It feels like a lot longer ago, but it was only 2018, when I reviewed Éclair Bleue: Anata ni Hibiku Yuri Anthology (エクレア bleue あなたに響く百合アンソロジー) and today, thanks to Yen Press, just a hair over two years later, I am able to tell you that the third Éclair Yuri anthology from Kadokawa, Éclair Bleue: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart is imminent!

Just like the previous Éclair volumes, Éclair and Éclair Blanche, this collection features a variety of pro and semi-pro (i.e., doujinshi) Yuri artists. Among them are names that are well known to you, such as Canno (Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl), Miman (Yuri is My Job)  and Nakatani Nio (Bloom Into You) and hopefully you are becoming familiar now with some of the other names, like Kitao Taki and Fly, both of whom have had works reviewed here.

Éclair Bleue is a hefty volume in English with 250+ pages of Yuri content by over a dozen creators. The opening illustration is a welcome return to published Yuri by Reine Hibiki, the illustrator of the Maria-sama ga Miteru novels and early Yuri manga magazine Yuri Shimai covers, among other things. Also notable was U35, whose name I hadn’t seen for many years!)

Aya Fumio’s “Unfinished Prologue” and Kitao Taki’s “Sato, Tears, a Woman and a Woman” both appealed to me as best of volume this time. In a sense they are both similar, as the triggering event is someone seeing a person being melancholy or sad. But they are otherwise different, in both style and content. And yet, both left me feeling positive. (Note to Christian: You will be pleased that Canno’s series about Hazumi and Mao continues. ^_^)

The translation by Eleanor Summers is very good. A special shout-out has got to go to letterer Alexis Eckerman, who had to find new and exciting ways to communicate a dozen different forms of shouting, pouting, confessions and lovey-doveyness. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 7 All ratings are variable, as it is anthology

Éclair Bleue is a a decent Yuri anthology with a nice variety of stories and styles. I’m always super excited that we’re getting an anthology series in English! This volume comes out at the end of this month and the Éclair Rouge pre-order is up for Kindle & Comixology or in print with a release date in late September.

My sincere thanks to Yen Press for the review copy!

Today we celebrate the fact that today the Okazu Patreon has once again passed the $500/month mark – which means we’ll be expanding our support of queer creators on Patreon once again with our Microgoal program and we hope to be revising our payments for Guest Reviewers upwards, as well. It has long been our goal to be able to pay sustainable and reasonable rates for our writers and artists. Today we’ve taken another step forward. There’s never a bad time to become an Okazu Patron. Every cent makes a big difference – and gets recycled back into the great Yuri global network by buying media, crowdfunding projects, and supporting creators and events. So thank you Okazu Patrons new and old! You are all an important part of the Okazu family.

To celebrate, we’ve got an exciting review and a giveaway at the end!

When Yen Press picked up the first Éclair anthology, I noted to them that it was (by then) actually a series, which they did not know at that time. I was exceedingly pleased to see that they did get the series and have followed Éclair with Éclair Blanche: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart. In addition, Éclair Bleue is on the way later this year.

So why am I so happy about this? You may remember from my review of the first volume, that Éclair was the very first Yuri anthology to be translated into English. I’ve written about the importance of anthologies to Yuri as a whole in the past – and I have 3 essays dedicated to magazines and anthologies in the Big Book o’Yuri! That’s how important they are. So, to get this series is big news. For fans of Canno and Nakatani Nio, here’s some new original work for you to enjoy. I’m best pleased because you get to enjoy work by Fly, Shuninta Amano, Kabocha and Taki Kitao, all of whose work I adore. ^_^ I want to call out Canno’s entry, because I *just* finished Éclair orange – Anata ni Hibiku Yuri Anthology (エクレア orange あなたに響く百合アンソロジー) and it officially is an ongoing series, (hint, hint, Christian.)

My favorite story was probably Uta Isaki’s “Sewing Machine.” I’ve always like the concept of tsukumogami; the idea that inanimate objects develop a spirit with use and time. We have all made the joke “my car has gone this way so many times, it could drive this route itself.” Well…what if it could? I also enjoyed the aesthetic of the art.

Ratings:

It’s an anthology, so everything is variable, but this has something for most Yuri fans.

Overall – 9

Blanche is a pretty solid entry into the Éclair series. It’s a terrific way to enjoy short-form work by artists you know and like and learn about new artists. And to celebrate this delightful selection, I am giving away a copy of Éclair Blanche: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart to folks in the contiguous 48 of the  USA. (I know this isn’t fair, but I can’t put postage on an overseas package right now. I’ll do my level best to do a global contest once the pandemic is well and truly over.)

To enter, all you need to do is share something WHITE with us in the comments. It can be a link to an image, or a short story, a song lyric, anything you like*. To make it easy to contact you, please have an email you check as part of your WP profile. I will pick a winner and contact them over the weekend. So share your lovely thoughts of Blanche and enjoy some Yuri manga. ^_^

*except cats.

Many thanks to Yen Press for both the review copy and the giveaway!

Éclair: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart is the first-ever Yuri anthology to be translated into English. Featuring work by Canno (Kiss and White Lily For My Dearest Girl) and Nio Nakatani (Bloom Into You), along with other well-known names in Yuri circles, sucha Shuninta Amano, Hachi Itou, Taki Kitao, Sakuya Amano, Auri Hirao (whose Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu is being made into an anime later in the year)  and others. 

The stories primarily focus on school-life scenarios, with a few forays into adult life. Nakatani-sensei’s opener sets the tone, with a complex and nuanced look at how complicated attraction can be. This continues throughout the volume, in which love is not as simple as “A girl likes another girl.” More often, the girl has much more layered approach to the other girl, as in Shuninta Amano’s “Human Emotion” in which a girl finds her essential humanity by caring.

I especially like Kagekichi Tadano’s “Game Over” in which two girls appear to be living in a post-apocalyptic story, but aren’t. No one will be surprised that I like Taki Kitao’s “Two Apples and Us,” as I’ve been a fan of her work for (erk!) decades.

For a slick, professional look at “Yuri” as seen by a number of unique artistic voices and styles, Éclair is a great example of one of the foundational blocks of the Yuri market from the days before Yuri manga magazines – collected stories by talented artists in a thematic anthology. I hope you all enjoy Éclair and clamor for more – there’s at least three more in the series,  rouge, blanche and bleue. ^_^

Ratings:

All ratings are variable as its an anthology.

Overall – 7

For a glimpse of people doing their own work in the confines of a major publisher’s rules, Éclair is an “original” work. In English, it’s unique.