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i've just caught up with kiki emoda and shiho satou's a curtain call for you, and MAN was it an absolute TREAT!!!!!

it follows sakura, a shy girl who takes the role as playwright, and transfer student tsubame, an eccentric but mysterious girl who takes the role as actor, as they form a drama club. this is phrased as tsubame bringing sakura's words to life, which really feels similar to the dynamic of the writer and artist, shiho satou and kiki emoda respectively. i wonder if that was intentionally inspired by their dynamic?

the art was GORGEOUS: it went from being hilariously simple and expressive to jaw-droppingly detailed and beautiful at the drop of a hat, and even as somebody who knows very little about comic composition, even i could tell the composition was really well done. don't you just hate when you're reading a physical copy of a manga and the double page spreads are composed so that the main focus is right in the middle, obscured by the binding? well, this manga doesn't do that! which should be bare minimum, but what do i know…

the first chapter manages to be gripping without going into the usual territory i find first chapters of yuri manga often do where something ridiculous or oddly intimate for a couple of strangers happens out of nowhere as a cheap way to keep the reader reading (non-consensual kisses are my least favourite of the bunch). but a curtain call for you turns this on its head by having something quite ridiculous happen but later on explaining it as an intentional move to have people perceive the person committing the ridiculous act the way mangakas often write such scenes to have the reader perceive the person committing the ridiculous act as, and i found that very interesting.

it's officially listed as yuri but isn't explicitly romantic yet, but i don't really care because the other aspects are so well done. approach it the same way you'd approach love bullet teehee :)

i'd like to talk about tsubame as a character real quick, so if you want to go in blind, skip this part! but to give you a bit of a clue: she's not exactly like she seems to be…

[click to reveal]

tsubame is a character who you can initially assign an archetype to straight away: the oblivious, eccentric, and magically talented manic pixie dream girl who drops into the protagonist's life out of nowhere to teach them a lesson about life and following your dreams… then this is turned on its head as we learn that tsubame is actually trying to create this effect on purpose, and she's not-so magically talented at acting but has learnt acting skills over the course of her life from a bad case of imposter syndrome that makes her feel like she has to put up a persona to prevent people from finding out that she's "not the real deal" and not as talented as people thinks she is; but she's instantly drawn to sakura as somebody who she believes is "the real deal", somebody she believes has "actual" talent as opposed to her "fake" talent. it's absolute PEAK!

however, the manga is currently on hiatus and will end with volume 3 due to poor sales, which upsets me so much!! this manga needs more time!! i'm not sure if it's too late yet, but i'd like to think there's still hope for it!! please buy a japanese copy if you can, as they are what publishers look to the most!!

please read it!!! you won't regret it!!!!!!!!!!