Review: THE CONDITIONS OF PARADISE

Of course, we can't talk about queer manga without looking at least one modern-day yuri title, now can I?

THE CONDITIONS OF PARADISE (Rakuen no Jouken), by Akiko Morishima.  First published in 2007 and first published in North America in 2020.

PLOT:

This anthology collects a wide variety of stories about women in love.  There's Sarina, an organized office lady who loves her high-school friend/freelance travel writer Sumi but struggles with communicating her feelings, her desire for greater commitment, and trying to adapt to Sumi's freewheeling ways.  There's also Keiko, a 30 year old art teacher who begins dating Emi, a bright and bubbly 20-year-old whose youth makes Keiko feel insecure.  There's Lalah, whose tiny size and cosplay-centric lifestyle belies how organized she is compared to her statuesque, musically talented girlfriend Shinobu.  There's even the tale of Fubuki, a cherry tree given life so that she might finally be with the princess she adores.

STORY:

It's been a while since we've covered an anthology here, much less a yuri one, but I think The Conditions of Paradise is a very effective one.  It delivers bite-sized stories that are just substantial enough to have some impact, but short enough to not get bogged down in drama and allow for a wide variety of stories to be told.

Morishima is one of the few openly gay yuri mangaka to have works published in English, and having an openly queer woman's perspective does give The Conditions of Paradise a different vibe from other yuri manga.  It's definitely hornier than a lot of the yuri we get, but that horniness presents itself in a low-key way that feels adult instead of merely explicit.  After all, most of the ladies here are struggling with concerns that are greater than just coming to terms with their orientation.  They have to figure out how to deal with partners with different outlooks, schedules, levels of libido, and responsibilities.  They deal with age gaps and struggling with insecurity about their looks.  They actually feel like grown-up women instead of overly innocent ingenues.  The one exception is the story about Fubuki, which clearly took its cues from stories like The Little Mermaid.  It's the most fantastical, innocent, and tragic of the lot, but honestly those differences made it one of my favorites in the entire book.  Regardless of their struggles, Morishima always tries to end things on a happy note, lest she puncture the generally positive mood of the book as a whole.

ART:

On the surface, Morishima's work doesn't seem particularly distinct.  She tends to favor a very cute style, as all of her ladies have simple, rounded features and fashionable, feminine styles.  Her backgrounds are fairly minimal and what love-making we do see is brief, cuddly, and tends to cut away after the clothes start coming off but before the making-out escalates. Interestingly, in her author's notes Morishima talks about how most of these stories sprung from her own particular preferences in body types, hairstyles, relationship dynamics, and other related tropes.  Her enthusiasm for it all reminds me of Kaoru Mori's omakes in a way.

RATING:

The Conditions of Paradise is like a well-made coffee confection from a trendy shop.  It's sweet and stylish, but there's more depth behind it than you would expect and it's only a little bit decadent.  It's just one in a wave of yuri titles about and aimed at adults, and it's an easy recommendation.

This book is published by Seven Seas.  It is currently in print.