Girl Friends is my favorite manga, and it has been for years now. This was my fourth time reading it through(from start to finish), but there were numerous times when i would just re-read some of my favorite chapters. It is my favorite, but i should clarify that i have no delusions of it being the best manga ever made. I realize that it being my favorite is a result of a very personal experience, and a lot of the bias that resulted from said experience.

The main thing you should know about my first experience with Girl Friends is that i read it at a time when i wrote off the Yuri/Shoujo Ai genre(s) entirely. I thought they were worthless content not worth checking out, despite never really giving any a shot myself. I encountered the Girl Friends manga without even knowing it was Yuri, i just thought it was going to be a Shoujo. After i passed the point of no return, the point when its obvious it is a Yuri, i was already hooked. That first read made me excited to give the Yuri genre the chance it deserved. I admit i am super bias, so forgive me if it seems like i am overselling the quality, i just really love this manga.

The protagonists, Akko and Mari(these are their nicknames, but its easier for me to say and remember), are both interesting characters. Akko is an outgoing, straightforward character whose thoughts and actions tend to line up. She is good at socializing and making friends, but is bad with academics and handling more emotionally delicate situations. Mari is an introspective character who is good at academics, but doesn't really try to make friends at the start. Her thoughts and actions dont always line up, she will go along with things just to be polite even if she doesn't want to do them. Mari is probably the primary protagonist considering the fact that she is the perspective character for the majority of the manga. There are times when we are given Akkos perspective, but it is rare until the last dozen chapters. Their relationship is the focus of the manga, with it going from friendship to love.

What i like about the pacing is the fact that they sold me on the friendship first. In the early chapters, we see Mari and Akko develop as friends, with Maris mindset being clear that she only thinks of Akko as a friend. They hang out in their free time, text back and forth when they are not hanging out, keep each others secrets, they even go on diets together. The friendship felt genuine to me. This foundation is essential for the next part of the story, which is Mari's love for Akko damaging their friendship. As someone who has been in situations where i couldn't tell the girl i liked that i liked her, i can relate to the torment Mari feels during these chapters. It is interesting that it acts as both an internal conflict for her and a conflict for her friendship. Mari has to come to terms with the fact that she is in love with Akko and she has to come to terms with the fact that her friendship will never be the same. It also makes Mari question the friendship itself because you think you can tell your best friend anything, and yet this is a big thing that she has to keep from Akko. This is my favorite aspect of the manga for sure, seeing Mari struggle with these things made me always excited to see what would happen next. After seeing two people become so close just to see them become distant was very compelling to me. Akko realizing her feelings wasn't quite as interesting to me, but that is likely a result of Akko just being a much more upbeat character. Mari fears change, when her group of friends are going to face the class switches, she is terrified that it will mean the end of her friendship with everyone. A friend entering into a relationship, and therefore not having as much time to hang out is something Mari dreads. So when the nature of her relationship with Akko changes(because she realizes that she cant tell Akko everything) it really effects her mentality and she becomes emotionally distant. I suppose it was easier for Akko because Mari had already revealed her feelings to her, so when Akkos time came it would be easier. Regardless, Akko is the type of person who would have just gone for it from the start, even if she didn't know of Mari's feelings. It might not have been as interesting, but it was still damn entertaining. I like how dense Mari was at first, and the humorous situations that resulted. With a positive outcome, it is definitely a more optimistic story overall. This isn't a super deep story line, but i like that it had some depth in its characters and relationships. We see that friendship and love are both things that require effort to maintain.

While i will probably end up understating my problems with the manga, remember that i do not think is perfect or the most complex/deep manga in existence. While i like the fact that the manga had a lot of focus on the main characters and their relationship, i do wish there was a little focus on how everyone interpreted their relationship in the end. A big part of the final part is how they will have to overcome society being against lesbian relationships, but they don't really explore that. I don't expect it to go all in on that idea, but i would have liked to see how their families responded to this change. The manga is still good without this, but it is something i would have liked. My biggest complaint with content that exists in the manga itself is the few dialogue moments where they are clearly overselling the idea to the audience. I have noticed this in various manga, including hentai. There are these moments when the writer feels to need to make sure you get the idea. Mari's family always assuming she is acting the way she is because of a boyfriend makes no sense unless you consider that the writer is trying to reassure the audience that this is in fact a yuri. Whenever they commented about how 'its probably because of a boyfriend' i rolled my eyes.

I couldn't think of a organic way of talking about the art but here it is. I really love the art style and character designs. There are moments where the visuals do a good job at conveying the emotions of the scenes. Like the scene where Akko feels a void now that Mari is avoiding her, we see her looking at an empty space next to her on the train. This scene is very basic, but effective in conveying an idea visually. There are many moments like this peppered throughout the story, and it is effective.

This is obvious at this point but i loved this manga. I wont pretend that it is the deepest, most complex, best executed story in the world. But for me, a filthy casual, it is something i really enjoyed. Overall, i am happy i read Girl Friends.