Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko!, Volume 2

May 11th, 2026

A blonde woman in pink, whispers into the ear of a woman in a grey suits and white button down shirt, who is visibly cringing with embarrassment, under the words Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko (echoed)In Volume 1, we were thrown into a torrent of emotion as beloved and competent office sempai Hiroko, has a passionate, if awkward, junior, Ayaka, who is doing everything she can to catch Hiroko’s eye. 

When Ayaka finally just tells Hiroko how she feels…Hiroko rejects her. As Ayaka grieves, her best friend Risa asks if Ayaka couldn’t find a way to going out with her. But, no, Ayaka is not able to give Risa what she wants. Everyone is unhappy. 

And then something important happens. The ladies at the lesbian bar unpack Hiroko’s baggage.. They explain to Risa and Ayaka just how much different things were 15 years ago and how being out carries a lot of weight for an older generation of lesbians. This is a crucially important bit of storytelling. Hiroko has her own personal heartbreak and the consequences that she’s been carrying, but also a lifetime of society forcibly rejecting queer people. Not like the conservative extinction burst attacks we’re seeing now, but the full confidence of a majority of society being queerphobic. Hiroko’s beloved sempai, a woman she admired and loved, took the fall for her and she cannot let that go lightly.

I love that this has to be explained…how genuinely wonderful for younger queer folks who rightfully see transphobia and homophobia as the problem, rather than themselves. But it does have to be explained, because while that kind of queerphobia still does exist-  people are still regularly thrown out of homes, lose jobs, access to family, children, housing, – it is nowhere as common as it once was. So for folks who have not experienced it, here is an example.

And, having learned the whole truth, Ayaka, Risa, and Hiroko are ready to move on. No, wait, Risa and Hiroko are, but Ayaka has other ideas. She’s still convinced that Hiroko just need convincing. In Ayaka fashion, that means she’ll choose the wackiest way to go about it.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 10
Service – 6 When Ayaka stops dressing for attention, it’s actually pretty funny
Yuri – 7
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 8

This volume manages to be funny and poignant with Sal Jiang’s fabulous reaction expression art. A good read, a fun read, and a read that I hope in 15 years will make almost no sense at all to the next generation of queer youth, who will be befuddled by anyone who doesn’t just automatically acknowledge their right to exist.





The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess, Volume 3

May 8th, 2026

On a background of fiery flowers, a woman in a blue uniform/dress with long pink hair is back to back with a woman in a blue dress, long pale hair and a tiara of dark crystals, weilding flame.In Volume 1 and Volume 2, we met former Office Lady Natori Midori, a woman whose genuine desire to be useful lead her to be fired by her employer. Reborn into the world of a otome game, Natori – called Natalie by the characters – find herself working as the familiar and assistant to the villainess, Lapis.

Natalie is in a bind. She likes the game protagonist, Diana, and wants to protect her from having to kill Lapis. She really likes Lapis, more than just wanting to save her. But the more she tries to protect them from their fates in the game, the more the game world pushes them all to the same end.

What’s a reincarnate to do? In The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess, Volume 3, she gives up pretending. Having met the Prince’s confidant, Rubeus, who seems to be manipulating them all for his own (and, unwittingly, the Prince’s) sake, Natalie only sees one way to stop the worst possible things from occurring. She tells Lapis the truth. Then she tells Diana what she can. By trusting in people by whom she wishes to be trusted, Natalie believes she can protect everyone. She and Lapis share another confidence as well. They now know they their feelings are more than just assistant/employer, but there is much more to be said about that.

Rubeus is sending the country down a path towards commoner uprising and noble rebellion. will Natalie be able to stop it? Lapis and hopefully, Diana, are on her side. The relationship between these two is strained as well, so where all of this is headed, we can’t be sure. The story is actually getting a little fraught, but I’m hoping this game gets a well-deserved happily ever after.

Nekotarou’s art is great. While the magic is fairly standard, it’s fun to see Diana use people’s own spells against them.
And in the bonus story, one of Natori’s former coworkers learns that Natori was a decent person and she was the jerk all along. I wonder if that is going to play into the story at all.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – We’re up to intimate embraces
Yuri – 4…we’re getting there!

Overall – 8





Watashi-tachi no Koi ga Hanahiraku Toki Isekai Renai Yuri Anthology (私たちの恋が花開くとき 異世界恋愛百合アンソロジー)

May 7th, 2026

In 2019 I reviewed the Isekai Tensei Yuri Anthology (異世界転生百合アンソロジー) from Ichijinsha. Instead of interesting and well-conceived shorts about Yuri in “another world,” I found a collection of vehicular deaths and very few original ideas. The cover art was the best thing about it. 

Here we are in 2026 and I was really hoping Watashi-tachi no Koi ga Hanahiraku Toki Isekai Renai Yuri Anthology (私たちの恋が花開くとき 異世界恋愛百合アンソロジー) from Takeshobo would hit the spot but here even the cover did not meet up to expectations.  

We all know that “Isekai” is most cases means being reincarnated into a feudal gaming-style society, with magic, perhaps. And yet, as we look at this cover, we see two women in Edwardian-esque school uniforms? Ah yes, that feudal early 20th century private school for girls.

To be clear, these stories are not terrible, they are just not-particularly isekai, not-originla – full of some of the dullest tropes – and IMHO some are not Yuri.  Hereafter, any story about a maid and her infantile mistress will never, ever count as “Yuri” to me. It’s a bad trope that stomps on several boundaries: Power harassment, classism, and inappropriate age gap at the very minimum. 

There is so much Isekai in existence, and some of it is Yuri and so much of that is decent. I’m In Love With The Villainess, and The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants To Work For The Villainess, Muryoku Seijo to Munou Oujo ~ Maryoku Zero de Shoukansareta Seijo no Isekai Kyuukokuki (~無力聖女と無能王女～魔力ゼロで召喚された聖女の異世界救国記～)…all of these are interesting and create fully realized worlds out of games/fantasies. Unfortunately, this anthology makes little attempt to incorporate isekai, or depict relationships that offer any depth.

The “best” of the stories is the first, “Watashi no Koibito ha Tsuika Kakinsei no Keiyaku Kanojodesu! ~ Keiyaku Kanojo nanoni Mechamechasematte Kurunode Totemo Tsuraidesu ~”『私の恋人は追加課金制の契約彼女です! ～契約彼女なのにめちゃめちゃ迫ってくるのでとても辛いです～』, written by Karasu Piero, creator of MagiRevo, with very decent art by Mizuyu. In this tale a respected, powerful elite guard is swindled by a hustler into taking her as a lover. The thing is, they really do like each other, and share some personal stuff, and it would be, as the story says, happily ever after, if it weren’t just a contract. If there was isekai in this, I honestly missed it. The bittersweet ending was a nice change of pace.

Surely it is not *that* hard to write a short isekai Yuri story without focusing on the death part, as the 2019 anthology did, or just writing the same old maid, animal girl stories but calling it “isekai” on the cover as this one does. The art and stories here are fine, just, not isekai,sometimes not Yuri, and kind of just the same old, same old. 

Ratings:

Overall – 5

 It’s 2026 and I still don’t have a cool knight/princess Yuri story and I’m getting tetchy. ^_^;





Wicked Spot, Volume 1

April 30th, 2026

On a vivid yellow background, a woman with wild pink hair in hot pink and black, sits cross-legged, manicured long nails visible on her hand, smiling broadly with fangs showing and an intense look in her green eyes as looks a us.In my review of this book in Japanese I said, “Sal Jiang’s newest manga, Wicked Spot, Volume 1 is a classic case of a story beginning in one place and ending way far away from there in many different ways. I love it. ^_^.” 

Now that I have read it it English, I still love it. ^_^

Sada is a young with and the rules around staying hidden and away from people chafes. When a cell-phone opens up the world to Sada, she becomes a hit social media influencer (largely by walking into stores and just taking what she wants, courtesy of  bit of magic.)

Hanako has been tormented her whole life for being “a witch” because of her enormous strength. In the wake of Sada’s public confession that she is, in actual fact a witch, Hanako goes from fan to hater in a moment. When they meet, many worlds will collide!

If you like Sal Jiang’s work, you love this, if you are new to her work, hopefully, you’ll grow to love the wacky reaction faces and crazy muchness of both Sadako and Hanako’s situations. 

For me, it’s a fun read with just enough emotional buy-in to keep me reading what amounts to a action and magic filled comedy.

Ratings:

Art – 8 sometimes beautiful, other times messy
Characters – 8 Yes, this kind of off the wall, please
Story – 9 Awesome so far
Service – Cute clothes are about it
Yuri – Could go any way right now, but I trust

Overall – 8

Thanks to Vertical/Kodansha for a review copy through ANN for their up coming Spring Manga Guide! This volume is headed our way in a few weeks!





Watashi o Tabetai, Hito de Nashi, Volume 11 (私を喰べたい、ひとでなし)

April 23rd, 2026

On a background of clear sky blue, two young women in the same Japanese sailor-style uniform, of white blouses and dark blue skirts and ties stand. One girls long black hair creates waves around them, as she reaches out to touch the face of another girl with collar length pale hair.Wow, was this a great volume. In Watashi o Tabetai, Hito de Nashi, Volume 11 (私を喰べたい、ひとでなし), Hinako, Miko and Shiori are enjoying the school festival for which they and their classmates have worked so hard.

But first, Shiori has something she needs to tell Hinako. And she knows that, although she pours her heart out to the human girl in front of her, telling Hinako that she intends to be with her as long as she lives, she is only partially successful. But she is rewarded with a real smile from Hinako, at last.

We also get a little interlude in which we once again see the two-mouthed woman, Ayame, in her new job at an ice cream truck. Upon seeing a mysterious woman walk by, Ayame quits. 

Back at the school, Hinako’s aunt lets her know she’ll be dropping by the school festival. Miko has some questions, but before she can ask them, Tsubame the tanuki arrives with a gift for Hinako and a warning…there is a strange human walking around the festival. Hinako has already gone to the gate to meet her aunt….and all of us, Shiori, Miko and Tsubame and we readers, head over to see this aunt. 

When they arrive, Miko asks Hinako “what do you see?” If your hackles weren’t up before, they are now. Who they see is another piece of the puzzle that is Hinako and Shiori’s story….

This was another fantastic volume of a slow, creeping sensation that something is not right. It was just so good. The juxtaposition of the cheerful school festival, Miko and Shiori being the most “human” we’ve seen them…and this fear the yokai feel…is just fab.

Yuri in this series has always been Miko’s possessive friendship of Hinako, but in this volums we see that beyond just a yokai harem, whatever Shiori feels for Hinako might be something more than protection, or obsession. Maybe, it might be a kind of love? We’ll have to tune in next time and see. 

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story  – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – something is building. 

Overall – 9

This Monster Wants To Eat Me, Volume 1-5 are out now from Yen Press, Volume 6 is on the way in May!