Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Volume 1

February 12th, 2021

Hinako understands what is “normal.” Her whole life she’s been told that for a woman, looking pretty, always smiling, wearing stylish clothes and makeup so that you can date a nice man and eventually marry and have a family is “normal.” And so, she does the normal things. But she knows she’s not “normal,” because she hates these things and hates herself for trying and failing to be what is expected of her. After yet another failed attempt at normality, Hinako meets a colleague, the apparently austere Satou Asahi, who is kind to her in a way Hinako has never experienced before. Slowly, Hinako begins to build a picture of what her own normal could be and it shakes her life up completely.

Yesterday I said that its rare to see a Yuri manga that really does the work – Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Volume 1, by Shio Usui does the work. There are no major handwaves here. Hinako doesn’t meet Asahi, get swept away and they live happily ever after. Instead, Asahi becomes a role model for Hinako to build a life for herself that makes her happy, something she had never before considered. Hinako still struggles with doing what is expected because it is expected, but Asahi is there showing her that it does not have to be accepted. Asahi believes in Hinako. As Asahi and Hinako grow closer, Hinako starts to believe in herself, as well.

This manga was tied for first (along with three other manga) on the Okazu Top Yuri Manga of 2020. There’s no secret as to why – I love everything about this manga. Usui-sensei’s art is exactly in my wheelhouse, the characters are terrific, the narrative is centered on self-acceptance and growth as a human. I’m so pleased that you too can read and enjoy this series now that it’s out in English from Seven Seas.
Jenny McKeon’s translation is terrific and has caused me to coin a new phrase – “light touch” translation, by which I mean the translation avoids heavy-handed literality in favor of feel and sense – i.e., how do we, as humans in 2021 say that in English, as opposed to how it was written in Japanese.  I very much liked the light touch here, where it felt completely right.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 6
Service – 0 Not so much as a bath scene. What a pleasure

Overall – 8

As usual, the entire Seven Seas team did a great job bringing you one of my favorite manga I am reading right now as it is serialized in Comic Yuri Hime magazine. Some exceptional moments coming your way in Volume 2 when that hits shelves in July, I assure you.

My thanks to Seven Seas for the review copy, which means I will have an extra copy to give away when it shows up later this month.

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An utterly delightful Yuri manga about adults, centered on self-acceptance and growth as a human. Win-win-win!





Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai, Volume 2 (ロンリーガールに逆らえない)

February 11th, 2021

The best romantic comedies, in my opinion, are ones that stop trying to be a comedy. In Volume 1, this series was definitely a comedy.

Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai, Volume 2 (ロンリーガールに逆らえない) is something else. It’s a story about a person who had pretty much given up on life, finding someone who puts joy and color back into it.

But first we have to deal with a transfer student from Osaka who appears to be trying to split Ayana and Sora up…but don’t worry, it’s just a thin plot complication to make them admit that they like each other. Not to each other, but to themselves at least.

And then we settle in for some nice friendship stuff and school sports day stuff and Sora finding that Ayana has become the light in her life. Ayana, some steps behind, ask if they can become friends for real, but will that be enough for Sora? Only time (and anyone reading this book for like a chapter) will tell. ^_^

Despite the goofy premise, that initially veered a little closer than I like to something that could have gone into boundary breaking and unhealthy relationships, this series has been actually quite gentle and sweet. It’s still got some room to be complicated, as Sora’s family situation is not a good one, and Ayana is planning on college, but I presume that both creator Kashikaze and the editors will handwave the conflicts away because we do not work through things for real all that often in the pages of Comic Yuri Hime. (Which is not to say we never do…come back tomorrow and we will in actual fact look at a series that does the work.)

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Watching Ayana and Sora helping each other to find something to enjoy in life, is honestly very pleasant.

 





Teiji ni Ageretara, Volume 4 ( 定時にあがれたら)

February 10th, 2021

As Teiji ni Ageretara, Volume 4 ( 定時にあがれたら) opens, we find ourselves in a story that is  so grounded in reality that it seems almost magical.^_^

Kaori and Kayoko have been dating for a year now and they are genuinely happy together. In a lot of recent manga,  we’d skip to the end of the story at this point, and just have a wedding. But, we must understand that this story isn’t about fictional happily-ever-afters, it about two adult women in what looks very like the real world.

In this volume, Kaori formalizes their relationship by giving Kayoko a key to her apartment. Kayopko is adorable as she enters her lover’s apartment on her own for the first time. Then, more critically, Kaori takes the risk of her life as she comes out to her friends; the same friends with whom she had been unable to be wholly honest a few volumes previously. I have to give Kaori’s friends point for their reaction – they are surprised, but not stupid and now her previous reticence makes sense to them. One friend is worried about coming off as insensitive, and it seems like we’re going to have one of “those” scenes…but no. Once they know, they are all in on giving Kaori good anniversary present advice. It’s a nice scene in a series full of nice scenes.

Their anniversary is a festive occasion. The two discuss moving in together one day. As the final pages of this series arrive, Kayoko and Kaori are two adult women in love, building a life together. No, there is no fairy-tale wedding, but that’s not what this story was ever about, really. This story is about a couple navigating the kinds of hurdles that are common to most couples, with the additional stress point of coming out.

Inui-sensei’s art has pulled together beautifully here. While there is intimacy, it never feels as if there is service.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 Relatable
Characters – 8 Same
Service – 1
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8

I’m delighted to remind you that you can read this series – legally, for free, from Manga Planet as If We Leave on the Dot. It’s a lovely series that gives one hope for both Jousei and Shakaijin Yuri, modeling happy, healthy relationships between people who are accepted and loved by the people around them.





Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Volume 2

February 8th, 2021

Hanako has traveled from far-away Japan to England, ostensibly in search of her favorite author. In Volume 1, Hanako is employed as a maid by Lady Alice, a beautiful, but always somehow sad, young daughter of a noble house.

In volume 2 of Goodbye, My Rose Garden, both Alice and Hanako are coming up against their feelings for one another, which are definitely not friendship, or appropriate to mistress and maid. And, possibly destructive of those feelings, both of the women are keeping secrets.  When Alice’s secret turns out to be related to Hanako’s, what could sunder them permanently, might also bring them closer.

When I reviewed the first Japanese volume of this series in spring 2019, I said, “I expected the volume to be a penny dreadful, with Victorian creepiness, but it’s actually a sad little story that I expect to see turned around in a pleasantly predictable ending.”

The “look at all the details I’ve researched!” feel of Volume 1 has settled down into a story that indicates plainly (if you understand the signs) that it is actually very much about gay life and literature here in Volume 2. References to Oscar Wilde are pretty blatant, but the references to Kate Chopin, author of The Awakening and Sarah Orne Jewett, author of The Country of the Pointed Firs, make it clear that this story is not just another costume drama, but intends on making a strong statement about feminism and queer existence in a time when the term feminism had only entered British speech a decade earlier and “gay rights” was long off.

Dr. Pepperco’s art has settled in and there’s more detail in expression over “stuff,” with a lingering sense of lecture on class relations.

Despite some potential for darkness, this volume ends up in a stronger place than it began, and we’re left waiting for the third volume expectantly hopeful.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 3
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7

Volume 3 is already available, so grab that climax today!

Thank you very much to Seven Seas for the review copy.





Uminekosou days, Volume 3 (海猫荘 days)

February 7th, 2021

In Volume 1, wet met Mayumi, a woman on the run from the ruins of her life. She decides to become a teacher in a small seaside town, where she meets Rin, the former punk landlady of the small guesthouse in which she is living. In Volume 2, Mayumi finds herself drawn into the lives of the residents of the guesthouse and starts to make a place for herself among them.

Here we are at Uminekosou days, Volume 3 (海猫荘 days), the final volume of Kodama Naoko’s series from Comic Yuri Hime…and at last, we can see the core of Mayumi’s problems. Her “best friend” Touko has arrived from Tokyo and it is instantly apparent to us that Touko’s has been poisoning the well of Mayumi’s life for years. Whatever Mayumi might possibly ever have, Touko destroys it.

And wow, does Touko give it her best shot here, too. But Mayumi finally understands herself and tells Touko that she doesn’t get to make the decisions. Touko goes back to Tokyo and Mayumi is finally 100% the person she could always have been, as she sets off to solve a sudden crisis. In a final epilogue, we see all the characters happy, healthy and free to be who they are and love and live their lives the way they want.

This was a series that was, at the end of Volume 2, primed for going into some pretty dark territory, but instead, it sort of picked itself up, shook itself off and with a grand wave of the magic wand gave everyone a happily-ever-after ending. I’m still not sure if that was a positive or negative thing for the story, but I’m a little relieved as a reader. Yes, happily-ever-afters all around is a handwave, but did I really want another volume of Mayumi having her heart gutted by an obviously jealous and manipulative “friend”? No, I did not. So happily-ever-after it is and thank you very much.

Kodama-sensei’s work is a kind of knife edge for me. She’s at her best when her characters are broken; wounded, vulnerable, manipulative. I don’t actually enjoy stories about that, but Kodama-sensei has a habit of pulling things out. So every one of her series has a kind of sword of Damocles feel, as I wait for it to either get too dark for me to cope, or to wrap up. She’s getting closer with each series, to one day creating something that sandblasts me, but I stick around for the whole thing. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Service – 3 less than previous volumes
Yuri – 7

Overall – 8

Seeing Mayumi stand up to Touko was worth the price of admission.