One of my favorite series, and in my top 5 Yuri works (and I have read a very large amount of yuri). It gets a little melodramatic at times but there's a lot of artistry in this series that I think other comments miss.

This series subverts or avoids many of the Yuri tropes that drive me nuts. It is one of the few Yuri stories where it feels like two genuinely queer leads. Like a lot of Yuri stories, identity is one of the major themes in the work, but it informs the world and characters in an uncommonly cohesive way. Characters being queer matters here. It doesn't get too heavy, but it helps diminish the fetishization and weird tropes present in a lot of Yuri.

I found the two main leads very endearing, particularly Sumika. Her character arc is wonderful and maybe just me, but I found her some of the things she struggles with very relatable.a few melodramatic moments aside, I found her decisions and actions pretty reasonable given her insecurities and age. Kazama is more silly at times, but in the heightened reality of the series, it doesn't feel too out of place.

The series gets really depressing and angsty and the will they or won't they does get frustrating, but the highs after it are the sweeter for it. A decent chunk of the series happens after they get together which leads to both cute moments and cathartic character growth and resolution.

The best part of this series by far though is the gorgeous paneling. Do yourself a favor and buy the omnibus volumes from One Peace Books. Seeing the pages one by one on a reader really does not do the amazing layouts justice. This is a masterwork in using framing, panels, and transitions to supercharge emotions and get you to feel what characters are feeling. This one is a real treat to sit down and study passages of if you have any interest in comics as a storytelling medium or just read Understanding Comics once and want to see some breathtaking use of subject to subject transitions.

An absolute hilight of this is the flashback arc halfway through the second omnibus when Sumika realizes she's in love with Kazuma. The way the author uses paneling to evoke all the feelings of first love is masterful. From the way it depicts the sense of spacing out and disassociation when thinking deeply about someone, to the dynamic, euphoric joy of realizing your feelings, to the crash of anxiety as you realize what that entails.

I hardly re-read things, but Whispered Words/Sasameki Koto is something I reread at least twice a year. It's a sweet joy that grips me on every time with characters I enjoy revisiting, and art that amazes me with new details every time I read it.

... Last updated on June 15th, 2021, 1:49am

Cute

This manga made me realize that I love yuri way back when. More details on that in a long review I wrote for the series. The series is NOT an amazing and incredible piece of work, in my opinion, although the author is definitely very skilled with some aspects (like how he depicts emotion). A painfully bogged down ending stretch with a whiff of contrivance and much unnecessary drama keep this from being a completely solid manga. It also kind of drops the ball in other respects. As a romance story, it's at least pretty good I think.

Full review:
https://terrenceswiff.wordpress.com/2016/03/25/sasameki-koto/

So here I am, having followed this series diligently for years I decided to take a year break in order for the scans to catch up after which I went back to finish the series.

It got boring after like chapter 16 or 18, but pulled through till 20 and went to the end to discover, that it took all 53 chapters for the magic to happen. Ugh!!! I cannot believe I even read it up to chapter 20, thank the Lord I skipped to the end to find out what happened. This way too freaken slow.

Solid shoujo ai series. Very enjoyable, hope it gets all 9 volumes done sometime..
The emotions and relationships in this manga are all very believable, which makes for excellent manga.
On another note, this one has one of the cutest confession scenes I read thus far.
Already recommended for that alone! Read it!!

... Last updated on February 3rd, 2012, 11:42am

Main leads are very likable and well defined. But most of the supporting cast are almost caricatures at times, which is a shame. Its pretty obvious at this time that the newer characters is an attempt to create some challenges for the leads and stretch the story out. However, if its going to get better then some of the characters are going to need some serious character development.

The beginning was really good even if achingly slow at times. It had a few nuggets of pure gold in both the comedy and drama departments. However, its gotten a bit uneven lately Imho. Its basically dropped from a 9-10 to 7.5-8 for me. I hope it regains its balance.

This title was made into an anime that had a very good first episode, but the series ended abruptly and was not given a second season, which was unfortunate.
----------------------------->Update
Finished it and dropped the score a bit. The beginning was good, but I don't think it completely got its groove back and the character development for me stalled. Still its decent for Shoujo-Ai fans.

... Last updated on May 16th, 2013, 11:51pm

I loved the first 25 chapters or so, but lately I find that the characters are just pathetic and it made me angry with the author

There is nothing special in the plot or the characters, but the execution is impeccable. The main couple develops extremely well, in a way that makes you truly care for their happiness. The pacing is perfect for the drama to unfold, and there are a few sublime moments that will linger on your mind for a while, such as... (very slight spoiler follows, it wouldn't really matter if you read it now but it will make sense when you get to that part of the manga)


... Last updated on May 23rd, 2011, 3:27pm

This is my first foray in this genre and i am very much pleasantly surprised. Frequent chuckles interspersed with [sometimes oddly stemming from] patches of bittersweetness that make sure the manga remains centred and focused rather than digressing into any ordinary school life manga. The romance is not just about the two main characters, the manga is not just about the romance. As I'm not very knowledgable about this genre, i will stop here. Let me just say that i'm glad that my first shoujo ai was of this caliber and it deserves it's [current] rating of 8.9

EDIT: Ok, so there's less comedy in the last few volumes, but this is still great and i can't believe it's only monthly [or perhaps bi-monthly, i'm not sure].

EDIT 2: Ok ten freaking years later I finally came back and finished it (well, re-read from the beginning, too) because there was a 6-7 month delay in the translation at one point. And...it's differnet to what I remembered. More comedy/jokiness. But some moments still hit really well, there was one part I always remembered through all these years, (the one panel dance with the brother), and overall it's still a really good story. Not the 9/10 I remember but I'll give it a 8.8 simply for the enjoyment. It left me smiling. Those last panels with the wave goodbye to the reader were really cute.
Kind of want a spin-off one-shot on the kouhai but if we don't have it by now we probably never will. MY Thanks to the mangaka!

Oh and the art is GREAT!

Oh also apparently there's a CD drama that's a MUSICAL! that takes place during Sumika's birthday during the first year of the story and it is canon and is referenced a bit during the second. Idk where to find it or even if I'd go watch it, maybe one day, some day.

Criticisms: The 'collapse from exhaustion' and 'virus infected rain-water' tropes are played a couple of times, so that's annoying. Also one of the character is a ridiculously competent heiress who's amazing in economics and such but I just kinda try to forget that as it's a background thing and I can brush it off as a joke. But it's weirdly placed/unnecessary/

... Last updated on March 17th, 2022, 9:12am