Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Amongst Us, Volume 1: Soulmates

October 30th, 2023

In front of a backdrop of the sky through large windows, two women embraces enthusiastically. The taller, with long, white hair, holds the shorter black-and-white haired woman in her arms.In Amongst Us, Volume 1: Soulmates, we meet cellist Veloce and her girlfriend, conductor Blackbird. Veloce is a rich kid who ends driving her brother to meetings in their family car, Blackbird loves sweets and can’t cook. Their life is full of pleasant bickering and they are very in love.

They are also alternate universe incarnations of characters of the same name from creator Shilin Huang’s epic fantasy comic Carciphona – a comic begun in 2006 that now is in it’s 8th volume. In that world Veloce is a hunted, broken magic user and Blackbird is the otherworldly being who wants her, one way or another. Magic in that world is expressed by music. They are both so lovely together, even from the beginning, Huang would post AU versions of the two characters, in lovely and contentious situations in our real world. Amongst Us the webtoon began about 6 years ago and in 2020, I contributed to a Kickstarter for the comic and, so reviewed this volume previously.

Luckily for all of us, Seven Seas has licensed this beautiful AU story (although not the original fantasy comic as of yet….) so we can enjoy a much goofier Blackbird and a less broken, but no less handsome Veloce, as well as other visitors from the Carciphona cast in what is mostly a rather light-hearted odd-couple comedy slice of life. The strips have been adapted from webtoons quite well and Huang’s art is…always…breathtaking. As I said when I reviewed the Kickstarted volume, Huang’s art is always worth coming back for. And here I am at, more than a decade later, still coming back for more.

Seven Seas’ edition here is lovely, full color and just…gorgeous. Since there was no translation this time, I’m going take a moment to thank everyone who worked on the production side here, Production Designer Stevie Wilson, Production Manager Lissa Pattillo, Prepress Technicians Melanie Ujjimori and Jules Valera, Print Edition Editor Robin Herrera, Cover Graphic Designer: M. A. Lewife and Shiling Huang for the logo and cover art. Why am I pointing out all these people? Because it has always been my position that if manga fans knew how many folks it actually took to do the work of getting books out to you, they would appeciate how much work publishing really is! So thanks to the folks at Seven Seas and to Shilin Huang for drawing us pretty magical musicians.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – A goofy 8
Characters – 8 Divorced from their origins, they still seem pretty intense. ^_^
Service – 0 That postcard of Veloce in an evening dress was smokin’. But no, not really.
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

Many thanks to Seven Seas for the review copy and reminder that links to books go to affiliate accounts. Your support is greatly appreciated!

 





Kiss the Scars of the Girls, Volume 1 Guest Review by Christian LeBlanc

October 25th, 2023

Two girls in dark old-fashioned Japanese school uniforms, look at us. One, with long, dark hair embraces a younger student with light brown hair. This image is an Amazon affiliate link.Vampires crossed with Class S!
And set in the future, no less.
With a setup so fun
You would think volume 1
Should be more fun than paint drying, not less.

For a story that’s set “in the far, distant future,” Aya Haruhana’s Kiss the Scars of the Girls  from Yen Press languishes in Yuri tropes of old. Emille Florence is our bright, cheerful, young and blonde protagonist, who falls for her assigned cool and distant big sister Eve Winter (whose first name rhymes with “Leave,” the very first thing she says to Emille upon meeting her). Maybe it’s the tea parties with cookies and cake, maybe it’s the secret rose garden (“vampires love the scent of roses”) or maybe it’s the school uniforms that the cast of Maria Watches Over Us would think were too old-fashioned, but I’m just not feeling this ‘future’ vibe. (Or this ‘vampire’ vibe, but we’ll get to that.)

Set at an all-girls’ school where students are assigned a “big sister” on their 14th birthday, Emille spends a great deal of time trying to win over Eve, who, as luck would have it, appears to have hidden, secret reasons for not wanting to get close to anyone. Emille’s friend Yucca Lotus seems to have an unspoken crush on Emille, while Violetta Emme (whose name I keep reading as Violent Femmes) also likes Emille, but not as much as she likes bullying her classmates and obligatory big sister.

Since this is a manga where everyone at the school is a vampire, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this was going to be a book that portrays vampiric content without vampiric identity. Unseen vampire hunters do factor into things, however, attacking the students with swords and shotguns whenever they visit the local town to hypnotize the local ladies enough to feed on them. Vampires are persecuted for their appetites (with no gore, but much blood), but never in a fun, ultra-violent way (which is a missed opportunity in my opinion).

 The vampires in Scars work a little differently than the vampires you’re probably used to, in fact: when a vampire turns 14, they start requiring human blood to live, losing interest in the food they used to love eating. The implication here is that vampires are living (as opposed to undead) creatures, seemingly born this way. These vampires also have no trouble with sunlight, fall easily to any type of weapon, and lack the immortality (and mystique, if we’re being honest) of your stereotypical bloodsucker.

 Overall, Kiss the Scars of the Girls feels like a missed opportunity. The vampire angle doesn’t do anything to make this Class S story stand apart from other Class S stories, except to give a narrative excuse to have the occasional student die violently. If you’re Ride or Die for Class S stories, then by all means give this book a try, but if you like your Yuri vampires to be comedic, or violent, or even inappropriate, you’ll probably feel like you have no stake in this.

Ratings:

Characters – 4 (Shiki Amakuni, we barely knew ye)
Story – 4 (does very little with either Class S or Vampires)
Service – 1 (scale this a little higher if you’re into shoulders)
Yuri – 5

Overall – 6

Erica here: Thank you Christian for this look at what I found to be a surprising license.

I am reminded by Amazon that I have to tell you that the book is linked to an affiliate link, in case you may have forgotten.





She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat, Volume 3

October 23rd, 2023

Last winter I reviewed Yuzaki Sakaomi’s Volume 3 of Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna (作りたい女と食べたい女), expressing my delight over the entire volume – even squeeing throughout. Today I was able to revisit those moments of joy with the release of She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat, Volume 3 out now from Yen Press.

In Volume 1 we met Nomoto Yuki and her neighbor Kasuga, two women who bond over their use food as a form of escape from stress and entertainment. In Volume 2, Nomoto realizes that her feelings for Kasuga are more than friendship.  Here in Volume 3, Nomoto finds another friend and confidant with her online pal Yako, a woman who loves food, but doesn’t care about cooking.  And Kasuga befriends the neighbor who lives in between then, Nagumo, a young woman with a very fraught relationship with food. The four women build a family together, a space in which every one of them is accepted for who they are and their needs are accommodated. This volume is moving and funny and adorable in equal measure.

Yako gives Nomoto a primer in sexual diversity, freeing Nomoto up to stop comparing herself to other people and find her own story. Yako’s light-heartd acceptance and casual speech really blasts barriers away, so it’s an especial delight to have Caleb Cook’s outstanding translation here. In this volume we also get to see the core issue between Kasuga and her family, which is, simply, lack of respect. This is echoed by Nagumo, so they become close over the shared experiences of dealing with family that blames them for not being compliant. I don’t think I have to tell Okazu readers how powerful a message that is. When Kasuga comes to understand how she feels about Nomoto, there are layers and layers being addressed.

In this month, where we have I’m In Love With The Villainess in anime, with heartfelt discussion of queer experience, this manga is the perfect pairing for even more discussions of diversity within sexual and gender minorities. ILTV is a great ice-breaker for folks unused to these conversations in their entertainment, but She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat, Volume 3 is rooted in real experiences and reflects the kind of community that we as queer fans create for ourselves.

An outstanding volume of one of the best LGBTQ manga of the last few years.

Ratings:

Art – 9 Yako and Nagumo give Yuzaki-sensei a chance to ramp up expressions to 11
Story – 10
Characters – 9 (only to give them room to be even more wonderful)
Service – 0  Unless, like Nomoto, you consider watching Kasuga eat “service.”
LGBTQ+ – 10

Overall – 10

I was also pleased that letterer Phil Christie get to retouch S/Fx, at least on some pages, where it wouldn’t affect the art. More of that, please!

There is one more volume available right now in Japanese, but since Chapter 40 of the manga, the series has been on hiatus due to the manga artist’s health. Were’ all wishing Sakaomi-sensei a safe recovery.





If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan I Would Die, Volume 2 Guest Review by Christian LeBlanc

October 11th, 2023

Seven-member pop idol group makes their signature gestures at us, wearing cute outfits of white blouses and blue accents and skirts.Like finding a big ol’ slice of salmon in the special parfait you ordered at the maid cafe*, volume 2 of If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan I Would Die is an ugly volume of a very sweet and poignant series. 

Admittedly, I know very little of idol culture outside of what Erica’s written about it in her reviews of the Japanese volumes of this series. Maybe Auri Hirao is satirizing and/or critiquing some of the darker parts of idolatry, which would mean the negative impression I get is not a bug, but a feature. Regardless, I can only react to what’s on the page, with the background that I bring to it. 

So, what is my background? Well, as an awkward fan, I feel like I have a lot in common with Eripiyo, “the number one stan for Maina, a sidelined member of the underground idol group Cham Jam.” The desire to show support, coupled with a clumsy, almost debilitating awkwardness around those I admire, makes me feel comradery when I see fellow trash like Eripiyo, Kumasa and Motoi being too fan to function around their faves.

On the other hand, I have trouble understanding why fans and performers, especially on this small, local-group scale, can’t just be friends if they want to be. I think that’s why I liked the chapter where Eripiyo and Kumasa run into Aya moonlighting at a maid cafe: it just feels like how things *should* be, imho. An idol and a few fans just casually shooting the breeze and messing around, unbeholden to the forced interactions imposed on them by management. They’re all just people, free to interact with each other. As if they were humans.

I especially can’t relate to the idea that idols aren’t allowed to have a personal life outside of fan interactions. When a member of Cham Jam is rumored – not spotted, but rumored – to have been seen with a man, her popularity within the group drops, she loses fans, and even some of her fellow idols are disappointed in her. 

And I’m not even going to get started on how Maina is able to ignore Eripiyo’s signs of suffering to ask her why she isn’t buying many CDs. I don’t think it’s just because Eripiyo says things like “I eat salmon while thinking of you, Maina!”

This all being said, there’s still a lot to recommend this volume. Eripiyo manages to clearly communicate to Maina why she likes her, a feat rarely seen in volume 2 of anything I’ve read. Cham Jam holds a track and field event for some reason, with references to brutal violence happening when they tried this the year before. We spend some time with Yumeri and Maki, who are always a delight to see together. Eripiyo is shown eating a guardrail, and – I said this before, but it bears repeating – is able to tell the girl she likes that she eats salmon while thinking of her. I realize that most Yuri manga would close up shop at that point, but luckily for us, the third book comes out in print…today!

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 6
Story – 5 Rather disjointed volume, in spite of the thread of a popularity contest tying things together.
Service – 1
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7

*Yes, this happens, and yes, Eripiyo is absolutely here for it.





Koi To Yobu Ni Wa Ao Sugiru, Volume 1 (恋と呼ぶには青すぎる)

October 9th, 2023

Right now on Yuri lists across the Internets, there are a number of Yuri + Food stories. If you are a regular reader here you know two things – 1) I love food more than I love Yuri and 2) Yuri Lists lie.

Which is to say, quite often what one person feels as “Yuri,” others might not. I have read a bunch of stories that either did not feel Yuri, or just weren’t speaking to me; over the years I’ve made an effort to not become cynical about yet another suggestion.  Well, friends, after a couple of series where the Yuri and food did not gel into a coherent narrative, I have found one that was cute…if you like manga in which people shout a lot. ^_^ 

Koi To Yobu Ni Wa Ao Sugiru (恋と呼ぶには青すぎる) by Makotokun is kinda fun, kinda annoying and actually kinda fun. ^_^ Subtitled “Too blue to call love” (In English we’d probably say too green, rather than blue, i.e., too new and fresh) this story was shared on Twitter and has garnered the creator more than 15K followers.

Kyouko runs an izakaya with her brother. She’s cute in a very boyish, immature way. The regulars at the bar tease her pretty gently and she responds by overreacting, cutely.  Her eyes are on Midori, a regular who has a cheating boyfriend. Kyouko can say and do nothing but watch over the beautiful Midori, until one day, the boyfriend walks in the door with another girl and Kyouko loses it. After she rakes Baba up one side and down the other, who should walk in but Midori, who does likewise. Midori ask Kyouko out to get tea one day and leaves her steaming with anticipation and embarrassment.

Kyoko’s brother finds ex-boyfriend Baba alone and sad and ends up taking him out for a drink. The situation between him and Midori is more complicated than it appears. The brother ends up taking Baba home to dry him out.

Kyouko’s brother is thrilled to see Kyouko and Midori get together, he just also thinks Baba’s kind of pathetic and needs a friend. He’s not wrong. In the meantime, Midori and Kyouko go out to a movie and a snack and get to know one another and Midori is very clear that she like-likes Kyouko, who explodes visibly. The next time Midori and Kyouko are out, they comes across Baba and her brother, who invites them all to sit and talk…and weird friendship is born. When Kyouko goes out to buy some nice clothes for her date with Midori she runs into Baba, who picks out a very fashionable outfit for her. Midori admits later that the outfit that she’s wearing was also chosen by him. Midori is comfortable taking the lead in this relationship which is good, because she’d grow old waiting for Kyouko.

This could be the most annoying story ever, but oddly, it’s not. ^_^ 

The art is fun if not clean, and the characters are all likable – even, annoyingly, Baba. The brother (I think his name is Miyabi) watches over everything with a beatific smile and you just cannot dislike him. Kyouko’s charm is her overreactions and showing everything on her face. And Midori seems like a nice person, once she decides to move on. It’s all just kinda cute.

The food and drink is a backdrop, rather than scenery. We get occasional dishes announced but this is not She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat. There are no lingering looks at beautifully prepared meals here, just another order and another beer.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Service – 0
Yuri – 6 to start

Overall –  7

The real question is, would I read the second volume, which came out this past summer. Probably, with the thought that, like the above-mentioned She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat, the publisher is “it comics,” which has been promising. Let’s say it’s very likely that I’ll read V2, eventually. It was fun enough, if a little shouty.