Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Golondrina, Volume 5 (ゴロンドリーナ)

April 27th, 2015

Golondrina5In Volume 5 of Golondrina, (now available on the Yuricon Store along with the rest of the series) Chika finds herself doing well enough as a matador. She’s regularly being awarded by the crowd, but she’s hit an emotional wall that seems insurmountable. She no longer wishes to seek death, but she’s not finding any joy in life, either.

Not able to find herself, Chika ends up in Madrid, at an anti-bullfighting rally, run by a famous singer, Jora. Jora is…Amazonian. Tall and physically dominant, Jora is a presence both on the musical and political stage. She invites Chika to a live show and to join her afterwards. Chika does, losing herself in this strong presence.

Her lack of drive is noticeable to those around her. Sechuu confronts her. If she doesn’t respect herself and the task she’s undertaken, he’s outta here. She pulls herself together, a little, but now she’s living a double life – matador by day, Jora’s paramour at night and neither role truly suits her.

It’s Vincenze, after all, who helps her find the will she’s been lacking. His right side is still paralyzed, but there he is in the ring, practicing. The sight galvanizes Chika, making her realize that there is something about this life that is worth living for. She returns to Jora, during a rally against bullfighting and confesses to the crowd who she is and what she’s learned. The crowd boos, Jora slaps her, admits she’s been sure that Chika was a bullfighter and they part. When Jora and Chika first slept together, Jora asks for Chika’s real name – Chika tells her that everyone calls her Chika. As they part for the last time, Jora asks her name once more, and Chika, smiling, says “La Golondrina”.

I’ve had a complicated reaction to this series. I love the art and the storytelling, but not so much the subject matter. It’s not the violence that bothers me, but the lack of consent. Two people fighting is one thing – they both know why they are here. But I feel as if I am a hypocrite if I dislike bullfighting as much as if I like it. I can see the art and the beauty in it, just as in any sport. I just wish the ball one kicked around weren’t alive. While I’m glad to watch two humans fight, you won’t catch me near a bullfighting ring ever.

On the minus side, Chika never got fangirls in the audience, but on the plus side, she had a lover who wasn’t a jerk to her and helped her discover something important in herself, so I consider that an overall win for Yuri readers and for this series.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 1
Service – 4 Nudity and sexual situations, subtly rendered

Overall – 9

I’m fully a est em fan now. I’ve even started picking up some of her BL series just to have the pleasure of looking at her art.





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime, March 2015 (コミック百合姫 2015年 03月号)

April 23rd, 2015

downloadIf you’re a regular reader here, you’ll know that I haven’t been really happy with Comic Yuri Hime this year. Too much pandering to the low and uncreatively-minded, too little actual girls in love with each other and almost no creative content.

So you might imagine how surprised I was to be able to say that the March 2015  issue of Comic Yuri Hime, (コミック百合姫 2015年 03月号) was very good. Like…actually really “Good” with a capital “G” good, meaning that, while I personally didn’t like everything, they are stretching the genre a bit again, so that it’s not the same one story over and over.

The magazine did not start off well for me, with a cell phone “comic” of two girls in maid costume and cat ears, so I was not feeling open-minded when I started reading. But, I was intrigued with the opening manga chapter “12bun no Etude” which began as a track club story that segued into a band story, with strong overtones of the few good bits of Sora no wo to. Trumpets, but I’ll be magnanimous and forgive that. ^_^

It was “Shoujo Shikaku” that blew me out of the water. I hated it, but it’s the first horror comic we’ve seen in the pages of Comic Yuri Hime in ages. I hated it precisely for the reasons I’ve discussed; the balance of power is held by someone other than the protagonist and the scales are balanced against them. It was also full of service-y creepiness, which is not to my taste, but as much as it is not at all for me, I was glad to see horror in the magazine once again. It’s seemed to me that recently manga magazines are finally finding their way back to horror stories after decades of sort of avoiding them.

I was a little disappointed in Ohsawa Yayaoi’s newest which, although it was about two adult women, went over some well-trod material and ended up being a watered down What did You Eat Yesterday? Waste of a good character. I hope we see more/better from this setup.

“Chou Chou Nan Nan” from Takemiya Jin came to a climax that was not unexpected, but still was sweet.

In “Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san” an actual for real Yuri couple finally appears and it’s Ryuuzaki Otome and and Torao Mari. Okay by me.

“Tsuki to Sekai to Etoile” also comes to a kind of climax and for the moment, everyone is playing nice. That was a nice change of pace. ^_^

Aoto Hibiki’s “Yurino-onee-san” (which could also be read “Yuri no Oneesan”) was also a refreshing change of pace. Told from the point of view of a young boy, about the two women who live next door, Yurino and Miyako, we get to see Shintarou recognize what their relationship is, how it works and how much it means to them. He’s  a good kid and his fresh eyes give us a chance to understand that love is love. It was sweet.

Then we come to “Love Desu,” again by Kuzushiro-sensei. In start contrast to the horror story, this ridiculous thing pits two evenly matched, psychotic and violent people in a deadly love/hate relationship. This time one gets stabbed, but she’s the one who gets the kiss, so by the standards of this story, I think she won this round. ^_^ Again referring back to my discussion of violence – they are evenly matched and fully aware of what they are doing. This series is, therefore, perfectly enjoyable to me.

Last, but not least, was “Kanaete! Yuri Yousei” by Minamoto Hisanari-sensei. I think, honestly, he’s hit his pinnacle here. It’s all the moe he could ever want, and an actually amusing story about an old Yuri trope. I actually laughed at out loud at it. And what a perfect way for me to end this issue.

Except that it wasn’t the final chapter in the issue. Instead, we had a chapter of the Yuri Danshi side-story “Ore to Yuri”. Oh well.

As always I’ve left a number of stories out, and I’ll never talk about “To Lie Anguru” which I want to burn with fire, so if you’re not moved by these, trust me, there’s plenty of Yuru Yuri and other moe comics to be found.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

For the first time all year, I can actually say I enjoyed an issue of Comic Yuri Hime. The May 2015 issue has already been released and July is available for pre-order. All of these – and any back issues that still exist  –  are available on the new Yuricon Store in the Japanese Manga Section  – just click C in the alphabet header, or search for it by name!





Yuri Manga: Kyou mo Futari ha Nakayoshi Desu. ~Kuzushiro Short Story Collection (今日も２人は仲良しです。)

April 17th, 2015

FutarihaNakayoshiKyou mo Futari ha Nakayoshi Desu.~Kuzushiro Short Story Collection (今日も２人は仲良しです。) is a collection published not by Yuri Hime Comics, but by Rex Comics, also an Ichijinsha imprint. I found that interesting, although without any particular context.

The short stories are right in Kuzushiro-sensei’s ballpark – two people who are lovers/rivals and both slightly nuts, so that the situations, while they may start off normal, are guaranteed to descend immediately into wackiness. The majority of the stories are or could be considered to be Yuri, but there are a few male x female pairings which work just as well.

The first few chapters follow various couples in a idol group. Each couple is equally amusingly dysfunctional, but anyone familiar with Nekoyama-san to Inugami-san, would instantly recognize the formula. And speaking of Nekoyama-san to Inugami-san, this collection includes an early story idea for that series.

My favorite stories follow a seriously creepy eye-patch wearing girl and the girl she targets in school…and yes, I know that’s utterly predictable of me, but it’s not the eyepatch that worked for me this time, it was the utterly fucked up eye she had under it. ^_^

The art was clean, much cleaner than I’m used to from Kuzushiro-sensei, but the comedic gags weren’t quite as sharp, as befits earlier work.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – Variable, we’ll say 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 2

Overall – 8

A great way to enjoy more from a creator whose work makes me happy.





Yuri Manga: Yuritetsu Volumes 2-4 (ゆりてつ~私立百合ヶ咲女子高鉄道部) Guest Review by Bruce P

April 1st, 2015

Yuritetsu2Wahoooo! It’s Guest Review Wednesday and we have a Guest Review! Fresh from the keyboard of the always stellar Bruce P, today he looks at three manga at once (presumably because the idea of reviewing them each individually was soul crushing.) Take it away, Bruce!  

***

“Make a remark,” said the Red Queen: “it’s ridiculous to leave all the conversation to the pudding!”

And there really is no other reason for a review of Yuritetsu ~ Shiritsu Yurigasaki Joshikou Tetsudobu Volume 2, Volume 3  and Volume 4 (ゆりてつ~私立百合ヶ咲女子高鉄道部) by Matsuyama Seiji. The review of Volume 1 should have been quite enough. But in the face of good taste Yuritetsu has thrived, even making some minor noise out in the real world. I would hate to leave the final word to a pudding. A response is called for. Here it is:

Eww.

You might notice that this also effectively described Volume 1.

Which is not to say that Volumes 2-4 are just more servings of the same goo. The author has made a number of significant changes. Though calling anything in this manga significant seems kind of silly.

Yuritetsu3High school girls Elsie, Lacie, Tillie, and Peanut are still doing what members of the Yuritetsu (Yurigasaki Girl’s High School Railway Club) do best: looking like four-year-olds, acting like three-year-olds, and providing railway maps and information for train fans. Train fans who don’t much care where their maps and information come from, provided they come from girls who occasionally take their clothes off. Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie continue fighting over Peanut, while Peanut continues displaying no reason why they should actually want to. Maybe it’s a pheromone thing. It’s certainly not an intellect thing.

The big difference from the first volume is that the girls no longer do their interpersonal squirming in isolation from the rest of the world. Quite the contrary: in their travels they now encounter an astonishing assortment of other ambulatory pumpkin seeds—friends, relatives, and acquaintances, starting with their new traveling companion, the club’s faculty advisor Konomi-Sensei. She looks five, giving her the best of it, though she doesn’t act that mature. As a teacher, she’s just happy not to live in New Jersey, or in any number of places where they insist on background checks; at Yurigasaki she can squirm against Peanut all she wants. Pheromones, ick.

AYuritetsu4rtistically Yuritetsu isn’t so much a mess as a collage, which makes it sound intentional.  Stylistically different (but equally embarrassing) crossover characters from the small world of train-themed manga randomly drop out of the blue for a little inbreeding. Among these artistic inconsistencies are several creepy crossovers from one of the author’s own titles, Tetsuko na Sanshimai, about three sisters who travel around on trains (well, when you specialize, you specialize). One of these sisters is definitely not drawn as a Yuritetsu –style four year old, and in fact does not even constitute a structural possibility. As Elsie (or is it Tillie? Dopey?) says when they first meet: “Oneesan! Your boobs—and your camera lens—are huge!!” The art might be questionable, but the sophistication of the dialogue makes the series sparkle.

And here’s the peculiar real world part. In the final chapter the girls visit the Yuri Kogen Railway, a tiny line in the mountains south of Akita. In a clever bit of marketing, or desperation (it’s a very tiny line), the Yuri Kogen last year decorated an operating railcar in a Yuritetsu illustration scheme. All pink and yellow and oversized bubbleheads. Looks like desperation to me. The Yuritetsu railcar has actually been out there, trundling Peanut and her pals, along with confused Yuritetsu fans wondering why all the car-side characters seem so fully clothed, back and forth through the daffodils.

If there’s a special hell for railway motormen, it probably looks like this.

Toy maker Tomytec has jumped into the act with a scale model:

Yuritetsu Car

The item above was obtained for research purposes. Just being thorough.

As for the Yuri: the characters in Yuritetsu remind me of nothing so much as those tiny, rather pointless insects that form hyperactive clouds over water on summer afternoons. Among the little bugs in these mating swarms there may well be some rudimentary Yuri flirtations going on (who knows?), but it wouldn’t warrant a four volume treatment and a specially decorated swamp boat.

Ratings:

Art: 5.  Well, the train illustrations are still pretty good.
Characters: 2. Dropping in some doofus ex machina characters hasn’t helped this number at all.
Story: 2.  Starts low, falls through a hole at the bit with the strawberry.
Yuri: 2.  Don’t ask about the strawberry.
Service: 10.  No really, don’t.

Overall: 3. Somewhere between eww and ick.

It’s been a lot of fun, chewing these four volumes up. But now of course I will have to make a trip to Akita. For research purposes.

Erica here: As long as I don’t have to be seen near that train, I’m in.

Thank you for yet another fantastic review of a book I wouldn’t touch with a 15 meter pole.  This seemed like a perfect April 1 review. If you buy these books, the joke is clearly on you. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Kono Yo ni tada Hitori (この世にただひとり)

March 24th, 2015

KYnTH-275x390 Fuji Tamaki’s Kono Yo ni tada Hitori (この世にただひとり) was an interestingly retro book. It reminded me very much of art from long ago in the 1990s. As almost all her main character types followed the same pattern after the first story, I initially thought the book was about the same two women, growing older together, but…no. It was just a stylistic tic.

In the first story a new girl throws a group of friends into chaos, as she breaks up the old crowd with her new games.

There are a few school friends stories, including “Aoimidoro,” in which an athletic girl wishes she too could just look pretty and feminine for a bit. (We really have to change the prince/princess dynamic of girl-girl stories so even the tall, dashing girls get to be girly if they want.)

A story about a woman working on a photoshoot with naked models stands out by not being prurient and kind of sweet, and the boos ends with a short mini-series about sweets, a baker and a rich girl, dusted lightly with a little magic.

There was something comforting about the art, a turn of the 21st century women’s magazine and/or doujinshi feel to it that I liked very much, although none of the stories grabbed me by the throat. (The soy ink did, however. For whatever reason, the pages of this book were practically choking me.)

Ratings:

Art – 8 YMMV, but I liked it.
Story – Variable, let’s say 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 6, tops
Service – 6 for “Akame no Adrian”

Overall – 7

For a retro feel and nice stories, this is a good change of pace from purely moe work.