My very first reaction upon seeing the cover of the first Yuri Shoujo anthology was to groan with disappointment at the tagline, “First Love.” Ugh. I thought. Haven’t we done that *enough?*

However, even though the stories inside really are all “Story A” with nothing to push them past that oh-so-popular “zOMG we’re in love!” non-climax, it’s still a reasonably pleasant anthology.

There aren’t too many stories in the collection that stray from the basic formula, but in most cases the art is likeable and so are the characters. The behaviors fit the ages so the one story of elementary school cute friend-love is totally un-icky and the adults in Houjo Koz’s story act like adults.

No, Yuri Shoujo breaks no new ground, nor it does not explore mature or physical relationships beyond a kiss or two. There a few fantasy stories, but most are realistic and…nice. I don’t meant to damn this with faint praise. It’s an anthology of stories of girls falling in love for the first time. It’s not the anthology’s fault that that ground has been really well-covered already. What you do get with this volume is pleasant art and stories, with a very little bit of variety.

Yuri Shoujo is warm spring day reading. On this cold, windy morning I want something more passionate, but when the weather milds up and spring is in the air, this anthology is going to be just fine. ^_^

Overall – 7

Today’s thanks once again to Okazu Superhero George R. for the care and feeding of my Amazon JP Wish List and bringing us all a pleasant day of Yuri. :-)