Apr 18, 2022
Disclaimer: sexual assault, a bit of bullying.
I foolishly started reading Sorairo Girlfriend hoping it wasn't gonna be as bad and boring as Ibara no Namida (another yuri manga by Rikachi, with one of the side characters of SG as the main character). Sadly, it was the same pattern, only with slightly different characters and sweeter story.
The biggest problems were probably the pacing of the story and the predictibility of it. The drama doesn't fit in that well either, mostly because of the already mentioned flaws. It just feels cheap and rushed, and the bullying segments don't make any sense (one day Juli's desk is covered
...
in insults, and then they suddenly disappear and everything is back to normal, no aftermath or anything).
The characters don't really add to the story, the manga has 9 short chapters so it's obvious why they aren't really explored that much, just on surface level. I would have liked to see more of their backstories at least, especially Juli's. Her character seems to be the more undeveloped one, less mature and more annoying, and I wanted to see the reason for it (why does she hate boys, for example).
Speaking of which, the usual problems in LGBTQ+ works are present here as well: sexual assault (kissing an unwilling person, touching them) is romanticized, and the portrayal of lesbians (in this case) could be better as well (if you're romantically attracted to girls it doesn't mean you hate boys and think they are "bad taste"). And it would have been fun to see at least a male character, but oh well...
The art is blander than in other Rikachi works, but it's true to her style, you can recognize it. Nothing to write home about, though.
Overall, I didn't enjoy it, if you're searching for some yuri/shoujo-ai manga you can find better ones. But it's not one of the worst either, it's quite sweet I suppose, so whatever.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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