2023 EDIT: Part of my (latest) 2023 clear-up, of books I no longer like, or am no longer interested in, or remember well as standing out, or find as special anymore, or I otherwise will not miss.
Final Score: 3/5
Original Review:
The first real yuri manga I've ever read. As promised, it is as tasteful, honest, charming, cute, lovely, funny, endearing, and heartbreaking as it is often advertised.
It is almost scary how well 'Girl Friends: The Complete Collection 1' depicts high school life for girls. Japan or not, all girls' school or not, this is how girls are like anywhere. Because the series is about female friendships as much as it is about female romantic and sexual awakenings.
All the female love is here! The girls go shopping together, they get their hair cut together, they eat out together, they study together, they take group photos, they give each other advise on fashion and nail polish and dieting, they always compliment each other, call each other cute - really, they just love hanging out and talking.
Girls being girls, girls supporting girls, and embracing the positive sides of being feminine, as a tight-knit group, is a strength. A confidence booster. Relationships between females is a key to happiness and self-discovery.
Of course there will be complications, misunderstandings and hardships as well, like in any human interaction, but that's life, depending on the individual person, and not necessarily to do with how girls are in general (for there is no general rule when it comes to half the human race).
The mangaka just knows girls, and what they are like. In this world, it's an enchanting achievement, when it shouldn't have to be at all.
'Girl Friends' in particular is about high school student Mariko Kumakura, a shy, quiet, mousy, bookish girl at the top of her class, but who has no social life to speak of. Until the popular, pretty, loud and outgoing Akiko "Akko" Ohashi unexpectedly befriends her, wanting to take her out everywhere. Slowly but surely their relationship grows into a pure fun and supportive friendship, and as Mariko starts coming out of her shell, she finds she may be coming out in another way, when it comes to her new fashionista, donut-loving best friend.
Mariko blushes a lot around Akko, and discovers she might love her in that way. She even sneaks in a kiss on the lips while Akko is passed out drunk one night. But girls do those sorts of things all the time, right? They hug and kiss and strip in front of their friends and call them cute like kitties. It's what they do. No big deal, it doesn't mean anything. Not anything more sexual, anyway. But Mariko's feelings go deeper than just "harmless fun", and affection between friends. She's happy being Akko's best friend; just staying by her side as often as possible is enough for her. But is it?
Changing classes and friends, and the societal pressure to have a boyfriend also get in the way. So convinced that Akko will never love her back, that Akko is definitely straight and experienced and above Mariko socially, our poor, confused girl might make a grave mistake. One that will inadvertently hurt the equally poor and confused Akko...
Other schoolgirls - like the beautiful, wise heartbreaker Satoko Sugiyama, the cute little, manga-loving otaku Tamami Sekine (she's most notably into yuri manga), the tomboyish tennis player Urara Taguchi, and the temperamental but mushy-in-love beauty Chiharu Kuno - are also super memorable and distinct. There is a reason why these girls are friends, and why they love and care for one another.
There aren't even any male characters who aren't props, aside from Mariko's dad (another relatable trait is that she has a nice, normal family), until well over halfway through the collection volume, when the theme of peer pressure - like that between guys to have sex with girls - is most potent.
The romance between Mariko and Akko is slow-building, natural, and realistic. Any type of reader can become invested in it from the get-go. I find that too much yuri and yaoi manga and anime focus only on the kissing and sex between couples, with no proper and believable buildup. This is likely due to the outdated, conservative assumption that gay people don't have relationships, they just have sex. BTW, this narrow-minded thinking, and obsession with and sole focus on the sexual aspect when it comes to LBGTQ relationships is why they are still controversial when represented in the media, specifically media aimed at children. As if heterosexual people don't also have sex.
But in 'Girl Friends', Mariko's feelings for Akko is a slow-burning awakening; very infrequently does the art show female nudity - in Tamami's yuri manga, in issue covers, in Mariko's dream. Really, it's in surprisingly good taste and restraint; for it follows shy Mariko's coming-of-age story. She's naive, but honest when it comes to self-reflection and her newfound feelings. Once she realises she has a crush on her best friend, it's how she deals with such deep, supposedly unrequited feelings that is her obstacle. After all, she'd just experienced friendship for the first time - this is another matter entirely.
Mariko is growing up, and everyone, especially young people, makes big, stupid mistakes. Who didn't in high school? It is why sex education and teaching LBGTQA tolerance in schools is so essential. It is why communication is key in any relationship.
However, as seemingly woke and understanding of young people's lives as 'Girl Friends: The Complete Collection 1' is - Mariko does call her kissing the unconscious Akko "assault", and is racked with guilt over it - there is a really uncomfortable moment in Akko's past.
=Spoiler=
Content warning: Sexual assault and attempted sexual assault.
A past, revealed when Akko sees Chiharu's new boyfriend, and in a flashback, where they were both drunk in a hotel together and she woke up to discover that the boyfriend didn't, in fact, assault her, because he was too wasted to get an erection. She's... disappointed at this? Disappointed that she's still a virgin, and she had kept up the pretense that she wasn't since then. It's treated as more of an embarrassing incident than a potentially criminal one. Is it because they were both drunk that it wasn't considered rapey? But it's like it was embarrassing for the guy because he's not a real man if he can't "get it up" at any time in the presence of a pretty girl. An unconscious pretty girl in bed at that. What the shit is this? I hope the mangaka didn't expect the readers to laugh at this, even uncomfortably. Not to mention that it perpetuates the notion that sex and rape have to involve a penis in order to be legitimate. But then Akko, in the present, threatens the boyfriend to never take advantage of Chiharu in the same way. So the narrative does recognise what sexual assault and rape are, but not when it comes to Akko? The exuberant, reputably promiscuous Akko? Sheesh, double standards much? Remember that she is still in high school as well. It doesn't completely lean towards slut shaming and victim blaming, but it's close.
=Spoiler end=
And you were doing so well, 'Girl Friends'. This is why I can't rank you equally among another LBGTQ high school comic, 'Heartstopper'.
There is also the BS heteronormality. "Girls can't date other girls!" is a line of dialogue here. So much for gender not being an issue in this LBGTQ story. Then again, it is a realistic reaction for kids in Japan. Despite the popularity of the yaoi and yuri genres, which are mostly made to appeal to hetero audiences in sexploitation and fetishism, Japan is not so tolerant when it comes to real life same-sex relationships. And this manga originated from 2006, so... bleh.
In spite of these issues, 'Girl Friends' is worth the read. That cliffhanger - damn! Yet nothing about it feels forced or contrived, or overly saturated in teen angst. It all flows naturally and in its own time, like a river. The artwork is beautiful shoujo goodness. And so much texting! And blushing!
It's a relatable, emotional, sweet, funny, giddy, tearjerking, engaging slice-of-life manga that celebrates female love. And mirrors the female teen high school experience accurately and tenderly.
Final Score: 4/5
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