Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime Wildrose, Volume 7 (百合姫 Wildrose)

August 15th, 2013

Does 2010 count as a “the past” yet? If so, Yuri Hime Wildrose, Volume 7 (百合姫 Wildrose) anthology is a blast from the past. The last original volume, Yuri Hime Wildrose 6, was released back in 2010,  and there was a selected re-release  of curated stories in 2011, Wildrose Re:Mix disk a and disk b. And, I thought, that was the last we’d hear of the Wildrose series. But…no.

Yuri Hime Wildrose, Volume 7 picks right up where 6 left off, with a stable of new creators, working on doujinshi-length “Plot, What Plot-style?” stories, where the setup exists merely to frame the sex. In most cases, the sex is accompanied by sincere affection, sometimes even love, which tempers the feeling one inevitably gets as one reads, of being cast by the story as “horny voyeur”.

Saburo Uta’s opening bid, “Partner” is a nice enough place to begin. Kusabe and Ogihara are paired in everything from tennis to academics, but it turns out that they actually like each other, as well. ^_^

“Encore!!!!” by Amano Syuninta was, by far, my favorite story as her art and storytelling hit all my sweet spots and avoided most of the sour ones. This cheerful tale of two pop idols in a girl group was silly and weird, with moments of sexy thrown in.

And Nanzaki Iku submits a new chapter of one of her Shizuru x Natsuki clone pairs in a story that wasn’t thrilling, but was ultimately – as her’s so often are – sweet.

If this is the kind of story that gets your heart pounding – and might just get you practicing your Japanese –  it’s a good bet you’ll enjoy this volume.

Ratings:

Variable – 6

A couple of the artists are just doing art that I can’t really enjoy, but I’m not running this through the shredder or anything. It’ll probably be part of my next Lucky Bag giveaway, though.  ^_^





Yuri Manga: Kanojo to Camera to Kanojo no Kisetsu, Volume 3 (彼女とカメラと彼女の季節）

August 9th, 2013

At the end of Volume 2 of  Kanojo to Camera to Kanojo no Kisetsu (彼女とカメラと彼女の季節), it appeared to us that loner Yuki was retreating from Akari, and pushing her towards Rintarou. As Volume 3 opens, her gambit seems to be working.

Akari and Rin are definitely growing closer – and Akari’s happy about that. They go from pretending to be going out to actually going out. But. Akari is not happy about the distance Yuki is putting between them. When she discovers that Yuki is  – quite literally – watching over them, she’s distressed that Yuki is no longer part of  the group.

Akari follows Yuki in order to make her point. Embracing Yuki  – almost desperately – Akari finds herself completely torn between her comfortable feelings for Rintarou and her uncomfortable ones for Yuki.

And that is where we leave it. Akari wants nothing to change – and everything to change. We have no idea what Yuki thinks, but it apparent that she is ready to walk away and leave Rin and Akari to be together. Akari is not ready to accept that.

We know that Yuki is laying the foundation for a career in photography and Rin and Akari were instrumental in that, but whether she will go through with going to the big city to make it happen is still not a given.

It’s not terribly often I think a threesome could actually work out. These three are pretty close as it is. A physical relationship would change their dynamic, but I could see the three of them making it work. I really hope the rest of the story isn’t just more Yuki pushing Akari towards Rin and backing off. But it probably will be.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

Once again, I’m fairly convinced I won’t be satisfied with the ending, but I still want to know what it will be.





Yuri Manga: Ohana Holoholo, Volume 5 (オハナホロホロ)

July 29th, 2013

OMG you guys. Ohana Holoholo, Volume 5. (オハナホロホロ)

So, we left Michiru and Maya split up at the end of Volume 4. It sucked, but it kind of made sense, as Michiru was very focused on growing the fuck up already.

Maya is doing her best to live alone; she’s not doing a good job of it, though. She’s grieving for two relationships – the possibilities of a life with Hidesuke and the realities of life with Michiru and Yuuta. Niko-kun comes home one day to find her unconscious on the floor.

But there’s a character in all this who forces the climax and it’s not Michiru, nor is it Maya. It’s Yuuta. Yuuta, who does not understand grownups, but knows he loves Maya and wants to see her. He asks Michiru if they’ll ever go home and he really does not understand the answer…so he decides to go see Maya on his own.

Unbeknownst to any of the adults, he ends up taking a train to the only name he can remember. He wanders the seaside, gets distracted by a million things and pulls himself back on track. After a long day, he finds himself at Shinjuku station (which is complicated enough if you’re a grownup, mind you) surrounded by strangers.

What happens next is, yes, a handwave, yes it is a deus ex machina, but a very welcome one. ^_^ With a series of hints as to where he might be, eventually our intrepid 3 year old is safe in the arms of a panicking Maya and Niko-kun. He’s fast asleep when Michiru makes it to Maya’s place. With Yuuta being watched over by Niko-kun, Michiru and Maya are able to have it out between them.

Maya asks for another chance at being a family.

Michiru says they already are a family.

They kiss.

“To Be Continued”

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 1

Overall – 9

I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see “To Be Continued” in my life. ^_^





“Tokyo Love ~ Rica ‘tte Kanji!?” named a “Best Manga for Grownups” at Comic-Con

July 23rd, 2013

We like to think that it wasn’t just because we’re friends with most of the panelists at San Diego Comic-Con’s 2013 “Best and Worst Manga” Panel, that our own Tokyo Love ~ Rica ‘tte Kanji!? was included on the list of “Best Manga for Grownups.” ^_^

Many thanks to Brigid, Deb, Christopher, David and Shaenon.

Experience Rica Takashima’s look at lesbian life and love in Tokyo in the 1990s for yourself. Read Tokyo Love ~ Rica ‘tte Kanji!? for free, legally online! Enjoy!





Comic Yuri Hime, July 2013 (コミック百合姫)

July 10th, 2013

I’m not dead yet, really, just moving slowly through the stuff on my pile. Soooooooooo slowly.  The next few days I am also in and out doing the summer trifecta of beach, theater and amusement park, so don’t expect anything new for a few days – I’ll be busy having fun outside. ^_^

Summer has landed and with it, the July issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫). The cover tells a single-page story of young love.

This is followed by what I’m thinking might well be a fun new series. “BGMRSP” (“Bousou Girlsteki Mousou Renaiteki Suteki Project”) follows two childhood friends who are totally unalike. Aoi is boyish, athletic, tall and Beniko is girlish, sophisticated and cool. Now they are both in a girls school and each have a harem of devoted fans. So they decide to have a harem competition. School is now a harem-gang warzone. I have no idea if I’ll like this story or not, but I have to give it points for originality!

The entirety of the first half of the issue was uninspiring for me (and the reason I was slogging through it so slowly. Lots of…stuff I’m not interested in. Halfway through the issue I almost flew over to Japan and slapped the editors. In a “Happy Wedding!” Special, they ignore everything important about marriages between female couples to provide utterly fatuous advice like “make sure you buy Yuri manga.” Yeah, in a country that does not recognize the relationship between a chunk of your audience, I’m sure all the lesbian readers found that hilarious. Ugh.

Finally, at about 2/3 of the way through the quality picked up, with Takemiya Jin’s “Atchi/Kotchi/Dotchi” which is still mining the levels of misunderstanding between Satomi and Nana. Best line of the chapter. “What are you hiding from me?” “Ah, which one?”

Morishima Akiko returns with an older chapter from Rakuen no Jouken and new chapter following Serina and Sumi.

Tanaka Minoru’s “Rock It Girl!”  dives into Seira and Kaname’s childhood in a deeply unconvincing kind of therapy session.

“Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na Nanika (私の世界を構成する塵のような何か)” by Amano Syuninta gets Ruki and Sachi about a quarter step closer. And we get left with the image of Maasa as a child, doing ballet. I feel for her.

Ohzawa Yayoi’s “Strange Babies come to a climax as the penny *finally* drops for Yagi. Phew.

There is Yuri in this chapter of “Yuri Danshi,” but it still manages to be all about the guys. Gah.

The first half of the magazine kept putting me to sleep, but the second half had what I’m looking for.

Ratings:

Overall – 6

I can’t speak for anyone else but, all these years of reading about girls in school has given me an allergy to school uniforms. So very, very off-putting. Dear mangaka – try getting out more.