Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Tenbin ha Hana to Asobu, Volume 1

September 1st, 2009

In Volume 1 of Tenbin ha Hana to Asobu (天秤は花と遊ぶ), Yohko is a transfer student into the elite Lotus Girls High School. She’s tremendously energetic and, it turns out, athletic, but she’s not clueless or clumsy. She’s just not elegant. Certainly, not as elegant as Shuu, the lavender-haired beauty who takes Yohko on a tour of the school.

Upon meeting Shuu, Yohko’s reaction is rather unusual – she claims to smell blood and asks Shuu if she’s hurt. No, Shuu answers, but looks like there’s something more to behind it.

Shuu shows Yohko around, but after hours Yohko realizes she’s forgotten something, and runs off to the the infirmary where she comes in on Shuu apparently drinking the blood from the school doctor’s neck. The school doctor confirms what Yohko thinks she just saw – Shuu is a vampire. Not only is she a vampire, but at the moment she is genderless. Depending on whether she drinks more male or female blood, when she turns 18 she will become male or female.

Yohko promises to protect Shuu’s secret and with it, Shuu. She attaches herself to Shuu’s hip, despite Shuu’s protests. The next time Shuu starts to feel weak from lack of blood, Yohko offers herself without reserve.

Now Yohko and Shuu are inseparable, even when rumors start to spread through the school. There’s something going on, the students whisper to one another between Shuu and the school doctor. And there is – he’s her older brother.

There’s a short story in which we learn that of the many girls who fawn over Shuu, there is at least one whose feelings go deeper than just admiration. But it is Yohko that Shuu relies on and it is Yohko she misses when she’s not around. And, she confesses to her brother, something weird is happening – recently, Yohko’s blood is starting to taste…good. Her brother reassures her that that is normal for someone she loves. Loves? Loves?! Shuu is very concerned but, as the book draws to a close, that may not be her worst trial – it appears that someone has learned her secret. Oh no, Volume 2 where are you?

When I mentioned this book a few weeks ago in the “Snatches of Yuri” section of the news report, I said I wasn’t sure whether I liked it or not. Honestly, I’m still not sure. It’s not that surprising that the Next Big Thing, i.e., vampires, appeared in Yuri. (In fact, I’m reading *another* Yuri title right now with a Goth-Loli loli schoolgirl vampire and as you can imagine I’m just loving it….) I neither like nor dislike vampires, so that isn’t helping. The first time around, I was leaning more towards dislike and this time around I’m leaning more towards like, I guess.
If you like both vampires and schoolgirl Yuri, this would probably be an okay mix.

I’m still on the fence. I guess I’ll see what Volume 2 brings.

Ratings:

Art – 7. Typical moe.
Story – 6
Characters – 7 Yohko is a little atypical – smart and energetic and competent
Yuri – 3, with potential
Service – A surprising 1 Hardly any underwear at all, Poor FanBoys

Overall – 7

I do think it’s interesting that “Story A” has been done so many ways now that Yuri is starting to branch out past it, and bring in other ways to tell the same story differently.

The title is really odd, btw. “Tenbin” is scales or a shoulder pole used to carry heavy things. The image I get is a scale or shoulder pole with two baskets overflowing with flowers. I assume it is some literary reference I am not getting.





Yuri Manga: Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan, Volume 1

August 31st, 2009

At last.

In a small, friendly town, down at the end of the main street, in a spot just by the edge of the park, is a shop where you can sit and relax and have a cup of excellent tea. It’s called the Ame-iro Kouchakan, The Amber Teahouse, and the series is Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan (飴色紅茶館歓談). This volume tells the story of this store and the people who make it so wonderful.

The store owner is Seriho, a sweet, somewhat helpless woman. Luckily for her, she is assisted in the day-to-day operations of the shop by one very intelligent young lady, Sarasa. Sarasa, it is soon apparent, has a second agenda. It is not just the tea shop she loves, but the tea shop’s owner.

This first collected volume follows Sarasa and Seriho as they wrangle with the complexities of running the tea shop and with their feelings for each other. The story of how Sarasa became an employee, originally told in the second [es] Eternal Sisters anthology is gathered here, as is the fateful story in which Sarasa and her friends forever change the destiny of the Amber Teahouse with a Tanabata special, that originally ran as a Yuri Hime extra comic.

Seriho seems to be a natural doofus, and one is never *quite* sure if she is aware of Sarasa’s feelings for her but, then, one is never *quite* sure what her feelings for Sarasa are, either. She likes her, that much is obvious. When Seriho comes right out and asks Sarasa to be by her side for 50 years, it’s really hard to know if she means it the way we think she does.

Sarasa is besotted, full stop. She changes her college plans to be by Seriho’s side for those 50 years. I think if they were to actually kiss, she might pass out. In fact, I really try hard to not think about that inevitable moment. I leave it in the future where it belongs. I did very much enjoy the part where Haru physically holds her back from using her free time on the school trip to run back to town, just to see Seriho. Also kudos to her parents for suggesting she stay out all night with her friend – Go Mom and Dad!

Sarasa’s classmates Haru, who runs the website Jinx, and Hinoka, are a not-quite couple. Hinoka seems to be sure that Haru has a thing for her, and Haru is just as sure that she does not. ;-)

The final chapter of this volume is the inevitable cross-over with Alice Quartet, so Fujieda can play dress up with his characters. A harmless little obsession of his that I forgive because he’s got good design sense.

This is quite possibly the most moe thing I like, and I chalk it up to Fujieda’s great characters because, let’s face it, the story goes like this – Seriho is cutely helpless and Sarasa helps her out. ^_^ However, the tension between them is undeniable (so much so that characters from other Fujieda series point it out all the time!) and while they are unlikely to share more than that damnable chaste kiss, I do not care one whit. (From the Anglo-Saxon wiht, for “amount.” Let it never be said that Okazu is not educational.)

Yuri in this series is a pervasive atmosphere, rather than a single event or couple. The teahouse may be called “Amber” but it is the scent of lilies that flows through the door onto the street. Despite their age difference, Sarasa and Seriho make a good couple and I look forward to seeing them getting together body, mind and soul, since they already have two out of the three covered. :-)

What was left undone in my review of these stories uncollected can now be done:

Ratings:

Art – At its nadir 5, at its zenith 8, but forever and always very moe.
Story – There is no story, but it’s an 8 anyway. ;-)
Characters – 9
Yuri – 8
Service – 2

Overall – 8 with a hope that future volumes push up to 9.

“At last” I said, and I meant it. It’s nice to have the whole story in one handful now, and not running about all over the place in pieces. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime, Volume 17 (Part 2)

August 24th, 2009

The second half of Volume 17 of Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) starts off with another very doujinshi-style story.

Which makes me wonder…why do I think of them this way? Probably because I first encountered them when I began collecting original Yuri doujinshi. These stories that I think of as doujinshi stories are almost always high school settings, almost always kind of imperfect, good-but-amateur-ish art and almost always about those first steps to admitting that the characters are in love. They end with the moment that both characters acknowledge that they feel the same way about one another. Rarely do they go much further than that, but I do tend to like it when the stories do. Kimochi no Katachi (originally published as the Tact series) by Sakuraike was one of those series, Volume 1 and Volume 2, but then spent more time looking back before Satsuki and Kino got together than forward.

In any case, in “Watashi no Kawaii Hito,” Ika met Sempai a while ago and, after Sempai confessed to her, they’ve been going out. But, when the other girls in class star trashing talking onna-doushi, and the teacher talks about “playing pretend” with same-sex relationships, she thinks she might be the only one who is serious in their relationship. She nabs herself a beard to stave off her own breakdown. Sempai fights back – literally, with a palette over the head of Ika’s hapless male companion, and the two of them have to face each other’s feelings head on.

Rina wants older neighbor Kana to take her to the festival in “Mizu Fusen, Kingyo, Ramune” but Kanna, who had a past relationship with another woman, doesn’t want to relive those days. When she gives in, her worst fears are realized, as she runs into her former lover.

“Tsumugi Ito” by Uso Kurata wins. It is something I’m not sure we’ve ever had in Yuri Hime yet – an adult couple who is together, has been together and is dealing with a very real and very grown up issue. (One story an issue – do you see the pattern? One story an issue is about adults, edging slowly closer and closer to that “L” word….) Kae plays the housewife to Nao’s businesswoman, but new responsibilities at the office keep Nao later and later, and she starts pulling away from Kae. Kae forces the issue and they face their actual, real, very grownup relationship problem – together. I love Kae laying it out on the line to a totally stressed out Nao. Great story, drawn well with a really satisfying – if slightly pat – ending. More of this, please!!

Kind of harsh story in the new “Nekodomekan” chapter. Suzune and Emi are lovers, but Suzune’s untimely death plummets Emi into depression, until she visits the Black Cat Mansion.

Sumika comes right out and asks Takase-sempai to be her lover in Kowo Kazuma’s newest, “Sayonara Folklore.” Sumika has grown to hate their school, which has really weird rules and traditions, but has definitely come to love Takase. They have an argument, but when they make up, Sumika gets her answer.

Amane fell in love with Yuki back in school and, after they became lovers, had to admit that she loved women. When “Sore ga Kimi ni Naru” takes place, Amane has been years out of school but, when an accidental meeting on the train platform brings her face to face with a Yuki look-alike, it all comes back to her.

The art of “Soulphage” repulses me. The characters look 5. I don’t care what they do or why. They could all get hit by a truck. Instead I have no doubt that the genki lead will get her sempai. Bleah.

Tae is still laboring away to be near Yui (and pay her back for he lost necklace) in the next chapter of “Mizu-iro Cinema.” Tae insists on doing something summer-vacation-y, but thinks it’s all coming to an end when Yui is told she’s returning to Tokyo. Tae’s all ready to say goodbye when Yui says, “What are you talking about? You’re coming too.” Well, DUH, Tae. ^_^

Class appeal rankings are the source of much contention in “20, 21” but after some wrangling with the numbers, Asagao and Fuji find each other.

In “Apple Day Dream,” Kaoru, with longer hair these days, makes the same jokes as she always has…

And in the Hana Monogatari-themed story of the volume (also a pattern I’ve noticed) “Cosmos no Saku Niwa” a sprit and a girl meet, then the girl finds the real girl behind the wandering spirit, for a happily-ever-after ending.

So, there was some really good, some really good that was also really bad and some really okay. Overall, an excellent volume, I just wish the cover story wasn’t so stabby-making.

Overall – 8

If some of those one-shots actually continue, I think the next volume (out October 18) should be quite good.





Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime, Volume 17 (Part 1)

August 23rd, 2009

Welcome to Volume 17 of Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫), which was both very good and very bad – sometimes at the same time.

The cover story, and new series by Eiki Eiki and Zaou Taisho is…really frustrating. It’s the 22nd century, all the men are dead and women have, for some reason, reinvented hesterosexist society for themselves. Women are either “Adam”s who play the male role in a relationship or “Eve”s who are the female role. In effect, the entirety of human society has become Takarazuka. The protagonist of this story, Aoi, is an “Adam,” attending an “Adam’s” private school. The number one rule of this school is that Adams MAY NOT have relationships with one another – only with Eves.

Not only is this ridiculous, it does something I am simply unhappy with – it turns this story into a BL/Yaoi story since it is *painfully* obvious that Sakura and Aoi will be the main couple here. I find this vexing. Severely vexing. Frankly, it just pisses me right off. I have nothing against BL. I understand that Eiki and Zaou specialize in gender-bendy stuff. But. I do not think this is as cute or clever as they do. Gender is, IMHO, far more complex an issue than sexuality. Yes, it is true that anyone with anyone in this manga will be “Yuri” by default, but the faux-heterosexism and overt “homo”phobia annoys the hell out of me. Editorially, it’s sheer genius. Nonetheless, I am irked and disappointed by it.

In fact, so much so that I find myself obsessing about the lessons I’ve learned about all-female societies when the men are all dead, from comics:

1) Women will be unable to restore any of the existing infrastructures – even after several years. (Y The Last Man)

2) Women will become drug-addled and power addicts with a penchant for dressing as if it was the eve of the French Revolution. (Project ICE)

and, now…

3) Despite the fact that there is only one sex, women will mandate a two-gender model and make same-gender relations illegal.

(Do NOT suggest early feminist sci-fi to me. DO NOT. The all-female societies of almost all of those sounded worse than death too. I read them all and hated every one of them. Such bitchy politics. UGHUGHUGH.)

I ask you – is it so wrong to want a story about an all-female society where the women are like, say, women? Guess so.

Moving on before I bust a capillary, “Tokimeki Mononoke Gakuen” follows Arare as she gets really, really, *really* close to going all the way with Kiri, but doesn’t.

New series “Himekoi” lost my interest in, like, the first page. Girls wear underwear. Yahoos. One of the characters wears a kind of S&M-ish thing. I don’t know or care why. Goofy chibi art and BDSM are not a match for me.

The essay this month is about “Infimary after school” a story I don’t know, which is kind of cool.

“Para Yuri Hime” is sort of a comic essay/story kind of thing that you might find in Mist or Anise and one day I’m sure I’ll sit down and read it all the way through. ^_^

“Graffiti” is *exactly* the kind of doujinshi story that works best for me. Two girls are writing messages to each other on the desk they both use at different times. They meet, becomes friends and fall in love. I would so very much like to have this story continue, but it probably won’t. It was my favorite of the new works.

A very short “Sweet Peach” chapter that was almost, but not quite 4-koma-esque. More a survey of characters than a chapter of the story.

Next up is a side story from “Yuru Yuri” which read just like a chapter of “Yuru Yuri.”

Some time ago I reviewed Papaya Gundan by Aoki Mitsue (Volume 1 and Volume 2) and found it to be good. I’m glad to see Aoki joing the ranks of the the Yuri Hime team. The story is quite typical; smart girl Yuri and dumb girl Hime are childhood friends. Not only does their time together pull Hime’s grades up but, when it comes to love, she’s the smarter of the two.

And we’ll end off on a also-kind of typical, but pleasantly doujinshi-like “Back Shot.” Ema sits behind Kanae and finds herself fantasizing about her. When she gets a glimpse of Kanae’s breast under a sleeve, or bra under her sweaty shirt, Ema pretty much looses her cool. Because they have to work together, Kanae soons discovers the truth and has to confront her own feelings. Another Hatsukoi has begun. (That’s like 4 “first loves” in the first half of this magazine.)

Although the Eiki/Zaou story is stylish, it put me off. I’m glad to see some new artists, some new, if kind of the same, stories. There’s some excellent (and not so much) stories to come in the second half, so tune back in tomorrow!





Gunjo, Chapters 10-13

August 6th, 2009

I haven’t talked about Gunjo (new spelling courtesy of the editors of Morning 2 magazine) in a while. It’s not because it stopped running, although there was a hiatus for a bit of the spring.

It was because, simply, I couldn’t. I could not write about what is arguably the most amazing story I have ever read, bar none.

I tried to verbalize why this was yesterday to the wife and began to cry, because I just couldn’t talk about it.

I last left you after the two protagonists spend a night of loss, love, passion and pain, after we get a glimpse into the lives they’ve put behind them, and watch as the blonde’s former lover is forced by her sheer misery to come out to her parents – who kinda knew and, really kind of liked the blonde.

That’s when this story went from really amazing to sublime. And that’s when I became incapable of writing about it.

The morning after, the protagonists, whom I have given the horrible nicknames BL (Blonde) and BN (Brunette), walk away. I mean that literally. They take a look at the blood they’ve left on the sheets and the towels, and the destruction they’ve caused in the room during their various tantrums, and they drop their purses, and every yen they have on the bed…then they walk away. And almost immediately, a policeman sees them and calls out after them.

They run. They run hard, suddenly realizing that they want freedom…and, when a train nearly hits BL and BN leaves even her shoes behind to run fast enough to save her, they realize that they want to live.

They spend the night wandering in the cold rain. BN is shoeless, and getting a cold as the night wears on. Almost immediately, before they’ve even been able to taste it, their freedom swirls away down the sewer. This was a 72 page chapter – it was indescribable. I felt utterly exhausted and breathless after reading it. They are clearly at their end of their very short ropes, when BL finds a coin and uses it to make a phone call.

She calls her brother. He’s amazed to hear from her and comes to get the two of them. As it happens, it’s her nephew’s birthday so, while BN huddles miserably in the car, BL spends a few happy hours with her brother’s family, coming out to him and his wife. “What’s it like, being a lesbo?” he asks, then apologizes.

BN, filled with misery and self-loathing and a head cold wants out. But BL is driving them both – somewhere.

And here we are, waiting on what will probably be the penultimate or ultimate chapter. I still don’t know how this will end, but I have no doubt that it will be epic. And beyond that, I await – as I hope you do – the collected volume with bated breath.

This really is not Top 10 for 2009 material – this is Top Ten for my entire life material. I’ve never loved such loathsome people so much.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 1

Overall – 10