So often, I find this Top Ten list the easiest to write. There’s frequently a book or two above and beyond all others and nothing comes close. This year was a little harder than usual, with so many books that were very good but nothing that made me stop and catch my breath and think, “THIS.”
The list is a mixture of English-language and Japanese this year, which is always nice. ^_^ Without further ado, here is the Okazu 2014 Top Ten Yuri Manga List!
10. Lepakkoluola
This collection from Team Pärvelö had so many qualities that I liked. Variety in art, and story and setting – protagonists of color in a queer manga anthology, how wonderful is that? (Finland seems especially good at diversity in representation.) Refreshing, delightful, fun, smart. Lepakkoluola is the kind of thing that gives me hope for the future of Yuri. I know Hanna-Pirita’s gonna have a heart attack when she reads this, but Team Pärvelö – you did good. Your collection is #10 on this years’ list. ^_^ Please keep drawing and writing!
Lepakkoluola is available by direct purchase from Team Pärvelö.
9. Gakuen Polizi
I wasn’t really sure that this was even a Yuri series after the first volume, but I liked the energy, and the characters and the use of the setting to tell some real, not always all that pleasant, stories about girls’ lives. And then it ended up being Yuri after all. And Morinaga Milk was once again able to draw girl cops. ^_^
Gakuen Polizi is available in Japanese from Futabasha (Volume 1 | Volume 2) and English from Seven Seas on Amazon (Volume 1 |Volume 2) or RightStuf.com (Volume 1 | Volume 2)
8. Rock It, GiRL!
Tanaka Minoru’s Rock It, GiRL! was different. The art was intentionally ugly, the characters, too, and the story never went where one might expect. And in the end, it was a loopy, quirky, and kind of charming look at nothing anyone of us would ever see. This isn’t cute idols or meteoric rise to fame – this was a story about blood and guts and singing your heart out and hoping like hell someone might listen, then being told you’re not good enough. I liked it precisely because it wasn’t the same story we’d seen time and time again.
Rock It, GiRL! from Ichijinsha, available on Amazon JP Volume 1 | Volume 2
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7. Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo
This story was a bit of a dark horse this year. I figured it was a one-shot, lame Maria-sama ga Miteru clone, with no real meaning, but I was dead wrong. Not only was it delightful, it continues!
I’m always pleased when I’m this wrong about a series. ^_^ If I’m stuck reading about school rivals, it might as well be this pleasant.
Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo from KADOKAWA/Media Factory, available on Amazon JP (Volume 1 | Volume 2)
6.Philosophia
Amano Shunita’s Philosophia is, as I mentioned in my review, suited to adult tastes. It’s not going to be for people looking for sweet, cute or happy. There’s a decidedly bitter taste to the story, one that lingers long after the pages have been shut. I’m thrilled to pieces to have the whole collection now and savor that taste. In a world that so often is filled with fluffy, sugary confections, stories like this stand out as special.
Philosophia from Ichijinsha, available on Amazon JP.
5. game
I’ve raved about Takemiya Jin’s work a million times. I love, love, love her characterization, and she captures shocked realization in a way that I adore. What really sets this volume of her manga apart, is her unrestricted and unrepentant embrace of not only lesbian culture, but also otaku culture. This book is about us, with our fetishes, and our obsessions, our lusts and loves. Reading game is like looking into a disturbingly accurate funhouse mirror at ourselves, the otaku-rezu who read (and create and write and talk about) Yuri. ^_^;
game from Ichijinsha, available on Amazon JP.
4. Kanojo to Camera to Kanojo no Kisetsu
From volume to volume I had no expectations for this series. I never knew where it might take me. And right to the very end, I had no idea whether it was going to string me along and dump me, or lift me up. As an emotional roller coaster, it was pure brilliance. The art, the story telling and the tension all combined to make this series one of my favorite manga of the year.
Kanojo to Camera to Kanojo no Kisetsu, from Kodansha, available on Amazon JP (Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3 | Volume 4 | Volume 5 )
Year after year, I find myself juggling and re-juggling the top three entries. Why? Because I ask myself, am I favoring art over story, skill over entertainment? I never know until the thing is actually done how it will come out.
Here are my top three manga for 2014.
3. Whispered Words
Whispered Words marks two major developments in English-language Yuri manga. A new publisher, One Peace Books, is setting up shop on the block and a major Yuri series that I didn’t think we’d ever manage to get over here is here! Sasamekikoto explores every possible Yuri trope all at once and manages to be sad and moving and funny and wonderful. And now we have it. I can guarantee that unless something *amazing* comes out in 2015, Volume 3 will be my top slot next year. ^_^ The ending is just that good.
In the mean time, we have Volume 1 and 2 and every possible tear has been wrung out of us. For all the Yuri all at once, Whispered Words makes my top three for 2014.
Whispered Words from One Peace Books. available from Amazon (Volume 1| Volume 2 | Volume 3) and RightStuf.com (Volume 1| Volume 2 | Volume 3 link TBA)
2. Couleur de Bijoux d’Amour
I’m unabashedly besotted with Nishi UKO’s artistic sensibility. Her people are people – okay, ridiculously beautiful people, but people, nonetheless. They can be petty, snarky, obsessed, in good moods and bad, hungry, lonely, and she communicates these emotions with simple, short stories, exquisite art and a mature aesthetic that is rarely found in manga, much less Yuri.
For all these reasons, it was a given that Couleur de Bijoux d’Amour would make my top three for 2014.
Couleur de Bijoux d’Amour from Hakusensha, available on Amazon JP.
And here we are, at last. After the dozens, maybe hundreds, of manga I read this year, my Top Yuri Manga for 2014 is….
1. Obento to Kase-san
There’s a load of expectations wrapped up the idea of “Yuri” right now. It will be a girls school story, it will be a coming of age story, about falling in love and lust. And I, like so many long-time Yuri fans, get a little bored with the whole thing. But every once in a while, a series comes along that is a cool, refreshing breeze, and makes one remember that even the tritest plots can be done well. “Kase-san” was that series.
Sure, it’s the same old story, but without being creepy or trite, without featureless moe faces, or featureless Yuri romance. Kase and Yamada’s romance is adorable and we can watch it develop without feeling like sick voyeurs, more like the adults we are, merely happy to see the children so happy together.
For being so very, very stereotypically “Yuri” and still managing to be delightful, Takasaki Hiromi’s Obento to Kase-san is the best Yuri manga of the 2014.
Obento to Kase-san, from Shinsokan, available on Amazon JP.
Yuri has come so far in the last 12 years. When I first began the Top Ten Lists in 2004, I scrambled every year for good, much less current, Yuri series. Yuri Shimai was just about a year old and we were planning a Yuricon in Tokyo event. Now Comic Yuri Hime is the last magazine standing and who knows how long that will last? But in the mean time, we’ve got a lot of very good Yuri to read, and the genre we love has survived – and thrived – despite everything. Here’s to a great 2015 for Yuri manga!
lete and real and in our hands and on our shelves. At last!
manga. Now for us to have and watch and enjoy whenever we feel like it. The combination of Riyoko Ikeda’s timeless writing and Dezaki Osamu’s sharp eye for dramatic visuals have changed the way we view anime forever.
Squee. You may not remember why you liked it, it was so long ago. You may have made up stories in your mind about how good or bad it was. You probably forgot the dinosaurs and some of the worst Monsters of the Day ever. But when you watch the original anime and re-meet Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako, you’ll remember all over again why you love them. ^_^
It’s silly, it’s stupid, it’s full of painful gags and a duck that looks like a platypus, dumb service (especially for a shoujo manga) and made-up violence scenes that are pretty bloody (especially for a shoujo manga). But it has Yuri and if you can just take your brain away for 20 minutes at a time, it’s actually enjoyable in it’s own way. Urara and Momoka aren’t a real couple, but that’s pretty much a relief. ^_^
The Puella Magi Madoka Magica movies came out in theaters in the US and on DVD, thanks to Aniplex being so willing to keep up the high-saturation level of the series. They were an interesting alt-story to the Madoka TV anime, and had great visual impact…and, even if the story didn’t play out as positively as the TV anime, that was a good thing, too. This series is showing surprising longevity in Japan, so I’m not entirely sure if we’re saying goodbye to it just yet.
Rewatching this series was a real eye-opener for me. I had forgotten just how Yuri and BL this series was, and wow, does the action and art hold up well. As much as Tomoyo was the Yuri torch-bearer to generations of Yuri fans, she can barely hold a candle to her mother, Sonomi. This is one of the best “magical girl anime made for girls” series ever, really.
Riddle Story of a Devil was was a “Yuri” anime because we were told it was, but there was some interesting sexual tension and random partnering to make up for the lack of affection. The action was good, the plot full of holes, but as a modern version of Seraphim Call-like character scenarios tied up by a ribbon story, it was entertaining. It’s not timeless, but we looked forward to it being on air and enjoyed the heck out of it while we watched it. That’s a good enough reason for me to include it on this list. ^_^
I know you know that I didn’t much care for the anime. But setting that aside, it was a fairly significant series – a Yuri romance anime, nuthin’ else but Yuri. No gimmicks, no pretend drama, just straight up “Story A.” While I did not care for the thigh-staring, and the creepy male gaze of the camera, there is no doubt that Yu loves Haruka, Haruka loves Yu, they love each other. The end.
I toyed with making this my number one choice for the year. Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san was, to me, the most enjoyable advertised-as-Yuri anime of the year. It was silly, and actually funny in places, and light-hearted and goofy. There are any number of potential pairings and a few actual couples, but the anime kept the Yuri mostly in the imagination of the leads…and I enjoyed it. From the insanely adorable opening theme, right to every stupid animal pun, Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san made me smile.
I watched Book One of this series back in winter 2013, and marathoned Books 2-4 over the past few weeks and I have to say…this may well be one of the greatest animated series ever made. It blasts through the Bechdel Test and the Friedman Addendum…and it’s an awesome ride all the while. Legend of Korra has everything I’ve ever wanted in an animated series – amazing characters, great action and lovely animation and a female lead who has a life and family and friends and complexity and morally ambiguous bad guys. The stories are well written, the dialogue sounds human. And in Book 4 we got something else. We got the ‘ship we’d been keeping one eye on the whole time. We got Korra and Asami.
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