I have decades-long deep and abiding love for original doujinshi, however, I don’t often review doujinshi here as a standalone review on Okazu. It was generally frustrating to review something most people could never see except through illegal distribution and I respect the artists too much to encourage that.  Now that Lilyka and Irodori Sakura are bringing out Yuri doujinshi in English, other reviewers are covering those titles, and while I don’t mind adding my two cents, it’s still hard to have a substantive conversation about part of a story, or an ongoing series that will come out 32 pages at a time once a year at an event!

All that said, when Lilyka announced Rei Abe’s Magnum Lily, 1 & 2, I thought it would be worth mentioning. I’m pretty sure I picked at least one issue of this up somewhere on my last trip to Japan.

Magnum Lily is a boxing doujinshi. Higuchi Yuri is a 15-year old with no interests, no hobbies, nothing she cares about to make life interesting. By sheer coincidence she meets a professional boxer, Windy Armstrong, and is turned on to the thrill of boxing. Yuri heads to the gym and although she is unable to land a single punch in her first sparring match – she’s hooked on the sport.  The story continues for more chapters after the second issue, and is available by points in Japanese on Shonen Magazine‘s digital comic site. Update from CW, this manga is continued on the mangaka’s Pixiv where it currently goes through #10, and is supported by their Pixiv Fanbox. Thank you kindly for the additional info. ^_^

This story has almost everything I want in a sports manga – actual sports, which is a plus; blood, tears, guts, effort, goals and heartache.  Additionally, the main characters are likable, the potential rival is honorable and the bouts actually look like boxing. No weirdly contorting bodies for the sake of service here….just weirdly contorting expressions because a punch has landed.

There’s only one thing missing from this otherwise perfect sport Yuri doujinshi, in fact. Thus far – 2 issues of what looks to be 5 – beyond the lead character’s name, there’s no Yuri. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think there is any Yuri romance in this series. The Japanese description leads me to believe it’s about Yuri’s passion for boxing. BUT.  Don’t let that keep you from reading this story.

What Magnum Lily does have is a genuine, non-creepy or service-y appreciation for athletic women’s bodies, accomplishments and achievements, which something that is too often left out in the all-schmaltz editions of women’s sports manga. Tears, fine, but blood and sweat and hitting the gold sometimes, too, thank you.

I purchased both volumes directly on Lilyka, which I am mentioning because Lilyka offers a variety of formats to download in, from mobi to epub. No need to use an awkwardly designed reader, you can just directly download the doujinshi and read it on the reader of your choice.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Character – 8
Story – 8
Service – 7 athletic, muscled women’s bodies
Yuri – 0

Overall – 7

If you are looking for something that centers sport over pathos and abs over backstory, Magnum Lily is a refreshing change of pace.

Now, if I can just get this with a torrid lesbian love affair, it would be absolutely perfect. So far, “FRIDAY IS THE DAY” by Hayashiya Shizuru for Yuritora Jump, Volume 2 still comes closest.