Yubisaki Milk Tea Ends Today; Why You Should Check It Out

Comic Natalie reports that Yubisaki Milk Tea's last issue is now on sale in Japan, so I thought this would be a good time to talk about the manga-- and why you should seriously consider picking it up. And not just because it involves a dude in a dress (though for me, that's an added perk).

Yubisaki Milk Tea is a romantic drama about a young man who's torn between two women; one is his slightly younger childhood friend, and the other is an emotionally damaged classmate. The twist is that the man, Yoshinori Ikeda, has a hobby: he cross-dresses. In the end he actually creates an entirely alternate identity named Yuki, as whom he originally befriends said classmate.

It sounds like the setup for a wacky comedy, and there are some amusing moments, but this M-rated manga is a bit more of a dark look at growing up and discovering one's identity. It's also a manga that's often brought up in conjunction with Kodomo no Jikan due to the frequent sexual tension and occasional nudity and other content, because the characters involved are young: Ikeda and his classmate Minamo are in high school, and his childhod friend Hidari is in middle school. Yubisaki is one of the titles that sometimes comes into question when people talk about the potential fallout of Chris Handley's sentencing-- but volume 8 is still currently scheduled on TOKYOPOP's website.

The story that develops, in all honesty, doesn't really deliver as much as it could. The result is in large part an angsty love-triangle soap opera.  But in my opinion it's still a bit more creative than your average love-triangle manga (more so than, say, the earlier chunks of Vampire Knight, which was entertaining but let's face it, pretty trashy). 

It's also published in Hakusensha's Young Animal seinen anthology, which is known for some of its more fanservicey titles (and photos of real women in bikinis), but I think its story combined with its more sketchy, fairly neutral art style makes it one that will appeal to members of both genders who like a bit of romantic drama in their lives.

If that's you, go pick up a copy of Yubisaki Milk Tea #1 today. And then come back here and tell me what you think! (Or, if you've already read it, get a-commenting!)