Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Poor Poor Lips (プアプアLIPS), Volume 3

December 20th, 2011

At the end of Poor Poor Lips, Volume 2, we left Nako and Ren living in poverty.

At the beginning of Poor Poor Lips (プアプアLIPS), Volume 3, nothing has changed. Except that with summer being so terribly hot, and them not owning a refrigerator or even a fan, much less an air conditioner, life is becoming intolerable. When they get a bonus from Fukui-san, they are at least able to buy a second futon for Ren…but immediately realize that they’ve grown comfortable sleeping together. The year passes with small victories and small losses, but that’s not what’s bothering Ren.

Yes, Ren is physically uncomfortable, but what’s really gnawing at her is the debt Nako seems to be eternally paying off. What could possibly be the reason? When she can’t take it any more, she finally asks…and is told a truly terrible story.

When Nako was a teen, her parents died, leaving her with nothing. A man approached her after their funeral to let her know that he paid for the funeral. When she got older, he told her, she could pay the cost of the loan off. As Ren instantly suspects, this loan is at usurious rates and Nako can never pay it off. In desperation to free Nako from this burden, Ren goes back to her mother and offers to return home and marry whomever her parents chose for her, if Mom will end this horrible loan.

Which, she does. Otsuka Nei, Ren’s mother, brings a camera crew with her, to ensure that not only will this man never bother Nako again, but he will never attempt another scam like that. With her debt removed, Nako goes to sleep that night unable to imagine what her life will be like….

…until she wakes up and finds that Ren is gone. Nako, who has smiled through years of grinding poverty, breaks down completely, wailing Ren’s name.

Upon waking the next day, Nako is visited by Wakatsuki, Ren’s family’s retainer and is given a chance to see Ren again…as a maid for the Otsuka family. And so, Nako leaves her life behind. Being a maid is hard work, but she’s there for Ren. Ren wakes up in her bed at home and is shocked to her core to see Nako there.

Both Nako and Ren internally acknowledge their affection for one another and also acknowledge to themselves that Ren will have to marry someone. The books ends at that supremely unsatisfying spot, with me unclenching my teeth through sheer force of will.

I have only this to say, if Nei does not give in in Volume 4, I am likelier than I have ever been to write a displeased letter to a mangaka. I mean okay, Nako’s debt is gone and they are together, sort of, and okay, Volume 4, but ggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 4

Overall – 8

I didn’t like the way this volume played out at all, but I’m deeply engaged with the story, so I have to still call it “good.” I can’t but help be disappointed, I was hoping for a volume ending on a positive note. Now I have to hope Volume 4 makes it up to me and have to wait 10 months until it’s out to even know. Grrrrrrrr.





Yuri Manga: Renai Joshika (レンアイ女子課), Volume 2

December 11th, 2011

joshika2In Volume 1 of Renai Joshika (レンアイ 女子課) we were introduced to Arisu and Saki, two women who work at a bridal services company. Arisu and Saki fall in love, as one of the two major plots in the first volume.

In Volume 2, they are still going out, and things are looking very rosy for them both. Until Saki’s former girlfriend comes back into her life. Kimiko is a manga artist and, so overwhelmed was she by deadlines, she simply stopped communicating. Now that her project is done, she’s ready to pick up where she and Saki left off. Only Saki, after hearing nothing from Kimiko for so long, has moved on.

In the middle of the book, we turn to a side story about two other staff members – Ai and Sae. I really liked Ai, because she was the most genuinely grumpy, ill-tempered character I’d ever read in a manga. But then she falls in love with Hato-chan and got less grumpy and less interesting.

We then turn back to Saki and Arisu. Arisu offers Saki the option of seeing both of them, but Saki decides that the girl who is kind to her is better than the girl who forgets to call her for months at a time and decides that she wants Arisu after all.

The love stories were sweet, but the most interesting thing about the volume in my opinion, is the discussion about same-sex marriages, from the perspective of “How cool, we’d be able to design and sell two wedding dresses!” I thought that a pleasantly commercial perspective, rather than focusing on non-existent rights, let’s just talk money!

As with all of Morishima Akiko-sensei’s work, everyone is utterly adorable, even in their darkest moments. She captures the rosy-cheeked innocence beloved by so many of the Yuri audience right now, but, her characters are definitely adult. As a result, I’m kinda hoping that her work is on the table for an anime next. Yes, not schoolgirls, but look, so cute!

Anyway.

I love the discussion of same-sex marriage, sans political or social ramifications. I like the characters. I’m not personally moved to flights of fancy about weddings or wedding dresses, but I love that the story is out there for people who are.

Ratings:

Art – Cute! 8
Stories- Fun and Cute! 9
Characters – Adult and Cute! 9
Yuri – Sexy and Cute! 10
Service – Cute fanservice only! 2

This is how Yuri advances the cause of same-sex relationships, one hideously adorable chapter after another. Good job, Morishima-sensei!





Yuri Manga: Fu~Fu (ふ~ふ), Volume 1

December 2nd, 2011

If Yuri Danshi was written to give Yuri Fanboys a taste of what it feels like to have one’s emotions parsed uncomfortably closely, then Minamoto Hisanari’s Fu~Fu (ふ~ふ) was clearly written to explain important things about lesbian relationships to those same Fanboys in the cutest possible manner.

We are introduced to Kinana and Sumi, who have just begun living together after having been a couple for some time. Now that they are living together, they talk about what to call each other, since “lover” no longer is enough. Kinana asks if she can be Sumi’s bride, but that doesn’t feel right either (although Sumi does use “hanayome” 花嫁 later in the chapter.) Eventually Kina suggests a homonym for the word fuufu, which represents husband and wife, 夫婦. Since they are both wives, they should be called fufu, 婦婦. (So, technically a neologism and not really a homonym, since fuu and fu aren’t pronounced the same, but I don’t suppose that anyone but me cares about that.)

The second chapter of this volume is by far and away my favorite. If you are a regular reader, you know how much I long to read stories that focus on domestic life of an established couple. And, perhaps,  you know about my fondness for my big pluffy bed. So to have a chapter in which Su-chan and Kina go out to buy a pluffy bed of their own makes me happy beyond words. The fact that it’s a brutally adorable chapter helps.

Sumi and Kina go on a honeymoon, we meet Kina’s big gay sister Kanana, and their equally gay neighbors Hayase and Komugi. Every chapter is filled to the brim with appallingly cute lesbians.Of course no one uses the “l” word, but Hayase and Komugi do state plainly that they are lovers. Close enough.

The final two chapters are stories that ran in ES-Eternal Sisters, Volume 1 and Volume 2, from back in 2004 and 2005.

What I said in my original comments on Fu~Fu stands – this manga is important. Using moe art and adorable characters, this series quietly, cutely teaches Yuri Danshi what a lesbian relationship looks like, what is important to us, what daily life is like.

My personal favorite scene is the beginning of chapter 3, when Sumi announces work is over, and Kina points out how patient she’s been. They both stare at each other and throw their arms up…and give each other a great big hug. I mean, really. How cute/real is that? That kind of thing totally happens in my house nearly every day. (No, that is not sarcasm. I mean it.)

So, if no one I know was pining for a glimpse into the inner life of a Yuri Fanboy, almost everyone I know has been waiting with anticipation for a series like this, in which a lesbian couple is portrayed with honesty, affection and healthy dollop of cute.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Character – 10
Lesbian – 10
Service – 5

Overall – 9

Fu~Fu  is *so* close to perfect, Minamoto-sensei deserves heaps of praise. I’d like more of this please!





Yuri Manga, Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) November 2011

November 22nd, 2011

The The November issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) starts off, as it has for the past issues since its rebirth, with a chapter of “Girls Uprising” by Fukami Makoto. In this chapter, the (relatively) happy couple of Sayaka and Chisato are split so Chisato can go play prince to Hyoko’s Rapunzel…even though she’s not in the tower anymore. Oh, and of course she and Tatsuki were a couple previously, because this entire world only has 6 people in it. /facepalm/ This chapter thoroughly vexed me. I would very much like to see one of the many guns mentioned in the story take Chisato out. Unfortunately, this appears to be the last chapter of this story. Both cover art and layout change with the next volume. Meh.

In “Fu~Fu,” Kinana and Su-chan are about to celebrate their first anniversary together. Kina and Hayase head out to buy some food, when inexplicably (and I mean that sincerely) a strange woman approaches Kinana and tells her that she’s fallen in love with her. Kina runs home to Su-chan’s arms. Readers are left with a question mark floating over their heads comically.

“Tsuushin Omachishite Orimasu” (erm, “You’ve Got Mail” basically…) by Takemiya Jin was predictably adorable, with a love/like/hate triangle that intersects at different angles in real life and online.

The final chapter of “Ame-iro Kochakan Kandan” was lovely, as expected. I teared up and everything. Then I teared up again at the unfairness of the world that only allowed 2 volumes of this work to exist in it. It was, nonetheless, a gentle, lovely end to this gentle, lovely series. Sob.

“Sakashima Cinderella” was a bent little story of a girl asking another out, for all the right reasons, but going about it the wrong way.

Amano Syuninta’s got a new series about college students and their various affairs. The first chapter was awkward and I liked it quite a bit. ^_^

Sakamoto Mano has an longish short story about an idol and her former partner in a two-person idol group. This was an excellent self-contained non-linear story. I very much hope we get a continuation of this. I’d like to know what happened to Nako after she and Eriko were split up.

In “Love Gene DNA XX” Aoi is worried about Sakura kissing Erika, and Erika is worried about Sakura’s friendship with Aoi. Aoi is getting very close to figuring out what the feeling she’s feeling for Sakura is….

“Yuri Danshi”…I just can’t quite figure this series out. I’m still not sure if it’s meant to explain the life of a Yuri Fanboy to the women who read this magazine or explain Yuri in a larger context to the Yuri Fanboys that read the magazine. Or, it it an elaborate joke by Kurata Uso on both sides? In this chapter Hanadera and a strange man in a book store have an otaku-off and Hanadera has to confront the fact that he was born to be a Yuri Fanboy.

“Renai Joshikka” wraps up what will no doubt be the second (and final? I don’t know, the line-up for the next volume isn’t up on the website yet) volume. Arisu helps Saki confront her former girlfriend. One-upping Seriho and Sarasa, they promise to be together for 60 years. ^_^

As always, these are not all the many stories in this volume, just the ones I though worth mentioning. The magazine seems comfortably split between adult and schoolgirl stories right now and I’m really pleased with it overall. I hope they keep it right about here for a while.

Ratings:

Overall – 8





Yuri Manga: Private Lesson (プライベート　レッスン)

November 11th, 2011

You may remember a volume of manga licensed and released by Seven Seas called Voiceful by nawoko, a collection of stories that ran in Yuri Shimai and Yuri Hime magazines. This was a collection that skirted lightly on the side of Yuri, but was deeply embedded in the idea of music.

Private Lesson (プライベート　レッスン), the new Tsubomi collection also by nawoko is slighly more Yuri and just as much about music as ever.

The main story follows Tamago and her older cousin, Toriko, who teaches her how to play the piano. Tamago is suffering with a crush for Tori-neechan, but doesn’t really have any idea what it is she’s feeling. Quite accidentally, Tamago is made aware of another person with a crush on Tori-neechan. As a result, Tamago is introduced to the complex world of adult relationships, which always seem cool when you’re a kid, until you learn that adults don’t have a clue.

The story about Tamago and Toriko is all right as a first crush story, but there’s an easter egg in this collection. Tamago has a classmate who doesn’t speak much, and who was also was being taught piano by Toriko. Ryuuhara had difficulties bringing herself to speak when she was young and we can see that she’s not a big talker now. In a flashback we see that the girl next door, Miki, was able to pull her out of her shell – and they now have a relationship that goes beyond just being friends.

The real love story here, though, as it was in Voiceful, is music. While we don’t get essays on music, we can easily see that what nawoko loves best is the joy on the face of someone playing music beautifully.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7, Ryuuhara’s side story was a nice bonus – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – 7
Series – 2

Overall – 7

Private Lesson will not probably blow your socks off with “wow”, but that isn’t what nawoko does. Let the story flow, like the strains of Diane Walsh playing Schubert’s Sonata in A Minor as I am doing as I write this review. That’s about right. ^_^

Afternote: I just learned that this piece was featured in Nodame Cantabile, too. That makes it even more perfect.