Moving right along into the second half of Volume 5 of Yuri Hime S, we find ourselves wondering what on *earth* is going on in “Minus Literacy,” now that Miharu has left her mistress Yasumi and has wandered off to go into the wide world. Yasumi, Iinchou and the kid dressed like a miko track her down, only to learn that she’s become the “private secretary” for some Yakuza dude. Even as Miharu rebuffs her, Yasumi swears to never give up. You know, for a crappy story, it’s at least a little original. lol

Speaking of crap, Anna has decided that she REALLY likes Elza-oneesama in “Casseopeia Dolce,” but other than in her dreams, she manages to kiss just about everyone else but. She can’t even manage an indirect kiss when the situation offers itself, so we know she’s serious.

In “Sempai ha tokubestu desu” Yuki-chan is so happy that Haruka-sempai will go out with her, but starts to have second thoughts about it when Haruka says that she’s been researching her and knows her favorite foods and where she lives. Yuki starts to avoid Haruka, until her friend stomps on her for only wanting the image of Haruka she has in her head and not the real person. After all, Haruka liked her enough to find out all about her, and what does she know about Haruka? Yuki runs after Haruka to find her crying and apologizes. They walk home together, hand in hand.

“Nanami to Isuzu” is next.

“Present” is my favorite story of the issue. Keiko had been made fun of as a child, so she grew up into the class “bad” girl as a way of acting out. One day by accident, she comes across Haruka, who is blind. As they spend time together, Keiko discovers both her love of potpourri – and Haruka. When she finds out that Haruka is undergoing surgery but only has a 30% chance of recovering her sight, for the first time ever, Keiko prays with sincerity and fervor. She’s there when the bandages come off, but as soon as she knows that Haruka can see, she runs off without a word. Shortly thereafter Haruka tranfers in to Keiko’s school – into her class, in fact – and confronts Keiko, then hugs her and confesses her feelings. She frees Keiko to be herself, so Keiko shares both her true feelings, and her love of potpourri with the rest of the class – to everyone’s delight. It’s a truly lovely story.

Yuu’s inability to control her power has instigated a little test that involves her, Maria and Nagi, in “Otome Kikan Gretel,” but the real story is that Yuu is making pudding for everyone in the dorm. Nagi still has big breasts, there’s lots of tongue in the kissing and the first page is amusingly crammed with egregious double entendres – so much so that I feel like I was watching an episode of Three’s Company. Despite myself, I like this manga. lol

In “Kaichou to Fukukaichou” the Vice President inadvertently makes the President cry when she criticizes her horrible looking lunch. While reading out loud in language class, the Vice President begins to cry at a poignant passage, then runs off to the Infirmary, claiming a stomach ache – even though she knows that everyone will know what the real problem is. The President comes to visit her, and uses the opportunity to tell her a little bit about her home life and herself. As the sun sets outside, the two find themselves growing a little closer for real.

And finally, in “Blue Line” a ghost keeps meeting a girl who seems to know all about her. Little by little she remembers that the girl is her sister and lover, and the two of them were in a plane that crashed. In a coma, Yui, the younger sister, is watched over by Yuria in the hospital and then, every day, she goes to the beach to commune with her spirit. As the story draws to a close, Yui opens her eyes and the sisters are reunited once again.

So, okay, I really thought that this volume really was really catering to bottom feeders with that second story, but along with the usual artists that I enjoy reading, “Present” left me with such a good feeling that it carried right through to my overall impression of this volume. :-) Which makes this the best volume of the series so far.

Overall – 7

There’s definitely some good and some bad in Volume 5 of Yuri Hime S. The good gets pretty good, and the bad is – in *my* opinion – quite bad, but for some reason this volume left me feeling like it was the best so far of this Yuri fanboy-focused magazine.

The first story brings us full circle in Kurogane Kenn’s “Konohana Link,” dropping us into the story as transfer student Chieri tries to not be noticed just outside the window as two girls make out inside a classroom. She’s saved by Saori, who is ditching pre-school festival duties to feed a stray dog that comes by the school. In many of the most recent chapters of this story, I kept wondering where the Yuri is. It returns for a brief glimpse here, but I do hope we’re setting up a real story somewhere in all these random vignettes of nothing.

I found the next story, “Love Cubic,” to be tedious at best and replusive at worst and refuse to talk about it.

Yoshitomi Akihito’s distinctive style is a refreshing change from the previous story, and his “Natsu no Ari,” while a little distressing unless you *really* like ants, is not a bad story at all. ^_^;

For the first time, “Flower Flower” didn’t entirely consist of Nina abusing Shu. In fact, they seem to be getting along quite nicely, so Shu’s older sister feels as if she needs to break the accord between them. Nice. Despite that, the biggest challenge Shu faces is how to tell Nina that she is actually female – a concern that comes to a crisis when they suddenly find themselves in the bath room at the same time. Oh Noes!

“Yuru Yuri” is a gag-oriented comic about three friends, two of whom are older than the third, so it’s a moment of great rejoicing when she finally joins them at this school. Yay! The gags are mildly amusing, but there’s no sign of Yuri in any of the first two chapters here, at least. Just three friends.

“Ichiba Chikakute, Toi Futari,” is about a pair of sisters, one of whom is a student, one is a teacher. The teacher is sleeping with other students and her little sister is jealous. But don’t worry, they’ll be together forever.

Hiyori Otsu’s story-telling style suits the next story, “Katakoihime” perfectly. In this story, Ooishi is asked out by a guy, but turns him down by lying and saying there’s someone she likes. She heads out into the rainy season downpour to find Mizuno lying in the rain. Mizuno, who loves the rain because it cheers her up, is in love and Ooishi can tell, because she practically shines. Ooishi finds herself watching Mizuno all the time, so when she puts two and two together she asks Mizuno if the person she loves isn’t their female teacher. Mizuno is embarrassed, but admits that it is. When the news reaches Ooishi that their teacher is getting married, she runs off to find Mizuno. On this bright sunny day, Mizuno starts to cry, so Ooishi runs of to fill a bucket with water, pours it over Mizuno’s head and asks her to cheer up. A great, quirky story about first love.

You may remember that at the end of the last chapter, Arisa had Hinako pinned down to her bed, and had just confessed in “Otome-iro Stay Tuned.” Back at her apartment, Manager Matsurika plays video games and laughs when she receives Tomoe’s email about Arisa and Hinako. But, her attention is turned away when her own lover, VP of Production, Rui comes home. Arisa and Hinako manage to get a little “chuu”ing in, before the alcohol catches up to Arisa and she falls asleep. The next day Hina arrives to fined Tomoe, Arisa and Masturika calmly discussing *her* love life. The story ends as she screams about privacy, dammit.

And “Honey Crush” continues to weave its way through the story of boring ole Madoka and the girl, Kyouko, and the ghost that love her. Kyoko’s ability to see and talk to ghosts is debated in school, with Madoka coming to her rescue, which drives Kyouko to confess her feelings – again. The ghost objects and Kyoko’s battle with unseen forces to an obvious bwah-wah-wahhh~ ends the story.

Pretty chunky volume this time, so I’ll do this in two part, then wrap up a few comments for the overall. So, to be continued in Part 2. ^_^