Souer Sengen is yet another collection of yuri doujinshi for Maria-sama ga Miteru. Like my earlier reviews of Gokigenyou and Maria’s Wink, this book is one of a series. In this case the stories are loosely collected around the three Rose Families: Red, Yellow and White, one volume focused on Yumi and one on the supporting characters called, “SP”.

Todays review will be on the Yellow Rose Family Volume. Why this one of all of them? Because this one is, IMHO, the best of the bunch. If you asked me why, I’m not sure I’d be able to put my finger on it, exactly. I think it’s a combination of several things – I like the focus on Rei x Yoshino, I like many of the circles that contributed and I like several of the stories already, a priori. I own some of the doujinshi from which the stories are taken and they are some of my favorites.

The back to back stories by Bonny Bonnie, one of which ends happily and one sadly, both of which deal with Yoshino’s desire to kiss Rei, are quite enjoyable. In the first, they kiss, and Rei says that it tastes warm and nice. This is followed by a second, deeper kiss, and Yoshino complains that Rei tastes like takoyaki. ^_^ The second story ends with them kissing, but Rei saying that she really doesn’t want to open that door any further…. Both are quite sweet in their own way. You’ll pardon me if I prefer the first. ^_^

There’s a cute tale as Eriko passes a book from Rei to Yoshino, and in doing so ponders how close they are. It’s nice insight from Rosa Foetida into her “little sisters.” And, among the many other stories that look at the relationship between Yoshino and Rei, this collection includes the story from my very first Maria-sama ga Miteru doujinshi purchase, from long before I had the vaguest clue about the series. The circle is Bebe, and the series is called “Creole.” The first Creole story is about the “Day it Began,” which is to say, they day Yoshino and Rei become lovers. Despite it’s intense lolification of Yoshino, I like this story a lot. In fact, I like the whole Creole series alot – even the one where Sachiko presides over a sex club. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8 variable, pretty decent, with the exception of one story, which was “shriek!” bad
Characters – 10 Yoshino…!
Story – also variable, averages to about a 6
Yuri – 9, except where it’s 10
Service – 10

Overall – 8

The entire Souer Sengen series is worth taking a look at. Some very fun and well-known Marimite parody circles contribute, like Pen-Pen Gusa Club, and the aforementioned Bebe and Bonny Bonnie. So there’s something of interest in each volume. But in my entirely personal opinion – this volume is the best one.

After all that nastiness in my ears yesterday, I decided to cleanse my soul with a little Maria-sama ga Miteru today. It’s especially fitting as, after all, Strawberry Panic is not much more than a trashy parody of Marimite.

You may remember that I picked up an inordinate amount of Marimite doujinshi anthologies while in Tokyo this past January (and if you didn’t remember, now you know.) Today’s reviewee, Gokigenyou, Volume 1, is one of those many. I previously reviewed another anthology, Maria’s Wink, Volume 2. which I liked very much. If anything, Gokigenyou is better.

The first several dozen pages of Gokigenyou are 4-koma, four panel comics, each focusing on one of the Rose families of the Lillian Student Council, the Yamayurikai.  Each of the comics are printed on paper that corresponds in color to the Rose in question: i.e., The Chinensis family comics are on red paper, Foetida on yellow and Gigantea on white. It’s a cute touch.

The stories that follow are a wild mish-mosh of gag and romantic stories, leaning towards the gag side. There’s a series of stories about Eriko’s taste in comics which is very amusing, and a howlingly funny and deeply disturbing series of stories in which Noriko is portrayed as the Ichimatsu doll she’s usually described as looking like in the novels. These last are so creepy and so *funny* that opening the book and looking at one panel starts me laughing all over again. Probably my favorite gag in that whole series comes after Yoshino and Yumi have grown a little used to Noriko’s monotone speech and creepy doll face that never moves (except to spin all the way around.) As they walk along with Shimako, Yumi comments pleasantly that Noriko sure looks like an Ichimatsu doll, doesn’t she? Shimako smiles blandly and replies, “Ah, you mean her hair?” It’s quite brilliant and awful. As is the moment that Yumi comes up from behind Noriko and slaps her smartly on the back to say hi, only to have Noriko’s head fall off.  Touko’s only comment, “Be careful, Noriko”, while Yumi disappears to a corner to shiver.

Following these are a series of stories by a circle called Bonnie Bonny that I like very much. They do cute and sweet in a way that doesn’t make me feel icky. (Kinder, gentler moe.) The first of the Bonnie Bonnie stories is one of my personal favorites, Yoshino and Rei and Sachiko and Yumi out on a double date. There’s a bit of out-of-character stuff, but it’s harmless and the story is really very nice, with a high Yuri rating. It also contains an incredibly unusual and interesting moment between Yoshino and Sachiko, who find themselves alone for a bit.

For that story alone, the collection would be worth it, but there’s plenty more than just that. There’s lots of quality time with Sei and her women: Shimako, Youko and Shizuka – and an emotional Shiori retrospective. And there’s another Rei and Yoshino story in which Yoshino wishes that they could become lovers; it ends with them on a date to the beach in winter, and Yoshino thinking that the way they are is fine.

The last story is Yumi thinking about saying goodbye to the former Rosas, and how hard it will be for her to say goodbye to Sachiko when she graduates.

So, again, not heavy duty with the Yuri romance, but what there is is excellent and the gag comics are actually really funny, which is kind of unusual. And the one Bonnie Bonny story more than makes up for the lack of romance, as it’s just chockful of Yuri love-love.

Ratings:

Art – Variable 5-7
Story – Variable – 6-8
Characters – well, duh. 10
Yuri – 6 (with a boost to 8 for the one story)
Service – 2

Overall – 8

What makes it better than Maria’s Wink is just how funny the funny stuff is. Another great way to enjoy a variety of Marimite doujinshi without the time and expense of digging out individual circles and books.