Even Though We're Adults (
おとなになっても) is a slice of life yuri romance manga by Shimura Takako. The manga was published between 2019 and 2023 and has been compiled into 10 tankoubon.
Elementary school teacher, Okubo Ayano, enjoys a rare night out at a small restaurant she visits from time to time. The night slips away and she finds herself in the apartment of a woman who sat next to her at the bar. Overwhelmed by emotions and unexplainable feelings, Ayano is drawn to her in ways she never felt possible. Unwilling to dive too far too quickly, the other woman, Hirayama Akari, probes Ayano's feelings, searching for signs of trouble if she goes further. Akari has not had a good track record when it comes to finding lasting love. She tries to protect herself as well as she can by applying a series of litmus tests to a potential partner. Ayano confesses she has never really felt this way about a woman before, not a deal breaker for Akari, who hopes that this new and exciting woman is just a late bloomer. The pair exchange contact information and part ways before they decide to go any further, not wanting to ruin anything that may grow between them.
Akari doesn't have long to wait to see Ayano again, nor does she have long to wait to see if the relationship will work. The following week Ayano returns to the restaurant for dinner, accompanied with a man. Ayano discreetly tells the stunned woman that the man is her husband, Wataru, crushing her freshly awakened dreams of happiness and companionship. Afterwards, Ayano begins to open up to Akari about her situation, struggling with how to proceed, drawn strongly to Akari. Ayano has never knowingly become emotionally drawn to another woman but hasn't exactly lead a traditional wife role. She met her husband when she was 30 through an arrangement and the two decided to get married because it didn't seem like a bad idea. After five years together, Ayano doesn't know if there is any real love for her husband and if she is staying with him out of convenience. A better alternative to her current situation has not presented its self until Akari appeared before her. Now she struggles with how to proceed, recognizing that there is little in the way of love between her and Wataru.
Akari has been involved in situations like this before and has little desire to do so again, but something about the timid school teacher stirs deep emotions in her. She had left her previous job as a stylist due to a woman she was madly in love with leaving her for a man she ended up marrying and having a child with. She has been in situations where someone is cheating on their spouse with her as well and has always received the short end of the stick. She just wants to find someone she can be with long term and not have to play childish emotional games. Ayano struggles with her feelings and quickly reveals to her husband what happened, causing panic. She feels trapped suddenly, in part due to her mother-in-law pressuring them to get serious about having children. The revelation leads to Wataru and Akari meeting in a tense situation and his mother finding out about the infidelity. His mother brushes it off, as it was little more than an innocent kiss between two women, ignoring any possibility of the intense emotional waves emanating from both parties. She also forces the couple to move into the family home, using Wataru's father hospitalization as a catalyst.
The possibility of the two women finding comfort in each others arms seems to be evaporating as quickly as it began. Ayano, through being open and honest with her husband, has been backed into a situation that seems like forced domestication. She has expressed her desire for a divorce but Wataru is refusing to agree to it. Life within her in-laws house finds her always under the watchful eye of her mother-in-law. She has resigned herself to her fate, but the feelings for Akari persist and grow. Akari struggles with distancing herself from the problem that is Ayano's domestic situation. To limit continued contact with anyone related to her, she leaves her job at the restaurant, returning to the hair salon she previously worked at. The change leads her to move as well but this puts her closer in contact with Ayano and the Okubo family than she ever would have anticipated. The two women, drawn to each other stronger with the passage of time, struggle to navigate the complicated and delicate situation that they both find themselves in. No one wants to move forward while leaving a wake of misery and hatred in their path.
I have been a massive fan of Shimura Takako's work since I read her beautiful manga Wandering Son. When I learned of this newer series of hers and that it was about an adult relationship I was more than happy to dive into it and dive I did! This manga and Skip & Loafer kicked off my significant increase in manga purchasing in 2023, seeing me hitting book stores every week to pick up new volumes...if not the following day. I digress though. I have consumed a lot of romance in the past twenty years, but largely in anime form and have a massive void when it comes to manga, as there is so much more that exists. On top of that, there are few romance stories I have gone over that deal with adults, as most accessible titles and anime are stories revolving around high school aged children. When it comes to a yuri romance based around adults...well that comes down to one, this one. Even Though We're Adults is my introduction to the world of adult yuri and I don't know if it is a benchmark of the genre, an outlier or a boring and repetitive one. Take this severe lack of exposure into consideration in regards to my thoughts and critiques of this manga as a whole. I am coming at it from the ground floor.
Its inevitable that you come across reviews or opinions on a story that can influence your feelings on it. I did that after reading the first volume out of curiosity and its made me wonder about the reality of the critiques when compared to the rest of the genre that I am not yet as deeply familiar with. The main critique is that this is a story that focuses on a toxic hetero normative complication in what should be a blossoming lesbian partnership. Akari herself, through out the story, continues to remind herself that shes not the bad guy in the situation. She didn't seek out a married woman to seduce over to her side. Yet she has to face off with a growing list of passive agitators while she tries to navigate her own emotions. She is a victim of circumstance and falsehoods, lies she was not responsible for but was party to against her own desires. Or that was the way it was in the beginning. As time goes on, and Ayano continues to appear in her life and reaffirm mutual feelings, Akari resist the urge to expose her continued distraction to her family. Ayano is incredibly passive, more than willing to play along with the demands placed on her by the husband she no longer wants to be with and his mother. Her inability to make drastic changes in her life causing nothing but strife for herself and Akari.
The story focuses largely on the struggles of its characters as they move through the evolving situations they find themselves in. They are all adults and try to make themselves understood as much as they can. There is no room for agonized internal dialogue, forever fretting over fictional scenarios of doubt and regret. There is a lot of doubt and regret though, but its less about inability to communicate and more about hesitation due to expectations based on experiences in the past. Akari has had a terrible romantic live, always getting the short end of the stick in every relationship, unable to find someone she can keep for her self. These past pains drive much of her hesitation regarding Ayano, even after Ayano has left her husband. She struggles to quell her emotions for the other woman and finds herself lost every time they run into each other. As the story progresses more people in their orbit become enmeshed in the central drama, struggling with their own issues that exist on the periphery, unintentionally instigated by a chance encounter at a bar one evening. This is a fantastic story that has me wanting more. I have long respected Shimura sensei's work. Another fantastic series by her is the equally complicated adult romance Koi Iji. Both are well worth the time...if only either of them would get an anime adaptation.
The manga was released in English by Seven Sea's, with the final volume being published in February of 2025. A live action adaptation is slatted to premier in April of 2025 on Hulu.
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