How Do I Turn My Best Friend Into My Girlfriend?, Volume 1

May 24th, 2024

by Luce, Staff Writer

Imagine you are a Japanese schoolgirl, and you’ve just realised you have a big crush on your friend! What do you do? Your options: 

A: pine ad infinitum. This crush goes to your grave. This is a pretty safe option, filled with yearning gazes and trying to hide your feelings, but someone more proactive might get there first, leaving you in a world of angst!

B: confess immediately. It’s a high risk option, but if you’re the gambling kind, it might pay off. After all, you’re already friends, so you know you get on. But be careful – it might make things pretty strained between you if they don’t return your affections…

C: try and win then over. You’re pretty sure they don’t see you romantically… yet. But there’s plenty of time for that to change, right? All you gotta do is show them how great you’d be as a couple – put on that winning smile, take them out on that date, and woo the heck out of them! 

How Do I Turn My Best Friend Into My Girlfriend?, Volume 1 which tells the story of Minami and Yuzu, who have been childhood friends since elementary school, firmly picks option C. They’ve been very close, physically and emotionally, for a long time, but when Minami accidentally overhears plot device guy confessing his love to Yuzu, she’s suddenly hit with the revelation that she’s in love with her. 

She has one chapter of panicking about this, notably absent of ‘but we’re both girls!’. After she admits it pretty easily to her other friend, Hinori, that she works with, who is thankfully supportive, she decides that the only option is to try and get Yuzu to think of her romantically. 

Not to say this necessarily goes that well, but she’s trying. It’s the thought that counts. Minami hasn’t ever liked anyone romantically, and has never dated anyone – and like any studious person in manga clueless on a subject, turns to textbooks! Hinori points out that none of those books are ‘textbooks’, and acts as a sensible hand to try and help. 

They end up on a date to the planetarium, because Yuzu is very into space. I now want a Saturn plushy. The date is cute and goes pretty well, but Minami feels like it’s getting her heart rate up more than Yuzu’s. Nonetheless, she does try to confess at the end, interrupted by some of the other friends…? 

This isn’t exactly a ground breaking manga, but it was quite refreshing in so much as Minami is actually trying. I love a good bit of pining, but sometimes it is nice to see someone going for what they want in a relationship. How I feel about it in the long term will largely ride on how long the ‘cannot spit it out’ continues. The situation presented at the end could go several ways, but it’s probably going to end up being a big misunderstanding for some conflict. Rather than drag its feet on getting them together, I’d actually like this manga to explore the transition from friends to lover, or focus on Yuzu a bit more – she doesn’t really show any signs of romantic affection for Minami, so it would be interesting if they explored that. 

All said, I will check into the next volume – it’s not the strongest Yuri manga out there, but if you like a more proactive protagonist and a complete lack of ‘but we’re both girls’, you could do a lot worse. 

Ratings:

Art: 7 
Story:
Service: 3, solely for an imagine spot where Minami is considering her feelings towards Yuzu, and one page says, without showing anything explicit, that is definitely sexual as well, or could/will grow that direction
Yuri: 9

Overall: 7

The translation and lettering all felt normal, that is too say I didn’t notice any glaring errors or oddities, which was done by Matthew Johnson and Giuseppe Antonio Fusco respectively. Volume 2 is due out in late September, as per the Seven Seas website.

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Run Away With Me Girl, Volume 3

May 22nd, 2024

Two women in wedding dresses laugh happily holding a colorful bouquetGuest Review by Matt Rolf

Having run away with high school friend Makimura as an adult in Volume 2, Midori wants to keep running in Run Away with Me Girl, Volume 3. Fortunately for her and for the reader, we are finally at a point in this series where Midori has to make a clear decision about what she’s going to do. Battan graciously provides some clarity and closure to this interesting series, but don’t expect much more than that in this final volume.

The first volume of this series was rocky and dealt with challenging relationship questions; the second volume gave the characters space on an island away from the ordinary to try and answer those questions. The third volume, by comparison, is something of a letdown. The main plot point gets wrapped up, but a lot of the hard issues raised by the first two volumes get swept under the rug.

What is sexual orientation? How does that square with societal expectations and our own desire? How do we reconcile our day-to-day responsibilities when they may not be compatible with our core values? What if we push our core values away and make toxic choices in an attempt to meet those responsibilities? What does it mean to commit to someone? And what does it mean to unwind one’s life after having committed? All of these questions are raised implicitly or explicitly by the first two books. While these are admittedly hard questions without easy answers, the final payoff comes without addressing them fully. Maki and Midori’s epilogue is fine, if a bit too obvious. Komari’s epilogue is annoying, bordering on infuriating to this reviewer.

Perhaps, like Midori through most of this work, we’re not supposed to think too hard about the answers to those questions. Maybe the answers are just matters of the heart. Even so, I think the characters deserved a more thorough reckoning with the choices that they made. Maybe once Battan has some distance to this story they will reconsider and give us another volume.

The artwork is still good, but the impact is less than the first two volumes. Battan gives the culmination of the book the rich attention it deserves. Outside of that, the drawings don’t hit that hard.

Finally, this book is yuri. Exhausting, aggravating, and annoying, but in the end, yuri: the exploration of a semi-toxic relationship between women that concludes with as little character growth as possible. And that, if nothing else, will make you think.

Final Verdict: A disappointing ending to a challenging series.
Series Verdict: Worth reading and thinking about.

Published by Kodansha Comics, with translation by Kevin Steinbach and lettering by Jennifer Skarupa.

Ratings

Art – 8
Story 5 – This is fine.
Characters – 7 I wouldn’t be let down if I hadn’t had any expectations.
Service – 5 Tease me, please me, no one needs to know. -Scorpions
Yuri – 8
Overall – 5 for this volume, 7 for Vol 1-3 inclusive.

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Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Deluxe Edition Volume 4

May 20th, 2024

An android with blue hair, wearing a long coat and a young woman with green spiky hair, wearing a jacket look stand in front of a a huge white sky, looking out at something.In a series in which most of the “people” are androids, there are still humans on the planet. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Deluxe Edition Volume 4 spends some time with the other people in Alpha’s life.

But first Alpha and Kokone take a trip which both she and I read as a date. Alpha plays in the snow. Meruko scouts the competition. We meet a new human and can see that Maki is no longer a child, and Takahiro is planning on leaving, ready to be a man.

The days themselves pass, with joy, wonder melancholy and sometimes, whether it be a mysterious record, the flight of a bird-like ship passing over in the sky, or mysterious black sugar, Alpha touches something deep and moving in the world, feeling it intensely.

Time marches on, people, come and go, but Alpha is running her cafe, for now, and welcoming guests as they pass through. Very likely, we will never know the answers to the questions this series poses but it doesn’t matter. Have a cup of coffee, contemplate life and watch the grass blow.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 1 pinups of Alpha are drawn with love, not service
Yuri – 6

Overall – 9

The final volume is headed our way in August. I’m as ready for the end of the world as I can be.

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Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – May 18, 2024

May 18th, 2024

A blue silhouette of a girl with a white flower in her hair, embracing the earth. Blue block letters read YNN Yuri Network News. Art by Lissa P. For Okazu.Yuri Manga in English

The Moon on a Rainy Night, Volume 5 is headed our way this month. It’s up on the Yuricon Store, but more links to come, as it’s not yet up on CR or Bookwalker Global.

Coming up from Tokyopop is Yomogimochi’s weirdly titled Boys Gilding The Lily Shall Die!?, Volume 1. Let me talk about this a little bit. Tokyopop had this initially listed as “Boys Interfering With Yuri Shall Die!?” and I completely understand why they went with that, but neither title has anything at all to do with the story.

At Comitia this year I picked up a sample doujinshi of the first couple of chapters of this story. I was interested because the premise of girls in band always interests me, but the title was so weird and the description focused on the wrong thing too, so I had passed when it first came out in Japanese. But at Comitia I picked it up and it was what I thought it might be. So the story is about Katagiri, a very, very serious trumpet player and Aikawa, who transfers in and takes the top position. Aikawa has a boy friend. He is not important to the story, really. But Aikawa and Katagiri begin to have a rivalry/something else thing going on that is quite good and tense. Ignore the title and just get the book.

 

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 Yuri Manga in Japanese

While we’re adding stuff by Kuzushiro-sensei, we’ve added Kimi no Tamenara Shineru, Volume 11 (姫のためなら死ねる) her “historical” fantasy about life in the Heian court with Sei Shonagon and Murasaki Shikibu.

Galette, No. 29  (ガレット) is also up on the Store, as is a collection of manga from the magazine by Uno Jinnia, called Mokuyoubi Ice Cream Morning + Night (木曜日のアイスクリーム 朝＋夜).

Kashikaze’s Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai, Volume 6 (ロンリーガールに逆らえない)  completes the set in Japanese. I reviewed Volume 1 of I Can’t Say No To The Lonely Girl in April.

Kodama Naoko’s current manga in Comic Yuri Hime, Usotsuki Hanayome to Dousei Kekkon-ron, Volume 1 (嘘つき花嫁と同性結婚論), is about a lesbian whose life is upended when a woman she used to crush on leaves her husband and asks to stay with her.

Via Comic Natalie, we have another (!) fantasy series starting in Comic Yuri Hime, but also a historical series set in the Taisho period, with  “Muryoku Seijo to Munou Oujo ~ Maryoku Zero de Shoukansareta Seijo no Isekai Kyuukokuki ~” (無力聖女と無能王女～魔力ゼロで召喚された聖女の異世界救国記～) a story of a summoned” saint” with no power and a princess who cannot use her power, and “Kanaria wa Kiraboshi no Yume o Miru” (カナリアは綺羅星の夢をみる), a romantic story set in the Taisho period about Fumino, a female student who dreams of pursuing a career in fashion, and a high-class prostitute who becomes her model…and I am really hoping that one rocks.

 

Yuri Manga in Spanish

Via Arai Sumiko-sensei’s X account, The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All, Volume 1 is now available in Spanish for Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, México and Perú. I find it kind of interesting that this Spanish-language translation is going with the English-language title.

 

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Yuri Interview

Via Staff Writer Matt Marcus, here is an interview with Tamifull, creator of How Do We Relationship in Japanese on 47 News, Don’t miss out! Masterpiece depicting love between college students: 10,000-word interview with Tamifull.

 

Yuri Novel

Via YNN Correspondent MakiPeakSpider, Libery Pub has a an English translation of Thai GL novel Petrichor Rust In the Rain,  available on Thai novel sites, Meb, Naiin and Mareads.

 
Yuri Live Action

Via Comic Natalie, we have key visual for the Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau stage play!

 

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Kitanhana Monogatari (綺譚花物語)

May 16th, 2024

3 f/f couples playing on a painted flowered background representing 3 of the 4 stories in the collection.A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of reviewing a book on Yuri history in Taiwan by Baihe novelist 楊雙子 Yáng Shuāngzǐ. Today I am reviewing the Yuri manga written by Yang and illustrated by 星期一回收日​, Monday Recover. Originally published in Chinese, this book has also been translated into Japanese through a crowdfunding effort. Kitanhana Monogatari (綺譚花物語) is a speculative historical fiction and a unique Yuri work.

Each story combines a dual time frame Taisho period Taiwan and the modern day, through a supernatural element of some kind, and the deep intimacy of two women, that manifests in multiple ways.

In the first story “Chijou nite Eien ni” Eiko’s ancestor, who died at about the age she currently is, is about to be married off in a Ghost Marriage, to an elderly male relative. She’s no more happy about it than Eiko is at the prospect of marrying in the mortal realm.

“Otome no Inori,” was probably my favorite story and also the very much most disturbing. Li Fu and Mari are close friends, when Mari take the fallen antler of a water deer. Instead of returning it, she takes it home and slowly, is transformed. Water pools at her feet all the time, her skin streams with moisture, and eventually she begins to grow antlers. She falls ino a stupo and Li Fu must find out how to return her friend’s humanity.

“Koyonaki Tori” is a long, nuanced tale of, Yan Li, the only daughter of the Lin Family. Her father’s concubine, Lan Ying, tries desperately to free her from the family curse because she is in love with Li, but also to free herself.

And the final story “Wúfǎ Xíngróng De ōngxī~Yumenokaiyoiji~” is a modern day romp between a researcher and a myseterious woman who seems to know every historical and mysterious place in Taichung.

I loved the overarching feel of not-quite-this-world-ness about the stories. Each one had a different tone, but most of them also have an underlying darkness that has to be addressed, whether it is because of the kinds of lives women were expect to live, or the liied option they were givens, or some other piece of the story.  As for the Yuri, whether you will view a ghost and her many-times granddaughter as Yuri, or not, the couples here are deeply intimate and love of several kinds apply.

The art, too, adds layer of complexity and beauty to each of the stories. For a while, I believed that the stories must have all had different artists, as the styles differ considerably, but, no. Incredible artistic work by an artist new to me.

Ratings:

Stories – 8
Art  – 9
Characters  – 9
Service – No, but also sometimes yes.
Yuri – Complicated to score, because the relationships differ, but let’s go 8 anyway

Overall  – 9

Kitanhana Mongagatari is a nuanced and unique look at Yuri, Taiwanese history and supernatural beliefs all in one neat little package. Highly recommended.

If you’d like to read samples of the stories, they are available in Chinese on CCC Webcomics.

 

 

 

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