Friday, November 2, 2012

Kimi Koi Limit: A Guide to Life


I wanted to like Kimi Koi Limit because its three leads are of college age (two of them being college students- really, how many yuri titles focus on college students?) and its protagonist likes women and knows it. But alas, Kimi Koi Limit feels like the manga equivalent of watching a friend start dating a horrible ex again, blindly thinking that it can work out this time. Meaning, Kimi Koi Limit's characters are really stupid when it comes to their love lives.

In high school, Sono fell in love with her friend Satomi. When she asked Satomi out, Satomi said she wasn't interested, but continued to treat Sono like a friend. Sono never got over her, and after high school, followed her to Tokyo.

Being a shitty stalker, Sono had no idea where Satomi was and ended up crying her eyes out at a lesbian bar. There, she met Hiroko, a student attending the same university Satomi got into. Sono went home with Hiroko and never left, spending her time eating and playing video games and not looking for a job, while continuing to get friendly texts from Satomi that she mooned over but never replied to. Hiroko stayed with Sono knowing that she was still in love with Satomi.

After Sono says Satomi's name while having sex with Hiroko, not for the first time, Hiroko snaps and kicks her out with no possessions or money beyond three thousand yen.

Sono loses her money right away and starts sleeping under a bridge until Satomi finds her and invites her to stay in her apartment.

To her credit, Sono realizes that she should have looked for a job when she lived with Hiroko, and starts job-hunting right away.

Conveniently, Satomi and Hiroko have the same shift at the same part-time job. Satomi starts talking about her roommate, who became homeless after being kicked out by her ex, and Hiroko is reminded of her ex, who she recently kicked out, and they put two and two together when Satomi sees Hiroko's cell phone wallpaper of her and Sono. When Sono sees them together, she faints because of a fever and wakes up at Hiroko's apartment. Like Satomi, Hiroko finds Sono charming for some reason, and wants to win her back.

In short, Hiroko fails, Satomi realizes that she loves Sono (she has never been interested in a woman before, and cringed at the idea of having lesbian sex when Hiroko brought her to a lesbian bar, "but if it's Sono, then..." EDIT: I may have misread the bar scene- see the comments for more on that), and Sono runs away from everything to return to the place where she slept when she was homeless. Sono and Satomi get together, and Happily-Ever-After... I guess.

Hiroko came out of this situation better than anyone- but I don't like any of them, really. While Kimi Koi Limit's characters made me cringe, I'll guiltily admit to having become morbidly curious, about halfway through, about how these three dumbasses would resolve their love triangle, despite the fact that who would be paired off with who was obvious from a mile away.

Story: D+
Art: Actually pretty nice. B+
Overall: D+

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think that Satomi thought that lesbian sex was disgusting at all. I think she was just offended that someone just started to feel her up out of the blue. I guess she was angry and disgusted that Hiroko tricked her into coming into a sleazy place like that. Plus, in the beginning, when Sono asked Sato whether she thinks that lesbian relationships are disgusting, she replied that it doesn't bother her at all. Sato is honest so we can trust her.
But I agree that Sono was very annoying. Yeah she was naive and cutesy. But besides that she acted like a ten year old kid who can't take care of herself or others around her. Her naivete caused trouble for both Hiroko and Satomi lol.

Katherine Hanson said...

@Anon- Hmm, I guess I misread it. I don't have my copy anymore, but taking a peek at the scanlation, assuming it's correct (because lord knows that even though I buy the books I review, I'm not re-buying this just to check that), it does look like she was just reacting to what you mentioned. I've added a note to the review to reflect that. And YES, Sono was a huge clod. I still have no idea what Sato and Hiroko saw in her.