Galette No. 24 (ガレット)

March 27th, 2023

Galette No. 24 came and went and I kept falling further and further behind! Mea culpa, I’ve had some stuff on my plate. ^_^

This volume was released during one of the Comitia events, and a collaboration with Yuri Cafe Anchor, which was pretty cool. I’m sorry for myself that I haven’t been able to return to Japan yet for any of the cafe collabs. They’ve been pretty proactive about getting signings and events together.  This volume include art for the Galette lottery they held last year. Very cute little SD character cards of ongoing series.

This volume has several things I really want to address. One…I am very done and over stories about children being abused, manipulated or bullied. I know that this is a very real reality especially for queer kids. But I am reading Yuri manga for entertainment, and I just cannot. So, I’m calling time out on any story in which bullying is a plot point. Your mileage may vary of course, but I’m noping out for at least a while.

Secondly…I will not name the manga in this issue that I’m about to refer to, because – it has hit a wall. I know there is no editorial staff per se on this magazine, and let me tell you, when a famous artist just keeps writing a different version of the same chapter over and over…it feels like it. I know why no one would say anything, but wow, these characters need to have some other thing to worry about. It’s been like 5 years of them having the same one conversation, then worrying about not being able to have the same one conversation again. 

Lastly, I do want to extoll Hakamada Mera’s “Aikata System,” for having the guts to take on the most problematic character and have her…maybe begin to realize that she is the problem. Abiko-sempai has been a pile of conflicts waiting to happen, Ibuki-sempai has been entirely too passive. Nao and Kairo are bouncing between the two older girls in a way that has not been goof for them…and they’ve had enough. I still hope to see the four of them destroy the Aikata system at the school.

Ratings:

Overall – 7

Volume 25 is sitting on my desktop in digital format ready to be read….I’m hoping that the roadblocked story finally opens up, but don’t have faith…and am looking forward to where “Aikata System” and other stories lead!

Posted in Galette, Magazines | No Comments »


Yuri Research Club Doujinshi at Comiket 101

March 26th, 2023

Today’s review is sponsored by Rica Takashima who sent me all these treasures from Comiket 101 at Tokyo Bight Sight this past winter. She and I have had our fair number of surreal experiences there, but among those I had not imagined, was the growth of Yuri research clubs at various universities. Of course in retrospect, it makes perfect sense that, as Yuri grows in popularity, some folks would create circles around doing basically the exactly same thing I’m doing here – reviews and research, interviews and news.  Because when I first visited Comiket 20 years ago, Yuri was not a genre, it’s really delightful that there are so many folks doing just that now. (Also, marveling at the fact that when Rica and I were selling our Yuri manga at Comiket, these young people were in diapers. What a different world they have ground up in in regards to Yuri!) Thankfully Rica also enjoys other people’s enjoyment, and so I have some really fun Yuri Research doujinshi today to share with you and some joyful faces from Comiket.

Our goodies today come from: 

University of Tokyo Yurizukikai (@utokyo_yuri on Twitter)

 

The UTokyo Yuri Lover’s Society had two publications:

Liliest was a slick perfect bound collection of essays about Yuri location travel, webtoon recommendations and brief history of Yuri from the 1990s to the present, a terrific essay answering the question “Is Anne of Green Gables Yuri?” and, when one flipped to the other side, original fiction and manga.

I have to tell you, as I read through each of these doujinshi, my heart grew 20 times in size. ^_^

It was just so delightful to be a part of this conversation, even if just vicariously through the doujinshi.

 

Also wonderful was UTY’s second publication, a copy book entitled, Hyaku-Nengo Ni Nokoshitai Yuri Manga Hyaku Sen. Let me me see if I can explain what is going on in this title. If you look at the red characters, they spell ‘Yuri,’ but the first character also is ‘100,’ so this title means something like, 100 Selected Yuri Manga For the Ages, but is a couple of clever uses of the way kanji is read and laid out.  It’s very clever in a college club way. ^_^

Inside this copybook  is a foldout page with 100 Yuri manga that they think are key pieces of Yuri manga history. Largely I agree with them! A few are open for debate, as one might expect. ^_^ This is accompanied by group members’ discussion of decades in Yuri and why they picked certain series. Absolutely had me grinning like a loon through this whole book. Squee!

You can buy this issue of Liliest and the 100 Selections doujinshi on UTokyo Yurizukikai’s Booth.pm store – and you should totally do that. ^_^

 

Next up we have:

Kyoto University Yuribunken (@KU_yuribunken on Twitter)

 

 

Immediately when I picked up their publication, Lilyology, Volume 1, I squeaked out “I know that artist!” Indeed I was correct, The fine folks at Kyoto U. Yuri Culture Research Group  have an interview with and cover by Fujieda Miyabi, creator of Iono-sama Fanatics and Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan, (and a perennial favorite of mine).  This is preceded by a series of essays in which members discuss how they found Yuri.

“Mizuno Ami” has an interview with a Kyoto U grad student who presented about Yuri doujinshi at Comiket from the 90s-00s at an academic conference. This is exactly the kind of thing I want in my collection. Members then select their favorite one panel from a Yuri manga or anime. And these are followed by essays on Adachi to Shimamura, Shiroi Suna no Aquatope – with an extensive list of all the species of fish seen in the series!

Turning to the other side of the doujinshi is a piece of fiction by Saruwatari Shirayuki about a girl who wants to go out with a Prince in a Yuri world…or so she thinks.

Seriously, tell me you aren’t utterly entranced by all this? I was delighted.

 

Our last University group today is:

Tokyo University of Science Yurizukikai, aka RikaYuri (@tuslilylover on Twitter)

Notice this fantastic sign “Jidai ha Yuri da.” It’s the Age of Yuri. Guys, if you make this into a t-shirt, I will buy it. ^_^

Their publication is lovely little A5 perfect bound volume, RikaYuri, Volume 3. Volumes 1, 2 and 3 are available in print and V2  and V3 as digital editions on RikaYuri’s Booth.pm.

This volume includes essays, including the “RikaYuri Symposium,” held in spring 2022 about the past, present and future of Yuri, art and original fiction – and, in the back a guest post by a member of the Nagoya University (Meidai) Yuri Lover’s Club (@nitech_lily on Twitter)! I approve of this cross university communication. ^_^ All the art in this nice little doujinshi is reproduced in 4 color.

I will never ever not be amazed and envious at the relative ease with which Japanese doujinshi circles can get high quality color printing. It’s true that digital printing has made leaps and bounds here in the west, but the process in Japan is so streamlined and flexible. I always wonder what my life might have been life if printing in the US in the 2000s wasn’t so darn difficult! But how wonderful for this generation of Yuri fans that they can get their work online and in print – and how wonderful for us. ^_^

Last up, we have a bonus manga by someone I follow online.

I was on Mastodon, following and chatting briefly with Yamako-sensei, a Yuri doujinshi artist who’s Nakayoshi Oneesan-tachi is an adorable slice of life about two adult women, Mako and Natsu.
I mentioned having sold once as a vendor at Comiket, and Yamako-sensei noted that they had been my neighbor. Small world, eh? (I remember nothing about that whole day, hardly, because it was an absolute blur of exhaustion and euphoria.) So when my package of doujinshi included Yamako-sensei’s work, I was absolutely beside myself with glee. Happily you can purchase some of Yamako-sensei’s doujinshi on Bookwalker or, as digital or in print (and stickers and coasters) through their online shop (with shipping through a buying service like Tenso.)

This doujinshi is charming in a totally relatable way with 4-koma comics that span all the various emotions and situations one might find in an adult relationship. Lots of hugs and kisses for these two. They are so cute. ^_^

That brings me to the end of my vicarious walk through the state of Yuri at Comiket in 2022 and let me tell you, it was wonderful. ^_^ I really hope to make it back to Japan this year and take in Comitia or GLFes once again and maybe meet up with some of these folks!

For more Yuri clubs, take a look at the folks on my Yuri resource list on Twitter. I’m adding new groups, creators and organizations all the time.

Thanks so much to the Yuri groups at U Tokyo, Kyoto U and Rikadai, and to Yamako-sensei for all their lovely messages and especial thanks to Rica for getting these for me. What a fantastic way to start this year off! ^_^

 

Posted in Doujinshi, Events, History of Yuri | 3 Comments »


Akuyaku Reijou ga Sei Heroine o Kudokiotosu Hanashi. (悪役令嬢が正ヒロインを口説き落とす話。)

March 23rd, 2023

Akuyaku Reijou ga Sei Heroine o Kudokiotosu Hanashi. (悪役令嬢が正ヒロインを口説き落とす話。) is a mostly goofy series of manga gags, until it turns quite serious. Then it’s still quite goofy, except it’s also kind of icky.  Then it ends and it’s still quite goofy.  This is a series populated by a series of puns, running around being their name. ^_^

Akuya Kurei-jou (a pun on Akuyaku Reijou, i.e., “Villainess,”) is the sister of the Prince who begins the story by stealing her ex-fiance’s fiancee, Sei Hi Roine, (Sei Heroine, Saintly Heroine). For a villainess, Akuya is loving, and quite committed to doing right by the woman she loves. The “jokes” are primarily her acting evilish, then giving her besotted heroine love the love she deserves.

The prince’s name is also a pun, Sanpunkan, which I’m fairly convinced is “Mr. 3 Minutes.” and Akuya’s ever despairing Maid’s name is Yabba Kisuna Kasa, which I can’t get a handle on but is undoubtedly something bitchy about Akuya caught kissing again.

I was hoping that this would be a little more fully formed than a series of short gags, but it definitely made for another perspective on the lesbian villainess trend.

Ratings:

Art – 7 Sketchy, and unrefined
Story – There wasn’t one, until there was and then I wish there wasn’t again.
Characters – 7 Akuya and Sei were cute
Service – Oh yes. Of many kinds.
Yuri – 9

It didn’t hold together, but as a series of doujinshi-like shorts, it definitely had it’s moments.

The cat’s name was Nora. I don’t know if that was a pun or not.

I read this volume on Bookwalker, but it is also available in print!

 

Posted in Yuri Manga | 5 Comments »


Vampeerz – “My Peer Vampires,” Volume 1, Guest Review by Christian LeBlanc

March 22nd, 2023

So this girl wants a vampire lover.
But first, take a look at this cover!
Dappled texture and flaps
It in no way detracts
From the contents, it adds lots of lustre!

Chocolate and peanut butter. Coffee and donuts. Yuri and vampires. All famously great pairings, and Akili’s Vampeerz, Volume 1 (subtitled “My Peer Vampires” and translated by Molly Rabbitt) is yet another addition to the latter, joining the likes of Killing Me!, Hungry for You, Scarlet, Ms. Vampire Who Lives in my Neighborhood, Vlad Love, etc etc etc. (For more on why there are so many Yuri vampire stories, please see Erica’s video on the subject here: https://youtu.be/rkE3pg-ihvA

So what does Vampeerz have that sets it apart from these other stories? I reached out to publisher Denpa to help me answer that, because I was curious about the cover binding, which I thought was quite thick and classy; it even has those nice flaps you see sometimes. I was told it was gloss, with no extra laminate, whereas most other covers have two layers of film instead of the one layer used on Vampeerz. To my eyes, this produces a cover with a bit of texture in the gloss, an almost dappled toothiness that sets it apart.

As for what the story has that other works don’t? The short answer to that after thumbing through those other works is “less chaos,” but let’s delve into that.

When we begin, Ichika (14 years old, long black hair, not a vampire) is mourning the passing of her grandmother Chiyo. This in turn brings about the arrival of Aria (??? years old, short blond hair, is a vampire), who claims to have been a friend of Chiyo’s.

From the start, it’s obvious to the reader that there was more to Aria’s relationship with Chiyo than she’s letting on, but Ichika is taking a little longer to suspect, maybe in part because she quickly finds that she’s fallen for Aria (I know this pun diminishes you and I both, but it was truly love at first bite for her). In turn, Aria ignores questions about how she can know certain archaic things, and blatantly brushes off any peculiarities with a hilariously patronizing wide-eyed “Wow, golly!” feigning of innocence. She’s a busy vampire with goals, after all. You almost get the sense that she relates to the humans around her the way most adults do to children: she can’t really be up front about what’s going on, because she assumes most people aren’t ready to have those conversations yet. And honestly, Ichika isn’t just a child compared to Aria; she *is* still a child, full stop.

And what are Aria’s goals? It turns out vampires (Aria prefers the older term ‘Lilu’) in real life don’t resemble the ones from movies very much, aside from drinking blood (which is inexplicably sexy, of course, in a similar vein to how women are shown enjoying chocolate in tv commercials), hypnotizing people, and living a long time. It’s this last bit that Aria wants Ichika to help her with: feeling that she’s lived long enough, Aria needs Ichika to be the one to end her, because…actually she was just getting into why it had to be her, when Ichika interrupts her to explain all the reasons she doesn’t want to just kill somebody.

And thus, we have the main story elements of Vampeerz: girl meets vampire, girl is asked to kill vampire, but girl likes vampire.

Getting back to my earlier question, what is there that recommends Vampeerz over the many other vampire Yuri works? Well, Ichika has a cool Emily King wall scroll hanging in her bedroom, for one. The rad cover, like I mentioned. The artwork carries a certain classiness and charm, and the calm, quiet pace invite the reader to take their time and enjoy how this story is being told. There are microscopic touches of slapstick (Aria has to clobber a manservant to throw off suspicion), mystery and the supernatural (there’s a really cool depiction of how a barrier is preventing Aria from entering a shrine), but Ichicka’s growing feelings for Aria are what take prominence.

Lastly, I understand that the use of modern slang and references to memes can take certain readers out of the story, but Aria channeling Steve Buscemi as she introduces herself to her new classmates is both appropriate and hilarious, and I applaud Molly Rabbitt for going there.

Ratings:

Art – 9 I really like the slightly quirky art style, as well as the detailed tones and excellent use of shading.

Story – 6 One girl likes another girl, that girl is a vampire, and with that comes some mystery.

Characters – 5 Jiro (Ichika’s manservant) is really cool and I genuinely wanted to see more of him. The fact that I can say that about a minor dude character in a Yuri romance, as well as the fact that I keep getting distracted by the cool cover, should tell you what I’m too polite to say out loud: I like our leads, I really do, but I also can’t help comparing them to potato water in terms of being able to hold my interest!

Service – 3 Fairly tame for the most part…but while I say that, this is also probably the first time I’ve been able to make out someone’s labia majora while they were wearing pyjamas.

Yuri – 7 Ichika is definitely into Aria. Ichika’s mom Sakuya is definitely into young women.

Overall – 7 It’s missing a certain je ne sais quois, however, the art carries it a lot, and as far as vampire Yuri romances go, it’s certainly the most coherent one I’ve enjoyed.

Erica here: I didn’t want to detract from the joy of reading the limerick right away, so instead I’m jumping in as a final word. Those of you have been following Akili’s work from back in Tsubomi days under another name, will remember that this artist started with porn and this manga has all those hallmarks, without the actual porn part. Sexualizing Yuri vampires? No one has ever done that before! ^_^ Seriously, though, we could do worse than having Akili turn his hand to it. Maybe, also better, but definitely worse. ^_^ Thanks so much to Christian who will be back next week with Volume 2!

Posted in Christian LeBlanc, English Manga | 2 Comments »


Yuri Bungei Shousetsu Contest Selection 3 (百合文芸小説 コンテスト セレクション)

March 21st, 2023

Once again, today’s review requires a bit of context. In 2019, Pixiv and Comic Yuri Hime ran a Literary Yuri Short Story contest. I finally managed to read and review the first collection in 2021, Yuri Bungei Shousetsu Contest Selection 2019 (百合文芸小説 コンテスト セレクション). I found the first collection to be a delightful mix of stories.  Of course I ran out and got the second volume, the 2020 collection which I did my very best to read, but I have to tell you….I hated it. I hated that second volume so much from the first story to the last. So many of the stories were traumatizing and awful, others were just not readable by my standards. It was such an unpleasant reading experience that I waffled over getting Volume 3. But I did get it. And then I spent more than a year avoiding reading it. ^_^;

Yuri Bungei Shousetsu Contest Selection 3 (百合文芸小説 コンテスト セレクション) was quite wonderful. Quirky, energetic, weird, with great writing and once again, things I haven’t seen before. The sponsors this time have expanded, with Comic Yuri Hime, Pixiv, Hayakawa Publishing’s SF Magazine and GAGAGA (Shogakukan’s light novel imprint.) It is still available from the Animate Online Shop, which you can purchase from using a buying or shipping service, like Buyee/Tenso.) Or you can read all the stories on Pixiv.

Right off the bat, this collection captured my attention with a story so off-kilter and so beautifully written that I was hooked. “Denshibashira Yori” (電信柱より) by Sakazaki Kaoru is a completely unironic and indescribably beautiful story about a woman who cuts down telegraph poles for a job, who falls for a telegraph pole.

The collection has been a great mix of sci-fi, historical, real life and that specific kind of quirky/ magical realism that seems to gain my attention. A fantasy set in Iron Age Japan, a story about a woman who meets someone she’d only ever made up in her imagination. “Stainless Sanagi” (ステンレスのサナ) by Kazuga is a poignant story about vampire  and a robot maid in a post-apocalyptic landscape. Entries also include a speculative story about a girl who grows and mutates physically  because of love for her classmate, and a nice little story about a tradeswoman who meets a fashionable hair stylist. I particularly liked that this collection had  two stories about tradeswomen. It’s not something we see that often. We also had several salon-based stories, which makes sense as beauty salon are an established “women’s world.”

The final stories were a sobering discussion of war and memory and another robot story that had a pleasant ending. Overall, this was the best collection of the first three. I think I only stopped reading one story. This collection was not only full of good reads, it was inspiring! I have an idea for a short story now. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

The 4th Yuri Bungei Competition ended in 2022, and again, you can read some of the winners for free on Pixiv, It will take me another year to get to those stories. But I have read several so far in Comic Yuri Hime magazine and the prevailing wind seemed to be historical fiction, a nice change of pace for me, so I will probably pick this collection up, as well. A 5th contest just wrapped up applications, so we should see a 5th collection in the works soon: Notable applications have been linked to on the Pixiv page for the contest.

Posted in Light Novel, Miscellaneous, Novel | No Comments »