Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Tsubomi (つぼみ), Volume 12

August 19th, 2011

In my review of Volume 11, I said that Tsubomi (つぼみ) Volume 12 was poised for something. And so it is.

The covers have recently told short stories on their own and this issue actually includes the story of the cover story as the first story in the volume. Interestingly, the insider color art page is by Kazuaki, the same artist illustrating the “Justice for Girls” novel in Comic Yuri Hime. It’s a small, small Yuri network. ^_^

Otome is starting to realize that her actions have caused Minato some considerable pain in “Hoshikawa Ginza 4-choume.” She has yet to see that she’s hurt another girl, as well.

Wakatsuki spends a lot of time inside her fantasies of the cooking club’s summer camp, but the reality is not what she had hoped in “Himitsu no Recipe.”

In “Prism” Hikaru is having a hard time with her feelings, and her relationship with Hirose-san. A not-at-all chance discussion with a classmate who comes out as bi, sets Hikaru back on the right path.

“Shimaism” adds a couple of new characters to allow Yoshotomi Akihito to draw the girls in random cosplay and a much less skeevy couple to the mix.

The big surprise comes in “Lonely Sheep, Lonely Wolf.” Big Imari and little Imari are spending the night together to celebrate their shared birthday, but a visit by a former lover of Big Imari’s, Rika, throws them both into very uncomfortable territory. But little Imari isn’t having any and stands up to this person who wants to drag big Imari back nto the past. Rika’s reaction to this was such a genuine shock that I gasped out loud. I’m freaking out here, not knowing what happens! This series has been my favorite for some time, and it has just stepped into completely different not-Story A territory. I long for the next chapter.

“Ai o Komete” is exactly the opposite – it’s a slightly annoying “Story A,” featuring an American transfer student whose Japanese is quirky, but fluent.

“Kuraimori, Shiromichi” continues as the depressed Shou finds her thoughts filled with impressions of the blind girl she met in the park and desire to spend more time with her.

Nawoko’s “Private Lesson” wraps up as both Tamago and Tori-‘nee learn all the lessons they can from their relationship to music and to one another.

As always these aren’t all the stories in the volume, just the ones I found notable.

Congratulations to Tsubomi and all the folks who make it happen, for making it through 3 years! Here’s to many more. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

This volume was probably a 7 overall, but the shock of “Lonely Wolf, Lonely Sheep” bumps the volume as a whole to an 8 and that series in and of itself to a 9.





Yuri manga: Seigakuin Kouka Daigaku Yakanbu (星学院工科大学 夜間部)

August 19th, 2011

Seigakuin Kouka Daigaku Yakanbu by Morishima Akiko-sensei (星学院工科大学 夜間部) made me giggle. Constantly, uncontrollably.

Hanasaki Tsukiha had attended a Catholic girls’ school until graduation but now she’s a student at a Engineering College in Tokyo. From the rarified girls-only atmosphere, Tsukiha now find herself surrounded by…men. She feels very alone in this manly environment.

Until a chance encounter brings her in contact with Seita and Kei, two very good looking and friendly guys. Seita, it turns out is gay, which surprises Tsukiha, but hey, it’s the big city. Seita brings Tsukiha to his “circle,” the Yakanbu. The Yakanbu is headed by grungy Tastumi-senpai, a design genius. Along with Seita and Kei…who turns out to be a girl (!) who happens to be bi and is currently seeing and blissfully happy with a woman, there’s Kaito, the young father of a young boy, happily married, attending school at night, and creepy Yuri Fanboy Orishima.

Each chapter deals with Tsukiha’s relationship with these people, slightly focused on one of the various characters. Tsukiha slowly falls for Seita who, it turns out is not gay, he’s actually asexual. She has a hard time getting past this, but with the help of everyone in the group, she manages to make herself be friends with Seita.  In the meantime, her Onee-sama Nijika visits, and poor Orishima practically dies of Yuri overload, as Nijika is the Sachiko type, while Tsukiha is a perfect Yumi. Nijika also happens to be a fujoshi, and Tsukiha asks Orishima to guide her around town. When Tsukiha names Orishima her hero, he’s motivated to lose weight and get himself some style. He becomes a bishie in order to be Tsukiha’s knight.

Tatsumi-sempai is the source of most of my giggling. He’s a flaming freak, with no social skills, no understanding of woman…or other men, really, and a soul-rending sincerity that’s Victorian at heart. Tsukiha adores him, and even declares him “cute,” to his great consternation.

The book wraps up in an unlikely, yet still slightly pat manner, but I’m not going to spoil the end so you can giggle through it too. The omake chapter follows Kei and her girlfriend Sayuri having heart to heart talks with Tsukiha. The books gets bonus points for giving Kei and Sayuri a love-love ending that had nothing to do with the rest of the story, but is nonetheless a nice way to end the volume.

Nothing about this book was typical, except Morishima-sensei’s adorable art and interest in teaching a new audience about sexual minorities in an exceedingly cute narrative. The word “cute” is repeated about 8700 times in this volume…it’s a fitting description of the whole damn thing.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Character – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 3, plays with the tropes, rather than wallows in them

Overall – 9

Seigakuin Kouka Daigaku Yakanbu is an unexpected, giggle-making delight. And teeth-rottingly cute. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Twin Cake (ツインケイク)

July 29th, 2011

Holy Cow! This is my 2000th post here on Okazu!

Kaede knew, from the moment she set her eyes on that poster, that she wanted to be an idol. After her debut and failure, she knew she wanted to stay in the industry so she got a job at Twinkle Production company to be near the idol of her dreams…Suzuran.

When a stroke of luck allows Kaede to take care of Suzuran, she is sure that it’s her dream come true…until she meets Suzuran in person and realizes that her dream might well be a living hell.

Twin Cake (ツインケイク) is the story of a manager with a desire to ascend and an idol who works really hard to be as base as possible and how they fall in love.

Not a fan of the selfish “wagamama” type of character, I might have found this story as intolerable as Kimi Koi Limit, but for one thing. Suzuran changes. This simple fact, shown to us as a process throughout the story – rather than in a throwaway panel or two at the end, when we’re just supposed to accept that change has happened – made a huge difference in turning this story from a yawn to a keeper. When, at the end, Suzuran reaches for Kaede I was able to be happy for both of them.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – Start 6, end 8
Yuri – 9
Service – 4

Overall – 7

I’m not a huge fan of Aoi Hana’s art, but this story managed to find an unclaimed heart string and give it a tug or two.





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime July 2011 (コミック百合姫)

July 27th, 2011

I hope you don’t mind terribly, but I’m switching the nomenclature I use for Comic Yuri Hime. From now on, I’m using the cover date, rather than Volume number. I’ll shift the back issues, so they match. Volume number was feeling pointless and forced. So, today we’re looking at the July 2011 volume of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫).

The cover jumps right into Fukami Makoto’s Justice for Girls with a bittersweet chapter about Yukimi, after her escape from Rapunzel’s Tower and the brief happiness she shares with half-breed Tatsuki, until Chanel No. 5 tracks Yukimi down and whisks her away. This is the what, 4th chapter of this story and finally, it’s starting to take some shape for me. Now I want to know if Tatsuki and Yukimi will be reunited and if Yukimi will ever see her sister Chiaki again.

There were a number of interesting stories this volume and, only a few I felt compelled to skip, which pretty much puts this firmly on the rising scale for me.

Outstanding among the many good was…are you ready? Takahashi Mako’s story “Cha no Ma no Hana.” Did you ever expect me to shower praise on a Takahashi Mako work? Me neither, but here I am, doing just that. I was warned that it was a pretty good story ahead of time (thank you Komatsu-san!) and I absolutely agree. Jitsuko comes out to her relatives and warns them she’s not planning on changing her mind. Lurking behind concern for Jitsuko is the affection one aunt feels for the wife of her late brother, and a discussion of youthful impetuosity becomes quite complicated and adult.

“Yuri Danshi” explores the role of cross-dressing as a typical Yuri trope, with a nod to straight girls that enjoy the Otoko no ko type.

“Fu~Fu” provides us all with simply stellar advice when we decide we really like another woman, First, Hayase tells us, hold her close, then whisper “I love you” into her ear over and over. I’ve tried this out – it totally works. ^_^

Saida Nica’s “Aoharu Runnings” was squee-worthy cute that, like “Fu~Fu” gives us all an awesome motivation technique to use. This time, the reward is a kiss.

The Ichijinsha Taikai is on and submissions of manga are being accepted. A few examples of winners are shown to keep us all positive.

“Nadeshiko Kimomo” is cute – it’s pretty inevitable that you’re gonna look at it and think “this began life as a Marimite parody.” Cute, but really extra super thin on Yuri for the moment. It is notable for having an American student who is a chanbara otaku, who speaks an interesting Edo-patois-ish Japanese.

Amano Shuninta’s story, “Watashi no Sekhai wo Kousei Suru Gomi no Youna Nanika” was a pretty frustrating story for me. Fue is a college student who has a girlfriend but, for a variety of reasons just finds the idea of sex sort of bleah. They live happily ever after, but I wasn’t all that happy about it.

“Gozen 6-ji no Jouhou” by Futagawa Shunma tells of a little, fraught, illicit time between teacher and student.

In “Renai Joshikka,” Ai realizes that she wants more of Hato than just to be co-workers. When Hato leaves her husband, Ai pushes the envelope.

The “Yuri Room” column this month talks to Takemiya Jin.

In “Sweet Temptation” by Takemiya Jin, a sweet scent and an even sweeter confession turns a “no thanks” into a “maybe.

The next pages are a preview of Aoi Hana’s Twin Cake volume which tells the story of a failed idol-turned-manager who falls for her client.

As always these are not all the stories in the volume, just the one I found notable. Buy this volume for yourself and find more to love.

In general, I consider this to be an excellent volume and as always, I’m looking forward to the next!

Ratings:

Overall – 8





Yuri Manga: Candy, Volume 1 (キャンディ）

July 25th, 2011

Suzuki Yuuko’s Candy (キャンディ), Volume 1, is a realistic and pleasantly executed “Story A” collected from stories that ran in Tsubomi magazine.

Kanan is an athletic, somewhat goofy girl, who finds herself strongly attracted to Chiaki, the model “good girl.” Kanan is admired by many of the students for her cool performance in archery, but her best friend, Ichijou, knows that really, she’s just a big goof.

Goofy as she is, Kanan approaches Chiaki and almost unbelievably, it turns out that the honor student is just as interested in her. Their relationship develops quite normally, as they figure out how to deal with their own feelings, each other’s feelings and the inevitable rumors that spread through their school. Luckily for both of them, they are in socially stable, perhaps even powerful, positions in the school hierarchy and the rumors leave them relatively untouched – except, as Kanan discusses her relationship with an underclassman admirer, she notes that if this is weird, her mind is just full of weird these days.

Their biggest crisis comes in the form of a date, when they realize that their different personalities go way deeper than just life of the mind vs life of the body. But, after what could have been a killer crisis, they each leave their own comfort zone a bit and find a common ground. This chapter was outstanding to me, simply because both made an effort not just to cope, but to adapt.

The main story ends with our happy couple happy. Perhaps happily-ever-after awaits them, perhaps not, but for *this* moment, all is well.

There is a short extra chapter about Kanan’s friend Ichijou and her struggle accepting Kanan and Chiaki but, that too, resolves with a smile.

It’s true that this story breaks no new ground; given how many times this same path has been walked, this book was still a delightful companion for that stroll.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Clean, lots of white space, easy to follow, easy to enjoy
Story – 8 Same as above
Characters – The same as always, and yet, very pleasant and likable
Yuri – 7
Service – 1 on principle only

Overall – 8

If you’re looking for a book to practice Japanese reading with, and want something approachable, easy on the eyes and feel good, Candy is your book. Ultimately, Candy is a truly sweet look at first love.