Smut That Doesn't Suck: Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu

Back in the Summer, we covered a series known as Love Stage!! during our seasonal reviews. The original manga was created by the duo of writer Eiki Eiki and artist Taishi Zao (the pen name used by Mikiyo Tsuda for her explicit works), and it's far from their only joint work. While the two usually create boys love manga, this series is instead focuses on yuri, or "girls love." Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu is a collection of their few yuri works, interconnected with three main couples each found in the same school, and notable in how it challenges a poisonous idea that has saturated girls love stories for decades.

Editor's Note: While this series shows nothing explicit, and does not go over porn or hentai, the works covered are highly sexually charged, and some images used will reflect this. Reader discretion is advised.

The series is set in St. Theresa's Girls' Academy, where the students present are more used to physical contact between friends then at other schools. More intimate relationships between the female students ends up being a common trend as a result, focusing on three in particular. First, there's the reserved Akiho and her perverted, energetic partner Haruka, whom began a relationship thanks to Haruka's forward personality. Second are Fuyuka and Natsuki, a shy girl with a troubled past and a full blown lesbian who has a habit of "claiming" pretty girls as her girlfriend. The last couple, and most notable, are Reiko and Ayano, the school nurse and social studies teacher respectfully. They had a relationship during their teen years, but were pulled apart by circumstances and expectations of those around them.

While most of the focus is on the younger couples, mainly Fuyuka and Natsuki, Reiko and Ayano get their own arc around the middle of the collection, and it's by far the most interesting part. What makes it stand out is that it directly tackles a major issue that has become common "knowledge" among the Japanese public, and idea that has hampered many yuri works since the genre's inception in the mid 20th century. Japan has a complicated history with homosexuality, not treating it with the same outwards political hatred as the US, but with a far deeper prejudice ingrained in the national culture. This is especially true for lesbianism, as most discard the idea as a passing phase for girls in their younger years. This idea has been the default view of girl and girl relationships until the 90s, when works started to release challenging the idea by removing tragic endings from yuri works. Before then, just about every girls love story ended with unexpected death or the couple in question moving apart as they became interested in men upon graduation.

Reiko and Ayano's story deals with the two working at the same school and reuniting while both seeing other men. As the story progresses, it becomes clearer and clearer that the two have been lying about their true feelings due to pressure from society and the idea that girl and girl relationships are unnatural once a certain age is reached. Their arc directly challenges the idea that adult woman relationships are impossible with another woman, showing that this toxic idea is actively harmful in how it derailed the two from living happy lives together and pursuing ultimately empty and unsatisfying relationships to fulfill a society standard (although it may also be possible that Reiko is bisexual, the story is very vague on this).

Their arc is the most dramatic and meaningful, while the other stories with the younger couples stick closer to the creators' wheelhouse. Their stories are focused more on comedy and mixing in romantic drama, before ending on a happy note for both pairings. The dynamic with Fuyuka and Natsuki is the strongest, as they share issues with dealing with the opposite sex and manage to have surprisingly balanced power over each other. Natsuki is introduced as wild (she's even called a "she-wolf"), but her fear of frightening her partner gives Fuyuka some leverage of her own. Seeing their relationship develop is cute, especially when the shy Fuyuka ends up becoming the one trying to elevate the relationship.

Akiho and Haruka get a short one-shot story at the start, only returning during Fuyuka and Natsuki's arc to help push their relationship to the next level. That may be for the best, as Haruka's open pervert shtick gets pretty old. Akiho, however, manages to be a much more interesting character upon her return, giving solid relationship advice and showing a devious side to her not apparent from her first appearance. Haruka and Natsuki also get some funny argument scenes mixed in, keeping the arc lively.

The dynamic between the two couples is notably different from the adult couple. While they're more on even ground, there's power play at work for the younger set. Akiho and Haruka start out with Haruka living up to her reputation as a breast obsessed loon who messes with just about every female in her nearby area, and she tries doing the same think to Akiho to show her true feelings for her, causing some miscommunication (not helped by Akiho's guarded personality). Upon their return, Akiho has become much more used to Haruka's behavior and has learned to deal with how abrasive it is, revealing her more insecure side by showing backbone of her own. They have a strong relationship that shows the two, despite how different share similar worries and grow closer together upon realizing this and overcoming those insecurities.

The other notable thing about the collection comes in the common element in both Fuyuka and Natsuki's back stories. The two were both done wrong by men in their lives (hinting that Fuyuka was assaulted in some form) and grow the initial connection from their shared trauma and their shared belief (taught to them through their upbringing) that women are less threatening then men. Reiko and Ayano's arc starts with Fuyuka wondering if her feelings for Natsuki are real and not just a response to her mistreatment by the opposite sex in the past, almost leading to Reiko giving bad advice on the subject but giving a proper answer at the end and after her realization of her true feelings. This tackles a common misconception in Japan that lesbianism can be a temporary side effect of abuse from a male partner, a completely unfounded and idiotic idea that exists solely to discredit homosexual relationships. It adds another layer to the Reiko story and its commentary on lesbian prejudice.

Every story is funny in its own way, from the blunt and occasionally catty dialog between the girls (especially between Haruka and Natsuki) to the lively expressions from Zao, but also carry some dramatic weight. From beginning to end, I really wanted these couples to make it work, and the ultimate happy ending is a wonderful, celebratory expression of love. If more early yuri stories were like the ones collected in Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu, the state of homosexual identity in Japan would be far better off.