Flip Flip Slowly is a oneshot about an anthropology professor and a librarian in a small town slowly bonding over books and sea side car drives; or, as the author puts it: "This was a story about being blessed with opportunities to go on drives and just sit and chat."

If you are looking for an incredibly unique and thought provoking story you won't find it here, but it's a perfectly fine gentle look into the lives of two ordinary people who just happen to be gay. They communicate maturely and naturally get past any potential conflicts. In a genre where fetishization is unfortunately not uncommon, this was a very welcome wholesome read. The Manga is however too short to fully display the development of their relationship and I almost wish it would have been split into 2 or 3 volumes instead, going more into detail about Yabumi and Hagiwara outside of their meetings. As it is, it repeats one or two character attributes over and over instead of showing them discovering each other's personality more the longer they are in contact.

At times it was a little difficult to recognize who was talking, which caused me to reread dialouge. The art is very pretty and matches the calm vibe of the story and the character designs fit the age range the characters are in.

There is one explicit scene in the epilouge/extra chapters that can easily be skipped if it's not your cup of tea, just as it isn't mine. :)

Disclaimer: Free advance copy provided by Kodansha, but nothing was promised in exchange.

Nach so vielen Jahren in die Tintenwelt zurückzukehren, war für mich gleichzeitig aufregend und ein wenig beängstigend. Ich bin mit dieser Reihe aufgewachsen, konnte mich aber an viele Details und Story-Elemente nicht mehr erinnern. Ich hatte auch die Sorge, dass ich mittlerweile einfach zu "alt" für Cornelia Funkes Geschichten bin und sie mich nicht mehr so wie früher fesseln werden.

Diese Sorgen haben sich zum Großteil als unbegründet herausgestellt. Funkes Erzählstil hat einfach eine besondere Magie und die Nostalgie spiegelt sich sicherlich in meiner Bewertung wieder. Trotzdem war dieser Teil nicht so gut wie die ursprüngliche Trilogie. Ich fand das Ende etwas abrupt.

Die Erzählung im Hörbuch ist aber wirklich gut gelungen!