Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


A White Rose in Bloom Volume 1

January 20th, 2021

Periodically (pun intended) I subscribe to a manga magazine named Rakuen Le Paradis. It’s technically a Jousei magazine, but is an unusual one. Hakusensha lets their artists have a pretty long leash and so, one finds both men and women creators in its pages creating things that are not conventionally “for adult women.” The stories I’ve seen in the magazine range widely from cute school drama to BDSM. The stories have been straight, BL and Yuri. Some years it was heavily Yuri, and others less so. One of their best known BL names turned their talents to Yuri and so in 2019, we were treated to Nakamura Asumiko’s Mejirobana no Saku.

Now, in 2020, we’ve gotten a chance to read this series in English as A White Rose in Bloom, from Seven Seas. This volume is a perfect blend of a classic Yuri at a private girls’ school story with highlights of the modern world intruding at every turn.

Ruby Canossa’s parents are having trouble and she’s very much caught in the middle. Tossed by their selfishness into an uncomfortable and lonely holiday break nearly alone at school, Ruby find a cause to believe in. But her relationship with the only other girl who stayed behind for the holidays, school star “Steel” Steph, is still awkward, uncomfortably intimate and hard to navigate. As Ruby starts to build some stability, her parents make it impossible for her to stay, but she doesn’t want to leave.

YMMV, but I like Nakamura’s balance of overly dramatic expressions on Ruby, to Steph’s almost complete lack of expression. Nakamura’s got a Goya-esque style that gives everyone a long, lean look that suits the halls of a storied school for wealthy girls. Kudos to translator Jocelyne Allen and the entire Seven Seas team for another excellent job on a book that I hope people won’t overlook, thinking it’s just another school romance.

This book is marked volume 1. There is no Volume 2, yet. Rakuen Le Paradis (楽園 Le Paradis) magazine is only released 3 times a year and the magazine is pretty chock full of top talent, so not every story is featured every issue. I’m so far behind in Rakuen issues (the last one I read was Issue 30)I don’t even know what happens! I’m clearly going to have to make some time to catch up. But it definitely is continuing. Issue 34, the current issue (available in Japanese on Global Bookwalker) lists a new chapter in the table of contents. Good! I really want to know what happens!

Ratings:

Art – As I say, YMMV, but 8 for me
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – There is a little, but not what you might expect.
Yuri – 7

Overall – 8

In the meantime, you can enjoy Nakamura-sensei’s great nonplussed facial expressions and slapfighting in the hallways of a staid old institution…and wonder what on EARTH is going on with that headmaster, because she honestly looks so untrustworthy I am sure she’s a blackmailer in her spare time. ^_^

Thanks to Seven Seas for the review copy!





Strawberry Fields Once Again, Volume 1

January 18th, 2021

Akira is resigned to being a loner. She doesn’t want to deal with real people and is content, she tells herself, with keeping her relationships 2-dimensional. So when transfer student Pure states that she is from the future, is Akira’s lover and she’s traveled through time to attend high school with her, “skeptical” doesn’t even come close to how Akira feels about it.

Strawberry Fields Once Again, Volume 1 looks and feels very shoujo manga (or seinen version of shoujo…). In this case, however,  even though it apparently walks and talks like a duck, it is not a duck. For this simple, goofy, instantly emotional premise hides a much more complicated tale. Believe Pure…this is a science fiction story with a pleasingly complex plot, wrapped in a Yuri romance.

I was surprised as heck to have heard Yen Press picked this series up, but I’m kind of glad they did, just because it broke my brain a few times in Volume 2 and repeatedly in Volume 3. In fact, as I said in my review of the Japanese Volume 3, it took me three readthroughs to make sure I had actually followed the plot. I expect it will be significantly easier in English, although the story will remain convoluted…until it makes sense.

Amanda Haley does a fine job with the translation and I wish good luck to her in upcoming volumes.  Absolutely no mark against Haley’s work, the translation notes coming before the extra chapter threw me off, but I did enjoy the extra chapter itself with the antics of a hyper Yuri fan, and Kinosaki-sensei’s amusingly meta rendition of the “the iconic Yuri couple,” the Queens of Yuri, as I like to think of them. ^_^ Abigail Blackman’s lettering has moments of excellence. I know it takes more time, but personally I wish companies gave letterers time and money to also rework the art/fx; it’s not a deduction for the letterer, but for the company.  Folks like Sara Linsley and Jeannie Lee are really pushing lettering into previously unseen excellence, which makes companies that skimp here look…skimpy. I’m always, always, always, going to push for the most authentic reading experiences possible, because I truly believe that is what fans want. Which is why I don’t agree with translating genre terms. We understand SciFi to be a a valid genre term, we don’t need it “explained.”. Yuri and BL are also valid terms.) Thanks to Yen for giving us an authentic manga reading experience here. ^_^

Knowing what I know, ratings have changed a little.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 7

As a science fiction story, this series is messy and fun. As a Yuri romance, I find that I look back on it with more fondness now than I felt when I initially read it.  Thanks to Yen Press for the review copy – I’m looking forward to having a chance to reevaluate this series and see what I think this time around. Strawberry Fields wo Mou Ichido, indeed. ^_^





Comic Yuri Hime, January 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年1月号)

January 15th, 2021

The cover of Comic Yuri Hime, January 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年1月号) begins a new Yuri cover story. Where 2020’s cover story was art-focused, with few words that just gave context to the image, this year we have separate stand-alone short stories in a ridiculously small type size that forces me to use a magnifying glass to be able to read it. It is a vaguely time-wimey story that uses a desk as a point of contact between young women in different times. The stories are by Ren Hanna, with quirky illustrations by Kesshin. If it were in 12-point type I’d probably be enjoying it. ^_^

This issue starts off with a new concept  manga from Usui Shio. In “Onna to Tomodachi Kekkonshitemita” Sera is an freelance writer who needs a good idea to write about. She pitches an article on same-sex marriage. Her best friend Ruriko (who is pretty obviously is in love with Sera,) volunteers. And so Sera and Ruriko get married, I trust Usui-sensei completely to do a good job with this story and so far (I just read the next installment yesterday) I’m not going to be disappointed.

Also in the “not a disappointment” category is Takeshima Eku’s “Sasayaku Youni Koi wo Utau” in which watching Yori continues to be a delight. AND it looks like we’re getting an actual post-they like each other arc! Whoo! You can also enjoy this story in English as Whisper Me A Love Song. It’s charming.

Kakaze’s “Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai” is moving past it’s initial pitch and Sakurai and Honda are finding themselves having experiences neither of them would have been able to imagine previously.

“Kimi to Tsuzuru Utakata,”by Yuama is taking a deeply emotional turn, but I’m rooting for things to move past the obvious conflict here.

And wow, do I actually have no idea at all where – if anywhere, “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” by Miman is going. Holy crap. This arc has lead everyone to saying stuff they mean. I’m not sure I have ever read this many chapters of, “you need to hear this.” I love it.

“Hello Melancholic” has now officially ended. I am going to miss it, honestly. Minato’s journey hit me in all the right places. /sniff/

Usui Shio is gunning for my favorite author of 2021, with some breathtakingly real chapters for “Kaketa Tsuki to Doughnuts.” I swear to all the gods, if people keep having actual conversations in manga, I’m gonna die of happiness.

SPEAKING of conversations, Ohi Pikachi’s “Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru” was a-ma-zing. Asuka confronts her family with whom she has a very bad relationship…and her being with a woman is only another brick in that wall, until Saki helps her face herself and her parents. Next on to Saki’s family. We already know how her sister feels, so this one ought to go well. ^_^

This issue also includes a chapter of a serialized novel (in slightly larger typeface than the cover,) about a girl who admire idols so much, she wants to become one. It’s not a bad opening gambit for what it a pretty worn trope already.

And, finally, Inui Ayu-sensei details the happy times she spends with her girfriend in her autobiographical comic. This time, they go out to breakfast, because why not? ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

There continues to be series I am not following, and those I am, that I have not mentioned. In my opinion, this was an excellent first volume of the year, with a lot of stuff for many different fans. Including those who are inexplicably still reading “Yuru Yuri.” Why? Seriously. The continuing existence of that series bewilders me.

 





Ikemen Sugidesu Shiki-senpai!, Volume 2 (イケメンすぎです紫葵先パイ! )

January 14th, 2021

File today’s review under “Wow Erica, took you long enough!” But wait, I had an excuse! Remember when I ordered some stuff from Japan and it took 2 months to get her?. Well, this book was part of that stuff. And then there were things that had to done, and end of year things, and…so here were are, reviewing  Ikemen Sugidesu Shiki-senpai!, Volume 2 (イケメンすぎです紫葵先パイ! ) 18 months after I reviewed Volume 1. It’s a shame this little two-volume series hasn’t been licensed, because it is really rather sweet and fluffy, like candy floss Yuri. ^_^

In Volume 1, we meet Hina who is kind of into Shiki-senpai who is just too cool for her shirt. And, by the end of Volume 1, we learn that Shiki-senpai is into Hina in return. A bit of a fever and circumstances leads to a kiss in the school health office.

In Volume 2, Shiki-senpai deals with her feelings and she and Hina begin to get closer. Until a wild plot complication comes riding up, and jumps between the two of them for a whole half a chapter! But don’t worry, they end up together as one had no doubt they would, because this is, as I said, a light, fluffy and sweet confection of a Yuri manga and nothing more.

That said, I kind of liked it. ^_^ It was far too sweet to be a palate cleanser, but it made a nice fluffy brainless Yuri story to go to sleep on.  And Shiki-senpai really is just too cool. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 9
Story – 8
Service – 6 Shiki-senpai being cool is still a form of service. ^_^
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

As I said in my review of volume 1, this series is just so sincere. It’s might not be to your taste, but I found it hard to dislike. ^_^





Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 5 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)

January 13th, 2021

As a reviewer, I understand that spoilers are sometimes unavoidable in order to make a review make sense. As a reader, I don’t particularly mind spoilers…until I do. But I am really in a bind here, trying to review Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 5 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな) without giving anything away. I mean like…I can’t comment on the things that happened, because I couldn’t comment on the things that happened previously to them that made them important. OR why. Or the fallout. Or basically anything. Aaaaarrrghhh!

Some things that happened in Volume 4 turn out to have a long tail and some other stuff happens because of those things. And then….some other things happen with people whose roles in the story has changed and absolutely nothing is anything I can talk about until you’ve read at least through Volume 3, which won’t be for a while, since How Do We Relationship, Volume 2 just came out last month and literally anything I could say about any of it would be a huge enough spoiler that I don’t want to mention anything.

I can say this – I have a lot of complicated feelings about this series. I liked Saeko and Miwa, then I didn’t like Miwa, then I didn’t like both of them and now I am once again coming around to liking them for entirely different reasons. They are vastly more three-dimensional now than they were in Volume 1, and the entire story has gone in directions I never expected, could not have predicted and it is a MUCH better story for all of it.

Watching both Miwa and Saeko deal with stuff has been an interesting situation for me. There’s a great deal of the character building that feels wholly real and some that seems ripped straight from a soap opera plot. But, ultimately whether the story is informed by fact or wholly fiction, I’m going to give Tamifull full props for writing a story that I can’t stop reading, even when I’m not sure it’s going to…ack, spoilers!

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 More complicated with every volume
Characters – 7 I’m still rooting for everyone
Yuri – 7 / LGBTQ – 6 It’s getting queerer, again
Service – 5

Overall – 8

Recently someone asked me for a “messy relationship” story I can recommend. I guess…this is it. ^_^