Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo

Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo (くちびるためいきさくらいろ) is a Japanese yuri manga anthology collection of seven one-shots by the manga author Milk Morinaga. The first five chapters were originally serialized in the now-defunct yuri manga magazine Yuri Shimai between June 28, 2003 and November 17, 2004, published by Sun Magazine. When Yuri Shimai was discontinued, the last two chapters were serialized in the magazine's successor Comic Yuri Hime between July 18, 2005 and October 18, 2005, published by Ichijinsha. The chapters were later collected into a single bound volume which went on sale on January 18, 2006. The chapters are unrelated except for taking place at two affiliated all-girl schools, though characters reappear in several of the stories.

Plot
The story revolves around the lives of various girls attending Sakurakai Girls High School and the ups and downs of their love lives. While each chapter is a stand alone story, characters from other chapters do appear throughout.


 * Chapters
 * 1) "Even if We're Not Friends." (ともだちじゃなくても.)
 * 2) "The Summer Closest to Heaven." (天国に一番近い夏.)
 * 3) "A Kiss, Love, and a Prince" (キスと恋と王子様)
 * 4) "This Love from I Can't Remember When." (いつかのこのこい.)
 * 5) "Cherries for Your Lips" (くちびるにチェリー)
 * 6) "If I Kiss Her Ring Finger" (くすりゆびにキスしたら)
 * 7) "Real Feelings." (ホントのキモチ.)

Characters

 * Nana Kobayashi
 * Nana Kobayashi is a cheerful high school student who has known Hitomi Fujimori since grade school and have been friends for just as long. When it came time to graduate from junior high school, Hitomi coaxes Nana to take the entrance exam for Sakuraki high school due to the sailor-style uniform, but Hitomi did not make it into the same school. After their separation Nana was left thinking about her relationship with Hitomi. She is a main reoccurring character and is the focus of three chapters.


 * Hitomi Fujimori
 * Hitomi is Nana's best friend and the one who conviced her to take the entrance exam for Sakuraki high school, however Hitomi did not make it into the same school and attended Touhou high school instead. She is a main recurring character and is the focus of three chapters.


 * Natsuka Katō
 * Natsuka Katō is a ghost who still resides in the high school she attended before she transferred to another school and later died. She enjoys spending time in the school's infirmary because in life she had fallen in love with a girl named Komatsu who later became the school nurse of the high school she attended.


 * Narumi Abe
 * Narumi Abe is a member of the drama club who plays the lead role of the princess in the school play, her upperclassman Tachiba plays opposite her as the prince in the tale.


 * Chisato Suzuki
 * Chisato Suzuki has known Mizuki for years now, though does not know her well. In her first year of high school, Chisato tried to help Mizuki out, who had a hickey on her neck, by offering to cover it up with a bandage, though Mizuki did not want her help. Two years later in their third year, Chisato has been dreaming of Mizuki at night.


 * Chiharu
 * Chiharu became friends with Eri in high school after being put into the same class and loves to eat the sweets she makes. Chiharu has been in love with Eri for years, but has never told her because she did not want to push her feelings on to her good friend.


 * Eri
 * Eri is a flute player and was with the school band, but after she injured her left arm she could not play anymore, she started making sweets once she entered high school.


 * Nosaka
 * Nosaka is a member of the literature club, and she writes short romance stories for the school's literary magazine.


 * Michiru Endō
 * Michiru Endō started reading Nosaka's stories and over time ended up falling for her. She joined in the literature club, and one day confesses her love to Nosaka and asked her to go out with her.

Reception
Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo was featured as Anime News Network's Import of the Month in October 2007 where it was praised for being "heart-meltingly cute—and not in the brainless moe-moe way, but because the feelings expressed are so honest." However it was noted that "it may be an emotionally moving work, but that doesn't stop it from often plunging into cheesy melodrama territory."