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. ^_^