Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Espoir, Volume 1

April 15th, 2022

Kokoro has just learned that when she graduates high school, she is to be married to someone to whom her father owes a significant favor. She is not happy about this, and refers to it as “dying” after graduation. As a result of her impending “death,” Kokoro wants to live a happy Yuri life while she is in high school. She may never get to date the girl of her dreams, but she can at least draw pictures of the Yuri couples she observes and imagine their lives. Kokoro enlists her best friend and fellow art club member, Amami, in her plan.

Yuri Espoir, Volume 1, seemed like it might be fun. It quickly became…extraordinary. Yes, Kokoro sees Yuri couples, then draws what she imagines their story to be. The next chapter the tells us the reality of their story. As it tuns out, Kokoro has solid Yuridar. She gets the basic situation right, but the details are different and more complicated than her imagination. Everything in this book is more complicated than Kokoro imagines, in fact. Amami’s feelings, their art club advisor’s secret…everything. 

 I loved that we got the story of the Yuri couple and that those stories are truncated. We get bits and pieces, and maybe the wrap up…maybe they don’t. We may never know what happens to them, or we might, but it was compelling.  Unpredictable, ebullient, with a complicated and much vaster plot that it initially seemed, every chapter was a revelation. I couldn’t put it down.  What a fun and unusual manga!

Mai Naoi’s art is not practiced and slick, but solid enough that both Kokoro and Amami has vastly different styles that are themselves recognizably different from the main narrative.

The main narrative may or may not be good in the end, but the individual chapters are a fab collection of Yuri tropes remixed in and out of “reality.” I cannot stress this enough – I have not seen a story like this before. It was really very interesting. You may not like it, but I’m going to say Yuri Espoir, Volume 1 was worth reading.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Stories – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 9

Great job to Caroline Wong on translation and  to the entire Tokyopop team for a surprising Yuri manga. Thanks so much to Tokyopop for the review copy! I hope you’ll pick this up when it hits shelves this summer; it was genuinely intriguing. I’ll definitely be grabbing Volume 2 when it’s released in October.





Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 1 ( 雨夜の月)

April 14th, 2022

Saki loves piano. Or does she? She loves taking lessons with her teacher, she’s sure of that. But her teacher is leaving…

In Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 1 ( 雨夜の月), on the street, heading towards lessons, Saki bumps into someone. A lovely girl about her age, drops piano music. Saki helps her pick it up. The girl gestures at her, but Saki doesn’t understand. The next day in school  the girl turns out to be a transfer student, named Kanon. Kanon is hard of hearing, but can read lips and speak. Their teacher asks Saki to help Kanon out, but Kanon tells Saki to leave here alone.

Saki heads to the new music teacher her teacher recommended and the final coincidence drops into place. Her new teacher is Kanon’s mother, a veritable ogre of a teacher. 

Saki finds that she cannot leave Kanon alone and just keeps trying to be a friend to the new girl. There is a clique that is clearly out to bully Kanon, but Saki is not having any of it and protects Kanon. Kanon appreciates that Saki always turns towards her when she speaks, which helps her to lip-read. Slowly, Kanon opens up to Saki. When her impossible piano lessons are over, Saki retreats to Kanon’s room, the sound-proof music room behind the house. There, she learns, Kanon finally feels relaxed, without the mosaic of fractured background noises of daily life around her. There, if Kanon gets close, she can hear Saki. And there, Saki starts to rethink her love of piano….

As Saki finds herself thinking more and more about Kanon, and how intimate they are, she also starts to realize that it was never piano she loved, maybe, but it might well have been her piano teacher.

In school, while the bullies scheme, Saki’s friends join her and Kanon. Kanon is finding it harder to isolate herself, even as the effort of talking with new folks exhausts her. When Kanon makes an effort to go shopping with her, Saki decides to learn sign language to hopefully make that less stressful for Kanon…one day.

Saki is awakening to a new self, Kanon is awakening to a new self and this fact is the key strength of this series. Kanon is very clear that she does not need or want a hearing person to be her savior or her guardian, but she is becomingly less resistant to Saki as a friend. Saki is starting to get a hint that her feelings for Kanon are not just friendship, but she can see that friendship is more important. I actually want to know what will become of them and I kind of hope it’s not either/or.

This is the first new series by Kuzushiro-sensei in a while and I’m pretty pleased with the way it’s turning out. Her art is solid, she’s come a long way, with a recognizable style. The pacing is good, although I could lose the creepy bullies constantly threaten to make life hard for Kanon. But over all, I’m glad it neither fetishizes nor romanticizes deafness. Instead, it is a bit of an explainer manga, which gives Kanon a chance to speak for herself and to correct Saki’s mistakes and misunderstandings.

The volume ends with a few chapters of another Kuzushiro series that had too much screaming for me to enjoy it. Adults in an office just don’t scream that much… but Egao no Taenai Shokuba Desu., Volume 1 (笑顔のたえない職場です。) might be more your cup of tea.

I didn’t know what to expect with this series, but what I have gotten is a pretty solid series from a creator I really like.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7 Rough spots here and there, but it finds its own pace before the end of the volume
Characters – Same
Service – Implied only
Yuri – Implied only, but…

Overall – 8 by the end

Amayo no Tsuki is not a manga about DHH people, it has a character who is hard of hearing in a Yuri manga. If you are a DHH reader, and you have had a chance to read this manga, I would welcome your  opinion, which will obviously be from a different point of view than mine.





Gunbured x Sisters, Volume 2 (ガンバレッドｘシスターズ), Guest Review by Mariko S.

April 13th, 2022
I’m extremely pleased to welcome back the Okazu Guest Reviewer who takes on series that I’m not going near…Mariko Shinobu! /extravagant flailing of arms/ For a refresher, check out her review of Volume 1, which is now available in English from Seven Seas. Please welcome back Mariko with your warmest Okazu welcome!
 
Time for round two of everyone’s favorite (and likely the only) Yuri nunsploitation manga! In honor of the official English release of volume 1, I’m here to whet your appetite for the further adventures of Dorothy and Maria, our dynamic duo of Church-adjacent violence and sex in Gunbured x Sisters, Volume 2 (ガンバレッドｘシスターズ).
 
As the story continues, we think we know the lay of the land. Our heroines will investigate and confront the escalating vampire threats to keep the populace safe, while attempting to unravel the deeper mysteries surrounding both the undead and Maria herself. When the volume opens, we meet what is surely to be the next major threat for the Red Sisters – a dapper, regal-looking vampire who perches on an overstuffed armchair sipping premium blood from a goblet. And just as he’s gearing up for his big villain speech… exit, stage left, courtesy of Maria’s pistol and Shannon’s daggers. These women are not intending to play “business as usual,” and they’re not about to let a preening villain get in the way of the conversation (read: “fist fight”) they need to have about Dorothy.
 
However, convolutions are writhing beneath the surface of the story. We get the first hints that the Church is not a pristine force for good courtesy of wunderkind inventor Chloe and her massive robot sidekick Sanders, whose grandfather invented the Optare (the cross-like weapon Maria wields when she really means business.) Meanwhile, Dorothy tortures a vampire she captured – not for information, but “just because (she) wanted to.” She ends up with info on the new vampires anyway, but again we see the damage that hides beneath her “perfect leader of the Church” facade. A facade which, by the way, she doesn’t even attempt to keep up around her friends, and barely maintains around the Church elders.
 
And then, suddenly, things get real. The force behind the sudden uprising of new, more powerful vampires reveals herself – “Doctor J,” the pure-blood vampire mad scientist. She has been testing the Church with her hybrid genetic monstrosities, and is utterly and completely unafraid of anything our heroines can throw at her. She looks at every encounter as a chance to gather data, whether it’s Dorothy and Maria fighting one of her creations, or shooting herself in the head with Maria’s gun. And the data she gathers is foreboding – she is able to counteract and reverse Maria’s dhampir mode, regenerate any injury completely and instantaneously, and only decides to retreat from Shannon’s entire Knights of the Cross brigade because it might be “annoying” to kidnap Maria under those circumstances.
 
Despite the complete and total loss, though, Maria finally gets the bit of critical information she has been seeking all these years: Noelle is alive, and Doctor J knows something about her. As the book closes, we glimpse even more foreshadowing that things are not as they seem with the Church or the vampires. And we are left with so many concerns for both Dorothy and Maria, who are hiding so much pain from themselves and each other. Dorothy, in particular, has a scary way of being tender and kind with Maria directly, but dead-eyed and mercenary when discussing her with others. Does she have any genuine feelings for Maria, or is the dhampir nothing more than a monstrous tool to effect her revenge with?
 
If you’re back for another helping, you don’t really need the warning, but the buffet of service of all kinds continues unabated. There’s lingerie and blood. Shower scenes and severed body parts. Nighttime liaisons, flashers, and bloodlust-as-intimacy. There was even “Maria beats up some guys who were creeping on Dorothy and one of them ends up with a daikon in a very uncomfortable place,” which is not a type of service I knew I needed but nevertheless enjoyed. Caveat emptor. As far as Yuri, we’re mostly on the same wavelength as the first volume, just a little more intense: Shannon is desperate to be Dorothy’s princely protector, to win her favor and reserve “Dolores-sama’s” affections for herself. Dorothy and Maria continue to have a very physical relationship as the result of Maria’s vampire needs. Some of it Dorothy clearly plays up for her own amusement, but there are definitely signs during, for example, the night Maria spends in Dorothy’s bed, that there’s more developing. Maria catches herself a few times getting emotionally invested in Dorothy’s past and well-being, and though she tries to correct herself… she’s catching feelings. Dorothy is a thornier issue, though. While publicly she is flirty and forward, even at times kind and affectionate, when her mask slips it becomes very unclear if she is capable of love for anyone, or if all that will ever matter to her is her mission.
 
 

Ratings:

Art – 10     I still think it just “fits” this story, despite (or because of) its messiness. The fight scenes in particular do a great job of clearly orienting the participants in space and making the action legible.
Story – 6     Relatively little actually happens in this volume. But, I like the way subversive elements are casually woven into the story in pieces rather than having characters just exposition dump all the time.
Characters – 9     Chloe the disabled inventor, Sanders her robot bodyguard, and Father Marco, the deranged priest that wields a mace topped with a skull the size of a beach ball are worthy additions to our funhouse gallery of lovable weirdos.
Yuri – 6     Shannon is very clearly in love with Dorothy and wants to be her “prince.” Dorothy and Maria… it’s complicated.
Service – 10    All the service, all the time.

Overall – 8

 

The girls were sure in for a shocker
From the vampires’ perverted mad doctor
Much more violence and sex
And time for Dorothy to flex
All the assets her station has brought her

Gunbured Sisters, Volume 2 is available on Amazon JP, Bookwalker JP or CD Japan. in Japanese and in English in July, from Seven Seas!

Erica here: Thank you very much for the review, Mariko. I look forward to your reviews of this series more than to the series itself. ^_^ Tetragrammaton Labyrinth is the last Yuri nunsploitation series I can think of. It’s been a  while and we were due. ^_^





My Idol Sits the Next Desk Over, Volume 2 Guest Review by Luce

April 6th, 2022

Please welcome back Luce, who will take a look at the remaining volumes of this series for us!

In the first volume, we saw Sakiko get over a good part of her shyness and awe of Chihiro, the girl sitting next to her that happens to be her favourite idol in a group called Spring Sunshine. She also manages to somewhat wrangle Maaya, a Spring Sunshine superfan, into their group, and there was a surprise concert – they all go, of course, but now Sakiko is awestruck by Chihiro again!

Volume 2 of My Idol Sits the Next Desk Over starts where we left off. Sakiko, having had Chihiro wave at her from on stage, is elated… But also awestruck? Having seen Chihiro as Chiro-chan the idol has made her nervous about the distance between them, although it seems somewhat evident to the audience that may only be half the problem.

Next, a sports festival, in which Sakiko tries to protect Chihiro’s identity from her photographer senpai so she doesn’t get outed as an idol. The three of them go on a ‘chic-nic’. Chihiro faces some criticism from classmates. And Sakiko and Maaya try to protect Chihiro from possible scandal in their own ways…that may not be very conducive. Finally, someone confesses to Chihiro! A lot happens in these chapters!

Now that Sakiko has come out of her shell a lot, the whole thing is a great deal better. That said, she has her hands full dealing with/mitigating the effects of Maaya. I think these two are intended to show two sides of fandom: the invested but respectful, and the obsessed and possessive. Due to Sakiko’s influence, Maaya never quite succeeds on her schemes, which largely involve singling Chihiro out and getting rid of any ‘interfering’ parties (in her opinion), but it is annoying. Her stalkerish tendencies will never become comfortable, and I hope she leaves them behind either by force or by choice. I feel a plot point in a future chapter may well be Chihiro linking Maaya and the forum aggressor as one and the same, and her reaction. But her view currently is clearly ‘Chihiro belongs to me’, and it is uncomfortable. Her actions towards Sakiko at times and some other characters are definitely not alright – if you can ignore them, the manga can be quite enjoyable. If it’s too close to home, maybe give it a skip. Vol 3 came out and by the end of that she’s not much better, Sakiko is just working more as a conscience engine for her. I await further developments.

Sakiko is another story. Being friends with Chihiro (and Maaya) has helped her immensely – we see her converse with other people in class quite freely by midway through, and it’s lovely to see her grow into herself. It seems fairly clear to us that she at the very least has a crush on Chihiro, and their growing closeness unsettles Maaya, who reacts in a… very Maaya way. It could be worse, and it’s resolved fairly quickly. One of her photography club senpais even thinks to herself about whether Sakiko is in love with Chiro-chan. So on the yuri front, I would say it is increasing. For her part, Chihiro seems to have had a bad experience in junior school, so her friends are very important to her, although she tends towards Sakiko – could we see something into this?

We get a few more characters in this book, which is nice. A thought I had is that’s its nice to have male characters who aren’t portrayed as creepy and aren’t just there for plot drama. We get some people who aren’t into idol groups, and announce their discovery of Chihiro as an idol in a slightly unfavourable way, which is greatly frustrating to the three of the main characters – but Chihiro deals with it in her own way, which was lovely to see. Especially with the other two seeming to think she needs to be protected – she is a bit clueless at times, so there is some reason – it was good to see her stand up for herself in her own way.

Story: 8
Art: 8, its bright and sunny, suits the story it’s telling.
Service: 1
Yuri: 5. Sakiko hasn’t made it there yet. Not sure if Maaya is in love or just obsession. Possibly both.
Overall: 9

The story is tending towards Spring Shine getting more popular, even if just within the class, but if they do, that could change things quite significantly. Maaya is uncomfortable at times, but over-ride-able in my opinion. I’ll be staying tuned – Volume 3 and and Volume 4 have come out as of 5th April!





Hana ni Arashi, Volume 9 (はなにあらし)

April 4th, 2022

We have watched Nanoha and Chidori since they began dating. For a very long time, it was under the radar, but as they look towards a wider future together, they’ve been less concerned if their friends know.

Hana ni Arashi, Volume 9 (はなにあらし) is a festival of festivals. Christmas and New Year’s and Valentines Day and all the attendant joys of finding time together, giving each other gifts and spending time with friends.

There is no new ground here; this has been a slow, incredibly gentle first love story. But for all that it’s been fun. And, almost incredibly, it has provided Chidori and Nanoha with people they don’t have to hide in front of. I would not have expected that. But, there they are making chocolate with Mai for Valentine’s Day so she can give it to her new crush….her basketball team sempai. She’s got a much better chance with sempai than she did with Nanoha.

In it’s attempt to not stress anyone out, this narrative is falling a little into the Yuritopia rut – every relationship is romantic, every friendship is pairing up. But you know what? Fine. Let all the kiddies have girlfriends. It won’t hurt them or me. ^_^ Chidori and Nanoha are feeling freer to show physical affection to one another, which also kind of nice.

This is still straight-up girl-meets-girl kind of “Story A.” It remains unlikely to contain a radical coming out scene, or anything other than sweet, cute scenes of first love, coupled with occasional ugh-making bath and locker room scenes. Chidori and Nanoha are adorable and it’s okay for us to just want them and their friends to be happy.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 3 Why? Fucking creepers.

Overall – 7

I am endlessly surprised that this has not been licensed yet.