Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Okazu Top Yuri Manga of 2019

December 29th, 2019

Annually, I say to you that this is the easiest of the lists to write. In previous years this was completely true. This year however, we hit a tipping point with Yuri manga: No sooner do I discover a series’ existence, than it’s scooped up for license, sometimes before I have a chance to read it in Japanese. Last year I called it an embarrassment of riches. This year, I’m calling it too much to reasonably list! ^_^

As a result of the absolutely massive amounts of Yuri manga being put out in Japanese and English, this list begins with groups of works, rather than individual titles. When I mention a title that is currently available in Japanese and English, I’m using the English language title. ^_^ As always, please feel free to chime in with your favorites in the comments!

 

Yuri Anthologies
White Lilies, Whenever Our Eyes Meet (from Yen Pess,) Yuritora Jump (ユリトラジャンプ), Syrup (to be released in 2020 by Seven Seas,) Éclair (out from Yen Press,) Yuri + Kanojo (百合+カノジョ), there have been – and are – so very many of these anthologies this year! I’ve written about their importance in the history of Yuri manga, and I’m genuinely thrilled that they are experiencing a resurgence in this new age of Yuri.

Anthologies provide a home for established creators to publish their original work, and a place for new, up-and-coming creators to experience publishing with a company. Fans get to see glimpses of new concepts, new art, new ideas and find new artists to care about. Almost all of my favorite artists were (and often still are) avid anthology contributors. I unabashedly love anthologies, with my endless hope for really good short stories.

As a result of this new wave, Yuri anthologies make this year’s list!

 

Shakaijin Yuri
Stories about life after high school, where love between adult women can(!) exist. Nikurashii Hodo Aishiteru (to-be-released by Yen Press as I Hate You So Much, I Love You), Still Sick (out from Tokyopop,) BariKyari to Shinsou (バリキャリと新卒), Yuri Life (out from Yen,) Fuzoroi no Renri (不揃いの連理), Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana (to-be-released by Viz Media as How Do We Relationship?) and so many more that I have read and reviewed in the past year, tell stories that until recently could not have been told. Lesbians are still few and far between but we sometimes even get a rare glimpse of one in these adult life tales. ^_^

A decade ago, Yuri was firmly embedded in school life stories, and we were still being informed that girls wear bloomers (they didn’t) and were definitely being married off after graduation (they weren’t) and were never going to be able to see each other again (they could…and there are phones). A person becoming a Yuri fan today would have a chance to see relationships between adult women functioning in the real world in a way we could never have imagined. Western companies are on board with this, bringing out more and more of the adult life Yuri manga. That’s pretty damned awesome.

 

Comic Yuri Hime/ Galette

Manga magazines have such an important position in manga culture. For most creators, seeing their work serialized is pretty much the epitome of where a title can go. And for Yuri manga, it provides the closest thing to normalization that the industry has. Where anime tends to favor the lowest common denominators (or lower, depending on how uncommon a fetish might actually be,) the constant, slow, repeated application of seeing women together as couples in manga can change the world.

For that reason, I want to once again call out the two Yuri manga magazines that exist right now. I don’t like everything in them, but for their efforts in normalizing Yuri (and, I will project a bit,) relationships between women, monthly Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) and quarterly Galette (ガレット) hold a special place in my heart.

 

Now we’re going to take a step away from the general towards specific series that, in my honest opinion, really stood out this year and did something important.

 

Goodbye Dystopia
It was easy to overlook Hisona’s 3-volume manga series from Comic Yuri Hime, Goodbye Dystopia (グッバイ・ディストピア). It’s not flashy, there was no sex, no histrionics, no drama. Instead, it opened up a whole new field for Yuri creators…one that we hadn’t seen before; two women traveling not to get somewhere, but to leave something behind. We took the time to see old and decrepit things, and most of that time was spent in silence. I would have read a dozen more volumes of that, a Yuri story in which nothing at all was important. I was able to enjoy the feeling of wandering in an almost-empty post-apocalyptic landscape set in the middle of the modern world.

As we head into what is very likely to be the twilight of the human species, we can remember that everything comes to an end and still look forward to tomorrow.

 

Bloom Into You
I had a lot of reservations about Bloom Into You from the beginning. I’m still not quite sure why it became as popular as it did. Perhaps a mix of zeitgeist and TV animation, but more probably because of the marketing powerhouse Kadokawa/ASCII Mediaworks. No joke – if you want your series to be popular, get Kadokawa to market it. It can be purest distilled crap and they’ll polish it up and sell it for luxe prices. ^_^

The main love story was nice enough, but where this series shone, where it gleams like a beacon of frickin’ hope is in its treatment of Saeki Sayaka, a serious-minded young lesbian who meets two adult women in a relationship and finds herself. I delighted in every moment we spent with Sayaka, with her time talking to Miyako about her true self and getting to know her even better in the light novels.

I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that this series made this year’s list because of Sayaka. ^_^

 

My Solo Exchange Diary
I very much hope one day soon to write an article about how creator Nagata Kabi absolutely threw the doors wide open for graphic medicine in Japan. It’s not that comic essays were unheard of, but before Nagata-sensei’s brutal self-evaluation and honest autobiographical essays about the mental and physical constraints of her existence, Josei manga artists frequently entertained readers with comic essays about life as a mother or living with cats. Nagata-sensei’s work was vastly different. Casting herself as a one-woman show on a stage of her own making, she touched the hearts of millions of people worldwide, a Raina Telgemeier of Japanese mental health, covering depression, eating disorder (and alcohol-induced pancreatitis in her newest book.) In years to come, it is my belief that we will see Nagata-sensei listed as a genuine pioneer whose work changed lives and the manga industry, much as we see the Magnificent 49ers now.

It’s not an easy read, but if I taught a course on manga, My Solo Exchange Diary would be a fixture on the curriculum.

 

Kase-san and Yamada
I’ve said it a thousand times, lesbian don’t just disappear after high school. I say this because until recently, they kind of did. ^_^; From the beginning, the Kase-san series was never groundbreaking. It trod over well-worn paths, but it stopped a little more often to notice the flowers that lined those paths. In Volume 6 released this year, Kase-san and Yamada took their first step off that path onto new territory.

When Kase-san and Yamada left high school, readers might have assumed that the series would wrap up. Instead they moved to the big city to go to college and we went along with them to see how they handled a new environment and new challenges. It’s a pleasure to spend time with these women and a pleasure to see where their experiences will take them as they enter the adult world.

Yamada and Kase-san are no strangers to this list, having made it on several times since their debut in 2011. We welcome them back once again for this year.

You’ll have noticed that my primary motivation for inclusion this year, as it has been for many years is stories with a sense of reality; stories of couples who exist in a semblance of the world as you and I might hope to experience it. With that in mind, I give you the Okazu Top 3 Yuri manga of 2019.

 

Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru
Hayama Asuka and Terano Saki are teachers at a school who have, to their surprise, fallen in love. Everyone knows they are going out and everyone, from students to administration think they could not be more adorable if they tried. This is the major handwave of this series and I, for one, think it wholly acceptable. Instead of dealing with bullying by colleagues or angry parents, we get to enjoy Saki and Asuka loving their time with one another.

Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru (羽山先生と寺野先生は付き合っている) is an adult story that includes sex, but is not porn. It focuses on the the sheer joy these two women find in one another. Yes, it’s a fantasy, but it’s a fantasy I wholeheartedly endorse. This manga makes me smile. Every time. Next year you’ll be able to enjoy it as Our Teachers Are Dating! from Seven Seas.

 

I’ve never hidden my desire to see more overtly lesbian themes in my Yuri. This year, we were able to enjoy manga series that were explicitly about queer people, by queer creators, that told various stories of different gender and sexual minorities. My top two series this year are effectively tied for the position because they both are by us, and tell our stories.

 

Our Dreams at Dusk Shimanami Tasogare
2019 was the year we were able to read a LGBTQ manga that pulled no punches. Yuhki Kamatani’s breathtakingly beautiful and moving Our Dreams at Dusk Shimanami Tasogare is a love letter to Shimanami and a supportive hand being held out to LGBTQ youth at the same time. Each character’s story is unique and individual, there is no pretense to telling all queer stories ever. Every character is shown as three-dimensional, working on understanding themselves and their place in a world that won’t make a place for them.

It ends with a wedding ceremony for the lesbian characters; a symbol of change and acceptance.  The first time my wife and I had a ceremony, we never expected to be able to marry legally. And here we are with that right. Saki and Haruko’s wedding might not be legal, but their families being there for them is an important step forward. This is not “Yuri” but it is one of the most overtly queer manga I have ever seen. Like a symbolic wedding, I honestly think that is worth celebrating. It’s a step forward. I’ll hope that this holds the door open to more overtly queer stories, more stories of lesbian couples who don’t face “death or marriage” as the only possible outcomes. And maybe, just maybe, assist in changing the way people think, an important bit of groundwork for a new legal landscape for queer couples in Japan.

 

In the middle of the many Yuri tropes that exist, there is one trope that is so very common in western literature and yet is almost completely missing in Yuri – the coming out narrative. There is a series that I have believed since the very beginning would be the series to address this. I was not wrong. This series is my top Yuri manga pick of the year.


Itoshi Koishi
Hina, a senior in high school is going out with Yayoi, an older woman. Yayoi is very aware of the age difference and is waiting for Hina to move beyond school into adult life. They are good for each other, and take care of each other and their friends are supportive. Yayoi is a lesbian and has friends who are, as well.  Hina has friends who adore her and whom she adores, and she has slowly and surely been moving towards telling them the one thing she’s been keeping from them. My Christmas present arrived with the January edition of Comic Yuri Hime in the form of Itoshi Koishi‘s protagonist Hina, coming out to her friends and her friends responding with love and acceptance. Hina takes on a few old lingering stereotypes of gay couples (left over from Japanese TV shows purporting to show “real” gay people whose lives were miserable) and clears them away with a smile.

Takemiya-sensei has been leading up to this slowly, carefully and ever so gently. Itoshi Koishi (いとしこいし) is not a series of high melodrama, it is a series about two people who love and are loved in return. It shows that “coming out” may never be easy, but it does not have to be traumatic. I love this story with all my love.

This series, by this author, who combines Yuri and lesbian themes sweetly, without fantasy handwaves, is my number one Yuri manga of the year.

 

The next list will be an accounting of all the companies, the people, the places and things that have made 2019 an amazing anniversary year for Yuri!

 

 





Yuri Manga: Yuri is My Job, Volume 5 (English)

December 17th, 2019

In Volume 4, our focus has been pulled inexorably from Hime, whose desire to have a perfect image in public so she can marry rich and check out of the rat race , towards the most conflicted character at Liebe Gakuen Cafe, Ayanokouji, the perfect one-sama, played by Yano Mitsuki, the wholly imperfect person.

Now, in Volume 5 of Yuri is My Job!, as Hime is gallivanting about with Kanako, we’re being reminded that Yano has never had the ability to understand the hidden meaning behind people’s words. An honest and forthright person herself, she has always said what she thinks and that has frequently put her at odds with those around her. I feel her pain. ^_^

Now, as she’s confronted with proximity to the one person who ever made her feel at ease, and whose betrayal hurt her more than she’s willing to admit even to herself, she’s…overreacting. And she knows it. As I said in my review of Volume 5 in Japanese, “She doesn’t want to make the same mistakes, even as she can see that she is [doing so]…but what those mistakes are, are still beyond her grasp.”

In the meantime, we can see that Hime is doing the right things. Maybe for the wrong reason…but is that really a problem? Does it, at the end of the day, really matter why she is kind and thoughtful to Kanako, and trying harder for her onee-sama?

And just who the heck is Tachibana-san?!? She’s there again in this volume. Did you see her? I did. She’s a regular, we’re told. I’m kind of wondering now, if she wasn’t more than that.

Ratings (same as the Japanese volume):

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 3 Nothing salacious, but the premise is service
Yuri – ????? I can’t even. There’s a lot and very little at the same time.

I still really love the author’s notes, by Miman-sensei which contain really interesting insight towards the process of creating this series.

My kudos to translator Diana Taylor, who is doing a bang-up job making sense out of a surprisingly complicated narrative, embedded in Yuri tropes and tea and cake. And nods in the direction of letterer Jennifer Skarupa and editor Haruko Hashimoto, as well, for creating a seamless manga reading experience!

Volume 6 is headed our way in Japanese in late January and English in May 2020. And it’s going to be a doozy. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Volume 8 (やがて君になる)

December 12th, 2019

Since I cracked open the fantastic Bloom Into You Premium Box Set earlier this week, and plan on finishing it up tomorrow (except for the cheesecake, which will have to wait a few weeks) I figured I had better just bite the bullet and wrap it all up in one go. So here we are with Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Volume 8 (やがて君になる) in our hands, ready to say farewell to this series in Japanese.

Volume 7 (which will be available in English in April 2020) left us on the cusp of a major change for Yuu and Touko. A major change that had been telegraphed for many volumes, so surely no one will be surprised. After this massive change in their relationship, the narrative shifts entirely from a story about young people struggling with who they might be to one about learning to be comfortable with who they are. To do this, some of you will have to let go of who you thought they were. This bring us to the creation of a relationship in which both Yuu and Touko had to figure out what they wanted for themselves.

Time marches on and the story skips two years into the future to end in what is an extended final chapter. Yuu visits her school once again, this time to watch her successors in the Student Council perform their play. And to catch up with everyone for a brief moment. Sayaka, Yuu and Touko have one last moment together in which the punchline of the yet-to-be-released third Sayaka novel is spoiled…and I’m perfectly okay with it. ^_^ It’s not like that was any less obvious than the end of this series. In a Yuri story, it doesn’t matter how many obstacles exist, we kind of have to realize that we’re headed to an inevitable conclusion.

The conclusion to this story may have been inevitable and, if we’re honest, a bit predictable, but it is nonetheless a nice ending and one that gives fans of the series plenty of room into which they can write their own desires. What conversations did Yuu and Touko have about identity and gender and sexuality and sex in those two years? We’ll never know, so feel free to tell the story you need to tell to make it work for you.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters  – 10
Service – There is a sex scene. Whether you consider that service or not is entirely up to you.
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

In the end, I am once again staring at the title, wondering if we’ve all been played for fools. Maybe  every single character had someone they thought they had to become in order for things to work. Or, maybe Yuu was never the protagonist and we’ve been watching her in a supporting role all along to Touko’s journey to become, then surpass, then let go of her, sister. Or maybe the title had no specific connection at all and we were left, like the characters themselves, to struggle to find meaning.

We already know there will be a few “curtain call” projects for this series. Artbook, stage play reprise, the third Sayaka novel, and a series of LINE stamps have been planned. The first novel, Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka is available for pre-order from Seven Seas, so we’ll be  talking about this series still for some time to come. But, in the meantime, we’ll tip our hat in thanks to Nakatani-sensei and wait to see if there’s something next.





Yuri Manga: Yuri Bear Storm, Volume 2 (English)

December 9th, 2019

We met Kureha, a human surrounded by bears, and Gingko, the bear princess with whom she falls in love in Volume 1.

In Volume 2 of Yuri Bear Storm, what is already a confusing story, takes on extra layers of obfuscation as Lulu, another bear in love with Gingko, shows up. The three of them end up living together, and we begin to learn that Gingko and Kureha are linked by a long list of connections, not the least of which is that their mothers, and Yurika, the school principal, were apparently lovers in the past.

While every piece of the plot is presented as a “Once upon a time” fairytale, none of those pieces seem to fit together, quite, although they clearly belong to the same puzzle. By the end of volume 2, we can see that Gingko and Kureha are bound by fate, but how, exactly and what that fate is, are seen from two sides of a one-way mirror. Each girl knows the other is there, but they can’t quite see….

And added to the equation is the appearance of Bear Witch Sumika, (Kureha’s lover from the anime.) She appears to know something about Kureha that the girl doesn’t know about herself. What that is, we might learn, but equally, we might not, in this Ikuhara Kunihiko story, stamped all over with the seal of a lily, but frequently without plot threads that connect.

I really love this manga for Morishima Akiko’s art, and the cognitive dissonance between her cherubic characters and the significant psychological (and, occasionally, physical) violence of the story. These are the cutest bears disemboweling humans you’ll ever see.

Translator Katie McLendon does heroic work making this story make as sense as it possibly can, while the entire Tokyopop team does a fine job of giving this book the feel and finish it deserves.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8 We get more Yurika!
Yuri – 8
Service – 5

Overall – 8

For an adorable fairytale about multiple three-person relationships, death, destruction loss and love, Yuri Bear Storm is a pretty amazing (if not “good”) story.





Yuri Manga: A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 1 (English)

December 6th, 2019

Konatsu’s father has been transfered overseas, so she is now living with a relative in a small seaside town in Ehime. Although she is from Tokyo, Konatsu is a little reserved, afraid to assume and careful about making friends. Even when the girl who sits next to her in class is outgoing and friendly, she’s worried about seeming too forward. But compared to the school star Koyuki, Konatsu is downright outgoing. A chance encounter bring the two girls together and almost immediately they feel something much more than mere friendship. In order to be near Koyuki, Konatsu joins the aquarium club. They help each other out in club, but also out of their social shells. When they both find themselves able to express anything, it seems to be more than they expected.

When I reviewed Nettaigyo ha Yuki ni Kogareru, Volume 1 (熱帯魚は雪に焦がれる ) I called this “a charming little love story about two girls and a cute salamander.”  A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 1 is still charming and the salamander is still cute.  Both Koyuki and Konatasu live very much in their own heads, are a little fearful of expressing intimacy. Unusually, this puts them in the position of falling for one another before actually being friends (or frenemies, even,) something we don’t see all that much right now in Yuri romance.

This Viz edition looks lovely. The cover is made to look very much like an aquarium, but more importantly, the binding is lovely. I have no idea why I am enamored of the binding, but I picked this book up and the first words out of my mouth were, “wow, what beautiful binding.” ^_^ All in all, it just looks great. Other than marine life jargon, the dialogue here is not complicated, nonetheless translator John Werry, Eve Grandt’s lettering and touch-up (a fantastically difficult job that does not get enough attention!), Yukiko Whitely’s design work and Pancha Diaz’ editorial touch made this a relaxing read. I was able to just settle in to the narrative and let both Konatsu and Koyuki do the worrying for me.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

I know what’s coming and I’ll just warn you all to be patient. There will be no rushing this story, I assure you.

Volume 2 will be released in February.

Thanks very much to Viz Media for the review copy!