Archive for the Magazines Category


Comic Yuri Hime, December 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年12月号)

December 21st, 2025

In front of a bright blue sky on a summer day, two young women wear wedding dresses, holding hands and smiling brightly.Woops! I hadn’t had a chance to pick up my books in a while and fell behind two months on my Yuri. ^_^ Comic Yuri Hime, December 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年12月号)  is the final issue with hechima’s cover story….our two young women having a June wedding. ^_^ The cover text tells us that they are 25 years old, and the writing, I think was well chosen for this magazine in it’s 20th year: “Thank you for every shared moment.”

The color pages at the beginning advertise the live-action Futari Escape, the manga reprint and new chapter of the Taguchi’s manga, the upcoming anime shorts for Does It Count If You Lose Your Virginity to an Android? and the Comic Yuri Hime 20th Anniversary Cover Art Collection.

The first story is a new series, by Touma, “Kimi no Sei dakara,  Sekinin totte yo ne” about a “rental girlfriend” i.e., escort, who takes on her first femal client and finds love. There’s a move in there somewhere. ^_^

“Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou.” by inori. and Aonoshimo is coming up on the climactic chapter, as Re and Claire face down Dole and lies to Rae about facing things together.

In “Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau” Himari finally meets Yori-sempai’s parents and it turns out that her becoming a musician carries a lot of baggage for this family.

Nana has come to an important conclusion about her relationship with Princess Luriam in “Muryoku Seijo to Munou Oujo ~ Maryoku Zero de Shoukansareta Seijo no Isekai Kyuukokuki ” by Tamasaki Tama. 

“Chouuchyuu Yori Ai wo Komete,” by Ashidaka Woz is moving deeper into Ten’s school trauma, as Lulu is jut good and kind and helpful. A threat is on the horizon, though and it is not from this world.

The team’s music video is done in Kashikaze’s “Kimi ga Hoeru Tame no Uta o.” and now it is out in the world to be enjoyed and judged.

Time is running out in SheepD’s “Kanaria ha Kiraboshi no Yume o Miru” but the clothing design is being worked on for a customer and both protagonists are committed facing the future together. Clearly crisis awaits.

A gal agrees to turn into a magical girl as a part-time job in “Majyo’tte Baito-dai demasu?” by Pya. I really enjoyed this take on the genre.

Koharu and Minato play house, and columns look at movies, books behind the scenes of voice acting and more. 

Ratings: 

Overall – 9

A very strong, very fun issue to round out the year. Congratulations on 20 years, Comic Yuri Hime!

The January 2026 issue is already on shelves, with a new cover artists and more 20th anniversary fun.





Galette No. 35 (ガレットNo.35)

October 30th, 2025

Two pale women in pale clothing blush as they look at one another, superimposed upon them are orcas swimming, with the words, " n my dream, you and I look at summer scenery."As of today, the Kickstarter for Galette Special English Edition Vol. 4 has ended, with a successful 713 backers…but don’t worry, there is a little bit more time to pledge! If you missed the kickstarter campaign, the folks at GaletteWORKS are keeping the Kickstarter open for a few more days so there is still a chance that they will make that 5th and final stretch goal. ^_^ Which makes today a great choice to talk about some Galette Magazine. ^_^

In Galette, No. 35 (ガレット)  we say goodbye to one of the long-running serials, Houkenshitsu Ano Onna, which you are now reading as “That Woman In The Infirmary” by Yorita Miyuki. I can’t pin point when I really started to look forward to this series, but I did, and I’m torn between being sad to see it over and looking forward Yorita-sensei’s new work!

We have two continuing stories by Morinaga Milk. “Himitsu no Recipe” has just finished up at the final chapter of the printed volumes, (which were never licensed in English, so it might be nice to see that published by Galette EN.) The final chapter is marked “To Be Continued” so we can expect more of that and of course, “Watashi no Kawiii Neko-chan” is ongoing. Yuna is facing down the baggage from her feelings about her family’s expectations of her…about which she may have been mistaken. Rena is still focused on opening her home salon, but they both find that they really just want to be together. 

“Yuruku SM Yattemiru” by Syanimuni follows two students who find a bunch of questionable props in a school closet. The volume came with a mini clear file of this series.

Inui Ayu’s “cool girl as boyfriend practice” “Koi ni Shiyakiunaina” turns from cute and akward to just plain cute as Momo and Ren realize they actually like each other. ^_^

Nekohariko22’s “Torokeru Heya nanoka” as Koyuki cannot stop fantasing about her  now live-in maid, who doesn’t seem to mind the idea.

I genuinely enjoyed Hakamada Mera’s weird little post-death scenario “Shindaramina VTUBER.”

“Kanojo Kuchizuke Kansenseuru Libido” continues, which kind of amazes me.  Sa-chan is struggling with feeeling sh wants more from Ayane, who seems to be just fine with moving their relationship to the next level.

“Foglight In The Gray” is a nice little post-apocalyptic romance by Dodmori, who art I quite like.

The magazine includes a short story about a woman whose dream to become a ballet dancer desert her, the Yurikko Research column, the 140-character stories, and more. 

As the staff looks towards a 8th anniversary, there’s a wonderful maturity about the content and design of Galette that I look forward to every issue. 

Ratings: 

Overall  – 8





Young Magazine USA

October 19th, 2025

In front of a nighttime cityscape a Masamune Shirow art piece of a female figure in white connected to many wires.Young Magazine, one of the top Seinen magazines in Japan, is celebrating a 45th anniversary. And to help celebrate that incredible milestone, Kodansha published a print volume of Young Magazine USA. This volume was available for free at conventions and while supplies last at Kinokuniya bookstores across the US. 

It’s been a long time since I picked up a copy of Young Magazine and it was an incredible experience to read the whole thing in English. By “whole thing” I mean more than 1000 pages of original Seinen manga by names that are well-known in the manga world. 

The magazine starts off with a Ghost In The Shell Poster by Shirow, which is a nice opener. The stories are a fairly typical mix of action, horror and wtf, as one usually finds in Seinen magazines like Young, or Ultra Jump. Maybe a little less sex than usual.  There were  bunch of stories I liked, especially Yokai fighting manga “Kikikaikai”  by Kyuri Yamada and Daisuke Itabashi’s “The Journey of a Dark Elf With Fading Powers,” both of which did some interesting things with the essential questions of what is a “normal” life.

But the reason I really wanted to talk about this magazine is that Gaku Keito has a sequel in this magazine to his hit manga series about a trans boy.  “Boys Run The Riot – IN TRANSITION” presents us a Ryo who is still dealing with pressure from family and himself about his transition, and also making his way through college.  There were two notable things about this manga – one, that Ryo’s classmates were not just accepting but banded together as Ryo’s allies. That was awesome. The second notable thing was Keito’s author’s note, in which he explicitly credits the enthusiasm of western fans for making this manga possible. For decades, western fans believed they had impact on anime and manga due to their overwhelming numbers, but in fact, sales outside Japan paled in comparison to sales within. But, recently, LGBTQ+ titles have shifted this trend (something I plan on writing about as soon as I can scrape some moments together!) And here is yet another data point. ^_^

Also of interest to queer readers is “Still You” by Kami Nishio, a story of two young men whose friendship undergoes stress and change. It was a very chill story about recognizing who one is that I kind of hope gets enough votes to be continued. 

Which brings me to the other fun and interesting aspect of Young Magazine. Kodansha is using this and the complete online version you can read for free to discover stories that they will continue in English…the top 5 titles will be serialized on Kodansha’s online platform, K-Manga. You can vote once a day until November 10th. Voting gives you some points which you can “spend” on a gatcha game for rewards, so you get dopamine hits in all directions. 

I hope you’ll grab a copy if you can or drop by the website and throw your votes in on the manga you would like to see continue. Young Magazine USA is an ambitious and impressive celebration of manga.

Ratings: 

Overall – 8





Comic Yuri Hime, November 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年11月号)

October 12th, 2025

Two women sit at a low table, eating, smiling and talking animatedly together. The image is laid out so the magazine will need to be rotated horizontally to see it properly. I love when the end of the year in Comic Yuri Hime is strong. There is one manga we’re saying goodbye to in Comic Yuri Hime, November 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年11月号), but we’ll get there in a moment.

To begin with hechima’s cover is homey and warm. We’ve had 11 months with these two young women, they are beginning to feel like friends. I’m hoping the December issue shows them a bit older, but I always hope for older adult representation. ^_^

As mentioned on YNN, Futari Escape is getting a live-action series. I’m very interested to see how they’ll do that, as it was heavy on the goofy, travel and goofy, weird fun and low on the Yuri scales.

The opening series is a new one…and I do not yet know how I feel about it. “Hareta Hi no Dress Code” features a girl who wishes she was brave enough to wear the slacks that her school dress code allows, but she also loves dressing in cute skirt and a girl who does dress in the slack because of scars on her legs, but wishes she didn’t have to. I hope very much that this develops into a story of freedom from gender presentation rules.

“Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!” closes the Kanako x Sumika arc, but in a very humanly imperfect way. I do not know what the characters might face, but I hope Nene gets to meet someone nice now. ^_^

Lulu and Ten are accidentally dragged into the relationship issues faced by another student in Ashiaka Waz’s “Chouuchyuu Yori Ai wo Komete,” and it both puts strain on and opens a new door in their own relationship.

merryhachi returns to Comic Yuri Hime for the first time in years with a very cute one-shot, “Touko Swing-By.” Honestly, it was really sweet.

Somtime and suoh’s  “Gakeppuchi Reijou ha Kuro Kishi-sama o Horesasetai!” comes to an end. It’s a good end, a very solid end, but I don’t want it to end! Oh well. It was nice. I just wish we could have more! Waaah~~~

And props to the comic essay “Film ni Saku Yurinohana o Atsumete Kimi ni Okuritai” for not just talking about the Utena movie, but presenting an interesting fan discussion that the movie is Yuri, but the TV series is not. I agree that Utena and Anthy are not, in the TV series, a couple, but surely we cannot discount Juri and Shiori? Anyway. Good column. 

Once again, there were many stories I read and enjoyed and other I did not, or did not read. It’s an incredibly solid magazine now and I look forward to new series starting.

Ratings: 

Overall – 8

The December issue will be out on October 18. There is no cover image available for it yet, but you can pre-order it on Amazon JP now.





Yuri Manga Magazine Galette To Begin 4th Issue Kickstarter on October 15

October 9th, 2025

Two catgirls cuddle intimately. Art by Morinaga Milk.After much consideration and discussion, a survey of backers and mores discussion, Galette WORKS have decided to go ahead with the launch of Galette Special English Edition, Issue 4.

Tariffs on good from Japan have, for the moment, settled at 15%, but shipping costs are going up and it is very likely that after the election, tariffs will rise more as well, regardless of the outcome. But as GW notes, there is no point to waiting on this, because it is not going to magically get better soon.

Therefore, on October 15, Oct 15, 2025  at 9 AM JST, (1AM in the UK,2 AM in Europe,  8PM US Eastern Time) Galette’s fourth Kickstarter will commence. It will be a 15-day campaign once again, so if you are interested in backing the highest levels, you will need to move quickly. ^_^

Once again, I want to affirm my commitment to Galette – not to get something, but to back the work and the creators. In this ever-darkening world, Yuri and queer manga shines a light and I want to support and spread that light. I don’t need physical goods. I need to know that Yuri and queer manga are being written, read and enjoyed all over the world. 

But the standees are cute, too. ^_^

Click to get notified when the campaign goes live on the Galette Volume 4 Kickstarter page!