Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime 12, Part 2

May 22nd, 2008

Onward into the dark depths of Yuri Hime Volume 12!

“Tokimeki Mononoke Gakuen” continues from the moment after Kiri and Arare have kissed. Arare is flipping out – not because she didn’t like it, but because she did! Immediately, she wonders just how Kiri got to be that good a kisser and freaks as she imagines her practicing with just about everyone. Arare wakes up in bed, assuming it was just a weird dream, but in a series of fabulous visuals, finds herself becoming insanely, irrationally jealous of Kiri and Pero. Arare and Kiri make up, Arare wondering if they should become lovers, when Kiri drops the bomb – if they do, Arare will become a real Youkai. Finally! A reasonable reason for the inevitable not getting together! What will happen? Tune in in July.

In “Sweet Peach” Touka flashes back and forth between what appears to be a “normal” world and the world she’s actually stuck in, with a floating perverted hamster-girl as a companion. Airei and Chun, the warrior-elf and the maid-doctor, show up to save her, and a fight looks to be forming when priestess-y Uzume-sama breaks it all up. Airei and Momoka are together when something very important, and yet heavily servicey happens and they find themselves in each other’s arms. We can look forward to even more fantasy elements to be crammed in to this story next time.

A new chapter of the next game in the Aoi Shiro canon, begins. A girl is trained to be another girl’s bodyguerd and servant. I won’t be buying this game any more than I bought the other game, so unless something happens in the story (and I’m betting that this chapter was really just an advert in manga form) I won’t care.

FINALLY! The one thing you all really cared about – the next chapter of “Strawberry Shake Sweet.” Having admitted their feelings, Ran and Julia spend a few pages being pretty sure they must have been mistaken. Ran falls asleep while Julia is in the bath. When Julia returns, waking her, Ran asks for a kiss, which Julia gives. Ran admits that she feared she had made it all up in her head and was just testing. While Saeki is held back from trying to reach them in the dead of night, Julia and Ran end up sleeping together, holding hands.

That’s the good news. Here’s the bad news – this story will be finished in two chapters. Now, that doesn’t *definitely* mean we won’t get more from Hayashiya-sensei. We don’t know yet. So don’t ask me what’s next. I do not know, any more than you do. OTOH, I think we can guarantee that Ran and Julia will live happily ever after. :-)

A girl is always watching Hasekawa, and when she notices, she inexplicably attacks her, trying to force a kiss and possibly more. When Hasekawa is injured, the girl visits her and receives an apology, but frankly, I didn’t like Hasekawa anyway. Thus concludes “A Beautiful Thing” by Hakamada Mera.

Yahoo! “Hatachi Otome Virgin Season” by Morishima Akiko, picks up the story of 20-year old art student Eimi and her lover 30-year old art teacher Keiko. Still wrestling with the age difference, they plan a trip to an onsen. They get sidetracked by a fight about an old boyfriend of Keiko’s, but they get back together in a fit of adorable love-love.

A new series by the artist of Hatsukoi Shimai, which has a name that I simply don’t feel like translating. LOL Anyway, it was exceedingly average. Girl comes to a mysterious store Nekomedou, as she struggles with feelings for her friend who adores her writing. She writes Yuri filth which upsets her friend, but makes up when she realizes that she’s never getting the girl, and her gallant stories of romantic Yuri love are all she can give her.

Last and utterly least is “Nanami to Misuzu” which I totally skipped.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Like I said, yesterday, Yuri Hime is a bag of mixed candy. You’re going to like some, not like some and love and hate one or two. That’s the advantage and disadvantage of an anthology. On the whole I really liked about a third of the stories, which is a fine percentage – I’ve bought magazines where I only liked one or two of the stories, so 6 out of 17 “really like” and 5 “okay” is a totally acceptable to me. And of course, you make like some or all of the stories I disliked. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime, Volume 12 Part 1

May 21st, 2008

Like a bag of mixed candy, Yuri Hime Volume 12 provides some tasty treats and some flavors that maybe one doesn’t like quite so much. lol

We begin with Goth-Loli story “Epitaph.” When it first began, I was witholding my judgement. Now a whole volume into it, I’m finally comfortable saying that I find it to be flavorless. It reminds me of Venus Versus Virus in the way it wraps an episodic and not particularly engaging plot around a not-particularly engaging not-quite couple. Towa and Ash are, well…boring. This chapter introduces the traditional rival couple, who are, as tradition demands just slightly more of a couple than our primary couple. There is a threat, which is dealt with by the also slightly more competent other couple and all of it makes Ash question her not-quite relationship with Towa.

Set in the Meiji period, and told through a series of letters, a girl’s rival is also her not very secret admirer, in the short “Sakura Buntsu.”

“Clover” follows the uncomfortable triangle of Student Council president Tachibana, and her VP, Hashimoto, as Tachibana discovers that Hashimoto unexpectedly has a girlfriend, Katou. Tachibana pushes Hashimoto to acknowledge and pursue the relationship, even as she realizes that she’s pretty heartbroken over it. Tachibana goes home and cries on her sister’s chest, but complains that it would have been nicer if she was bustier. Words of wisdom, I think. :-)

“Ichigo Ichigo Ichigo” is a school doctor-student love story that has the most unpleasant use of strawberries I’ve seen so far. (Whatever you’re thinking right now – it wasn’t that. It was just that I kept thinking, “who’s gonna clean that up?”

“Hatsukoi Kanon” surprised me. I keep forgetting that this school doctor-student relationship story is a series. lol Matsumoto-sensei and Nanao are interrupted in an embrace by Ruko-sensei, who tells Nanao that a student once fell for her. Matsumoto tells Nanao that their relationship will be over when Nanao graduates, and we learn (as if we couldn’t have guessed!) that Ruko’s admirer was Matsumoto.

Which brings me to my not-really new rule about being gay in manga. For a while, I’ve thought that falling for another girl once is basically nothing. Could be a crush, a phase, a first love, convenient, whatever. Twice is a trend. Three times, gay. lol

Moving on, in “Apple Day Dream” a new character is introduced, we dress her up and marvel at how many different ways the same three jokes can be rehashed.

“Sweet Olive Flowers” is another pretty dsyfunctional non-relationship triangle between a girl who likes another girl and the guy who likes her.

Creo has decided to attend school with Suou in “Creo the Crimson Crises.” Wackiness and DRAMA ensue.

Exam time has come, and graduation is something everyone is thinking about in “Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan.” What she’ll do when she graduates is obviously on Sarasa’s mind, and no less on Seriho’s. Seriho gets a call from someone named Sumire and, as she’s making plans uncovers a school guidebook Sarasa had left lying there. Crisis? Probaby not, but the mild tension is good for us. :-)

Takeuchi Sachiko’s Honey & Honey books (which have been reviewed here, use the search bar, I’m too lazy to link today) are reviewed as we end today’s overview of the first half of Yuri Hime 12.

I know what you want to know. You’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out, won’t you? ^_^





Yuri Manga: Aoi Hana, Volume 3

May 19th, 2008

A-chan, her older brother, Fumi, Kyouko and two school friends are headed out to the country for a vacation at Kyouko’s family’s summer house in Aoi Hana, Volume 3.

We meet Kyouko’s cousin, who is also her fiancee’, and her aunt who is very nice and her mother who is not. Kyouko’s cousin and A-chan’s brother have a chat over golf, where he admits to actually liking Kyouko, but knows that it’s pretty useless. The girls all walk through the woods. When Akira slips, Fumi’s *right there* to catch her – Pon-chan complains that when she slips, no one saves her. :-)

The girls all camp out for the night in a cabin after making curry. Fumi and A-chan find themselves up late at night looking at the stars, and suffering from summer colds the next morning. :-) When the rest of the girls go out for the day, Akira accidentally overhears a private argument between Kyouko’s cousin and mother about Kyouko, with some serious bile on the mother’s part. She is clearly not accepting at all of her daughter’s sexuality. Mom’s got some issues of her own.

The next day, all the girls except Fumi are attending Yasuko’s sister’s wedding. We switch points of view to Yasuko’s family, where Yasuko, dressed in suit and tie, is in a foul mood. She’s happy for her sister, but miserable because of her feelings for about to be brother-in-law. The wedding is beautiful, of course.

A-chan and Fumi decide to go to Enoshima after the wedding. When Yasuko overhears A-chan making plans, she wants to see Fumi, so she invites herself along. Fumi’s not terribly happy about it. Yasuko says she wanted to see her, but Fumi tells her flat out it’s no good. She walks off with Akira, leaving Akira’s brother and Yasuko to follow behind.

Yasuko starts to think about how she became the butch she is now, by trying to become the man she admired so much.

While sightseeing in a cavern, Yasuko and Fumi have a moment, in which Fumi says that she gave up on Yasuko, and Yasuko apologizes.

Later that night, Fumi admits to Akira that her first love was A-chan, then apologizes for saying something strange. A-chan’s a little surprised, but handles it with good grace.

Later, we hear that Yasuko’s moved out – and is, in fact, living with the girl who played Catherine to her Heathcliff. Kyouko tells Yasuko that she really does love her, while Yasuko, who seems happy about shedding her former life like a shell, is not as concerned with it as she might have been previously.

A-chan begins dating Kyouko’s cousin and Fumi finds herself jealous enough to feel pain.

To Be Continued.

There are also some side stories about other couples as omake. These are not people we know, just shorts of love and loss.

This volume was, like the previous volumes, emotional without being histrionic. More and more, I find myself liking Fumi, pulling for her, hoping that she’ll find someone even better, even cooler. A-chan is Fumi’s past and now, so is Yasuko, but we can’t help but think that there’s someone (possibly even Yasuko, once she’s gotten past her own issues, but I almost hope not) out there for her who can treasure her and make her happy. Kyouko too – we *know* she can do better than to waste her love on Yasuko.

Yasuko in suit and tie was pretty nice, even if she had a face on for the entire scene. :-)

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 5
Service – 1

Overall – 8

I can’t wait to see where this series goes, and with every volume I pray that it doesn’t get canceled before it finds some place of resolution. As we won’t see the next volume until 2009 at least, that’s a whole lotta prayin’. ;-)





Yuri Manga: Strawberry Panic, Volume 2 (English)

May 13th, 2008

Have you visited translator Anastasia Moreno’s fabulously wonderful blog, Manga Gunkan yet? Go. It’s not often you’re going to get such a unique mix of fun tidbits about translating, manga, military adventures and cute dachsund pictures – all written up in both Japanese and English, for your reading pleasure. Check it every day.

And speaking of Ana’s mad translation skills, today we’re talking about Strawberry Panic, Volume 2, translated skillfully by mad Ana. (For a summation of both my frustration with the SP fandom and the plot, please check my review of the Japanese edition from December 2006.)

Today, I’m just talking about the reproduction into English. I’ll never get tired of telling you that Seven Seas does a very, very good job. Ana’s translation captures the soap opera-like, over the top-ness, and the adaptation, by Lorelei Laird, allows the dialogue to speak for itself. Considering how absurdly melodramatic everything is, I think it would make a pretty great J-drama. In fact, I’m already giggling at the idea. (And, OMG, since Marimite spawned a parody porn movie, why hasn’t anyone made a SP parody porn? It’s just *begging* for one. ^_^ And with that thought, there goes the last shred of soul I had….)

The technical reproduction seems very clean, with some moire in the backgrounds that, to be honest, I had to go looking for, because it never seems like a problem to me. Some sound effects have been translated and replaced, others have had a English equivalent placed nearby and in at least one case, it was left untranslated. As I always say, it’s not an issue for me. But, surely you can figure out that the crowd is saying “Waaahhh” at the apearrance of the newly crowned Hikari and Amane.

I only have one complaint. It’s not totally Sevens Seas’ fault, but I object strongly. On the back, someone at the now-defunct Newtype, apparently decided that he was clever by describing this series as “Girl-Crushes Gone Wild!” which is not only insulting, but inaccurate. The characters – repteadedly – express feelings of love and devotion towards one another. These are not crushes. (Duh) The implication that this is a manga equivalent to straight girls with no pride who do lesbian-looking things for straight guys to get off on is actually pretty correct, but I found it annoying anyway.

On the last page of the story, as Nagisa and Shizuma kiss, there is a puzzling allusion to a third volume of the manga. Let me assure that there is no third volume to the manga in Japanese. The puzzling allusion to the third volume is there in the Japanese edition too. It never happened for a number of reasons.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 6, +1 for Kaname
Yuri – 9
Service – 6

Overall – 7

You may notice that my scores are different this time than when I read it originally. That happens. ^_^

And, my deepest, sincerest (and somewhat belated) thanks to Daniel P. for being the sponsor of today’s review!





Yuri Manga: Gunjou, Chapters 3 and 6

May 9th, 2008

Back in March, I reviewed a new non-moe Yuri manga series by Nakamura Ching, Gunjou. After I posted my review, Nakamura-san offered to send me a back issue of Morning 2 – the magazine in which Gunjou runs – which I of course accepted with great joy. And just yesterday, I received my copy of the current issue of Morning 2, to get the next chapter.

I love this manga with all my love.

It is not cute. It is not adorable. It it not moe. It *is* stunning. So, with my apologies to Nakamura-san for the hideous nicknames, I’d like to tell you all about the new bits.

Chapter 3 covers a tale from BL and BN’s high school days. The brunette, BN, is a champion runner, but wears a crappy pair of beat up cleats. The blonde, BL, is hanging around, and the track club is creeped out by her because she’s, you know, *lesbian,* but BN tells them that she’s just a nice person and to stfu, thanks awfully. When the team captain tells BN to get new cleats or else, BN and BL go to a store where BN attempts to steal a nice shiny new pair. To stop her from being arrested, BL offers to pay for them (she’s a rich ojou-sama,) but BN tells her to take the cleats and shove them.

BL visits BN’s house and learns that she lives in a crappy shack with a drunken and abusive father. At the end of the chapter, BL offers to *lend* BN the money, so she’ll stay in school and keep running. We see them 5 years later, as BN – now sleek, happy enough (we think) and married – pays back every yen. BL leaves, putting down exactly half the bill for their coffee – a beautiful and subtle touch. We go back to the present, with the two of them on the run, and we learn that BN still has that 550 yen in her wallet.

In stark contrast to Chapter 3’s happy ending, chapter 6 is BRUTAL. They take a hotel for the night, but BN gets weird about sleeping in the same bed as BL, so they get separate rooms. We learn from the news that the police know BL did the murder and that the two fugitives are being sought. BL can’t sleep, so she goes out. We see BN looking in the mirror at her body, which is covered in bruises. Since they have been on the run for a month – at least some of those bruises are probably not from the dead husband…. BL grabs a taxi to go back to the hotel. The taxi driver solicts a hand job, which BL does, flashing back and forth the whole time to the murder. She leaves the cab and when a fortune teller approaches her and tells her that she’ll get married, she goes postal on the lady, who asks for forgiveness as she reaches for a stone to bash the crazy, violent woman on top of her.

BN notices BL’s not back and eventually finds her, trying to kill herself by hanging herself from the bathroom door. BN takes her back to her bed, while BL flashes back to the murder and to their school days where she first met BN and they became friends . BL has a complete emotional breakdown to match her physical beating. As the chapter comes to a close, BL tells BN that instead of killing her husband, it would have been better if she had killed BN. BN goes out into the hall and cries.

There is just nothing about this series that is Akihabara. But, in between the severe mental unbalance, the extreme violence and the raw, unsexy sex, there are moments of such intense tenderness that they quite take one’s breath away.

The Yuri actually identifies as lesbian, so perhaps this is a lesbian manga, rather than a Yuri one. BL is quite obviously hopelessly, dangerously in love with BN…and BN is suffering from all kind of mixed emotions, compounded by the fact that they are both just so very broken that a normal relationship seems impossible for either of them. And, despite the fact that this manga perpetuates the murderous lesbian trope, I think it completely transcends the stereotype.

Gunjou is not a “good” manga – it is a “brilliant” manga.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 5
Service – 2

Overall – 10

I recently learned that gunjou, which translates to the color Ultramarine, is considered to be the most highly revered blue hue in the Japanese artist’s palette.

Once again, thank you Nakamura-san, for the issue of Morning 2 and for creating such a magnficient manga.