Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Manga no Tsukurikata Manga, Volume 6 (まんがの作り方)

January 29th, 2013

Do not start with me. I know, I know, this manga is a wasteland. It pretends to be Yuri, so here we are. I try, to the best of my ability, to keep Okazu as comprehensive as possible without violating my own standards of  entertainment (which is why you have not seen a hentai collection review in a long while. They are so boring. Girls have unrealistic, messy sex. Wow. Really, how exciting.)

So, while Manga no Tsukurikata, Volume 6 (まんがの作り方) is not actually indecent by my very relaxed standards, it is no way decent, either. Indifferent manga artist Kawaguchi has been abandoned by Morishita who has a crush on her. Takeda, who has a crush on Morishita and hopes one day to debut herself has moved with her to Tokyo.

But, when Takeda sees Morishita’s editor macking on her, she realizes that her chances of debuting are small and something important happens – Takeda suddenly becomes the only character in the book that has a plot.

Crush, crush, nasty crush…the Yuri landscape painted in Manga no Tsurikata is grim. So grim, it’s a veritable DMZ of emotion. But now, after 6 volumes of watching two talentless hacks inexplicably make it in professional manga without hardly any effort, drive or skill, Takeda, bitter, unappreciated Takeda, stands up and takes this crappy series over as the only 3-dimensional character.

Ratings:

Art – Hirao nails ennui
Character – Practically existentialist
Story – I don’t know, maybe we’ll get one in Volume 7
Yuri – One for each crush (so, 3)
Service – I don’t want to think about it

Overall – Somewhere out there, someone must like this series. I wonder why

I absolutely love how miserable Masato spends the entire volume being drawn as if he is a total babe, surrounded by the three woman on the planet who think he’s as attractive as a slug. Get out kid, it’s your only hope.




Yuri Manga: Kanojo to Camera to Kanojo no Kisetsu, Volume 2 (彼女とカメラと彼女の季節）

January 28th, 2013

In volume 1 of Kanojo to Camera to Kanojo no Kisetsu, (彼女とカメラと彼女の季節) we met typical high school student Akari, atypical highschool student Yuki, who is a photographer and asocial outlier in class and sports hero student Fukuyama, Yuki’s childhood friend, who is interested in Akari.

Volume 2 begins with Akari experiencing an epiphany about her feelings for Yuki, followed up by a almost complete rebuff by the object of her interest. In the meantime, Fukuyama is there to support her emotionally…something that makes Akari as uncomfortable as her feelings about Yuki does. She’s really trying hard to not give Fukuyama the wrong impression about her feelings. On his part, he seems sincerely to not be under the wrong impression at all – he can see that Akari is interested in Yuki, but he really likes her and wants to be there for her.

Akari wants to see Yuki, Fukuyama wants to be closer to Akari.

And what about pale, ethereal Yuki, the photographer? When she returns to school, she seems to be driving Akari into Fukuyama’s arms. And yet, in quiet moments, it’s Akari she’s thinking of. She leaves provocative photos of herself in her dark room  – for Akari to find? Akari thinks so.

As volume 2 comes to an end, it’s Yuki’s turn to play her cards. What hand she’s holding, we just don’t know.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

This volume made me laugh a little, frown a little and left me really hoping hard for an ending I know I won’t get. ^_^; Will I?





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

January 24th, 2013

Once again, the cover of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) tells a story. The January issue’s story, which is helpfully titled “Love Story”, provides flashbacks to Mad magazines of old, as the cover and inside cover offer *4* pages of story with the fold.

This issue was primarily interesting for the various ways in which so many of the stories explored the typical tropes of schoolgirl Yuri with abandon. And I mean that – artists are really just going nuts within the same few basic ideas. Girls are still transferring into elite schools, where they encounter the star of the school…but none of the typical things one might expect are happening. The star of the school is not who she seems, murders occur, things are being smashed and thrown and kisses are hard, sometimes, and gentle sometimes. Characters are enigmatic, cheerful, angry, polite and crazy. This issue is not, really, in any way a great reflection of life, but that isn’t my point. My point is…wow there’s a lot of *stuff* going on in this magazine!

And once again “Fu~Fu~” wins the universe as Sumi decides that she and Kina ought to, y’know, have matching rings. Oh god this series is so cute! Kinana agrees that matching rings would suit them well…and she suggests that the next thing on the menu ought to be a wedding ceremony. ^_^ Squee!

This issue was a really nice selection of stories of girls and women in a variety of relationship from utterly dysfunctional to happily ever after. Exactly what I want in an anthology. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8





Yuri Manga: prism

January 23rd, 2013

Show Higashiyama’s prism was a perfect example,  I thought, of a manga series about which my opinion changed over time. A re-read of Volume 1 helped me realize that my opinion changed because the story itself changed.

I remember reading the first chapter in Tsubomi and being wholly unimpressed. Megumi’s first love was with a boy she met one summer when she was young. She and Hikaru shared their first kiss. Now she’s met him again for the first time in years and it turns out that he’s a she. Hikaru is still in love with Megumi. After a while, Megumi gets over her reluctance for being in love with another girl.

Their relationship consists of stolen kisses and increasing intimacy, which would all be very realistic, if Higashiyama wasn’t portraying everything like he was drawing a porn doujinshi. As I read this volume, I remembered why I had been reluctant to say I liked this series for so long. It’s not until it gets into later chapters that it becomes less creepy and more honestly uncomfortable-making.

However, this may be moot, as Volume 2 may or may not ever be forthcoming. This series was put on hiatus and this volume pulled from stores after a plagiarizing scandal. (In which I unusually find myself on the side of the artist.) This is a damn shame as it was later chapters in which this story started to be really worth following. And now that Tsubomi has gone to digital, (updating mostly manga we never cared about) we may never see any more of it. So, unless you were collecting Tsubomi and unless they bring back prism, your best bet is used manga bookstores, or 3rd party sellers.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – Starts at 6, but climbs steadily
Characters – 7, they get better in later chapters
Yuri – 10
Service – 7

Overall – 8

I’ll hope that in some future date we’ll  get the gay-bashing chapter in a collection because that was when this series went from “okay” to “absolutely worth following.”





Yuri Manga: Hana to Hoshi, Volume 2 (花と星)

January 18th, 2013

In Volume 1, we meet Hanaii Sawako and Hoshino Shiori, former rivals in the sport of table tennis, now classmates in high school. In Volume 2 of Hana to Hoshi (花と星) their former rivalry has now turned into something more complex.

The bulk of the book is spent dealing with a digression and a McGuffin. The McGuffin is revealed in the backstory of Funami Chika, whose relationship with Hoshino is far more intimate  than Hanaii is ready to cope with. It’s Funami-sempai who tells Hanaii her story, ultimately freeing Hoshino from her past.

The digression is the existence of a male schoolmate who has fallen for Hanaii and – in an exceedingly rare display of normal behavior – confesses to Hanaii, followed by requests for eating lunch together and a date. The fact that he’s such a nice guy is almost a shame, because you’ve gotta feel bad for him. He’s so functional and he’s screwed. Poor Ogawa.

In my review of Volume 1 I suggested that I knew the perfect ending to this story. It’s not like it was a stretch or anything. This story began with table tennis and the only proper thing to do with it was to end it there, as well. And so, like Yukiko and Chikage in Sakura Namiki, Sawako and Shiori express their genuine affection for each other through their shared love of a sport.

Yesterday I mentioned that my review was a paean to connections. This manga was indeed on the top of my “to-review” pile, and so, when I hit page 18 of Sakura Namiki and found Yukiko in the middle of a ping-pong match, I started to laugh. As Lillian was born from Catholic boarding schools before it, the chances that  Flower and Stars was coincidentally about girls who played table tennis receded to near zero. No Yuri is an island entire of itself. And truly, one piece at a time, we’re now seeing tribute paid to the classic manga that came before in the manga that makes us smile now.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 1

Overall – 8

This story, so enjoyable on its own, must be seen as a part of a body of literature. Which, to my mind, makes it just that much more enjoyable.^_^