Toomi Yuna is a 2nd year in high school, and a loner who eats lunch on the rooftops minding her own business. She’s kind of just going through the motions, and doesn’t really have anything in mind. Until two ghosts play tricks on her during her lunch. And both parties are shocked they can actually see each other. Here ends Yuna’s quiet school life, and the beginning of YURITOPIA.
What’s it about?
Kindred Spirits on the Roof is a girls love story about Yuna along with the help of two ghosts, Sachi and Megumi, who help set up many various couples in their high school Shirojo to create a Yuritopia. Why a Yuritopia you ask? Sachi and Megumi were prior students of Shirojo, who had died in their time there due to unforeseen accidents and illness, and were unable to pass on to the afterlife due to strong lingering feelings. In order to pass on to the afterlife, the duo must learn how two girls uh “do the deed”, to quench their past regrets. So they beg (in Megumi’s case, threaten to haunt) Yuna to help them get together the various girls’ loves in Shirojo’s all girls high school. Begrudgingly, Yuna decides to help them out, and it’s not like she has anything better to do anyway right?
The Yuri Greatness
Off the bat, there are a LOT of couples that the story focuses on. Like 50 hours of content at the bare minimum. It’s no wonder this visual novel is lauded for so much great content in the community. Despite such a varied and massive cast, the story does a fantastic job in fleshing out each and every character.
A strength of Kindred Spirits on the Roof is that the story begins at the start of the school year, and takes place throughout the entire year. You can see the story progress with a calendar tracker, and see each individual story bit by bit with stickers marked on specific dates. It’s a great way to see the flow of time, and how the couples progress.
Secondly, all of the characters are so different but all of them are so lovable. They all have their own story and flaws, but overcome and just make each other better. It’s hard to pick a favorite couple, they’re all just so good. (Psyche, Aki x Youka supremacy) I’ll just go into each couple to make things easier.
Seina x Miki
Ah the upperclassman and underclassman trope. Gotta love it. They’re the first couple that Yuna helps get together, and start off in a very cute and tropey way. Seina, the 1st year, greatly admires Miki, a 3rd year, for being famous for always helping other students and teachers around the school, and falls in love at first sight when Miki helps her out personally. She struggles to deliver a love letter for weeks, until she finally musters the courage (with a little behind the scenes help from Yuna).
Unfortunately, she is turned down, but Miki and Seina become friends. Seina starts to help out Miki with her endless tasks, and begins to fall more in love with Miki, but also realizes that Miki isn’t perfect. Miki’s flaws are that she can never say no to anyone, and always helps others in a twisted sense to never let others down. Seina finally catches on, and is the one to break Miki out of her self-sacrificial nature when she gets into an altercation with those who were taking advantage of Miki’s selfless nature. Miki realizes she’s been in love with Seina as well, for always being there for her and being endlessly patient with her. They’re a sweet couple, if not a bit cliched.
Umi x Sasa
Ah, this pairing was really sweet and funny. Complete opposites, in Umi being a complete airhead and outgoing individual, and Sasa being a dark, sarcastic individual. Funnily enough, it was Sasa who fell for Umi first, love works in mysterious ways. Maybe edgy teenagers are just drawn to ditsy fools? Who knows. Their other close friend Nene, tries her best to get them together, endlessly fed up with Sasa’s cowardice, until Yuna gives the final push. When they do get together, Umi is ecstatic at Sasa’s confession and is happy together.
However, Umi feels terrible in that maybe them being together makes Nene feel left out. Nene sets the two of them straight though, and tells them to basically don’t worry about her and for them to get their shit together, cuz she’s their friend dammit and is happy for them. It’s heartwarming to see Umi’s antics and next scheme to pull off, and Sasa always pulling the reins on her to make sure she doesn’t get too out of control. But at the end of the day, it’s always Umi who can make Sasa blush like a red tomato in a flash.
Kiri x Tsukuyo
The teacher x student relationship, spicy. Kiri is the only member (and president) of the math club, with Tsukuyo being the club advisor. They are always close, except Kiri started falling in love with her teacher/advisor. The otaku that Kiri is, she has a fondness for cute things, and couldn’t help finding Tsukuyo cute and confessed to her. Unfortunately, she was shot down immediately and dismissed by Tsukuyo as “going through a phase”. This story was really raw, in that Kiri soon questioned her sexuality and whether her feelings were actually real or not. She concludes that she does love Tsukuyo, and is fine with just being friends.
Tsukuyo, on the other hand, feels terrible for what she did, and recalls when she was a student how a friend of hers dismissed their feelings as going through a phase as well. It’s a good dose of reality how the world won’t always consider their feelings, and even crush them underfoot. Ultimately, Kiri relents and confesses again, only this time with resolve and not puppy love. Tsukuyo accepts, as she sees Kiri not as a child, but as a person she wants to be in love with.
Sidenote: Kiri is such a lovable otaku geek, I love her inner monologues going on and on about how great Tsukuyo is. Also, Tsukuyo’s insistence on being called Senpai is just adorable.
Youka x Aki
Ah, my favorite couple. The bumbling buffoon and the stickler for rules. Actual complete opposites, yet completely perfect for each other. Youka, a self proclaimed “rocker”, is the definition of a punk delinquent, with dyed blonde hair and part of an actual band. She consistently shows late for school, but has a pure heart of gold. Heck, she doesn’t have a single mean bone in her body. She falls in love at first sight with Aki, upon one of her late mornings.
Despite all appearances and a reputation of being a strict disciplinarian, Aki smiles and only finds the situation amusing. She and Youka become fast friends, and it’s oh so clear, that it’s not a one sided attraction. Their moments together are so cute, especially when Youka stutters over her words as to not show Aki that she’s head over heels in love with her, and Aki just giggles and accepts it in stride because she also loves her back. Their dynamic is just great, with Youka being honest to a fault, and Aki complementing her perfectly by complimenting Youka and reducing her to an embarrassed teenager in love. Youka does a grand solo rock performance for the cultural festival, culminating in her confessing to Aki and then kissing on stage. If that’s not rock, I don’t know what is. Also, Aki dragging Youka to the floor above the entrance to do the deed is just alpha. I guess we know who’s the top in their relationship heh.
Matsuri x Miyu
The childhood friends in love. This couple was already together, having been girlfriends since early middle school. Being third years and ready to graduate, they already have plans to live together and be together for a while. Except they both have different ideas on how their relationship should progress. Matsuri wants them to be open about it, while Miyu prefers them to be on the down low. Their relationship is a good example of how a couple fights and makes up in a natural way, except their fight kind of drags one of their underclassmen Hina into an unintentional love triangle. They realize they were both being stupid, and reaffirm their love for one another. They also inform Hina on some very useful information for whenever Hina wants to, uh nevermind. I’ll go into that later.
Sachi x Megumi
The ghost couple! They are another great couple, with Megumi’s mischievous demeanor and energy complementing Sachi’s calm and down to earthness. We learn that Sachi has been around for nearly a century, having been in love with a classmate. She died saving her from falling off the roof railing, and thus being stuck as a ghost with unresolved feelings. Megumi, has only been around for a few decades, having been struck with illness. She was barely able to attend school, but in brief time she could, saw Sachi on the rooftop and fell in love at first sight. On her last day, she decided to go to the school roof once more but succumbed to illness. Upon waking up, she realized she had become a ghost and was ecstatic to finally meet Sachi.
Now they are a couple trying to pass on to the afterlife. Their characterizations are absolutely fantastic, really explaining their insecurities and traits. We learn that Sachi’s current personality as a mature, down to earth, calm older person is a facade for her, to mimic that of her past crush. When deep down, she is a painfully shy, quiet individual. But Megumi and Yuna, who has become quite close with them, disagree, and say that this “mask” of Sachi’s is all that they’ve ever known and to be the real Sachi. It’s a heartwarming moment where Sachi realizes that she has changed as a person and isn’t the same person she always was.
Megumi, despite being portrayed as always happy and go lucky, and eager to poke fun at Yuna (haha), shows her vulnerabilities to Yuna of all people. Megumi confides that she fears that she’s just a stand in replacement for Sachi’s prior crush, but she’s fine with that since Megumi loves Sachi and kind of “saved” her when she was ill in her past life. Megumi and Sachi then have an honest talk, and reaffirm their love for each other. Honest communication, the best solution to every love story ever.
Ok mellow stuff done. Megumi is such a treat, as she’s generally the one to bicker with Yuna on how to get the couples together, and always says funny liners of “haunting” and “possessing” Yuna. Sachi acts a wise sage, always giving good advice to Yuna. When together however, you really see that the duo truly love one another, always being touchy and vomit inducing in a GOOD way. When Megumi and Sachi eventually do pass to the afterlife, it’s a real tear jerking moment, as they truly valued their friendship with Yuna, and to never forget what she did for them.
Yuna x Hina
And of course, the main character Yuna, and Hina. Didn’t think I would forget about her, did ya?
Extremely close childhood friends, with their mothers being co-workers and Hina always having dinner at Yuna’s house, already spelled recipe for love from the start of the story. However, Yuna suffered trauma in middle school, as head of the cooking club. She was seen as domineering and prideful, despite her leading them to victory in the cooking competition. As such, she closed herself off from people entering high school, hence why she became a loner. Hina was always there for her, but she never pushed the subject.
Yuna as a character, is empathetic and relatable. She’s not a self insert, but someone who is very snarky and a person with common sense. She often bickers with Megumi, and won’t hesitate to call out someone else for their flaws. She’s very self aware of her own flaws, but fears taking the step forward.
Anyway, so the coupling. Yuna only starts to realize her feelings for Hina, when Hina gets dragged into Matsuri and Miyu’s love spat and love triangle. She realizes she would hate for Hina to end up with anyone else, and we see a jealous Yuna act irrationally. Eventually, both of them realize their feelings for each other, but Yuna gets cold feet, and takes MONTHS to figure out her own feelings. But Hina is a saint, and waits, because she knows Yuna. And then they finally get together. Let the main character be happy!
Final Thoughts
The soundtrack is just superb, albeit a bit repetitive since it plays the same song for certain locations. The various art is easy on the eyes as well, with the Japanese voice acting pretty good as well. Also, no surprise, there is a lewd scene for each couple, you filthy animals.
Kindred Spirits, in my opinion, is a must read for yuri fans. This review doesn’t do it justice, as the story takes the lengthy but well deserved time to build up each couple and get them together in an organic way. The character interactions in story are comedic as well, no surprise since they all attend the same school. It’s a lot of content, but well deserving of praise.
Last but not least, here is a fantastic fanart of Yuna and Hina my good friend commissioned for me! Check out their works on Instagram, at clj199.
Kindred Spirits on the Roof is available on steam. Off to Yuritopia!
Anime Drabbles 