These three Yuri Short Story collections have been taking up space in my house for a year or more. I moved slowly through each of them and thought about how to – and which of the three – to review. Ultimately, I decided to do one combined review for reasons you will come to understand.

The first of our three is Yuri Short Story Collection wiz ( 百合小説コレクション wiz). This book had been on my to-read pile for more than a year. Unfortunately for me, I did not enjoy a single story in this collection and left a number of them unfinished.

Asaura’s “Warui Yatsu” was not bad, as expected from the writer of Lycoris Recoil.  By the time I  got to Yuki Shasendou’s “Senkyo ni zettai ikitakunaika no sofa de tabete nete eiga mitai” I felt very much like the protagonist and just didn’t care all that much, really.

On the one hand I was pleased to see an original Yuri collection, but in the end, nothing really grabbed me, and I struggle to remember most of the stories.

Overall – 6

Next up was Zerogo: Yuri Literary Magazine, Volume 2 (零合 百合総合文芸誌 第2号). I absolutely adored Volume 1 and was really looking forward to this volume.

I was so deeply disappointed by this issue.

The first story had a great setup, then turned sharply into a incoherent plot that literally wallowed in filth. Many of the stories just left me cold, I often stopped reading because I could see where something was going that I did not want to have to read.  One story that I did read and left me thinking was about researchers and archivists on a planet on which everything lost it’s name. Again, great setup, then it just…didn’t do anything with it. Best title of the collection was” Kokkyuzoi no Pinball Lizard,” Pinball Lizard on the Border. Again, I had to stop reading that one because I was not willing to be traumatized.

I have here on Okazu mentioned many times my feelings about short story collections and how often they reach for the traumatizing or gross to create a quick impact. I am a hard pass on that. I hate when authors do that so much that I stopped reading science fiction for literal decades because the 1970s best science fiction anthologies were so full of that shit.

This volume also came with a little booklet with the cover illustration and story.

Overall – 4

Last is our clear winner of the bunch – Yuri Bungei Shousetsu Contest Selection 5 (百合文芸小説 コンテスト セレクション). I have previously reviewed Selection 1 and Selection 3 but skipped both 2 and 4 for the same reasons as above. Well, in the main this fifth volume was outstanding. I have linked the title above and image to the Pixiv results where you can read every story for free. If you want the collected volume, Booth is your simplest choice, with a buying and/or shipping service.

To begin with, the Grand Prize winner was a story so fantastic that I can not stop thinking about it. It ran in the Comic Yuri Hime February 2024 issue and was just… astoundingly good. “Tsuitou Juu-shunen Tokubetsu Kiji “-Tou Sakusha Sakakiba Mizue no Jinsei” by Maruchou. 『追悼十周年特別記事　『盗作者・榊葉瑞枝の人生』』The title translates to “Special 10th anniversary memorial article: ​​The life of plagiarist Sakakiba Mizue.” It begins with a biography of this immensely famous “plagiarist” and has one of the absolutely most fantastic endings I have ever read. I hope you will click the link and take the time to read it.

There were a number of very good stories in this collection, including a poignant one from the perspective of a man whose wife has died and how his world gets narrower and narrower, until a woman shows up claiming to be a dear friend of his wife’s. They start going all the places he promised his wife he’d take her…until all that is left is very far out of the area. When the woman steals his wife’s ashes, he gives her his blessing and only asks for reports from the places they go – a bargain she keeps up.

My second favorite story was about a woman who returns to the town she grew up in on the occasion of the destruction of her high school. She and her closest friend make up over the rift that separated them back then and they and the remaining few students and teachers paint a colorful mural expressing their feelings and experiences all along the school walls. When the mural is finished, the school is taken down. The title of this story is #89c3eb, after the pale blue color of the mural.

This collection did have two stories I stopped reading, but overall was vastly better than the other collections and previous Contest Selection volumes. The volume came with a clear sticker and postcard bonus story.

Overall – 9

In all cases your opinion might vary, and with so many stories in these collections, there’s something for everyone. But if you are even vaguely interested in Yuri literary short stories, I beg you to please read “Tsuitou Juu-shunen Tokubetsu Kiji “-Tou Sakusha Sakakiba Mizue no Jinsei”. It is deserving of a Grand Prize and gave me hope for short stories once again.