Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat, Volume 3

October 23rd, 2023

Last winter I reviewed Yuzaki Sakaomi’s Volume 3 of Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna (作りたい女と食べたい女), expressing my delight over the entire volume – even squeeing throughout. Today I was able to revisit those moments of joy with the release of She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat, Volume 3 out now from Yen Press.

In Volume 1 we met Nomoto Yuki and her neighbor Kasuga, two women who bond over their use food as a form of escape from stress and entertainment. In Volume 2, Nomoto realizes that her feelings for Kasuga are more than friendship.  Here in Volume 3, Nomoto finds another friend and confidant with her online pal Yako, a woman who loves food, but doesn’t care about cooking.  And Kasuga befriends the neighbor who lives in between then, Nagumo, a young woman with a very fraught relationship with food. The four women build a family together, a space in which every one of them is accepted for who they are and their needs are accommodated. This volume is moving and funny and adorable in equal measure.

Yako gives Nomoto a primer in sexual diversity, freeing Nomoto up to stop comparing herself to other people and find her own story. Yako’s light-heartd acceptance and casual speech really blasts barriers away, so it’s an especial delight to have Caleb Cook’s outstanding translation here. In this volume we also get to see the core issue between Kasuga and her family, which is, simply, lack of respect. This is echoed by Nagumo, so they become close over the shared experiences of dealing with family that blames them for not being compliant. I don’t think I have to tell Okazu readers how powerful a message that is. When Kasuga comes to understand how she feels about Nomoto, there are layers and layers being addressed.

In this month, where we have I’m In Love With The Villainess in anime, with heartfelt discussion of queer experience, this manga is the perfect pairing for even more discussions of diversity within sexual and gender minorities. ILTV is a great ice-breaker for folks unused to these conversations in their entertainment, but She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat, Volume 3 is rooted in real experiences and reflects the kind of community that we as queer fans create for ourselves.

An outstanding volume of one of the best LGBTQ manga of the last few years.

Ratings:

Art – 9 Yako and Nagumo give Yuzaki-sensei a chance to ramp up expressions to 11
Story – 10
Characters – 9 (only to give them room to be even more wonderful)
Service – 0  Unless, like Nomoto, you consider watching Kasuga eat “service.”
LGBTQ+ – 10

Overall – 10

I was also pleased that letterer Phil Christie get to retouch S/Fx, at least on some pages, where it wouldn’t affect the art. More of that, please!

There is one more volume available right now in Japanese, but since Chapter 40 of the manga, the series has been on hiatus due to the manga artist’s health. Were’ all wishing Sakaomi-sensei a safe recovery.





If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan I Would Die, Volume 2 Guest Review by Christian LeBlanc

October 11th, 2023

Seven-member pop idol group makes their signature gestures at us, wearing cute outfits of white blouses and blue accents and skirts.Like finding a big ol’ slice of salmon in the special parfait you ordered at the maid cafe*, volume 2 of If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan I Would Die is an ugly volume of a very sweet and poignant series. 

Admittedly, I know very little of idol culture outside of what Erica’s written about it in her reviews of the Japanese volumes of this series. Maybe Auri Hirao is satirizing and/or critiquing some of the darker parts of idolatry, which would mean the negative impression I get is not a bug, but a feature. Regardless, I can only react to what’s on the page, with the background that I bring to it. 

So, what is my background? Well, as an awkward fan, I feel like I have a lot in common with Eripiyo, “the number one stan for Maina, a sidelined member of the underground idol group Cham Jam.” The desire to show support, coupled with a clumsy, almost debilitating awkwardness around those I admire, makes me feel comradery when I see fellow trash like Eripiyo, Kumasa and Motoi being too fan to function around their faves.

On the other hand, I have trouble understanding why fans and performers, especially on this small, local-group scale, can’t just be friends if they want to be. I think that’s why I liked the chapter where Eripiyo and Kumasa run into Aya moonlighting at a maid cafe: it just feels like how things *should* be, imho. An idol and a few fans just casually shooting the breeze and messing around, unbeholden to the forced interactions imposed on them by management. They’re all just people, free to interact with each other. As if they were humans.

I especially can’t relate to the idea that idols aren’t allowed to have a personal life outside of fan interactions. When a member of Cham Jam is rumored – not spotted, but rumored – to have been seen with a man, her popularity within the group drops, she loses fans, and even some of her fellow idols are disappointed in her. 

And I’m not even going to get started on how Maina is able to ignore Eripiyo’s signs of suffering to ask her why she isn’t buying many CDs. I don’t think it’s just because Eripiyo says things like “I eat salmon while thinking of you, Maina!”

This all being said, there’s still a lot to recommend this volume. Eripiyo manages to clearly communicate to Maina why she likes her, a feat rarely seen in volume 2 of anything I’ve read. Cham Jam holds a track and field event for some reason, with references to brutal violence happening when they tried this the year before. We spend some time with Yumeri and Maki, who are always a delight to see together. Eripiyo is shown eating a guardrail, and – I said this before, but it bears repeating – is able to tell the girl she likes that she eats salmon while thinking of her. I realize that most Yuri manga would close up shop at that point, but luckily for us, the third book comes out in print…today!

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 6
Story – 5 Rather disjointed volume, in spite of the thread of a popularity contest tying things together.
Service – 1
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7

*Yes, this happens, and yes, Eripiyo is absolutely here for it.





Koi To Yobu Ni Wa Ao Sugiru, Volume 1 (恋と呼ぶには青すぎる)

October 9th, 2023

Right now on Yuri lists across the Internets, there are a number of Yuri + Food stories. If you are a regular reader here you know two things – 1) I love food more than I love Yuri and 2) Yuri Lists lie.

Which is to say, quite often what one person feels as “Yuri,” others might not. I have read a bunch of stories that either did not feel Yuri, or just weren’t speaking to me; over the years I’ve made an effort to not become cynical about yet another suggestion.  Well, friends, after a couple of series where the Yuri and food did not gel into a coherent narrative, I have found one that was cute…if you like manga in which people shout a lot. ^_^ 

Koi To Yobu Ni Wa Ao Sugiru (恋と呼ぶには青すぎる) by Makotokun is kinda fun, kinda annoying and actually kinda fun. ^_^ Subtitled “Too blue to call love” (In English we’d probably say too green, rather than blue, i.e., too new and fresh) this story was shared on Twitter and has garnered the creator more than 15K followers.

Kyouko runs an izakaya with her brother. She’s cute in a very boyish, immature way. The regulars at the bar tease her pretty gently and she responds by overreacting, cutely.  Her eyes are on Midori, a regular who has a cheating boyfriend. Kyouko can say and do nothing but watch over the beautiful Midori, until one day, the boyfriend walks in the door with another girl and Kyouko loses it. After she rakes Baba up one side and down the other, who should walk in but Midori, who does likewise. Midori ask Kyouko out to get tea one day and leaves her steaming with anticipation and embarrassment.

Kyoko’s brother finds ex-boyfriend Baba alone and sad and ends up taking him out for a drink. The situation between him and Midori is more complicated than it appears. The brother ends up taking Baba home to dry him out.

Kyouko’s brother is thrilled to see Kyouko and Midori get together, he just also thinks Baba’s kind of pathetic and needs a friend. He’s not wrong. In the meantime, Midori and Kyouko go out to a movie and a snack and get to know one another and Midori is very clear that she like-likes Kyouko, who explodes visibly. The next time Midori and Kyouko are out, they comes across Baba and her brother, who invites them all to sit and talk…and weird friendship is born. When Kyouko goes out to buy some nice clothes for her date with Midori she runs into Baba, who picks out a very fashionable outfit for her. Midori admits later that the outfit that she’s wearing was also chosen by him. Midori is comfortable taking the lead in this relationship which is good, because she’d grow old waiting for Kyouko.

This could be the most annoying story ever, but oddly, it’s not. ^_^ 

The art is fun if not clean, and the characters are all likable – even, annoyingly, Baba. The brother (I think his name is Miyabi) watches over everything with a beatific smile and you just cannot dislike him. Kyouko’s charm is her overreactions and showing everything on her face. And Midori seems like a nice person, once she decides to move on. It’s all just kinda cute.

The food and drink is a backdrop, rather than scenery. We get occasional dishes announced but this is not She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat. There are no lingering looks at beautifully prepared meals here, just another order and another beer.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Service – 0
Yuri – 6 to start

Overall –  7

The real question is, would I read the second volume, which came out this past summer. Probably, with the thought that, like the above-mentioned She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat, the publisher is “it comics,” which has been promising. Let’s say it’s very likely that I’ll read V2, eventually. It was fun enough, if a little shouty.





Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 9 (推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ)

September 25th, 2023

Three female pop idols dressed in "cute" costumes that are reminiscent of Nara deer dance on a stage.When we left this series in Volume 8, there were rainbows and doves flying because an entire volume had passed without making me feel unpleasant thoughts in the mangaka’s direction. This was a genuine achievement in the uncomfortable relationship I have with creator Hirao Auri’s works. As a reminder, Volume 8 of Manga no Tsukurikata was dire. So for there to be an entire volume that did not make me want to die or cause something else to be destroyed was a miracle. Well, here we are in Volume 9 of Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu (推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ) and a miracle has occurred once again. ^_^.

The volume has a rough start, though, as a collector’s photo event with special, super special and super special rare photos is going on and, of course, Eripyo does not get one of the SSRs. (Why the management doesn’t just make sure she gets one, after all the money she spends is beyond me.) But Motoi does. And he doesn’t just give it to Eripyo, which has me solidly annoyed for a few chapters. Kumasa and Eripyo are pathetic otaku, but Motoi, wtf, he is such  loser. Thankfully, his sister Rena is not  a loser and makes sure Eripyo gets it. Rena is turning out to be a good friend to Eri.

But even that becomes fragile, when Eripyo learns Rena has fans of her own (fans who ultimately get Motoi the SSR photo he wanted.) Eri explains that, as an otaku she can’t be friends with someone like Rena. Thankfully, Rena is a perfectly decent human being and insists on being friends anyway.

And then we head into the endgame and I tensed up…

Maina has fans! This is a brand new development and Eripyo is ecstatic. Because that means for the first time ever, the group will be holding a Maina birthday event. Eripyo and Rena talk about what they should do for the event and of course Eri’s ideas are too too much. In the mean time Maina has an idea for the birthday concert that actually gets everyone in Cham Jam fired up – they’ll sing in front of a cardboard stage set that is reminiscent of the Budokan. Everyone is stoked.

We’ve actually learned a bit about Maina in recent volumes – shes in this group because she really wants to be for one thing. In this volume she admits to be eating bread a lot recently, because it reminds her of Eripyo, who always smells like bread from working in a bread factory.

And then…and then…Maina and Eripyo have a nice, extended conversation in which Maina’s nail color is the exact color Eripyo wanted for her birthday celebration. And they smile at one another happily.

I almost collapsed with relief.

There is drama on the horizon, though, Reo is about to retire and Kumasa is in despair.

The final chapters follow other idol groups including Reo’s former group Maple Doll, whose “deer costumes” grace the cover.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Character – 9, except Motoi who was a 5. WTF dude.
Service – 0
Yuri – They had a conversation and made each other happy. 10

Overall – 9

Another good volume? No, no, I can’t relax until it’s all over. Not possible.





Comic Yuri Hime, October 2023 (コミック百合姫2023年10月号)

September 24th, 2023

A girl sits at a canvas in a schoolroom, ready to sketch, watching another girl standing at the window, turned away from her.Comic Yuri Hime, October 2023 (コミック百合姫2023年10月号) begins with another moody cover by mebachi. It has been a cover story very full of emotion, but…sort of free-floating out there to be interpreted at will. Impressionistic storytelling with every-day art.

The opening stories this month are not my faves, including “Kyou ha Kanojo ga Inai Kara” which has just been licensed by Seven Seas as My Girlfriend’s Not Here Today.

Usui Shio’s “Onna Tomodachi to Kekkonshitemita” is coming to an end next issue, but in this one, Ruriko and Kurumi have an important conversation like two adults, which was deeply refreshing.

Also refreshing and relaxing is Takeshima Eku’s “Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau” in which Shiho and Aki finally have a normal conversation. Phew. Will they make it as an item? No way to know – Shiho is pretty high-strung, but maybe they have a shot at being something to one another.

This was followed by Aonoshimo-sensei’s full-color report of Anime Expo in Los Angeles. That was a lot of fun, seeing Claire and Rae experiencing American fan culture at it’s friendliest.

In “Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou.” Rae’s story about her first love comes to a crashing halt with rejection and bullying and a painful love quadrangle.  She very lightly tells us that they all made up later, but it’s hard to not sympathize with Claire and Lily being angry.

And, then, once again Claire has a problem – it is very hot out. Lene and Rae create a main course (not a dessert! Claire insists) to cool her down, in “Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. Maid Kitchen.”

We finally, finally get the story of Shizuku’s trauma in “Kimi to Tsuzuru Utakata” and it really wasn’t about the thing that happened in school, but what happened afterward when she stated writing. Which makes much more sense.

“Odoriba Skirt Ni Naru” edges closer to the quadrille. Kiki gives Michiru the best present of all – her own tuxedo coat resized to fit her new partner. Michiru tells Kiki how she feels about her.

There is a cute one-shot by Kashikaze about two students passing notes.

“Osoto Gohan wo Go-issho ni” is heading back to camping, this time overnight. Whee!

There are a lot of stories I’m reading in the magazine right now where I am just waiting for a plot to happen. Magical school zombies and post-apocalytic travelers and friendly zombies in ancient China…it’s all good stuff, I just need to see a plot sometimes?

A brand new utterly goofy, derivative story called “Extreme Super Darling” with an average girl, Ikeda Rio, in a school of Yuri stereotypes elites. We have  Haruka/Michiru pair, Chikage and Yurika. Rio ends up being challenged to a duel by Chikage because of a misunderstanding. The art is over-the-top with 70’s shoujo stylings and I think I like it! ^_^ Ikeda Rio…really.

All in all a good issue. Some things will come to an end next month and some things will begin. Time and Yuri move onward.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

The November issue is out now, featuring a new story by Kodama Naoko. If you like her brand of Yuri, keep an eye out!