Archive for the Magazines Category


Yuri Manga Tsubomi, Volume 15 (つぼみ)

January 17th, 2012

Volume 15 of Tsubomi (つぼみ) begins with illustrations by Hayashiya Shizuru that, when I saw them the first time, motivated me to tell her on Twitter that they were “stimulating.” A female bodyguard and her charge are seen surrounded by a crowd (opening, awards event, something like it, there are floodlights and photographers and a crowd) on one color page and on the other, black-and-white page, sharing an intimate moment in bed. Really, truly great. Hayashiya-sensei said that she’d love to draw their story one day and I said that I’d love to read it. ^_^

“Hoshikawa Ginza Yon-choume” continues with Minato coming down with a cold…again. Now that I’ve read the whole second volume, I’m kind of cooling on this series, unless it actually goes somewhere that doesn’t make me dislike everyone more.

“Walk Wit Me” [sic] comes to a crisis, and probably a close, as Mallory and Wendy leave their moribund town and the dead souls that live there. In this chapter, it becomes more plain that this is a dust bowl America we’re in. I’d want out too. They end up heading down Rt. 66 to wherever.

Shou belatedly realizes what Chiharu means to her, in “Kurai mori, Shiroi michi.”

Hakamada Mera’s “Higashitotsuka of Eden” is finally starting to take shape, not so much as a Yuri story, but as an otaku story. “Kiku-chan” finds herself outed as a doujinshi author, when the manga research club participates in a comic event.

Hikaru and Megumi go to the ocean with friends in “Prism”. As they kiss, in a corner of the beach away from the rest of the crowd, they are seen by a passing group of people who are rude about it. Later, as they leave the convenience store, they encounter that same group, who proceed to intimidate them physically and verbally. Not surprisingly, this scene is rough. One feels one’s stomach go tense almost immediately, and when the girls are cornered, then harassed, you start to look around the room for help. Luckily for Megu and Hikaru, help arrives and they are freed from a quickly escalating ugly situation. But the feeling lingers for a while. This scene is uncomfortably realistic, which means that the creator has managed to convey the situation well, and make us care about the characters. Another sign of the evolution and maturity of Yuri, we’re getting yet another look at some of the less savory issues a lesbian couple might face. Tsubomi pushes the envelope once again. Kind of a surprise, really, that Tsubomi is the one willing to take that risk, before the older, more established, Comic Yuri Hime.

The rest of this volume was of less interest to me, but might be high interest of you, so do consider buying this magazine and showing your support for the Yuri creators that are working quite hard to bring you stories of interest.

Ratings:

Overall – 7





Yuri Manga: Tsubomi, Volume 14 (つぼみ)

January 10th, 2012

Tsubomi, Volume 14 (つぼみ) starts off with a very interesting story. “Walk Wit Me” [Sic] takes place in the Dust Bowl of America during the post-WWI area. This is not entirely apparent in this first chapter, but the abandoned oil rigs and clothing are a big hint in that direction. I’m not sure what Wendy’s mother’s issue is, but nonetheless Mallory and Wendy face issues of class, and of course acceptance.

In “Hana to Hoshi” Hanaii is made aware of Hoshino’s relationship with her sempai and this shock is compounded when a male classmate confesses he likes her.

Kiku-chan is drawn into the Manga Research Club in Hakamada Mera’s “Higashitotsuka of Eden.” This seems like it’s a good thing, but Kiku-chan certainly doesn’t appear all that happy with it. That may be more because she just doesn’t know what to do with her rich, attractive, neighborly next-door neightbor, Hiyoshi-san’s outgoing personality.

Another one of those series that I took a long time to getting around to noticing is “Prism” by showhigashiyama. Once I noticed it, I suddenly realized that I actually liked it. Hikaru and Megumi have a shockingly normal and realistic relationship. I look forward to seeing this in collection now, so I can retrace the story of two very real young ladies in love.

“Kuraimori, Shiroimichi” isn’t heading anywhere fast, but I want to believe that Shou will realize her feelings for the blind woman who has intruded into her life.

“Candy” continues with an entirely unrealistic, but very cute chapter, in which Kanan and Chiaki commit a minor piece of school vandalism in order to have an intimate moment together.

And that was it for stories I liked this month. Less than half but there’s probably something in there for you, so please, remember to support Yuri when you can with actual money. Downloading scans doesn’t pay the artists. Thanks. ^-^

Ratings:

Overall – 7

 





Yuri Manga: Rakuen Le Paradis (楽園 Le Paradis), Volume 7

December 21st, 2011

Hrm. So, if anyone asked me how to build a Josei magazine that men might also read, I’d say, get lots of top names to draw stories that are refreshingly different in that they are pretty much the same as everywhere else, except that the women are slightly more in control of their lives. Add in some Yuri, in the form of already-proven artists, and then mix in some stories about guys. I’m not saying that’s what Rakuen Le Paradis (楽園 Le Paradis) had in mind, but that’s what it’s doing.

Volume 7 hits the Yuri fandom hard right at the front of the magazine, with Nishi UKO’s “Collectors,” which begins with a backstory about Takako in high school. The bridge between these two chapters made me extremely happy, with frames of Shinobu and Takako playing with each other’s hair in a beautifully intimate scene as they talk. This is exactly the kind of thing I’m looking for – adult intimacy, without it being porn. This series is pretty much the series I keep talking about wanting to read – after the happily ever after. When this series comes out in a collected Volume, it’s instantly Number 1 for the year.

Then we get the backhand with something many manga readers have long wanted – another overtly Yuri story by Hayashiya Shizuru-sensei. In “Heart Cooker” popular actress Nasu Renge is invited to be on a cooking show. The hosts of the show are Barahara Ruriko, an older, very Dame Edna-ish character and Shiohara Satsuki, a young, attractive host. Right from the first moment Renge walks on stage, Ruriko notices a certain…tension…between Renge and Satsuki. And, as they introduce Renge, it turns out that Satsuki and she attended the same school. Satuski was a year younger, but had always admired Kawakami-sempai (Renge’s real name) as she practiced for track and field. At first Renge doesn’t remember Satsuki, but then she recalls a day when she passed the ball back to an energetic underclassman in the softball team, who she was instantly attracted to…. The entire time this is going on, the production staff is frantically looking to get the cooking part of the show moving along, but Renge and Satsuki start to fade off into their own little world, so Ruriko steps in to save the day and make the dish, and let’s the two women have their moment. As Ruriko finishes the dish, Renge asks Satsuki out for a drink and Ruriko smiles in satisfaction at the results of both cooking and matchmaking.

And last, but definitely not least, for Yuri readers, Takemiya Jin’s “Omoi no Kakera” continues, as Mayu struggles desperately to get her feelings for Mika in order and to deal with her best friend’s snarky, but accurate assessment of those feelings.

So, lets just turn around for a moment and survey the landscape. Three Yuri series, two about adults, all by women, two of which have actual lesbians.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

Le Paradis, indeed. I think I’ve died and gone to Yuri heaven.





Megami Lily Magazine

December 10th, 2011

So, I’m not sure if you know about Megami magazine or not. It’s pretty much a full-color anime-focused magazine, carefully crafted to serve the needs of the creepiest FanBoys, with lots of full color pictures of rosy-cheeked school age girls presenting their animated asses, crotches and whatever breasts they have to full view of the readers who, presumably really enjoy looking at pictures of cartoon characters’ crotches, etc. Megami also includes large, full-color posters of pantsless cartoon characters, cartoon characters in wet, clingy skimpy bathing suits and with whipped cream on their faces.

To be blunt, Megami is not to my taste.

But when they put together a Yuri-focused Megami Lily, I had to at least give it a look. Not surprisingly, it’s the /u/ of magazines.

The first 30 pages is filled with Yuru Yuri, and then it’s a pretty predictable series of moe-focused Yuri; Strike Witches, Saki, Tamayura, Makenki, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, A Channel, Hidamari Sketch of course Maho Shoujo Madoka Magika, followed by some slightly older favorites; Ikkitousen, Aria and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.

At the end of this I found myself rather more depressed than elated. Megami Lily really pressed home the fact that Yuru Yuri was exactly the very correct anime to lead off with from Comic Yuri Hime. The anime audience is, apparently only interested in rosy-cheeked, slightly brain dead school girls. I am no longer anything like the anime audience and there is very little anime being made for me.

Once again, I’m thrilled that Comic Yuri Hime is making money hand over fist from Yuri Yuri, but now I realize that a radical shift in anime will need to happen before we see a Yuri anime that doesn’t make my skin crawl.

No more Megami Lily for me. I’m not much interested in looking at cartoon schoolgirls with no pants.

Ratings:

Service – 10





Yuri Danshi Manga (百合男子) Volume 1

November 30th, 2011

Yuri Danshi, Volume 1 (百合男子) is…unsettling.

The premise, for those of you not reading it, is the life of a Yuri Fanboy. Hanadera-kun is sincere, but creepy. In fact, that’s kind of the point – he’s sincere in his love for Yuri and his desire to see and nurture true Yuri love in the girls around him. Which is just creepy when you’re one of those girls.

Each chapter begins with a challenge – buying Yuri at a bookstore, uncovering what he considers to be a pure Yuri love in his classroom, visiting a Yuri doujinshi event…and each chapter ends with a realization that his love for Yuri, as passionate as it is, is completely hopeless and empty, because where there is a “Yuri couple” someone like him would be no more than an annoyance at best.

It’s a funny series, overall, but I still can’t quite get a hold of who it’s supposed to be for. As a portrait of Yuri fanboy life, it’s a little distressing. I asked a friend in Japan his opinion of it and he said that he also finds it unsettling, as that is pretty much him on those pages. I commented that the series gave Yuri Fanboys a little taste of what it feels like to be a lesbian reading Yuri manga. And maybe that’s the point.

Katherine H has the best line about it, “I’ve never read Comic Yuri Hime thinking ‘Gosh, I’d really like to read a satire about the daily life of a Yuri Fanboy.'” Yup.

In the end of Volume 1, there is an interview of creator Uso Kurata, by Comic Yuri Hime editor Nakamura-san. In the interview we learn that this is Kurata’s semi-autobiographical tale of being a Yuri Fanboy, but that doesn’t make it any less unsettling. As a portrayal of a Yuri Fanboy, it’s the equivalent of Mai HiME‘s Shizuru as a lesbian. Not really wrong, per se, but not really a comfortable or laudable portrayal, either.

So, while I don’t hate Yuri Danshi, I probably won’t be getting the next volume unless there actually is some Yuri in it that isn’t in Hanadera-kun’s imagination.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – …
Characters – …
Yuri – …
Service – …

Overall – …

Who is this comic *for*? The 70% female of readers of Comic Yuri Hime to have some lolz at the 30% male readership? Or the 30% male Yuri Danshi readers to teach them what it feels like to be a lesbian reading Yuri? I don’t know. I just don’t know.