We pick up the thread of Yuri Hime 5 with a short post-“Hatsukoi Shimai” story set-up for the two cover girls, Mihiru (left) and Nachiru (right). They are the very bestest of friends and treaure each other but for some reason Mihiru did not join the same club as Nachiru at Tsunojo High…! The reason why is still a mystery – assumably we get their story in a future issu or maybe future covers will have other Tsunojo students until, like Lillian, and Astoria and whatever the school is in the Morinaga Milk stories, we can add Tsunojo to the unwritten list of “lesbian high schools.” ^_^

Sigh…”Nanami to Misuzu” still presents me with unpenetrable, not terribly amusing shorts. This issue they center around summer activities and much cutesy pouting.

Our fractured fairy tale is, oddly, a repeat from Yuri Hime 1. “Snow White” stays with her cute loli dwarves, and the Prince/ss is a failure.

This brings me to the biggest disappointment of this volume. The third chapter of “Simoun” is…the last. Without the least sign of the cool plot they could have built, or any hint of the actual war, the manga ends very lukewarmly. Not surprisingly, Neviriru and Aeru vow to fly together. Don’t get me wrong – the story didn’t end badly or anything, I was just hoping for *more* of it.

“Kawaii Anata” is yet another “school festival play at a girls’ school” story, where the boyish girl is glad to play the prince to the beautiful girl, but is really, really hating being pinholed by the rest of the girls. The “twist” at the end was pretty obvious, but cute nonetheless.

The last piece is an interview with three of the voice actresses for the Kotonoha Miko to Kotodama no Majou to Drama CD, which came with the manga of the same series. (A review of which will be forthcoming.) The three seiyuu are, not surprisingly, high on the “six degrees of yuri scale.” Nota Mamiko, Nabatame Hitomi and Watenabe Akeno, discuss their characters and the story of the Drama CD. My favorite moment was when Watanabe (who uses “boku” to refer to herself) was discussing her character’s (Isuzu) love for Nota’s (who is called “Notachi” by both of the others) character (Tsumugi, the Miko). Watanabe starts to talk in first person – “I love” rather than “she loves”. It was probably a calculated moment, but like the story above, sometimes you’re willing to accept it at face value anyway. lol

And that’s it for this volume….which brings me to the best thing about it. Yuri Hime 5 comes with a delightful little omake volume of a new comic by Fujieda Miyabi (of “Kotonoha no Miko to…” and Iono-sama Fanatics fame.) The new series is slated to begin next issue. This little story is called “Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan” which they translate as “Heartful-Talking in Ameiro-koucha Pavilion.” I’d probably translate is “A Pleasant Chat at the Ameiro Cafe.” In this story, we meet Seriho, the owner of Ameriro Cafe, her employee Sarasa (who has it really, really bad for Seriho) and two friends and customers, Haru and Hinoka. These characters, and the Ameiro Cafe were originally introduced in the anthology [es]Eternal Sisters 2 which I reviewed back in September 2005. (I knew I recognized the characters right away, it took me mere moments to locate the right anthology.) The story is, as with all Fujieda Miyabi stories, the kind of sweet, pleasant yuri that makes one smile and sometimes laugh out loud. This chapter revolved around a Tanabata special that Seriho would like to do at the cafe. I look forward to future chapters. :-)

So there you have it – some good, some okay and some little disappointment, but overall as usual, Yuri Hime 5 – a strong showing for good Yuri. ^_^