Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo, Volume 4 (あの娘にキスと白百合を 4)

April 25th, 2016

AkKnSYw4There is both good and bad about the “Yuri school” approach. It’s nice to see multiple couples set in the same world, but it’s also really very tiresome when nearly every character is introduced merely to be paired up.

In Volume 1 of Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo, (あの娘にキスと白百合を 4) we met Kurozawa and Shiramine, to opposite personalities who attract. And it was cute. In Volume 2, we watch a sempai-kohai couple with a protagonist who is a bit more fleshed out than the first volume. I thought I had read Volume 3, but appears I never reviewed it (and can’t remember it) so I may not have. Woops. ^_^

Here in Volume 4, we *mostly* spend time with childhood friends, track team manager Moe and her star runner Mizuki. Mizuki has an important meet to win, so Moe puts a curfew on their time together. Instead of helping Mizuki concentrate, it has the opposite effect. When Mizuki fails to qualify for the finals, the two take a good look at their feelings for one another and decide that they want to be together.

Their story is broken up with a sideline about a girl, Kaoru, who idolizes Kurozawa from the first volume. It’s a comedy of errors, but ends up with a shocking turn – the girls making new friends. It was a dorkily cute story and the extra added dimensions to the characters’ society made me smile.

While there’s  a little eye-trolling to be had in any series where it seems that half the girls are in love with the other half, at least this series isn’t in the habit of pairing everyone up. In the case of Kaoru’s arc, Yuri is a red herring.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 7 Cute, sweet, etc
Yuri – 8
Service – 1 on principle only

Overall – 8

It’s Yuri candy and not much more, but it’s cute Yuri candy. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime May 2016 (コミック百合姫2016年5月号)

April 21st, 2016

CYH0516-e1460213624713The May 2016 issue of Comic Yuri Hime has a little faux sticker on the cover that reads “Inside is the same Comic Yuri Hime as always.” There’s little else to say about it. ^_^

The first half is mostly series I’m not reading for any number of reasons. Ohsawa Yayoi’s “2DK, G Pen, Alarm Clock” has taken a turn away from the lead characters to continue following Koyuki who is, I fear, not as interesting to me as to others. Her self-esteem issues might be real, but I can’t really care.

“Ayame 14” by Amano Shuninta finally embraces a Yuri theme with Ayame and Sango recognizing their interest in each other, but it’s still a little creepy to me, as we focus on Ayame’s budding sexuality, with no attempt at grounding it in identity, character or…anything, really. It’s just Ayame discovering sex, which is kind of ick.

The Yuri Yosei and White Yuri Yosei seem to be developing a bit of a relationship in Minamoto Hisanari’s “Kanaete! Yuri Yosei” after wrapping up a multi-chapter relationship that mostly only needed a nudge or two, but got three or four.

“Princess Prince” seems to have settled down into a really kind of touching discussion of performative gender, something I never expected of Aoto Hibiki’s goofball comedy.

Katamura Ako’s “Last Waltz” remains intriguing and odd and sexual and violent, sorta.

Kuzushiro’s “Nekoyama-san to Inugami-san” takes a really unlikely, but rather pleasant turn, as we look at Suzu’s older sister from the point of view of the guy who will never get the girl.

Takemiya Jin takes a look at creating a monster and then being jealous of it in “Kara no Hoka”.

Ratings:

Overall – 6

Overall, I’m feeling again like the emphasis is on the stuff I don’t care for, but at least there is still content that I like.





Yuri Manga: MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 7 (ムルシエラゴ)

April 19th, 2016

Murcielago7-e1459017643897MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 7 (ムルシエラゴ) by Yoshimura Kana is both vile and creative, which is impressive in it’s own way.

In between coming up with a new arc about psychopaths who kill the innocent in creative and repulsive ways (which, again, is kind of impressive….) we  revisit some of our favorite psychopaths from previous arcs – notably Yukari, the assassin maid,  one of the of the students from Virginal Rose, Ariana, now going by her given name, Sayaka, and Minako, the bomb-building schoolgirl with her formerly-popular classmate, now her personal slave, Furi.

Hinako really gets a chance to fly her freak flag in this volume. If, for even a second, you thought that Hinako wasn’t a complete nutter, this volume would disabuse you of the notion. She inappropriately obsesses over horned beetles and banchou capes all volume

After an episode full of heads exploding and faces cut off, Kuroko enjoys some relatively anonymous sex with a random teen prostitute.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 10
Yuri – 9 

Overall – 8

Also, they fight a WWII-era guild of killer psychopaths.





Yuri Manga: Like a Cinderella, Perfect Edition (この靴しりませんか?)

April 8th, 2016

KKSPE-e1459611124613Mizutani Fuka’s Kono Kutsu Shirimasenka? was a sweet little collection of modern fairytales with Yuri frosting. There wasn’t much to dislike in 2011 when it was released by Hobunsha as a collected volume.

Now Hakusensha has re-released it as Like a Cinderella, Perfect Edition (この靴しりませんか?). The stories from the original work are reproduced intact with no changes. The major change is a short epilogue in which all the characters cross each other’s paths and we pair everyone up neatly…even the nice lady at the Information Desk.

Mizutani’s art is a little less practiced than what we’re used to now, but her distinctive style is visible.

As a reissue it’s lovely and the new content is both forgivable handwavery and kind of cute. In fact, I think I like the stories a little better now that I did 5 years ago.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – Variable, but average 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 7

As I said in 2011, “This fairy tale collection is good for a smile, something we can all use from time to time.”





Yuri Manga: Hana to Hina ha Houkago, Volume 1 (ハナとヒナは放課後)

April 4th, 2016

HanatoHinaHana to Hina ha Houkago, Morinaga Milk’s newest manga series, reads like a Cards for Humanity “Yuri Tropes” edition. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Hana works at a character goods store after school, despite the school’s explicit rules against part-time jobs. (Potential plot complication, duh) At work, she meets tall, beautiful Hinako who loves character goods and turns out to be younger than Hana and a transfer student into her school.

The tropes are strong in this series and the formula is a bit Odd Couple, as Hana turns out to like the character goods’ cuteness, but not really get the whole concept of character goods (or collecting them) and Hina loveloveloves character goods and knows everything about them. She’s also a fashion model, good at sports and smart, while Hana is sort of average at best. But it becomes obvious that Hina likes Hana, even if the penny has not yet dropped for Hana.

And yet, by the end of this first volume I kind of still like them both – despite Hina’s apparent perfection and Hana’s lack of clue.

The best thing about the series is the pacing, which is awkward, uneven and slow. ^_^ The first chapter or two, I felt like were sliding too quickly into an obvious romance that would be pretty much be Himitsu no Recipe all over again. But no. Instead of a headlong rush into a mis-match, Hina turns out to be a really likable character, and you finish this volume pulling for her and hoping Hana doesn’t take too long to get that clue she’s missing. Hana is never unsympathetic, either. You can see she’s  on the brink of cluing in, but she’s an average high school girl and not used to thinking outside very typical boxes.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Cute things and clothes drawn cutely, Milk-sensei’s specialty
Story – 7 with potential for higher
Characters – halfway through I’d have said 6, but by the end, 8
Service – 4 I mentioned the cuteness, right?
Yuri – 4, climbing, slowly, but inexorably

Overall – 7

You want them to come together – but you want it to be realistic and have depth of connection, not just ’cause this is a Yuri manga. Fingers crossed.