It has a been a few months since we took a look at the first Bloom Into You Anthology. Now, here we are with the the second and final volume the franchise, Bloom Into You Anthology, Volume 2.

Overall, I found this volume to be more entertaining than the first, with stories that interested me slightly more. As I never was a huge fan of Touko and Yuu as a couple, I was glad to see that this story focused a little on Sayaka and Yuu as mutuals of Touko, but not actually friends on their own. I also like that a few stories remember to include the rest of the club and Koyomi, a character I found way more interesting than our principals.

Completely unsurprisingly, the story I liked best remains the story with Sayaka and Miyako that begins with Sayaka doing a little everyday venting about Haru, in Six Years Later, Still By Your Side, by Yodokawa. What made this story appealing to me, is Miyako’s joy in watching her young friend being able to complain about her lover with a confidante. “Besides it’s nice. Getting to hear you complain about a partner of your own.” BAM. There is such power in having people to confide in. Whether it is for serious stuff or life’s little sillinesses, the entire reason I have an fondness at all for this series (other than Koyomi) is the fact that young, unsure, baby lesbian Sayaka just happened to have someone to talk to. That Miyako was willing to step into that role, really elevated what otherwise might have been a sad-lesbian-best-friend scenario.

Kiss & White Lily creator Canno also weighed in with a solid friendship story, which I quite enjoyed. I’m really all in for friendship between girls and women stories right now.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

If you enjoyed Bloom Into You, then there any number of stories which feel like spending more time with good friends. On the whole, I found this anthology a better bet than the first in both art and story. As I said in my review of this volume in Japanese, I only wish Maria-sama ga Miteru had come out now, in this golden age of Yuri, and we would have had all the anthologies in English and I would have been so, so happy. ^_^; But here e are, ready to say goodbye to the modern gateway Yuri series with a very pleasant little volume, spending tome with characters we like.

Today is a double-your-pleasure review, as I have both the Japanese and the English language collections of Boyish², the crowdfunded Butch x Butch Yuri Anthology to talk about!

The Japanese edition arrived first, so that was my first impression of the collection. I appreciated the variety of stories. A little fantasy, a little school life, a little adult life, a little comedy, a little tragedy, a little adventure… we got a nice mix. With 11 artists, I was able to really enjoy different interpretations of what “Boyish” (which is like cute butch, baby-dyke, you know…boyish) means to each creator. With butch x butch, some of the stories looked a little like a BL manga, but I felt that the emotions in the stories showed that even the most masculine characters were women.

The stories were pretty easy to read in Japanese…and then the English edition arrived! I was able to check my interpretations against what was a pretty solid translation. The lettering was easy to read and s/fx were translated, which freed me to re-read the volume, paying more attention to the art. Which was really a lot of fun.

I liked all the stories for different reasons. Nekobungi Sumire’s stories have a little whimsy, a little science fiction/fantasy. There were a couple of school life stories that didn’t go the way I expected and one or two that did. Mint’s dark fantasy story, “Sea Foam,” felt and looked so much like a MIST magazine story, that I instantly loved the art and adultness of the setup.

My two favorite stories come at the end of the book. Host Natsuo Mutsumi does a fantastic little coffee shop story that stars a black barrista, Gray, and her Japanese soon-to be girlfriend (spoiler!). They are absolutely adorable. I hope to see more of them. And Hanakage Alt flexes her love of muscled women in the final story, “I’ll Sculpt My Abs.”

The covers are the same for every edition, so you’ll get the same cute image from Akizora Sawayaka regardless of which edition you get. And you can order a poster with the cover image as well on the Booth.pm site. There are 4 editions available of this anthology, all with the same cover, so be careful when you order: Print editions in Japanese and English and digital editions of the same. Shipping for the print editions will need to be done through a shipping service, like Tenso. Booth.pm does not ship overseas. Which is why the ebook is a great choice – it’s an instant download. Last note – this book was crowdfunded, so there may be limited copies of the print version available.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

Obviously, if butch x butch is not your cup of tea, then this might not be to your taste. But as a filler for what I see as a huge gap in Yuri, I think this volume did a bang-up job. My congratulations and thanks to everyone who contributed!