You may be familiar with the name Muromaki from their monthly Comic Yuri Hime column about global Yuri fandom. Or maybe you followed the creator on social media, where they took on a challenge of drawing Yuri scenarios for 100 days, first back in 2022, then again in 2024.

The collection of Muromaki-sensei’s first 100 Yuri scenes was collected into a single volume in Japanese and has now been adapted into English by Yen Press as Lilies Blooming in 100 Days.*

This is a full-color book, but is not a story. It is a collections, broadly arranged into categories like “enemies to lovers” of single scenes, and short strips that were fist debuted online.   Most of the scenarios are meant to be amusing, a few are touching and every once in a while we get a fully rendered beautiful illustration, like the one used here for the cover, of two women sharing an intimate moment in front of the glow of windows on a sunny day. Look for carefully and you’ll notice that this is a teacher and student, a common theme in this collection. How that makes you feel is entirely up to you. 

Muromaki’s work in Comic Yuri Hime often addresses common fandom tropes and this volume is an expansion of that interest. If you like full color online comics, and seeing an artist’s range from silly scribble all the way to cover-art worthy illustration,  and the juxtaposition of that with common Yuri tropes, you’ll want to grab a copy of this book. It’ll also make a nice gift for someone who doesn’t know where to start with Yuri, or a conversation starter with friends who like to talk about Yuri tropes! 

Ratings: 

Art – From goofy to great – 9
Scenarios – 7 Typical tropes. Would love to see less secret/forbidden myself.

Overall – 9

And if you are looking for a place to chat about Yuri after you have a copy, drop by the Okazu Discord where we basically are always talking Yuri, even when we’re not. ^_^

Thanks to Yen Press for the review copy via ANN, where I reviewed this for the Winter Manga Guide!

* For. It should be Lilies Blooming For 100 Days. Yen, why do you fail on titles so often?

In Volume 1 – reviewed here on Okazu by Luce – we met Natori Midori an over-zealous office worker who, in her desire to be needed and appreciated worked herself out of a job. When she finds herself inside the world of her favorite otome game, she ends up working for, and against, the villainess, Lapis. She becomes Lapis’ competent assistant, passing her knowledge of the game off as psychic abilities. Hoever, Natori knows that this will end badly for Lapis, so seeks to work against the story, so Lapis doesn’t die after betraying the game protagonist Diana.

In The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess, Volume 2, by Nekotarou, the plot thickens. Natori, called Natalie in the game, is definitely becoming deeply attached to Lapis, even if she’s ignoring the why. but more concerning than the return affection from Lapis, is the growing jealousy from Diana…and the new attention the Prince is paying Natalie and Lapis. The Prince, it turns out, is rooting for Lapis and her new secretary to figure it all out. 

In a nutshell, this is also the problem. Natori is not very self-aware. We know that because she worked herself to the bone for a company that didn’t value her, and blamed herself for it. We can easily see that Natori and Lapis are developing feelings that are very decidedly romantic…and so can Diana, but Natori is wholly clueless to all of the dynamic within their group. The plot requires this, so we’ll just allow it. But we do have to look forward to a bunch more volumes as Natori convinces herself that it’s not anything real.

Nonetheless! This is actually a cute story. I particularly enjoy Diana’s “anything you can do I can do better” magic. How useful!

Of course, Natori will save Lapis, we know that immediately and it’s never really in question. The story will be a matter of how and when. So far this is a 5-volume series, so we’ll just have to get comfortable with Natori’s low self-esteem and misunderstood emotions and I think I’m okay with just letting it ride. And, somehow I am not tired of villainess stories.  ^_^

Ratings: 

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – not really. A little light skinship is all we’re getting now
Yuri – .05 because everyone in this story is going to be dumb for a while , but it is definitely there and definitely the point.^_^ 

Overall – 8 

As villainesses go, Lapis is nowhere near as villainessy as others I have recently enjoyed. But I’ll be happy to see these two figure it all out.