Readers of Comic Yuri Hime monthly, might remember most of the stories in this volume, Anata to Watashi no Shuuhassuu (あなたと私の周波数) by Kuwabara Tamostsu. Each short takes a look at a frustration in life and finds a unique way of addressing it.
In the titular short, a woman who is unsatisfied with her life and her job, admires a colleague’s positive outlook. When she finds an old walkie-talkie in a storeroom, she’s shocked to hear that colleague engaged in a rant on the bandwdth. Unaware that her colleague is listening, Arata-san keeps her cool by letting off steam into this partnerless – she thinks – walkie-talkie.
A woman asks her ex-lover to help bury the corpse of her former life.
A track star finds her love of running renewed when a transfer student is so effortlessly better than she is.
A young woman find love, lunch and family at the same shop, when her lately deceased father turns out to have an another family she had no idea about.
Going out drinking and sharing confidences with your peers is all fun and games until one of turns out to be in love with you, too.
I genuinely enjoyed Kuwabara’s art. The characters feel mostly real emotionally, as well.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – Variable, averaging 8
Characters – Same
Yuri – 6 The stories are less about relationships than communication
Service – 1 on principle
Overall – 8
Overall, a satisfying collection of one-shots. I’ll hope to read more by this artist.