Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Galette, No. 8 (ガレット)

December 27th, 2018

Galette No. 8 (ガレット) is here, full of Yuri goodies, as always, and some interesting treasures buried inside! Yay! ^_^

There are a lot more color pages than previous issues, which keep surprising me, no matter how many times I read through the volume. (I usually give it at least two read-throughs before a review.) The volume is also somewhat smaller than previous issues, and the Petite Galette is incorporated into the larger magazine. This is not as surprising as it might be…one of the remarkable things about Galette is that in it’s mere two years a number of the artists have been picked up elsewhere by magazines, worked on  (the increasing number of) Yuri anthologies, are working on collected volumes with Galette and/or other publishers. In other words,  Galette‘s been good for the Yuri business. 

There are always a few series that stand out to me.

“Liberty” has moved past it’s first main crisis to a relationship that might, possibly work, except that we know that stories run on conflict. ^_^ Nonetheless, Liz has decided to wear those guitar earrings after all.

In “Motto Hanjuku Joshi” Morishima-sensei gets to give Yae something very few people get in real life, closure. Yae is able to close the book on her first love with a much better ending for all concerned than we might expect.

 The centerfold is a bit of an easter egg – it’s by Akiyama Haru, featuring the characters from Octave!  A nice blast from the past. ^_^

Amano Shuninta’s “Toma-kun” has yet another outside perspective. This time a little sister tries to understand what her older sister sees in this strange girl.

Many of the stories are ongoing, and this issue has ads for a couple of collected volumes coming out, oh, today, at Comiket and one at Comitia in February (which means they will have a table there, which means I will be buying extra copies for Lucky Boxes…!) 

I’m always torn between reading Galette first when a new order comes in, or saving it for last. This time, it was first. It’s a relaxing place to visit, with some of my favorite artists. 

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Reading an issue of Galette is like a day ticket to the Yuriland theme park. ^_^





Yuri Manga: After Hours, Volume 3 (English)

December 26th, 2018

I was genuinely delighted that Viz picked up this lovely short series about two women who meet each other by chance at a live show. Now that the series is completed, I want to reiterate that I really enjoyed the heck out of it. I state that plainly, because there is a rant I need indulge in. But we’ll get there. Be patient.^_^

But first, let us recall where we left off in Volume 2. The rave created by Kei, Emi and their crew is on. In After Hours Volume 3….that rave is fantastic. Despite setbacks, including Kei’s record collection being stolen and broken, their rave is wonderful. Their crew, After Hours, comes together and the event is a success.

And then everything falls apart. Emi goes home to spend some time with her folks and comes back to find Kei gone, with nary a word. Kei’s not responding to texts or calls. Emi gets the team together once more to talk this over and they decide to track Kei down. 

Kei, it turns out, has gone home, as well. Home as in a small fishing village in the middle of nowhere, where she is cleaning up some family business. Emi decides she has to follow Kei and find out what the hell just happened…so she does. 

Emi takes an overnight bus to Kei’s location, where she learns Kei’s reasons for not coming home.  Kei’s explanation for her disappearance is pretty banal, honestly.  Emi tells Kei she has a year to clean up her family mess, then she has to come back. They agree on a year and part. The end. 

This is where my rant kicks in. This entire end makes no fucking sense.

Emi took an overnight bus to where Kei is, and the train back. Kei is not that far away. All they had to do was agree to get together every once in a while. It’s not like Kei is across the globe…she’s a bus ride away.  An inconvenient bus ride, but still.

This is compounded in its utter ridiculousness by the ending in which neither just says, “we can text or call any time.” I mean, really. WHAT? It’s just total nonsense that lovers would part in the 2010s, with phones that can communicate just about anywhere in the world (and be used to track one another down, mind you) and act like they’d be on different planets. If a woman wrote this, at least one of them would have been sobbing over their phone, “I’ll call you every day…!” But..no.^_^

In any case, this was a great little story about two women who were not office workers or school girls, who lived lived on the fringes of society. I really liked it…

Ratings: 

Art – 7 
Story – 8 
Characters – 9 
Service – 2 
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8

…but kids, we have to acknowledge that “can’t speak to you for a year” does not work anymore. Phones, y’see, taken all the finality out of separation. Let’s come up with a new plot, please.^_^;

 





Monthly Dengeki Daioh, January 2019 (月刊コミック 電撃大王 2019年1月号)

December 13th, 2018

One of the most fascinating aspects of 2018 for me is the fact that I am once again reviewing individual magazine issues much more often this year than I had for years previously. And typically, with mainstream manga like Yagate Kimi ni Naru/Bloom Into You, once it gets established and popular I tend to not bother, since I’ll review the collected volumes.

However. The January 2019 issue of Monthly Dengeki Daioh (月刊コミック 電撃大王 2019年1月号) contains something so extraordinary and – for me – so important – that I felt it was worth a special call out. And it had a clearfile. ^_^

To begin with, I will remind you that I have had several reservations about the narrative and characters of Yagate Kimi ni Naru, since the beginning. I have also trusted Nakatani-sensei to have good judgement and have trusted her to tell a compelling story that holds up to scrutiny. I feel that my trust has been well-placed, which is really refreshing.

I will also remind you that I have long desired the portrayal in manga of adult role models for younger characters, so they are not left to struggle with feelings of same-sex love in what they believe is isolation. This is one of the things that keeps me coming back to this particular series, as we’ve seen Kodama Miyako, the cafe owner, befriend high school student Sayaka and take on this role. 

In this issue, we learn how Miyako and her lover (a teacher at Yuu’s school,) Hakozaki Riko, met. They met in college and while their story is not groundbreaking, it is pleasant and realistic. What is groundbreaking is that we see the two getting ready for bed and chatting – and Riko-sensei says to Miyako that it must be strange for her to be a role model to Sayaka. Miyako says that it is a little weird to be guiding the girl, but it must be harder to be a teacher. 

This exchange is mind-blowing. Not only is there an established female couple to exist as role models for the young woman who knows well enough what she is, but is still looking for who she is, they talk about it. I have never before seen that in a Yuri manga. In the real world, most of the older LGBTQ folks I know do, in fact, talk about this. We talk about the importance of being out and being role models precisely for this reason. But even in manga where characters openly identify as LGBTQ, I have never before seen a character say, well, yeah, it’s weird that I’m a role model, but I’m glad to be able to help a young person find their way. Which Miyako basically does.

And that, my friends, my dear readers, is the “cut, scene,” moment for 2018 for me. We have come so far in such a short time. I cannot *wait* to see what 2019 has to offer!

Ratings:

Adult Role Models who know that that is what they are doing for the fucking win. 10

I’m going to spend some time this weekend working on the end-of-year- Top Ten lists and I have never before looked forward to them so much!  ^_^





Yuri Manga: Nettaigyo ha Yuki ni Kogareru, Volume 3 (熱帯魚は雪に焦がれる )

December 11th, 2018

Nettaigyo ha Yuki ni Kogareru, Volume 3 (熱帯魚は雪に焦がれる ) is, honestly, a very frustrating interlude in a story that had been developing so sweetly. 

It’s summer and the whole town really digs in and does the summer festival. Konatsu is looking forward to going to the festival with Koyuki – and she convinces Koyuki to participate with a show at the aquarium. 

Koyuki is, as usual, reticent to get involved. But she’s finding herself becoming more and more focused on Konatsu and is dragged along by her, until she agrees. They meet on the night of the festival, but they are both avoiding talking about what is developing between them. 

Konatsu is able to show Koyuki the fish show she’s planning for the next day and Koyuki is genuinely moved by her passion and enthusiasm, but as the next morning dawns, Koyuki is sick in bed.

It felt like the brakes were applied on an already slowly-moving story in this volume…for not much narrative payoff. It was both disappointing and frustrating. 

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 1 on principle only, there really isn’t any
Yuri – 4

Overall – 7

I enjoy this series and was hoping to see it move forward, not backward in Volume 3. Here’s hoping Volume 4 picks up .

 





Yuri Manga: Yurikon, Volume 1 (ゆりこん)

December 4th, 2018

You know what I needed this week? A bag of sesame cookies and a Yuri manga that was sweet and sappy and feel-good. Luckily, I had both to hand. One package of Ginbis black-sesame “asaparagus”* cookies, a cup of Ceylon tea and a copy of Hisakawa Haru’s Yurikon (ゆりこん) scratched all the itches. ^_^

Yurikon is based upon an adorable/ridiculous premise. We meet two women who will get married. At the end of the chapter, the baton is passed on to a different couple who then likewise get married, and so on. It’s sickly sweet sugary nonsense…and I love it.

In the first chapter Kimiko’s life is over, her favorite pop idol has a lover and she doesn’t. She’s still pining after her high school love, Wakana. Moping and depressed, Kimiko heads out to a drinking party with her school friends, who tease her. When Wakana finally shows up for the after party, she asks Kimiko to marry her! They go on to have a lovely church wedding where Hanako catches the bouquet. 

Hanako heads home to her lover, who seems to be taken aback to be asked “when are we going to get married?” “You want to get married?” But its not that sempai doesn’t want to…it’s that she responds to surprise with a question and this surprised her. After this misunderstanding almost breaks them up, Mizuki and Hanako get married in a very traditional Japanese Shinto wedding. Two spectators muse about their own marriage and ask their children, Nanami and Aoi, which kind of wedding they should have?

When Nanami’s mother said she was divorcing her father, she wasn’t really worried, but she did have a little trouble making friends at the new school until Aoi took her under her wing. Aoi and Nanami have been closer than anything and promised each other that they would marry each other one day! When their mothers got married that made them sisters…which upset Nanami. She wanted to be Aoi’s bride!  But they explained this to their mothers who fly off happily on their honeymoon.

Coming back to Japan, is Akira who fell in love with Himekawa-onee-san when she was young and stayed in love with her when “Hime” became a teacher in her school. Akira left for America but told her that she’d come back and come back she does. “Hime” finds she can’t bear to lose Akira, so they marry after all.

The fifth chapter is my favorite, as we circle back to the beginning of the volume and follow the top idol group ‘Princess”s center, Sana. Sana and center for top idol group ‘Prince, Akane are positioned as rivals, but in reality they are in love. In a scripted scene in which they are supposed to fight and cause a rift between them, they break down on camera and confess their love. The company intelligently goes with the flow on this and they do a new hit single together called… “happy marriage” because of course they do. ^_^

There is nothing realistic at all about Yurikon. There is no discussion of the lack of marriage equality in Japan, the limited nature of same-sex partnership certificates, the social, legal or financial arrangements involved. Families, friends, even employers are presumed to be on board with it. There’s not a trace of homophobia, nor are there any lesbians or bisexuals in the book. These vignettes are 100% pure “gay for you” fantasy. It’s trash, honestly, but on the enjoyably reality-free trashy side.

The epilogue takes a quick look at the previous couples and promises us that this will all be continued. For which I am eminently thankful as I really needed something with the all the sugary sweetness and goofy Yuri love-love of this volume. 

Ratings:

Art – 7 Competent, leaning towards the moe.
Story – 7 The narrative equivalent of a box of Dum Dum lollipops
Characters – 8 Everyone is cute, but the two idols make the volume for me
Service – Obsessing about weddings and drawing different wedding dresses is a form of service for some people. Come at me, I will throw the 100100009 wedding magazines in existence at you. ^_^ But nothing salacious. 
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9 Oh heck, I am full of cookies and tea and Yuri weddings. Metadashi, metadashi. They all live happily ever after.

* Ginbis “asparagus” cookies are so named because they are supposed to look like asparagus, which they do not. They taste like black sesame, wheat, salt and sugar, which they are. I love them and recommend them highly if you like black sesame flavored things and things that go crunch.