Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Lesbian Fuuzoku Anthology (レズ風俗アンソロジー)

March 16th, 2020

Sex work is not legal in Japan, however, “fuuzoku” which is translated as “health delivery,” is not considered prostitution.   It’s inevitable that after the massive success of My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness, (the Japanese title of which, you may remember, Sabishi-sugi Rezu Fuuzoku ni Ikimashita Report ,) )a pile of books about lesbian “health delivery” have appeared. BariKyari to Shinsou was an exemplar of a fiction that springboarded from the idea and moved into being an overall great story.

Ichijinsha’s Lesbian Fuuzoku Anthology (レズ風俗アンソロジー) is somewhat less good than either of the above titles, but it’s not terrible, either. What we have here is a series of fantasies involving health delivery providers that are surprisingly vanilla.

For instance, in the first story by Homu Subaru, a super shy uptight woman hires health delivery for her first time and is so miraculously good the escort gives her her personal contact information. That’s the typical dream every John or Jane is supposed to have, isn’t it? That they are genuinely the best and the professional will want them to be their special someone.

This collection includes shorts by Comic Yuri Hime faves Ohsawa Yayoi, Kodama Naoko, Nanatsufuji, and Kataoka Ako. Hachisujou Hani offers up an “Edo-period fantasy” story. There are a few new names in the ToC, as well.

The story I felt best about as I read it was  – surprise! – reminiscent of an old Mist Magazine series, by Iwami Kayoko, whose art in this made me nostalgic for Wako’s stylish lesbian prostitutes in Kiseki Goten. In this story, an escort is falling the stable’s rankings, so the top ranked woman takes her as her lover. As she is mentored in how to sex and romance other women, she rises in the rankings, until she is number 1 and her lover can retire.

As a collection of 18+ stories, it wasn’t terrible thematically. Everything is consensual, the emphasis is on making customer and professional safe and happy. The sex scenes themselves are not always what I’d consider attractive, but that’s always subject to the most personal of interpretations.

Ratings:

Overall – 7

I had stopped reviewing adult Yuri manga because they had just gotten so gross, but this isn’t bad at all. And, should you like it, there’s a sequel, Lesbian Fuuzoku Anthology Repeater (レズ風俗アンソロジーリピーター).

 





Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 6 ( 推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ )

March 13th, 2020

In Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 6 ( 推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ ), we meet another local idol group, the Starlights, when the two groups end up in a double show out in the Starlights’ home, Kagawa, across the Mizushima Gulf from Cham Jam’s home base in Okayama. The Starlights are a perfect foil for Cham Jam.

As the Cham Jam members start to do some research, they wistfully notice that the Starlights have a lot of female fans. It turns out that two of the members, Ryoka and Kana, are an apparent couple. On stage they are all love-love, but it’s an act, it’s business Yuri.

Eri bribes a coworker to attend a show with her, in response to a canned request from Maina. At the Kagawa,show  Eri pretends to be from Kagawa in order to shake Maina’s hands for free, at which point something occurred to me. A great deal of manga and anime – especially what passes for romantic comedy in anime and manga – is predicated upon the idea that two people just never have the conversation they need to have. This series is exactly like that, obviously. But it also is complicated by the fact that both Eri and Maina overthink things in oddball kind of way. It reminds me a lot of National Lampoon’s Doon.*

“Then-”
“Yes,” he said.
“So therefore-”
“Exactly, Mother.”
Her eyes widened in horror. “You cannot!” she hissed.

Every conversation sounds exactly like this to me. Maina says something banal and Eri misinterprets it, then vice versa.

That aside, this book is the closest to being a reasonable facsimile of a mockumentary about provincial idol groups. And! For the very first time, I laughed out loud at a joke in a Hirao Auri manga. The top three of the Starlights get all bent out of shape at the Momotarou connection in Okayama, and when during the post-performance Q&A Yumeri mentions that Okayama has a Momotarou festival, I actually laughed at “wtf” expressions on the faces of the Starlights top three. It’s a single panel buried way deep in the book and the page, but I laughed.

The trip to Kagawa makes everyone appreciate Okayama more. Reo is really an outstanding character. Surrounded by everyone else’s issues, she just gets more and more solid. There’s no doubt why she’s the lead.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Character – I really like Kumasa. He seems like a decent dude, Motoi is beginning to worry me. Eri is Eri.
Service – 1
Yuri – 4 Ryo-chan and Kana are “yuriple” (ゆりプル)

Overall – 8

* This book is the greatest parody of all time, far surpassing its better known sibling, Bored of the Rings and if you have not read it, you will never get any of my references about “being a bicycle” and quite probably 57% of all my other references. It’s super way out of print, but if you have ever read Dune, you will howl like a hyena at Doon.

 





Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 6 (私の百合はお仕事です!)

March 12th, 2020

Liebe Academy is a “concept cafe” set in the world of a popular series of Yuri novels. When cafe manager Mai broke her arm, high school student Hime ends up filling in as one of the “student”-waitresses at the cafe where, she ends up in a contentious sister relationship with her former best friend from elementary school, Yano. In Volume 5, we get a deep look at Yano’s fraught history of rejection and ostracism and we learn her perspective on Hime’s betrayal, and about the ideal self she is striving to become.

In Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 6 (私の百合はお仕事です!) by Miman, Hime and Kanako express an interest in staying on the roster, now that Mai’s arm is healed. The cafe is gearing up to celebrate Yano/Ayanokouji’s birthday, but Mitsuki is sick. Hime is given the task to visit Mitsuki at home and what follows is a veritable lancing of the various festering wounds in Yano’s psyche. Hime’s desire to understand Yano’s real self isn’t helping and she pours out her pain…and once again, offers Hime her heart. All of Yano’s behavior is now explicable. What Hime will do with her new knowledge is key.

When they are all gathered once again at the cafe, Hime makes a sudden announcement…she’ll be leaving after all.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 4 Mitsuki’s cleavage is its own character
Yuri – 7 When it lands, it lands hard

This was not an easy set of chapters to read either in the magazine or as a collected volume. Yano’s experiences are something I imagine many of us will resonate with. And I cannot be the only one reading the moment Yano confesses her feelings, screaming “No, Don’t do it! You’ll only get your heart broken!” Yes, yes, we all know that Hime and Yano will very probably end up together, but once again, I am not copacetic with this choice. Yano deserves someone who will treasure her.

Volume 6 of Yuri is My Job will be released in English in June, and so will, quite probably Volume 7 in Japanese but we don’t have a link for that, yet. ^_^





Cocoon Entwined, Volume 2

March 11th, 2020

Yuriko Hara’s Yuri manga Cocoon Entwined, Volume 2, continues a story of unspoken longing and deep emotion at a girl’s school. And hair.

When I reviewed Volume 2 in Japanese, I said, “To be honest, I did not think that hair could play more of a role than it did [in Volume 1].

I was wrong.”

And indeed I was wrong, as it is the hair itself that provides us the opening narrative.

From there we move on to meet a fourth piece on this complicated chessboard, Kujou, who is the White queen to Hoshimiya’s Black Queen. We now find ourselves looking back and forth at these two, wondering if the game they are caught up in has any meaning for the school, the girls who go there, or us.

What is relevant for me is what will happen between Saeki and Yokozawa. Will Yokozawa be able to disentangle the school prince from whatever binds her and Hoshimiya? I kind of hope so.

Kudos to Yen Press’s production folks for making the grey type visible on the black background. So much better than the JP volume, where it was close to unreadably dark.
 
Ratings:

Art – Hair
Characters – Yokozawa is a 10
Story – Hair
Service – Absolutely still hair
Yuri – 7, a love triangle, a chess game and hair

Overall – 8

I really wanted to just post this as the whole review.

 





Itoshi Koishi, Volume 3 (いとしこいし)

March 10th, 2020

Hina is a high school senior with a secret -she’s dating an older woman. She wants very much to share that secret with her friends, she just needs the right time to do it. In this final volume of Takemiya Jin’s delightful Yuri manga, Itoshi Koishi, Volume 3 (いとしこいし), Hina finds that time.

Hina has been dating Yayoi for a few years now. Yayoi has been a terrific girlfriend, always there when Hina needs support. In return, Hina gets to test out new recipes and indulge her desire to feed Yayoi. Ever since they ran into Hina’s friends at the local shrine at New Year’s, Hina has really wanted to tell everyone, but she’s decided to wait until after they finish exams. It’s a good thing too, because Kururmi and Micchan get into a tiff in the middle of pre-exam tension.

At last, the friends all know their immediate future is assured and they plan a celebratory visit to an amusement park. Before they all get distracted, Hina sits them all down and tells them what she’s been hiding from (most of) them for years. There is a little confusion, but they accept her and reiterate their love for her. And that’s that.

The final chapter of the manga in Comic Yuri Hime, had Yayoi once again unable to make the summer festival, but together they find they can see the fireworks from Yayoi’s aprtment. Hina suggests that she’d like to be able to watch the fireworks together forever. “That sounds like a marriage proposal,” Yayoi says. “That was how it was meant.” Hina replies. Yayoi sets up a wedding dressing photo shoot for them and we squee as they imagine their happy every days together.

The final extra chapter of this volume, finds Yayoi planning a special birthday date for Hina. They go to the aquarium and and dinner and have sex for the first time. It’s a fitting end to this series that refused to rush that part of the their relationship until Hina was an adult.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Yuri – 10
Service – 5 There is explicit nudity and sex in this volume

Overall – 10

A lovely manga by one of my favorite artists. Characters who knew who they were, worked towards what they wanted and were in step from the beginning. I wouldn’t complain if we got a 10 years later volume of Hina and Yayoi, they were very pleasant to spend time with. My fingers are crossed for this series to one day make it into translation.