Comic Yuri Hime, January 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年1月号)

January 15th, 2021

The cover of Comic Yuri Hime, January 2021 (コミック百合姫2021年1月号) begins a new Yuri cover story. Where 2020’s cover story was art-focused, with few words that just gave context to the image, this year we have separate stand-alone short stories in a ridiculously small type size that forces me to use a magnifying glass to be able to read it. It is a vaguely time-wimey story that uses a desk as a point of contact between young women in different times. The stories are by Ren Hanna, with quirky illustrations by Kesshin. If it were in 12-point type I’d probably be enjoying it. ^_^

This issue starts off with a new concept  manga from Usui Shio. In “Onna to Tomodachi Kekkonshitemita” Sera is an freelance writer who needs a good idea to write about. She pitches an article on same-sex marriage. Her best friend Ruriko (who is pretty obviously is in love with Sera,) volunteers. And so Sera and Ruriko get married, I trust Usui-sensei completely to do a good job with this story and so far (I just read the next installment yesterday) I’m not going to be disappointed.

Also in the “not a disappointment” category is Takeshima Eku’s “Sasayaku Youni Koi wo Utau” in which watching Yori continues to be a delight. AND it looks like we’re getting an actual post-they like each other arc! Whoo! You can also enjoy this story in English as Whisper Me A Love Song. It’s charming.

Kakaze’s “Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai” is moving past it’s initial pitch and Sakurai and Honda are finding themselves having experiences neither of them would have been able to imagine previously.

“Kimi to Tsuzuru Utakata,”by Yuama is taking a deeply emotional turn, but I’m rooting for things to move past the obvious conflict here.

And wow, do I actually have no idea at all where – if anywhere, “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” by Miman is going. Holy crap. This arc has lead everyone to saying stuff they mean. I’m not sure I have ever read this many chapters of, “you need to hear this.” I love it.

“Hello Melancholic” has now officially ended. I am going to miss it, honestly. Minato’s journey hit me in all the right places. /sniff/

Usui Shio is gunning for my favorite author of 2021, with some breathtakingly real chapters for “Kaketa Tsuki to Doughnuts.” I swear to all the gods, if people keep having actual conversations in manga, I’m gonna die of happiness.

SPEAKING of conversations, Ohi Pikachi’s “Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru” was a-ma-zing. Asuka confronts her family with whom she has a very bad relationship…and her being with a woman is only another brick in that wall, until Saki helps her face herself and her parents. Next on to Saki’s family. We already know how her sister feels, so this one ought to go well. ^_^

This issue also includes a chapter of a serialized novel (in slightly larger typeface than the cover,) about a girl who admire idols so much, she wants to become one. It’s not a bad opening gambit for what it a pretty worn trope already.

And, finally, Inui Ayu-sensei details the happy times she spends with her girfriend in her autobiographical comic. This time, they go out to breakfast, because why not? ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

There continues to be series I am not following, and those I am, that I have not mentioned. In my opinion, this was an excellent first volume of the year, with a lot of stuff for many different fans. Including those who are inexplicably still reading “Yuru Yuri.” Why? Seriously. The continuing existence of that series bewilders me.

 

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Magazines, Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »


Ikemen Sugidesu Shiki-senpai!, Volume 2 (イケメンすぎです紫葵先パイ! )

January 14th, 2021

File today’s review under “Wow Erica, took you long enough!” But wait, I had an excuse! Remember when I ordered some stuff from Japan and it took 2 months to get her?. Well, this book was part of that stuff. And then there were things that had to done, and end of year things, and…so here were are, reviewing  Ikemen Sugidesu Shiki-senpai!, Volume 2 (イケメンすぎです紫葵先パイ! ) 18 months after I reviewed Volume 1. It’s a shame this little two-volume series hasn’t been licensed, because it is really rather sweet and fluffy, like candy floss Yuri. ^_^

In Volume 1, we meet Hina who is kind of into Shiki-senpai who is just too cool for her shirt. And, by the end of Volume 1, we learn that Shiki-senpai is into Hina in return. A bit of a fever and circumstances leads to a kiss in the school health office.

In Volume 2, Shiki-senpai deals with her feelings and she and Hina begin to get closer. Until a wild plot complication comes riding up, and jumps between the two of them for a whole half a chapter! But don’t worry, they end up together as one had no doubt they would, because this is, as I said, a light, fluffy and sweet confection of a Yuri manga and nothing more.

That said, I kind of liked it. ^_^ It was far too sweet to be a palate cleanser, but it made a nice fluffy brainless Yuri story to go to sleep on.  And Shiki-senpai really is just too cool. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 9
Story – 8
Service – 6 Shiki-senpai being cool is still a form of service. ^_^
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

As I said in my review of volume 1, this series is just so sincere. It’s might not be to your taste, but I found it hard to dislike. ^_^

Posted in Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 5 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)

January 13th, 2021

As a reviewer, I understand that spoilers are sometimes unavoidable in order to make a review make sense. As a reader, I don’t particularly mind spoilers…until I do. But I am really in a bind here, trying to review Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 5 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな) without giving anything away. I mean like…I can’t comment on the things that happened, because I couldn’t comment on the things that happened previously to them that made them important. OR why. Or the fallout. Or basically anything. Aaaaarrrghhh!

Some things that happened in Volume 4 turn out to have a long tail and some other stuff happens because of those things. And then….some other things happen with people whose roles in the story has changed and absolutely nothing is anything I can talk about until you’ve read at least through Volume 3, which won’t be for a while, since How Do We Relationship, Volume 2 just came out last month and literally anything I could say about any of it would be a huge enough spoiler that I don’t want to mention anything.

I can say this – I have a lot of complicated feelings about this series. I liked Saeko and Miwa, then I didn’t like Miwa, then I didn’t like both of them and now I am once again coming around to liking them for entirely different reasons. They are vastly more three-dimensional now than they were in Volume 1, and the entire story has gone in directions I never expected, could not have predicted and it is a MUCH better story for all of it.

Watching both Miwa and Saeko deal with stuff has been an interesting situation for me. There’s a great deal of the character building that feels wholly real and some that seems ripped straight from a soap opera plot. But, ultimately whether the story is informed by fact or wholly fiction, I’m going to give Tamifull full props for writing a story that I can’t stop reading, even when I’m not sure it’s going to…ack, spoilers!

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 More complicated with every volume
Characters – 7 I’m still rooting for everyone
Yuri – 7 / LGBTQ – 6 It’s getting queerer, again
Service – 5

Overall – 8

Recently someone asked me for a “messy relationship” story I can recommend. I guess…this is it. ^_^

Posted in Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Asterism ni Hanataba o Yuri SF Anthology (アステリズムに花束を 百合 SFアンソロジー)

January 11th, 2021

In 2019, Japan’s premier science fiction magazine, SF Magazine launched a special Yuri issue. It was an immediate best-seller and legitimized Yuri science fiction as a subgenre.  Following that issue, Hayakawa Publishing put out a volume of short stories that included the stories from that issue. Asterism ni Hanataba o Yuri SF Anthology (アステリズムに花束を 百合 SFアンソロジー) is that short story collection.

If you’ve been following me on social media, you know it has taken me approximately 3 months to read this book. This is not because the book was in any way specific way bad, but merely because, as I do most of my reading before bed, the combination of science fiction and/or horror in a language I can’t yet claim as my second, meant I was going slowly.  In the end, I am actually glad I made it all the way through. But if I were to ever revisit it, I would read the first two and last two stories only.

The back of the book begins with a definition of the term Yuri as a genre term. Hayakawa is using a broad stroke definition, much as we do at Yuricon. “[Intense] Relationships between women.” Which means that some of these stories might not fall under what you might consider “Yuri.” More damning, from my perspective, is that several of the stories didn’t fall under what I consider to be science fiction; for instance the one about a girl’s school for blood-sucking (not vampire) demons. Even stories I actually liked, I was often hard pressed to see them as both Yuri and science fiction, including my favorite story of the collection…and they often had other problems as well.

Of the four stories I liked, “49 Letters” by Morita Kisetsu had impressed me a great deal in the magazine. Sweet, melancholy, Yuri and SF, it was a great little, if sad, entry about communication with the afterlife. I enjoyed the opening story by Iori Miyazawa (creator of Otherside Picnic), “Kimi no Scope” but still, having read it twice now, fail to see it as Yuri. The last person on earth follows footsteps. 

The next to last story, “Colorless Green” by Riku Shuusa and Inamura Bungo was a great story about an intense relationship between women and had some great science fiction elements, but would, if ever adapted, instantly become a mediocre murder mystery. I would have love to seen that edited to be a bit more about Monica. The story was less “intense relationships between women” and more “relationships with an intense woman.”  But is had great linguistics stuff about AI and human communication. The final story, “Twin Star Cyclone Runway” was an excellent bit of science fiction world-building and was totally Yuri (if a little handwave-y) but then it included the new disgusting fetish fad in manga, kissing someone who has just thrown up and gleefully exclaiming “You taste like puke!” and I am already very done with this and do not need to ever see it again. The story had a Thelma and Louise vibe that suited it.

I was very glad to have read this collection – I’m super pleased  to see SF Yuri and…I’d also like to see it grow the fuck up a bit. ^_^ 

Ratings:

Overall – 6

I look forward to the 2nd Special Yuri issue.

If you’ve read any of this, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Posted in Novel | 3 Comments »


2021 New Year’s Lucky Boxes! All Claimed

January 10th, 2021

As you may remember, this autumn I engaged upon a massive renovation of my office. That meant clearing *everything* out, every box of books, every bookshelf, every file and folder. Even the filing cabinet was weeded and man did I find some stuff in there. ^_^ This first crop of Lucky boxes for the year are full of manga (Japanese mostly, but also some English,)  western comics and doujinshi, toys, stickers, candy  – I can assure you that the mochi cube candies were really pretty good! – and other random things to marvel at. The Premium boxes include other flat fun things.

This time we have 3 Large Premium boxes, 2 Medium Yuri boxes for you.

As always I assure you that this is all 100%, unadulterated stuff. Lucky Boxes are created by me shoving a bunch of things in boxes until I can barely tape them shut. I don’t  remember what went in, so no..I can’t tell you what is in each box. I do try to put random things like postcards and papers and toys in there to make the unpacking process an adventure. ^_^

When you email me, please refer to the box you want by the title and #1. First come, first served and these always go fast! These are listed out so I can cross them off as they go.

Large Premium Box 1 – $50 Claimed

Large Premium Box 2 – $50 Claimed

Large Premium Box 3 – $50 Claimed

Medium Box 1 – $25 Claimed

Medium Box  2  – $25 Claimed

 

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To be eligible to buy a Lucky Box, follow these instructions carefully. Please. Thank you. Failure to follow all of these instructions will disqualify you. It’s not personal, they are all claimed pretty quickly and I don’t have time to track you down for a piece of information.

1 – You must live in the Continental USA (contiguous 48) only, no APO/FPOs. This is disappointing for me too, so I apologize.

2 – You must be over 18, I am not policing books or recipients.

3 – Email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with the subject “Lucky Box”. Use an email you check regularly. Because I will reply asap. The first person who responds to my email gets the box.

4. *****Please include your name, age, mailing address. ***** Tell me which box you want. Even if you’ve given me your address previously, please include it, I am very lazy.

5- I will contact you at that point and give you details about payment by Paypal. Please be prepared to check your email and get payment out so this post doesn’t linger. Thanks in advance.

This whole process will be handled with utmost capriciousness, as usual. ^_^ 

Ready? Get your Lucky Boxes!

 

 

Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »