Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Volume 1

May 19th, 2020

It is 1900, and Hanako, a Japanese woman, has traveled to England to find her favorite author, Victor Franks, whom she can’t meet. With no options, she is taken in by Lady Alice, a beautiful young noblewoman who carries a deep sadness. Alice offers a deal to Hanako – she will introduce Hanako to Victor Franks, but only if Hanako helps Alice die. Hanako accepts the offer, but is sure she can somehow convince Alice to live.

Hanako learns Alice doesn’t want to marry Edward, although doesn’t understand why since he seems nice enough. As her maid, Hanako can see that Alice lives in a darkness that she’d like to bring light to. Unbeknownst to Hanako, she’s actually caught up in a surprising coincidence, which turns out to be no coincidence at all.

Deciding that she wants to be by Alice’s side is Hanako’s choice, but what Alice wants is still a mystery to her.

Despite the mystery with which they are treated, the complications here are not all that complicated. In fact, by the end of Volume 1, you ought to know who Victor Franks is and why Hanako was sent to England. ^_^ Nonetheless, if you were looking for a less-realistic Yuri Emma, with an emphasis on underwear and books, you won’t be disappointed. Dr. Pepperco’s art is competent. This is not meant in a dismissive way – the Victoria Sponge looked, even in black & white, like a recognizable Victoria sponge. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Character – 8
Story – 7
Service – 4 Underwear because of course there is
Yuri – ACTUALLY, it’s LGBTQ. There is a discussion of same-sex relationships and Japan and England’s relative lack of feminism. So…7?

Overall – 7

Very recently, I have been reading a number of historical Yuri/lesbian romances and they all do exactly the same thing. But I will let Dr. Pepperco explain it themselves in the author’s note, as “Drawing all my proclivities!” ^_^ So not only do we have maids outfits lovingly detailed and teacups and corsets and stately home libraries and other Victoriana miscellany, but we enjoy pretense to upperclassishness in scene and language. This inconsistency in historical knowledge and desire to set tone has been rendered in English as well as can be hoped, so the occasional lapse into faux-Wildean (as faux-Sperian is not a valid term here,) is not on translator Amber Tamositis and adapter Cae Hawksmoor. They do a fine job. Katlyn Wiley’s lettering is surprisingly delicate. You might never notice it, which is exactly what one hopes for from lettering and retouch. As usual, Seven Seas does such a decent job, you may never even think about it. You should. That’s a lot of work by a lot of people to make this book work.

When I originally reviewed the Japanese volume just over a year ago, I never expected to be reviewing it in English. But here we are and I’m glad you to encourage you to look up Victoria Sponge on your own. ^_^

Thanks very much to Seven Seas for the review copy!





Aikata System ~ Gakuen ga Eranda Unmei no Onna no ko~, Volume 1 (相方システム~学園が選んだ運命の女の子~)

May 15th, 2020

Hakamada Mera is a name that is well-known around here on Okazu. From her early days with Saigo no Seifuku, originally published by Hobunsha (and eventually Seven Seas as The Last Uniform, as part of their original Yuri imprint, Strawberry and eventually reprinted in a 2-volume edition) through  Kanojyo no Sekai (彼女の世界) with Tokuma Shoten and, more recently, her excellent story in Galette magazine,  Fuwafuwa・Futashika・Yumemitai, Volume 1 (ふわふわ・ふたしか・夢みたい). Here Hakamada-sensei is again, working with yet another publisher, Dogenzaka Shobo, and their new to me imprint Lilie Comics. I gotta give this woman props. She’s really persevered, drawing the the stories she wants the way she wants.

Aikata System ~ Gakuen ga Eranda Unmei no Onna no ko~, Volume 1 (相方システム~学園が選んだ運命の女の子~) is right in her sweet spot – a school life drama with some real life drama baked in.

Nao’s school draws some of the best students because of the famous ‘Aikata System’ – a test that pairs you with you your perfect partner. Nao’s partner is one of the stars of the school, Ibuki, which puts a lot of pressure on Nao. Ibuki’s fan club is not at all okay with some first-year taking their idol’s attention…and Ibuki is definitely giving Nao a lot of attention.It’s frankly overwhelming. When Ibuki asks Nao to do the Aikata ritual with her, it looks awfully like a wedding ceremony and kiss.

Nao’s classmate Kaero has the opposite problem. Abiko-sensei is beautiful, with a voice like an angel and a really shitty attitude. Worse, Kaero is falling in love with her…and can see that Abiko is in love with Ibuki. Nao and Kaero are there to provide support to each other, at least, but it’s pretty clear that Ibuki and Abiko have some history that will have to be dealt with before anyone can move on.

Hakamada-sensei’s art has really tightened up over the years and, while her storytelling will never be sweeping epic, her characters here are likable. Which is all we can really ask of a school life drama.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 6

Overall – 8

Volume 2 is out in Japan and I think I’ll be adding it to the next order. I kind of want to see what’s going to happen.





Éclair orange – Anata ni Hibiku Yuri Anthology (エクレア orange あなたに響く百合アンソロジー)

May 13th, 2020

Last month, we took a look at the Yen Press translation of the second Éclair Yuri anthology in English Éclair Blanche: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart. As I have repeatedly said, Yuri anthologies hold a really important place in Yuri manga’s history and, as a result, I love and adore them as a concept. They give established creators a chance to stretch their skills outside their current works and new creators a chance to gain some publishing chops. Before Pixiv, Webtoons and other online platforms, anthologies were the next step up from doujinshi for new manga creators. I’m still so very excited that you can experience an anthology series like Éclair, with the thrill of seeing familiar names and the joy of discovering new ones.

To that end, today, we’re looking at the fourth in the series, Éclair orange – Anata ni Hibiku Yuri Anthology (エクレア orange あなたに響く百合アンソロジー). Cover art and cover story are by Bloom Into You creator Nakatani Nio, and the table of contents is filled with names you already know, like Cocoon, Entwined creator, Hara Yuriko, and names you might be less familiar with, like Kiriyama Haruka and Kabocha, both of whom do great Yuri work.

I didn’t have a favorite story this volume, although I quite liked most of them (Itou Hachi’s work has always made me uncomfortable and recently I have not been finding it at all enjoyable.) The mix in this volume of school and adult life is pretty solid and there’s even a science fiction story by Yuikawa Kazuno – for whom Kadokawa has put out a collected volume, Éclair Special Kazuno Yuikawa Masterpiece Collection (エクレアSpecial 雑草譚 結川カズノ百合作品傑作選), as they did previously for Kitao Taki last year.

Those of you who liked Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl creator Canno’s story in Éclair Blanche,will be delighted to know that it continues this far along into the series.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

A very solid and enjoyable Yuri anthology. I’m betting that the next color in the series will be noir. Or violet.





Sayonara Rose Garden, Volume 3 (さよならローズガーデン)

May 12th, 2020

Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Volume 1 by Dr. Pepperco is is out now in English from Seven Seas and in honor of this series coming out in English, I thought I’d finish it up in Japanese. ^_^

In Volume 1, we meet Hanako, who has traveled all the way to England from Japan to meet her favorite author, Victor Franks. In Volume 2, the secret of who Victor Franks is, is uncovered. Now, in Sayonara Rose Garden, Volume 3 (さよならローズガーデン) Hanako has time to deal with her feelings about Alice’s impending marriage to Edward. All of this is played out in a mostly-predctable way, with a small twist that is not just unpredictable but also wholly unrealistic–but that’s fine.

Relatedly (it is related to this and another “historical” thing I’m reading right now…and I mean those scare quotes…) in 1861 when England rewrote the penal code of homosexuality to remove the death penalty, homosexuality between women was left unmentioned. The apocryphal story goes that Queen Victoria didn’t believe that such a thing existed, but she was no dummy, so I doubt that. Not that it was legal or accepted. Just unmentioned.)

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 3
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7

In any case, this book has the ending it deserved and not the one I expected, so yay! You’ll be able to read it for yourself as Volume 2 is headed your way this summer on Amazon in print. No digital link yet, on Amazon or Global Bookwalker for the English volume.)





SQ Kimi no Namae kara Hajimaru (SQ 君の名前から始まる)

May 6th, 2020

SQ: Begin With Your Name by Tanjiu is an absolutely delightful webcomic that runs on Chinese social platform Weibo. I’d heard about it some some time ago but, to be honest, I can barely keep up with printed Yuri these days so, aside from a very few webcomics, I just can’t find the time to add new ones into my rotation too often. I let webcomics build up and read them in chunks every few months (…or years…or when I remember .) I wanted to read SQ and when Comic Walker picked it up I was delighted to get a chance to read some of it. Even better, Kadokawa has collected all of Volume 1 up into a Japanese release, SQ Kimi no Namae kara Hajimaru (SQ 君の名前から始まる). You can also get this release digitally on Global Bookwalker.

SQ follows Sun Jing, her best friend Qi Fang, and the girl Sun Jing falls for, Qiu Tong, in one of the most wholly relatable, dorakriffically wonderful school life dramas I’ve read in a while.

Sun Jing is awkward in a normal kid kind of way, She and Qi Fang frequently play pranks on one another, he busts her, she busts him; they are cheerfully obnoxious to one another in the way that good friends are. Qiu Tong, who goes to another school, is popular and cute and Sun Jing falls, hard. And then, they just start becoming friends and hanging and Sun Jin makes a fool of herself and sometimes pulls it together long enough to be cool. But when she asks Qiu Tong for her phone number and gets it and celebrates with loud “Yahoo!” my heart just swelled, much like the clerk at the combini in a later chapter watching the two of them being just…cute…together.

Sun Jing and Qiu Tong aren’t the only people in this book, they aren’t even the only couple. They are surrounded by classmates and teammates and schoolmates, all of whom are exactly as I remember – jokingly beating on each other emotionally and physically because that’s how young humans are in packs. But in the background there is a very cute little gay love story, as well. One of the guys in school has a crush on his sempai. He’s a big guy, but sempai is HUGE. We see his massive arm, protectively over his kouhai’s shoulder. Again, just heartwarming as heck. The book ends with sempai taking on a couple of bullies from another school. What will happen has to wait for Volume 2. (Yes, I know it has already been online, I’ve read ahead -its just so cute!- I’m reviewing the collected volume. ^_^)

I also know there’s some controversy about a second volume of this comic, as the Chinese government has apparently cracked down on it for having a same-sex kiss in later chapters. I doubt that will affect a Japanese, volume 2 so I’ll hope to see one. In any case, that chapter is still up on Weibo, and Tanjiu is still posting comics on his Twitter account so there’s been no shutdown.

I genuinely hope to see this title make it over here. It’s really delightful and, as the comics often pass by with very little dialogue many are completely silent, it doesn’t matter what language it’s in. For instance, here is the April 12th comic, which is completely pantomime. The art is simple, the expressions and body language are doing the heavy lifting. We all can relate to Sun Jing’s feelings.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8 straightforward and simple, but solid
Characters – 10
Service – None. Not a salacious thing in the entire book
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

It’s just really fun to read. ^_^

Interestingly, this was one of two things from China that I’m reading in Japanese. The other one is a mystery novel which I am reading very, very slowly. I expect to be able to review it in autumn. It’s good, I just can’t read more than a page or two at a time. ^_^;