Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Koisuru Meiga (恋する名画), Volume 2

August 26th, 2021

In 2020, I reviewed Volume 1 of a series that overtly connects Yuri with fine art. Today I want to take a look at the sequel, Koisuru Meiga, Volume 2 (恋する名画).

The first few chapters feel as if the entire book may have pivoted towards horror scenarios…and, okay, that’s legit. Art can be super creepy, especially when we’re meant to be looking it in the eye. The book begins with Rosseau’s The Sleeping Gypsy, and manages to skirt at least some bloodshed. But this is followed by a few stories which instantly step into “eugh” territory, with Willam-Adolphe Bourgereau’s Little Girl. Fujita Tsuguharu (Leonard Fujita)’s Neko wo Daku Shoujo is turned into a really creepy lesbian doll story….

At this point, the book takes a strong turn away from creepy, with a modern spin on a piece I like and have seen many times, Suzuki Harunobu’s Setchuu Aiaigasa.

From here, the book steps back into a few key Yuri tropes. First love is illustrated by Egon Schiele’s Two Women Embracing. The book finishes with the old marriage part of ‘marriage or death,’ with a lovely iteration of Johannes Vermeer’s Girl With the Pearl Earring.

But it is the penultimate story I want to end with because it was a short, bitter, creepy ensemble of social media stalking, modern art and a hefty helping of “this is bad, but it could have been REALLY bad.” The story follows the lover of a popular idol as she manipulates her lover with cyberbullying and social media.  The painting? One of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe silkscreens all named Untitled. The mashup here of topic was brilliant in layers and as a whole.  Honestly…kind of a fucked up little masterwork.

A few of the artworks are not reproduced in the book (presumably due to copyright,) but it would not be hard to envision them…one only need take a short glance at this page to know what is being referenced.

Overall, a better collection, I think, than Volume 1, by virtue of not attempting to reproduce as much as re-interpret. Using the art as a prompt, if you will.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7 A tad dark, but not intolerable
Characters – Widely variable from creepy dolls to lovers in the snow
Service – 5 Some nudity, other service, creepiness
Yuri – 6

Overall – 8 Darker, but I liked it more.

This volume had a nice variety of art in period and style. I hope you’ll take a look at the originals and think about how you might write a Yuri story around them. ^_^





Comic Yuri Hime September 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年9月号)

August 25th, 2021

What a wonderful issue Comic Yuri Hime September 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年9月号) was!

In no particular order, Claire and Rae finally have their one-on-on battle for the Academy Knights. Woo-hoo! It’s as exciting as one might imagine. Of course we know the outcome, but that doesn’t stop it from being super fun to watch. Also highly amusing is Relaire, the little water slime picking on Thane. I think I’m really coming around to Relaire. ^_^

Also wonderful and heartfelt is Usui Shio’s “Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts” (which, yes, I spell differently than the English title, because I feel like it.) I will not tell you what happens. Be patient and you’ll get to read it next winter in Doughnuts Under the Crescent Moon, Volume 3, I think.)

Also, also wonderful was Inui Ayu’s expanded chapter of “Kyou mo Hitstu Yaneura no Shita.” Usui-sense’s “Onna Tomodachi to Kekkon Shtiemita” took a surprising turn as sempai brought her parents in to explain the situation…but I’m not sure Ruriko is okay with  how she explained it.

The cover story took an interesting turn this month as Showa-period influenza meets modern-day Tamiflu. I wonder what will happen in our time-skip romance.

Takeshima Eku’s “Sasayakuyouni Ko wo Utau” finally drops Shiho’s story and it’s about what you would expect.  ^_^;

Icing on the cake this time, was a slightly more realistic than usual delivery woman x waitress romance by Ohsawa Yayoi. By “slightly more realistic than usual,” I meant than the server gave flirting a try, but when the delivery woman kept being a beat or seven too slow, she finally lost it and just said what she was thinking. If you know me, you know I appreciate that in a story. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

 

There’s some new, some ongoing, some sweet and some other in this volume, but overall, an excellent read and again, I’m really pretty pleased with the percentages of what I like, to what I don’t. It’s good for just about anyone.

The October issue is out now in Japan, hopefully it’ll get to me soon. ^_^

 





Yuri is My Job, Volume 7

August 19th, 2021

In Volume 6, Mituski poured her hear out to Hime and instead of bringing them closer, as she hoped, it may have separated them forever.

In Yuri is My Job, Volume 7, everyone at Liebe Café is trying to patch up the rift between Hime and Mitsuki. Except one. Kanako has absolutely had it with what she sees as Mitsuki’s self-indulgent attitude to Hime. She’s not wrong…but she’s not right, either.

Hime has come up against a wall that she has long wanted to avoid. There are only two people in the world she has trusted with her truth and they each need something from her she can’t give them. Hime’s decided to take herself out of the story, in order to keep anyone from being hurt…and thereby hurting them both.

Sumika wants things to stay the same, Kanako’s ready to be there for Hime, Mitsuki wants someone to understand her for once, and Mai, attempting to smooth over the rough areas, causes cracks to appear elsewhere.

This is an extraordinary volume in what initially appeared to be merely a Marimite parody. We are full on in deep emotional drama and although I read this with every issue of Comic Yuri Hime, I have absolutely no idea where it might take us or how we will get there! That’s always very exciting.

Extra chapters here take us a little into Miman-sensei’s life last year and character and café trivia. Everything about this book kept me on my seat. Lots of emotional moments and I’m just so interested to find out what happens!

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 1
Yuri – 7

Overall – 8

Wrapped in old-fashioned school uniforms and Yuri tropes, Yuri is My Job is a compelling Yuri drama, wholly grounded in the present.





Whisper Me a Love Song, Volume 1

August 16th, 2021

Himari is suuuper excited to be in high school and suuuper happy to see the different clubs, but when she sees Yori on stage performing with a band, it’s just too much for her. Moved by the performance, she seeks out Yori to tell her that she’s fallen in love with her!

Yori’s not usually the kind of person to perform in public, but when a really cute girls says this to her, she can’t not feel something, right? Indeed, Yori does feel something. But what Himari feels isn’t love for Yori, she was just so moved by the music. And so, despite the initial misunderstanding, Yori and Himari start to build a relationship. Where it will go or what will happen is still unknown, but the possibilities in Whisper Me a Love Song, Volume 1 by Eku Takeshima are endless.

If you’ve got the print volume of Volume 1 in front of you, you know what I think of this series, it’s right there on the back cover. ^_^ I was indeed charmed from the very first pages. I absolutely adore this series. It is among the several I head straight for when new issue of Comic Yuri Hime has arrived. Yori’s slight introversion, and how adorable she is when she’s trying to be cool, and Himari’s enthusiasm for just about everything, is just too cute to dislike. I love Takeshima-sensei’s art. When she wants Yori to look cool, she looks very cool indeed. The characters have layers, and sometimes you get a glimpse of the adults they will become.

I’m somewhere in what will be Volume 4 in Japanese and I love this series as much now as I did back in Volume 1. For a first-love, high school girl-meets-girl story, that’s pretty amazing.

Before I forget, I think the cover design on this edition is fab. Love the rough background and the spot-gloss image. Well- done Matt Akuginow! Translation by Kevin Steinbach is on point. At one point, Yori said something and I just shouted, “Yed, that was absolutely it!” Great lettering by Jennifer Skarupa and editing by Tiff Ferentini is invisible, which is exactly what one wants in an editor. ^_^ Great work by Team Kodansha on this, one of my favorite series right now.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8 There is none. It’s very nice.
Characters – 9
Service – 10000 where the “service” is two girls who are having a great time as they learn to love one another
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

Keep your drama to yourself, this series doesn’t need it. ^_^

Whisper Me a Love Song by Eku Takeshima hits just the right notes for a light-hearted sweet Yuri romance. Volume 2 and Volume 3 are out now from Kodansha!





Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 8 ( 私の百合はお仕事です!)

August 12th, 2021

Phew. For a manga that started as a light-hearted romp through Yuri tropes, this series sure has got intense. Hey, wait, I’m sure I’ve said that about other stories that started as light-hearted romps through Yuri tropes, before. Hrm. It’s almost like comedy is a good way to draw readers in, but for a story to be sustainable it needs more. This seems like a good topic for a video…and I just happened to have planned the next video after this upcoming one to be this very topic! How about that.

In Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 8 ( 私の百合はお仕事です!) it is the belated celebration of Mitsuki and Kanako’s birthday at the cafe. Hime is in attendance, but will she stay? Mitsuki puts her own issues aside and convinces Hime to stick around.

Mai, always looking for marketing idea, decides to take the crew on a trip to a hotel that could totally pass for Liebe Academy. An overnight! Everyone is excited. But Mai has made some choices that, if I were Sumika, I’d be like, “Dude. No. This is a bad idea.”

So in between photoshoots of loving schwestern, Mitsuki is dealing with, gosh, the fact that she’s rooming with the girl she loves, who has rejected her and her extremely voluptuous body in a public bath. I’m so vexxed for Mitsuki, stop beating on this girl already!

But things are about to get more complicated as Sumika’s own lily is blooming. And she already knows Kanako’s feelings, so…yikes?

Good heavens, do I want to reshuffle this whole mishegas. BUT, I wouldn’t and I couldn’t and I won’t. Miman-sensei is perfectly capable of writing their own story and keeping it compelling and dramatic without me.

A great volume from a series that has pretty consistently had great volumes.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 4
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

Volume 7 of Yuri is My Job! is out now from Kodansha, and I guess I should have reviewed that before this one, oh well. ^_^ In any case, this is a great series and you should be reading it.