Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 7 (English)

August 23rd, 2018

Another day, another set of grizzly murders in MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 7. And, the best person to get on the case is, obviously not the police, but psychopath Kumori Kuroko and her sidekick Tozakura Hinako. This time, they are bringing back some old friends and bringing in some new ones to build their team.

Due to a slight misunderstanding by Hinako, Kuroko believes Chiyo no longer cares about her, so she’s more than ready to take it out on someone else. Hinako develops two exciting new obsessions, we get a bunch of bombs from Minako, the high-school bomb maker, Narumi (formerly Teresa) drops off a few helping items and we meet Urara, a former cage fighter, now bartender, who will be providing us with some extra large muscles.

I want to be ever so slightly critical of this volume. The “Sakura pruning” group’s name in Japanese begins with “Tozakura” which is also Hinako’s family name. She is not, as the localizers chose, seeing “Hinako” painted around town. She is seeing “Tozakura” which is both extremely creepy and a lot more mysterious. It would not make sense for the “Sakura Pruning Group” to be painting “Hinako” around the the town. “Tozakura” does make sense.

Other than that one comment, this volume is spot on from what I want from a volume of MURCIÉLAGO – grotesque deaths, grotesque lesbian sex and Hinako’s weird obsessions, now including beetles and banchou capes.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 10
Yuri – 9 

Overall – 8

And Kuroko gets to have lesbian sex with a prostitute. That’s always fun.





Yuri Manga: After Hours, Volume 2 (English)

August 21st, 2018

In After Hours, Volume 2, Emi finds herself lost in the cracks of her own life. She likes being part of what Kei is doing and she likes the team, but she has no confidence in herself, or the choices she’s making.  And the fact that she’s never told Kei about her boyfriend, her apartment and the life she walked away from is driving a wedge between them.

In the meantime, the team has added a new member, Midori and navigated more than one breakdown in teamwork. But they’ve got a location and equipment and music and a designer and Kei and Emi are working together pretty well…so why is neither of them all that happy?

Luckily for them, Emi snaps and comes clean, and finally asks the question that really is eating at her – wat, exactly, is she to Kei? She’s a little surprised to find that Kei’s answer is conventional and they get to say to each other that being together is what makes them happiest. 

And then…it’s the night of the event. 

The characters in this series – especially for such a short series- pretty well-developed, but we still have to a do a fair bit of reading into the characters, particularly when it comes to motivation. I can’t help wonder why Emi makes the choices she makes. Kei, who was presented as a bohemian free spirit, turns out to be pretty traditional after all.

Ratings: 

Art – 5
Story – 8 
Characters – 9 
Service – 2 
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8

For a seinen magazine, and for a story that is mean to frame sex scenes, the frame is pretty solid and the sex scene in’t too pandery.  

Volume 3 will be available at the end of 2018, and we’ll get to see what happens when Emi and Kei are able to work in sync, at last.





Yuri Manga: Yuri Drill Anthology (百合ドリル）

August 15th, 2018

Kadokawa’s Yuri Drill anthology is an interesting exercise in exploration of common Yuri tropes, as depicted by 39 Yuri manga artists. And also an exercise in the persistence of these same tropes, as expressed in the subtitle “including the supreme scenes of girls.” When it feels a little mind-boggling that publishers so often turn to really banal tropes of Yuri like “School life Yuri” “Childhood friend Yuri” “Sempai x Kouhai Yuri,” this book will remind you that it’s gonna take a heckuva literary crowbar to pop off this stone and release some different, weird and gods helps us, original Yuri, from the cave.

In the meantime, we have these commonplace scenarios explored, analyzed, even parodied at times, by 39 different Yuri artists, many names of which will be familiar to readers of Okazu.

If you’ve ever wondered Amano Shuninta would make of a workplace sempai x kouhai  trope or Mikanshi’s look at “Fantasy Yuri” or Kodama Naoko’s image of a workplace romance, you can flip through this book and do just that. 

Ratings:

Overall – 7

This is not a must-have for Yuri fans, but it’s an interesting game idea. “Improv Yuri drawings – keyword phrase is “not already done to death! Go!”

 





Yuri Manga: Korede Wakattayo! (これでわかってよ!)

August 13th, 2018

Over the last 16 years we’ve gone through a lot of changes together, you and I. Today marks the end of an era here on Okazu. It’s not the first time, either. Obviously, almost 20 years ago, when we started this journey, I used to review just about everything and anything with any possible Yuri, because just there just wasn’t all that much. That’s changed radically and now, I’m in the happy position of struggling to keep up with all the new Yuri coming out.

As 2015 began, I gave up reviewing Yuri porn anthologies, because they were almost all really dreadful, written by and for people with limited understanding of female bodies and no understanding of or interest in of women’s interior lives. And, along with them, I gave up reviewing things that I considered just generally terrible on the principle that it’s true that you may wish to know why a thing is terrible, but I don’t wish to subject myself to it for your benefit. Now I’ve outsourced that to my guest reviewers (^_^) 

And, with today’s review I’ve decided I’m no longer reviewing “Story A”s in which nothing particular happens and there’s no defining or unique characteristic. That doesn’t mean I’ll no longer review Yuri that is “Story A,” just that its got to have something more than merely “there is a girl, she likes a girl, the other girl likes her back, the end.” And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that and if you love those kinds of stories, and use legit means to buy them and would like to see some reviews on Okazu, then go ahead and submit your reviews! But I’m drowning in Yuri (yay!) and want to talk about the great stuff that I’m reading. As a result, I’ve got less time for stuff like today’s manga. 

In Mamoto’s  Korede Wakattayo! (これでわかってよ!), the volume is split into two mini-series. “Ai Irenai Futari” follows two high school girls who are always bickering, but are a couple. They share school days and beach days and enjoy their time together, even as they argue constantly. 

In “Donkan Shoujo to Inu” a hardworking, misanthropist is worn down by a cute. cheerful girl. The two of them share dates to the aquarium, ice cream, pastries and classwork.

These two shorts add up to a nice, if otherwise unremarkable, volume. If I had to guess, I’d say that these are several doujinshi collected into a single volume. 

There’s nothing bad about this volume, the art is decent, the characters are nice, as for as they are developed, which isn’t far. There isn’t anything that makes this volume stand out, either. 

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 5
Service – 3 Manifesting mostly as bizarre body angles

Overall – 6

There’s so much excellent work hitting shelves now, unless something is either terrible enough to be funny (or appealing) I’m culling the herd of nice, but not compelling, Yuri. 

 





Rakuen Le Paradis Magazine, Volume 27 (楽園 Le Paradis)

August 9th, 2018

Rakuen Le Paradis, Volume 27 (楽園 Le Paradis) is a banner issue for Yuri fans. We have 5 “Girls Love” (publisher’s term) stories by 5 different artists, several of them popular mainstream josei manga artists. 

Nakamura Asamiko continues “Mejirobana no Saku,” (メジロバナの咲く), in which odball Ruby confronts school star Steph, trying to get her involved with fundraising for a Christmas tree at the school. Rumors about the two of them are flying, but neither of them care. Nonetheless, Ruby is struggling with her sincere feelings for the aloof upperclassman.

Kazuma Kowo’s Junsui Luminscence  (純水ルミネッセンス) takes a look once again at Nanao and her affair with the school doctor, as she contemplates marriage. 

In Harumi Chihiro’s  “Hasu no Hana,” (蓮の花)  Karin lashes out at another student because she cannot express her feelings about Okayama. She finally does, shocking her classmates, but Okayama doesn’t care.

Shigisawa Kaya’s (whose collection Kimi Dake Ni, (君だけが光) includes other Yuri,) continues “Praparat” (プレパラート) ) which looks at an artist who confronts her feelings about her muse.

Unita Yumi’s “Moko”  (モコ) follows a student who admits to her male classmate that she’s in love with the girl he wants to go out with. Only…she was  standing there and heard it all.

It’s all schoolgirls, but not all Story A. These stories have the kind of nuance one expects from these artists, in this magazine. I’m fascinated that almost none of the creators have a Yuri background, although both Shigisawa and Harumi have included Yuri in previous stories for the magazine, and Kazuma-sensei originated Junsui Adolescence in Comic Yuri Hime. More importantly, I am interested as heck in what we might see in days to come. This magazine has previously featured work by Takemiya Jin, Hayashiya Shizuru and Nishi UKO, as well, and I’m hopeful that we’ll see more in the future.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

No, seriously, this magazine is once again a must-get for fans of Yuri manga. For the third time. ^_^