Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 7 (雨夜の月)

August 12th, 2024

Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 7 (雨夜の月) is absolute perfection. It was so good, that the moment I finished it, I started from the beginning and read it again. And cried both times. I’m actually thinking about re-reading at again, as soon as I am done writing this.It was just that good.

In Volume 6, Kanon and Saki processed a lot of feelings – about themselves, about each other and about the people around them. In Volume 7, Kanon’s decision to be part of her school’s life is about to face a test.

But first! Rinne gets the spotlight, as she deals with the consequences of her decisions. After Kanon lost her hearing, Rinne stopped doing the things she enjoyed, so as to not cause her sister distress. Now she’s made a new friend, Chiyama, a girl who is ashamed of her excessive sweating. They quickly become friends and Rinne starts to think about someone else for the first time in a long time. Once again, we see a character opening doors for another person for them to choose whether or not they want to step through. In talking about what she wants to do, Rinne admits that she had given up her dream of going to see a live musical performance. Chiyama promises to go with her to see one, and Rinne finds door opening for her, too.

The school festival is upon them – Kanon is worried that it will be too much for her, but one of her classmates designs a menu meant to be pointed at, so she can take orders. Tomita offers Kanon a button that reads “I cannot hear well, please look at me when you speak” but in a moment of pride, Kanon does not wear it, and fails to explain the menu well to a customer, making it too much for her handle. Saki saves her, but defeated, she leaves to a quiet spot where she can reset. Where she is joined by her former best friend, Ayano. I won’t spoil that scene at all, it’s too fabulous.

The big chorus concert sets Kanon up against her worst fears, but as she and Saki and their class lean into the joy of the moment, everyone is crying happily. Finally, as the volume winds down, Kanon and Saki are off to finally have some fun at the festival. As Saki holds out a hang and says “Let’s go,”  Kanon thinks that now it’s her turn to learn more about Saki.

Ratings:

Overall – 10 No notes.

Absolute perfection.





Comic Yuri Hime September 2024 (コミック百合姫2024年9月号)

August 11th, 2024

In an elaborate gold frame on a bright purple cover, two girls wearing dark red school uniforms stand on a balcony over a formal garden. They both look up and away from the garden, shading their eyes.Quite a lot goes on in Comic Yuri Hime, September 2024 (コミック百合姫2024年9月号).

Beginning with a double chapter of “Kimi ga Hoeru tame no Uta o” a new series by Kashykaze (the transliteration of whose name is different than the one I have been using and is on I Can’t Say No To The Lonely Girl, Volume 2 of which I reviewed this week.) This series is about a girl with husky voice who wants to sing, but is fearful of even do much as speaking as people always comments on her low tone. An idol classmate may give her the opportunity she needs to thrive.

Usui Shio departs the warm-fuzzy feel-good stories that they are currently known for to look at two women who meet because each has an unusual fetish which may dovetail well. I’m going to keep reading “Bokura no Ai ha Kimochi Warui,” to see where it goes and hope that it goes somewhere interesting!

“Muryoku Seijo to Munou Oujo ~ Maryoku Zero de Shoukansareta Seijo no Isekai Kyuukoku-ki ~” by Tamasaki Tama takes an interesting turn as the newly minted Saint who cannot use her power starts learning how to channel it into potions. The local college of magic are willing to be convinced by her, as they regain their overworked powers.

I’m not sure what to do with “Genjitsu Sekai Demo Shiawasenishite Kudasai ne?” This reverse Isekai has the princess in a game entering our world after she falls for a woman who has played countless times – and choosing to become her housewife. It is a great plot idea for a short story, but I wonder if it can sustain itself. Shibari Kasuko will have to find a groove.

“Salvia no Bouquet,” by Sonohoka, digs into Liza’s past and Ellen learns that they have a lot in common. I like this story overall and hope it ends up being brilliant.

This arc of “Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijo.” manages to be ridiculous and smart at the same time, as Rei and Lily find themselves at a “magical circus” where Lily gets to be really cool for a moment.

Fumino isn’t aware of it yet, but both her mother and her best friend are poised to sabotage her team’s design work for the contest in “Kanaria ha “Kiraboshi no Yume wo Miru.” I hope the drama will be minor, honestly.

“Kiraware Majyo Reijō to Dansou Ouji no Kon’yaku” is finally ready for it’s close-up as the pressure is off Ciel and Eve to justify themselves, and on them to investigate dark magic.

“Romance Code” by nMi is a creepy scifi android story. It felt like the 70s all over again. But happily-ever-after, so yay? And yay for more sci-fi? Now, can we get something aspirational? Like Naomi Kritzker’s  The Year Without Sunshine?  Thanks in advance. <- Go read this story, btw, it’s free on Uncanny Magazine.

As always there were other stories I read and others I did not. This year has had a nice balance of me reading about half any given issue, which I consider a win.

Ratings:

Overall – 7

Aspirational literature, aka hopepunk – is where it is at, folks. Let’s have some Yuri about making our world – whichever world it is – a better place.
 
 

 





Cheerful Amnesia, Volume 3

August 9th, 2024

A woman with long brown hair smiles with a wide, gaping expression. Behind her another woman with short brown hair, looks serious. Both women appear at an angle on the cover.Memory loss is no fun, I can attest to that. When I was younger, I had a mind like a steel trap, now I frequently struggle to remember things that happened moments ago. As I read Cheerful Amnesia, Volume 3, I also struggled with the relationship between Mari and Arisa.

Despite neither of them (or their doctors or the author) creating any plan for Arisa to regain her memories, Arisa and Mari are bullishly moving forward, just sort of pretending that being together is enough. They both think about sex with the other, but neither has the emotional wherewithal to have a real conversation, so they end up missing each other’s meaning. Over and over. It is hard to take them seriously as a couple.

 Arisa and Mari genuinely are interested in one another. Arisa even goes so far to ask Mari to marry her. But Arisa’s memories are not only coming back, she’s losing her memory of nights they spend together now. And no matter how many womp-womp noises you make as you draw that, it’s going to read as a concerning thing, not all that funny.

There is a problem with this sort of “awkward comedy.” It gets really tired after we’ve all heard the joke. And something has to give here, and the thing that gives is the cause of Arisa’s amnesia in the first place. Turns out that it’s because “too many good things happened…!”

I know it’s meant as comedy. I know. I just… . I laughed at loud at She Can’t Say No To The Lonely Girl! I swear I’m not an anti-comedy curmudgeon – I am a profoundly pro-comedy curmudgeon. But this just feels like a thin joke dragged out too long and I have a creeping feeling I know the punchline of this series is going to be Mari losing her memory and we do this all over again….

If you’re used to Oku Tamamushi’s art, Arisa’s gaping mouth won’t come as a surprise  – to me it reads like she’s always inappropriately loud. Mari’s pained reactions in some cases are understandable. This story isn’t complicated, so translator Jenny McKeon has some work to do to make us care about Mari and Arisa. As usual, she is successful. The panels are, likewise very empty, so I’m a bit sad that letter Chiho Chritie was not given time or money to do full retouch.

Next volume  it looks like these two are going to go through a whirlwind journey of getting Arisa to stop collapsing, coming out to their parents and getting married. Can the final volume  take up the slack in the rest of the series? We’ll find out next month, when Volume 4 hits shelves in September, from Yen Press.

Ratings:

Art – 7 Noticeably better again
Story – 7 It’s try, but do what, I’m not sure
Characters – 7 They are adults who need to grow up already
Service – “Sexy” things. Sigh.
Yuri – 9

Overall – 7

Many thanks to Yen Press for the review copy. I’m really hoping Volume 4 makes this story a triumph.





I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl, Volume 2

August 5th, 2024

A girl with long, dark hair, wearing a white blouse and sweater vest leans over a girl with color length pale hair, who grasps the first girl's hand as she lays it on the second girls' cheek.Sakurai Ayaka is an excellent student who sucks at tests. A teacher offers her a recommendation to the college Ayaka aims for with a pretty manipulative twist – get a missing student back into the classroom and she’ll get that recommendation. Ayaka agrees, with some legitimate concerns and finds herself again subject to someone else’s whims. Classmate Honda Sora will only come back if Ayaka succumbs to one request” a day…and that request might even be a kiss!

Volume 1 of this series was very cute and also quite problematic, at the same time.

As I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl, Volume 2 evolves, both Ayaka and Sora are trying to understand what they mean to each other. Having met in such an unconventional (and frankly unpleasant) way, neither Ayaka nor Sora really have any way to understand how they feel.

The school sports day festival isn’t helping…but a new transfer student is. Watanabe sees what is going on and jumps right in to make sure they have to talk about it…at least a little. This leads to a chuckle out loud moment when Sora wonders how the costume for three-legged race that she’s just been subbed into fits her so well.

In the meantime, it’s hard to not be rooting for Sora and Ayaka as they navigate other people’s expectations, their own reticence and the unknown.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7, but climbing
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – pushing upwards at 6

Overall – 8

If, at this point, you are wondering what the deal is with Sora, her level of disassociation seems really high for no reason, tune back in for Volume 3…there is definitely a reason.

Oh, and I’m sorry. I localized the author’s name as Kashikaze and that’s what Kodansha uses, but just to complicate things, the author localizes their name as Kashykaze in Comic Yuri Hime now. Woops.





Koudou Ryou no Seizana Hibi, Volume 2 (黄道寮の星座な日々)

August 1st, 2024

A girl with short blond hair holds the cheeks of girl with brown braids, as they laugh and smile at one another.In Volume 1,  a young woman is sent to the Zodiac Dormitory by her sister with the admonition to “Take care of Alice.” And so, in Koudou Ryou no Seizana Hibi, Volume 2 (黄道寮の星座な日々), by Canno, the new Virgo, in a dorm where everyone goes by a Zodiac sign name, has two mysteries to track down….why is Gemini so opposed to her joining and who, exactly, is Alice?

In case you cannot instantly guess the answer to the above two mysteries, let me assure you that I am about to spoiler the heck out of this story…

…they are the same mystery.

In this volume, with the help of the other girls at the dormitory, Virgo tracks down a lost diary written by the former Virgo about how she fell in love with a teacher and, after graduation, married him.

In the meantime it’s all fun and games, except Gemini will not give in and the rule is that there needs to be a complete consensus on new arrivals. But, of course, this is a rom-com, so eventually we get the whole story which is, yes, that the previous Virgo, new Virgo’s sister was the girl who left to marry the teacher, only there was another student at the dormitory who was in love with her – Alice, also known as Gemini.

This Virgo and Gemini decide they are in love with one another, as well, but Gemini assures her that she does not see Virgo as a shadow of her sister and we all live happily ever after.

Except.

One.

Thing.

If that girl were truly a Virgo, this story would have been over almost immediately. “Ohhhh, you must be Alice, ” she would have said to Gemini about 2 minutes after meeting her.  ^_^;

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – Exactly as you’d expect
Service – 0 Unless you have an astrology kink
Yuri – 9

Overall – 7

This is a very cute series for which I needed to take my brain away, in order to enjoy. I forgot to do that, so it was cute and might be forgettable except she chose to make the protagonist a Virgo. Had the signs been reversed, I would have accepted the story as written. ^_^