Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: MURCIÉLAGO 4 (ムルシエラゴ)

October 26th, 2015

What betteMurcielago4r way to rest up and relax after an event than a little light massive amounts of violence and sex? None, obviously, so upon returning home from Nijicon, I cracked open MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 4 (ムルシエラゴ), by Yoshimura Kana.

We ended Volume 3 with Kuroko entering a girl’s only school/organization/enclave/something known as “Virginal Rose.” Unsurprisingly, psychopath and predatory lesbian Koumori Kuroko is captivated by the inhabitants, all cute girls with a tragic story of violence at the hand of a man, and the school’s chairwoman, the extremely well-endowed Gold Marie.

Kuroko and I were both delighted when Gold Marie chose to welcome Kuroko in her room with some consensual, adult sex. As Gold Marie comments, in an environment like this, same-sex relationships are bound to happen, so they accept both sexual release and pair bonding when it occurs. Oh, well okay then.

Kuroko is given a new name when she is accepted into the school – Halfeti, which turns out to be a very dark, as close to black-colored rose as exists. As Halfeti finds herself intoxicated by the school and it’s inhabitants, we turn to Polina, a resident who is about to “graduate.” We, the readers, see that the graduation ceremony is nothing of the sort, but that Polina is slaughtered, her organs and blood consumed and her body chipped into the fertilizer used for the roses that Virginal Rose is known for.

Although Kuroko was asked by Chiyo’s friend, Nanami to investigate, she doesn’t, until Chiyo and Hinako, wondering what the hell has happened to Kuroko, arrive to take her home. Kuroko rejects Chiyo’s demand that she return, refuses to answer to any name but Halfeti and returns to the school. Chiyo snaps.

While Chiyo is fighting the students, Hinako is ninja-ing around. She discovers the secret underground room with one of the students and learns that this is where “graduation” is held, and that there is a beautiful creature living in the pool in the center of the room, who calls Gold Marie her oneesama. As they investigate, Anna realizes what has happened to Polina.

Chiyo fights the school’s champion, Teresa, but is knocked unconscious by Kuroko.

Gold Marie asks Halfeti to bring the intruder to the underground room. It is there that we learn that “Rose Marie,” the apparently female being that lives in the basement and desires blood, is in fact Gold Marie’s brother, who sacrificed his body to save her and who now needs blood to survive. Hinako, who is hanging on to a rope at ceiling level, feels it start to move, so she swings off it, so that it’s trajectory is altered and instead of Kuroko, Gold Marie is killed. Snapping out of her hypnotized state Kuroko is like, “Let’s go and get something to eat.”

Having rescued Nanami, Kuroko, Chiyo and Hinako go visit Ringo, the recovering loli serial killer from the previous arc, and insist that they’ll take care of her. Kuroko gets to be creepy and pervy, and I get to ignore it.

The bonus chapter covers a game Hinako is designing that stars herself, at various levels of skill.

I very much liked this volume, especially as compared with last volume. Consensual adult lesbian sex with two psychopath leads totally works for me. And I’ve discovered while I don’t enjoy violence not associated with fighting, it’s tolerable when completely decoupled from sexualization or victimization. Polina’s death was distressing, as she is an innocent, but Gold Marie dying the same way is acceptable, if a little predictable.

The best part of the manga was Teresa and Chiyo’s fight, which had the advantage of being between-well matched rivals and gives Teresa a chance to uncover for us whether Chiyo really likes Kuroko or not. “Are you a lesbian?” Teresa asks. “No, I’m not like that. It’s just her.” Chiyo responds petulantly. “That’s the kind of thing lesbians say,” Teresa laughs, which pisses Chiyo off. This leads to her beating Teresa, with a rather clever sword vs naginata move.

Ratings:

Art – 6 Even when it’s supposed to be “pretty” it’s really ugly
Story – 7  Several kinds of violence and lesbian sex
Characters – 8 More Evil Psycho Lesbians per page than anything else I read
Service – 10 Nothin’ but
Yuri – 9 This one is definitely a Yuri manga

Overall – 9

I’m not going to lie, this manga is ugly and gross in many ways, but I really like it. I’m not recommending it. I just like it.





Yuri Manga: Kimi no Tame Nara Shineru, Volume 5 (姫のためなら死ねる)

October 21st, 2015

KnTnS5In Volume 5 of Kimi no Tame Nara Shineru (姫のためなら死ねる) Sei Shonagon of The Pillow Book fame has hit a slump. Not just a slump, but a debilitating, crushing and potentially career-damaging slump. And near-constant harassment from the onmyouji “Abe no Hito” isn’t helping.

Not only is Shonagon suffering because of this slump, but Teishi-sama is starting to think that Shonagon doesn’t care for her any more, as her requests to read new entries in the diary are met with vague promises, and excuses. Shonagon, it turns out, is fearful of showing her mistress the uncensored delight she has in the Princess. Too embarrassed and too scared to let anyone know what she’s feeling, she is unable to write anything at all.

Koshikibu and Benkan are alternately worried about and annoyed by Shonagon, but it’s Murasaki who shakes her out of her slump and encourages her to pen openly adoring verses about Teishi-sama. Teishi-sama is likewise embarrassed at the near-worship of Shonagon’s Diary, but they reconcile at last.

As the book comes to a close, Murasaki Shikibu is confronted the disorder known as “reading fanfic about your characters.” And, as it usually is in the real world, it’s not a good thing.

The gags are, if anything, becoming denser. There’s a lot of research that goes into this book and it shows. It’s also getting harder to follow for this reader, as my knowledge of the Heian-kyo is superficial to say the least. ^_^; But what is funny is funny and even when there are hints of somber things to come, it’s all jokes all the way down.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 2
Service – 4

Overall – 7

Luckily for me, in between the otaku humor, there’s more “Shonagon is gaga over Teishi-sama again.”





Yuri Manga: Rakuen Le Paradis (楽園 Le Paradis), Volume 18

October 20th, 2015

RlP18Rakuen Le Paradis Volume 18 (楽園 Le Paradis),  is an example of a magazine that has hit it’s stride. And there is both good and bad in that. I know what I’m getting, and it’s all extremely high quality…but.

What I am getting is both exceptional art and storytelling by unusual, prolific, stylish and not-typical artists. There’s never any doubt in my mind that the artists are writing for people like me – adult women, who are not rejecting school stories but really would like to enjoy some time in adult life.

And the magazine gives readers tremendous variety, from the stylish slice-of-life stories by Nishi UKO-sensei to Samura Hiroaki’s funky, dense violent/scifi-ish work, with room for Kumeta Koji’s oddball social commentary and Mizutani Fuuka’s romance.  I especially love Unita Yumi’s fantasy “Nemurime-hime,” and find it both interesting and disconcerting to see Ume Aoki’s story be so straight an incest-y. There’s BL from Nakamura Asumiko and Yuri from Sengoku Hiroko and all manners of adult heterosexual relationships. This magazine spans a tremendous range of story-telling style and art. It has fully spread it’s wings and begin to fly on it’s own, confident in the risks it takes…and now I’d like to see it take a few more new risks. Let’s see where this can go. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I always look forward to the next volume. It’s consistently one of the most fascinating and challenging Japanese magazines I read. Quirky, weird and bizarrely human.





Yuri Manga: Tsuki to Sekai to Etoile, Volume 4 (月と世界とエトワール)

October 14th, 2015

Tsukitosekai4-275x393We have reached the climax to Takagami Yuriko’s Tsuki to Sekai to Etoile (月と世界とエトワール). There is no one more surprised than I that I read this series to the end.

In Volume 4, Yozora has made her way through last of the befuddling “tests” of the current Etoile, Umiyuri, and came out shining. She, and her chevalier, Sekai, vow to be together forever .Everything is looking up, until she returns from the final test (which appears to have been singing in front of a combined audience of orphans and the elderly,) only to find that in the three hours she had gone Sekai broke the promise that, mind you, she made Yozora make. Sekai is suddenly, confusingly, engaged to a underclassman. Yozora is clearly fictional, so she loses her voice in shock, instead of going postal.

She runs into Kagami, the former Etoile candidate that Umiyuri destroyed, and learns that Kagami has returned to school and will continue to sing anyway. With the realization that she needs to sing  – and wants to sing with Sekai – Yozora find her chevalier and conjures up enough voice to ask her what is going on. Sekai admits that it was all another cockamamie “test”, this one by Towa, for the chevalier. Reunited, they swear their love, and presumably go on to live happily ever after with song.

There’s nothing remarkable or memorable about this series except that it made it 4 volumes. And I bought and read all 4, so I guess that is remarkable, but probably not memorable.

As bad guys, Umiyuri and Towa were tremendously unfocused. I never knew whether they actually knew what they were doing or not. The trials they created were banal and the story never seemed to know whether we were supposed to pity or dislike them, so I ended up doing neither. I hope Sekai and Yozora are better at screwing with the next “Lu Couple.” (I don’t speak French, but neither does Tagami-sensei, apparently)

Ratings:

Art- 8 Utterly moe, everyone looks 6, but also kind of weirdly elegant
Story – 7 Inconsistent, oddly paced, unbelievable, and yet I kept reading…
Characters – 5 I kept waiting for Umiyuri and Towa to be outright evil, but no.
Yuri – 5 Kisses and intense vows of eternity
Service – 1, purely moe/innocent

Overall – 6

So why did I keep reading this all the way through? I think it was because of Sekai and Yozora’s earnest earnestness. I can’t think of any other reason, so they had to appeal to me as a “Lu Couple” or I surely would have stopped reading.





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime, September 2015 (コミック百合姫 2015年 09 月号)

October 7th, 2015

CYH0915-275x392Comic Yuri Hime‘s September 2015 (コミック百合姫 2015年 09 月号) issue marks a major milestone in Yuri manga history – Comic Yuri Hime turns 10 years old!

I can think of a number amazing ways to celebrate this occasion, (cover art of older issues as color pages, the return of popular previous artists for one-shots, a history of the magazine, a timeline….) something, really anything, but the editorial staff chose, for whatever reason, to do pretty much nothing. So the issue is just another issue. Okay, Happy major milestone anniversary, whatevs.

The magazine does start off with a single reprinted chapter, a story that originally ran in Comic Yuri Hime S,  Konohanatei Kitan, (此花亭奇譚) about fox-eared girls running around, sort of old-fashioned and Taisho-esque. It was re-released by Birz comics last spring. Of all the possible old series to reprint, I found it almost predictable that they managed to pick one I couldn’t stand to read when it ran in the magazine. Figures, right? ^_^

Ohsawa Yayoi’s “2DK, GPen, Mezamashitokei” takes a tremendous leap away from hedging it’s bets on what kind of story it wants to be when it grows up, to being a grown up story. I take back my complaints from the first volume. This chapter was terrific.

Minamoto Hisanari’s absurdly amusing “Kanate! Yuri Yousei”  still manages to be absurd and amusing as it explores yet another Yuri trope, with love.

There are still students alive in “Shoujo Shikaku” by Kawai Roh. You’d think there’d be way fewer, though. If the student body is halved with every round, we should be down a lot more students. Also, I can’t help wonder where do the dead bodies go? I know, it’s bizarre to think about stuff like that, but it’s a massacre manga, what else is there to think about?

“Seeesaw Game” by Takemiya Jin wraps up with the tall girl and the short girl getting together and it’s all rather sweet and typical.

“Ore to Yuri”, the second “Yuri Danshi” series, is slighly more interesting as it folds in female fans to the mix. So the Yuri doujinshi festival now isn’t all male fans or creators. The way-over-the-top tone of voice hasn’t changed at all, but it’s not just Yuusuke screaming. Now we have a half dozen female otaku (and what they hope to get out of Yuri) to match the half dozen guy screaming about purity and love. I’m not convinced that the girls are actually representative of actual fandom any more than the guys are, but at least they have a place in the narrative as fans, not just objects of fantasy.

Ratings:

Overall – 7

Paging through this 10th anniversary issue, I don’t want to say I’m unimpressed, because 10 years is an amazing accomplishment, but a postcard set with cover art for the 4 #1 issues so far (original Yuri Hime, relaunched Yuri Hime and Yuri Hime S and re-relaunched Comic Yuri Hime) would have been swell. There’s nothing in this issue that gives any sense of it having been 10 years other than it having been 10 years and saying so on the cover. I can remember vividly, the editor of the not-yet-launched Yuri Hime at our 2005 Yuricon in Tokyo event asking the attendees what they wanted to see in the new magazine. I guess he doesn’t remember it as vividly. ^_^; But this magazine making 10 years is an important moment in the history of Yuri.

Having said that, Happy Anniversary Comic Yuri Hime magazine! Here’s to another 10.