Yagate Kimi ni Naru
Bloom into You

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In general, yuri has had a rather mixed history, and a myriad of series that don’t take themselves seriously and/or suffer from poorly-written characters and narratives have made the rounds in the past few years. Thankfully, Yagate Kimi ni Naru (Bloom into You) avoids these issues, placing well-written characters into an engaging and thoughtfully crafted narrative to create a moving coming-of-age story.

Story (10/10): YagaKimi presents a believable and well-paced narrative that takes readers on an emotional journey of self-discovery as an unlikely friendship blooms into love, while exploring socially important issues such as loss, loneliness, gender roles, and the meaning of love itself. No event ... ever feels out of place or rushed, and each one feels relevant to the overall story. The last few chapters provide a satisfying conclusion.

Art (10/10): The artwork is very well-done overall. Characters are expressive and have unique designs, backgrounds have an appropriate level of detail, and everything is drawn in a very consistent manner. It's a pleasure to look at.

Characters (10/10): YagaKimi's cast, especially its two protagonists, are by far its strongest aspect. Everyone is treated with respect and interactions between them are powerfully and realistically written.

We are initially introduced to Yuu Koito as an average first-year who isn't sure of her life ambitions or what she wants in a relationship, and to Touko Nanami as the ideal student council president who falls in love with her kouhai. However, over time it becomes clear that there are many more layers to both protagonists than is initially apparent. Their desires, backgrounds, and mental states are thoroughly developed and examined over the course of the story, and this allows their interactions to transform from something rather standard into a truly special and unique relationship. These reveals are highly engaging and moving. Because its protagonists’ goals and ideals change as they learn more about what they want from themselves and each other, YagaKimi feels more like a coming-of-age series than a romance at times, and this is more than welcome.

Overall (10/10): YagaKimi is a masterpiece that all fans of romance and coming-of-age series, regardless of their opinion on yuri, should read. Its well-developed characters and narrative provide an emotionally rich experience that respectfully depicts lesbian youth in a way few prior series have managed to accomplish. An equally good anime adaptation of the first half has already been produced and I sincerely hope a second season will be made to cover the rest of the story. This is easily the best manga I have ever read, and it is not to be missed.

I'm not a yuri adept.
Indeed, it's the first time I've read a yuri.
I had watched one yuri named Sakura Trick, which I found cute but limited. After that first experience with yuri, I was hoping to find one which would be something more than just cute. And I've found it with Yagate Kimi ni Naru.


STORY : 8


The basis of the story is quite basic and might not be the main asset of Yagate Kimi ni Naru.
The main character, Yuu Koito, seems unable to fall in love. She meets a senpai, Nanami Touko, who is very popular but rejects systematically everyone who confesses to her. ... In spite of this, Nanami gets a crush on Yuu...

Unrealistic as it may appear at first, the relationship between Nanami and Yuu slowly evolves into a complex but also a more and more realistic relationship.

The story really outstands when it comes to existential questionings like what does it mean to love ; or to identity questions like what difference (or even gap) there can be between how we appear to others and what we are deep in us.
The answers to these questions are often doubtful here, but some of them are interesting. What's more, it shows the points of view of the characters, which really makes it realistic.


ART : 8


At first sight, the art can seem quite average. There's nothing really original about it.
Nevertheless, the kiss scenes are really outstanding with sometimes improbable angles.

Moreover, the cutting is excellent. By small gestures, the author manages to vehicle strong emotions. It made me read it in a state where I was in a mood for love.


CHARACTER : 8


As I said before, the premises of the story are quite basic, which makes the characters appear to be artificial at first.
However, as the story evolves, the characters are doubting their previous convictions and progressively change their way of thinking and of seeing things.

Nanami Touko is not the main character but is the center of the story. She's beginning to doubt her actions and even ends up not knowing who she is at some point of the story.


ENJOYMENT : 9


This manga is really entertaining for its cuteness and its sweetness. But that's not all. You'll also want to know what will become of Nanami Touko who is losing herself and what will become of her relationship with her kouhai Yuu Koito.


OVERALL : 9


What stands out in Yagate Kimi ni Naru is the way love appears really sweet, which contrasts with the existential questions that are pregnant here.


As a conclusion, that you are familiar with yuri or not really doesn't matter here. This manga can be read by anyone and can be enjoyable for various reasons regarding your sensibilities.

First loves are always identical and always different. The audacity of writer and illustrator Nio Nakatani's "Bloom Into You" lies not so much in the fact that it tells the story of a same-sex first love, but rather as a unique and delicate exploration of self-discovery, identity, and the complexities of love between two young girls. While there have been plenty of romances not unlike this, there's never been one told in such an ambitiously immersive manner.

Bloom Into You focuses on Yuu Koito, a first-year student who is convinced to join her school's student council. She runs into Touko Nanami's mid-love confession, turning down the ... boy because she has never experienced a feeling of romance as of yet. Yuu discovers that Nanami wants to become the student council president, and decides to help her out. But out of the blue comes an awkward sentence straight from Nanami's mouth: "I think I might be falling in love with you." Although Yuu somewhat shuts down Nanami's sudden confession, she nevertheless still joins the student council to help her out with her campaign for student council presidency. As the days go by, the two start to get closer, with Nanami being more in the romantic sense while Yuu leaning towards a deeper friendship. One thing is certain between the two: In one way or another, they both desire to stay by each other's side.

Yuu and Nanami's love is the element that makes them grow as individuals and as people. Even though it is a story revolving around Yuu, it is more about Yuu guiding Nanami in finding her true identity, then at the same time grasping for herself what the feeling of love truly is. The struggles of both Yuu and Nanami are very meticulous and complex, but are understandable and relatable. It depicts all kinds of mature feelings intricately that it translates to readers who have been unsure of their feelings or sexuality at some point in their lives. What makes it a compelling tale is that it is not driven by pure misunderstanding and unnecessary drama as it delves into the more gradual exploration of both the characters' growth and identity.

There is a certain thing I do when I want to be sure I'm judging shoujo-ai or shounen-ai fairly - I think about wheter I would rate it the same if the story was about a heterosexual couple. And by that I mean examining whether the character depth and relationship developement is interesting by itself or whether those are replaced by just being gay and the romance itself is shallow. In other words, it's removing fetishizing of yuri or yaoi from the lenses of judgement - "Is it good because they are the same sex, or is it good because they are actually interesting characters?"

Did ... Yagate Kimi ni Naru stand the test of this defluffing method? Not really, no.

Well, not like this worked for me even as a shoujo-ai an away. Most of the volumes is padded with annoying "I love you but I don't love you and you love me but you also can't love me" bullshitting. I knew how this was going to end, you knew it, we all knew it and yet you still have to drag through 7 volumes to get to the expected ending. To be fair, the last volume is actually nice. If the filler between the introduction and the finale was removed with more content added after the finale this would have been much better. But there just isn't anything really interesting happening there. Nothing really caught my attention as the story progressed. Nothing when I said to myself "now this is where it gets good". Up until the end I still struggle to understand the overwhelmingly positive reception of this manga, as it doesn't do much outside from what the average shoujo-ai manga does. Actually, the scenario of the theatre play within the story sounded significantly more interesting than the story itself. Just do that as a story instead, please?

The characters don't offer anything interesting either. One half of the duo of protagonists is the "I must be like my sister" trope which is definitely nothing new while the personality of the other half is not really more than "being in love with that girl".

The art is fine, definitely the best part of this manga but then again that isn't saying much. I really dig those colored page spreads at the start of the volumes.

Overall, you could skip most of this manga and your experience would be pretty much unchanged. Or maybe even changed for better, as more compact story might would have been preferable over this.

Never before have I been so captivated by a story.

Both the anime and the manga are amazing, but I would say that this is miles above what the anime was able to achieve. This has set the bar so high that I'm actually a little worried that I won't be able to find something like this again.

Seeing each character grow and learn to know each other and, most importantly, themselves is a great sight. It doesn't contain any sort of over the top stereotyped characters or anything like that; the characters are actually... normal. That is what you want in this type of story, to ... be able to relate to the story that is unfolding before you and understand what they're going through.

The artwork and the scenery are fantastic and really allows you to enjoy the small but wholesome moments and some dark and depressing ones too. I paused at some to fully admire it.

I didn't find a single character that I didn't like or hated, each one has their own problems and goals that it's hard to come to dislike them. Their problems aren't over the top either, they contain very normal and common problems that people run into.

My enjoyment is just off the charts, I HAD to pace myself with this and seeing it end is the definition of "bittersweet". I wish there was more. I don't have enough words for how much I love this, I honestly can't even think of a term that will accurately express my love for this.

Please give this a try, even if you may not like the Yuri genre.
This manga and the anime that was adapted is the reason why I love the Yuri genre.

Just an outstanding piece of art...

So this will be my first manga review I guess although I’ve written a few for myself already but anyway. Just a slight warning, there will be some spoilers regarding this story, the manga „his and her circumstances“(further referred to as Karekano) and the anime „Hibike euphonium“. These spoilers are surface level for the most part but if they're not they are marked as such so you can skip over them. This turned out quite a long review so if you don’t like to read a lot of text then now would be the time to go and do something else ^^


Story:

Bloom Into You is ... quite literally the lesbian version of Karekano, one of my other favorite romance mangas, albeit way less dark and without some of the 90s Shoujo campiness, which in my mind makes it the better version. I mean just look at the similarities here.
SPOILER SECTION FOR KAREKANO:
-„I have to be my ideal self“, one of The main characters hides their real self to keep their social standing and become someone else so they can be viewed as perfect
-main characters are part of the student council
-yuu has a very active personality much like Yukino
-the student council puts on a play that is written by one of the characters who wants to become a novelist
-the Play is heavily linked with the personality of one or more of the main characters which initiates their character development to go into the desired direction
-the Play is shown as a whole in multiple chapters (and both plays are really good too)
-Class trip to Kyoto for the second years (ok well that’s basically just EVERY romance or slice of life anime I guess xD)
SPOILERS FOR KAREKANO END HERE
To be honest I wanted to subtract a little point for not being that original but I refrained from doing so because this has everything I want in a romance manga. Plus to add to what you can do in a normal romance, the characters actually seek advise from other characters because they don’t know what to do with their feelings for a person of the same gender, whether it being outright stated (in the case of Miyako giving advise to Sayaka) or just implied through knowledge of the character (in the case of Yuu's sister Rei to Yuu). I’ve read and watched a couple of Shoujo Ai and Yuri manga and Anime recently, most of them not put in my list on here yet, and for some reason that is rarely a plot point. Maybe I just haven't read enough yet although I think after reaching double digits I can start to demand some things

It’s brilliant and the story always knew what it wanted to do and at no point did it in any way get disappointing. My favorite Shoujo Ai manga so far has been „ichido dake demo, koukai shitemasu“ or „even if it was just once, I regret it“ in english because it also fulfilled all the requirements I have in a great way (next one on my list is "Girl Friends" which also has quite an amount of good reviews so let's see where that ends up for me^^), but Bloom into you has definitely surpassed that by now, I would even say that this is one of the best romances I’ve watched/read period, and not just in anime and manga, though that's my main romance intake. It has some cliches used in a lot of romcoms in general but they’re always executed really well and there’s no unnecessary drama that feels out of place so 10/10


CHARACTERS:

The characters are all well defined and developed in this. None of the characters feel in any way unnecessary and everyone contributes a bit to the plot. Even the side characters randomly introduced at the end of volume 6 are a great addition to the already colorful cast. We get all kinds of characters like the novelist girl who doesn’t like cute things; the friend who plays basketball to chase after an unreachable crush; the supporting but yet accepting and distance keeping (and lesbian) student council Vice President; the hard working, seemingly perfect yet also really weak and needy student council President; the otaku nerd who likes to fawn over girls but turns out a really nice smart and supportive guy; the (most likely) asexual first year guy that enjoys watching over his friends romances because he can’t experience them on his own, and you know what they say "the ones who can't experience love for themselves are the ones who give the best relationship advise to the ones who do" (this one is actually the one I could relate to the most in some of the beginning chapters when he was the only one who knew because not long ago a very good friend of mine has come out as a lesbian and has started to date one of her coworkers and I am so far the only one in our usual circle of friends that knows about this, it's kind of exciting tbh); the drama teacher who’s in a secret relationship with a cafe owner that happens to be our characters go-to-hangout-place.

All of these characters have their own little story, their own stuggles and goals, relationships, and they are all really complex in their feelings. Their dynamics and chemistry flow naturally and their development always makes sense. At any given time you know what they’re thinking, why they’re thinking this way, how they will react and you can relate to them. They’re all put into situations that you’ve probably experienced at least once before in your life. And my god, FINALLY we get characters that actually TALK to each other, or one of the other characters to ask if they know sth, when there's a problem. So many entries in the romance genre (which by the way I am quite fond of considering it is the one I've seen the highest amount of stories out of all genres of) for some reason entertain the idea of stupid misunderstandings, characters making their own assumptions about situations, getting angry at others, ignoring them or taking their distance, and whatever else. If there's a misunderstanding or a peculiar situation that generates a little worry, then it is sure to be completely cleared up in the middle of the very next chapter, sometimes even just at the begining.

But among all these the one that stands out the most is our main protagonist Yuu Koito. In a way she reminds me of my personal favorite anime character ever, which is Kumiko from Hibike euphonium, but simply for the reason that she is the complete opposite of that. While both of these characters have a personality trait of being indecisive for themselves Kumiko takes on more of a passive observing role and only gets more active at the end of the second season after her character arc is coming to its climax, whereas Yuu is pretty much as active as you can get as a character from the very beginning. She's like Kumiko at the end of the second season all the time. She is (almost) always the one directing where the story is going, where her relationships are going. SPOILERS FOR TOKOU: Even though Toko‘s feelings of wanting to be perfect like the picture of her late sister she had in her mind and her development of growing out of that into her own person are quite complex over the story (SPOILERS END) Yuu‘s feelings are the most complex ones here. Starting from the feeling of not knowing what is love (baby don’t hurt me don’t hurt me no more) and thinking she’s never (gonna give you up, never gonna let you down[etc...]) going to experience it, to wanting to be able to support and change her friend to I want to know what love is (I want you to show me) to I want to fall in love with her to … well… I’ll just let you see for yourself. (insert Elvis Presley or Frank Sinatra reference here) Alright ENOUGH MUSIC REFERENCES, BRAIN!

Yuu will definitely secure a spot among my favorite anime characters too, I’m thinking of putting her somewhere in the vicinity of another Yu, namely Ishigami Yu from Kaguya sama which would be a spot in the top 25 at least. To be quite honest saying "I love Yu" constantly without following it up with "as a character/protagonist" felt kinda weird. I think she's my favorite romance protagonist actually, both in terms of protagonist of my favorite romance manga (previously held by Sorata from Sakurasou no Pet), and favorite protagonist of a romance manga/anime (previously held by Hachiman from Oregairu). She's the kind of character that's always coming out on top (jeez I feel even worse for what I did here than for the half-assed rick roll attempt earlier)

Yuu and Tokou‘s relationship is easily one of my absolute favorites in animanga so far and it’s so incredibly cute too, but also quite realistic. It reminds me of Adachi and Shimamura's relationship, only that this one is actually a healthy and wholesome one that goes somewhere instead of a one-sided obsessive (at first) unrequited one that ultimately hurts the characters more than it benefits them. I haven't read the novel for that one yet and only seen the anime but that was quite the frustrating watch after hearing it being praised for how cute and wholesome it is when it was in fact the exact opposite of that.

One thing I wish though is that some of the side characters had a bit more screen time or chance to get a little more development but there are also anthologies and spin-off novels and all that i still have to check out. So far 9/10


ART:

I have but one thing to say about the art in this one. Why is the art so fricking god damn good, like seriously, this is almost way too good art to be in a romance manga. Stop that. My eyes can only sparkle this much, so don’t put more details in there. Please. Like, am I blinded by my love for this or is it really way too good? Am I tripping here? 10/10


Now for an anime I would usually just judge the sound here which is relatively hard to do for a manga. DUH. But I did listen to the animes OST while reading this and it was quite good and relaxing. But I won't put a number on it here cuz that'd be kinda unfair, you know ^^


ENDING:

So one of the big points of how I judge a story is if it sticks the landing or not and sometimes it can make or break it. In this Case we get the usual small time skip ending where the characters all get together and reminisce over the old times and a walk towards the stars between our main couple at the end. Good thing I’m a sucker for exactly this kind of stuff. Honestly after watching/reading both Saekano and this quite recently, I fu**ing want more. I want to see their relationships more, I want to see their daily lives now more, just them doing stuff in the house together, going on dates, just being cute together doing couple stuff. Plus, I kinda wanna see Sayaka's relationship with her partner but I guess that's covered in the light novels about her, god I hope it is, otherwise I threw my money away, just kidding. How do their carreers go, what is each of them doing, who marries first, who gets kids first (ok duh this one is kinda obvious xD), will Maki ever get to experience love himself, probably not because the implication goes heavily in the direction of him being ace, though even some people who are ace do get into relationships, so maybe he will at least try once too. I could read 8 more volumes of just them doing daily live stuff and it would never be enough. The last volume, volume 8, from beginning to end was so satisfying to read, so sweet, so cute, so wholesome, so ... I don't know ... it was just SO GOOD. Just because of that and because I want more 9/10


ENJOYMENT/EMOTIONAL IMPACT:

As you can see already from how long this review is and from the contents of it, I’d say I almost enjoyed it a little too much, I mean I AM writing this review at like 4:30am and I have to get up for work at 6, so there’s definitely something wrong with me here. Alright I wrote the rough draft for this at 4:30am, it's currently 11am and I added some things. But once I started I just couldn’t put it down anymore and just HAD to know what comes next. I did even read it twice completely in just 3 days and I'm already planning on another reread. 10/10


So overall I can recommend this for every fan of a good romance manga. Don’t let the fact that this is a Shoujo Ai/ Yuri manga put you off of this if you’re not really into watching or reading that because it handles it’s topics with the utmost care and sensitivity, much more even than your typical m/f romance stories. Seriously, please read this. I have given a few 9/10s in this reviews to some parts but quite honestly this is a masterpiece. Simple as that. In my personal ranking it gets a deduction of 0.5 points because of the fact that simply a lot of the ideas for the story were unoriginal ones that you can find in every romance or school slice of life. BUT as said above all the ideas even if they weren't that original were used incredibly well and the relationships between the characters are some of the best I've seen. This probably is gonna have to fight against Hibike euphonium for which one lands on spot nr 9 and which on 10. I have the lists in my bio so I guess we shall see

As a lover of yuri/shoujo ai series I'm sometimes hesitant about starting an ongoing yuri/shoujo ai manga especially one that had less than 4 chapters available when I first came across it, but I was immediately drawn to this manga and God did I fall in love with it. The first thing that caught my eye was the art, the artwork in this manga is incredible and beautiful, then the characters were what kept me reading.

It certainly isn't a masterpiece or a unique series, it doesn't try to be more than it is, it's also not melodramatic like citrus or filled with absurd amount ... of fan service like some yuri series. If you liked or enjoyed series like Aoi hana or Sasameki Koto than you would love Yagate Kimi ni Naru. It's a simple high school drama centred around two (well technically 3) high school girls experiencing and trying to understand love and love between girls, that's pretty much the plot (without revealing too much detail) However the real draw of the story is how the characters go about developing, experiencing and understanding love.

The 2 main characters are Koito Yuu and Nanami Touko. Yuu has always been facinated by love and falling in love. Why do people fall in love or confess? and how does one feel during a confession or choose/decide to confess? These are some of the questions Yuu explores and tries to understand. At the beginning of the series, it's let known that she pretty much knows about the subject of love through books/manga but when it came to experiencing it she realized she did not attain the sensation she had hoped for. Instead of giving up or changing herself and/or going along with natural expectations of being in love, she decides to continue being herself while continuing her journey towards real love. Of course she does so on our 2nd main character Touko's encouragement. Yuu's expectations of what love should be limits her and she's aware of that, one thing I love about her character is how honest and supportive/friendly she is. Just like Yuu, Touko is introduced as another who hasn't experienced real love or feeling of love even though she has received numerous confessions. She's your typical popular, smart and beautiful girl in high school, but hasn't found someone that's made her heart flutter until she meets Yuu. Touko is a lot older and is loved by all in her school and thought be perfect and the idea student. However of course she isn't, she had always put up a facade and projected an ideal persona of what others expect of her (which is explained later) and the only one who knew of this secret was her best friend Saeki Sayaka, but once she meets and falls for Yuu she breaks down this facade and begins to show pieces of her real self only to Yuu. We slowly get to see her grow and develop through Yuu's perspective. Yuu also learns of love through Touko's love for her. Touko becomes completely infatuated with Yuu and it's very adorable, she accepts Yuu for who she is and has made it her goal to have her fall for her even though she admits she won't mind if Yuu still didn't come to love her as long as Yuu doesn't fall for anyone else. Her honesty to say and do whatever she wants is another feature I like about her. This relationship is what makes this manga so good and entertaining. We also get to know a few of the supporting characters like Touko's best friend Saeki Sayaka, who also has her secrets. She becomes very important to the story later on after we get to know Yuu and Touko and it's just been 17 chapters.

The story is perfectly paced and doesn't drag on. I'm enjoying the progression and growth of characters and plot/story. I pray to the anime/manga gods to keep is one a live and going because I see a bright future for it. I also agree with the comment below hopefully it gets an anime adaptation!

I am writing this as chapter 6 has just been released, January 2016. Also Yagate came into my life as I was on the height of my BL obsession, so I might be a bit bias to this and don't really see the flaws because it was a welcome change at that time. I apologize for this.

The series centers around a girl named Yuu who, big surprise, is a freshman in high school and doesn't know what club to join. She is convinced to help out in the student council where she meets the student council president, a girl named named Nanami Touko who ... takes interest in her for reasons she herself is unsure of.

Story:
The story is really your basic high school drama, and so far nothing out of the ordinary has happened. So for anyone who is looking for something that stands out this probably isn't it. What the story does well tough is that it doesn't put any expectations on itself, so you're really going into it without an real idea of what it's gonna give you. This is really a series that focuses on the relationships between the characters, so if that's not your thing (again) then this probably isn't for you.

Characters:
The main character Koito Yuu is really what makes this so worth while. Not only is she unique in her way to think and her personality, she's also not the first one to fall for the other, which really isn't that much of a spoiler. She knows her limits as a person, and she isn't the "give it your all and always smile" kind of character that you usually have as the main in shoujo ai. She feels isolated from her friends and from love, but she just keeps going anyways, she is by all means not a "what a pain" kind of character either tough.

The love interest Touko, while not as interesting still has a few things to her that makes her stand out from other characters in similar series. First of all she's the school's miss popular who gets confessed to a lot, but you can't really feel that from her and there isn't much emphasis to that. This makes her way more lovable and once she falls for Yuu (which is in chapter 1, it really isn't a spoiler) she becomes a bit dorky in a way that makes you root for her since Yuu really just thinks she's being weird. As their relationship builds you feel more and more chemistry between them as well.

The rest of the cast are by all means not badly written, but they don't get any real development, which is good because all the development time goes to the two mains. There is a character who is an exception and that plays a bigger role tough, but you'll have to discover who that is for yourself.

As for the art and style there isn't much to say other than that it's simple, yet refined, and fits the tone perfectly. The colored pages truly stand out tough as they are very calming and bring you a feeling of peace, at least in my case.

I say that if you're looking for something that's not complicated to read when it feels right and to lift your mood a bit this is a good choice! It doesn't try to be something it isn't, it's just a plain, well written, well paced, and really sweet shoujo ai. I really enjoy it so far and have even re-read the first chapters because I felt like it, which for me is rare.

I now feel the need to eat some chocolate, because don't we all?? Have a good day/night person reading!

I used to be a heavy yuri/shoujo-ai reader. And this is work is the first of its kind for me in the sense of how the characters are.

I think this Manga displays a very complex way of love.
Touko fulfills a very difficult phenomenon. To love/like someone when the other person doesn't love you. Also, the idea that love means nothing but wanting, needing and using someone. I don't think many can relate to this idea of love.
This story/ character development portrays a way of distance and closeness like I have never seen before in this exact form.

I don't see anyone else talking about ... how amazing this concept is, so I had to.

I used to find this interesting because I could kind of understand. But right now, I'm falling hard for someone who isn't interested in anything like a monogamous relationship and also does not seek sex.
I feel that because of this experience I'm drawn to how Yuu will make it work out. And how they will find themselves to each other, without leaving some feelings out or denying them. How they are going to confront themselves with other will be most interesting.

I feel that asexuals may be able to relate to this, very well.

This review may contain minor spoilers but I assure you I would try to keep it to the minimum. I'll include a couple of materials from other official sources for my review.

This is a love story about Yuu and Touko. Like everyone else in the early part of our lives, Yuu is at a stage where she does not understand the phenomenon of love. But as the story progresses, her encounter with Touko, little by little, has changed her.

Generally, on the surface, Shōjo manga or love songs make the occurrence of love seem so simple. But in reality, love is a complicated application. It comes ... when you least expected it. Yuu was confessed by her Junior School classmate whom she knew for three years. She liked him. However, she wasn't able to reciprocate the feeling back to him. After all, she does not understand the meaning of love.

Next, we have Touko. At first glance, she is a model student, with good grades and good at sports. She was looked upon by the other students as the student council president. But, the truth is this wasn't her character. All she was doing was a replica of her sister (as she thought it was). On one fateful day, she has made up her mind and believes to achieve and complete what was left behind for her. But she disliked it. In the end, this temperament wasn't herself.

At the beginning phrase, what we have is a girl who is unable to grasp true love and another who is afraid of and unable to accept having people to love her false image.

Has love come naturally for you? Perhaps, to some the answer is yes. However, for the rest of us, love could be a sensation, a circumstance, or possibly a miracle that one has to acquire without knowing what the destiny has prepared for us. Some may be successful while the rest may not have received what they desired. The intertwined relationship is complicated. How could one tell when has one started to fall in love with the other. For all you know, they wouldn't know neither.

As the curtain has drawn, we would see how every action they have made since their first encounter has brought them to who they are today. You would most likely be stunned by how beautiful this masterpiece was crafted. There were a few turning points which many could notice. These essential happenings are able to draw and connect the dots to the satisfying conclusion that we've all received. As you progress together with the characters, imagine and delve yourself into the story. I'm sure you'll acquire more than what you have expected. Remember, as time goes by, people will change.

Personally, I really like how the author drew adequate character developments for each and every one. Be it the protagonists or the supporting characters, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. As we move along, there are many ups and downs, and many hurdles the characters have to overcome themselves. Many of the circumstances are closer to reality. That is why I fell in love with this manga. In every chapter, I could feel my heartbeat throbbing and my mind desiring for more. I could see how Nakatani has well-prepared her material and was very focused on her work when she embarks on this journey. I could proudly say she knows what the readers want. Every word in each sentences are build with feelings that accumulate throughout the story. When you finally reach the ending, you would be blasted with all the emotions. Perhaps, I was imagining myself as one of the protagonists, as this manga felt realistic to me. I suggest you to do the same, depicting your entire mind and body into the story to acquire the utmost appreciation of the content.

Secondly, I really appreciate how serious Nakatani is to her drawing. She does not substitute her artwork with superficial content. She ensures that every page is drawn down to perfection. Her artwork is filled with clarity, quality, and beauty. For example, the bells on the Echo's door, the rings on their fingers (not telling who to avoid spoilers), the characters' outfit, when the protagonists hold their hands, the boat on the background, the bridge and the mountain, and the two swans in the lake when they went for their school trip. This list can go on but I suppose you got my point.

I would like to hats off to Nakatani. In the interview conversation session between Nakatani Nio, Iruma Hitoma, and Yuzuhara Moke. Nakatani has explained how she has concluded with the ending. It just makes perfect sense. And to avoid spoilers, you should only check out the conversation after you have finished the manga. Furthermore, she has thought of possible alternative outcomes when she was questioned. It's incredible that she has planned this far.

Another thing that I admired her was her effort in redoing the second half of volume 7 to chapter 40 (the beginning of volume 8). She wants to portray the perfection of feelings when the reader perceives it. It's so magnificent and fortunate for the readers that she possesses such a trait.

It's really scary how effortlessly this manga could reach out and grasp my heart. The emotions I have felt with this manga were exactly the same when I've first started watching anime in 2010. Just like how having a meal at a special restaurant and it reminds you of your mom's cooking.

You may think I'm giving Nakatani a lot of praises. But that would be what I believe she should deserved.

With that, I would like to conclude that this will always be a masterpiece for me as long as I'm alive.

Having finished publishing recently, I decided to binge Bloom into You manga, and I was pleasantly surprised. It's an excellent manga, but lacks quite a few things.

I've watched the anime before reading anime (and TROYCA indeed did it justice), but the anime barely compares to the manga in terms of content.

The story isn't very complicated, it's quite obvious from the get-go who are the two main girls, and the story was mostly straightforward.

While it didn't have too much drama it, I disliked how the manga handled Saaya, but at the same time I have to applaud the mangaka for making most (if not all) ... the characters in it very likable, relatable, or just fun to see. Some had more development than the others, and the others just had things coming their way.

The manga talks about the topic of "change". How does a person change? And how do their relationships with other people change if the people themselves change and evolve? I think it was wonderful topic to discuss.

Though, The manga suffered from three major points:

1. The length. While it indeed ended on a good note and had a wonderful ending, many edges were left open.

2. The "events" the manga centered around. There's only one remarkable "event" which changed everything and did everything, the school play. I feel like every other scene (except the ending) was forgettable, and I feel it would've been a lot better to have at least one more major event in the story.

3. The pacing is absolutely awkward. Which is a result of the two above, some things just changed suddenly, without proper buildup or explanation.

All in all, I think Bloom into You is a fantastic and sweet Yuri manga. 8/10

I don't usually write reviews, but Yagate Kimi ni Naru is too good for me not to let others know why.

You can see other reviews calling it 'boring' and I can understand in some way why.
Usually, anime is used to show us a fantastic fantasy-based world with perfect people with supernatural powers, however, bloom into you is NOT like that, because it's a very realistic manga which is supposed to come across as a cute story of two high schoolers who fall in love.

Bloom into you is very unique as an lgbtq story in the first place, because it's well done:
- absolutely no sexualization ... of lesbian relationships - something that is so extremely hard to find in yuri manga.
- representations of various communities, example asexuality
- showing limited amount of homophobia (good for lgbtq who are triggered by it and also tired of it, so they wouldn't want to see it in a cute lesbian manga/anime)
Those are the LGBTQ positive aspects, but the reasons why I believe that Bloom into you is the one of the most enjoyable manga overall is:
- the realism, whether it is Yuu, Touko or any other character, they are portrayed like normal high schoolers with normal crushes, actually crushing the stereotype of perfect love seen in movies
- the characters which are also designed in a realistic way with a splash of anime style (of course, because otherwise it wouldn't appeal)
- the artstyle which i find absolutely wonderful, calming and relaxing to look at

This is a very easy 10 for me, I highly recommend it.

Fair warning, I am not experienced with reading a lot of yuri type manga, so please take my review with a grain of salt.

Simply put, I genuinely loved this series, it portrayed an excellent and well-written story of two people discovering themselves and learning about 'love' in an organic and relatively natural way.

Nakatani Nio manages to find the beauty in a simple story. Through Yagate Kimi no Naru, with generally no extremely drastic and overtly complicated storylines, Nakatani is still able to present a story that perpetuates itself and keeps itself interesting. Even though it is merely a slice of life essentially depicting the average ... life of Yuu and Touko.

Yagate Kimi no Naru has an incredibly well-written story, which feels natural and organic, and despite a teeny little bit of fan service, it generally does not seem all too forced. The story presented in Yagate Kimi no Naru is a story with many underlying themes, ranging from loss, grief, and gender roles in society, not to mention the obvious being of love. All in all, Nakatani is able to use this wide palette of themes to create an emotionally captivating and truly beautiful masterpiece of a work.

The artwork is also great, although admittedly not the absolute pinnacle of manga artworks. The specific angles and pacing were done in a really captivating way, really being to wring out and exploit all the emotion from a particular scene. The artwork presented in Yagate Kimi no Naru also has a sense of symbolism in it, certain scenes with invoke a great deal of emotion or which present an incredible idea and theme can oftentimes be accompanied by artwork which aids in that depiction.

The character is also really well written, the two main protagonists, Koito Yuu and Nanami Touko have a great deal of depth to them, and throughout the series are truly developed, which is something Nakatani explicitly puts in the manga itself. The main theme of this manga is very obviously 'love', however, Nakatani is able to give the main protagonists more humanising traits, instead of making them embody this singular theme.

Nakatani is truly able to flesh out and give each of the characters in the manga a personality; a reason for them to be unique to themselves and to others, and Nakatani does not skimp on the side characters either, all the characters in this manga have defining characteristics only to themselves, which demonstrates a great deal of understanding and thought went through the development of this series.

In conclusion, despite this manga being a yuri and a shoujo-ai, it is and should not be defined as simply that. It is a beautiful and captivating story with well thought-out characters and an organic development of love, and the main protagonists just happened to be female.

Bloom Into You is a “Shoujo Ai” manga series written and illustrated by Nio Nakatani. It is later adapted into an anime series by studio TROYCA. It is a series about two high school girl students determining their own desires, the meaning of self-appreciation, the worth of self-discovery and learning what love truly is. Now to give you some context, I didn’t really expected to love this series the way I do now because of its premise. At first, I was lukewarm about starting the series. I was afraid of wasting my time on some girl on girl romance lovey-dovey anime. But, I was determined ... to watch it and experience something out of the ordinary and so I did and here’s my review for both the manga and the anime.

Story: Anime – 7/10, Manga- 10/10
To start things off, the way the story is written is like your typical romance anime. They met, their feelings develops throughout the series, they hold hands. Like I said, typical but here’s the catch. There is that boundary when a romance is about a boy and a girl. But when’s its shoujo ai the heroines can freely cross that boundary without any consequences. But what is that “boundary” I’m talking about here? It’s their ability to go to each other’s places without raising any suspicions, their ability to hold hands, their ability to be playful around other people. It’s those simple yet charming and cute things that boosts the story to be entertaining and add a bit of spice to the overall experience. But when you set aside these cute things the story is honestly a melodramatic and a serious one. It’s an emotional rollercoaster between the cute scenarios and when the serious tone starts to kick in. Throughout the series, the story dives deeper and raises questions regarding self-discovery, the building up of one’s façade, how love shackles people and how a single action can hurt another. The story is not that complex from the surface, but when you unravel the mysteries behind certain characters it adds emotional depth and overall impact. The pacing of the story is something that may bother other people because it can feel slow sometimes. Personally, it didn’t bother me at all. I like the pacing, I like how they take their time on certain shots and how they don’t rush each scenes. It’s a slow burner and it was just right up on my alley and the so-called slow pacing is needed to elevate the viewer’s experience. On the other hand, on the manga the pacing issues is non-existent because you can read the story at your own pace. Additionally, the anime only adapted the first half of the manga and kinda made its own ending. In this aspect, I can rightfully say that the manga is better than the anime, well story wise. The ending that the anime chose felt empty and forced. It didn’t reached a climax, it ended as soon as it was about to hit the climax making the anime feel incomplete.

Characters: Anime 10/10, Manga 10/10
The characters are what drives the series, they are the powerhouse and what gives life to it. Without its well written characters the story can’t stand on its own. The main duo Koito Yuu and Nanami Touko are the cutest couple I’ve ever laid my eyes upon on. Their interactions are what made this series for me a thousand times better. Their motivations and interactions with the other characters made them feel real and further drew me in on its world. For the side characters, what side characters?! They don’t even feel like side characters! They are the most flesh out side characters in recent memory. They have motivations, they have their own reasons for reacting on certain ways. What I’m trying to say is they all felt like real life people.

Animation/Art: Anime - 10/10, Manga – 9/10
The animation was superb, those panning shots, slow-motion shots and ambient lightings were amazing. The animation the panning shots and lighting of certain scenes were one of the best ones I’ve seen in an anime. They really used a ton of budget perfecting it. The character designs stayed on par with the manga and the facial animations of characters were great as well, it was very “animey”.
Now, for the manga’s art. Can you tell, it was the writer’s first work? No, I couldn’t. Her character design has a certain charm to it, the panels were arranged neatly and each frame was drawn beautifully and the colored and cover pages were amazing as well. I really can’t say much about it other than it was beautiful both the animation and the manga art.

Music and Original Soundtrack: 10/10
The OST’s and insert songs were elegant. The sweet, soothing, eerie and calm sound design elevated certain scenes to perfection. The slow-motion shots combined with the amazing OST really took my breath away. It was truly something to remember. The two insert songs were both amazing on how it was used on the show and how you can repeat the songs and relive the scene it was in. The OP was also great visually and sound wise. Now, the ED. WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I have that shit on repeat for two whole months! It was a banger, it was like I was born just to hear that masterpiece.

Overall: Anime - 9.25/10, Manga – 9.6/10
In conclusion, the story was great combined with amazing characters and an amazing art and animation with an amazing musical score. It is the defining anime for what “Shoujo Ai” could be if given the budget and attention it needs.

Yagate Kimi Ni Naru Manga: overall a 10/10.

The storyline was well planned out and written. It had an interesting plot, making me want to read more of the manga after watching the anime. (Yes, I watched the anime first.) I also liked that Yuu didn't fall in love with Touko since she's "The Perfect Role Model" but fell in love when Touko showed that she had changed. When I read the chapter where she realized she fell in love with Touko, I felt that the reasons why Yuu fell in love with her made sense. She didn't fall in love with Touko's replacement. She fell ... in love with Touko herself. And just with 2 simple sentences, a deep meaning was conveyed. Another thing message that I realized after rewatching the anime was the fact that they were trying to tell us that we live in a world of change and nothing can stay the same. Even though they reinforced the idea that Touko or Yuu will always have a one-sided relationship that will stay the same, but in the end, Yuu eventually feel in love and their relationship changed in a good way.

Nakatani Nio did a great job on her art style. It is simple yet beautiful. The simplicity of the art style and character designs make it seem like the characters could be someone in the real world dealing with relationship issues. The characters were relatable in one way or another. For example, a real life story that has happened my friends, who I will call Liko and Naki. My friend, Liko, relates to Saeki Sayaka as she had a crush on her best friend, Naki. And Naki relates to Touko. Sadly, Liko knew that Naki didn't like her romantically as Naki was a social butterfly and liked another person. Long story short, they had relationship issues and sadly are not friends anymore.

Overall, I really enjoyed the manga as well as the anime. Yagate Kimi Ni Naru is one of my favourite yuri animes and I have reread the manga twice already, and the story was still as good as the first time I read it. As a yuri fan, I would highly recommend this manga to new yuri manga readers.

So, I'll be up-front in saying that I have not read a lot of manga, barely a handful of series, and I watched the anime adaptation of YagaKimi before picking up the manga to finish off the story. I'll also be up-front in saying that it is my #1 all-time favorite anime, so its possible I may be a little biased.

An absolutely fantastic yuri story, easily the best one that I am familiar with. The story sort of jumps right into the water with an early confession, but due to Koito Yuu's personality, sexuality and lack of experience she doesn't really know how she feels. ... Or rather... she doesn't *think* she knows what she feels, consciously. Sub-consciously...? Expecting fireworks, she is disappointed when she feels (or believes she feels) nothing at all, and is left uncertain; she *likes* her senpai that is clear, not just to the reader but to her. But.. does she like her enough?

Nakatani Nio did a superb job with dialogue, pacing and scene set up with YagaKimi, showing a very, very realistic portrayal of teenage first love - uncertainties, fears, anxieties. The characters (mainly Koito Yuu and, later on, Nanami Touko) spend a lot of time on introspection, trying to figure out their emotions and desires while at the same time, wrestling with an over-arcing shadow that seems to hang over the Yuu and Touku and to a lesser extend Saeki Sayaka.

Overall, I think it does a pretty good portray of some labels (heh, we all hate but love labels, right?) within the LGBTQ+ community, though I won't spoil the exact details here - a number of different types of sexuality show up, outside of the usual 'hetero, gay/lesbian' which is pretty great.

This story.. if I wasn't concerned with spoilers I could talk for hours. Moments of joy, sorrow, fear and uncertainty. Jealousy, anger and even depression. But, through it all a slow-building exploration of what it means to not just 'fall in love' but also to CHOOSE to love, and that last part I think is what makes this story extra special. Far too often, in fiction and in life, people will let love slip by them while they wait for that legendary feeling of fireworks, of the instant blossoming of both love and desire, rather than seeing a subtle, quiet love right in front of them and reaching out to grab it.

8 volumes, 45 chapters and honestly, its just not enough. Two anthologies, and still not enough of these wonderful people - maybe we'll get lucky and Nakatani-san will someday decide to revisit Yuu and Touko and the rest.

Once you've read the 45 main-story chapters, I *highly* recommend checking out the anime adaptation - it covers chapters 1 through to 24 in *incredible* detail. Not only were there no scenes from the manga left out, but the scenes present were expanded on and so beautifully constructed, with what feels like a perfect score. TROYCA outdid themselves.

Nakatani Nio outdid herself. I havn't read her other works, but I intend to; that being said, Yagate Kimi ni Naru has set an incredibly high bar.

If you like romance, if you like explorations of not just emotion but also the psychology of being a teen then you really need to read this manga. If you like the yuri genre, then you are absolutely doing yourself a grave disservice if you do not read this. The Citrus manga was great. Kase-san series is fantastic. Bloom, while shorter, tops both of them.
~Alyfox

PS: There are three spin-off light novels, "Regarding Saeki Sayaka", that are also incredible and must-reads for fans of this series. The two anthologies are wonderful, but I've read that they are only somewhat canon, and so you *could* skip them if you really wanted... but, why would you?

What we need is a season 2 of this manga since I had to pick this up to know what happens towards the end.

I wrote a review on the anime and seeing how they share similar theme of identity, it’s both great to read or watch the anime. I did both as I really loved the anime and read this afterwards.

Sometimes we question in life who is the real us but the answer isn’t that simple. As we all wear mask as we are a different person to different people and that’s not terrible in itself. There’s different time we need to be different people ... so it’s easier not for us but for them.
Bloom into you captured that nicely with the play and it basically shares the beautiful overall theme of blooming or blossom. The romance was a plus and the characters are all like able. I didn’t find anyone I hated or couldn’t stand. I enjoyed even the supporting cast and the subplots were nice too. The dialogue and conversation were great on the side.

There’s not much flaw to this that I can see, I mean if you don’t like Yuri then don’t bother reading this. Even if you don’t like Yuri I mean the plot of identity is really what get me curious about this anime as I didn’t watch it before because it was Yuri. And I read this manga mainly because I don’t know if we’ll get a season 2. I recommend watching the anime as they both basically share the same exact thing but I love the music and voice acting and read the second half to finish season 2.

Worth a read if you enjoy the theme of identity and learning to be you. That it’s okay to try to be like someone because others inspire you. It’s okay to change as we all grow eventually and sometimes people grow apart but love binds us forever.

Yagate Kimi ni Naru or Bloom Into You is a Shoujo-Ai manga which in my opinion really has the potential to get more people interested in the quite sparse fanbase of Shoujo-Ai. It's also quite a short read, so the time investment is not that high. In the following paragraphs I will explain why I think of this manga so highly.

Story 9/10: I think that the story is the weakest part of this manga although that is of course compared to the other great aspects of this manga. Our protagonist is Yuu Koito, who is a freshmen in highschool. She likes to read Shoujo novels ... and wants to experience a bright and sparkly love like it is written in the novels too. Unfortunately she has never fallen love and also thinks that she just can't fall in love with anyone. Because of various circumstances she joins the student council in highschool, in which she meets her second-year senpai, Touko Nanami. Yuu learns that Touko can't fall in love with anyone either and contradictory Touko falls in love with you at the exact same moment. That's the beginning of the story summed up. Will Yuu fall in love with Touko aswell? What kind of relationship will they have? What problems are on their way there? These and more questions are all the story is about. And while this is indeed a good narrative for a Shoujo-Ai manga, it is only the "engine" to get the "stars" of the show running, the characters:

Character 10/10: The TSY of Yagakimi is what makes it great: Touko, Side Characters and Yuu. Touko Nanami is one of our main leads and is introduced as the shallow person, who is perfect, can do everything yare yare yare. But as the manga goes on, we get to see much more sides of her. I will cover the rest of her character in the spoiler section below. The side characters amaze me the most. We have a strong cast of important side characters and most of them evolve as the story progresses. Of course there are exceptions to this statement (yes, I am looking at you Doujima and Maki). Each and every one of them is believable as they take their parts in the story. Yuu is our main lead and most of the story is written in her personal perspective. The whole concept of love, living and the meaning of her life changes throughout the manga as she leaves her past behind and starts to change.

SPOILER SECTION:
Touko's character development is impressive and amazes me. Touko thinks that she's empty, a hollow shell and hence copies her sister, who everyone looked up to and depended on. So she became the pinnacle of girls, Nanami-senpai. Throughout the manga however, she starts to learn more about her sister from various people and learns, that her sister wasn't like she thought at all and that Touko is very different from her. In the climax of the novel, the student council play, which is covering a similar situation, she realizes, after being told by Yuu and Sayaka, her best friend, that trying to be like their sister is wrong, that she is not empty at all. This change isn't as sudden as I make it out to be, don't worry. It's her character development in a nutshell. Yuu on the other hand has two phases. In her first phase, she is loved by Touko and doesn't think that she loves her back and still thrives for that sparkly feeling that Touko feels. One third in in the manga, Yuu is granted her wish and she falls in love with Touko in one memorable scene.
After that, she searches for a opportunity to tell Touko her feelings, but Touko, realizing that, blocks her off by saying: "Don't fall in love with me. How could I love someone, who loves something that I hate?".
The characters, their interactions and their relationships with each other take up most of the plot of the manga. And because these characters are so well crafted, it is profoundly beautiful to read this manga.

SPOILER END
I could go on and spoiler some more, but I want to leave something to read for you guys, so I'll end this section here:

Art 10/10: The art of this manga is simply amazing. I don't know that much about drawing techniques, as I'm a terrible artist myself, but in my opinion, the art of this manga is top-notch. Every character is very detailed, and by using different perspectives, the story really feels alive, somehow. It's very clean looking which gives a realistic feel and suits the story perfectly. I can't say much more about the art, other than that I love it.

Enjoyment 10/10: I won't rate this seriously, because as you can guess, I love this manga. I started to read it because I wanted to see how the anime plays out and I wasn't disappointed to say the least. But in the end, you need to at least have no problems with Shoujo-Ai and Shoujo in general. This manga is a Shoujo manga after all.

So yeah, as you can guess this review is all my opinion, and I hope that reading this at least made you a little interested in reading this manga. See ya later!

Bloom Into You is, without a doubt, one of the best coming of age love stories that I’ve ever read. Yuu is a young girl that dreams of experiencing the dazzling love that she sees through books and film. Despite this, she doesn’t find herself feeling at all excited when faced with romantic prospects. There is also some wonderful aromantic and demiromantic representation that I didn’t expect to find in this manga, and the subtle differences between each are written well.

The story is paced well, while many romances fall back on overblown drama to keep the narrative going with many ups and downs, Bloom Into ... You was consistent from start to finish, like a gentle heartbeat humming with life. The title of the manga is apt, as the characters bloom into love but also into themselves as they discover who they are.

I found myself relating a lot to Yuu, who wants to experience the excitement of love but doesn’t know what it is. It can be easy to fall into the comforts of verbal and physical acts of love to mask a lack of love for oneself, as in the case of Touko; or the admiration of another that you place the other person on a pedestal, like Sayaka. Each of the characters were multilayered and written with such care and understanding of the nuances of romantic attraction.

This manga talks a lot about love, how we fall in love, and what it means to be in love. The fluttery feeling that happens when we find the right person is something that many strive for, but love is more complex than that. People fall in love in different ways, and for different reasons, love is defined by the lover and each person’s experience can be wildly different. Bloom Into You stands out from other romance stories for the way that it presents the concept of love, and the sometimes steady journey toward realizing what it really means. It’s heartfelt and written with so much warmth that it made me feel happy from start to finish.

Compared to many other yuri series out there -- you know the ones, full of fan service or extremely high on the melodrama or the will-they-won't-they -- Yagate Kimi ni Naru's most outstanding characteristic is definitely its well-developed characters. Apart from the first two chapters, which feel a little bit rushed, because they just want to set up the story, it's also incredibly well paced.

Both main character bring their own interpretation of love to the table, fundamentally and diametrically opposed -- Touka, who's fallen hard for Yuu, and knew immediately and now wants everything out of their relationship that normally goes along with such. Yuu, ... on the other hand, who is a girl who loves romantic storylines about as much as I do, and expected love to be just like Touko experiences it, but simply doesn't and has resigned herself to this. There are occasional hints that Yuu might be developing feelings for Touko as well, but even this isn't overt and still open to interpretation. And then there's the added difficulty of Sayaka and the whole spiel about the two connected components in their relationship graph (but at least it's not a full love triangle).

I'm definitely ready for whatever the future might bring for this story.

Trying for some comparables: It's heavier than Kase-san, for sure, but by far not as heavy-handed as Kuzu no Honkai. Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon comes close in relationship dynamics, but the focus is different -- not only what it means to fall in love, but become a family there, what love itself means for different people here. More mature characters than in Tsuki ga Kirei.