The last few years has seen a huge shift in the crowd-funding landscape for independent Yuri artists. With the success of the Boyish² Butch x Butch Yuri Anthologies, and the Galette magazine crowdfunding in Japan and now English as a Kickstarter, we saw a number of Yuri artists reaching out directly to fans at home and overseas. It’s an exciting change in an industry that had been reticent to look online for financial support. It’s an imperfect solution, but today’s reviews offer a clear indication that this is the right direction for some artists.

First up, we have 姉井戸 Aneido, who has been creating one-shot and short manga volumes for a number of years. In the past few years, Aneido-sensei has taken to crowdfunding to bring out two of their manga in English, most recently, Now No One Lurks Under The Snow.

This book is set in a manor deep in the mountains, in what I guess would be early-to mid 20th centuryish…after cars, at least. An unnamed young woman visits the manor to take care of androgynous Madam Kay. The two protagonists fall in love and ultimately reject the lives that are demanded of them. Our narrator walks away from a life as a “tool” used by her family and Kay rejects the gender they were assigned at birth and admits to being a non-binary person who does not love men. This is an 18+ book, with a number of explicit but very loving sex scenes. In the end they drive away, hopefully to make a life together.

The book itself is very lovely with a color cover and color dust cover. I backed this at the level that gave me color postcards, a signed bookplate and a pamphlet with notes on the creation and translation of the book. The translation was done by Red String Translations who also worked on Mutusmi Natsuo’s Kickstarters. I have no complaints. 

I was glad to have an affirming work from Aneido-sensei and a really nice-looking result from a Kickstarter.  If you’re looking for an 18+ work starring a non-binary protagonist,  you can still buy a digital copy of this comic on the creator’s shop.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Next up we have Her Kiss, My Libido Twinkles by 寄田みゆき Yorita Miyuki, a consistent member of the Galette magazine line-up. In fact, this Kickstarter collects one of the early stories Yorita-sensei published in that magazine which, unusually for me, made me feel a bit nostalgic about it!

Stuck in the hospital with an injury, Sana meets and is intrigued by Akane, a mysterious older girl who missed a year in school due to illness. Akane is a bit possessive, but Sana wants her to be friends with all her school friends too. When the chance finally comes to introduce Akane to her best friend, Mi-chan,  Mi-chan discovers Yuri books in Sana’s room and impulsively hides, becoming a witness to Sana and Akane kissing.

This story has the potential to be ugly, but it stays mostly kind, with Akane teasing just a bit meanly – and she is honest about not really getting people, society and friends at all. Sana’s journey through puberty drags Mi-chan along as well, but Sana’s earnestness forces both Akane and Mi-chan to at least learn to be civil to one another.

The collected volume is very cute, with the same cover image as the Japanese digital edition on the color dust cover. The volume includes 5 chapters and an extra chapter that gets a little hot, but stays well in under-18 territory. In fact, the entire story can be understood as a very adolescent journey. BPS Co, Ltd. did the translation and, once again, I did not feel there were any major problems, only a very slight awkwardness at the beginning due to the way JP sentences fit together in word balloons. It passes quickly.  BPS was the company that Galette initially announced as the translation team, but eventually went with Red Strings Translation, as well, after a number of recommendations from backers and creators.  

My backer level this time was book-only, as it hit on one of those weeks. ^_^; It’s a nice book though and a pleasant read. And, of course, I am delighted that independent Yuri manga artists are finding a direct line to their overseas audiences! I’d love to see more Galette WORKS manga make it’s way over here, maybe we can turn to Seven Seas and ask them to invest in Galette books beyond Morinaga Milk’s My Cute Little Kitten.

Also very interesting – this story was turned into a short live-action Youtube series that you can still watch online! Overall, another  fun get from crowdfunding.

Ratings:

Overall  – 8

It looks like 2024 is definitely the year that oveseas fandom has made a visible impact on Yuri creators in Japan. I think that’s fantastic.