Sweet Blue Flowers (青い花) is an 11 episode slice of life yuri drama based on the manga of the same name by Shimura Takako. The series originally aired in Japan ion 2009.
Manjome Fumi moves back to her hometown after years of being away. She is a quiet bookish girl who is prone to crying. The move means that her cousin, who she is in love with, will be further away from her, causing emotional stress. Her cousin, while sharing intimate moments, is soon to be married so their relationship was soon to end regardless. As a possible rebound she becomes enamored with an upper classmate in her new school, the tall and admired Sugimoto Yasuko.
Fumi's childhood friend, Okudaira Akira, attends a prestigious catholic school and is part of the drama club. The club ends up recruiting Yasuko for their upcoming rendition of Wuthering Heights. Fumi begins to date Yasuko as she prepares to work on the play. Are their feelings for each other legitimate or are they using each other as emotional crutches? Yasuko had once attended the private school and had been in love with the teacher and adviser for the drama club. He rejected the young girls feelings for him and she transferred as a way to heal. Both girls are struggling with loosing their first loves and seek to fill that hole with each other.
The animation for this series is dream like as the other anime based on a Shimura-sensei manga, Hourou Musuko. The artwork and color palate perfectly fit the slow moving story. In the beginning I was not hooked on the show and considered to stop watching it after the 3rd episode. The first handful of episodes are mostly setting and exposition. I was uninterested in them as they did not quickly set up the over all theme and plot for the show. In many ways I was concerned this was going to end up being a story about Fumi coming home and falling in love with her childhood friend, who would also turn out to be a lesbian. In reality, thankfully, it is a story about two girls who are trying to use each other to heal from their recent heart break. In honesty, Yasuko may not even have been a lesbian and may have been using Fumi as more of a crutch than she realized.
While not as complex as Hourou Musuko this story again shows the authors ability to weave an excellent tale of emotions and self discovery. The main characters are really Akira and Fumi but the supporting ones are developed well enough to make it natural. After reading the synopses of the manga the anime seems to cover the first half of the story. I guess I will have to track this one down to see what else happens. The same as with Hourou Musuko. With this second series Shimura is becoming a favorite author of mine and I will have to work at tracking down more of her stories. If you are looking for a well done yuri story that is not a caricature or bawdy in delivery and nature this one is perfect.
This anime has been released in North America by Rightstuf and is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
Manjome Fumi moves back to her hometown after years of being away. She is a quiet bookish girl who is prone to crying. The move means that her cousin, who she is in love with, will be further away from her, causing emotional stress. Her cousin, while sharing intimate moments, is soon to be married so their relationship was soon to end regardless. As a possible rebound she becomes enamored with an upper classmate in her new school, the tall and admired Sugimoto Yasuko.
Fumi's childhood friend, Okudaira Akira, attends a prestigious catholic school and is part of the drama club. The club ends up recruiting Yasuko for their upcoming rendition of Wuthering Heights. Fumi begins to date Yasuko as she prepares to work on the play. Are their feelings for each other legitimate or are they using each other as emotional crutches? Yasuko had once attended the private school and had been in love with the teacher and adviser for the drama club. He rejected the young girls feelings for him and she transferred as a way to heal. Both girls are struggling with loosing their first loves and seek to fill that hole with each other.
The animation for this series is dream like as the other anime based on a Shimura-sensei manga, Hourou Musuko. The artwork and color palate perfectly fit the slow moving story. In the beginning I was not hooked on the show and considered to stop watching it after the 3rd episode. The first handful of episodes are mostly setting and exposition. I was uninterested in them as they did not quickly set up the over all theme and plot for the show. In many ways I was concerned this was going to end up being a story about Fumi coming home and falling in love with her childhood friend, who would also turn out to be a lesbian. In reality, thankfully, it is a story about two girls who are trying to use each other to heal from their recent heart break. In honesty, Yasuko may not even have been a lesbian and may have been using Fumi as more of a crutch than she realized.
While not as complex as Hourou Musuko this story again shows the authors ability to weave an excellent tale of emotions and self discovery. The main characters are really Akira and Fumi but the supporting ones are developed well enough to make it natural. After reading the synopses of the manga the anime seems to cover the first half of the story. I guess I will have to track this one down to see what else happens. The same as with Hourou Musuko. With this second series Shimura is becoming a favorite author of mine and I will have to work at tracking down more of her stories. If you are looking for a well done yuri story that is not a caricature or bawdy in delivery and nature this one is perfect.
This anime has been released in North America by Rightstuf and is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
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