Archive for the Doujinshi Category


Yuri Research Club Doujinshi at Comiket 101

March 26th, 2023

Today’s review is sponsored by Rica Takashima who sent me all these treasures from Comiket 101 at Tokyo Bight Sight this past winter. She and I have had our fair number of surreal experiences there, but among those I had not imagined, was the growth of Yuri research clubs at various universities. Of course in retrospect, it makes perfect sense that, as Yuri grows in popularity, some folks would create circles around doing basically the exactly same thing I’m doing here – reviews and research, interviews and news.  Because when I first visited Comiket 20 years ago, Yuri was not a genre, it’s really delightful that there are so many folks doing just that now. (Also, marveling at the fact that when Rica and I were selling our Yuri manga at Comiket, these young people were in diapers. What a different world they have ground up in in regards to Yuri!) Thankfully Rica also enjoys other people’s enjoyment, and so I have some really fun Yuri Research doujinshi today to share with you and some joyful faces from Comiket.

Our goodies today come from: 

University of Tokyo Yurizukikai (@utokyo_yuri on Twitter)

 

The UTokyo Yuri Lover’s Society had two publications:

Liliest was a slick perfect bound collection of essays about Yuri location travel, webtoon recommendations and brief history of Yuri from the 1990s to the present, a terrific essay answering the question “Is Anne of Green Gables Yuri?” and, when one flipped to the other side, original fiction and manga.

I have to tell you, as I read through each of these doujinshi, my heart grew 20 times in size. ^_^

It was just so delightful to be a part of this conversation, even if just vicariously through the doujinshi.

 

Also wonderful was UTY’s second publication, a copy book entitled, Hyaku-Nengo Ni Nokoshitai Yuri Manga Hyaku Sen. Let me me see if I can explain what is going on in this title. If you look at the red characters, they spell ‘Yuri,’ but the first character also is ‘100,’ so this title means something like, 100 Selected Yuri Manga For the Ages, but is a couple of clever uses of the way kanji is read and laid out.  It’s very clever in a college club way. ^_^

Inside this copybook  is a foldout page with 100 Yuri manga that they think are key pieces of Yuri manga history. Largely I agree with them! A few are open for debate, as one might expect. ^_^ This is accompanied by group members’ discussion of decades in Yuri and why they picked certain series. Absolutely had me grinning like a loon through this whole book. Squee!

You can buy this issue of Liliest and the 100 Selections doujinshi on UTokyo Yurizukikai’s Booth.pm store – and you should totally do that. ^_^

 

Next up we have:

Kyoto University Yuribunken (@KU_yuribunken on Twitter)

 

 

Immediately when I picked up their publication, Lilyology, Volume 1, I squeaked out “I know that artist!” Indeed I was correct, The fine folks at Kyoto U. Yuri Culture Research Group  have an interview with and cover by Fujieda Miyabi, creator of Iono-sama Fanatics and Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan, (and a perennial favorite of mine).  This is preceded by a series of essays in which members discuss how they found Yuri.

“Mizuno Ami” has an interview with a Kyoto U grad student who presented about Yuri doujinshi at Comiket from the 90s-00s at an academic conference. This is exactly the kind of thing I want in my collection. Members then select their favorite one panel from a Yuri manga or anime. And these are followed by essays on Adachi to Shimamura, Shiroi Suna no Aquatope – with an extensive list of all the species of fish seen in the series!

Turning to the other side of the doujinshi is a piece of fiction by Saruwatari Shirayuki about a girl who wants to go out with a Prince in a Yuri world…or so she thinks.

Seriously, tell me you aren’t utterly entranced by all this? I was delighted.

 

Our last University group today is:

Tokyo University of Science Yurizukikai, aka RikaYuri (@tuslilylover on Twitter)

Notice this fantastic sign “Jidai ha Yuri da.” It’s the Age of Yuri. Guys, if you make this into a t-shirt, I will buy it. ^_^

Their publication is lovely little A5 perfect bound volume, RikaYuri, Volume 3. Volumes 1, 2 and 3 are available in print and V2  and V3 as digital editions on RikaYuri’s Booth.pm.

This volume includes essays, including the “RikaYuri Symposium,” held in spring 2022 about the past, present and future of Yuri, art and original fiction – and, in the back a guest post by a member of the Nagoya University (Meidai) Yuri Lover’s Club (@nitech_lily on Twitter)! I approve of this cross university communication. ^_^ All the art in this nice little doujinshi is reproduced in 4 color.

I will never ever not be amazed and envious at the relative ease with which Japanese doujinshi circles can get high quality color printing. It’s true that digital printing has made leaps and bounds here in the west, but the process in Japan is so streamlined and flexible. I always wonder what my life might have been life if printing in the US in the 2000s wasn’t so darn difficult! But how wonderful for this generation of Yuri fans that they can get their work online and in print – and how wonderful for us. ^_^

Last up, we have a bonus manga by someone I follow online.

I was on Mastodon, following and chatting briefly with Yamako-sensei, a Yuri doujinshi artist who’s Nakayoshi Oneesan-tachi is an adorable slice of life about two adult women, Mako and Natsu.
I mentioned having sold once as a vendor at Comiket, and Yamako-sensei noted that they had been my neighbor. Small world, eh? (I remember nothing about that whole day, hardly, because it was an absolute blur of exhaustion and euphoria.) So when my package of doujinshi included Yamako-sensei’s work, I was absolutely beside myself with glee. Happily you can purchase some of Yamako-sensei’s doujinshi on Bookwalker or, as digital or in print (and stickers and coasters) through their online shop (with shipping through a buying service like Tenso.)

This doujinshi is charming in a totally relatable way with 4-koma comics that span all the various emotions and situations one might find in an adult relationship. Lots of hugs and kisses for these two. They are so cute. ^_^

That brings me to the end of my vicarious walk through the state of Yuri at Comiket in 2022 and let me tell you, it was wonderful. ^_^ I really hope to make it back to Japan this year and take in Comitia or GLFes once again and maybe meet up with some of these folks!

For more Yuri clubs, take a look at the folks on my Yuri resource list on Twitter. I’m adding new groups, creators and organizations all the time.

Thanks so much to the Yuri groups at U Tokyo, Kyoto U and Rikadai, and to Yamako-sensei for all their lovely messages and especial thanks to Rica for getting these for me. What a fantastic way to start this year off! ^_^

 





Yuri Drama CD: @Around Kabukichou Shinjuku 0:00AM ~ Ena Saitou (＠新宿区歌舞伎町近辺午前0時)~ 齋藤恵那

April 26th, 2019

Today we’re looking at a lovely little Drama CD I picked up at Comitia last February. I’ve mentioned a number of times that the Yuri section was pretty large as compared with years past, and this last one, was especially sprawling. As we moved out of た into ち blocks, we came across a number of folks selling really unique items. Among those were circle doyondo (どよんど) who were selling an original Drama CD called @Around Kabukichou Shinjuku 0:00AM ~ Ena Saitou (＠新宿区歌舞伎町近辺午前0時)~ 齋藤恵那 by Taiyaki, Kokoro and Kudo Asa. Kudo-san voiced the main and only character, Ena…and she did a really decent job of it. It could not have been easy with no one to work off of.

The story begins with Ena, a high school girl, finding us, “oneesan” an older woman (maybe early twenties?) on the ground in the Kabukichou in Shinjuku at midnight. She asks if we are all right, but we are crying and Ena, who is a kind girl, says that we’ll make her cry. She picks us up, takes us to a hotel, because she can hardly bring us home and we tell her that we’ve had a bad break up with our girlfriend. Ena handles that with gentleness.

Each scenario is given a time and a place as a title: Shinjuku Kabukichou at a Hotel 2 AM; In front of the College Gates 6PM. As the scenarios develop we learn that Ena and we have kept in touch by text. Ena asks us for advice which she does not take because she doesn’t want to leave us. Eventually Ena tracks us down to tell us she likes us, can we go out? We say yes.

But as time passes, we’re being distant and Ena finds us, once again drunk in Kabukichou (I am not loving us right now….but I think we were just bumming because we were trying to “protect” her,) Ena tells us that she loves us and asks if we can make it more serious. Thankfully we say yes! We take Ena home and settle down together. For the last track “At Home The Future,” We make out a little and Ena asks us very cutely if she can call us by our given name.* This was an incredibly good and bad scene simultaneously, as poor Kudo-san had to make the kissing sound real by herself. She did better than I wanted to hear. ^_^; Honestly, I find listening to people kissing a little repulsive anyway. I skip those bit in movies a lot of the time.

For the cast talk, Kudo-san was joined by one of the writers, Taiyaki-san. They chatted about the creation of the story, and the manga of it, and how they’d like to turn it into an anime, of course! You can read the opening scene on Yuri Navi as part of their online Web Yuri Anthology Yuri “Toile” (WEB百合アンソロジー「トワール」 ).

You can also listen to the opening tack with Japanese subtitles on Youtube. Thanks redfish for the heads up that it’s also downloadable (at least within Japan) from booth.pm.

This was a delightful, well-acted story that was charming and engaging in a short time. I’m hoping I’ll get a chance to hear more of circle doyondo’s work!

Ratings:

Story – 8
Character – 9
Voice acting – 9
Service – 4 that one make out scene sounds like exactly what its supposed to be
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

*As I mentioned yesterday in my reviews of Kyuusei End Contents Positive: Encount (九彩エンドコンテンツ), this was a repeated theme I’ve seen a few times recently. Is this…a new trope? /insert meme here/

So. Drunk onee-san are rapidly being set up to become the Yuri:2020 version of the cool upperclassman. It’s not going to make Yuri a queerer genre, but I’m finding it hard to complain. Get back to me in 8 years. ^_^

I’ve linked to the Toranoana e-shop to get this. If you are outside Japan, you probably will need a buying service.
This is unrelated, but I found it remarkable, so I will remark on it – Toranoana has an otaku wedding planning service. I think I like that.





Yuri Manga: Galette Meets, Issue 3 (ガレットmeets3)

March 15th, 2019

The third Galette Meets, the doujinshi put out by the folks at Galette Works, is a pretty healthy body of Yuri work.

With 8 stories for 120 pages, some by artists we know and love and others by new folks whose names we don’t yet know, it’s a great way to dip your toes into a wider range of stories featuring the emotional range of women. There’s sweet here and ugly and mean, and kind and romantic all dealt with by varying artists in different ways.

Ogawa Masumi’s story about a toxic relationship was the standout story for me, as it takes a dark path through bullying, and using sex as a weapon, and the extremes of love and lust in a chaotic few pages.

Galette Meets 3 is available in Print and on Kindle from Amazon JP and on US Kindle (in Japanese). It’s not (yet, maybe?) available on Global Bookwalker. 

Ratings: 

Overall – 8

Galette Meets 3.5 will be available in print at the end of this month – which is an interesting little thing, because in the end of Galette Meets 3, it says that the next one will be, naturally 4, and yet, here is 3.5. with 90 pages of content. I’ll be interested to see what “a little sexy and more sweet” stories we’ll get this time. 





Yuri Manga: Galette Meets, Issue 1 (ガレットMeets)

January 14th, 2019

Crowd-funded, creator-owned Yuri manga magazine Galette is another success story of the last few years. It comes out quarterly, with work by some of the leading names in Yuri manga. Heading into it’s third year of existence – which is always a test of resilience – Galette has already spawned a doujinshi of its very own.

Galette Meets (ガレット Meets) is a periodic, well, periodical, from the team that puts out Galette. It collects doujinshi one-shots from Yuri creators with the imprimatur of “Just a tad sexy and a little more sweet.” 

Volume 1 is a little more sexy than stories that run in Galette and in this volume, a little more bitter, rather than sweet. With 6 shorts, three by names we know already, Galette Meets is a nice way to get more Yuri doujinshi into your life. 

Ratings:

Overall  – 7

Available on Amazon JP in Print, on JP Kindle, Bookwalker, and US Kindle (in Japanese) Galette Meets is worth adding to your Yuri collection!





Yuri Doujinshi: Our Story Begins With… (English)

June 17th, 2018

One of the many comics I picked up in Toronto at TCAF was a sweet little volume called Our Story Begins With… by Chilean writer and artist team Shihho and Naito.

In a genre awash in first love stories, what I find most interesting right now is unique presentation and perspective. Everyone has a first love that turns into a first relationship. We all understand the feelings, the circumstances, the big and little things that make up those days.  Our Story Begins With… looks at the things that represent those moments.

An MP3 player, a text message, a scarf, a suitcase. These items of every day life that represent a moment, a change, a crisis, a decision. It’s not a ground-breaking work, but it’s a truly lovely way to look at how a relationship develops. I spent some time looking around my house and remembering the where and when of that thing, and enjoying the memories. 

The art is clearly manga-influenced, and so is the story, but the way it is told makes it worth taking a look at. 

Ratings:

Overall – 7

Our Story Begins With… reminded me that, even a well-worn path can be worth retracing and may turn up some surprising new things.