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Yuri is my Job is a bit of a tragedy. Not in the traditional sense, but because there's a beautiful story trapped inside that isn't allowed to escape from its bloated cage. The story, if compressed into three or four volumes and trimmed of the worst of it, could have been fantastic. The art is lovely, and the early volumes are actually fun and engaging. Yano's personality is endearing, seeing the aptly named Hime's confusion is blast, and Sumika's mirror of Hime hidden persona has great potential. The characters feel special enough to keep you cheering for them, and the possibilities of Yano/Hime's past get ... you excited for what's to come.

Alas, we're cursed with something that boldly drags the story downward over the span of its pile of volumes -- Kanoko. It's rare that one character can so effectively spoil the overarching story so greatly, but the stalker turned hyper-obsessed and manipulative best friend knocked it out of the park. Excuse my lapse of critical language, but she SUCKS. Trimmed of her character, even the peak of the melodrama could be engaging in many ways, but instead we get to see a stalker verbally and physically abuse a kind and loving character multiple times for having the audacity of feeling dejected after being rejected. Worse still, the reader gets to be treated to the author acting as if Kanoko (wretched be her name) is in the right for the constant hatred. With the mounting frustration of such a heavy weight, it makes the other cracks show much more painfully; namely Hime's constant reference to her "Façade" and the constant whiplash of "are they lying or not" that makes the story convoluted, frustrating, and worse, difficult to even follow. We know Hime clearly loves Yano, but the story is dragged out several volumes further than it reasonably should have to experience Kanoko dragging down Sumika into the miserably toxic mud.

Sadly, I don't recommend you read it. Don't be drawn in by it having a pretty good score or reviews that finished the first couple volumes and enjoyed it. If you don't, you'll end up frustrated and drop it by chapter 35 and maybe 36 if you're truly brave.

If you’re looking for a love sweet story, it’s best to keep looking.

Don’t get tricked into reading it. While there are some exceptional and fun parts early in, a majority of the story is bullies getting away with savaging kids, only to get happy endings as if they didn’t actually do anything wrong.

The art is a great deal of fun, and most of the appeal.

The plot, however, is about as much of a dumpster fire as you can expect from a story about a girl that is mistaken for a dog. A sweeping majority of the problems in the story are extremely contrived ... and only happen because the characters can’t seem to do anything reasonable or levelheaded. Worse yet, every single problem solved doesn’t feel like it’s solved anything, yet everyone acts like it’s undone years of issues.

It’s frustrating to see a story that has a great deal of promise and legitimate joy in it self destruct halfway in, but it happens. It’s not worth the time.

If you MUST read it, do yourself a favor and stop after Sol and Soo’s arc.