Teiji ni Ageretara, Volume 4 ( 定時にあがれたら)

February 10th, 2021

As Teiji ni Ageretara, Volume 4 ( 定時にあがれたら) opens, we find ourselves in a story that is  so grounded in reality that it seems almost magical.^_^

Kaori and Kayoko have been dating for a year now and they are genuinely happy together. In a lot of recent manga,  we’d skip to the end of the story at this point, and just have a wedding. But, we must understand that this story isn’t about fictional happily-ever-afters, it about two adult women in what looks very like the real world.

In this volume, Kaori formalizes their relationship by giving Kayoko a key to her apartment. Kayopko is adorable as she enters her lover’s apartment on her own for the first time. Then, more critically, Kaori takes the risk of her life as she comes out to her friends; the same friends with whom she had been unable to be wholly honest a few volumes previously. I have to give Kaori’s friends point for their reaction – they are surprised, but not stupid and now her previous reticence makes sense to them. One friend is worried about coming off as insensitive, and it seems like we’re going to have one of “those” scenes…but no. Once they know, they are all in on giving Kaori good anniversary present advice. It’s a nice scene in a series full of nice scenes.

Their anniversary is a festive occasion. The two discuss moving in together one day. As the final pages of this series arrive, Kayoko and Kaori are two adult women in love, building a life together. No, there is no fairy-tale wedding, but that’s not what this story was ever about, really. This story is about a couple navigating the kinds of hurdles that are common to most couples, with the additional stress point of coming out.

Inui-sensei’s art has pulled together beautifully here. While there is intimacy, it never feels as if there is service.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 Relatable
Characters – 8 Same
Service – 1
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8

I’m delighted to remind you that you can read this series – legally, for free, from Manga Planet as If We Leave on the Dot. It’s a lovely series that gives one hope for both Jousei and Shakaijin Yuri, modeling happy, healthy relationships between people who are accepted and loved by the people around them.

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Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Volume 2

February 8th, 2021

Hanako has traveled from far-away Japan to England, ostensibly in search of her favorite author. In Volume 1, Hanako is employed as a maid by Lady Alice, a beautiful, but always somehow sad, young daughter of a noble house.

In volume 2 of Goodbye, My Rose Garden, both Alice and Hanako are coming up against their feelings for one another, which are definitely not friendship, or appropriate to mistress and maid. And, possibly destructive of those feelings, both of the women are keeping secrets.  When Alice’s secret turns out to be related to Hanako’s, what could sunder them permanently, might also bring them closer.

When I reviewed the first Japanese volume of this series in spring 2019, I said, “I expected the volume to be a penny dreadful, with Victorian creepiness, but it’s actually a sad little story that I expect to see turned around in a pleasantly predictable ending.”

The “look at all the details I’ve researched!” feel of Volume 1 has settled down into a story that indicates plainly (if you understand the signs) that it is actually very much about gay life and literature here in Volume 2. References to Oscar Wilde are pretty blatant, but the references to Kate Chopin, author of The Awakening and Sarah Orne Jewett, author of The Country of the Pointed Firs, make it clear that this story is not just another costume drama, but intends on making a strong statement about feminism and queer existence in a time when the term feminism had only entered British speech a decade earlier and “gay rights” was long off.

Dr. Pepperco’s art has settled in and there’s more detail in expression over “stuff,” with a lingering sense of lecture on class relations.

Despite some potential for darkness, this volume ends up in a stronger place than it began, and we’re left waiting for the third volume expectantly hopeful.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 3
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7

Volume 3 is already available, so grab that climax today!

Thank you very much to Seven Seas for the review copy.

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Uminekosou days, Volume 3 (海猫荘 days)

February 7th, 2021

In Volume 1, wet met Mayumi, a woman on the run from the ruins of her life. She decides to become a teacher in a small seaside town, where she meets Rin, the former punk landlady of the small guesthouse in which she is living. In Volume 2, Mayumi finds herself drawn into the lives of the residents of the guesthouse and starts to make a place for herself among them.

Here we are at Uminekosou days, Volume 3 (海猫荘 days), the final volume of Kodama Naoko’s series from Comic Yuri Hime…and at last, we can see the core of Mayumi’s problems. Her “best friend” Touko has arrived from Tokyo and it is instantly apparent to us that Touko’s has been poisoning the well of Mayumi’s life for years. Whatever Mayumi might possibly ever have, Touko destroys it.

And wow, does Touko give it her best shot here, too. But Mayumi finally understands herself and tells Touko that she doesn’t get to make the decisions. Touko goes back to Tokyo and Mayumi is finally 100% the person she could always have been, as she sets off to solve a sudden crisis. In a final epilogue, we see all the characters happy, healthy and free to be who they are and love and live their lives the way they want.

This was a series that was, at the end of Volume 2, primed for going into some pretty dark territory, but instead, it sort of picked itself up, shook itself off and with a grand wave of the magic wand gave everyone a happily-ever-after ending. I’m still not sure if that was a positive or negative thing for the story, but I’m a little relieved as a reader. Yes, happily-ever-afters all around is a handwave, but did I really want another volume of Mayumi having her heart gutted by an obviously jealous and manipulative “friend”? No, I did not. So happily-ever-after it is and thank you very much.

Kodama-sensei’s work is a kind of knife edge for me. She’s at her best when her characters are broken; wounded, vulnerable, manipulative. I don’t actually enjoy stories about that, but Kodama-sensei has a habit of pulling things out. So every one of her series has a kind of sword of Damocles feel, as I wait for it to either get too dark for me to cope, or to wrap up. She’s getting closer with each series, to one day creating something that sandblasts me, but I stick around for the whole thing. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Service – 3 less than previous volumes
Yuri – 7

Overall – 8

Seeing Mayumi stand up to Touko was worth the price of admission.

 

Posted in Kodama Naoko, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Yuri Network News (百合ネットワークニュース) – February 6, 2021

February 6th, 2021

Yuri Anime

Last week, Yen Press announced the license of  Virgin Road (which, apparently is a colloquialism in Japan for the path a bride walks towards her husband at their wedding, which is pretty uhh…) and has changed the title to the surprisingly more palatable The Executioner and Her Way of Life light novel under the title and this week, we have news of an anime for the series. Jennifer Sherman over at ANN has the details and Youtube has the teaser. Thank you Sean, for the corrected titles.

Crunchyroll will be streaming Mamoru Oshii’s Vlad Love, with an auspicious launch date this month of…you guessed it, Valentine’s Day. Joseph Luster has the story at Crunchyroll News.

WATATEN!: an Angel Flew Down to Me, aka Watashi ni Tenshi ga Maiorita! upcoming anime will get a theater release in Japan, date as yet unreported. Egan Loo has the scoop on ANN.

Not Yuri, but Rafael Antonio Pineda has the report on a 4-minute long Sailor Moon Eternal “digest” video which summarizes the first movie.

 

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Yuri Manga

Awesome news from Seven Seas – they have licensed the I’m in Love With the Villainess manga! Jennifer Sherman once again has details at ANN. For one of the very few times in my life as an otaku, I find myself actually hoping for an anime of a series. This one has enough wacky and service and action to work. (And queer-positive representation in a “Yuri” anime would be swell.)

Days of Love at Seagull Villa, Volume 2 is on the way and on the Yuricon Store! Naoko Kodama’s drama is intense this volume.

Also on the Store is Shio Usui’s office romance drama, Doughnuts Under A Crescent Moon, Volume 1, which I utterly adore. I give this series my highest recommendation for being inspiring and heart-warming.

I’m ecstatic that Amano Shuninta’s Touma-kun (冬馬くん ) series from Galette magazine is now available as a single collected volume. I liked this one a great deal. Touma-kun doesn’t mean to break hearts, she just really wants the other girls to feel beautiful and loved. That’s why they call her “Everyone’s Boyfriend.”

Via Comic Natalie, Ane wo Sukina Onee-san to (姉を好きなお姉さんと) is about a woman who is living with her sister’s friend, then learns the friend is in love with and indeed, dating, her sister.

Also on Comic Natalie, Kore ha Yoi Dakimura, Minase Rururuu Yuri Short Story Collection (これはよい抱き枕 水瀬るるう百合作品集) is a collected volume of doujinshi works.

 

Yuri Visual Novels

Mangagamer is holding a Valentine’s Day Sale with VNs up to 50% off. Check out the Mangagamer blog post for the list of eligible titles. There are at least a couple of Yuri VNs on there.

 

Event News

Toronto Comic Arts Festival has regrouped and is going wholly virtual for 2021! They will be holding their fabulously international, diverse and inclusive event online from, May 8-15 including vendor areas, which have opened for applications. Since this is an online event, you can definitely attend. ^_^ See you there!

 

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Posted in Yuri Network News | 4 Comments »


Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 7 ( 私の百合はお仕事です!)

February 5th, 2021

When we left Volume 6 of Miman’s “Yuri concept cafe” series,  Hime has rethought her desire to stay at the cafe, throwing the rest of the staff into complete chaos.

In Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 7 ( 私の百合はお仕事です!), the staff makes Hime and Mitsuki sit down and talk everything out. It does not go as planned. Or, well, sort of yes it does. The outcome just isn’t what they wanted.

Mitsuki makes her case…and she’s really pretty bad at making that case, frankly. Years of pining quietly for the friend she remembered has unmade her ability to see Hime in front of her as a real person. But – in an amazing scene – when Mitsuki ends up talking to some of her classmates, she finds that they giver her very good advice, and she is able to speak honestly with one, who is kind and supportive to her. That one scene may well have repaired a lot of damage in that girl.

Kanako finally lances the wound her anger has become. She lashes out at Mitsuki and she’s only a little wrong. But she is also wrong and Sumika has to hold her back, before she does new damage. The bits Kanako gets right, and the conversation with her classmate, force Mitsuki to rethink things. Ultimately, though, Hime is the one with final say. In her desire to not hurt Mitsuki…she hurts her very much.

The ensemble here is perfect. Kanako’s anger, Hime’s reticence, Sumika’s overwhelming need for things to stay the same, and Mitsuki’s cruel honesty make a tense, yet never quite overwrought, volume. Seven volumes into this series, if you’re not already reading it, this review is not going to be the thing that draws you in, but for a series that started with a silly premise, a bunch of mostly-unlikable characters and a handful of unrealistic plot complications, Miman-sensei has been really deft at managing this narrative into something interesting.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 1
Yuri – 7

Overall – 8

Another messy af relationship, but somehow I feel like this story will pull together in the end.

Posted in Miman, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »