Archive for the Yuri Anthology Category


Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari, Volume 13 (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり)

July 16th, 2014


 The cover of Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari, Volume 13 (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) is a bit of a tease, as it shows the characters from Amakure Gido’s Shuden ni ha Kaeshimasu, which is over and done with. :-( But it’s still a cute picture.

The lead story by Itou Hachi, “Haru no  Minuet” is a lovely story about a girl who becomes close with a hearing-impaired classmate. I’d love to see more Yuri stories that include issues of ability (and, gosh, folks, if you’re drawing/writing Yuri or lesbian-themed work, let’s get some diversity in there!)

In “Taiyou to Kaze-san,” Yamada and Kaze get to spend the day together in the pool. This series is so sweet it hurts.

I adored Shimano Yae’s “Makoto Gohan” for many reasons, none of which will be surprising. An adult woman, in a long term relationship with another women who communicates her love through food. This is my life and it made me extra happy to see it in manga form.

In Morishima Akiko’s “Shoujo Paradigm” Masami and Midori need to work out just exactly what their relationship is, really.

Morinaga Milk’s “Ohime-sama no Himitsu” takes a turn. As Miu and Fujiwara-sempai decide to give their relationship a real go, Fujiwara’s fans desert her for another cool sempai-type, Hirozawa, since Miu has Fujiwara wrapped up. Fujiwara is clearly happy with their new course, but Miu is starting to think she’s holding everyone back from being happy….This series started out a s bit of fluff, but I think we’ll get at least one solid volume from it, and with the new chapter, I’m really hoping for  two and a decent story. It definitely has potential.

What do you do if the person you didn’t know you liked tells you she has a girlfriend? This is is what Akuta Fumie asks in “watashi no sukina anokonokoto.”

“Under One Roof” continues to roll around in the same scene over and over as Miho comes home to her landlady’s gay friends over for dinner and innuendo once more, but it works for me. ^_^

As always there are many other stories and artists of note in this issue and surely there will be something  that will appeal in this solid Yuri anthology magazine.

Ratings:

Overall – 8





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime, March 2014 (コミック百合姫)

April 23rd, 2014

CYHM14Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫), having been split into 2 magazines, reattached and made bimonthly, has now regained the bulk it previously had as a quarterly. At about 640 pages, surely there will be something for most Yuri fans at this point.

The March 2014 issue begins with Amano Shuninta’s new series, “Ayame 14” – a classic “coming of age” story. After many moths of dealing with college students, I wonder if this return to middle school life is a relief or a burden for her?

This issue is a veritable treasure box of tropes: sisters (real and half); dojikko; tsundere; and poor communicators of a dozen kinds, 4-koma, etc. Checklisters and moe-fans will be happy. For the rest of us there’s still some very interesting features.

Minamoto Hisanari has a story, and what a story. It could have been the most fabulous story ever, but fell short of the mark to make a point that didn’t need to be made.  “Sekai ha Yuri de Ochite iru” begins with “Yuri” marriage being made legal in Japan. Not “lesbian” marriage, not “same-sex”, not “gay”. “Yuri” marriage. In a cute scene, the newscaster immediately proposes to the weatherwoman (who says yes.) As women all over Japan are getting married, protagonist Aki proposes to her lover Shuko….who says no.

The point Shuko makes is that, of course she wants to get married to Aki, but not now that it is a fad. She wants to wait until Japanese collective faddishness passes and it’s just for people who really mean it.  Well, okay, but you broke Aki’s heart when you said no, and was making a point really more important than marrying your wife?

The final chapter of “game” by Takemiya Jin (collected volume is out next month) finds Morico unhappy at being forced to play pretend for Becky. Until, somewhat predictably, Becky realizes that it’s Morico she’s in love with after all. An end that, for all its predictability, left me feeling better than Minamoto’s story.

I am SOOOOOO conflicted about “Bousou Girlsteki Mousou Renaiteki Suteki Projec,t” but I console myself that Beniko feels the same way about being trapped in a story that appears to be trying to be all the stories ever all at once and is managing to handle them all unconvincingly. The best moment is Beniko breaking down over giving a hoot about Aoi and Aoi responding calmly – “I’m your partner, aren’t I?” with “aite” as partner, which means, like, the person one is best suited to be matched with. Aoi is right, Beniko and she are indeed suited to one another.

Morishima Akiko’s “Yurrip-chu” comes in with a second vignette about a girl who wants to be one thing and is required to be another. This time we follow the tall, “princely” group member, Sayaka. I’m not sure if their producer is a genius or an idiot, making everyone be something they’re not.

Tanaka Minoru’s “Rock It Girl” is quirky as always, but for a brief chapter, everyone is in a good mental place, well, except terminally low self-esteem Kaname, but Seira’s right on that, yelling at her ’til she snaps out of it.

Something weird happened in “Yuri Danshi.” Hanadera stopped being the lead for a bit. Fujigaya heads to a book shop and is imbued with Hanadera’s Yuri power when trying to convince the bookstore to create a dedicated Yuri section. For once, I actually liked the chapter. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 7

There were, as always, many other stories, some good, some bad, some…um, unmemorable. ^_^ But overall a decent volume with some conversation-starters, at the very least.

The May Volume is already on sale, so get your copy today!





Yuri Manga: Yuri Koi☆Girls Love Story, Volume 3 (百合☆恋)

March 28th, 2014

In February, I hit a wall on the Yuri manga anthology, Yuri Koi☆Girls Love Story (百合☆恋). The one story I was interested in had gone quickly from interesting to excruciating and I wasn’t sure whether I’d get Volume 3.

An Okazu reader by the name of Tim assured me that the story got better. Tim lied. Okay, okay, he probably didn’t lie, and he was looking into much later chapters, but…. ^_^

So, in Volume 1, in the lead story “Yuri no Tanpopo”, we meet Mizuho and her lover Ena through the eyes of Mizuho’s younger sister. In Volume 2, Mizuho is a jerk to Ena. In Volume 3, We see Mizuho through the eyes of Ena and even accounting for Ena being biased, Mizuho is a much, much worse jerk than we guessed.

In fact, this story so depressed me, I have been unable to bring myself to read the rest of the stories in this book. The bland moe stories don’t interest me, but a few of them don’t look so bad…but I can’t do it.

Ratings: Mizuho, you jerk. You’re ruining  it for all of us.

 





Rakuen Le Paradis, Volume 13 (楽園 Le Paradis)

March 17th, 2014

Rakuen Le Paradis, Volume 13 (楽園 Le Paradis) is more of the very pleasing same.

We get the usual adorable stuff from Mizutani Fuuka and Kowo Kazuma, and the usual creeptastic stuff.

We get a deeper look at the mismatch that is Takako and Shinobu in “Collectors.”  Each has such a unique perspective on life that they can’t even give directions that make sense to the other.

In “Kakera no Omoi,” we have indeed turned our attention from Mayu and Mika, to the eternally suffering best friend with an unrequited love, Saki. Unfortunately for Saki, her conversation with Mika about Mayu is overheard…by Mayu. Now Saki’s worst fear has come true – Mayu knows her feelings. What will Mayu’s reaction be? Tune in and find out. What would yours be if you found out that your best friend was in love with you?

And in “Au,” Nishi Uko tells the story of an entire relationship from meeting to breakup and makeup in art and words in the “-au” verb form.

And filling out the Yuri in the lineup is Harumi Chihiro’s “Hankagoto” in which school girls learn they are on the same page after all.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I love this magazine. It hurts, it’s weird, it’s wacky, it’s adorable and it’s lovely in equal measure.

 





Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari, Volume 12 (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり)

March 9th, 2014

I am formally letting go of the now-outdated idea in my head that Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari  (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) is the “also ran” Yuri anthology. That is empirically not true. At this point, it is a strong equivalent contender with Comic Yuri Hime, with solid artists and series.

In Volume 12, Isoya Yuki starts the book off with a heartbreakingly sweet “love at first sight” story, “Shoujo no Mateki,” in which a high school girl falls for the older woman she sees crying and how – despite everything – they find themselves drawn together. I really hope this series continues.

“Ajisai to Kase-san” continues the excruciatingly adorable relationship between Yamada and Kase. Once more Yamada fears to infringe on Kase’s privilege, only to have Kase reassure her with a kiss.

Morishima Akiko’s “Shoujo Paradigm” takes a bit of a serious turn, as we look at the actual relationship behind the Takarazuka couple, school stars Reika and Yuki….what brought them together and what keeps them apart. Lily forces them to address the gap between them and it turns out to be more of a practical matter.

In “Under One Roof” Fuuka finds herself in the rather awkward predicament of protecting Miho from awareness of the LGBTQ community of which she is a part. Yuri crushes are one thing…”being gay” is another.  Miho and Fuuka are on a collision course that only readers can see.

“Tsubakuma” was 50% perfect, and 50% awful and the whole was wholly impractical. A former soldier (with and eyepatch!) is looking for work and gets the job of being nanny to a willful child. Since the idea that Yuri will somehow be a thing between an adult and a child of 4 or 5 makes me very unhappy, the + of former soldier with an eyepatch merely goes to waste. Blergh.

I love “Nigetai Shoujo”. Two stereotypes as a couple, tough girl who always gets in fights and moody nerd. Swoon. That this is a series just boosts my love 10x. ^_^

Two more stereotypes: Demon girl and hikkikomori perv…not so much. It’s full of sex, but has no soul. Well, duh, I guess.

And that’s just first half of the book.  The second has a lot more typical school life stuff and another demon girl story, and is variably good, depending on what you like.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

An extremely strong volume from Hirari…and I get the feeling that more strong volumes are on the way.