Ayana Yuniko (綾奈 ゆにこ) has worked on the scripts for a number of anime series, including Aoi Hana/Sweet Blue Flowers. In addition, she has written a series of “Yuri essays” which are not “about” Yuri, but are instead little vignettes of Yuri-ish moments that she felt or observed. These essays have been collected into an interesting, if odd, little volume, Chisai Yuri Mitsuketa (小さい百合見つけた).

Ayana’s scenarios range from two girls having an intimate moment while flower viewing, to a rather amusing outing she and several other otaku-types took to Enoshima to Aoi Hana-scene spot. We learn that she’s quite taken with girl idol groups and, as a typical Yurijin (“Yuri person,”  a word I’ve decided today we should use for all Yuri fans, ^_^) is prone to seeing Yuri wherever there are two girls being cute at each other. ^_^

In addition to Ayana’s essays, there are short comics by Aoi Hana‘s Shimura Takako and Philosophia‘s Amano Shuninta, as well as illustrations and a short comic by HEERO.

I described this book as “odd.” It was. I enjoyed it, but was never really sure if I was meant to be taking any of these vignettes seriously. When I learned that these essays were originally written for a Newtype web magazine column, they made a lot more sense, playing to the sensibilities of Japanese Newtype magazine readers who, along with having their antenna set to oversensitive, like the Yurijin they are, would also care about idol groups and schoolgirls sharing ice cream. Oh, well, that makes perfect sense now.

Ratings:

Essays – Variable, I’d say 7
Art – 9

Overall – We’ll average it out at 8

I wouldn’t call this compelling reading, or a must-have, but if you’re a Yurijin, too, you might find it entertaining. ^_^