When I say I have *a lot* of Yuri manga, I mean, I have so much, I’ve forgotten half of what I own. So this weekend I was crawling through some of the older, obscurer of my collection and thought I’d write a few reviews, because how else will you learn about these gems…and the not-so-gem-like, too.

Cleaning Out The Obscure Yuri Manga Closet
Part 1

Today, we’ll start with Vaelber Saga, a story that I believe richly derserves its obscurity. I have volumes 1 and 2 and have never been motivated to get 3. If anything good happens in 3, someone tell me and I’ll go get it. ^_^

The world of Vaelber Saga is an over-drawn monster-infested post-apocalyptic Earth. The action is full of movement and violence that one can barely make out past all the heavy black ink lines…I’m sure you know the sort.

Our heroine Jum has a talking cat/fox kind of animal, really long hair and a mission that has something to do with the “Vaelber,” the nature of which I never really figured out. She wears an outfit that I can only describe as “a really dumb choice for an post-apocalyptic world” and swings an overlong sword without cutting her overlong hair.

Can you tell I love this story?

Jum discovers and, after a really prolonged battle with one of those monster guys that never dies no matter how many body parts you remove, she saves our damsel-in-distress, Mina. Their eyes lock and their hearts pound, and…yeah, so that’s about it for them. Later, Jum watches Mina bathe, contemplating why her heart is beating so loudly and, after saving Mina from one of those monster guys that never dies no matter how many body parts you remove, they find themselves naked and well within touching distance. The look into each others’ eyes and move closer and then pull away, beet red and as horny as hell. But of course, nothing happens.

Thank GOD for the reigning Evil Queen-type character, Maria. At least she just goes ahead and sleeps with her chief henchchick, Freya. I quite like both of them – too bad they will be defeated. Why is that? Maria looks completely competent to rule this dismal little planet…and we’re supposed to be happy that Jum will eventually defeat her and replace her with a blushing, simpering child? Ugh. No thanks, count me in on the side of the baddies here, kids. For one thing – they have much nicer clothes.

There’s also a questionably uber-butch character, Giselle, who is a friend of Jum’s from waaaay back who will invariably betray her. If only it leads to her finding solace in Mina’s arms, it might be worth it. Wanna take bets?

So, yeah, this series has genuine Yuri, of two kinds – the “why do I feel this way around you?” kind and the “get over here wench” kind. And yet, it’s a boring, boring manga.

If you like post-apocalyptic demonfests with unrealistically drawn swords and a strong D&D feel, you might like Vaelber Saga more than I do. Or not. Whatever.