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Archive for the Magazines Category


Yuri Manga: Himitsu no Recipe (ひみつのレシピ)

November 10th, 2011

Underclassman Wakatsuki is reasonably sure she’s gay, but not entirely, so she convinces her sempai, the president of the cooking club, to y’know, kiss her, just to see.

And so, Morinaga Milk’s Himitsu no Recipe, (ひみつのレシピ）begins with a very cheap, servicey opening, and then desperately tries to make a story out of it.

Now that she’s convinced she likes girls, Wakatsuki is also convinced that she likes Buchou. A lot. A lot a lot. And, um, she really wants Buchou to like her back. So Wakatsuki joins the Cooking Club and plots to be closer to the club president, who is almost completely oblivious of her not-all-that-mixed signals.

For her part, Buchou really wants the Cooking Club to be successful and she’s putting her heart and soul into recruitment and training, pretty oblivious of Wakatsuki’s ulterior motives.

Unfortunately for readers, the heart aching sincerity of GIRL FRIENDS is pretty much completely absent in this series. The first chapter very much reads like a one-shot. The overall feel was that the first chapter was a tryout to see if Morinaga-sensei and the Tsubomi editors got along and when they did, they just told her to continue with these two characters.

It’s hard to be sympathetic to Wakatsuki, who would be completely sympathetic if she had her crush, treasured it, fantasized about it, and told herself the whole story in her head, as we do with crushes. But it’s impossible to really like her the 5th or 6th time Buchou has pushed her off and said, “No.” Because sexual harassment isn’t funny or cute or, really, entertaining, no matter how moe the art is.

The big summer training camp is coming up and Wakatsuki has her battle underwear ready to go. I’m almost hoping that Buchou fends her off, gives her what for and throws her out of the club. From my perspective, Wakatasuki needs to be trained properly.

I’m sorry this manga isn’t better, but it had such a bare bones opening and really hasn’t developed any muscles since.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 4
Characters – 5
Yuri – 6
Service – 6

Overall – 6

If you were a big fan of GIRL FRIENDS, I think you might be better off skipping this. If you just love Morinaga Milk’s work on principle, then definitely get it. It has her signature art style, but I know she can write better stories than this.

Sorry all the recent reviews have been grumpyish, but we’re getting down to the bottom of the pile of things I bought in September. And I’m saving the best for last. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) September 2011

October 26th, 2011

The September 2011 issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) is filled with many interesting things. And I’ve read about 5/6ths of them, so I’m going to punt on some of the stories, particularly the novels…it’s just been crazy and I really haven’t had time to read them.

In terms of the manga, I’m actally going to begin at the back of the book with a chapter of Uso Kurata’s Yuri Danshi. Hanadera-kun is in ecstasy – he’s going to a Yuri-only doujinshi event! Surely there he will see the Yuri behavior he so desires to see, the beautiful and pure love between girls that is Yuri!

(Quick digression: I have NO IDEA AT ALL what you guys mean when you write me and tell me you love the “pure love” between girls. I never have and frankly, I don’t delve into it too deeply. Love between girls is pretty much just as messy and complicated as love between a girl and a boy or two boys. No clue what you’re thinking it’s like…)

So, imagine his shock when Hanadera-kun realizes that the girls on the train are all headed to a Tiger & Bunny event on the other side of the space…and the only ones at the Yuri event are guys. He’s creeped out and falls into despair because…and then he’s spotted by a bunch of Yuri Danshi who invite him out to dinner, where they delve very deeply into why, despite Comic Yuri Hime‘s stated readership of 70% women, the only women at the Yuri event were artists. The conversation is one that I myself have had with so many, many people.This particular iteration of it is made more amusing by Kurata’s choices of names: Sakuragaoka-kun,  Musahino-kun, Kamakura-kun, Kagome-kun.

I had to laugh out loud at those at the confusion of these Yuri Danshi between that Yuri world of girls’ private schools and actual real women. And their analysis of whether Yuri is “for girls” or “for boys.”

Sorry guys. Yuri=fantasy, honestly. Nothing real about it. Poor Hanadera-kun has to come to that conclusion on his own…by himself…in the rain.  Really, I’m trying not to laugh at his/our pain.

Back at the front of the mag, Tanaka Minoru starts off what looks to be a off-beat story called “Rock it, girl!” in which a singer is told off for sucking, then invited to talk to an agent…about her guitar playing.

In Kowo Kazuma’s “ulacoi” (which I would have suggested transliterating “urakoi”) a girl quite literally falls for the back she stares at all day.

“Fu-fu” takes a step back to detail the everyday kisses and acts of affection in a “married” life. This series is so cute it makes me teeth ache. ^_^

Hiyori Otsu’s “Roundabout” had a pretty damn big handwave – Chiharu’s somehow forgotten the girl she went out with in high school, and now that they’ve been together for a few years…still hasn’t remembered. Asami’s angry enough that she feels it’s time to walk away from this otherwise perfect relationship.  Kids – this is how not to do it, okay? Just *talk* about things first. Hissy fits are never the answer.

Amano Syuninta’s “Otona no Onna ha Muri o Shinai” is also a pretty silly handwave-driven story, but the idea of challenging ones’ self in life by eating *really spicy ramen* and the ensuing swollen lips jokes were so goofy, that I enjoyed it anyway.

“Koigo Interactive” is a slightly too-intimate look at the affect of writing erotica on two members of a literature club. No sex, but, some overheating and blunt emotions.

In “Love Gene DNA” we once again deal with the ever-amusing mystery of “why do girls go to the bathroom together”…and we (and Matsuri) can see that there’s something to be worried about in Sakura and Aoi’s relationship. During a mixer of the Adam and Eve Top Stars, Aoi is confronted with what, in a more visceral way, Sakura being “engaged to” Erika means. She does not take it well at all…

Crisis looms in “Renai Joshikka.” Saki’s ex has inexplicably returned, just as she and Arisu were settling in together. What does that mean for them?!?

There’s other stories, very few of which I didn’t like and, of course, there’s “Girl’s Uprising,” the cover story, in which Tatsuki catches up with her lover Hyouko’s beloved sister, Chisato, and short stories “Aoi Yubisaki” and “Mahou ha Kotono o Kagesuteru: as short story chapters, none of which I have had a chance to read yet.

Overall, an excellent issue of Comic Yuri Hime, with more women in love with women (as opposed to school crushes, proto-Yuri or first loves)  per volume than ever before.

Overall – 9





Yuri Manga: Girls Love – strawberry milkshake

October 21st, 2011

In the beginning there was Yuri Hime and from Yuri Hime came Yuri Hime Wildrose, a series of “ecchi” (by which we mean “porn”) Yuri manga by artists that contributed to Yuri Hime or their cell-phone manga. Yuri Hime Wildrose was rendered into two “best of” collection called Remix disk A and disk B. (My review of the remix issues has links to all the original Wildrose volumes,as well.)

Now the series has been rebranded, again, as Girls Love. (Volume 1 review from March)

For readers, there isn’t a really significant difference between the Wildrose volumes and Girls Love – creators and content remain roughly the same. In this volume, Girls Love -strawberry milkshake- , we’re getting some of the best of the creators, including Nanzaki Iku’s ShizNat clones, (here called Youko and Hitomi), Amano Syuninta, Mikuni Hachime and others, each with a relatively “Plot, What Plot” one-shot that starts with attraction, moves to sex and ends with love.

It is this last that sets these stories apart from poorly concocted “PWP” stories. There’s nothing at all wrong with a story in which the story is merely the frame for the sex, but it’s infinitely more appealing (to me, at least) when actual caring and affection accompany desire.

I didn’t love every story in this collection, but I liked at least half, which is a pretty big leap from the distate with which I regarded most of the Wildrose volumes. In short – there were more adults, less school settings, more genuine affection and even a serious couple (thank you, Nanzaki Iku.)

Ratings:

Art – Variable, but let’s give it an 8 because most of these creators are good at what they do
Characters – same, 8
Story – N/A
Yuri – 9
Service – 8

Overall – 8

If you’re in the habit of looking for “ecchi” Yuri – i.e., you’re looking for lesbian porn, but don’t like saying it that way – I can actually recommend this volume. Far fewer distressingly drawn breasts than usual and some couples that I actually wanted to see together.

小松さんの要約: 大人の話が増え、好きな作品が半分になっただけでも、Wildroseよりは向上。





Drama CD: Love Gene Double X (恋愛遺伝子XX )

October 7th, 2011

The  Love Gene Double X (恋愛遺伝子XX ) Drama CD was included as an extra in the special edition of the first volume of the Love Gene Double X manga (which I reviewed in August 2011) Like the Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu Drama CD, this CD was essentially the manga volume performed by voice actresses. For people who like to hear characters given life, this Drama CD will suit nicely.

All the men of the world have died and women have rebuilt society along a new version of gendered lines. There are ADAMs, and there are EVEs. ADAMs are given the privilege associated with male roles and EVEs are the women of the world.  The story follows the arrival of Koshiro Aoi at the extremely elite school of Kingdom, her subsequent run-ins with the elite of the school and how she infiltrates the school leadership in order to take it down from within.

As I’ve repeatedly said, I have a LOT of problems with the premise, but also have great hope for the  resolution, as long as the creators are allowed the time they need to do what they *obviously* plan on doing with the story.

But, more importantly, and in the context of what I said about the GIRL FRIENDS Drama CD about CDs adapting a visual medium to a verbal medium) how is this as a dramatization of the story? Pretty good, actually. All the actresses do a decent job of their roles.  Taketatsu Ayana (K-ON!‘s Azusa, Yuru Yuri‘s Mikarun) sounds, I dunno, a bit girly as Aoi, but very thankfully, there is no attempt to masculinize the ADAM’s voices. So, after my initial surprise, she sounded perfectly normal in her role. Hikasa Youko (K-ON!‘s Mio, and a number of roles in other Yuri-ish series) actually sounded perfect as Kokonoe Sakura.  The only voice that didn’t work for me was Gotou Youko (Hiro in Hidamari Sketch) as Erika-sama. The character is over-the-top and she played her way over the top. It was meant to be too much…and it was.

The one downside to this Drama CD was that if you were not already familiar with the series, the brief set up might not be enough to fully convey the backstory. On the other hand, you can only get this Drama CD with the manga, so go read the manga first. There, problem solved. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

This was enjoyable as a performance of the manga, with a good dollop of service, and didn’t increase my frustration with the overall setup meaningfully. In fact, if anything, it served to convince me that the downfall of this system is the only possible resolution to the story.





Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) Volume 5

September 24th, 2011

I have a problem with Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) Volume 5. It’s pretty much the same problem I’ve had since the beginning. It’s a pretty problematic problem for a series called “Pure Yuri Anthology.” The problem is –  there’s pretty much no Yuri in it.

My standards for Yuri are relatively relaxed. But you know…I do actually expect some expression of emotional or physical connection between two female characters. Stories in Hirari do have “emotional” connection, but it almost always tends to be “OMG, she noticed me! We can be friends? Really? She won’t hate me because I’m….?”

Sometimes a story actually strays into “I’m jealous when she spends time with anyone else,” (as in “Salomelic,” Hakamada Mera’s story) territory, but almost any story in the anthology is easier to read as “friendship” than love, romance or desire.

This is probably the last volume of Hirari, I’ll review, because clearly “pure Yuri” is what I see as friendship. Unless something really stands out, I won’t bother mentioning this anthology again.

Overall – 6

I prefer more Yuri in my “Yuri” than this anthology is willing to give. Forget moving past schoolgirls, this magazine hardly gets as far as “I like you.”