Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Wicked Spot, Volume 1 / ウィキッドスポット

March 20th, 2025

On a vivid yellow background, a woman with wild pink hair in hot pink and black, sits cross-legged, manicured long nails visible on her hand, smiling broadly with fangs showing and an intense look in her green eyes as looks a us.Sal Jiang’s newest manga, Wicked Spot, Volume 1 (ウィキッドスポット) is a classic case of a story beginning in one place and ending way far away from there in many different ways. I love it. ^_^

This begins with a bunch of witch hunters up in the mountains, in a dark, terrifying cave, streaming about their hunt for the unknown. When the unknown pops up to say hi, they pass out from fear, leaving witch Sadako, who has grown up up hidden away from humanity, alone with a cell phone. Fascinated by humans as Sada is, she finally leaves her people and walks into town, using her powers to grab clothes, food, drink, and followers online. Now, she is an influencer.

Hana, a woman with unusual strength and trauma about being called a “witch” as a form of rejection, is 100% a fan of Sadako’s, until she announcas to the world that she is, in actual fact, a witch. Hana goes from super fan to anti in seconds. Sadako tracks her down to see what the deal is.

And then they are both kidnapped by the “Sabbat,” a council of witches and dumped in the one place on this planet witches aren’t uncommon. They have no idea where they are, but, my friends, I was married only a little bit away from that very statue. In fact, our dinner afterwards, was in the same plaza.  So when they awake in Salem, Massachusetts, right in front of the Bewitched statue featuring Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens, I smiled. It also makes me smile that this is not the first time the series Bewitched has appeared here on Okazu as a reference!

Ratings:

Art – 8 sometimes beautiful, other times messy
Characters – 8 Yes, this kind of off the wall, please
Story – 9 Awesome so far
Service – Cute clothes are about it
Yuri – Could go any way right now, but I trust

Overall – 8

What will become of Sadako and Hanako? I don’t know and can’t guess and I’m excited about that! Go! Go! Sal Jiang! Write a story that completely does stuff I can’t predict. I love it.





Honey Latte Girl

March 17th, 2025

A woman with light brown hair, pulled into a ponytail wearing a grey blouse smiles gently off camera. The English words "Honey Latte Girl" in large yellow neon-light font .Sometimes you just need an adorable coffee shop story and, in Honey Latte Girl, an English translation of Inui Ayu and Inu Ha Sakana’s doujinshi from YURI HUB on Bookwalker JP, that’s exactly what you get.  

Our protagonist is a barista who watches over her customers with care. One customer, in particular – a woman who seems stressed and very tight in her routine. This customer orders the exact same thing every day. One day, the customer comes in, looking very out of sorts, so the barista suggest something new and soothing.

Of course, this story goes exactly where one might expect – they begin talking, the customer starts to open up and try new things, they fall in love, the end. ^_^ It’s short and perfect, no bitterness left on the palate. And some days, that’s all you really want – something slight too sweet. ^_^

YURI HUB imprint is run by a bunch of folks associated with the ANCHOR rainbow port tokyo cafe and Yuri Times. The translation is fine and it’s nice to see them bringing Yuri doujinshi to the English-speaking audience!

Ratings:

Art – 7 Inui Ayu’s style is cute, a bit soppy and YMMV
Story – 8 Perfect for jangly days as a sweet treat
Characters – We barely meet them, but nice
Yuri – 9
Service – 0

Overall – 8

Everything was perfect, except…while the *words* honey latte sound very nice, the idea of the drink sounds not so good. ^_^





This Monster Wants To Eat Me, Volume 3

March 14th, 2025

Two girls in white sailor-stye Japanese school uniforms with black piping. One, with long hair embraces the other while smiling broadly. The girl being embraces seems pensive as they stand before a colorful sunset sky.By Volume 3 of This Monster Wants To Eat Me, we understand the tensions between Hinako, a young woman who lost everything before she knew she had anything, and a Japanese mermaid so dedicated to protecting her in order to one day eat her, that she opposes Hinako’s only friend, Miko.

This volume is an ordeal for Miko, whose true nature and her friendship with Hinako is put to the test. Miko’s reaction is to sacrifice something important, to assuage Shiori’s doubt….and ensure Shiori must become more responsible for Hinako’s well-being.

Then the story becomes an ordeal for Hinako, who is taken by Shiori to the beach…where the dark loss of her family haunts Hinako even more uncomfortably than usual.

Shiori smiles all the time, and says she wants Hinako to maybe find some happiness, but is this the way to do it? It’s hard to understand Shiori’s motivation at this point. We will, eventually, but right now, we’re more like Miko, wondering what the agenda is here.

Sae Naekawa’s story is always just on the edge of discomfort. We don’t know what feels wrong, or why, but we are made uncomfortable by Hinako’s discomfort. Even though we can see that she is well-protected, there is always something dark under the surface, waiting. Caleb Cook’s translation of Shiori, especially, is exceptional. Nothing she says is “wrong”, per se, but it’s not quite right, either. The house style for Yen’s translation of sound effects means that Bianca Pistillo’ work is good, but not given room to be oustanding. Nonetheless, I want you to really *look* at the first page and see that the same sound effect fills the trees and the oceans and follows the girls as they walk in a brilliantly subtle atmospheric moment.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 Still ominous and compelling
Characters – 8 The more we know, the less we know
Service – Blood. Violence. Monsters. Secrets. More Monsters.
Yuri – Miko is possessive, Shiori is infatuating and infatuated

Overall – 8

I continue to love this series, and look forward to every volume, whether in Japanese or English. But I very much thank Yen Press for this review copy!





Watashi no Blue Garnet, Volume 1 (私のブルーガーネット)

March 13th, 2025

A woman with collar length brown hair in an orange blouse, embraces a taller woman in a light blue button-down blouse from behind.

Akiyama Haru is a name we’re quite familiar with here on Okazu. Creator of the excellent series Octave, she has participated in many a Yuri anthology and had a few other works, as well. I was excited to see she had a new Yuri series starting up last year and finally have a chance to tell you about Watashi no Blue Garnet, Volume 1 (私のブルーガーネット).

Kon is a young woman, several years out of college, who has been unable to secure a job. Her mother is worried about her, but not at all sympathetic, haranguing her to find a job or a man.

As Kon leaves yet another interview, she is stopped on the street by a beautiful woman named Ai. Ai and Kon, in this case are both words for shades of blue, 紺, navy blue and 藍, indigo.  When Ai realizes she has mistaken Kon for someone else, they talk a bit, then part. Kon does not get the job – again – but is contacted by one of the interviewers about another position, by which he means he wants to have sex with her. Kon walk out on him, understandably upset. He follows, predictably blaming her for his failure to be a decent human. When he starts to yell at Kon, Ai comes up the street and tells him off.

Later, we follow Ai, who works at a hostess club, when she sees someone and runs away from him. As she runs, she comes across Kon once again. Ai can’t go back to work, since she ran off, and has nowhere to go, as she lives in a work dorm, so Kon, in a chance moment, asks Ai to stay over her place.

Ai admits to Kon that she stopped her, because she reminded her of her ex…and that the man she ran from was her ex’s husband. Together, the two of them embark on a journey, ostensibly to find Ai’s ex, but it becomes clear to us, and to Kon, that this is a journey to herself. Even, so, we see that the ex, Kaede, is not gone in any significant way and is also traveling, although what she is looking for, we don’t know.

I wasn’t sure about the premise as “you remind me of my ex” is, IMHO, a terrible pick-up line. ^_^ Both Ai and Kon have issues, the kind of trauma we all carry around, and Kon’s mother is absolutely ignoring her daughter as she is, for the daughter she imagines she wants. I read Kon as neurodivergent, with a mother who cares, but only as long as she’s “normal” and doing expected things, but your interpretation may vary. Additionally, Kon is suddenly finding herself attracted to a woman, something she has never considered as she struggles to be what her mother expects. When she tells Ai that she likes her, it is a big step into the unknown.

Shockingly, I like both Kon and Ai. Akiyama is not afraid of ending a story with the primary couple not together, so I don’t want to say “I hope they get together,” since that might not be the best outcome for them. I do hope they find themselves in a better place in their lives by the end. More importantly, I love the idea of a bildungsroman for these two. We need have journeys into the unknown future of themselves for adult women!

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – Not really
Yuri – 8

It’s great to have a new series by Akiyama-sensei. I’ll definitely check back in and see what has become of them in Volume 2, as the series is continuing in Melody magazine (メロディ).





How Do We Relationship? Volume 12

March 12th, 2025

By Matt Marcus, Staff WriterA young woman with shoulder-length black hair and wearing a red dress stands in the middle of a college school festival, holding a plastic container of food in one hand and a plastic bag with more containers in the other. She is looking back over her left shoulder with a slight smile

I’ve long held a preference to mouthwash. No, not the electric blue-green swill with flavor names like “arctic” and “alpine”, describing some slightly different formulation of wintergreen. I’m talking about the unadulterated, sickly amber kind simply called “Original.” Unlike its minty counterparts, the Original burns as it works. I liked that about it. It told you not only that it was working, but where it was working. I always found the lack of feedback from the other flavors disorienting, as if I were trying to walk on numbed feet. I feel the same about aftershave, hydrogen peroxide, and so on. Pain exists to direct your attention to places of need.

How Do We Relationship?, Volume 12 brings the pain. A cleansing, healing pain that is much sorely needed.

Last we left our cast, the plot had taken a heavy-handed nosedive into some serious subject matter. Miwa was left broken after a traumatic encounter with Tamaki, while Saeko’s relationship continues to be more and more strained by Yuria’s need for space.

There’s no sense being coy about it: this is the volume where the girls break up. Again. None of this should be a surprise, as we have felt the cracks starting to form two volumes prior, but unlike before, I feel like the pangs of heartache here are growing pains rather than seeping wounds.

I emphasized in my last review how critical I was in how Miwa and Tamaki’s conflict about sex played out. The first few chapters here help add some context to the fallout that I think takes some of the worst sting out of it, but without lightening its impact. For Miwa, she felt shame that her sexual desire was so strong that it overpowered her emotional needs, and that Tamaki felt repulsed by the intensity of that desire.

Miwa breaks up with Tamaki. The decision is a major sign of growth for her; instead of clinging desperately to a flawed relationship like she did in the past, she realizes that despite their mutual love for each other, it would be mentally and emotionally better for her and Tamaki to part ways as lovers (put a pin in that, it will come up again). I think the breakup and their later run-in at the school festival were emotionally impactful, and it left me thinking that both of them will be OK as they move on in their lives.

It does, however, resurface an underlying issue: this is another example of Miwa feeling like she owns all the blame for a failing relationship. At no point does she give Tamaki any ownership in what transpired in their relationship, much like she did with Saeko before. This seems like a character flaw that will continue to not be treated as such. I can accept that even at 21 she is not a fully-formed adult yet, but her martyr complex is a blind spot that is a bit troubling.

As is typical in this medium, we get to see into Tamaki’s backstory for the first time right before the end. I think that the segment was effective in further humanizing her…but it was a struggle for me to want to empathize with her after the last volume. That queasy feeling from chapter 103 is just never going to fully go away, as if it were some kind of trauma (put a pin in that).

I had mentioned in previous reviews that I wish we saw more of Miwa and Tamaki’s happy moments together. The characters clearly express that their love was deep and genuine, but very little of that made it to the page in favor of anxiety and stress—and not even just around the sex. The way they interact here shows me their feelings, but I was not given the opportunity, with a rare exception or two, to feel it for myself.

There is another moment of growth here for Miwa that I found particularly impactful. When Miwa is casually outed at a social gathering for the Light Music Club, she takes the moment in stride and is able to smoothly redirect the conversation away from her queerness being the topic. This inspires a baby gay first-year to approach her after the event and tell her that he admires her strength in “living her truth”. Miwa reflects for a moment before telling him that she falls in love with women who are “bold and cool”, and she looks to their example as her source of strength. It’s a powerful moment of self-reflection that is demonstrative of this series at its best. Watching Miwa mature from the timid girl who couldn’t handle Kan in Volume 2 to now is one of the most satisfying character arcs I’ve witnessed in manga.

Meanwhile, Saeko and Yuria struggle to find a compromise between Saeko’s desire to spend as much time together and Yuria’s emotional need for space. Saeko struggles with not being able to see Yuria when she wants, but when Yuria begins making more time for her, she feels bothered that she’s making a sacrifice. They are coming from too far a distance apart for meeting in the middle to feel good. That’s a big bummer for a couple that we’ve seen work through troubles and arguments before and come out the other side stronger.

I could say a lot more about this, but in the end, they both agree to go back to being friends (at their favorite spot, the playground, of course). Like this series is fond of doing, the breakup doesn’t mean cutting themselves out of each other’s life. I wish they could’ve worked it out, but if they were going to break up, it would be hard to ask for a better way for it to go for them.

I’ve been praising the art for a while now, but this volume has a few standout panels that are some of my favorite drawings of the series so far, along with a beautiful color image for the cover. Abby Lehrke’s localization continues to get top marks from me.

I believe this volume is a return to form from the trajectory it had been taking over the previous two volumes. Both Miwa and Saeko shed their tears, but they leave their relationships stronger and with a hope for the future. There are hints here as to what that future is—and if you are paying attention at all, you know where this is heading—but for now, the slate is clean. It’s a real palette cleanser, the kind for those who prefer to avoid the mint.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 10 
Service – 0
LGBTQ – 10

Overall – 9

The final chapter of the series was uploaded on the VIZ app on February, 28; Volume 13 will hit shelves in September 2025.

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.