http://store.steampowered.com/app/452440/Flowers_Le_volume_sur_printemps/
Reading the first volume of the series, I found myself identifying a bit too much with the main character, Suoh-san. She struggles with past traumas and disappointments that still haunt her, and has enrolled at an isolated all-girls catholic boarding school with a formalized roommate-buddy system, in the hope of finding true friends. In the true route, she ends up finding more than she bargained for. The series conforms to the Yuri genre of Japanese fiction, with the addition of mystery. Yuri is typically distinct from western lesbian fiction. The genre developed out of the culture of girls-only education in Japan, that still exists, with two institutes even receiving national funding:
http://www.ocha.ac.jp/en/index.html
http://www.nara-wu.ac.jp/nwu/en/index.html
Yuri typically contains the themes of isolation, purity, puberty, friendship and admiration flowering into love, catholicism, and transience. Of these, the themes of isolation and transience are the most unique. In close-quarters and without any male competition, young girls naturally turn to each-other for acceptance and closeness that goes beyond what would typically be described as friendship... but as soon as their love is discovered and/or the environment changes, the relationship becomes like a magic trick that has lost its power after being understood, dust in the wind, a briefly booming spring flower. Inevitably the relationship dissolves upon one partner graduating or transferring away from the formative confines of the educational institution, making their love simply a 'phase.' Another case specific to the finishing school, is that one girl gets married off in an arranged marriage. The rare couple resists this interference to their relationship, often resulting in a darker story. In Yuri, one can find the concept that for females, it is the environment more than any genetic factor that shapes sexual orientation, and that this orientation is as fluid as the environment itself.
As a literary device and social phenomenon, I find isolation intriguing. In isolation, it is possible for new cultures to emerge. When it comes to friendship and romance, our options are usually limited to those we share experiences with and typically are in close proximity to. This is made clear in Flowers where Suoh-san's two possible romances are with her roommate-buddies, Rikka-san and Mayuri-san.
It really makes you think, just how much does your environment make you who you are?
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Thank-you everyone for your support!