Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Comic Yuri Hime, September 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年9月号)

August 27th, 2020

This cover wins. It is, in a lifetime of reading comics and decades of reading Yuri manga, my favorite cover of any Yuri manga ever. The foldout cover, with art by Rolua, is the wholly goth image of an angel with a drippy gold halo and black feathered wings, holding a woman to her chest, the credits and title of the magazine visualized as tattoos across her arms and back. Two thumbs up from me. Animate apparently included a postcard of the full picture with purchase of this issue.

Comic Yuri Hime September 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年9月号) is a very good issue for me. Individual stories were good, and overall it’s a pretty solid volume. But I really wanted to review it this week, because Seven Seas re-announced the Light Novel for I’m in Love with the Villainess and since the manga is running in this magazine, I felt extra motivated. ^_^

This volume starts off with the once-again popular “lesbian sex worker helps a woman get over her nervousness about sex, “with the addition of secondary plot about Asumi’s first love clearly being a sex worker as well. Gosh, I wonder how that will work out?

Takeshima Eku’s “Sasayakouyouni Koi wo Utau” was adorable for what it didn’t do as much as what it did. Yori looks up what to do on a date and, for once, we are not obliged to presume that what she found was nothing but porn. Phew! Her choices of behaviors, the ratings for them, and her honesty with her new girlfriend, was fun and refreshing,

“Watashi no Oshi ha Akujaku Reijou,” which is headed our way, as per the Seven Seas announcement above, remains goofy with the second “high class manners” contest I have now encountered in a GL Bunko. ^_^ Protagonist Oohashi Rei, having woken up in the world of her favorite otome game, finds herself challenged by her love interest, the game villainess, Claire-sama. But. Rei is familiar with the world from having played the game so long and is able to best her challenger in a series of contests that included schoolwork, magical skill and a test of refined manners at the table.

I don’t know where “Kudan Folklore” is likely to take me, but so far, I’m kind of into this apparently dark, but so far mostly unformed urban folklore kind of gothy ghost thing with a reasonably smart and confident lead. More importantly, it was the first time I’ve seen the phrase “mochi ha mochiya” and had just read a great thread on it on translator Jocelyne Allen’s Twitter (which was mostly around how Google will not take the place of a real translator any time soon.) It means, something like if you want mochi, you go to a mochi shop…in other words, go to the right place/people for the right thing.

I will now formally admit that I adore Osawa Yayoi’s  “Hello, Melancholic!” and while Minato faces her own fears, I’m all for her and Hibiki figuring out what they mean to each other.

“Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” is clearly winding down. The staff of Liebe cafe ask Hime and Mitsuki to sit down and have it out between them, but the conclusion isn’t conclusive.

It was lovely that Saki’s sister was all for Saki and Asuka being happy together, rather than a tired jealous-little-sister stereotype in “Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsuskiatteiru.” This made the third or fourth story where a tedious stereotype was just left behind and it strongly affected my overall feeling about this issue.

mintaro’s “Pochi Climb” limps to an end and I feel nothing. It never really seemed to know who it was for. It wasn’t a sport manga, it wasn’t a romance, it was just an idea that never gelled.

I know it’ll end eventually, but I’d be thrilled if “Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts” by Usui Shio just went on forever. It doesn’t even have to have conflicts, just let’s sit back and watch people figure out stuff in a gentle Jousei manga style.

Inui Ayu’s autobiographical work just slides along one cute interaction at a time. Along with Usui’s story, these are the best way for me to end this issue. ^_^

As always there are other stories I did read and others I did not in this issue and hopefully, you’ll find something to enjoy yourself. You can buy this in print from Amazon JP, or digitally on JP Kindle and Global Bookwalker.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

What pushed this volume up in rating was a refreshing lack of tiresome, old-fashioned tropes just not being used. It’s super past time we have non-bratty little sisters and protagonists who are smart and athletic actually being confident, instead of emotionally tortured wrecks, and supportive friends and lovers, instead of pointless miscommunication. What a relief!





Vampeerz, Volume 3 (ヴァンピアーズ)

August 25th, 2020

 

The third volume of the manga Vampeerz (ヴァンピアーズ)
Is chock-full of fetishes and fears.
Vampires in school, but really,
It’s all what you’d expect from Akili,,
Gravitas Twilight has smeared.

That’s it. That’s the review. ^_^





Nakatani Nio Short Story Collection Sayonara Alter ( 仲谷鳰短編集 さよならオルタ)

August 24th, 2020

Nakatani Nio Short Story Collection Sayonara Alter ( 仲谷鳰短編集 さよならオルタ) is the collected volume of short stories by the Yagate Kimi ni Naru /Bloom Into You creator. The stories in this collection come from Nakatani-sensei’s work in  Dengeki Daioh, the Éclair anthology series, doujinshi and an original work for the collection. There’s a kind horror-esque feel about some of the stories that make me feel super creeped out. ^_^;

In the titular story two girls aren’t twins so much as two halves of the same person, and when one dies, the other is there to continue being her. This was followed by a fantasy story about a young man, and a grim little story about a girl who eats a giant snail, which skeeved me in evrry possible direction.

A pianist’s hand is broken and her friend has to be there for her. A friend falls in love her friend’s passion for an idol group. A girl finds herself interested in a wolf girl who transfers into her class. A woman who designs androids has a multilayered relationship with her first triumph.  Two women decide to buy a double bed, and admit that their relationship had changed. The original story for this collection tells about a complicated relationship between a a boy and a girl in high school.

If you’re a huge fan of her work, or you like short manga stories with slightly uncomfortable edges, you’ll want to get this collection. It definitely is an excellent overview of her art changing over the last decade or so. changes, as it evolves quite considerably from beginning to end in a way that would not be obvious if you didn’t see the stories laid out one after the other.

Ratings:

Overall – 7

An eclectic volume by an artist who is now known for one kind of story, it’s also a good reminder that Nakatani’s work is not just Bloom Into You.





Galette, No. 14 (ガレット)

August 23rd, 2020

Galette, No. 14 (ガレット) marks a shift in my collection and starts with a multi-layered tale of woe. ^_^

Due to the  pandemic, this issue was offered in limited amount to backers as a physical publication, and eventually, it was offered to overseas backers but, for a number of reasons, I was unable to purchase the physical copy. Mostly, it was timing.

Jumping forward, Volume 15 is also being made available to backers but due to chicanery and corruption on both sides, packages sent by Japan Post to the USPS are now being held up for a minimum of 8 weeks on the Japan side, and who know what will happen on the US side. This is not hyperbole. When I shipped a package from Japan in July, I had the choice of around $200 by DHL (around, but I was completely unable to get an actual estimate off the DHL site, because the English-language page wouldn’t accept the Japanese address and vice versa, of course.  Apparently Tenso will only tell me what it actually costs after I commit to DHL shipping. So I chose JP Post to USPS – this was before the current administration’s open interference with the US Post Office – and was told right up front that it would take 8-12 weeks to ship. I have a package sitting in a warehouse in Kawasaki since July for, as far as I can tell, no reason whatsoever, except to make using a public service unappealing and shifting us to much more expensive shipping by private company, making what was already a huge barrier to overseas purchases practically insurmountable for normal humans.

As a result of this utterly malicious fuckery on both sides of the Pacific, I find myself unable to purchase the physical copies of Galette magazine. I’m saddened, but I upped my backer level, so I get a PDF copy of each volume when it’s released. Yay digital!

So here we are at No. 14, my first digital-only copy. I’ve linked to the Global Bookwalker version, which I also bought, because I wanted to see how it read. Honestly…I love it on Bookwalker. I use Bookwalker on a tablet, and it’s almost the same size as the magazine. I love being able to read the page on a large screen and page through it as I might in a physical copy. When I get the PDF, it reads on a browser as vertical, but I’m going to see if the Bookwalker reader will handle the PDF. It ought to. For those of you in Japan, it is also available on JP Kindle.

All the continuing stories are still continuing, which means ongoing works by Morinaga Milk, Morishima Akiko, Hakamada Mera, Hamano Ringo, Yatosaki Haru, Uno Jinia and Kitto Izumi and Momono Moto;  some of which are doing surprising and sometimes really interesting things. Morinaga Milk’s characters Rena and Yuna have moved into a larger home and are about to embark upon building a life together. This isn’t just “let’s live together,” this is “we’re a couple and this is us figuring out our lives together.” Kitto and Monomo’s “Liberty” has taken a dark turn and I really don’t know at all where it’s going.

But the winner this issue was definitely Hakamada Mera’s “Sekai ga Owarau sono mae ni.” It was just a really good chapter, probably some of the best work I’ve ever seen from her.

There was a fun take on Cinderella by Ei Imura, and the usual compliment of photography and art. All of which make Galette a satisfying read, that I look forward to every issue.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

Volume 15 is available as PDF and physically by mail to backers on Fantia at Gold level or higher, on Amazon JP Kindle and, kind of weirdly, in Japanese on US Kindle, but not yet on Bookwalker.





Anata to Watashi no Shuuhassuu (あなたと私の周波数)

August 20th, 2020

Readers of Comic Yuri Hime monthly, might remember most of the stories in this volume, Anata to Watashi no Shuuhassuu (あなたと私の周波数) by Kuwabara Tamostsu. Each short takes a look at a frustration in life and finds a unique way of addressing it.

In the titular short, a woman who is unsatisfied with her life and her job, admires a colleague’s positive outlook. When she finds an old walkie-talkie in a storeroom, she’s shocked to hear that colleague engaged in a rant on the bandwdth. Unaware that her colleague is listening, Arata-san keeps her cool by letting off steam into this partnerless – she thinks – walkie-talkie.

A woman asks her ex-lover to help bury the corpse of her former life.

A track star finds her love of running renewed when a transfer student is so effortlessly better than she is.

A young woman find love, lunch and family at the same shop, when her lately deceased father turns out to have an another family she had no idea about.

Going out drinking and sharing confidences with your peers is all fun and games until one of turns out to be in love with you, too.

I genuinely enjoyed Kuwabara’s art. The characters feel mostly real emotionally, as well.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – Variable, averaging 8
Characters – Same
Yuri – 6 The stories are less about relationships than communication
Service – 1 on principle

Overall – 8

Overall, a satisfying collection of one-shots. I’ll hope to read more by this artist.