When Rica, a young first-year university student and namesake of the author, arrives in Tokyo, she quickly decides to go and discover the gay and lesbian district. The bar she enters is friendly, and so are the women there. She meets Miho, a slightly older fine arts student. Despite Rica’s somewhat overwhelming eagerness, the two girls hit it off and their friendship quickly veers into something else.
But Rica’s not as ready for a fully-fledged relationship as she proclaims, and her bar encounters with other girls and women who’re more interested in her newness than in her personality (which I guess shows that gays and lesbians do have some points in common) don’t make things easier for her and Miho.
This manga is drawn in a very cute and stylized way, with well-designed characters who all have a distinct visual personality. Rica’s journey toward emotional maturity is told in a realistic way, among other things by showing the differences between Rica’s dreams of happiness and her sexual hang-ups.
Rica `tte Kanji!? is a romance, but a romance where real life intrudes, which makes the characters all the more engaging.
This 96-page book is published by ALC. You can find it here.
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