Last December, I reviewed Volume 1 of Sugawa Tokushi’s  Zenryaku, Yuri no Sono Yori.  I never honestly expected we’d be discussing it once again. Earlier this month, Tsubomi discontinued publishing comics online, and their series have been absorbed by the Mangatime Kirara family of magazines. Some of the series will continue at least into 2014.

But in the meantime, we have a few series that began in Tsubomi that are wrapping up now – among them, this one. Volume 1 was more of a collection of mini-series, but Volume 2 sticks with the titular series.

Yuri is one-quarter foreign, so she has blonde hair, and she is a loner and little prickly, so she has no friends in school.  Fujiwara is the Nadesico beauty type who breaks through Yuri’s defenses – ostensibly to help the other girl make friends. But, as we see the story from Fujiwara’s point of view this time, there is way more than just being nice on her side. Fujiwara is attracted to Yuri. Once she breaks the ice for Yuri to make new friends, she feels cut off from the other girl and reacts by putting more distance between them. Yuri realizes that she has more friends – but they aren’t Fujiwara. After some minor emotional conflict, they finally break past the wall they’ve built between them and admit they “like” like one another. The ending looks rosy – especially with the addition of a few very light-hearted gags in the extra chapters.

Another extra chapter turns to Shinobu, Yuri’s only friend – and the woman who writes the BL manga Yuri draws. Shinobu is able to see the result of Yuri’s and Fujiwara’s make-up and is inspired to write a Yuri manga, called…”Zenryaku, Yuri no Sono Yori.” Obviously. ^_^ Another extra was the utterly absurd and very cute meeting of Fujiwara, Yuri and Shinobu and her girlfriend, the admiring underclassman from the first volume.

Here’s the thing. I read this book in one sitting. It may not sound compelling, but it was actually a real page turner. Sat down last night late for some before-bed reading and the next thing I knew – I was done.  That almost never happens. So while it was another “Story A”, another girl meets girl, girl likes girl, they like each other, the end book – it grabbed me and ran. For that alone I’d give it a good score.

But…I don’t have to do that for that alone. The final omake shows Yuri at home, drawing a manuscript and chopping vegetables, while Fujiwara is at college, then wraps up her classwork and heads home. The final page of the volume shows Yuri opening the door to Fujiwara.

“I’m home, Yuri” says Fujiwara.

“Welcome home, Misono,” Yuri replies.

Ratings:

Art – So many inconsistencies, Sugawa’s got a long way to go. Sometimes pages look more like a doujinshi than a professionally published work –  Variable, from 5-8
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Yuri – 9
Service – 1

Overall – 9

There is a girl, she likes another girl. The other girl likes her back. They like each other. And they live happily ever after. The end.

In Volume 1, we meet Hanaii Sawako and Hoshino Shiori, former rivals in the sport of table tennis, now classmates in high school. In Volume 2 of Hana to Hoshi (花と星) their former rivalry has now turned into something more complex.

The bulk of the book is spent dealing with a digression and a McGuffin. The McGuffin is revealed in the backstory of Funami Chika, whose relationship with Hoshino is far more intimate  than Hanaii is ready to cope with. It’s Funami-sempai who tells Hanaii her story, ultimately freeing Hoshino from her past.

The digression is the existence of a male schoolmate who has fallen for Hanaii and – in an exceedingly rare display of normal behavior – confesses to Hanaii, followed by requests for eating lunch together and a date. The fact that he’s such a nice guy is almost a shame, because you’ve gotta feel bad for him. He’s so functional and he’s screwed. Poor Ogawa.

In my review of Volume 1 I suggested that I knew the perfect ending to this story. It’s not like it was a stretch or anything. This story began with table tennis and the only proper thing to do with it was to end it there, as well. And so, like Yukiko and Chikage in Sakura Namiki, Sawako and Shiori express their genuine affection for each other through their shared love of a sport.

Yesterday I mentioned that my review was a paean to connections. This manga was indeed on the top of my “to-review” pile, and so, when I hit page 18 of Sakura Namiki and found Yukiko in the middle of a ping-pong match, I started to laugh. As Lillian was born from Catholic boarding schools before it, the chances that  Flower and Stars was coincidentally about girls who played table tennis receded to near zero. No Yuri is an island entire of itself. And truly, one piece at a time, we’re now seeing tribute paid to the classic manga that came before in the manga that makes us smile now.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 1

Overall – 8

This story, so enjoyable on its own, must be seen as a part of a body of literature. Which, to my mind, makes it just that much more enjoyable.^_^

Tsubomi, Volume 18 begins with a phenomenon I’ve heard of but never actually seen…a chapter that hasn’t quite been completed.

Despite the fact that it lacks tones and final inking, “Hoshikawa Ginza Yon-choume” returns from a pointless digression to a very powerful chapter in which Otome learns that her mother (who never bothered to get in touch with her to let her know that she and her father had divorced,) belatedly sends a letter informing her that she’s remarried…and wants Otome to come live with her again. Suddenly, both Otome and Minato have to face the fact that they have no legally viable claim on one another. Now, at last, this story will deal with the reality that has been buried behind the deepening relationship between them.

Suzuki Yufuko’s “Candy” comes to an end, with exactly the kind of epilogue I enjoy most. This series is a real dark horse entry for my Top Ten this year, with an unexpectedly sweet and satisfying love story.

“Joouhachi no Jirenma” is a nice twist on a relationship between rivals.

Hoshino and her sempai have it out and put the past behind them, while we get a little glimpse into Hanaii’s past, as well, in “Hana to Hoshi.”

And, of course there a ton of other stories with things like panty shots (gods…how tired I am of those…) and other exciting moe Yuri tropes. All very fascinating if you’re not me. ^_^;;

Ratings:

Overall: Let’s see, 4 stories out of 16 that I liked, 2 more I didn’t mind… okay, let’s call it a 6.

One of the things we don’t quite yet have in Yuri manga is a full blown love-hate rivalry on the field of athletic competition. With Hana to Hoshi /Flower and Star (花と星), we’re a little closer than we were before.

Hanai Sawako was a prodigy in competitive table tennis as a child. Faced with her first major loss, it broke her and she fled the sport. Now, years have passed and she’s ready to enter high school as a normal girl. On her first day, however, she sees a spectre from her past, the one girl who destroyed her careeer, Hoshino Shiori. Completely freaked out, Hanai-san feels her ideal world crumbling when she finds herself sitting next to Hoshino in class.

To make matters inexpressibly worse, when Hanai-san attempts to wake a sleeping Hoshino up in class, Hoshino gives her a sleepy smile…and kisses her.

Hanai-san is so put out by this that she can’t reconcile her feelings of distaste for Hoshino with ever-increasing like for the girl. All she wants, she’s sure, is to just avoid her completely…until an upperclassman informs her that there is a table tennis club at school and she’s paralyzed with fear. Hoshino steps up and explains that they – neither of them – will be joining.

The story shifts at this point, away from Hanai-san’s internal struggle to reconcile her image of Hoshino past and present, to a surprising backstory between Hoshino and the upperclassman. As Hanai-san starts to understand that their relationship is far more intimate than she realized, she now has the deal with a third, competing, feeling. Jealousy.

For some reason, despite the fact that she’s pretty unrealistic, I really like Hoshino. Something about her un-real reactions to things appeals to me. Hanai-san was harder for me to like, but I came around after the first few chapters. Her incompetent bumbling is a little obnoxious, though.

What will become of the two of them? Will they manage to be friends or is it destined for more? We still don’t know, as the story continues in the pages of Tsubomi magazine. But of the stories in the magazine, this is one of my favorites.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 1

Overall – 8

It’s right on the edge of a sports story and I have the perfect ending in mind for it. We’ll see if the creator, Suzukin Kalio, has the same ending in mind. ^_^ I sure hope so.

Tsubomi, Volume 16 gets off to a strong start with the cover story “Aoi Honou,” about a girl that falls for another girl in school (what originality!) with ceramic making as the club prop,  but ends some years in the future with a satisfying ending.

I’ve been on the fence with “Hoshikawa Ginza Yon-choume,” but now that they’ve moved into this loft, I’m find the story intolerably creepy.

On the other side of the fence is “Prism,” a series that I’m liking more and more with every chapter. *Now* we’re moving into after happily ever after.

And so it also is with “Candy” in which real life affects Kanan is a way she had never intended. Both this and “Prism” are the only two stories where the characters reactions read close to realistic. As a result, they are my favorite stories.

In “Hana to Hoshi” Hanaii learns about Hoshino’s past a bit and ends up in a ping-pong game for Hoshino’s affection.

There are so many other series, and most of them are fine to good, but these are the stories that stood out, good or bad in my opinion this volume. It’s a better read than it was a few years ago, that’s for sure.

Ratings:

Overall – 6