Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yagate Kimi ni Naru Koushiki Comic Anthology, Volume 2 (やがて君になる 公式コミックアンソロジー)

July 15th, 2020

Bloom Into You has undeniably had a pretty big impact on the current Yuri audience, with the original manga, light novels, anime and an official comic anthology in the space of the last few years. Even with the series finished and everyone living happily-ever-after, there’s always room to play a little.

Yagate Kimi ni Naru Koushiki Comic Anthology, Volume 2 (やがて君になる 公式コミックアンソロジー) spends some extra time with characters fans have grown to love by a variety of creators, from folks you know well, like Canno and series creator Nakatani Nio as well as popular anthology contributors like Kumosuzume, Yodogawa and others.

It will come as no surprise whatsoever, that my favorite stories center Sayaka. Yodogawa’s” 6-nen Ato mo Anata no Tonari de” in which Miyako spends a little time teasing Sayaka and they have a heart to heart about what relationships mean. I’m always so happy when I see the two of them being given a little time to just..talk.

But I especially loved the opening story by Fuyu Yutaka, in which Sayaka has something in her eye and Yuu helps her find her way around the school, while rumors fly around them. ^_^ It’s just goofy fun.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

If you love the characters of this series, you won’t have to be convinced to spend more time with them, If you don’t, you won’t miss anything critical. But it’s always fun seeing an official anthology of a good series. I only wish Maria-sama ga Miteru had come out now….imagine what we might have seen! I mean, there were tons of unofficial anthologies for that series, but what an awesome thing an official series might have been. ^_^





Uminekosou days, Volume 2 (海猫荘 days)

July 14th, 2020

Mayumi’s job as a teacher in this small town has begun and she is settling in. Well, settling isn’t the right word at all. If anything, in  Uminekosou days Volume 2 (海猫荘 days), by I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up creator, Kodama Naoko, she’s become increasingly unsettled as she learns more about Ashima, the young woman who hangs around the Umineko boardinghouse.

The daughter of a prominent businessman with his lover, Ashima’s family situation is complicated….made more so by a romantic relationship with her half sister…and even more complicated by Ashima’s feelings about Rin the boardinghouse landlady. When she sees Rin and Mayumi bonding, Ashima is not at all happy for them or for herself. But while Mayumi is dealing with Ashima’s emotional turmoil, she’s ignoring her own.

And she is in turmoil. She’s developing feelings for Rin and starting to feel like one day she might belong somewhere, when her “friend” from home, shows up. Touko is the woman who stole Mayumi’s boyfriend and instantly we can see that she’s no friend to Mayumi. She’s one of those hideous toxic people who undermines the people around them and sure enough the first thing she does is sabotage something Mayumi was working on.

And the book ends with us hoping that Mayumi will be able to see what her “friend” is like before she gets hurt.

The final chapter of the series is waiting for me and, even if I don’t necessarily believe in Mayumi, I definitely believe in Rin. She’s introduced to us as a former yanki, but she’s always shown as a good person who interprets the word family as anyone under her roof, and has that family’s best interests in mind.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 6
Service – 5 Bathing Whee
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7

 I’m just hoping to see Mayumi be the one to kick Touko in the butt. ^_^

You’ll be able to read this series in English this autumn from Seven Seas as Days of Love at Seagull Villa..





Comic Yuri Hime, July 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年7月号)

July 8th, 2020

I’m really enjoying the crazy fonts of the current cover set by Rolua and so far, this is my favorite cover. The out-of-focus fence is fantastic and – even though we know what it says, I couldn’t make this font out at all, so that was fun. ^_^ It’s a heck of a way to begin Comic Yuri Hime July 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年7月号).

The magazine starts off with a new story, about a tall, introverted girl who is a semi-professional novelist in Yuama’s “Kimi to Tsuzuru Utakata,” which feels strikingly similar to “Hello Melancholic” and is likewise, charming.

Himari finally sees Yori-sempai in concert and is once again blown away, in Takeshima Eku’s “Sasayaku Youni Koi wo Utau”…and, at last Himari offers her answer to Yori’s question.

Sumiya Zeniko’s “Majyo to Koisuru 5-byou Mae” is filled with action and shouting.

Since we know it’s ending next issue, “Umineko Bessoudays” by Kodama Naoko comes to a climactic moment as things are said that must be said to move forward.

Hinako makes an important decision in “Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts” by Usui Shio and we all cheer for her.

There are, as always, many other stories in the issue, many of which I read and enjoy. There are several I read that I don’t enjoy and others I skip completely. Which means that, depending on your likes and dislikes, there ought to be something for you, as well!

Ratings:

Overall – 7

There’s a bit too much wackiness and screaming in the newish series, but I’m willing to see where they go. ^_^

The August issue is out now and September hits shelves later this month. ^_^





Scarlet, Volume 2 (スカーレット)

July 7th, 2020

Finé is an agent of LEA, an organization dedicated to eradicating the use of an evil elixir which turns humans into sex crazed demons. Iris Redhood is Finé’s partner, lover, and…a werewolf. Finé is herself a human-wolf demon and uses her powers to defeat other supernatural beings. The two are bound by a promise made to one another.

In Volume 1 we met Misery, a young women who hoped to save her horribly scarred younger sister, instead turning her into a monster with the elixir.

In Volume 2 of Scarlet (スカーレット), the aptly-named Misery joins LEA, but does not find the redemption she hoped for. Finé learns a terrible secret about the terrible secret about the drug and the book climaxes with all the terrible secrets coming to a terrible end.

Writing a story, as many of us know, is a complicated process. Anyone who has ever attempted a story of any kind knows the feeling when the thread has slipped away…and the frustration of trying to pull it all together. Scarlet feels like a series that slipped out of the creator’s grasp. By the time it ended, the author had publicly struggled to get enough sales to continue the story, but even so, it felt messy – as if there were several strands that were being added in a desperate attempt to drum up interest. It’s a shame for Seven Seas, too, because it had the perfect Venn diagram of all their readerships in one series. For me, however, it was a dartboard full of ideas that never quite formed into a coherent whole.

I did like the epilogue however, for the sheer horror of it.

Ratings:

Art – 6 It wore poorly as the story went on. Breast squeezing. Yuck
Story – 7
Characters – 7 Never has a character been so aptly named as Misery.
Service – 7 Ugly lesbian sex. Yay. Breast squeezing. Yuck
Yuri – 6 Hunger is a kind of passion, I guess.

Overall – 7 Slightly less good than the parts of its sum.

You will be able to learn of all these terrible secrets and the ugly sex they necessitate when you read, Scarlet, Volume 2, out from Seven Seas in October! ^_^





Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 4 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)

July 2nd, 2020

In Tamifull’s Yuri drama Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 4 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな), we are confronted with something we don’t see very often at all in Yuri…two people who may just not be compatible sexually.

When we met Saeko and Miwa, we guessed that they each had some less than wonderful sexual experiences when they were young, (as so many gay people do, if we were trying to have straight sex,) but that does not explain what is going on with Saeko and Miwa now. Yes, their timing is bad and yes, they are both busy. But when they have the time and are in the mood, they still don’t seem to be matching up well…and it’s poisoning their relationship. What’s worse is that they genuinely like and probably love one another.

Saeko is obsessed with this, but can’t see her way through it. Miwa is aware that there is a problem, but every time they get close to talking about it, something comes up. And again, they are busy and there are exams and  live performances and past regrets and million other things that get in the way. Saeko can only see one alternative, so she suggests that they break up.

And…while Saeko and Miwa are trying to balance all of this with their club, and friends, and work, they are not the only people who have complicated lives. This story is much less a romance now, and much more a survey of the infinite complexity of human emotions.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 More complicated with every volume
Characters – 7 I’m still rooting for everyone, but not sure I actually like anyone
Yuri – 7 / LGBTQ – 6 It’s getting queerer
Service – 4

Overall – 8

I find myself no longer rooting for them as a couple, although I am rooting for them as individuals. Maybe, if we and they are to be honest, they shouldn’t be together. I’ve certainly known plenty of people like that in real life. They make great friends – even friends who have sex – but aren’t a great couple. What if their individual pathologies just…clash? What if they just aren’t compatible?  What if the “might have been”s and the “well, maybe”s are keeping them from moving on? You can tune in to Shogakukan’s webcomic site UraSunday to keep up with current chapters in Japanese and find out..

This series has been licensed in English – How Do We Relationship?, Volume 1 is on sale now from Viz Media!