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. ^_^