Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Cinnamon Nonhuman x Human Yuri Anthology ( シナモン 人外×人間百合アンソロジー)

September 26th, 2019

Cinnamon Nonhuman x Human Yuri Anthology ( シナモン 人外×人間百合アンソロジー) was so much more fun than I expected, I bumped it up the review pile just to be able to tell you about it. ^_^

The premise of Cinnamon, one of the recent crop of Ascii Mediaworks / Kadokawa anthologies, is that humans and non-human creatures can and do find love together. Like it’s sister publication, Vanilla, which featured all non- and demi-human protagonists, how they get there is really tangential to the romance itself.

The first story by Neji, sets the tone of “oh, okay” when a young woman is out walking the mountain paths and meets a beast woman with whom she falls in love. There’s not enough time to delve into the hows or whys, but there’s plenty of time to kvell for their potential happiness.

The next story, by Asagao, follows two sisters whose deep connection continues on even after one becomes a zombie. This story has not one thing in it that ticks off a box for me, but I liked it anyway. ^_^

Several artists took a look at schoolmates who turn out to be something other than human, notably Takemiya Jin, whose look at “onigokko” (hide-and-seek) takes a dark turn when one of the girls turns out to be a real oni who will eat the loser. I don’t much care for animal ears on girls, but I quite like horns, as it turns out.

My favorite story is by Sekihara – once again, because I think I’ve liked their work in several recent anthologies. This story follows a woman who has moved into a new place to live, and found it inhabited by an Edo period Oiran, the ghost of a courtesan. They make it work. ^_^

The art and storytelling were both pretty strong for an anthology. I was glad to see mermaids and yokai included with the usual crop of animal-featured girls.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I had pretty low expectations for this collection, but found it genuinely entertaining. I could easily see this being picked up by Yen Press.

 

 





Yuri Manga: Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!, Volume ５ (私の百合はお仕事です!)

September 25th, 2019

We all make mistakes, of course. And we all live with the consequences of those mistakes. But, how are you supposed to be accountable for mistakes, when you don’t understand what mistakes you made..or how they were even mistakes at all? In Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu, Volume 5, Yano Mitsuki is plagued as the specter of her past invades her present. Hime struggles to understand where the disconnects are, but…

It begins so nicely, too. Hime and Kanako spend a day shopping together – a “date,” Hime says. While Kanako puzzles the meaning of the word “date,” Hime buys some presents for everyone in the salon, including a matching set for her, Kanako and Mitsuki. But when she tries to give the present to Yano, its rejected with some force. Hime has no idea what she did wrong, this time. But this time, she’s not at fault. Instead, it’s Mitsuki’s inability to read the humans around her that’s the problem. And she knows its a problem…and she’s really trying, but she simply cannot understand what she cannot understand. She doesn’t want to make the same mistakes, even as she can see that she is…but what those mistakes are, are still beyond her grasp. She’s especially struggling to understand Hime.

I resonated with this volume for a lot of reasons. Its really hard to know what to do to fix a problem when you don’t understand what the problem is. And when the “problem” is human relationships, fixing it might not even be an option, even if you do know – but not knowing is maddening. Watching all four of the cafe employees struggling to understand how they were messing up because of their limited understanding of each other’s reactions was powerful. I know a lot of people, (including myself) who struggle with various aspects of this kind of thing daily. I have friends who drive themselves into a tizzy, just as Mitsuki does here, trying to make head or tails out of what others can see are random and inconsistent reactions – and I’ve certainly been in similar situations where, like Kanako, I struggle to understand the implication of something someone else may have said casually or thoughtlessly.

As a result, I’m suddenly finding many thing to like about Hime. She’s patient with Kanako, explaining what she means when she says something and why it may not match with her actions. Her outside image may take the blame, but she’s honest about how words work when she speaks privately to Kanako. Props to her for that. Hime is also surprisingly persistent in being nice to Mitsuki even though she doesn’t understand the other girl entirely. Sure, its for her social reputation and outward appearances, but that doesn’t explain it all away.

So this volume struck me as hard to read emotionally, but a necessary logjam that will require an explosion to clear it.

Now that the series has moved past all the role-based conflicts and we’ve settled into it being a log-term story, Miman-sensei has time to actually take the story below the surface. Forget cake set names…the story here is in the shifting boundaries between characters. Until recently, I would never have imagined that this story was really going to manage a romance, but I kind of see where this is going now and its going to get ugly before it gets better. But it will definitely get better. ^_^

The art has ramped up, as well. There’s been such visible improvement  even in the 5 volumes of this series. The writing is getting stronger, too. All in all, an excellent volume of  story I find I’m enjoying beyond the silly premise.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 3 Nothing salacious, but the premise is service
Yuri – ????? I can’t even There’s a lot and very little at the same time.

This is not the first comedy-turned-drama that we’ve seen here and, like Whispered Words, I think it’s going to be worth it. Volume 6 is going to be explosive when we get there.

Tachibana-sama makes a return visit to the cafe. I still want to know why she gets a face and a name.

Yuri is My Job, Volume 5 will be hitting shelves in English in December, so you don’t have much of a wait until you can watch the collision build up slowly enough to not ruffle collars or stir skirts at Liebe Gakuen.





Yuri Manga: Yuri Life (English)

September 23rd, 2019

Last summer it was my genuine pleasure to read and review a series of short Pixiv webcomics by Kurukuruhime-sensei about couples living together and sharing their lives. Yurigurashi was a fun read, that served as a nice intro to several couples’ lives. Today it is my even greater pleasure to review the English-language edition of this book, fresh from Yen Press, Yuri Life.

Each story in this collection is a short slice-of-a-couple’s-life together. We learn enough about the women to get a sense of their personalities, their foibles and the nature of their relationship. There’s little complication in the chapters, and almost no conflict beyond communication misfires and personality clashes. But that doesn’t meant there isn’t room for whimsicality and weirdness. ^_^

There is no lesbian identity here,  and I’m not entirely sure there’d be a place for it, as the scenes tend to focus on domestic moments…and it’s not like an established couple has to reaffirm their queerness to one another all that often outside bed. ^_^

Taylor Engel’s translation is comfortable and enhances the ease of reading, Likewise, letting by Alexis Eckerman helps ensure this volumes is the authentic manga reading experience fans are looking for. The color palette of this manga is very appealing and adult.  Kurkuruhime-sensei’s art is likewise appealing, with that slight sketchiness I quite like. I consider Kurkuruhime to be an artist worth following. I’m looking forward to future work from them – and indeed, have something new on my to-read pile!

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – N/A
Characters – 8 Are all presented as likable, even the grouchy OL
Service – 3 some nudity, but nothing salacious or sleazy
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8

 

As a series of entertaining slice-of-life webcomics that feature adult women living lives with the women they love, you can’t really beat Yuri Life. (Actually, as an enteritaining life, you can’t really beat living the Yuri life, but that’s a whole other story…. ^_^)

Thanks to Yen Press for the review copy! This was a book I’ve looked forward to for a year and it was everything I hoped it would be. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Nikurashii Hodo Aishiteru (憎らしいほど愛してる)

September 5th, 2019

Nikurashii Hodo Aishiteru (憎らしいほど愛してる) subtitled in English “I love you, to hate you,” is a new adult life story about two woman who work together who are having an affair. Asano-san is the hyper-competent manager, Fujimura is a rising star in the company. The two make a formidable couple and are admired by the division in which they work.

Asano, who is married, appears to be satisfied with the nature of their relationship – meeting after work for meals and sex is the outlet she needs. But Fujimura is increasingly dissatisfied with the arrangement. She finds herself falling in love with Asano, and wants their relationship to be more than a diversion.

The story isn’t full of grand soap operatic content. It’s more filled with the kind of gut-churning small mistakes that fill an adult life.  Asano goes home to a husband she doesn’t feel like she knows and pressure to leave the job she loves to become a mother. Asano and Fujimura try to return to just being colleagues, but cracking under the stress, Asano makes a grave error that puts her division’s work at risk.  The entire division kicks in to help fix the problems; Fujimura is there to help prop up Asano during their important late-night push to get everything done. Too tired to go home they share a hotel room once more, and, at last, Asano realizes what is important to her.

In the final pages, Asano tells Fujimura that she’s getting divorced and in a very public confession, tells Fujimura her feelings in front of a Christmas illumination.  Aww. ^_^ We see them 6 months later sharing an apartment and a life.

I really liked this book. Yuni’s art is slick and adult. The bed scenes are intimate rather than servicey.  The initial premise, which is not yet all that common in Yuri manga, is the same plot as a zillion lesbian romances of the 1990s. ^_^ As a result, it felt both fresh and incredibly comfortable at the same time.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 9
Service – 3 Nudity, but mostly tastefully done.

Overall – A strong 8

Asano’s journey is not unique, but the characters are developed well-enough for the story, which feels very much ready-made for an evening television drama. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? ^_^





Yuri Manga: Cocoon, Entwined, Volume 1 (English)

August 30th, 2019

This past winter, I took a look at Mayu, Matou, Volume 1 in Japanese which I had wanted to read before the English-language volume hit shelves. Today, I’m taking a look at the much-anticipated English-language release from Yen Press, Yuriko Hara’s Cocoon, Entwined. Volume 1.

My initial review covered the most visible of the symbols in this volume – namely, hair. More specifically, that hair chews up the scenery in nearly every panel. In my original review I said, “their hair is the main character and the people attached to that hair are merely abstractions.” which is still partly true. The characterizations of both people and place are overtly inspired by Maria-sama ga Miteru‘s Ibara no Mori, with Saeki very clearly a Sei-stand-in. Whether either Hoshimiya or Yokozawa is ultimately her Shiori or Youko, we’ll have to  stick around to learn to find out.

What I was able to enjoy this time around, is the building of a love triangle in which only one participant has any idea that they are participating. This story builds up in non-linear, almost episodic fashion and it’s easy enough to take each chapter on its own without applying it to a macro narrative, but by the final chapter, a very solid whole has been constructed. One finds that there is a backstory; histories, both institutional and personal, and a clear dynamic between the characters and the situations.

I still would caution anyone skeeved by hair as a fetish/major imagery/plot point/conflict that hair takes up a lot of space in both the narrative and on the page. But aside from that, it’s a pretty intriguing story, with solid art. I look forward to the next volume. The translation has been handled smoothly although any added Keigo formality has been stripped from the dialogue by translator Amanda Haley. It makes for a slightly more casual read in English. I feel as if I am reading by looking through a curtain of hair, but the story, I hope, will be worth it.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – Hair
Yuri – 3

Overall – 8

High marks for this unique look at love and obsession at an elite girls school, the classic Yuri manga trope.

Thanks very much to Yen Press for the review copy for today’s review.

The story has grown on me, and no I will not make a stupid hair joke here. Fill one in on your own time.