I’m not dead yet, really, just moving slowly through the stuff on my pile. Soooooooooo slowly.  The next few days I am also in and out doing the summer trifecta of beach, theater and amusement park, so don’t expect anything new for a few days – I’ll be busy having fun outside. ^_^

Summer has landed and with it, the July issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫). The cover tells a single-page story of young love.

This is followed by what I’m thinking might well be a fun new series. “BGMRSP” (“Bousou Girlsteki Mousou Renaiteki Suteki Project”) follows two childhood friends who are totally unalike. Aoi is boyish, athletic, tall and Beniko is girlish, sophisticated and cool. Now they are both in a girls school and each have a harem of devoted fans. So they decide to have a harem competition. School is now a harem-gang warzone. I have no idea if I’ll like this story or not, but I have to give it points for originality!

The entirety of the first half of the issue was uninspiring for me (and the reason I was slogging through it so slowly. Lots of…stuff I’m not interested in. Halfway through the issue I almost flew over to Japan and slapped the editors. In a “Happy Wedding!” Special, they ignore everything important about marriages between female couples to provide utterly fatuous advice like “make sure you buy Yuri manga.” Yeah, in a country that does not recognize the relationship between a chunk of your audience, I’m sure all the lesbian readers found that hilarious. Ugh.

Finally, at about 2/3 of the way through the quality picked up, with Takemiya Jin’s “Atchi/Kotchi/Dotchi” which is still mining the levels of misunderstanding between Satomi and Nana. Best line of the chapter. “What are you hiding from me?” “Ah, which one?”

Morishima Akiko returns with an older chapter from Rakuen no Jouken and new chapter following Serina and Sumi.

Tanaka Minoru’s “Rock It Girl!”  dives into Seira and Kaname’s childhood in a deeply unconvincing kind of therapy session.

“Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na Nanika (私の世界を構成する塵のような何か)” by Amano Syuninta gets Ruki and Sachi about a quarter step closer. And we get left with the image of Maasa as a child, doing ballet. I feel for her.

Ohzawa Yayoi’s “Strange Babies come to a climax as the penny *finally* drops for Yagi. Phew.

There is Yuri in this chapter of “Yuri Danshi,” but it still manages to be all about the guys. Gah.

The first half of the magazine kept putting me to sleep, but the second half had what I’m looking for.

Ratings:

Overall – 6

I can’t speak for anyone else but, all these years of reading about girls in school has given me an allergy to school uniforms. So very, very off-putting. Dear mangaka – try getting out more.

The cover of the May 2013 Issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) shows us a springy scene with what I imagine some people will see as a cute girl carrying boxes outside a door and what I imagine that some people will see as cute cats. Inside the cover, she comes into a comfy space with another girl, with hearts and cats all around. The cover can be cut to create a door to be opened, which will give the scene a sense of motion. This “Spring of Life” is as good a beginning as any, although I kind of miss the crazy violence of Kazuaki’s work. ^_^

I’m going to say this straight up – I liked Takahashi Mako’s story this time. Well, I liked the idea of an imouto-bot who says all the stock things one expects from a “little sister,” Yuri-style. Someone will make a lot of money off this idea someday. I hope it’s Takahashi-sensei.

Takemiya-sensei’s “Nakushimono Okurimono” returns us to Satomi  and Nana and the uncomfortable sense Satomi has that Nana still has feelings for Youko. (All of which is dealt with in Kila Kila.) Satomi comes up with a cute and creative way to resolve the issue.

Sa-chan and Ruki are on an inevitable course now, in ““Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na Nanika” but it’s Remi who awakens Saki to the idea of being with a woman.

Of all the stories in this issue, the one that’s sticking with me is Osawa Yayoi’s, “Strange Babies”, the continuation of Black Yagi to Gekiyaku Madeline. Yagi, having never truly been socialized, is trying hard to be normal, while Madoka find herself cut off by Kokoto’s dominance of Yagi’s time and attention. Kokoto’s obsession is uncomfortable-making, a fair echo of fans who want more from idols than they can reasonably give. It’s very hard to know if Kokoto wants to be with Yagi, be Yagi’s lover, or just *be* Yagi. She may not know herself. All the while, Madoka finds herself pushed aside but incapable of saying anything. It’s also difficult to know if Yagi understands what is going on. It’s my guess that she really does not. ARGH. Frustrating story, but I’m emotionally engaged with it, so good. But ARGH. ^_^

For me, this was not a strong volume. The first half of the magazine this issue had too many physically and emotionally abused, neglected, broken and unhappy girls and way too much emphasis on love saving the day. It’s not cool, editors, not cool at all, to put love or having a lover in the position of “thing that will save you.” It doesn’t work like that and you know it.

Ratings:

Overall – 5

I will never ever enjoy a story where, to save the day, someone has to hit someone else over the head with a rock. If that’s your punchline, you’re on the wrong track for writing a good story.

Comic Yuri Hime, March 2013 (コミック百合姫) has so much going on that upon first glance, my thought was, “The most recent issue of Comic Yuri Hime feels like the end times. There’s a wedding, gay pride and an older couple. Whoah.”

Well, upon reading it all the way through, I would like to revise that to “The most recent issue of Comic Yuri Hime feels like the end times. There’s a wedding, gay pride, an older couple and a HELICOPTER! Whoah!”

But I get ahead of myself. ^_^

There is a wedding. Minamoto Hisanari’s “Fu~Fu” comes to a close in the goopiest, most smile-making way possible, as Kina and Sumi make vows that have meaning to them.

There is gay pride, as Takemiya Jin’s story of Satomi’s discovery of herself as a young lesbian comes to an end with Satomi telling Asuna off for her LGBTQ-loathing vision of what life should be like and standing up for her own normal. The end of this series echoes what I have so often longed for in others – take the lesbian out of the dysfunctional relationship and plop her down in a functional one.

There are older characters. I’m afraid I’ll never like Takahashi Mako’s idea of “romantic” but they do indeed grow old together in “Yuki Bara, Akai Bara.”

There is a breakup in “Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na Nanika” that looks like a real breakup. The first that I have ever seen in manga. No histrionics, just two people who have irreconcilable differences. Darn you, Amano-sensei. I really wanted them to work it out.

There is good and bad and schoolgirls and adults in this issue of Comic Yuri Hime.

But more importantly than all of this.

There is a helicopter. ^_^ (As Mathilde says, “Let’s face it: it wouldn’t be proper Yuri without the helicopters.”)

In “Love Gene Double XX.” But  I’m not going to tell you why. In any case, it’s utterly beside the point. The point is, despite all logic, the newest, strangest, most delightful Yuri trope – forget butches on motorcycles – is helicopters. Hee hee hee! ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 9

Not just because of the helicopter, but it helped. ^_^ Do you think I ought to add “Helicopter” as a Category, I wonder?

Once again, the cover of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) tells a story. The January issue’s story, which is helpfully titled “Love Story”, provides flashbacks to Mad magazines of old, as the cover and inside cover offer *4* pages of story with the fold.

This issue was primarily interesting for the various ways in which so many of the stories explored the typical tropes of schoolgirl Yuri with abandon. And I mean that – artists are really just going nuts within the same few basic ideas. Girls are still transferring into elite schools, where they encounter the star of the school…but none of the typical things one might expect are happening. The star of the school is not who she seems, murders occur, things are being smashed and thrown and kisses are hard, sometimes, and gentle sometimes. Characters are enigmatic, cheerful, angry, polite and crazy. This issue is not, really, in any way a great reflection of life, but that isn’t my point. My point is…wow there’s a lot of *stuff* going on in this magazine!

And once again “Fu~Fu~” wins the universe as Sumi decides that she and Kina ought to, y’know, have matching rings. Oh god this series is so cute! Kinana agrees that matching rings would suit them well…and she suggests that the next thing on the menu ought to be a wedding ceremony. ^_^ Squee!

This issue was a really nice selection of stories of girls and women in a variety of relationship from utterly dysfunctional to happily ever after. Exactly what I want in an anthology. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8