Shoujo Sect

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This manga was realy surprising to say the least. When i started reading it, it seemed very random, and actualy i didn't see any background development what so ever. But afther a while, you start to get a grip on the story, and notice that it's not just ordinary N-18 manga that you thought it's gona turn out to be.

Story: 9
At first, you might think that there isn't any story, the first few chapters didn't explain alot of things. But afther a bit you start to realise that it's a lot deeper story than you expect it to be. If you didn't like volume 1 ... for the lack of story - you can relax, volume 2 will change everything.

Art: 9
The drawing is actualy very good. Everything looks pretty high quality and i did not notice any drawing errors or mistakes.

Characters: 10
Main characters are two girls Momoko and Shinobu. Bouth of them seem very well developed characters, and are interesting to watch how they shape they're relationship. The background for them is pretty big, especialy in the volume 2, where everything seem to center around them.

Enjoyment: 10
All i can say is - i loved it. It turned out to be way better than i expected, and the ending was done realy good. Extra chapter's helped too.

Overall: 10
I liked the first volume, but it had some minuses, the problem was that it had almoast no character development. But the second volume managed to somehow stick all the pieces together, and it actualy made a very good job.

My first review, hope you liked it. I tryed not to spoil too much.

I don't write reviews for things I don't enjoy. I don't like giving scores either, so I gave everything a 10, because I liked everything. In this review I'm simply going to give my opinion on Shoujo Sect.

Before reading Shoujo Sect in its entirety I had simply assumed it to be a rather shallow, lesbian hentai manga series. I probably felt this way because my only exposure to it was from editing the script for the two-episode OVA. This OVA had mediocre animation quality and an uninteresting story - but hey, the majority of people who watched it did so with their dicks whipped out, ... so I don't blame the studio for making the OVAs all about the sex. It sells. However, only after reading the manga did I learn that Shoujo Sect is much more than a contentless porno comic.

From the very beginning, something feels different about Shoujo Sect - something that separates it from other titles that have inevitably been placed within its genre. I cannot quite put my finger on what, exactly, this unique quality is. Part of it is certainly its structure, though. Instead of following a single story line each chapter follows a different pair of girls through a short story. Toward the end of these stories sex is always involved. While most chapters follow random, unrelated pairs of girls, two main characters do exist. Some of the chapters center around these two - Momoko and Shinobu. However, all the two ever seem to do is talk to each other.

There is a reason for this. At its core, Shoujo Sect is a manga about lust without love. It's about being with someone physically, but not mentally. It's about bittersweet love; the endings to all the chapters (excluding the final one) are not happy. Shoujo Sect says many things that set it apart not just from other yuri manga, but from romance manga as a whole.

Perhaps the subject on which Shoujo Sect has the most to say is lust. Shinobu lives with a harem of beautiful girls all willing to do her bidding. She's extremely flirtatious and will take whatever she can get. Several of the chapters involve Shinobu and her girls. A couple of these girls admit that they are in love with Shinobu, a sentiment she never returns. At the end of the first volume, however, a shocking and emotionally poignant event takes place that leaves Shinobu wanting what she can't have. Despite having her lustful desires fulfilled on a daily basis, Shinobu recognizes that lust can only satisfy the mind so much.

Many chapters of Shoujo Sect also detail a sort of bittersweet love. For example, in one chapter two girls are very much in love, only for one to disappear in a flurry of bubbles before the other's eyes (I later learned that the author intended for the disappearing girl to be the Little Mermaid). In another chapter Momoko sleeps with a teacher and they seem to be happy, but their relationship does not last long. Yet another example follows two childhood friends, one of which is in love with the other, but these feelings are not mutual. Not being able to bear the pain of one-sided love, she has sex with someone else while imagining her childhood friend the entire time.

This is not what I would call a hentai manga. The sex scenes have a very specific purpose: to evoke certain emotions from the reader, most important of which are entirely non-sexual. It manages to do this extremely well; a scene between Shinobu and one of her girls evokes feelings of sorrow, unrequited love on the girl's part, and of pure lust on Shinobu's part. Conversely, the scene between "the Little Mermaid" and her partner felt filled with love, real love. Sex is sex, but the emotions involved completely change the entire experience.

Shoujo Sect is really a collection of pained love stories and, for this very reason, is incredibly relatable. All elements of the revoltingly romantic and unrealistically utopian types of love stories that permeate throughout so many forms of media are completely absent from Shoujo Sect. These are sad stories, ones about imperfect love, situations that everyone who has ever been in love will be able to relate to. Love is rarely (if ever) "meant to be," and Shoujo Sect does not try to hide this fact. No, in a way, it celebrates it. Although every chapter in Shoujo Sect portrays a vision of flawed love, the final chapter paints a very different picture.

After all the stories of failed love, of shallow lust and lack of closure we are given a single happy ending, a glimmer of hope. Through this ending Shoujo Sect acknowledges the existence of true love but does not posit that it is found instantly or easily. Real love, according to Shoujo Sect, is found through trial and error. It is an ongoing process - one that, hopefully, will lead to a happy ending.

The following review is in Spanish and English (translated with the support of DeepL).

The version read is the English translation by zdjung and Seiki from Dynasty-Scans.

I would consider this the most famous work by Kenn Kurogane, with the exception of _Tae-chan to Jimiko-san_, his current serialization which surpasses thirty chapters. _Shoujo Sect_ was published irregularly between 2003 and 2008, and is especially remembered for its 2008 hentai adaptation, which adapts part of the story while taking certain creative liberties and not fully covering the original material. However, given the scarcity of exclusively yuri hentai, it has maintained a certain reputation, almost cult-like.

Across 16 ... chapters, the various romantic entanglements of an all-girls academy are presented. While there is a main story—identifiable either by the most recurring characters or by the covers—most chapters focus on the different relationships of secondary characters, forming a varied compendium of personalities and situations.

I emphasize “varied”: among its different premises we find forbidden relationships, mutual and unrequited childhood friendships, role-playing scenarios, and even a couple of threesomes. The outcomes are just as diverse, many of them bittersweet or even pyrrhic victories. Each is built around characters defined by a few distinctive traits that fit the narrative being told, while also contributing to the broader interconnected web of personalities.

However, this also creates an unexpected push and pull. The main plot is reduced almost entirely to the second volume, with only a few scattered lines in the first. With better distribution in its development, it could have been solidified as an anthology with the main duo as a central thread, but it remains somewhere in between. As for the main couple, they are far from innovative; their strength lies in being the two most developed (and most entertaining) characters, enough to keep us invested in the progression of their relationship drama.

For that reason, the final result does not fully align with what I would have preferred. I would have liked it to commit to one of two routes: either fully embrace being an anthology, or focus on a romantic story centered on the two protagonists with occasional supporting appearances. This does not diminish its strengths in terms of how enjoyable and varied the narrative is—particularly the former, as it is surprisingly humorous, both in its dialogue and in the amusing reactions of several characters.

Its structure and presentation almost make it seem like a typical GL manga: panel composition, character designs, embellishments, and backgrounds of empty classrooms and sunsets. What sets it apart is a decisive factor—its erotic representation, leaning toward explicitness in pursuit of pleasure or arousal. This requires a personal appreciation: in yuri works, such representations usually occupy few panels and focus only on what is “essential,” unlike hentai aimed primarily at a male audience. One possible explanation is that yuri tends to prioritize emotional connection and symbolism over explicitness, although this is merely my own interpretation and not based on anything definitive—especially considering that heterosexual hentai drawn by women can be just as explicit and intense.

While it varies by chapter, _Shoujo Sect_ features a stronger presence of explicit sexual content, in some cases occupying up to half of a chapter (which averages 18–20 pages), and prioritizing arousal more than is typical for the genre, especially for its time. The variety of situations also extends to its sexual depictions, which Kenn structures with notable skill, particularly in group scenes, where a balance is achieved between clarity of the situation and the excitement of the mutual entanglement (an aspect he would continue refining in his later works, where such scenarios become even more common and elaborate).

These scenes often feel climactic, aligning with the story’s emphasis. Of course, this is not the case in every episode; in some, it is simply pleasure for pleasure’s sake. The most notable ones, however, are those where the act is driven by emotional connection and expectations. This is another aspect that would improve in his later serializations.

_Shoujo Sect_ may not fully resonate with me due to its structural inconsistency—something understandable for an author with limited experience at the time. Even so, I can understand the status it has achieved among dedicated fans of the genre, especially as a point of reference or first contact—not only for readers, but also for newer authors within the genre.

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La calificaría como la obra más famosa de Kenn Kurogane con el permiso de “Tae-chan to Jimiko-san”, su actual serialización que supera la treintena de episodios. Shoujo Sect se publica de manera irregular entre 2003 a 2008, y es especialmente recordado por su adaptación hentai de 2008, la cuál adapta parte de su historia tomando ciertas libertades creativas y sin adaptar a plenitud el material original, sin embargo, dada la escasez de Hentais únicamente Yuri, ha guardado cierto renombre, casi de culto.

A lo largo de 16 capítulos se presentan los diferentes enredos amorosos de una academia femenina. Si bien hay una historia principal la cuál identificamos sea porque son los personajes más recurrentes o guiándonos por las portadas, son más los capítulos donde veremos las diferentes relaciones de personajes secundarios. Constituyendo en un variado compendio de personalidades y situaciones.

Realizó énfasis en variado, en los diferentes planteamientos podemos encontrarnos con relaciones prohibidas, amigas de la infancia correspondidas y no correspondidas, juegos de rol, o un par de tríos. Teniendo desenlaces igual de diversos, varios siendo calificables de agridulces, o como victorias pírricas. Y cada uno conformados por personajes definidos en pocos y distintivos elementos, encajando con el relato narrado, además de aportar al gran interconectado de personalidades.

Sin embargo, esto también presenta un inesperado tira y afloja. La trama principal queda reducida a casi únicamente su segundo volumen, sólo habiendo unos escasos diálogos en el primero. De haber una mejor distribución en el desarrollo, podía haberse consolidado de una antología teniendo de aderezo al dúo principal, pero queda a medio término. En cuánto a esa pareja principal protagónica lejos está de ser innovadora, su logro es tener los dos personajes mejor desarrollados (y más divertidos), lo suficiente para estar interesados en la evolución del drama de su relación.

Por eso mismo no terminó de conciliar el resultado en comparación a su visión. Hubiese preferido se adoptará por alguna de las dos rutas, ser plenamente una antología, o una historia romántica de las dos protagonistas con algunas secundarias en aparición especial. Lo cuál no deshace su trabajo en cuánto a lo ameno y variado de la narrativa, en relación a lo primero, es sorprendemente graciosa sea en varios diálogos o las divertidas reacciones de varios personajes.

Su estructura y presentación casi lo hacen pasar como un manga GL cualquiera, el posicionamiento de sus paneles, los diseños y florituras, los fondos en salones vacíos y atardeceres, de no ser por ese factor decisivo, su representación erótica guiado más a lo explícito en busca del disfrute o excitación. Aquí se necesita una apreciación personal, en los trabajos Yuri es habitual que esas representaciones ocupen pocos paneles y sea de únicamente “lo importante”, contrario al hentai guiado a un público, sobre todo, masculino. La explicación se puede resguardar en que se prioriza el contacto y lo simbólico que lo explícito, más sólo es un apreciación de mi parte no soportada en algo particular, teniendo de contra que el hentai heterosexual dibujado por mujeres es igual de explícito y encarnizado.

Si bien varía dependiendo del capítulo, en ese aspecto Shoujo Sect tiene más de esa presencia sexual explícita, en algunos ocupa hasta la mitad del capítulo (el cuál tiene en promedio entre 18 - 20 páginas), en las que además prioriza ese factor de excitación, por encima de lo habitual en el género, y hasta en la época. Dada la variedad de situaciones que mencionaba también se traslada a las diferentes presentaciones sexuales, las cuáles Kenn estructura con marcada habilidad, sobre todo en los actos grupales donde consigue ese equilibrio de entender la situación, y lo “emocionante” del enredo mutuo (seguiría mejorando ese aspecto hasta su actual serialización donde son todavía más comunes y amplias).

Y se sienten especialmente climáticas, correspondiendo al énfasis de la historia, ciertamente no sucede en cada episodio, habiendo algunos donde si es placer en favor del placer. Resaltando a los que el acto si es por una conexión de sentimientos y expectativas. También mejoraría este enfoque durante sus próximas serializaciones.

Shoujo Sect puede que no termine de quedarse conmigo a consecuencia de su desorganización, propia y comprensible en un autor con poca experiencia. Aún así puedo entender ese estatus que se ha conseguido entre los particulares aficionados del género, especialmente como punto de referencia o primer contacto, y no sólo entre lectores, sino en en los nuevos autores del género.