Welp, I kind of knew this was coming. Statistically speaking, we were long overdue for a not-good issue of this magazine. Comic Yuri Hime, February 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年2月号) is not great.

Several new series that wallow in grotesque fetishtry and are clearly meant to appeal to people who do not like women, or want to see them happy, are combined with the end of a series by an artist who does like women and wants to see them happy, made this volume a very difficult read.  As the number of the stories that are lolicon, exploitative, and manipulative are increasing, while the number of stories about women enjoying – or learning to enjoy – being together, now number less than previously.  I find myself clinging to the few I genuinely enjoy and making my eyes glaze over as I pass by so much of the magazine. I have, in past years, continued reading what was at the time Yuri Hime, when it was down to two series I liked, but I really don’t want to return to those days.

In the middle of so much that is not good, let us rejoice in what is. It felt a tad rushed, but the ending of “Itoshi Koishi” by Takemiya Jin, gave us a couple who we can absolutely believe will have a happily-ever-after. Yayoi and Hina are cute together and we can rely on Hina to be grounded. Sure it’s a fake wedding now, but one day I hope they will get the “real” wedding they deserve.  ^_^

“Terano-sensei to Hayama-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru” did something that amazed me, in a good way. In a great way. Hayama-sensei is off to do what teachers around here call a “service day.” That is, she’s attending a class or workshop of some kind off-campus. While there, she meets a woman and they speak of their girlfriends. Together. Like adults. Hayama-sensei has been given a person to speak with who is another adult woman, in a relationship with another woman. Their meeting was part of their daily life. It was all perfectly normal, everyday life stuff. The way lives actually are. I read this chapter over three times, just to make sure I hadn’t hallucinated it.

In “Hello Melancholic” by Ohsawa Yayoi, Minato is let into the private world of the upperclassmen in her band. Chika jerks Minato’s chain about seeing Chika and Sakiko kissing, but it’s mostly because Minato’s reactions are so OTT. ^_^

“Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!” by Miman finally reaches the climax its been heading towards, as Hime has to reckon on what future to choose.

Kuwabara Tamostsu’s “Anta ga Senaka o Misetara” is a one-shot of a the sort of sports drama I’d love to see a full series of. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 7

As always, there were stories I read and haven’t called out that were perfectly okay. But I worry when the fourth series starts that is very clearly designed to appeal to much lower than lowest-common denominator. Writing this review has made me feel better about what is running that is good and I hope that that will continue.

I’m picking up the March Issue today and will keep fingers crossed.

It’s a new year and a new look for Comic Yuri Hime January 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年1月号)! I love how they are shifting up the look every year now, with a new cover artist and a whole new feel. I’m not sure if I actually like the cover art itself. I like the color scheme, but it’s hard to tell where arms and legs actually are and the proportions were odd. But the women seem happy, so that’s all to the good. ^_^

The opening story is one that ought to have been excellent. Ogino Jun’s “semelparous” is…not excellent. The setup is blatantly derivative of Attack on Titan, but even that would have been perfectly fine. Bug-eyed monsters are subject to fashion too. ^_^ The problem is the outrageously awful anatomy. Women’s breasts do no look like that, they do not act in those ways, nothing about them is based on any sort of reality. It’s some of the laziest, least competent anatomy I have ever seen in a published manga.  Which is a shame, because an action story about women fighting unreasonably large monsters for some reason or other is just fine by me, (heck, I love SHWD,) I’m deeply repulsed by giant overstuffed water balloons passing for breasts. Because I like real women, I also enjoy women’s actual bodies, not tiresome fetishist fantasies of women’s bodies created by men who don’t actually like women. It’s just such a disappointment to me that the editor doesn’t look at this and says, “Great story, how about you draw those tits a little more natural, after all the majority of our audience is women.”

Takeshima Eku’s “Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau” takes an odd turn, but one I imagine was chosen so there is “a conflict,” so there may later be a “reconciliation.” Not sure we actually needed that, but hey, I’m not the editor. (Wish I was, though. There’d be zero water balloons breasts or lolicon creepiness. I just don’t think those yen are worth getting.)

No idea where “Pocha Climb” is going….probably nowhere. Club + Yuri is an easy story. It will go a volume or two and be soon forgotten. (Tune in later this month for my review of Koisuru Asteroid, an anime choosing the same route. That’s a climbing joke.)

“Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts” is…kinda nice. ^_^ I like Usui Shio’s art and while Hinako has to keep being reminded to not be mopey, she’s kind of coming around to being cheerful.

“Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!” by Miman is a bit of a clip episode from Mitsuki’s point of view. We already know her story, but as she prepares to, well…let’s be honest, we can see she’s heading for a harsh, but she’s still young…she’s gearing up to try and love again. Gosh I hope I’m wrong, but Hime hasn’t dealt with herself at all yet. I don’t see things going well. yet. YET. I have high hopes for this series! ^_^

Ohsawa Yayoi’s “Hello Melancholic” was so very good, I kind of forgot everything else. ^_^ The festival arrives and the band has to find a way around Hibiki-sempai’s injury, which they do. A horrible thing is averted and the band has a triumphant performance in which Minato blasts through her fear of people and is magnificent. After the performance, Minato stumbles on Chika and Sakiko in an intimate moment and has her mind blown.

And…and…and…! Takemiya Jin’s “Itoshi Koishi” takes the plunge! After exams have been taken and passed, Hina faces her friends and tells them there’s something she wants to tell them….she’s been seeing an older person, a woman. One friend who clearly knew jumps right in to say that she’s happy for Hina, which prompts the rest of them to follow along. Micchan drags up the old TV show”true tales” of gay people living alone and miserable, but Hina – with a smile – assures Michhan she is very happy indeed. The only shock comes when Hinako mentions that they’ve already met her girlfriend. We cut to Yayoi discussing work with her friend, noting that Hina’s coming out had gone well

I want to unpack this all a little. It’s not often we get coming out scenes in Yuri. But I’ve had my finger crossed for this one in particular. Not just because I like the story, but because Takemiya-sensei does something important here.  The reaction Hina gets is positive, supportive, accepting and loving. We kind of knew that was going to be the response….but the response is not the point of coming out. The point of coming out is that a person, who has never previously stated something out loud says that something out loud. Hina’s friends love her, that is no surprise, but it still takes effort to come out. It’s still stressful. It’s important.It’s an ongoing process. If Hina and Yayoi stay together, Hina will quite probably have to replay this scene over and over. Because people still think that being gay is a lonely existence, because once upon a time on TV there was a documentary about that. It’s ridiculous, but that’s how people really think. Being gay was taken out of the DSM in the 1970s and there are still people who talk about it as an illness. People in countries that have legal gay marriage but who simply will not wrap their heads around the last 50 years of history having happened. So what we here get is the most modern possible coming out – showing that it’s still not easy, but it doesn’t have to be hard.

I hope that kids all over Japan read this issue and came out to their friends. ^_^

This is followed by yet another joy-filled issue of Saki and Asuka being cute as can be together in Ohi Pikachi’s “Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru.”

CW reminds me to mention that there is a new autobiographical series by Inui Ayu about living with her girlfriend. (I wasn’t kidding about forgetting everything! ^_^) Thanks for the reminder.

As always there were any number of stories read, but not mentioned and others not read, because this is a magazine full of ll sorts of stories! Overall, a great start to a new year!

Ratings:

Overall – 8

The February issue is on shelves now. ^_^

The end of the cover story of Comic Yuri Hime December 2019 (コミック百合姫2019年12月号) is a little melancholy, surprisingly. But this issue, which marks the third year of being a monthly magazine was, as it has been all year, quite strong.

The opening story is a new gambit, “Lonely Girl Sakaraenai,” a high school story about a great student who is a shitty test-taker and the girl who changes her life.

“Tada no ichinichi” was one of three stories I read in one day that featured bubble tea, and almost immediately after that I read an angry treatise by a Japanese columnist about how bubble tea had become the new “get off my lawn” moment in Japan. Every generation just cannot stop being angry at whatever the next one enjoys. ^_^

“Yuri is My Job” comes to a shocking climax. Well, shocking for Hime, anyway. Mitsuki seems pretty surprised at herself, as well. I’m rooting for her, because I always root for people who tell the truth, no matter how bluntly. ^_^

Yuri about women in bands is picking up speed with two entries in this issue: “Omae ni Kikasetai Uta gaAaru” about beginnings and endings, and “Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau” in which Himari and Yori both find somewhere to be. Volume 1 of Hello, Melancholic! came out in October, so there was no chapter this issue. (I like to pretend when the artists get a month off its to give the creators a bit of rest, but it’s actually so they have time to do signings and colors /cover work and extras for the collected volumes. No rest for the weary.)

“Umineko Bessou Days” turns dark, with the appearance of Mayumi’s toxic “friend.”

Thankfully for us, “Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru” and “Itoshi Koishi” remain heart-warming. Phew!

As always there are way more series in the issue that I’m reading than those mentioned here and several I am not. In general, I really like that the magazine has a nice mix of things I’m enjoying and some stories I completely don’t care about with a bunch in between. In my opinion, that means they are doing it right. ^_^ 2019 was another year of doing it right.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

The January 2020 issue has hit shelves already and the cover color palette has changed considerable for the new story. I’ll be getting my copy this week and will let you know what I think!