Eku Takeshima’s Whisper Me a Love Song, Volume 2 is genuinely adorable, about relatable, charming characters, an idealized school setting and conflict so small and so satisfyingly reconciled that “cute and fluffy” don’t come close to doing it justice. Amid the noise and haste of the world, this series is an oasis of innocence and joy.
Here in Volume 2, the major conflict on Himari’s side is her idea of what love is does not seem to be matching up with Yori-sempai’s but…and this is a huge but…both she and Yori are thinking about it and talking about with friends and each other. They agree on a course of action to try to see how their feelings will resolve by going out and spending time together. Well…that’s pretty much the point of dating, so rock on girls!
In trying to think of a way to describe this series to a group of folks in order to talk about why publisher ratings are madness, I mentioned that in 5 volumes of this series there’s been nothing more physically intimate than a kiss (and that of those 5 volumes 2 have been mostly taken up with a battle of the bands) and yet, it is rated 16+. I’ve been a manga publisher, I know why publishers are required to be cowards and how that very rating that protects the publishers can be a hassle for librarians. I hope that we’ll talk about that in an upcoming panel, in fact. This is especially crazy when you realize that Even Though We’re Adults and I’m in Love With the Villianess are both give 13+ ratings and both are way more openly queer and adult. All three have different publishers and comparing across publisher is awkward, but, c’mon Kodansha. I’d happily recommend this series to 11 and up, it’s that carefree and well, harmless. I don’t think these ratings are an evil conspiracy, but it’s worth discussing why these choices are made.
Takeshima-sensei’s art really conveys Himari’s joy beautifully. Kevin Steinbach’s translation is fantastic – Yori’s voice in this volume is more perfect than the voice I read her in. At one point she said something and I though, “YES! This is exactly right!” Her cool factor is upped by several degrees, without sounding too adult. Well done. Jennifer Skarupa’s letter matched this perfectly. I’m not sure the last time I absolutely could hear every character so clearly. Tiff Ferentini did a bang-up job on editing because we never notice the editing ^_^ Well done to the entire Kodansha team.
Ratings:
Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – 8
Overall – 8
Whisper Me a Love Song is a sweet treat of a Yuri manga. A genuine delight. Volume 3 and Volume 4 are available in English
and Volume 5 is available in Japanese