Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Mabushisa no Mukou Soku (まぶしさの向こう側)

August 31st, 2017

Living on a lighted stage
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage

– Rush, Limelight from Moving Pictures, 1981. Lyrics by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson.

Takemiya Jin-sensei has really gotten into pop idols recently. Or, at least her work has.  In Mabushisa no Mukou Soku (まぶしさの向こう側), “To The Other Side of the Glare,”  she takes a look at life from the lighted side of the stage, following the girls of pop idol group “AKH49” with a decidedly Yuri focus. 

In “First Kiss no Tsukaikata” an idol is about to take on a role in which she will have to kiss an actor. Her manager has been watching over her for a long time and is very in love with her…not surprisingly, she’s feeling conflicted. The conflict does not dissipate when her idol asks her to be her first kiss.

The stories are nice and no one is the mean girl, which is very refreshing. A new girl joins the idol group to which her beloved friend (who is adored by many) belongs and they get to spend time together. Two of the idols are asked to partner in a “Yuri coupling” and find that they actually quite like one another. A fan and an idol both are hiding something important from one another…well, several things, because each is secretly in love with the other. An idol fan and an anime fan reach past the differences of their interests to find interest in each other.

The final chapter follows all of the characters on their day off with many embraces, kisses and smiles.

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 3 Some service in the Yuri coupling story

Overall – 8

This was perfect bedtime reading. Nothing negative, conflicts were small and ephemeral. No one’s unlikable, nothing terrible happens to anyone. The artist is clearly having fun and all the girls get the girls. ^_^

Limelight is a great song. You should listen to it.





Yuri Manga: Azuma-san to Itakura-san ha Koi wo Suru. (吾妻さんと板倉先輩は恋をする。)

August 23rd, 2017

Being the manager of the Chorus club is a lot of work. Itakura-san is in charge of new members, keeping the chorus together during practice and keeping the energy high as they get close to competition time. In Azuma-san to Itakura-san ha Koi wo Suru. (吾妻さんと板倉先輩は恋をする。), what Itakura-sa has no time for is Azuma-san, who wants to join the club late in the game, with really mediocre singing. She just doesn’t have time for this! So, then, why can’t she get the underclassman out of her mind?

Itakura-san reluctantly allows Azuma-san to join the chorus and, after a little tutoring, gets the young woman to fit in seamlessly. And only then is Itakura-san able to see just why Azuma-san is on her mind all the time. Luckily for her, Azuma-san feels the same way. It’s  a nice little Yuri story.

Unlike the previous story, “Yuujyou Shiraben” is not a nice story. When Aizawa Yuuka’s class gets a transfer student with the same exact name, Yuuka thinks it’s pretty funny. Aizawa Yuuka and Aizawa Yuuka become friends, naturally. But Yuuka sees the other Yuuka beating her academically, and in sports and even taking her friends, and starts to fantasize about killing the girl with the same name. In fact, she’s pretty sure she actually did kill her, but there she is, day after day. And day after day, there’s the other Aizawa Yuuka, still thinking they are friends. It all comes to a crisis when Yuuka realizes her jealousy about Yuuka is because she’s in love with her. Oh, okay, that makes perfect sense. Not. We’ve all had serial fantasies about killing the people we love. Not.

So as cute as the first story is, the second story is pretty much the opposite. ^_^ Whether this collection is worth reading will be entirely a personal decision on your part. I think Itakura and Azuma, whose story is more than half the book, were worth spending at least a little time on.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7 for “Itakura,” 5 for “Yuujyou”
Characters – 8 for “Itakura,” 5 for “Yuujyou”
Service – 1 on principle for “Itakura,” 3 for the violence in “Yuujyou”
Yuri – 5 “Itakura,” 2 for “Yuujyou”

Overall – 6





Discovering New Yuri 2017 Presentation

August 21st, 2017

At Yurithon 2017 I did a presentation called Must-Read/Must-Watch Yuri.  At Flamecon 2017, the same presentation was presented as Discovering The Best New Yuri Anime and Manga.

I promised to put the entire presentation up here, so folks could draw on the links, rather than taking photos of the screen. Not that I didn’t want them to do that, but this is SO much easier, I hope! For reasons, the videos were making it impossible to upload as a Powerpoint (and not everyone has that, so I’ve taken out the videos and converted the presentation to PDF. The links should work for you. Only the Utena Blu-Ray and Citrus anime have no links, as they currently have no ETA. 

 

 

 





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime September 2017 (コミック百合姫2017年9月号)

August 18th, 2017

While the management of Comic Yuri Hime focuses on their blitz of creepy Yuri anime this summer, the rest of the reading audience might be expected to just suck it up in front of the promotional wave.

Oddly, this does not happen. Of course there is a focus on series I’m not interested in covering here, but once we move past those, there’s actually some really good stuff in Comic Yuri Hime September 2017 (コミック百合姫2017年9月号).

“Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” by miman has gone somewhere unexpected and typical, but what it will do there and why are still unpredictable enough that I’m still reading. 

Tokuwotsumu’s “Tsume no iro” was pleasant, as as Hisona’s “Ha no Hanabatake to Hakashirube.”

In Ohsawa Yayoi’s “2DK, GPen Mezamashitokei” Nanami’s confession has thrown everyone – Nanami, Kaede and Koyuki – into a tizzy. Koyuki tells Nanami that’s she’s confessed to Kaede which officially puts this series into love triangle mode.

As usual there are any number of other entries, both ongoing and one-shots that are worth reading. Overall I felt like, yes, this issue still has a metric ton of schoolgirls, but the stories themselves felt a little more varied. I am a bit concerned about the shift into gimmick (schoolgirls with animal ears or who are game prodigies or are half-human) but I still found this issue to be readable.

Ratings:

Overall – 8  

For “2DK, GPen Mezamashitokei,” alone, this issue would have been good.

 





Yuri Manga: Eclair blanche – Anata ni Hibiku Yuri Anthology (エクレア blanche あなたに響く百合アンソロジー)

July 31st, 2017

In April 2017, I reviewed a new Yuri anthology,  Eclair  – Anata ni Hibiku Yuri Anthology. It was, apparently, successful enough that a sequel was almost immediately planned, and so, today, I’m taking a look at Eclair blanche – Anata ni Hibiku Yuri Anthology (エクレア blanche あなたに響く百合アンソロジー).

There are many names in this anthology that will be familiar to Okazu readers, Amano Shuninta, Nakatani Nio, Kitao Taki, Canno and Hirao Auri among them.

Like all anthologies, your mileage may vary, as the authors play to their interests  and strengths, with still fairly heavy reliance on schoolgirl stories. This isn’t just a fetish, you understand, it’s a comfortable place to play, as no commitment, no social commentary and above all, no political position need be taken to present a heartfelt, sincere Yuri story. 

Of this anthology, the standout piece for me was Canno-sensei’s story which follows a fairly jaded lesbian, who finds a real connection with the girl next door. I also liked Kitao Taki-sensei’s story that takes the tired trope of a childhood promise and examines it in an adult light.

All in all, a collection of strong voices and variable art styles makes for a great place to pick and choose from a buffet of Yuri. You’re likely to find a piece or three that suit your tastes. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 7

While this collection is not available on the US Kindle, you can get it digitally on Bookwalker Global, which has the advantage of being both region and device agnostic. Both Eclair and Eclair blanche are available.