The November 2015 issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫 2015年 11 月号) is one of those issues where I basically began paying attention about halfway through, as the first half has stories designed to entertain people who are not me.

Kurata Uso’s “Yuri Joshi” now follows the adventures of Yuri fangirls, but I find it as remote a characterization as I did the fanboys in Yuri Danshi. It is of course possible that there are girls who are fans of Yuri speaking to near-magical onee-sama in abstract terms, but it’s still feels like an unreal fandom and not at all like the actual women I encounter who enjoy Yuri. James Welker wrote of Yuri Danshi as a meta-look at Yuri fandom, but I can’t see anything resembling actual Yuri fandom in this series.  Oh well, at least it’s about girls, and not crazy hyperactive fanboys. ^_^;

Ohzawa Yayoi’s “2DK, G Pen, Mezamashitokei” took an interesting turn, away from mangaka Kaede towards hypercompetent, but lonely, Nanami, and her burgeoning friendship/mentorship with coworker Yuuko. Will this force Nanami to admit she likes Kaede or will she find her interest turning to Yuuko? Now I’m intrigued.

Takemiya Jin’s story made me really happy in a melancholy way. “Hatsunatsu Souhi” follows Misaki, who has returned for Obon to the town where her first love lived before she died. Misaki’s an adult now and when she sees a young woman who looks like Yuuko did back then, she’s taken aback. When the girl, Sa-chan, befriends her, Misaki doesn’t have the emotional strength to walk away. They visit the local festival together and, as they watch fireworks, Yuuko’s ghost takes over the girl’s body. “It’s Obon,” she reminds Misaki, the time of year when the dead return to our world for a week. Misaki is able to say good bye to her old love and move on. Sa-chan says she wants to see Misaki again and, as Misaki returns home,  confesses that she’s fallen for her.

“Kanaete! Yuri Yousei” by Minamoto Hisanari continues to be incredibly silly. This chapter the two women already had feelings for each other, and both the Yuri Yousei and the Shirayuri Yousei get hanko stamps on their cards. It’s win-win all around.

“12-pun no Etude’ by Nakahara Tsubaki finally becomes a little Yuri and not where I thought it would. Wakana is finally improving and is allowed to play with the band again. Hatsumi’s famous sister Ai arrives to cheer them all on with her friend Kotone. Hatsumi is unspurprisingly cold to her talented sister who, it turns out, is really hurt by this. Ai and Kotone talk about it later and it turns out that Kotone is not Ai’s friend, but her lover. Okay, I like this way better than Wakana crushing on Hatsumi.

Ratings:

The stuff I enjoy – 8
The stuff I didn’t enjoy – 4 (I’m being kind, some of it got really nasty, in particularly “Prince Princess,” which had been a little service-y, went totally gross.)

Overall – 6

As always, there are many other stories, some of which you will like even if I didn’t care for them. I’m not ecstatic at the higher level of fanservice in this volume. A few stories actually made me feel quite nauseated, even paging past them. But the mix means more people will find something for them to enjoy.

Comic Yuri Hime‘s September 2015 (コミック百合姫 2015年 09 月号) issue marks a major milestone in Yuri manga history – Comic Yuri Hime turns 10 years old!

I can think of a number amazing ways to celebrate this occasion, (cover art of older issues as color pages, the return of popular previous artists for one-shots, a history of the magazine, a timeline….) something, really anything, but the editorial staff chose, for whatever reason, to do pretty much nothing. So the issue is just another issue. Okay, Happy major milestone anniversary, whatevs.

The magazine does start off with a single reprinted chapter, a story that originally ran in Comic Yuri Hime S,  Konohanatei Kitan, (此花亭奇譚) about fox-eared girls running around, sort of old-fashioned and Taisho-esque. It was re-released by Birz comics last spring. Of all the possible old series to reprint, I found it almost predictable that they managed to pick one I couldn’t stand to read when it ran in the magazine. Figures, right? ^_^

Ohsawa Yayoi’s “2DK, GPen, Mezamashitokei” takes a tremendous leap away from hedging it’s bets on what kind of story it wants to be when it grows up, to being a grown up story. I take back my complaints from the first volume. This chapter was terrific.

Minamoto Hisanari’s absurdly amusing “Kanate! Yuri Yousei”  still manages to be absurd and amusing as it explores yet another Yuri trope, with love.

There are still students alive in “Shoujo Shikaku” by Kawai Roh. You’d think there’d be way fewer, though. If the student body is halved with every round, we should be down a lot more students. Also, I can’t help wonder where do the dead bodies go? I know, it’s bizarre to think about stuff like that, but it’s a massacre manga, what else is there to think about?

“Seeesaw Game” by Takemiya Jin wraps up with the tall girl and the short girl getting together and it’s all rather sweet and typical.

“Ore to Yuri”, the second “Yuri Danshi” series, is slighly more interesting as it folds in female fans to the mix. So the Yuri doujinshi festival now isn’t all male fans or creators. The way-over-the-top tone of voice hasn’t changed at all, but it’s not just Yuusuke screaming. Now we have a half dozen female otaku (and what they hope to get out of Yuri) to match the half dozen guy screaming about purity and love. I’m not convinced that the girls are actually representative of actual fandom any more than the guys are, but at least they have a place in the narrative as fans, not just objects of fantasy.

Ratings:

Overall – 7

Paging through this 10th anniversary issue, I don’t want to say I’m unimpressed, because 10 years is an amazing accomplishment, but a postcard set with cover art for the 4 #1 issues so far (original Yuri Hime, relaunched Yuri Hime and Yuri Hime S and re-relaunched Comic Yuri Hime) would have been swell. There’s nothing in this issue that gives any sense of it having been 10 years other than it having been 10 years and saying so on the cover. I can remember vividly, the editor of the not-yet-launched Yuri Hime at our 2005 Yuricon in Tokyo event asking the attendees what they wanted to see in the new magazine. I guess he doesn’t remember it as vividly. ^_^; But this magazine making 10 years is an important moment in the history of Yuri.

Having said that, Happy Anniversary Comic Yuri Hime magazine! Here’s to another 10.