[Februaryuri 2024 rerun] Whisper Me a Love Song

08 Dec, 2024

(base post on Februaryuri here!)

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

Whisper Me a Love Song (Sasayaku You ni Koi wo Utau), by Eku Takeshima

Publication

Ongoing (10 volumes)
Published in English (Kodansha), 8 volumes so far
Published in French (Taifu Comics) under the title Whispering You a Love Song, 6 volumes so far

Summary

Himari Kino is a bundle of joy and enthusiasm, and she just entered high school. At the welcome party's concert, she's mesmerized by Yori, one of the school's bands lead singer. The next time they meet per chance at school, she just blurts it out: she's fallen in love with Yori's music. Emphasis on music.
The senpai, of course, struggles to not interpret it as a love confession; and she may have fallen in love - period - in return.

Himari, however, is completely oblivious to the whole situation - and to how loaded her own words are. She's here for the music; and so when she learns that Yori was in the band only as a one-time gig and doesn't plan on singing or writing more songs, she's devastated. Yori, faced with Himari's unstoppable admiration, changes her mind... with the thought that maybe this'll make the young kouhai actually fall for her.

Slowly, as the two of them talk about it, Himari starts questioning what being in love means - and whether her own feelings, different from the depictions of love she's used to, deserve this name.

Comment

I tried very hard to write this comment by comparing Love Song to Kase-san, the other contender in the "wholesome high school yuri basically free of caveats" subgenre. Then to Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon's similar discussions about what love is. But you know what? Whisper Me a Love Song deserves to stand on its own two feet.

So: this manga is really good and cute. Just as its protagonist, it's bubbly, cheerful, energetic, and it powers through obstacles with sheer determination. It's the one title from this list that doesn't really have a "specific element that makes it unique in context" as much as the others, which makes it harder to advertise, but it's just plain good at what it does: high school yuri with zero drawback.

Additionally, it does weave a good reflection on what love is into its first arc: Himari is that one enthusiastic manga protagonist who loves everyone, and that is actually a plot point here. Indeed, she is waiting for something more to bloom regarding her senpai, and that doesn't really happen. What happens, though, is that they get close, and Himari gets used to this closeness, to telling and sharing all sorts of things with Yori in particular - and that, too, may possibly be called love.
This reflection is supported quite well by several side characters our protagonist asks about how they view love. Overall: she thinks! She questions! She's honest with the senpai pining on her, too, and they talk about it. She tells her how it's not a no, how she simply doesn't know, how her feelings might be different, and how she needs time to understand herself and provide an answer, and all this is acknowledged by Yori and ok with her. And, you know, this is great stuff! Situations where one of the leads is in love and the other is unsure are not that unusual in high school yuri¹ or the romance genre in general, as it is a good way of delaying the moment of confession and having a big will-they-won't-they buildup. Here, however, it's addressed head-on, and the characters really communicate about that and respect it, and the protagonist is particularly proactive in understanding herself and her own feelings.

If I'm picky, I guess I've been slightly disappointed by how, with all this addressed, the manga still has one or two tiny bits of jealousy/possessivity bouts that are considered cute here or there. Of course, expecting full-blown conversations about how the two leads could function together with their distinct feelings of love² feels a bit outside of the scope of this manga, and realistically outside of the toolbox of two high school protagonists, too. Still, that could have been a natural development of the story, as it is shown that Yori is a bit insecure regarding her kouhai's capability of getting along extremely well with basically anyone. Himari's realization of her own feeling of love also has undertones of "actually I want this with no one else but you" which could go challenged or be addressed, and are not. This is definitely me projecting my wants of deep relationship dynamics meta-talks on the narrative, though.

Anyway! After this first arc, the manga segues into another big second one that has kept it busy until very recently released chapters (that I have yet to read): interpersonal drama. It introduces a second high school band that was hinted at until then, and characters that have had big broken relationships with the already-established cast... And our protagonist goes on, unearthing heavy pasts and mending friendships between Yori, her band, and that one other group of characters. Befriending everyone, she solves long-lasting quarrels through her happy puppy behavior, and her new romantic relationship slowly deepens in the process too. It's a bit of a long arc at times; yet for all that it isn't stale. It's simple and it's good, and sometimes you just want such a read.

Rerun section

Two main things to add here!

First, we got an anime adaptation of Love Song this Spring, after I wrote the review above! Well, most of an anime adaptation, at least: the last two episodes (11 and 12) ended up not airing then after various troubles in the production process. They should be reaching us at the end of December this year, crossing fingers for that.
What to say about the current 10 episodes? Well, they're not bad: it still means a lot to see on the screen a romance protagonist actively question what romantic love is and how different her feeling of love is from most!! And the interpersonal drama from the second arc is reaching some very moving parts, where we are now. But all this is coming from the source material, and the anime's quality itself feels lacking: the low budget is often painfully visible (in the 3D backgrounds, the still framings, the overall feeling of manga panels directly put to screen), and the plot goes at a rough pace through the first 7 volumes in 10 episodes. We barely even get any shot of the protagonist with dog ears and and a wagging tail when she's excited about things, which is a semi-regular visual quirk of the manga³.
So, yeah, the anime is cutting corners all around. If you're really not into mangas, you may want to watch it still; but if you are, please consider reading the source material instead.

Second, the interrupted broadcast of the anime was a bit ill-timed for me, as I had stopped my reading of the series around volume 8 when I started the anime - meaning I was just about to finally witness new plot elements with the end of episode 10... and so I am still waiting for them.
I should restart and keep reading the manga though: I think the second arc has come to an end by now and I have no idea what is coming next - and I'm curious about it.

As a last suggestion: if you're interested in yuri animes of girls making music and art that aired this Spring, you may want to try two other titles that now live rent-free in my head.

#cohost #februaryuri 2024 #yuri