Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Otome Ouji ~ Joshikou Manken Host Club

January 14th, 2010

When I first came across Otome Ouji ~ Joshikou Manken Host Club (乙女王子~女子高漫研ホストクラブ~), I laughed. After all, when you buy a series called “Maiden Prince – Girls’ High School Manga Research Society Host Club” you pretty much have to know what you’re getting in to. Unfortunately, the heroine, Hinoya, doesn’t. ^_^

Hinoya enters Momohana Girls’ High School looking forward to joining the manga club, because she was very active in her middle school club and enjoyed it quite a lot. To her disappointment, she finds that the Momohana Manga Research Society meets in a dilapidated (and possibly toxic) shed on the roof. The club is run by a sempai named Kondou; Utagawa-sempai and Akira-sempai are the sole members. They have no materials, no ambition and, as the story opens, they learn that they have no budget. The VP of the student council arrives to let them know, and soundly denounces them for sucking.

Kondou reacts with cleverness – if they find out her weak point, maybe they can convince the VP to come around. They learn that she loves boy idols and decide to open the manga club up as a host club.

Their first attempt fails so horribly that the VP decides to disband them utterly but, after some research, they transform themselves and their shed. Utagawa-sempai is transformed into Marcello, Hinoya is the cute boyish Michel and Akira, whose silence seemed off-putting as a girl becomes the enchantingly silent Rodriguez. The shed is likewise transformed into an intimate and luxurious setting. Their efforts pay off as the Council VP announces that she’s secured them funding – as long as she has exclusive rights to time with Rodriguez.

As the Host Club becomes more and more popular, the VP is having major issues. She’s starting to get jealous of the girls paying attention to Akira. Eventually she confesses that she wants to go out with her. With the others as shadow chaperones, Akira and the VP have a date together that ends with the VP confessing her feelings for Akira. Akira accepts the feelings but says that she doesn’t want to be lovers – she’d really like to be friends, though. The VP and she embrace and head off – as friends – to finish their date.

The Manken Host Club celebrates a successful school festival, but find themselves called to the Student Council’s office immediately after. Nervous, they get ready to be told they are being disbanded after all. The Council President shows her true colors when she tells them that they can continue…but they have to let her join, she says, wearing a decidely Rose of Versailles-esque uniform. Insert silly noise of your choice here.

This one-shot volume was fun. It was funny, a teeny little bit touching and overall extremely goofy – exactly what one would expect from a manga with such a silly title. The whole thing felt like exactly what it was – a tapenade made from popular memes du jour, tossed in the blender with a few handwaves, mixed on “wtf” setting, taken with a grain of salt.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 6
Service – 2

Overall – 8

You get exactly what you pay for with this manga – so if what you want is a revisit of everything that’s popular all together at once, executed with some smarts and nerve, then this is a great choice for some light comic reading.





Yuri Manga: Sora-iro Girlfriend

January 11th, 2010

Hiromi is a tomboy. She prefers pants to skirts, likes to be physically active and, as a child watching Ribon no Kishi, she wanted to be that Princess Knight.

When a beautiful, but somewhat brusque, new student transfers into her class, Hiromi finds herself defending, then befriending Juli. Juli calls Hiromi “Romeo” and casts herself as Hiromi’s Juliette.

Hiromi is disturbed to find that she is on the one hand, caught up in Juli’s apparent delusion about them as a couple, while on the other, having actual feelings for the other girl. Juli’s behavior is not in any way helping as she alternately voids Hiromi’s boundaries while simultaneously drawing clear battle lines around the two of them, cutting Hiromi off from the rest of her friends.

When the school festival rolls around, it’s no surprise that Hiromi is Romeo and Juli is Juliette in their class play. Hiromi finds herself increasingly uncomfortable being cast as a “prince” by the people around her, even though that was what she wanted for herself as a child. She does want to be with and protect Juli, but she also wants to be seen as Hiromi and not some construct, “Romeo.”

During the death scene in the play, Juli kisses Hiromi, who reacts wth surprised violence. Mortified, Hiromi stays home from school until her best friend Maki comes to collect her some days later. She finds Juli has become the center of a storm of harassment and abuse in her absence. When Hiromi shows up, Juli’s emotional damn breaks and Hiromi rushes to hold and comfort her. The rest of the class can only watch as Hiromi and Juli become an actual couple, despite the rumor and innuendo.

Juli’s behavior is no less delusional, but now Hiromi is willing to give in more, since she’s decided that she definitely wants Juli. After Juli tearfully admits that she’ll be moving away at the end of the year, Hiromi and she spend the night together.

After graduation, Hiromi transfers into a new school – a traditional private girls’ school. Her boyishness is no less popular that it was, but she’s resigned to it. She’s told that a new student is transferring in but when she hears a shout of annoyance, disbelievingly, she runs into the next classroom to see Juli sitting there, her hair shorn – a way to keep Hiromi with her while they were apart. They go running out of the room to find a quiet place where they reuinite with a kiss.

So, yes, this had a happy ending, but it wasn’t all that enjoyable. Juli’s lack of respect for Hiromi’s boundaries and manipulative behavior made it hard for me to ever really believe she was in love with Hiromi. Instead, I kept feeling as though she never really saw the real Hiromi at all and was only in love with the Romeo she’d made up in her head. Hiromi’s feelings were equally as difficult to accept, because I can’t be really happy about her falling in love with someone so high maintenance and, well, crazy. I’ve seen this in real life and yes, the relationship can go on for decades, but it isn’t going to be pretty…and everyone around it is *doomed.*

Just about the only thing I really liked was the balance in the beginning scene, as Hiromi is told of a cool new transfer student by her friend Maki and the final scene in which her new henchgirl in the new school tells her about the cool new transfer student.

Sora-iro Girlfriend (空色ガールフレンド) is another collection of a Yuri Hime cell phone comic. Unlike the others, it’s low on the sex, but makes up for it with no-less-creepy-for-being-realistic Lesbian Drama.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 5
Characters – 5
Yuri – 8
Service – 2

I’m not loving this batch of the cell phone comics. This manga was the best of them…. /sob/





Poor Poor Lips, (プアプアLIPS), Volume 2

January 10th, 2010

In Volume 1 of Poor Poor Lips (プアプアLIPS), we met Okashi Nako, a young woman who is struggling with crippling poverty and Otsuka Ren, the Lesbian owner of a crystal shop at which Nako is employed.

Volume 2 starts with a slightly tiresome series of gags in which we reaffirm that Nako is so poor she has no phone, has never seen a computer and, with no TV or radio has no knowledge of the Internet. But this is not just random wallowing as we learn, because it shows us that despite her poverty, Nako is endlessly positive and is a little worried that Ren spoiling her will lead to her no longer being able to live happily.

Things come to a head when Ren invites Nako to accompany her to Nagoya for a crystal show. They stay at a top hotel and Nako really starts to worry about being able to remain comfortable with her real life. She asks Ren to stop spoiling her, which precipitates a horrible misunderstanding during which Nako goes missing. When they are reunited, Ren embraces Nako tearfully and begs her to allow her to spoil her, because she really likes Nako. Nako, finding an unexpected warmth and comfort in Ren’s arms, gives in.

Nako starts to worry about her feelings for Ren, but Ren is glad to offer whatever would make Nako happy, and so they begin to embrace in public.

In Volume 1, we also met one of Nako’s former classmates, Fukui, who runs a cake shop down the street. He likes Nako and worries that she’s being seduced by the evil lesbian. He makes himself tiresome and insulting, but Nako defends her relationship with Ren and, in any case, only likes Fukui for his cakes.

All of this becomes really important when Ren’s mother invites her home to attend a O-miai. Ren tells Nako that her mother knows that she is a lesbian but, frankly, doesn’t care. Nako offers to come with Ren and pretend to be her lover to convince her mother to back off.

Ren’s mother quizzes Nako and eventually says that, if Nako is truly a good lover for Ren, she’ll stop asking her to get married. They continue their play acting – which for Ren is getting closer and closer to being truth. Nako won’t back down even when a private eye follows her, and when Ren’s mother offers to pay off the enormous debt the death of her parents left her with (thus explaining her ongoing poverty.) When Nako remains steadfast, Ren’s mother sends them a message that she can see that they mean a lot to one another, but she really doesn’t buy that Nako’s not in it for the money – so she cuts Ren off.

Ren closes the store and moves in with Nako, and learns just what it means to be poor. What she would have fed her cat as a snack is suddenly dinner for both of them. But she also learns about Nako’s life and all the people in town who help her by saving the ends of vegetables and the crusts of bread for her.

Fukui continues to be annoying but he relents enough to hire both Nako, as a chef, and Ren, as a salesperson. And, as much as he blusters and carries on, it’s Ren that Nako looks at when she’s happy.

And it looks like we’re going to get a Volume 3.

Sorry for the long synopsis – but I think it’s really worth taking time to talk about this manga. It was a series I was very opposed to, because of the loli look to it, but the first volume very much surprised me – and Volume 2 has really blown me away.

Ren is portrayed realistically. Yes, she likes Nako, no she is not jumping her. Her feelings are real, are complex and for her, her friendship with Nako is more important than any fictitious relationship she might wish for.

Nako’s poverty explained (pretty much what I guessed) was one thing, but the whole storyline with her asking not to be spoiled, then accepting Ren when she was cut off into her life was…well, really good.

Fukui is horrible, but he represents the everyman perspective, spewing every nasty, tedious thing there is to say about lesbians, only to be shut down by Nako’s support of Ren. By the time he repeats himself the thirtieth time, he’s starting to look pretty obnoxious in the face of Ren and Nako’s friendship.

Will Volume 3 bring Mom around and put Ren and Nako back into their real lives? I really hope so. I will certainly get it because wherever the story goes, it’s sure to be surprisingly good.

Ratings:

Art – 6 for me, 8 for people who like the style
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 7
Service – 3

Overall – 9

This makes my third license request for the year – Yen, *this* is a good 4-koma. Please bring it over now, thanks.





Yuri Manga: Aoi Hana, Volume 4

January 7th, 2010

Aoi Hana (青い花) is, IMHO, a story about strength. Fumi may be gentle and quiet and a crybaby, but she is doing her best to be herself. It takes a lot of strength to do that at any age, but especially, especially in high school.

In Volume 4, the second year has begun for Fumi and Ah-chan and already the question of the school play is in the topic of conversation at both schools. When the play title was unveiled I have to admit, I did a double-take because, sure, Mishima Yukio is a classic Japanese writer, but I didn’t really think anything he wrote would be suitable for a high school play. Rokumeikan is a story of a clash of cultures, genders and expectations, so it’s actually a pretty great choice.

The Fujigaya Drama Club gains a new member, a loud, slightly scatterbrained first-year, Haruka, whose older sister is the friend of a teacher who is rumored to have a female lover. Ah-chan dies a few deaths as the gossip-mongers in her class go on about how it all grosses them out. Ah-chan’s seatmate, a tall girl who reminds her a lot of Fumi, saves her from having to swallow more bile. Ryouko and Ah-chan become friendly – Ryouko is even drawn into the Drama Club when her recitation of Rokumeikan for the Library Club is overheard.

Fumi too, is drawn back to into the Drama Club’s play, but her voice is too soft and her shyness too great, so she backs out – but not before she meets Ryouko, or Haruka.

Haruka lets slip to Fumi that she thinks her sister likes women. Fumi ponders the meaning of this and later that night confesses to Ah-chan that she had a physical relationship with Chizu – and that she wishes she had that same relationship with Ah-chan.

You see what I mean? Where Sasamekikoto is a series about Sumika’s inability to say anything, her weakness in the face of her feelings, Aoi Hana has Fumi facing up to her feelings and admitting them out loud. At any age, that takes a lot of strength.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 8
Yuri – 5
Service – 1

Overall – 8

This series is definitely on my license wish list for 2010. I’m looking at you, Vertical.





Yuri Manga: Comic Lily, Volume 1

January 1st, 2010

I’ve been agonizing over the spiritual symbolism of my first post this year.

Do I pick something tried and true and beloved, knowing that it will start the year off with warm fuzzies and a comfortable frame of mind?

Do I pick something not so good, as I frequently do? Since I end the year with the best, I like to contrast that with something laughably bad to start the year off with a snort and a reminder that we’re not out of the woods yet.

Do I pick something indifferent, to attempt to not be symbolic at all and because aside from what convention says, today is just another day and not at all symbolic?

Do I pick something new to start off the New Year and Decade with a thrill at the start of a new venture?

Or do I grab something random off the pile and hope I can make some symbolism soup out of it?

How about All of the Above? :-)

Yuri Manga Anthology Comic Lily has all of the qualities listed above. It is a new venture, that treads comfortable territory and is at times good, indifferent and bad.

The anthology cover gave me no hope that it would be good but, the first two stories, while not being original in any sense, had really strong art. The third story was both good art and an okay story, after which the anthology sort of lost me in the welter of loli, maids and other things that I find less than compelling. None of it was kill-me-now terrible, but none of it was standout wow, either.

Anthologies are difficult creatures – the publisher wants to provide great stories and art, but there’s a limited pool of people who can fulfill the requirements at any given time. And what you like and what I like may be (often are) different, so a good anthology has stories that cover a wide range of tastes. That means that out of ten stories, most people will only really like one or two. It makes it hard to judge an anthology without bias.

Knowing what it takes to put an anthology together, knowing that many of the best artists in the field are already working for other collections and knowing the many – often mutually exclusive – pressures are involved in an anthology, I’m going pretty easy on this one. This is not Tsubomi, which hit the ground running with experienced and well-known names and has only just started to blossom (yes, pun intended). Comic Lily, is more like Eternal Sisters (pre-Ichijinsha) or Yuri Monogatari – a sincere collection made with love. A veritable Great Pumpkin of Yuri. ^_^

So, no, it’s not stellar, but it’s not stab-my-eyes-out horrible. It’s the first volume of what I hope will one day will grow up into a fine Yuri anthology series.

And I guess that answers my question above huh? This year starts with…hope. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 6

Thanks to Okazu Superhero George R. who took some suggestions from my Amazon JP Wish List in order to sponsor this first review of the new year!