Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yagate Kimi ni Naru Koushiki Comic Anthology (やがて君になる 公式コミックアンソロジー)

February 6th, 2019

Looking back on my old Okazu posts, this is the first series-specific anthology I have reviewed here since Maria’s Wink in 2008, and that was not an official work, but a doujinshi anthology. Which makes Yagate Kimi ni Naru Koushiki Comic Anthology (やがて君になる 公式コミックアンソロジー) the first series anthology on Okazu in 11 years and the first official comic anthology…ever. We’ve come a long way in those 11 years. For one thing, let’s think about the fact that this is an official comic collection! With stories by some professional names,with a message by the original creator of the series. That’s pretty damn cool.

A number of the stories stood out for me, but when I tell you about which one, you’ll laugh, because I’m completely predictable. ^_^

I very much enjoyed Canno’s story, which followed Sayaka and Touko on a “date.” Cue lot of good Sayaka internal monologue and insight. Fukuyama Akira’s look at Yuu and Koyomi’s relationship was also absolutely delightful. No one at all would be surprised that I like Fumio Fumi’s story, which gave me a chance to admire Touko in tux, while Sayaka played musumeyaku in frilly dress.

But you have got to know that the entire time I was reading it I was thinking “There had better be a story about Riko and MIyako,” the adult lesbian couple. Ultimately there was, and I genuinely enjoyed Hiroichi’s look at their relationship. It felt completely honest and as that’s the quality I look to them most for in the series, it was nice to see it reflected here, as well. 

Ratings:

Overall – 9

Everything is variable, because it’s an anthology, obviously, but the stories are consistent with the characters we know and like which is refreshing, and the art was all good, even if there are specific styles one doesn’t care for. 

If you are a fan of Yagate Kimi ni Naru, I definitely think this official comic anthology is worth your time and money.





Yuri Anthology: Yuri + Kanojo – Kossori Kisushite ( 百合+カノジョ -こっそりキスして-)

January 29th, 2019

Yuri + Kanojo – Kossori Kisushite ( 百合+カノジョ -こっそりキスして-) is the fifth of this whimsical Yuri anthology series. It’s quite charming. ^_^

This volume take a moment to revisit characters and relationships from the previous four volumes, so the anthology has the feel of checking in with old friends and seeing how they are doing. ^_^

Like earlier volumes, every chapter is presented from a first-person perspective, so we are the one being addressed in each chapter….and being seduced, snuggled, asked to marry and impressed with the biceps of our bodybuilding lover, and so on. 

The specific quirk of this volume is “regional” stories with accents and locations that are meant to reflect specific localities in Japan. Along with these regional stories, there sections for old friends, specific jobs and a few overseas stories as well. 

Ratings:

Overall  – 8

I am finding these particularly fun to read before bed. Short, mostly sweet, with a chapter or two per character leaves me with a very positive feeling as I head off to sleep. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Yuri is My Job!, Volume 1 (English)

January 25th, 2019

Hime looks like an angel. Everyone loves her. She’s kind and helpful and everyone’s darling. On the outside. Inside, she’s a gold digger-in-training and is more concerned with looking like she’s a good person than being one.

In Volume 1 of Yuri is My Job! by Miman an accident brings Hime to a Yuri concept cafe based on a series of novels about girls in passionate platonic relationships at the German mission school “Liebe Girl’s Academy.” Hime is going to have work harder to maintain that perfect image than she ever has before. 

Struggling with the complicated rules of comportment and behavior is one thing, but Hime has no interest in serving people tea and no interest in the daily specials. But she knows status when she sees it, so she violates the norms in order to ingratiate herself with the upperclassmen in the scenario. She’s a crowd favorite and her onee-sama is kind in public…but in private, Ayanokouji doesn’t seem to like her at all.

To complicate matters, Hime’s best friend, Kanoko, discovers her secret! Now she has to work extra hard in front of her besotted and naturally competent friend, who knows her true self. It seems like everything is working against Hime, who is just trying to avoid a repeat of the time she was hurt by someone who knew her secret. Until the past comes to haunt her in the form of…

Yuri is My Job!  is a delightful romp in and out of the tropes of Yuri set in an elite girl’s school. The translation by Diana Taylor captures Hime’s struggles with Ayanokouji, the cafe rules and the random bits of German they use. The oversize format is much easier on my eyes. ^_^ I’ve mentioned this before – I do a lot of my manga reading at night before bed – how nice it is to not be reading 8pt type in Japanese. ^_^

The Kodansha  Comics page for Yuri is My Job includes an interview with Kanako Umezawa, the editor-in-chief of Comic Yuri Hime magazine and an excerpt of my essay Why Is It Always Catholic Schoolgirls in Yuri? 

Ratings: 

Art – 7
Story – 7 
Characters – 7 
Yuri – 4 The cafe concept is Yuri, the story is not, until it is.
Service – 2 Goofy Yuri fan moments

Overall – 7 And I’m really hoping that <spoiler> happens in the future! (Spoiler: It does. ^_^)

When I reviewed volume one in Japanese, the only caveat I had was that the cafe clientèle appeared to be overwhelmingly male when we saw faces and clothes. I had hoped for an increase in female customers to more accurately reflect the readership of the magazine. That does, in fact, happen as the series continues. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Mayu, Matou Volume 1 (繭、纏う)

January 23rd, 2019

Well.

That was not a fetish I had ever thought about before.

Okay, then.

Ahead of Yen Press’ release of Comic Beam‘s  Cocoon, Entwined by Hara Yuriko, I picked up the Japanese edition of Mayu, Matou Volume 1 (繭、纏う). And found myself with a faceful of…hair. 

Hair is the predominant symbol in the this volume and takes up a lot of space, both physical and emotional, at Hoshimiya Gakuen, where the students grow their hair very long.  

This volume follows Yokozawa and Saeki, students at this high end and very rule-bound school. But it is, much more than a story of two students and their classmates, a story of their hair. 

I’m not even joking about this – their hair is the main character and the people attached to that hair are merely abstractions. If you don’t like hair, this manga is going to skeeve you right out the door. The hair in this book represents freedom and being bound and hope and loss and everything else. 

Art in this volume is good although, as you can see by the cover, hair tends to chew up the scenery. The stories mostly center on hair but by the end, the characters get a chance to be seen a little past the curtain of hair. I really don’t even know how else to convey to you that this book is absolutely, totally, about hair, first and last, with a story peeking between strands.

 

Ratings:

Art – Hair
Story – Hair
Characters & their Hair
Service for Hair enthusiasts
Yuri – 3, plus Hair

Overall – Hair

I can only imagine that cleaning duty in this place is a nightmare.





Yuri Manga: Hungry for You: Endo Yasuko Stalks the Night, Volume 2 (English)

January 17th, 2019

Volume 2 of Endo Yasuko Stalks The Night
Is what I think is “all right.”
Vampires they may be
None of them look like a baby
Go ahead and say “Okay, I’ll bite.”

Volume 2 resolves all the wrong bits of the story, opens up gigantic new holes that will never be resolved and is ridiculous in every possible way.

You should totally read it. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – Even more absurd 8
Characters – 9
Service – 5 with a bump for the principal
Yuri – 2, maybe, but you can make it work if you want.

Overall – Still entertaining, trashy fun 8