#not steamy

Based on the hit manga, light novel, and anime series by Nakatani Nio. Experience the world of this beloved yuri romance through the perspectives of other creators!

More tales of budding relationships featuring Yuu, Touko, Sayaka, and all your other faves! Maid outfits, kisses stolen during student council meetings, Touko cross-dressing, and bathtime with Riko and Miyako—all that and more can be found in this collection of stories about girls blooming into love…with each other!

Title: Bloom Into You Anthology

Mangaka: Various Artists

Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment

Format: Digital/Print

Steam Level: Not Steamy

Status: Ongoing (?)

Book 1: https://www.rightstufanime.com/Bloom-Into-You-Anthology-Manga-Volume-1

Book 2: https://www.rightstufanime.com/Bloom-Into-You-Anthology-Manga-Volume-2

Recommended

Heads up, I did not have an opportunity to read the second volume but from reviews I’ve read people did enjoy it.

Anthologies based on a well loved world like this can either be fantastic or a dumpster fire. When I saw that the original creator, Nakatani Nio, was involved I became cautiously optimistic. And now I’m happily optimistic for volume two. With an impressive contributor list, these stories were understandably cute and funny. Not a sad one in the mix. Though one with Sayaka and Touko was bittersweet knowing how things turned out at the end of the manga series for Sayaka. After reading ten volumes with Nakatani Nio’s style it was a bit weird reading a bunch of entries in very different art styles. My favorite story centers around the barista and teacher couple (who, in all honesty, I’d love to see them have their own series) in the original series and that story is a little steamy, the most in this collection though it wasn’t that steamy. This whole book was an adorable addition to the universe but a little unsatisfying since the stories are very short and take place during the series. I’m not sure if this anthology series is over or if there will be more. Hopefully more. Overall, this was really enjoyable and I hope to get volume two soon.

Favorite Entry: Bitter Coffee Time by Hiroichi

Saeki Sayaka has always been an old soul—serious and reserved, preferring to focus on her studies rather than make friends. Until, that is, a romantic confession from another girl in middle school turns her carefully ordered world upside down. Though none of her classes have prepared her for this, Saeki must now come to terms with her sexuality in this gentle, coming-of-age novel about grappling with first love, growing up, and relating to other people.

Title: Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka

Writer: Hitoma Iruma

Artist: Nio Nakatani

Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment

Format: Digital/Print

Steam Level: Not Steamy

Status: Complete

Book 1: https://www.rightstufanime.com/Bloom-Into-You-Regarding-Saeki-Sayaka-Novel-Volume-1

Book 2: https://www.rightstufanime.com/Bloom-Into-You-Regarding-Saeki-Sayaka-Novel-Volume-2

Book 3: https://www.rightstufanime.com/Bloom-Into-You-Regarding-Saeki-Sayaka-Novel-Volume-3

Recommended

When I saw they were doing a three book light novel series for Sayaka, I was interested but not as ecstatic as others online seemed to be. I liked the character and after reading these books I love her. I found this series bittersweet and it really stuck with me, even weeks afterwards. The author isn’t Nio Nakatani (the one who created and drew the manga) but she is the one who drew the scattered illustrations and that is a treat.

BOOK 1

This one starts when Sayaka is in grade school, which is new content, and goes through middle school, which is content we’ve seen previously. The new, younger, content was interesting to see because it planted the seeds we see come to fruition in middle school. I really liked that we get a lot of her home life and it showed how Sayaka’s personality had always been. The middle school content you get the gist of from the manga but with more details and get a better understanding about what happened to her. Even knowing from the get go how this was going to end, I found myself sad for Sayaka at the end of the book and wishing it had been happy.

BOOK 2

This starts where the manga starts and at first I thought it was just going to be a rehash from Sayaka‘s point of view but the first chapter ends with her deciding to confess to Touko. Then it goes back in time to when Sayaka first gets into high school before she meets Touko. You learn A LOT about Sayaka, her mindset, and her motivations. I always thought the manga series would have played out much differently if Sayaka hadn’t been a coward and while I still think the series would be different if she had been brave, I would now call her overly cautious, not a coward. For me, this book really made me see why people love this character and why they’d ship her with Touko. And again, even though I knew how it was going to end, I was heartbroken for Sayaka and wished a better outcome for her.

BOOK 3

This takes place in college and the epilogue of the manga series takes place during this book. This book is basically all new content, the only things we know before this from the manga is Haru’s name as Sayaka‘s girlfriend and that Sayaka and Yuu talk/keep in touch. I liked this book a lot and the build up was wonderfully paced but then it suddenly jumps ahead from confession to firmly established relationship then ends. We go through all that building of the relationship and don’t get the payoff of seeing their first kiss, or how they navigate from friends to romantic partners, or any of those firsts couples have that we got in the manga between Touko and Yuu. I was greatly disappointed by that and think there could have been a fourth book. This is also the book a lot of the bittersweet feelings came for me. We see that Sayaka and Touko have drifted apart, and will continue to do so, but interestingly she’s become pretty good friends with Yuu. I was sad that such an intense, important, friendship was gone especially since I had spent ten books seeing how close and important they were to each other.

If the last book had been twice as long or there’d been a fourth book of Haru and Sayaka becoming an established couple, I would have given this series a highly recommended but you do get so much insight into Sayaka (who I now absolutely love) and finally see her happy. Overall, this series is definitely worth your time and money.

Anime: Mysteria Friends

Welcome to Mysteria Academy, where the secrets of magic are taught to an eager student body composed of humans, gods and demons. Of course, it takes an unusual degree of tolerance for these groups to mingle freely, but thanks to this unusually diverse and inclusive educational experience, the most unlikely friendships are bound to spring up. Which is how Anne, a human honor student who happens to be a Princess, finds herself growing increasingly close to Grea, a half-human/half-dragon who also happens to be a Princess.

Sure, fairy tales would have you believe that relationships between Princesses and Dragons are bound to end up badly, but that doesn't take bonding while shopping and trips to the beach into account, let alone the fact that what they're feeling may be a little more than just friendship!

Title: Mysteria Friends

Publisher: Sentai Filmworks

Format: Blu-Ray

Voice Acting: Subtitles and Dubbed

Run Time: 150 minutes

Steam Level: Not Steamy

Link: https://www.rightstufanime.com/Mysteria-Friends-Blu-ray

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Another anime I knew nothing about but looked interesting so I picked it up on sale. I am so glad I did. It’s a short series at only 10 episodes and each episode is only 15 minutes long, it feels longer in a good way. It was only after watching it (not sure why I picked up the limited edition box for something I knew nothing about) that I read the special booklet that came with the box set and learned this was based on a game called Rage of Bahamut (this anime is a sort of prequel outside the game storyline) and the original Japanese voice actresses that voiced the game characters, Grea and Anne, did so here in the anime too. Way cool they could get them to do that. Even though it’s based on a game, I didn’t feel like I was missing something or lost as to what was happening. The characters were engaging and fun, the art was gorgeous, and the music perfect. After looking around the internet about this, I found out this project had been announced, then delayed and thought dead until Cygames picked it up. I could not find anything about a sequel series (I’m holding out hope for one.) There were also a couple of people saying that in the scene where they’re swimming, it really looks like they kiss (you see their shadows get closer) but I don’t think they actually do because the way they act around each other doesn’t change and the last episode feels more like two close friends (secretly crushing on each other) getting closer and an off screen kiss without any acknowledgement of it afterwards doesn’t feel like something this beautiful and wonderfully paced anime would do. When I watched this there were a lot of those “I have a crush on this person” clichés that makes me think if we got a sequel there would be a love confession, that’s why I put this down as “subtext.” As much as I would have loved to seen them get together here, I think with the pacing of this anime that it would’ve been too quick and not quite right to do in this set of 10 episodes. Cross your fingers for more!

Ordinary office worker Oohashi Rei wakes up in the body of the protagonist of her favorite otome game, Revolution. To her delight, the first person to greet her is also her favorite character, Claire François–the main antagonist of the story! Now, Rei is determined to romance Claire instead of the game’s male leads. But how will her villainous lady love react to this new courtship?!

Title: I'm In Love With The Villainess

Writer: Inori

Artist: Hanagata

Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment

Format: Digital/Print

Steam Level: Not Steamy

Status: Ongoing

Book 1: https://www.rightstufanime.com/Im-in-Love-with-the-Villainess-Novel-Volume-1

Book 2: https://www.rightstufanime.com/Im-in-Love-with-the-Villainess-Novel-Volume-2

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

If there was a way to give a higher recommendation I absolutely would, I loved it that much. This series is ongoing (to at least volume 4 so far) though these two volumes make a complete story arc. I haven’t read an Isekai story before and now can understand why they’re so popular, it was a bunch of fun. According to Wikipedia, isekai is “a genre of light novels, manga, anime and video games that revolve around a person from Earth who is transported to and has to survive in another world, such as a fantasy world, virtual world or parallel universe.” Revolution, the game Rae is transported to, is set in a fictional Europe but reading between the lines (and with a name like Claire François as the love interest) its setting is a fictional France and the French Revolution. The characters are super fun and I greatly enjoyed watching them change and grow. Normally, stories with political intrigue bore me to tears so this world fascinating me and keeping me wanting to learn more was a big surprise. How the world is explained was well done, not at all feeling like a tedious info dump, just what you need to know a bit at a time stacked on what you have already learned. I really loved that Rae’s deep knowledge of this world is because she researched deeply into it to write fanfiction for Revolution. Who hasn’t done that? For the most part, first person narration annoys the heck out of me but this was a delight and the conversational, jokey tone didn’t go overboard. There is a mention of suicide in book two from Rae’s life on earth that is just heartbreaking though, thankfully, isn’t gone into detail. From what I’ve read, the original text does use honorifics like “-san” and “-sama” but those are changed in this translation to “Miss” and “Master” which absolutely makes sense in this setting of a fictional Europe.

After I finished reading, I wanted to immediately reread it to catch all the little hints of what is going on (and what will happen) that I completely missed. Inori tied everything together beautifully. One of my two biggest complaints is how little art is sprinkled in the books, there were so many amazing scenes I would have liked to have seen. The second thing is in book two, I could not get a grasp on how much time passed between the last chapter and the epilogue (though the special extra chapter helped with that.)

There was some controversy recently (March 2020) about a passage left out that explained and helped make Rae sympathetic. It is absolutely understandable why people are put off/uncomfortable with how Rae acts towards Claire, I took her over the top antics for what they were, Rae protecting herself and at the same time what an insecure Claire needed (no hiding and consistent feelings.)

Here is a very good post about it all: https://yurimother.com/post/646128158505041920/light-novel-im-in-love-with-the-villainess

It took me three days to read both books (I had to work one of those days or it would have been two), I could not put these down and I already preordered the next book. Do yourself a favor and get these books.

A fateful pizza delivery leads two teens to romance and self-exploration.

Title: Girls Like You

Author: goatpunch

Steam Level: Not Steamy

Status: Ongoing

Free or Paid: Free

Tapas: https://tapas.io/series/Girls-Like-You/

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

How much am I enjoying this series? I backed the Kickstarter to print the first volume. Their meet cute and growing friendship is adorable. I am a sucker for stories where you know they like each other but are uncertain if the other does. Yay pining! The art is solid and you don’t have to guess what the character is feeling or read the speech bubbles for it. I look forward to each update.

Yuu Koito thought love would be something amazing and magical, but when a male friend asks her to date, she feels nothing. She doesn't even know how to respond until she overhears the student council president of her new high school, Touko Nanami, turning down a similar request.

With Touko's help, Yuu manages to let her friend down gracefully, but then Touko confesses that she, herself, is starting to have feelings for Yuu, leaving Yuu in a quandary. Yuu doesn't think that she's in love with Touko, but she does feel something. As Yuu joins the Student Council, and she and Touko become closer, her confusion about her feelings only continues to grow. Because you can't control who you love, or who falls in love with you.

Title: Bloom Into You

Publisher: Sentai Filmworks

Format: Blu-ray

Voice Acting: Subtitles and Dubbed

Run Time: 325 minutes

Steam Level: Not Steamy

Link: https://www.rightstufanime.com/Bloom-Into-You-Blu-ray

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

All the hype and praises of this installment of the anime made me very nervous to try it. There have been countless times I’ve read/watched/played queer media that’s been praised like this that I just did not enjoy.

This lived up to all the hype.

The opening sequence is stunning. Most anime openings I let play since I enjoy the song but usually grab a drink or do something else quickly and not actively watch because the animation doesn’t hold my interest. This I found myself glued to the screen, it was gorgeous and the song was fantastic. Even the closing sequence was fun to watch with a great song.

This season, the only one so far (2021), covers chapters 1-24 (books 1-5) through the aquarium date. The animation is beautifully done with scenes that are absolutely wonderful. This isn’t an action series with a lot of cuts but a leisurely slice of life and the spot on pacing reflects it. The series follows the manga pretty well with only a few changes (most notably the aquarium date.) I watched the dubbed version and the voice acting was pretty good even though the subtitled version and the dubbed script was a tad different. The scene between Yuu and Touko where Yuu is calling Touko by her first name is different in the dubbed version and the subtitled version. The dubbed version is about pet names and the subtitled version is about using first names (which is the version in the manga.) in Japan, people usually address non-family members by their surname and an honorific, first names is considered very intimate. Hence, why the subtitled version and dubbed version of this scene is different.

There has been no announcement of a second season yet but don’t despair, it’s not like American television where if the next season doesn’t happen the next year it won’t happen. It’s not that uncommon for there to be years between seasons. So keep those fingers crossed for an announcement soon.

I could only find the opening sequence with subtitles on Spanish, but it’s still worth watching

The closing sequence I could only find without subtitles but the song is so much fun, it’s worth watching this