Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Fu~Fu (ふ~ふ), Volume 1

December 2nd, 2011

If Yuri Danshi was written to give Yuri Fanboys a taste of what it feels like to have one’s emotions parsed uncomfortably closely, then Minamoto Hisanari’s Fu~Fu (ふ~ふ) was clearly written to explain important things about lesbian relationships to those same Fanboys in the cutest possible manner.

We are introduced to Kinana and Sumi, who have just begun living together after having been a couple for some time. Now that they are living together, they talk about what to call each other, since “lover” no longer is enough. Kinana asks if she can be Sumi’s bride, but that doesn’t feel right either (although Sumi does use “hanayome” 花嫁 later in the chapter.) Eventually Kina suggests a homonym for the word fuufu, which represents husband and wife, 夫婦. Since they are both wives, they should be called fufu, 婦婦. (So, technically a neologism and not really a homonym, since fuu and fu aren’t pronounced the same, but I don’t suppose that anyone but me cares about that.)

The second chapter of this volume is by far and away my favorite. If you are a regular reader, you know how much I long to read stories that focus on domestic life of an established couple. And, perhaps,  you know about my fondness for my big pluffy bed. So to have a chapter in which Su-chan and Kina go out to buy a pluffy bed of their own makes me happy beyond words. The fact that it’s a brutally adorable chapter helps.

Sumi and Kina go on a honeymoon, we meet Kina’s big gay sister Kanana, and their equally gay neighbors Hayase and Komugi. Every chapter is filled to the brim with appallingly cute lesbians.Of course no one uses the “l” word, but Hayase and Komugi do state plainly that they are lovers. Close enough.

The final two chapters are stories that ran in ES-Eternal Sisters, Volume 1 and Volume 2, from back in 2004 and 2005.

What I said in my original comments on Fu~Fu stands – this manga is important. Using moe art and adorable characters, this series quietly, cutely teaches Yuri Danshi what a lesbian relationship looks like, what is important to us, what daily life is like.

My personal favorite scene is the beginning of chapter 3, when Sumi announces work is over, and Kina points out how patient she’s been. They both stare at each other and throw their arms up…and give each other a great big hug. I mean, really. How cute/real is that? That kind of thing totally happens in my house nearly every day. (No, that is not sarcasm. I mean it.)

So, if no one I know was pining for a glimpse into the inner life of a Yuri Fanboy, almost everyone I know has been waiting with anticipation for a series like this, in which a lesbian couple is portrayed with honesty, affection and healthy dollop of cute.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Character – 10
Lesbian – 10
Service – 5

Overall – 9

Fu~Fu  is *so* close to perfect, Minamoto-sensei deserves heaps of praise. I’d like more of this please!





Yuri Manga, Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) November 2011

November 22nd, 2011

The The November issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) starts off, as it has for the past issues since its rebirth, with a chapter of “Girls Uprising” by Fukami Makoto. In this chapter, the (relatively) happy couple of Sayaka and Chisato are split so Chisato can go play prince to Hyoko’s Rapunzel…even though she’s not in the tower anymore. Oh, and of course she and Tatsuki were a couple previously, because this entire world only has 6 people in it. /facepalm/ This chapter thoroughly vexed me. I would very much like to see one of the many guns mentioned in the story take Chisato out. Unfortunately, this appears to be the last chapter of this story. Both cover art and layout change with the next volume. Meh.

In “Fu~Fu,” Kinana and Su-chan are about to celebrate their first anniversary together. Kina and Hayase head out to buy some food, when inexplicably (and I mean that sincerely) a strange woman approaches Kinana and tells her that she’s fallen in love with her. Kina runs home to Su-chan’s arms. Readers are left with a question mark floating over their heads comically.

“Tsuushin Omachishite Orimasu” (erm, “You’ve Got Mail” basically…) by Takemiya Jin was predictably adorable, with a love/like/hate triangle that intersects at different angles in real life and online.

The final chapter of “Ame-iro Kochakan Kandan” was lovely, as expected. I teared up and everything. Then I teared up again at the unfairness of the world that only allowed 2 volumes of this work to exist in it. It was, nonetheless, a gentle, lovely end to this gentle, lovely series. Sob.

“Sakashima Cinderella” was a bent little story of a girl asking another out, for all the right reasons, but going about it the wrong way.

Amano Syuninta’s got a new series about college students and their various affairs. The first chapter was awkward and I liked it quite a bit. ^_^

Sakamoto Mano has an longish short story about an idol and her former partner in a two-person idol group. This was an excellent self-contained non-linear story. I very much hope we get a continuation of this. I’d like to know what happened to Nako after she and Eriko were split up.

In “Love Gene DNA XX” Aoi is worried about Sakura kissing Erika, and Erika is worried about Sakura’s friendship with Aoi. Aoi is getting very close to figuring out what the feeling she’s feeling for Sakura is….

“Yuri Danshi”…I just can’t quite figure this series out. I’m still not sure if it’s meant to explain the life of a Yuri Fanboy to the women who read this magazine or explain Yuri in a larger context to the Yuri Fanboys that read the magazine. Or, it it an elaborate joke by Kurata Uso on both sides? In this chapter Hanadera and a strange man in a book store have an otaku-off and Hanadera has to confront the fact that he was born to be a Yuri Fanboy.

“Renai Joshikka” wraps up what will no doubt be the second (and final? I don’t know, the line-up for the next volume isn’t up on the website yet) volume. Arisu helps Saki confront her former girlfriend. One-upping Seriho and Sarasa, they promise to be together for 60 years. ^_^

As always, these are not all the many stories in this volume, just the ones I though worth mentioning. The magazine seems comfortably split between adult and schoolgirl stories right now and I’m really pleased with it overall. I hope they keep it right about here for a while.

Ratings:

Overall – 8





Yuri Manga: Private Lesson (プライベート　レッスン)

November 11th, 2011

You may remember a volume of manga licensed and released by Seven Seas called Voiceful by nawoko, a collection of stories that ran in Yuri Shimai and Yuri Hime magazines. This was a collection that skirted lightly on the side of Yuri, but was deeply embedded in the idea of music.

Private Lesson (プライベート　レッスン), the new Tsubomi collection also by nawoko is slighly more Yuri and just as much about music as ever.

The main story follows Tamago and her older cousin, Toriko, who teaches her how to play the piano. Tamago is suffering with a crush for Tori-neechan, but doesn’t really have any idea what it is she’s feeling. Quite accidentally, Tamago is made aware of another person with a crush on Tori-neechan. As a result, Tamago is introduced to the complex world of adult relationships, which always seem cool when you’re a kid, until you learn that adults don’t have a clue.

The story about Tamago and Toriko is all right as a first crush story, but there’s an easter egg in this collection. Tamago has a classmate who doesn’t speak much, and who was also was being taught piano by Toriko. Ryuuhara had difficulties bringing herself to speak when she was young and we can see that she’s not a big talker now. In a flashback we see that the girl next door, Miki, was able to pull her out of her shell – and they now have a relationship that goes beyond just being friends.

The real love story here, though, as it was in Voiceful, is music. While we don’t get essays on music, we can easily see that what nawoko loves best is the joy on the face of someone playing music beautifully.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7, Ryuuhara’s side story was a nice bonus – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – 7
Series – 2

Overall – 7

Private Lesson will not probably blow your socks off with “wow”, but that isn’t what nawoko does. Let the story flow, like the strains of Diane Walsh playing Schubert’s Sonata in A Minor as I am doing as I write this review. That’s about right. ^_^

Afternote: I just learned that this piece was featured in Nodame Cantabile, too. That makes it even more perfect.





Yuri Manga: Himitsu no Recipe (ひみつのレシピ)

November 10th, 2011

Underclassman Wakatsuki is reasonably sure she’s gay, but not entirely, so she convinces her sempai, the president of the cooking club, to y’know, kiss her, just to see.

And so, Morinaga Milk’s Himitsu no Recipe, (ひみつのレシピ）begins with a very cheap, servicey opening, and then desperately tries to make a story out of it.

Now that she’s convinced she likes girls, Wakatsuki is also convinced that she likes Buchou. A lot. A lot a lot. And, um, she really wants Buchou to like her back. So Wakatsuki joins the Cooking Club and plots to be closer to the club president, who is almost completely oblivious of her not-all-that-mixed signals.

For her part, Buchou really wants the Cooking Club to be successful and she’s putting her heart and soul into recruitment and training, pretty oblivious of Wakatsuki’s ulterior motives.

Unfortunately for readers, the heart aching sincerity of GIRL FRIENDS is pretty much completely absent in this series. The first chapter very much reads like a one-shot. The overall feel was that the first chapter was a tryout to see if Morinaga-sensei and the Tsubomi editors got along and when they did, they just told her to continue with these two characters.

It’s hard to be sympathetic to Wakatsuki, who would be completely sympathetic if she had her crush, treasured it, fantasized about it, and told herself the whole story in her head, as we do with crushes. But it’s impossible to really like her the 5th or 6th time Buchou has pushed her off and said, “No.” Because sexual harassment isn’t funny or cute or, really, entertaining, no matter how moe the art is.

The big summer training camp is coming up and Wakatsuki has her battle underwear ready to go. I’m almost hoping that Buchou fends her off, gives her what for and throws her out of the club. From my perspective, Wakatasuki needs to be trained properly.

I’m sorry this manga isn’t better, but it had such a bare bones opening and really hasn’t developed any muscles since.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 4
Characters – 5
Yuri – 6
Service – 6

Overall – 6

If you were a big fan of GIRL FRIENDS, I think you might be better off skipping this. If you just love Morinaga Milk’s work on principle, then definitely get it. It has her signature art style, but I know she can write better stories than this.

Sorry all the recent reviews have been grumpyish, but we’re getting down to the bottom of the pile of things I bought in September. And I’m saving the best for last. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Yurikam (ゆりキャン)

November 7th, 2011

Yurikam is exactly why I consider most of the Japanese Yuri blogs to be almost-completely useless in regards to finding good Yuri manga to read. I had no expectations going into this manga and still managed to be disappointed.

Yurikam (ゆりキャン), short for “Yuri Campus” (thank you kind person whose comment I cannot find, who corrected me on this) is an atrocious little story about a rich girl at a rich girl’s school whose rich father goes bust. Yurika is commanded by said father to become a sexual plaything so she can stay at the school. So, for money, food (mostly for food) and room, Yurika sexxors up the entire campus. Including the inexplicable “Ladies” (female biker gang) that show up.

Yurika stays with her dear friend Saori, who is in contention for the most passive-aggressive annoying friend ever. It’s obvious (but not interesting) that Saori has a thing for Yurika, but for some reason that is no reason denies it…and yet, is continually annoyed when Yurika is with some other woman. Really? STFU, Saori, please.

This volume ends with the horrifying thought that there’s going to be a sequel. The world is an unjust place.

Ratings:

Art – Far, far better than it deserved to be
Story – There really is nothing funnier that a girl being sold into sexual slavery, is there?
Characters – All dressed really badly
Yuri – Ya think?
Service – This is a manga only a Fanboy would love

Overall – Not the worst I’ve ever read, but not anything other than “bad.”  I give it a 3 and probably am being generous.