The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All Volume 2 Review
It’s a good time to be a fan of The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy At All (or ‘green yuri’ as fans call it online) as the third volume of the manga, released in Japan on 20th February, also marked the day that an anime adaptation was confirmed to be in the works. The manga series is still ongoing, with a major character development in the most recent chapters. I won’t say what it was, but the person behind the Yen Press Twitter/X account was excited at least (spoilers in link). In English, the second volume is now out, so what have our rock-and-roll green lesbians been up to?
Aya is the fashionable girl at school, with a secret love for Western rock music and a crush on the boy at her local CD shop. The boy, however, is actually a girl who sits right next to Aya in class, and her name is Mitsuki. When the secret is revealed, the pair are still drawn to each other over their love for Western rock music and passion for creativity. But with their senior year approaching, and talk of colleges on the horizon, will they be torn apart? Or will their blossoming feelings draw them even closer?
Like the previous volume, the book is divided into chapters, three to be exact, but each chapter is filled with multiple stories. As mentioned in my previous review, the manga started off on Twitter, with the maximum of four images, so each ‘story’ is four pages long, and although a few stories flow into each other, they don’t always. This can create a bit of a jarring reading experience. For example: the book opens with the pair talking their feelings out, after Aya comes over to Mitsuki’s, upset she was ditched when they were supposed to go to a concert together. But then it immediately jumps to a flashback with Aya realising Mitsuki had ditched her, airing out her grievances to a friend. THEN we jump in time once again straight into the start of a new school year, with Aya and Mitsuki saying ‘its been a while’, which makes no sense in the context of this book as the passage of time isn’t made clear, and it’s only been a few pages since they were last together. This probably wouldn’t have been an issue if you were reading the manga as it was being posted on Twitter/X, with large gaps in-between each release, so that when Aya and Mitsuki reunited at the start of the new school year, it would have hit differently. But in printed format, there are no pages to divide up each story; there are pages to separate the chapters but not the individual 4-panel stories. I have no doubt that having additional pages to divide up the 35 separate stories in this book would have not only increased the page count but also cost more money, but I personally felt it really needed it in places to help make it a smoother reading experience. I’m hoping the anime adaptation will connect the stories together for a smoother presentation.
Despite the jarring reading experience, the story itself continues right where we left off in Volume 1, with Mitsuki questioning her place in Aya’s friend group, only for Aya to reassure her that she wants to be friends with Mitsuki. The pair continue to share their love for music, and go through the typical high school experiences together, such as school trips and prepping for exams. The major conflict for the first half of the book is Aya’s uncertain feelings towards Mitsuki possibly studying aboard at university, leading to Aya wanting Mitsuki to stay with her and have the best school experience ever. Aya’s feelings are sweet, with hints at her growing attraction but it does start to lose steam by the midway point of the book, when it becomes more about Mitsuki struggling with her studies and making music. Despite that, I did like the introduction of a new character, Kanna, an older woman who’s a former girlfriend of Mitsuki’s uncle and has come from abroad to help them. She’s cool, has a slick look, and her introduction allows a really nice moment for Mitsuki’s uncle, Jo, and a flashback to when he had to make a choice between his girlfriend and his niece. It’s a mature look at relationships, and that sometimes relationships just end when the couple’s goals no longer align; not everything has to end with a big blow-up or argument.
The second half of the book focuses on Mitsuki, her struggles with studying and also finding herself withdrawing from Aya and her friends, as she’s swept away with inspiration for writing a song. I think a lot of creative people will see themselves in Mitsuki, wanting to get lost in the creative process and not loose their ‘inspiration’ or be distracted per se, whether it’s for a song, novel, art, or anything creative. Those on the other side of that will sympathise with Aya, wanting to be supportive or even part of the creative process but having to be patient as the creative person completes their work.
The end of the manga contains the bonus ‘album booklet’ which boasts character art, a ‘day in the life’ segment of our heroines in cut little panels of them across a typical school day, plus some artwork – all in colour! There’s no denying that a lot of love has gone into this release, and not just because of the unique green aesthetic.
Ajani Oloye continues to translate this volume, and I do appreciate the amount of translation notes provided at the end, as well as the author note at the end too.
The second volume of this unique yuri series is best experienced in small batches, as the tightly crammed short story format can make for a grating read at times. But the manga itself is a sweet tale of two girls, falling in love through their love of rock music. I look forward to seeing how this gets translated into anime in the near future.
Our review copy was supplied by Yen Press
