Archive for the Magazines Category


Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime, January 2019 (コミック百合姫2019年1月号)

January 7th, 2019

Comic Yuri Hime, January 2019 (コミック百合姫2019年1月号)  magazine has a new cover artist for the year. I like it. The new story begins with a girl catching a glimpse of another girl at the station, as she waits for her train. I like the color palette quite a bit, in fact. I’m sure the story will be “Story A” and will end with them together. ^_^

A couple of notable moments in this first issue of the year that I want to comment on. 

“Luminous Blue” by Iwami Kyoko is a story that started off lightly and has rather quickly turned thoughtful and highly dramatic. 

Oono Nachi’s “Kimi ga Shinu made Koi wo Shitai” is…weird and violent and creepy. ^_^ I have no idea if I like it or not, yet, despite being several chapters in. Also, that title.

“Twenty Syndrome” by Kabayama felt and looked just like a MIST magazine story, without the sex.

Hisakawa Haru’s “Yurikon” is definitely stretching, but this chapter of a crepe seller who has been watching a girl’s life through the window of her truck for years is both touching and not. ^_^

In “Goodbye Dystopia” by hisona, Misaki learns how little she knows about Asami.

“Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru” continues to be adorable in what is clearly the end of their first volume together, as they visit an onsen on holiday. ^_^

An excellent and varied first issue of the new year!

Ratings: 

Overall – 8

The February issue is already out and yep, I’m totally falling behind. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Galette, No. 8 (ガレット)

December 27th, 2018

Galette No. 8 (ガレット) is here, full of Yuri goodies, as always, and some interesting treasures buried inside! Yay! ^_^

There are a lot more color pages than previous issues, which keep surprising me, no matter how many times I read through the volume. (I usually give it at least two read-throughs before a review.) The volume is also somewhat smaller than previous issues, and the Petite Galette is incorporated into the larger magazine. This is not as surprising as it might be…one of the remarkable things about Galette is that in it’s mere two years a number of the artists have been picked up elsewhere by magazines, worked on  (the increasing number of) Yuri anthologies, are working on collected volumes with Galette and/or other publishers. In other words,  Galette‘s been good for the Yuri business. 

There are always a few series that stand out to me.

“Liberty” has moved past it’s first main crisis to a relationship that might, possibly work, except that we know that stories run on conflict. ^_^ Nonetheless, Liz has decided to wear those guitar earrings after all.

In “Motto Hanjuku Joshi” Morishima-sensei gets to give Yae something very few people get in real life, closure. Yae is able to close the book on her first love with a much better ending for all concerned than we might expect.

 The centerfold is a bit of an easter egg – it’s by Akiyama Haru, featuring the characters from Octave!  A nice blast from the past. ^_^

Amano Shuninta’s “Toma-kun” has yet another outside perspective. This time a little sister tries to understand what her older sister sees in this strange girl.

Many of the stories are ongoing, and this issue has ads for a couple of collected volumes coming out, oh, today, at Comiket and one at Comitia in February (which means they will have a table there, which means I will be buying extra copies for Lucky Boxes…!) 

I’m always torn between reading Galette first when a new order comes in, or saving it for last. This time, it was first. It’s a relaxing place to visit, with some of my favorite artists. 

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Reading an issue of Galette is like a day ticket to the Yuriland theme park. ^_^





Comic Yuri Hime December 2018 (コミック百合姫2018年12月号)

December 18th, 2018

This year has given us a number of excellent Yuri manga and anime, but as Comic Yuri Hime December 2018 (コミック百合姫2018年12月号) hit shelves, it brought with it the end of a remarkable (and remarkably unremarkable) manga. Ohsawa Yayoi’s “2DK, GPen Mezamashitokei” is over. 8 volumes over three years, following a story that developed so deliberately that for the first 3 volumes I wasn’t even sure it was a romance story. ^_^

But, it was a romance. An excellent one. Not because there was a lot of drama – because there wasn’t a lot of drama. This was a Yuri romance about two adults created for an audience of adult women….and it showed. The characters did things like take care of their skin and wear makeup and care about their clothes, in a way that the majority of adult women do.  (Individually, your mileage may vary, of course, I do none of these things, myself. ^_^) And this story, which developed so slowly and almost, but never quite, became a harem manga, ended up being a romance between two people readers can actually imagine living happily ever after together.
/Happy sigh/

So while I’m going to miss Nanami and Kaede and their various harems, I’m very happy to have had 8 volumes of this story, look forward to the final volume and to whatever Ohsawa-sensei will work on next.*

In the meantime, this issue of Comic Yuri Hime had a lot to enjoy, including a major turn in the plot of Hisona’s travel story “Goodbye Dystopia” in which Mizuki encounters the woman that Asami may be pining for. 

Shiroshi’s “ROID” is also slipping from it’s original rails into what may end up becoming a much more complicated story. Yay!

Kenou Chiri’s “Scarlet” just got really weird…and, if you recall, it’s about a vampire and a werewolf, so take that as you will.

“Itoshi no Hito” by Takemiya Jin has developed into a sweet (pun intended) food and romance manga and I am quite enjoying it.

Hisakawa Haru’s “Yurikon” continues to be adorably implausible and I enjoy the heck out of it every chapter.

As always, there are other series I am enjoying and others I don’t read, but as a final issue of the year, this volume of Comic Yuri Hime ended as strongly as the year began.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

*And then I came across this… a JP Kindle-only edition of  2DK, GPen Mezamashitokei “Monthly Motivation” (2DK、Gペン、目覚まし時計。『Monthly ヒモチベーション]) following Ohsawa’s obsession, Nanami’s kouhai “Ruuko” and I laughed and laughed. I hope to god we get a spin-off volume about her. ^_^) Update: This is available (in Japanese) on Bookwalker. Thank the gods for Bookwalker, is all I have to say.

The January issue of Comic Yuri Hime is already available. The new year is off and running!





Monthly Dengeki Daioh, January 2019 (月刊コミック 電撃大王 2019年1月号)

December 13th, 2018

One of the most fascinating aspects of 2018 for me is the fact that I am once again reviewing individual magazine issues much more often this year than I had for years previously. And typically, with mainstream manga like Yagate Kimi ni Naru/Bloom Into You, once it gets established and popular I tend to not bother, since I’ll review the collected volumes.

However. The January 2019 issue of Monthly Dengeki Daioh (月刊コミック 電撃大王 2019年1月号) contains something so extraordinary and – for me – so important – that I felt it was worth a special call out. And it had a clearfile. ^_^

To begin with, I will remind you that I have had several reservations about the narrative and characters of Yagate Kimi ni Naru, since the beginning. I have also trusted Nakatani-sensei to have good judgement and have trusted her to tell a compelling story that holds up to scrutiny. I feel that my trust has been well-placed, which is really refreshing.

I will also remind you that I have long desired the portrayal in manga of adult role models for younger characters, so they are not left to struggle with feelings of same-sex love in what they believe is isolation. This is one of the things that keeps me coming back to this particular series, as we’ve seen Kodama Miyako, the cafe owner, befriend high school student Sayaka and take on this role. 

In this issue, we learn how Miyako and her lover (a teacher at Yuu’s school,) Hakozaki Riko, met. They met in college and while their story is not groundbreaking, it is pleasant and realistic. What is groundbreaking is that we see the two getting ready for bed and chatting – and Riko-sensei says to Miyako that it must be strange for her to be a role model to Sayaka. Miyako says that it is a little weird to be guiding the girl, but it must be harder to be a teacher. 

This exchange is mind-blowing. Not only is there an established female couple to exist as role models for the young woman who knows well enough what she is, but is still looking for who she is, they talk about it. I have never before seen that in a Yuri manga. In the real world, most of the older LGBTQ folks I know do, in fact, talk about this. We talk about the importance of being out and being role models precisely for this reason. But even in manga where characters openly identify as LGBTQ, I have never before seen a character say, well, yeah, it’s weird that I’m a role model, but I’m glad to be able to help a young person find their way. Which Miyako basically does.

And that, my friends, my dear readers, is the “cut, scene,” moment for 2018 for me. We have come so far in such a short time. I cannot *wait* to see what 2019 has to offer!

Ratings:

Adult Role Models who know that that is what they are doing for the fucking win. 10

I’m going to spend some time this weekend working on the end-of-year- Top Ten lists and I have never before looked forward to them so much!  ^_^





Rakuen Le Paradis, Volume 28 (楽園 Le Paradis)

December 7th, 2018

Rakuen Le Paradis, Volume 28 (楽園 Le Paradis) does not have a lot of Yuri. In fact, this issue has one chapter of one story that can be in any way considered “Yuri.” But this one chapter is worth taking a look at.

Over the years, Rakuen Le Paradis magazine has shown itself open to including Yuri as part of it’s eclectic jousei lineup. Several artists have drawn Yuri stories for the magazine, including some of my favorite Yuri artists, Hayashiya Shizuru and Nishi UKO. Additionally, artists who don’t usually create Yuri have had a Yuri story or two. In recent issues, Nakamura Asumiko, who is best known for BL (and whose Maiden Railways which is a bag of treasures will be released in English in 2019 by Denpa Books,) has turned her pen to a Yuri story, “Mejirobana no Saku.”

Another artist who does not traditionally create Yuri, Unita Yumi (probably west known her in the west for Bunny Drop,) is trying her hand at it. “Moco” is a “girl likes girl at school” story. But what Unita-sensei brings to the page is always a deft touch with the small things – body language, interpersonal relationships – that make their characters pop. “Moco” is the only Yuri in Volume 28, but it was very interesting for several reasons. 

Back in the meh-old-days of Yuri, these kinds of “jousei artist-does a Yuri short” weren’t at all uncommon. My historical collection is full of books exactly like this. A great many of them fall into the “Death or Marriage” trope, in which a character leaves an otherwise happy lesbian relationship to be married for reasons of family obligation – or to “free” her lover to marry – or one character dies, leaving the other “free.” Such a delight to read, as you can imagine. ^_^; Rakuen Le Paradis artists are not immune to this, At least two collections I had mostly forgotten by contributors to this magazine fall into this always dire trope. 

Nakamura-sensei is taking the melodramatic private girls’ school trope as her approach, but Unita-sensei is going for what appears to be a straight up, public school story. 

Kumiko, an average girl, is half-obsessed with Yuki, an unconventional  girl in her school. Kumiko is friends with Nataa-kun, who is Yuki’s friend. 

In this month’s chapter, Kumiko admits to Nakata that she like Yuki; as she does, Yuki walks into the room. Mortified, Kumi runs out, and then spends the next few days avoiding Yuki. Finally Yuki catches up with her and makes Kumi talk with her.

This scene was…lovely. Out on a playground, Kumi pours out her heart, while Yuki, always on the move, is swinging around a pull up bar, finally standing on top of it. When she jumps down, Yuki leaps forward to embrace Kumiko, and accepts her confession. 

Yuki admits she has no idea how she feels, but figures they’ll go out a bit and see what happens. When Nakata catches up to them, he asks if they are going out, and when told yes, says, “Thank heavens,” then looks adorably embarrassed about his relief.

I don’t know where this might go, but this may well be the very first of it’s kind, mainstream jousei-artist-takes-on-Yuri and doesn’t punt. That is worth noting. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9 Unita’s style is very specific; simple, but not simplistic. I really like it.
Story – 7 Typicalish, but not on the bad-trope side
Characters – 8 Yuki is charming. One can easily imagine that a number of girls and guys have crushes on her. Kumiko is sweet, and thank heavens for Tanaka-kun.
Service – 0
Yuri – 6 Goodbye “Death or Marriage,” we won’t miss you.

Overall – 8

We have a bunch more amazing stuff to review before end of year list time, but I think I am ready and willing to face all the Yuri 2019 is going to throw at us! ^_^