My Girlfriend's Not Here Today Vol. 1

If you'd told me the plot beforehand I'd never have read it.

Ultimately it's the story of a young lesbian in love with a girlfriend who doesn't give her the time and attention she needs, and what happens when she meets another girl who loves her.

(no spoilers summary) Our protagonist - Yuni - is high school student desperately in love with Nanase. Nanase loves volleyball, isn't sure if she loves Yuni, and is terrified of anyone finding out she's a lesbian. The combination of Nanase spending so much time at club, and refusing to let anyone know they're a couple means that Yuni is lonely and desperate to be shown affection.

Meanwhile Fuuko has found Yuni's "venting account" on social media, and fallen in love with her.

Fuuko is what makes this story complicated. She's manipulative in a way that typically makes me hate a character, but as the story progresses we learn that her manipulations are all because she truly loves Yuni, wants to protect her, and hates how Nanase neglects her and refuses to give her the attention and love she needs. I came to love her character despite being uncomfortable with some of her choices.

Fuuko manipulates Yuni into going on a date and their early relationship is rocky at best. Yuni lashes out, sometimes physically, and says some terrible things, because she doesn't want to admit that she could have feelings for her. A lot of Yuni's reactions feel like those of person who's pretending, sometimes violently, to be straight, and hurting those that care about her. This feels a little weird in that Yuni never shows any indication that she's afraid to be seen as a lesbian in public, its more as if she's pulling on those homophobic expectations to push Fuuko away.

Ultimately this is a story about Fuuko and Yuni's relationship and how it reacts when it bumps up against Nanase.

The following sounds like a spoiler, but it's really not: Some of the special images make you think they're going to end up in a polyamorous relationship. That's not the case, at least not in the first six volumes. I believe that Fuuko really could be happy in one. She's ok with the fact that Yuni loves Nanase. Fuuko just wants to love Yuni, and be loved back.

Yuni's mental state is not healthy, and her treatment of Fuuko is sometimes very unkind, but sometimes it's a direct result of Fuuko's manipulations. These are the kinds of characters I typically hate spending time with, and yet everything about this is extremely well done and I really want to see where these story goes. I love these complicated and sometimes broken characters. I want Yuni and Fuuko to end up together in a healthy relationship. I want Yuni to embrace what her heart really wants.

As far as "adult" content goes, there's only one sex scene in six volumes, but it, and the flashbacks to it, are excellent.

-- Update: I started rereading this last night, taking time to notice more details revealed in the background of the art.

I've come to believe that Fuuko isn't nearly as manipulative as it seems on first reading. Aside from forcing the reveal of their affair every negative and/or manipulative thing she does is a response to being mistreated or outright abused.

Fuuko is a girl in love, who's accepted that she'll never be "Number one" but still needs to be loved in return in whatever form "Number two" takes. She's from an abusive household that doesn't respect or love her, and as a result allows herself to be abused by Yuni and still want her.