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Anyway, Even Though We're Both is very worth reading. It's as messy as it is beautiful, but that's queer love sometimes. When we love each other on the margins of society, it's not easy to leave behind who we thought we were and the people we touched before we broke out of those margins.

Akari and Ayano kissing. Ayano tells Akari "You can't run from guilt." Ayano replies "I know, but, uhm..."

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The art is also great. I've always loved Shimura's style, which is equal parts grounded and expressive. She switches from hyper-realism to cartoonish faces on a dime. It made me want to revisit Wandering Son, which I haven't read since before I came out. I have Complicated Feelings about that one.

Two panels, Eri's cartoonish face, juxtaposed with a hyper-realistic rendering of her family's home.

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Akari is less complex. She's a fucking yearner and I love her. She's suddenly made the adult in the room over and over, despite feeling out of her depth. She's a perfect foil; emotionally forthcoming where Ayano is unreadable and careless. Two imperfect people find queer love in their imperfections.

A vertical panel of Akari climbing stairs. She things "I like you" and "And like! I just want to see her! Idiot! But I said I'd stay away from her. Aah, I'm such a fool."

By the end, she finally makes decisions that feel rooted in her truth. She can express her wants and needs instead of acting without explaining her reasoning. But she also suffers consequences. Her marriage, her job, her other relationships, I appreciate that this isn't really an idyllic story.

Ayano and Nao on a bench. Ayano says "I had a crush on you too."

Ayano is a really interesting character, a woman finally understanding that what drives her, who wants to live honestly for the first time in her life. She's seemingly capricious, but she never really expects people to keep up with her shifting moves. She's unrooted, she doesn't know herself.

Panels of Akari and Ayano's legs as they walk away from each other. Then a wide panel of the two looking back at each other.

Often times these kinds of stories end with the couple getting together, but Ayano and Akari's relationship isn't that clean. Ayano is, in many ways, incomplete. She's working through the self-loathing that comes with living in the closet, with shaking the lives of everyone around you by coming out.

Panels showing Ayano's self-loathing spiral. The world bubbles say "I'm not an especially good teacher. I mean I drink, I go lose control, I do things like kiss a woman I just met. Then I fall for that woman." The panels get darker as the thoughts spiral.

I think something special about Even Thought We're Adults is how interested it is in what happens after someone comes out late in life. Ayano's coming out sends ripples through her life, her husband's life, her in-laws' lives, and even her students' lives in my absolute favourite side-plot.

Two black panels with text that says "Are sensei and her girlfriend...bad people?"

Ok, back with more yuri reviews! Even Though We're Adults Ayano and Akari meet up at a bar and kiss, only for Akari to find out Ayano has a husband a few days later. The affair causes their lives to twist and intersect in all kinds of ways, but will they end up together?

Ayano and Akari kiss. In one panel Ayano's eyes are open while Akari's are closed. In the next, Ayano leans into the kiss and grabs Akari's face, which causes her eyes to open in surprise.

A lot of what I'm reading fees very sexless and non-physical in its portrayal of romance, but Run Away With Me, Girl fucking HITS. I think the culmination of Maki and Momo's relationship in their one sex scene is really beautiful, it's my favourite scene in the manga.

A panel from Run Away With Me, Girl. Midori and Momo embrace while having sex. Midori says "Momo, I adore you."

Anyway, Run Away With Me, Girl is good! It handles some complex themes really well; the characters aren't really sugarcoated, Midori especially. She spends most of this story acting erratically and frustratingly as a result of her traumas. The characters make mistakes and fuck up. It's good.

A page from Run Away With Me, Girl. Momo and Midori hold hands. Midori thinks "'Run away with me,' she told me in a voice so quiet only I could hear."

Most of what I've been reading has felt like a response to Class-S fiction, pointing to those sorts of intimate friendships as being true romance and not "just a phase." I think this has a lot to do with me looking specifically for stories about adults and not high-schoolers.

A panel from Run Away With Me, Girl. Midori says "I mean you and me, we're both girls. Only so long we can keep the dream alive, right?"

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