Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Galette, No. 27 (ガレットNo.27)

February 16th, 2025

Seen behind obscuring greenery, two women in black and white look at each other intimately in pen's cover image for Galette. No. 27How did I get anything done on Okazu when I had a job in an office originally? It’s been 15 years since I had a commute and phew, this really sucks one’s time away, doesn’t it? I kind of remember taking a mid-afternoon break every day in the 00s just to write, I might have to institute that again.  ^_^ I am still running way behind on reading Galette magazine in Japanese. Volume 33  was just released to supporters and Volume 32 is available to the general public now. And here I am….

Galette, No. 27 (ガレットNo.27) was a turning point for the magazine. In it’s 7th year of publication, the roster of creators had sort of solidified. Hakamada Mera and Morinaga Milk were leading the charge with some of their earlier works beefing up the volume. Galette began hosting their own events, signings and more. They were beginning to partner with physical locations and accepting fan-submissions of short stories to be illustrated. And some of the stories shifted as well.

Besides a reprint of “Himitsu no Recipe” by Morinaga Milk, her “Watashi no Kawaii Neko-chan” turns surprisingly serious for a moment. I have not yet read ahead and do not know what to expect.

Hakamada Mera’s “Aikata System” almost feels as if it is self-healing. I’m still hoping that Cairo can destroy the system, but it’s not looking good at this point.

Momono Moto gives us a whole new story, “Goodby Daisy” in the wake of Kitta Izumi stopping writing “Liberty.” It is very in her wheelhouse, with coercive behavior and tears. She knows what she likes, I guess. ^_^

Other series by Yorita Miyuki and Nekohariko 22 continue and the magazine includes one-shots by aneido, Shirinu, Asube Yui, Sakuraya Yukino and Miho, with  a short story by Ookita Tsugumi and illustrations by Haamin and Miruko.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I’m going to start No. 28 today.  I think I need a new tablet, so I can read this in bed. It’s hard to read on a laptop screen. ^_^;





Hitorimi Desu 60-sai Lesbian Single Seikatsu (ひとりみです: 60歳レズビアンノシングルセイカツ) , 1-3

February 12th, 2025

An older woman in a long gray skit and yellow cardigan kneels down to water plant in her apartment.Hitorimi Desu 60-sai Lesbian Single Seikatsu (ひとりみです: 60歳レズビアンノシングルセイカツ). is the newest project from Morishima Akiko-sensei. This chapter-by-chapter series looks at the lives of senior lesbians who are single.

Chapter 1 begins with Imamura Miyuki, celebrating her 60th birthday. She’s known she was a lesbian since she was young, and has had lovers, but at this point in her life, she is alone. She’s not unhappy about it, definitely the positives outweigh the negatives. When her sister has her over her parents’ to clean up a few boxes, going through them reminds Miyuki of her dear friend, a girl she now considers to be her first girlfriend. She finds something that connected them, and starts to read a book from Renon.

A round woman in a red coat sits in a wheelchair in front of a house mailbox, looking up at a bird on a flowering tree branch above her.In Chapter 2 we meet Renon. She is 59 years old. Life threw her a curveball when a year ago, on the day she planned on her big gay bar debut in Shinjuku she was struck by a truck and injured. She uses a wheelchair to get around, mostly, is a little ambulatory, but her life is less thrilling than she hoped. Renon lives with her elderly mother and appears to have few hobbies except going out and eating cake. Upon returning from meeting an old friend who is getting married, Renon realizes that she had fallen for that friend thinks about how realizing that she had fallen for her friend changed her life, for good and bad.

This chapter starts on a hard edge. Renon is not a very happy person and we can see that she has given up to some extent. Having had her hopeful gay days taken out of her plans, she just kind of…stopped.

In Chapter 3, we learn more about Miyuki and Renon’s realationship. Renon receives that loaned book back from Miyuki, only 43 years late. Upon reliving her childhood memories of how they met, Renon finds the energy to write her old friend and invite her out. It is clear they were close friends, and felt deep affection for one another. When they meet up at last, they talk of the old days, but when the new days come up, the conversation lags. Maybe they don’t have anything to say anymore? Then the conversation starts up again – they both agree that each other was their first girlfriend….which crosses the hurdle of coming out to each other. The conversation comes more freely now and Renon pours her heart out.

Two girls in Japanese style school uniforms of blue, stand back to back. The wind blows their hair and skirts back as the cherry trees above them blossom.They part, agreeing to see each other again. Miyuki wanders off thinking about the future for the first time in a while and Renon finds the motivation to return to physical therapy. Maybe this reunion will spark something new for both of them.

As our favorite manga artists are ageing up (most of my fave artists are around my age – I have been following many of them for 20+ years now), it is not surprising to find that stories of older women are hitting harder for them, and me. ^_^ In her notes. Morishima-sensei says that she was wanting to write about lesbians who were single and also older lesbians, so this series came out from those desires.

Morishima-sensei is self publishing these chapters through Blic’s Cross Folio label. Blic is the same printer used by Galette Works. All three chapters are available on Amazon JP Kindle, Bookwalker JP and Amazon in English where you can get Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 in English as THE SINGLE LIFE: The single lives of 60-year-old lesbians.

Ratings:

Art- 9
Story – 9
Character – 9
Service – 0
LGBTQ – 9

Overall – 9

I hope she keeps working on these chapters. I love her art and the characters. She’s got a really solid grip on how people actually think. It’s always motivating for me to read her work. I definitely hope you’ll all take a look at this short story by an amazing storyteller and artist.





Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 9 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。)

February 6th, 2025

A girl with blonde curls in a red fantasy school uniform jacket and blue skirt and a dark-haired girl in a white blouse and dark slacks, swing on metal swings, surrounded by lavender irises. Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 9 ( 私の推しは悪役令)。picks up in the middle of Cardinal Lily’s delusion that she has a chance to be someone in romantic relationship with Rae.

I know I am in a minority of one when I say that this Lily is my least favorite character in the story. And because she is the overwhelmingly most popular character in polls, this volume adds extra Lily and Rae shenanigans into the narrative. So we accompany Lily and Rae on what Lily thinks is a date and Rae thinks is just part of their investigation into corruption among the nobility. Rae teaches everyone about plea bargains and she, Lily and Claire work their way up the hierarchy. After confronting Prime Minister Salas, who is apparently unnecessarily rude to his daughter Lily, Claire is left to imagine the worst about her own father.

BUT, this is not really what this volume is about. This volume is about Rae dragging Lily to underground MMA bouts and a magical circus, where Lily saves a giant griffon, thus making a friend for life. It’s about goofy reactions and action scenes and running away from mayhem. In all of this, the volume excels. Aonoshimo’s art is absolutely fantastic enough to carry even the absurd plot line of “in the course of an investigation of corrupt nobles, while Rae is also tracking down the Resistance leaders, she and Cardinal Lily end up at a magical circus.”

Silly mayhem in the middle of an otherwise quite grim arc? Sure, why not. It breaks up interrogating boring corrupt nobles and Salas’ sneering.

The volume ends on an oddly personal conflict. Prince Rod has a proposal for Rae…that is to say, he asks her to marry him. Her reaction sets Rae and Claire at odds for the first time since before the Scales of Love. What will happen to them? Volume 10 is currently ongoing, with no release date, but I expect to see it soon.

I know I am asking a lot, but I would love for this manga series to extend past the Revolution arc into the Demons and Nur arc. Aonoshimo-sensei drawing Dorothea would be breathtaking. The idea gives me a(nother) reason to live. ^_^ So everyone run out and keep buying this series so we can meet Aleah and Mae and see the cooking contest and the Demon Queen and Dorothea. Please. Thank you. Volumes 1-7 of I’m In Love With The Villainess manga are available in English from Seven Seas.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters  – I really struggle with Lily
Service – A bit here and there?
Yuri – 11 Lily needs an off switch

Overall – 8

If you love inori.-sensei’s work, don’t forget her newest self-published book Homunculus’ Tears: Alchemy For The Broken-Hearted is available for digital pre-order with an April release, and Yen’s print and digital EN edition of  The Girl Who Wants to Be a Hero and the Girl Who Ought to Be a Hero, Vol. 1 is also available for pre-order with a June release date!

 





Becoming a Princess Knight and Working at a Yuri Brothel, Volume 2

February 5th, 2025

A buxom blonde girl smiles vapidly at us as she dances in lavender lingerie.by Paul S. Enns, Guest Reviewer

Becoming a Princess Knight and Working at a Yuri Brothel, Volume 2, by Hinaki, is a silly story, told with lots of sex, and not as good as the first volume, which I reviewed here last month It’s still a mashup of isekai , yuri, and gender bender. Naruse Soushi has been placed in the body of Princess Reina (queen) and is trying to survive as a prostitute named Lillion (lily) in a yuri brothel.

I will again provide translations from Latin into English in parentheses after the first use of the character’s name (like Princess Reina and Lillion above).

Helping Lillion out are her friends Precarie (precariously—she’s the one who did the soul swap), Alsea (sea—assigned to humiliate Lillion, she strongly supports Lillion now), and Lapis Rufus (red stone, or ruby—Lillion’s first regular client). Lillion now faces the challenge of Iris (rainbow), the High-Class Prostitute to which Lillion has been assigned to serve.

Iris’s other attendant is Alga (algae), who comes into conflict with Lillion over Iris’s demands.

The politics of Lillion’s situation and her (the pronoun I use to refer to Soushi-in-Reina’s body) efforts to navigate them are interesting, but I find the path she follows in this book to be absurd. The solution to everything that happens is sex. It’s a let down compared to the first volume.

Being punished by Iris? Sex. Fulfilling Iris’s demands? Sex. Helping Alga? Sex. Lillion trying to master her fire skill? Sex. Confronting the Lady of the Moon (who still should have been named Domina Lunae)? Sex.

Lillion still provides most of the humor. The sketches she makes for Iris’s dress are straight out of standard yuri tropes, but brand new to this world. I also laughed at Lillion’s attempts to activate her fire skill. I have a feeling the pose she makes is a reference to something, but I don’t know what it is.

 

The finale of this volume has Lillion facing the Lady of the Moon again, complicated by Alga’s interest in the Lady of the Moon. Alga seeks the redemption of her sister, Oleia (olive tree).

There isn’t as much world building in this one. Mostly the politics of being a prostitute. Madam Acanthus (genus acanthus is a family of plants with spiked or thorny leaves) is much nicer to Lillion in this book, probably because Lillion is now a full Soror (sister) in the brothel. Nothing provides any answers for why Precarie took Reina’s soul or what Precarie did with it. When will this be addressed?

I do want to give praise to the art. This volume, it’s the best part of the book. All the characters can be recognized and the backgrounds are well done. I’ve seen many a manga where the background was plain to nonexistent on most pages. The background really helps the setting here.

Translation is, once again, well done. Use of Latin for the proper nouns is still fun.

Ratings:

Art — 8 The best part of this volume.
Story — 3 I can accept sex in stories, but not if it’s 90% of the plot.
Characters — 5 They’ve improved, but I still want to know what’s up with Precarie and Princess Reina’s soul.
Service — 9 for how explicit it is, 10 for how much there is.
Yuri — 9 We’re reminded every chapter that it’s a guy inside Lillion.

Overall — 5

A disappointment over the previous volume. I’ll still check out Volume 3  and Volume 4 after it releases March 4, 2025.





Comic Yuri Hime February 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年2月号)

January 31st, 2025

Two little girls playing on monkey bars in the snow.

Comic Yuri Hime February 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年2月号) begins with another cover “photo” by Hechima, this one labeled “Hey Let’s Make A Snowman if it snows!” Monday, January 2016 GMT +0900 /10 years old.

In Torii Shizuku’s “Yume to Koi de ha Tsuriawanai” the protagonist is convinced that she cannot fall in love and do well in school…and maybe she’s right, but he love interest thinks she can do both.

 “Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou,”  Rei and Claire fight over marriage expectations. For Claire, marriage is a contract that is not bout love, for Rae, her modern perspective is completely different.

“Muryoku Seijo to Munou Oujo ~ Maryoku Zero de Shoukansareta Seijo no Isekai Kyuukoku-ki ~” Nana and the Princess are committed to saving the village. As they begin tracking down the source of the miasma and seem to get close get close…they disappear.

“Muryoku Seijo to Munou Oujo ~ Maryoku Zero de Shoukansareta Seijo no Isekai Kyuukoku-ki ~” A villainess character has entered our world, but doesn’t seem to care about Machino….why is why is she here and where will she go?

Minato and Koharu go to a friend’s wedding and go all out in style “Koharu to Minato”. They are adorably excited to see each other dressed up.

In Utatane Yuu’s “Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru” – Kiki and Michiru go for their hatsumode, make wishes, and they clear the air between them. Kiki is committed to their partnership at last.

SheepD’s “Kanaria ha Kiraboshi no Yume wo Miru”  takes a short, but grim look at Tsubaki’s life as a prostitute and presents the shock that her clients are, right from the get-go, women.

“Gakeppuchi Reijou ha Kuro Kishi-sama o Horesasetai!”  – while a war of words rages inside between Clarice and the representative of a merchant clan that wants her to owe them, an actual demonic fight rages outside between their guardians.

Ciel outs herself to save her brother in “Kiraware Majyo Reijō to Dansou Ouji no Kon’yaku.”

I’ve been reading “Gan no Hime”  since it launched and I have to dmit that, while I love the post-apocalypse scif fantasy, I just do not love the art. It’s a great story, though, traveling through the still-living relics of a cultural collapse.

I’m not reading about a third of the magazine, and there are always stories I read, but do not mention. 2/3rd of the magazine being interesting enough to read is a bleeding triumph.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

The March issue is already on shelves and I am ready to read it!