Well wow. Comic Yuri Hime November 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年11月号) was a great read, for a couple of reasons.

The cover story has found a way to resolve itself, so humans don’t die off. I wasn’t worried, but…kinda wondered if the story would take any time to work at it. Nope! Just, “humans are fine, thanks.” That said, look at this gorgeous cover by Kesshin. Really nice. Next volume will go back to a white background and provide a happy ending.

The last few years have given us interesting and aesthetically pleasing stories. I’m pretty much sold on the cover novel model.

inori, hanagata and Aonoshimo’s “Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou” arrives on the doorstep of the crossdressing cafe. You my have seen spoilers for this online. The next volume is waiting for me to get it. I am a-quiver with anticipation. ^_^ This story is genuinely made even better with the manga art. What a pleasure it is!

“Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” went somewhere I did not expect and I found myself on the edge of my seat. What will happen with the reappearance of a former employee who threw the cafe into turmoil once before?

“Kimi to Tsuzuru Utakata” comes to a surprising climax in which Kaori creates an opportunity for Shizuku to say what she needs to say in order to forgive herself. A new crisis has arrived – one that has been foreshadowed for chapters, so I wasn’t nearly as surprised as Shizuku.

Kiiyan’s “Kimi to Shiranai Natsu ni Naru” started very gonzo last chapter, but this time took a turn in a bizarre direction. Two women running away from life find themselves on an even more unexpected journey.

Usui Shio’s “Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts” is coming up quickly towards its end, and this chapter was worth the price of admission. Fuuka and Hinako have a talk, again, about Asahi. Hinako is still convinced that a physical relationship is not something she can understand. Asahi likewise does not really know what she’s feeling. I hope, honest, that Hinako is allowed to remain asexual, as she is potentially presented here. She and Asahi have a lot to work through, and I’m here for all of it.

In Shio-sensei’s “Onna Tomodachi to Kekkonshitmita,” for once Kurumi spoils Ruriko a little. I’m glad, too, because Ruriko deserves to feel appreciated.

“Makoto to Momoka” by Agu felt like an old-school doujinshi. A bartender is using the bar’s name, Makoto and all her customers think it’s a cool name for her. But her name is not Makoto. The bar owner has appropriated her name, which has caused a bit of identity crisis.

“Mukeikaku Yuukuu Saihate Tour” was a nice scenic one-shot. I kind of like the travel spots in this magazine, as I’m not going anywhere these days, but is this Yuri? Is “Futari Escape”? I don’t really know.

Inui Ayu’s “Kyou mo Hitotsu Yane no Shita” is once again a paean to how much Kon-san understands Inui-sensei. This series is getting it’s first collected volume next month, yay!

Which brings me to the final excellent thing in this volume. Inui-sensei is the featured artist in the Hime Cafe section and for the first time since I’ve been reading this magazine, a contributing artist discusses issues like coming out,  being a lesbian and living with a girlfriend. I don’t think we’ve had an out artist in the magazine proper before and I am absolutely thrilled that Inui-sensei is the one to break that barrier.  I was so happy, in fact, I made *sure* I filled out the survey in the back to let them know how happy I was.

Note: Reader CW comments that Takemiya Jin has previously discussed coming out in an early issue of Hime Cafe and I thought I recalled that, as well, but I was unable to confirm it from my archives.

A great penultimate issue for the year. One more to go and then everything is in the wind again.

Ratings:

Overall  8

The December issue is already out in Japan, and I hope will be in my hands this week. ^_^

Comic Yuri Hime October 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年10月号) brings us to the arc of I’m in Love With the Villainess that I was looking forward to most , but first…the crisis of  Hanna Ren’s cover story. And what a crisis it is! History has been changed. What will happen?

In “I’m in Love With the Villainess”- we are on the cusp of the school festival and the Academy Knights’ gender switch cafe and I’m really looking forward to seeing how everyone is drawn. In the meantime, Relaire gets to play the part of a scary monster. ^_^ His lisstle smiley face is ridiculously cute.

“Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!” finally digs into Sumika’s story and starts lobbing fastballs at her. Again, I look forward to where that leads us!

A kind of conflict has settled into “Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau” that Himari can’t cute her way out of.

“Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru” also finds our leads in a bit of crisis as they face their first competition, but they pull it together and perform, which was the point. I’m still rooting for them.

Kabocha’s got a short story, which was really nice to see.

Comic Yuri Hime is now back over 650 pages a few months in a row and looking healthier than ever, with returning series that have some longevity, new and proven creators, a bunch of series I like, some I don’t and serialized novels (I just really wish the type was larger. It is so exhausting to try and read them.)

Speaking of prose, the magazine has announced the 4th short story contest in conjunction with Pixiv and Hayakawa Publishing, so that’s pretty awesome, even if I haven’t had a free moment to read  the winners of the last two years. You can still find them all on Pixiv if you want to read them. They are – of course – in Japanese. The 2rd and 3rd contest winners are all full-text, if you want to give them a try. They are also collected into a print volume that can be purchased through Booth.pm for the 2nd and 3rd collections.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

The November issue of Comic Yuri Hime is currently available on Japanese shelves. I can’t wait! For one thing, I want to know what happens when history changes on the cover story.

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. ^_^