In Ruri-iro Yume (瑠璃色の夢) Morishima Akiko gets to realize a dream of hers – one that I happen to share. She is able to draw a series of stories about adult women in relationships with other women.

I’ve been saying over and over how she’s the one Yuri manga creator that consistently pushes at this particularly truculent line in the sand. Most “Yuri” stories lie firmly in a world of schoolgirl crushiness or some equivalent fantasy space. The understanding is that, while the emotions are real – the relationship is ephemeral. Women don’t stay with their school days female lovers, it’s “playing at” romantic love. Of course they will go on to marry a man and have children, thereby giving up any pretense at a professional life. This would all sound like me being sarcastic, except that it is very much the prevailing attitude in Japan. Women work until they find a man, then sequestor themselves in a life as a domestic caretaker until their kids leave. Everyone knows that’s how it goes.

Morishima takes a few quirky looks at lives that don’t fall into this stereotypical life plan by first dealing with someone whose dream is, in fact, very stereotypical. Ruri is an OL, a Office Lady. Office Ladies are a kind of mix between an admin, a hostess and a maintenance worker. They do random odd jobs around the office, including copies, serving coffee and changing light bulbs. It is stereotypically a job that a woman would take in order to meet and marry a nice salaryman. (Since she is naturally going to stop working when she gets married, there’s no conflict about office romances.)

Ruri has a dream of finding a nice guy, getting married and having a child she names after herself, a hint that this dream is at least a little narcissistic. But she finds herself instead involved with a female co-worker, Mitsukuni. Ruri mentions her dream of a typical life one night at dinner and is *shocked* to be rejected by Mitsukuni. Next week, back in the office, Mitsukuni admits that that dream repulses her – she wants nothing of the sort. Ruri has to decide what she really wants…and ultimately decides that Mitsukuni’s love is more important that her childish dream.

I found this story to be rather ironic, myself, since Ruri casts aside the typical dream of a pretty boring, repressive life as if it’s childish and unrealistic, instead embracing what is traditionally seen as an “immature” love.

In the next story, although the two women are college students, their love is still an exploration of childhood dreams, in which one is the long-suffering Prince to the other’s selfish Princess.

And then there’s “Honey & Mustard,” which started a new series that’s now running in Yuri Hime. This series deals with adult women in adult jobs and a variety of relationships. In my review of this story when it ran in the magazine, I pointed out that it was significant for using the phrase “kocchi no kei,” i.e., “one of us,” thus for the first time in the pages of Yuri Hime acknowledging that there is an “us.” Us, of course, being lesbians. The main characters are women who were once lovers and are now good friends, but no less lovers of women, despite the fact that they have put aside their schoolgirl days.

The next story explores the idea of “alternative family” from a slightly different perspective than usual. Kyou has been in love with Konomi since she was a child. After Konomi’s husband died, she took over being Konomi’s companion and ultimately became her lover. But there’s a gap somewhere in the relationship and it makes Kyou uncomfortable. Ultimately she decides that being Konomi’s family means more than being her lover and they start all over again.

A continuation of Eri and Keiko’s May-December romance provides some classic Unresolved Sexual Tension and a look at what love means when you’re “over-the-hill” by Japanese standards.

And finally, in a side story from Hanjuku Joshi Chitose’s older sister Chie goes to Chie’s school festival looking for Yuri, but is shocked to find love.

It might not seem like much to you, reading these one at a time, but I know what Morishima-san read as a young woman and I know why this is all an amazing shift to a much more realistic look at lesbian life and love.

In “Story A” a schoolgirl is usually portrayed only in the school setting. She is in love with the idea of another girl and the story ends when they to recognize their mutual interest in one another. Even when she is doing this, Morishima adds layers to it. Chie’s search for Yuri was semi-professional, but her feelings for a younger girl totally bowl her over. Kaori and Mitsuki are adult women, “careerwomen” as they say in Japan. They have already acknowledged their love for women and its just another part of their lives. Keiko finds herself dealing more with her age issues than issues about Eri’s gender, and Kyo decides a different relationship will bring her closer to Konomi, not further apart. And then there’s Ruri, rejecting the childish dream and embracing a reality that is still often shoved into the closet to fulfill other people’s expectations.

These are not your usual Yuri stories. That having been said, Morishima’s art is *extremely* moe. Even when her characters are 28, they look round cheeked, fresh-faced and cute, as opposed to cool or mature. This is Morishima’s style and it fits nicely with Yuri fandom’s need to keep Yuri out of the realm of reality and strictly in the realm of fantasy. Imagine the consternation of those 30% of Yuri Hime readers if the magazine didn’t just say, “Men Not Allowed” (as it does on the cover in a way that is clearly designed to drawn men to it like flies) but instead had realistically drawn and told stories of lesbian drama. Think about it.

…

It would be hilariously dull.

In any case, Morishima’s art is super-duper cute. But her stories are smart, poignant and often very real. And, okay, sometimes her stories are super-duper cute, too. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Lesbian – 7
Service – 7

Overall – 9

Ladies and Gentlemen – we have a winner.

I never doubted for a second that Morishima Akiko-sensei would be the one. I had faith in her, in her ability to gently nudge the boundaries of “Yuri” until they started to blur the lines into “lesbian.” I’ve commented that several of her stories have started to shift in that direction. Notably, her story about the two office workers with a crush on the grease truck chef, and the unprecedented use of the phrase “Kocchi no ke.”

In Hanjuku Joshi, Volume 2 (半熟女子), Morishima has actually written a story that covers that last little piece – the gap between lesbian content and lesbian identity. Let me be very clear here – I do not meant that the characters identify as “lesbians.” I do mean that they acknowledge the challenge that loving another woman brings, and they struggle with the idea of loving that other woman in public. THIS is what I mean when I give Morishima the “Golden Lily” prize.

It’s not like Hanjuku Joshi is the first book ever to cover this area. It’s the first “mainstream Yuri” (if you will allow that) to do so in many years.

Because other reviewers will focus on the sex, let me sum that up in a line: there is sex in Hanjuku Joshi. It’s not actually the point of the story. It’s the icing on the cake.

The point of the story is acceptance – of one’s self, of one’s love, of one’s desire to live a normal, happy life with the person one loves…who just happens to also be female. And the point of the story is that it takes a LOT to get to the point where you can accept that, much less be fearless about expressing it in public. *That* is the point of this book. If you didn’t notice, because you were obsessing about the fuzzy handcuffs, that’s okay. The other point is that Morishima has integrated the main point seamlessly into a smut-filled story, for people just like you. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 7

Overall – 9

Hanjuku Joshi turned out to be a pretty interesting series. I prefer Mari x Ran to Chitose x Yae, but some really critical conversations happen in this book and those were definitely worth the price of admission.

Hanjuku Joshi (Half-baked Woman) is one of two collections of stories that were distributed by Yuri Hime magazine, as part of their cell phone service in Japan. Kinda neat, huh?

You know how it is. Whatever kind of body/hair/face you have, you want something else. And Yae is no different. She’s got a cute, curvaceous, feminine body, and soft, fluffy hair. She likes sewing. She’s as girly as a girl could be – and she hates it. Which is why its so vexing to be told how feminine she is all time. And even more so when tall, athletic, Chitose – who is everything Yae wishes she was, including not at all self-conscious about her body – tells her so.

Yae is still reeling from the difference from her previous co-ed schools in regards to relations between students, so she’s not really ready for the feelings she’s having for Chitose. And she’s totally not ready for Chitose to return them. And, just to make it all that much more awkward and painful, she’s not definitely not up to being teased by Hanashima Mari, the cool, beautiful upperclassman who mocks Yae and Chitose for “playing” at love, calling them “half-baked women”, right before she skips class to hit a hotel with her current beau. When, later that day, they stumble across Mari and their female homeroom teacher in a compromising position in the library, everything gets even more complicated than before.

In the end, the story is about not one, but two love relationships, about healing old wounds and finding one’s self.

On the Yuricon Mailing List, I stated that I thought that this book might well be the most perfect “Yuri” manga I’d ever seen. It’s not really a story of anyone coming out – there is some sense of identity, but not so much that it changes the story to a lesbian one. No, the focus here is on “Yuri,” in the sense of lesbian content, not lesbian identity, a classic school setting and first love…and all that “pure” and “innocent” love stuff that fanboys love so much. (Although, for people who like their Yuri “pure” and “innocent” no one ever seems to object when they end up sleeping together.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 6

Overall – 9

Hanjuku Joshi was not my absolute favorite collection from this last batch of Yuri Hime manga, but it was very enjoyable. I always enjoy Morishima’s work, and always look forward to the next one.

What happens when an lesbian mangaka draws Yuri manga for a female audience? Why, we have a winner, that’s what!

Morishima Akiko draws whimsically realistic, slightly angsty and decidedly delightful stories of love between women. Rakuen no Jouken is a collection of her stories from Yuri Hime magazine. This collection does not include her Yuri life illustrated column, just her manga.

Rakuen begins with the mini series about OL Sarina and her “friend with benefits,” freelance writer Sumika, as Sumi drops by unexpectedly. They immediately pick up where they left off, but Sarina realizes that she kind of likes having Sumi around. She asks Sumi to live with her, but you can’t cage a free bird, so Sumi returns the favor by asking Sarina to come with her on her next assignment to Malta.

This is followed by a story in which Sumi is unhappy because she has always loved Sarina, but knows that Sarina is more interested in getting a boyfriend. When Sarina breaks up with her current beau, she’s there to comfort her, but the relationship turns much more serious.

The next story picks up with them in Malta, enjoying living together, house and cat-sitting. Sarina angsts slightly over their relationship, because it seems like she’s getting more serious about Sumi than she expected. Since she forgets to use her inside voice, Sumi is able to hear it all and it’s too late to put the cat back in the bag so to speak. Sarina’s fallen in love with Sumi, too. Surrounded by light, love and cats, they look forward to a very happy future together.

The next two stories deal with a really cute couple, Keiko, a 30-year old art teacher and Emi, her 20-year old student. Emi asks Keiko out, and since she doesn’t have a boyfriend and Emi’s kinda cute, Keiko says yes. But Emi isn’t just cute – she’s young, perky, sparkly, bright-eyed, luminescent with life and youth and immediately, Keiko finds herself suffering a crisis. How could this prime example of youth and energy want her old, flabby aged body? (30 is old…. Yes, in 10000 BCE, 30 was old. Welcome to the 21st century, Japanese women! If you’re old at 30 – what do you do for the next 50 years? Sit around and moulder? Crichey.) Anyway, Keiko’s crisis is resolved when she realizes that her real problem is that she’s been in love with this girl since day one. This is followed by a night-over date, which is sadly on a very bad day for Emi. You know – *that* kind of bad day. Emi is full of wide-eyeness, so Keiko can barely take no for an answer. ^_^ I hope we get more of them – the age joke is exhausting, but I like them anyway.

Lalaa is a cosplay-wearing 29-year old loli and her 25-year old lover Shinobu is a editor and flute player. They’ve known each other – and pretty much been together – for 12 years, since they were young. The story revolves around Shinobu’s emotional breakdown in the rain, and Lalaa-sempai’s deep understanding and caring for Shinobu.

“Momo no aji” is a short story about a girl’s confession to an upperclassman and a response that involves a peach-flavored lolipop.

And the final story is a that of Sakura-hime and her guardian tree spirit Fubuki. The story is no less bittersweet than the original that ran in the magazine. A sort of classic melancholy, fitting for the historical setting.

Morishima is not afraid of service – she gleefully has her characters in various states of undress, costumes, and partial nudity for your viewing pleasure. But her art is so sweet and round and soft, and her characters so feminine, that it never feels like “service.” The sex tends to be on the snuggly side, with a blessed lack of gouting bodily fluids. Her humor tends to make me snort, rather than laugh, if you take my meaning. And her work is cute, cute, cute, all the way down.

If you’re looking for non-schoolgirl Yuri stories, especially ones that reflect actual women’s daily experiences, Rakuen no Jouken is just about perfect. (Even if there aren’t any lesbians in it.  ^_^)

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – variable, averaging out at about 8
Characters – an almost universally likeable 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 4

Overall – 9

Of all the Yuri Hime collections, this is one of the very best so far. I look forward to seeing it in English one day. ^_^