My Top 5 Yuri Manga: Honorable Mention: Strawberry Shake Sweet

By Hayashiya Shizuru. The last post I had on Hayate X Blade segues into this unique, flavorful manga. That mangaka has a flair for ridiculous, occasionally wtf humor, and it really shows in this one. Though my masculinity is starting to feel drastically diminished by posting all these all-girls series, I shall nevertheless forge on, and recoup some of it later by drawing swords and bboying and shit. >.>

Protip: Drawing muscle-y pictures of yourself does not make you more masculine.

Alright, on to the topic. Strawberry Shake Sweet. It's about these two girls who are idols, kinda like models who pose in pictures and do some acting and stuff like that, and one of them's supposed to be mentoring the other. The more experienced one is named Tachibana Julia, and she's pretty assertive and strong willed, as well as unexpectedly perverted, unbeknownst to herself. The other one's Ran Asakawa, and she's basically kind of an airhead, until she starts getting more serious as the series goes on. The series is pretty short, so it's an easy glance-over, and it was one of my first introductions into the world of yuri a few years ago. :3 

Though in this picture, Ran's the one on top. Hahaha. Yeah, she gradually turns that way throughout the chapters. It's kind of a refreshing, light take on yuri that isn't too serious at all, and it's made up mainly of comedy parts. I'd label it as a short comedy yuri if I could, and I think it's pretty acceptable for people just starting out and curious about stuff. You can read it at MangaFox (not gonna provide links for certain reasons--use your google-fu!).

 Strawberry Shake Sweet is also damn cute. Sure, there's no violence or fighting or people dying, but this is pretty good proof that you can have short, sweet stuff that's refreshing to read. Refreshing. I suppose I can also vouch for it because I'm an avid reader of more psychological type manga like Liar Game, Kiseijuu, Vinland Saga, Akumetsu, and so on...and then I stumbled onto this kind of fluffy fare, and I ate it up. :X

Plotwise, this manga is acceptable. It moves along, and you can see Julia and Ran end up with their own different modeling work, and the lighthearted drama that arises from that. The art is nice, and very expressive, while the characters themselves are likable and have their own hilarious quirks. It's really a mix of the characterization and the comedy that makes it good--this isn't the best yuri out there, if you're looking for deep relationship stuff intermingled with realistic emotion and sometimes dark or dramatic or depressing feelings...but it's damn good for what it aspires to do. The group ZLAY (guess what they are parodying?) in particular tends to epitomize the wtf humor.

ZLAY, being retardedly funny and reminiscent of tsukkomi and boke.

And hence why I grant this manga a place on the Top 5 list, even though it's not on the top 5. Yeah, I apologize for being unconventional and stupid. But I will do it anyway. Easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission, right?

Strawberry Shake Sweet gets an Honorable Mention from me. So it is written, so let it be done.