An interesting yuri that combines primal desires with class and romance.

Tadokoro-san is a nice little story, and it excels in art and especially romance. I'll summarize it without spoiling much.

~~~Art
(this part's gonna have lots of pictures)~~~

If you're looking to pick up this obscure pixiv manga, there's an 80% chance it's because of the cover image:

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That's the first indicator of whether you might like this manga. It's a pretty 'aesthetic' style of art, and if that's what you're looking for, you can't get much better than this: it's an aesthetic manga about aesthetic manga. It's full of blush marks, heart eyes, ba-dumps, and the like. Alot of this is shown through the art:

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This manga usually keeps to a simple, pretty style:

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but it can be incredibly detailed when it wants to:

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It all depends on the kind of scene.

~Cast~

Now, onto our main characters:

Tadokoro Kageko ("Inko-sensei", and the "Shadow Child") is a bullied, emo girl with an emo style, and alot to her personality. She is a passionate aspiring manga artist with a 'hardboiled' drawing style. She absolutely adores a girl in her class, Nikaidou, and secretly draws her in school.

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Nikaidou Sakurako, (the "Blossom Child") on the other hand, is practically an idol, with everyone wanting her attention.. yet the twist is she secretly adores Tadokoro, too. She's the embodiment of 'strong' and 'graceful' in this manga, almost Valkyrie-like, coming to save her love whenever she needs help.

Nikaidou. is. lewd. By nature. She's always thinking of some spicy thing or another, but she fights against it for Tadokoro's sake, and does a very good job, putting her own desires to the side. She treats Tadokoro and even her mangas with deep respect.

Tadokoro, on the other hand, while equally kind, is more innocent, but doesn't really mind Nikaidou's spiciness. In the end, they are still just young, and are learning about love and sex: both open to anything.

There are also some cool side characters, notably

• Kirigaya-san
• Tadokoro's mom (who has a very interesting design)
• Ranbara Rui, honestly the chillest and most fun character in the story

And all of the characters get development. Their quirks and all stay, but they improve on their flaws and become better.

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~Incredible Romance~

The romance is the highlight of this manga. Even in the simplest things, this manga perfectly captures the feeling of gradual romance, way more than I expected. A simple hand-holding, or walking together, or sharing a cup, or the "eheheh"s (there's alot), or even cuddling, teasing, and saying 'nyah' in the last chapter..

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Of course, it goes further than that: it is sexual. There are plenty of scenes full of characters full-on simping, there are intimate scenes, and there are a few very sexual scenes, especially at the end. But the sex isn't even the focus of those scenes.. it's about the endless spiral of stronger and stronger adoration of each other.

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Somewhat sexual example here ("nsfw")!

[image removed]

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It does get a little more than that but I think those panels showcase the manga better.

~Flaws~

• The main flaw is how all the male characters are portrayed. I get that it's just a yuri but it could've at least not had a male cast ..bc whenever you see a male in this you know they are going to act disgusting, as if they're a manhwa bully. Some of the girls act like that too, but at least they change right after, and become relevant supporting characters for the rest of the story..

~~~(I chose one of the milder panels..)
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• The conflict is also weak as everything works out in our main characters' favor always, and the hints of conflict plots are never actually used, but that's okay because the character development is still there.

• It would've also been nice if, at the end, they had shown that they could have love without sex, at least right after the arc that literally ended with them resolving to. But oh well, it's a sexual-themed manga anyway.

• And finally, Nikaidou making a 'strong, graceful save' gets repetitive.. making Tadokoro the more interesting of the two.

~Conclusion~

So yeah.. those flaws are the only thing stopping me from giving it a much, much higher score.

The chapters are short and hit hard, so you can read it at whatever pace you like. Some chapters create mini-stories and some are episodic.

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If you like yuri, and you're looking for romance, you might like this one. ^^ There's also something of a sequel in progress, but there's not much so far.