Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Salvia no Bouquet, Volume 2 (サルビアのブーケ（下）)

August 20th, 2025

Two women in dresses and long coats standing in a field surrounded by a swirl of cheery-blossom colored snow.In Volume 1, we met Lize, an accomplished young magician and magical instructor who takes an orphaned girl, Ellen, under her care as an intern. Ellen is deeply unsure of her place in the world, but her time with Lize gives her stability she has never before known and, as she tests into the school of magic, she asks that she be allowed to use Lize’s family name as her gift. 

Salvia no Bouquet, Volume 2 (サルビアのブーケ（下）) written by 4ka enpitsu and illustrated by Koga Yuto, Ellen continues to grow and change. She’s doing well at school, she’s made friends, she is becoming a competent and creative magician, building new magical tools that can help people and finding her answers to the “why” she wants to do magic. But something is still weighing on her. Although she now knows she is family, she’s coming to realize her feelings for Lize are more than just that of a mentee. But Lize has already told Ellen that when the girl graduates, she’ll be leaving on a journey. Ellen is torn between wanting to let the woman she loves go and to insist that she stay.

One night Lize confides in Ellen that she too was an orphan, and how glad she is to be able to share the kindness she received from her own mentor. Ellen strives to be worthy of that kindness. She shows Lize that she’s strong enough to see her off with  smile. Lize leaves to bring rain to a drought-ridden part of the world, but gives Ellen and herself matching rings to symbolize their bond.

Year pass and Lize is coming home. Ellen eagerly awaits her mentor while her best friend Stella supports her. And they smile happily at one another as they greet each other. 

This book was really quite cute, if you didn’t think too hard about the set-up of adopting an orphan, mentoring them, they fall in love with you…and lalalalala I can’t hear you~~~~ It really could have been played for ick. But, it is not. Ellen’s emotions are real and slightly raw, Lize is kind and loving and, in the end, you can see them making it work. 

The art’s still pretty rough, and the expressions look more pained thananything, but I found myself rooting for everyone to be happy. So that was nice.

Ratings:

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

Overall – A solid 7. Nothing worldshaking, but overall very heart-warming.





Comic Yuri Hime, September 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年9月号) 20th Anniversary Issue

August 14th, 2025

Two young women in festive kimono, smile and laugh as they walk along hand in hand, gold confetti sparkles around them and gold in their kimono flashes in the light.Slightly more than 20 years ago, Rica Takashima and I hosted Yuricon 2005 in Tokyo. Ichijinsha had just bought Yuri Shimai magazine and was relaunching it as a new Yuri manga magazine. The editor-in-chief at the time came to Yuricon 2005 and asked about the name “Yuri Shimai.” The event attendees and guests were pretty ambivalent about that name and recommended they change it and few months later, Yuri Hime magazine launched. It was quarterly at first. Then in the late 00s, it split into two separate magazines  – Yuri Hime, and Yuri Hime S, nominally “for women” and “for men”. These were quarterly on different schedules, so fans of Yuri could get up to 8 issues a year. 

In 2011, Comic Yuri Hime was relaunched once again as a bimonthly manga magazine. And, in 2017, Comic Yuri Hime relaunched as the first and only monthly Yuri manga magazine.

Today we celebrate 20 year of Comic Yuri Hime from Ichijinsha. Congratulations! It’s been an incredible two decades and I’m glad I’ve been able to be along for the whole ride so far. ^_^

Comic Yuri Hime, September 2025 (コミック百合姫2025年9月号) is an extra thick 772 page extravaganza of Yuri. Beginning with a beautiful celebratory cover, featuring our protagonists in festive kimono at 20 years old, naturally. Kimono patterns and confetti are given a gold gloss for a very luxurious feel. Today, they and we are together, celebrating the love of women. 

I’m not going to give a rundown of all the individual series this time, but I do want to mention that I am very much enjoying the series that focus on strong-willed women and girls finding ways to get what they want done – there are many of these right now and it feels so good to read these, along with more conventional high school stories. There is plenty of “adult” content for those that like that, and still a nice pile of fantasy and isekai and a bit of science fiction. I’m still waiting for sports queer comic is iespecially but we have some great action, and smart women making positive change.

We’ve come a very long way in 20 years and there is still a long way to go. Queer media is once again under attack globally, queer comic especially so. So while we celebrate where we have been and what we have done, I ask you all to please continue supporting Yuri and queer manga. We need unity and strength now to protect what we have gained against the forces that seek to – again- shove us back in closets and silence us. Sing your queer songs, write your queer stories, draw your queer comics!

And on behalf of Comic Yuri Hime and Yuricon – thank you for your support of Yuri!





Gakeppuchi Reijou ha Kuro Kishi-sama o Horesasetai!, Volume 2 (崖っぷち令嬢は黒騎士様を惚れさせたい)

August 11th, 2025

A woman with red hair, wearing a pink dress grabs the collar of a tall woman with long silver hair in a black uniform and leans in as for a kiss. Clarice is settling in to her new role as wife of Frost-sama the fearsome Lord of the March, slayer of monsters….and, Clarice learns from the maids, slayer of her own father. 

In Volume 2 of Gakeppuchi Reijou ha Kuro Kishi-sama o Horesasetai!, Volume 2 (崖っぷち令嬢は黒騎士様を惚れさせたい), still sure that Frost is misunderstood, Clarice goes shopping with a “disguised” Frost – which is to say she is not wearing her mask or armor. The people of the city have never seen her, so they speak freely about their worries as Clarice shops. 

Clarice maneuvers her bodyguard, “Schwarz,” into picking something nice for her. Although irritable about it Frost picks a pretty pair of earrings for her wife, that turn out to be magic stones for protection. 

They are approached by a girl who turns out to be the representative of the Goulart trading company, the de facto monopoly on all goods coming in to the city. Violet tries her best to maneuver Clarice into a gaffe, or a bad deal, but Clarice once again turns out to be sharp enough to avoid traps. Meanwhile Frost and Victoria’s bodyguard, the equally huge monster-woman, Shion, battle with swords outside. Clarice and Frost win their respective battles and are gracious in victory. A shady relationship between Violet and one of the castle maids is revealed.

Frost once again has a meltdown and demands to know what Clarice is playing at. Our hapless, but in no way helpless, protagonist insists her feelings for Frost are real and steps up to kiss her. Forcefully stating that she likes Frost, Clarice slams out of the room and immediately wonders what the heck she was thinking! 

I really like this story and, if it seems a little slow going in  making inroads into Frost’s paranoia and isolation, it really has to be. Volume 3 will begin to reveal just what kind of trauma Frost is living with and how Clarice will find her way to the real Frost. In the mean time, we get to see another side of Clarice – she’s brave when she needs to be, smart in a crisis, and now, good at negotiation and political maneuvering…even if the entire time, she is propping up what she knows is a sham marriage. She’s a fantastic protagonist. I very much hope she gets the room to get into Frost’s heart.

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 8, Clarice is a 10
Service – Frost and Shion have absurdly large chests
Yuri – Good question! Nothing and everything

Overall – 8





Toi et Moi (トワ・エ・モア )

August 6th, 2025

In sepia tones, two girls sit at a garden table, One with long hair, wearing a long skirted dress -style school uniform. holds her chin in her hands as she leans forward. The other girl, short-haired, wears a suit and slacks for her uniform, oxford shoes and no socks, as she sits with her legs crossed. Both gaze relaxedly at us.by Akatsukinoluna, Guest Reviewer

I first came across Toi et Moi (トワ・エ・モア ) in Yurihime’s February 2024 magazine, and was instantly struck by the uniquely beautiful artwork and characters, and mature tone. It was only five months later that I excitedly discovered it wasn’t a oneshot, but has a tankōbon, and is serialized on Palcy (Kodansha’s shoujo & josei manga app). The catch copy for the series reads “More than love with the one she admires. More than friendship with her best friend. A ‘girl meets girl’ story of 4 girls at an all-girls school.” (憧れの人、恋以上。親友と、友情以上。女子校に通う4人のガール・ミーツ・ガール)

Set in all-girls high school, the story is split into four chapters (Silence, Boheme, Ombrage, and Portrait), and focuses on two couples: Okawa Seiran & Nose Chigusa (prince and princess) of Class B, and I-eshima Yae & Arisugawa Yukiyo (writer and actor) of Class A. Seiran is seemingly your typical aloof girl prince, but under the surface is merely a socially awkward and misunderstood lone-wolf. Chigusa, the shy and misunderstood, solitary doll-like princess, stands out for her elegant, lolita-esque fashion, and always walking under an umbrella outdoors.Both are misunderstood by their classmates, who assume they are being looked down upon. Seiran, initially afraid to approach Chigusa, wonders “are flowers merely meant to be gazed at?”, and maintains her distance. But when a group project gives them a chance to connect, they waste no time in growing closer to each other. 

In “Boheme” we are introduced to two childhood friends, Yae & Yukiyo, as the narration asks “What is the point of stories (monogatari)?”. Yae is an aspiring writer whose manuscripts are never quite good enough, and boyish Yukiyo is an actress who is constantly sidelined and mistreated in the school drama club. More than friends, less than lovers, and quietly harboring affections, these two are each others’ reason for their craft, and each helps the other overcome their flaws and hardships. While their relationship can be a bit tricky, as long as they have each other, they’ll be alright.

“Ombrage” & “Portrait” set the stage for our 2 couples to befriend each other, and the story and relationships unfold from there. From a school picnic, to rooftop conversations, with various casual and intimate moments, we get to see everyone grow from within and outside of their respective relationship. Yukiyo’s carefree nature forces Seiran to confront her own jealousy of Yukiyo & Yae’s friendship with Chigusa, while Chigusa reassures her (without cutting off her new friendships). Yukiyo learns that the emotional intimacy she so strongly yearns for is closer to home than she thinks — a realization she has through her conversations with Seiran. Confiding in Yukiyo, she finally understands what’s held her back all this time — and what she truly wants to depict — while Yukiyo can finally voice (quite passionately) what she truly wants to act.

The artwork in this series is gorgeous. It’s very finely detailed, soft but firm, and the eyes particularly are quite captivating (though some might find them a bit uncanny). There is simultaneously a very elegant and warm feeling, and a sense of definition. Having four visually distinct, well-developed characters with unique relationships is really refreshing — as is the lack of cheap tropes and fan service (though there’s plenty of doki doki moments). The characters all learn something unique from each other, in their interactions. And the contrast between Seiran & Chigusa’s very fast, emotionally intimate and communicative bonding vs Yukiyo and Yae’s very drawn out yearning, pining and unspoken affections is delightful. Despite being set in a school, the story is not at all focused on the usual school rhythms (culture & sports festivals, elections, valentine’s, career plans, etc), but on the characters’ personal growth. Finally, a quick shout-out to the beautiful eye-catches, and the author’s beautifully legible afterword.

Ratings:

Art – 10, elegant and distinct — especially the eyes
Story – 9, the volume ends before it gets to the really good parts
Characters – 10, unique and well developed
Service  – 0, but lots of shoujo-style doki-doki moments
Yuri – 10, very touching, well-developed, and sometimes steamy 

Overall   10

 
 

 

 





Tough Love At The Office: The Complete Yuri Collection

August 4th, 2025

A woman with ripped blouse and bloodies face and body, scowls at a pair of woman's legs in white heels and a pink skirt.CW: Extreme personal violence, rape, emotional and psychological abuse in a workplace setting.

Sal Jiang’s Black & White, the  3-volume series of violent and psychopathic competition at highly competitive Japanese financial firm is now available in English as Tough Love at the Office: The Complete Yuri Collection and it asks us to ask ourselves what is really important to us….but not until we grin through 400+ pages of two women who are trying to eat each other for lunch, in all the meanings of that phrase. 

Kuroda Kayo comes in to her new job brimming with confidence and acclaim and immediately runs into Shirakwa Junko, who has her eyes set on power. The two of them instantly dislike one another, but also cannot stop having violent, angry sex that is clearly meant as rape to destroy the others’ will. Both are equally matched in smarts, skills, popularity and desire to destroy the other. 

I loved the first volume of this in Japanese and I still think it is the strongest part of the story. To quote myself from my review of the JP Volume 1, “Jiang’s art is terrific – clean and stylish, cute and approachable, and nasty af, in turns as the narrative requires. The characters are terrible people, but they sometimes do good or kind things, which gives them nuance. Neither of them is a sadist to the pleasant office drones around them. They are, however, two dominant humans fighting for dominance in every way possible. Yeah, baby. I’ll take as much of this as I can get.”

When Kuroda and Shirakawa are teamed up by a scheming senior executive, he gets exactly what he hopes for – an unethical power-hungry machine to take down his enemies. But then they are turned on one another again. When Kuroda makes a misstep on an overseas trip, she causes a chain reaction that will ultimately lead to the end of the series…

…where we are asked to consider what is truly important to us. The answer to that question for both Kuroda and Shirakawa may surprise you. 

This is not a Baihe-style “in love with my cold, tough boss” story. This is a potentially/eventually disturbing exploration of deepest, darkest expressions of five of the seven deadly sins. But what this story also is is pitting two evenly matched competitors against each other in a evenly balanced match. And for that reason, I can enjoy the heck out of it (although I admit, I would have ended it differently. ^_^) 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – 7 Not a lot of nudity, but a lot of sex and violence
Yuri – 7 See above

Overall – 10

 

 

Alexa Frank’s translation and Asha Bardon’s adaptation does everything it can with the blurry “business” stuff . The Seven Seas team does a great job here as usual.