Archive for the Comic Yuri Hime Category


Yuri Manga: Hanjuku Joshi, Volume 1

November 26th, 2008

Hanjuku Joshi (Half-baked Woman) is one of two collections of stories that were distributed by Yuri Hime magazine, as part of their cell phone service in Japan. Kinda neat, huh?

You know how it is. Whatever kind of body/hair/face you have, you want something else. And Yae is no different. She’s got a cute, curvaceous, feminine body, and soft, fluffy hair. She likes sewing. She’s as girly as a girl could be – and she hates it. Which is why its so vexing to be told how feminine she is all time. And even more so when tall, athletic, Chitose – who is everything Yae wishes she was, including not at all self-conscious about her body – tells her so.

Yae is still reeling from the difference from her previous co-ed schools in regards to relations between students, so she’s not really ready for the feelings she’s having for Chitose. And she’s totally not ready for Chitose to return them. And, just to make it all that much more awkward and painful, she’s not definitely not up to being teased by Hanashima Mari, the cool, beautiful upperclassman who mocks Yae and Chitose for “playing” at love, calling them “half-baked women”, right before she skips class to hit a hotel with her current beau. When, later that day, they stumble across Mari and their female homeroom teacher in a compromising position in the library, everything gets even more complicated than before.

In the end, the story is about not one, but two love relationships, about healing old wounds and finding one’s self.

On the Yuricon Mailing List, I stated that I thought that this book might well be the most perfect “Yuri” manga I’d ever seen. It’s not really a story of anyone coming out – there is some sense of identity, but not so much that it changes the story to a lesbian one. No, the focus here is on “Yuri,” in the sense of lesbian content, not lesbian identity, a classic school setting and first love…and all that “pure” and “innocent” love stuff that fanboys love so much. (Although, for people who like their Yuri “pure” and “innocent” no one ever seems to object when they end up sleeping together.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 6

Overall – 9

Hanjuku Joshi was not my absolute favorite collection from this last batch of Yuri Hime manga, but it was very enjoyable. I always enjoy Morishima’s work, and always look forward to the next one.





Yuri Light Novel: .(period)

November 14th, 2008

This past summer, Ichijinsha, publisher of Yuri Hime, launched a new line of light novels under the imprint “Iris.” Ostensibly written for women, this imprint included two “Yuri” novels. In the enclosed catalog flyer, .(period), written by Hozuki Luli and illustrated by Kurogane Kenn, is described as “Yuri and gun-action.” I’m glad they labeled it as Yuri, because without that hint, you might not notice.

In fact, the entire book reads *exactly* like a fanfic. Enough detail to get away with the plot, predictable and not very memorable. There’s not much service and it definitely doesn’t have the level of gun obsession that filled the pages of Vanilla. The details on the Italian police system and Mafia were wafer thin, and I don’t know if using “cute” Glocks is really a girl thing, but maybe that’s just me. ^_^;

The story follows the adventures of police investigator Bianca Stradella and gun for hire Nicola (can’t remember her family name at the moment…) as they try to take out the Brancatti family. The Mafia, we learn, killed Bianca’s parents, so she has a life-long grudge, while Nicola, it turns out, is the daughter of a mafia princess. Just like oil and water, fire and ice, Ernie and Bert, the two set out to defeat the bad guys. To make sure we really *hate* the bad guys, they “adopt” a bunch of ten year old girls to use in snuff films and other horrors, so we can feel righteously indignant and satisfied when we kill them.

As investigators, Bianca and Nicola leave something to be desired. In one scene they are literally walking around a town asking for “a guy named Antonio, who knows a priest in Rome named Father Bernino.” /snort/

The chemistry between Bianca and Nicola is entirely manufactured through the most trite of means. They share a bed because it’s cold, they live through gunfights and motorcycle chases and, so, they grow closer, but not really. When they have the required downtime scene in which “affectionate moment D” is called for, it is duly supplied.

The end of the book contains so many clichés that, even when I could not actually read every single kanji, I knew *exactly* what was happening and what was being said. ^_^ It was satisfyingly like every movie/NCIS episode/book/anime ever.  It got to the point towards the end that I started playing a “predict the next scene” game with myself. “Now, we’ll have the “final betrayal” scene in which Bianca learns the unpalatable truth about Nicola. Then we’ll have the scene where she learns that the police were in the Mafia’s pockets all along.” ^_^

Everything played out as neatly as in a Michael Douglas movie, with no deviations from script. And then the end came. And I started to laugh. Having sold her soul and her ideals to regain Nicola, we turn to a lonely room where we watch Nicola sit alone with her memories of Bianca. There is a knock on the door, and these guys from a furniture moving company start bringing a huge red sofa into the room. “I didn’t order this!” Nicola protests, but joke’s on her, it’s just Bianca. Wow, they didn’t even go on two dates – just one mission to defeat the Mafia – and Bianca’s moving all her shit in. ^_^

In terms of Yuri, there is some service of the mild kind – the aforementioned sharing a bed, and “gee, you smell nice” kind of stuff. A few touches and one sort-of sexually tense scene that is aborted before we get more than a quick peck on the cheek. But before the end, Nicola confesses that she loves Bianca to her on tape and seperately, Bianca coming to the realization that she loves Nicola.

That’s it.

The only lesbian thing about the book is the move-in scene at the end. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 4 They could not have picked a less appropriate artist for this book. I like Kurogane’s stuff just fine but, Bianca’s supposed to be 25, not 12.
Story – 6 It wasn’t terrible and it wasn’t good. It *was* too long.
Characters – 6 There wasn’t a single original thing about them, but that’s okay.
Yuri – 5 Like I said, I’m glad they told us that it was a Yuri novel.
Service – 3 For all that there’s a shared bed and maid outfits, there’s not much service.

Overall – 6 (but this, like all my reviews, is only my opinion – the review on Amazon JP gives it a 5 out of 5 stars, so there you go. The art is so *beautiful* and the writing is so *wonderful.* The reviewer was positively gushing. ^_^; I found it to be predictable, but entertaining.)

Do you that everyone in Italy eats nothing but pizza and pannini and drinks nothing but cappuccino?





Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime S, Volume 6 Part 2

October 6th, 2008

We left Yuri Hime S, Volume 6 midway yesterday. We pick it up at at a recap of the winning entries in Ichijinsha’s most recent manga contest. Each magazine has a few winners, and we get to see all of the recent crop.

Speaking of new artists, the next story is a violent and vaguely disturbing piece by newcomer Marimo Naoe called “The Nightmare After School,” (which is not related to The Afterschool Nightmare, a different manga series that has some Yuri characters.) Akira is having some seriously violent nightmares. Like – beheading someone and having their decapitated body come after her. She relies on her sister for emotional support and for protection at school. When she sees Suzuki-sempai macking on her sister, it doesn’t make her at all happy. But Suzuki gets all the girls, as we see her receive yet another love letter. Akira’s jealousy doesn’t make her nightmares any less horrible – if anything they are getting worse. Akira and her sister are caught up in a waking nightmare when their friend Rika is possessed, but it’s Suzuki-sempai who rescues them – and talls Akira that she’ll be Suzuki’s apprentice for now, since her powers are obeious, but need to be trained. I’m interested to see where this story goes, defintely.

“Yuru Yuri” follows, with three chapters that I feel no compunction about skipping.

The summer event for dollmakers has arrived and the staff of “Cassiopeia Dolce” are gearing up for the half-networking, half-cosplay event. Most of the story is taken up with cosplay bishoujo-style non-situations (gotta love Takagi, he’s very consistent) and random kissing. Olga names Anna her apprentice in public (shock and jealousy follows) and Anna finally gets a really good kiss with Olga in at the afterparty. In the way of all things, Olga was so drunk the entire night is a blank and Anna (ah ha ha ha) has to start from scratch next chapter. hah.

Kuromasa Shisei turns our eye to yet another Shinigami and human pairing in “Kanojou to Shinigami.”

In “Honey Crush” Madoka rethinks her position on liking girls, and Kyouko and the ghost are all fired up all over again. Kyouko intervenes for the ghost and let’s Madoka know she cares so much she stalked her and died for her efforts. Ghostgirl confesses. Madoka admits to finding the idea of loving someone she really can’t see problematic. (My wife says, “Wimp.” ^_^)

“Nanami to Misuzu” is followed by “Kanojou ha Imouto” in which two girls who had decided that they would go out, are now catapulted through marriage into being sisters. The younger sister has no trouble with it…the older does. Despite this being a lot of things I don’t care much for, it wasn’t heinous.

The end.

The advertisement for the upcoming issue of Yuri Hime looks interesting. Since “Strawberry Shake Sweet” will be ending, I’m betting we’ll see some contenders for strong story leaders this month. Looks like it’s gonna be good!

So, okay. Sisters, and the peeing fetish do not appeal to me. I like the attempt at a non-kiddie story and don’t mind the horror stuff, as long as it’s not just fake-Yuri. So two fetishes I don’t like, two I do and I can tolerate the moe if it’s not tedious.

Overall – 7

As a kid brother, Yuri Hime S is kind of cute and kind of annoying, with one friend I kinda like. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime S, Volume 6 Part 1

October 5th, 2008

Like its big sister publication, Yuri Hime, Yuri Hime S has gradually been growing in size and taking on a personality of its own. As I review it, think of me as a friend of S‘s big sister, and gradually finding the little brother to be more annoying than cute these days. ^_^

Once again characters from “Honey Crush” grace the cover and once again, I really wish they didn’t.

This is followed by color pages selling Yuri service in a variety of games and publications after which we are launched into a violent little tale of murder, moe and love, “Shinigami Alice.” Masaki comes across Hinageshi as she knifes someone to death. As she is drawn to Hina, Masaki finds that she wants to rescue the girl from her life as a assassin. By the end of this one-shot tale, they’ve kissed and walked off hand in hand into the sunset and are last seen having a nice cup of tea together.

It’s really, really hot out, but Shouko and Maho are walking in the sun at the beginning of “Yudachi Kibun.” Shouko’s pretty pissed because they *had been* in a nice, air-conditioned room kissing and now they are walking out in the sweltering sun to get to a filthy old abandoned house. It begins to rain, and Shouko loses it, jumping Maho, unable to summon up another second’s patience. Maho starts to cry. They walk home, and Maho admits to just cracking under pressure from Shouko to go further. They’ll go slower, they agree, as a bright rainbow forms above them.

“Flower Flower” takes a turn for the idiotic, as Shu tortures herself over having been seen naked by Nina, only to have Nina act as if she doesn’t recognize Shu at all. Shu gets up the gumption to ask Nina to marry her, but Nina laughs it off.

Hakamada Mera’s “Kaichou to Fukukaichou” finally moves into zOMG territory. Orienteering day has arrived and Pres and her VP are paired up. VP finds herself first, fantasizing about jumping the President and then, when the opportunity presents itself, distressingly close to actually doing it. On the one hand because this is a comic I want her to just do it already but, on the other hand, I remember clearly how insanely difficult it was to bridge that gap the first time.

Happy day! A story NOT about children! Thank you Yuri manga gods. Thank you Uso Kurata. “Kusari ha Mou Iranai” follows a suit- and glasses-wearing company sempai, Yoshino, and her kouhai, Aoi. They obviously have a relationship, but it’s not perfect. They’ve been trying to get together for a date to go shopping, but time is slipping away from them and the cracks are starting to appear in their relationship. When Aoi can’t find time for days and days on end to see Yoshino, Yoshino knows what’s coming. The coin drops when Aoi asks her to go to the roof for a private word. To avoid the pain of an ugly breakup, Yoshino offers a cheerful parting as an option, but Aoi’s reaction is to crumple into hysterics. She doesn’t want to break up – she wanted to give Yoshino a present. They cry in each other’s arms, kiss and make up and at the end of the story find themselves both free to love each other fully.

(This story was like me finding out that the annoying little brother had a friend who was my age who was pretty cool that I could become friends with…if you will allow me to drag out the metaphor a bit.)

“Love Cubic” contines to be a story I will not read. I know it’s the once-again poular new fetish, but not for me.

Kurogane Kenn’s “Konohana Link” begins to link up a bit, as the characters we met in the first chapter are finally encountering each other now. Chieri is officially introduced to her class, so we immediately switch off from her to two entirely new characters for whom we have no context. I expect eventually that this story will develop a story. ^_^

Matsudaira, having lost her faithful maid Miharu, is planning on getting married, she tells the Iinchou, in “Minus Literacy.” She’s got to do something about the money situation after all. But Iinchou convinces her that Miharu wouldn’t want that. Matsudaira runs off to see Miharu smile once more.

That’s about halfway, so I think we’ll pick this up again tomorrow, shall we? ^_^





Yuri Manga: Tokimeki Mononoke Gakuen, Volume 1

September 25th, 2008

There’s not too many series that make me shriek with outraged sensibilities and hysterical laughter at the same time, and even less that are also very good. Tokimeki Mononoke Gakuen is tops on that list. This collection of Yuri Hime chapters about a “normal” rain fairy, and her soujourn at an all-girl, all-youkai high school, is absolutely a must read for anyone who doesn’t mind having their brain hurt slightly.

Arare knows she’s a rain fairy – her mother is clearly not entirely human but on her first day of high school she definitely does not expect to enter the Otherworld. Nor does she expect her teacher to have a ridiculously long neck, or her classmates to be a variety of ogres, snow demons, cyclops, ghosts, mist, or the twin-tailed cat, Kiri, and long-tongued girl, Pero, who befriend her. Nor does she expect the veil between the worlds to close behind her, leaving her stranded in this school for girl monsters.

Arare decides to make the best of it. Her adventures range from meeting the cow-girl whose magic breast milk makes other girls’ breast large, to trying to beat the heat by sucking up to the snow demon, all while hiding her identity as a *human*. You see – she’s got a navel and a true youkai don’t.

More importantly, Arare has to deal with the decidedly inhuman way the other girls deal with sexuality. Not being human, they really don’t see the big deal with a little onna-doushi. It becomes even more of a crisis when Arare realizes that not only does she enjoy kissing Kiri, she’s fallen for her and gets jealous at the very thought of Kiri kissing – or worse, doing something more – with another girl.

Arare finally comes around to Kiri’s way of thinking and decides that she’s ready to go further, but Kiri reminds her of the warning she had given Arare when they met – if Arare makes love to a youkai….she’ll become a youkai! Oh Noes!

Tokimeki Mononoke Gakuen is played for laughs, so even if you’re a scaredy cat, the ghosties and ghouls should not be a problem. However. If you like your vegetables to not have faces and are squicked at the idea of milking cow-girl demons…stay away. Things like Rokurokubi-sensei’s neck cramping are funny enough, but the double-mouthed girl and her kappa girl lover might flip you out. If that doesn’t faze you – hurry, go read it! This is a really funny book. And it’s Yuri.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 7

Overall – 8

Tokimeki Mononoke Gakuen one of the stories from Yuri Hime I look forward to most every quarter. I’m very happy to have it as a collected volume. Can’t wait to see how Arare resolves her love for Kiri. ^_^