When Minato Asano moves to a new high school, she finds herself eating lunch alone whilst being looked at strangely by her peers for carrying around a trombone despite there being no music clubs. Fate would have her meet another girl named Hibiki-sempai who tries to talk her into joining her band.
Hello, Melancholic! is a Yuri Genre manga written and illustrated by Yayoi Oosawa, which was serialized in Comic Yuri Hime from June 2019 to November 2020 and compiled into three volumes. The manga is licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment.
The manga provides examples of:
- Berserk Button: Hibiki-sempai aggressively calls Minato a "jerk" when she pointed out that their playing with pros instead of having fun playing music was the same mindset her father had.
- But Not Too Foreign: Ema is half-Japanese, half-Russian.
- Bifauxnen: Ema resembles a young man due to her short hair.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Minato used to be an enthusiastic trombone player until she was chosen to play in a competitive team over an upperclassman. Because of that, she was relentlessly bullied by her bandmates until she decided to give up on music.
- Delinquents: When Chika first met Sakiko, she tried to go off with a grown man alongside other instances of Troubling Unchildlike Behavior.
- Friends with Benefits: Chika refers to her relationship with Sakiko as this by outright using the term "fuck buddies" in a conversation with Minato.
- Genki Girl: Hibiki-sempai is a very energetic young woman who is perpetually optimistic.
- Hypocrite: Hibiki-sempai criticizes her father for his views on music while she herself is overly pushing when trying to convince Minato to play alongside professionals.
- Secret Relationship: Minato accidentally walks up on Chika and Sakiko kissing each other.
- Shrinking Violet: Minato is an awkward tall girl who constantly felt that she was being a bother to the other girls.
- Spit Take: Minato spits out her drink in surprise when Chika explained her relationship with Sakiko.
