Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


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.





Not So Shoujo Love Story, Volume 2

August 27th, 2025

A girl with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail, wearing school gym short and t-shirt breaks the wall of a manga page, holding a basketball overhead, while a redhead with short hair watches from behind the page tear, and 4 girls in black and white watch from a page panel above.In Volume 1, we met Rei Chan, a doofus in high school with nothing much in her life but her love of shoujo manga, until the most popular girl in school, Hanna Schöller, takes an interest in her. Seeing Hanna only as a rival for the odd and oddly charsmatic school Prince Hansum, Rei does not like Hanna. Wackiness ensues as Rei and Hanna are inexorably drawn together…until Hanna admit she likes Rei. 

In Not So Shoujo Love Story, Volume 2, Rei’s life is no less complicated now that Hanna has come right out and said her feelings…if anything, now life is more complicated. And when track star Susan turns out to be a rival for Hanna’s attention, Rei finds herself dragged into a love triangle she really has no interest in…until she starts thinking about Hanna more.

First of all…*look* at this cover. Really, look at it. This is an outstanding piece of work in which Hanna literally breaks the manga page to explode outwards about to throw a basketball, while Rei watches from within the manga itself and the Four Hams watch from a panel in black and white. Talk about breaking a fourth wall. Outstanding.

Volume 2 tells a serious tale against the backdrop of multiple shoujo manga tropes, and a hefty helping of advanced silliness. Curryuku’s storytelling is pretty deft,  swinging back and forth between heartfelt emotion and an alien who likes corn chips. Despite her brash exterior, we see how lonely Rei is, and how utterly unsocialized she has been. Hanna’s intrusion into her life requires her to deal with people…something she’s always avoided by embedding herself in an otaku life. 

It is lonely at the top for Hanna as well, as we have all learned from manga. High expectations can be just as strangling as not being expected from you at all. This is a classic set up and, in those moments the comedy falls away, it is very touching and real. New character Susan is a perfect example. She is the school track star, a star student,but she is large and not conventionally attractive and is, as a result, also lonely. This is my memory of high school – everyone was struggling. Teens are so half cooked, no on knows who are what they are, and you only have an audience of the same exact people you have gone to school with for a decade to see yourself reflected.  This story is also a rare romantic comedy where at least some of the comedy is actually funny, and not just awkward. Although there is plenty of that, as well. 

Once again, the adaptation from vertical scroll webcomic is extremely well-done. Good work by the folks at Viz Originals on the production. It’s a good-looking book that is fun to read.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – still poop jokes, mostly
Yuri – 7

Overall – 9

Not So Shoujo Love Story is a funny Yuri rom-com that does work a little better if you know enough Shoujo manga to get the tropes that are being mocked, but also works perfectly well on it’s own.

Volume 3 will hit shelves in early 2026 and Curryuku has already debuted the cover with even more breaking panel walls.
 ^_^





Salvia no Bouquet, Volume 2 (サルビアのブーケ（下）)

August 20th, 2025

Two women in dresses and long coats standing in a field surrounded by a swirl of cheery-blossom colored snow.In Volume 1, we met Lize, an accomplished young magician and magical instructor who takes an orphaned girl, Ellen, under her care as an intern. Ellen is deeply unsure of her place in the world, but her time with Lize gives her stability she has never before known and, as she tests into the school of magic, she asks that she be allowed to use Lize’s family name as her gift. 

Salvia no Bouquet, Volume 2 (サルビアのブーケ（下）) written by 4ka enpitsu and illustrated by Koga Yuto, Ellen continues to grow and change. She’s doing well at school, she’s made friends, she is becoming a competent and creative magician, building new magical tools that can help people and finding her answers to the “why” she wants to do magic. But something is still weighing on her. Although she now knows she is family, she’s coming to realize her feelings for Lize are more than just that of a mentee. But Lize has already told Ellen that when the girl graduates, she’ll be leaving on a journey. Ellen is torn between wanting to let the woman she loves go and to insist that she stay.

One night Lize confides in Ellen that she too was an orphan, and how glad she is to be able to share the kindness she received from her own mentor. Ellen strives to be worthy of that kindness. She shows Lize that she’s strong enough to see her off with  smile. Lize leaves to bring rain to a drought-ridden part of the world, but gives Ellen and herself matching rings to symbolize their bond.

Year pass and Lize is coming home. Ellen eagerly awaits her mentor while her best friend Stella supports her. And they smile happily at one another as they greet each other. 

This book was really quite cute, if you didn’t think too hard about the set-up of adopting an orphan, mentoring them, they fall in love with you…and lalalalala I can’t hear you~~~~ It really could have been played for ick. But, it is not. Ellen’s emotions are real and slightly raw, Lize is kind and loving and, in the end, you can see them making it work. 

The art’s still pretty rough, and the expressions look more pained thananything, but I found myself rooting for everyone to be happy. So that was nice.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 7

Overall – A solid 7. Nothing worldshaking, but overall very heart-warming.





Comic Yuri Hime, September 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年9月号) 20th Anniversary Issue

August 14th, 2025

Two young women in festive kimono, smile and laugh as they walk along hand in hand, gold confetti sparkles around them and gold in their kimono flashes in the light.Slightly more than 20 years ago, Rica Takashima and I hosted Yuricon 2005 in Tokyo. Ichijinsha had just bought Yuri Shimai magazine and was relaunching it as a new Yuri manga magazine. The editor-in-chief at the time came to Yuricon 2005 and asked about the name “Yuri Shimai.” The event attendees and guests were pretty ambivalent about that name and recommended they change it and few months later, Yuri Hime magazine launched. It was quarterly at first. Then in the late 00s, it split into two separate magazines  – Yuri Hime, and Yuri Hime S, nominally “for women” and “for men”. These were quarterly on different schedules, so fans of Yuri could get up to 8 issues a year. 

In 2011, Comic Yuri Hime was relaunched once again as a bimonthly manga magazine. And, in 2017, Comic Yuri Hime relaunched as the first and only monthly Yuri manga magazine.

Today we celebrate 20 year of Comic Yuri Hime from Ichijinsha. Congratulations! It’s been an incredible two decades and I’m glad I’ve been able to be along for the whole ride so far. ^_^

Comic Yuri Hime, September 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年9月号) is an extra thick 772 page extravaganza of Yuri. Beginning with a beautiful celebratory cover, featuring our protagonists in festive kimono at 20 years old, naturally. Kimono patterns and confetti are given a gold gloss for a very luxurious feel. Today, they and we are together, celebrating the love of women. 

I’m not going to give a rundown of all the individual series this time, but I do want to mention that I am very much enjoying the series that focus on strong-willed women and girls finding ways to get what they want done – there are many of these right now and it feels so good to read these, along with more conventional high school stories. There is plenty of “adult” content for those that like that, and still a nice pile of fantasy and isekai and a bit of science fiction. I’m still waiting for sports queer comic is iespecially but we have some great action, and smart women making positive change.

We’ve come a very long way in 20 years and there is still a long way to go. Queer media is once again under attack globally, queer comic especially so. So while we celebrate where we have been and what we have done, I ask you all to please continue supporting Yuri and queer manga. We need unity and strength now to protect what we have gained against the forces that seek to – again- shove us back in closets and silence us. Sing your queer songs, write your queer stories, draw your queer comics!

And on behalf of Comic Yuri Hime and Yuricon – thank you for your support of Yuri!





Gakeppuchi Reijou ha Kuro Kishi-sama o Horesasetai!, Volume 2 (崖っぷち令嬢は黒騎士様を惚れさせたい)

August 11th, 2025

A woman with red hair, wearing a pink dress grabs the collar of a tall woman with long silver hair in a black uniform and leans in as for a kiss. Clarice is settling in to her new role as wife of Frost-sama the fearsome Lord of the March, slayer of monsters….and, Clarice learns from the maids, slayer of her own father. 

In Volume 2 of Gakeppuchi Reijou ha Kuro Kishi-sama o Horesasetai!, Volume 2 (崖っぷち令嬢は黒騎士様を惚れさせたい), still sure that Frost is misunderstood, Clarice goes shopping with a “disguised” Frost – which is to say she is not wearing her mask or armor. The people of the city have never seen her, so they speak freely about their worries as Clarice shops. 

Clarice maneuvers her bodyguard, “Schwarz,” into picking something nice for her. Although irritable about it Frost picks a pretty pair of earrings for her wife, that turn out to be magic stones for protection. 

They are approached by a girl who turns out to be the representative of the Goulart trading company, the de facto monopoly on all goods coming in to the city. Violet tries her best to maneuver Clarice into a gaffe, or a bad deal, but Clarice once again turns out to be sharp enough to avoid traps. Meanwhile Frost and Victoria’s bodyguard, the equally huge monster-woman, Shion, battle with swords outside. Clarice and Frost win their respective battles and are gracious in victory. A shady relationship between Violet and one of the castle maids is revealed.

Frost once again has a meltdown and demands to know what Clarice is playing at. Our hapless, but in no way helpless, protagonist insists her feelings for Frost are real and steps up to kiss her. Forcefully stating that she likes Frost, Clarice slams out of the room and immediately wonders what the heck she was thinking! 

I really like this story and, if it seems a little slow going in  making inroads into Frost’s paranoia and isolation, it really has to be. Volume 3 will begin to reveal just what kind of trauma Frost is living with and how Clarice will find her way to the real Frost. In the mean time, we get to see another side of Clarice – she’s brave when she needs to be, smart in a crisis, and now, good at negotiation and political maneuvering…even if the entire time, she is propping up what she knows is a sham marriage. She’s a fantastic protagonist. I very much hope she gets the room to get into Frost’s heart.

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 8, Clarice is a 10
Service – Frost and Shion have absurdly large chests
Yuri – Good question! Nothing and everything

Overall – 8