Yagate Kimi ni Naru

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.

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!

*sorry for my poor

Yagate Kimi ni Naru or Bloom into you, is a very well-made story that portraying two female character name Yuu and touka and their slowly blooming romantic interest toward each other.But this story is not your typical yuri manga where 2 girl fall in love and live happy ever after, but rather one can't express her emotions toward her, but still have interest toward her and while it counterpart can slow her emotion,but don't want her to fall in love completely.

As someone who not into yuri , I got to say, this manga manage to handle relationship very well and it supporting cast is very fun to read. In my personal opinion who have readed citrus this year, this manga take the cake for well establish cast than citrus ,and it story foundation is very solid.

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!

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. 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.

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.

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.

I am totally enjoying this series.

The story and setting are close to realistic, I mean with realistic is this series is not as melodramatic and exaggerating as Citrus. The dialogue, interaction, and MC are calm and sweet.

Story 9/10.
not too cliche

Art 9/10.
so cute and bright. the accuracy of the art is excellent.

Character 10/10.
not too melodramatic, calm, and lovely. The conflicts are light too reader.

Enjoyment 10/10.



Overall a good series and I can't wait for the continuation of the chapter. I really recommend this manga to every fan of shoujo-ai, because it is my favorite yuri series so far. Cheers.

BTW Yuu is very cute. I love her tiny frame and tomboy demeanor XD.