Confident Akko has a goal. She wants to become best friends with her quiet and super smart classmate Mari, even if they have never chatted before.
After they became quick friends, Mari has a huge cuteness transformation and begin to realise she might have deeper feelings for her best friend Akko. Unbeknown to her, Akko is becoming aware of her own romantic feelings too. What is going to happen to their friendship now?
| Relationship Context | School couple |
| Couple Dynamic | Silent devoter (Mari) x Blushing beginner (Akko) |
| Title | Girl Friends |
| Author | Milk Morinaga |
| Status | Completed, 2010 |
| Genre | Modern Yuri |
| Tags | Slow burn, Slice-of-life, First love, Mutual pining, Self-discovery |
Review
| Category | Rating (0-3) |
|---|---|
| Romance | 🌸🌸🌸 Flirting in your face |
| Intimacy | 🔥 – 🔥🔥🔥 Ramps up at the end |
| Story | 📝📝📝 Wordy but I like it |
| Pacing | 🚶🏻♀️ Slow and good |
| Emotional damage | 🥺🥺 Hurts but not an overkill |
| Fluff | ☁️☁️ Quite warm and cuddly |
Read this if you are looking for:
– Classic slow burn yuri story of school girls’ first love
– Yearning for more than a friendship but clueless on what to do
– Panic search for a thankfully short lived straight relationship
– Well paced story with defined side characters’ storylines
Personal Thoughts
Truly a classic story setting of a introverted girl Mari catching the eye of the fashionable classmate Akko who got interested to see how pretty Mari can be. They became fast close besties, with Mari being incorporated into Akko’s friend circle too.
Things got heaty when Mari realised that A. she started feeling for Akko way more than a friend should, and B. she wants to get a boyfriend to distract/straighten out herself. Oh yes she also couldn’t help but kissed Akko a few times. Really, who could blame her for not being able to resist that super sweet yet unaware crush of hers?
Akko didn’t know what was up, and it’s not completely her fault that she never reciprocated to Mari’s unintentional kisses which they decided not to speak about. Good thing she began wondering why she even felt jealous of her boyfriend, even though she didn’t know what to do about these new feelings. What she did know for sure was that she did not want Mari to be with anyone else but her.
REVEAL SPOILER HERE
Were there unintentional hurt? Yes. Did they talk, make up, kiss, and become girlfriends? Well, the title speaks for itself. If you want a well paced story with a happy ending where the characters communicate with each other, this is the one.
The bed scene near the end is also a well-fleshed out story point by then! I may not remember the full storyline but I do remember being teary at that part. So proud of them to reach this level of openness and intimacy with each other at last!
Girl Friends checks the boxes for the classic school girls love story of intense yearning for a friend through many repeated interactions in a school setting, and the resulting tension trying to navigate the line between friendship and more. Good thing it’s mutual!
The slower pace is just right and I appreciate getting the perspectives from both main characters who actually talk it out before it’s too late. It doesn’t feel dated even for a re-read too. 10/10 highly recommend!
Additional note: This is the first yuri series I completed more than 10+ years ago, so my review is both dated and coloured by memory. I always love that this is my first yuri read though, so here it is being released as my first review too.
