Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: GIRL FRIENDS, Volume 4

August 19th, 2010

GIRL FRIENDS Volume 4 is the kind of story-telling that fills volumes of literature, but manga fans generally can’t stand. Having established in previous volumes that both Mari and Akiko feel the same way about one another, manga fans (who have been trained to be terrible readers by illicitly scanned porn doujinshi and impatiently written fanfic) bitch endlessly “why don’t they just get together (i.e., have sex) already?”

Maddeningly for them, this series is not a porn series. Instead it is a graphic novel series about a shockingly realistic – and therefore frustrating – relationship between two girls young enough that merely identifying one’s feelings at all is problematic. One of the complaints I’ve heard regularly about this series is that it is not realistic at all, but I feel that it absolutely is realistic. The folks I’ve heard this from the most live in a culture and with families that are largely tolerant and accepting of same-sex couples. I can assure you that in parts of the world where there is not a high level of acceptance and/or tolerance, this kind of agonizing hesitation is quite normal.

In Volume 4, Akiko is confused, hurt, frustrated and puzzled by Mari’s lack of response to her kiss at the end of Volume 3. It seems obvious to Akiko that she’s communicated her feelings properly but, inside Mari’s head, the bunker has been shut down. Having only words and unreliable emotions with which to parse Akiko’s actions, Mari has convinced herself that this was merely a kiss between friends…despite all evidence to the contrary.

The bulk of the volume is taken up with the class trip, and the comedy of errors, misunderstandings and miscommunication that keep Mari and Akiko apart. Some of it is not their fault, but a great deal of it is simply lack of a quiet moment to have the talk that they need to have. When, over a heart-shaped stone that is supposed to guarantee eternal love, they finally have that talk – amazingly – much of what keeps them apart dissipates into the nothing it really was.

Now, at last, the two can start developing their relationship. We watch their first halting steps through the jaded eyes of their friend, Sugiyama, in what to me was a really miserable chapter about broken dreams and the death of innocence. But, hey, that’s realistic too.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 4

Overall – 8

Volume 5 will simultaneously bring fans the climax they desperately want and the end of the series so they have something to whine about – also a critical factor in fan enjoyment. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Girlish Sweet

August 17th, 2010

I officially declare this week Takemiya Jin week here at Okazu. True, I only have two books to review by Takemiya-sensei, but two is enough for me. ^_^

Today we take a look at Girlish Sweet: Atashi no Kanojo, (Girlish Sweetアタシノ彼女) a collection of stories published by Hakusensha (home of Rakuen Le Paradis, among other magazines.)

As with Love Flicker, the stories in Girlish Sweet are standalones that connect.

In “Truffe Nature” and “Thyme Orange,” Kaede and Miyako deal with their feelings for one another while together in school and apart in college. A short omake covers a first kiss is aborted for a very silly reason and I know exactly what doujinshi Takemiya read to get the idea. :-) After the story is over, there is an image of Kaede and Miyako heading into a “Main Hall” to be seated.

Kinoshita has been looking after and admiring the President since they were together in high school in “Sweet Acid.” It’s obvious they feel the same way about each other but there’s the whole ethics thing. The omake, “Best Friends,” covers the two women receiving tickets from actress Yukari to her performance. We see the two of them heading to the Main Hall in the interstitial space between stories.

Hanaoka and Sonohara meet by accident, but together they tend the school’s flower beds, in “Good Faith.” They study together…and fall in love. The omake for this is a short with two of Hanaoka’s friends, Kado and Mori, becoming closer, as well.

In “Be Connected,” Kaede buys tickets for them to see Yukari, Miyako’s favorite actress and it turns out that she’s Hanaoka’s older sister…and that Sonohara is a huge fan. They are all seen walking toward the Main Hall.

Kado, Hanaoka’s friend, find herself battling for Hanaoka with Sonohara, in “Hands,” and in “Be jealous of” and “April 2/3” Mori’s backstory is brought to light. But by “May 3/3” Kado and Mori are clearly an item and by “tee hee hee” other people can tease them about it. They are seen heading towards the Main Hall. ^_^

“July 1/3” continues with Mori and Kado’s backstory, but “3/3 Memories” picks up in a present in which the two live together. An extended, very painful backstory for Kado, takes up a good portion of the latter part of this book. This is not at all easy to read and involves some not-explicitly rendered violence against children. Given the light tone of the beginning of the book, this was a surprising development, but that’s exactly what it is – character development for two side characters that become more prominent as the book goes on.

The book ends with Kado and Mori finding “Happiness” together as all of them are seated at last and await Yukari’s performance.

This is one of those manga that starts off one place and, as the story progresses, it goes somewhere completely different. The worst of these are meandering and vague, but the best hold together to make a coherent, interconnected story. I consider Girlish Sweet be the latter and, in a lot of ways, prefer it to Love Flicker.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

Where Love Flicker is a series of fun Story As that have an interconnected thread, Girlish Sweet starts off as a series of fun Story As, then turns into an actual story.





Yuri Manga: Love Flicker

August 16th, 2010

Once upon a time, I found myself staring at my empty living room coffee table, wondering what I was going to review that day, as there was nothing really Yuri out. That was a while back and today, it occurred to me that I haven’t actually *seen* my table in a while. I’m not complaining. ^_^

You regulars here know that I very much like Takemiya Jin’s work. It’s not that the art is so incredible or the stories are amazing, it’s just that together, they are fun to read – which is my number one criteria for anything I read. I like fun things, because “fun” is better than a lot of the other options when I read.

The stories in this collection of Takemiya-sensei’s work, Love Flicker, (ラブフリッカー) is fun. And, much like Hiyori Otsu’s Clover, a chunk of it turns out to be an interconnected series and not just the one-shots we thought they were. Hah on us!

In the first story, Chika asks her sempai out because she likes her but, because of rumors, innuendos, a guy and other plot complications, sempai breaks up with her. Chika hits the guy on the head with an artist’s palette and they resolve the rest of the issues by ignoring them.

In the second story, a woman who works at her family’s bakery falls for a student who always buys one mini-croissant. After she tracks the girl, Sakura, down at the school festival, she learns that Sakura’s family is in the rice business. Rice bread is born and we all live happily ever after, except…

Ichi-sempai recruits tall, athletic Miharu to the volleyball team. Miharu finds her self attracted to Ichi, but Ichi breaks down and admits that the sempai (bakery woman above) she likes has a girlfriend. Double lez gross out, huh? Miharu says that she’s not grossed out by sempai’s sempai, or by Ichi’s feelings because she feels that way about Ichi!

At the new student ceremony, Kimura passed out. She’s caught by Kado, but it’s Rinko-sempai who carries her to the infirmary. Kado and Kimura decide to become love rivals for Rinko’s attention, but when Kado comes right out and asks Rinko, Kimura realizies that it wasn’t Rinko she was in love with. Luckily, Rinko realizes it too, and Kimura and Kado are able to get together.

Now that Rinko’s free, the Student Council President is able to realize her dream and capture Rinko for her own. When she and Rinko graduate they express their “close friendship” to Kado and Kimura in the form of a passionate kiss.

The book closes with Ichi-sempai realizing that her feelings for Miharu are…well..love. She and Miharu come out to her sempai and her mini-croissant girl. Ichi’s sempai responds to this with “You too?”

This wraps up what was an entertaining collection of “Story A” stories by one of my fave doujinshi to professional Yuri artists.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

Want a fun collection of Yuri stories? Get this book.





Yuri Manga: Raubritter

August 10th, 2010

Raubritter, by Futada Nika, is a rare example of a Yuri Manga that would have been much better without the sex. Not only does some of the sex come off as skanky and non-consensual, it makes the relationships between the characters awkward and uncomfortable for this reader.

The story starts when Neneko comes to the interior design shop known as Raubritter on a quest to find her missing older sister. Immediately, and for no reason whatsoever, Neneko is being sexually harassed by the owners of Raubritter, Yokana and Shinobu. While Neneko is presented to us as an adult, the art frequently makes her look very childish. Which is really maddening, because about half-way through the book, it starts to not suck. After we get past the pointless, unsexy threesome scene, the story settles down.

If you’ve read the first volume of Hana no Asuka-gumi, or any Mist stories, then you know where Neneko’s sister is…she’s at a sex club. A BDSM club to be precise, where she is the star of the club and the owner’s lover. Nanako is very happy with her life, which is good enough for Neneko. She returns to be the housekeeper and dogsbody of Raubritter. Yokana and she seem to settle into to being a couple.

Which leaves Shinobu. As you know, everyone must be paired up in a story like this, so a new character is introduced – a tough bitch of a policewoman with Krieger Frau hair (and if you get that reference, you are clearly insane and I love you) named Takizawa Torako. That is, she’s a tough-as-nails cop until she sees Shinobu and melts into all sorts of puddles. She offers to “investigate” the troublemakers at the sex club (Yokana and Shinobu…of course) and instead falls head over heels for Shinobu. Luckily, Shinobu falls just as fast for Torako, in what was really the best panel of the book as they meet each other for the first time and go completely gaga over one another.

In the end, we all live happily every after, Neneko and Yokana, Nanako and her club owner and Shinobu and  Torako. And then the book ends, in a much better place than it began. And, in all honesty, if the first two chapters had been sex-free, it would have been a fine book. As it was, it was merely tolerable.

Ratings:

Art – No, sorry, I really don’t think it’s cute to infantilize adult women. Ick. 4
Story – Starts out nasty, turns out sweet  5
Characters – Predictable, only a little tiresome 6
Yuri – 7
Service – 8

Overall – A straight! I win 8 tickets!





Yuri Manga: Kuchibiru ni Saketa Orange

August 10th, 2010

Once upon a time, a friend of mine told me a story about a guy she went on a lunch date with. When she inquired about the possibility of a second date, the guy said that he couldn’t. She asked why not, because she thought they had gotten on well. His reply was that they had and he really liked her and he could see himself falling for her and then they’d get serious about one another and maybe think about marrying and kids and he just wasn’t ready for that. She stared at him seriously for a moment, shook her head and said, “I was asking about lunch.” She walked away and never regretted it.

I have met many people like that man, people who construct elaborate fantasies in their heads about small things blowing into huge things, but the bulk of us can tell when we’re making it all up in our heads. I mean, we’ve all done it, haven’t we? Fantasized about “what we’d do if” somethingsomethingsomething.

In Kuchibiru ni Saketa Orange  (くちびるに透けたオレンジ), Chizuru is busy making up stuff about Kae in her head. In reality, she’s got Kae on a really high pedestal, and doesn’t even consider herself worthy of dusting the base. Chizuru is a child-faced incoherent who never quite manages to answer a simple question simply, but blushes and stutters and always lags behind.

Kae is perfect, according to Chizuru. She’s beautiful and smart and stylish. Chizuru’s goal is not as high as to be noticed by Kae – she just wants to have something in common with her object of desire. Her wish is granted in the form of an orange-colored lipstick.

Chizuru gets together with Kae, was there any doubt that she would? How, why…I’m not quite sure. They just do, because they have to. And they live happily ever after wearing gaudy lipstick, one supposes.

In the second story Miwako and Anzu are cousins and lovers. A misunderstanding about a boy threatens to break them up, but it was only a misunderstanding.

And in a final “Plot, What Plot,” best friends Rio and Yui have sex, because.

Now that I think about it, I think I read all of these same stories in Mist magazine, only with adults instead of young woman. I liked them better that way.

The title is translated as “A transparent orange in the lip,” so the book wins as the strangest title I’ve read in a while in both Japanese and English.

Ratings:

Art – 5
Characters – 5
Story – 5
Yuri – 8
Service – 6

Overall – 5

Check out the entries to  our “Orange In The Lip” contest in the comments!