Woops! I hadn’t had a chance to pick up my books in a while and fell behind two months on my Yuri. ^_^ Comic Yuri Hime, December 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年12月号)  is the final issue with hechima’s cover story….our two young women having a June wedding. ^_^ The cover text tells us that they are 25 years old, and the writing, I think was well chosen for this magazine in it’s 20th year: “Thank you for every shared moment.”

The color pages at the beginning advertise the live-action Futari Escape, the manga reprint and new chapter of the Taguchi’s manga, the upcoming anime shorts for Does It Count If You Lose Your Virginity to an Android? and the Comic Yuri Hime 20th Anniversary Cover Art Collection.

The first story is a new series, by Touma, “Kimi no Sei dakara,  Sekinin totte yo ne” about a “rental girlfriend” i.e., escort, who takes on her first femal client and finds love. There’s a move in there somewhere. ^_^

“Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou.” by inori. and Aonoshimo is coming up on the climactic chapter, as Re and Claire face down Dole and lies to Rae about facing things together.

In “Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau” Himari finally meets Yori-sempai’s parents and it turns out that her becoming a musician carries a lot of baggage for this family.

Nana has come to an important conclusion about her relationship with Princess Luriam in “Muryoku Seijo to Munou Oujo ~ Maryoku Zero de Shoukansareta Seijo no Isekai Kyuukokuki ” by Tamasaki Tama. 

“Chouuchyuu Yori Ai wo Komete,” by Ashidaka Woz is moving deeper into Ten’s school trauma, as Lulu is jut good and kind and helpful. A threat is on the horizon, though and it is not from this world.

The team’s music video is done in Kashikaze’s “Kimi ga Hoeru Tame no Uta o.” and now it is out in the world to be enjoyed and judged.

Time is running out in SheepD’s “Kanaria ha Kiraboshi no Yume o Miru” but the clothing design is being worked on for a customer and both protagonists are committed facing the future together. Clearly crisis awaits.

A gal agrees to turn into a magical girl as a part-time job in “Majyo’tte Baito-dai demasu?” by Pya. I really enjoyed this take on the genre.

Koharu and Minato play house, and columns look at movies, books behind the scenes of voice acting and more. 

Ratings: 

Overall – 9

A very strong, very fun issue to round out the year. Congratulations on 20 years, Comic Yuri Hime!

The January 2026 issue is already on shelves, with a new cover artists and more 20th anniversary fun.

I love when the end of the year in Comic Yuri Hime is strong. There is one manga we’re saying goodbye to in Comic Yuri Hime, November 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年11月号), but we’ll get there in a moment.

To begin with hechima’s cover is homey and warm. We’ve had 11 months with these two young women, they are beginning to feel like friends. I’m hoping the December issue shows them a bit older, but I always hope for older adult representation. ^_^

As mentioned on YNN, Futari Escape is getting a live-action series. I’m very interested to see how they’ll do that, as it was heavy on the goofy, travel and goofy, weird fun and low on the Yuri scales.

The opening series is a new one…and I do not yet know how I feel about it. “Hareta Hi no Dress Code” features a girl who wishes she was brave enough to wear the slacks that her school dress code allows, but she also loves dressing in cute skirt and a girl who does dress in the slack because of scars on her legs, but wishes she didn’t have to. I hope very much that this develops into a story of freedom from gender presentation rules.

“Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!” closes the Kanako x Sumika arc, but in a very humanly imperfect way. I do not know what the characters might face, but I hope Nene gets to meet someone nice now. ^_^

Lulu and Ten are accidentally dragged into the relationship issues faced by another student in Ashiaka Waz’s “Chouuchyuu Yori Ai wo Komete,” and it both puts strain on and opens a new door in their own relationship.

merryhachi returns to Comic Yuri Hime for the first time in years with a very cute one-shot, “Touko Swing-By.” Honestly, it was really sweet.

Somtime and suoh’s  “Gakeppuchi Reijou ha Kuro Kishi-sama o Horesasetai!” comes to an end. It’s a good end, a very solid end, but I don’t want it to end! Oh well. It was nice. I just wish we could have more! Waaah~~~

And props to the comic essay “Film ni Saku Yurinohana o Atsumete Kimi ni Okuritai” for not just talking about the Utena movie, but presenting an interesting fan discussion that the movie is Yuri, but the TV series is not. I agree that Utena and Anthy are not, in the TV series, a couple, but surely we cannot discount Juri and Shiori? Anyway. Good column. 

Once again, there were many stories I read and enjoyed and other I did not, or did not read. It’s an incredibly solid magazine now and I look forward to new series starting.

Ratings: 

Overall – 8

The December issue will be out on October 18. There is no cover image available for it yet, but you can pre-order it on Amazon JP now.

Version 1.0.0

Comic Yuri Hime, October 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年10月号) begins with a lovely seasonal cover by hechima.

Yuama’s new manga jumps right in to a complicated school situation between two girls that are seen by the students around them as the school princess and prince.

Claire and Rae are on the very cusp of Rae’s plans to save her beloved villainess…but Claire isn’t following the rulebook, in “Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou.” by inori, and Aonoshimo.

Takeshima Eku’s “Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau” is still wrapping up Miki’s story with her sempai. Ayaka spends this chapter expressing her fondness for her new girlfriend. ^_^ It looks like a new couple will be the focus and it’s about time…..

“Chouuchyuu Yori Ai wo Komete,” by Ashidaka Woz continues to be affirming and sweet as Ten opens up to this alien who traveled across the universe just to talk with her.

“Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” makes a comeback and two very important things happen. Mai *finally steps up to be an adult, a day late and a dollar short, but she bans Youko from ever bothering her  staff again and she calls what happened to Kanako what it is – sexual assault. The second thing that happens is Youko, not only not seeing the error of her ways, but digging in to make her actions perfectly justifiable, thus claiming the title of narcissist that we’ve been quite sure she is all along. A few pages of how Youko’s past left her with pain over a relationship just confirms the fact that she needs therapy.

Utatane Yuu’s “Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru” comes to a satisfying and sweet conclusion. It was never really in doubt, but the journey was a good one and I’m glad we shared it. ^_^

I absolutely loved this chapter of Koharu to Minato, as our girls and their puppy have friends over to their new place who are also a couple. This is a huge life step for queer couples, having someone to wholly confide in for the first time.

Kashikaze adds one more to the home team, as Yuu and Haru recruit a young artist whose family is not on board with that as a career in “Kimi ga Hoeru Tame no Uta o.”

Violet has to fully confront her trauma about the Black Knight, and Dahlia comes clean about her feelings about her “little sister” when she turns down Clarice’s request for aid in “Gakeppuchi Reijou ha Kuro Kishi-sama o Horesasetai!” This series is coming to an end and while I get why, I’m going to miss it.

SheepD’s “Kanaria ha Kiraboshi no Yume o Miru” is heading towards a throwdown, as our protagonists  face the invetiable conflict between the life their desire and the choices they are given.

I do always say this, but there are more stories I read and enjoyed and some I read and did not, and some I did not read in this nearly 600 page manga magazine with something for nearly everyone. I’m reading and enjoying about 3/4 of the magazine, which is an unusually high percentage for me and any magazine. So rock on Comic Yuri Hime, here is to  a great 20th year!

Ratings: 

Overall – 9

November 2025 is on JP shelves and begins with what I hope will be an interesting story that addresses a girl wearing slacks in school.

Slightly more than 20 years ago, Rica Takashima and I hosted Yuricon 2005 in Tokyo. Ichijinsha had just bought Yuri Shimai magazine and was relaunching it as a new Yuri manga magazine. The editor-in-chief at the time came to Yuricon 2005 and asked about the name “Yuri Shimai.” The event attendees and guests were pretty ambivalent about that name and recommended they change it and few months later, Yuri Hime magazine launched. It was quarterly at first. Then in the late 00s, it split into two separate magazines  – Yuri Hime, and Yuri Hime S, nominally “for women” and “for men”. These were quarterly on different schedules, so fans of Yuri could get up to 8 issues a year. 

In 2011, Comic Yuri Hime was relaunched once again as a bimonthly manga magazine. And, in 2017, Comic Yuri Hime relaunched as the first and only monthly Yuri manga magazine.

Today we celebrate 20 year of Comic Yuri Hime from Ichijinsha. Congratulations! It’s been an incredible two decades and I’m glad I’ve been able to be along for the whole ride so far. ^_^

Comic Yuri Hime, September 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年9月号) is an extra thick 772 page extravaganza of Yuri. Beginning with a beautiful celebratory cover, featuring our protagonists in festive kimono at 20 years old, naturally. Kimono patterns and confetti are given a gold gloss for a very luxurious feel. Today, they and we are together, celebrating the love of women. 

I’m not going to give a rundown of all the individual series this time, but I do want to mention that I am very much enjoying the series that focus on strong-willed women and girls finding ways to get what they want done – there are many of these right now and it feels so good to read these, along with more conventional high school stories. There is plenty of “adult” content for those that like that, and still a nice pile of fantasy and isekai and a bit of science fiction. I’m still waiting for sports queer comic is iespecially but we have some great action, and smart women making positive change.

We’ve come a very long way in 20 years and there is still a long way to go. Queer media is once again under attack globally, queer comic especially so. So while we celebrate where we have been and what we have done, I ask you all to please continue supporting Yuri and queer manga. We need unity and strength now to protect what we have gained against the forces that seek to – again- shove us back in closets and silence us. Sing your queer songs, write your queer stories, draw your queer comics!

And on behalf of Comic Yuri Hime and Yuricon – thank you for your support of Yuri!