Archive for the Yuri Anthology Category


Lesbian Anthology: Sparkling Rain (English)

May 15th, 2009

Yuki pulled her face away. She couldn’t get used to the concept that anything that lesbians made was wonderful. She did want to support lesbian work even if she thought it was ugly, and she couldn’t stand heteros mouthing off at lesbian work. Watching this bad piece of porn, however, was tortuous. – From “Monalisa Night” by Izumo Marou

Well, you know, I am *so* right there with Yuki. I love to support lesbian work, truly, but so often wonder who the hell it’s for? Not me, certainly. And Japanese lesbian works equally, if not more so, sometimes.

And so I approached this anthology with a full measure of concern that I might find it teh suck. Instead, I have to say – with great pleasure – that Sparkling Rain: And Other Fiction from Japan of Women Who Love Women, edited by Barbara Summerhawk and Kimberly Hughes, is full of awesome and wonderful. With the exception of one story, every single story had at least a few magnificent gems. Not like diamonds in the rough at all, though – like a ring that particularly catches your attention in a jewelry store window.

The anthology begins with introductions by Sawabe Hitomi and Watanabe Mieko, two women who were heavily involved in the lesbian community in Japan. Their insight into the politics and social situations of the time fascinated me. Not terribly surprising, as I’ve been lurking on the edge of their world for so many years.

This is followed by two literary essays, one on Yoshiya Nobuko, the woman I consider to be the great-grandmother of Yuri. These are then followed by about a dozen pieces of fiction, including a story by Natsuko Mori that I had previously read in her Himeyuri-tachi no Houkago collection, and a few translated Plica-chan comic strips, with a breathtakingly honest introduction by translator and scholar Mizoguchi Akiko.

All excellent, but these were not even the best of the collection. “Monalisa Night” is a non-linear multi-perspective tale that follows a number of women in a cubist painting of a story. Uehara Chigusa’s slightly tortuous, but very real “Story of a First Love,” starts off with one of the most honest appraisals of the delusional relationships we create in our own mind. And the title story, Nakayama Kaho’s “Sparkling Rain” is incandescently beautiful, painful, realistic and highly fantastic all at once.

And still, these are not the only treasures in this book. Almost every story stopped me cold with at least one truly remarkable, memorable scene or line. Even as I write this review, I can call to mind a number of scenes that have burned themselves into my memory. These are all stories I will revisit one day soon.

Every story was surprising, every story was interesting and even the ones I did not like, I was glad to have read. This was not just a lesbian work, and so worthy of support – Sparkling Rain is an *excellent* lesbian work and so, worthy of praise and recommendation.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

Seriously, I hope you’ll buy this, because it was truly an extraordinary book.

I want to thank James Welker for making it possible for me to review this, and New Victoria for providing a review copy. If this had been what I expected I would be thanking them politely but, as this book was unexpectedly excellent, I thank them from the bottom of my heart for giving me this opportunity to tell you all about it.





Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime Wildrose, Volume 2 (百合姫 Wildrose)

July 29th, 2008

Yuri Hime Wildrose, Volume 2, (百合姫 Wildrose) is the second collection of slightly more explicit short stories by authors from Yuri Hime and Yuri Hime S. Most of the stories are one-shots, but there is at least one continuation from the previous volume.

In most cases, the stories are set at schools or involve schoolgirls, although there is an ocassional adult to break up the monotony and add a little illegality to the proceedings. lol Mostly the stories are sex as affirmation of yes, we really love each other, which is a nice step forward from sex as experiment into what do girls do together? (I am always honestly boggled at this question. I’ve gotten it – quite earnestly – from both men and woman from a number of nations, and I still don’t have a good answer, because it seems so obvious to me. I guess not though, if one’s idea of sex is limited to one action only. But I digress.)

Since incest, or something close to it, is all the rage right now, there are a number of sisters/onee-sama-imouto/cousins-who-are-close-like-sisters to chose from. (This trend continues into both Yuri Hime and Yuri Hime S, btw. So once again, the LCD wins and I wait through yet another cycle of fetishes that aren’t my thing, until the tide turns and possibly my thing will become more popular. Although…probably not. lol) Chi-Ran’s story refreshingly remains about sex between two people who know nothing whatsoever about one another. Not even each other’s names. ^_^

And Natsuki x Shizuru fans will appreciate that the blatant parody this time is not Marimite, but a faux Shiznat thing that was actually quite nice. If you can imagine Natsuki as the older student, closing in on graduation and Shizuru as her lover/kouhai and add sex, you’ll have a close enough idea about the goings on.

Of course I did not like each story equally, but overall I think I liked this volume more than the previous one. I can’t think of any story that was standout wow, but nothing that made me cry, either. ^_^

Ratings (variable, so everything is averaged):

Art – 6
Stories – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 9
Service – 7

Overall – 7

This book is sort of the middle step between soft Yuri and porn, so if you’ve bemoaned the fact that there’s little in that middle space before it becomes full-blown fluid-spewing hentai, then you’ll probably like this book a lot.





Yuri Manga Anthology: Maria’s Wink

March 4th, 2008

Long day today – short review. One of the more charming gray areas of Japanese copyright law is the existence of parody doujinshi anthologies. These are found in the same stores where manga and anime are sold. They usually have an anthology section, sometimes two, one for gag comics and the other for “adult.”

When I was in Japan last year, I picked up a pile of Maria-sama ga Miteru anthologies, some of which I have already reviewed. Feel free to read my reviews of Soeur Sengen and Gokigenyou anytime. At the time, I also picked up the second book in a series called Maria’s Wink. This past trip I found Maria’s Wink, Volume 1.

Maria’s Wink is primarily a gag anthology, but there’s plenty of Yuri love-love for readers, mostly of the major pairings. Lots of Sei-ism, of course. Two circles included in this collection are Bebe, who did the Creole series, and Raku-Gun, one of my current favorite circles.

I enjoy doujinshi anthologies. They are a fun, easy way to get a bead on the kind of stories that you, as a fan of a series, like. You get such a wide variety of circles, art, story, feel and tone, that you’re likely to find *something* that appeals to you. I always recommend these books as a great way to dip a toe into the vast and intimidating world of doujinshi. Once you have a few circles you know you like, you can start looking for their work, and slowly, slowly find yourself drowning in thousands of doujinshi which threaten to overrun your house.

…Maybe that’s just me.

In any case, if you like Maria-sama ga Miteru, and you want to read doujinshi that is *not* full of gouting bodily fluids, Maria’s Wink is a good place to start.

Ratings:

Art – Averaging at about 6
Characters – 8
Story – 7
Yuri – 6
Service – 2

Overall – 7





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime Wildrose, Volume 1 (百合姫 Wildrose)

December 13th, 2007

Comic Yuri Hime: Wildrose, Volume 1 (百合姫 Wildrose) is an anthology from Ichijinsha, the folks who put out Yuri Hime magazine. Many of the artists are already contributors to YH, and some are known for outside series.

The stories in the collection are variations on the “two schoolgirls in love” theme, much like the ES ~ Eternal Sisters and Yuri Tengoku anthologies. Most of them involve sex, very few of them involve plot or characterization.

The entirety of the collection can be summed up by describing one story, drawn by Morishima Akiko, in which the two protagonists, having kissed, wonder out loud “What’s next?” And as they progress to “what’s next” we get a sort of shortened version of every lesbian’s internal coming out – without the lesbian identity, of course.

Which leads me to today’s digression. Recently, on the Yuricon Mailing List, we had a discussion about how few Yuri characters are “out and proud.” The majority of posters said that it was enough for a character to be “obvious” to be considered “out,” with me disagreeing, as usual. lol I feel that in order to be considered out, one has to actually be able to say, “I am a lesbian.” Otherwise, you’re just “obvious.” Not the same thing at all to me.

This all made me realize something I hadn’t ever put into words before, so here we go – “Yuri” is, almost by definition, a character with lesbian interest who is *not* lesbian-identified.

Even my beloved Queens of Yuri, Haruka and Michiru, never came out. They were obvious, but never once did they say “we’re a couple” or “we’re lesbian.” Yes, the creator later said that. And yes, they were characters in a shoujo manga in 1994. But the point is – they are not “out” in the context of the canon. In fact, when confronted directly in the anime, Haruka denies that they are a couple (I have a theory about that, but I’ll skip it for now) and in the manga asked in return if it really mattered whether she was a man or a woman? This was probably as close as Takeuchi could get to coming out at the time, but it was still ambiguous enough for many people to deny their “obvious” relationship.

If a character self-defines as a lesbian, then she’s out. But the LARGE majority of Yuri characters are not out – they are “just, in love” with this-person-who-happens-to-be-female. Much like the large proportion of BL characters who are amazingly not gay, although they only have sex and relationships with other men.

When pressed, obviously “lesbian” characters in manga will often say, “I like women” or “I don’t want to be labled” rather than say “I am a lesbian.”

I imagine that some of this can be chalked up to the Japanese preference for obfuscation and some to the fact that ambiguity sells better. And to add to this, the fact that long-term couples in real life don’t walk around saying “Hi, we’re lesbians,” so in actual *lesbian* manga (and real life,) you still don’t have overt “outness.” Rica and Miho going to Gay Pride, are rare indeed. There’s far more like Nene and Jun, who have sex, fall in love, and generally are a couple, without *ever* acknowledging that that is what they are. You know – “More than friends, less than lovers.” (A phrase that I later commented allows a person to have her cake and eat it too. Pun intended.)

So most of the stories in Wildrose are in this space – girls in love, having relationships – and sex – with other girls, but they’re not lesbians. Just, you know, in love.

Here is what I thought was the best story of the collection. It begins with Yumi and Sachiko clones. The Yumi clone, Mari, tells us – and all her classmates – that she and the Sachiko clone, Michika, are in love. And we see them sitting next to each other in class where Michika passes Mari an eraser, their eyes briefly meeting not particularly meaningfully. Then Mari tells us that they go out for a bite after school together, so we see them sitting next to one another at a snack counter – but apart as if there is no connection. In fact, it becomes apparent that the relationship is one-sided and our cheerful little Yumi clone is a stalker. Her friends freak out and try to stop her, but she gets away from them as she follows the subject of her desire. Her friends go one way, but we see behind the wall where the two girls are now together, embracing passionately. Mari and Michika make love, and Michika apologizes for not being more forthcoming recently. Of course she is forgiven. The next day at school, the classmates all demand to hear that they have a relationship directly from Michika’s mouth. “From my mouth” she says, and leans over to kiss Mari. The classmates all apologize for their doubt and we’re left smiling, because it was a stupid, but fun, almost-Marimite parody story. With no lesbians.

Ratings (variable, so everything is averaged):

Art – 6
Stories – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 9
Service – 7 (lots of undressing)

Overall – 6

If what you like best is young women finding love and sex with one another Wildrose is perfect. If you’re looking for something with more awareness of lesbian identity, go re-read Rica tte Kanji?! :-)

 





Yuri Anthology: Souer Sengen, Yellow

May 3rd, 2007

Souer Sengen is yet another collection of yuri doujinshi for Maria-sama ga Miteru. Like my earlier reviews of Gokigenyou and Maria’s Wink, this book is one of a series. In this case the stories are loosely collected around the three Rose Families: Red, Yellow and White, one volume focused on Yumi and one on the supporting characters called, “SP”.

Todays review will be on the Yellow Rose Family Volume. Why this one of all of them? Because this one is, IMHO, the best of the bunch. If you asked me why, I’m not sure I’d be able to put my finger on it, exactly. I think it’s a combination of several things – I like the focus on Rei x Yoshino, I like many of the circles that contributed and I like several of the stories already, a priori. I own some of the doujinshi from which the stories are taken and they are some of my favorites.

The back to back stories by Bonny Bonnie, one of which ends happily and one sadly, both of which deal with Yoshino’s desire to kiss Rei, are quite enjoyable. In the first, they kiss, and Rei says that it tastes warm and nice. This is followed by a second, deeper kiss, and Yoshino complains that Rei tastes like takoyaki. ^_^ The second story ends with them kissing, but Rei saying that she really doesn’t want to open that door any further…. Both are quite sweet in their own way. You’ll pardon me if I prefer the first. ^_^

There’s a cute tale as Eriko passes a book from Rei to Yoshino, and in doing so ponders how close they are. It’s nice insight from Rosa Foetida into her “little sisters.” And, among the many other stories that look at the relationship between Yoshino and Rei, this collection includes the story from my very first Maria-sama ga Miteru doujinshi purchase, from long before I had the vaguest clue about the series. The circle is Bebe, and the series is called “Creole.” The first Creole story is about the “Day it Began,” which is to say, they day Yoshino and Rei become lovers. Despite it’s intense lolification of Yoshino, I like this story a lot. In fact, I like the whole Creole series alot – even the one where Sachiko presides over a sex club. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8 variable, pretty decent, with the exception of one story, which was “shriek!” bad
Characters – 10 Yoshino…!
Story – also variable, averages to about a 6
Yuri – 9, except where it’s 10
Service – 10

Overall – 8

The entire Souer Sengen series is worth taking a look at. Some very fun and well-known Marimite parody circles contribute, like Pen-Pen Gusa Club, and the aforementioned Bebe and Bonny Bonnie. So there’s something of interest in each volume. But in my entirely personal opinion – this volume is the best one.