Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Cocytus Perfect Edition (コキュートス 完全版)

December 13th, 2016

Back in 2014, Kodama Naoko, in pre-NTR  days had two short series that had run in Comic Yuri Hime magazine, collected under the title Cocytus. (Cocytus is one of the five rivers that runs into Hades. Cocytus is the river of lamentation. Isn’t that a cheerful title? The other rivers are Styx, Lethe, Acheron and Phelegethon, because I know you know I care about such things. ^_^)

Now her work has been republished in a final format as Cocytus Perfect Edition (コキュートス 完全版). The two series follow couples so close to being identical that I had to keep reminding myself that it was two separate series.

In the first, a cheerful schoolgirl finds herself intrigued by, protective of, and eventually interested in a melancholic classmate.

The second and title series follows, again, two classmates, who are close and getting closer. Ultimately, they decide to remain together without a sexual relationship. We see them in the short original epilogue as adults who have established a life as a couple for themselves.

There’s nothing really bad about Cocytus, certainly nothing that lends itself to lamentation. The characters are pleasantly bland, with small moments of humanity that, should they have been developed, might really have led to a great story. But they weren’t.

I’m not particularly fond of Kodama’s tendency to draw her Nadesico-type character with deadish eyes, but that’s a fairly small quibble.

Ratings:

Art – YMMV, but for me it’s 6, tops
Story – Same
Characters – 5 They never really develop beyond quick flashes of “oh”
Yuri – 4 By default, rather than by intention
Service – The title story has some rather pointless nudity

Overall – 6

If you either like Kodama’s work generally, or would like to look back a bit at an earlier series, Cocytus is a nice enough read, if not particularly compelling.





Yuri Manga: Last Waltz, Volume 2 (ラストワルツ)

December 5th, 2016

lw2ka-e1473513277949In Volume 1 of Katakura Ako’s Last Waltz, we met Shinobu, a “fixer” of a sort, for her high school’s Student Council President. She’s good at hand-to-hand fighting and, apparently, excellent in bed, leaving a trail of broken hearts and jealous lovers.

Volume 2 of Last Waltz (ラストワルツ ) brings two of her lovers, Yukari, a teacher, and Maria, a pop idol, into direct competition for her attention. Unfortunately for them, Shinobu declines to pick sides. In time honored fashion, they bond over Shinobu’s foibles.

More concerning, is someone is recruiting the girls from the school to a underworld life through a cafe waitress job. Shinobu racks up another conquest as she takes down the corrupt cafe owner.

And, finally, she learns the identity of the photographer who has been plaguing her. She’s captured by him, but manages (tied up as she is) to take him down and grab his camera. Will this stop the harassment? We’ll have to tune in to find out! 

As I was reading this volume I had a sudden thought. If Shinobu was a male character, I probably wouldn’t give this series the time of day – but, even as ridiculous as it is, I don’t hate it. Shinobu herself has little personality, so you get to create the Shinobu you want as the story plods along. In my mind, Shinobu is a cold, calculating mercenary, with a mild lust for the President. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 5
Characters – 5
Yuri – 8
Service – 8

Overall – 5

It makes amusing before-bed reading, so I’ll probably go ahead and get Volume 3 when it comes out. ^_^ Shinobu sleeps with a lot of girls, that’s the best recommendation I can make for this book.





Yuri Manga: Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo, Volume 5 (あの娘にキスと白百合を 5)

November 29th, 2016

aksyw5-e1476563876160Canno’s popular series, Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo, has made it to 5 volumes on the all-Yuri school formula.  It’s basically a Yuri trope du jour series, in a fantasy school, where adults are a vague concept and while boys are not unheard of, they are unseen. 

In Volume 5, we first run into Itou Sawa who is positive that Nishikawa Itsuki hates her. HATES. Big glare-y eyes from across the room-type hates. But, of course, that is not at all what is going on. Itsuki is struggling with a memory that Sawa doesn’t share…but should.

The middle of the book turns to look hard at the primary couple of the series. Rumors are flying that the day after exams, both Kurozawa Yurine and Shiramine Ayaka were seen together at the seashore. It’s a school scandal, but we learn the truth that Ayaka, rejected again by her family for not being number one in scores, runs off to have a good cry. Yurine helps her ground herself, and gives Ayaka a focus for her energy. Ultimately, they return to  school and face down the rumors.

Finally, we take the time for Sawa and Itsuki to confront their shared history and potential present. I’m not going to say it’s a stupid past, but under no circumstances am I to be held to any promise I made before 30, much less 5 years old. 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 1 on principle

Overall – 7

No, seriously. Any promises made in in kindergarten are no longer valid.





Yuri Manga: Yuta-san ha Mamanaranai! (ゆたさんはままならない!)

November 24th, 2016

yhmn-e1477085522679Ichijinsha is doing some interesting things these days. In an attempt to discover new (presumably cheaper) Yuri talent, the editors of Comic Yuri Hime have been looking at Pixiv, as well as doujinshi,  as a farm league for manga artists.  Mimoto is one of those artists.  And today we’re going to look at her manga, Yuta-san ha Mamanaranai! (ゆたさんはままならない!).

We meet Reki, a disaffected young lady, who is going through the motions of life and school with no particular joy and the changes in her life as her classmate Yuta-san just sort of worms her way in.

Usually, when we encounter a “my pace” character they tend to be a little loopy, kind of lazy and kind of hyper, like Yui in K-On!. But in this case, the “my pace” character is actually the grounded one, and the foil is the one who tends towards overreaction and hyperbole.

The Yuri is implication and goofy situation comedy, but by the end of the story, when Reki is looking at Yuta-san and finally sees her for the lovely, kind young woman she is, you can easily imagine that there’ll be more.

The final chapters are a short about a relationship built on lies and sexual coercion, which contrasted unpleasantly with the rest of the content.

Ratings:

Art – 6 Mostly simplistic, but when she ramps it up, it has an immediate effect
Story – 8 for the main story, 4 for the extra
Characters – Same as above
Yuri – 5 for “Yuta-san”, 7 for “Usotsuki”
Service – 2 for “Yuta-san”, 8 for “Usotsuki”

Overall – 7 for the main story, 4 for the extra

The main story is a kind of sweet little tale about a girl pulling a cynical and world-weary classmate out of her self-imposed shell. It’s a manga I had no expectations for and ended up enjoying immensely. For which I am extremely grateful.

Let me wrap this up today with my annual Thanksgiving note. It’s harder for me this year than this has been in 14 years – I’ve rewritten this paragraph 6 times. But I can and will say this, I am exceedingly grateful to every one of my Okazu readers and commenters, Guest Posters, Heroes and Superheroes. You are the greatest community any writer could ever ask for and not a day goes by that I am not sincerely, deeply thankful for you all.

Thank you – all of you – for being part of the Okazu family!





Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – November 19, 2016

November 19th, 2016

ynn_lissa“Yuri” Anime

Top story this week is Ichijinsha’s announcement of not one, but two, new anime.  Saburouta’s Citrus and Kodama Naoko’s NTR: Netsuzo Trap are both getting an anime in 2017. 

The problem for me is that neither of them are Yuri. Sure, they both have lesbian content, but calling these two series Yuri would be like labeling Basic Instinct a “bisexual” story. It’s not. It’s a movie that uses bisexuality as a sexual fetish for people who enjoy or don’t mind mental disease as a plot driver. 

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Citrus has a significant problem. Mei’s behavior makes sense only in two contexts. One, she suffered sexual abuse as a child.  Everything she does makes perfect sense if viewed in this context. And in this context, we can see that this is not a Yuri story, Yuzu is her victim as she replays the cycle. The story does not bear this out, claiming Mei was merely “neglected.” (But. In Strawberry Panic! Yaya was likewise a sexual predator and likewise the reason we are given was that she was “neglected.” I am beginning to think that “neglected” is the crappy-manga shorthand for “sexually abused.”)

In the second context, and the one I think makes the most sense, Mei has Borderline Personality Disorder. Manipulation and instability are the drivers for the entire scenario. (I’ve known people with BPD. Mei is spot on.) In either case, the Yuri is attached to mental instability, as it was back in the 1980s. 

In an interview on Comic Natalie, Saburouta discusses how Citrus does not use a seme/uke (or tachi/neko) dynamic. I posit that that is because it is not a Yuri narrative at all, but a story of sexual manipulation that happens to involve two female characters.

NTR is far more troubling as a story. It is quite literally one chapter after another of two horribly-undeveloped-as-characters girls having sex while their unwitting and even-less-developed-as-characters boyfriends are nearby. UGH, a million times over. This story makes my skin crawl.  None of the relationships are healthy. I understand that cuckolding is all the rage as a fetish, but I’m thoroughly repulsed by it in every possible way and this is yet another story of sexual manipulation that happens to involve two female characters.

I am not telling you to not enjoy these stories or to avoid these anime. I am telling you my opinions on them. These are not Yuri. They use lesbianism as a sexual fetish for people who enjoy or don’t mind mental disease as a plot driver. 

If you enjoy either or both these stories then I am very happy for you. I am not at all happy for those of us who hoped we’d see positive representation of lesbian romance and relationships in our Yuri.

 

Yuri Manga

While we’re talking negative portrayals of Yuri, creator of Anoko no Kiss to Shirayuri wo has done an illustration and blurb for a  collection of stories by an artist named Nega, Nega and Canno belong to the same circle, through which most (if not all) of the stories in the collection were originally published. Comic Natalie has the news. Thanks to J for the correction.

The first issue of the monthly Comic Yuri Hime (!!) is now on sale and the cover, while rooted firmly in schoolgirl stereotypes is refreshingly not grotesquely infantilized.

 

Live Action

A lesbian kiss has been inserted in the Ghost in the Shell live action movie which will certainly make some folks happy. 

 

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!