Archive for the Yuri Anthology Category


Yuri Anthology: Gokigenyou

March 15th, 2007

After all that nastiness in my ears yesterday, I decided to cleanse my soul with a little Maria-sama ga Miteru today. It’s especially fitting as, after all, Strawberry Panic is not much more than a trashy parody of Marimite.

You may remember that I picked up an inordinate amount of Marimite doujinshi anthologies while in Tokyo this past January (and if you didn’t remember, now you know.) Today’s reviewee, Gokigenyou, Volume 1, is one of those many. I previously reviewed another anthology, Maria’s Wink, Volume 2. which I liked very much. If anything, Gokigenyou is better.

The first several dozen pages of Gokigenyou are 4-koma, four panel comics, each focusing on one of the Rose families of the Lillian Student Council, the Yamayurikai.  Each of the comics are printed on paper that corresponds in color to the Rose in question: i.e., The Chinensis family comics are on red paper, Foetida on yellow and Gigantea on white. It’s a cute touch.

The stories that follow are a wild mish-mosh of gag and romantic stories, leaning towards the gag side. There’s a series of stories about Eriko’s taste in comics which is very amusing, and a howlingly funny and deeply disturbing series of stories in which Noriko is portrayed as the Ichimatsu doll she’s usually described as looking like in the novels. These last are so creepy and so *funny* that opening the book and looking at one panel starts me laughing all over again. Probably my favorite gag in that whole series comes after Yoshino and Yumi have grown a little used to Noriko’s monotone speech and creepy doll face that never moves (except to spin all the way around.) As they walk along with Shimako, Yumi comments pleasantly that Noriko sure looks like an Ichimatsu doll, doesn’t she? Shimako smiles blandly and replies, “Ah, you mean her hair?” It’s quite brilliant and awful. As is the moment that Yumi comes up from behind Noriko and slaps her smartly on the back to say hi, only to have Noriko’s head fall off.  Touko’s only comment, “Be careful, Noriko”, while Yumi disappears to a corner to shiver.

Following these are a series of stories by a circle called Bonnie Bonny that I like very much. They do cute and sweet in a way that doesn’t make me feel icky. (Kinder, gentler moe.) The first of the Bonnie Bonnie stories is one of my personal favorites, Yoshino and Rei and Sachiko and Yumi out on a double date. There’s a bit of out-of-character stuff, but it’s harmless and the story is really very nice, with a high Yuri rating. It also contains an incredibly unusual and interesting moment between Yoshino and Sachiko, who find themselves alone for a bit.

For that story alone, the collection would be worth it, but there’s plenty more than just that. There’s lots of quality time with Sei and her women: Shimako, Youko and Shizuka – and an emotional Shiori retrospective. And there’s another Rei and Yoshino story in which Yoshino wishes that they could become lovers; it ends with them on a date to the beach in winter, and Yoshino thinking that the way they are is fine.

The last story is Yumi thinking about saying goodbye to the former Rosas, and how hard it will be for her to say goodbye to Sachiko when she graduates.

So, again, not heavy duty with the Yuri romance, but what there is is excellent and the gag comics are actually really funny, which is kind of unusual. And the one Bonnie Bonny story more than makes up for the lack of romance, as it’s just chockful of Yuri love-love.

Ratings:

Art – Variable 5-7
Story – Variable – 6-8
Characters – well, duh. 10
Yuri – 6 (with a boost to 8 for the one story)
Service – 2

Overall – 8

What makes it better than Maria’s Wink is just how funny the funny stuff is. Another great way to enjoy a variety of Marimite doujinshi without the time and expense of digging out individual circles and books.





Yuri Anthology: Maria’s Wink, Volume 2

February 7th, 2007

One of the more unique things about Japanese copyright laws is the ability for “parody” works to be made with little to no legal consequence. (Of course, that may change in the future, and a recent article about an exceedingly popular Doreamon doujinshi has an interesting example of what can easily be cited as an abuse of the privilege.)

Maria’s Wink 2, is one of a seemingly endless supply of Yuri doujinshi anthologies in existence for Maria-sama ga Miteru. It is available through Amazon JP (click the cover picture or the title link) and/or various manga and used manga stores.

The advantage to a doujinshi anthology is obvious – it’s a collection of many different stories by many different circles. Like ALC’s Yuri Monogatari series, that means that you’ll get a wide variety of art, story and tone. The other advantage is that an anthology will cost a lot less in time and effort than trying to track down all of the original doujinshi individually.

There are some adult anthologies, but most of the ones I picked up in Tokyo this time were “gag” anthologies. Maria’s Wink has a definite Yuri strain running through the stories, but little more than a kiss here and there. Nonetheless, no Yuri goggles are needed to see that the couples are, indeed, couples.

This particular anthology has selections by some circles I quite like including K-Do, and about three whose names are too long and difficult for me to translate, but whose work I have in doujinshi form and really like. (Nice and specific, there, I know. Very helpful….)

What makes Maria’s Wink a good place to start in terms of Marimite anthologies is that there is really something for everyone. Pretty much every popular pairing has at least one story. The obvious soeur couples, and the most popular non-soeur, like Youko x Sei, Sei x Yumi, Yumi x Touko, all are represented. There’s even a Kanako x Touko story. Kei makes an appearance in a few stories (that’s for you, Sean), as does Yuuki, and even Kashiwagi gets a naked cameo. So, really, there’s something for everyone.

In particular Rei x Yoshino fans will like a few of the stories, which really focus on the explodingly cute aspect of their relationship. There’s also a fairly well-known Rei x Yoshino story called “Treasure” that portrays them both as pirates. It’s based on a single line from one of the novels where Rei thinks that Yoshino’s surgery scar makes her look like a pirate. :-) (I find this story appealing because I too wrote [an incredibly silly] story in which the Yamayurikai and friends are pirates.  ^_^) So, as anthologies go, there’s quite a bit to like about Maria’s Wink.

Ratings are variable, but I don’t think there was a story I disliked or art that skeeved me.

Overall – 8

If you’ve always wanted to dip a toe into the vast pool of Marimite doujinshi, an anthology is a nice way to start in general, and this volume of Maria’s Wink in particular. :-)





Yuri Manga: [es] ~ Eternal Sisters Yuri Anthology

October 13th, 2004

Another anthology about schoolgirls, [es]~ Eternal Sisters, is yet another entry in the field of pleasant, harmless and variable Yuri manga that are cropping up all over the place.

Like Yuri Shimai and Yuri Tengoku, [es]~Eternal Sisters focuses on cute, sweet relationships between girls in junior high and high school. Expect lots of blushing, some embraces and few kisses in these 200 pages.

The art ranges from quite professional to “Aggh! What’s that?!” but the stories are vaguely similar – in feel, if not in execution. Almost all of them focus on the moment of revelation, either one character realizing for herself, or both characters realizing the extent of their feelings, but little beyond that is touched upon.

What *does* make [es] stand out are the personalities of the characters involved. The couples themselves bear no relationship to one another. The first story, “Love Lunch” which starts out with two roommates who act like a married couple, gives the anthology a strong beginning. “Croquis,” later in the book, has another stand-out couple – cool, competent and pretty Sada, who is at a loss to understand why she is friends with incompetent, clumsy and plain Hayase. In the end, Sada is forced to confront her feelings – but it is Hayase who forces the confrontation. This was probably my favorite story in the collection.

Of course [es] has one of every usual sterotype necessary to round out such things – hyper-genki best friends, cuddly child-like best friends, wolf-like best friends, reticent, blushing best friends, longing, sighing best friends, etc, etc.

While [es] isn’t going to make any new trends, it’s enjoyable enough for what it is. It has the same layout problems and high quality of publication as Yuri Tengoku, but on the whole the art is a little less loli and a little better. Of the two, I think this one is marginally better. Like YT, if sweet stories of schoolgirls in love that go nowhere is your thing, this is a winner.

Ratings:

Art – 5-9 depending on the story
Story – 5 nothing groundbreaking here.
Characters – 7

Overall – 7