Bloom into You Vol. 7

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This was a very well written moment by the author and the way she wrote the scene was very thoughtful and sensitive. And to be honest, I think that extra time processing both helped me to enjoy volume 7 more than I would have otherwise. We're finally reaching a point where Yuu and Touko are figuring out their feelings and what they want their relationship to look like, which is so nice after so many volumes. Un po’ sottotono rispetto ai precedenti due ma penso sia normale visto che ci stiamo avvicinando alla conclusione (il numero 8 sarà l’ultimo).

Touko, sad about Yuu, actually shows that she's sad to others, and admits that she's depressed when they ask. There's an adorable scene where Hakozaki-sensei is yelling at Miyako for hanging out with one of Hakozaki-sensei's students (it was Sayaka). We knew from previous volumes that Miyako was the first woman Hakozaki was with and that she had dated men before. Sayaka's arc wasn't just a loose thread to be tied though, it was meaningful character growth for both her and Nanami, and something I think was handled very well. Touko joins a local theater troupe to try and find something that is truly "her" and not just an attempt at recreating her dead sister.But Yuu is so out of her element, having new feelings, trying to express them, only to be turned down, that she can't even see past her own nose. Every other choice makes a woman “unpure” which is why I loathe the concept of purity as a value of a woman’s worth that is still prevalent in this world. You can feel how badly this hurts (for both parties) and how a really bad miscommunication spirals out of control (I often get annoyed by ‘if we talked this would clear the air’ but this one is plausible and sold well, especially since Yuu doesn’t know there’s anything left to actually say).

That final bit I want to highlight is we get some nice stuff with Hakozaki-sensei and her girlfriend, Miyako. Despite a lot of concern and criticism with Yuu finally confessing to Touko at the end of volume 6 and the "inevitability" of their relationship by the time the series ends in volume 8, I still think Yuu provides that representation, which I'll discuss later in this review.But I'm not sure the message, that "it's all or nothing," really applies to all aromantic/asexual people. The other major aspect of this volume that I want to highlight is some very strong writing, both characters and dialogue. The characters need this time to look around how everyone else has changed and how they have changed. Just what changes can someone accept, even if they don't want those changes, but still adore the person?

BTW, I use both aromantic and asexual because they are not interchangeable but the characters don't use either term to identify themselves, so I shouldn't really be assuming anything). I won't spoil the details of the confession, other than to say that Touko knew, for a long time, or at least highly suspected that Sayaka liked her. Remember, in the sex-segregated religious schools, girls only have the option to be either madonna or whore and whore is acceptable only within marriage as “mother”. Also, I just really adore Maki as a character and him being a lovely representation of the aromantic/asexual spectrum. If Bloom Into You were a movie, this would be the part of the movie where, instead of hastening towards the climax, as American movies do, the characters would spend the next half hour moping, then run halfway across town to finally see each other, but Bloom Into You isn’t a movie, so while Touko and Yuu do exactly as described above, there is a different person for us to follow while they mope.

LGBTQ+ representation (0-5): 2 - I'm going to give this some extra loving because of the flashback with Hakozaki-sensei and Miyako that really feels like adult lesbians that exist in the real world and not just fantasy yuri decontextualized from society. I think that what made this volume for me was the fact that our characters have taken almost a break from one another. That's when Yuu sees the beautiful student council president Nanami turn down a suitor with such maturity and finesse that Yuu is inspired to ask her for advice. I personally do not think this would have happened if they did not take this time away from one another. For anyone that's looking for a good romance comic that defies expectations and is relatively chaste, Bloom Into You is a good choice.