Yurikam is exactly why I consider most of the Japanese Yuri blogs to be almost-completely useless in regards to finding good Yuri manga to read. I had no expectations going into this manga and still managed to be disappointed.
Yurikam (ゆりキャン), short for “Yuri Campus” (thank you kind person whose comment I cannot find, who corrected me on this) is an atrocious little story about a rich girl at a rich girl’s school whose rich father goes bust. Yurika is commanded by said father to become a sexual plaything so she can stay at the school. So, for money, food (mostly for food) and room, Yurika sexxors up the entire campus. Including the inexplicable “Ladies” (female biker gang) that show up.
Yurika stays with her dear friend Saori, who is in contention for the most passive-aggressive annoying friend ever. It’s obvious (but not interesting) that Saori has a thing for Yurika, but for some reason that is no reason denies it…and yet, is continually annoyed when Yurika is with some other woman. Really? STFU, Saori, please.
This volume ends with the horrifying thought that there’s going to be a sequel. The world is an unjust place.
Ratings:
Art – Far, far better than it deserved to be
Story – There really is nothing funnier that a girl being sold into sexual slavery, is there?
Characters – All dressed really badly
Yuri – Ya think?
Service – This is a manga only a Fanboy would love
Overall – Not the worst I’ve ever read, but not anything other than “bad.” I give it a 3 and probably am being generous.
I guess I am still confused why you consider most Japanese Yuri blogs useless. I don’t remember off hand if you answered that question before.
@Felix – Because the LFBs who write them think manga like this is great.
People can write blogs without revealing their real identities, can’t they? Why are the Japanese Yuri blogs all (or at least primarily) written by men, while most of the English Yuri blogs seem to be written by women?
@Anonymous – You mean aside from the fact that I’ve had email conversations with many of the Japanese Yuri bloggers and/or met them? Just because you don’t know a thing doesn’t mean it can’t be known. ^_^
There are a few English language male Yuri bloggers and a few female.
@Erica – I wonder why in Japan Yuri centric blogs are mostly written by men?
@Felix – For the very same reason that, until very recently, most Yuri blogs in English were written by men.
And, even though my blog predates pretty much all the others, I still to this day receive emails from men who confidently believe that they know more about Yuri than any woman ever could, and tell me (often accompanied by threats of violence) that I should stop blogging “If I know what’s good for me.”
There’s no end of Loser FanBoys in any culture.
Threats and intimidation make me sad.
I wrote a book a few years ago, with a niche audience (Okay, okay, so I wrote a furry book!) and when I attended a convention for that niche audience, because I was different from the center of that niche, I was publicly mocked in the dealer’s hall of the con.
It didn’t stop me from writing, but it did stop me from writing for that niche!
“I give it a 3 and probably am being generous.”
To me, somewhere in 1 to 3 is the “zowie, this is bad” group, so if the art is substantially better than the story deserves, 3/10 seems plausible.