Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime, January 2014 (コミック百合姫)

January 9th, 2014

While the cover of the January 2014 issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) was much discussed for about 15 seconds when the art was released, the K-ON! clone art is pretty much the least notable thing about this issue. ^_^

The lead story is…well, it’s different. Loner girl find her alone time on the roof interrupted by the Student Council President who is there to stuff her face with junk food.  They get locked up there and end up having to jump the fence and drop two stories into the school pool. Love? I have no idea. ^_^

Love between sempai and kouhai in school and in adult life fill the next few pages. Chisako, having finished up her Dark Cherry to Shoujo A series, starts with another story about a boyish girl and her femme lover. Mio is a top-notch pro soccer player and is admired by many. Sakura, her lover is.,.just not satisfied. She couldn’t even tell herself why, so she splits from Mio. Time passes and she sees Mio again, and learns that her ex now has a boyfriend. Now that she can’t have what she had and threw away, Sakura desires it. Can you tell I’d like Mio to tell Sakura to get lost? I would. ^_^

Minamoto Hisanari is back with a fun story about the night-time shenanigans of the school’s 7 mysteries, which brings the girl who comes out of the picture on the stair in one wing together with Toilet Hanako in the other. and gives rise to a new mystery in the courtyard. This one was too adorable.

Amano Shuninta’s “Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na” comes to an end…and I panicked. I was all “what if they don’t bring Amano-sensei back? Argh! Augh! (They will, next issue. New series. Phew.) The end was as perfect as the rest. No one goes off happily every after, but there’s real possibilities, and a number of lost chances. I really want Asuna to have a spin-off where she finds someone nice. Maasa’s new career is the big reveal and I totally approve.

“Game” by Takemiya Jin continues with an excellent, painful, sexy, uncomfortable chapter. Moriko’s sister turns out to be a Yuri fan and discovers ‘Riko’s stash of Yuri doujinshi by Becky. Becky wants to meet this sister and, of course they, sharing an interest, fall right in. Moriko feels left out and abandoned. To make up with Becky, she offers to wear cosplay of Becky’s fave character. When Moriko speaks like the character, Becky jumps her. It’s a hot kiss and Moriko is powerless to stop, even as she knows that it’s not her Becky is kissing. “Awkward” doesn’t begin to cover it.

“Love Gene Double XX”  by Zaou Taishi and Eiki Eiki also comes to an end. It is a better end then than I expected, back when I reviewed the first volume, not as good as I would have insisted if I were the editor. ^_^ Aoi and Sakura are forced to fight one another and the loser will be “demoted” to the position of Eve. The obvious issue here is that why the flying fuck is being an Eve a demotion? Setting aside the fact that that is still sexism, in a one-sex world, the thing is, neither Aoi nor Sakura are particularly inclined to become an Eve. More importantly they want to show how much each other means to them by fighting as hard as they can against one another, a conclusion that seems silly, but makes perfect sense if you’ve ever competed in anything. The effort you put into winning is your show of respect.

In the climactic moment, Sakura decides that she’d rather just be with Aoi, and lays down her sword as Aoi attacks. (A pretty important act, as she admits that becoming an Eve is acceptable.)  Sakura’s sister, the head of the school, scoops up Aoi and Sakura and has them seen to. In her office, Sumire tells Aoi that she is not alone in thinking separating Adams and Eves is a really fucking stupid, insulting idea and forbidding love between Adams and Eves is adding insult to injury. (She actually mentions same-sex couples existed before the men all died.) Sumire tells Aoi that she has every intention of becoming Prime Minister and changing the laws, before we see her leap into Matsuri’s arms. Aoi and Sakura are reunited, secure that they can, at least while at Kingdom, be together. In a Dark Horse pairing, Erika actually comforts Momiji and for a moment, we like them both, although realistically, they’ll be a terrible couple. ^_^

I would have liked to see the series actually address the changing of the rules, but at least it acknowledged that the rules were fucking stupid.

As always, there were other stories, but these were this issue’s heavy hitters for me. Morishima Akiko-sensei’s “Yuripchu” and Tanaka Minoru-sensei’s “Rock It Girl” return next volume and, phew!, a new series by Amano-sensei, new work by Minamoto-sensei and other continuing series, so I don’t have to panic. ~Breathe~

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I was on pins and needles reading the end of “Love Gene Double XX.” There were just so many things wrong with the set up, it could have gone very badly.

 





Yuri Manga: Yuri☆Koi Girls Love Story, Volume 1 (百合☆恋)

January 6th, 2014

I finished off the last year with the best, so it stands to reason that I’m starting off the new year with, if not the worst, then the “just not terribly good.” ^_^

OKS Comix is a anthology publisher that got traction back in the day doing series anthologies, and generally “adult” anthologies. They’ve got a series of Yuri☆Koi Girls Love Story (百合☆恋) anthologies of which this one is the first.

The first story, by Yamaguchi Serika, is fantastic – by my standards. After breaking up with her boyfriend, Kanae gets a call from her older sister that she’s coming to visit. When Mizuho arrives, she’s accompanied by another woman, Ena, whom Mizuho introduces as her girlfriend. As they prepare dinner and spend the evening talking, Kanae learns that Mizuho and Ena have been seeing each other for two years and have been living together for a year. Kanae is forced to realize that she knows nothing about her sister’s life. Ena and Mizuho are adorable together and it’s pretty obvious that they are also blissfully happy. Kanae starts to think about her boyfriend and how they were happy together, As the chapter ends, she is reaching for her phone. To Be Continued… and I’m tempted to get Volume 2 just to find out what happens, despite the fact that the quality of the book plummets after this story.

The rest of the book goes steadily downhill from uninteresting moe girls sort of liking one another to uninteresting moe girls having messy sex in bathroom. So something for everyone, I guess. (-_-)

Ratings:

Art – Averaging around 6
Stories – The first one is an 8, dropping down to 3 at worst
Characters – Variable
Yuri – Averaging around 8
Service – Starting at 3, topping off at 10

Overall – Without the first story, 5, with the first story, 7

It is my very genuine pleasure to start the year with a shoutout of thanks to Okazu Superhero Dan P. for his sponsorship of today’s review! And should you want to join our list of Okazu Heroes on the sidebar, remember, it’s as easy as sponsoring a review from my Yuri Wishlist on Amazon or Amazon JP! Help keep Okazu functioning and get snide reviews in return – it’s a win-win! (Disclaimer: Snide reviews not guaranteed. Sometime I like sponsored items.)





Yuri Manga: Suzuran Techou (スズラン手帳)

December 26th, 2013

It’s been a good long time since we have had a Takahashi Mako collection from Comic Yuri Hime. The last one I reviewed was Otome Cake back in 2008. Things have changed since then and those changes are strongly reflected in Suzuran Techou (スズラン手帳), Takahashi-sensei’s newest collection.

This book contains a wider variety of personalities, ages and situations than previous collections. While school still tends to be the most common setting, there are less uncomfortably psychotic situations than in her earlier work.

Of the stories in this collection, the ones I found most notable were “Shikeidai no Elevator Girl” and “Chanoma no Hana” both of which have protagonists that come out on the first page. In the latter, a girl’s confession about her sexuality to her aunts by marriage, sparks another confession between them. In the former, the story begins with a girl explaining her “like” pattern to a friend – girl, girl, boy –  then ruining the pattern by falling for a girl out of order.

Several Japanese readers made sure I noticed that her work included a senior couple, in ‘Yuki Bara Beni Bara” but I felt that the fact that it was about sisters meant it really still didn’t fit my request for a story of older lesbians.

The story I enjoyed the most was downright whimsical. In “Mujintou e Motteiku Nara” a girl moves through her life feeling as though huge chunks of it are spent on a deserted island. When another girl invites herself onto the island, she’s initially put out, but starts to enjoy the company. ^_^

This collection has characters from elementary school to adult, which give Takahashi-sensei a chance to actually show off her art skills. She also embraces a much wider range of expression that in previous work, which allows us to actually like the characters, instead of just wondering if the blood will stain their clothes. But even more significantly, her characters have grown. They are not just girls in like, or girls in girl-only situations – some of them know themselves and embrace their own life choices. This is a huge step up for me, and I’m pleased as punch to see this self-acceptance infiltrate yet another body of work from Comic Yuri Hime. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – Averaging out at 8
Characters – Same
Yuri – 8
Service – 1

Overall – 8

I re-read it and found I enjoyed way more of the stories than I expected to. In fact, I’d argue that the weakest of the bunch were the first and last stories and would have reordered the collection completely.





Otomodachi Kara Hajimemashou Manga (お友達からはじめましょう)

December 18th, 2013

I’m sure at least some of you have noticed Otsu Hiyori’s absence from Comic Yuri Hime for some time. Well, she’s back, not in Comic Yuri Hime, but in another Ichijinsha magazine, Zero-Sum, with a series that is, according to the book obi “Girl Meets Girl” + “Boy Meets Boy.”

Otomodachi Kara Hajimemashou (お友達からはじめましょう) follows Akira, a young lady with severe issues around social interactions. She’s not a recluse, she’s just awkward and self-conscious about it.

On the first day of school she meets new classmates who integrate her into their conversation, but her eye is drawn by an outspoken girl across the classroom. Akira’s new friends invite her to karaoke, but upon arrival, she panics and runs. The next day, while hiding in the bathroom, Akira overhears her new “friends” talking about her, and the girl from across the room slapping them down verbally for doing so. Akira really wants to thank the outspoken girl, but just has no idea how to go about it. Luckily for her, outspoken Chizu-chan’s friend Ami groks the situation and brings them together. Prickly Chizu-chan, and cheerful Ami-chan are now her friends, but Aki-chan is still awkward. Luckily for her, neither Chizu nor Ami care. Akira finds herself asking her brother Haru if she should grow her hair out. Haru asks if she’s in like and Akira replies, “I don’t know..maybe.” Akira struggles with trying to invite Ami and Chizu out on Sunday, but Ami’s good at picking up on cues (probably from being friends with Chizu), they have random adventures together and as their half of the book ends, Aki and Ami are laughing, while a late Chizu carries their shopping bags a punishment for tardiness.

We then turn towards Haru, who had been a soccer star in his school, until he was hit by a car, ruining his soccer career potential and putting his life on hold. Now, finally, he’s back in school, two years behind. He meets a young guy in class (who we know is Ami’s boyfriend) who wants to start a cooking club. Joining them is an old friend of Haru’s Hayato. Hayato is the typical broody, non-verbal type who is always looking out for Haru. Haru, Kou (Ami’s BF) and Hayato decide to form a cooking club at school, but face opposition from the teacher who would be their advisor. Haru gets so pissed, he becomes determined to make something amazing and blow the teacher away.

Otsu-sensei’s storytelling has always relied on quirky characterization. Akira’s introversion will be instantly familiar to most otaku, while Haru is more extroverted, but not at that “beautiful people” level that is all too often set up to contrast with the introverted sibling. Instead, both Akira and Haru are likable, with their own personalities and complications. What little setup we get for each seems fraught with possibility. And, cleverly, with Ami and Kou in the middle of both potential pairings, we don’t need to feel bad about them – they’ve got each other and are ridiculously cute together. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7, with solid potential
Characters – 8
Yuri – 1, BL – 1
Service – 0

Overall – 8

I don’t know if this story is actually going to be “Girl Meets Girl” + “Boy Meets Boy”, but at this point it doesn’t matter, I’m willing to read more and find out. If it does, yay. ^_^ It seems a good bet for the Zero Sum audience, which, like so much of Ichijinsha’s audience, is open to niche stories.





Yuri Manga: Yurimekuru Hibi (ゆりめくる日々)

December 16th, 2013

While in Japan in October, I was loading up on Yuri manga I probably would not have bothered buying if I had to pay shipping. Yurimekuru Hibi (ゆりめくる日々) was among these. I just picked it up without looking and threw it into my pile without really looking at it. When I got it home, the cover did not fill me with desire to read it, so it just drifted lower and lower in the “to review pile” until I finally had no choice but to pick it up. And then I noticed that it was a Champion Red book and my blood ran cold.

If you are a regular reader, you will be familiar with my dislike of Champion Red, the imprint that brought us such abominations as the Mai HiME manga (and Mai Otome, but I knew to not read it by that time)  and the inexpressibly vile El Cazador de le Bruja manga, among others. While Yuri is a not-uncommon fetish among CR comics, the most common fetish to be seen in this imprint is a pathological dislike of women.

So, with some dread, I opened the pages of Yurimekuru Hibi and found…a perfectly normal, slightly silly gag comic about two girls who like each other.

Saiyuri and Yoriko-sempai are in deep like, with very typical skinship (holding hands, sharing food, etc.). They go to school together, hang out after school together, go to the beach and flower-watching. The only standout quality of their relationship is that Yoriko-sempai is a nutball. Not in a bad way, in a Fuurai Shimai “living in an alternate reality” way. Yoriko is excessively rich, also excessively odd, with occasional lapses of sense, manners and sanity. Sayuri is left to clean up after her, but she’s glad to do so, because she really likes sempai.

Typically of a gag comic, the humor is gentle “heh” as opposed to guffaws. Yoriko gets stranger as the volume goes on, and by the end, this reader felt she had sufficiently plumbed the depths of Yoriko’s reality. But for a CR comic, it was light-hearted and had no trace of the kind of violence against women in which this imprint so often engages.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – There isn’t one. It’s a situation comedy in which the situation is “they like one another + Yoriko does goofy thing.”
Characters – 6
Yuri – 6
Service – 3 Downright low for a CR manga

Overall – 6

Yoriko and Sayuri really like one another.