Saburouta

I've read several volumes of this series (up through Vol. 4), and it's okay. It was good enough to keep me interested, but not good enough for a rave review.

The storyline escalates quickly in the first volume. The main character moves and starts at a new school because her mom remarried. She finds that she's nearly expelled on the first day because the school has ultra-strict rules that she unknowingly brakes (mainly pertaining to dress code), and she meets the class president who also happens to be her step-sister/love interest. The two main characters go through an agonizing song and dance of love (and sometimes hate) throughout the series. Interspersed in the story are family problems, conflicting emotions, and romantic competition. I can see how it would appeal to a lot of people, but this one wasn't for me.

I had a lot of issues with the points of conflict in this series:

1) Many of the big issues could have been solved just by communicating better. This is a common source of conflict in many Japanese manga, but the degree in this series seems a bit more over-the-top than others.

2) The fact that the main character's mom remarried is no big thing, what bothered me is that Yuzu never met her new family until well after the marriage. How does that happen? Is that actually a thing in Japan? Maybe with arranged marriages, but it is clear in the series that it was a marriage based on love.

3) The story makes the bisexual/lesbian attraction seem so taboo, which is not unusual for Japanese culture. However, nearly all the primary characters are bisexual/lesbian. This makes it seem like same-sex attraction is actually quite normal (not taboo), so Yuzu and Mei appear to be making a mountain out of a molehill over their "forbidden" love. In order for their "taboo" love to actually be a conflict, I think there needs to be more conflict relating to same-sex relationships so it feels like Yuzu is fighting off more than just romantic competition.

4) School Rules. It baffles me that Yuzu would start a new school without receiving a student handbook. She could have received it and not read it, but the manga makes it seem like she never received that handbook. On top of that, she continues to break the rules after having nearly been expelled twice. I get that she's strong-willed, so some rules will continue to be broken. However, she makes no changes other than turning off her cell phone during school, and there are no consequences. The conflict caused by her breaking the rules, and then the complete lack of conflict despite her continuing to break the rules, completely baffles and infuriates me.

The thing that saves this series, and what keeps me reading, is how well the author portrays Yuzu's emotions. Her inner monolog trying to understand her own feelings towards Mei, her feelings as she experiences love for the first time, and her struggle to balance romantic love with sisterly love, are all done very well.… (mehr)