Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Okujou no Yurirei-san Side A; Mou Hitotsu Yuritopia (屋上の百合霊さんSIDE A もうひとつのユリトピア)

May 31st, 2015

Originally released in Japan in 2012, Visual Novel Okujou no Yuri Yurei-san is an extremely popular Yuri series.

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As you know, I do not play VNs  – and I now understand why I don’t. /blink/

 

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It’s not the “game” aspect that bores me, it’s the excruciatingly slow reading mechanics. /unblink/

 

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Having to page forward after every sentence makes me want to stab my eyes out with frustration. /blink/

 

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The two or three facial expressions that change back and forth seem as ridiculously silly to me as me posting my own face at the end of every single sentence in a review. /unblink/

 

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Not every sentence needs an illustration. Much less the same illustration repeated over and over. /blink/

 

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And, so, as much as the story in Okujou no Yurirei-san seems kinda cute. I just can’t bring myself to attempt it. I already know I’ll get 5 minutes in and want to scream.

The thing is, the series is extremely popular in Japan. In fact, it’s spawned several Yuri-only doujinshi shows of it’s own…called “Yuritopia,” for obvious reasons, as you will see.

Okujoumou1In the VN, at a elite girl’s school,  Shouka Kokonotsuboshi Joshi Gakuen, Yuna is able to see the ghosts of two girls who watch over the school. They were in love, but were not able to be together in life, so in death, they long for the school to become a Yuri Utopia, i.e., “Yuritopia.” During the course of gameplay, several couples are formed, to bring the school towards the Yuritopia they desire.

In the first part of this two-manga set, Okujou no Yurirei-san Side A; Mou Hitotsu Yuritopia (屋上の百合霊さんSIDE A もうひとつのユリトピア) we meet Shiori, a quiet, unassuming student, who is friends with one of the original game characters, Maki. The school festival is coming up and Shiori does not want to be dragged into acting in their class play so she, Maki and Hina (who also appears in the VN) all volunteer to work on the set.

But the conflict of the story lies in Shiori’s fractured relationship with her childhood friend, Mako. Mako has already confessed her love to Shiori who, in a panic, ran away. She hasn’t been able to face Mako since.

Hina, who is on track team with Mako, can see the problem immediately. She encourages Shiori to make up with her friend. Shiori tries, but when Mako again confesses, she again runs away…even though this time, she’s not at all upset.

As the festival nears, Shiori learns that Hina and Yuna are an item, and at the festival meets Maki’s lover Miki (one of the VN couple plotlines). Having heard about the two ghost girls on the roof, Shiori pulls herself together just long enough to let Mako know she likes her back. The two ghost girls appear, glowing with joy, as another couple is added to their Yuritopia.

There is nothing “wrong” with this book, per se. Itou Hachi’s art is moe, but not at all in a fetishy way, the story is comfortable and untroubling. The only thing that strikes me as weird, is that in Yuritopia there are no men of any kind. Not so much as a male teacher or parent. There is, in fact, only one adult shown in the entire volume, a female teacher in one panel. All other parents or teachers are off-stage voices and no one in the audience for the play is an adult. It’s a clear indication that, like Thomas More’s Utopia, this is a not-place. Nowhere real, not obtainable, not really even all that desirable, Yuritopia is a fantasy only.

Interestingly, these volumes are being put out by Hirari comics and I’m betting Ichijinsha’s kicking itself in the butt for not grabbing up the idea. ^_^) Go Hirari!

Ratings:

Art – 8 Cute, without being teeth-grittingly sugary or in any way creepy
Story – 7 Predictable, but still nice, as one might expect from such a series
Characters – 8 Likable, a little thin in development as one might expect from such a series
Yuri – 9
Service – 1 Pleasantly free of thigh-staring

Overall – 8

Like the ghosts watching over the school, we can be perfectly happy for these not-real girls in their not-real world. ^_^ At least Yuritopia is fill of cute, happy Yuri couples.





Yuri Manga: Chou Chou Nan Nan (喋喋喃喃)

May 27th, 2015

downloadThe girl/guy next door, the childhood friend who has always been there for you, who can always read your mood, and knows just what to say; it’s a well-worn trope in every subset of romance. It’s equally as common to show the protagonist unable to return the favor, unseeing when their friend has deeper feelings than friendship for them, as they moon over someone else – usually someone unobtainable. It’s so entirely universal in fact, that it almost boggles the mind.

In Chou Chou Nan Nan (喋喋喃喃), Takemiya Jin takes a(nother) swing at this trope.

Aoi is in love with Chihiro and her best friend Nao can see it from a mile away. Unfortunately, Nao is in love with Aoi and Aoi can’t see it at all. Chihiro can see what’s going on and, because she’s a cheerfuly manipulative jerk, she teases Nao by manipulating Aoi’s feelings. Shino, the fourth of the group is uncomplicated and doesn’t care who is love with whom, just as long as they are all having fun.

There is never any reason to think that Aoi and Nao won’t get together, so it’s more or less just a matter of watching them get there, enjoying the stolen kisses, “shock!” eyes and narrowed eyes/manipulative faces that Takemiya-sensei does so well.

It is also stereotypical that the story comes to a head during the school festival, as Nao plays the prince and Aoi plays Sleeping Beauty. Reading as much manga as I do set in school, I thank my lucky stars that I never once had to do a play in a school festival. (The only thing I can recall doing for a school festival was making a highly popular, heavily alcoholic Black Forest Cherry cake one year for German Club.)

They end up together (of course) and we never learn, really, whether Chihiro feels bad about her role in keeping them apart or finds it all a hilarious joke. I was very much hoping that the doujinshi follow-up “Chou Chou Nan Nan 2” would look at Chihiro’s real feelings (my bet is that Chihiro found it hilarious. People like her are never sorry. ^_^;), but instead it gives Aoi a chance at taking the lead in a kiss for once. Also okay. ^_^

Ratings:

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

Overall – 7

A pleasant trip along a favorite path, decorated with beloved flowers. We all know it well, but it’s perfectly fine to enjoy it once again. ^_^

Many thanks to Jye N. for being kind enough to get “Chou Chou Nan Nan 2” and several other doujinshi for me! I’m savoring every page. Thank you for your kindness!





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime, May 2015 (コミック百合姫 2015年 05 月号)

May 22nd, 2015

CYH052015I’m nervous. I’m really enjoying Comic Yuri Hime these days, but nothing lasts forever, right? As I read Comic Yuri Hime, May 2015 (コミック百合姫 2015年 05 月号) I couldn’t shake the feeling that the boot will drop and soon.

It appears to me, that the magazine has finally struck a balance between the – to me – unfathomable needs of Japanese fanboys and my own unfathomable needs as an American lesbian fangirl. ^_^ Sure, you guys can have your weirdly shaped breasts and bizarre crotch obsession and teary blobby-headed little girls, I’ll take the adults, the depth of emotion, the violent fighting and Iono-sama. ^_^ Deal?

If you don’t like what I do, then there’s “Netsuzou Trap – NTR”, a creeptastic story about two girls with boyfriends who get naked and do stuff on each other while their boyfriends are conveniently not in the room with them, “Citrus,” (on which I have officially given up completely, when a bad old trope that we’d already wallowed in and discarded comes back for a second appearance) and “To Lie-Anguru,” which I will never mention again. ^_^ “Yuru Yuri,”of course, and the “Yuri Danshi” narrative continues on in a slightly altered form with input from male and female Yuri fans in “Ore to Yuri.”

Almost everything in this volume continued on from last time, but there were a few highlights that stood out for me. Ohsawa Yayoi’s “2DK, G Pen, Mesamashi Tokei.” went exactly where I had hoped, and shifted from “competent woman hustles while slacker slacks”, to “two adult women figuring out their lives.”

Nakahara Tsubaki’s “12 Minute Etude” is still cute in a non-intrusive way, as is “Inugami-san to Neko-yama -san,” and the excruciatingly adorable and fun “Kanaete! Yuri Yosei-san” which I still believe may be Minamoto Hisanari’s masterwork effort, in that he can combine the silliest of Yuri tropes, an absurdly adorable moe fairy and still have a lot of fun telling a story. ^_^

To scratch my itch for a little light violence, there’s still “Love Desu” and “Shoujo Shikaku”  for horror and major violence fans.

Takemiya Jin provides “Sakasama Oni-gokko”, Kano makes a debut with two stories and…to my absolute joy, Fujieda Miyabi is back, with a spin off of “Iono-sama Fanatics” called “Kokono-sama Fascinates” which follows the entirely unobjectionable adventures in love and lady-in-waiting gathering of Kokono, the daughter of Iono-sama and Eto. Squee.

So, see? We can all be happy.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

If they can just keep this up forever, I’ll be satisfied.  ^_^





Yuri Manga: Renai Manga (レンアイマンガ)

May 15th, 2015

51Iqpki8CmLOne last book for “low expectations” week but, in this case, to show that having low expectations isn’t always the same as expecting something to be bad.

In 2011, I reviewed a book called Renai Manga, by Kodama Naoko, that had been published by Tsubomi Comics. I gave it “a warm fuzzy, comfortable 8” as a score.

Now, Yuri Hime Comics has re-released Renai Manga (レンアイマンガ). And it is the same, all the way to the very end, where a new chapter is new, but not any different.

Haruka is a new editor at Sweets Magazine, where she is assigned to manage her favorite author – the one who inspired her to become an editor in the first place. Only, Kuroi-sensei is not the fashionable woman she imagined, but a hoody-wearing recluse. Haruka pulls Kuroi-sensei out of her shell just a bit and Kuroi-sensei gives Haruka the courage to stick to her guns and stay in Tokyo as an editor when her mother pressures her to marry.

The end of the book ends up eating it’s own tail as it turns out that Haruka’s fan letter to Kuroi-sensei was her first, ever, and a charm she’s kept all these years to keep her going.

Now, since I knew exactly what to expect from this manga, I was able to pay attention a little more to small details; how Haruka is manipulated by the editor-in-chief, who obviously knows both parts of the story, how Kuroi-sensei finds herself after a long slump because of Haruka. I was also able to enjoy the now almost-silly climax scene as Haruka runs around town looking for screentone. In a mere few years that has become significantly less of  crisis, as so much more of manga is done digitally, it’s almost hard to imagine that this might have been a thing.

The original manga ends with Kuroi-sensei being honored at a party for the new TV Drama of her series. A new chapter turns away from the tale of professional persistence to – for the first time, really – the couple of Haruka and Sensei, who I now think deserves to be referred to by her given name, Ritsu. Haruka and Ritsu are, clearly, already important to each other, but Ritsu takes a big step and asks Haruka to move in with her so they can be together all the time. Haruka agrees happily. In the final panels, we see the editor-in-chief being not at all surprised and thinking that the two of them ought to get married already. (Ironically, since, as we know, they still can not legally marry anywhere in Japan except Shibuya.)

My expectations were low, but not because I expected this to be bad, but I expected nothing significant to have changed. And so it hasn’t. This manga remains a warm, fuzzy slipper of a story – nothing surprising, nothing alarming. Just a nice story told nicely.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 2 Kuroi-sensei still needs a better bra

Overall – Still an 8





Yuri Manga: Citrus, Volume 2 (English) Guest Review by Day

May 14th, 2015

cirtrus2This was going to post yesterday but, reasons, and so today is Guest Review Thursday instead. ^_^  It is my very genuine pleasure to welcome long-time reader and Superhero, but first-time Guest Reviewer Day! It’s such a genuine pleasure to have you here above the comments, reviewing. This review is very much in keeping with this week’s unintended theme of “low expectations,” so, take it away, Day! ^_^

I would like to start off by stating that I really hate the cover of this volume of Citrus, Volume 2; on a gut level, I feel repulsed by it. Gazing at it and feeling this, I tried to puzzle my way through exactly why I felt so strongly negative about it. Yeah, sure, you’ve got a pair of underaged girls depicted in a sleazy manner, but covers like that are a dime a dozen in manga. Staring at it some more, it became clear to me that my true problem with it is that it’s centered around a third-party view – neither of the heroines look at one other, they gaze out at the viewer. Maybe it is that they’ve been “caught in the act”, but, whatever the reason, it still privileges the audience above the characters themselves. Sure, this is a piece of entertainment, so of course the audience is fairly important, but there’s something distasteful in making the sexuality of the characters so clearly performative.

After the impulsive kiss in the chairman’s office that closed out last volume, our primary lead Yuzu is twisting herself in knots, something that is cut short, then re-introduced at a higher volume, when student council vice-president, and self-proclaimed best friend of Mei, Momokino, calls her out. It becomes quickly obvious that Momokino, too, has a crush on Mei, and she’s perfectly happy to lie and interfere however she sees fit to preserve her chance of romance with the cold girl. Misunderstandings ensue and are partially cleared up, only to make way for some father-daughter drama that was hinted at in the first volume, as Mei’s prodigal father makes a sudden re-appearance. Yuzu, naïve, eager fool that she is, tries to help the two work things out, but even when partial success is attained, the cliffhanger is always there in the wings to chuck everything into disarray once again – and, yes, it’s another kiss, with an abrupt and disorienting swap-out to a bunch of panels of an unknown girl indicating her own entrance to the story.

I really must make note of Mei’s father before I can touch on anything else since he’s so awful. Dear old dad pops back into Mei’s life unannounced, drops a bombshell that he is well-aware will upset her, and then spends the rest of his time in Japan making no effort whatsoever to patch things up with the girl. He even more or less pushes his own responsibilities as Mei’s father off onto poor Yuzu; this is done right after he’s acknowledged that he hasn’t been a good father, as if someone can get a gold star simply for admitting to one’s own poor behavior.

Not that dad alone is the only character behaving badly. Mei continues to treat the people around her abusively, from being verbally so to Momokino, and physically/sexually so to Yuzu. Mind you, Momokino herself displays issues with consent, with an unwanted attempt at seduction in the student council room fueled by her own jealousy toward Yuzu. It is quite clear that Mei has a lot of issues (and, really, her acting out reads like that of victim of childhood sexual abuse, although I remain firmly convinced that that wasn’t the intent, but was instead meant to indicate that vague catch-all of “issues”), but that doesn’t fly as an excuse in the way she tortures Yuzu with her sudden come-ons alternated with cold shoulders and harsh words.

But my primary complaint is that Citrus doesn’t read as a fully cohesive narrative. In volume one, the wild lurches from one crisis to the next were funny in their absurdity, but here the tendency for the story to leap around is tiresome and stale. Mei clearly has lots of baggage that the story could be working through if it had more patience and wasn’t so slavishly bound to what seems to be a quota for percentage of pages per twenty that must be taken up by sloppy, saliva-drenched scenes of sexuality (often unwanted!). The arc of the story also demands that each time we have these girls kiss and squirm against each other, Mei must behave as if nothing ever happened while Yuzu agonizes endlessly, nothing ever advancing. While I am capable of grudgingly letting this slide in some stories, the complicating factor of the two being stepsisters stretches me past the breaking point, especially given that they share a bed as siblings; I quite literally cannot believe that something wouldn’t’ve given by now with such a set-up.

After spilling so much ink, despite prior statement otherwise, I realize that my true, ultimate issue with Citrus is that it is profoundly unsexy. Our would-be couple is unsexy because Mei is abusive, and the implication that half-sister romance will be the cure for all her ills is discomfiting at best. The moments of “intimacy” are unsexy since they are, with one exception, nonconsensual. And it does not make for a sexy reading experience when one feels the entire time that they wish they could reach into the story, pluck loose one of the characters (Yuzu), and give her a pep talk about healthy relationships and sexuality.

Even as the release by Seven Seas is fairly good (although the lack of an index bugs me a bit) and I truly want Yuri to be a viable genre for manga releases in North America, Citrus Vol. 2 completely wore out my willingness to give this particular story a go. Too bad.

Ratings:
Art – 7
Story – 4
Characters – 5 (I like Yuzu and her friend Harumin, but everyone else should be hit by a bus)
Service – 5
Yuri – 7
Overall – 4

Erica here: Well…yes. I agree completely. Especially in regards to Mei’s behavior. In addition to your notes about the perfomative nature of the cover, they also both look miserable. They clearly do not wish to be doing this thing. In fact, they both look close to tears. And I don’t much want to see anything that miserable-making.

As I keep noting, I do at least attempt to read each new chapter as it comes out in the magazine, but find, more and more that I’m just turning pages. I am not a fan of torturing characters as the plot and this has little else to recommend it.

Clearly we’re going to need to get a third voice to cover Volume 3 – someone who loves this series for itself, unconditionally.  Applicants can contact me at any time. ^_^