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EP. REVIEW: Bloom Into You


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Chaos Wings



Joined: 05 May 2015
Posts: 277
Location: Your guess is as good as mine?!
PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 12:26 pm Reply with quote
Finally looks like we got a yuri series I can take seriously that isn't trashy and going to rely on pointlessly forced NTR. I'm pretty optimistic about this one, though there are some things that haven't worked for me so far.

I do think Touko jumped the gun with her confession in episode 1. I mean seriously she's known Yuu for all of 5 seconds and she starts crushing because Yuu said a few things that resonated with her. I mean I get that she's excited to find a possible kindred spirit and all, but it comes across as "I love you because you might be a lesbian like me". Then there's the kiss in episode 2, if someone I barely knew did that to me irl their butt would either be hitting the pavement or their face would be stinging like it had fresh sunburn.

Honestly I like most of what I've seen so far and I really hope it continues the sombre slow burn approach to storytelling it's been using. I just want Touko to back off a bit. coz at the moment she's just trying to force the situation and it's starting to making me dislike her. Saying 'just let me love you one-sidedly' isn't very healthy and it's still pressurising, which doesn't help build the relationship considering Yuu is the type that finds it hard to say no.
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vonPeterhof



Joined: 10 Nov 2014
Posts: 729
PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 12:57 pm Reply with quote
Chaos Wings wrote:
Finally looks like we got a yuri series I can take seriously that isn't trashy and going to rely on pointlessly forced NTR. I'm pretty optimistic about this one, though there are some things that haven't worked for me so far.

I do think Touko jumped the gun with her confession in episode 1. I mean seriously she's known Yuu for all of 5 seconds and she starts crushing because Yuu said a few things that resonated with her. I mean I get that she's excited to find a possible kindred spirit and all, but it comes across as "I love you because you might be a lesbian like me". Then there's the kiss in episode 2, if someone I barely knew did that to me irl their butt would either be hitting the pavement or their face would be stinging like it had fresh sunburn.

Honestly I like most of what I've seen so far and I really hope it continues the sombre slow burn approach to storytelling it's been using. I just want Touko to back off a bit. coz at the moment she's just trying to force the situation and it's starting to making me dislike her. Saying 'just let me love you one-sidedly' isn't very healthy and it's still pressurising, which doesn't help build the relationship considering Yuu is the type that finds it hard to say no.
The two bits you mentioned made me uncomfortable too, and it's precisely because the show seems to expect the audience to take it seriously that those bits felt all the more uncomfortable in a way that more openly trashy shows like NTR: Netsuzou Trap, Citrus and (dare I say it) UzaMaid! didn't. In fact I really don't feel like watching any more of the show past episode 2 (to be fair, I don't think I'll be watching more of UzaMaid! either Very Happy ).
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pharmboy23



Joined: 05 Oct 2018
Posts: 196
PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 2:05 pm Reply with quote
Well, I have been a huge fan of this manga for a while (and I pop up everywhere now that I subscribed to the site), so I do have some things to toss my two cents on.

First, excellent review, Rose. It’s really good to see the series through the eyes of somebody with a completely different perspective on the genre than my old white dude self. I was particularly impressed with your analysis of Akari’s rejection by her senpai, as you see right through his lame protestations.

Nanami’s rapid turn to being crazy about Yuu can be read in a few ways. One, you wouldn’t have a story since Yuu is struggling to feel anything at this point and this gives her a focus. Two, Yuu herself in the opening complains about wanting to experience the crazy shojo manga style of love so it’s an irony that she does experience it, but Nanami’s the one it happens to with regard to her, so she’s adjacent to it, like Cupid missed the shot by a few feet. Three, Nanami sees something in Yuu that she needs and Yuu sees more of the real Nanami than anybody else. This last one, really, sticks with me because Nanami’s about as put together as a jigsaw puzzle in a tornado underneath her outward confidence and Yuu gets that better than anybody.

The consent stuff hits the nadir in the third volume of the manga, in an awkward but knowingly awkward scene, but conversely that volume actually has the first moment where I really felt that Yuu’s coming into her own feelings and figuring out what she wants and there’s some romantic vibes going on. Nanami’s pushiness is almost certainly a character flaw borne of the circumstances she’s in and she has a reason (not an excuse) for wanting this so hard.

Yuu herself takes more and more agency as the series goes on. By volume 5 she is clearly on a whole other level than where she started from in terms of herself and the relationship, slow as it may be moving. She’s really one of my favorite manga characters.
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5406
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 3:28 pm Reply with quote
Chaos Wings wrote:
Finally looks like we got a yuri series I can take seriously that isn't trashy and going to rely on pointlessly forced NTR.

I assume you have never watched Sweet Blue Flowers. Not all yuri is trash.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 4:43 pm Reply with quote
Yeah definitely better than most of Yuri show that get adapted that's for sure. I do think the show has a couple of weakness, it's pretty obvious that they rushed the confession right at the beginning to signal what kind of story it was right away, but it really would have made far more sense for it to be at the end of episode 3. Although I can't really explain rushing a kiss, they could have waited and they're going to have a hard time ratching things up from there since the next kiss will just be there second kiss so w/e.

Yuu is also a bit annoying with her quasi resentment of Touko because she's not in love. It comes off as incredibly immature, but I'm not quite sure that's what the show is trying to portray. Honestly I think it would be far better if that part of the story wasn't in it and instead the question would be whether or not Yuu actually like girl.

Also I was pretty happy that this was a co-ed school rather than those Yuri-topia setting where male character are literally unheard of, but they disappeared pretty quickly. Not a big deal, but I do hope they'll be a bit more important, although I am happy that one of the girl isn't a lesbian, it' just weird when Yuri story have literally only lesbian, as if straight wasn't even an option.
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darkchibi07



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 5459
PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 5:24 pm Reply with quote
pharmboy23 wrote:


Yuu herself takes more and more agency as the series goes on. By volume 5 she is clearly on a whole other level than where she started from in terms of herself and the relationship, slow as it may be moving. She’s really one of my favorite manga characters.


Man, will the anime get that far? I heard that entire spoiler[aquarium date] and so forth really hit its stride in addressing a lot of the concerns.
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pharmboy23



Joined: 05 Oct 2018
Posts: 196
PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 6:02 pm Reply with quote
I think Maki will be back as he’s a very interesting male character and very unique. His views are absolutely fascinating and I like his role in the story.

I hope the anime makes it that far. I feel that section could be a real showstopper in terms of animation and there are some very fun relationship beats in there.

I’d argue the series really starts to flip the characters around once spoiler[the school play comes into the plot and Yuu’s ‘whoa I think my heart is pounding is that even possible’ kiss at the end of volume 3.] The way the former turns out to be such a force in the plot is some great writing and turns into a real monkey’s paw for Nanami.
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Hansond Jaysond Lee



Joined: 08 Nov 2015
Posts: 57
PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 6:36 pm Reply with quote
As a manga reader, I'm very pleased with this adaptation so far Smile
Citrus let me down big time in term of the animation & directing quality (they overused the 3DCGs & most of the times, the characters has static expression and some of the iconic scenes from the manga was done worse in the anime, I thought), and this is the exact opposite of Citrus's anime adaptation.
The directing is really good, the slow tracking shots looks smooth, no 3DCG in sight.
The soundtrack is also really fitting for the series as a whole and is really good and calming.
I was afraid that they were gonna overuse the soundtracks on every single scenes, but I'm glad that they let the voice actors do their job. The voice acting is also brilliant.

As for Yuu, I just think that she is still figuring out her sexuality (whether it's straight, lesbian, or asexual)
It's not "one sided love", if one of the party doesn't even understand love and not really outright rejecting the other one.
And I thought what Nanami did wasn't creepy at all.
She said that she never felt any romantic feeling towards anybody, and then she suddenly feels different when she's around Yuu and what she did was only said "I think I'm in love with you". That's it.
I thought what she did was realistic. Are you telling me if you're suddenly alone with some other dude/gal that you find attractive and you're holding their hand, you wouldn't break the ice by saying something like that to them?
Nanami was in the moment. She wasn't thinking straight.
For all we know, this is the first time that she ever fell in love.
So of course she's gonna do/say something stupid. That's what teenagers do.
If she suddenly kiss Yuu at that moment, then I will think that she's creepy.
But all she did was say some stuff.

And that goes for the kiss in episode 2 too.
She was also in the moment. She was upset.
Yuu was saying stuff like "oh, lesbian relationship isn't right", "there's no way you feel that way towards me", "there's no way you're being serious".
If I was Nanami, I'd feel the same way too. I mean, I won't exactly kiss the person that I like per se.
Maybe just hold their hands or caress their cheek. And say stuff like, "I'm not joking, I really like you", "I'm serious about us".
But here's the thing, Yuu is okay with all of this.
She just doesn't understand the meaning of "love" or having someone "special".

I'm kinda glad that Nio Nakatani give us the "first kiss" scene early on. I know, that's just my preference.
I'm always get upset when romance anime do the "slow motion, close up on the lips, they will kiss but something will interrupt them" crap.
For some reason, those always gets on my nerves.

So bottom line, Bloom Into You / Yagate Kimi ni Naru isn't like Netsuzou Trap, where one girl is trying to seduce the main heroine to do lesbian thing.
It's more about a girl wanting to feel "love".
Why can't I be like her? Why can't I love her back? Why I can't love anybody? Why I'm different? Is it wrong that I'm different? Or should I be different? Why can't I have crush? My friend have their crushes, but why not me? Why I can't be like those girls from those shoujo manga?

Anyway, that's just my interpretation.
I'm just a big fan of this series.
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pharmboy23



Joined: 05 Oct 2018
Posts: 196
PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 7:13 pm Reply with quote
The fact that there’s this much to discuss about the series and the variety of interpretations it allows for is a testament to its quality. It is far and away my favorite yuri title and one of my favorite romance manga. There is an intelligence to the writing and a quality to the characters that few stories have.
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Atarakay



Joined: 21 Oct 2018
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 12:22 am Reply with quote
Glad to see mostly positive impressions so far. But I'd just like to warn non-manga readers that despite the romance being quite genuine and wholesome, their relationship is by no means a healthy depiction of romance. Without mentioning any spoilers, there are some developments that will change the meaning of their relationship and leave some heavy implications with every interaction. So if you come in with the expectation that this will be a straightforward and pure adolescent yuri love story you might not get it here... Think of it more as a coming of age experience where two people help each other navigate their restrictive perceptions about love and identity.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 5:37 am Reply with quote
Yet another sempai/kouhai homosexual series. Is there anyway Japan can do this without the aggressive/older person versus pliable/younger, for want of a better word, target?

To me, the entire genre either come across as masked power plays or light and fluffy bundles of fluff like Sakura Kiss where the girls are equals for a change, there's no seriousness to their situation. It's almost like the genre doesn't take the whole notion of itself seriously. It gets even weirder when they can parcel the genre out like "this is yuri for girls and this is yuri for guys" and still have nothing actually different apart from aspect of the relationship they focus on.

I've only watched one episode of Bloom Into You and so far, I'm just not that into you, Bloom Into You.
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A Mystery



Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Posts: 1886
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 6:07 am Reply with quote
In response to the above:
Yuu may not understand love but acts more grown up in other ways. Like actually looking past people's façades. Also; age difference in relationships are almost a given. If it would be an older guy (say 1-2 years older) you wouldn't have said a thing about it, am I right? And while I get that the senpai thingy is unnecessary to most and making their relationship unequal, in public Japanese places people have to address their seniors that way.
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 14 Dec 2012
Posts: 1380
PostPosted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 8:06 am Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:
Yet another sempai/kouhai homosexual series. Is there anyway Japan can do this without the aggressive/older person versus pliable/younger, for want of a better word, target?

To me, the entire genre either come across as masked power plays


ah yes, the dangerous, abusive power plays of...a 16-year-old asking out a 15-year-old. Jeez Japan really needs to cool it with these risque, dangerously unbalanced fantasies don't they. Rolling Eyes
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9809
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 8:16 am Reply with quote
With the minimal age difference here, the personalities of the individuals have more effect than age. In this specific case, as has been mentioned above, spoiler[Yuu is the more mature and is clearly in control of the relationship in spite of being younger.]
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VerQuality



Joined: 01 Oct 2016
Posts: 136
PostPosted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 11:59 am Reply with quote
I'm kind of disappointed no one's mentioned the music of the anime so far. The story has been adapted in a pretty straightforward way so far, but the music (and the richness of the colours, too) has been superb at setting the atmosphere so far. Michiru Oshima is a terrific composer.
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