Archive for the Guest Review Category


The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This, Volume 4 Guest Review by Patricia Baxter

December 13th, 2023
Two women lean on a fence, looking at each other, entwining fingers. One woman has medium-length brown hair, wearing a red blouse and cargo khaki capris. The other has long blonde hair pulled into a severe ponytail, wearing a lavender long shirt and a white skirt.My name is Patricia Baxter (she/her). I am a bisexual autistic writer who has previously written articles concerning how media represents different marginalized communities. You can find more of my work through my personal website “Autistic Observations”.
 
The fourth, and final, volume of The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This is, in a word, delightful.  Not that this manga series hasn’t been an absolute delight for me to read these past two years, because it has been, but this volume in particular emphasizes just how special the series was to read.  In essence, this series’ greatest success is the same reason why I also love She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat and If We Leave on the Dot so much; they are manga series centred on the lives of sapphic women who are living happily and without shame for who they are, who they love, and what they do with their lives.  It sounds like a simple thing to take joy from, but in a media landscape so entrenched in heteronormativity it is still challenging to find narratives that even cover a fraction of what members of the LGBTQ+ community experience, or wish to experience, for themselves.  Therefore, instances where we can read a series where the characters who, even if they are not exactly like you, foster a sense of familiarity and empathy to you, are all the more special.
 

Ellie and “Wanko” continue to be a delight to read, as their day-to-day routines and shenanigans do not fail to amuse and warm the heart and they feel like actual people who exist in our reality.  The emphasis on the couple moving forward to the next stage of their relationship, discussing their future in terms of marriage and their respective career paths, adds a new layer to their established dynamics.  This may sound mundane on paper, but it’s enriching for those of us who need to see these ordinary life events occur to imagine our futures for ourselves.There is one element of the book that, while overall handled very well, deserves some criticism.  This volume introduces a new character to the series, a high school student named Kita, who is revealed to be a transfeminine youth.*  They initially assumed that Ellie was a trans woman, and asked her for advice on how to become a woman.  While Ellie cannot be the guide Kita needs to traverse through a gender transition, she is still more than willing to lend an ear and offer positive reinforcement to think about their future.  The main sticking point in this volume is the pronouns used to address Kita are exclusively masculine ones, which is a choice I felt frustrated by.  I’m uncertain if this is meant to reflect how they were addressed in the original Japanese edition, or if it was an intentional request by Takashi Ikeda for the English translation, but having a transgender character only addressed by the pronouns associated with the gender they’ve been assigned with at birth is something many people will find discomforting, as it did for me.  This slight hiccup is unfortunate, as this volume has several instances of queer positivity, but overall I am happy for Kita’s inclusion in the narrative and that their story was treated with empathy and kindness by the author.

In the end, the final volume of The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This emphasized just how much I love these characters and taking the time to experience their lives.  I didn’t want the book to end, but I am glad that we were able to catch a glimpse of these characters’ journeys for a little while.

* I chose to use they/them pronouns for Kita in my review because Kita is a transfeminine character, and it is important to address the possibility that they may be non-binary as they are still considering their gender identity for themselves

Art: 8
Story: 9
Characters: 10
Service: 2 (some nudity, references to Ellie and Wanko still having very enthusiastic sex together, but nothing egregious)
Yuri: 10
LGBTQ+: YMMV, 5 – 7 depending on how you view Kita’s treatment in the book
Overall: 9.5





Cherish Every Moment, Indonesian Yuri Anthology Book That Matters So Much More, Guest Review by Lena Tama

December 6th, 2023

Hello! Lena Tama is here again! Unlike my previous article for my Suara Kita (Our Voices) LGBTQ+ community, this article is entirely personal but still matters a lot for Indonesian audiences. On this occasion, I’m reviewing a local yuri anthology book called Cherish Every Moment by a group of yuri mangaka called Yuri Nakama. If you have the chance, say hello to them on their Facebook page!

This yuri anthology book has been quite an enigma since I bought it at the Comic Frontier (Comifuro) convention in May this year. Sometimes I wondered if this book would be worth reviewing or not due to its circumstances, but I did it anyway.

Cherish Every Moment consists of five one-shot titles, but not all of them are in manga format. Of those titles, three of them are manga, one of them is a short story, and the last one is… hard for me to explain, but again I’ll get to it as well. Their stories have one defining theme: To cherish every moment, however we can.

I’m going to review each title and provide a snippet of them as they are in the book. Here goes!!

 

1. Loop of Second Chances by Pianno

Our first title is a one-shot manga about Lucy, a third-grade high school student who gives up her love after being rejected by her crush Anna during their graduation ceremony. Or at least, that’s what Jean dreamed of before she woke up and found out that she looped back in time during her second year, giving her a second chance to get closer to Anna.

Except, it’s already over 50 times by now and every time loop results in the same conclusion: Anna rejects Lucy because she has her eyes on someone else and Lucy’s friend Jean keeps bullying their teacher Mrs. Katerina until their graduation. At this point, Lucy resigns her fate to repeat one year of her high school moment forever like a curse from God.

But not everything is always the same. One time, Lucy picked up an unassuming pen which remained in her possession for dozens of time loops. Anna and Jean allude to their high school moments lasting forever, and Mrs. Katerina is slowly getting closer to Lucy with each passing cycle.

Eventually, Lucy and Jean figure out who’s behind this endless time loop: Mrs. Katerina and Anna. Not only is Mrs. Katerina a witch and the unassuming pen is her magic wand, but Jean is also her superior. Anna asked Mrs. Katerina to perform a magical time loop so that she can be with her crush, Jean, for a while longer, which Mrs. Katerina did thanks in part to her blossoming affection toward Lucy.

Finally having clarity, Lucy accepts the truth and Mrs. Katerina returns the time flow to normal. For the last time, these four girls relieve their high school moment with Anna finally getting closer to Jean and Lucy giving the depressed Mrs. Katerina a chance to get closer to her.

And that’s the end of this story. It took me until the end of the story to realize it was a romcom student x teacher story, but even then that’s quite a stretch given the many bizarre twists. The artstyle is rather simplistic and cute, but it doesn’t detract from its overall story. It kept me guessing for a while, and I like it.

Enjoyment: 6/10
Characters: 7/10
Yuri: 7/10

 

2. Debur Amarilis (Splash of Amaryllis) by Saxifraga

This short story depicts the aftermath of the war between the nations of Floralys and Orkanius which concluded with the defeat of Orkanius and the unification under Floralys. Kairi Physeter, a herbalist and former paramedic for Orkanius army remained in Floralys to help the war-torn areas and victims of war as the only healer available, at least until the arrival of another healer called Elena Crescent, a renowned white mage and leader of Floralys paramedic battalion.

Despite initially standing opposite each other during the war, Kairi and Elena gradually got closer as they reached a level of intimacy unbound by labels over the course of three years. They loved each other and respected the boundary to maintain professionalism at their respective jobs.

One day, an announcement comes in which states that Orkanius’ revitalization has completed and the citizens in Floralys, including Kairi, may return home. After three years thinking only about her job and Elena, the thought of returning to Orkanius suddenly hits Kairi. Her former greenhouse, her Master Herbalist who had long passed away, the subtropical climate of Orkanius which is vastly different to Floralys’ tropical climate, and her own hometown.

As much as Kairi wants to return home, it would mean being separated from the one person that matters so much to her. This is the first time Kairi ever feels distraught by that mere thought and she’s afraid of saying it to Elena, afraid that Elena would feel indifferent if they’re apart after all these three years and their relationship which they have built would crumble.

However, Elena caresses Kairi gently, reminding her that she will always respect Kairi’s decision and that nothing will ever replace Kairi in her heart even if they’re physically apart from each other. At this moment, Kairi realizes how much they love and respect each other, and how far their relationship has come.

Elena follows Kairi as they travel to Orkanius together, back to where Kairi began her journey as a herbalist. Kairi decides to continue her late Master’s study someday, rebuild the untidy greenhouse, and become a better herbalist than she is now. In their embrace, they know that they’re ready to make the decision when the time comes and the bond they have is unbreakable.

I didn’t expect much from this title and ended up intrigued by it. The world building is compact but pretty imaginative to me, and the characters are well-written; they have deep love for each other and they communicate their feelings well.

Overall, I enjoyed this story so much. I hope they can expand the story of Kairi and Elena in the future. One can dream…

Enjoyment: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Sapphic: 8/10

 

3. The Time Jacker by LoveJuice

I’m going to be honest; I don’t like cute-girls-doing-cute-things stories that don’t add anything else to the table, and this manga does just that. It’s a story about a cute girl doing a time loop to turn back time and save her cute crush.

An unnamed senpai steals her unnamed kouhai’s coffee and dies due to said coffee. Distraught over her beloved senpai’s death, an eccentric cute engineer called Professor. Loly comes to the rescue and gives the kouhai a time machine in the form of a stopwatch to return to the past and save senpai from the deadly coffee.

Indeed, kouhai goes back to five minutes before senpai’s death using the stopwatch, only to meet her past self who got persuaded to throw away the deadly coffee.

Although initially afraid kouhai cannot return to the present time because the time machine/stopwatch only works once before needing to change its battery, it doesn’t matter since she only jumped to the past five minutes ago. Things shortly return to normal and kouhai finds her tsundere senpai alive and jolly. Everything’s as it should be, except for the godzilla in the background wrecking havoc.

There’s a fine line between writing a good comedy and trying too hard to be funny. This title does both simultaneously and I don’t enjoy it that much. Adding to that is the overly cute artstyle that makes the story a bit aggravating whenever it tries too hard to be funny. Many things about it feel too basic and not memorable enough for me.

Bonus points if you see the kouhai as Nishikino Maki and the senpai as Yazawa Nico from Love Live.

Enjoyment: 5/10
Characters: 4/10
Yuri: 3/10

 

4. Our Memories Are Stored in the Clouds by Sakakibara Ryoichi

Now this is the real deal, possibly the biggest selling point of this yuri anthology book and one of the major reasons I want to review it. This is a short story being told in a very unorthodox format: A dialog between two girls in 1999 via email messages.

Before the advent of mainstream internet access and social media, there were only private forums where people could communicate beyond borders like Compuserve where fellow computer enthusiasts across the world shared their thoughts on software developments, tech news, and the likes. Among many forum members who were mostly foreigner guys, Mira was one of the only two Indonesian female members there with the other one being Ghani.

Starting from February 18, 1999, Mira and Ghani became acquaintances on Compuserve and shared their passions with all things computer. Ghani took a liking in software development thanks to her father being a former lecturer for Institut Teknologi Bandung (Bandung Technology Institute) and that she had graduated from college a year earlier, whereas Mira was still attending college at Budi Luhur University during her final semesters and she wished to develop a commercial storage system in the future.

Eventually, Ghani received a scholarship at MIT for advanced web designing while Mira graduated college and was starting a job as a web technician for a bank which she didn’t like due to the disrespect from her male colleagues. Many times, they shared their dreams and frustrations, as well as how much they wanted to meet each other but failed twice.

However, with Ghani’s eventual departure to the US in the Fall season in 2000 for her scholarship, the opportunity finally arrived for them to meet up in real life for the first time. Ghani stayed in Jakarta for one week before her flight and both she and Mira spent their time together, including taking a commemorative picture at Monas (National Monument) on June 30, 2000, capturing Mira’s calm and timid expression which contrasted Ghani’s upbeat and cheerful personality, as well as the genuine camaraderie between the two computer enthusiasts.

Ghani and Mira grew ever closer together in spite of Ghani living her new life in the US. They never stopped sending emails to each other and always poured their feelings into each message, including their desire to experience valentine day together with Ghani wishing to savor Mira’s homemade chocolate someday.

After working for Bina Nusantara University for some time, Mira received an invitation for a Master’s Degree at either Stanford or UC Berkeley next year. Meanwhile, Ghani was also about to participate in her first-ever conference at UCLA which would become a regular activity for her to travel to Los Angeles. With every opportunity coming together, they couldn’t be more overjoyed at the thought of finally meeting up again, this time in the US.

On September 1, 2001, Ghani was excited that her conference at UCLA would come sooner in mid-September thanks to her promotion as a panelist for the conference. With Mira’s blessings, Ghani anxiously awaited her flight from Logan Airport, Boston to LA International Airport on September 11, 2001.

And then, I briefly stopped reading the story. My fingers trembled in fear, realizing that some details mimicked a very particular event which I wish wouldn’t occur in this story. I kept wishing I wouldn’t have to open the next page to find out what really happened after that. But then, I swiped to the next page and the story skipped to September 11, 2021. 20 years had passed since Ghani’s last email and Mira broke the silence by sending an email, along with a picture of her in her 40s right next to the 9/11 Memorial with Ghani’s name engraved on it.

In the last 20 years since they talked, Mira became one of the leading scientists on cloud computing and cybersecurity and she wished to pay her respect for the victims of 9/11. Mira had grown so much, but she remained a single, unmarried cat-lady whose heart only had a place for Ghani, and she hoped her cloud computing systems could send this one email to Ghani up in the sky, among the clouds.

I bursted into tears when I read it for the first time. And after consecutive readings, I still find myself crying so much. Never did I expect a short story with such an unorthodox storytelling method would make me care so much for two people who deserve the best in their life. This stupid, simple, sapphic story…

Enjoyment: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Sapphic: 7/10

 

5. The Present by Magnolia Team

Whew, that was some powerful angst, so let’s end this yuri anthology on a more cheerful note. The Present is a quick, simple one-shot manga about a blonde girl who seems to have a bad day. She almost forgot about her black-haired girlfriend’s birthday, so she rushed to the nearest florist and bakery to buy a nice set of presents, only to then get caught in the rain and return home rather late.

The black-haired girl awaits her at home and is worried sick, knowing that the blonde girl goes home rather late and gets drenched so badly. Despite the blonde girl’s bad luck at surprising her girlfriend, the black-haired girl insists that what matters the most is her beloved girlfriend being there for her.

In a rather quiet scenery, they both take a bath together, enjoy homemade dinner, and close the day with a simple birthday celebration on each other’s embrace. And that’s it.

The Present is a short and sweet sapphic story. The blond girl and black-haired girl love each other so much in a depiction that is wholly respectful and pretty relatable.

I cried a bit when reading this story the first time but for a different reason than the previous story. I love this simple love story and I wish us Indonesians could experience it freely as well.

Enjoyment: 7/10
Characters: 7/10
Yuri: 8/10

—

And that’s all there is to Cherish Every Moment. Yuri Nakama doesn’t sell this book outside of the local Japanese pop culture conventions, not even in their digital form. People can only buy the physical release during the events which causes accessibility issues for local readers in Indonesia, especially for overseas people. And once the events are over, there’s no way of buying the previous works again.

This is one huge reason I wasn’t sure if Cherish Every Moment would be a book worth reviewing on the internet. I didn’t know if people would want to hear the review of a book that they couldn’t access easily among locals, let alone overseas audiences.

However, the Yuricon community encouraged me to write this review anyway, knowing that this simple yuri anthology book represents so much more for the LGBTQ+ community in Indonesia. In a country where gender and sexual minorities are neither condemned nor protected by the law, we are prone to discrimination by the people each passing day with little to no chance to speak up for ourselves.

Among the handful of local queer books like the ones available on Yuri Nakama and my organization Suara Kita, most of them are produced in-house with little easy access on the bookstores and online marketplace. I’m more representing Suara Kita on this one, but I feel like we have similar risks to face as Yuri Nakama in that our literature is prone to being burned down, torn apart, or review-bombed by the majority of people, as it happened a couple of times in the past.

The fact that there’s a small but dedicated community who produces yuri manga in a respectful manner and a bit regularly, albeit with accessibility issues, is very fascinating to me and they deserve more exposure. I hope this article can help raise awareness of Yuri Nakama’s contributions to queer people in this country. Whether they’re for queer people, yuri fans, anime and manga fans, or the common audiences, their books are worth buying and reading for their contents, to provide critics that can help them grow, and for what they represent.

And last but not least, I hope they can begin selling their books in digital form for easier accessibility among us locals and hopefully the overseas readers as well. I know I can recommend some good books from them just like this yuri anthology book, Cherish Every Moment.

*About author
Lena Tama is an Indonesian trans woman, as well as a translator and freelance writer since 2016. Lena began indulging in the world of journalism in 2020 by joining The Jakarta Post. Aside from writing articles, Lena is also involved in advocating LGBTIQ+ rights and other groups of minorities in Indonesia





Otherside Picnic Manga, Volume 7 Guest Review by Sandy F.

November 29th, 2023

In Otherside Picnic, Volume 7 of the manga we have the conclusion of ‘Resort Night at the Beach of the End’, ‘The Attack of the Ninja Cats’ and the latest edition of Kozakura’s ongoing rebuttal, ‘The Tanuki Guards the Night’. The final chapter of ‘Resort Night at the Beach of the End’ is an intense read as Sorawo and Toriko’s fun on the beach becomes a more traditional Otherside event as they are pursued by a cavalcade of Otherside entities determined to drive them mad. Though they escape, Sorawo receives a glimpse of something that has the potential to impact her relationship
with Toriko.

‘The Attack of the Ninja Cats’ begins with a conversation between Sorawo, Toriko and Kozakura. As well as being a debriefing covering the events of the Beach at the End and the follow-up party in Okinawa, Sorawo discusses a recent encounter with a fellow student, Akari Seto. Sorawo crankily discusses how Akari wants Sorawo to help her with a problem because she has latched on to the idea,

much to Sorawo’s annoyance, that Sorawo is an occult expert and so just the person to help her as she is being stalked by Ninja Cats. Yes, Ninja Cats! One thing I appreciate about Otherside Picnic is how Iori Miyazawa can work with what often seems to me a fairly ridiculous concept and convince the reader to take it seriously. I may have rolled my eyes when I first read about the Ninja Cats, but not for long as it doesn’t take long to realise they are a threat. For a variety of reasons Sorawo initially isn’t interested in helping Akari, including a surprising revelation, Sorawo likes cats and is fearful if she gets involved, she may have to do something that terrible that will change her perspective on cats.

Cranky Sorawo has a cute side! But the crankiness remains as we witness Sorawo trying to cope with the gosh-darned perkiness of Akari, with Toriko not helping. Sorawo and Toriko meet with Akari, and as a result of this meeting we are introduced into a new aspect of connection
between our world and the Otherside through the realm of the Ninja Cats. The Ninja Cats prove to be formidable foes, and the artwork rises to the challenge of depicting the resultant battle. It will be during this struggle that Sorawo will learn more about how her eye can influence people as well as the entities of the Otherside.

With the conclusion of the events of ‘The Attack of the Ninja Cats’ Toriko is confronted by a surprising revelation involving Satsuki Uruma, who continues to be a shadowy influence from the Otherside. Before I forget I should mention that in this volume we also have a Public Service Announcement on the dangers of online shopping while drunk because you never know how people will respond when an agricultural vehicle is delivered to their doorstep!

One of the ongoing themes of Otherside Picnic is how the characters struggle with trauma and its consequences. In ‘The Tanuki Guards the Night’ Kozakura reveals how she deals with the trauma of the consequences of being associated with Sorawo and Toriko. In her story, she shares her thoughts on how she is treated by Sorawo and Toriko. At the end of the story and the manga we discover that Kozakura might need a bigger Tanuki…

Ratings:
Story – 9
Artwork – 9, the usual excellent job of conveying the horrors
of the Otherside.
Character – 8, some different glimpses of Sorawo illustrating
how much she has changed through knowing Toriko
Service – 6
Yuri – 8, there is an important conversation with Sorawo making it clear to Toriko that she considers their accomplice relationship to be an exclusive one.

Overall – 9





Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing, Volume 1 Guest Review by Luce

November 15th, 2023

A wolf-woman in a butler's suit leans over a sheep-woman in a colorful dress, with flowers floating around them.In the Land of Sheep with ‘Wolfa’ – people with wolf ears and tails, and ‘Sheepa’, those with sheep ears, Aki Rukijo, a Wolfa butler, is the private tutor to Momo Shiudafaris, a Sheepa princess. Princess Momo is known as the ‘frigid’ princess, and rarely leaves her rooms. After an incident with a wild wolf on a full moon which Aki saves her from, Momo has Aki appointed her private tutor, although that’s not really her true aim. On a night of a full moon, when wolves find their instincts harder to ignore, Momo sneaks into Aki’s bedroom and declares that she loves her, and she’ll ‘gobble her up’!

Despite what sounds like a racy beginning for Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing, Volume 1, by Mito, nothing much actually happens in that scene beyond kissing and them getting naked. And it doesn’t happen again in this volume, although Momo is definitely thinking about it. Bluebell, Momo’s Sheepa maid, is fully on board with the princess’s courting of Aki. Aki is more reserved about the whole thing, mostly since she is a commoner, and Momo is, well, a princess. Thus, Momo continuing to try and court her. It’s all rather cute, really.

Momo, being a princess and possibly having some previous bad experience, is somewhat limited in her experience of the outside world – the two of them go on a castle date, which is cute, but Momo wants more. Egged on by Bluebell and aided by Sakaki and Kiku, fellow Wolfa friends of Aki’s, the two of them disguise themselves and go into town, which is suitably adorable, and actually shows them getting on as people, bonding over the play they went to see, and over books.

I wondered if there might be some class difference between the Wolfa and Sheepa, but if there is, it isn’t touched upon much in this first volume. The royal family is Sheepa, although we only see two here, third princess Momo and her mother, the queen, but other than that, no mentions are made. I think there might be other animal hybrids, but they aren’t mentioned by name. It feels very much more of an aesthetic choice than a story-driven one, which is honestly fine. A work doesn’t always need to have something to say in particular, and the mangaka likely just wanted to draw cute girls with wolf and sheep ears; not to mention the role-reversal of the more confident sheep courting a flustered wolf. I can understand that.

Ratings:

Story: 6 – more about cuteness than plot
Art: 8 – lots of blushing, but the art is nice throughout, the colour pages are very pretty
Yuri: 10 – definite courting between the main couple, possible background yuri couples
Service: 3 – Momo in her underwear, and Aki in butler wear. It suits her.
Animal ear rating: 10 – they even flap when the characters get excited

Overall: 9

If you like animal hybrids and a cute story, or always kind of wanted the princess to get with their maid/another woman close to them, this seems like a pretty good bet. Volume 2 is headed our way next spring –  I’ll certainly continue reading. Final aside, Aki reminds me a little of Zakuro of Tokyo Mew Mew, albeit only by looks, and Momo is a bit like a more assertive Elianna from Bibliophile Princess.

Thank you very much to Seven Seas for the review copy! The translation was by Jan Cash, with lettering by Rina Mapa – I didn’t notice any issues with either, which usually means a job well done!





Kiss the Scars of the Girls, Volume 1 Guest Review by Christian LeBlanc

October 25th, 2023

Two girls in dark old-fashioned Japanese school uniforms, look at us. One, with long, dark hair embraces a younger student with light brown hair. This image is an Amazon affiliate link.Vampires crossed with Class S!
And set in the future, no less.
With a setup so fun
You would think volume 1
Should be more fun than paint drying, not less.

For a story that’s set “in the far, distant future,” Aya Haruhana’s Kiss the Scars of the Girls  from Yen Press languishes in Yuri tropes of old. Emille Florence is our bright, cheerful, young and blonde protagonist, who falls for her assigned cool and distant big sister Eve Winter (whose first name rhymes with “Leave,” the very first thing she says to Emille upon meeting her). Maybe it’s the tea parties with cookies and cake, maybe it’s the secret rose garden (“vampires love the scent of roses”) or maybe it’s the school uniforms that the cast of Maria Watches Over Us would think were too old-fashioned, but I’m just not feeling this ‘future’ vibe. (Or this ‘vampire’ vibe, but we’ll get to that.)

Set at an all-girls’ school where students are assigned a “big sister” on their 14th birthday, Emille spends a great deal of time trying to win over Eve, who, as luck would have it, appears to have hidden, secret reasons for not wanting to get close to anyone. Emille’s friend Yucca Lotus seems to have an unspoken crush on Emille, while Violetta Emme (whose name I keep reading as Violent Femmes) also likes Emille, but not as much as she likes bullying her classmates and obligatory big sister.

Since this is a manga where everyone at the school is a vampire, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this was going to be a book that portrays vampiric content without vampiric identity. Unseen vampire hunters do factor into things, however, attacking the students with swords and shotguns whenever they visit the local town to hypnotize the local ladies enough to feed on them. Vampires are persecuted for their appetites (with no gore, but much blood), but never in a fun, ultra-violent way (which is a missed opportunity in my opinion).

 The vampires in Scars work a little differently than the vampires you’re probably used to, in fact: when a vampire turns 14, they start requiring human blood to live, losing interest in the food they used to love eating. The implication here is that vampires are living (as opposed to undead) creatures, seemingly born this way. These vampires also have no trouble with sunlight, fall easily to any type of weapon, and lack the immortality (and mystique, if we’re being honest) of your stereotypical bloodsucker.

 Overall, Kiss the Scars of the Girls feels like a missed opportunity. The vampire angle doesn’t do anything to make this Class S story stand apart from other Class S stories, except to give a narrative excuse to have the occasional student die violently. If you’re Ride or Die for Class S stories, then by all means give this book a try, but if you like your Yuri vampires to be comedic, or violent, or even inappropriate, you’ll probably feel like you have no stake in this.

Ratings:

Characters – 4 (Shiki Amakuni, we barely knew ye)
Story – 4 (does very little with either Class S or Vampires)
Service – 1 (scale this a little higher if you’re into shoulders)
Yuri – 5

Overall – 6

Erica here: Thank you Christian for this look at what I found to be a surprising license.

I am reminded by Amazon that I have to tell you that the book is linked to an affiliate link, in case you may have forgotten.