Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink (English) Guest Review by Melissa M.

June 12th, 2013

Kisses_ssWoo-hoo!  It’s Wednesday and we got ourselves a Guest Review! As I mentioned in last week’s YNN Report, “I’ve reviewed it 3 times already (when it first came out from Yuri Hime and Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the new edition when Futabasha put them out.” By all means feel free to read those and get the first and middle looks at this series. Now we’ll take one last look at the series.

Sine I’ve reviewed this story a bunch of times, I think it’s time for someone else to get a turn. ^_^ Melissa M. has stepped up to the plate with her very first Guest Review here on Okazu! I just love when that happens.  Please welcome Melissa to the stage. /applause/

Morinaga Milk’s Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink follows Hitomi and Nana, longtime friends and new lovers, through high school and their developing relationship.

KSCBP was written in 2003, several years before the series GIRL FRIENDS, by the same author. Unlike Akko and Mari, Hitomi and Nana have to deal with their crises largely alone. Nana mentions that she and Hitomi have had sex but also wonders what counts as sex between two girls, and is upset that she has so many questions and nowhere to turn. It makes me wonder just how few resources there were for the LGBTQ community in Japan ten years ago. Hitomi is afraid that her love is preventing Nana from living a normal life and overcompensates by trying to be “manly.” Both are terrified of being found out, and near the end, they run away together, deciding that their relationship is more important than their friends and families. Their circumstances make KSCBP a more angsty series than GIRL FRIENDS, but also perhaps a more realistic look at the problems and misunderstandings a lesbian couple could have in a society that offers them no role models. It’s nice to see Morinaga addressing issues like these, which seems a bit unusual for her stories. But it’s not all sorrow and fear. The girls have plenty of good times together as they and their relationship mature, and they find that some friends are supportive. I think they have a good shot at keeping their promise to get married and to have their story continue forever.

My only real quibble with this story is the ending, in which everything is suddenly resolved. Hitomi and Nana move into their own apartment together with the blessing of their parents, to face college and life together. It seemed a bit too abrupt and magically-happy-ever-after, almost dismissing all of their earlier fears. But who am I kidding, it turned me into a puddle of squee on the floor. ^_^

The anthology also includes five one-shots set in Hitomi’s and Nana’s high schools, interspersed through and mostly unrelated to the main story. They generally include Morinaga’s stock character designs, the taller outgoing long-haired blonde and shorter quieter short-haired brunette, so it can be a bit difficult to tell in flipping through the pages whose story you’re in. The relationship chart in the back is a big help here. I didn’t like any of these quite as much as the main story since the one-shot format leaves little room for character development, but your mileage may vary.

Seven Seas did a great job with this anthology. I particularly appreciate the fact that they left the larger sound effects in place and added a small translation, almost like furigana, above them – it seems less disruptive than replacing them with English or putting a list of translations at the back.

This is a heartwarming story that belongs on every Yuri lover’s shelf, and a comparison with GIRL FRIENDS makes it clear how far Yuri and (hopefully) society have come in the past few years.

Ratings:

Art – 8 (Being older work, it’s not quite as polished as GIRL FRIENDS)
Story – 9 for the main story; 6-8 for the one-shots
Characters – 9
Yuri – 10
Service – 4

Overall – 9

Hitomi is a cat person! That makes me smile. ^_^

 

Erica here again: Yuri Shimai, the original magazine in which Nana and Hitomi’s story began, was the very first magazine of its kind.  The whole wallowing in angst about “does she feel the same way?” of the early chapters was very typical of stories at the time. The later chapters you’re referring to were all written recently – not in 2003, but in 2011, for the Futabasha edition.

That having been said in 2003, there was LGBTQ life in Japan, but that mostly meant bar life. Resources are way more abundant now, even in smaller cities. Which is all to the good. ^_^

Thank you Melissa for weighing in with your point of view!





Yuri Manga: Onna no Ko no Sekkeizu (女の子の設計図)

June 11th, 2013

Onna no Ko no Sekkeizu, “Drawings of a girl” (女の子の設計図) is a collection of stories by Konno Kita that ran in Hirari magazine and Comic Yuri Hime.

Since her parents divorced Kana has lived with her father but, now that he’s re-married to a younger woman, she’s decided to go live with her mother and her sister, Ato. While apparently making a place for herself with her family and new friends, Kana struggles with intense emotions for her sister. When she and Ato surface their feelings, they share an unsisterly kiss, and agree to stay together forever. I’ll be honest, this story depressed me. What are the chances that they’ll actually be together for even a few years, much less forever? Low? None? I can’t help but feel they just need to get used to having a sister around. It is far, far likelier that one or both of them will find other people to be interested in eventually.

The final story in the collection treads a similar line, in which a woman and her sister-in-law have a relationship after the invisible brother/husband is killed off, making it possible for them to be a happy alternative family.

It is the second story in the collection that I find the most interesting and appealing. In “Shounen” Hisoka “confesses” to Miyaji that there is a boy inside her who has fallen in love with her. Short as it is, this story a unique way of looking at the evolution of a young woman coming out to herself and her person of interest at the same time.

I love Konno’s art, but her interest in sister-love (which has been consistent over the years) is not for me.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 3,7,4
Characters – Hisoka and Miyaji – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 5

Overall – 6

I consider incest stories to be, basically, lazy storytelling. It’s simpler than coming up with a story of people who don’t know each other falling in love, but much less compelling.





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime, May 2013 (コミック百合姫)

June 4th, 2013

The cover of the May 2013 Issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) shows us a springy scene with what I imagine some people will see as a cute girl carrying boxes outside a door and what I imagine that some people will see as cute cats. Inside the cover, she comes into a comfy space with another girl, with hearts and cats all around. The cover can be cut to create a door to be opened, which will give the scene a sense of motion. This “Spring of Life” is as good a beginning as any, although I kind of miss the crazy violence of Kazuaki’s work. ^_^

I’m going to say this straight up – I liked Takahashi Mako’s story this time. Well, I liked the idea of an imouto-bot who says all the stock things one expects from a “little sister,” Yuri-style. Someone will make a lot of money off this idea someday. I hope it’s Takahashi-sensei.

Takemiya-sensei’s “Nakushimono Okurimono” returns us to Satomi  and Nana and the uncomfortable sense Satomi has that Nana still has feelings for Youko. (All of which is dealt with in Kila Kila.) Satomi comes up with a cute and creative way to resolve the issue.

Sa-chan and Ruki are on an inevitable course now, in ““Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na Nanika” but it’s Remi who awakens Saki to the idea of being with a woman.

Of all the stories in this issue, the one that’s sticking with me is Osawa Yayoi’s, “Strange Babies”, the continuation of Black Yagi to Gekiyaku Madeline. Yagi, having never truly been socialized, is trying hard to be normal, while Madoka find herself cut off by Kokoto’s dominance of Yagi’s time and attention. Kokoto’s obsession is uncomfortable-making, a fair echo of fans who want more from idols than they can reasonably give. It’s very hard to know if Kokoto wants to be with Yagi, be Yagi’s lover, or just *be* Yagi. She may not know herself. All the while, Madoka finds herself pushed aside but incapable of saying anything. It’s also difficult to know if Yagi understands what is going on. It’s my guess that she really does not. ARGH. Frustrating story, but I’m emotionally engaged with it, so good. But ARGH. ^_^

For me, this was not a strong volume. The first half of the magazine this issue had too many physically and emotionally abused, neglected, broken and unhappy girls and way too much emphasis on love saving the day. It’s not cool, editors, not cool at all, to put love or having a lover in the position of “thing that will save you.” It doesn’t work like that and you know it.

Ratings:

Overall – 5

I will never ever enjoy a story where, to save the day, someone has to hit someone else over the head with a rock. If that’s your punchline, you’re on the wrong track for writing a good story.





Yuri Manga: Mangatime Kirara Miracle (まんがタイムきららミラク)

May 21st, 2013

Today’s post is less of a “review” and more of a heads-up. ^_^ Along with Ichijinsha’s Comic Yuri Hime, and Shinshokan’s Pure Yuri Anthology Hiirari and Hobunsha’s Tsubomi magazine, there is a secret repository of Yuri on Japanese manga magazine shelves. ^_^

Where is this secret repository of Yuri? It lives in the pages of Hobunsha’s Mangatime Kirara family of magazines  – or, as I like to refer to them, Mangatime Kirara and all its little wizards. You already are familiar with some of the MTK titles – Hidamari Sketch, K-ON! and Yuyushiki all come from the pages of the various MTK magazines.

Today I’m looking at Mangatime Kirara Miracle (まんがタイムきららミラク). It has several Yuri-ish series that I have, thus, far, mostly ignored. ^_^ All (or almost all) of the MTK stories are 4-panel comic strips. They share format and layout – and a pattern of joke-telling known as Kishoutenketsu – and therefore have the same “flavor” as K-ON! or Sunshine Sketch. As I’ve said in reviews of 4-koma books in the past, they are best read a few pages at a time, or the pacing starts to feel repetitive.

Right now, Mangatime Kirara Miracle is running several “Yuri” series:

Sakura Trick (桜Trick)  is a school life comedy-drama. Two volumes are out in Japanese. Volume 1 | Volume 2

Lily (リリイ) is a school life comedy drama that recently started in the magazine.

Loveliest Treasoner (ラブリストリズナー) *just* started running in the April volume. And, yes, it’s a school life comedy-drama.

Do you sense a pattern? ^_^ All three of these series have some actual Yuri. In the rest of the series running in the magazine, like many other mostly-female cast-4-koma series, it often feels like every female character in any given series can be paired up with another without any actual visible emotion, affection or, really, any reason to think that they belong together. /coughLuckyStarcough/ (I know Lucky Star is not an MTK series. ^_^;)

I’m going to sit here and make myself read this magazine/these series today. I’ll let you know at a later date whether you’ll ever be hearing about them again…or not. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (ピュア百合アンソロジーひらり) Volume 10

May 20th, 2013

I note that I have five markers in the pages of Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari  Volume 10 (ピュア百合アンソロジーひらり), which is a very good sign. ^_^ Also note the very “Yuri classic” stylish cover by Konno  Kita.

In “Ichigo Drops to Kase-sen” Kase-san and Yamada-san take their relationship to a new level, finding a moment for some gentle intimacy on the class trip. One of the things I very much like about this series is how slowly it is progressing. This not the typical rushing from “we like one another” to “we’re together” to “have sex,” one so often sees. It’s perfectly plausible – and sweet – to see a relationship at this age develop at a more leisurely pace. This series continues to be the benchmark of the anthology, IMHO.

In Morishima-sensei’s “Seijun Shoujo Paradigm” Aoi and Lily find themselves on something that’s awfully like a date without meaning to be. I’ve wondered for years if this is a universal lesbian thing – apparently, it is. ^_^

“Majyou and Hikikomori” was just silly. As in Scape-God, sometimes a shut-in just needs a powerful magical creature of her own. In this case, to cook and clean for her lazy ass.

Mitsuki has a chance to fall in love with her lover Ayumu all over again in “Chandelier Stardust.”

But, the story that really did it for me this volume is a little princess and her knight ditty that was relatively standard until the final panel that was evidently meant to look like a piece of medieval artwork. Bing! Bing! We have a winner. ^_^

Ratings –

Variable, of course, it’s an anthology

Overall – 7

Hirari has settled into a very solid Yuri anthology and I am starting to anticipate getting each new volume, a far cry from my original apathy.