I will continue to do what I started with last issue, and only address the stories I felt were worth reading. The rest do not appeal to me for one reason or another and I don’t want to waste my time even so much as synopsizing them.

So, for me, the first story in Yuri Hime S, Volume 12, is “Fufu.” Let me be very clear – this story is *important.* Some people, after having read my glowing review of this story from the last volume were disappointed because nothing happens. The first chapter is just about two women who sit around talking. This is followed by this volume’s chapter in which they go out shopping for a bed. That’s it. But that’s precisely why it’s important. This story is about the little moments of domestic bliss that are the majority of time spent in a marriage. On 2chan, the response was, “why should I care?” and a lot of derision about lesbians and why they don’t want lesbians in their Yuri. That’s why this story is important. Because, no, Yuri fandom, especially the male half, are not more open-minded and accepting. If anything they are usually less – sexually immature sometimes, sexually conservative frequently. Otaku in Japan are rarely socially liberal. Social and political equality for gay couples is not even in the playbook, much less a priority.

So when “Fufu” covers this territory, gently, adorably forcing this audience to repeatedly confront the fact that lesbian couples are happy without a man, and would like to have words and laws that protect their status absolutely – it is important. I remain thrilled with Ichijinsha’s decision to run this series in Yuri Hime S.

Above all…c’mon…the story is about getting a big pluffy bed! As a proud owner of one of those, I say without reservation that this is the greatest story ever! lol

In “Okkake x girls” Amami-sempai and Koyanagi-sempai had a smoking hot kiss in the last scene of the school play and it’s inspired some of the other students to try it out. This series gets points for having Amami accepted into the “Sakarazuka” school where she’ll become a real prince.

In “Kaichou to Fukukaichou” the Vice President is starting to come to terms with what she feels is a hopeless love for the President, only to encounter the President in tears over a difficult family situation. She offers comfort in the form on an embrace and lets the girl she loves cry in her arms.

“Marriage Black” tells the tale of two daughters of opposing crime families, mixed in with a little “The Graduate” and a little murder. I kind of wonder where this one is going.

Hiyori Otsu’s “Orange and Yellow” covers the well-worn territory of a girl and the moron she loves. ^_^

“Shinagami Alice” avoids explaining anything by adding a sadistic Loli who kidnaps the lead, so we don’t notice there’s no plot.

The plot takes a turn for the irrelevant when the male lead of the play disappears just before the school festival in “Konohana Link.” I’m once again of the mind that this will all make more sense once I get all the chapters together, because right now, it’s too scattered for me to follow.

The memes are flying thick and fast with no sign of an actual story in “Zettai Shoujo Astoria” No one’s gonna complain that this story moves slow – it’s on a treadmill to nowhere at full speed right now. Even the characters run around the campus a lot.

Anna’s doll talks and she’s still in love with Elza. Elza asks her to be her disciple, and kind of misses the fact that she’s in love with Anna, too. It’s okay, it’s not like we expected genius from “Cassiopeia Dolce.”

And while that’s only about half the volume – that’s the half I read. There’s other stuff, both adequate and bad, and I’m sure some of you will like it very much, so let me remind you that only buy *buying* Yuri can you support it. Otherwise, you’re just stealing from the artists and the publishers. If you follow a series regularly, consider purchasing the magazine to pay the bills of the hard-working men and women who create these stories for you!

Ratings:

Overall – 7

The second half of Comic Yuri Hime, Volume 19 starts off with Hakamada Mera’s “Sore ga kimi ni naru” in which You is fascinated by this older woman who looks at her with the memory of a love she had in the past. This time You accompanies Amane to the library where she works, to see what this mysterious woman’s life is like. When You gets caught in a late rainstorm, Amane is confronted with having the girl stay over her place.

“Himekoi” is full of screaming…again. And I’m skipping “Soulfege” because, bleah.

In “DNA Double XX” Aoi proves that she haz mad fightin’ skills, but the Eves have better Yuri-service.

Amano Shuninta’s “Cell Frame no Mukou Kawa” proves that once again, there is a group mind behind anthologies, as yet another cosmetics salesperson find herself part of a plot. This time she has fallen for the local pharmacist, who is unreasonably cute with makeup. For the record – I prefer girls in glasses. Justsaying.

“Mizu-iro Cinema” has an awkward reunion between Yui and her former lover Mizuki, while Tae is a little slow on the uptake. After Yui throws Mizuki out, she worries that Tae will find the fact that she is a lover of women repulsive (as opposed to, “I don’t love women – just you”, the old-school method of avoiding having any lesbianism in Yuri.) Tae is way too sweet (read; doofusy) to let that happen.

In “Cleo the Crimson Crises” the story doesn’t end. WHY? Why gods, do you hate us? Oh, ahem. So, Cleo and Suoh go to wherever Cleo is from and people are assholes to Suoh, so she can be a snot-faced wet rag some more. Gawd.

“Sayonara Folklore” continues – sort of surprisingly, because there’s not a lot of plot there, but… Sumika is still in love with Takase-sempai, who likes her back and everything is okay until another student starts to scream at them, and tells the teacher about them. And Takase finds that she too is not the first one her lover has loved. What does not need forgiveness is forgiven and at the end they still like one another.

And, finally, in “Tokimeki Mononoke Gakuen” Arare and Pero, now in the world of humans, go to Arare’s house, Pero meets her mom, is terrified of her, and licks the bowl clean – literally. Meanwhile, Kiri mopes, remembering how Arare disappeared through a vortex…and suddently realizes Pero’s with her! The end of this story becomes ever more obvious, but you, know, I’m still okay with it. ;-)

And there you have it. Better than average, with more very good and good than not.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

A fine specimen of a Yuri Hime, and another issue that gives me hope that one day I’ll see what I really want in a Yuri magazine – something somewhere between “Story A” and porn about women who love women.

“Got your heart!” says the cover of Comic Yuri Hime, Volume 19. And so far, at least, it’s right. :-)

After some color illustrations that are less skanky than I’m used to, we jump right into a new series “Moso Honey” by the insanely prolific Mikuni Hadzime (of Gokujou Drops). Nonoka enters a new high school and is drafted into the high-end and rather bizarre Student Council by a “cool beauty,” Nozomi. What will this mean for the decidely average Nonoka? Hijinx and Wackiness, of course!

“Kuma-san ni Tsuite” is a slightly uncomfortable love story between a woman who obsesses about teddy bears and her long-suffering friend.

“Spike Girls” is really interesting to me, not because it’s a perfectly respectable sport romance, but also because Takemiya Jin is also doing a sports romance as Junk-Lab, so clearly he’s really into the whole idea right now. :-) Jun is recruited by by Ichi-sempai to play on the volleyball team, but unexpectedly finds herself falling for Ichi-sempai, who was in love with her own sempai. Jun confesses, thinking that Ichi-sempai will be disgusted, but oh, look! not so much.

Mitsue Aoki’s “Sweet Room” is the kind of story that works only if you’re reading an anthology of a lot of one type of short story and you are therefore inclined to be a bit generous about handwaves that are awkward, because how many different ways are there, really, to tell the same story. Nozomi find a stranded high school girl and takes her into her home, because 1) she thinks high school girls are cute and 2) the girl was stranded, duh. But after the girl makes herself comfortable, pretty much moving in, Nozomi begins to doubt her own motives. When Nana seduces Nozomi, she’s wracked with guilt, unti Nana admits to being 21 and having made up the whole high school thing to appeal to Nozomi, who she overheard talking about how cute high school girls are at the convenience store where she works. Heh.

Miura Shion’s Yuri essay touches on Sasamekikoto and “Para Yuri Hime” is Fujio’s love letter to a school crush named Waka.

At the the Black Cat Mansion, tutor Jun rues the fact that she rejected her student Chiasa, on their last day together.

“Mahou no Te” is another over-complicated love story about a girl who learns that someone who touches you on the back of the arm is sure to be your true love, or something like that. Nasu is passively-aggressively in love with Seri. They embrace.

“Renai Joshika” follows Fumi, who falls in love with the woman behind the makeup counter. It turns out that “love” is the best makeup of all.

And this section, we’ll end end with “A Knife Edge Girl” which was probably the most realistic “friend in love with friend” story we’ve seen in a while. There’s a lot of interior emotion and some very little interaction, but it rings true in that a real love story is not one story – but two. Each of the people involved has their own story going on in their head, apart from the other. While this story only so far follows one character, we can see that the other has a whole separate set of stuff going on.

Up to this point, the magazine’s been better than average and has a fairly high percentage of grown up characters, which I will never complain about. The level of high melodrama is lower, and so is the “afterschool special” feel as compared to some of the stories we’ve had in the past.

Also, I’d like to note that the tone of obsessive destruction that used to walk hand in hand with Yuri is pretty much out of the picture now. No knives, paper cutters or rooftops threaten our Yuri with the grim specter of suicide. These characters might be depressed a bit when they think their love isn’t returned, but Yuri and madness no longer are equivalent.

In fact, what I’m seeing is more of that tectonic shift to strong characters, characters with jobs, lives, friends, characters with hobbies and interests and – can you believe it took this long – female characters in sports! ‘Bout time too. Honestly, you’d think *someone* would have written an Olympic-like competition Yuri story for this issue. Duuuuuuhhhhh……. However, I am sufficiently glad for the absence of Valentine’s Day stories. Phew.

Tectonic shift it may be, but I’m liking it.

Part 2 next.