The Yuri + Kanojo anthologies from Fusion Comics has been a fascinating mashup of first-person visual story telling and ultra-short narrative creation that has, in general, piqued my interest.

If you recall from previous volumes, the premise is a series of two or three short 4-6 page stories that follow a character through their relationships with us, from a first person perspective. A First Person Yuri, if you will. We don’t get spoken lines usually, but we are allowed to see our hands, some of our body, have the occasional goofy face indicating mood in a thought bubble and sundry noises or other means of expression. I’ve especially enjoyed when the stories leave school behind and cover adults and even (gasp!) older women.

Yuri + Kanojo – Tomodachi ha Kinou Made – (百合+カノジョ-友達は昨日まで-) takes a even more radical approach, with stories of senior relationships. But, before that, it brushes upon the weird and wacky, with a section devoted to unusual stories – gentlewoman thief, mermaid, witch and the like. The second section returns to “Episode of Usual” with characters in school, but even here these characters are characters. I particular liked bodybuilder Jinguji Reika. Put a pin in that name, she’ll be back. (No spoilers, readers, just wait for it.) And of course I liked Kagami Yukina, whose only desire in life was to be our butler. The third section is titled “Global” with equally as rare characters from far off exotic places like Brazil, China, England, Korea. The final section is the After Forty section, this time with relationships that last a lifetime. Particularly charming were the three-parters that covered decades of a couple’s life together.

Of the several Yuri + Kanojo volumes so far, I enjoyed this one most, clearly because of the whimsicality and also the lack of children. Really, after all these years and so many, many, many school romances, I just really don’t much care for stories about middle-schoolers. ^_^;

Ratings:

Art, story, characters are all variable, since it is an anthology.

Overall – 9

If you’re on the fence about the Yuri + Kanojo series, I’d definitely recommend this one, at the very least.