Archive for the Galette Category


Galette Illustration Book 01

June 21st, 2021

Crowd-funded, creator-owned quarterly Yuri manga magazine, Galette is coming up on a third anniversary later this year. It’s currently at 18 issues of the main magazine out, 15 volumes of Galette MEETS, several Collaborations and about a dozen collected volumes under their belt. Not so much a celebration, but as a fun extra book, the folks at Galette WORKS took some time to collect some of the color art from Galette Magazine up into a single volume, Galette Illustration Book 01 .

I comment on this every single time I get an issue – I absolutely love pen’s illustrations for the cover of Galette and also really like the design aesthetic. With this volume, you can see a number of the cover illustrations, some of the inside cover and internal illustrations by other artists and get bios and art from other popular artists with ongoing series… among them Hakamada Mera, Morinaga Milk, Hamano Ringo and Momono Moto.

If you, too are a fan of these artists, of creator-owned Yuri manga, you can get digital back issues of some of Galette’s publications by becoming a supporter on Japanese crowd-funding site Fantia. The illustration book is available to anyone on the “Normal Course 500￥/month or above. If you prefer to support the artists directly without the magazine, there’s also a Galette Pixiv Fanbox, where each month a different artist contributes illustrations and a post.

If you’re interested in the art, but don’t want to support the magazine as a whole, you can grab a copy of the Galette Illustration Book 01 on on US Kindle. It’s only a few bucks and has some really lovely art. And I love that it’s been collected in a single volume to enjoy.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

pen’s work scratches all my artistic itches…stylish, adult, beautiful design, no blob heads to be seen. It’s everything I want in Yuri manga cover art. ^_^  I like it so much I jumped at getting a copy in print. It will be heading over on my next shipment from Japan. ^_^

While you’re at it, get yourself a copy of Galette No. 18 in Japanese on US Kindle and enjoy the new illustrations!





Galette, No. 17 (ガレット)

April 22nd, 2021

Since I’m doing books that include my A-Team creators this week, it seems like a good day for talking about Galette, No. 17 (ガレット). And, much like my post yesterday, I really wanted to talk about it for one specific story.

Those of you who follow Morishima Akiko’s series Hanjuku Joshi when it ran Yuri Hime, will remember that there were two main couples. We’ve been enjoying the return of Yae and Chitose in Motto Hanjuku Joshi, and this chapter we see the return of Mari and Ran! Now that Mari is in pre-med, we might expect their relationship goes more smoothly, but…nope! ^_^ The reason why is the subject of this issue.

Akiyama Haru’s story is very short, but absolutely lovely, with a magical portal to a ryokan in a women’s basement. “How come we don’t have one of those?” my wife asks.

And the remaining stories give us a number of ways to look at relationships and the people in them. Interestingly, Hamano Ringo’s “Sora-iro Melancholic” continues on and wow is the Bun-chan we see here a different person. She’s really grown since that first volume that I recently reviewed.

The magazine has seen some changes in the past few issues, as I’m sure both artists and supporters have found their circumstances altered by the pandemic, but makes me happy to go through the list of supporters and see some of your names there! I know that as long as I can, I’ll be helping to make this magazine, because I think it needs to exist. They’ve opened up a Pixiv Fanbox in addition to their Fantia page, so now you have another way to help good Yuri manga be created.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Every day Galette exists is a good day for Yuri. ^_^





Galette, No. 15 ( ガレット)

September 2nd, 2020

Galette, No. 15 ( ガレット) continues the excellent work that we’ve seen all along, with names that are engraved now into a kind of Yuri Hall of Fame: Morishima Akiko, Morinaga Milk, Hakamada Meru, Inui Ayu, Morita Miyuki, Kitta Izumi and Momono Moto…

…and Akiyama Haru.

I know I sat up straight as can be when I saw that name on the masthead. It’s long enough ago now that maybe the Yuri-reading audience doesn’t remember Akiyama Haru’s adult-life series, Octave, but I sure do. A decade ago, before the current rise of Shakajin Yuri, Octave was a lovely, complicated story about complicated adult women in a complicated relationship, both professional and personal. It’s pretty exciting to see the name back and in Galette magazine, no less. It’s a good day for Yuri.

This volume is once again available in print, JP Kindle, digital on Bookwalker or digital, in Japanese on US Kindle. It has the usual lovely interior illustrations, and pen’s stylish cover art. The only thing missing from this issue is completely understandable, but somehow missed the more for that. This issue has no photography, a stark reminder that there is a pandemic out there.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Overall, a good volume, and I’m glad to see that the hiccup that made Volume 14 a collector’s item is history. Manga artists are surprisingly resilient.

Next issue, we welcome back Amano Shuninta! You’ll excuse me, if I hope to see Takemiya Jin again soon, as well.





Galette, No. 14 (ガレット)

August 23rd, 2020

Galette, No. 14 (ガレット) marks a shift in my collection and starts with a multi-layered tale of woe. ^_^

Due to the  pandemic, this issue was offered in limited amount to backers as a physical publication, and eventually, it was offered to overseas backers but, for a number of reasons, I was unable to purchase the physical copy. Mostly, it was timing.

Jumping forward, Volume 15 is also being made available to backers but due to chicanery and corruption on both sides, packages sent by Japan Post to the USPS are now being held up for a minimum of 8 weeks on the Japan side, and who know what will happen on the US side. This is not hyperbole. When I shipped a package from Japan in July, I had the choice of around $200 by DHL (around, but I was completely unable to get an actual estimate off the DHL site, because the English-language page wouldn’t accept the Japanese address and vice versa, of course.  Apparently Tenso will only tell me what it actually costs after I commit to DHL shipping. So I chose JP Post to USPS – this was before the current administration’s open interference with the US Post Office – and was told right up front that it would take 8-12 weeks to ship. I have a package sitting in a warehouse in Kawasaki since July for, as far as I can tell, no reason whatsoever, except to make using a public service unappealing and shifting us to much more expensive shipping by private company, making what was already a huge barrier to overseas purchases practically insurmountable for normal humans.

As a result of this utterly malicious fuckery on both sides of the Pacific, I find myself unable to purchase the physical copies of Galette magazine. I’m saddened, but I upped my backer level, so I get a PDF copy of each volume when it’s released. Yay digital!

So here we are at No. 14, my first digital-only copy. I’ve linked to the Global Bookwalker version, which I also bought, because I wanted to see how it read. Honestly…I love it on Bookwalker. I use Bookwalker on a tablet, and it’s almost the same size as the magazine. I love being able to read the page on a large screen and page through it as I might in a physical copy. When I get the PDF, it reads on a browser as vertical, but I’m going to see if the Bookwalker reader will handle the PDF. It ought to. For those of you in Japan, it is also available on JP Kindle.

All the continuing stories are still continuing, which means ongoing works by Morinaga Milk, Morishima Akiko, Hakamada Mera, Hamano Ringo, Yatosaki Haru, Uno Jinia and Kitto Izumi and Momono Moto;  some of which are doing surprising and sometimes really interesting things. Morinaga Milk’s characters Rena and Yuna have moved into a larger home and are about to embark upon building a life together. This isn’t just “let’s live together,” this is “we’re a couple and this is us figuring out our lives together.” Kitto and Monomo’s “Liberty” has taken a dark turn and I really don’t know at all where it’s going.

But the winner this issue was definitely Hakamada Mera’s “Sekai ga Owarau sono mae ni.” It was just a really good chapter, probably some of the best work I’ve ever seen from her.

There was a fun take on Cinderella by Ei Imura, and the usual compliment of photography and art. All of which make Galette a satisfying read, that I look forward to every issue.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

Volume 15 is available as PDF and physically by mail to backers on Fantia at Gold level or higher, on Amazon JP Kindle and, kind of weirdly, in Japanese on US Kindle, but not yet on Bookwalker.





Galette, No. 13 (ガレット)

July 9th, 2020

Galette, No. 13 (ガレット) begins with a shift to a different cover material. Gone is the overlay and reflectivity from previous issues. The new cover stock is textured and matte that nonetheless has a reflective topic. Pen’s art is consistently excellent. I always look forward to their work for Galette.

The ongoing series continue to be very strong, among them Morinaga Milk’s “Watashi Kawai Neko-chan” and “Liberty” by Kitta Izumi and Momono Moto, which goes exactly where we feared it might when Liz’s previous manager appeaedr. “Motto Hanjuku Joshi” by Morishima Akiko gets…well…kind of weird, I guess, when Chitose’s first love turns out to be her current fencing rival.

I’m really enjoying Hakamada Mera’s “Sekai ga Owaru Sono Mae ni” with it’s honest exploration of an adult woman’s life that has gone through many changes. Sachiko’s admission to Shino that she had once been married becomes far more pressing when her ex-husband shows up at the door and she tells him that’s she’s there with her lover.

Nakano Mayaka’s one-shot “Sweet Spicy Lip Tint” is a cute apparent-opposites- attract story that includes a visit to Iakarazuka Theater. ^_^

The final pages include some data from the recent Galette questionnaire, about what readers are looking to read. I had filled this out along with others and, to my surprise I actually received the Hamano Ringo clear file it promised!

Ratings:

Overall – 9

A solid issue during uncertain times.

In fact, I had originally purchased and read this magazine digitally, unsure if I would be able to get it in print. Then it arrived and I was delighted. In the mean time, Volume 14 was printed in limited quantity and although GW made some issues available for overseas readers, the timing was off for me, and I was not able to get one. Nonetheless, Galette 14 is still available as a digital manga on JP Kindle or outside Japan on Global Bookwalker. I keep forgetting that I get a digital copy of the current issue at my level of patronage and end up buying it again, anyway. ^_^;