Comic Yuri Hime, February 2019 (コミック百合姫2019年2月号) conveniently front loads all the stories I have no interest in, so I can skip past everything they consider worth animating and putting promotional money into to get to the stories I feel are worth reading.  ^_^

I began with “Luminous Blue,” by Iwami Kiyoko, which is developing into an attraction triangle. I’m having a hard time seeing love, rather than infatuation here, but am willing to watch to see if this goes all melodramatic on us.

Usui Shio’s “Friday Night Cinema” is a cute one-shot of a couple. And Takemiya Jin’s “Itoshi Koishi” starts to fill out with a bit of a back story and a little light jealousy in the present. 

“Kimi ga Shinu made Koi wo shitai” just gets weirder and creepier and I still don’t know if I like it, but I’m certainly still reading it! That also goes for “Scarlet” by Yuino Chiri.

Miman’s “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” explores the differences in tea and clearly sets up the next crises within the two pairs of Schwestern. 

“Ikemen-sugi Shiki-sempai” really blasts up the too-cool-for-her-shirt factor for Shiki-sempai, but I can’t get a read on any of the characters’ true feelings and have to wonder if this is going anywhere, or we’re just circling the dance floor for fun. Which is perfectly okay, too. ^_^

Shiroshi’s “ROID” wraps up kind of suddenly and I feel like either the story had no idea where it was going or it was cut off just before the plot fully developed. I would have liked for us to spend more time with these characters and their world. More importantly,  the Yuri I had seen a hint of was tossed into the ring in the final pages as if it suddenly remember that it ran in a Yuri magazine. That was unfortunate.

“Welcome to Prisontown” also wrapped up with an epilogue. Again, I felt like this could have developed more and was cut to fit an arbitrary volume limit, but for all that, I liked the ending.

And, “Yurikon” delves into a fairly old school story for dramatic effect and change of pace. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Another decent, and varied, issue of Comic Yuri Hime. And a prayer that one day, something I like gets to be animated. /clap hands together/

The March issue is waiting for me at the bookstore. It’ll be interesting to see the new stuff!

This year has given us a number of excellent Yuri manga and anime, but as Comic Yuri Hime December 2018 (コミック百合姫2018年12月号) hit shelves, it brought with it the end of a remarkable (and remarkably unremarkable) manga. Ohsawa Yayoi’s “2DK, GPen Mezamashitokei” is over. 8 volumes over three years, following a story that developed so deliberately that for the first 3 volumes I wasn’t even sure it was a romance story. ^_^

But, it was a romance. An excellent one. Not because there was a lot of drama – because there wasn’t a lot of drama. This was a Yuri romance about two adults created for an audience of adult women….and it showed. The characters did things like take care of their skin and wear makeup and care about their clothes, in a way that the majority of adult women do.  (Individually, your mileage may vary, of course, I do none of these things, myself. ^_^) And this story, which developed so slowly and almost, but never quite, became a harem manga, ended up being a romance between two people readers can actually imagine living happily ever after together.
/Happy sigh/

So while I’m going to miss Nanami and Kaede and their various harems, I’m very happy to have had 8 volumes of this story, look forward to the final volume and to whatever Ohsawa-sensei will work on next.*

In the meantime, this issue of Comic Yuri Hime had a lot to enjoy, including a major turn in the plot of Hisona’s travel story “Goodbye Dystopia” in which Mizuki encounters the woman that Asami may be pining for. 

Shiroshi’s “ROID” is also slipping from it’s original rails into what may end up becoming a much more complicated story. Yay!

Kenou Chiri’s “Scarlet” just got really weird…and, if you recall, it’s about a vampire and a werewolf, so take that as you will.

“Itoshi no Hito” by Takemiya Jin has developed into a sweet (pun intended) food and romance manga and I am quite enjoying it.

Hisakawa Haru’s “Yurikon” continues to be adorably implausible and I enjoy the heck out of it every chapter.

As always, there are other series I am enjoying and others I don’t read, but as a final issue of the year, this volume of Comic Yuri Hime ended as strongly as the year began.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

*And then I came across this… a JP Kindle-only edition of  2DK, GPen Mezamashitokei “Monthly Motivation” (2DK、Gペン、目覚まし時計。『Monthly ヒモチベーション]) following Ohsawa’s obsession, Nanami’s kouhai “Ruuko” and I laughed and laughed. I hope to god we get a spin-off volume about her. ^_^) Update: This is available (in Japanese) on Bookwalker. Thank the gods for Bookwalker, is all I have to say.

The January issue of Comic Yuri Hime is already available. The new year is off and running!

One of the things I have enjoyed mostabout the recent cover story is the normality of it all. These two girls are clearly typical(ish) schoolgirl-types – throughout this past year, we have seen them enjoying each other’s company doing extremely average seasonal activities together. Here we can see them in school, but we’ve seen them hanging out on a summer day, in a pool, walking, etc. These covers haven’t been amazing, but they are, I think, quite nice. ^_^

Welcome to Comic Yuri Hime for November 2018（コミック百合姫2018年11月号).

Far from “nice,” this issue starts off with a flamboyant bang with a new series “Scarlet” about a vampire vampire hunter and her werewolf sidekick. The series is action-filled and just the right amount of bloody, but Feine and Iris are on the side of good when it comes to the common folk, which makes them okay by me.

FINALLY, in “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!” Sumika has worn away the very last of Kanako’s defenses and, while the girl is still not letting go of her obsession with Hime, she can at least put  a name to it, at last. I really like Sumika (and totally would have voted for her in the contest, too.) Here’s hoping she manages to convince Kanako to turn her affection elsewhere. You know…this is the first time I’ve seen a “souer” couple where the point of the couple is actually the point of having a “souer” at all – taking udolescent passion and moderating it through platonic affection and admiration. Rock on, miman-sensei for actually doing that.

OMG, Ohi Pikachi ‘s “Hayama-sensei and Terano-sensei are Dating” is just too freaking cute. So, so cute.

Ohsawa Yayoi’s “2DK, GPen, Mezamashitokei” comes to an expected climax and still does something unexpected. I won’t tell you yet, I’ll save it for the review of the collected volume, but if you read it, see if you can figure out what it is. ^_^

Did you know that in Salem, Massachusetts, Halloween is referred to as “The Holiday.” Well, in Neji’s “Welcome to Prisontown” the residents of the underworld clearly feel the same way, and the whole town is gearing up for a festival. Akari and Meari have a beautiful, romantic night, but it all come crashing down when the town headmonster tells Akari that she’ll be returning to our world, tomorrow.

In “Goodbye Dystopia” Mizuki and Asami come perilously close to talking to one another about something important.

Takemiya Jin’s “Itoshi Koishi” continues with Yayoi surprising Hina at her school festival and having way too much fun.

“ROID” by Shiroshi continues to be a favorite of mine. Having established the characters, a plot complication has arisen and, as of yet, we really have no idea what it is that these shadowy people want with Anna and her creators. Stay tuned to read what I hope will be a sci-fi story about AI that moves beyond “what does it mean to be human” into “Anna and her friends get involved with some shit.” You know…a plot.

In “Yurikon,” we circle back to look at two previous married couples and see how they are doing. 

And, as always there are other stories that I have not mentioned. I’m reading about half the current series, skimming through a few more and ignoring about a third for one reason or another. That’s a pretty good percentage for any manga magazine.

Ratings:

Overall – The good is a 9, some of the bad is getting kinda gross. We’ll call the issue an 8, but with an eye to some of the good stories ending and whether we’ll get something suitable to replace them.

December issue will be hitting shelves in Japan mid-month.