I cannot explain to you the feeling of wonder I got, when I picked up Comic Yuri Hime, June 2018 (コミック百合姫2018年6月号), knowing that, for the first time since it has begun publication in 2003, I will read and enjoy more stories than I don’t. That’s rare for me with any magazine. I’ve always maintained that if I really like 2 stories and mostly like a few others, a magazine is worth continuing. To have a magazine with so many enjoyable stories is rare, and for that magazine to be a Yuri magazine is a miracle.

I absolutely adore the nothing that is “Goodbye Dystopia” by Hisona. We know nothing of the characters, nothing of their world. We can guess very little about them, as well. And yet we travel along with them through a ruined, but beautiful, landscape. I could read this for volumes.

I feel bad that I no longer trust Kodama Naoko-sense, but after the extended horror of NTR, the reality is, that I don’t. Nonetheless, “Oya ga Urusai no de Sempai (♀) to Gizoukekkonshitemita.” may be worthy of my trust. A woman who is clearly in love with her roommate and sempai, wants to help her stop the demands for marriage meetups from sempai’s parents. She proposes that they visit sempai’s parents and tell then that they are in a partnership. Yes, the plot is awful and eyerolly and yes, it’s ridiculously clear that the sempai will eventually have to fall for her kouhai, blah blah blah, but I kind of liked the idea that the Shibuya Partnership certificate was presented as a marriage certificate…like it’s meant to be seen as. The parents’ reaction was bad, the story is a comedy and I’ll never trust the author again, so I’m still on the fence. We’ll see.

“Shiori no Sagasu page-tachi” by Kumosususme has had it’s big reveal, thus resolving any confusion or tension in the plot. I have no idea where it might go now.

Still like Shiroshi’s “Roid” and looking forward to more.

This chapter of “2DK, GPen, Mezamashitokei” will clearly be the end of of Volume 7…and what a chapter it was! Aois’ wedding at last. Nanami asks Kaede if she recognizes any of the folks at their table from school, Kaede says she has no idea who the other people are. Nanami glowers, thinking that Aoi has put them at a table of her ex-girlfriends…and gets even darker when she realizes the other women are current girlfriends.(-_-);

I have no fucking clue what or why Prison Town exists or how anyone, (most especially Akari) got there, but I’m still happy to read “Prisontown e Youkoso!” by neji.

Nanatsufuji’s “Kimi ha Shoujo” actually makes me quite uncomfortable. But I’m still reading this story about a passionate affair between a young woman and an older woman in a sheltered town.

And Ameno’s “Takane no Hana ha Usotuski desu” also about a relationship between a a younger woman and an older one is equally as uncomfortable, but for different reasons. And yet, I am still reading.

The bouquet has been tossed and caught in “Yurikkon” by Hisakawa Haru, and Hinako comes home to her lover Mizuki, asking “Why haven’t we thought about getting married?” Mizuki exclaims, “Get married?” and Hinako is forced to rethink their entire relationship. But we can see that Mizuki’s reaction to basically everything is to question it and eventually she and Hinako choose a traditional Shinto service for their own celebration. Watching this are two women, holding the hands of two children, who ask the children if they’d rather see their mothers marry in a western or Japanese ceremony. The torch has been passed.

There were other stories both read and unread in this volume, but I’m going to have to say I am really like the current crop. So many grown up women, some same-sex marriage, some kissing, living together (or as Pearl might say, “a little death and birth thrown in!”).

Ratings:

Overall – I’m going with 9. It was that good. Different feels, styles, tones. I like it.

The July issue is sitting on my to-read pile. I look forward to it!

The May 2018 issue of Comic Yuri Hime (ミック百合姫2018年5月号) begins with a new story by Hisona that I quite like. “Goodbye Dystopia” follows a girl leaving her life behind – although why, we don’t yet know. She meets another woman traveling through the ruined, wild landscape and they begin to travel together. How the world came to be this way, who they are and what they are looking for is all as yet unilluminated. Nonetheless, I like the idea. ^_^

Miman’s “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” delves into the backstory of Kanako’s obsession with Hime. Broken people are broken.

I’m not sure where “Koushin Koinu ni Koibumi wo” by Tamasaki Tama is going (or, indeed, if it is going anywhere,) but I’m still reading. A feral girl is accepted into a military-ish academy-ish where she’s being alternately encouraged and scolded by an older girl who obviously sees something in her. This month Indou makes a new friend, but find her grades subpar, so she isn’t getting town leave. This whole series feels inspired by the Vocaloid Senbonzakura visualsand not-real, slightly nostalgic militaristic image.

Hisakawa haru presents the opening sortie in the “Girls Wedding Omnibus, Yuri-kkon,” in which two women marry. The bouquet is passed along to, presumably, the next girl to find wedded bliss.

On the even of her wedding, Aoi completes her confession of her complicated feelings about Kaede to Nanami in Ohsawa Yayoi’s “2DK, GPen, Mezamashitokei.” And Nanami wonders what Kaede is in her own life.

I’m still really liking Shiroshi’s “ROID,” but I am apparently a sucker for Yuri androids. Android designer Yui uses a wheelchair, and is in the process of making an android that looks more than a little like herself. She’s helped out in her experiments by AI designer Reina, who is amazed and concerned at the humanity of the new android. But she can’t help wondering what the android is to Yui. She names the android Anna to give it a separate existence from her creator. Anna assure Reina that she is separate from Yui. So far I quit like this series.

Nagashiro Rouge’s “Eve to Eve” is another sci-fi story, but so completely at odds with the previous one, it’s worth mentioning. Two women who are wholly, massively in love have volunteered to have the brains become the center of a global network of protection. Their brains are removed from their bodies, but in their private space they remain in love with each other and with the whole earth. This may be the most purely science fiction-y story we’ve had in Yuri Hime, I think. 

Another new series has begin that’s immensely appealing, “Prison Town e Youkoso” by Neji, in which demi-beings, yokai, and half-humans of all kinds mingle. We meet human Akari and her roommate, a frankensteinish (or Black Jack, if you prefer) composite person named Mary. Both Akari and Mary receive job notices every morning. Akari is busy but when she gets together with friend for drinks after work, they tease her that she treats Mary like a little sister. Her feelings are probably more complicated than that. I’m looking forward to reading more of this.

Kiriyama Haruka gives us “Shiawase Wakenasai” which follows two adult women being happy together.

I want to digress here. Clearly I am not the only Yuri fan or creator who is looking for more adult Yuri. The vast amounts that have – apparently suddenly – appeared tells me that this was a long time in coming. Stay tuned, there’ll be more.

Usui Shio’s “Select Closet” is a cute little story about a cool, boyish girl being given room to be feminine and cute by a classmate.

I hadn’t realized how *good* this issue was until I had to type it all out! There’s a change in the tides here, one that I am really liking. Less schoolgirls, more speculative fiction. Maybe we can even get a mystery or a sports story one day. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall- 9

The June issue is already out and it’s just as excellent, with something new and far less exploitative from Kodama Naoko!

Comic Yuri Hime, April 2018 (ミック百合姫2018年4月号) was a little light on the continuing series, but spent most of its pages building on a bunch of newer ones that were pretty good. 

No surprise, I liked the AI-focused “Roid,” by Shirushi. I apparently like android x human relationships. ^_^

Tamasaki Tama’s military-ish school drama “Koushin Koinu KoibumI wo” continues to flail for a plot, but is fun to read anyway. 

As I suspected (because it was kind of obvious) the story in “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigtoto desu” by Miman, is now fulling focused on Tachibana’s concern for and being disconcerted by Kanako’s obsessive feelings about Hime. I don’t want them to be a couple, but I think Tachibana could be good for Kanako, because right now, she is not a stable person. I would like to see them help each other out.

“Tsuretsure Hibi” by Omurais was a nicely drawn, pleasant slice of two women’s life together without drama. That was awfully nice.

Moke has a lovely little girl meets and falls for a cafe owner in “Yuuhi to, Aroma to, Koi Moyou,” while Nacht’s “Dandelion Tearoom” was a  straight-up paranomal fantasy and Nantsufuji’s “Kimi ha shoujo” took a bit of a darker turn, as Shinou comes to grips with the fact that she’s had sex with a virtual stranger.

Lots of other stories, including the series they choose to make anime of, (by which I have so far remained unmoved.)  Yuri Hime@Pixiv is also clearly allowing them to try out some new material and see how it plays before moving it to the magazine or to publication.

Ratings: 

Overall – Holding steady at 8 

Monthly Comic Yuri Hime still is holding the line with something for everyone. The May issue is already on shelves!