Never before have I seen a collection with so many vehicular deaths.

Ichijinsha’s Isekai Tensei Yuri Anthology (異世界転生百合アンソロジー) was somewhat disappointing from my perspective. I was hoping for fun (i.e., innovative and original) Yuri stories about being reborn into an alt-universe. Instead I found this anthology clogged with repetitive tropes that take the place of good writing.

When I was reading fantasy novels in the 70s and 80s during the first big boom, Isekai was a pretty common plot. Lots of “people who ended up in the world of their D&D games as their characters,” or something very similar. It was so common that it almost instantly became a parody of itself and, one or two of the riffs ended up being more memorable than the lazy writing it parodied. Ultimately, they all came down to two plots: We Have to Get Back or Life is Better Here, We Want to Stay.

We’re at that point, clearly with Isekai, where we need some folks with the chops to parody the whole thing better than the originals, because this whole anthology was uninspired and uninspiring.

Which brings me to my original comment. I have been reliably informed about “Truck-kun” the standard form of death that catapults a character to some alternate world. I have so many objections to this interpretation of “reincarnation,” I could write an essay. I’ll spare you other than to say: That is not how reincarnation if we are speaking of the re-incarnation of the soul – works, if it indeed works. “Reincarnated as a Slime” and “Evo Girls” are closer to the idea, even if they are both are hyper-sped up. But setting that aside, the fact that almost no creators in this book came up with *any* new idea to get us to that world is just…disappointing.

Once the character find themselves in “another world,” I was yet again reminded of the D&D isekai novels of my youth as every single alt-universe is some variation of a fantasy feudal society. I mentioned this on various platforms online and several people noted that Isekai, as a subgenre, is meant as a kind of rejection of societal norms and adult oppression – a paean to not growing up. To which I replied, “I reject growing up and being oppressed by authority! Let’s escape to a feudal monarchy!” Even as a child I could see that fairytales were only a good place to be if you were the third Prince with two idiot older brothers. They were shitty for everyone else. ^_^;

The very coolest thing about this collection is the cover. There is no story inside that quite hits that same level. There is one story with a cool knight from another world in ours, who is defending a much younger girl, for some reason, but that failed to engage my attention. Many of the stories include animal-eared or demony girls. My general objection is absolutely zero of the stories were about two adults, and combining lolicon and anthropomorphic fetishes do nothing to endear me more to either.  Although some of the stories were just fine on their own, I have no idea what made them Isekai other than a panel that showed someone dead from being hit by a truck.  These could have just been in the non-human x human anthologies I’ve previously reviewed.

Apparently it is too much to ask of a wholly fantasy setting to have something original, about women in that fantasy setting doing something cool.

I was so looking forward to reading this anthology. I cannot truly express how disappointed I am in it.

Ratings:

Overall – 5

It’s an *alternate universe*, you can make up anything as you go – why be so boring?

Cinnamon Nonhuman x Human Yuri Anthology ( シナモン 人外×人間百合アンソロジー) was so much more fun than I expected, I bumped it up the review pile just to be able to tell you about it. ^_^

The premise of Cinnamon, one of the recent crop of Ascii Mediaworks / Kadokawa anthologies, is that humans and non-human creatures can and do find love together. Like it’s sister publication, Vanilla, which featured all non- and demi-human protagonists, how they get there is really tangential to the romance itself.

The first story by Neji, sets the tone of “oh, okay” when a young woman is out walking the mountain paths and meets a beast woman with whom she falls in love. There’s not enough time to delve into the hows or whys, but there’s plenty of time to kvell for their potential happiness.

The next story, by Asagao, follows two sisters whose deep connection continues on even after one becomes a zombie. This story has not one thing in it that ticks off a box for me, but I liked it anyway. ^_^

Several artists took a look at schoolmates who turn out to be something other than human, notably Takemiya Jin, whose look at “onigokko” (hide-and-seek) takes a dark turn when one of the girls turns out to be a real oni who will eat the loser. I don’t much care for animal ears on girls, but I quite like horns, as it turns out.

My favorite story is by Sekihara – once again, because I think I’ve liked their work in several recent anthologies. This story follows a woman who has moved into a new place to live, and found it inhabited by an Edo period Oiran, the ghost of a courtesan. They make it work. ^_^

The art and storytelling were both pretty strong for an anthology. I was glad to see mermaids and yokai included with the usual crop of animal-featured girls.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I had pretty low expectations for this collection, but found it genuinely entertaining. I could easily see this being picked up by Yen Press.

In the middle of a number of very excellent working life Yuri, I found myself facing down a manga anthology that was vastly out of my wheelhouse. Vanilla Nonhuman x Nonhuman Yuri Anthology ( バニラ人外×人外百合アンソロジー) was…not bad. It had a niceish mix of non-human as in animal girls and non-human as in supernatural.

The stories about supernatural non-humans appealed to me far more than the animal-eared girl stories, but even so, Mintarou (whose bouldering Yuri manga began in the recent issue of Comic Yuri Hime,) has a cute little story about the animals at a zoo who take on human form at night and the romance between a wombat and a Tasmanian Devil.

Likewise the love story by Nanamiya Tsugumi between a raven and a goose, I think, was kind of bittersweet.

My favorite story by Takeshima Shin (creator of Mansoufutou no Gikami Meikyuu), was also kind of creepy. A shinagami helps heal the emotional wounds of a girl who has lost her lover.

Unsurprisingly a number of the stories had very infantile art and, like the cover, paired characters I couldn’t get behind as a couple, but overall, I was able to read and enjoyed a number of the stories in this collection. So if nonhumans are your thing, this seems like a decent enough attempt at a Yuri collection of same!

Ratings:

Overall – 7

Lots of moe, a little creepy sometimes at the same time.

Last year Ultra Jump (Shonen Jump‘s older brother magazine) did an awkwardly titled Yuri anthology called Yuritora Jump.The title’s awkwardness comes from it being an “Ultra Jump” off-shoot, so  Ultora Jump ウルトラジャンプ becomes Yuritora Jump ユリトラジャンプ…yeah…, no, it doesn’t work in Japanese either and people keep making fun of it. ^_^;

I could have sworn I did a review of the volume, but don’t see it anywhere. ^_^; There wasn’t much in it I liked, except the excellent story by Hayate x Blade creator Hayashiya Shizuru-sensei. (Quick synopsis of Tanerabo manga do it! (『たねラボ manga do it』) : A manga editor asks an author for any kind of a Yuri story except isekai and the author keep proposing nothing but isekai. The proposal I liked the most was a girl asking to fight her onee-sama at a school for warriors in a series titled “Shiritsu Amazoness.” It was a fantastic mashup idea…I would love to see it for real. ^_^ This year, the Yuri Anthology by Ultra Jump magazine artists got a second volume. Generally speaking I enjoyed this much more than the first volume.

Yuritora Jump ~ Ultra Jump Yuri Digital Anthology~, Volume 2 (ユリトラジャンプ～ウルトラジャンプ百合アンソロジー～ Vol.2) is a digital comic and is available globally on Bookwalker Global for a mere 500 yen. The cover is a bit less infantile than Volume 1 and this time there are two stories which I really liked.

The first story that I want to tell you about is, again, by Hayashiya-sensei. Called “FRIDAY IS THE DAY” in English, this may well be the story I have waited all my life to read. In a gym, two women compete in a no-holds barred, brutal, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competition, after hours. The two of them seem to be working through some kind of grudge, but as the other folks in the gym watch this increasingly violent fight, it becomes apparent that this fight is a confession of love. As the fight ends with the two women confessing their feelings, the spectators break out into applause.

This is what I mean when I say I want to read a sports manga.  Funny, as all of Hayashiya-sensei’s work is, ridiculous, violent as fuck. It was beautiful. Can I have a 8 volume series of this? Please~~~? I would be so happy.

Aoki Juntaro and Shina Yoshinao paired up to create “Italian Beef” (イタリアンビーフ) a Yakuza daughter vs Yakuza assassin story that was also a happy romance wrapped in death and destruction.

Hrm. I see to have a type.

Despite my fixation with fighting manga, there were a number of rather pleasant school girl stories. Fewer really annoyingly infantile entries. If you have $5 and can only get one of these volumes…go for this one!

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Everything is so variable, but overall, I read and enjoyed way more of this volume than the first.

Frankly, the whole thing was worth it for FRIDAY IS THE DAY.

I’m not going to lie – I was not looking forward to reading Macaron Idol Yuri Anthology (マカロン アイドル百合アンソロジー). But my wife said to me, “You never know, you might enjoy it.” I believe I made a rude noise in reply.

My wife was right. I enjoyed this anthology, despite myself. The stories were, I suppose, predictable for an idol anthology, but more importantly, they were pretty sincere.

The first story by Sakagi, “Ponytail and Aoi Uso”  was a moving little story of an idol “graduating”  – that is to say, being forcibly retired by management – but leaving a deep impression on the kouhai who loves her.

Also entertaining, was a trio of idols who were being sold as a “Yuri” concept group, but in real life, are an actual threesome, story by Tsuji Yuzuna.

There are stories of fans and idols, idols and their idol partners, even an “evil” idol group recruiting a “innocent” idol,  and a surprising (to me) number of stories about the people behind the idols. Perhaps that should not have surprised me, but my impression of the idol industry is that they carefully do not want us, the audience, to ever think of the idols as humans, with lives and thoughts beyond just entertainment. I think that is a brutal and inhuman way to treat people. and I’m kind of glad to know that the creators in this anthology, at least, are willing to look past the curtain a little and explore the inner and off-stage lives of the entertainers.

Ratings:

All ratings are variable, but all were good to excellent.

Overall – 8

It’s not world-changing, but I was both surprised and pleased by this anthology.