Octave

18 year old Miyashita Yukino always wanted to be on television. To accomplish this, when she was a teenager, she and a few friends formed an idol group together. Unfortunately things didn't work out as she and the group ended up splitting up. Yukino went back home but got fed up with people's hurtful words there concerning her former job as an idol. She decided in the end to return to Tokyo and is now working as an assistant manager for a modeling company. Yukino now lives alone and laments that she's never experienced love ...

... That is, until she meets a pretty woman by the name of Iwai Setsuko. After a while, Setsuko realizes Yukino's loneliness and Yukino learns about Setsuko's past which ends up with the two making love together. The day after, Yukino is left to sort out what happened and how she feels about Setsuko.

Octave by Haru Akiyama is a Girls Love Manga published by Kodansha. The Manga is a mature and serious look at the genre.

---

Tropes used in Octave include:

• A Date with Rosie Palms:
  • Yukino's sexual frustration seem to culminate towards moments like these. Even after she started dating Setsuko.
  • It also appears that Setsuko seems to keep herself busy this way whenever Yukino isn't around.
• All Men Are Perverts:
  • Yukino's strongly-held belief, reinforced by a lot of bad experiences.
  • Setsuko's brother Mari, as one of the few characters who never really mentions sex, averts this.
  • Setsuko messes with the trope when she interrupts Yukino's All Men Are Perverts rant to point out that Yukino got turned on by being watched in the bathhouse, and then proceeds to have sex with her.
• Cliff Hanger: Yukino sleeping with a male stranger at the end of volume two.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Yukino has severe trust issues in regards to Setsuko's friendships and past relationships, and the possibility Setsuko might someday leave her. Yukino's usually too passive to act on her fears, but they have some rough patches because of it. Largely abated towards the end of volume 3.
• Closet Key: Setsuko.
• Does Not Like Men: Yukino initially, although she does get better.
• Furo Scene: A few, actually. Especially since Setsuko's new apartment has a bathtub.
• Gayngst:
  • Yukino does quite a bit of this in volume two.
  • Shiori opens up a big ole can of angst when she gives her own little Coming Out Story to Yukino, revealing a messy breakup and future intentions.
• Good People Have Good Sex: Yup, this manga is rather explicit by comparison to most others. But not explicit enough to be placed under Explicit Content, don't worry.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Yukino often shows a lot of jealousy towards idols, particularly her childhood friend Mika.
  • It also turns out that Setsuko is bit of this herself, but under the pressure of not trying to scare Yukino out of their relationship because of possessiveness, she keeps that monster tamed - most of the time, at least.
• Half-Identical Twins: Setsuko and Mari.
• Idol Singer: Yukino, in the backstory, and Mika now.
• Idiot Ball: A lot of the drama derives from Setsuko and Yukino taking turns behaving like idiots toward each other.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Kamo-chan at the railway station. Friendship or something more? You decide.
• Incompatible Orientation
• Informed Attractiveness: Yukino. Big time.
• Intertwined Fingers
• Lipstick Lesbian: Setsuko, Yukino, and Shiori.
• Nice Guy: Mari first, and then Oozawa. Considering that Yukino Does Not Like Men, it's a good thing to have such unaffected, nice boys around for her to get over her disdain.
• No Periods, Period: Averted
• Old-Fashioned Rowboat Date: Yukino and Setsuko go on one. Since they're both girls, they janken to decide who rows.
• One Head Taller: Setsuko to Yukino.
• Public Exposure: Yukino's friend Nao, from her old idol group, is now a porn actress.
• Schoolgirl Lesbians: Averted. Both Yukino and Setsuko are adults and neither of them attend school.
• Secret Relationship:
  • Yukino and Setsuko.
    • Actually, Yukino just thinks it's supposed to be a secret. Setsuko keeps their relationship low key, but she's not actively trying keep people from finding out. This misunderstanding leads to a little bit of drama (natch).
  • Shiori tries to convince Yukino to have one as well.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Oozawa and Mari. Well, Mari may not be a total manly man, but he does walk around wearing shades, a wife-beater and isn't afraid to pee in public, so he's about the most testosterone-filled thing in the series.
• Sex as Rite-of-Passage: A female version.
• Sex Sells: A recurring theme is the in fiction example of this trope.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Shiori suggests that Yukino is this way to Setsuko.
• True Art Is Angsty: In-Universe, Setsuko gains some praise for a song she composed during a rough patch of her relationship with Yukino.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Not Setsuko and Yukino. This trope applies to Yukino's friend Kamota and Yukino.
• Transparent Closet:
  • Yukino seems to be in one, considering that anyone with a pair of Yuri Goggles seems to figure her out. Quite literally. It doesn't stop her from trying to claim that she's simply Mistaken for Gay.
  • For the more goggle-inclined, there's Kamo-chan. An If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her... speech is a bit much for just friendship.
• Yuri Genre