Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


If We Leave on the Dot, Guest Review by Patricia Baxter

February 23rd, 2022

Hello and welcome to another Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu! I am super excited to welcome a new guest reviewer to our blog. Patricia has been an enthusiastic YNN Correspondent and now I am super pleased to have her as part of our Guest Review staff! Please give Patricia a warm, Okazu welcome! Kind comments are always appreciated. ^_^

My name is Patricia Baxter (she/her). I am a bisexual autistic writer who has previously written articles concerning how media represents different marginalized communities. You can find more of my work through my personal website “Autistic Observations”.

Yukawa Kayoko is a quiet thirty-one-year-old woman working in an office building, who typically hangs up her winter coat on the office coat rack rather than place it behind her chair. Through a series of coincidences, Kayoko finds that a co-worker, outgoing twenty-six-year-old Mizuki Kaori, has accidentally placed her apartment keys into Kayoko’s coat pocket. After this chance encounter, the two women begin to see each other frequently after work, keeping in touch and planning outings by leaving each other notes in their coat pockets. As these meetings progress, Kayoko finds herself surprised to discover that her feelings for Kaori extend far beyond friendship, and, in a moment of courage, confesses her feelings to Kaori. Thus begins this series focusing on the tender romance between two working women.

Inui Ayu’s If We Leave on the Dot is the yuri manga equivalent of cotton candy. Kayoko and Kaori are two extremely cute, nearly permanently blushing, women who wear consistently adorable outfits and eat consistently delicious-looking food together. Every chapter had at least one moment that made me feel at ease, thanks to the various expressions of love felt and displayed by the couple and the embodiment of that love by enjoying the pleasures of everyday life together.

Kayoko and Kaori are probably one of the sweetest pairings I’ve read in a romance manga, yuri or otherwise. Their relationship is built on mutual love and trust that is palpable with each chapter of the manga. And when the few instances of low self-esteem and jealousy creep up on the pair, instead of letting the negative feelings fester for an absurd number of chapters (as some romance manga are wont to do), they have emotionally honest discussions about their feelings, which help maintain and strengthen their partnership. It’s refreshing to read such a wonderful example of an emotionally mature relationship, with a couple able to weather through such relatable insecurities and doubts.

This is made even more intriguing by the fact that the majority of the series focuses on the relationship between two women who are very clearly adults who are established in their careers. While there are quite a few examples of yuri manga focusing on the lives of adult women, a lot of series focus on the lives of university students, or women in their early twenties. For Kayoko to experience her first major romantic relationship at thirty-one, is very reassuring for any readers in their thirties, as it can still be rather difficult to find romances focusing on women older than twenty-something.

Alongside If We Leave on the Dot’s many positive achievements, it is also noteworthy for how it addresses the topic of Kayoko and Kaori’s sexualities. When the series takes time for the couple to think about sexuality, it is typically are less about Kayoko and Kaori’s individual sexual identities and personal self-discovery, and more about how other people will react to or perceive their relationship. One example of this occurs during a company celebration, where Kayako mentions that she is in a relationship and loves her partner very much, but aside from those vague mentions, cannot go in-depth in describing her partner to her colleagues, despite sitting right next to the person she loves. Instead, Kayoko and Kaori have to share a quiet, tender moment, holding hands under the table, hiding in plain sight from their co-workers. Not long after this Kaori goes to meet up with her close friends, despite feeling happy talking about her relationship with Kayoko, she feels “Tired…from dodging their questions”, as she had to misdirect her friends by calling Kayoko her “boyfriend”.

This is a rather massive contrast in comparison to a lot of fluffy yuri romances, where the closest thing to an examination into LGBTQ+ issues is the main character(s) briefly getting confronted by the heteronormative expectations society places on women, and even then it is only there as a cursory issue. Instead of placing her characters in a bubble separated from the struggles of the real world, Inui’s If We Leave on the Dot takes time to showcase and legitimize the frustrations and exhaustion that queer women experience on a regular basis.

With its relaxing and down-to-Earth depictions of the everyday life of a same-gender couple, If We Leave on the Dot is one of my all-time favourite yuri romances that I highly recommend.

Ratings:

Art: 7.5

Story: 8

Characters: 9

Service: 0 for the first three volumes, 2 for volume 4 (due to a bathhouse trip and the couple beginning to sexually explore each other’s bodies in a manner that is sincere rather than salacious)

Yuri: 10

Overall: 9

If We Leave on the Dot is currently only available through the online manga subscription service Manga Planet, though the first chapter is free to read. There is a range of options for subscribing to the service depending on reader preference.

Erica here: Thank you so much Patricia! I agree with everything you’ve said. The mood between Kaori and Kayoko is very relaxing and warm. I loved all four volumes of the series in Japanese, Teiji ni Ageretara. That was my first taste of Inui Ayu’s work  – work that I continues to enjoy. Her autobiographical series, currently running in Comic Yuri Hime, Kyou mo Hitotsu Yane no Shita, has much the same warm, fuzzy feeling, with a bit more LGBTQ+ identity.





I Can’t Believe I Slept With You, Volume 1

February 21st, 2022

Can a bunch of wrongs make a right? Miyako Miyahara is sure gonna try in her romantic comedy I Can’t Believe I Slept With You, Volume 1.

Chiyo Koduka is depressed. Out of work, down on her luck, she’s three months behind on the rent and sees no hope. When her landlady shows up with an offer she can’t refuse, she doesn’t refuse. But she’s not thrilled. The landlady is willing to forgive a day’s rent when Chiyo provides “favors,” which is where they begin.

As the days pass, the landlady’s favors become much less extreme, sliding from playing games together, to a comforting hug. Chiyo is pretty clueless as to why her landlady might be making such a one-sided offer, but we know the truth, and it’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect.

Koduka is clueless, clumsy but she was good at one thing and would really like a chance to do it again. For the sake of the plot, she also has absurdly bad luck, which wore on me. The landlady (we don’t learn her name until the end of the volume,) is kind, thoughtful, competent and very sad. It’s this that colors the whole book for me. As a romantic comedy, when the comedy is rooted in pain, it’s hard for me to laugh.

All of that said, by the very end of the volume, it is apparent to us that the landlady is not a pervert or an opportunist. She’s a very lonely woman in a one-sided relationship. Which leaves is with Koduka. She easy to sympathize with, I think we’ve all been where she is in one way or another. But the hapless doofus is a hard sell for me.  Your mileage might vary of course but, for me, Koduka will be the biggest hurdle in this story. I just cannot find “funny” bad luck amusing. It kills me in Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, (推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ ) every time. Like, we get it. She’s a hapless ne’er do well. Ha. Ha. Ugh.

Kiyahara’s art is solid, most of the scenes take place in a small Japanese apartment, so no grand artistic scale is needed, but the creator does a solid job of making the apartment feel…small. This is something I rarely see, as artists tend to give their characters plenty of room in those imaginary studio apartments.

The strongest moment is the reveal of the name the series was originally going with, “Even if it was just once, I regret it.” This moment in the narrative gave me what hope I have for the series.

Let me perfectly honest here – romantic comedy is not my genre. I find it almost impossible to accept the premise and just roll with it. Hopeless x hapless do not a comedy make, for me. But, if you like romantic comedy you might very well like this series. I think it has a good heart and isn’t planning on torturing either reader or characters, like Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7, but I hope it does something interesting with itself.
Characters – 7, same.
Service – Implicit, yes, but not overt.
Yuri – 9, but dropping down to a steady 7 as the true story unfolds

Overall  – A solid 7 with plenty of room to grow.

While I have got little hope that this series will be anything different than what it is, I still hope for the landlady to be less forlorn sad and Koduka to become less clueless. Anything less would make it, well, another Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu. One of those in my life is enough.

Thanks very much to Seven Seas for the review copy!





The Girl I Want is So Handsome! Complete Manga Collection

February 18th, 2022

In 2019 and 2021, Yuri Hime Comics released two volumes of Ikemen-sugi desu, Shiki-senpai!, both of which were reviewed here on Okazu (Volume 1 | Volume 2). Today we’re taking a look at Seven Seas’ English-language edition, The Girl I Want is So Handsome! Complete Collection

Hinami is a typical high school first-year, a little excitable, but sweet and kind. She also completely overwhelmed Shiki-sempai, the attractive star of the basketball team and, as a result, finds herself recruited to the basketball team. As team manager, she finds herself at Shiki-sempai’s side every day. But will she be able to become the manger Shiki’s friend Miyamoto wants her to become and what does Shiki-sempai really think of her?

As I said of my review of the Japanese manga, “the strength of this particular series is the sincerity. Both Shiki and Hina are so gosh darn sincere and adorable that you really want them to be happy together.” This is a straight-up Story A, where the main conflicts are minor misunderstandings and mixed messages about liking someone, with relatively simple resolutions, leading a sweetly insubstantial story. I don’t mean that in a bad way, either. Sometimes, you just want something that is harmless fun, like a cotton candy of Yuri manga, as it turns out, I also said of the original Japanese manga. ^_^

Yuama’s art is growing even as this story goes on, and with the whole thing in one volume, you can really see the art progress from the opening chapter to the happy, squishy end.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 9
Story – 8
Service – 6 Shiki-sempai being too cool is a form of service. ^_^
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

If you need a light, super-sugary Yuri manga at the end of your week, this is a good bet.





Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru, Volume 1 (踊り場にスカートが鳴る)

February 17th, 2022

Haruma Kiki is part of ballroom dance club, with dreams of being a champion and leading her school’s famous Quadrille. Tall and stately, she’s always assigned the part of lead…but Kiki dreams of being the following partner.

As Utatane Yuu’s Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru, Volume 1 (踊り場にスカートが鳴る) begins, Kiki’s partner has split with her. Kiki is devastated,, but knows she’ll never find a partner to be her lead. Along on the landing of a stairway, she imagines herself with a partner to lead her in the dance. There, as she dances alone, she is seen by Toribami Michiru, who has decided to become her lead. Only, Toribami is shorter than average and with Kiki’s height, will anyone take them seriously?

This story sounds really light-hearted, but it’s actually ever so slightly melancholy. Kiki’s got a lot of dislike for her body and its betrayal of her dreams, so Toribami has to work extremely hard to get past that to convince Kiki that she’s sincere. But, for those moments when the two of them are dancing together, it’s a worthy journey.

The manga is ongoing in Comic Yuri Hime magazine, and Volume 2 will get them past a lot of the baggage Kiki is carrying, in both a physical and emotional sense. There is no Yuri in a romantic sense, as of yet except by osmosis. We will get Michiru in suit and tie, Kiki in dress. Here in Volume 1, emotions are intense, but romance is not among them at the moment.

I love the art in this story – it’s just wonderful. And despite the slight darkness in the corners, the spotlight is always carried by Michiru, so there ends up a constant strain of hopefulness, that grows a little bit with every chapter.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 1 on principle
Service – Nah

Overall – 9

Who knew that a “Girl Meets Girl Story of Ballroom Dance” would be one of my favorite manga, but it absolutely is. I can’t wait to see Kiki and Michiru lead the Quadrille. ^_^





Galette, No. 20 (ガレット)

February 16th, 2022

Galette, No. 20 (ガレット) wraps up the 5th year of this crowdfunded, creator-owned magazine. In these past tumultuous years, they’ve put out 20 issues of the magazine, 18 issues of Galette MEETS and almost a dozen collected volumes. A pretty amazing feat especially as their main method of sales, comic markets, have been severely hamstrung for 3 years now and the pandemic (and shifting crowdfunding sites) caused havoc in their fundraising.

I follow a lot of creators on their Pixiv Fanboxes and the pandemic has wreaked havoc in another way, too. Creators are suffering, folks. Their opportunities have been cut off, a lot of them are depressed, and the lack of funds is hurting them, too. It’s pretty rough to read posts sometimes. If you can support your favorite creators by throwing them a buck or two on their crowdfunding sites, please do.

So here we are at an amazing moment in time, Galette has been in print longer than any Yuri manga magazine except Comic Yuri Hime! Even if it were to fold this year, it has done a lot and every one involved should be really proud.

Galette No. 20 (ガレット) features a full half dedicated to Hakamada Mera’s series Aikata System (相方システム), the first two volumes of which I have reviewed here on Okazu.

As always I really enjoyed Kitta Izumi and Momono Moto‘s Liberty, and Morinaga Milk’s Watashi no Kawaii Neko-chan, which has been licensed by Seven Seas as My Cute Little Kitten.

But tops for me this issue was the final chapter of a series that I have been following since the beginning,  Sora-iro Melancholic, which ended with an epilogue that dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s. It was a perfect ending to that series, the first volume of which I have also reviewed! ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Another fine volume of Galette! This one is not up on Bookwalker, I don’t know if it will be, but you can get it on US Kindle in Japanese, as well as Amazon JP in print and digital.

The 5th anniversary volume is now up on Amazon JP, and I can’t wait to see what it offers.