Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Hatsukoi Shimai, Volume 3

June 12th, 2008

Hatsukoi Shimai is your basic “Yuri Manga.” Almost all the stereotypes are covered; Chika is energetic and emotional, Haruna is initially cool and distant but warms up, ultimately becoming warm and affectionate. Touko is cool (different cool) and boyish and has a motorcycle, Akiho is classic passive-aggressive. And Kirika is our resident non-verbal chick with weapon princely type, while her Princess, Miyu, would be happy to be with her forever if only she’d say something.

In Volume 3, we follow each couple in a not-terribly dramatic crisis. Chika is invited over to Haruna’s house, where she asks to see a photo album. Haruna is freakish about it, and in a moment of totally confusing DRAMA, Akiho begs Haruna not to tell Chika about their past. The moment passes and we see Chika and Haruna later in their secret spot, sharing their likes and dislikes, and getting in a good snog.

The mystery of Akiho’s reluctance to have Chika know about her childhood is revealed to Touko-sensei when she admits to not being a blood sister to Haruna. Which explains her sis-con, but not really why she doesn’t want Chika knowing (unless she doesn’t want her best friend thinking that she’s a rival.) Akiho’s crisis comes in the form of a rumor that Touko-sensei’s time at their school is coming to an end. Touko quashes the rumor – but not before she finally gets that kiss she’s been angling for from Akiho.

Haruna faces her mean old sempai from her flashback in Volume 2, and it turns out that sempai probably did have feelings for her after all, but was cruel to be kind.

And finally, Kirika and Miyu face a teeny weeny little crisis because Miyu is skipping drama club. And because Kirika falls off the platform at Kyuudo club running after Miyu. Miyu’s concern was that she was pegged to play the lead role of Princess and was given no choice in the matter because she looks like a Princess. I’m sorry that this story wasn’t given some time to develop, because in the original short story in which these two appeared (on the inside cover of Yuri Shimai 3,) Kirika was having issues about being the Prince to Miyu’s Princess. It would have been nice for an extended storyline for them to deal with it. Ah well, fanfic fodder, I guess.

The story wraps up with Teshigawara and the strange girl who appears at the school for basically no reason except to befriend Teshigawara, in which the strange girl who has now befriended poor Teshigawara, has to move away. They promise to write to each other.

The epilogue assures us that Teshigawara Chiyori and Rie are indeed writing one another; Miyu likes playing with Kirika’s hair – and Kirika likes when she plays with her hair; Touko and Akiho go to the beach and Touko gets a really good kiss in; and Chika and Haruna share a bed -pointing out those rings they exchanged, so we really, really, truly, positively know they are together. (But not lesbian.)

The End.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 9
Service – 2

Overall – 8

Please don’t ask me if this volume will be translated. I don’t know. If sales of Volume 1 and Volume 2 are good, and the stars are aligned and Seven Seas stays in business that long – maybe.





Yuri Manga: Shiroi Bara no Otome

June 9th, 2008

Everything about this manga, the cover, the title, the unadulteratedly derivative setup, told me that I would not like it. It practically screams “another crappy Maria-sama ga Miteru rip-off!” Well, you know what? It wasn’t *nearly* as bad as I thought. ^_^

Shiroi Bara no Otome is the first Josei Marimite rip-off that I’ve read. That alone sets it apart from the rest of the massive pack full of second-string derivative works that are mostly targeted towards guys.

Hanaguchi Yoshiko is a transfer student into a high-end private school for girls. Like most of these in manga, it is an elevator school, so students that have been in the system from a younger age are given preference over outside students – and it is harder to transfer in at high school than middle school. Yoshiko is a writer – she even won a literature award a a young girl…a memory that haunts her to this day.

When she transfers into this garden of privilege, she basically ignores the crap the other girls pull on her, because she thinks they are a bunch of losers. She wears earphones and writes and doesn’t care if anyone likes her or not. When someone tries to bully her, she’s right back in their faces, because she doesn’t care. So of course, by her third year, she’s the school hero. All the underclassman admire her brazen strength of will.

Yoshiko finds herself befriended by the star of the school, the impossibly rich, beautiful, perfect, popular, etc, etc, Takamiya Tsukiko. And then she finds herself being manipulated by two-faced Tsukiko. Yoshiko is not an idiot – she recognizes what’s going on *instantly*. And then she does something I have never ever seen in a manga – she decides to let Tsukiko fuck with her, because she thinks it will make a great story.

It was an amazing moment. Yoshiko’s like, yeah, this is *drama* – let’s see what crap she’ll dump in my lap. And Tsukiko pulls out the stops, seducing Yoshiko at one moment, abandoning her to the wolves the next. When an off-hand accidental observation draws both the school bully and Tsukiko in for questioning about being at an American GI bar in the harbor, Yoshiko lies to save Tsukiko. The bully, Fujiwara, says she’ll regret it, but Yoshiko won’t – it’s become another chapter in her book.

Tsukiko is always seen with rich boy Yuu three paces behind her. Yoshiko and he become close and end up sleeping together. Yoshiko leaves him a note chiding him for sleeping with someone else when he loves another woman. This is followed by a very funny scene, as Yoshiko accidentally meets Fujiwara in a store, and worries that the other girl might notice something different about her, because, you know…. Fujiwara says no, but once she’s off-scene, you can hear that she’s whispering gossipingly to her friends. ^_^

Because Yoshiko sees right through Tsukiko, she can see that there’s some real issues there with trust and friendship. She learns that Tsukiko had a childhood friend for years and years, all through school. Because she felt that her friend had betrayed her by falling for another student in middle school, Tsukiko manipulated them both into an attempted love suicide by taking pills. They survived, but moved away. Tsukiko has never apologized. Yoshiko makes her face her beloved friend and deal with the consequences. I particularly liked that the friend was visibly unattractive and gloomy in every picture and flashback, and when we see her now she looks like a not-particularly-attractive girl who has grown into herself just fine. The other girl in the attempted suicide has a boyfriend now, but in my imagination Sonoda goes home to a loving girlfriend.

Yoshiko leaves the school at graduation with no regrets, and Tsukiko looks like she’ll be able to move on, too.

Yuri is typical girls-school akogare, some handholding, the attempted love suicide and one or two sexual-tension filled embraces and scenes. That was enough, really. Any more would have been overkill.

I was expecting all the same-old same-olds, but the fact that Yoshiko entered into them with eyes and brain wide open changed *everything* about this story. No, the girl did not get the girl – and thank heavens for that, it would be an awful match. But the reader did get a good story and that’s all I care about.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 2 (Private school + girls = zOMG Yuri!)

Overall – 7

This is good, precisely because it is a Marimite rip-off that is not full of service.





Yuri News this Week – May 31, 2008

May 31st, 2008

Top Story this week – I am once again gainfully employed. Yay. (And I’ve got a part-time gig whch I’m keeping secret for the moment, but I’ll tell you all about it alter. Promise.)

Yuri Manga

R.O.D.‘s Hideyuki Kurata is doing a new series that will run in Dengeki Daioh magazine. There’s no word yet on whether it will contain Yuri, but we are talking Kurata and Dengeki, so there’s likely to be *something* we can make up in our heads. :-)

Suzunari! an uber-moe series said to have Yuri by the Japanese Yuri blog Yuri na Hibi, is now available in English. Whether that is a *good* thing or a bad is entirely personal. lol

***

Marimite News

A couple of people have forwarded this cover of Cobalt Shueisha starring Yuuki. This is indeed a special story about “Buddha Watches You,” starring the fine young lads of Hanadera Academy. A few folks have jumped to the conclusion that this marks a whole new series, which is kind of a leap. I’m sorry to disappoint – it’s only a special issue. (I consider it another delaying tactic, myself.)

The folks from Anime on DVD ferreted out this super-secret not final art for the packaging of Season 1. Looks like Marimite, doesn’t it? :-)

Those of you on the Yuricon Mailing List will know that with the assistance of Sukoshi, I was able to complete the translation of In Library. After which, I’ve decided to retire from translation for a while. But thankfully Sukoshi and Rei have stepped into the gap, while I move back to a “coordinating” position. So look forward to Novel 19 being posted here eventually, and Novel 20, Souer Audition to the YCML and then to Okazu. Yay Sukoshi and Rei!

***

Snatches of Yuri

Watching Kaiba last night and episode six, while being much like stabbing yourself in the eye with a fork, including an interesting gender-bent love affair of a sort between Warp, currently inhabiting a girl’s body and Gel, who lives in a man’s body. The vibe (from my perspective) was that Gel was as much attracted to Warp’s body as personality. YMMV.

***

Other Yuri News

Speaking of Yuri blogs, I’m please to introduce you to Heavenly Blue, the first Yuri blog I know of written by a Japanese woman. How cool, huh?

If you, or a friend read Yuri or Yaoi – especially if you are GLBT – and you have a moment or two, please help Robin Brenner with her research, by filling out this survey. She’s trying to get a bead on what the GLBT community actually thinks about Yaoi and Yuri.

Also, let me once again mention the Manga/Anime exhbit at the GLBT lending library in St. Paul Minnesota, Quatrefoil. Thanks to “Friend of Yuri” Ellen K for helping set up the exhibit. If you or a friend can, do please drop by – spread the word and visit Quatrefoil!

Lastly, we have a bunch of updates at Yuricon, including a redesigned Shop. We’ve split the Japanese and English manga into separate pages and added a new Light Novels in Japanese page. (The only Yuri LN series translated into English so far is Strawberry Panic, which you can find on the English manga page.) So far there’s only a few LNs up on the LN page, but I’ll be adding more as time goes on. Plus, new events, the 2008 Yuriko Poster Contest Winner and more!

Which brings us to the end of this week’s new report. Can’t wait to see what next week will bring!





Yuri Manga: Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl, Volume 5 (English)

May 25th, 2008

This is likely to be the last time I write about this series. Anime is over, been licensed, been reviewed. Manga has been reviewed – twice. Once in English, once in Japanese. This is the final volume. To my surprise, I’m a little saddened by that.

When I first began to read this series, I witheld my affection, sure that it would be a common harem drama with no resolution and that Hazumu would surely revert to being a boy. The “end,” I predicted, would be the beginning all over again for an unresolvable triangle.

How nice that I was so wrong about that, huh? :-)

So, we arrive at last at Kashimashi~ Girl Meets Girl, Volume 5, and find ourselves watching Hazumu struggle with the same exact conundrum she’s struggled with for the last two volumes. And getting nowhere with it. Thankfully, Fate got as tired of her lack of resolve as we did, and a *crisis* occurs which forces her hand. And there we are, reading the final chapters thinking, “Did I just read a Japanese manga with an actual *resolution?* Is it a sign of the end times? What’s going on here?” lol

Inexplicably, Kashimashi, this bland harem drama with a gender twist, actually has a resolution. Go figure. Not a bad one, either. Of course whether you liked Tomari or Yasuna more will depend on whether you actually *like* the ending, but I found it to be perfectly satisfactory.

As always, Seven Seas’ reproduction is top-notch. Adrienne Beck’s translation and Janet Houck’s adaptation deserve your attention. (As several translators have told me, no one ever notices the translation unless there’s a mistake. So take a moment to notice this translation and adaptation – there are no mistakes. Nod in appreciation for the seamless job done here.) Physically, the book looks and feels good, and of every series I have ever read, *still* is the closest thing I have seen in English to reading the Japanese original.

I truly appreciate that this book was adapted for us – the manga-reading American otaku audience, who does have a clue and doesn’t need to be condescended to. I was particularly pleased that the final line of the main story was left as intact as possible, in a way that (obnoxious arrogance ahoy) I would have translated it myself. LOL

In my review of the Japanese edition of this volume, I finished with “I think the end justified the memes.” It’s a bad pun, but a good summation of the story. This time I’ll just add that I also think that the English edition of Kashimashi is proof that a good translation/adaptation can make a middling story better. lol

Ratings:

Art – 8
Character – 8
Story – 7
Yuri – 10
Service – 5

Overall – 8

My sincerest thanks to Daniel P. for sponsoring today’s review!





Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime 12, Part 2

May 22nd, 2008

Onward into the dark depths of Yuri Hime Volume 12!

“Tokimeki Mononoke Gakuen” continues from the moment after Kiri and Arare have kissed. Arare is flipping out – not because she didn’t like it, but because she did! Immediately, she wonders just how Kiri got to be that good a kisser and freaks as she imagines her practicing with just about everyone. Arare wakes up in bed, assuming it was just a weird dream, but in a series of fabulous visuals, finds herself becoming insanely, irrationally jealous of Kiri and Pero. Arare and Kiri make up, Arare wondering if they should become lovers, when Kiri drops the bomb – if they do, Arare will become a real Youkai. Finally! A reasonable reason for the inevitable not getting together! What will happen? Tune in in July.

In “Sweet Peach” Touka flashes back and forth between what appears to be a “normal” world and the world she’s actually stuck in, with a floating perverted hamster-girl as a companion. Airei and Chun, the warrior-elf and the maid-doctor, show up to save her, and a fight looks to be forming when priestess-y Uzume-sama breaks it all up. Airei and Momoka are together when something very important, and yet heavily servicey happens and they find themselves in each other’s arms. We can look forward to even more fantasy elements to be crammed in to this story next time.

A new chapter of the next game in the Aoi Shiro canon, begins. A girl is trained to be another girl’s bodyguerd and servant. I won’t be buying this game any more than I bought the other game, so unless something happens in the story (and I’m betting that this chapter was really just an advert in manga form) I won’t care.

FINALLY! The one thing you all really cared about – the next chapter of “Strawberry Shake Sweet.” Having admitted their feelings, Ran and Julia spend a few pages being pretty sure they must have been mistaken. Ran falls asleep while Julia is in the bath. When Julia returns, waking her, Ran asks for a kiss, which Julia gives. Ran admits that she feared she had made it all up in her head and was just testing. While Saeki is held back from trying to reach them in the dead of night, Julia and Ran end up sleeping together, holding hands.

That’s the good news. Here’s the bad news – this story will be finished in two chapters. Now, that doesn’t *definitely* mean we won’t get more from Hayashiya-sensei. We don’t know yet. So don’t ask me what’s next. I do not know, any more than you do. OTOH, I think we can guarantee that Ran and Julia will live happily ever after. :-)

A girl is always watching Hasekawa, and when she notices, she inexplicably attacks her, trying to force a kiss and possibly more. When Hasekawa is injured, the girl visits her and receives an apology, but frankly, I didn’t like Hasekawa anyway. Thus concludes “A Beautiful Thing” by Hakamada Mera.

Yahoo! “Hatachi Otome Virgin Season” by Morishima Akiko, picks up the story of 20-year old art student Eimi and her lover 30-year old art teacher Keiko. Still wrestling with the age difference, they plan a trip to an onsen. They get sidetracked by a fight about an old boyfriend of Keiko’s, but they get back together in a fit of adorable love-love.

A new series by the artist of Hatsukoi Shimai, which has a name that I simply don’t feel like translating. LOL Anyway, it was exceedingly average. Girl comes to a mysterious store Nekomedou, as she struggles with feelings for her friend who adores her writing. She writes Yuri filth which upsets her friend, but makes up when she realizes that she’s never getting the girl, and her gallant stories of romantic Yuri love are all she can give her.

Last and utterly least is “Nanami to Misuzu” which I totally skipped.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Like I said, yesterday, Yuri Hime is a bag of mixed candy. You’re going to like some, not like some and love and hate one or two. That’s the advantage and disadvantage of an anthology. On the whole I really liked about a third of the stories, which is a fine percentage – I’ve bought magazines where I only liked one or two of the stories, so 6 out of 17 “really like” and 5 “okay” is a totally acceptable to me. And of course, you make like some or all of the stories I disliked. ^_^