[Februaryuri 2024 rerun] Ah and Mm Are All She Says

20 Dec, 2024

Preliminary note: this manga revolves around the creation of pornographic mangas, and can consequently be considered 18+ itself. Though its NSFW panels are somewhat sparse and it is much more centered on art creation, its conversation with this genre remains its main topic. Please exercise appropriate caution.

(base post on Februaryuri here!)

(note that all that follows, unless mentioned explicitly or in the rerun section, was written in February 2024)

Ah... and Mm... Are All She Says (Aa toka uu shika ienai), by Shouma Kondou

Publication

Ended (4 volumes)
Unpublished in English (fan-translation readable here or here)
Unpublished in French

Summary

Tanaka is a young manga editor who's always had a harder time fitting in and socializing than reading manga; and though it makes sense that she'd end up working in that industry... well, she didn't exactly plan to work in a pornographic manga magazine. Not that it's a problem per se, but, you know - erotic oneshots aren't exactly the best place to make her love for fictional characters shine. And so all this isn't really a passion - and Tanaka doesn't really know what she brings to the authors she supervises.

But some day, a young woman reaches the building where Tanaka works and insists on getting published. It isn't easy: this newcomer struggles, and she apparently always did, to find the right words; her main way of communication is "Ah" for yes and "Mm" for no. Tanaka is here to listen, though - and she mostly learns that her name is Seiko Toda, that she is houseless, extremely vague on her past, and incapable of putting words on what drew her to eromanga. And yet, as Tanaka reads the draft Toda-san submitted, the editor becomes convinced of one thing: she's so damn good at this.

Of course, there are improvements Tanaka could suggest. And her work could do with more, say, sexual utility. But the person she has in front of her, without a doubt, knows how to create an atmosphere, and memorable characters, and just weave sex into these stories. And this-- this approach is something Tanaka gets.
Convinced, she makes Toda-san sign a publishing contract, agrees to supervising her as an editor, and lends her an extra room in her appartment until the rookie author finds her own.

And thus these two begin their cohabitation, and start bringing porn with plot to the industry.

Comment

First thing first: this manga is not porn per se, but it does contain occasional explicit depictions of fictional, in-universe pornographic mangas, starting on page 2 (in part for shock value and to set the tone). Also, this is basically its whole topic (though the manga itself isn't made for sexual titillation; it's surprisingly very matter-of-fact about eromanga!). As such, this recommendation itself is 18+.

As for my comment, well... Hear me out. It was a bit of a mistake to put this one on a yuri list, and to advertise it as yuri as a consequence.

There is some kind of weird will-they-won't-they tension between the two leads: they do have some very strong alchemy, and everyone around them is quickly convinced they're an item; and yet it's also clear that they are not. And you'll probably be glad that the characters are adamant about that - there's actually a handful of reasons that could make you uncomfortable about a romance here (starting with power imbalance, and see CW list for more details if you need it). The manga is aware of these, and walks a fine line between somewhat shipping the two leads and being a categorical no in practice. And yet it is no bait: there is something in the last few pages that still hints at a potential future romantic relationship, once the problematic elements have settled.
In my opinion, it is the best way out of this setup - at the very least, I ended up liking this middle ground the story finds about its main relationship. I suspect it's a YMMV situation, though: I expected to be squicked out and was not, because I felt like it was rather well-handled in spite of everything I feared or expected; but I'd very much understand if you feel differently when you get to the end. Anyway: the details would deserve an in-depth discussion with people who have read it all, and not this kind of recommendation post.
So, bottom line: don't think too much in advance about the yuri in this one. You can think about it later if you ever read it until the very end. You'll be better off focusing on the actual story in the meantime.

To be honest, I used this manga's yuri element more as a cop-out to advertise it here. I'd feel very awkward about recommending it out of the blue¹ because of its heavy and uncomfortable themes and all, so when I bound myself to this whole challenge my brain just bullied me until I yielded and mentioned it here. Because... well, because this manga is such an oddity.
Its art is very weird, its plot is unheard of, its two main characters are basically explicitly neurodivergent and one of them has some speech impairment simply because why wouldn't she?, and it just has so many things to say on so many topics: on being an artist and pouring your experiences and traumas out on the page, on fanfic/doujinshi creations and what it's like to be obsessed with a work of fiction, on people's relationship to pornography consumption, and even on how minors' exposure to sex and sexual content can or cannot be restricted. And, of course, on writing porn mangas.
And in my opinion, it nails the way it represents and discusses all of this. I kid you not. This is a big bag of dicey topics, and it does justice to all of them, as best it can, within the limited scope of its four volumes. I've spent a lot of my own read being wary and amazed in turn, and it exceeded my expectations about everything it set up, always managing to be oddly captivating.

Of course, it stumbles occasionally. There are one or two problematic "jokes" in there (nonconsensual breast groping, mainly) that get even more problematic as the story goes. And, you know, maybe you will have a different opinion on how it goes about its main themes and will feel unsettled by some elements. I'd understand that, considering the topics.
But to me, there's just so much in this story that is good and weird and well-handled and interesting that I was curiously able to overlook its missteps - much more than I thought I would be, as my personal threshold is usually very low. And somehow, I miss the realness of its two main characters, and how the story unfolds in so many captivating ways and tackles so many deep topics, I-- I just--

I actually have no other way of stating this: I'm weirdly fascinated by this manga, y'all. I can't explain why, I just am, and I hope it'll resonate with some of you, too.

Rerun section

Thinking back on it, I'm not that surprised that this manga struck something in me. I think it's the combination of its topics: art creation and the outlet it can be (I seem to be really moved by works that talk about art lately); representations and messy socializations around sex, and sex as a somewhat normalized if complicated topic; and very neurodivergent leads.

I have been hesitant about reposting this recommendation here, though: Ah and Mm is wildly different from the rest of the Februaryuri batch, and looking back I sometimes feel a bit uncomfortable about some of its setup if I think about it too much - and yet, there is something in all of this manga's themes and how genuine it feels that compels me to mention it. I can't help but wonder whether the author drew from elements of their own life for some of its aspects; and I still remember it as a truly fascinating read.

Really, this manga is one of a kind.

#cohost #februaryuri 2024 #yuri