Girl Friends

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*=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.

Check in:

It's been Over 10 years since I wrote this review, I have remained a fan of the romance and yuri genres. I felt it needed saying that even with all the new content in the space GirlFriends remains completely undefeated in my mind. In 10 years I have not seen/read any yuri I felt was as good. If you are new to the genre and you are concerned that this one is old and may not compare to its contemporaries I’d like to offer confidence that it is still well worth it. It isn’t like modern yuri so I wouldn’t expect that, as well I’m becoming an old fan so this may just be my bias. Still it's my review and I don’t think there is anything better you can read in the genre.

Girl Friends is a frustrating manga. On one hand, the main two characters and some of the side characters are very well written and their stories are really engaging to read. On the other hand, the pacing is so terrible that it's hard to recommend anyone actually sit through it to get to the parts that are actually really good.

Before I get ahead of myself talking about the bad, let's talk about what works, which is a lot! Mari and Akko are very compelling protagonists, who have almost equal time as the POV characters throughout the story. The slow development of their platonic and ... then romantic relationship is, usually, very entertaining. In addition, the art, while nothing spectacular, was solid from start to finish and conveyed a lot of personality.

Another very good thing is that Girl Friends is written by a woman. If you are a non-heterosexual woman, you know the struggle of sifting through all of the stories about lesbians that are written by straight men. Thankfully, that is not a concern here. If your only care with lesbian/wlw manga is whether or not it's written by a woman, you're good to go here and you'll probably enjoy it!

Now, let's address the problems. The two biggest and near unforgivable issues with Girl Friends are the pacing and how melodramatic the story is. With regards to the pacing, the mangaka spoke at the end of the final volume about how she had no plan for the story and how she wished she had planned the entire thing from the beginning. That is painfully and unequivocally clear to anyone that read this manga. Time either moves ungodly slow or at a breakneck speed, but the development of the characters and their relationships is either a snail's pace or never moves at all. There are too many plot threads to count that were introduced and then just never finished; the worst example of this underdeveloped characterization is Sugi, who has no change from the beginning to the end, despite ample opportunity and hints to the contrary.

Finally, there's the melodrama. I understand that these characters are teenagers, but holy shit was this melodramatic. Every single conflict following Mari's first confession, which is most of the manga, could have been avoided with even basic communication. All of the problems within this manga only exist because no one fucking talks to anyone about their issues and so they beat around the bush for twenty chapters. It's absolutely mind numbing how bad these characters are at communicating and how all they do is wallow. This gets even more glaring with the mangaka's admission that she had no idea what to do with the story and made no long term plans.

All in all, the protagonists are fun and likable characters with a relationship that's hard not to root for, but the story is heavily bogged down by nonexistent planning and Shakespearean tragedy levels of miscommunication. If you can get past the abysmal pacing and the maddening melodrama, then you'll love this. If not, look elsewhere.

If you are told that this one of the better yuri mangas, then you'll probably expect too much. For me yuri is basically a more challenging romance, the thing is that this manga's focus isn't the romantic relationship, but the daily lives of our couple. In essence this is a Slice of Life manga about high school teenage girls doing their best to be cute through appearances. If you like conversations about cute make up, cute shopping, cute dresses, cute hairdos, cute faces, cute school events and basically cute girls doing cute (commercialized) things, this is the manga for you. This is so because the ... romance gets scarce development between the daily activities, which overshadow it. Near the end of every volume, you're reminded that this is supposed to be a romance between two people who are not used to it, yet are as close as they can be in terms of friendship. As he tags mention, it's better to approach this manga as a Slice of Life with romantic elements thrown in, rather than a Romance that takes its time.

The art is serviceable, but seemingly busy due to how often 3+ characters are in a scene. It's more often too busy for its own good and has a lot of background conversations laid in a small panel, it's excessive, noisy and doesn't contribute much in terms of presenting a scenery, atmosphere or a feel for the setting our characters are in, at least aesthetic wise. The ending impression is that their lives are filled with a lot noise, that is, if you're also counting their own monologing about the state of their relationship, which would usually take effort for someone to space out as such. But in the end it does its job at presenting cute characters in a pleasant manner and keeps it safe.

As a Slice of Life, there isn't much story to go around. Again, it's 4 girls being materialistic in conventional ways, talking about make up, clothes, boys, hooking up, how cute the other looks, etc. The school setting at least provides non-club activities like the festivals, field trips, vacations, so the setting often feels varied and there is a certain feel of a timeline in that regard.
Now it's the romantic plotline that gets the short end of the stick, it's the usual avoidance, unrequited emotional responses, jealousy, mixed signals and so forth. But again they are only truly explored in the end of a volume and just laid to the background after a new volume begins. They are present and mentioned during all the fluff, but mostly in monologues, kept there right before the climactic kiss for the volume ending. And when Akko and Mari(our main couple) really try to dedicate themselves to their relationship, it feels wholly different from what you've been reading up to that point, it's basic, it's cute, it works, but is done for a few pages, not for an entire chapter. That is, if you don't count them going shopping and eating as dramatic relationship development. I see it as SoL fluff, challenge and perseverance are what give strength to character and are testaments for your dedication to a relationship, you either give up or give in to your emotions. Such drama is also left scarce, instead it's replaced by embarrassment half the time, which is understandable, but having only that feels like a cop out, even worse, just a tease. A tease for the reader, not for the characters. It wasn't until the next to last chapter gave us a full on sex scene, but even then it felt out of place and too different from what I've been reading up to it. But at least I'll give the last volume the best feeling for how a lasting relationship with progress feels, where our couple feels inseparable even through graduation and the goal is to stay together. That's what I've been asking for the entire time, but it's too little, too late for something basic to make up for lost time.

The characters are very two dimensional. Even our main couple don't feel like they have truly developed. This is also due to the author switching perspectives, but not altering the writing style in accordance the the supposed personalities of the characters. Mari-chan is the introverted bookworm who is lifted up an taken in by Akko-chan - the extremely friendly, cute girl who likes make up and dress up, on top of having the top of the line materialistic image of herself, well, mostly. Sugi-san is the embodiment of that stereotype, on top of having 5 boyfriends and managing them. And finally there's Tamami who is essentially your cute otaku to make references with.
For a supposed introvert, Mari easily became part of the group and changed her appearance without much thought and resistance. I wouldn't say that's how it is in my experience, but let's say Akko has very convincing charming techniques... which she doesn't, from her perspective, she seems just as introspective as Mari in her volumes. So in the end both feel homogenized cute girls, with Mari being the quieter of the two in conversation, until we switch to Akko's shoes and have the same deal...
The way Akko dragged Mari into her materialistic world and Mari quickly embracing it doesn't feel natural. Mostly because there's absolutely no counterbalance, it's a Slice of Life about materialistic girls, not taking an introvert out of their shell. And Mari herself didn't offer anything of her own unique character and volition to Akko's life, aside from her obsessive, sudden love for her. Sure, that's something, but I mean something from herself before she was a part of the story, like literature. It can't be too hard to share a few metaphors, interesting outlooks on life and the materialistic culture. Doesn't have to be commentary, but offer her own twists and character to a situation, instead of just being present and integrated in it without any questions asked.

If I wasn't told that this was a yuri manga, I wouldn't mind my time with it. But with the scarce drama, which equates to a tease really, the sidelined relationship for fluff, and just spinning its wheels for its own sake. I simply regret my time with this manga. It's trite, even boring at times, noisy in presentation at moments, and doesn't offer anything enriching either the mind or the soul in terms of experiencing romantic trials. It doesn't even teach proper make up techniques or shopping tactics, just faffing about.