Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 5

October 26th, 2020

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 5 by Makoto Hagino addresses an important conundrum for young people. Their lives are not theirs to decide until they are…and then the entirety of their trajectories as adults are dumped into their laps all at once. What do you want to be? Where do to want to live? What do you want to do? How can they possibly know who they want to become, when they barely know who they are?

Koyuki is facing this conundrum. Typically, she’s struggling alone and in silence until Konatsu’s classmate Kaede inserts herself into the older girl’s life. It’s an accidental meeting at first, but Kaede’s easy manner and forthright honesty helps Koyuki come to several decisions – one that might bring her closer to Konatsu…and one that might separate them forever.

Until this volume, I hadn’t really given Kaede a thought. She was “Konatsu’s classmate and friend.” But here, she becomes a catalyst for positive change. What will happen remains a mystery to me because my copy of Volume 6 is stuck in a warehouse in Kawasaki, not being shipped for another month!

I’ll probably have Volume 7 before 6 ever arrives. (-_-); Nonetheless, you can catch up to me shortly, as the salamander comes out into the light to be seen, at least for a little while.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 0 not really
Yuri – 3

Overall – 7

The team at Viz: John Werry, Eve Grandt, Yukiko Whitely and Pancha Diaz once again did a great job, with this quietly sweet, quietly angsty story of coming out of one’s shell.

Thanks very much to Viz for an advance review copy. You’ll be getting a chance to read this book in November.





Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの)

October 23rd, 2020

Douseiseikatsu 3 Watashi ha Anata dake no mono (同棲生活3 わたしは貴方だけのもの) is the third volume of Miyuki and Yuuko doing absolutely nothing and I’m pleased as punch about it. Volume 1 and Volume 2 were relaxed and, despite the slightly assertive title, Volume 3 is no less chill.

Miyuki and Yuuko live together. They love each other. Life is made up of stupid in-jokes, lazy afternoons snuggling, relentlessly teasing one another and being extremely happy in each other’s company with, yes, the occasional actual relationship problem to be addressed. 

As with previous volumes, this is a full color snippet-at-a time slice of life manga. We do see some of their friends and colleagues in this issue, but more often we spend time with them alone together. The final chapters look back at when they began dating and realizing that they liked each other a lot…and deciding to live together.

Satsumaage’s art is visibly improving and there are way more details than previously, which gives the panels some depth.

As an not-too-intimate look at an established couple, this manga feels a little too on the money sometimes, but is generally a pleasant way to pass the time.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service  – 1 Almost none, really
LGBTQ – 9

Overall – 9

It still makes a good “just a couple of pages” at night before bed kind of story. ^_^





Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru, Volume 3 (羽山先生と寺野先生は付き合っている)

October 22nd, 2020

Hayama-sensei and Terano-sensei have been together about a year now. Their colleagues think they are adorable together and so do their students. They love each other very much. So what conflicts can they possible face, in Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru, Volume 3 (羽山先生と寺野先生は付き合っている)?

WELL.

There’s the time that time they go on a ski trip with the other teachers and get caught in a storm and Terano-sensei is lost….only that didn’t happen. Instead they snuggle all night in the cabin until they can ski back down the hill the next morning.

LET’S NOT FORGET

The day where Hayama-sensei has to do external continuing ed and misses Saki so much she sighs out loud…and meets another woman from a different school who misses her lover, who happens to also be the school’s gym teacher. So she gains a friend who is another queer adult woman and they promise to stay in touch.

OMG, THOUGH

Their 1st anniversary is approaching! So they buy thoughtful gifts for one another and spend an night together…and decide to live together.

OH, BUT

There’s the time when there is rumor of a haunted vase in the school. Only, Terano-sensei put that vase there.

So, do not expect there to be angst. I mean, there is. It’s whole panels worth of gut-wrenching concern and occasional irrational panic. But mostly this manga is about two adult women who love each other a lot and sometimes enjoy sex together.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Characters – 10
Story – 9
Service – 7 There is nudity and sex, but it feels less salacious than it actually is, because on the cover we are literally watching them in the bath.
Yuri – 10

Overall – 10

It’s all so wholesome and functional, it hardly feels like we’re creepy voyeurs, which we are. ^_^

I know what’s coming, too, because magazine(!) and it’ll just get more and more squee.

Volume 1 of this series is out in English as Our Teachers Are Dating, Volume 1 and Volume 2 is slated for a January 2021 release.





Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi, Volume 3 (百合と声と風纏い)

October 21st, 2020

In Volume 1, we met Matoi, a high school senior with a talent for music and vocals. Surrounded by people her age who are in an out of love, she’s never felt “in love” before and has no idea what it’s like. We also meet Yuriko, a few years older, who has come home to help her family by working at their gas station. In Volume 2, both Yuriko and Matoi find they sincerely enjoy each other’s company. But with graduation around the corner, Matoi is planning on going to the city, and both of them aren’t at all sure what they want. Matoi leaves to go to a trade school.

Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi, Volume 3 (百合と声と風纏い) begins with Matoi in Tokyo for school, she’s made some friends…and met a lesbian couple, for real. Yuriko plans a trip to see Matoi, but becomes ill and ends up needing Matoi to take care of her – which is mortifying, but more importantly, Matoi sees the burn scars on Yuriko’s body. Nonetheless, Matoi is really starting to think that how she feels might well be “love” after all. Yuriko, full of self-loathing and fear is really not ready to be “in love” but may have no say in the matter as she’s really starting to like Matoi.

I love this series. Honestly, I really just like everything about it. Mei Ren’s art is not perfect, which I find humanizes the characters and the story. The story itself is sincere, rather than brilliant. But the characters are relatable and human, and even side characters get to be more than just a supporting role. We’re watching them change, even if we’re mostly paying attention to Matoi.  I even love that this from a Lilie comics, the relatively new Yuri imprint from Dogenzaka Shobo. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 5 Naked Yuriko
LGBTQ – 7

Overall – 8

It’s a charming and fun read, with enough emotional impact that I really want Matoi and Yuriko to figure it out.

I hope there’s someone else out there who is reading this series , so we can roll our eyes at Chiba-kun and be like, “poor Rio-san, how annoying for her….” ^_^

 





A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 4

October 19th, 2020

In my review of Nettaigyo ha Yuki ni Kogareru, Volume 4 (熱帯魚は雪に焦がれる ), I lightly commented that “this series has moved slowly, and almost haphazardly, like the tropical fish of the title, lazily moving between plot points.” But Konatsu chooses another form of symbolism completely, befuddling both Koyuki and us, in A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 4 – the symbolism of a childhood tale of a shy salamander and it’s frog friend.

The festival has arrived and the day Konatsu and Koyuki have practiced for is here. Only, Koyuki is home sick. Worried for her friend and worried about the show, Koyuki tries to sneak out, but is stymied. She’s thrilled to find that Konatsu has done the fish show, but worried that her outgoing new friend will leave her behind.

At this point it has to be obvious to us, that Koyuki’s problems are deeper than just being treated like she’s perfect. She’s developed some seriously deep wounds. Her concerns are not alleviated by the fact that she’s barely gotten better when the second-year’s class trip pops up, separating them again. Koyuki starts to finally realize how important Konatsu has become to her.

Once again faced with her emotions, Koyuki snaps, and yet again, Konatsu is there to pick up the pieces and accept her. And we learn who the salamander and the frog are to one another.

This is not a romance in the more usual sense. Koyuki is far too fragile to be in love or like. In that sense, it’s a bit more like Konatsu building a ladder, one rung at a time, to help Koyuki climb out of a hole she’s dug for herself. Because this story is positioned as a Yuri romance, we can kind of expect what the end will be, but I sincerely hope we see Koyuki coming out of that hole before it happens. Otherwise, she’ll just be adding new baggage before the old stuff is dealt with.

The team at Viz is handling this story well. John Werry’s translation and Eve Grandt’s lettering is light-handed, so we’re left to feel for Koyuki on our own, without heavy-handed tactics. The design work by Yukiko Whitely and editing by Pancha Diaz, contribute to another authentic manga reading experience.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 1 on principle only, there really isn’t any
Yuri – 4

Overall – 7

As I said in my review of the Japanese volume, “This series has always been, in large part, about Koyuki’s journey to find herself. It would be nice if she finds some self-confidence and we can see their relationship develop from here.”

Volume 5 in English will hit shelves here in November, and Volume 7 has been out since summer in Japan, we should probably expect Volume 8 before the end of the year.