Yurikam is exactly why I consider most of the Japanese Yuri blogs to be almost-completely useless in regards to finding good Yuri manga to read. I had no expectations going into this manga and still managed to be disappointed.

Yurikam (ゆりキャン), short for “Yuri Campus” (thank you kind person whose comment I cannot find, who corrected me on this) is an atrocious little story about a rich girl at a rich girl’s school whose rich father goes bust. Yurika is commanded by said father to become a sexual plaything so she can stay at the school. So, for money, food (mostly for food) and room, Yurika sexxors up the entire campus. Including the inexplicable “Ladies” (female biker gang) that show up.

Yurika stays with her dear friend Saori, who is in contention for the most passive-aggressive annoying friend ever. It’s obvious (but not interesting) that Saori has a thing for Yurika, but for some reason that is no reason denies it…and yet, is continually annoyed when Yurika is with some other woman. Really? STFU, Saori, please.

This volume ends with the horrifying thought that there’s going to be a sequel. The world is an unjust place.

Ratings:

Art – Far, far better than it deserved to be
Story – There really is nothing funnier that a girl being sold into sexual slavery, is there?
Characters – All dressed really badly
Yuri – Ya think?
Service – This is a manga only a Fanboy would love

Overall – Not the worst I’ve ever read, but not anything other than “bad.”  I give it a 3 and probably am being generous.

Once upon a time, there were two girls. They were princesses of a sort, each coming from a large, powerful crime syndicate. The two girls, despite everything, grew up and fell in love.When the one girl was engaged to the other’s brother to unite to two families, she instead killed him, setting her and the princess she loved at war with one another.

Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, meet marriage black, by Hashiba Hayase.

The story opens as Lilicia kills her betrothed and sets her and her beloved Lu-Chie at odds. Despite this, Lilicia visits Lu-Chie at night, pleading her love and on occasion, her lust.

The story is mostly Lu-Chie’s as we learn of the disdain with which she is treated by the head of her family, the loyalty her bodyguard feels for her and the hopelessness of her position as the daughter of the house that has been dishonored. Now, because of what happened, she kind of has to kill Lilicia for revenge.

That doesn’t happen.

Among the many large problems in this story is the lack of common sense between the two family heads. Neither one seemed to grasp the obvious, that if they just left the two girls to be together, they’d achieve the union of the two families that way….but no, they’d rather waste resources killing them both.

The end is, for what it’s worth, happier than Romeo and Juliet’s or Maria and Tony’s. Lilicia and Lu-Chie run away together, sleep together in a church – so that means they’re married, right? – and we’re left with an epilogue by Leon, Maria’s, erm, Lilicia’s ambiguously gendered sibling, to assure us that right now, they are out there somewhere, alive and happy.

Well, sure. Why not.

Ratings:

Art – 4 Those are the largest breasts I have ever seen outside a specifically large breast fetish story ever.
Story – 5 And they lived *happily* ever after.
Characters – 5 I sympathized most with the mooks who died for no reason
Yuri – 9
Service – 8 see above

Overall – I’ll be generous and say 5

And now… a Contest!

I have a pile of books here in the house I don’t really want to keep and don’t really want to sell. I’d like to find good homes for them. This is very much a “Get this Book out of my house!” contest so you *must* be 18 or over to enter. I’m going to reach into the pile randomly and send out books randomly, so you (and I) have no idea what you might get.

Here’s the contest. Write the first paragraph of a Yuri fairytale. “Once Upon A Time there was… What? Who? Why? Where? You tell us.

Note: Summaries of things that other people have written are not valid. I’m looking for your creativity. 


Those of you sent in things that said, “this is a manga” or “this is already written”…that’s not creative even a little. I want YOU to create an opening of a fairytale. I’m going to remove those entries and you can feel free to enter again with something original.

Funny, beautiful, smart, all have the same chance at winning. Basically…entertain me and get a book.

Leave your entry as a comment here. If you comment as Anonymous, can you give me a nickname or something so when I mention who won, you know it’s you Anon and not someone else Anon? Thanks.

Winners will be announced when I get around to it.

I’ve seen how clever and creative you all before so pull out the stops! Let’s hear the Great Yuri Fairytale opening!

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Daisuki: Hikaru and Sakura, by Tsukiishi, one of the two books I discovered in the Yuri section at Mandarake in Shibuya. Today, we’re looking at the second of these, Koigokoro (こいごころ), also by Tsukiishi.

Initially I remembered this book as a less-good Yuri romp than the other, and upon re-reading I see why. The first story, told in glossy color pages is practically Erica repellent. ^_^ However, the subsequent stories – which are all tales of love/lust between two girls with the ever-so-sexy addition of bodily fluids – were not quite as bad than I remembered.

I did strongly object to the one story where non-conconsensual sex leads to a realization of love…that was too BL trope-y for me, and the story that hinged on the color and length of a long-lost love’s hair was very ugh. (I can’t love you! Your hair is not the same color as I remember from 7 years ago! Um..what? Whatever.) On the good side, there’s the story about the star runner and her girlfriend…and had a nice little side story about the power of names; one quick manipulative piece about a semi-stable relationship and; a sweet tale of an otaku and her maid robot. (That last bit is meant to be read with only a hint of sarcasm.)

Surprisingly, I have one of the stories included in this collection in the form of a doujinshi. I presume it was given to me by Horai-san, as it was a very sweet confrontation between two girls and admission that their feelings are, in fact the same.

This “plot, what plot?” collection is rife with sex, but always (with the one exception) accompanied by love and an emphasis on sweet/cute rather than skanky. Unless you find sweet/cute feels skanky, as I do.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story -In every case the story is girl has sex with girl – 4
Characters – 4
Yuri – 9
Service – 10

Overall – 5

The art is far too moe for my taste, and I have a small pile here of things I keep meaning to give away, so this weekend, we’re doing a give-away. Let me think about what hoops I have to make you jump through to win some manga. ^_^

Hatsukoi Love Tectonics (初恋テクトニクス) by Camotang, is another Yuri manga collection of one- or two-shot stories that ran in Comic Yuri Hime.

The second story was the most interesting to me: Shion is a good student, a bit tactiturn, but when her classmates ask her to join them on a group date, she flat out says she’s not interested in meeting someone if they aren’t a woman. No surprise, this causes tons of gossip in the classroom. She’s basically ostracized until one day a rambunctious schoolmate walks in, shakes her hand and introduces herself as Maria – and, she confides, she is also gay. Come on out to the roof, Maria suggests, where we can eat lunch and talk. Shion hesitates, but eventually does join her. They become friends and, kind of unsurprisingly, Shion starts to have feelings for Maria. Perhaps a bit pat, but the happily-ever-after is not unwelcome.

The third story also skirts serious territory, when a girl is engaged to a guy by her father and given no choice in the matter. Luckily, she meets and falls for a girl in the park and although they say they are going to kill themselves, they really don’t. Once again a happily ever after is presumed.

Camotang’s art style is very heavy on the thick black lines, which occasionally gives it the feel of a woodcutting, but is otherwise simple and pleasant.

No stories here really get into deep territory, although a few skirt some serious topics. The girls get the girls and the biggest handwave is that everything is always perfectly fine in the end.

Ratings:

Art – 8, once you get used to it
Story – Variable, 7
Characters – The weakest thing in the book, characters aren’t all that strongly defined – 6
Yuri – 8
Service – 1

Overall – 7

As Story A” collections go, this one made for some entertaining reading and pleasing visuals.