Lepakkoluola is a Finnish Yuri anthology created by a circle called Team Pärvelö.

I was originally made aware of the collection last June when I was contacted by a Team member, Hanna-pirita, to let me know about the Kickstarter for the anthology. Crowdfunding was successful and it was my very sincere pleasure to receive a copy! Really, all I can say about the anthology is – wow.

The story content and variety were exceptionally strong. A female Prussian officer and a woman of the nobility, young black singers in early 20th century Harlem, witches during the Inquisition, Eve and Lilith, a samurai’s wife and a Buddhist nun…the variety of time and place was mind-boggling.

While the text in the body of the comics is in Finnish, pages are subtitled in English. It made reading the book an adventure, as I’d read the English, then spend time just looking at the page and enjoying the art and the flow of the story.

Artists did not attempt to imitate any style, what we have here are young artists letting themselves draw what they wanted, the way they wanted. And I have to say – a lot of the art was really, incredibly good. Each story is so utterly unique that they all stood out in their own way.

My personal favorites were an Annie Oakley x Calamity Jane fanfic I had no idea I needed, but apparently, I did; A story about Sappho and her super #1 Fan harpy and a lovely, lovely little story about a “crazy” woman and the troll who loves her.

Every single story was good. I ended each and every one with an “Aw,” or a “Cute!” or “Squee.”

You can order a copy (priced in Euros) from the circle directly on their website.

And, if you should one day run across this unique and lovely anthology, do scoop it right up. It’s a delight.

Ratings:

Ratings are all variable of course, but…

Overall – 9

This was an excellent read and will be an excellent re-read . Thank you Hanna-pirita and the other members of Team Pärvelö! Lepakkoluola is a delight.