In my review of Otomo Megane’s Himitsu, I commented that the artist has about three characters types. In Otomo Megane’s Green, the three character types are solidified into three characters, who sort of retell a lot of the Himitsu vignettes, only they are all connected in a more intrinsic way.

Tsugumi is a rather serious young lady, who falls in love with straightfoward Megumi. Megumi falls in love back back but, at first only because Tsugumi looks like her older sister, Megu’s teacher from Middle school. The story here is a love triangle, because Tsumugi’s sister did indeed have an affair with Megumi, and Megu’s not really over it, yet.

There’s a bit where Megu and Tsugumi are having some communications issues, but they work it out. The epilogue shows the two of them older, more comfortable with themselves, living together in Tokyo as a couple.

Nothing here is new or unique. The vignettes from Green feel very much like corresponding vignettes from Himitsu, which gave me a weird feeling of deja vu, until I managed to make myself understand that this was a stand-alone story.

The one notable thing about this book is the rather comfortable way we are led to understand that Megu and Tsugumi have slept together. It’s merely a panel or two the next morning, no service and no pandering, but we can tell. Their relationship shifts notes at this point, as it would, which provides the impetus for what passes for crisis here, but everything is handled with a laid-back, low-key, lack of drama that felt refreshing.

Green is a sweet coming of age story rather than a powerful one. There is no coming out, or confession, the relationship develops kind of naturally. Likewise, there is very little conflict, with the exception of Megu’s unresolved feelings for Tsugumi’s sister.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 7

I can’t say I’d recommend Green as standing out in the category, but for fans of the “school girls in love” trope, it’s a pleasant way to pass the time.

Houkago Kanon (放課後カノン) is a collection of stories by Mikuni Hachime, drawn in her signature Ribon magazine-gone-bad style. Several of the stories have been captured from the Yuri Hime Wildrose and Girls Love collections in which they ran and I believe at least one from Yuri Hime S, but I could be totally wrong about all but the first.

The stories follow a relatively predictable pattern set up by the opening salvo in “Onshitsu no Majou” in which there is a girl, and another girl, they have sex and then realize they like each other.

Because I like the order to be slightly different, I’m not a huge fan of this format, but it’s Mikuni’s niche and she totally dominates it.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 5
Yuri – 9
Loser FanPersons – 7

Overall – 5

For service fans, there is groping and underwear and other spicy magazine-type things which also do not interest me, but may perhaps interest you!  Yes, it’s time for another “Get this book out of my house” Contest!

I have a pile of various unsuitable-for-my -onsumption books – and even a few that were quite good, but I don’t want to keep them. Help me get them out of here! If you’ve won an Okazu or Yuricon contest in the last 6 months, please refrain from entering, to make it easier for someone else to win, please, thanks.

I will be sending out however many books I feel like and at roughly a 3:domestic to 1:overseas rate, because overseas shipping is killing me, sorry. Since entering will not be hard, it won’t kill you to enter, anyway. You never know when I’m feeling kind.

Here’s the entering rules:

The name of this book is Afterschool Kanon, where Kanon is the name of a Japanese deity.

Using this same formula, come up with the title and a *one-line* description of a Yuri story. For example, “Bathtime Hecate: Keiko discovers a Greek deity living in the medicine cabinet in her bathroom, how will she keep the goddess of witches from ruining her new life at the sorority house?” Yes, that’s awful. That’s the *point*. Make me groan with awfulness.

You must be 18 or over, because I don’t know what all I have here. Stick your entry in the comments here. If you insist on being Anon, at least add a nickname or something so I can ID you.

Do me a favor, please put your country at the end of the entry, so I know what I’m getting in to and can figure out what to sent where? Thanks!

Good luck!

Every few years or so, someone comes up with the idea of creating a Yuri stand-alone anthology. [ES]~ Eternal Sisters, Shoujo Yuri, Yuri Monogatari, Yuri Tengoku and many others have graced my shelves.

Some of them have borne great fruit. The characters of Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan, for instance, were first seen in [ES]. Some artists are more comfortable in these doujinshi anthologies than they are in the pages of a magazine. Morinaga Milk-sensei, for instance, spent many years drawing for exactly these kinds of anthologies, before she found a home at Comic High.

And now, a new Yuri Anthology series has arrived. The first of these, Yurikan Feuille (百合缶 Feuille) reads pretty much like any of these, with few stories that stand out and a lot of the same kind of Story A. Tears, a few kisses, a few gropes, more tears, protestations of like, sometimes love, the story ends with a sense of relief that both girls are on the same page, romantically speaking.

The first of this series features Morinaga-sensei with her Hitomi and Nana clones, who like each other, and just have never had a chance to actually say it. An accidental encounter gives them that opportunity. This pretty much sets the tone of the rest of the volume. This is fully embedded in Story A tropes – schoolgirls, confessions, confirmation. None of them really stand out as unique. They aren’t awful, just a set of the same story told by different artists. Not a single one breaks the mold, except one story which adds “funny” sexual harassment to the mix.

Ratings:

Variable, obviously, being an anthology.

Overall – 6

As a collection of the same one trope, Yurikan Feuille is not terrible, not great.