Archive for the Magazines Category


Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) September 2013

September 30th, 2013

The cover of the September 2013 issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) is 3D, with a pair of glasses inside the magazine, so you too can look down the bikini tops of the girls of Yuru Yuri in 3D.

For me, one of the highlights of the issue was a fractured fairy tale by Minamoto Hisanari about “evil” stepmother Mars-sama, her step-daughter Snow, and the magic mirror, that was utterly silly and not all that sweet, really.

Momono Moto’s “Kuryaami no Asterisk” finishes up with both characters stepping out of their bad habits and reaching out to one another. A better ending than beginning.

“Bousoku Girlsteki Mourou Reainaiteki Suteki Project” heats up with a bitter rivalry for Student Council Vice-President. Less “harem battle” than I expected, but still kind of fun.

Takahashi Mako’s “Mujintou e Matte Ikunara” was lovely. Honestly the best story I’ve ever read by her. The feeling of going through life alone, as if one was on a deserted island, is something that probably many readers of manga can identify with.

I absolutely loved Katakura Ako’s “Warawane Majou no Shikeisenkoku” in which a witche’s prediction comes true, with a smile.

Nana is still working through her feelings for Satomi, but once she learns Satomi’s not-so-secret secret, she comes to a conclusion of a sort in “Kiss ChuChu” by Takemiya Jin.

The circumstances change between Ruki and Sachi, but not necessarily for the better, in “Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na Nanika.”

Zaou Taishi and Eiki Eiki’s “Love Gene Double X” is climbing tortuously towards a climax. We learn the source of the bitter feelings between Sakura’s and Aoi’s families as they face each other in a duel. The loser will be forced to become an Eve.  I’m still super uncomfortable at the direction of this story and I don’t have any hope that the real issues in the story will be resolved. Grrr…

In “Rock It Girl” by Tanaka Minoru, the band faces a new crisis/opportunity as they head to a summer music festival. Kaede is moved so deeply by the energy and the crowd that when Seira kisses her, she doesn’t resist. For a moment the two of them are able to not freak out and just be comfortable together.

The 4-koma strips “Nekoyama-san to Inugami-san” and “Kimono Nadesico” go through the paces as they usually do. Fans of “Yuri Yuri” and “Yuri Danshi” will find nice juicy bits to enjoy.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

This was a pretty decent volume.





Yuri Manga: Omoi no Kakera, Volume 2 (想いの欠片)

September 13th, 2013

One of the three titles I chose for 2011’s Top Yuri Manga was Omoi no Kakera, Volume 1 by Takemiya Jin.  Specifically, I very much enjoyed our introduction to Mika, a confident, self-aware young lesbian.

In Omoi no Kakera, Volume 2, Mika’s relationship with underclassman Mayu develops significantly. Where in Volume 1, Mayu begins with distaste that develops into a crush, in Volume 2, Mayu starts to genuinely care about Mika…and Mika learns that she’s developed some affection for the younger girl. After the coffee house owner lays it out to Mika, that her insistence that she prefers older women is merely a way of clinging to her past, Mika tells Mayu the whole story of her first love. Mayu’s reaction is very sweet. And for the first time, I have some confidence that they could, possibly, become a healthy couple, maybe. Just as they reach this place, it appears that Mika’s past has indeed caught up with her.

The main story has a few Intermissions. Under “not really a couple and, so, not unhealthy, but wtf?” comes the coffee shop owner and her roommate. I have no idea what the deal is with them. ^_^;

The Intermissions include a short, really cute story about Mayu’s brother (who we know from the early chapters of Volume 1, is gay) and his crush, a male classmate.

The book also contains a short story called “Love & Piece,” which has a rough start in some hideous stereotypes and a really bad set of choices, but ends in a good place.

I have saved the best/worst story for last.

As Mayu has manages to get closer to Mika, her best friend Saki has taken a lot of hits over the years. When Mayu expressed disgust for gays, Saki was unable to admit that she was a lesbian. But when Mayu needed her, she was always there. Now Mayu is falling for Mika, and Saki’s lonelier than she ever thought possible. Saki’s story is heartbreaking, but very well told. I can only hope that Volume 3 brings her some happiness.

I love this story. It is full of the hormonal, irrational, high/lows of teenage life, and full of gay kids who are still finding themselves. Mika, Harada-kun and Saki are not alone, but we all have to reinvent the wheel for ourselves to some extent.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Yuri – 9 / Lesbian – 9
Service – 4 for “Love & Piece”

Overall – 10

Takemiya-sensei tells a damn good story.





Yuri Manga: Onna no ko Awase (女の子合わせ)

September 10th, 2013

This summer saw two manga collections  by Morishima Akiko-sensei released at once. The first one I reviewed,  Hajimeta, Kanojou to. was a look back at the beginnings of couples that had been established in later stories. This collection, Onna no ko Awase (女の子合わせ) are one-shots she drew for Comic Yuri Hime and the Yuri Hime Wildrose and Girls Love anthologies.

The first half of the book is stand-alones, and because many of them are anthology stories, they are more sex-focused than her serial works. The first story can be summed up with  “we’re in love, what do we do now?” A graduating senior and her underclassman lover spend a morning reliving their good times in school. Two girls in a private Catholic girls school indulge in questionable taste as they enjoy a bit of non-consensual BDSM in the chapel in front of Mary. A college student teaches her tutor how to have fun on a vacation.

The second half of the book is a mini-series about “Nega”, a girl with negative vibes, who desires a fellow clubmember whom she sees as a perfect angel that she wants to dirty. Nega has a lot of issues to get past and her image is just one of them. For her part, the object of Nega’s desire, Tsukimiya, is totally on board. They learn to trust themselves and each other. Kei, a idol of the school who helps Nega rework her image,  and Nana, Nega’s friend, have a parallel relationship that goes from friends with benefits to something more. No surprise, I liked this series best, since we took time to get to know the characters, rather than just rushing them to bed.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Stories – Variable – 4-8
Characters – Same
Yuri – 9
Service – 8

Overall – 7

I definitely prefer Morishima-sensei’s series. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Strange Babies (ストレンジベイビーズ)

September 8th, 2013

In Ohsawa Yayoi’s Black Yagi to Gekiyaku Madeline, we met Yagi-san, a “typical” unpopular girl with a surprising secret – she has a popular occult net show, in which she stars wearing a goat’s head. Yagi meets another net idol, super-cute Madeline and the two of them team up to do combined shows. They strike up a friendship that definitely has potential to become more.

In the sequel, Strange Babies, (ストレンジベイビーズ) Yagi and Mado-chan’s burgeoning relationship is stomped flat by Kokoto, a fan of “Yagi-sama.” Kokoto inserts herself in between Yagi and Mado-chan in order to capture Yagi’s affections. Yagi, having never had any friends, now finds herself surrounded by a harem. She’s blissfully happy…only, something is nagging at her. She’s not sure that Kokoto really sees her as a person, and she misses the time she used to spend alone with Mado-chan.

It all comes to a climax, when Kokoto invites herself to a recording session of Yagi-sama’s show. Madeline, completely cut off from Yagi, leaves. Yagi learns the source of Kokoto’s admiration – which is a nice story, but, it becomes obvious to her at last that Kokoto has no feelings for the girl behind the mask. Leaving Kokoto, Yagi runs to Mado-chan’s home and they reunite, tearfully admitting their feelings for each other.

We don’t even have to feel too bad for Kokoto, as her best friend and sidekick, Arisu, is well-placed to pick up the pieces.

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As overwrought and crazy as the premise appears, this wasn’t a bad story at all. Making Kokoto sympathetic was critical, or she would have been too annoying and hateful to have been an effective plot complication. Giving Arisu feelings for Koko-chan was more or less just padding her fall in our heads, so we don’t have to feel guilty that Yagi’s rejection will send her back into depression. The hardest thing about the story is Yagi’s cluelessness. It is, however, not hard to imagine that she is unable to see Mado-chan’s feelings for her, having lived so alone her whole life.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Character – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Strange Babies was a really weird series, but it worked. And it had a Baphomet, so it gets extra points. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Zenryaku, Yuri no Sono Yori Volume 2 (前略、百合の園より)

September 1st, 2013

Last December, I reviewed Volume 1 of Sugawa Tokushi’s  Zenryaku, Yuri no Sono Yori.  I never honestly expected we’d be discussing it once again. Earlier this month, Tsubomi discontinued publishing comics online, and their series have been absorbed by the Mangatime Kirara family of magazines. Some of the series will continue at least into 2014.

But in the meantime, we have a few series that began in Tsubomi that are wrapping up now – among them, this one. Volume 1 was more of a collection of mini-series, but Volume 2 sticks with the titular series.

Yuri is one-quarter foreign, so she has blonde hair, and she is a loner and little prickly, so she has no friends in school.  Fujiwara is the Nadesico beauty type who breaks through Yuri’s defenses – ostensibly to help the other girl make friends. But, as we see the story from Fujiwara’s point of view this time, there is way more than just being nice on her side. Fujiwara is attracted to Yuri. Once she breaks the ice for Yuri to make new friends, she feels cut off from the other girl and reacts by putting more distance between them. Yuri realizes that she has more friends – but they aren’t Fujiwara. After some minor emotional conflict, they finally break past the wall they’ve built between them and admit they “like” like one another. The ending looks rosy – especially with the addition of a few very light-hearted gags in the extra chapters.

Another extra chapter turns to Shinobu, Yuri’s only friend – and the woman who writes the BL manga Yuri draws. Shinobu is able to see the result of Yuri’s and Fujiwara’s make-up and is inspired to write a Yuri manga, called…”Zenryaku, Yuri no Sono Yori.” Obviously. ^_^ Another extra was the utterly absurd and very cute meeting of Fujiwara, Yuri and Shinobu and her girlfriend, the admiring underclassman from the first volume.

Here’s the thing. I read this book in one sitting. It may not sound compelling, but it was actually a real page turner. Sat down last night late for some before-bed reading and the next thing I knew – I was done.  That almost never happens. So while it was another “Story A”, another girl meets girl, girl likes girl, they like each other, the end book – it grabbed me and ran. For that alone I’d give it a good score.

But…I don’t have to do that for that alone. The final omake shows Yuri at home, drawing a manuscript and chopping vegetables, while Fujiwara is at college, then wraps up her classwork and heads home. The final page of the volume shows Yuri opening the door to Fujiwara.

“I’m home, Yuri” says Fujiwara.

“Welcome home, Misono,” Yuri replies.

Ratings:

Art – So many inconsistencies, Sugawa’s got a long way to go. Sometimes pages look more like a doujinshi than a professionally published work –  Variable, from 5-8
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Yuri – 9
Service – 1

Overall – 9

There is a girl, she likes another girl. The other girl likes her back. They like each other. And they live happily ever after. The end.