Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Summer Sale on 100% Yuri from ALC Publishing!

July 1st, 2005

To celebrate the release of ALC’s original yuri novel, Shoujoai ni Bouken, we’re discounting all ALC Publications in stock. Now you can get 100% yuri from ALC for from 30% to more than 50% off!

Rica ‘tte Kanji – Curve magazine calls this light-hearted tale of love and life in Tokyo their “favorite new bedside read”. Get 30% of all copies of Rica and enjoy Rica Takashima’s original art and take on life.

Yuri Monogatari 2 – This original all-yuri anthology has stories from yuri artsits and writers around the world. Don’t forget to keep a place on your bookshelf for Yuri Monogatari 3, coming this fall from ALC!

Shoujoai ni Bouken: The Adventures of Yuriko, Volume 1 – Join Yuricon mascot, Yuriko as she tries to balance life as a pop idol, the pursuit of love and liberty from math tests. This brand-new ALC publication includes more than 2 dosez illustrations by Kelli Nicely; a great way to get to know Yuriko, or to spend more time with her!

You can get all ALC publications on the Yuricon Shop, along with yuri anime, manga and gifts. This offer is for a limited time only, so don;t miss your chance to get 30% to 50% off of 100% yuri from ALC Publishing!





Transistor Ni Venus, Volume 3

June 29th, 2005


Once again, my thanks to Touko_no_doriru-san, for giving me this volume of Transistor ni Venus, so I can share this fine manga with everyone. :-)

In Volume 3, we find April Enus starting off on another harrowing – yet somehow not really stressful or even moderately tense – adventure that involves her and another attractive female removing most of their clothes. LOL Enus is escorting a bag filled with some top secret materials on a plane when a botched theft not only leaves Enus and the thief handcuffed together, but stranded on a desert island. In the end they kiss and make up. :-)

The next story focuses on Winslow, Enus’ sentient cat, as he heads out on assignment – for the next few months, he is going into deep cover as…a cat. He pretends to be a stray to be picked up by a family who has something he needs to retrieve. While he lets them take care of him, we see Enus off on a variety of exciting and dangerous adventures. Winslow gets regular meals and is petted while Enus is bombed, shot at, crashes, etc. Of course, Winslow gets the goods and returns to HQ a hero.

The rest of the book takes place at the private all-girls school where “Miss April” has a position as teacher. The school is pleased as punch that the students sem to be doing *much* better at their studies, so they don’t inquire too deeply at Enus’ methods. In fact, she rewards the students with kisses for their academic excellence.

We are introduced to two creepy incestuous twin girls who are in love with their teacher – and who see Miss April as a rival. As Gyauza-sensei isn’t really interested in Enus or the twins, it’s kind of a pointless rivalry, but when Miss April fights off the girls in a fencing match, she claims a kiss as her reward anyway. :-) (Enus is most certainly interested in Gyauza…even if the feeling isn’t entirely returned.)

Eventually we learn that Enus is at the school to find a girl with important marks upon her back – we get a variety of bath, swimsuit and nude posing for art class scenes in order to do provide us the opportunity to “subtely” check the girls’ backs. Mixed in to this high-octane plot is a variety of kisses, from pecks for the young to “adult kisses” for the of-age.

Eventually, Enus accomplishes her objective and learns that the twins are actually years older than they look (and act!) and they all end up in bed together. The end.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 6
Character – 8
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8

If this weren’t so funny and sweet a comic – it’d be pretty trashy, huh? But it never *feels* trashy. It’s all in good fun and it always puts a smile on my face to read a volume of Transistor ni Venus.





Transistor ni Venus, Volume 2

June 2nd, 2005

No, you didn’t miss a review Volume 1 of Transistor ni Venus. I just haven’t been able to find it yet.

First, once again, my deepest thanks go out to Touko_no_doriru-san for getting me started on this manga! I’d seen it on and off at the used manga store for years, but had never actually gotten it. Your gift of Volumes 3 and 6 were *just* the thing I needed to make me go out and get as much as I could find! (And extra thanks for the artbook – I’m a huge artbook fan.

This series is delightful. It follows the career of April Enus, aka Venus, a spy in the late 24th century. In classic James Bond-like fashion, she sleeps with nearly every woman she encounters, and has amazing adventures on land, in the water, in the sky and even out into space.

Enus’s world is populated by aliens, sentient animals and a wide variety of really adorable men and women, because the art style is very pin-up, rather than manga.

Enus definitely prefers women, but will certainly take a man at a pinch. Although we never actually see her stoop that low. She trades kisses with a few guys, but saves her real skills for the women.

In her off hours Enus is a teacher at an girl’s private school, where the students regularly ask her for “treats” of kisses when they do well in their schoolwork. She’s happy to oblige, but saves the “adult kisses” for the adult students, and again, sticks with taking the other female teachers to bed.

Volume 2 starts off in a blimp. Enus has hooked up with an attractive lounge singer who favors tuxedos…and jewels. Jara, the singer, has a unique jewelry box, and Enus spends most of the volume attempting to break into it. In between attempts, she sleeps with Jara, who develops a fetish for dressing her up in cosplay outfits. Enus likes Jara plenty, but wishes she could “take the lead” once in a while. Jara is pretty adamant that *she* wears the pants in this relationship, until circumstances force the crew to use the water in the singer’s bath to cool an overheating engine. Jara is livid, but Enus suggests that she use her bath – one one condition.

As the next scene begins, Jara enters the lounge wearing a fetching dress, while Enus is now clad in tux. Apparently you can only have one butch at a a time in this relationship. lol

Enus’ adventures are silly and frequently, downright funny. There’s rarely any sense of urgency, although there is action – and not just in bed. There’s also a nice selection of ray guns and bombs and counterespionage all drawn and written in a nicely fluffy, tension-free way.

The second scenario in the book involves Mariaanna, one of Enus’ lovers and Mariaanna’s brother Rashiko, who kisses his sister on the lips, which upsets Enus. (She gets hers though, the end of the story finds the Mariaanna in bed with Enus.)

The volume ends with a *very* goofy story about Enus being companion to an 8-year old girl, much to her distress. Forced to abandon several female lovers along the way, Enus and her charge switch from one space ship to another as they are attacked again and again. It’s all very silly and enjoyable.

I’m definitely on the hunt for the first volume now. I think I have all but 1 and 8 and every volume is sillier and more full of girl-girl kisses than the last. Although I don’t think we see Enus in bed with a lover nearly as much in the other volumes as we do in this one.

Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 8 (great fluff – who needs substance)
Characters – 9
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

Definitely keep an eye out for this one. It’s way out of print, but more fun than a barrel of lesbians.





Yuri Manga: Bakuretsu Tenshi, Volume 2

May 18th, 2005

Sometimes, there *is* cosmic justice and a marginal anime series is actually a damn fine manga. Bakuretsu Tenshi is one of those series.

After the dissapointments of series like Kannazuki no Miko and Uta-Kata, its a pleasure to read a manga that is really just a decently written and enjoyable story.

Enjoyable, you might remember from my review of Volume 1, if you like guns, girls, mutating undead half-zombie, half-Boomer creatures, etc.

(In fact, if you like Bubblegum Crisis, you will probably like this manga – they’ve got alot in common, with an added dose of more overt Yuri in BT.)

In Volume 1, we meet Jo and Meg, who live in a world of nearly inexplicable violence. In Volume 2, the girls (and us readers) get a hint that it may not be as inexplicable as all that. Sei and Emi, who appeared in the first volume, are established as being specifically after Jo…although we don’t yet know why. We don’t know yet because there’s an actual plot and we have to wait to find out what it is…we hope.

From what I can tell, the anime begins after the manga story resolves and all four women are working together. I will say that, having seen the anime, I think the prequel-esque manga is working quite well.

And then there’s the Yuri.

As I mentioned in my original review, the anime did a bang-up job of pretending that Meg was not interested in Jo, while poor Jo was forced to go about saving Meg’s butt all over the place for little more than “thanks” and a hug.

Not so the manga. The first chapter of Volume 2 has Meg renting a suspiciously cheap house for the two of them. Her first thoughts upon taking up residency is a not at all subtle fantasy in which a naked Jo leans over a naked Meg and says, (in a sexy voice, assumably,) “I won’t let you sleep tonight.” Meg’s out loud response to this internal fantasy is to say, “Please be gentle with me.” ^_^

Later, Jo and Meg learn that the house is haunted, but instead of bailing like all the previous residents, they discover that the ghost is merely a hologram and they confront the rental agent with the fact. Turns out that he is divorced and his alimony is killing him, so he’s set up this scam to keep the rental fees coming in on this dilapidated house.

Later that night, Meg is saddened by the thought of falling out of love with the person you love. She asks Jo, a little desperately, if they might ever separate. Jo responds by feeding Meg soba noodles and, quite romantically saying that the noodles represent the length of time they would be together. At which we cut away to Emi and Sei watching this on a monitor. We see Meg jump Jo, all huggy and snuggly and then Emi turning to Sei and asking, “Sei-‘nee, why are we recording this?” To which Sei replies, red-faced and embarrassed, “Kids shouldn’t watch some things!” (Thanks to Zyl for correcting my translation there.)

Later Sei meets with Meg and offers her money to break up with Jo. Meg refuses, violently and swears that whatever the truth about Jo is, they’ll face it together.

So that settles that. It’s not a one-way Yuri thing in the manga. It’s lurv. And lust, for which I am eminently thankful. In fact, the preview notes to the third volume mention that Meg will be beginning an ero-ki battle for Jo’s attention. Hmmm…how do I explain that? Think naked, come-hither looks being thrown in Jo’s direction, with determination. ^_^

Not surprisingly, I am actually looking forward to the next volume in a way I never did to the next anime episode. I sincerely hope that the manga continues past this arc into the anime and completes the story, because frankly, I think it’ll do it with more style, better writing and a lot more Yuri. ^_^

Ratings:
Art – 7
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7

Worth a read, if you like this kind of action-adventure shounen thing.





Yuri Manga: Ichigo Mashimaro, Volume 1

May 11th, 2005

Still playing “catch up”. Last month I tried, but failed horribly, to hate Ichigo Mashimaro. You can read about my shameful failure in the April 1, 2004 entry.

So, with tail tucked firmly between my legs, and lots of discretionary income to spend, I parked myself in front of the Dengeki Comics section of Mandarake in Nakano and proceeded to buy the first volume of this just too-cute-to-hate series.

My opinion has not substantially changed from the first review. I’ve got the hang of the story now, though. Basically, each chapter is about some totally normal and a little silly situation that, slowly and adorably, goes out of control until you’re giggling and feeling slightly foolish to be doing so at your age.

There is a definite, yet minor-key, rivalry for Nobue’s attention between Matsuri and Miu, but mostly on Miu’s part. Matsuri is too much of a baby to have a real crush on Nobue, while Miu’s desire to be noticed by her would be a teeny little pathological if it weren’t so damn cute!

The manga begins with Nobue at 16, as a blonde kogal with a nasty nicotine addiction, surrounded by her little sister’s friends who crawl in and out of the windows to their apartment like it was their own home. As the up-coming anime has Nobue at 20, I can only guess that Miu’s crush takes on a little complexity as time goes on. Future volumes of the manga will tell, assumably.

Even if there wasn’t Yuri in this (and I have to have the Yuri goggles turned up fairly high to see it, honesly) Ichigo Mashimaro is just too freakin’ cute to miss.

Ratings the same as the first time around.

If this manga can melt even my hardened little heart, the rest of the world will probably adore it.