Sweet Blue Flowers (Aoi Hana) by Takako Shimura
Someone posted about one of Shimura's other series, Hourou Musuko (Transient Son or Wandering Son), a few months ago. Sweet Blue Flowers starts off with an older crowd. On the surface, it may look like just another "childhood friends are reunited" story, but it's so much more. It's about sexuality and friendship and crushes and growing up. It has subtlety and realism.
Since the anime adaptation is now airing, I thought this might be a good time to post about Sweet Blue Flowers here. If you're in one of the supported regions, you can watch a legit, English-subtitled stream at crunchyroll. Episodes are available to non-subscribers a week after they air in Japan, which is pretty darn good. (Subscribers get them right away.) I'm loving the adaptation so far--it's faithful to the manga, but it has originality, too.
The two main characters are Akira (the one with the braids)--"Ah-chan" or "Achan" for short--and Fumi (the one with the long, dark hair). They were best friends until Fumi's family moved away; now Fumi has returned, and they're friends again.
A few scenes from the first chapter:
Akira saves Fumi from a pervert on the train:
Fumi makes some new friends, and we get a short flashback of her and Akira:
Fumi and her cousin had a relationship of sorts; or they did, until now.
What an awful way to get dumped.
Then when Fumi sees Akira the next morning:
There are some really great moments in the later chapters, but I don't want to spoil what happens. You can download scanlations at Kotonoha (volumes 1-3) or Lililicious (all that's out). If you want to buy the manga in Japanese, the ISBNs are 4778320050, 4778320328, 4778320530, and 4778320840. See Baka-Updates Manga for a list of other manga by Shimura. I highly recommend Hourou Musuko, and there are some nice stories in Happy-Go-Lucky Days (Dou ni ka Naru Hibi).