In 2019 I reviewed the Isekai Tensei Yuri Anthology (異世界転生百合アンソロジー) from Ichijinsha. Instead of interesting and well-conceived shorts about Yuri in “another world,” I found a collection of vehicular deaths and very few original ideas. The cover art was the best thing about it.
Here we are in 2026 and I was really hoping Watashi-tachi no Koi ga Hanahiraku Toki Isekai Renai Yuri Anthology (私たちの恋が花開くとき 異世界恋愛百合アンソロジー) from Takeshobo would hit the spot but here even the cover did not meet up to expectations.
We all know that “Isekai” is most cases means being reincarnated into a feudal gaming-style society, with magic, perhaps. And yet, as we look at this cover, we see two women in Edwardian-esque school uniforms? Ah yes, that feudal early 20th century private school for girls.
To be clear, these stories are not terrible, they are just not-particularly isekai, not-originla – full of some of the dullest tropes – and IMHO some are not Yuri. Hereafter, any story about a maid and her infantile mistress will never, ever count as “Yuri” to me. It’s a bad trope that stomps on several boundaries: Power harassment, classism, and inappropriate age gap at the very minimum.
There is so much Isekai in existence, and some of it is Yuri and so much of that is decent. I’m In Love With The Villainess, and The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants To Work For The Villainess, Muryoku Seijo to Munou Oujo ~ Maryoku Zero de Shoukansareta Seijo no Isekai Kyuukokuki (~無力聖女と無能王女～魔力ゼロで召喚された聖女の異世界救国記～)…all of these are interesting and create fully realized worlds out of games/fantasies. Unfortunately, this anthology makes little attempt to incorporate isekai, or depict relationships that offer any depth.
The “best” of the stories is the first, “Watashi no Koibito ha Tsuika Kakinsei no Keiyaku Kanojodesu! ~ Keiyaku Kanojo nanoni Mechamechasematte Kurunode Totemo Tsuraidesu ~”『私の恋人は追加課金制の契約彼女です! ～契約彼女なのにめちゃめちゃ迫ってくるのでとても辛いです～』, written by Karasu Piero, creator of MagiRevo, with very decent art by Mizuyu. In this tale a respected, powerful elite guard is swindled by a hustler into taking her as a lover. The thing is, they really do like each other, and share some personal stuff, and it would be, as the story says, happily ever after, if it weren’t just a contract. If there was isekai in this, I honestly missed it. The bittersweet ending was a nice change of pace.
Surely it is not *that* hard to write a short isekai Yuri story without focusing on the death part, as the 2019 anthology did, or just writing the same old maid, animal girl stories but calling it “isekai” on the cover as this one does. The art and stories here are fine, just, not isekai,sometimes not Yuri, and kind of just the same old, same old.
Ratings:
Overall – 5
It’s 2026 and I still don’t have a cool knight/princess Yuri story and I’m getting tetchy. ^_^;
