Archive for the Magazines Category


Yuri Manga: Galette, Issue 2 (γ‚¬γƒ¬γƒƒγƒˆ 2)

July 10th, 2017

In the comments of my review of Galette, Issue 1, Jim assured us that the next issue was even better. Jim was right. Galette, Issue 2 (γ‚¬γƒ¬γƒƒγƒˆ) is very close to the kind of manga anthology I hoped Galette would be. 

The cover illustration by pen is lovely, the construction of the cover, with reflective metallic ink is exceeding pleasant. The inside cover art is likewise appealing. Interior color pages open up Morinaga Milk’s contribution and include a photo set, something we haven’t seen in many Yuri anthologies. and further illustrations.

The opening story by Otsu Hiyori was satisfying (as was seeing her back in a Yuri collection!) There were any number of good to excellent stories. I found way more of them – even those set in school – more complex, less “girl meets girl” than we’ve come to expect. This issue had a number of stories that looked at regret for what never was or might have been, as well as stories where facing down one’s feelings and putting a name to them is the story. 

It was a strong enough book that, having finished it, I went back and re-read it. I only do that when I want to make sure I caught everything. Of course I loved Takemiya Jin’s ex-Yanki, now-adult comedy, and Morinaga Milk’s story was very solid and not at all childish or school-life. But the standout story for me continues to  be Monomo Moto and Kitta Izumi’s “Liberty” which took off in such a different direction than expected, but was just so good, that I’m really hoping it’ll continue in Volume 3!

As with the first volume, you can get it in print from Amazon JP (until is sells out, which apparently Volume 1 has) and (in Japanese) on digital for the US Kindle from Amazon.com. I’m still so damn excited about that for you. No shipping, and there you go, you have it in your pocket.   Volume 3 will be out in Japan in print at the end of August, so keep an eye out for the Kindle version later this sumer. For a sample of the next volume, visit the Galette Lineup page. 

And, if you want to support this creator-owned work, take a look at the subscription page for a variety of plans to pay for  the level of support you want to give. There are limitations, so please read the page carefully before you  apply! You’ll get rewards from 100οΏ₯/month and up and you’ll get your name on the thanks page! I imagine that shipping to overseas locations has some limitations, so, again, please read carefully. But, look, it’s the writers we want to read, making the manga they want to write. As far as I’m concerned, that’s worth my support (I’ve chosen the “Normal” level of support. Can I just say how amusing I find that?) So whether you’re supporting the work with a subscription, buying the print or the digital, let’s show these creators that the Yuri fandom outside Japan has their back.

Ratings:

Art – 9 
Story- 9 
Characters – 8
Service – 4 A little in “Liberty”
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

Cannot wait for Volume 3!

 

 

 





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime July 2017 (γ‚³γƒŸγƒƒγ‚―η™Ύεˆε§«2017εΉ΄7月号)

July 6th, 2017

We hit that moment – I am officially behind with reading Comic Yuri Hime. ^_^ I knew monthly was going to get me one day – I’m just kind of glad it took 7 months. ^_^

The cover story – as pink and gauzy and moe as it is, is actually pretty lesbian, “I fell for you at first sight, let’s be together forever.” Uh-huh. Might as well have had a U-haul catalog on the bed with them.

But, more importantly, Comic Yuri Hime July 2017 (γ‚³γƒŸγƒƒγ‚―η™Ύεˆε§«2017εΉ΄7月号) issue was good! 

It starts off with an absolutely slappable plot complication for “Watashi no Yuri  ha Oshigoto desu!” to which I say, learn how to write a fucking story. No, you did not meet each other in school and then one of you *completely* forgot the other one. It was like 3 years ago, not 30. Look, people are not complete idiots. I was standing at the airport having trouble with a Global Entry machine and a DHS guy walked up and said, “Hey you taught Tai chi!” and I looked at this guy with a beard and said, “Oh my god, Marc?” We hadn’t seen each other in more than a decade, and he hadn’t had a beard and I had long hair and we were out of context and I’m terrible with faces and names…and we still remembered each other. If I can remember a guy I saw weekly for a few years, after 15 years, this character can reasonably be expected to remember a friend she saw every day and hurt really badly a few years later. /rant

“2DK, GPen, Mezmashitokei” went there. At last! I’m so happy it took so long and hope to all the gods they don’t just wrap it up, the end. Please oh please give us a few more volumes.

I still can’t get a bead on “Shuumatsu nani shi ni kou.” but I enjoyed (almost despite myself) Fujimatsu Mei’s “Aisareu Watashi no Monogatari” in which a lonely woman hires her favorite novelist -who has writer’s block- to write her a love and a family…and, in the process, they become both to each other. It was a really nice meta-fanfic.

“Kai to Alterna-rock” (γ‚ͺγƒ«γ‚ΏγƒŠγƒ­γƒƒγ‚― is short for ‘alternative rock’, but if it is anything else, I don’t know what it is. Suggestions welcome) made me laugh out loud. I have read this “mean boss” and employee  who fall for one another story about a hundred times, but I still like it anyway.  ^_^

Takemiya Jin offers up another fan and idol story, so far, the best of the bunch in “Musou Artifact.” No surprised as it’s about my specific kind of geekdom, so yeah, of course I like it. Duh. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

As always, there are any number of other stories and some you will like and I will not. But this issue was pretty strong for me so I’m extra glad I finally had time to read it!

 





Yuri Manga: Galette, Issue 1 ( γ‚¬γƒ¬γƒƒγƒˆε‰΅εˆŠε·)

June 15th, 2017

It doesn’t take a lot of industry insider knowledge to note that collaboration and crowdfunding are driving the independent comics industry these days. The number of comics anthologies coming out in the west is staggering. These are all the books that the mainstream publisher don’t have room in the budget to back, but which clearly have a space ready and waiting for them on reader’s shelves. The crowdfunding/collaboration bug hasn’t quite caught on in Japan as much, perhaps because mainstream manga publishing has a lot more room for what we consider “indie” comics and because the comic markets have created an economy that makes it relatively simple for people to self-publish, something we haven’t had in the USA until very recently.

There are some notable changes in the Japanese manga landscape. Digital publishing has taken off through Kindle, Kobo, Renta! and other sites, and online distribution has picked up on Pixiv and Note.mu. So manga artists who were formerly required to dance to the tune of a monolithic publisher’s editorial staff can now just opt out and carve out space on their own. Or fill in the gaps between work with established magazines by keeping the content coming online.

Which brings me to today’s review.  The inaugural issue of Galette is a fascinating combination of all of these factors. Folks who work together on magazines, who sell near each other at comic markets got together to create a collaborative “mook.” They crowdfunded it online, and are publishing and selling it online and at shows. 

The names associated with Galette are (at least to readers of this blog) legendary. Amano Shuninta, Takemiya Jin, Momono Moto, Hakamada Mera, Yotsuhara Furiko, Otomo Megane, Otsu Hiyori. If these names seem familiar to you, you might remember that they were among the line-up of Tsubomi magazine. And if there is a single criticism I have of Galette it is that it reads like an issue of Tsubomi magazine. Not that Tsubomi was bad. I just hoped that, away from the constricted ideal of “Yuri,” Tsubomi presented, these authors would fly. Some of them do run pretty well, but no one gets lift-off velocity. The issue also includes a number of names I’m not familiar with, urisugata, Yatosaki Haru, Yorita Miyuki, Asube Yui, and Hamano Ringo, all of whom present well-constructed and well-drawn shorts. I’m going to take a stab that some of these folks are assistants of better-known artists, just from their familiar, but not identical, styles.

Most of the stories are firmly in the well-worn, comfortable groove of schoolgirl narrative. Not all, but most. And even some of these were a bit unusual and some outright challenging, so the creators must get credit for that.

Momono Moto’s opening salvo gave me some real hope, with a charmingly unrealistic encounter and a great ending that could lead to more…either on or off screen, depending if she continues it or not. Takemiya Jin’s story hit me in my soft spot for yanki girls, and almost all of the other stories were good to very good. A number of the stories really delve into the mindsets of the characters in the way that one doesn’t see too often.

What I’m hoping to see, honestly is, what happens when these excellent artists find themselves unfettered. Will any of them hit heights they only dreamed of, or is tales of young women in love what they really wanted to tell all along? I guess we’ll find out. ^_^

Thanks to Paul on the FB group, we know know that Galette, Volume 1 is available on US Kindle as well! It’s still in Japanese, but you can get the digital version on non-JP Kindle. That’s all kind of awesome.

Ratings:

Art – 9 This is some of the best work I’ve seen from everyone in this book
Story- 8 Variable, but good.
Characters – 7 Variable, some of whom are really weird. ^_^
Service – 2 Surprisingly little, now that I think about it.
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8

Volume 2 is already available and sitting on my to-read pile. I hope this mook series is industry-changing. I really do.

Last year at MoCCA, creators who contributed to Power & Magic put together a map of where they’d all be at the event, so you could get as many signatures as possible. At TCAF, there was a secret  – I have no idea why it was secret, and how secret could it have been, really? – map of people selling Yuri on Ice! doujinshi. I think it would be really cool for the folks who contributed to Galette to post a map of their locations at Comitia or Comiket so you could stamp rally the signatures.

Today’s review is for Jin, who has been patiently waiting for me to get around to it. ^_^ 





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime June 2017 /γ‚³γƒŸγƒƒγ‚―η™Ύεˆε§«2017εΉ΄6月号

June 5th, 2017

The June issue of Comic Yuri Hime (γ‚³γƒŸγƒƒγ‚―η™Ύεˆε§«2017εΉ΄6月号) begins with a crisis on the cover. It might looks like two girls walking happily under an umbrella, but if one reads both the large green text and the 6-point type hidden at the bottom it’s apparent that the girl in the glasses really has to come clean soon or she’s a total jerk.

Thankfully, “2DK, GPen, Mezamashitokei”starts with Mahiro being really creepy AND jerky, and Nanami telling her politely, but firmly, to GTFA. Thank you Ohsawa-sensei. Thank you so much.

Nakamura Yukichi gives us what was a nice “Story A” in “Azuma-san to Itakura-sempai ha Koi o Suru.”

Hitoto’s “Shuumatsu Nanishi ni Ikou?” has hit a plot complication…but I’m not sure what the actual plot is, so the complication seems a little out of left filed.

A plot complication has also slapped Hime in the face in “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” by Miman. As this was a series I never expected to have an actual plot, I’m both pleased and surprised. Hime comes face to face with how much of a jerk she’s been.

β€œDemi-Life” and β€œRoku + Ichi Sodarashi” continue to be fun, superficial reads, while “Itsuka Minoreba” insists on continuing, so I’m kind of wondering where it’s going to go, eventually. Is it *really* going to be about her training to play arcade games? Really?

Katakura Ako returns with another messy, smexy story, this time about adults in an office, so I’m happy. ^_^

As usual, there are many other stories in the magazine, all of whicha re good, bad and indifferent, according to your tastes ^_^

Ratings:

Overall  7

It is all I can do to read, much less review these monthly! What an excess of riches we have. I have a substantial pile here of things waiting to be reviewed and more  in my to-read pile. It’s pretty darn cool to have so much Yuri these days.





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime May 2017 (γ‚³γƒŸγƒƒγ‚―η™Ύεˆε§«2017εΉ΄5月号)

April 20th, 2017

Are you at all fond of two-timing as a plot driver in a romance? I have to assume that someone high up on the Comic Yuri Hime staff is, because even aside from the couple of stories in the body of the magazine, the cover story is, as well.

(And let me just note, in a somewhat petty fashion that, if I consider incest to be lazy writing, I consider it exceptionally lazy editing when I can tell what the editorial staff’s fetishes are. There are people other than you reading, folks. Try picking a new plot once in a while.)

Aside from that, the stories in Comic Yuri Hime, May 2017 (γ‚³γƒŸγƒƒγ‚―η™Ύεˆε§«2017εΉ΄5月号) that are already strong, are still good. I was actually kind of pleased to note that the newest plot complication in Ohsawa Yayoi’s “2DK, G Pen, Mezamashitaokei” is kind of…typical for a romance manga. It’s like, having spent so much time on building up really firm foundations of a potential relationship, it can finally just be a little soapy. And I enjoyed it.

“Now Loading…” is taking the opposite tack, by starting off superficially and sort of backing into a real relationship. I’d like to see it become a real story when it grows up.

And “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” is slipping sideways into a story, away from the tropes it’s inhabiting, which really kind of makes me happy. Hime is suddenly forced to confront the idea that her natural charm my not be enough…and that, maybe, she’s focusing her attention in the wrong direction. 

Ratings:

Overall – 7

As always, there are both good and bad and other stories I’m reading but not mentioning. I quite like the variety, even if it’s weirdly skewed to two-timing and affairs and cuckolding right now. (I mean really, Editor-san, grow the fuck up.)