Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 11 ( 雨夜の月)

February 5th, 2026

Cover of The Moon on a Rainy Night, Volume 8. In a classroom, a young woman in a school uniform with collar-length blonde hair plays a piano while another girl with long, dark hair, leans on the piano and watches her.The sports festival has passed, th school festival is in the books. As the noise and activity dies down, Kanon and Saki are picking up their relationship, once again not entirely sure how to proceed in Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 11 ( 雨夜の月)

Photographer Hamaoka has a new idea – instead of thinking about costumes and scenery, she wants to capture Saki and Kanon at school, in their day-to-day activities. She watches them in the classroom, sitting behind the gym and, finally, in the music room. Kanon asks Saki to play her exhibition piece, while Kanon watches and feels the piano vibrations. The picture Hamaoka captures is magnificent and terrifying, as Kanon plainly sees her own emotions for the first time.

Kanon turns to Ayano for advice.who makes some extremely salient, and for Kanon, brutal points. Saki also has a run-in with a student from her former school, which makes her realize she’s been misinterpreting things for a long while, about herself and the people around her.

As the volume closes, they meet up once again. Will they find the bravery and honesty they need to speak to each other? Volume 12 won’t be out until spring, so we’ll just have to wait for that and the upcoming anime!

Ratings: 

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – 1
Yuri/queer – 6/5

Overall – 9 

The story is very much on the edge of Saki embracing (or rejecting) her identity as a woman who loves women, and Kanon as becoming open to romance at all.It’s an awkward moment, but so interesting and critical. This book continues to be one of my favorite reads. Every volume  is excellent. 

Volumes 1-8 of The Moon on A Rainy Night are available in English from Yen Press.





#Gal x Gal Yuri, Chapters 1-11.2 on VIZ Manga

February 4th, 2026

Five gal/gyaru-style high school girls pose together in front of a blackboard. From the left is a blonde-haired girl with red highlights wearing a pony tail, a blonde girl in a bob cut with purple highlights, a long-haired brunette with tan skin winking while showing a peace sign, a blonde long-haired girl, and a the tallest, a silly-looking girl with a very long black hime-cutby Matt Marcus, Staff Writer

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Why search for a new lover when I could be dating my bestie instead?” Well, do I have a yuri for you!

#Gal x Gal Yuri is exactly what it says on the tin. Blonde bubbly Yua and the cool tan beauty Reina are high school comrades in cosmetics who decide to spend a year dating each other, and I quote verbatim, “for the vibes.” We see them go on dates, celebrate birthdays and holidays, become the spring festival mascots of their class (and run a maid café, natch), and finish their year-long experiment very much still in love.

And that’s chapter 1.

My instinct is that the first chapter was a one-shot doujinshi that was repurposed for the serialization, but it’s funny how much gets jammed in there before things slow way down for the remaining ten chapters of the volume.

The dynamic between the leads is simple but fun. Yua is so enthusiastic to the point where she is constantly gushing or gloating about her affection for Reina, in a way that disarms anyone who might have looked sideways at an openly queer relationship (notably, they encounter no trouble with anyone on that front). Reina, on the other hand, plays the “straight man” role mostly by rolling with or occasionally reining in Yua’s flights of fancy. But really, this is a comedy series and the jokes do mostly land. Occasionally Yua’s talk about sex makes me want to take a spray bottle to her, but I can’t say it seems out of character for a teenager.

There are other supporting cast members—a pair of twins Akane and Shion, and Yua’s childhood friend Yazawa (a “rocker” chick who is somehow the most head-empty of the cast)—to help round things out. Yazawa takes up most of the air when she is present, but for the most part this is the Yua and Reina show.

Inoue’s art helps carry this series. It’s cute without being too cutesy; the fashion is, of course, well represented; and I find the reoccurring off-brand Instagram posts charming. The one thing I would say I don’t have a firm perspective on is Reina’s skin tone and what it could or could not signify; my bet is that it’s simply an aesthetic choice.

If you like gals being more than pals, this one is worth smashing that follow button for.

Ratings: 

Art – 8 Appealing, reasonably detailed, used well to emphasize gags
Story – 7 Not a lot of plot but enjoyable nonetheless
Characters – 7 Characters are shallow but very charming
Service – 4 One panel of a bath scene, plenty of sexual jokes, lots of gyaru fanservice
Yuri – 9 Plenty of yuri “for the vibes”

Overall – 8 highly decorated nails out of 10

While the first tankobon is available in Japan, the current 11 chapters (plus two bonus stories) are currently only available in English on the VIZ app and website.

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network. You can find him mostly reskeeting Yuri posts and sports takes on Bluesky @hyperartmarcussan.bsky.social





I Don’t Know Which Is Love, Volumes 3 & 4

January 28th, 2026

I Don't Know Which Is Love Volume 3 cover. It shows Maria, a pretty lady with long brown hair wearing lipstick, holding up a phone that shows a surprised looking Mei. I’m Luce, and it’s been a while! I’m back today with a double issue of the Yuri rollercoaster, which contains no actual rollercoaster content. I can be found on the Okazu discord as farfetched. Onwards!

In Volume 1 & Volume 2 we saw Soraike Mei get closer, in various different ways, to her five love interests, and generally be something of a lesbian disaster. In Volume 3 of I Don’t Know Which Is Love, she’s practicing for the play, which involves kissing – having kissed both Karin and Kaoru, she’s confused as to why it felt good both times! Good that there’s a certain psychology professor to help her sort it out… Or just make it more complicated? In Volume 4, the play having gone well, Mei ends up in a situation with a drunk Maria, and meets up with her high school crush who broke her heart. Resolving herself to date Karin, she finds her kissing another girl! Riri wants to see her, so invites her to a photoshoot… but it’s in a swimsuit – will Mei, disaster lesbian extraordinaire, even be able to take photos?

This sold as a romcom – and in many ways it is – but it also feels more like watching a race – who can kiss Mei first? Who can date her first? Karin and Maria are pretty ahead, with Kaoru closer behind. I called it the Yuri rollercoaster in previous reviews, and that’s the feel – not much room to breathe. That said, it’s kind of refreshing for a series not to be ecchi per se but to admit that part of romance for a lot of people is sex. These are college students, it’s not weird for them to feel attracted to each other physically, and no one is shaming them for it, although sometimes they’ll tell themselves off – not in a puritanical way, but in a ‘she’s my professor’ or ‘we’re not even dating’ kind of way.Cover for I Don't Know Which Is Love volume 4. It has Karin, a young woman with short blond hair, looking flirtatious, about to lick Mei's finger.

If you really don’t like Professor Maria being one of Mei’s love interests, probably best to sit this out, since she’s not going away. At least Mei is a college student rather than a high school one, but I understand it might irritate people. Of all the love interests, Riri gets the least to do here, only appearing a few times, although she is cute when she does. She does pop up in Volume 4 in a photo shoot, wherein Mei realises she has a thing for boobs.

At the end of Volume 4, Mei asks Maria for a quiet beach spot so Riri won’t get harassed while they’re at the beach. Maria uses this as an opportunity to get all of Mei’s love interests together, so Mei can choose one. Which sounds like a set up for a final volume, but apparently a sixth volume recently came out in Japan, although there is no date for the fifth one in English. It doesn’t really seem to be gunning for any kind of polyamory ending, but neither is any girl really ‘winning’ right now. Mei certainly can’t make her mind up!

Perhaps an issue with this kind of series is that it either needs to be long or short. How Do We Relationship had the time and (I suspect) the planning to carry out that tangled mess of relationships. Although that was more of a serious tone and the intents are different, I’m not sure the author here has a particular plan in mind. As such, I worry it might end up being a bit more meandering. We will have to see; I still enjoy it, but I’m honestly not sure where it’s heading.

Ratings:

Yuri – 10
Service – 6
Art- 7
Characters – 7
Story – 6

Overall – 7

You know, for a series about lesbians, they sure don’t say the word lesbian much. If at all.





Heimin No Watashi Desu Ga Koushaku Reijou-sama o Taburakashite Ikite Imasu, Volume 3 (平民の私ですが公爵令嬢様をたぶらかして生きています)

January 26th, 2026

Cover of Heimin No Watashi Desu Ga Koushaku Reijou-sama o Taburakashite Ikite Imasu, Volume 3 / 平民の私ですが公爵令嬢様をたぶらかして生きています by Kitao Taki. A red-headed girl leans over a dark-haired girl, stroking her face with predatory expression. They both look at us and are wearing the same fantasy school uniform of red and white.In Volume 1 we meet Laila, a commoner who parents sold her into slavery so they could debauch, and Evangeline “Eva” Mayer, the daughter of a Duke, and Laila’s childhood friend who, through accident, runs in to Laila and is able to take her as a bodyguard to the Royal Academy. In Volume 2, Laila deal with some prejudice and bullying, but her magical abilities are so significant, her fighting skills so good and her personality strong enough that she gains the respect of some of the students. 

In Volume 3 of Kitao Taki’s Heimin No Watashi Desu Ga Koushaku Reijou-sama o Taburakashite Ikite Imasu (平民の私ですが公爵令嬢様をたぶらかして生きています) the 4 major houses are set against each other in a battle of wits, magic and combat by the King, who mostly wants some entertainment. He’d also like to get a feel for how strong this commoner is and to show off his beloved grandchild Eva’s power. 

The Mayer family starts down a member, but a masked (but not disguised, really) person joins them…with intel. The competitions get more and more complicated in the first round. There is no clear winner going in to the second round which is a dungeon that the King needs clearing. But once in the dungeon the students find that there’s some very serious magic in the dungeon, and the magic is going to mimic the person they want to fight the least. Eva and Laila watch in trepidation as another Laila walks out of the mist….

I know I say this every volume, but I really do enjoy Kotao Taki’s manga. And this story is building on itself, well away from simple romantic comedy to a full-blown epic adventure, with tons of fighting, magic and intrigue.Will Laila and Eva end up together? Probably, but that is not the story. I’m still holding out for Laila, Lisette and Eva kicking Catherine’s butt and all out ass whoop. ^_^ It’s also nice to read a fantasy that isn’t an isekai for a moment. 

For loads of action, adventure and a pleasant bit of Yuri seasoning, I’m really enjoying this series. 

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service –  1? Very little, as everyone is busy fighting
Yuri – 4, as everyone is busy fighting

Overall – 9

From Volume 3 on, this book is only available in digital format on Amazon JP, Bookwalker and other online platforms. Thank heavens for Bookwalker.





A Yuri Love Story That Begins with Getting Dumped in a Dream, Volume 1

January 18th, 2026

Two girls wearing blue button down short-sleeve shirts and red striped ties lay next to one another but facing in different direction, so only their heads are near. A girl with long, dark hair looks at the girl with short blonde hair, whose eyes are closed.A Yuri Love Story That Begins with Getting Dumped in a Dream, Volume 1 by Hijiki, is exactly what it says on the package. When I read it, I took some time to do an internal retrospective of the state of Yuri these days, because this felt very much like a (decent) throwback to Yuri manga of the late 00’s and early 10’s. 

Tsukushi and Hinoka have been friends since childhood. When Tsukushi wakes up from a dream in which she had told Hinoka she liked her…and was rejected, Tsukushi is going to think about that friendship a lot differently. First, she’s questioning if she does have those kinds of feelings, then when that is an obvious affirmative, what to do about it. 

The only thing Tsukushi is not doing is *looking* at Hinoka, who is likewise struggling because she is very in love with Tsukushi, who just doesn’t seem to notice. This situation would be annoying if their friends weren’t openly and overtly rooting for them. The friends watching them flail and being kind and supportive is both very cute and lightens what otherwise would just be two teens overthinking.  It also helps that among those supporters is a lesbian couple at school who are watching the baby dykes with kind eyes. As the people around them involve themselves in the budding relationship, both Hinoka and Tsukushi can flail cutely. Because being rejected by friends isn’t in the story set-up at all, both protagonists are free from worrying about larger issues of rejection of bullying, but are then able to get stuck in the muddiness of their own feelings. 

There very little else by way of story. This is an old-school school life Yuri romance, if you will. Hijiki’s art and characters help make this a cute and fun throwback read for folks that are looking for some “classic” school Yuri suitable for younger teens. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7

Thank to Seven Seas for the review copy, via ANN, where I will also review this book for the Spring manga guide!