Whisper me a love song vol 1 by eku takeshima

At the welcoming ceremony of their high school, Himari falls in love with the vocals and guitar playing of Yori and becomes her biggest fan. With her confession of love, Yori falls in love with Himari, but in an actual sense of love, rather than an admiration of fandom. The other band members thinks this infatuation is the perfect fodder for Yori, who they have tasked with writing a love song. Yori isn’t sure she can be close with Himari and not continue to fall more in actual love with her. Himari, on the other hand, starts to examine whether what she's feeling is just admiration, or can she actually reciprocate Yori's feelings.

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This first volume is very cute and has common tropes of miscommunication that frustrate readers in a fun way because we know everything but characters don't. Some of the band mates also share our knowledge, so it's nice to have a few folks in the "know" of the secrets inside the story. There isn’t anything in this volume that would garner a 16+ rating other than one scene of Himari doing some introspection in the bathtub, but all of her bits are safely below the waterline. Some publishers tend to rate LGBTQ+ content as 16+ automatically, but this is a sweet love story so far that would be fine for all teen audiences. 

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

Publisher: Kodansha
Publication Date: October 13, 2020
ISBN: 9781646511150 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Romance, School Life, LGBTQ+, Music, ​Kodansha