Not So Shoujo Love Story, Volume 3

March 13th, 2026

In front of a page made from panels, showing valentine chocolates piled high on a desk, with an extremely pointy-chinned boy holding a rose, with a hold in his head where the background is ripped and an SD character of a blonde, making a silly face breaking through, a girl with short hair wearing a red knit scarf falls through the air, dropping boxes of chocolates and flowers, as that same background rips while she tries to grab it for support. Once again we are given a brilliantly fourth-wall breaking cover for Not So Shoujo Love Story, Volume 3 by Curryuku. Hanna literally rips through an image of alien, but inexplicably charismatic, Hansum, while Rei trips as the stereotypical background of a shoujo manga Valentine’s Day rips beneath her hands. The fact that such a gag-filled manga takes time to layer in symbolism in the cover is 10 out of 10

In Volume 2, Rei and Hanna both began to understand a very little bit about each other’s lives. Here in Volume 3 the powder keg of Valentine’s Day in high school sets them both on an inexorable path towards one another. 

As with previous volumes, there are endless riff on the tropes of shoujo manga, and homages to other media. Hansum’s Tuxedo Kamen moment is on point. Within this, there is a touching story about two lonely girls and all the absolute weirdos around them.  I’d say for every eye-rolling gag, there is at least one that made me chuckle.

By the end of this volume Rei has softened up a bit and is trying to not only understand Hanna more, but has begun to make other friends, something she is still unused to. The fact that she and Susan now speak of something other than Hanna is a huge step forward. Hanna, still trying hard to communicate her feelings to Rei, is starting to get through Rei’s walls. 

Again, Viz Media Originals is doing a fantastic, full-color, job with this manga. Cutuku’s art and writing is great and of course, we’re all rooting for Rei and Hanna.

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – Nope
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

As a paean to the stupidity of high school, the tropes of shoujo manga and the joy of Yuri romance, Not So Shoujo Love Story continues to be a very fun read.

 
 

 

 

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


One Night Yuri Love Yuri Anthology (ワンナイトラブ百合アンソロジー)

March 12th, 2026

A woman in business wear leans over and into another woman at a bar, as they clasp hands.This is the third similarly “one night stand” themed anthology I have read. Ichijinsha has done one which I found depressing, rather than entertaining, and I believe Kadokawa has done one as well. The fact that I have not reviewed these and can barely remember them indicates to me that I did not, particularly, enjoy them.

Now, Takeshobo’s Bamboo Comics has published One Night Yuri Love Yuri Anthology (ワンナイトラブ百合アンソロジー) and, generally, it was entertaining.

For the most part, the stories favored people who liked each other, did not have massive, uncomfortable power differentials and, except in one notable story, they end up happily, forming a deeper relationship.

The collection includes works by Yodogawa, Ikuta Hana, Ajiichi, Yukiko and other names we recognize.

Yodogawa’s story looks at two office rivals, Tsuzu Ran’s was about a woman who sleeps with the proprietor of the Izakaya she favors. Ikuta Hana offers up a fun and concerning office one night stand between an aggressive junior and her hapless superior (of course, or it would be power harassment.)

Ajiichi does something that I did think was notable, as it changes the end of a story I never like. Two childhood friends, one who is in love with the other, who is straight and constantly complaining about the men she dates. This is a very, tiresomely common plot for these anthologies. The straight girl gets drunk and says something that I would consider a friendship killer. As she kisses her long-suffering friend she says a line that is one of my least favorite lines in any media, “I wish men were like you.” At this point, the lesbian knows this is the wrong choice, but she sleeps with her friend…knowing this is the end of their friendship. Usually in stories like this, the lesbian is left and either ghosted or the straight friend pretends nothing happens.

Here, for the first time I have ever seen, the lesbian blocks her friend on her phone. Screaming at the unfairness, crying, but she yeets the woman who has kept her from moving on in her life, I cheered. It’s not easy to cut off a relationship of any kind, but to see a woman take back her life from someone who has been squandering it, felt like freedom.

Ratings:

Art – variable, but averaging 8
Stories – same
Service – shockingly little for the situation, some nudity and sexual situations
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8

So of the several one night stand anthologies I have read, this was the least unpleasant, and most empowering one. That it was from Takeshobo is really odd, as their Yuri tends to be Yuri-as-a-gag, or could-be-Yuri-could-be-something-else type stories. I hope they take the leap into genuine stories about Yuri (or even, gasp! lesbian!) life and love.

Posted in Yuri Anthology, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


I Wanna Be Your Girl, Volume 3

March 11th, 2026

Two people in Japanese style school uniforms, one in boy's uniform, one in girl's uniform, their head on their knees, sit on a school stairway.by Eleanor Walker, Okazu Staff Writer

We have now reached the penultimate volume of Umi Takase’s I Wanna Be Your Girl, and having also reviewed volumes 1 and 2 here on Okazu, this one is definitely the weakest of the three. One thing this series continues to excel at though, is portraying teenagers realistically. Hime is still headstrong in her convictions and her determination to protect Akira. Akira, meanwhile, just wants to be treated like one of the girls and be noticed by the senpai she has a crush on. At the end of volume 2, we start to delve into another character’s back story. Hamuro is another student who has a secret of his own. He cross dresses as a maid while working at a cafe near the school, and it’s revealed that he’s not trans like Akira but cross dresses to support his younger sister Momo who was bullied for being too cute.

I don’t really feel Hamuro adds very much to the story, and the whole starting cross dressing because your sister was bullied just seems a little too out there, especially for a seemingly cishet teenage boy. Fortunately, it’s not a big part of this volume. What we get after Hamuro though is something I’ve hoped would happen since volume 1, and that is Sasaki-sensei’s backstory. I mentioned in my review of that volume that “It seems though, that there is more to the teacher than first meets the eye. He sits Hime down for a talk one day, and it’s strongly suggested that he’s gone through something similar regarding identity in the past” He now reveals in a conversation with Akira that he is aromantic, and how he has suffered from not meeting society’s expectations too. I’m glad we got this segment, especially since in the afterword the author mentions that he was only supposed to appear briefly in chapter 2.

The rest of the volume is just more of what we’ve already seen before, Hime and Akira continue to misunderstand each other, side characters are used as sounding boards for the main characters to talk about their feelings and we’re not really any further forward with their relationship either.

I Wanna Be Your Girl is still an enjoyable series and I’m very glad it exists, but nothing new really happens in this volume, especially when compared to the previous two. I’m optimistic though that everyone will get their happy endings in the next and last volume, and I’ll be reading it to find out.

Ratings: 

Story – 6. This would be a point lower if we didn’t get Sasaki-sensei’s backstory.
Art – 6.
Characters – 7 Hamuro and his sister are unnecessary.
Service – n/a
LGBTQ — 10

Overall – 7 but again, probably an 8 if you’re a confused/closeted queer teenager looking for something to relate to.

Posted in Eleanor W, English Manga, I Wanna Be Your Girl, LGBTQ, Takase Umi | No Comments »


Just Between Us

March 9th, 2026

A woman in a black and gold skating costume twirls on the ice, mirrored by a women in white in the ice.Lydia Chen is driven. She’s driven to be the absolute best female skater in the world, and she doesn’t really care who gets hurt in the process. When Elaine Yee begins to seriously be a rival for the top spot, it throws Lydia into a downward spiral that will call into question everything she believes…by making her realize she doesn’t really believe in anything at all, not even herself. Elaine just wants to be friends, Lydia just wants to be left alone to skate. Their rivalry will push them both past a breaking point where they will have to find something to hold on to.

Just Between Us, Adeline Kon’s sapphic ice skating story landed on my feed just as Alyssa Liu was completing her own redemption arc at the Olympics in what is the finest women’s free skate performance I have ever seen in my life. It seemed kismet, as I’m always hoping for a good Yuri rivals-to-lovers sports story. Just Between Us is not exactly what I am looking for, but it is very good.

To begin with Lydia and Elaine are both in theirs 20s but Lydia, especially, comes off as extremely immature. After a decade of competing, her inability to grow from loss felt very childish. This works well, if the story you want is athletes struggling with inner demons. Lydia’s inner demons have been winning for a very long time when we meet her. Elaine is a bit more sympathetic, as her struggles have not served to twist her. She holds her hand out over and over to Lydia. It isn’t until a common enemy appears that Lydia suddenly realizes that she’s the problem here.

If you are looking for a rivals to lovers story driven by deep emotions, delving into family obligations, scandal and expectations, you will love this book.

The art is really expressive. I especially loved the different-colored patterns of skating and the stop motion graphs of the jumps. It felt very much like a book with its hands thrust right into the foundations of woman’s competitive ice skating. The font size is occasionally small, but the art is worth it.

While I was hoping for a story in which the competition itself took the place of the tension between them, I do genuinely believe this is a solid book about athletes, competitive pressure and finding both ones’ self and love in that world.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 10
LGBTQ – 9

Overall – 8

The cover is the best example of this, but there is a very Odile/Odette vibe between these two skaters, in the sense of a story I wrote a long time ago. I thought the costuming choice was a good one.

Posted in Western Comic/Comix | 2 Comments »


A Scandal in Yuri Publishing & Important Statement

March 8th, 2026

This was not the post I expected to write today. It’s pretty brutal that this is going out on International Women’s Day.

CW for CSA, Suicide, Online Harassment

It has come to my attention that a Yuri science fiction author in Japan has embroiled the Yuri community in a scandal. To begin with, I received an email today with an “investigative report” about an author going by the name of Namboku. The report stated that this author, though having a partner, allegedly deceived a fan in order to have an affair and, when she found out, threatened her. The fan has subsequently committed suicide and the author has been deleting posts on their socials. The Yuri community in Japan is outraged in part because of the lack of reaction by the author’s publishers. On X, people are speaking out plainly about this situation.

None of Namboku’s work is licensed in English, but that is not a good reason for us to ignore this. 

In the week after the Manga One scandal at Shogakukan, (and the whole Epstein files cesspit on the political stage) fans are taking a stand against systems that protect predators.  

You know that we say Yuri is by anyone and Yuri is for everyone here, but equally, it needs to be said that the global Yuri community stands up for women.  Whether it is book publishing, manga, companies, or governments, any and every  system that protects predators deserves to be destroyed. 

What can we do as readers? Well, we can write publishers. I wrote one of several emails already to a Japanese publisher this morning. Others will be going out. I want them to understand that the global Yuri community is watching and we see how they side with predators through silence and inaction.  

The inevitable criticism will be that if I feel so strongly about this, why am I not doing the same about my own government. I assure you, I am. I contact my government representatives regularly to let them know what must be done. I contact and criticize companies that enshrine bias and give my money to companies that normalize equality and opportunity for people to thrive. In so far as I am able, I spend every day mobilizing to save what we can of our future.

We might not have buying power in Japanese science fiction on our own, but our voices can and should be in union against men who abuse women. The Yuri community is for all women, everywhere, whether they are Japanese, Iranian, Palestinian, American, cis or trans. 

We ask that publishers reject people (whether creators or staff) who do not show women respect. We’re done with horrible men being promoted and protected. Namboku’s actions are personal, but his publishers’ actions or lack thereof, are a public statement.

Yuri can be by anyone and can be enjoyed by everyone, but we Yurijin demand that Yuri artists and publishers respect women.
 

 

Posted in Yuri Network News | 6 Comments »