Archive for the Magazines Category


Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime November 2015 (コミック百合姫 2015年 11 月号)

November 24th, 2015

CYH1115-275x389The 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.





Yuri Manga: Mebae, Volume 4 (メバエ 4)

November 16th, 2015

download6-e1430358570192 The newest Yuri anthology on the block, Mebae, continues on with a Volume 4, and so I guess I’m going to have to start taking it seriously now. ^_^

The stories vary widely, but there are still clear indications in both contributing artists and content that indicates that, despite the protagonists mostly being schoolgirls, the audience is presumed to be adult men who like reading stories about schoolgirls. Nonetheless, there were a few stories I found appealing. Among these, it was a surprise and delight to read the Kurogane Kenn story which combined the end of the world and girl’s love in a rather romantic way.

The most wonderful story was, IMHO, Matsuzaki Miyuki’s “Duet”, which followed two young ladies doing ballet as friends and rivals, until their relationship is strained by the rivalry. The end, in which they do a pas de deux together as professional dancers made me extremely happy. ^_^ Most importantly, the pas de deux is done both in women’s roles/costumes. That was especially nice.

So, yeah, I’m going to have to stop treating this magazine like a fly-by-night and acknowledge it as the successor to Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari that it is.

Ratings:

Overall – 7, but I’m following a couple of the series now, so maybe 8 since I’m in a good mood. ^_^

Volume 5 hits shelves the end of November 2015.





Yuri Manga: Rakuen Le Paradis (楽園 Le Paradis), Volume 18

October 20th, 2015

RlP18Rakuen Le Paradis Volume 18 (楽園 Le Paradis),  is an example of a magazine that has hit it’s stride. And there is both good and bad in that. I know what I’m getting, and it’s all extremely high quality…but.

What I am getting is both exceptional art and storytelling by unusual, prolific, stylish and not-typical artists. There’s never any doubt in my mind that the artists are writing for people like me – adult women, who are not rejecting school stories but really would like to enjoy some time in adult life.

And the magazine gives readers tremendous variety, from the stylish slice-of-life stories by Nishi UKO-sensei to Samura Hiroaki’s funky, dense violent/scifi-ish work, with room for Kumeta Koji’s oddball social commentary and Mizutani Fuuka’s romance.  I especially love Unita Yumi’s fantasy “Nemurime-hime,” and find it both interesting and disconcerting to see Ume Aoki’s story be so straight an incest-y. There’s BL from Nakamura Asumiko and Yuri from Sengoku Hiroko and all manners of adult heterosexual relationships. This magazine spans a tremendous range of story-telling style and art. It has fully spread it’s wings and begin to fly on it’s own, confident in the risks it takes…and now I’d like to see it take a few more new risks. Let’s see where this can go. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I always look forward to the next volume. It’s consistently one of the most fascinating and challenging Japanese magazines I read. Quirky, weird and bizarrely human.





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime, September 2015 (コミック百合姫 2015年 09 月号)

October 7th, 2015

CYH0915-275x392Comic 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.





Monthly Comic Cune Magazine, Volume 1 (月刊コミックキューン)

October 5th, 2015

CuneOne of the best parts of this gig are when I get to witness the birth of a new magazine. One of the strangest parts of this gig is witnessing the birth of a new magazine.

I became an anime fan back in the day when characters were drawn to be look more mature than their age. So, the slide into extreme moe has not favored my tastes at all. I keep thinking that, at some point, there has to be a swing back to grown-up looking characters, right? The existence of Monthly Comic Cune says, flat out no, Erica, you are wrong, bzzt, fuggedaboufit, there is no end point to the round, featureless, infantile blobbiness of this art style and it will never go away. Even more poignant is the magazine’s tagline, which couldn’t be wronger in my case, “Made for you, a new 4-koma comic.” ^_^;

This is the land of giant heads on baby bodies, characters labeled specifically 15, 16, 17 years old who unremittingly look 4 years old. Not for me, no, thank you.

So, why, you must be thinking, am I even bothering? I don’t write posts to whine (hardly ever anymore, it’s boring saying “this sucked.”) so clearly there must be a point. Right? RIGHT?

Yes. The point  of all this is that I really enjoyed the inaugural volume of Comic Cune. I mean honestly. It was fun.

Let’s get the important stuff out of the way – there are a handful of Yuri artists  in this magazine – Fujieda Miyabi, Kuzushiro, Hisanari Minamoto, Namori, all have contributed. And for them alone, it was worth getting this volume. Both Fujieda-sensei and Minamoto-sensei had Yuri in their stories, and Minamoto-sensei’s actually talked about Yuri, and their’s were not the only stories that had girls embracing each other. There’s lot of squeezing and love-love going on between girls here.

But the two stories I enjoyed the most were both comedies based on paranormal creatures (of which there were quite a number of in the issue.) I particularly enjoyed “Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san” (The Vampire Next Door) and “Dokuro-san ga Miteriru” (Skeleton is Looking), which stars the famous giant skeleton from this picture, living with a young girl, and looming distressingly large over her.

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Yes, it’s one joke, but it is a very funny joke.

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But wait, there’s also “Goshuujin-sama ha Ningen ja nai” starring a maid for a super-creepy alien mistress.  I mean who wouldn’t want to read that? ^_^

So, yeah, the Yuri’s great, and it’s nice to see artists I know and love in another magazine…and I’ll just ignore the big blobby heads and “zOMG so cute, aren’t they so cute being cute?” moe art. But what’s going to keep me reading this is the utterly weird monster comedy that made me laugh out loud.

This is a Kadokawa publication, so maybe, if we ask nice, they’ll put this on BookWalker.

Ratings:

Overall – 8 I enjoyed it way more than expected.

You see, it’s giant skeleton and it looms, staring with big blank eyes, but it’s really a nice guy…but it’s so big and loomy…. Trust me, it’s funny.