Thoughts on The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This Volume 1

The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This is a yuri manga written and illustrated by Takashi Ikeda. It focuses on the definitely, totally strictly professional relationship between two women: a thirty-two-year-old scriptwriter and a twenty-two-year old rookie voice actress.
The series was licensed for English release by Seven Seas Entertainment. This first volume contains chapters one to twenty-four.

Front cover of the first volume of The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This, featuring Ellie and Wako

The charming everyday life of two creative women in love
Thirty-two-year-old scriptwriter Sakuma Ellie and twenty-two-year-old rookie voice actress Inuzuka Wako are roommates with a strictly professional relationship. Or at least, that’s what they tell everyone. In fact, they’ve been living as a couple in Ellie’s apartment for the past year, spending delightful, tranquil days together.

Sakuma Ellie (32) is a scriptwriter. Inuzuka Wako (22) is a rookie voice actress. And the two of them are… pretty much like this.
Like what? Well, that’s what this manga shows us. The two of them are girlfriends, living together – despite what Wako may say to her colleagues at work. For anybody in their general vicinity though, it is plainly obvious that there is something going on between the two ladies.

The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This simply details the everyday lives of those two women. Of course they have their fair share of work woes to overcome, but the biggest takeaway from all this is that the pair are in love with each other. As a result, we get a lot of cute moments between Elli and Wako. Ellie even calls Wako “Wanko” as a pet nickname. I get that it’s combining the Japanese words for a dog’s bark and girl (I think. Also being a play on Wako’s name.), but I’m seeing a British slang word in there. I wonder if the translator was aware of that…

It goes without saying that Ellie and Wako are the main stars of this story, but there are a couple of other important characters introduced in this first volume. There is Ataru, Ellie’s friend. Seems like she would’ve made a move on Ellie if not for Wako – so chapters that feature her tend to also bring along jealous Wako, too. That can be some pretty fun stuff, particularly with it not being played for drama. Wataru has an amicable relationship with Ellie and Wako.
On Wako’s side, she has a colleague called Miho. Miho is able to pick up on Wako being in love, she just doesn’t know who exactly. The opportunity to delve into that arises, and she seizes it – only to get into a little confusion when she meets Wako’s mother. Again, light-hearted stuff that tends to be played for laughs.
There’s no heavy drama in this manga. Whilst I do enjoy the light-hearted side of yuri quite a bit, anybody seeking out drama would do better searching elsewhere.

I really quite enjoyed this first volume of The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This. The relationship between Ellie and Wako provides plenty of fun, cute moments. The supporting characters are all pretty all right, too. Off to a great start with this first volume.