Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Anthology: Whenever Our Eyes Meet… (English)

June 28th, 2019

A little over a year ago I had the pleasure of reviewing Anoko to Me ga Autabi Watashi ha Shakaiin Yuri Anthology (あの娘と目が合うたび私は 社会人百合アンソロジー). Today I have the even greater pleasure of reviewing the translated edition, Whenever Our Eyes Meet…!

The place of anthologies in the west are still pretty shaky. People are sometimes confused by the idea of a scene, or a concept being the point, rather than a fully developed story. Japanese anthologized stories are so often just a scenario or setup to something that we are then supposed to imagine the rest of, rather than a complete story. But for a glimpse of the variety in jousei Yuri manga being created in Japan, this is a great collection. My favorites remain the same as in the JP edition. Quoting myself:

The volume starts off really strongly with a lovely cover image and opening story by Harukawa You. In the opening story, a graphic designer is hired to do a CD cover design for an indie singer whose schtick is wearing a horse head. What is hidden underneath the mask is a really lovely young lady who admires her work.

I really enjoyed irua’s “Everyone’s Missing Out” in which a unloved boss turns out to have a secret supporter among the employees. I still enjoy this one, especially as the boss is middle aged.

Seta Seta’s “Stopped Meter” was a ridiculous story I liked about a female cab driver finding herself driving someone she knew a long time ago in another job.

And Yuki Yukiko’s ”Hand-delivered Love Letter,” about a woman who works at a shipping company and her charming and beautiful customer, was a terrific end story for the book.

Yen did another lovely job, and Leighann Harvey’s translation was seamless, but for one complaint which is not her fault. I will stick to my guns and say that Yen translating “Yuri” in the title is pointless. Yuri is a genre term and does not need translation. You don’t have to translate the word “daikon” in a recipe, either. It’s called a daikon. Yen’s refusal to acknowledge that we’ve worked long and hard to get that term recognized is a pain point for me and exactly why I do not tend to count Yen as “allies” in the manga industry. Queer folks and our allies understand how hard we fight for our words and how much it takes to have them recognized. Yen’s management does not and will not recognize this because this is not their fight and they don’t “get” why it’s important. Nice people, who do a great job, but not necessarily on our side.

Ratings remain the same as for the JP edition:

Art – Variable but generally good
Story – Surprising variety, considering
Characters – Generally likable
Service – Not really
Yuri – Yes

Overall – A solid read, let’s give it an 8

Realistically, I’m no more interested in falling in love with a coworker than a classmate, but at least they are all adults. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Liberty, Volume 1 (リバティ)

June 27th, 2019

Liberty, Volume 1 (リバティ) follows Honjou Maki, a boyish young woman who works for a small game company and is happy enough with her life, although the constant talk about who is seeing whom and who she might be or not be interested in is tiresome. Maki’s boyish , but still resents the fact that the other women just presume she’s not interested in men. She’s on her way home when a woman runs out into the street in front of Maki’s car. It wasn’t a suicide attempt, though…the woman was just trying to save a kitten from being run over. The women is flirty and flighty and before Maki drops her off, the woman asks Maki if she likes women. Maki isn’t able to answer, but the woman, also recognizing her specific boyishness calls her “Walking Coming Out” and writes down a phone number on Maki’s hands before she get out of the car.

Maki calls the number and learns that it’s for a musical performance venue. After work she goes over the location where the line is very long to get in. She learns its for the band Liberty and that the woman she met is its lead singer… and, that she is expected, although her new nickname is now “Aruku Coming Out” and she is a walking advertisement for her own sexuality now, whether she likes it or not. The singer takes her aside after the show and aggressively kisses Maki, making it very plain that she is interested in the other woman.

The next day Maki meets the new band that’s been signed on to do the music for the game her company is working on– the band is Liberty and their lead singer is Liz. Maki is clearly genuinely interested in and attracted to Liz, but Liz’s reactions are not…within normal parameters. When Maki gives her a pair of earrings a present, Liz yells at Maki to get out. We and Maki eventually learn why, but by the end of Volume 1 Liz is still mostly an enigma to both us and Maki. And her reactions are still over-the-top in any situation.

This manga is a collaboration between voice actress Kitta Izumi (Cordelia from the Milky Homes franchise)and Yuri manga artist Momono Moto, whose work I have followed for years. This story really plays to Momono-sensei’s strong points, too, with strong emotions and reactions and Liz’s light-gothic fashion look, which contrasts nicelyto Maki’s downplayed business casual. I’ve liked this story since it debut in Galette in 2017 and have been eagerly awaiting a collected volume. I noticed immediately that when Kitta-san announced this on Twitter, it was not published by Galette Works, instead it is a Kadokawa book. Good for them for getting the investment. (It’s not too hard to see Kadkoawa’s angle – voice actress from a Kadokawa series, veteran Yuri artist and their current investment in Yuri as a growth market. It all adds up.)

The book includes a short interview with both creators that is surprisingly cute and energetic.

As an adult life story with both a cute mostly-closeted boyish character and a beautiful melodramatic feminine character, Liberty makes for great Yuri soap opera.

Ratings:

Art  – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 7 Yes, in an adult female-focused way. Maki’s seduction is not explicitly consensual but meant to be understood as mutual.
Yuri – 10 with a light flavor of LGBTQ

Overall – 9

I really like this story and am pleased that Maki and Liz are going to get a chance to develop as characters and as a couple.





Yuri Manga: Hero-san to Moto Onna Kanbu-san, Volume 1 (ヒーローさんと元女幹部さん)

June 25th, 2019

Rapid Rabbit is the super-hero line of defense between humanity and demise at the hands of the Antinoid army. In battle with the baddies and their fearsome mid-level boss Honey Trap, the two women are revealed to one another…and Honey falls hard for Rabbit’s true identity, Hayate.

Honey gets canned for her failure and ends up at Hayate’s door, where she learns that Hayate is…a really nice person. Honey’s a goner and she and Hayate team up.  Amusingly, Hayate’s dayjob is as a costumed superhero show performer, and while Honey loves to watch her, when they are genuinely attacked she’s gone so far over to the side of good that she transforms and fights against her former co-worker, Kyouka Suigetsu (which appears to be a martial technique in Bleach and Naruto and Nurarihyon no Mago, … and which explains her costume and suits the shounen manga sentai-type series background noise tone of the story.)

Hero-san to Moto Onna Kanbu-san, Volume 1 (ヒーローさんと元女幹部さん) is a light-hearted romp in the tropes of Japanese costumed superhero television shows. It requires little knowledge or commitment but is a lot of fun.  Somechime’s art is totally up to the task, and the collected volume has a number of costume and Antinoid design charts. The whole thing was a terrific antidote to yesterday’s high drama and just the kind of thing I think Pixiv is especially good for – a testing ground for off-brand stories. 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 I mean, 5 but…it’s cute
Characters – 8
Service – 4 A bit in the costume designs and a regrettable “joke” about Hayate’s underwear. Ha. (-_-)
Yuri – 3 Nothing much actually happens outside Honey’s head

Overall – 8

Sometimes, like Honey,  we all just need a attractive, athletic, female hero to sweep our evil plans away. ^_^

 





Yuri Manga: Yuri is My Job, Volume 2 (English)

June 21st, 2019

The tropes of Yuri are alive and well at Liebe Academy Salon, served up with a nice cake and tea set. ^_^

Hime has always been more concerned with style than substance. When she came to a new school, all she wanted was for everyone to love her. Despite herself, she became friends with Yano, a girl who spoke her mind. With her, at least, Hime could be herself. But, Hime warned her new friend, Hime always lies.

Yano’s and Hime’s friendship becomes entangled with class relationships and both of them end up lying to protect each other. In the end, they destroyed their friendship and both feel as if they were victimized. Now, years later, Yano is Hime’s graceful, beautiful “onee-sama” at the Liebe Academy Salon and while Hime feels as if she’s the one who ought to be angry, its Yano’s anger at Hime that fills up the spaces of Yuri is My Job, Volume 2 by Miman, out from Kodansha Comics.

Tensions rise as the “Blüme” popularity contest approaches and Hime, despite playing a first-year shoots for the top, igniting turmoil among the staff.

Yano is full of rage at her version of the past, and Hime is full of desire to be liked, Kanako only desires to see Hime shine, while Chibana just wants everyone to work together in harmony. For a cafe concept wrapped around young ladies at a respectable and staid private school, there’s a lot of high emotions on display here – and its affecting their business.

The art has settled in by this volume and, as I said in my review of the first volume in English, I quite like the larger format for ease of reading.   A pleasant bonus for readers is Miman-sensei’s afterword, which contains some interesting procedural content – always a nice thing when creators let us see behind the screen so to speak. Diana Taylor’s translation really captures all the various emotions of the story.

Volume 2 is a sink-or swim volume for readers. Either we are all in on this multi-leveled commentary on Yuri manga or not. I, obviously, am all in. ^_^ I’m about to start on Volume 5 in Japanese, and find I’m way more invested in the characters than I would have expected – Yano, in particular. The girl who seems likely to be the obstacle to Hime’s happiness may well be the key to the whole story.

Ratings: 

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8 Although they are often hard to like, they are well-crafted
Yuri – 4 The cafe concept is Yuri, the story is getting there
Service – 2 Still goofy Yuri fandom service

Overall – 8

The cafe clientele is visibly both more mixed gender and also fascinatingly androgynous. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Watashi no Kobushi wo Uketomete, Volume 2 (私の拳をうけとめて)

June 20th, 2019

Back in the day, Takebe and Soramori were rivals in the world of high school gangs, but when they meet again as adults in Volume 1, Soramori admits that she’s always liked Takebe. To Takebe’s shock Soramori asks her out…and she can’t quite come up with any reason to say no.

In Watashi no Kobushi wo Uketomete, Volume 2 (私の拳をうけとめて) Takebe is trying to figure out any of what is going on here, while Soramori is mostly concerned that Takebe’s not having any fun. This isn’t true, but it’s so hard for Takebe to really express herself and she’s not really sure what she wants, so…Soramori keeps trying to find something to make Takebe happy, but when we visit Takebe’s family, we see that she’s had that same expression since she was a child. And Soramori learns she has a rival in the form of Otome, a neighbor, who has known and obsessed over Takebe for years.

When Soramori stops going to the origami class she and Takebe had signed up for, Takebe confronts the fact that she prefers to do anything with Soramori. And with extraordinary effort on her part, she visits Soramori and actually tells her!

Takee and Soramori join two other former gang girls, Maria and Miharu on…wait for it…an overnight camping trip. ^_^ Takaebe is foiled in her chance to just be alone with Soramori, but all of them just relax and enjoy the moment, which for such a wound-up series, is really quite lovely.

The art is solid without being stellar, the whole story is basically set around Takebe’s angry expression, but to my surprise there is character development in this volume 2, instead of just the same jokes, with every chapter ending in a bwa-wa-waa~~ sound.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 5 Yes, they are an item, but their relationship is still a work in progress

The series is still ongoing, you can read it online (in Japanese) on the Young Ace Web Ace site and watch as Takebe continues to grapple with what she’s got to be thinking of as her own arrested development.