白い部屋のふたり 山岸凉子作品集3

3 stories of strife - and the first(?) modern yuri manga

The manga contains 3 different stories of strife, with their accompanying angst and すれ違い. I believe all 3 stories are set in France (at the very least, the first one is). Overall they're a little hard to read, due to the small font size, and sometimes crowded paneling, but I think the stories are great - and it's worth reading for the historical value. The art seems to be a bit rougher and simpler than ゲッシング・ゲーム | L29, by the same author (2 years later iirc), but (especially in the titular story) can be really beautiful, creative, and evocative. I definitely would have preferred to read it at magazine size though! The language is fairly close to modern Japanese, with a few archaisms. If you've read things like マリア様がみてる, おにいさまへ, or さくら並木, this should be pretty easy.

白い部屋のふたり: Considered by some to be the first modern yuri manga, it's set in a cloistered, all-girls school, and the two MCs live in a distant room of the dormitory. The main tension in the story has to do with realizing romantic feelings, and the taboo of being a lesbian (both in an all-girls school, and in the world more broadly). It's easy to see where this solidified various tropes in modern yuri works. Similar to おにいさまへ, It can require a bit more interpretation to follow than more recent manga, but the emotional experience is definitely well-conveyed.

遠い讃美歌: A story of sibling (non-romantic) love - a troubled, but protective older brother, at odds with his family - and a deaf younger sister, who's been sheltered by her family, but really looks up to him. The communication issues and behaviors in this all felt very realistic, and I liked how developed and multilayered the characters and tensions were.

水の中の空: The story of a young girl who struggles to fit in with her new mother & siblings (from her father's remarriage). This one is the shortest and simplest of the 3 stories, and has a slight supernatural element.