Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Galette, No. 7 (ガレット)

October 31st, 2018

Galette, No. 7 (ガレット) actually came out back in August but I’ve been, um, busy, so here it is just a few weeks before No. 8 hits shelves in Japan. ^_^; 

There were a couple of very notable entries this issue. First among them was Takemiya Jin’s horror Yuri manga, “Sekai no Owari ni Anata to Futari” in which this case, the end of the world was literal. (O_O)

I had to laugh at Morishima Akiko’s “Motto Hanjuku Joshi” chapter, in which we meet the “female version of a male version of Yae” and it makes perfect sense.

With continuing stories from Morinaga Milk, Kita Izumi and Momono Moto, Amano Shuninta, Yorita Miyuki, Hakamada Mera, Hamano Ringo and Uno Junior, this doujinshi-magazine scratches a whole lot of different itches.

The Petit Galette was full four-color, which felt like a nice bonus. (And the soy smell was not nearly as pronounced this issue as it as last time.)

Of everything in this entire magazine, the one thing that stood above all, was a lovely, color photo of two adult women in yukata at a summer festival. It was just so sweet is left me smiling for days.

Ratings: 

Overall – 9

You can buy Galette in print from Amazon JP, on US Kindle (which I did this time, when I knew I wanted to read this issue before I was going to be able to get the print volume. I really like magazines in digital format – it’s great for reading anywhere or anytime.) Galette is also available on BOOK☆WALKER digitally. 





Yuri Fest on BOOK☆WALKER GLOBAL

October 30th, 2018

I am very pleased to be able to announce the first-ever Yuri Fest on BOOK☆WALKER GLOBAL! Click this link for all eligible titles.

From November 1 through November 14, BOOK☆WALKER GLOBAL is offering up to 3000 free reward coins (worth approximately 3 free books, depending on the cost) and a free “I Love Yuri” bookshelf wallpaper. ^_^ Participating English publishers include Seven Seas, One Peace, Viz and Kodansha. This is the perfect time to get reacquainted with classic series like Strawberry Panic! or Whispered Words as well as Bloom Into You and Hana & Hina After School.

Here’s how it works:

Reward Coin: (1 Coin = 1 JPY)
Buy ANY 2 Volumes – Get 500 coins back 
Buy ANY 5 Volumes – Get 1,250 coins back 
Buy ANY 7 Volumes – Get 1,750 coins back 
Buy ANY 10 Volumes – Get 3,000 coins back 
(e.g. Purchase 1 volume of Bloom Into You (Manga) with 4 volumes of Citrus (Manga) to get 1,250 coins back.)

Not eligible for the YuriFest promotion, they also have Yen press titles like MURCIÉLAGO and Kiss & White Lily For My Dearest Girl. Check out their Yuri category for all their Yuri.

BOOK☆WALKER GLOBAL’s digital manga platform has been a terrific resource for folks looking to read manga without shouldering shipping costs and storage issues. BOOK☆WALKER is multi-publisher and can be used for English and Japanese manga, so if you haven’t yet downloaded the app and tried the service, I recommend it. It’s easy to use and  if you are interested in manga or magazines that are only available from Japan like the Ultra Jump Yuri anthology, Yuritora Jump), you can actually subscribe to the Japanese digital edition of Comic Yuri Hime right through the site, something you cannot do with Kindle outside Japan. I’ve been a big supporter of BOOK☆WALKER  since the global site launched and I find it a great way to read manga I can’t get, don’t want to have to make space for or – or had never even heard of!

Get those clicking fingers ready and I’ll see you online for BOOK☆WALKER GLOBAL’s Yuri Fest!





Yuri Manga: Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo, Volume 9 (あの娘にキスと白百合を 9)

October 26th, 2018

Volume 9 of Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo, (あの娘にキスと白百合を ), begins with a few wrenches to the heart.

Mikaze loves to cosplay. Specifically, she loves to cosplay magical girl Seira, so imagine her delight when she finds another cosplayer in Seira’s angel form! Mikaze is even more surprised to find that the “other Seira” is a student in her school. Mutual love of cosplay brings Mikaze and Asuka together, and their feelings for one another blossom into love. But Asuka’s graduation is looming and to save Mikaze from having to be left behind by her, Asuka pre-emptively breaks up with her. Mikaze is devastated, but the older girl walks away with a final “Sayonara.”

We turn away from this melancholy chapter towards Ayaka. Once again exams are coming but, this time,, she doesn’t seem all that worked up about it. And for once, she comes out on top. Ayaka has finally beat Yurine, who is left to wonder if she’s a “normal girl” now.

In triumph, Ayaka calls her mother to give her the good news and learns what we have all seen coming for 9 volumes. Rejecting her mother’s demands for perfection, Ayaka finally tuns to Yurine as an equal in her own eyes, and reaches out to kiss her. It is a very nice kiss. So nice that it throws Ayaka into a tizzy for the rest of the book, which was actually kinda cute.

The book turns back towards Mikaze who decides that she hates the way her chapters ended and changes the ending. 

And additional chapter about Valentine’s Day gives us all the passive-aggressiveness we’ve lost in Ayaka.

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8 
Yuri – 7
Service – 2 I’m not gonna lie, that kiss was pretty hot

Overall – 8

As far as I’m concerned, the story can begin now. I cannot wait to see where Ayaka and Yurine go. Because now, at last, they will be doing it together. 





Yuri Manga: MURCIÉLAGO BYPRODUCT – Araña (ムルシエラゴ- BYPRODUCT -アラーニァ-)

October 25th, 2018

While there are clearly oodles of series for which a side story is merely a way to extend a franchise (i.e., squeeze more money out of series fandom) there are some stories the world needs. 

The sex and violence-filled side story MURCIÉLAGO BYPRODUCT – Araña (ムルシエラゴ- BYPRODUCT -アラーニァ-) that follows crazy-eyed sniper, Kuchiba Reiko, is absolutely a story the universe needs. By universe, I mean me, obviously. ^_^

Reiko and her business partner, user of questionable martial arts Momo, are contracted by a Chinese syndicate run by Long and Fu (Dragon and Tiger) to fight other Chinese syndicates and their disposable henchmen. And they do, while bodies and heads explode outward in showers of blood and guts from Reiko’s gun, whose bullet caliber seems to magically transform as circumstances require. Since the point of this side story seems to be the violence and sex, it’s not like you’d be expected to tune in for the complex writing. 

In between these fights, Reiko turns out to be very accommodating to women who need sex. Reiko and her lovers have sex which is not at all as bizarre and grotesque as that portrayed in MURCIÉLAGO proper, but she does seem to be quite the stone butch.

It is nice to see that Reiko has a lover with whom she lives; the young lady whose life she saved. And they certainly seem happy enough. 

Ratings:

Art – 7 It may never be “good,” but it certainly is creative.
Story – 7 Ditto
Characters – 7 Ridiculous to absurd. 
Service – 7
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8

Like MURCIÉLAGO,  MURCIÉLAGO BYPRODUCT – Araña is “messy and gross and violent and gay.” I love it. 





Yuri Manga: Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Volume 6 (やがて君になる)

October 18th, 2018

In Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Volume 6 (やがて君になる), the story comes to a climactic moment, with an expected twist.

It is, at last, time for the school festival and with it, Touko’s Student Council is putting on an original play, finally fulfilling her late sister’s unrealized dream. Unusually, we are allowed to see the entire play, including the scene where Sayaka plays amnesiac Touko’s now-forgotten lover. Immediately rumors begin to spread, but they move though the scene to the conclusion of the play; in which the protagonist decides against choosing any of her former lives, instead preferring to create a new self into which she can grow. The play is a rousing success. Touko’s parent’s reaction to it all is very interesting, and I hope we’ll be privy to a conversation between Touko and her family discussing that reaction.

But, as far as the main story goes, there’s only one reaction Touko cares about. When she and Yuu finally have a moment alone, Yuu makes heartfelt confession – she can no longer remain the same as she was, as she had promised. And, more devastatingly, she has realized that she is in love with Touko.

Touko, who had resigned herself to keeping their relationship in stasis, is thrown into a high state of confusion. Where they will end we cannot say (well, okay, obviously we can. It was abundantly clear from the first page of this series it was meant to be a romance. As I noted in my review of the first volume back in 2016, “The first [criticism I had of V1] is that it is presented as a romance. The story is apparently that we’ll side with Touko as her sincere feelings for Yuu are eventually returned.” So, yeah, obviously it has been heading in this direction from the very beginning. Which I’m still kind of sad about. I would really have preferred to have Yuu as a rare aromantic manga protagonist. Oh well.

Setting that aside, as a romance goes, this story is taking time to alleviate my concern that Yuu would be swayed merely by the force of Touko’s affection for her. That, at least, has not manifested. 

Now Yuu and Touko will have to see if their feelings can match one another’s, and then see if they can build a relationship on those feelings.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 
Characters – 8
Yuri – 5
Service – 1

Overall – 8

The play was actually quite good – as well as terrifyingly accurate.

In the meantime, I’m still watching Sayaka, whose role in the play has effectively outed her to the whole school. I hope she will find her way through all this. (I am currently reading another novel by Iruma Hitoma, I’m ever more concerned for her novel, I hope they are up to conveying her as fully developed character.)