Archive for the Magazines Category


Yuri Manga: Wildrose Re:Mix disk a and disk b

February 26th, 2011

Yuri Hime Wildrose was a 6-volume anthology of Yuri manga by Ichijinsha, the publishers of Comic Yuri Hime. Those six volumes were extremely variable, and tended to focus more on “Plot, What Plot?”-type stories than those being serialized in the Yuri Hime magazines. Wildrose has been re-launched as Girls Love (and the missing apostrophe has been the subject of many a Japanese Yuri blog post, something I admit I find amusing.) I have reviewed all 6 of the Wildrose volumes:

Volume 1 – Volume 2 – Volume 3 – Volume 4 – Volume 5 – Volume 6

You’ll note that I did not much like them, precisely because they focused on stories where the extremely thin plots were meant only to barely cover the sex scene. It’s not that that kind of story can’t be done well, it was just that mostly, these weren’t. In the end, I gave away the entire set.

 

The two Wildrose Re:mix disc-a and disc-b volumes are exactly what they sound like – some of the (presumably most popular) stories from the earlier collections, focusing on artists that are working within the pages of Comic Yuri Hime. As with all collections, there is good, bad and ugly, and your opinion might differ strongly from mine, depending on what you like. I did not like most of these stories the first time, and was no more thrilled the second time. However, there were a few from each volume that I found enjoyable enough, even though I’ll admit to finding explicit, bodily fluid-filled sex not all that appealing, really. I guess I’m just a romantic at heart. (I wrote that in hopes of getting you to spit-take. Did it work? ^_^)

If you’re one of the crowd that prefers your Yuri manga to be short, uncomplicated and full of sex, this would be an excellent two-volume collection to purchase. There’s even a few cute stories in it.

Ratings:

Overall – Everything varies widely, let’s be generous and say…6

Probably the most interesting thing about these two volumes was the mystery of who bought them. Some anonymous Okazu Hero sent them to me and did not include a message, or a name. (Anonymous Porn would be the best band name, wouldn’t it?)

26 Feb Note: Mystery solved! Today’s review was sponsored by Okazu Superhero Dan P. Thank you very much Dan, for letting me relive some of the better Wildrose stories.





Yuri Artbook: Yuri Hime Color Artworks Chronicle

February 4th, 2011

Yuri Hime Color Artworks Chronicle (百合姫カラーアートワークス CHRONICLE) is exactly what the title says it is. This is a collection of color illustrations from Comic Yuri Hime and Yuri Hime S magazines and several of the collections published under the Yuri Hime imprint, from 2005-2010. And it is therefore a chronicle of the magazine from its birth through its cytokinesis into two magazines.

The book is split into a number of sections – Cover Works, Pin-Up Works, Color Comic Works, Other Works and Comic Cover Works. Overall, they provide a really wide variety of styles, tone and Yuri. Noticeably absent are the covers and art created by Hibiki Reine from the first five issues of Yuri Hime. The collection begins with the cover of the sixth volume, by Eiki Eiki and Zaoh Taishi. From there, the covers are arranged chronologically.

As a historical artifact for Yuri history, this book is pretty remarkable. As an artbook, it’s fantastic.  While I might not like every picture, there’s still plenty to enjoy, with such a variety of talented artists. Nearly every page reminds me how many people have contributed to the making of this magazine.

A side effect of flipping through the pages of this book is to remind me how much I really didn’t much enjoy a great deal of the color art for Yuri Hime S.  Kind of a no-brainer, I suppose. But it also reminded me in a very visceral fashion, just how relaxing I find Fujieda Miyabi’s art. I’d be flipping past a series of moe-servicey things and get to a picture of Sarasa and Seriho and just…relax. ^_^

If you never did get a chance to read the early issues of Yuri Hime, or you just relish the idea of collecting all the color pictures, Yuri Hime Artworks Chronicle makes a great addition to your Yuri collection.

Ratings:

Art – Variable, obviously

It is my very, very genuine pleasure to thank Okazu Superhero George R for his sponsorship of this review and for the contribution of this piece of Yuri manga history to the world’s largest collection of Yuri!





Yuri Manga: Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari, Volume 3 (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり)

January 24th, 2011

Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) is making a valiant effort to stay relevant in the Yuri magazine game. At Volume 3, it has yet to really build character, but it’s trying, I think. Both older sister magazines, Comic Yuri Hime and Tsubomi have some big hitters on their team, but little sister Hirari is not backing down from the challenge.

And so Volume 3 begins with Hakamada Mera as leadoff batter. Certainly Mera is a big(gish) name in Yuri, but her stories are more bunt than single. In “Salomelic” a dark, potentially gloomy girl with the word “black” in her name, whose interest is witchcraft is befriended by a shiny, happy “light” girl. They become friends and somehow, we’re to understand that it’s more.

And that, in a nutshell is the single biggest problem I have with Hirari. The stories are mostly sweet and frequently end with two girls as friends or two friends renewing their bonds of friendship. So rarely is there more than hand-holding, that I’m often hard pressed to see this as “Yuri,” as opposed to nice story about girls who are friends. And when they go past friendship, it’s mostly an uptick in heartbeat and “what is this feeling?” I’m not looking for hot lesbo sex, but there’s so much more variety and depth than this in a relationship, it seems such a waste to keep pitching the same one pitch over and over.

Probably the best story in the book for me was “Pulchrima” by Fuji Koyomi. Her style is quite reminiscent of Hakamada’s, but the characters were not. Of all the stories, this was the one I am absolutely able to say is “Yuri.”

The other story that stood out of the pack in a good way was “Under One Roof” by Fujio. (There were a few that stood out for not particularly good art or confused story telling, but I don’t feel like being a drag and either you’re buying this or you’re not. It’s not likely that you’re waffling on Volume 3 of an anthology.) This story, which is well down the batting rotation, sets up a situation with a young woman getting a roomshare with another woman who – gasp! – likes women. I’m hoping future chapters remain peppy.

I’m torn between wanting to kick Hirari in the ass and root for it like the underdog it is, but right now, it’s just not really ready for the big league.

Ratings –

Variable – 6





Yuri Manga: Tsubomi, Volume 9 (つぼみ)

January 20th, 2011

Reading Tsubomi, volumes 7, 8 and 9 in such a relatively short period of time has reminded me once again about what a linchpin continuity is for a serialized story.

The difference between that 5-month wait between volumes of a series here in the West and in Japan is HUGE for one incredibly important reason. In Japan, the readers are often being fed a monthly installment of story, while here in the west, there is just a silent space of time in which we amuse ourselves with something else. By the time we return to a story 5 months later, no one can really be blamed for having forgotten where we left off. Manga for younger readers often have a “The Story So Far” insert, but that’s not true for most adult-oriented works…nor is it true for quarterly anthologies such as Tsubomi.

So, perhaps more than three months have gone by when I finally get around to the next volume and I have a very hard time remembering who these people are and why I should care. This is, at least in part, because I found a number of the Tsubomi anthology stories not overwhelmingly interesting initially. It made it harder to remember them in the torrent of similar stories I read. But having read three volumes in a matter of three months, I find that I can remember far more of the stories than I previously did. I’ll chalk at least a little of this up to my failing memory, which cares about fewer things every day, and is far more relaxed about forgetting inconsequentials than it used to be. ^_^

Which brings us to Tsubomi (つぼみ), Volume 9.

“Hoshikawa Ginza Yon-choume” continues as Otome and Minato try to find balance in their domestic situation, and what, if anything, they expect out of each other.

Which is not entirely dissimilar from the situation in Morinaga Milk’s “Himitsu no Recipe” as Watanabe now has to reconcile herself to being in cooking club because she likes cooking, as opposed to being in cooking club because she likes the cooking club president. Her expectations have to shift if she is going to find any happiness at all.

In “Green” Youko and Megu show us how their relationship developed.

I like “Hana to Hoshi.” The simple addition of a backstory between the two protagonists gives this particular girl meets girl (again) tale some depth. In addition, the opening scene of this chapter, in which Hanai is practicing different ways to say hello to try to be cool and casual, gave the story a new level of verisimilitude.

Unlike “Prism” in which the rather tired trope of girl meets girl (who she thought was boy when they were young) is handled pretty unexcitingly. IF this story continues, I’ll hope it sets that trope aside and moves into new, somewhat less overused story lines.

Yay for “Lonely Wolf Lonely Sheep”! Here’s a Story A told with some genuine effort at making all the pieces feel new and fresh. Imari-chan and Imari-san begin to date, but long after Imari-san has healed up, something is still wrong with Imari-chan’s hand. The story of what exactly is wrong and the fantastic way Imari-san handles it, reminds me again there are no truly “original” stories, but that there are still plenty of ways to tell a well-told story originally.

“Tandem Lover” seems to have lost a lot of the obnoxious service that plagued its opening chapters. In this chapter two Tandem teams go full on to beat the crap out of each other. The lower pilot on each team is a little surprised to find that the upper pilots are motivated by a lovers’ quarrel.

We learn some of Kuroi-sensei’s backstory in “Renai Manga,” and really, it’s kind of predictable. Crisis and a love triangle means that this will probably hang on for a few more chapters, until a tearful happy “Story A” end.

“Endless Room” has officially become creepy. I don’t mind stories about the people who stay in the suite in a hotel, but the same androgynous waitress kind of watching over/seducing them is rather uncomfortable-making.

“In “Girls Ride” motorcycling and love triangles are the order of the day.

As always, there are stories that I have skipped, but I notice that I am following more and more of the stories in this collection. So, we’ll take this anthology off “critical” bypass “serious” and move it right to “stable.”

Ratings:

Overall – 8

If only for “Hana to Hoshi” and “Lonely Wolf Lonely Sheep,” I find myself actually looking forward to Volume 10, which comes out next month.





Yuri Hime Rebirth – Online

January 20th, 2011

For a limited time, the first issue of the newly rebooted Comic Yuri Hime is available online. Ichijinsha has also mentioned, on their editorial blog, a few series will be continuing only online.

The second volume of Comic Yuri Hime is now available wherever fine Yuri Manga anthologies are sold.