The Last Uniform
I found what I assumed to be the last copy of The Last Uniform on the shelves of Kinokuniya. It was misplaced alphabetically and since Seven Seas mangas are bigger in dimensions than the others (e.g. Tokyopop), it caught my attention. I heard of this manga before but it has a cheesy and emo title (TEH LAST uniform) so the intention of ordering online never came.
That day was special and I bought home volume 1 of The Last Uniform.
Just like what the title suggests, it is on uniforms and school girls. I would categorize it as a shoujo-ai manga that’s not shoujo-ai-ish enough. It’s not as sweet as First Love Sisters because there’s not enough sparks in the air. The plot does not run consecutively like Kashimashi as each chapter can stand alone and each chapter alternates to focus on one of the 2 pairings.
Simply, it’s on innocent school girls living in Tsubakigaoka Girls’ Dorms; them trying to figure what liking each other means. Using simple day to day events, attention is given to each pair in the different chapters. I noticed that there is no climax for this volume, probably due to the reservations the protagonists are experiencing, as they seek to maintain the friendship or roomie relation.
Both pairs each have a party liking the other but the feelings of the other party is unclear, hence, resulting in an ambiguous state of relations at the end of volume 1. My favorite is definitely Tsumugi and Beniko where popular sunshine shares a room with the unfriendly ice queen. Tsumugi is the popular sempai that fangirls would confess their love and admiration to while Beniko is the last person whom a fangirl would ever approach. As Tsumugi is friendly to all, Beniko has a hard time trying to figure their relations. That is the gist of their story.
As for the other pair, Ai and Fuuko, well…their relationship is developing on a painfully slow note. Better, I would almost say that their relationship is heading nowhere at all. Fuuko is such an innocent dork (almost near idiot level) that she loves everyone in an innocent and friendly way. Her actions are stupid, childish and ridiculous and I see it difficult for Ai to ever bring across her love message to Fuuko.
Till date, Seven Seas has released 2 out of 3 volumes of The Last Uniform with little to no news of a volume 3 release. I read that the last volume might not see the light of day due to low sales but if you’re game for it, give this series a try.
I liked this better than First Love Sisters, actually. It’s faintly sweet and simple and the drawing’s simple and much more to my liking than the former too.
It took some time to get used to the art and plot but once passed the first few chapters, I’m well on the way to becoming a fan for this. Ack, Kinokuniya does not have volume 2 in stock.