hontou ni sou omou?

Was prompted to buy Vol.2 of Yuri Hime (from Amazon.co.jp via the Yuricon shop) after reading Erica’s review on Okazu, particularly because of Morinaga Milk’s story “Kusuriyubi ni Kisushitara” (roughly translated as "When the ring finger is kissed"). The first of four gorgeous glossy colour pages of tastefully drawn Hitomi x Nana symmetrical docking starts off the story.

Hitomi and Nana were the first couple in the first story ("Even If We’re Not Friends", Yuri Shimai Vol.1 scanlation by Lililicious) of Morinaga Milk’s high school universe but it wasn’t followed up on in the later volumes of Yuri Shimai (which was then rebranded as Yuri Hime). They did have a small cameo in “A Kiss, Love and a Prince” (Yuri Shimai Vol.2) when Nana invites Hitomi to see a school play together.

I was well chuffed that their story got further development mainly because I thought their story was the strongest. The title “Even if we’re not friends” was quite fascinating because it’s almost conventional to think of a lover as one’s best friend but this story implies that friends only become lovers through transformative rather incremental change. A failed transformation often can ruin a friendship - thus the old cliché about the difficulty of confessing romantic feelings to a friend as, after the declaration, the friendship can never be quite the same again.

Hitomi’s initial attempt at such a transformation, by attempting to kiss Nana, goes awry when Nana’s fear of change overwhelms her own desire to reciprocate. Misreading that as a definitive rejection, Hitomi engineers a scenario whereby she and Nana will go to different high schools (presumably so that Nana can start life afresh without Hitomi’s rather domineering presence), all the while keeping up a sembelance of normality. It’s only that after they part that Nana slowly realizes how much she missed Hitomi and after a chance encounter in the rain, Nana pours out her feelings and they finally kiss - “even if that’s not what friends do, it’s ok.”

Definite parallels in this follow up story. Hitomi again wants to push the boundaries, to go beyond kissing. And Nana clearly wants to as well, as illustrated by the initial colour pages which depict a dream of hers (the first story also started with one of Nana’s dreams) but being the more reserved of the pair, it was always going to take some time for her to come round to the idea. With the added pressure of having to retake a test, she rather curtly gives Hitomi the cold shoulder which the latter stoically endures until the tests are over. When Nana finally calls Hitomi, it turns out that her girlfriend was in the bushes outside her window. LOL After pushing Hitomi away, Nana seizes the chance when Hitomi reappears by giving her a clear sign that she’s ready to deepen their relationship. Again a similar dynamic to the early story but not as dramatic, more of a consolidation.

I like how Hitomi is so open and straightforward about her desire for Nana though sometimes I wonder what she sees in her. But I suppose the answer is that, having very different characters, they do make a good pair and Hitomi’s action with Nana’s reaction creates most of the humour in the story e.g. Hitomi’s OTT hugs and Nana’s embarrassment, leaves in her hair after the stakeout and Nana’s shock etc. Need more Hitomi in basketball gear!

Compared to my other favourite story in Yuri Hime, Hayashiya Shiduru’s "Strawberry Shake Sweet", Hitomi and Nana’s relationship certainly gets a lot more development than Julia and Ran’s as most of the humour of Strawberry Shake revolves around Ran being completely oblivious to Julia’s feelings for her and Julia’s clumsy attempts either to hide or express them as events and personalities of the showbiz world tempt or frustrate Julia. Looking forward to Yuri Hime Vol.3 (2006-01-18).