Girl Friends: The Complete Collection 1

*=After completion Anyone who can appreciate a good romance story will enjoy Girl Friends, even if they do not specifically love shoujo-ai/yuri. *This is the pinnacle of the genre, in yuri romance for slice of life manga. This is the masterpiece of its era and is likely not going to be dethroned from most highly rated and best critically received yuri for a long time. Most of my thoughts are unchanged. I am mostly just following up with the review to assure people that this is well worth it all the way to the end. Story: When it comes to school & slice of life manga, it often feels as if there is not much of a story, just a setting that you let characters loose in. What I can say is that unlike many shoujo-ai, Girl Friends takes a much more "true to life" approach, on the girl/ girl romance. The approach is fresh, interesting and helps the audience relate. The only complaint here is the amount of small talk involved can sometimes be too much. *Story is solid, my only nitpick is petty... I wished that there was more. It's usually the hallmark of a good story. (Unless there is a case of a rushed ending or unresolved plot lines) Might be a little spoiler-ish under, skip to art if you want nothing to do with it: In this case I would love to see Morinaga pick these characters back up some time for a sequel exploring their college life and coming out story. Art: The art is as good as what you would expect out of a, decent manga series. Morinaga Milk's art style and character designs are top notch. *I have to say that the art really remained very consistent all the way through to the end, and a few panels where the quality was buffed up for a dramatic moment. Over all I have to again compliment the artist very pretty character design, nice backdrops and everything inbetween. Characters: The main character Mari, is one of the most emotionally complicated (different from other means of making a complex character) and troubled character I have ever seen. Emotional complexity comes from trying to understand why you feel the way you do, it's feeling having a contradiction between the way you feel and the way you rationally think would be the best way to feel, it's questioning your own motivations and intentions in the interactions you have with others. To some it might seem melodramatic but, that is the essence of creating great internal struggle, which is relatable in multitude of different ways. The other characters are more, for the everyday interactions, kind of like a lucky star sort of thing but they are fun, unique, and amusing. At some point during the manga the main character changes to Akiko, the person of Mari's feelings. Akiko stood out quite a bit as an eccentric, but when the main focus becomes centered on her perspective she starts to come to life, as a well fleshed out character. Her time in the spotlight is just beginning but there is much hope for good things in the future. *I was right about Akko, she was awesome, as she was a much more confident character. That had to "catch up" to Mari in terms of figuring out her feelings for the sake of continuity, but once she did, Akko was much more sure of herself compared to Mari. She would made decisions on how she felt and stuck to them, as well didn't mind putting herself out to get to the truth. The character dynamic, by the end is the most satisfying romantic interaction that I have read. Enjoyment: Emotional drama and self-torment in a realistic setting is a very gripping read. This isn't something everyone enjoys but for the target audience, this series will be pure bliss. The small talk sections may be boring for some however, but it is forgivable. This manga will hook you in and have you honestly caring about its characters, which is a good measure to its enjoyment. Overall : If you are the type to enjoy the things mentioned above, you will love this, especially if you also have a love for shoujo-ai Fan for life. I will read everything Morinaga, Milk makes for a long time just to hope that she can do something like this again.

A little bit of background, so you can decide whether or not you care about my opinion on Girl Friends: I write this review from the perspective of an 18-year-old male who enjoys romance stories and, in particular, loves yuri/shoujo-ai for how pure and beautiful it is, rather than whatever pornographic value may be found in the material. Of course, the point of romance is to make the reader feel "all the feels," and for me yuri does this better than anything else. Now, to Girl Friends. Girl friends is a 35-chapter yuri manga divided into two very well-priced omnibuses on Amazon. I first read Girl Friends on a whim when I realized yuri was a legitimate genre several months ago, and I was absolutely blown away. I'll admit, I even cried a couple times the first time I read this series, the romance between Mari-chan and Akko is just so sweet and the little conflicts that arise build up to the climax of the series really well. I did a little poking around the internet to see if this series actually was as good as I thought it was, and I wasn't surprised to find that a lot of people consider this series to be the pinnacle of the yuri genre right now. Lastly, the art is also really good, it's very shoujo in style and very crisp and consistent. In particular, the hair in this series almost always looks amazing, big props to Morinaga there too. IN CONCLUSION: Girl Friends is a fantastic series. At this price, any yuri fan should pick up both volumes. When I saw it on Amazon at this price, I had to buy it. No way I could pass up owning such a good series. Even after multiple rereadings, this series still gives me all the great warm and fuzzies that I felt the first time I read it. Highly recommended!! NOTE: Readers should keep in mind that there is mild nudity in this series. It is not at all gratuitous, and it's definitely safe to read this series in public, but I just thought that since there is no warning or anything on this series that people should know.

I was first introduced to this manga series by reading the fan translation and was immediately hooked. The story is very sweet and I thought it was paced just right. Some people who are going into it looking for yuri right away will be turned off. The story takes its time to build upon the relationship between the two main characters, Akko and Mari. I really enjoyed how Morinaga gave us insight into the characters thoughts as they start out as just classmates to becoming best friends. Their character interactions have a very honest and genuine feeling which helps you care about them. If you can get past some of the more girly aspects in the story (which I had no issue with), I would highly recommend giving this story a try. The characters are well rounded and have a very good chemistry between them. The art is nice and fits the setting perfectly and most importantly, getting to see the developing friendship between Akko and Mari is truly wonderful. Definitely my favorite yuri manga series.

This story is so realistic! The characters are well developed and the way the romance blossoms between these two girls is beautiful. The story is well-paced and the art is gorgeous. I love Strawberry Panic, but Girl Friends is much more real and the best yuri manga I've read so far. Highly recommended for any fan of yuri, romance, and friendship!

Love this series! I read it in the past and just had to buy and reread it. The story really grabs you and takes you on a journey to two girls self discoveries. Definitely reccomend to anybody interested in Yuri or Shoujo Ai.

Ok, I'll be blunt. It took me on a roller coaster of emotions to giddy and giggling like a little girl to emotional rage and i wanted to drag someone to the gates before Hades, BUT in a good way. I love it when a book can slap me around and give me a rush to continue reading. Mari (black hair) and Akko (red hair) are wonderful characters and they portray some of the oldest yuri cliches. for example *KINDA spoilers* like most people i HATE the unnecessary male character that comes into the show for a bit, thankfully he's not there for long and he gets what he deserves -.- In all it's a good read, I read it online but I want to own it for myself and put it next to all my other yuri manga's. Checkout the 'Strawberry Panic' Novel collection. has all 3 novels (NO PICTURES) and is a good take on the characters, plot and is 10x more conclusive and oh so satisfying.

Stars 4.5 Series: Complete Format: Print I bought and read this two part omnibus in 2006. After rereading Strawberry Panic (ugh), I was worried that it wouldn’t hold up to a reread. I should have trusted Milk Morinaga. Wonderfully cute story well worth buying. It is a long one with this volume alone at 496 pages of yuri goodness. It gets pretty steamy in volume 2, so be wary of that when reading this. You mostly get Mari’s POV with scenes of just Akko occasionally, but later in volume 1 you do get Akko’s POV. I do enjoy that even though Mari and Akko change classrooms and are no longer in the same class as Tama and Sugi, those two side characters don’t disappear. The artwork is beautiful and the characters expressions are clear. Again, Seven Seas translation is smooth and they keep the honorifics and original manga format (which is good if only to keep the artwork flow smooth.) Consent is SO MUCH better in this series compared to Strawberry Panic. There is one instance where one character kisses another in their sleep, but that character instantly feels bad and guilty about it and later confesses and apologizes for it. The characters in Strawberry Panic seemed to delight in doing that and people pushing it further than that. The reasons this didn’t get a full five stars from me is that one of the side characters routinely takes off her shirt and it feels a little bit like fan service. Also a teacher that gets married but doesn’t seem to like her husband? That kinda bothered me. There is a side character that constantly bemoans that she wants and can’t get a boyfriend but I remember girls like that in high school (even see/hear it as an adult) and it isn’t obnoxious. It looks like this series, in omnibus form at least, is still in print and easy to get. It is also available as an ebook if that is how you would prefer it. (Which is legit and understandable, the books are about 2 inches thick.) I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS SERIES!!!

It was mightily enjoyable to watch the friendship between outgoing Akko and shy Mari seed and take root. There wasn’t an over abundance of romance but it was clear where romantic feelings could bloom on both girls’ sides. Their relationship feels wholly different from the other female friendships on display. I’m glad I went back to this series all these years later and rediscovered why Girl Friends has always had a fond place in my memory and heart.

This will be a review covering volumes 1 and 2. Saves making two reviews! I'm still relatively new to the Yuri genre and so haven't seen nearly as many great, lengthy story based Yuri as I'd like. However Girl Friends was my first, and I'm so glad it was. The relationship development between the two main characters was paced absolutely perfectly - it had me begging for things to develop further (in a good, invested sense) while not being so slow that things come to a standstill. The pacing is actually what makes me worry that I will not find another Yuri as good as this one. How can you find better than perfection? The characters are extremely likable (even the minor ones!) Akko and Mari may even be two of my favourite characters in Manga because I just... really liked them! None of the facial expressions or panels came as a disappointment artistically. The main reason I may seem so excited about this series is because for me personally it struck all the right chords. So much so that during a majority of this story I had cold hands and severe second-hand butterflies. Makes me yearn to go back to times where I had the chance to develop relationships like this. Sometimes the story does have to divert to (actually pretty cliché) girl talk such as make up, perfumes, dieting etc. But it probably needs this to give it variety and break the chain of romance elements (and to be realistic really!) However there is more than enough to the romance elements to make it very worth it. I would not deduct anything because of it. I have read the story from start to finish twice so far and now that I have it in book format, I will absolutely be reading it from start to finish a lot more for the foreseeable future. It will be a difficult task for any future story to beat this one for me!

Good

This is the first omnibus volume of manga I've ever purchased. It's quite thick and took a few sittings to go through it all. I believe it has two to three volumes of content in it as the omnibus release covers all five volumes in two publications. I want to say this series isn't just yuri. It's also a coming of age series that happens to deal with friendship growing beyond friendship and the rollercoaster of emotions and uncertainty that comes with adolescence. Despite the premise, Girl Friends maintains a consistently light-hearted mood except for certain climaxes where emotions and confusion peak. It doesn't happen suddenly and it doesn't feel shoe-horned in. The story's pacing and gradual build-up to these events is impeccable. There are only two very minor things that I, personally, think are the only flaws of this otherwise perfect series: 1. One of the main characters, as seen on the cover, becomes very androgynous after a make-over. I can appreciate androgyny and I'm not saying that I prefer feminine women for yuri pairings. It was just an unexpected change from my perspective, despite the cover spoiling it from the very start. However, her short hair is growing on me. 2. The blatant branding/product placement. I've read plenty of manga and watched way more anime. In most cases, manga/anime will not have brokered a deal with brands and/or want to avoid potential legal issues by following the "Bland-Name Product" trope. Girl Friends does the exact opposite. Several brands, ranging from fast food to beauty products, are mentioned repeatedly and sometimes even endorsed. I consume a lot of North American media so I'm familiar with both extreme product placement and extreme bland-name product placement. I have no preference for one or the other, but it's just another case of expectations. For anime/manga, I expect to see bland-names in place of actual products/brands being name-dropped or placed. Seeing the opposite is unexpected and pulls me out from the immersion. That said... "Yeah, well, that's just, like, [my] opinion, man." tl;dr It's a very enjoyable coming of age yuri if you don't over-analyze it. Spoiler-ish warning... The omnibus chooses one heck of a cliffhanger to end on. I feel obligated to order the second omnibus just to confirm my suspicion that it's just a big mis-understanding. If your weakness is cliffhangers, just order both books.

Spedizione velocissima. Prezzo ottimo. Assolutamente imperdibile. Ho acquistato sia il primo sia il secondo volume. Visto che qui in italia proprio non si decidono a pubblicare questo genere di manga, per i fan, vivamente consigliato!

Ich hatte diesen Manga bereits vor ein paar Jahren Online gelesen und bin froh diesen nun endlich selbst zu besitzen. Die Story ist süß und gut durchdacht und man hat im Gegensatz zu manch anderen Manga des Yuri Genre nicht das Gefühl, dass alles viel zu schnell passiert. Man erlebt hier wie sich die beiden Charaktere langsam kennenlernen und nach und nach erst merken, dass sie für sich gegenseitig Gefühle aufbauen. Der Zeichenstil ist ebenfalls sehr schön, wenn nicht sogar einer meiner liebsten! Wer also einen wirklich guten Manga des Yuri Genre lesen möchte, dem kann ich "Girl Friends" nur empfehlen!