This is my first time writing a review since it's not something I usually do, but this manga was just so appalling to the point I decided to write one. I'll try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible.
Sadly this was the first yuri manga I read, I was recommended it and I decided why not, what harm could it do? I was told it gets better which isn't true since I read this thing from beginning to end and hated it more and more. This whole manga feels like just fetishization of wlw relationships. It's disgusting, this is not a nice, light
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hearted manga about love. This manga disgusted me and made me extremely uncomfortable with all the sexual assault and manipulation that happens. Also the sexual assault comes off as a fan service, which is very disgusting. In the first chapter the MC gets sexuality assaulted by her new step sis (love interest) and that's not the last time. Her step sis also manipulates her multiple times just to get her way. (I'm gonna put all the times there was sexual assault, as far as I can remember, at the bottom since there are some spoilers.)
Ok so first off let's get the pros out of the way. The art is beautiful, really detailed and just nice to look at.
Anyway to the cons...
Characters-
For me there was only 2 likeable characters, the MC and her close friend, that's pretty much it. The MC is pretty much a bubbly gyaru and her friend is similar to her. I wish they had more chapters together. The MC's love interest (her step-sister) is a flat out bitch. She's overly cruel to the MC and is just super unlikable. She's pretty much the tsundere, beautiful, smart, student council president stereotype. She also sexual assaults the MC multiple times. She's always cold even after her and the MC date for a while. Her friend is the classic secretly inlove best friend who is jealous, not much to her. She has an odd change of heart out of literally no where, no development at all. Ok now it's time for Matsuri, the MC's old childhood friend. She's something else, really something else. She's pretty much a manipulative bitch just like MC's love interest. Honest to God I hate her, and her motivations are piss poor for what she does. There's also a few other characters that are just thrown in there to stir up drama and then dip. Character development is just bad and the characters are never consistent.
Story-
The story started off okay. Our MC Yuzu pretends to be a popular girl with the guys even though she's never had a bf. She moves because her mother remarried and now she's going to an all girls school. Basically her first day sucks and she returns home to find out that Mei is her new step sis. So I guess her mother never mentioned her at all. At first I kinda thought "Isn't this a bit much?". Anyway Mei ends up sexually assaulting Yuzu their first day together and Yuzu falls for her because of it (honestly wtf?!!). Basically the rest of the series is filled with that in the beginning. The story is filled with melodrama cause by misunderstood situations that could've been easily resolved just by communicating. The pacing is also all over the place, and the ending is super rushed and unsatisfying. Yuzu and Mei's relationship is all over the place too, they're in love one minute and the next they fight. The "emotional" moments just feel empty and also creepy due to what lead up to the relationship.
SPOILERS:
All the times sexual assault happened that I remembered...
1. Yuzu gets groped by Mei on the first day of school, Mei was searching for her phone but it came off as really overly sexual.
2. Mei gets forcefully kissed by a teacher at school. (This time it didn't seem like fan service or sexual at all.)
3. Mei forcefully kisses Yuzu in their room.
4. Mei likes Yuzu while showering together and pushed her against the wall.
5. Yuzu forcefully kisses Mei in the chairman's office. (She also contemplated kissing her while she was sleeping.)
6. Mei manipulates Yuzu and tries to initiate sex but Yuzu actually stops her for once and slaps her.
7. Mei forcefully kisses Matsuri for absolutely no reason. (Matsure gets a photo and uses it as blackmail.)
8. Matsuri gropes Mei in the school. (She uses the photo as blackmail so that Mei has to go on a date with an older creepy man. Could've possibly been raped. Idk how there characters are supposed to be likeable.)
Anyway that's basically all the times I can remember this happening.
END OF SPOILERS
So would I recommend this manga? No, not to anyone. I don't feel like this would appeal to anyone who just wants some nice, sweet yuri. I just felt really uncomfortable reading it, as stated above. I don't understand why people recommend it so much. I wanted to enjoy this yuri since it seem popular among yuri readers, but I just couldn't bring myself to enjoy this stuff. As I said before this feels like fetishization, like some hormonal teen wrote this as fap material. This is just not worth your time, it's not even so bad it's good.
Btw if you're looking for a good manga about GL I highly recommend Bloom into you. It's no where close to Citrus. No fetishization, no uncomfortable fan service, no sexual assault. It's a good story with likeable characters and no melodrama. It's a sweet story and I think it's a really good read if you wanna check it out. Anyway thank you for reading my review till the end, enjoy your day :)
Dec 1, 2020
This is my first time writing a review since it's not something I usually do, but this manga was just so appalling to the point I decided to write one. I'll try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible.
Sadly this was the first yuri manga I read, I was recommended it and I decided why not, what harm could it do? I was told it gets better which isn't true since I read this thing from beginning to end and hated it more and more. This whole manga feels like just fetishization of wlw relationships. It's disgusting, this is not a nice, light ... |
