Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Navigating With You

September 23rd, 2025

Two girls, lay in separate beds, head to toe, reading the same book. One girl with bark brown skin, wears a beige cardigan and orange skirt, leg braces visible on both legs. The other girl has medium brown skin, and short messy brown hair, wearing a white sleeveless tee shirt and denim shorts. They hold hands across the distance that separates them.Walking around convention floors, my favorite thing to do is chat with publishers. After all these years I am still just a book nerd at heart. At Anime NYC 2025, I was wandering from book display to book display when I encountered Maverick books. The folks there were eager to talk (and sell, obviously) but I cannot express to you how much more likely I am to buy from a knowledgeable, enthusiastic bookseller, than from someone who is hired to sell and really isn’t steeped in the books themselves.

In this case, Spenser from Madcave Studios recognized me and cheerfully pointed me towards this book, Navigating With You, by veteran comics author Jeremy Whitley and illustrator Cassio Ribeiro, lettered by Nikki Foxrobot. Friends, I bought it, because it was exactly the right book to sell me. Good job, Spenser.

Gabby Graciana and Neesha Sparks are both transfers to a new school and, despite vastly different lives, they quickly bond as friends, then more. Both will work past past and present traumas, bad relationships, systemic inequity and, as they share their love for a popular shoujo manga from their childhoods, will fall in love.

The story, especially in the beginning is a bit heavy-handed, but Neesha, who has Cerebral Palsy, has a lot to communicate about how living with disability is pathologized, infantilized and made harder in many ways by people who believe they are helping. Gabby is hiding her grief and trauma at her mother’s loss and has a controlling boyfriend. Both characters are queer and their families know. All of this and they way we understand “culture” is pulled apart slowly over time, until we understand that there is more to ourselves than just where our family is from and what foods we eat, who we love. Anime fandom is a culture, just as surfing is, just as being from New York or Florida or Mexico is. All of these things become pieces of who we are.

Gabby and Neesha learn that they both liked an old, out of print manga classic Navigator Nozomi. They decide to start a book club and find and read all of the volumes. We are given critical scenes of the manga in black and white throughout the story, each scene sparking conversation and confession and further intimacy between Neesha and Gabby. Again, much of the story telling is a bit heavy-handed, but there is NO doubt what story is being told. Whitley and Ribeiro are firm hands on the narrative wheel in case readers might miss the point.

The story reaches a brilliant climax as Neesha and Gabby attend an anime con dressed as Navigator Nozomi and her nemesis(?) Kazane to meet the manga creator where they are gifted with a rare and powerful gift – the story behind the story.

Neesha and Gabby are very different, but both likeable. Parents are supportive but in parenty ways. Real life is complicated and intrusive throughout, but by the end, we’re sure that these two young women have their heads screwed on right and will be fine. 

While I (cynical, world-weary comparative literature major who has read many thousands of books) found the beginning slow, the destination here definitely justified the journey.  And, while this book is itself a western comic, it gets some extra points for also being (and discussing!) Yuri manga. ^_^

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 2 Intimacy scenes are not intrusive
LGBTQ – 10

Overall – 8

This would be a terrific read for the YA reader in your life. It’s the kind of book that will open eyes on one level, enetertain on another, then make you cry, while opening eyes again.





YRHM

September 18th, 2025

On a background of pale blue, with sparkling spot gloss on gems in their hair and clothes, two girls with silver hair touch each other. One looks directly at us, the other looks back over her shoulder at us.YRHM, the 20th anniversary Comic Yuri Hime Yuri manga anthology, features 9 original stories by creators that have found significant success with the magazine. It begins with a sparkling spot-glossed cover by current cover artist hechima, includes an illustration by Aononachi and then launches into stories by Aonoshimo, Iwami Kyouko, Kashikaze, Kodama Naoko, Saburouta, Takesmia Eku, Miman, Manio and Yuama. 

A few of the  stories really stood out, especially the initial story, “Seishun CONTINUE?”. This story of an energetic and outgoing girl who meets a (clearly) sheltered young lady, who she introduces to a game arcade, is goofy and very fun as their flirting takes the form of competition in games. This was particularly enjoyable as it is by Saburouta, best know for the glowering faces of Citrus.

A number of the stories felt very much like a “story by /artist/” with both recognizable art and themes, which is not to say they were not entertaining. Miman looks at two girls in school who learn how to communicate their feelings with puppets (a plot I initially felt would be cringe, but found much less awful than expected). Yuama’s story about a popular girl and a not-popular girl did something I appreciate, when the less popular girl fights back against attempted sabotage. I again struggled initially with Takeshim Eku’s story “Bunny Girl Hiroimashita” but it ended up being a rather touching little  treatise on grief.

As an emblematic celebration of twenty years of Yuri manga from a publisher that has set the standard thus far, this is a fine anniversary anthology. 

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Would I have liked to see some experimentation? Sure, but you go with what sells and, since this was selling the magazine’s anniversary, it makes sense to have names and themes that work. It was plenty entertaining.

If I have a single complaint it is that the cover acknowledges us. I don’t much care for poses where the couple are looking at us, the reader and much prefer when they are looking at one another.





The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess, Volume 1

September 17th, 2025

Cover of The Fed Up Office Lady Wants to Serve The Villainess volume 1. A smug, statuesque blonde in a dark dress dances with a brunette in red, who looks confused.Hi all, I’m Luce, back with a look at this new Yuri isekai manga, The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess, by Nekotarou.

Natori Midori works in an office, trying her best to help everyone out with their tasks… and ends up getting let go over it, as she accrues too much overtime. Feeling lost, she turns to her favourite mobile game, “A Fairytale of Jewels,” for comfort – only to find herself in the middle of a familiar summoning ritual, the summoner being Lapis Tenebrae, the commoner-hating antagonist of the mobile game! Is this where Natori can find a place to belong? And in the name of her own job security as a familiar, can she steer the story such that Lapis doesn’t die at the hands of her fiancé, the crown prince?

Natori is one of those relatable protagonists in a way that’s appealing to an adult audience. Stuck in a low paid job, trying her best so she might get promoted, although it ends up backfiring. Envious of friends who are doing better than her, feeling like she’s tried and tried and gotten nowhere at all. We’ve probably all been there at one point or another. However, she also succeeds as a protagonist because she has personality. She’s not meant as a cookie cutter human shaped character to put your wishes onto, she interacts with the story. Moreover, it’s relatively novel to have an adult isekai-er, rather than kids.

Which brings me neatly to Lapis. She starts the mobile game story as a friend, then betrays the main character Diana, as she is extremely classist and wants to wipe out all peasants. A motive I honestly don’t understand – if you wipe them all out, who’s going to work for the nobility? I’m pretty sure society would quickly collapse in a world with only nobility, but then again, she is a villainess in a mobile game, and clearly not meant to win. Just struck me as an odd thing to want. She is cold and aloof… in general. However, she’s also very prideful and observant, leading to a cute moment where she recognises the thoughtfulness behind Natori’s actions.

The elephant in the room, then, is that these two are clearly being paired up. And it’s really cute! I hope that Natori can mellow Lapis out and start to enjoy their time together (once she works it out…). Something that might turn people off is that Natori is 25 and Lapis is 15/16. It doesn’t really read as an age gap to me, mostly because Lapis acts in a very mature way befitting her station, and is also drawn as looking older, while Natori is a bag of nerves a lot of the time, but it is there, and I thought I’d warn people in case that’s a big nope for them.

Aside from that, Lapis’ in-game friend, Diana, is a good example of how the characters aren’t acting on the rails of the story, but reacting to the events happening. Natori is concerned to a degree that she’s changing the story, but to keep Lapis alive, she will need to. I’m very interested to see where this goes, whether Natori can change Lapis’ mind about commoners in time to save her, and how things will evolve between her, Lapis and Diana, who has latched onto Natori instead of the prince.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story- 7
Characters – 7
Service – 5, as Lapis has the typical ‘villainess style’ body, i.e., huge breasts and very flat stomach. The camera doesn’t leer too much, but it’s present
Yuri – 8

Overall –  8

Volume 2 will be hitting EN shelves in December, so we’ll se where this goes.





Aneido’s Anthology: The Soul-Selling Corporate Drone: A Queer Romance Fantasy and Other Fanciful Tales

September 1st, 2025

A devil-woman with golden eyes, pointy ears,and dainty black horns, looks at us as she holds another woman who looks mesmerized, gently by the cheek.Aneido is one of the most energetic Yuri manga artists we’ve seen recently, who has been making a name with her work in indies/doujinshi comics, and by running a recent Kickstarter for an independently produced anthology. Aneido’s Anthology: The Soul-Selling Corporate Drone: A Queer Romance Fantasy and Other Fanciful Tales is a delightful collection. 

A few of these stories had appeared in various Galette magazine issues, but it was a genuine pleasure to see them in English. I particularly liked the title story, about a depressed woman who find out who has been buying the bits of her soul she’s been selling, a fascinating story about two woman in a desert, and another fantasy fairy tale of a woman whose magic had been stolen. But all of the stories were fun. This collection comes in a hefty 11 stories. 

Translation by Red Strings felt very comfortable, except where the characters themselves were meant to sound a little not-quite-human, and letterer Victoria Esnard did very solid work on the s/fx. The art will be a personal opinion, as there are times, Aneido really nails it and other times that it looks like an indies comic. ^_^

As a KIcktarter backer I receieved extra art, PC wallpaper art and a behind the scenes look at the making of these comics, with some insight by the creator which were fun, as well. B ecause this was a Kickstarter, there is no way to purchase this volume, but as the creator is on social media, maybe if you ask nicely, a digital copy might be made available on Aneido-sensei’s online shop.  For those of us who backed it, this is a fun collection of Yuri stories!

Ratings: 

Overall – 8





Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou.,Volume 10 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。)

August 28th, 2025

On a background of a dark reflecting pool of water, with a dark-red leaved plant Two girls stand with the arms crossed, wearing the red jackets and blue skits of a school uniform. Behind them are the heads of two princess, one with dark hair, one with long silver hair. All the figures look determined. The “Revolution” arc is moving inexorably towards a climax. In Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou.,Volume 10 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。) we have set aside almost all of the happy-go-lucky Rae, as she shepherds her friends into what she knows must be a new world order. She is driven to make this the right new world order.

Rae, accompanied by Clare and Lily, have completed their investigation and Rae now knows who is behind the corrupt nobles….but there is a lot standing between her and her desired outcomes.  Rae still knows what the game has in store for her, for Clare and for Bauer Kingdom. Time is running out.

Together they confront Salas, and find themselves at a dead end. They go to the leader of the Revolution, Arla Manuel, where Rae negotiates terms the others cannot understand. And it becomes clear that Salas did indeed have an affair with the former Queen, and Thane is indeed his son, which makes Lily his sister. Thickly knotted ropes of fate pull tighter around our principles.

And then – too early by Rae’s calculations – Mt. Sassal erupts, throwing everything into chaos.

There is no more goofing around in this story, we are at the edge of the precipice and the ground beneath us is about to crumble. We know what will happen, in the larger sense. Individual scenes are changed slightly and additional content is given to us with every volume. Arla’s underlings have stories and faces, and that, and being able to see Arla as she talks about the corrupt noble who destroyed her family brings a lot of the horror of commoner life to the front. That forces both Clare…and us…to really look and think about it.  Which is all that more effective as we watch as our world stands on a similar and just as precarious edge. 

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters –  9Thane is very relatable
Service – Not really
Yuri – 7 The love stories here have to be shelved. Revolution is coming.

Overall – 9

This volume is not an easy read, not if we’re paying attention. But it is an excellent, and deeply moving volume. I know we have a little more very hard stuff to read, but I can’t think of anyone better to tell it than inori.-sensei or better to illustrate it than Aonoshimo-sensei.