Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 6 (私の百合はお仕事です!)

March 12th, 2020

Liebe Academy is a “concept cafe” set in the world of a popular series of Yuri novels. When cafe manager Mai broke her arm, high school student Hime ends up filling in as one of the “student”-waitresses at the cafe where, she ends up in a contentious sister relationship with her former best friend from elementary school, Yano. In Volume 5, we get a deep look at Yano’s fraught history of rejection and ostracism and we learn her perspective on Hime’s betrayal, and about the ideal self she is striving to become.

In Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 6 (私の百合はお仕事です!) by Miman, Hime and Kanako express an interest in staying on the roster, now that Mai’s arm is healed. The cafe is gearing up to celebrate Yano/Ayanokouji’s birthday, but Mitsuki is sick. Hime is given the task to visit Mitsuki at home and what follows is a veritable lancing of the various festering wounds in Yano’s psyche. Hime’s desire to understand Yano’s real self isn’t helping and she pours out her pain…and once again, offers Hime her heart. All of Yano’s behavior is now explicable. What Hime will do with her new knowledge is key.

When they are all gathered once again at the cafe, Hime makes a sudden announcement…she’ll be leaving after all.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 4 Mitsuki’s cleavage is its own character
Yuri – 7 When it lands, it lands hard

This was not an easy set of chapters to read either in the magazine or as a collected volume. Yano’s experiences are something I imagine many of us will resonate with. And I cannot be the only one reading the moment Yano confesses her feelings, screaming “No, Don’t do it! You’ll only get your heart broken!” Yes, yes, we all know that Hime and Yano will very probably end up together, but once again, I am not copacetic with this choice. Yano deserves someone who will treasure her.

Volume 6 of Yuri is My Job will be released in English in June, and so will, quite probably Volume 7 in Japanese but we don’t have a link for that, yet. ^_^





Cocoon Entwined, Volume 2

March 11th, 2020

Yuriko Hara’s Yuri manga Cocoon Entwined, Volume 2, continues a story of unspoken longing and deep emotion at a girl’s school. And hair.

When I reviewed Volume 2 in Japanese, I said, “To be honest, I did not think that hair could play more of a role than it did [in Volume 1].

I was wrong.”

And indeed I was wrong, as it is the hair itself that provides us the opening narrative.

From there we move on to meet a fourth piece on this complicated chessboard, Kujou, who is the White queen to Hoshimiya’s Black Queen. We now find ourselves looking back and forth at these two, wondering if the game they are caught up in has any meaning for the school, the girls who go there, or us.

What is relevant for me is what will happen between Saeki and Yokozawa. Will Yokozawa be able to disentangle the school prince from whatever binds her and Hoshimiya? I kind of hope so.

Kudos to Yen Press’s production folks for making the grey type visible on the black background. So much better than the JP volume, where it was close to unreadably dark.
 
Ratings:

Art – Hair
Characters – Yokozawa is a 10
Story – Hair
Service – Absolutely still hair
Yuri – 7, a love triangle, a chess game and hair

Overall – 8

I really wanted to just post this as the whole review.

 





Itoshi Koishi, Volume 3 (いとしこいし)

March 10th, 2020

Hina is a high school senior with a secret -she’s dating an older woman. She wants very much to share that secret with her friends, she just needs the right time to do it. In this final volume of Takemiya Jin’s delightful Yuri manga, Itoshi Koishi, Volume 3 (いとしこいし), Hina finds that time.

Hina has been dating Yayoi for a few years now. Yayoi has been a terrific girlfriend, always there when Hina needs support. In return, Hina gets to test out new recipes and indulge her desire to feed Yayoi. Ever since they ran into Hina’s friends at the local shrine at New Year’s, Hina has really wanted to tell everyone, but she’s decided to wait until after they finish exams. It’s a good thing too, because Kururmi and Micchan get into a tiff in the middle of pre-exam tension.

At last, the friends all know their immediate future is assured and they plan a celebratory visit to an amusement park. Before they all get distracted, Hina sits them all down and tells them what she’s been hiding from (most of) them for years. There is a little confusion, but they accept her and reiterate their love for her. And that’s that.

The final chapter of the manga in Comic Yuri Hime, had Yayoi once again unable to make the summer festival, but together they find they can see the fireworks from Yayoi’s aprtment. Hina suggests that she’d like to be able to watch the fireworks together forever. “That sounds like a marriage proposal,” Yayoi says. “That was how it was meant.” Hina replies. Yayoi sets up a wedding dressing photo shoot for them and we squee as they imagine their happy every days together.

The final extra chapter of this volume, finds Yayoi planning a special birthday date for Hina. They go to the aquarium and and dinner and have sex for the first time. It’s a fitting end to this series that refused to rush that part of the their relationship until Hina was an adult.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Yuri – 10
Service – 5 There is explicit nudity and sex in this volume

Overall – 10

A lovely manga by one of my favorite artists. Characters who knew who they were, worked towards what they wanted and were in step from the beginning. I wouldn’t complain if we got a 10 years later volume of Hina and Yayoi, they were very pleasant to spend time with. My fingers are crossed for this series to one day make it into translation.





Yuri Bear Storm, Volume 3

March 9th, 2020

In Volume 1, we met Kureha, a girl who hates bears and Ginko, a girl who is positive she is a bear. In Volume 2, we met Lulu who is is love with Ginko because of a childhood promise. We learned that Ginko and Kureha are in love, but that there is a secret that lay between them that is killing Ginko. Today we’re looking at Volume 3 of Yuri Bear Storm, the  English language edition of Yuri manga adaptation of Yurikuma Arashi, by Ikuhara Kunihiko, with art by Morishima Akiko,

In other Ikuhara stories, we’ve seen reality fractured into small pieces to be put back together, different realities layered on top of one another and here we have the entire narrative completely disassociated from its own reality.

There are no bears and everyone is a bear. Leia is dead or missing, but she’s alive and can be found. Lulu’s brother is dead, but he’s alive and standing right there, Sumika is a bear witch, but actually she’s just a kind person. And Kureha and Ginko are fated not to destroy each other.

In the end, we learn what that Ginko’s secret is, that it is untrue, that the real secret is that Ginko and Kureha are the inheritors of a love triangle between their mothers and Yuriika, everyone who we thought was dead is alive and we all end up happily ever after.

The end.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8 I cannot be the only one who would like a story about Leia, Yuriika and Kale in that Estonia Bear preserve.
Yuri – 8
Service – 3

Overall – 8

I’ve read this twice, watched it three times and it still basically makes no sense at all. ^_^ Which is perfectly okay.

I raise a glass to everyone at Tokyopop who worked on this, because there was no real way to make it make sense, which complicates things like translation and editing considerably! That said, Tokyopop, can you please confirm final covers on your solicits? It looks weird with all your listings saying “cover not final” for eternity.





Comic Yuri Hime Magazine, April 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年4月号)

March 8th, 2020

Here we are at the April 2020 issue of Comic Yuri Hime magazine(コミック百合姫2020年4月号). This year the cover theme is women in ill-fitting clothing having what always looks like furtive assignations in back alleyways and deeply weird fonts.  ^_^

A number of series have wrapped up and to fill the spots, the editorial staff have done some interesting things. This month I want to focus on two specific entries, as we did last month.

First up, in Ruume’s “Yuritsukushi no Kyoushitsu de” (ゆりづくしの教室で) which appears to be a class full of “Yuri” pairings, the first chapter is focused on establishing the people in the story, so there’s a bit of wandering about and “meeting” everyone. Among the characters we meet a fat girl, called “Sachin” by one of the other girls. Sachin is fat and pretty. She’s not slightly, vaguely plump, like we are usually given, she doesn’t just have a very slight bit of fat when we’re making a point (I’m looking at you, “Pochi Climb.”) Sachin is large. Sachin is also sparkly and kind and has food with which to feed those around her. She reminds me of my wife. ^_^ It was nice to see some body size variety that ins’t just big breasts in the magazine.

Secondly, there is at the end of the issue, a short 4-page story from/intro to the Rakugo school Yuri manga by TNSK, “Uchi no Shisho ha Shippo ga nai.” (うちの師匠はしっぽがない) You might recognize the creator’s name as the person who did the cover art for Yuri science fiction LN, Last and First Idol. I’m not yet convinced that this will be for me, but I’m willing to give it a try, as the idea of a Rakugo Yuri story works, and I’m a sucker for Taisho period stories. The first two volumes are out in Japanese (Volume 1 and Volume 2) and the series is running in Kodansha’s good!Afternoon magazine. You can read the first chapter on that site, in Japanese.  Which is why I wanted to point it out – this preview is not for a comic in Comic Yuri Hime at all. That interests me a lot. It’s not the first time we’ve seen this, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it for an already well-established comic in another magazine.

Ratings:

Overall – 7

The May 2020 issue will hit shelves on the 18th of the month which means, for the first time since this magazine went monthly I am ahead of the curve. Haha, take that, giant piles of things to read! There’s no cover image up yet, so I have no idea what monstrous font they’ll use this time. Did you notice this month the title was in English? ^_^

Last note: I think it’s time to drop the “Yuri Manga”, “Western Comic”, etc., tags from the titles on Okazu posts. Back in the day when Yuri manga or anime was super hard to find, those tags made an impression and people needed to know that that stuff was out there.

If I drop the tags from the title, will it be too difficult for you as a reader to recognize what the thing I’m reviewing is? Let me know in the comments whether you find the title tags useful or distracting!