Archive for the Magazines Category


Comic Yuri Hime August 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年8月号)

August 4th, 2021

Comic Yuri Hime August 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年8月号) was a veritable box of delights for me. ^_^

We start off with a new series, “Spica wo Tsukamaete” by Orihi Chihiro. The art is a tad on the servicey side, but with only “gal x disciplinary council head” to work with, it seems that service suits just fine. We’ll see where it goes, if it goes anywhere. In my head, it’s competing with 2009 one-shot Butterfly 69 for this storyline’s territory, so it has some ground to make up. ^_^

This is followed by a powerful chapter of “Onna Tomodachi to Kekkonshitemita,” as Kurumi rushes to the hospital to see if Ruriko is all right. Why powerful? Because at the hospital reception desk, Kurumi is asked if she is family and without hesitation she says “I’m her wife!” I wonder how people felt reading that? I know how I felt in that *exact* situation, how thankful I was that everyone in the hospital treated me like the spouse I was. And so they do here. She was doing this sort of as a lark, but Kurumi has traveled a long way in recent chapters and, at this point, she and Ruriko are family. Gosh I love Usui Shio’s art and storytelling.

In Kakaze’s “Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai,” Sora and Ayaka settle into their new life together and find their friends are not only totally accepting, at least one is opening up about her own past relationship with a girl, who looks like me be transfering in. orz.

I’m positively on my seat edge for whatever we may get from Miman, in “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” as Sumika has decided to show open affection for and outside-work interest in Kanako. This could break either one or both of them, but as Hime and Yanno are a cracked egg right now, we might as well go for full on scrambled.

I will keep saying this until someone other than me agrees – “Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru” by Uttan Yuu is classic, gorgeous and emotionally wrecking. It’s like a Yuri Glass Mask without shoujo eyes. I love this series.

“Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou desu.” has hit full-on Academy Knight combat and I am HERE for this. But what a tease! We don’t get Clare and Rei yet. I pick up the next volume tomorrow. My heart is ready.

I probably won’t find this fascinating, as I rarely do the short manga of VNs, but “Kochira, Haha Naruu, Hoshi Yori” is a moe survival story that, as a manga, appears to be about catching, killing and eating things, which is kind of okay and kinda fucked up, ^_^

Last, I am excite! The first chapter of Inui Ayu’s extended manga about her life with her girlfriend, “Kyou mo Hitotsu Yane no Shita! is here! Today we learn that their life is not without disagreement. I’m so excited to get more of this!

Ratings:

Overall – 9

As usual, there were stories I didn’t like, or didn’t read or just felt “meh” about, but there was so much to like that this issue gets high marks from me. I stopped reading the idol prose story, it was not holding my attention but I am still scanning the cover story, which is. ^_^





Comic Yuri Hime July 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年7月号)

July 18th, 2021

And here we are at Comic Yuri Hime July 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年7月号). ^_^ Let’s start with the fantastic stuff I definitely want to mention.

Usui Shio’s “Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts” comes to key moment – and so does “Onna Tomodachi to Kekkonshitemita.” Both are ongoing and I find both stories absolutely delightful for different reasons. I would take a magazine full of this kind of story – adult women with more than one layer of existence or relationship. Usui-sensei’s art and story telling gets a 100% from me.

“Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!” by Miman, is doing something I both wanted and kind of feared! Sumika is starting to find herself interested in Kanako…who only has eyes for Hime. Hrm…I’m super interested in where this goes.

Takashima Eku’s “Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Uta” continues to be a pleasant read, even if the new characters feel a little tsun for the sake of having a tsun character. I hope she’s actually driven by desire to succeed and not just a type.

And, in very exciting news, Comic Yuri Hime announces that Inui Ayu’s autobiographical comic column about her life with her girlfriend is returning with more pages and will be collected into volumes! I’m absolutely thrilled at that news.

Now, if only we can get some decent sports and action series in this magazine. Which beings me to…

 

Last month I promised to ridicule semelparous, so let’s get that over with. The premise of this manga appears to be “Attack on Titan, but less fun, less coherent and make all the women’s bodies as insulting as possible.” Ogino Jun has absolutely complied with this: This art is bad.

These poses are infantile and absurd. Tits are not balloons, they don’t just flap about with no reason, even out of a bra.

Of course, when the guy shows up…he’s hardbodied and bizarrely, his dick isn’t wangling around in a loose sheath, it’s packed neatly and invisibly away behind what any sensible human might presume to be protection.

Of course he is. What man would draw a penis sock, leaving that specific body part unprotected? None. Even Dick Fight Island give the penises big masculine energy. (If you haven’t seen Dick Fight Island, you should really, it’s quite amazing for a lot of reasons. As a pure act of sexualizing men’s bodies for a female audience, it’s fantastic. I mean, it’s hilarious and wack, but so gleefully over the top that it’s not insulting, just amazing. I wish we could get something that’s fun and wack and amazing here.

 

Instead, for women, we get camel toe and…this…thing…which actually made me laugh out loud. I won’t even bother explaining why. Either you understand how impossible this is or you have never once met an actual human woman.

 

It’s not just that these pictures are terrible art, with no grasp at all of anatomy, it’s that they are illustrations for a story which has no plot other than the torture and dismemberment of women…in a Yuri manga magazine, which one might believe to be at least nominally for and about women. This story could have been a fantastic science fiction action story about women. Instead, it is quite literally the most boring thing I have seen in years. There’s no joy, no humor, no delight even in the badness – which I absolutely could have gotten behind. I LOVE things that glory in their crappiness. Give me Tit Fight Island, sure, but – and this is important – make sure that it’s fun. This isn’t fun. It’s just…ridiculous.

This is the last time I’ll be mentioning this series here. It’s been licensed by Seven Seas, and it won’t be going on the Yuricon Store, but if you like it, bless. This seems obvious to me, but I’ll say it anyway, the comments are open to cogent, intelligent disagreement, but grunting-of-animals-type comments need not apply. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

 

With only a few exceptions, an excellent volume and now I’m going to go over to the Comic Yuri Hime questionnaire and tell them to give us manga that celebrates women’s lives, achievements, emotions and bodies. And sports. ^_^





Galette No. 18 (ガレット)

July 16th, 2021

Galette magazine has done a pretty solid job of weathering a few challenging years and every single volume, collection or artbook published by Galette WORKS is a veritable triumph for a crowdfunded work. Before we get into the content, just think about what this magazine has gone through – switching crowdfunding platforms, having the comic shows they regularly sold at being canceled, and of course the general (and personal) stress of the pandemic. So, for Galette to be getting a quarterly journal out, along with collected volumes and Galette MEETS, is something for them to be proud of and for us to admire.

And, while Galette No. 18 (ガレット) is down in pages a bit from the pre-pandemic issues, what we are getting is both high quality and still some of the biggest names in the genre!

We start with another excellent cover by pen.

Aoto Hibiki is back with a story about a high school girl who falls in love with an older woman…who is not at all prepared to take advantage of a younger woman.

Morinaga Milk’s “Watashi no Kawaii Neko-chan” has turned towards a plot complication I’m not particularly fond of, but I have no doubt all will be well, eventually.

“Tsuki-chan” by Morita Miyuki is a one-shot about an adult who realizes her friend means more to her.

I have no idea where “Liberty” by Kitta Izumi and Momono Moto is headed, because Maki isn’t a confrontational sort, but I’m thinking we might just be pushing that last button. Liz needs rescuing and Maki is a good set of arms for her to fall into when she leaps.

Hamano Ringo offers up “100% Magic” about a woman at a call center and the woman who falls for her….not because of her voice.

And “Motto Hanjuku Joshi” by Morishima Akiko has now turned it’s sights towards my favorite couple of the original story, Ran and her former student, Mari who are still together now that Mari is a college student…and still fucking with Ran’s head. I love that this story has encompassed all the characters of the original Hanjuki Joshi series and expanded the cast out now. With Seven Seas picking up more of Morishima-sensei’s work, my fingers are crossed for this series – and the Galette sequel – one day in English.

When I said that this magazine is down in page count, don’t get the wrong idea…it’s still a solid 200+ pages of excellent Yuri content.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

This volume is available in print on Amazon JP through 3rd-party sellers, or from  Galette‘s Booth.pm shop….or in digital format on Bookwalker JP. 

I hope the magazine makes it through what is an objectively difficult year and is able to celebrate a successful 5th anniversary.





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!





Comic Yuri Hime, June 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年5月号)

June 16th, 2021

Okay, yes. inori-sensei is right, Relaire is very cute. In Comic Yuri Hime, June 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年5月号) we get to meet our very own Yuri water slime and it is an adorable jiggly thing, with cute eyes. ^_^ Even more importantly, in “Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou.” Claire and Rae are about to take each other on in the big Academy Knights qualification bouts! I’m really looking forward to this.

In Yuama’s “Kimi to Tsuzuru Utakata” I sincerely hope we’ve moved past the not-at all-convincing plot complication as Hoshikawa-san finally lightens up and has…gasp!…fun.

“Sasayaku Youni Koi wo Utau” by Takashima Eku, turns back towards our principals and allows us to squee at their cuteness together all over again.

I’m delighted to see “Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru” by Shiime start up again. I find this one utterly charming, even beyond the issues of body discomfort and conformity…the art is so lovely, I just want it to go on forever.

“Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai” by Kashikaze comes to a major turning point, where everything about Sora finally drops into place and Ayaka is very angry on her behalf. Go Ayaka!

Normally, this is where I say “I read some stories and not others,” but I feel like I barely read this volume. Whole chapters look unfamiliar to me! I’d better get back on that.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Before I wrap up I want to say that semelparous is getting worse and, at this point, I find it physically repulsive. I would never mention it again, except that I already know that the next chapter, from Comic Yuri Hime July 2021, is one of the most incredibly ugly and ridiculous things I have ever seen in my entire life. I might mention that, because good fucking gods on high, tits DO NOT do that. So if I have time, I absolutely plan on ridiculing it. Then I will never mention it ever again, as long as I live. ^_^