Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime November 2015 (コミック百合姫 2015年 11 月号)

November 24th, 2015

CYH1115-275x389The November 2015 issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫 2015年 11 月号) is one of those issues where I basically began paying attention about halfway through, as the first half has stories designed to entertain people who are not me.

Kurata Uso’s “Yuri Joshi” now follows the adventures of Yuri fangirls, but I find it as remote a characterization as I did the fanboys in Yuri Danshi. It is of course possible that there are girls who are fans of Yuri speaking to near-magical onee-sama in abstract terms, but it’s still feels like an unreal fandom and not at all like the actual women I encounter who enjoy Yuri. James Welker wrote of Yuri Danshi as a meta-look at Yuri fandom, but I can’t see anything resembling actual Yuri fandom in this series.  Oh well, at least it’s about girls, and not crazy hyperactive fanboys. ^_^;

Ohzawa Yayoi’s “2DK, G Pen, Mezamashitokei” took an interesting turn, away from mangaka Kaede towards hypercompetent, but lonely, Nanami, and her burgeoning friendship/mentorship with coworker Yuuko. Will this force Nanami to admit she likes Kaede or will she find her interest turning to Yuuko? Now I’m intrigued.

Takemiya Jin’s story made me really happy in a melancholy way. “Hatsunatsu Souhi” follows Misaki, who has returned for Obon to the town where her first love lived before she died. Misaki’s an adult now and when she sees a young woman who looks like Yuuko did back then, she’s taken aback. When the girl, Sa-chan, befriends her, Misaki doesn’t have the emotional strength to walk away. They visit the local festival together and, as they watch fireworks, Yuuko’s ghost takes over the girl’s body. “It’s Obon,” she reminds Misaki, the time of year when the dead return to our world for a week. Misaki is able to say good bye to her old love and move on. Sa-chan says she wants to see Misaki again and, as Misaki returns home,  confesses that she’s fallen for her.

“Kanaete! Yuri Yousei” by Minamoto Hisanari continues to be incredibly silly. This chapter the two women already had feelings for each other, and both the Yuri Yousei and the Shirayuri Yousei get hanko stamps on their cards. It’s win-win all around.

“12-pun no Etude’ by Nakahara Tsubaki finally becomes a little Yuri and not where I thought it would. Wakana is finally improving and is allowed to play with the band again. Hatsumi’s famous sister Ai arrives to cheer them all on with her friend Kotone. Hatsumi is unspurprisingly cold to her talented sister who, it turns out, is really hurt by this. Ai and Kotone talk about it later and it turns out that Kotone is not Ai’s friend, but her lover. Okay, I like this way better than Wakana crushing on Hatsumi.

Ratings:

The stuff I enjoy – 8
The stuff I didn’t enjoy – 4 (I’m being kind, some of it got really nasty, in particularly “Prince Princess,” which had been a little service-y, went totally gross.)

Overall – 6

As always, there are many other stories, some of which you will like even if I didn’t care for them. I’m not ecstatic at the higher level of fanservice in this volume. A few stories actually made me feel quite nauseated, even paging past them. But the mix means more people will find something for them to enjoy.

6 Responses

  1. Alison says:

    Please forgive me because this has NOTHING to do w this post. I’m finally ready to bite the bullet and buy another batch of manga from Japan, soothing I haven’t done since I bought all 12 CCS in like 2003. I noticed the books I want happen to be in kindle format. If I chose to go that route what’s the best way to get them in onto my American kindle?
    And will I have to make a new account w Amazon Japan for buying kindle/ actual books?
    Thanks for any help feel free to get back to me at your leisure, there is no rush.enjoy your holiday
    Happy thanksgiving!
    Alison

  2. Anon says:

    I heard a lot of bad things about Yuri Hime. Yuri no longer consisdered as main element of the magazine, more stories without yuri or with yuri just as fanservice (like Yuru Yuri), more male presence in magazine, not only as said characters but as main protagonists. Is that true?

    • Nope. I have no idea what you are hearing or from whom, but at the moment it is one of two Yuri anthologies in print. (Remember, fan forums are rarely a good place for accurate information.)

      There are two series that have male characters right now. Many of the editors are male and clearly they want to see themselves in the magazine. Yuri Danshi is shifting away from the male character to female characters (as I say in the review) and of the others, only one other story has male characters as main players. It’s not a story I like (for other reasons) so I don’t review it.

      But it is massively unrealistic to have manga – even Yuri manga – with no men at all, whatsoever. It’s better when stories are a little more realistic. Men exist in the world, even in a lesbian world.

  3. Anon says:

    I see. Well, I have read those on some boards about yuri and amazon.jp.

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