Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo is an interesting read. It’s a shounen title about a group of girls’ sexual awakening through literature written and drawn by a duo of women. It charts their course from learning love and sex on paper to learning what it feels like for real with sensitivity towards the girls’ experiences and emotions that are often overlooked or sexualized in books of this type when they’re written by men. That is not to say that the girls in this book are not sexual, they most certainly are, but they are not objectified. Rather, Okada-sensei introduces us in each chapter to some newemotional development which ties into their sexuality. She tackles difficult subject matter in the series with sensitivity and subtlety while glossing over or skipping altogether other typical “drama” that one usually finds in shounen and shoujo titles to instead focus on subtler issues that gives the manga a sense of realism and higher purpose.

This title is really an overlooked gem. It is so layered. What strikes me most is how the author knows how to visit them at just right the moment. Each moment pushes the story along without it feeling sparing, rushed, lagging, or over-editing. It has such a natural flow and the author has such a wonderful, natural sense of pacing that leaves the reader wanting more with each successive chapter.

The art is likewise wonderful. It has a natural airiness and simplicity to it which on its own is exceptional, but together with the story is genius, perfectly complimenting the story and the personalities of the young characters.