Octave, Volume 5 (オクターヴ)　is a deceptively subtle volume.

On the surface, it appears to be a similar formula to the previous 4 volumes – Yukino and Setsuko have a disagreement stemming from their disparate worldviews about their relationship and we watch Yukino assimilate, deal, integrate and grow.

Only…it’s not the same. Not this time.

In previous volumes the driver of the disagreements has always been Yukino’s lack of confidence in herself, in their relationship – even in her perception of what a future *ought* to be. And it is apparently Yukino who causes this disagreement again. But this time, it’s *not* because she lacks confidence, or trust, or anything like that. This time it’s less philosophical – she was completely blindsided.

In Volume 5, Setsuko suddenly asks Yukino to move in with her. Yukino asks for time to think about it – and Setsuko has the hissy fit. “You could have at least said, ‘Yay!’ or something.” But Setsuko has had time to think about it…and Yukino has not. I can’t tell you how I cringe when I see people propose publicly for this very reason. Dude, you’ve been thinking about this and planning it for ages…what if she says no? Ugh.

Anyway, in this case, in this volume, I am 100% behind Yukino on this. She’s *just* finally become truly independent. Give her a chance to think about it! And she still has some work to do, too. Yukino has been given yet another idol to manage – and therefore, yet another girl who wants to know more about her private life than she’s willing to share and more professional contacts who don’t know when to stop “teasing” and she has to deal with a best friend who wants to drag her back to being the person she was, instead of allowing her to be the person she’s become.

She does deal with all these things. We can see that she’s become more confident, that the little white lies don’t torture her anymore, because sheesh, it’s none of their business anyway!

The entertainment world is nice and incestuous for us, so when Setsuko gets a job writing for Yukino’s former idol groupmate, now relaunched idol, we can smile at the realization of just how much everyone knows everyone else.

At this point, I am completely, totally entranced by this series. It’s soap-opera-y in a Shoujoai ni Bouken way – totally real people doing totally real things in a just-more-than-slightly-unreal setting.

Volume 5 was *excellent.* I hope to get 5 more volumes of this, and a live-action series, and a pony named Ruffles.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 4

Overall – 9

My *only* complaint is Kamo-chan dropping the ball on being a good friend. That irks, but is not unrealistic. Here’s hoping Yukino finds a new, better, best friend. I’m going to re-read this volume tonight, because it was that good.

Although I only “discovered” Aoki Mitsue‘s work in 2008 with Papaya Gundan, this incredibly pleasant, fun and goofy artist has been around since the early 90’s. So, when I learned that she’d be drawing for Yuri Hime, I was confident that we’d almost instantly see stories that were appealing. …And that was exactly what we got.

In Princess Princess (プリンセス・プリンセス) the stories may be short, but they are full-bodied (much like the characters themselves) and drawn with the, what’s the word I’m looking for…conviction, that many stories lack.

The title story, “Princess, Princess” covers the well-worn territory of a smart girl and her slightly slower-than-average love interest.

But where Aoki really shines is in stories like “Sweet Room” where she plays with her own fetish of an older woman in love with a younger woman, turns it on its head and makes fun of herself as she does it. (How do I know that this is her fetish? She writes about it *constantly* in her manga, and has mentioned it about a million times on Twitter. ^_^;;)

In “Sugar Complex” a girl stresses over her weight, only to find that that was what her lover loved best.

A gang girl protects her best friend from the evil, obsessed, rich girl, student council president’s lust in the incredibly silly “Bankara Otome Gakuen.” No surprise – I really like this story. ^_^

The last two stories are a mini-series called “Lunch Box” which combine all of Aoki’s strengths – obsessions with food, a younger woman seducing an older woman, and a strong streak of otaku awareness for an incredibly satisfying short that I’d really like to see continue.

Ratings:

Art – 8 (very solid josei stylings)
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 9
Service – More underwear than anything – 4

Overall – 8

I like Aoki’s work very much and recommend it highly, as a good example of a josei artist working in Yuri. She brings strength, confidence and a fun, goofball sensibility to every story.

Yuri Hime Collection (百合姫 Collection) is (surprise!) a collection of short works by current Yuri Hime artists that have not been published in any previous commercial publications. It is an anthology of several artists’ doujinshi.

The anthology contains eight stories, two of which are two-parters. Masaki Miyuki’s chapters falls into a category I’ve just named “Yuri with props.” You know what I mean…when one character has a specific quirk or prop that indicates their personality and we spend a lot of time looking at it or obsessing about it? In this case, one of the girls smokes, which clearly shows she doesn’t care about the rules – or her future health.

Momono Moto’s stories were about the pain and tears that come from loving someone in an untenable situation – like high school – and how being together and being apart can hurt.

This contrasts strongly with the smiling faces and bright sun of Morishima Akiko’s contribution, as two women enjoy sun, blue water and love on an island vacation.

Back into the gloom and rain for a story about love at a distance by Yoshineko and the collection finishes off with some “wacky hijinx” love comedy-style wrapped around a semi-serious story by Yotsuhara Furikko.

In the cases of artists I recognized, one can instantly see these are earlier works. There’s a sketchiness about them that I find common among doujinshi, especially when they are early-ish in an artist’s career. The exception to this is Morishima’s story, but that one was published only a few years ago, and she had been in the industry for a while already. For the rest of this collection, there was a sense of these being earlier in both art and story, both of which had less confidence than one would like.

There is nothing worldshaking in this collection, but if you are a completist or, like me, you like to see where artists come from to understand where they are going to, this is a nice little addition to your Yuri collection.

Ratings:

Overall – 7

Yes, I *was* trying to use the word “collection” as often as possible. ^_^