Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) Volume 4

May 5th, 2011

You know all the stuff I keep saying about Rakuen Le Paradis? That the stories are written for an adult audience who wants to be treated like adults, and it takes couples beyond happily ever after? Well…none of that applies to Pure Yuri Anthology, Hirari, Volume 4 (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり).

In fact, very few of the stories even read “Yuri” to me at all. If they called it “Pure Friendship Anthology Hirari,” I would say it was more accurate that calling it Yuri. In fact, if anything, calling it Yuri stretches the definition of Yuri even past what I’m willing to admit Yuri is. Hirari is, mostly, stories of girls developing emotional closeness with other girls. Call it best friends or, maybe, in some cases, more…but not really. Almost every story in this collection is so removed from love or desire that I find it honestly ridiculous to call it that. Maybe a few stories have some light crushiness, but most of them sound like this:

In Hakamada Mera’s “Black and White,” creepy-looking, magic-user Kurosawa enters a new school and resigns herself to being alone as she always has been. Until another girl becomes her friend. But, when Kurosawa gets good grades on a test, she is accused of using magic and is ostracized. Until her friend comes and rescues her from class-imposed solitary life and forces the other kids to apologize. And…that’s it. It’s a great story of a nice friendship. Perhaps, maybe, it will develop into more, but after several chapters, referring to it as Yuri is just stretching the truth.

Ratings:

Overall – 6





Yuri Manga: Tsubomi (つぼみ), Volume 10

April 14th, 2011

Earlier this month, I wrote a review of “Story A” for Hooded Utilitarian. In many ways, Story A is like a music hall song. You know music hall songs – these are songs that you know – at least the chorus. When music hall was a common entertainment, popular songs were sing-a-longs, with songs like “A Bicycle Built for Two.” (By Blur. Because music hall music is timeless.) Don’t know the lyrics?   Performers would display the lyrics as they were sung, so *everyone* could join in.  My wife’s favorite music hall song is “Let’s All Go Down The Strand” (also by by Blur, because why not)  which is a very singable song. Try it, go ahead, you’ll have fun. Here’s the lyrics, so you can follow along. The Strand is a large street in London, like 5th Avenue in New York City, with a lot of stores and museums and Trafalgar Square. Popular place to go and “be seen.”

The point is – when you know what to expect, sometimes it’s more fun, because you can just relax.

In Tsubomi (つぼみ), Volume 10, we can just relax and sing the chorus, because we already know the story: There is a girl, she likes another girl, the girl likes her, the end. Like a good music hall song, there’s nothing unpleasant about repeating this refrain over and over because we enjoy it.

Sometimes, there’s even a new verse or two.

Ratings:

Overall – 9





Yuri Manga: GUNJO, Volume 2

April 11th, 2011

There will be massive spoilers in this review. I cannot discuss how powerful the story is or the reactions I had without them. If you object, skip to the ratings.

Today, we speak of desperation.

In my interview with Nakamura-sensei, she called GUNJO (羣青 ) a story about the “profound loneliness of a lonely person.”

In Volume 1 (上), we learned why the brunette would be driven to desperate acts, as a way to escape a life of despair and pain. She had nothing to lose. And we can understand that, we can forgive that. Abused women fighting back makes sense to us.

In Volume 2 (中), we are forced to deal with the other half of that act…executed by a woman who had everything to lose.

The beginning of Volume 2 starts with the chapter that made it impossible for me to continue to write chapter-by-chapter reviews of this story. This is when I began thinking of reading GUNJO in terms of “eating the most delicious razor blades you’ve ever had.” Each chapter hurts so magnificently, it has become my equivalent of cutting. I read a chapter to see how low into despair I can sink, how intensely I can feel their loneliness, how miserable they can make me feel. I read this every month to see if I can still summon hope.

In Volume 2, we do the most absolutely emotionally draining thing possible, we stop watching the main couple, with their dysfunctional relationship and dangerous dynamic, and take a step aside to really understand everything the blonde has thrown away. I don’t believe I’ve ever shed so many tears over a book as I did in these chapters. Watching the blonde’s ex re-create her life, find out how close they were to making it permanent (or, as permanent as possible for two gay women in Japan in the present), watching as the loss of her lover forces the ex to come out to her parents, and express how she *would* have spent the rest of her life with that woman. And then, when it all seems like she’s put it behind her and is ready to move on, we watch her give up completely…and kill herself. The blonde, who has everything to lose, has lost everything.

Then, when we think that we can put that behind us and we can move on, the ring her lover had bought her….the ring with which she was intending to propose…is given to the blonde, along with the story of her lover’s death. Now she has to deal with new loss on top of old.

But the book doesn’t end there. Profound loneliness has no cure. It wants no cure. The brunette, a woman who has run until she has been cornered by life, has new ammunition to make the one person who cares about her hurt. So she does. She batters the blonde with emotional torment until the blonde throws away the very last relics she has of her former life, 550 yen….and the wedding ring.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Lesbian – 10
Sevice – 1

Overall – 10

There is no respite here. There is no moment when we can breathe a sigh of relief.

All we can do is feel the desperation and the loneliness of despair. And wait. For Volume 3.





Yuri Manga: Himawari-san Manga

April 6th, 2011

I am very, very happy today for two reasons. One, this manga was a delight to read. Secondly, I didn’t have to review it, because George R. valiantly offered a guest post in which he says everything I might have, if I had written it. But I didn’t have to. ^_^ Take it away, George!

My copy of Himawari-san by Manami Sugano, arrived a couple days ago and a quick flip through sent it straight to the top of my to-read pile. Not only is the artwork well done, but the setting strongly reminds me of the old neighborhood book shop near where I usually stay in Tokyo. Sadly that shop did not have an owner as lovely and lovable as Himawari-san and is no longer in business. I spent many a happy time perusing those shelves.

Himawari-san runs an old, small book shop directly across the street from school. Everyone calls her this because the name of the shop is Himawari-shobou [Sunflower bookstore]. She’s a kind, long-haired woman, definitely an adult out of school but still young from my point of view. She typically carries a hataki for dusting the shelves, a book she reads and offers quote from, or both. She enjoys life at her own pace, and though she is occasionally gruff, “if you’re not a customer, go home,” she really does care for and encourage the girls who frequent her bookstore.

This manga is a collection of short, sweet stories about Himawari and her customers. The principle customer is a lively, though not intellectual, freshman from the high school across the street. Kazamatsuri Matsuri (and no, I didn’t stutter there), enters the tale with a bang, bursting in and declaring, “Himawari-san! I love you!!” She fell for Himawari when she came in to purchase a study guide for her entrance exams, and spends a lot of her free time at the store, but it is not books or the store that she loves but Himawari herself. Himawari was the first person to encourage and believe in her, even counting her parents and teachers.

Other customers we meet include Nana, the class president who dislikes rainy days enough to cause an incident at the school library; Sakura, a grade-school girl to whom Himawari teaches lessons about friendship, apology and how to repair manga with tape; and Fuuko, Matsuri’s younger sister, who isn’t as angry and “too cool to care” as she first appears, merely a bit jealous of all the time her dear sister is spending at Himawari-shobou. She helps each of them with words of wisdom and encouragement.

Himawari has quite the reputation for finding just the right book for any customer, and she is well known and loved by everyone in the bookstore district. It was to show Matsuri a shop specializing in photo books that Himawari brought her to this district. And, yes, these books are perfect for Matsuri.

There’s not much explicit Yuri here beyond Matsuri’s obvious crush. Himawari puts Matsuri on cloud nine asking her to go out with her. Is this just shopping? Is it a date? I know what Matsuri would like it to be. Himawari’s feelings in return are ore open to interpretation.

She finds the store overly quiet the week Matsuri was preparing for the school festival and didn’t come to the store. Her feelings on meeting Matsuri at the end of that week are drawn in her expressions and actions rather than stated in words, but her smile when suggesting they watch the fireworks together is genuine. She seems to enjoy their time together.

In the last two chapters we meet Himawari’s older brother who’s a light-novelist. The two don’t get along, having some past history between them. She even tells him to never come to the bookstore. Sugano-sensei gives us some hints at Himawari’s past, but I want to know more than just these hints: how did she take over Himawari-shobou? What was her relationship with the previous owner? How did she change from her non-bookish self back in school? On the other hand, her brother can’t be all bad, as Matsuri stays up all night, enthralled, reading his book. Matsuri, being the good kid she is, even manages to begin Himawari’s reconciliation with her brother.

Sugano-sensei’s artwork holds up to the promise of the cover. Her depiction of the bookstore and streets echo reality to me, but she only uses detailed drawings when needed to set the scene or the mood, and they do that well. Her character art style also works for me. I’m a sucker for bijin with books, and keep looking back at her drawings of Himawari. I like her outfits, good looking yet practical. They’re a welcome change from school uniforms.

I would also recommend this manga to any who are working on learning Japanese. It has full furigana, so you can take the easy way out on looking up kanji, and avoid lugging a second dictionary around while you read.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 2
Service – 1

Overall – 9

I quite enjoyed reading this volume. It combines artwork I like, nostalgia for that very type of bookstore, with characters and atmosphere I enjoy. I can easily understand why the rest of the cast falls in love with Himawari-san; I did too. But, I was left wanting more. With that “more” I could see my story and character ratings climbing a point or two.

While this is not labeled “volume 1”, I hope Sugano-san gives us another volume. That would be the ideal spot to delve deeper into the “more” I was left wanting. I would say this volume functioned very well as hors d’oeuvres, and now I’m ready for a full meal with these characters in their neighborhood. She hasn’t published much else, so perhaps she has more of Himawari-san ready to flow out her pen. I hope so.

Erica here: I wasn’t kidding, George really did say everything I would have said…except for one thing. Not only is Kazematsuri Matsuri’s name redundant, her sister is named Fuuko…the “Fuu” of which is the same word as Kaze. So her name is redundant too.

Thank you George, I agree wholeheartedly that a few more hours browsing the shelves of Himwari Shobou would be extremely enjoyable.





A Look at "Story A" for Hooded Ultilitarian

April 4th, 2011

I refer to “Story A” here quite often. It is my shorthand for a typical story that encapsulates the standard tropes of what we now think of as a “Yuri” story.

This weekend for my column on Hooded Utilitarian, I trace the history of “Story A” and walk it from the past through to current iterations, in 40 Years of the Same Damn Story, Pt. 1.

Next month I’ll be looking into the origins and iterations of another very typical Yuri trope.

Enjoy!