Archive for the Yuri Anthology Category


“Ouji-sama Joshi” Yuri Anthology STAYGOLD (「王子様女子」百合アンソロジー STAYGOLD)

January 30th, 2024

A girl with short, boyish haircut, wearing an ermine-trimmed red cape and crown along with her school uniform of red plaid skirt and tie, black sweater and white shirt, bows and holds her hand out to us.Who doesn’t love good “Girl Prince” story? Even when confined to school grounds, the archetype of the coolest girl gives everyone a chance to fall in love from a distance. In the doujinhsi collection “Ouji-sama Joshi” Yuri Anthology STAYGOLD (「王子様女子」百合アンソロジー STAYGOLD) a number of popular Yuri artists take that opportunity and put together a fun, occasionally thoughtful, look at what it means to be a Girl Prince, or to be in love with one.

Spearheaded by Canno, creator of Kiss & White Lily For My Dearest Girl, this anthology includes two stories by her, as bookends for the collection, in school…and out. The collection includes contributions from Ohsawa Yayoi, Jackie, Ajiichi, Pikachi, Mimoto, Yukiko and others, so you get a lot of cute shorts for your money. 
Both Jackie and Pikachi look at schools with 2 princes and how they get along…or not. I think Pikachi wins that battle with typical wholesome cuteness.

My favorite short was by Yuino Chiri, in which the school princess has had quite enough of being protected and has worked out until she’s jacked, so she can save the prince for once. Bonus points that for the threat being a random runaway lion. ^_^

It’s exactly what one wants from a doujinshi anthology – a strong theme, great contributors, fun stories and some light Yuri romance. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I got this anthology from Melonbooks, which appears to be the only online source for it. Check out the STAYGOLD Twitter account for some sample pages!





Private ha Honnin-tachi ni Makasete Orimasu (プライベートは本人たちに任せております)

January 11th, 2024

A pop idol with flowing blonde hair and a pink frilly costume embraces a girl in black, with dark hair and glasses. The air around them shimmers with sparkles and confetti.I picked up a copy of Private Ha Honnin-tachi Ni Makasete Orimasu (プライベートは本人たちに任せております) (translated in English on the frontispiece as Private Life Is Left To Them, Yuri Talext x Yuri Anthology) on a whim while at Gamers, I think, in Tokyo.

Once more, there are shelves and shelves of Yuri anthologies, many of them generated by publishing companies like Kadokawa and Ichijinsha to harness the creators who contribute to contests, or are recruited at events, or send in work for publication, much like a farm league for manga. Many manga publishers are now also having editors for web editions and anthology collections appear at events like Comitia for portfolio review. Of course, sometimes one still comes across a smaller publisher or circle creating an anthology. Galette magazine, for instance, is still out there doing a fantastic quarterly Yuri manga magazine that I am horribly behind on reviewing.

As I have said, I didn’t go to Japan with a long list of books to get this last time. It’s much easier to get books shipped or digitally distributed nowadays. So I only picked up things I hadn’t seen before or that looked really interesting. This book falls into the former category. Pop idols who are queer does interest me, as I have a 2 (soon to be the 3) novella series on the topic. This collection includes stories by creators Kashikaze (I Can’t Say No To The Lonely Girl, coming in April from Seven Seas), Yukiko (Cats and Sugar Bowls, also from Seven Seas)and Mikanuji (Assorted Entanglements and other works, out from Yen Press.)

As with most manga anthologies, the contributions here are more extended scenarios, rather than complete stories. These scenarios focus on the private lives of queer pop idols. Whether their admirers or partners are a staff member, or fan or member of the same group, these stories are all designed to end with the two partners happy in each others’ company.

The first story does have some problematic content, so be warned about creepy, stalkery behavior from a person who ins position of power who abuse that powers in a way that didn’t sit right with me. But most of the stories are harmless to cute.

Now that there is some distance between when I read it and reviewing it now, the one story that stood out the most was by Kaibashira, about a pair of idols who are at odds in all their media appearances. One is, apparently a doofus, the other absolutely disgusted with her easy-going partner. They are constantly bickering on-camera. In real life, they are actually deeply in love and still basically a doofus and a bitch.  On a day off, they are mobbed by fans. The bitch character puts the fans off by saying there’s no way they could possibly be friends. But when alone again, she breaks down, upset that she denied their relationship. So the next time it happens, the doofus says proudly that they are dating! And they live happily ever after, one supposes.

A lot of the endings are “one supposes.” We’re not getting epilogues here, so we might as well suppose. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 7

As a fun and harmless exploration of how things might be being a queer idol, this is an interesting prompt for an anthology.





Joshi-kou no Ouji-sama ha Watashi Shika Ganchuninairashi Yuri Anthology Comic (女子校の王子様は私しか眼中にないらしい 百合アンソロジーコミック)

December 1st, 2023

In a fervent wish that this next week be a week of discovery of amazing things, today I’m beginning with a new anthology and new imprint! Joshi-kou no Ouji-sama ha Watashi Shika Ganchuninairashi Yuri Anthology Comic (女子校の王子様は私しか眼中にないらしい 百合アンソロジーコミック) from LatteComi, is one of two Yuri anthologies they’ve just put out. As the title indicates, this volume is centered around the theme of the school prince.

This was a nice little collection, honestly. You’d think the theme of “school prince” was played out, but no, these are all solid takes on the trope. Which is not to say that they are all wholly original. The very first story, by Pya, is about Ruka and Rena, a Prince/Princess pair who looks shockingly like two familiar Sailor Senshi and a second school Prince who looks awfully like a French noble we know well. The story is, nonetheless quite cute, as Ruka and Rena complain about each other’s foibles to the hapless protagonist in “True Blue Baby.”

“M-na Ouji ni Aishikatta” by Junrei tells the story of Horimiya, a student who learns the prince’ secret, so they become friends, then more.

My favorite story happened to be by Takemiya Jin and combines two things she loves a lot – gaming and Yuri. Two girls who share the love of a specific character in a specific game find each other years after they first meet…and once again, the game brings them close. This was a very gentle and charming story that had me smiling the entire time. ^_^

A prince helps another student at a performing arts school get past her stage fright, and a girl is reunited with her prince at long last, but feels utterly inadequate, in other stories in this collection. All of these work perfectly fine as shorts, and the collection ends with character designs from each artist.  The whole collection was enjoyable without requiring deep emotional commitment.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Quite good
Stories – 8 Fun, with little depth
Characters – 8 YMMV, but there wasn’t anyone I disliked as a character
Service – There are different kinds of service, but no nudity or creeping.
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

Most importantly, it was quite nice to see a new imprint. LatteComi is specializing in BL, Yuri and isekai. I hope it does not go the same way as the last two BL and Yuri imprints went, which is to say, they both do only BL now (there’s a trivia question – which two imprints am I referring to? They both came in to being and died in the last 5 years. If you get the answer, I’ll send you a prize!) 

If you’d like to give this anthology a try, there is a 15-page sample on Bookwalker JP for you to check out. Let me know what you think in the comments, if you do.





My Next Life as a Villainess Side Story: Girls Patch

July 10th, 2022

My Next Life as a Villainess Side Story: Girls Patch is something we get very few of in the west – a series-focused manga anthology. And, in this case, it’s even rarer – a Yuri doujinshi collection for a not-really-Yuri series, which makes it that much more of a throwback to the kinds of anthologies I used to spend a lot of time on. ^_^

The series in this case is My Next Life as a Villainess, the goofy, light-hearted harem isekai about Katarina Claes who, on account of a minor head injury as a child becomes suddenly aware that she is a character in a game – in fact, she is the game’s villainess, with a very bad end awaiting her. In Katarina’s attempts to avoid her fate, she befriends all the main player characters, including the game’s protagonist. 

Katarina’s friends are more than just besties, as her sincerity and kindness has made them all fall in love with her. Girls Patch is a collection that focuses on the female characters., Lady Mary, Sophia and in-story game protag Maria, and their desire to be as close as possible to Katarina. 

Like the originating My Next Life as a Villainess Light Novels, the stories in this collection are cute, sweet, only every so slightly risqué, with a strong emphasis on Katarina’s clueless charm. Also like the originating novels, the art is simplistic. Nothing deviates from the scenarios set by the novel series. Which makes Girls Patch a relaxing interlude, but offers little substance. This is a series for folks who love the characters as they are written and want to see more of them, not folks who would like to see a little deviation from the script. In other words, this is another Ichijinsha anthology, where creativity takes a back seat to the scenario as written.

That said, if you love the fact that Sophie, Mary and Maria are in love with a clueless Katarina – if that vibe is your jam – then you will enjoy this book. It is indubitably cute AND sweet AND touching and ever so slightly Yuri.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – Not really, but that’s not why you’re reading
Character – 100 THIS is why you are reading
Service – 3, maybe 4, depending on your feelings about Katarina’s face on Mary’s chest
Yuri – The feelings are there, but that’s all we can hope for…let’s call it a 5

Overall – 7

When series anthologies were the best and often only way we got more time with the characters, artists felt freer to explore the relationships outside the scripted versions. Love affairs were (and still are) among the most popular topics of doujinshi stories, in which fan artists and writers capture the characters we don’t see in the original text. This current crop of company-created doujinshi collections aren’t willing to do that, which always leaves me feeling….but, why bother, then?

If you love the series as written, you will love this collection. If you were hoping that this was going to be the Yuri stories you wanted for Katarina and her female harem…this is not that.





Bloom Into You Anthology, Volume 2

February 15th, 2022

It has a been a few months since we took a look at the first Bloom Into You Anthology. Now, here we are with the the second and final volume the franchise, Bloom Into You Anthology, Volume 2.

Overall, I found this volume to be more entertaining than the first, with stories that interested me slightly more. As I never was a huge fan of Touko and Yuu as a couple, I was glad to see that this story focused a little on Sayaka and Yuu as mutuals of Touko, but not actually friends on their own. I also like that a few stories remember to include the rest of the club and Koyomi, a character I found way more interesting than our principals.

Completely unsurprisingly, the story I liked best remains the story with Sayaka and Miyako that begins with Sayaka doing a little everyday venting about Haru, in Six Years Later, Still By Your Side, by Yodokawa. What made this story appealing to me, is Miyako’s joy in watching her young friend being able to complain about her lover with a confidante. “Besides it’s nice. Getting to hear you complain about a partner of your own.” BAM. There is such power in having people to confide in. Whether it is for serious stuff or life’s little sillinesses, the entire reason I have an fondness at all for this series (other than Koyomi) is the fact that young, unsure, baby lesbian Sayaka just happened to have someone to talk to. That Miyako was willing to step into that role, really elevated what otherwise might have been a sad-lesbian-best-friend scenario.

Kiss & White Lily creator Canno also weighed in with a solid friendship story, which I quite enjoyed. I’m really all in for friendship between girls and women stories right now.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

If you enjoyed Bloom Into You, then there any number of stories which feel like spending more time with good friends. On the whole, I found this anthology a better bet than the first in both art and story. As I said in my review of this volume in Japanese, I only wish Maria-sama ga Miteru had come out now, in this golden age of Yuri, and we would have had all the anthologies in English and I would have been so, so happy. ^_^; But here e are, ready to say goodbye to the modern gateway Yuri series with a very pleasant little volume, spending tome with characters we like.