Archive for July, 2019


Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime August 2019 (コミック百合姫2019年8月号)

July 31st, 2019

Here we are, heading into slow, lazy days of summer and here we have an excellent bit of reading material for those very days in Comic Yuri Hime August 2019 (コミック百合姫2019年8月号). Most of the series running are matured a bit, having settled into their own millieu and we can just sort of sit back and watch the slow trainwrecks of oncoming dramatic crisis or enjoy the bright smiles and happy faces of couples enjoying their time together. Perfect beach reading, really. The cover story is cute and girly, as a woman convinces her lover to be her truest self in the clothing store.

This chapter of “Itoshi Koishi” by Takemiya Jin-sensei was the climax of Volume 2, in which Hina’s friend Rena lets Hina know that she knows Hina is seeing Yayoi. It’s a sweet and touching moment, when Rena affirms her love for  her friend and in doing so, convinces Hina that her friends can be her allies, if she can let them be.

“Scarlet” continues once again, moving forward and back at the same time. I wonder if it’s going to be allowed to go anywhere.

“Luminous Blue” is heading for a crash, one that we have been able to see coming for a long, long time and one that I’m not all that comfortable with. I expect the full collision next issue.

Shiki-sempai and Hina are both slapped upside the head with desire for one another and no physical or emotional space to unpack it in “Ikemensugi Shiki-sempai!”

Ohsawa Yayoi’s new story “Hello Melancholic!” is very reminiscent of “12-minute Etude” with almost identical setup, but I am content to see how it plays out. I like(?) Hibiki-sempai’s complete disregard for personal space. ^_^; Girls in band. I can be patient.

“Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru” remains absurdly adorable, as the teachers tour the school festival and make out on the roof of the school. Absolutely inappropriate, both of these last two stories. Oh well. It’s summer, screw propriety.

Ashima is trying to figure out what she wants, even as she’s afraid of losing it, while Mayumi and Rin teeter on the edge of something more intimate, in “Umineko Bessou.”

As I said, a great summer read with stories for just about any taste in Yuri. Adults, school girls, creepy dysfunctional relationships, sweet functional ones, undying children, werewolves and whatever those other things are. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I really like that I’m reading about 2/3 of the stories, (even the one about the undying child, and the horrible people in FLOWERCHILD’s story, both of which are grim as fuck,) and liking them, with only a few series I’m skipping whole because they are too intolerable. ^_^ And then getting lovely stuff like two teachers being so cute together I can barlye stand it and Hina and Yayoi and their friends, as comfortable places to return to.

If we can stay like this for just a while, I’ll be very happy. ^_^

 





Yuri Manga: Yuriqueur – Alcohol Yuri Anthology (ユリキュール アルコール百合アンソロジー)

July 30th, 2019

Welcome to a look at Yuriqueur – Alcohol Yuri Anthology (ユリキュール アルコール百合アンソロジー), (as Sooz noted, “Yuliqueur,”) a book with an awkward name and an even more awkward premise! What can one expect from a collection of stories that all center being drunk? Let us temper (pun intended) our expectations.

While this anthology is probably not my absolute favorite of all time, it is also not the worst I have ever read. Drinking is featured in every story, but the creators mostly stayed away from sordid plot complications. There are no after-morning regrets, nothing non consensual and surprisingly little drinking to excess. Instead of celebrating partying til one pukes, these stories are more or less the same kind of thing as usual, with romance over a drink or two neither idealized nor excoriated.

The first story by 2C=Garua is from the bartender’s point of view, as she takes care of, in a professional way, a frequent customer who likes her women and her mixed drinks.

Mochi Au Lait pops in with a cute little story of a women who has fallen for her coworker and over drinks discovers the feeling is mutual.

My favorite story of the collection, primarily for the art “Angel Kiss in the Dark” by Yonurime, read exactly like a doujinshi story from a million years ago…you know, like 2003 or so. A woman going home after the bars are closed sees a woman in tears on a bench and takes her home. The weeping woman tells of her ended love affair with another woman. The women who found her listens and they part, promising to get together for drinks.

One last quite lovely piece by Miura Kozumi follows a couple as they make umeshu, as they do every year. This story is a celebration of their lives together and the passage of time, as seen by sharing a ritual of making ume alcohol.

Ratings:

Overall – Variable, let’s say 7

In all the stories I liked best, alcohol is the catalyst, but not the story itself. Nonetheless, I quite like the colorful sparkliness of the drinks on the cover art  by Kiriyama Haruka. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Itoshi Koishi, Volume 2 (いとしこいし)

July 29th, 2019

Hina is a high school student who loves cooking and baking. She is dating Yayoi, an older woman. Yayoi is very aware of the difference in their ages, and steadfastly holds herself to high moral standards of behavior because she loves Hina so much. In Volume 1 we learn that Yayoi wants nothing more than to marry Hina, and thinks her girlfriend is an absolute angel.

Hina deeply admires Yayoi, and when she’s good-naturedly poked and prodded by Yayoi’s friends, she takes it all in stride. Her concern is not with the way the older crowd treats her…but with how honest she can be with her own friends. Itoshi Koishi, Volume 2 (いとしこいし) starts with Hina and Yayoi meeting Hina’s schoolfriends at their New Year’s shrine visit…a meeting that sets off a year’s worth of Hina trying to figure out how much to tell her friends, and how to do it.

Almost immediately, one of her friends indicates to Hina that she’s figured out that Hina is standing with the mysterious older lover they all know she has. Hina lies about her relationship with Yayoi and then spends the year stressing over it. Yayoi understands the stress of coming out and offers a balanced perspective. When, later in the year, Hina’s friend takes her aside and confirms that, yes, she has figured it out, she reaffirms how much she- and their friends – love Hina, which brings tears to the girl’s eye.

Itoshi Koishi gets my vote for the “Most likely to have an actual coming out to friends scene” for several reasons. The story is leaning hard in that direction. Takemiya-sensei is an out lesbian artist and I have often commented that her work meshes Yuri and LGBTQ life more than most other creators I follow.  It seems to me that this series is the perfect venue for a scene we so rarely see in Yuri – coming out and talking about what that means. Bear in mind that Kase-san,  which is notable for following its characters out of high school into college, has not yet done more than touch a toe to this particular sea of plot complications. Could it? Maybe. Will it? I don’t have any more of an idea than you. This plot which is so common in LGBTQ stories in western media is rarely seen in Yuri or BL. I don’t wish to see Yuri inundated, but this is such a lovely story, where it would really suit the tone and situation. 

In fact, this series is so grounded in friendship and like and love and is wholesome as can be, I have a wish for this series.

The top Japanese bar association has asked the Diet to support marriage equality.  Ishikawa Taiga, an out gay politician who represents Toshima was elected to to Japan’s Upper House (along with two severely disabled representatives, which is a huge win for Japanese disability activists. Do feel free to write Reuters and let them know to change the phrase “wheelchair-bound” to “wheelchair users.” I’ve done so, but I’d like to see the pressure stay steady.)

And it kind of flitted into my mind in the middle of all this that it would be really nice and very much in keeping with the tone set here if Japan were to get marriage equality before the series ended. ^_^ Vain hope, wishful thinking, whatever. This way when Yayoi finally asks Hina to marry her, we get more than just a ceremony, we get to see them accepted by society.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9 I love time spent with this series
Characters – 9
Yuri  – 10
Service – 3 Hina and Yayoi edge up the intimacy just a notch.

Overall – 9

If there is a single Yuri series and a creator I expect would care that this marriage portrayed as more than just a chance to wear a pretty dress, it’s this series and this creator.





No YNN Today – Have Some Fun Today!

July 27th, 2019

As you read this, I am at the seaside and very probably walking down a boardwalk in the morning sun, looking forward to a date with the Atlantic Ocean (she’s beautiful, but oh so hungry, won’t you just join her for a swim?”) with very sincere plans to meet up with an ice cream cone later.

If it’s feasible or appealing to you, why not step away from the computer today? Take a book and sit under a tree, drink a cool glass of whatever and watch the clouds, coat yourself with sand-attracting sunscreen and watch the Altantic eat the East Coast of the United States….

If it’s neither fun nor feasible, I give you the day off from “being productive” for your corporate masters. Feel free to create if that is what you want to do. Enjoy your day. Watch an anime you wanted to make time for or whatever. And if you are working, thank you. I appreciate your making my and other people’s lives easier with your effort.

Have a pleasant day. (Below image is of Casino Pier, Seaside Heights, New Jersey, from under the giant lumberjack’s legs, )





Yuri Manga: Ikemen Sugidesu Shiki-senpai!, Volume 1 (イケメンすぎです紫葵先パイ! )

July 27th, 2019

Who doesn’t love a super-cool senpai? Hinami is trying to figure out why this incredibly cool and charming upperclassman pays any attention to her.

In Ikemen Sugidesu Shiki-senpai!, Volume 1 (イケメンすぎです紫葵先パイ! ) it appears that Shiki-senpai really does like Hina, and so, as she tries to be a good manager-in-training for the basketball team (of which Shiki-senpai is the star,) Hina is learning a lot about the girls on the team, about dedication and, ultimately, about what she wants.

Shiki-senpai is very cool and very charming, but she’s all so very real and sincere. When she falls ill, and Hina comes by to her one-person apartment to take care of her, she learns that her feelings are rather more intense than she realized. And, when she kisses Hina, the first-year also begins to understand what that might mean for them.

Shiki and Hina are not the only couple on the team, either –  and while Miyamoto and the manager are an awkward couple for an number of reasons, their behavior certainly gives Shiki and Hina a few hints.

Yuama’s art is competent, with occasional wonkiness, but when Shiki is required to be too cool for her hair, she is always very, very cool and stylish and just boyish enough to be heart throbby. ^_^

The actual plot here is well-worn, but the strength of this particular series is the sincerity. Both Shiki and Hina are so gosh darn sincere and adorable that you really want them to be happy together.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 9
Story – 8
Service – 6 Shiki-senpai being cool is definitely a form of service. ^_^
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

It’s really kind of difficult to even imagine disliking this series. It is just so sincere. ^_^