Archive for the Strawberry Shake Sweet Category


Revisiting Old Friends and Celebrating Yuri Anniversaries in Doujinshi!

September 9th, 2020

Some of you may have followed the saga of my recent package from Japan, that sat in a warehouse in Kawasaki for 7 weeks because it was supposed to take 8 weeks, so they made it take 8 weeks and then took 4 days to actually ship. ^_^; Today I want to share the partial contents of that package, because it will give us a chance to catch up with old stories and celebrate some anniversaries. All of the doujinshi I’ll be speaking of were purchased online at Melonbooks, and shipped from there to Tenso, which shipped it to me.

I used to joke/complain that the decent artifacts from Yuri Shimai / Yuri Hime had the most complicated histories. (Although nothing beats Hatsukoi Shimai.) Well each of today’s doujinshi practically comes with it’s own guidebook. ^_^

 

In 2003, before Hayate x Blade, manga artist Hayashiya Shizuru started serializing a story, Strawberry Shake, in the new quarterly Yuri manga magazine, Yuri Shimai, a manga that really honed her “baka” style of physical comedy. The series was ported to the new Yuri Hime magazine in 2005, was renamed Strawberry Shake Sweet and eventually was printed as a two-volume collection, both of which were reviewed here on Okazu. Volume 1 in 2006, and Volume 2 in 2009.  A single omnibus volume re-renamed Strawberry Shake  was printed in 2015 by Shueisha, with a new extra chapter.

The story followed two goofy, clueless “talents” (that is, they model, or do TV shows, or commercials, or whatever) Tachibana Julia and Asakawa Ran, as they meet, fall in love and almost never manage to get it together. When we meet her initially, Julia has just made a splash on a TV drama, and Ran is a new talent who is scooped up for fashion modeling. They are surrounded by a group of wacky characters who are nearly all also lesbian. It’s a tale told with Hayashiya’s bloody, violent comedy and I know it isn’t for everyone, but she’s  been one of my favorite artists since. ^_^ In fact, she may be the first artist I followed specifically, now that I think about it.

She’s continued the series in doujinshi over the years in a – so-far – 4-issue series titled Berry Strawberry Shake. Volume 1 | Volume 2| Volume 3 | Volume 4. The running gag in these are the same running gags in the original. Ran is still a doofus and Julia is still a baka. They are in love, but not in sync. Their manager Saeki is still uptight. The super-lesbian hairdresser Kaoru is still teasing her old schoolmate Saeki and getting into fights with her girlfriend and the very very queer band, which is less visual kei than visual gay, Zlay, is still super gay. All these many years and surrounded by all that gay, and our protagonists still haven’t managed a night together!

Well, this year in, Berry Shake 4, only 17 years after meeting for the first time, Julia and Ran manage a night together. Mostly.  There are…technical difficulties. ^_^;   I’m so glad to be able to check in on Julia and Ran and see that, as goofy as they are, they are happy and successful and…I note that they both are wearing matching rings.

 

 

On a quiet, greenery lined street in a little town, at the end of the road is a tea shop, where you can get delicious tea and patisserie and bask in the company of cute Yuri couples, all enjoying conversation and the pleasant atmosphere. Welcome to the Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan; Seriho and her partner Sarasa are your gracious…and always adorable…hosts.

Fujieda Miyabi‘s series, Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan began its life in Yuri Hime magazine in 2006. No, wait, it actually started in 2005 in a one-shot done for the [es] ~ Eternal Sisters, Volume 2 anthology. The series began serialization in Yuri Hime beginning in 2006. It ran for some years and was eventually collected into 2 volumes: Volume 1 in 2009, and Volume 2 in 2012.

Fujieda-sensei took his series to Drama CDs. The series had 4 DCDs and a 5th which was a crossover with his other contemporaneous series,  Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo, Madrigal Halloween, which is still the absolute finest Drama CD I own and arguably, ever made. The cast from this series and locale also makes constant cameos in his other series, including Alice Quartet and even Iono-sama Fanatics. He loves his crossovers as much as he loves Drama CDs.

Sarasa is a high school girl who frequents the local tea shop because she is in love with Seriho, the woman who runs the place. Seriho is sweet and a bit of a bubble-head, but she and Sarasa make a good team. Over time, Sarasa takes on the event planning and marketing and the cafe’s regular clientele eventually boasts a famous Yuri novel series author, a witch, a miko, fashion designers and a god. ^_^ (I bet it tortured Fujieda that his series Twinkle Saber Nova was set in the future….) The series ends with Sarasa and Seriho buying matching rings before Sarasa heads off to school to be become a pâtisier.

When the series wrapped up in Yuri Hime magazine, Fujieda-sensei created his own Yuri anthology doujinshi, Lilyca, in which Sarasa and Seriho, continue to live happily and adorably. I have two of the Lilyca volumes in print and the final two in digital form. It was my great luck to happen upon a collected volume of these stories The Ame-iro Kouchakan Tanhenshuu (飴色紅茶館歓談短編集) on Melonbooks and nab a copy before it sold out. This volume was created for Girls Love Fest in 2018, according to his Pixiv account.

I fell for Fujieda’s gentle stories full of happy Yuri couples, and his clothing design. To be honest, this cover is probably the least good clothing I’ve ever seen him create. Where other artists drew stuff like this – highlighting breasts and crotches for no good fashion reason, Fujieda rarely did that.  He was probably the second Yuri artist I followed specifically.

Time has passed, but all of our favorite couples are doing well. Sarasa is clearly a talented pâtisier now, the shop is known for delicious pastries as well as tea. Also doing well are DCD characters Shuri and Sayu and novel author Manaka and her manager. Sadly we don’t get to see what became of Letty the witch and her miko partner, Tsumugi. But it’s still good to see Sarasa and Seiho happily “married.”

 

 

Speaking of “marriage.” In 2010 – 10 years ago, Yuri Hime magazine was split into two separate publications, Yuri Hime, ostensibly for women, and Yuri Hime S, targeted towards men. Each came out quarterly for a total of 8 issues a year. Almost inexplicably, the February issue of Yuri Hime S premiered a series called  Fu~Fu (ふ~ふ) by Minamoto Hisanari who was, I believe, one of Fujieda-sensei’s assistants, and a member of his Atelier Miyabi/Moonphase circle (which spawned a couple of Yuri artists, in fact.) I say “almost inexplicably,” because Fu~Fu was about Kina and Suu-chan, an adult couple who were moving in together and celebrating wedded bliss without the wedding.  It was great having a series where moe-style art didn’t equate to either infantilized or grossly oversexualized..or worse, both at the same time.

Fu~Fu was a romantic comedy, very much in the Moonphase house style, sweet with explanations of lesbian lives and why marriage equality ought to be a thing. Kina is sweet, bubbly and Suu-chan is serious and a hard worker. They meet other Yuri couples and, when Suu-chan gets them matching rings, their friends and neighbors demand a wedding ceremony. This was collected into a two-volume set. Volume 1 at the end of 2011 and Volume 2 in spring 2013.

Well, this year is Suu-chan and Kina’s 10th anniversary, you see…and Minamoto-sensei had planned a special doujinshi for it…and the pandemic hit and Comitia was cancelled. But he participated with the online Comitia and released ふ~ふ 10th anniversary, act. 1 as a print doujinshi and in digital format which you *can* buy if you are outside Japan.  Act 2 is supposed to be released with the next online Comitia this autumn.

This 10th anniversary doujinshi starts with our two happily nested lesbians watching a movie together. Then a chapter about how all the characters use their cell phones and finally how Kina and Suu-chan met in school. It’s all very “awww”-inspiring.

So here we are, more than a decade since these three Yuri pioneers laid down bricks so many have followed. I still greedily consume everything Hayashiya-sensei creates (including her newest doujinshi series that features Yanki girls, food and Yuri, Yankoi Shokudou, and is therefore the most perfect thing ever created.) I hope publishers will pick them all up again, if they hope for that, or hope they tell the publishers to fuck right off, if the digital economy makes that easier for them.

Happy 17th anniversary to Julia and Ran, Happy 14th to Sarasa and Seriho and a very happy 10th anniversary to Suu-chan and Kina! Our fictitious “friends” are all well, as married as they can be in contemporary Japan, and I’m happier than I expected to be to see them again. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Strawberry Shake (ストロベリーシェイク)

June 28th, 2015

downloadIt was the beginning of 2004. The magazine was called Yuri Shimai. The comic was an actual comedy, with physical gags blown way out of proportion. There was an idiot and a doofus and they fell in love, but didn’t realize it. The comedy was manzai-style, with blood and tears and extreme over-reactions to silly jokes. It was Hayashiya Shizuru’s professional Yuri debut. She’d been drawing doujinshi in that same style for years, and made her pro debut previously, but for those of us who were or would become fans, Strawberry Shake Sweet was the first time she was a pro “Yuri” artist.

Yuri Shimai was cancelled and in 2005,  Yuri Hime picked up the series. In 2006, a collected Volume 1 was released, followed by Volume 2 in 2009. Hayashiya-sensei left Yuri Hime and has gone on to do great things with Shuiesha. And so it is with both delight and trepidation that I review Shueisha’s re-release of this series as a one-volume collection, Strawberry Shake (ストロベリーシェイク).

The story follows Tachibana Julia a young “Talent” in Japanese TV. (Which is to say she does everything and anything, from starring in TV dramas, to advertisements, to quiz shows.) She’s asked to mentor a newcomer to the agency, Asakawa Ran, but instead, falls in love with Ran.

Ran isn’t the brightest bulb in the box, and Julia isn’t much better. Between the two of them and very much despite the objections of their manager, they’ll have to figure it all out on their own.

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Strawberry Shake is very much played for the laughs. Touching or romantic moments are frequently marked by massive nosebleeds. If you’re not used to Hayashiya-sensei’s style, or classic manzai, the amount of violence might surprise you. The other thing that might surprise you is the ending. As I said when I reviewed Volume 2, “I absolutely refuse to spoil the rest of the chapter, except to say that you will probably be outraged and/or disappointed by the end.”

So, here we are over a decade after the comic was originally begun and a lot of things have changed. Yuri is a genre of it’s own. Hayashiya-sensei is a star among Yuri artists. And same-sex marriage is a thing that is discussed in the news, in the courts. Even in Japan, where Shibuya is the only part of the country that allows same-sex marriage, the conversation has begun.

What does that mean for a comic like Strawberry Shake? It means that some of the jokes just don’t hold up that well. Saeki Ryouko, Julia and Ran’s manager, in 2004 was a comedic figure. In 2015, she seems just like a closeted homophobe. Sorry Saeki-san, but you protest *way* too much. ^_^ Comedy is harder than tragedy. In Strawberry Shake, the comedy is vaudevillian, and so, a relic of the past, rather than a joke we’re all laughing at now.

The essential love story is still cute and maddening and adorable and sweet. ZLAY is still absolutely fucked up hilarious. The climax of the manga is still fantastic. And the new extra chapter? “I absolutely refuse to spoil the rest of the chapter, except to say that you will probably be outraged and/or disappointed by the end.” ^_^;

Should you get it? Yes. This is an important book for Yuri fans. Will you like it? Maybe. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9 It’s striking to see just how much better her art is now than it was in 2004. This volume has been touched up, but look at the first and final chapters to see a difference.
Story – 7 It has worn a little around the edges over time.
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 2

Overall – 8

Again I will quote myself from 2009: “As funny as this manga is, I’m forced to conclude that this story is not *quite* as perfect for Hayashiya-sensei as Hayate x Blade. The action component just catapults that series to perfection.

But hey – this is a groundbreaking series. A Yuri series for Yuri magazine by a woman who has been drawing Yuri comedy for a long, long time. A must-have for any fan of Yuri.”





Yuri Manga: Strawberry Shake Sweet, Volume 2

March 6th, 2009

Strawberry Shake Sweet (ストロベリーシェイクSWEET) Volume 2, continues the love comedy of hyperactive upcoming young idol, Tachibana Julia and ditzy upcoming young model, Asakawa Ran. It’s Baka x Boke, Idol x Model, Strawberries and Lilies all around!

Ran has made her debut as a model and her career takes off so fast that she and Julia don’t ever get a moment together. But their separation brings epiphany, as Ran is forced to confront her feelings for Julia, after her photographer points out the obvious.

Now the situation becomes even more complex than in Volume 1. Julia has managed to find a way to work around her feelings for Ran, but now Ran has to figure out how to work around her own feelings. It’s all nosebleeds and self-flagellation, until Julia brings it all to a head with an invitation to go on a trip together. Alone. Together.

Zlay provides some impetus for the the two of them with an urgent request for them to be the replacement opening act of the show. Ran and Julia put on a powerful, dramatic performance that climaxes in a kiss. (!) While the concert rages below them, they manage to blunder their way through miscommunication and idiocy to realize that they both like each other. *That* way.

And, in the way of all romances, just as soon as they two of them manage to figure it all out and be together – they are ripped apart.

Ran’s mother had sent her to school her in Japan, only to find that her ditzy daughter had gone and become a model. It’s a life she does not want for her child and she refuses to allow it to continue. She whisks Ran away, leaving Julia to spend her days trying to find her. With her 18th birthday coming, Julia refuses to give up the search for Ran.

Of course, they are reunited with much happiness and hugs. ^_^

There are two extra chapters for this volume – one, the New Year’s episode in which Kaoru visits Saeki’s apartment and Saeki gets to express fairly straight forwardly, just how homophobic she actually is, if you think about it.

The second extra is what you have all been waiting for. Ran asks Julia to move in together. And I absolutely refuse to spoil the rest of the chapter, except to say that you will probably be outraged and/or disappointed by the end. ^_^

But that doesn’t matter, because the scenes at the concert are so entirely worth the price, that I would recommend this book even if they didn’t get together. Which they do.

If you bought the last issue of Yuri Hime you also received the second “Blueberry Shake Bitter” Cover as an extra, which is very fun. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 8
Service – 2

Overall – 9

As funny as this manga is, I’m forced to conclude that this story is not *quite* as perfect for Hayashiya as Hayate x Blade. The action component just catapults that series to perfection.

But hey – this is a groundbreaking series. A Yuri series for Yuri magazine by a woman who has been drawing Yuri comedy for a long, long time. A must-have for any fan of “Yuri.”





Yuri News This Week – January 24, 2009

January 24th, 2009

Yuri Manga

Katherine wants you to know that Chapter 22 of Franken Fran has some old school horror Yuri for those of you who like that kind of thing. It was, IMHO very Black Jack meets Nightmare Before Christmas. Or maybe Ray. Interesting and worth a look, anyway.

Don’t forget to order your copy of Yuri Hime Wildrose 3, the newest anthology of softcore Yuri from Ichijinsha. It’s all nice and fine to read scans but remember, those don’t pay the bills. If you love Yuri, buy Yuri.

I’ve been asked by a number of people what the heck happened to some of the most recently released Yuri manga – Strawberry Shake Sweet 2, Hayate x Blade 9, Otome Kikan Greteland some others popped up on Amazon JP and just as quickly disappeared. It looks as if it was merely a case of popularity. All of them were relisted with a waiting period of 4-5 weeks, so clearly there were either distribution issues or they just plain sold out. I’m thinking it was the latter, personally.

Which leads me to today’s….

Snatches of Yuri

One of the other series to come and go quickly on Amazon JP is the Yuri-ful Gokujou. I haven’t the vaguest clue what it actually is about, except that it is ero and about the student council at a girls school – something that has never been done before. lol I’ll let you know more about it after I read it. It’s not back up for sale yet, but I expect to see it back soon – I’ll add a link then.

Panna Kiss is a moe Yuri manga about Nanako, who works at a bread shop and is at least marginally in love with her coworker. It looks to be all the same old-same old rehashed with plenty of maid outfit/bathing suit service, so if the most typical service-y tropes are your faves, this looks to be perfect.

Manatsu Labyrinth is about love among three girls in a girls school. Totally new territory, I know. ;-)

And lastly for today, we have Dorobo no Meijin, a Light Novel which appears to be written as a retrospective of a Yuri love in her youth by a woman who is now an adult.

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Yuri Anime

This anime season and the next look pretty thin on Yuri. We’ve got Marimite for a little while longer, at least.

And this week, the first episode of Ichigo Mashimaro Encore went live.

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We’ll wrap it up here for today, because I really need to go eat something.

See you next week for more Yuri News!





This Week in Yuri – November 29, 2008

November 29th, 2008

This week is a veritable cornucopia of Yuri news!

Yuri Live-Action

There’s little more than a promotional image and a bundle of hope, but AIC has announced that a live-action Bugglegum Crisis is not entirely fantasy. Will we finally get the totally dyke-y Priss we want and deserve? Probably not. lol But we can hope, can’t we?

Fans of Yuricest will want to keep an eye out for Brulee, a movie that stars twin sisters, playing twin sisters that are separated and, upon reunion, fall in love with one another. Expect dry, unromantic Japanese kiss scenes. :-)

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Yuri Anime

With the US release of the second season of Maria Watches Over Us just around the corner, and the fourth season of Maria-sama ga Miteru coming this January, we’re all aquiver for Marimite news around here. And boy do we have it! To celebrate the fourth season, a New Year’s Eve event has been announced in Japan. Not only will it feature sneak peeks at the fourth season – it will also feature a 3-dimensional “story so far.” LOL How’s that for an exciting use of CG, huh? Long lingering shots of the 3-D Rose Mansion, the table in the council room, Catholic schoolgirls standing around talking…. (I’m guessing that it’s based on designs created for the Bara no Yakata in Second Life and expanded from there.) I’m sure it will be cool, if a little weird.

And exciting news for the three or so of you who enjoyed it, Project ICE is being made into a movie for the theaters. Two streaming trailers are available online now.

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Snatches of Yuri

It’s almost December, and therefore the publishers of Yuri Hime, Ichijinsha, are gearing up for their winter releases. The 18th of the month will see the next Yuri Hime S magazine, and several collections from same.

Keep your eyes open for links to order the first collected volumes of Flower Flower, Honey Crush and Cassiopeia Dolce. Also Otome Kikan Gretel which will be the only one I’m planning on getting for myself.

Also coming out this month (pun intended, yes) is the second and final volume of Strawberry Shake Sweet. And a second volume of the light novel Wild Bouquet, this one subtitled “The Flower Whose Name Means Desire.” Sounds spicy, but I’m not holding my breath. (Review of the first volume of Wild Bouquet to come soon, btw.)

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Yuri Games

No specifically Yuri, but the game Fable II for the Xbox is being given same-sex options on partnering, with dialogue that is supposed to be more representative of those relationships. Since one of the creators is gay, the dialogue will at least be more representative of a gay male relationship. The only lesbian option mentioned in the article I read was a cross-dressing pregnant lesbian, which didn’t really make me sit up and go “yay” or anything. lol (The wife says “God, you’re never satisfied, are you?” lol)

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One last thing – this a personal request. If you are considering purchasing *anything* from Amazon or Amazon Japan this holiday season, please consider doing so through the Yuricon Shop. Just click through any item at all and then go ahead and shop as usual. It won’t cost you anything extra and it will give me referrer fees that are, at the moment, much needed. Many thanks in advance.

And that wraps it up for now – happy Yuri hunting until next week!