread after more than a decade, and... this held up well. It gets a lot of points from me for the realism factor. The two leads might be frustrating sometimes, but it's always in ways that are very understandable. There isn't drama due to the characters facing direct homophobic bigotry, but most of the problems they face do come indirectly from living in a homophobic society.

Spoiler: Broad plot spoilers

Mari's assumption that a relationship is impossible, and her response of always assuming Akko's responding as a friend, even when it should be obvious she reciprocates, are the understandable result of growing up in a world without lesbian representation. Especially for a model student type, seeing it as impossible is frustrating, but understandable. Akko's affected by heteronormativity too, not realizing that her own feelings are romantic until she faces her own jealousy, but I LOVE that her response to realizing it was to go for it without worrying about what other people think of them. She stands out to me as a great character even now for that.

If those plot points ring false for younger readers, I see this as an absolute win. I am so glad if you didn't have to grow up in a world where being gay was shameful and the idea that your gay crush could reciprocate was unthinkable. If this manga gets less relatable to people as time goes on for that reason, that makes me very happy.

Also I noticed rereading it that... I really liked Sugi this time. She's honest with her (numerous) boyfriends about what she's doing, practicing ethical non-monogamy long before that was something people had heard of. And she's by far the most emotionally intelligent of the cast. Her response to Akko's search for advice is really excellent, she reads the situation much faster than the leads and I love how she's playfully supportive of them. She's also the most fleshed out of the side characters - one weakness of the story is that the rest of the girls don't get to do things outside their stereotype.

 

[daniella87]

This manga felt like one of the most realistic ones of the yuris i have read. With the feelings of reciprocation being impossible. Too young people having one night stands. Also favorite is probably sugi-San awesome character juggling all her boyfriends all the time. Although of course akko was the best i think. I also think it is realistic that they would date guys really unrealistic if they never tried it.

Someone wrote how different they reacted to being in love with each other which is very understandable since mari thought it would be impossible while akko kind of figured it out when she already knew she was loved back.
But also because their different personalities i think.

 

[daniella87]

This manga felt like one of the most realistic ones of the yuris i have read. With the feelings of reciprocation being impossible. Too young people having one night stands. Also favorite is probably sugi-San awesome character juggling all her boyfriends all the time. Although of course akko was the best i think. I also think it is realistic that they would date guys really unrealistic if they never tried it.

Someone wrote how different they reacted to being in love with each other which is very understandable since mari thought it would be impossible while akko kind of figured it out when she already knew she was loved back.
But also because their different personalities i think.

Also maris boyfriend seemed really sweet. I was all like I could take him if you dont want him when i read that part.
Someone else felt the same?

 

[Lowfyie]

You can really see how the author grew when you compare this work to some recent ones of hers... This one is filled with issues that arent at all handled properly while also carrying on terrible harmful tropes as if they were normal.

It made me stop reading it when I reached like around the 25th chapter, but recently I read it again from there, and the ending wasn't actually bad.

Its not exactly a good manga though, as Ive said before, but I guess what Im saying is, a lot of mistakes that were made here, questionable as they are, can somewhat be excused because of the time this was made (like how the yuri genre was as a whole back then) and the author just starting out their career

You can have some fun for the last bits of the manga, but don't start reading it expecting to not get mad at a lot of stuff... genuinely

 

[ivyilovecats]

This was definitely something. Well, in the end, i enjoyed it, but i still dont get all the hype in the series of having your first time and drinking.. maybe im just too woke for this, but until they started getting all fluffy and emotional, it just seemed like another male gaze yuri. All the "virginity" stuff threw me off for a few chapters, i was seriously reconsidering reading this.