Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Throw Away The Suit Together, Volume 3

April 2nd, 2025

By Matt Marcus, Staff WriterTwo women in business attire stand on a boat pier hold hands, looking out at the reader with serious expressions

“…This has been a really great conversation. We’re really excited for the possibility of you joining our team here at Island Industries.”

“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” I hear myself say. I clench my jaw, thinking It better be, after six interview rounds.

“We just have one last question for you. More of a case study, really,” says a man with closely cropped hair and narrow rectangular glasses. I’ve already forgotten his name, but I do know that he is some kind of VP. “We dug into your background and found your little, ah, ‘side hustle’ at Okazu.”

I chuckle nervously. “Oh it’s more of a hobby, really—”

“We were hoping that your review of…that series with the android would give us some insight about your skills in the field of AI, but, alas.” My eyes dart quickly between him and the two other members of the interview panel, looking for some kind of reaction. None show any readable expression. “What we found more interesting was that you have yet to review Throw Away The Suit Together, Volume 3.” 

My pulse accelerates, and I can feel perspiration dampening my shirt under my suit jacket. “Um, yeah, that’s a strange one. Hard to get a handle on it.”

“Well, we feel like this role requires someone who is able to forge a clear path in the face of ambiguity. It’s a demonstration of decisive leadership.” The man pulls out a paperback book from behind his chair and places it on the conference room table. He spins it around so I can see the cover properly and slides it towards me. Two young women are dressed in office clothes, holding hands and looking straight at me with resolute eyes. “I want you to tell us, what is Keyyang-sensei trying to say with this series?”

I try to swallow the panic that rises in my throat. This is crazy, I think. The recruiter didn’t tell me there was going to be ANOTHER case study. And what the hell does this have to do with this job??…You know what, fuck it. I need this job. Just remember your interview training. My voice shakes slightly as I begin. “O-OK, so let me start with laying out the situation.

“In Volume 2, Haru and Hinoto lucked into some part time employment at a dive shop, which manages to buy them a few weeks of time before needing full time employment. However, neither are willing to actually make a realistic plan for the future. Instead, they revert to trying to hunt for the same kinds of jobs they were running from and find it impossible on this remote island. Haru overhears Hinoto call the college and ask about readmission, clearly setting up a conflict.

“So, their relationship begins to break down because each side is feeling more and more desperate and are failing to communicate. Both manage to get interviews but neither land a job, so they rip up their marriage contract and go back to Tokyo and return to the grind they tried to escape.”

They also have a lot of desperate, sad sex, but I’m going to leave that part out. 

“So, do you think the story is about the dehumanization of people who are forced to participate in capitalism?” asks a stern middle-aged woman, her hair pulled back into a tight bun that accentuates her sharp facial features.

“I mean, that is one part of the story, clearly. But that doesn’t sit fully right with me as the central theme. The story is so laser-focused on these young women and their misguided decisions. A lot of escape stories like this would lead to the main couple living with little money but a lot of joy, and instead neither partner can give up the idea of joining a large established company. Not only is being, um, ‘low income’ off the table for them, but they both tried to get jobs without going through proper channels or getting the credentials that would qualify them for those positions. It’s like, they feel that they have the privilege to skirt around the issue of qualifications and merit, if only because they find doing things the ‘proper way’ too stressful.”

“Do you think capitalism is inherently meritocratic?” The VP asks.

“We sure like to pretend it is, but obviously those with money—and therefore power—circumvent the rules all the time. Maybe in this case, these girls simply weren’t wealthy enough to pull off this plan of theirs.”

My last words hang in the air. Thirty seconds pass as we all sit in thought. Then, the third panelist, a stout, balding man with small, deep-set eyes who had been oddly quiet this entire interview, leans forwards and asks, “What do you think about the marriage license?”

I reply reflexively before I can formulate my thoughts. “I…I think it’s treated as the albatross weighing both Haru and Hinoto down, but also because it represents a non-legally binding relationship due to the lack of marriage equality in Japan, it kind of also represents nonconformity? It’s, like, more radical than just bailing from the bustle of Tokyo and trying to make a life somewhere else.”

My pupils begin to dilate as the words flow out faster and faster. “It’s as if the problem isn’t the girls’ impulsiveness or the economic system. The core problem is more fundamental than that. It’s simply that they don’t follow the basic rules of society. They decided to stick out, and society punished them for it. So they must conform. Go back to Tokyo, get those degrees, throw out the dream of legal partnership. But that message is so hollow, isn’t it? ‘Don’t get too big for your britches’? ‘Know your place’? Sure, their relationship survives this ordeal. But you could almost see a breakup down the road because the ‘dream’ will always be too heavy a burden to bear. It tries to end on a hopeful note, but it ended up leaving a really sour taste in my mouth.”

The small man stares intently at me, but then leans back in his chair and presses no further. Mr. VP chimes in, “I think that’s all we have on our side. Do you have any questions for us?”

Yeah, I do, like what the fuck just happened to this interview. “So, I guess Yuri is pretty popular in the office, yeah?” I try to joke. “It’s an essential part of the job, it says so right in the posting.” the woman replies. I look down at the printout next to my notepad on the table. Reading the page, I knit my eyebrows in confusion. Yuri Solutions Architect? The hell is…?

After a beat, the VP says, “HR will be reaching out to you for our final decision. Thank you for your time Mr. Marcus. Oh, and don’t forget your scooter.”

“My scooter…? I don’t own a….” I look to my right to see an old, well-worn moped revving up in the corner of the conference room. I recognize in terror that it’s Hinoto’s scooter, threatening to drive me toward ruin like it did it’s owner. Startled, I scramble out of the swiveling office chair and back away until I hit the full-length exterior window covering one wall of the room behind me. The scooter accelerates towards me, and the scream doesn’t have time to leave my throat before—

My iPad falls onto my face, startling me awake. I am on the living room couch in my apartment. I groggily tap the device to be greeted by my lock screen, an illustration page from Otherside Picnic. In the stark black and white image, two young women carry assault rifles down a side street of a derelict Japanese town. Superimposed atop the picture is large text that reads 3:12 a.m.

As I go to put the iPad away, I briefly see a LinkedIn job posting notification for a role at some company called Island Industries. I pay it no mind as I half-consciously shamble off to bed.

Art – 5
Story – 6
Characters – 5
Service – 3 
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 4

Overall – 5

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, as well as the writer for the blog Oh My God, They Were Bandmates analyzing How Do We Relationship in greater depth.





– Inu to dorei no 100-nichi sensou – (-犬と奴隷の100日戦争-)

March 31st, 2025

I am on a Galette kick! I am desperately trying to clean up after a long, emotionally and physically exhausting winter and that means even metaphorical piles of unread Galette publications. I recently purchased some items from the Galette Webstore, including Sakuraya Yukino’s – Inu to dorei no 100-nichi sensou – (-犬と奴隷の100日戦争-).

This felt, somehow, like an old-school doujinshi collection.

In the main, multi-chapter story Kanno, a kind of behind-the-ball employee is called out by her tough-but-fair manager. Kanno and everyone else admires Onda, but Kanno finds her compelling. When Kanno stays late to work, she finds Onda in the office reading porn and takes the opportunity to form a slave/master relationsip (not non-consentially, I hasten to say) with Onda. And, even though in bed Kanno is boss, that only lasts until they say it does. Kanno may be the maser, but she’s still Onda’s dog.

This story is followed by a number of one-shots, one set in school, another about a woman whose boyfriends are unkind to her and who find acceptance with another woman. One of the stories appeared in Galette magazine and while I liked the execution, I thought the premise felt so old-school. A woman is attracted to a coworker, but feels the attraction is something like a creeping shadow that possesses her. The art was fully creeptastic – desire expressed shadow hands that seek to touch and, implicitly, consume. But the feeling can be parsed as internalized homophobia, fear of her own sexual desire and in both these cases, as we have no back story for her, it feels like a lean back on old themes.

The book comes with a postcard of the cover art and a one-sheet ‘thank you’ message from the creator which, again, makes this very much feel as if one picked it up at a comic market. The art is all right. Side and oblique angles of faces and mouth especially needs some work, but the paneling is good. Narratively, I look forward to seeing Sakuraya grow, as well.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 4 the prurience is mostly implicit

Overall – 7





How Do I Turn My Best Friend Into my Girlfriend? Volumes 2 and 3

March 28th, 2025

The cover to 'How Do I Turn My Best Friend Into my Girlfriend?' Volume 2. It shows Minami and Yuzu in bikinis. I’m Luce, here to cover the next two volumes of the manga I have ‘shortened’ to ‘Best Friend Girlfriend’ by Syu Yasaka. Let me know if you have any better suggestions…

In the first volume of Syu Yasaka’s series, we met Minami and Yuzu, and after figuring out that she likes Yuzu romantically, Minami decides that she’s going after what she wants. The volume ends with them going on a date to the planetarium, and happening upon their friends afterward…?

In volume 2 of How Do I Turn My Best Friend Into my Girlfriend?, we get the aftermath of the date, in which Minami comes clean to Unohara, the friend she told about the date, but not that it was with Yuzu – luckily, she’s supportive. Later, when Minami asks Yuzu if she’s interested in anyone, she says Hinori! What does she mean by that? Finally, the group pass their exams, so it’s onto summer – that means the beach, but Yuzu doesn’t do well with the sun, sea, sand and crowds. Will she cope to have a trip with her friends?

The cover of How Do I Turn My Best Friend Into My Girlfriend?' volume 3, Minami and Yuzu are in animal maid costumes. Yuzu has hamster ears on, while Minami has cat ears. In volume 3, Minami and Yuzu take a bath together, and the group go to a festival – it seems Nitori is in a similar situation to Minami. Returning to school, the cultural festival is coming up, which makes the cover make more sense – the theme is animal maids! Minami’s on the committee, and one of the first years has her eye on her?

This manga could do with a character chart. Different characters call each other variously by first names and family names, so it can be a bit hard to tell. Plus I kept getting Hinori/Unohana and Yuzu/Nitori confused, although I’m not quite sure why – my tip would be to focus on their fringes, not that it always helps. That aside, what I do enjoy is that they are a group of friends, and they have different relationships with each other. It feels less like them having token friends to chat to and more of a group of people that naturally came together.

Of course, we get the ‘interested in someone else but not actually’ plot. I’m not a great fan of misunderstandings as a plot device, but at least the people around Minami are pretty blunt with her about the fact that she’s being a bit ridiculous. Hinori is straight up uncomfortable with Minami pushing her and Yuzu together – what I really like though, is that Minami actually apologises for her behaviour. I don’t need or want perfect therapy speak from characters, but it’s nice to see characters actually admit when they’ve done something wrong.

We find out that Nitori seems to like Unohana, mostly because she asks if Minami likes her too. Maybe Minami has it a bit more together than it seems if Nitori didn’t guess, because on the page she’s nearly always melting down about something or other. Her loving Unohana is actually confirmed in Vol 3, leading to a nice moment between her and Minami, commiserating on falling for their best friends.

Kamiya, the ‘rival’ introduced in volume 3, was a little on the pushy side, but equally, it was nice having a character that knows she’s into girls and says it? This also forcing Minami to basically admit she’s Yuzu-sexual, which is… not a favourite trope of mine, but at least someone in this manga seems to actually identify as a lesbian – or a wlw, because the word ‘lesbian’ doesn’t come up. I quite liked Kamiya by the end of the volume, so I hope she pops up again in a friendly capacity. Maybe with a girlfriend.

Towards the end of volume 3, prompted by a bit of a push from Kamiya, we finally get Yuzu’s side of things, to a degree. There were hints that Yuzu is not as chill with Minami-related things as she seems to be, and I really liked the subtlety of that. It makes you wonder about the things you said meaning one thing that were taken a different way. That said, way too much emphasis on what young kids say. Not that they don’t mean some things, but to take anything like that as a lasting commitment… Use your words, Yuzu! And Minami!

Finally, I want to praise the translation, done by Matthew Jackson- it does a good job at sounding casual without being too ridiculous. The lettering (Giuseppe Antonio Fusco) and retouch is also great, I couldn’t pick any faults with the out-of-bubble words, and the type facing matches well, too.

Ratings:

Story – 7, the old classic childhood friends will-they-won’t-they
Art – 8, bright, peppy, cute! My only fault is I’m not very good at telling the characters apart
Service – 4 In these two volumes, there is a bathing scene, beach and therefore swimsuit scenes, and Minami has a few imagine spots… But none of it feels particularly skeevy, and feels more ‘teenagers dealing with emotions’ than anything else
Yuri – 9 (I’m sure there are boys in this. They’re in the backgrounds)

Overall – 7

An enjoyable Yuri romp that feels pretty fresh. My hope for this series is that one they get together, the series will continue, at least for a bit, as I think navigating a relationship would be interesting to see. Minami is definitely not emotionally prepared for it.





Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta, Volume 3 (気になってる人が男じゃなかった)

March 23rd, 2025

On a bright neon green background, drawn in black and white, guitar picks flying around as in a high wind, two girls look at us. One, in t-shirt and jeans, holds a guitar, the other in blouse and skirt, their hair and clothes flying wildly.

Up until this volume, there has been almost no conflict of any kind in Arai Sumiko’s school and music Yuri series. In Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta, Volume 3, (気になってる人が男じゃなかった), we are now meant to take this story seriously enough that there are several situations that pass for conflict.

But first! A music festival. Aya, Mitsuki, Narita, Jo and Kanna all got to Fuji Rock, and have camping/festival fun and trauma. If you have ever done a massively large camping/event all of this will be so familiar to you that you, like I, smiled – and grimaced – with renewed memories. It rains. I remember that.

The music festival is the catalyst for everything else in this volume. Mitsuki, enamored of the acts on stage fantasizes about joining them. Aya is of course egging her on, as she too loves to see Mitsuki on stage. This precipitates several crises. I will avoid spoilers here, as this is the plot, but the crises are, simply, Mitsuki shedding her “school” persona for her truer self which then reverbs into a crisis for Aya who is 10000% Mitsuki’s fan and friend and also disproportionately jealous about Mitsuki in a way that causes her to create distance between then in order to preserve their “friend”ship over the “relation”ship they were building.  This all builds up to a very funny scene, in which Narita narrates “Narita Geographic.” I laughed out loud at that.

The other crisis is…the prom. Narita comes across the school principal crying at a movie that culminates in a romantic prom scene. In one of those moments where the series chooses to 86 reality for plot sake, Narita encourages the idea of prom at their school and the principal, says, “Great, you handle it.” Thus, a prom will happen. There will be yet another conflict, exacerbated by all the previous conflicts. If you are concerned at the outcome, I suggest you follow Arai-sensei on one of her several socials. The spoiler is worth it. I amend that to, the spoilers are always worth it. ^_^

I have mentioned several times that my wife and I do not like the same things much of the time. Even when we like a thing, it is often for different reasons. In the case of The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All, she reads Volume 1, then Volume 2, then starts again and is impatiently waiting for Volume 3. I, on the other hand, am impatiently waiting for Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta, Volume 4. YES, I know what happens. I want the whole book anyway.  We must both wait as Volume 2 in English and Volume 3 in Japanese are recent releases, but we can foot tap if we want. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 3  Mitsuki being cool is still this series’ service
Yuri – 7

Overall – 9

As I pointed out upon returning from New York City, knowing that mid-town Kinokuniya is fully decked out in green advertising for this series is nice, but actually *seeing* how much expensive retail space this series is taking up, is something else. Like, a whole order up of “holy crow.” Kino, Kadokawa and Yen are advertising this series in a way I have never, ever, seen for a Yuri story. As the series in question is lovely and sweet and charming and fun, it feels extra wonderful. No “yay for Yuri, but ugh, what a shitty series.” We can offer this our full-throated, full-hearted support…and we can get merch! By buying a copy of this volume at Kino, I now have an adorable standee and a rubber bracelet “signed” by Mitsuki, as well as a wonderful volume of a delightful Yuri manga. ^_^





Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing, Volume 5

March 21st, 2025

The cover of 'Sheep Princess in Wolf's Clothing' volume 5. Aki is holding Momo, they are both in wedding dresses. by Luce, Staff Writer

I’m Luce, lover of cute things and books with happy endings! Currently tackling my tsundoku problem, I’m trying to balance the book dragon and book worm parts of my soul. I love reading… I just love buying books too, and that takes far less time!

In the four previous volumes, we got to know Aki, a Wolfa butler, and Momo, a Sheepa princess. Through various trials, they’ve gotten together, but Momo had just realised that Aki never actually said that she loves her!

Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing, Volume 5 puts us straight back into that revelation – should Momo ask her? But what if she says that she doesn’t love her? Meanwhile, Aki talks to Princess Kunya on this topic. After resolving their issues, the queen spots them kissing! How will she react – can they even continue their relationship, when Momo is still getting marriage proposals?

I really liked Princess Kunya pointing out that different species have different ways of expressing love and affection to each other, and what is incredibly intimate to one group may not mean as much to others. It’s quite clear to us that Aki is obsessed, but without saying the words, it leaves Momo concerned that Aki is just following orders. It’s a good message! You might think you’re saying something loud and clear, but is that message getting through?

I laughed quite a lot when it’s shown that gay runs in the family – I shouldn’t be surprised in this manga, which has one singular male character with lines, who only vaguely appears in the last two volumes. It was nice to see the comparison between the reality for most people in their situation, and the fantasy of Aki and Momo. Royals don’t always get what they want with relationships, and if they do, they tend to have to give up a lot to get it. We see that in real life – although on the other hand, particularly in history, they often do get what they want, even if the other party isn’t interested. In fiction, arranged marriage is either a) horror and to be avoided or b) the start to a romance. It was nice to see the third, probably most realistic option for most people in arranged marriages – rather than love, you hope to get on with them. It was a remarkably pragmatic take, considering the utter fantastical nature of the series in general.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Yuri fantasy romance without a wedding! I will admit it felt like a fitting end to this nice little series, wrapping it up neatly and leaving us to imagine the rest of their future together, along with a brief glance at the other pairs established (and establishing) along the way. The mangaka states that they might post extra bits on Twitter (obligatory reminder to move over to Bluesky!), though I haven’t gone searching, and I wouldn’t be able to read them regardless.

Oh, and as I guessed, the service quotient went up.

Ratings:

Story: 6
Art: 8 (fluffy as always! The clothing is done really nicely, too)
Service: 7
Yuri: 9, it’s almost a yuritopia

Overall: 7

I’m a little sad this is ending, but it’s not a deep enough story to have gone on for much longer. Recommended for those looking for a fluffy Yuri that doesn’t ignore the fact that sex exists, but also doesn’t ignore reality completely. Tolerating animal ears is a must.