Yuri Danshi, Volume 1 (百合男子) is…unsettling.
The premise, for those of you not reading it, is the life of a Yuri Fanboy. Hanadera-kun is sincere, but creepy. In fact, that’s kind of the point – he’s sincere in his love for Yuri and his desire to see and nurture true Yuri love in the girls around him. Which is just creepy when you’re one of those girls.
Each chapter begins with a challenge – buying Yuri at a bookstore, uncovering what he considers to be a pure Yuri love in his classroom, visiting a Yuri doujinshi event…and each chapter ends with a realization that his love for Yuri, as passionate as it is, is completely hopeless and empty, because where there is a “Yuri couple” someone like him would be no more than an annoyance at best.
It’s a funny series, overall, but I still can’t quite get a hold of who it’s supposed to be for. As a portrait of Yuri fanboy life, it’s a little distressing. I asked a friend in Japan his opinion of it and he said that he also finds it unsettling, as that is pretty much him on those pages. I commented that the series gave Yuri Fanboys a little taste of what it feels like to be a lesbian reading Yuri manga. And maybe that’s the point.
Katherine H has the best line about it, “I’ve never read Comic Yuri Hime thinking ‘Gosh, I’d really like to read a satire about the daily life of a Yuri Fanboy.'” Yup.
In the end of Volume 1, there is an interview of creator Uso Kurata, by Comic Yuri Hime editor Nakamura-san. In the interview we learn that this is Kurata’s semi-autobiographical tale of being a Yuri Fanboy, but that doesn’t make it any less unsettling. As a portrayal of a Yuri Fanboy, it’s the equivalent of Mai HiME‘s Shizuru as a lesbian. Not really wrong, per se, but not really a comfortable or laudable portrayal, either.
So, while I don’t hate Yuri Danshi, I probably won’t be getting the next volume unless there actually is some Yuri in it that isn’t in Hanadera-kun’s imagination.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – …
Characters – …
Yuri – …
Service – …
Overall – …
Who is this comic *for*? The 70% female of readers of Comic Yuri Hime to have some lolz at the 30% male readership? Or the 30% male Yuri Danshi readers to teach them what it feels like to be a lesbian reading Yuri? I don’t know. I just don’t know.
“that gave Yuri Fanboys a little taste of what it feels like to be a lesbian reading Yuri manga. And maybe that’s the point.” <- I hadn't thought of that before reading this, but I agree. The Mai Hime analogy is apt.
@Katherine – I’ve been thinking about this book for weeks, trying to get at what the point is. That is the best I can come up with. ^_^
From the way you describe it, it sounds to me something like a community service project: “No one’s really going to ENJOY this, but let’s try and broaden the minds of our otherwise socially conservative / creepy LFBs. It’ll be good for them!”
Failing that, maybe it’s just trying to mine the awkwardness comedy that makes shows like Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiams such successes (and incidentally makes me unable to stand them, but whatever).
I will definitely be getting this as it should explain to me what some seem to want form Yuri that I do not get.
People seem to mention ‘purity’ but doesn’t that just mean made of a single substance? Surely that is boring. Being boring is the exact opposite of what fiction should be in my massively self-important opinion.
Another thing that threw me was this idea of the main character being conflicted about observing couples in real life. Surely that is just stalking. Same as the idol obsessives who invade their idol’s private life. It is ilegal (and inpolite) so you don’t do it, no matter what your disposition.
Am I missing something fundamental here that would be solved once I buy and read the manga?
@Mara – In Hanadera-kun’s head, it make sense for him, until it conflicts with the real world, then he has a crisis…that *is* the plot.
Well, there is a shoujo manga about a LFG(Ie, a yaoi fangirl). I think the english release is called “fujoshi kanojo”, although it later turns into an actual shoujo manga about two guys (And later on, a girl) competing for the heart of a yaoi fangirl.
The difference from what I can tell from this review seems to be that this is a comic joking about Yuri-fanboys, instead of having a main character who just happens to be a Yuri-fanboy and indeed has other issues in life.
Or maybe the people making the magazine are convinced that “We’re Japanese. This is a comic about Yuri. Thus, it’s probably aimed at males. Let’s joke about it, because no matter what the statistics say, most of the readers are men!”
I might want to read this. I’ve been wanting to see a counterpart to fujoshi kanojo for quite a while now, and I generally never see actual Yuri-fanboys in fiction(IE, ones who think the relationship is cute as well, instead of just teh hawt sexxors). And if it isn’t good, I’ll just have to write one myself!
“Or maybe the people making the magazine are convinced that “We’re Japanese. This is a comic about Yuri. Thus, it’s probably aimed at males. Let’s joke about it, because no matter what the statistics say, most of the readers are men!”
That’s pretty obviously not the case, and Yuri Danshi even goes into it. I think you want to read this manga, too :)
Not that I get the point of this, but it’s popular among the readers and amuses its creator seems to like it, so I guess no harm done?
As long as I don’t have to buy it? ^^ I rather buy Fu~Fu
Fufufu.
are you sure this series isn’t just the male author making fun of himself? I can’t read Japanese so I can’t read the interview or the manga, but did he actually make it seem like this manga was dead serious and about his psychological turmoil over his anime lesbian obsession? if anything it could just be a melodramatic parody that in the end is just saying “lol I’m such a nerd”. hell, sometimes fanservice ecchi anime for guys has a ‘loser otaku nerd’ character and nobody gets mad, it’s just a joke.
also, it could be aimed at BOTH. I’m sure both fanboys and fangirls could get a laugh out of this without any serious hate/self-hate.
@bb – Yes, that is basically what I said. “…the series gave Yuri Fanboys a little taste of what it feels like to be a lesbian reading Yuri manga. And maybe that’s the point.”
But, like Katherine, I don’t really have to find it interesting. No one I know cares about the inner life of an LFB, not even the Yuri LFBs. We’re interested in Yuri.
So my question remains – who is this for? Female Yuri fans (and lesbians particularly) are *not focused on the guys.* This is why we like Yuri. We do not care about the inner life of an LFB.
Male fans read Yuri for, presumably, the very same reason – they like to see the girls together. They too are not interested in male characters. And they already know what goes on in their minds.
The series is funny, but not fun. And no one wants it. So…who is it for?
Like most of you, I can’t say with certainty that I know what the demographic of this manga is, but I myself do have some interest in this at some point.
Personally, I love hearing/reading the “reasons” why people like something, as well as how they interpret and express said feelings. So from a “research” or “psychological” standpoint, this kind of manga appeals to me.
Secondly, I love Yuri in all forms. Preferably less tawdry and “unlesbian” Yuri, but I love the idea of GL so much, I don’t just have Yuri goggles or even Yuri lasik, I have a Yurigan. (百合眼). So even something like this, catches my attention, whether or not I’d actually enjoy the contents.
And thirdly, being a girl who holds Yuri at her heart, and wants nothing more then to share a simple, happy life with a wonderful wife, I can relate with the idea behind the story, being a transsexual woman. Even if the story is about a cisgendered male just enjoying the world of Yuri, I can relate with the feeling of being “trapped outside of a gated garden, never to be allowed in”.
All in all, I have yet to read it, but it sounds interesting enough to do so, but depending on how good it is will determine if it deserves a place on my bookshelf along with Yuri ranging from “Omoi no Kakera” to “Choir!”, lol.
The “funny” part of this manga is that all Yuri MC sees doesn’t actually exist. He’s severely deluded in seeing the girls be together, while in reality they are indeed just friends. Or one of them is a crossdressing guy. Or will be married to one of his Yuri fanboy friends, just like the tradition prescribes.
So not only it’s poking fun at male Yuri readers for “wrong” way of enjoying it, it also laughs at all of Yuri fandom for having hopes of “two girls together” being a serious relationship.
That’s patently untrue in this series. If anything the eventual plot drivers are – “Dear girls, be proud to be Yuri fans” and “Real love between women is cool, but it’s not actually cool to fetishize it.”
How is this supposed to teach a male what it’s like reading yuri as a lesbian? Do you expect as a lesbian to suddenly welcomed with open arms into every lesbian couples lives? Then that’s not a lesson worth teaching. Because no matter who you are, that right isn’t yours. It would be a privilege.
This is, to me, what Watamote is to the most painful of Otaku. A look at the lesbian worship of male readers and why these people lead an unhealthy lifestyle. And why such lifestyles only lead to being alone for the rest of their lives. No person would care to extend any extra care to such low confidence self destructive people. It gets tiresome.
If you spend all your time worshipping these kinds of couples, what happens to you? What’s the bigger disservice? To treat these couples like you would a hetero couple, which would be fair and not a disservice, or to sacrifice your own chances of relationships with such self hatred, anti male sentimentality, and forever alone desires all for people who wouldn’t really be seriously caring or even bother to visit your funeral?
If people can’t see this, then why think your fit to judge it on personal taste alone? This is more like a movie with a political statement like “The Grey” or “American Psycho” with its look into the wasteful yuppie lifestyle.
I have no idea what you are even saying. It appears you have so complete misread what I meant that you’re ranting about something I never said.
I meant, quite simply, that the series follows a guy who is a Yuri fan, whose behavior is extreme and embarrassing to guys who are Yuri fans, which is similar to the way lesbians are portrayed unrealistically in Yuri manga. That’s it.
Hint: Reviews are personal opinions. Get over it.
Hint: Remove the fucking salt pal. I don’t need to get over anything to state an opinion.
Maybe you should think about what you type first then and how it actually fails to say anything that should be easily seen. Especially when it seems that you went into writing this review with a lot of salt.
And from my personal experience, male Yuri fans that I have seen are exactly like the one in Yuri Danshi. Forever alone match makers. So I don’t see the easy to see line between the minority and majority.
It’s one thing to portray a sexuality that you might not be of. That by itself is not going to go over well in terms of realism when say a straight man writes Yuri. But a specific fanbases behavior that can easily be read online and even seen in the most serious of their discussions? That by itself is far more easily seen to be a more truthful statement like the one about Yuppies in American Psycho.
Hint: An opinion that disagrees with your opinion is still the same kind of opinion as your opinion. Get over it and let the salt leave. That bad luck snail is gone.
Hi there. You’re getting worked up about a 4 year old review of a book. On my blog, odd as it is, I get to say what I think. And I didn’t say anything other than “who is this book for?” so your attempts at insults are not only misplaced, but weirdly out of place. If you’re gonna be dismissive and pretend to be all logical and say”calm down” at me, you should probably find a review where I’m mad first.
“Hint: Reviews are personal opinions. Get over it.”
Telling someone they need to get over something after they stated a disagreement is a hell of a lot of salt.
If I tell you that your local sports team sucks, it’s pretty much the same. You are welcome to disagree. It does not produce an opening for discussion and is answerable only by “Oh well.”
Not really. Not that I’d give a shit if someone said my team sucks. Since it’s not the same as saying “get over it” as if liking a team means someone’s not over it.
If your initial reply lacked the “Hint: Reviews are personal opinions. Get over it.” it would actually be an answer of “Oh well” with a bit of personal opinion.
“Who this comic is for?”
It’s not a yuri manga. It’s a manga about yuri. I think it’s for anyone who wants to know what yuri is, and what it’d be like to like yuri. Since people who like yuri already know what it is and what it is like, it’s a manga for everyone who doesn’t like yuri!
I don’t agree, but that would be fine, except that by your definition, any Yuri magazine running it is wasting pages on a manga not for readers of that magazine. It’s fine in some other magazine, but a waste of space in Comic Yuri Hime.