The Conditions of Paradise is a collection of yuri stories written and illustrated by Akiko Morishima. Most were originally published in Comic Yuri Hime, though this collection does include a couple of previously unpublished stories as well.
Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga for an English release.
Front cover of The Conditions of Paradise, featuring Sarina Itou & Sumi Takami
From first love to mature romance, a heart-tugging collection of yuri stories!
Sarina and her best friend Sumi are super close. Sumi often crashes at Sarina’s place, and sometimes the two even make out a little bit. But Sarina figures a romantic relationship could never work between them. Sarina is an organised office worker, while Sumi is a nomadic freelance writer. Can the two find a way to make their very different lifestyles mesh?
Sarina and Sumi are just one couple who feature in The Conditions of Paradise. We also get a student-teacher relationship, a relationship between a girl who looks older than she is and a girl who looks younger than she is, and some other interesting pairs.
It won’t come as any surprise to learn that Sumi and Sarina get three stories devoted to them, since they grace the front cover. The three stories pretty much takes a look at their relationship, and how they want to take it further beyond what they already have.
The student-teacher relationship focuses on twenty year old student and a thirty year old teacher. The teacher, Keiko Kiryuu, has some rather interesting roommates who have very specific opinions about her younger girlfriend. They’re supportive, at least.
The gap in their ages is something is that is very apparent to Keiko, and it is that very thing she needs to overcome if she wants her relationship with the twenty year old Emi Aoyama to go anywhere.
The story titled And We Strive for Love definitely plays with expectations. Lalah is actually much older than she appears, so you’d think that Shinobu is the older of the two in their relationship. That’s not the case. The circumstances that brought Lalah and Shinobu together in the first place also makes for quite a heartwarming sentiment.
This collection is capped off with with a fairy tale-esque story, in which a tree falls in love with a woman. The tree wishes to become human, but is given a female body. It makes a nice change from what one might expect from a fairy tale, but not every fairy tale ends on a happy note (despite what Disney may want you to think…)
Princess of Sakura in the Flurry of Flowers definitely stands out in this collection of stories, as it is the only one that is not set in the modern day.
All the stories in The Conditions of Paradise are told compellingly, and are well worth the time of anyone seeking out yuri tales. A worthy addition to the shelf of any yuri fan.
Rory Muses 