Futari wa Daitai Konna Kanji
The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Takashi Ikeda is responsible for Sasameki Koto, perhaps the most bog-standard 2000s girl’s love series out there. His newest manga, on the other hand, is a cut above.

"The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This" is a yuri 4-koma about scriptwriter Elly and her voice actress girlfriend Wako, and their domestic life together. There’s a significant age gap between them that leaves Wako as something of a cute pet in the relationship, and while this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I found it quite charming. To hammer this in further, the two of them are drawn in noticeably different artstyles, with Elly receiving more ... detailed linework and Wako being far more moe.

As far as slices of life go, this is top-tier, highlighting all the cute, sweet, and strange moments of living together with your lover. It’s not pornographic, but it’s also not afraid to talk about sex. Wako and Elly are sweet, understandable characters, and their interactions with each other feel genuine and true to life. Given how emotionally immature yuri characters tend to be, even in adult-focused series, this is a breath of fresh air.

While at first it seems like the supporting cast are going to detract from the central relationship (as notably happened in Sasameki Koto), Wako and Elly’s friends are good fun to be around. It’s neat to see small circles of lesbian friends depicted in something like this so realistically. Of all things, there's an incidental trans subplot late in the manga. I was terrified Ikeda would drop the ball on this, but it's handled kindly and left open-ended without much incident when the manga concludes.

That's my one knock against this series, it ended serialization after 104 chapters but could have just as easily went on for 100 more. While I wish it had, I'm more than happy with what we got.