Archive for the Magazines Category


Yuri Manga: Candy, Volume 1 (キャンディ）

July 25th, 2011

Suzuki Yuuko’s Candy (キャンディ), Volume 1, is a realistic and pleasantly executed “Story A” collected from stories that ran in Tsubomi magazine.

Kanan is an athletic, somewhat goofy girl, who finds herself strongly attracted to Chiaki, the model “good girl.” Kanan is admired by many of the students for her cool performance in archery, but her best friend, Ichijou, knows that really, she’s just a big goof.

Goofy as she is, Kanan approaches Chiaki and almost unbelievably, it turns out that the honor student is just as interested in her. Their relationship develops quite normally, as they figure out how to deal with their own feelings, each other’s feelings and the inevitable rumors that spread through their school. Luckily for both of them, they are in socially stable, perhaps even powerful, positions in the school hierarchy and the rumors leave them relatively untouched – except, as Kanan discusses her relationship with an underclassman admirer, she notes that if this is weird, her mind is just full of weird these days.

Their biggest crisis comes in the form of a date, when they realize that their different personalities go way deeper than just life of the mind vs life of the body. But, after what could have been a killer crisis, they each leave their own comfort zone a bit and find a common ground. This chapter was outstanding to me, simply because both made an effort not just to cope, but to adapt.

The main story ends with our happy couple happy. Perhaps happily-ever-after awaits them, perhaps not, but for *this* moment, all is well.

There is a short extra chapter about Kanan’s friend Ichijou and her struggle accepting Kanan and Chiaki but, that too, resolves with a smile.

It’s true that this story breaks no new ground; given how many times this same path has been walked, this book was still a delightful companion for that stroll.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Clean, lots of white space, easy to follow, easy to enjoy
Story – 8 Same as above
Characters – The same as always, and yet, very pleasant and likable
Yuri – 7
Service – 1 on principle only

Overall – 8

If you’re looking for a book to practice Japanese reading with, and want something approachable, easy on the eyes and feel good, Candy is your book. Ultimately, Candy is a truly sweet look at first love.





Yuri Manga: Renai Manga ( レンアイマンガ )

July 15th, 2011

Sometimes when you pick up a book, what you want is to slip into a comfortable story and just…relax. Renai Manga (レンアイマンガ ) is that story. This manga is the equivalent of a pair of comfortable slippers.

New manga editor Haruka has just been assigned to her favorite manga artist ever, Kuroi Ritsu. Kuroi-sensei’s manga, “With You” motivated her to turn her life around. When she finally meets shut-in, mopey, entirely unfashionable Kuroi-sensei, Haruka is in for a bit of a shock.

The shock only lasts a very little while and Haruka finds herself taking care of Kuroi-sensei, until she’s faced with a second shock….when “With You” was in production, the current managing editor of the magazine was Kuroi-sensei’s editor…and, Haruka can’t help but wonder if Kuroi-sensei still has feelings for her former editor.

Of course, we can see that they’d make a great team, if only they could breach the gap between them…and they do when it comes to light that Kuroi-sensei’s good luck charm and favorite fan letter was written by none other than Haruka! Shocking, I know. ^_^

In the end they get together and are all adorable together and we really wish we’d get to see the story from this point forward, but we don’t, as it draws to an adorable, totally comfortable, totally predictable end.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 2 Kuroi-sensei needs a better bra

Overall – A warm, fuzzy, comfortable 8





Rakuen Le Paradis (楽園 LeParadis) Manga Magazine, Volume 6

July 12th, 2011

As always, reading an issue of Rakuen Le Paradis is like a trip into the adult reading room when you’re usually stuck in the kid’s room at the library.

We’re at Volume 6 now, and there’s a rhythm to the stories. They focus on so many kinds of relationships – from consensual abuse to tentative first love, with every kind of experience in between. But they are rarely same-old, same-old.

For Yuri fans, Nishi UKO’s “Collectors” continues to be touching and amusing, as Shinobu, Takako and their friends hit up a hot springs resort for a weekend away, only to find their conflicting personalities and priorities split them up almost immediately.

Also from Nishi UKO comes a rather touching homage to the story of Galatea, “Mannequin.” This was a totally “awww….” story, told in style by an elegant artist.

Takemiya Jin’s “Omoi no Kakera” continues with a shocking confession by one of Mayu’s friends who is sick of hearing Mayu say that gays make her sick…because she’s gay herself.

As always, these Yuri stories are only a few examples of the quality artists and storytellers captured in the pages of this volume. If you’re not reading this magazine yet and are wondering if there’s more to manga than just the same three plots over and over, I once again recommend Rakuen Le Paradis.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

For grown-ups who want to read manga for grown-ups.





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

May 16th, 2011

Another excellent volume of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫). At this point, the magazine is balanced pretty well for me, by which I mean there’s about half stuff I like and half I don’t. It’s good that there’s stories I don’t much care for, because it gives people with different tastes than my own a chance to enjoy the magazine, as well.

“Justice For Girls” starts off on the cover once again. This time, we’re back at the high school in which all students carry firearms and shoot at each other. A girl is in love with her class representative. Did I mention they carry guns? Well, they carry guns. My favorite line comes in the beginning, when the class representative, Kotono, describes Hisami’s gun and mentions how annoying it is. Good writing, because I found her gun annoying too.

Of course the opening story in this volume is “Yuru Yuri” with a ton of info about the anime.

Among the most memorable series for me were:

Uso Kurata’s “Yuri Danshi” adds a fourth girl to the fantasy Yuri team in Hanadera-kun’s head, and offers a variety of new Yuri fantasy scenarios to his delusional brain. When he confronts Matsuoka and tells her he’ll be her ally, she replies with a strong hook to the eye. I loved Matsuoka at that moment. ^_^ But…maybe Hanadera wasn’t wrong after all?…. …. ….

“Start Line” by Nanzaki Iku is a nice look at tension between two girls who never spoke while they were in school together. Will this continue? I certain hope so.

Tanaka Minoru writes a vampire story with an ironic twist in “Vampire Girl.”

Ah ha! I was right after all and I’m not that happy about it. “DNA Double XX” by Zaou Taishi and Eiki Eiki is doing exactly what I thought it was going to do and I’m vexed all over again. OTOH, I trust them to balance it, so it doesn’t just become a fake-BL story. I really feel quite strongly about this, because BL has some tropes I find strongly unappealing and I really hope they’ll avoid those. On the other hand, I very much liked Aoi’s challenge to Sakura for being so utterly dumb that it was funny. I’m trusting them…I’m trusting them.

Minamoto Hisanari’s “Fu~Fu” follows Kina’s older sister Kana, as she deals with something she’s not used to – failure with a girl.

“Renai Joshikka” was Morishima Akiko at her finest. This is a woman’s perspective, looking back at the turn of the century, and youthful behavior, and  grimacing. ^_^ This chapter introduces some new characters in our all-lesbian Wedding Boutique. For the first time, the issue of…ready?…same-sex marriage…is broached in Comic Yuri Hime. Rah! Rah! Morishima-sensei!

The story that blew me away though, was a surprise. I didn’t much much like Momono Moto’s earlier works, but “Aru Shoujo no Gunjou” was fantastic. A high school girl finds herself drawn into the life of a female couple and witnesses their break-up, and becomes part of the solution to healing. Although there were some very typical plot points here, the story worked as a whole.

Kowo Kazuma offers a solid give and take between two girls in “3-Second Rule,” which is a great title. The 3-second rule is simply -if you ask a girl to go out and she doesn’t answer in 3 seconds, cut your losses and move on.

And last for me, if not for the magazine, was a side story from the “Itoshii Hito” series, about Nana’s second chance to apologize to Youko for rejecting her years ago.

Overall, a strong volume with a lot to like. The more experienced creators are really coming up with characters we can care about, and there’s less and less reliance on the tropes of “Story A.” I think we can safely say that Comic Yuri Hime is growing up nicely. ^_^

Overall – 9





Yuri Manga: Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) Volume 4

May 5th, 2011

You know all the stuff I keep saying about Rakuen Le Paradis? That the stories are written for an adult audience who wants to be treated like adults, and it takes couples beyond happily ever after? Well…none of that applies to Pure Yuri Anthology, Hirari, Volume 4 (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり).

In fact, very few of the stories even read “Yuri” to me at all. If they called it “Pure Friendship Anthology Hirari,” I would say it was more accurate that calling it Yuri. In fact, if anything, calling it Yuri stretches the definition of Yuri even past what I’m willing to admit Yuri is. Hirari is, mostly, stories of girls developing emotional closeness with other girls. Call it best friends or, maybe, in some cases, more…but not really. Almost every story in this collection is so removed from love or desire that I find it honestly ridiculous to call it that. Maybe a few stories have some light crushiness, but most of them sound like this:

In Hakamada Mera’s “Black and White,” creepy-looking, magic-user Kurosawa enters a new school and resigns herself to being alone as she always has been. Until another girl becomes her friend. But, when Kurosawa gets good grades on a test, she is accused of using magic and is ostracized. Until her friend comes and rescues her from class-imposed solitary life and forces the other kids to apologize. And…that’s it. It’s a great story of a nice friendship. Perhaps, maybe, it will develop into more, but after several chapters, referring to it as Yuri is just stretching the truth.

Ratings:

Overall – 6