Kazusa’s first high school literature club meeting starts with five girls being asked, “What’s one thing you want to do before you die?” When one of them blurts out, “Sex,” it launches these new friends down a raucous, embarrassing, all-too-relatable path. One of Japan’s top female screenwriters, Okada hones her knack for aching drama and wry humor that became her trademark with anime like anohana and Maquia. Amid an explosion of graphic novels about girls’ teenage years, like Lumberjanes and That One Summer, O Maidens brings a diverse, fresh, and hilarious perspective on how it feels to leave childhood behind.

As a teen, how do you start thinking about sex? This debut manga from anime legend Mari Okada (Maquia) follows five girls and their five moving, funny, and mortifying answers. Join their bittersweet (and a little spicy) journey from girlhood to... whatever comes next! Anime coming soon! BENEFITS WITH FRIENDS At the school festival, Izumi confesses his feelings for Kazusa, and like many of the other newly minted couples, the two become an item. But with the comfort and familiarity of a long-time friend comes the difficult balancing act of what intimacy means for them. Momo struggles with this, too, and must work up the courage to talk to Nina for real. The literary girls each stumble to navigate their desires, but the resolutions they reach may tear the club apart...

"Best Manga/Anime of 2019" — Thrillist, The Verge, Geek Girl Authority, Anime UK & more! From the writer of the hit Netflix film A Whisker Away, anohana, and Maquia As a teen, how do you start thinking about sex? This debut manga from anime legend Mari Okada follows five girls and their five moving, funny, and mortifying answers. Join their bittersweet (and a little spicy) journey from girlhood to... whatever comes next! 1 WORD. 3 LETTERS. RHYMES WITH "VEX." When Kazusa enters high school, she joins the Literature Club, where she leaps from reading innocent fiction to diving into the literary classics. But these novels are a bit more...adult than she was prepared for. Between euphemisms like fresh dewy grass and pork stew, crushing on the boy next door, and knowing you want to do that one thing before you die--discovering your budding sexuality is no easy feat! As if puberty wasn't awkward enough, the club consists of a brooding writer, the prettiest girl in school, an agreeable comrade, and an outspoken prude. Fumbling over their own discomforts, these five teens get thrown into chaos over three little letters: S...E...X...!

Kazusa is determined to tell Izumi she likes him, and the staged reading the Literature Club will perform for the school festival provides ample inspiration. All the while, Nina is coming to her own conclusions about how nice Izumi is, how thoughtful he is, how easy it is to talk to him… With the festival as their backdrop, each girl begins to write her own definition of what “love” might really mean.

Kazusa was a quiet middle schooler, but she arrived in high school determined to make friends. So (as a huge Harry Potter fan) she decides to join the literature club. When one of the club’s icebreakers is “say one thing you want to do before you die,” one of the girls blurts out “sex.” The prudish club president, the class beauty, and the other nerdy girls’ reactions are wildly different. Far from a typical sex comedy, O Maidens in Your Savage Season depicts how these girls challenge and support one another when THAT WORD pushes them onto a variety of clumsy, funny, painful, and emotional paths towards adulthood. Mari Okada’s unique talent for pairing lovable and relatable characters and emotional twists is lent new dimension by the detailed and dynamic sequential art of Nao Emoto (Forget Me Not).

As a teen, how do you start thinking about sex? This debut manga from anime legend Mari Okada (Maquia) follows five girls and their five moving, funny, and mortifying answers. Join their bittersweet (and a little spicy) journey from girlhood to... whatever comes next! Anime coming soon! TO-DO LIST Though Nina's second confounding question was aimed at Izumi alone, she quickly learns other parties are more willing to respond to her invitation. Now Nina stands at a dangerous crossroad, not wholly prepared to interrogate what she really wants from being wanted... Before she can even catch her breath, Nina and her comrades learn of the school's updated policy: No dating under any circumstances. This news comes on the heels of a dear friend being expelled, and the girls know drastic times call for drastic measures--Literature Club, rise up!

Legendary anime creator Mari Okada (anohana, Maquia) makes her manga debut with a moving, funny, so-true-it's-sometimes-embarrassing story of high school girls coming of age together. Perfect for those looking for a manga reminiscent of Noelle Stevenson or Jillian Tamaki. IF I HAD TO PICK... After Nina mentions that she wants to have sex before she dies, the Literature Club starts getting overwhelmed by the complications, the doubts, the delights--just the idea of sex! But the girls must focus on keeping their club from getting shut down, and an unlikely candidate joins them as their faculty advisor. All the while, Kazusa wrestles with the confusing change in her relationship with Izumi, her childhood friend. As if walking in on him during a solo session wasn't shocking enough, Kazusa realizes she might like-like him.