In Luminous= Blue, Volume 1 (ルミナス=ブルー ), Tarumizu Kou loves photography. She loves taking pictures of landscapes and buildings, but most especially, of people. On her way to her new school, she discovers who girls from the same school who immediately become her favorite subjects to photograph. She’s come to this high school specifically to join the renowned Photography Club…only to learn that its been dissolved. Unfazed, Kou accepts a challenge from the former club president to reform it if she wins a competition.
More importantly, Kou meets her new muses, Amane and Nene. As she spends time with these two close friends, Kou find herself inspired artistically, and moved emotionally. After a photo shoot with amateur model Nene, in which Kou learns Nene’s secret and her pain. In time-honored fashion, Kou finds herself falling for her muse.
Meanwhile, we can see the club president and Amane also have some kind of relationship. Amane is modeling, but is it something more?
This series has now completed in the magazine, but this beginning was a so strong that I had a hard time purchasing this volume, as it kept being sold out! I can understand why, too, as this is an unusually compelling story for which I honestly could not imagine a good resolution. (Spoiler: it had a great resolution.)
Ratings:
Art – 8
Character – 8
Story – 8
Service – 4 The visuals are occasionally erotic, whether they read as salacious is up to you.
Yuri – 6
Overall – 8
Iwami Kyouko’s work is already familiar to us, Transparent Light Blue was licensed early this year. I’m hoping that we’ll see this series, which is vastly superior in both art and story telling.
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