(L) Girl Friends (yuri manga from Milk Morinaga)

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by CygnusX

I've read his other work first and especially Nana and Hitomi's story was really nice, only a pity it was so short.

Morinaga is a woman.

Originally Posted by NeoSam

This is one of the manga that I'm currently reading from Comic High! (other than Kodomo no Jikan and Potemayo), a great seinen magazine, with lots of moe seinen manga

What makes this magazine interesting for me is exactly the opposite. That is, that the label "shoujo manga for men" is not just a meaningless slogan: some of the stories do actually have a noticeable shoujo manga taste to them. And I really like that. Girl Friends is one of such titles, although Morinaga's shoujo manga roots can be seen in almost all of her works. Of course there's a lot of moe and loli as well in this magazine, but I don't particularly care about that.

Originally Posted by risingstar3110

It's rare for a story about a normal couple deal with their relationship after have been establishing also. They often ended up boring and director/mangaka have to put a third wheel in to cause more mistakes

That's why i find the series of Hitomi and Nana was so interesting. Refresh, maybe not; but enjoyable, it definitely is

I think it is refreshing, since most romantic stories don't deal with the event after the couple get together. That's actually what makes Hitomi and Nana's story my favourite among Morinaga's works.

BTW, a few month ago Morinaga said in her blog that she plans to continue with Nana and Hitomi next year. She said she can't handle doing two works at the same time, so Girl Friends will probably end in a few month. But yay, more Nana and Hitomi ^^.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

BTW, a few month ago Morinaga said in her blog that she plans to continue with Nana and Hitomi next year. She said she can't handle doing two works at the same time, so Girl Friends will probably end in a few month. But yay, more Nana and Hitomi ^^.

Ah, so i'm guessing this'll end at volume 3/4? Seeing where the story is at now, that kinda works out fine i guess, though it all depends on what's going to happen after the events that took place in chapter 14.

[NeoSam]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

What makes this magazine interesting for me is exactly the opposite. That is, that the label "shoujo manga for men" is not just a meaningless slogan: some of the stories do actually have a noticeable shoujo manga taste to them. And I really like that. Girl Friends is one of such titles, although Morinaga's shoujo manga roots can be seen in almost all of her works. Of course there's a lot of moe and loli as well in this magazine, but I don't particularly care about that.

But to me it will always be a meaningless slogan, I can't see a magazine that's mentioned by the publisher and many other sites as aimed at men to be shoujo. shoujo manga for males is still manga for males.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by NeoSam

But to me it will always be a meaningless slogan, I can't see a magazine that's mentioned by the publisher and many other sites as aimed at men to be shoujo. shoujo manga for males is still manga for males.

So? It was pretty clear in my previous post that I was talking about the content, the style, not the target audience. I don't even care about that, because what I read is the manga, its content. Of course, if you care about the target, that's absolutely fine. But we're talking about different things, so try not to mix things up please.

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Ah, so i'm guessing this'll end at volume 3/4? Seeing where the story is at now, that kinda works out fine i guess, though it all depends on what's going to happen after the events that took place in chapter 14.

I think it'll end at volume 3, though I'm just guessing. All I want is more Nana and Hitomi lol.

[nadare]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

BTW, a few month ago Morinaga said in her blog that she plans to continue with Nana and Hitomi next year. She said she can't handle doing two works at the same time, so Girl Friends will probably end in a few month. But yay, more Nana and Hitomi ^^.

OMG more Nana and Hitomi? Yay!.

I actually prefer Nana and Hitomi than Girl Friends. And is one of the best romance manga I've ever read. As their relationship is full of sweet love. And most the end of each one shots is at least eye opening.

My favorite quotes for each one shots.

Spoiler for Even if we were not friends:

Nana "I didn't want to lose you. I was afraid of change."

That quote which i believe is the greatest barrier of a relationship between best friends.

Spoiler for If I kiss Her Ring Finger:

Nana "I just want to hold you, you're beautiful. I want to hold you tighter, and cling to you even more, I want to know you. With the whole of my being, I want to tell you... Our love is the real thing".

Spoiler for Chocolate Kiss Kiss:

Hitomi "I think the last year... we are saving up our allotment of happiness. For every time we caused each other worry or pain back then, there was a measure of happiness that got stored away in the happiness bag, and it really added up. now our investment's matured!

I think that's why... We're so happy now."

Spoiler for Wishing on the Moon:

Hitomi "When you smile at me, I don't care if what I feel for you is dirty."

Their love is so sweet <3

Edit: I forgot whose this quote from either Morinaga or Kurogane Ken "Cute girls should stick with cute girls".
People do you agree?

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by nadare

OMG more Nana and Hitomi? Yay!.

I actually prefer Nana and Hitomi than Girl Friends. And is one of the best romance manga I've ever read. As their relationship is full of sweet love. And most the end of each one shots is at least eye opening. Their love is so sweet <3

I totally agree. They're definitely Moringa's sweetest couple.

Originally Posted by nadare

Edit: I forgot whose this quote from either Morinaga or Kurogane Ken "Cute girls should stick with cute girls".
People do you agree?

That quote is from Morinaga, and of course I agree. Although I don't need my yuri to be between extremely cute girls. For example I love Sasamekikoto, but Sumi, while really cool, is not your typical cute girl at all. Julia and Ran from Strawberry Shake Sweet are not the cutesy type either, but they're one of my favourite couples too.

[Nappy Hared Azn]

When I first started reading this, I thought that Akko was the lesbian. I mean, she pushed Mari down and "mounted" her back in the early chapters when they were trying on clothes over at Akko's house. What was up with that? I'm genuinely confused because it seems as if the author decided to throw that in and then never touched on it again.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Nappy Hared Azn

I mean, she pushed Mari down and "mounted" her back in the early chapters when they were trying on clothes over at Akko's house. What was up with that?

IMO, that was just a red herring mixed with a tad of fanservice. Didn't take it seriously at all.

[nadare]

Originally Posted by Nappy Hared Azn

When I first started reading this, I thought that Akko was the lesbian. I mean, she pushed Mari down and "mounted" her back in the early chapters when they were trying on clothes over at Akko's house. What was up with that? I'm genuinely confused because it seems as if the author decided to throw that in and then never touched on it again.

There was no lesbian in the early chapters. Only beginning at chapter 10 the yuri started.

In the earlier chapters I was like "WTF? Why am I reading a manga about girls going shopping with heavy girl talks?" Those things are normal between best friends.

This was on some of girlfriend scans by makimaki



Take off the your yuri goggles prior to chapter 10 and you'll see that there was no yuri xD.

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

That quote is from Morinaga, and of course I agree. Although I don't need my yuri to be between extremely cute girls. For example I love Sasamekikoto, but Sumi, while really cool, is not your typical cute girl at all. Julia and Ran from Strawberry Shake Sweet are not the cutesy type either, but they're also one of my favourite couples.

True. But I thought she was referring to real life lol.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by nadare

True. But I thought she was referring to real life lol.

lol. That was just a comment she added to the Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo tankoubon, so I doubt she was referring to real life girls. You never know though, we're talking about Milk Morinaga after all ^^.

[NeoSam]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

So? It was pretty clear in my previous post that I was talking about the content, the style, not the target audience. I don't even care about that, because what I read is the manga, its content. Of course, if you care about the target, that's absolutely fine. But we're talking about different things, so try not to mix things up please.

I know the difference between content and target audience, and from my first post in this thread, I was talking about the target audience. You are the one mixxing things up, I was talking about target audience from the start.

[risingstar3110]

Originally Posted by nadare

OMG more Nana and Hitomi? Yay!.

I actually prefer Nana and Hitomi than Girl Friends. And is one of the best romance manga I've ever read. As their relationship is full of sweet love. And most the end of each one shots is at least eye opening.

My favorite quotes for each one shots.

Their love is so sweet <3

Edit: I forgot whose this quote from either Morinaga or Kurogane Ken "Cute girls should stick with cute girls".
People do you agree?

I like Hitomi&Nana couple more also. But as storywise both Hitomi&Nana and Girl Friends are on the same par to me.

Hitomi&Nana stories ares one shot so the problem would often be solved before the last page, and therefore you would feel a taste of sweetness by the time you stop, no matter how dramatic it be during the story. But "Girls Friend" would accumulate Mari pains and leave awesome tensions and cliffhanger to readers to slowly...eh...enjoy them

About quote, there are so many quotes that i can memorise in H&N without even trying; that i think i can translate 60-80% of Japanese version into English =D

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by NeoSam

I know the difference between content and target audience, and from my first post in this thread, I was talking about the target audience. You are the one mixxing things up, I was talking about target audience from the start.

Actually I was replying to the moe part of your post then, so you misunderstood me. Maybe I hadn't been clear enough too though.

[NeoSam]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Actually I was replying to the moe part of your post then, so you misunderstood me. Maybe I hadn't been clear enough too though.

I see, anyway lets forget about this matter >_<

Edit:
Now to get back reading from where I stopped in this manga >_< reading so much manga is hard to keep up with everything (there are 30+ manga titles I'm currently reading >_<)

[Ultenth]

Originally Posted by Nappy Hared Azn

When I first started reading this, I thought that Akko was the lesbian. I mean, she pushed Mari down and "mounted" her back in the early chapters when they were trying on clothes over at Akko's house. What was up with that? I'm genuinely confused because it seems as if the author decided to throw that in and then never touched on it again.

I honestly thought the same thing in a way as well. There were a lot of signs, such as even in the beginning how she was going to go home with her no matter which way she lived. And also later when Akko's friends commented about how she had always wanted to make friends with her since a while back. All of those kinda led me to believe that she was crushing on her or something, because usually people don't go that far out of their way to just make friends with someone. I hope at some point we find out why particularly she wanted to make friends with her so badly from the start.

[Shiroth]

I can't blame anyone for having thoughts such as Akko being the lesbian. Maybe just because it's rather rare to see someone act so nicely these days, though as chapters went on (at least to chapter 04) it kinda work itself into my head that Mari would be the one to first have these kind of feelings for another female.

& i don't think there has to be a reason why Akko wanted to be friends with her from the start. She can just be the very nice person we've seen her been in this series --- even though her backstory is still a little bit mysterious.

[risingstar3110]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

I can't blame anyone for having thoughts such as Akko being the lesbian. Maybe just because it's rather rare to see someone act so nicely these days, though as chapters went on (at least to chapter 04) it kinda work itself into my head that Mari would be the one to first have these kind of feelings for another female.

& i don't think there has to be a reason why Akko wanted to be friends with her from the start. She can just be the very nice person we've seen her been in this series --- even though her backstory is still a little bit mysterious.

I actually didn't read any of Milk Morinaga works before "Girl friends", so when i know this manga is shoujo-ai and after read the first few pages, I thought Akko was some kind of "play girl" who go around and flirt every innocent girl she can find

Dyed hair, flashy, aggressive but nice-beyond-believed.... those characteristics are belong to that specific stereotype in my dictionary

But Akko ended up to be even more innocent than Mari....

Spoiler for Kiss:

Especially how she thought "Friends kiss each other all the time" I'm so want to be her girl friend

But seriously, even without hint of romantic, i still enjoy the manga until Chapter 7 when MM dropped the bomb...

[darkchibi07]

Oh man, that moment in Chapter 7 had me staring at my computer screen for quite some time!

Spoiler for ch. 7:

...which later gets topped with the event in Chapter 14!

So what are the chances of this getting animated (of course, more volumes needs to be released first to get a substantial season run)?

[Ultenth]

Originally Posted by darkchibi07

So what are the chances of this getting animated (of course, more volumes needs to be released first to get a substantial season run)?

My guess is slim to none. You rarely if ever see stuff like this animated, maybe an OVA or something would be about it. Which is unfortunate, but that's the way it works I guess. Most of the yuri stuff that gets animated usually has some fantasy or other unusual setting, or like a catholic schoolish setting with lots of girls like Strawberry Panic or Maria-sama ga Miteru. Though the characters are cute and the story is very touching, it doesn't really have enough hooks to get someone to want to animate it.

I hope I'm wrong though.

[risingstar3110]

Originally Posted by Ultenth

My guess is slim to none. You rarely if ever see stuff like this animated, maybe an OVA or something would be about it. Which is unfortunate, but that's the way it works I guess. Most of the yuri stuff that gets animated usually has some fantasy or other unusual setting, or like a catholic schoolish setting with lots of girls like Strawberry Panic or Maria-sama ga Miteru. Though the characters are cute and the story is very touching, it doesn't really have enough hooks to get someone to want to animate it.

I hope I'm wrong though.

I agree with how it's unlikely to be animated. But for a different reason...

Because manga such as Girl Friends, if was animated probably would not by big studio and end up either have changed storyline and plots to be "more anime"(and then mess up : e.g. Hayate) or will just like manga with some movements (e.g Pokemon -_-'). Adaptation from manga to anime is not easy , unless they put money, heart and mind into the production, it's hard to be success.

Sad 1 min....

About that screen in Chapter 7, i was laughing like mad when i read it
I tend to laugh uncontrollably when i find something awesome, because I was happy that i can be there to enjoy it ^^
I also really like Mari's reaction in the next page.....