Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Nettaigyo ha Yuki ni Kogareru, Volume 5 (熱帯魚は雪に焦がれる)

April 9th, 2020

Here we are at Nettaigyo ha Yuki ni Kogareru, Volume 5 (熱帯魚は雪に焦がれる) and Honami Koyuki is putting the brakes on her almost-not-even moving-life. Why would she do that? Well.

Koyuki has always been a model student, and the teachers have relied on her to do the right thing. But that was also used as a bludgeon by the teachers, who compared the other students to her, which meant that the other kids pulled away, even though they didn’t mean to.
The end result is that Honami Koyuki is horribly lonely – lonely enough that she finds it inconceivable to not be lonely. While Koyuki was stranded in this Saragossa Sea of emotion, Konatsu came into her life. And she’s still not entirely sure what to do about it. Especially as she’s planning on going to school very far away, in Tokyo.

Oddly, the person who breaks her free is not Konatsu, but Konatsu’s friend Kaede who can see the (kind of obvious) truth. Kaede has no skin in the game beyond seeing her friend happy, so she’s free to force Koyuki into admitting the burden she carries. Even as we’re finally thinking something might break for the better, Konatsu sees Kaede and Koyuki walking together… and, naturally(????) fears the worst.

This volume was pretty annoying, I’m not going to lie.I get that Koyuki is not a happy character and this is a very slow-moving romance, but holy heck, what was that last bit about? Folks. Let me assure you your lover smiling while being next to someone else does not mean automatically mean anything bad. Sheesh. Nonetheless, I feel like something has got to happen now, surely. ^_^ (No, I kid, nothing is going to happen now.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 1 on principle only, there really isn’t any
Yuri – 2

Overall – 7

I hope Volume 6 will move forward, but not moving forward is kind of this series’ thing.^_^; In the meantime Volume 3 in English is headed our way in May (with possible delays because of the pandemic.)





Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi, Volume 2 (百合と声と風纏い)

April 6th, 2020

In Volume 1, we met Matoi, a high school senior who is a talented songwriter who doesn’t understand love. She meets Yuriko, older by a few years, attractive, cool…and suddenly, Matoi is starting to figure it out. As attractive as Yuriko is, Matoi isn’t sure what she wants, and Yuriko seems clear about what she doesn’t want.

In Volume 2 of Yuri to Koe to Kaze Matoi (百合と声と風纏い), Matoi and Yuriko wrestle quietly with themselves, becoming closer friends until Matoi is off to college in Tokyo.

Once in the big city, Matoi is befriended by Rio, who introduces her to concepts like demisexual, nonsexual, and people like lesbian friends of hers who have been a couple for three years. Rio likes Matoi and makes no bones about it, but when Matoi says no, there’s no drama, they can be friends. And she helps Matoi to understand her feelings for Yuriko better.

In the meantime, Matoi’s younger sister confronts Yuriko, forcing her to deal with her own feelings.  Yuriko heads to Tokyo to see Matoi. As the volume comes to a close, Matoi will come face to face with Yuriko’s secret.

This series is quietly outstanding. With discussion of LGBTQ sexuality as a fixture in the conversations, this is one of the queerest manga I’ve discovered in the past few years. I like that it’s part of the normal conversation in normal circs that a young human might actually encounter during their time at college.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 3
LGBTQ – 7

Overall – 8

It’s a joy to watch Matoi on her journey….and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens now that Matoi and Yuriko will have to confront the things that are holding them back.





Still Sick*, Volume 2

March 27th, 2020

Shimizu Makoto is a hard working corporate team leader – she’s good with the guys she manages. To blow off steam, she’s a Yuri doujinshi creator. When coworker Maekawa discovers her secret Shimizu is sure she’ll be blackmailed or bullied, but Maekawa seems to want to help! When Shimizu discovers that Maekawa was a previously a successful manga artist, the tables are turned. Shimizu isn’t the bullying kind, though…all she wants is for Maekawa to draw again. 

Volume 2 of Still Sick, by Akashi, available from Tokyopop, is extremely interesting as a story and slightly annoying as a reality.^_^ In the first volume, it appeared that Shimizu was going to be the emotionally stunted character, and Maekawa would kind of step in and save the day. But here in volume two, Shimizu is becoming more and more grounded, while Maekawa is acting right out of the advanced passive-aggressive playbook.

So, while Shimizu is forced to realize that yes, she does prefer women…and always has…Maekawa is massively unwilling to confront whatever baggage she’s carrying from her former relationship and how it *obviously* affected her professional work.

On the company trip, Shimizu talks out her quandary with a coworker and his advice is very reasonable. Only, Maekawa was there to hear it all. She asks Shimizu to talk…in Volume 3. And there we wait for the next volume, you for an unknown time period, me since last summer when the Japanese volume 2 came out. If you’re really motivated, there’s always the Pixiv comic, which usually has the last two current chapters available in Japanese. ^_^ You have to know I’m reading them. ^_^

The technicals are very solid, translation by Katie Kimura captures the petulant tone of Maekawa’s struggle. Well done, by everyone at Tokyopop! Here’s hoping we’ll get more Shakaijin (working life) Yuri in days to come from them.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 3, LGBTQ – 5
Service – 0 so far – even in an onsen

Overall – 8

Yes, Maekawa’s passive-aggressive routine is icky, especially when she’s cruel to Shimizu, who doesn’t have enough self-confidence to fight back. For whatever reason, I find myself rooting for them anyway. ^_^ And it has to be “for whatever reason” as – even as they are moving forward as a relationship, Maekawa’s coping skills are not that healthy. But Shimizu, she’s awesome. ^_^;

Are you a “save the best things for last kind” of person? I am. Now that I’ve cleared all the vampires out of the way (and before I take on new vampires from the new pile,) my last couple of books on the old-to read pile are some of the best!^_^

*No commentary on it being a plague year is intended. It just worked out that way.





Vampeerz, Volume 2 (ヴァンピアーズ)

March 26th, 2020

Aria continues to be a vamp who is cool,
Ichika doesn’t mind so much being a tool,
for Aria the vamp,
even when they camp
And the other girls think they rule.

Ichika is falling in love with Aria, who definitely likes her emergency rations, to the point of giving up human blood for her. But when it’s an emergency, Ichika is willing to lose a little blood. Which is good, because emergencies appear in the form of another vampire. But Aria defeats her quickly and we’re just left with an endlessly boring variety of panty shots.

The one good thing in this story so far is the relationship between Aria and Ichika. They clearly genuinely like one another.

Ratings:

Art – 7 with a point off for endless boring panty shots
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 5
Service – 5

Overall – 7

So I’m at the bottom of my to-read pile…and we sure are at the bottom of the pile. ^_^; But don’t worry, I’ve held a few good books aside for last.





Rezu Fuuzoku Anthology Repeater (レズ風俗アンソロジー リピーター)

March 25th, 2020

It’s a bit of an understatement to say that we live in interesting times, but there we are. And in times of stress we need to acknowledge our bodies and minds need to be taken care of. PornHub is making their Premium service free worldwide for the next month…in case you were feeling of residual guilt, they are donating 85% of their video sales to performers who have had to stop working due to the pandemic. There’s something reassuring to me that the porn industry leader is showing generosity in these difficult times.

If live-action porn isn’t your shtick, there’s always manga. Last week, we looked at Lesbian Fuuzoku Anthology (レズ風俗アンソロジー), an anthology about lesbian health delivery from Ichijinsha. It was successful enough that a few months later they released a sequel, Rezu Fuuzoku Anthology Repeater (レズ風俗アンソロジー リピーター).

While fewer of the stories stuck out for me, the overall sense was stories about women wanting to fix something in themselves with the help of  professional. Once again the best in collection from me goes to Iwami Kyouko, whose “My Sugar Cat” hit that note between whimsy and life that makes a throwaway porn piece fun to read.

Ratings:

Overall – 7

These two Rezu Fuuzoku collections were not terrible. They lack the dazzling charm of the old Mist ladies comics, but they start from a place of slightly less delusion, presenting this as the job it is, so I’ll call it a draw. ^_^