Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games Vol. 1

This was a super fun read l. I am so happy to know this existed. It's so much fun and I want to tip my cap to everyone involved with this project.

"Young ladies don’t play" features some of the best character designs I’ve ever seen in a manga, and these designs come with absolutely delightful, wild character expressions. It also features some great “yuri bait” that sometimes makes it feel hotter than many “official” yuri manga I’ve read, but so far it’s just played up for humor - to wonderful effect. The two leads make this series: Our MC is a self-conscious “straight shooter” - or at least, she’d like to be, but this girl trying to make a change in her life can’t seem to catch a break, and the best part of "Ladies don’t Play" is Aya’s incredulous reactions, usually to the other lead. “Shirayuri” (lit. ”white lily”) is a total enigma. She is treated like a “Komi-San” by her classmates but unlike Komi she’s earned this rep by being purposefully aloof. But when Aya catches Shirayuri vigorously trash-talking a rando opponent on the internet it’s clear there is a lot more to shirayuri than meets the eye - as a picture of what Aya wants to be while holding onto the thing Aya thought she had to give up, the stage is set for sparks to fly, and they do. Combine all this with a school that expels kids for gaming and you get a recipe for some fun situations.I’ve been out of the fighting game scene for a long while but it seems like this manga wants to try to seem authentic, going to lengths to explain what moves the characters are trying to execute and why. Sadly the attempt to make these sequences look like they are on a screen or something makes them the weakest part of the manga.Ultimately I’d say it’s this artist’s excellent character art that sells this manga, and it was such a delight to see and laugh at that I’ll definitely be picking up volume 2.

At the core, this is a story about class expectations vs. being authentic to one's true self and loving what you love.... regardless of one's expectations in bourgeois society. This is summed up well early on in a cafeteria scene. Our main protagonist comes from a working class family but is desperate to meet the expectations of her new environment in a boarding school dedicated to grooming young women for high-class society. The food at this elite boarding school is highbrow... -flavorful and scrumptious in a way one might expect to find in an upscale bistro. When asked what food she's used to at home, our protagonist panics, and the first thing she comes up with is the sort of cheap supermarket ramen that many of us rely on when money is at its tightest (or just as a craving when it's not). She's dismayed that she has revealed her 'crude' class standing in such well-heeled environs, with her aspirations of 'rising above her station. This explains everything about where she comes from, where she is, who she is, and what she aspires to be.The thing is, her aspirations to become a 'proper young lady' is something she's devoted to but which doesn't bring her any joy. So when she discovers a graceful girl, admired by all her peers, alone in a classroom playing a fighting game and talking trash online, she's surprised. As a young girl, she used to school all the neighborhood kids but she left this behind in order to chase propriety and higher class standing. However, it was the games and competition which made her truly happy... which allows her to be herself most authentically.Missing the class aspect, this may read as 'girls can play games too', but that misses the point. Rather, the core is about bourgeois pretensions and expectations rather than loving what you love, class standing be damned. If you miss this class aspect, you miss the point entirely.This said, it's not a perfect story. There is some sexual tension that will come off as queerbaiting if not followed up on further down the line in the story. That said, there's a lot to like here. The art can be lovely, the 'fish out of water' theme is relatable, and the notion of loving what you love resonates. If you understand what this is rather than just a bare 'girls can play games' story, I'd recommend giving it a try.

Being a fighting game fan for a long time this manga is real treat. It starts off simple and just when you're wondering where the story is going the fighting game aspect of the manga starts coming into play. If you're even remotely involved in the Fighting Game Community (FGC) on a regular basis, you'll pick up on so many details and nuances. I don't want to give anything away on the story but there's a lot of subtle references to franchises like Street Fighter, Tekken, Mortal Kombat, not to mention the lingo and meta aspects of the FGC. And if you're not a fighting game fan at all but still interested in reading this, go for it. Not sure what an unsafe attack is? or a cross-up? No problem, they got you covered with small terminology captions that explain them. I love what they've done with this first volume. Can't wait to see where it goes from here!

I absolutely love Ejima Eri’s standpoint that “romance manga are essentially just battle manga” that lead her to create both her first romance series, Yuzumori-San(my personal favorite) and this one, using her amazing art and high impact writing to give a sense of tension to every scene. YLDPFG’s characters are impulsive and fun. The story isn’t anything special but it does it’s job at keeping everything moving. Once again, Ejima Eri’s art is absolutely stellar(she really likes those crying faces). I think the only issue I have is that the publishing quality is slightly cheap, with good but not perfect translation and slightly thin pages, which is expected since this series is fairly obscure.

This manga was a welcome surprise as someone who enjoys yuri manga and fighting games. The characters are funny, the fighting game jargon is on point, and there's even some yuri subtext bringing it all together. The end result is a very entertaining manga about two girls bonding over their love of fighting games.Some of the fighting game terms may be hard to understand for those unfamiliar with them even with the manga explaining the terms. Other than that, it's a great time!

Interesting concept and I'm curious about the future! People keep saying it doesn't know what it wants to be... But does every Manga have to be one thing for me this is going in the direction of a comedy romance with a gamer girl twist which so far is quite fun to read! Will be buying volume 2 :)

gostei da arte