[Manga] Yubisaki Milk Tea - panties and gender confusion with a warm heart

Yubisaki Milk Tea
by Miyano Tomochika

What the-
A romantic drama manga that features crossdressing, alleged loli and heaps of fanservice and yet Q loves it?
The world truly is coming to an end.



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A flashback, a childhood memory, of two young children bathing together.
The young girl, Hidari, is telling about how she dreams of the day her prince will arrive and how she will be a beatiful bride in a beautiful white wedding dress. The boy, Nori, then proudly announces that in that case he will become a more beautiful bride than her, while the dumbfounded Hidari manages to yell he was supposed to say he will be her prince on a white horse.
This is the beginning on Yubisaki Milk Tea.





Yubisaki Milk Tea is the tale of Yoshinori "Nori" Ikeda, his neighbor and childhood friend Hidari Morii, and his classmate and shy secluded girl Minamo Kurokawa and their ever changing relationship.

What could be a relatively engaging love triangle is further complicated by the fact that Nori also happens to have a slightly unusual hobby, in the form of dressing up as a girl and photographing himself in various clothing. It came about from having to once stand in for his sister for a wedding dress photoshoot, and looking female enough with makeup. Ever since then, he's been fascinated by the thought of become someone else just like that and does what he does.



Keeping it a secret from everyone but the owner of a photo shop, Nori unintentionally assumes the identity of "Yuki" when "she" is befriended by Hidari who finds herself admiring the mysterious, maturer-than-her woman greatly.

Minamo on the other hand is so pathologically shy and avoidant of others that the only way for Nori to properly talk to her was originally by befriending her as "Yuki" (though it turns out Minamo is the only one to easily see through the dress and makeup).

As the story goes on, Hidari grows to befriend and admire both Minamo and Yuki greatly, all the while wishing for Nori to see her as a woman instead of a girl, Minamo struggles with her feelings for Nori and her friendship with both him and Yuki, while Nori seems constantly confused and unsure how close he wants to be with either.



Other notable characters that pop up from time to time are Nori's older sister Miki, the photo shop owner who Nori part times and models for as Yuki, and Nori's classmate Wataru, who later becomes more important to the tangle of relationships.

It's a highly unusual setting for a romantic drama, and one I had a lot of doubts about upon starting, but strangely enough it works, and the manga has three very strong points.
One is a good healthy dosage of heart. The series is unusual, but it's a warm, funny, engaging experience that doesn't need to come up with tragic pasts for its likeable cast (a second strong point), wonderfully brought to life by the beautiful art (third). I keep thinking Tomochika's art style reminds me of some other series, but I can never think of anything. The character designs are lovely, layouts and panels neatly placed, but beyond technical greatness, the thin lines have a character and warmth of their own, which makes the title look so good.



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Originally scanlated by some group I forgot the name for, it was picked up by ADTRW by the tenth chapter, before being eventually cancelled by the 12th chapter when Tokyopop licensed the title.

Tokyopop has just recently gotten the first volume out, but I've yet to find out how good their release is. The book is rated ages 18+, so that gives me hope that none of the more "suspectable" material has been removed or altered.

I'd love to link you to torrents of the chapters, but I am unable to find any active ones. I've rapidshared the first 12 scanlated chapters for anyone interested, but I urge to check out the Tokyopop release as it seems no other scanlation groups are picking up the series anymore, so the books are the only hope for further english chapters.

Tokyopop

Rapidshare of chapters 1-12 - 6-9 are a bit lower in quality (still decent), only 1-5 were re-released in HQ before ADTRW pulled the project.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

While the prospect of panties sounds FANTASTIC, the whole "gender confusin" bit gets me a bit weary.

But very interesting.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Oh come on, you know it just means double the pretty girls~
Nori doesn't actually want to be a girl, he's just fascinated by the idea of changing into someone else so easily.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Wait...so what distinguishes this from other harem/love/odd stuff of similar sorts is the crossdressing aspect? Intriguing, I'll take a look when I have time, despite sounding shoujo.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Man, this thread brings up weird contextual Google ads.

Anyway, sounds like a quasi-sequel to Pretty Face. I'll check it out.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Did someone say panties? I'm in!

I'm actually looking for some comical mangas to keep me interested since I'm still working on Gantz, so it should balance out. Well I'm taking from your description Q, that this is a comic-drama type thing...friends friends friends.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Yeah, unfortunatly ADTRW dropped it
I personally like the art and the ever-interesting plot. I think the last volume i read was 5... since no one else had scanned the later releases.

FELIPE NO

Finally got around to this now that I'm on break. It's pretty good, although I don't really get why Yoshinori and Minamo are still avoiding each other, and I don't entirely understand the deal with Kagami later on either. Also, guys in drag still creep me out (NO ONE IS SAFE).

I was right about the Pretty Face vibe too, or at least partly. Yubisaki is more focused on the romance aspect while Pretty Face has a more light-hearted and comedic atmosphere. Either way, if you liked this one, you should definitely check out the other (I think Anime-source.com still has it).

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Panties. I thought of Colorful immediately.

Seems this actually has a plot though, but the premise seems a bit intimidating despite the claims of depth of characters.

Most amazing jew boots

Hehe, the panty shots do get a little ridiculous sometimes.

Most amazing jew boots

I read the first Tokyopop volume a while back and so far they've done a good job. Though I did get a kick out of



They've kept most of the -kun and -chan suffixes and absolutely nothing is censored, so I'm looking forward to future volumes. They even have the two extra chapters that weren't scanlated.
The benefit of the scanlations not having gotten that far is that the english release will catch up fast (unlike something like 49 chapters of Victorian Romance Emma ;_;).

My only gripe about the translation is the cringeworthy localization attempts in some parts. There's a completely unnecessary Christina Aguilera reference outta nowhere in the first chapter and Nori keeps calling his sister a "ho", something that sounds far more hostile and contemptuous than anything in the scanlations and kinda damages his likeability a little.

Otherwise the translation is good and the dialogue flows well enough. A fine release indeed and well worth picking up. Hopefully volume 2 comes out soon~

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Small bump in the form of I just read Volume 2 and it was great. The printed volume goes a few chapters further than what had been scanlated and now I can't wait for the next volume.
The included bonus story "Reason" was alright, but not quite as sweet as the two extra stories in the first volume. The subject matter was pretty scandalous too~

Either way, another great volume and I hope Tokyopop keeps releasing further instalments as I love this series <3

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Humm... sorta reminds me of Pretty Face. I mean in the sence that it never did finish scanlation of the manga, from my information that is. The story is somewhat like it too. I'll check the scans and see if i'm intrested in it or not.

How ya doing, buddy?

Actually, Pretty Face has been fully scanlated.

Here's hoping for Pretty Face 2!

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Well, just read chapters 1-12, as provided in this thread.

I have to say I was a lot more disturbed by the whole crossdressing mess than I expected I would be. And something about the reactions to situations the characters showed bugged me.

Decent read imo, somewhat unnatural, but worth reading never the less.

How ya doing, buddy?

So, I got my volumes in the mail a few days ago and read them promptly. Then I read them again, and again, and again. My suspicions were confirmed:

Empty speech bubbles UGH.

Well the americanization was kind of bleh since some of the characters got totally changed from the scanlations, but it's still good that they managed to bring it over uncensored and at least put efforts in trying to not be as sloppy (Volume 2 was much better compared to Volume 1).

The story is pretty rad, and the extra stories were sweet too.

Spoiler:

Nori is so going to have sex with one of the two girls

I predict more usage of the word "ho" in volume 3.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

So this comic is also translated and nothing is censored? Maybe later on there will be...

I found the whole story a bit disturbing tho, none of the characters in the story is normal. Miyano Tomochika is probably trying to put all the abnormal and forbidden relationships in one single manga... boy-boy, father-daughter, sister-brother, uncle-niece...... it's a story about weird people and there are many plots I just don't get it.

Having said that I still kept on reading it, curiosity I suppose. Think it's already up to chapter 65 and it's getting more and more confusing.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

been reading the books as they come out in the states
once i get a new volume i can't put it down
wish all the volumes were out so i can just finished the damn thing.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Can anyone repost at least the first chapters? You guys got me intrigued...

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I could repost them, but is it okay since they're licensed in the State?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

sure buddy nobody is a snitch here *calls tokyopop* jk i think its pretty much ok
we still have chapters up of picked up manga (yotsuba,naruto,one piece) hanging around so it should be ok

new volume comes out in the states soon *preorders on amazon*

I was speaking idiomatically.

A'ight, word. Here they are, reup'ped.

RapidShare: 1-Click Webhosting

Most amazing jew boots

Oh, I just discovered all the RAWs on my computer. (:

FELIPE NO

wait so the series ends at volume 7? looked up the manga at animenewsnetwork and it says only 7 have been made.

had translated volume 7 sitting on my desk begging to be read for the past week now
just sucks that this might be the last one.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?