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.

Welcome to a look at Yuriqueur – Alcohol Yuri Anthology (ユリキュール アルコール百合アンソロジー), (as Sooz noted, “Yuliqueur,”) a book with an awkward name and an even more awkward premise! What can one expect from a collection of stories that all center being drunk? Let us temper (pun intended) our expectations.

While this anthology is probably not my absolute favorite of all time, it is also not the worst I have ever read. Drinking is featured in every story, but the creators mostly stayed away from sordid plot complications. There are no after-morning regrets, nothing non consensual and surprisingly little drinking to excess. Instead of celebrating partying til one pukes, these stories are more or less the same kind of thing as usual, with romance over a drink or two neither idealized nor excoriated.

The first story by 2C=Garua is from the bartender’s point of view, as she takes care of, in a professional way, a frequent customer who likes her women and her mixed drinks.

Mochi Au Lait pops in with a cute little story of a women who has fallen for her coworker and over drinks discovers the feeling is mutual.

My favorite story of the collection, primarily for the art “Angel Kiss in the Dark” by Yonurime, read exactly like a doujinshi story from a million years ago…you know, like 2003 or so. A woman going home after the bars are closed sees a woman in tears on a bench and takes her home. The weeping woman tells of her ended love affair with another woman. The women who found her listens and they part, promising to get together for drinks.

One last quite lovely piece by Miura Kozumi follows a couple as they make umeshu, as they do every year. This story is a celebration of their lives together and the passage of time, as seen by sharing a ritual of making ume alcohol.

Ratings:

Overall – Variable, let’s say 7

In all the stories I liked best, alcohol is the catalyst, but not the story itself. Nonetheless, I quite like the colorful sparkliness of the drinks on the cover art  by Kiriyama Haruka. ^_^

It still strikes me as rather fun that Yuri fans are practically buried these days under an avalanche of Yuri anthologies – and that so many of them are set in adult society among working women. ^_^ I can practically see myself in 2004 or 2009 or 2015, reading yet another collection that was so similar to everything else, that I just kind of snapped. But I kept coming back for more and so, I find myself today taking a look at another Yuri anthology set in working adult society. I am not complaining! (Not yet, at any rate. ^_^)

In 2018, I reviewed the first entry into this anthology series and found it entertaining. Today I am taking a look at Chocolat 2 Shakaijin Yuri Anthology ( ショコラ2 社会人百合アンソロジー).  The contributors are mostly names we’re very familiar with here on Okazu. Morishima Akiko starts off the anthology with a somewhat complicated relationship between two women who are balancing work-life-society issues.

Kashikase’s story takes a tried and true scenario – the unpaid therapy done by all women in the customer service industry – and turns it into a love story.

I’m reading a collection by Kiriyama Haruka and just finished a story last night that I really enjoyed – but was sure I had read before! Well I had…in this collection. A woman working for an insurance company comes face to face with the web idol she admires, in what I think is a very sweet little story.

A love that never quite manages to get past the gate is the subject of a sweet and a little sad story by Takemiya Jin.

For me, the stand-out story was the last one, by Shigisawa Kaya, called “Love Letter.” A deceased writer has left her unfinished manuscript to her former lover, also a writer, to finish. We travel the length of their relationship from when they met through their parting in this taught story about endings. This was, honestly, excellent. Shigisawa’s writing and art – which tends to center tension and discomfort –  hits exactly the perfect note of melancholy, unexpressed anger and love. Outstanding work by an artist I always want to like but often cannot.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

What this collection does is hold itself together by the thinnest of connecting strings. Other than the fact that these stories are all collected for this volume, there is nothing similar about them. Different art, different tone, and vastly different takes on the topic makes Chocolat 2 a superior Yuri anthology.