Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 3 ( 私の推しは悪役令嬢。)

January 27th, 2022

In Volume 1, Oohashi Rei, found herself waking in the world of her favorite otome game and free to pursue the villainess of the game, the highborn noble, Claire François. In Volume 2, Rae begins to worm her way into Claire’s life, turns out to be overpowered and adopts a baby water slime that she names Relaire. (I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 2 manga in English hit shelves yesterday! So you can read that for yourselves.)

In Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 3 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。),by inori, with art by Aonishimo, character designs by hanagata, Rei and Claire, along with Rei’s roommate Misha, the princes of the game and other students compete to become members of the Academy Knights, the school’s student council.

The first half of this volume is filled with the battles for these positions…and they give us a better idea of the skills and styles of our main players. I will venture a small spoiler – they all get in to the Knights.  Having been made part of the Knights, Claire and Rae head out into their first task  – solving a late night mystery!

The final half of the book details the Knights’ preparation for the Founder’s Day event, the Royal Academy’s school festival.  The Knights settle on a gender-switch cafe and we get to enjoy the prices dressed as maids, and Claire, Rae and Misha dressed as butlers.

All of this is charming and wonderful, but I’m going to share my favorite panel of the volume:

Look at Thane playing with Relaire in the background! Isn’t that squee-worthy? ^_^

This kind of thing is why I genuinely love the manga. It’s the same story as the novels, but with little details thrown in that really just level it up. Aonoshimo-sensei’s art really adds points to what is already a fantastic story.

Because I bought this volume at Melonbooks again (in order to score an awesome acrylic standee) it came with this lovely insert. There is a comic on the other side in which they play dress down with Lene.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 9
Service – 4 Dressing and undressing
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

 

I’m currently reading Ichijinsha’s brand new print version of the first novel, Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou ~Revolution ~, Volume 1 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。-Revolution-) and I’m not tired of this story yet!

 

Posted in I'm in Love With the Villainess, inori, LGBTQ, Manga, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


If You Could See Love, Volume 1, Guest Review by Day

January 26th, 2022

Hello and welcome to another Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu. I’m extremely pleased to welcome back one of our long-time reviewers, Day! Please give Day your kind attention and don;’t forget to show some love in the comments. Day will be looking at If You Could See Love, Volume 1, by Yeren Mikami, which is out now in Digital format from Yen Press. Day, the floor is yours!

Ever since she can remember, teenager Mei Haruno has been afflicted with a weird ability – she can tell who is in love with whom because that affection appears as a pink arrow to her. The distracting nature of this aside, it’s gotten her into trouble in the past because it’s led to her meddling in other people’s would-be relationships, leading to her own social isolation. Hoping to get away from having to see all these arrows and get a fresh start, she enrolls in a girls’ high school… only to realize that not only are there loads of girls into girls, but that two of them are into her. And they’re both her roommates. Shenanigans and bathtimes ensue.

When I originally planned to write this review, I sat down, opened a word processor… and stared blankly at the screen, as I realized that, despite having read this within the past month, beyond the broadest outlines, I’d completely forgotten what happened in this manga. I did remember that it was a bit bland and not very good, and that there was something to do with love arrows, but that was about it. So, I cracked it open again, and this time I took notes. All of which is a lengthy way to say – this is a really forgettable opening volume. And, wow, my brain sure blurred my recollection of just how wildly stupid the premise and its execution is.
 
Mei is a fairly standard issue manga heroine, her personality lining up with what one could guess from her hair color (energetic, cheerful, not very bright). But did I say cheerful? Oh, how could I forget her dark past (pissing people off by telling their crushes they have crushes on them) that’s made her swear off romance?! Her admirers, friend Sayo and Rinna, are likewise not particularly distinct. Sayo is the childhood friend Mei hasn’t seen in years, and, yes, of course the girl has spent the intervening time pining for Mei… as well as growing very large breasts. Rinna meanwhile is tsundere-ish, and has met Mei previously, although Mei doesn’t remember this; the manga doesn’t quite come right out and say it, but there’s an implication that she’s also been yearning away for our lead for some unknown amount of time before coming across her again.
 
Despite Mei’s repeated insistence that she’ll never pursue romance because of her very sad past, its crystal clear by volume’s end that this is going to resolve itself in a three-way relationship… which is one of the few things I’d give the manga points for. I don’t care much about these girls, but this actually seems the natural direction for the relationship to move in. The other item I’ll grant credit for is that the manga uses the color pink in its otherwise black and white visual scheme to make things like those love arrows, hearts, and cherry blossoms really pop off the page.
 
I’d be hard-pressed to recommend this one, even to the most diehard fans of schoolgirl yuri (goodness knows there’s plenty better series featuring that available in English). It’s aggressively bland, with a bone-deep stupidity to the premise that is never elevated by the writing, nor are the characters engaging enough to make it worth enduring. 
 
Oh, it may go without saying, but there really is NO sense of queer identity whatsoever in this one. Also, I loathe the cover.
 
Ratings:
Art – 6 (its polished while also completely not to my tastes; I smirked over fact that adult characters are indistinguishable design-wise from the teenagers)
Story – 5
Characters – 5  
Service – 4 (surprisingly not pervasive but there is a very extended bathing scene early on)
Yuri – 7 (well, it’s definitely yuri, even if it’s very silly yuri)
 

Overall – 5

Erica here: Thank you so much, for this review, as much for taking one for the team as for giving me a critically needed evening off. ^_^  I’ll be honest, I do not favor Teren Mikami’s work, so wasn’t feeling enthusiastic about this. Blob heads. So thank you for the honest review!

 
Posted in Day, English Manga, Guest Review, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Inside the World of Anime Panel Tomorrow on Zoom

January 24th, 2022

Bonham’s auction house has just begun the very first auction of anime cel art, The World of Anime.

Tomorrow morning at 8AM Eastern US time, on Zoom, I will be moderating a panel featuring Helen McCarthy, Darren Ashmore, Susan Napier and Bonham’s Helen Hall.

Please join us Inside the World of Anime for a discussion of anime cels as art and artifact!

Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »


Yuri Studio Season 3 Premier!

January 23rd, 2022

Yuri Studio Season 3 premieres today at 2PM Eastern US time.

We’ll be talking about one of Yuri’s most timeless tropes: The Girl Prince – Who is she, where did she come from and what is her role in Shoujo and Yuri?

Please be kind and give it a like and a follow if you haven’t already subscribed. It helps a lot!

Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – January 22, 2022

January 22nd, 2022

Yuri Manga

We have a bunch of new stuff up on the Yuricon Store today!

Teren Mikami’s If You Could See Love, Volume 1 is out now as a digital manga from Yen Press. Mei can actually see who loves who in school, but now, there are arrows of love pointing at herself!

Yen Press also has Catch These Hands!, Volume 1 by murata coming up. This is a fun not-quite-romance between two former rival high school gang leaders. I reviewed this series in Japanese, Watashi no Kobushi wo Uketomete!.

Seven Seas has the Bloom Into You Anthology, Volume 2, the final piece of this series, with stories by popular artists and a new work by series creator Nakatani Nio. I also reviewed this in Japanese.

Up for pre-order now is Monologue Woven for You, Volume 1, a pleasant story about two college students with a shared dream. Again, I’ve reviewed this full-color volume in Japanese.

Coming in March from Seven Seas is GUNBRED SISTERS, Volume 1, a fantasy about a vampire and a nun vampire hunter and guns, so you know exactly what you’re in for. This time it was one of our senior guest reviewers, Mariko Shinobu, with the Japanese volume review.

Our Teachers Are Dating,  Volume 4 – the final volume of Pikachi Ohi’s lovely story is heading our way in April!

Superwomen in Love! Honey Trap and Rapid Rabbit, Volume 3 is out now from Seven Seas!

 

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Comic Yuri Hime, March 2022 (コミック百合姫2022年3月号) is on Japanese shelves now!

The 20th issue of Galette (ガレット) magazine is also out in Japan now. This marks the completion of 5 full years for this magazine!

Via Manga Mogura on Twitter we have news of a one-shot, Good Morning Ladies, about 3 middle-aged women in a post-apocalyptic world. Can’t get to a Japanese book store? No need, you can get the February issue of Ultra Jump on Bookwalker Global!

 

Support Yuri writers and creators!
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Yuri Doujinshi

Way back in 2020, I did a Yuri Studio video titled Are There Queer Creators Creating Yuri? In that video, I mention an artist who identifies as lesbian, Hanakage Alt. She does a lot of boyish, masculine women comics. One of her school-life comics has just been picked up by Lilyka. I plan on asking them to pick up some of the tougher women stuff when I buy Senpai no Kouhai by Alt Hanakage on Lilyka…as soon as I’m done here. ^_^

 

Yuri VNs & Games

Via Studio Élan, Yuri VN First Snow has gotten a partial voice over update, with more to come. This college love story is playable now – available on Steam and itch.io.

Queerty is offering a grant to help developers work on their queer games! Check out the details of the Queerty Gamers Grant and apply soon, application close Jan 31!

 

Yuri Research

I’ve added En el Jardín de Lirios. El Amor Entre Mujeres en la Cultura Pop Asiática, Alexandra Arana’s Spanish-language look at Yuri in Asian pop fulture to the Yuricon Store. This is a free download from the publisher. If you are a Spanish fluent reader here and would like to review this for us, please contact me!

 

Other News

Please join Susan Napier, Helen McCarthy, Darren Ashmore, Helen Hall and myself as moderator for a panel on anime cels as art and artifact for Bonham’s auction house. This panel Inside The World of Anime is ahead of their art auction of anime cels, The World of Anime. Registration for the panel is free on Zoom. January 25, 8:00 AM Eastern US time. I can tell you right now, that this is going to be a fantastic panel.

Check back tomorrow, when we are premiering our first Yuri Studio Season 3 video! In the mean time, I’ve created some play list on Yuri Studio, so you can find Season 1 and Season 2, the Recommendations videos and our Lectures & Panels more easily, as the main timeline get fuller. ^_^

 

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons who make the YNN weekly report possible! Support us on Patreon to help us give Guest Reviewers a raise and to help us support Yuri creators!

Become a YNN Correspondent: Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share and be part of the Yuri Network. ^_^

Posted in Yuri Network News | No Comments »