And here we are at Comic Yuri Hime July 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年7月号). ^_^ Let’s start with the fantastic stuff I definitely want to mention.

Usui Shio’s “Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts” comes to key moment – and so does “Onna Tomodachi to Kekkonshitemita.” Both are ongoing and I find both stories absolutely delightful for different reasons. I would take a magazine full of this kind of story – adult women with more than one layer of existence or relationship. Usui-sensei’s art and story telling gets a 100% from me.

“Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!” by Miman, is doing something I both wanted and kind of feared! Sumika is starting to find herself interested in Kanako…who only has eyes for Hime. Hrm…I’m super interested in where this goes.

Takashima Eku’s “Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Uta” continues to be a pleasant read, even if the new characters feel a little tsun for the sake of having a tsun character. I hope she’s actually driven by desire to succeed and not just a type.

And, in very exciting news, Comic Yuri Hime announces that Inui Ayu’s autobiographical comic column about her life with her girlfriend is returning with more pages and will be collected into volumes! I’m absolutely thrilled at that news.

Now, if only we can get some decent sports and action series in this magazine. Which beings me to…

Last month I promised to ridicule semelparous, so let’s get that over with. The premise of this manga appears to be “Attack on Titan, but less fun, less coherent and make all the women’s bodies as insulting as possible.” Ogino Jun has absolutely complied with this: This art is bad.

These poses are infantile and absurd. Tits are not balloons, they don’t just flap about with no reason, even out of a bra.

Of course, when the guy shows up…he’s hardbodied and bizarrely, his dick isn’t wangling around in a loose sheath, it’s packed neatly and invisibly away behind what any sensible human might presume to be protection.

Of course he is. What man would draw a penis sock, leaving that specific body part unprotected? None. Even Dick Fight Island give the penises big masculine energy. (If you haven’t seen Dick Fight Island, you should really, it’s quite amazing for a lot of reasons. As a pure act of sexualizing men’s bodies for a female audience, it’s fantastic. I mean, it’s hilarious and wack, but so gleefully over the top that it’s not insulting, just amazing. I wish we could get something that’s fun and wack and amazing here.

Instead, for women, we get camel toe and…this…thing…which actually made me laugh out loud. I won’t even bother explaining why. Either you understand how impossible this is or you have never once met an actual human woman.

It’s not just that these pictures are terrible art, with no grasp at all of anatomy, it’s that they are illustrations for a story which has no plot other than the torture and dismemberment of women…in a Yuri manga magazine, which one might believe to be at least nominally for and about women. This story could have been a fantastic science fiction action story about women. Instead, it is quite literally the most boring thing I have seen in years. There’s no joy, no humor, no delight even in the badness – which I absolutely could have gotten behind. I LOVE things that glory in their crappiness. Give me Tit Fight Island, sure, but – and this is important – make sure that it’s fun. This isn’t fun. It’s just…ridiculous.

This is the last time I’ll be mentioning this series here. It’s been licensed by Seven Seas, and it won’t be going on the Yuricon Store, but if you like it, bless. This seems obvious to me, but I’ll say it anyway, the comments are open to cogent, intelligent disagreement, but grunting-of-animals-type comments need not apply. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

With only a few exceptions, an excellent volume and now I’m going to go over to the Comic Yuri Hime questionnaire and tell them to give us manga that celebrates women’s lives, achievements, emotions and bodies. And sports. ^_^

Okay, yes. inori-sensei is right, Relaire is very cute. In Comic Yuri Hime, June 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年5月号) we get to meet our very own Yuri water slime and it is an adorable jiggly thing, with cute eyes. ^_^ Even more importantly, in “Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou.” Claire and Rae are about to take each other on in the big Academy Knights qualification bouts! I’m really looking forward to this.

In Yuama’s “Kimi to Tsuzuru Utakata” I sincerely hope we’ve moved past the not-at all-convincing plot complication as Hoshikawa-san finally lightens up and has…gasp!…fun.

“Sasayaku Youni Koi wo Utau” by Takashima Eku, turns back towards our principals and allows us to squee at their cuteness together all over again.

I’m delighted to see “Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru” by Shiime start up again. I find this one utterly charming, even beyond the issues of body discomfort and conformity…the art is so lovely, I just want it to go on forever.

“Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai” by Kashikaze comes to a major turning point, where everything about Sora finally drops into place and Ayaka is very angry on her behalf. Go Ayaka!

Normally, this is where I say “I read some stories and not others,” but I feel like I barely read this volume. Whole chapters look unfamiliar to me! I’d better get back on that.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Before I wrap up I want to say that semelparous is getting worse and, at this point, I find it physically repulsive. I would never mention it again, except that I already know that the next chapter, from Comic Yuri Hime July 2021, is one of the most incredibly ugly and ridiculous things I have ever seen in my entire life. I might mention that, because good fucking gods on high, tits DO NOT do that. So if I have time, I absolutely plan on ridiculing it. Then I will never mention it ever again, as long as I live. ^_^

Comic Yuri Hime May 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年5月号)’s cover story lets us enjoy the sensation of time travel and sharing crepes. Sincerely, this is a lovely story and I want to scream when I read it because it’s in 6 point type, for pity’s sake!

This issue was exceptionally good (for me ^_^) as it has a one-shot by Ohsawa Yayoi (yay!), “Sono hi, Night Date nanode” about an astronomy enthusiast who changes a web designer’s life. Absolutely charming on multiple levels. More like this please!

This chapter of “Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou” gives a teeny glimpse of Relaire, who, okay, yes, water slimes can be cute. ^_^

Usui Shio gets to really plumb the depths of adult emotions in both “Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts” and “Onna Tomodachi to Kekkonshitemita.” I really need to talk about the latter one day, because I think it’s doing itself a disservice if it heads towards romance. I think there is and ought to be a place for platonic intimacy-based family structure in this world.

But the story I want to focus on today is “Futari Escape” by Taguchi Shouichi. It’s been pretty goofy so far and not really “Yuri” but, like “Onna Tomodachi to Kekkonshitemita” works well as a story about two adult women who are a family without romance or physical intimacy. However, this chapter was just a lot of fun as “sempai” decides to buy a child’s food-preparation toy, in this case a hamburger maker. It’s so fun and nostalgic for them both, they end up buying a whole range of food prep toys, including a few that seem awfully unlikely. ^_^

When I was a child of course we also had these kind of toys, but they were never for real food, only sweets. I had an Easy Bake Oven, as most girls of my generation had. My sister was give a tootsie roll maker that I’m pretty sure I was the only one who used. I’ve had a fondness for flavored tootsie rolls since. (Lemon was the best, my sister preferred cherry.) Of course some folks had shaved ice or cotton candy machines (I bought a kitchen version of the latter as an adult, in fact. ^_^) So while we didn’t have kiddy kebob makers or takoyaki or jagariko makers, I can totally see the appeal. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

As always, this magazine had more series I read and like than mentioned here, and others I do not. And, as usual, “Semelparous” is still utterly, insultingly ridiculous.

The June issue is on shelves now! I look forward to “meeting” Relaire.

Comic Yuri Hime April 2021 ( コミック百合姫2021年4月号) has some wonderful things in it. But first, we’ll be saying goodbye to “Hayama-sensei to Ternao-sensei ha Tsukiatteriru.” Having gotten as married as a same-sex couple can get in modern-day Japan, surrounded by their friends (including a new, kid of obvious, couple among them) and family, Saki and Asuka are off for a wedding night together. When you ask people to describe this series, they almost always tell you how adorable it is. Which is totally true, but also this is pretty much one chapter of explicit sex after the other and how delightful is it that it is both at the same time with nothing being lost or compromised on either side.  Ohi-sensei deserves some kind of award for that, alone.

Aki confronts a former band member and her feelings in this chapter of Takashima Eku’s “Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau.”

Rae’s protagonist power finally shows in “Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou desu.” She and Misha are invited to be part of the Academy Knights. Rae’s fantasy of swooping in to save Claire is perfection. Aonoshit-sensei completely nailed it. Coming up, we’ll meet Relaire!

 This year, I definitely see a turn towards more adult content, sadly without a lessening of  stories apparently about toddlers, based on the art. Oh well. There are a good half dozen continuing series I’m still greedily reading every month. And still any number of stories I avoid. But overall, I’m once again delighted by the variety. Now we need some mystery and hey, maybe a sports drama. That would be cool. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 7

Actually an 8, but I’m said about losing Asuka and Saki. :-(

I guess we’ll see what will fill the space shortly, when I pick up the May 2021 issue next week!