In 2015, it was my sincere pleasure to introduce you to a Thai Yuri manga artist by the name Ratana Satis, when I first reviewed her story Lily Love. Because the book was in Thai, my understanding of the story was rudimentary. But as the plot was a fairly standard “Story A”, it required little stretch to follow. Donut, a young woman in college, falls for her next-door neighbor, a lesbian known as Mew.

Now, with the help of the translation team the Three Musqueeteers, Lily Love is available in a printed volume in English. Because I pre-ordered, the English language volume came with a bookmark, a postcard and a pin featuring the main characters, Donut and Mew. The cover has a different image than the Thai version, the same filmy wrapper, which makes the image look dream-like, and a lovely fold-out color image of the protagonists.

The English translation is quite good, and I’ll go so far as to say that it helped smooth some of the rough edges of the story a bit.  It’s still very much a basic girl-meets-and-falls-for-girl story, with a heavy hand on the “but we’re both girls!” stick, however, Donut’s naivete is not hard to swallow, as she’s well-established as a pretty naive person right from the start. And her friends make her coming out way more than tolerable. They are all kind of cute, in fact.

Additionally, the book has translation and cultural notes, and a few pages of added sketches. Ultimately, it’s a really nice addition to any Yuri collection.

If you’d like to check the series out before you buy this volume, it’s all available on the Three Musqueerteer’s tumblr. If you enjoy it, do support the artist and translators by picking up a copy. This is your Yuri ecosystem, it’s important to get the money flowing through it.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Characters – 8
Story – 7
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7 and I look forward to more.

Although my scores are up from the Thai original review, nothing at all has actually changed in the story. I think I’m just in a mellower mood today. ^_^

Satis’ next Yuri series to be published, Pulse, is  currently up for pre-order on the Musqueerteers’ site, as well. I’ve pre-ordered and will be sure to let you know how it is!