Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Concerto (コンチェルト)

September 28th, 2011

I read Concerto under advisement from Yuricon Chief Lackey Bruce. I had no expectations and found myself pleasantly surprised.

Each chapter is a “Plot, what plot?” type story; i.e.. a very thin frame of a story wrapped around a sex scene. And while each and every story had the opportunity to become gross, exploitative or annoying…none of them did. I found myself slow to relax at first, all ready to be grossed out by bodily fluids and no real emotional commitment, but eventually it dawned on me that that wasn’t going to happen. By the final story, I was more or less in a “well, this was kinda nice” headspace.

In each chapter two girls are brought together by pretty typical tropes – mutual love of music/art, a sempai/kouhai story, a student/teacher thing, and the final story, which was worth a synopsis.

Two girls are staying together while the one’s parents are away. The are in love and are lovers, and playing at living together. When the parents come home and find them kissing, Mom is quick to see what was going on. The two girls run away. They take the train to nowhere, and spend what may well be their final night together. When they return the next day, they find Mom perfectly willing to be complicit in their secret relationship, because she also had a same-sex relationship in school, so just don’t tell Dad, ‘kay? It was a meaningless – and if I thought about it for too long, potentially enraging ending. So I decided not to think about it and take it for what it was, a meaningless handwave that gave the final story a happily-for-now ending.

Bruce noted that the artist, Hattori Mitsuru, is someone he’s been following for some time and who has long been just on the edge of a Yuri story. So, he’s really happy to see Hattori-sensei go full bore on the Yuri. I found the art pleasant enough and, indeed, it reminded me of a few doujinshi artists I’ve liked. But what made the book really readable was that all of the characters have or develop genuine affection for one another. It’s “Plot, what plot?” with love and kindness and caring. Not just sympathy sex or some other tortured setup. That makes a huge difference for my enjoyment level. Because what I like to read is stories of girls in love, not in heat. ^_^; I was rather happy that this collection was published by Hakusensha under the Jets Comics imprint. I haven’t seen anything Yuri from Jets in a really long time. Hakusensha is clearly investing in more Yuri these days, which makes me very happy.

In any case, thank you Bruce for this suggestion, it was a surprisingly pleasant read. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – Averaged out at 7
Characters – Same
Yuri- 9
Service – 6

Overall – 7

If you’re looking for a decent Yuri short story collection, Concerto is definitely worth taking a look at.





Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) Volume 5

September 24th, 2011

I have a problem with Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) Volume 5. It’s pretty much the same problem I’ve had since the beginning. It’s a pretty problematic problem for a series called “Pure Yuri Anthology.” The problem is –  there’s pretty much no Yuri in it.

My standards for Yuri are relatively relaxed. But you know…I do actually expect some expression of emotional or physical connection between two female characters. Stories in Hirari do have “emotional” connection, but it almost always tends to be “OMG, she noticed me! We can be friends? Really? She won’t hate me because I’m….?”

Sometimes a story actually strays into “I’m jealous when she spends time with anyone else,” (as in “Salomelic,” Hakamada Mera’s story) territory, but almost any story in the anthology is easier to read as “friendship” than love, romance or desire.

This is probably the last volume of Hirari, I’ll review, because clearly “pure Yuri” is what I see as friendship. Unless something really stands out, I won’t bother mentioning this anthology again.

Overall – 6

I prefer more Yuri in my “Yuri” than this anthology is willing to give. Forget moving past schoolgirls, this magazine hardly gets as far as “I like you.”





Yuri Manga: Tsubomi, Volume 13 (つぼみ)

September 21st, 2011

Tsubomi (つぼみ), Volume 13 opens with a cover sure to please Morinaga Milk fans. From there, it’s right into “Himitsu no Recipe” in which Wakatsuki is still having no luck getting a moment alone with the club president…until she does.

Of the many stories in this volume, here are some notables:

From there, we jump into my favorite story, “Lonely Sheep, Lonely Wolf” in which Imari-chan finds the strength given to her by big Imari to stand up to big Imari’s ex and get her girl back, dammit! I award a standing ovation to Imari-chan.

“Hoshikawa Ginza Yon-choume” starts to re-ravel after Minato and Otome’s relationship had come completely unraveled.

“Candy’ continues, somewhat surprisingly, with the intrusion of one of Kana’s admirers.

A new story, “Sogo Tovoarisch” begins and I can make neither heads nor tail of it yet, but that’s par for the course these days. Get back to me in three chapters.

“Prism” ends in a unexpectedly sweet way, then launches into a side story of itself.

“Hana to Hoshi” brings Hanai-san up against the obvious relationship between Hoshino and her sempai. What will she do about it, and about her feelings? I think we can assume she’ll work it through, don’t you? ^_^

And something about “Kurai Mori, Shiroi Michi”: appeals to me, but I have no idea what it is. This quiet little love story about a depressed girl and a blind girl is little more than talking heads, but they are sincere and fully fleshed out in a way that surprises me every time. I once again hope that we don’t have to draw the curtain yet on what is the beginning of something good.

As always these are hardly scratching the surface of what is in this volume. It’s quite literally too much to review thoroughly anymore. But these stories were some that I thought stood out from the pack. I will also say that there are a few more non-schoolgirl stories these days, so if you’re getting jaded on the all-schoolgirls thing, Tsubomi is a little less of that than it was previously. No sports manga (well, other than a story about ping pong players who no longer play ping pong) or action/adventure yet, but travel and scifi is starting to claim their spots.

Overall – 8

Once again, I’m pulling for us to see a little bit past the “we like each other!” phase of relationships here, but not betting my lunch on it. Still – it’s getting better.





Yuri Manga: Omoi no Kakera (想いの欠片)

September 19th, 2011

In Takemiya Jin’s Omoi no Kakera (想いの欠片) Mika is that rarest of all manga characters, a confident, out (to herself and a few important people in her life, at least) and together young lesbian. There’s a cafe in town that she likes to frequent, because she’s interested in the owner – she likes the oneesama type. Mika doesn’t like bullies, though, so the day she sees an attractive older woman being emotionally proked and prodded into tears by two aunty-types, she pours water over their heads, tells them off and ends up involved with the other woman’s life.

Mika must be a drama magnet, because she’s leaving the lesbian bar she frequents and runs into a lover’s quarrel in the hallway. This is merely annoying because they are blocking her egress, but it becomes downright weird when it turns out that a schoolmate of hers, Harada, is one of the participants. Mutually outed, they become friends, until that creates *more drama* when Harada’s little sister tries to warn Mika off her brother. After some random accusations and drama, Mika finally has a chance to put things straight between her and Mayu, that she’s got no interest – no, really, none – in her brother except as a friend. Things might have calmed down, except that Mayu finds herself interested in Mika. She doesn’t quite admit to it, but Mika’s no one’s fool.

In her downtime, Mika learns more about the cafe owner’s life and her relationship with her roommate, a story so complicated that Mika sums up with “I don’t get adults!”

Throughout Mika is a fun, smart, self-assured young woman, who I would be honored to have over for lunch.

This series has been running in Hakusensha’s Rakuen Le Paradis, and it has been one of my favorite series since the very first chapter. It’s ongoing, so hopefully we’ll have much more of Mika and her friends. If you’re looking for a character who isn’t coming out, isn’t falling in love and going all gooey, but is participating in life fully as a lesbian, with some meaningful discussion of gay and lesbian life thrown in for good measure, this is an absolute must-get.  In this collection, Takemiya Jin-sensei pushes the boundaries of “Yuri” right dead into “lesbian,” and makes it smart, funny, well-constructed with characters you care about. You know, the kind of Yuri we actually want to read.

Ratings:

Art – 9 I’m a total fangirl for Takemiya-sensei’s art
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Yuri – 9
Service – 1

Overall – 9

If I awarded awards for Yuri, Omoi no Kakera would be a shoo-in. I can definitely call this a Top Ten for the year.





Yuri Manga: Aoi Hana (青い花), Volume 6

August 25th, 2011

In Volume 5 of Aoi Hana (青い花), I commented that Fumi had made it past the third stage of coming out, saying something to a complete stranger. In Volume 6, she makes it to 3.5, telling close friends.

During summer vacation, the girls all head to a hot spring, accompanied by freshman Haru and, more notably, the teacher that Haru says is her sister’s lover. Fumi overstays her time in the outside onsen because she’s embarrassed and subsequently passes out. When she wakes in her room, the teacher comes in to see if she’s okay, and Fumi ends up asking her a question about liking another woman. This is not unconnected, as Fumi’s embarrassment is, in part, at catching herself looking at Akira’s naked body in the bath.

Later that night, Fumi also inadvertently says out loud that she’s in love with A-chan, and Akira says, also out loud, that she knows. There is a tension now between Fumi and Akira; but whether it’s anticipatory or not, they aren’t quite sure and neither are we.

Once home, Akira visits Fumi and asks if maybe they should just try dating and see how that works out. Body and mind exploding with fear/joy/freaking right out, Fumi has completely lost whatever cool she usually has. But, at some point, Fumi pulls herself together and, when they are out on their first date, she kisses Akira with no second thoughts.

Fumi is speaking with her friends, Pon-chan and Mugi, when Pon-chan asks if Fumi is “that way,” (and Mugi flips out at Pon-chan because you don’t *ask* that kind of thing!) we see that Fumi has once again adapted to her new, stronger self and replies quite calmly and honestly that yes, she is “that way,” then lets her friends work it out for themselves. Which they do, very quickly, because after all Fumi is their friend and they love her. (In a nutshell, the number one reason for coming out, IMHO.)

But, wait, there’s more! Fumi’s parents leave on a romantic trip over Christmas, leaving Fumi and Akira to stay home. They buy cake, crack open the bottle of champagne Fumi’s Dad had received and Fumi proceeds to get just tipsy enough to say things she wants to say to A-chan. And so she does. About how she wants to have physical intimacy with her friend. Knowing that the excuse of the alcohol is the best lead-in she’s ever going to get, Fumi drags Akira about three steps forward in the relationship, the same ways she has since the very beginning – by being honest.

Fumi ends by saying that it’s really probable that A-chan’s “like” and her “like” are different, but she really likes A-chan…who responds by embracing her.

And I smiled. I smiled through just about every single page of this book. My god what I would have given for Fumi to have existed when I was 15.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Yuri – 10
Service – 1

Overall – 10

If this book is ever translated into English, I will endeavor to make this story the light at the end of the tunnel for every gay teen in America. There are a lot of young women out there who need Fumi in their life.