Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Cotton Candy

April 11th, 2019

Hamano Ringo’s Cotton Candy was the first of the Galette collected volumes to be printed. I feel a little bad that it’s taken me this long to get around to it because, like it’s name, it’s very sweet.

There’s nothing objectionable at all, about the collection but for me the stand out story is the first, the titular “Cotton Candy.” This three-part story follows two girls who share a commute to school. They don’t really talk much, but after one has a run-in with a male schoolmate, and is rescued by the other, they become friendly. Mii often goes to a local coffee shop to talk over her experiences and feelings with the owner, Bun-chan.The older woman is a good confidant and helps Mii figure out how she feels about Hinako, as those feeling amble past friendship into attraction. More importantly, Bun-chan tell Mii that she, too was in the same position, because she likes women. This opens Mii-chan’s eyes and she is able, after some initial hesitation, to make her feelings known. When it turns out that they are returned, Mii brings her new girlfriend to the coffee shop to meet Bun-chan.

For what I think are obvious reasons, I really like this story. ^_^ Adult role models show young people that they are not outliers, not weird, not alone. There is nothing I want to see more of in Yuri than this…not even a sports series. ^_^

Hamano-sensei’s art is old-school cute without being moe. Lots of cute kids and bright smiles, school settings and sweets. It’s all kind of innocent and…nice.

Ratings:

Art – 8 It’s definitely old-school and I like it
Story – 7 School life
Characters – 8 Likable and cute
Service – Not really. 1 but on principle only – the most service-y thing in the book is a filler image of two girls in their pjs.
Yuri – 7 First love, crushes, exactly what you’d expect

Overall – 8

Again, like the confection it’s named after, it’s not filling, but the memory of sweetness lingers.





Yuri Manga: Itoshi Koishi, Volume 1 (いとしこいし)

April 8th, 2019

Let’s start the week off with an incredibly sweet Yuri manga that I adore, by a manga artist I admire. Today we’re talking Itoshi Koishi, Volume 1 (いとしこいし) by Takemiya Jin-sensei, from Yuri Hime Comics.

Hina is a high-school student who enjoys cooking and is very sweet and kind. Unbeknownst to any of her friends, she is going out with a neighbor – an older woman – named Yayoi. Yayoi works at home and it is Hina’s great joy to make Yayoi food and gently scold her about taking care of herself. Yayoi knows she wants to marry Hina one day, and make this arrangement formal. And when we get the flashback to how they met, we’re not at all surprised that Yayoi needs the help. ^_^

We begin with a summer festival which eases us into their relationship. Yayoi visits Hina at her school festival in order to tease her – gently. A  few chapters are arranged around a recipe that Hina is making for Yayoi.

The story is careful about the difference in their ages. Yayoi is well aware of the gap and takes care to keep them both at a level of emotional intimacy, rather than physical, with an emphasis on comfort and safety for Hina.  It is very clear that Yayoi has drawn some specific lines in her head and she will not cross them.

Hina’s more concerned with her place in Yayoi’s life. Yayoi’s got friends and adult responsibilities and she knows she’s still a kid. She’s worried that Yayoi will leave her behind. But as the story develops, we can also see that they are both very good to and very good for one another. (And, we’ll see Hina becoming more a part of Yayoi’s outside life in later chapters. I approve.)

Overall, I really like this manga. It’s shockingly wholesome and sweet and comes with a bunch of recipes. Food and Yuri – perfect together. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8 YMMV, but I think this is Takemiya-sensei’s best work so far
Story – Warm and cozy and cute, like Hina – 8
Characters – 9 Everyone is likable
Yuri  – 10
Service – 3 We are assured Hina’s chest is large several times.

Overall – 9

I can see myself coming back to this series over and over. It’s nice. I picked this copy up at one of the Yuribu, so I could get the insert paper, of Yayoi embracing Hina and both of them thinking super happy love-love thoughts. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Prisontown e Youkoso!, Volume 2 ( 監獄街へようこそ！ )

April 7th, 2019

In Volume 1, we met Akari, a human who fell asleep on a late night train and found herself in Prisontown, an otherworld purgatory for demihumans. She is given a “wife”, frankengirl Mary and each of them are assigned work duties every day by notes tacked to their door. Akari is well liked, but inefficient at best, and often incompetent. The other denizens of Prisontown become accustomed to helping Akari out of a jam, and Mary often does her own work, then helps Akari.

In Prisontown e Youkoso!, Volume 2 ( 監獄街へようこそ！ ) Akari and Mary quietly, sweetly fall in love with one another, but Mary’s body being made of random pieces makes her quite self-conscious. Even more than her body, the crime she is here to expiate weighs on her heavily. As the main holiday of the year – the Lantern Festival on Halloween night – approaches, Mary tells Akari the story of her crime. Betrayed by the creator she loved so dearly, Mary killed her…and the little sister she adored. Akari, of course, forgives Mary and the two of them spend a magnificent night together…only Akari knows it will be their last. She will be returning to the human world when the festival ends.

In the final chapter from the serialization, Akari sees Mary once more on Halloween back in the real world. The epilogue of the collected volume changes the tenor of this ending slightly, by letting us know that this meeting becomes an annual affair, and both Mary and Akari have grown, and their love has stayed the course.

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

Overall – 7

If you like Neji’s demihuman stories, this is certainly another  story for you. ^_^ It’s still a pretty flimsy ending, but the second epilogue definitely make it all go down a little easier.





Yuri Manga: Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 1 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)

April 2nd, 2019

Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 1 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)  begins with Miwa and Saeko meeting on campus by slamming into each other during club recruitment chaos. Miwa is somewhat hesitant by nature and Saeko is very outgoing and cheerful. When it turns out that they have a class in common Saeko invites Miwa to meet her circle – they’d be band if they had a singer. Miwa and Saeko hang out together and with the band, and one day Saeko ask Miwa if she’d like to try dating her?

Miwa is torn. She likes Saeko, but she knows Saeko wants a physical relationship and she’s not prepared for that. Saeko’s cool, though and they start dating.

How their relationship evolves is fun and annoying and realistic and annoying. Did I mention that it’s really annoying? Because, honestly, it is. About 2/3rds through the book, I had a glimpse of what the backstory was going to be and I was annoyed by it. It seemed to me that having sex was both the big plot complication and the reward, neither of which makes all that compelling a story for me. Then, when it turned out I was right, it was no less annoying. AND then when one of the band members pointed out the obvious, I was so happy I cheered. Once that was actually said out loud, I thought maybe we could leave that whole backstory and move forward. It remains to be seen if that is the case in Volume 2, which should be out in June.

Despite all this, I actually enjoyed the story and rooted for Miwa and Saeko. I’m happy that they are working through the things they are working through, because those things are real things that must, sometimes, be dealt with. After being discovered kissing, they have an actual coming out scene of a sort, in which they sit the band down and tell everyone they are dating. Everyone is really quite nice about it. But it’s still pretty unusual to see anything like that in a Yuri manga.

In a lot of ways, Miwa and Saeko remind me of Bloom Into You‘s Yuu and Touko – they are older, but it’s a not-entirely-dissimilar set up for the relationship.

Tamifull’s art tends towards goofy over fine line work, but is competent enough. While the whole of the narrative isn’t quite “male gaze” it certainly starts off that way and has some moments when it veers back into it. In a lot of ways, Saeko is written like “men think lesbians think” while Miwa is written the way “men think straight women think.” That’s more of a general impression, but since this is a Shounen Sunday Comic publication, I’m pretty confident about that impression. ^_^ The manga itself runs on Shogakukan’s manga UraSunday site, or their phone application Manga-One. You can read a sample of the manga (in Japanese) on either of these or the Shogakukan comics site. The series is currently up to chapter 15.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – This is the tough one, It’s kind of sweet, but occasionally hits a sour note. Let’s call it a 6
Characters – The main characters are so far a solid 7, but the various band members I’m giving an 8
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 5
Service – 4

Overall – I’ll say an 8, with potential to drop on weak characterization.

That said, I’m certainly willing to continue reading it and I’m betting we’ll see it licensed soon enough. Now that Shogakukan is in the Yuri biz, they’ve got callers at their door.





Yuri Voice Manga: Omoi no Kakera (想いの欠片) on A-Koe

April 1st, 2019

A-Koe is a fascinating newish site that brings various manga to life in an unique way – these manga are voiced along with moving readable panels. These are presented to the public for free with, it appears, the creator’s approval. (It was Takemeiya-sensei’s tweet about this voiced manga that drew my attention to it, in fact.)  The selection at A-ko is primarily BL with a number of manga from Rakeun le Paradis magazine, including Kazuma Kowo’s Dear Tearand the subject of today’s review, Takemiya Jin’s Omoi no Kakera.

You may recall that Omoi no Kakera was a three volume series, following young out lesbian Mika who falls for older women. I’ve reviewed all three Volumes here (Volume 1 | Volume 2 |Volume 3) and consider it an excellent manga and a unique one, as it has more than one character identified as a lesbian, and uses lesbian and gay slang in context.

A-koe’s team is excellent. The visual transitions of the manga really help make the words simple to follow, the voice actresses (who are all credited on the page linked above) do a fine job of bringing the characters to life.
It helps to be able to understand spoken or written Japanese, but if your Japanese is not great, the combination of the two really helps attach word pronunciation to kanji. The quality of the visuals is high and can be easily expanded to full screen. Readers can access the chapters by either creating a free account or logging in with Twitter or Facebook.

Ratings:

Overall – 10

This is a genuinely delightful way to experience an excellent Yuri manga. Quite possibly my favorite combination of voice and text so far. Instead of having to click through endless screens, I can sit back and let an excellent story teller tell me a story, with her own visuals animated and given life and form by talented actresses. Akasaki Chinatsu does a bang up job as Mika.