Welcome to Manga-Lesbian-and-School-and-Motorbikes-and-Roommates-and-Fake-dating-after-graduation-Hijinks City!
'ROADQUEEN: Eternal Roadtrip to Love' is a comedy, through and through. It's not a fantasy or sci-fi sorta-manga; there isn't even anything in it to categorise it as "action". It's more slice-of-life. But the comedy rides and drives up the wall and around back again. If you've seen any comedy anime, especially if it's OTT, then you have an idea of what 'ROADQUEEN' is all about.It's of the slice-of-life comedy genre. Where the main character casually sends a horde of fellow bike riding schoolgirls hurtling off a cliff, where they explode on impact, and everything is hunky-dory. It's the only moment in the "manga" that could be construed as an action/physical fighting scene.
The plot, simply put: Leo is a self-proclaimed lone wolf biker lesbian who attends Princess Andromeda Academy, an all girls school where nearly every student is queer. The "cool" and "distant" Leo is quite full of herself in her reputation of turning down every girl who likes her, or just wants to help her. She may change her tune if any of them can beat her in a bike race to school, which they can't. As far as Leo's concerned, her one true love is her motorbike, Bethany.
Until the new girl Vega shows up, and tricks Leo into opening herself up to her, and into giving away Bethany to her. Vega rides off, her mission complete, and the other girls are more smitten with the now vulnerable Leo than ever. She still closes herself off, humiliated and insecure.
Then after graduation, Leo is alone in her apartment, telling herself how happy she is despite losing her beloved bike (and her "friends", Boots and Cassiopeia). Until Vega, on Bethany, suddenly crashes through her window, and has the gall to be angry at Leo for not being a "decent lesbian" and actually dating anyone (the sneaky princess type is a stalker, too).
Vega proposes a deal: she and Leo will fake date each other, and live together, for a week. If Leo "passes" on being a "decent lesbian" and not a cocky lone wolf or a "gay fuckboy", then she will get Bethany back.
Riding Bethany on an indefinitely long roadtrip of her dreams, that's all Leo cares about.
At first.
And so a journey towards a most unlikely romance begins.
It is very wild and silly. The whole point is to laugh, towards this manga-esque, yuri-esque biker chick romantic comedy. With sexual overtones and sexcapades. But surprisingly, there are touching and human moments. Nothing is revealed about the family backgrounds of either Leo or Vega - we'll see details of Vega's past the most, but even her flashback is rather vague - but through hints in dialogue, and facial expressions, you get an idea of why they are the way they are. It's cute, and for a "yuri manga" with sex talk and swearing, it can be wholesome at times.
A big negative criticism I can give 'ROADQUEEN' is: A detail about Vega and her motivations in the first (and only colour) chapter may have been lost or forgotten about along the way. I'm talking about her wristwatch, which projects a holographic screen displaying nondescript profile pictures, which Vega swipes through. Annoyed at a pic of an equally nondescript schoolgirl, she says, "Two private school girls in a row...", and then she rides off, declaring, "Well...Let's do this, Bethany.". Uh, what? What is she talking about? The scene implies she's been screwing with private school girls, as well as other girls, and Leo was just her latest victim. But when Vega's backstory is revealed later on, this is never brought up. Her motivation has always been about Leo; everything connects to Leo, and no other girl. She's been with other girls on a quest to find a girlfriend, but nothing is mentioned about private school girls. Princess Andromeda Academy is apparently the only private school she's ever been to.
The cherry on top: Vega's high tech sci-fi watch is never seen again after that ending chapter scene. In fact, that is the only time we ever see her wearing a watch.
I just...WHAT?!
Another thing: Boots and Cassiopeia, who are a lesbian couple too, are the worst friends ever to Leo. She deserves better. Though thankfully the manga seems to agree with me, and they don't appear much anyway.
Wait a minute...for something that has the word "road" in its title twice - and specifically has the word "roadtrip" in it - there is actually nothing of the kind in the story. Unless it's purely metaphorical? In a literal sense, it's an end goal at best; a vague, ambiguous destination to close the story. There's nothing about roads, roadtrips or even bikes in the bonus chapter, either.
So that's 'ROADQUEEN: Eternal Roadtrip to Love'. Fun and funny and sweet stuff, and kind of nostalgic for old school anime and manga fans (if old school applies to the mid-to-late 2000s as well - wow, you feel old, yet?). It's not a high school drama - that part is over and done with very quickly at the beginning. The plot features a forest, clothes shopping, arcade games, an amusement park, a ring tossing game, a Ferris wheel, and an anime mascot.
Nothing explicit is shown; only the coarse language, plus slight nudity and stripping. Quite refreshing for a "yuri manga" to show restraint like that, where the relationship development is the focus. In some ways it's subversive.
It is sweet, luscious and candy-coated. Dark, tall and "masculine" Leo + shorter and "feminine" Vega = complicated yet fluffy and adorable.
A ride to love indeed.
Final Score: 3.5/5
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