I’m away this week, hopefully kicking back and relaxing as you read this. :-)

The cover of the winter issue of Yuri Hime (百合姫) evokes Valentine’s Day hijinks with Kiri and Arare from “Tokimeki Mononoke Gakuen,” chocolates and the joys of licking the cook. ^_^

The book starts off with “Kaminaga Hime” the next chapter of the Black Cat Mansion saga. In this story, a boyish hairstylist falls in love with one of her customers, only to find that, at the end of it all, she is loved back.

In “Creo the Crimson Crises,” stuff happens that involves Creo snuggling Suoh a lot Suddenly, for reasons that would be apparent if I was actually reading this story, Suoh transforms into a bustier, older, sexier, but no less soppy, version of herself.

In the next chapter of “Kono Onegai Kanau nara” the awkward love triangle continues as Tsukiko attempts to confess her feelings to You-chan, but does not manage it. The third point in this triangle, whose name escapes me, overhears and reacts with jealousy and frustration. Tsukiko tries again, this time coming much closer to making her point. Time will tell how this painful situation will shake out.

The Essay on Yuri Manga by Miura Shion touches on the recent series Girl x Girl x Boy, which I reviewed and found to be better than the sum of its parts. ^_^

The cover series appears! In this chapter of “Tokimeki Mononoke Gakuen” Arare is tortured over her desire for Kiri and her fear of becoming a O-bake. Having made her decision that hot lesbian sex is more important that staying human (and who can blame her?) she runs into kogal Akina who, it turns out, sold her humanity for a little nookie herself. Akina warns Arare from doing it, then says she was lying, it was the best thing evar. She jumps Arare, who runs out into the night, only to face the inhumanity of her schoolmates. She wakes from a dream of being attacked by Pero, and runs out of her room to Kiri’s. Will she make the fateful decision? Tune in next month to find out!

“Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan” manages to be even cuter and fuzzier and warmer than usual as Sarasa and Seriho have a conversation that is long overdue. Sarasa explains that her one true desire is to be by Seriho’s side, making the tea shop work. And so, she has chosen to attend a local trade school to become a pastry chef. Seriho refuses to pretend that she is anything but thrilled at the decision, and the scene ends with them side by side, looking at a future together.

“Urbane” tells a somewhat trite story about a girl who appears at a winterbound village and is just a little scary (and cool.) Miyuki becomes known as the local Snow Woman, but Kuriko warms up to her anyway, only to be shoved roughly aside when she tries to heat up their friendship. Miyuki finally admits that Kuriko reminds her of the girl she was in love with, confessed to and was rejected by. They decide to thaw their relationship and Miyuki admits that her real name is Miharu, preaging a beautiful spring for them both.

In “Nostalgia” a crush on an older married woman becomes a point of contention, then the kernel for a deeper familial love. Kyou met Konomi when she was 8 and Konomi was a newlywed at 17. Her older husband, a loving and dedicated man Takuto, has now been dead for 14 years and Kyo really wants nothing more than to be the one that Konomi looks at with that expression. And, it could happen. But Kyou realizes that their bond was never really meant to be as lovers, and so she recreates it as “family.”

That takes us about halfway, so I’m going to cut out here and pick this up for tomorrow.

In Kowo Kazuma’s Junsui Adolescence (純水アドレッセンス,) Volume 1, we meet Nanao, a high school student. She doesn’t seem to be particularly special in any way. Decent student, head of the club that assists with the Infimary. But secretly, she’s fallen in love with the school doctor, Matsumoto. In traditional tsundere fashion, she responds to these confusing feelings by being mean to Matsumoto.

Soon her feelings overflow her ability to hide them, and Nanao and Matsumoto find themselves in a relationship that must be hidden, even if they do a darn bad job of it.

The handling of this student/teacher relationship is a little pat. Of course. We don’t want our love story being interrupted by charges of statutory rape or professionally unethical behavior or other annoying real-life complications. No, we really don’t. We *know* it’s a bad idea for a student and the school doctor to fall in love. They know it too. That’s the whole point.

So, Matsumoto, despite every logical thought she has, find herself involved with a student. And Nanao flounders while trying to establish a real and lasting place in her lover’s life. It’s a harder journey than either expect. And to be honest, I didn’t see a happy ending at the end of this story. But luckily for all of us, I was wrong. :-)

Because this is a story of internal battles and small victories, I really don’t want to spoil too much. Let me leave it this way – if you don’t mind the problematic nature of the relationship, then you are likely to find yourself *dying* to see what the future holds for these two at the end of this book. (Sadly, I don’t think we get past the “happily ever after” but hey, at least we get “happily ever after.”)

Ratings:

Art – 6, but it grew on me
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 2

Overall – 8

This was a series that I kept forgetting was a series while it ran in Yuri Hime and when I finally clued in was thrilled that it was ongoing. As a collection it’s just that much better.