I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up! (Rank 2.5)

Publisher: Seven Seas

Volumes: 1/1 (Complete), In Print

Yuri

Genre: Romance

Summary: Machi Morimoto is sick of her demanding mother trying to set her up with guys, and no matter who she dates, her mother always finds something wrong with them. She’s so tired of it all, that she wants to get married just so her mother can stop bothering her about it. Her best friend, Agaya Hana, who was her junior back when they were in high school together, suggests marrying her! She accepts and they now have a civil union together in the city of Shibuya. Can this sham marriage turn real? 

The main story is only about 120 pages, and then there’s an unrelated yuri short story:

Anaerobic Love: Oshimi Rika admires her roommate, Ishii Mutsumi, who is the top athlete in track at their ultra competitive athlete high school. Can she realize her feelings in time to cheer her on?

Review: This is fun and sweet one volume manga. I think it’s interesting how manga readers rated this title as being average, but casual readers looking for LGBT comics rated this series quite a lot higher. I decided to split the difference and rank it in between. Overall it’s a fairly accessible and enjoyable yuri romance for first time readers but it’s also more or less what you would expect from the title.

I did see one minority review complain about consent as Agaya is a bit pushy in the beginning, trying to have a bath together even though at that point they’re still just friends. But she backs off and then the story is very sweet as Machi slowly starts to develop feelings for Agaya, and also starts to find more confidence in herself thanks to Agaya’s influence. Then as Agaya starts to lose hope that anything will ever come out of this sham marriage as she starts thinking about her ex, can Machi realize her feelings in time for her to stay?

Recommended: If you like the concept of the series, give it a try.

LGBT Friendly: 8/10

Age Rating: PG13 some kissing and making out.

Other Works from this mangaka in English: (from most to least popular)

• NTR: Netsuzou Trap
• Syrup: A Yuri Anthology (1 story)
• Code Geass - Queen (1 story in a tribute anthology)
• Manage My Love (Josei/Smut)