Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Aoi Hana, Sweet Blue Flowers Volume 1 (青い花)

March 31st, 2006

Aoi Hana, or Sweet Blue Flowers as it is translated on the cover, by Shimura Takako, is both cute and sweet – and I liked it quite a bit. Which is pretty surprising, as it is both genuinely cute and sweet.

In essence, this manga is the story of four schoolgirls: Fumi, Akira, Yasuko and Kyouko and their various loves and friendships. It is not loli uber-cute or gaggingly sweet, nor is it highly melodramatic. It’s actually more vaguely realistic, with an emphasis on the usual conventions and tropes of schoolgirl yuri – crushes on best friends, sempai, etc. The tone is quiet, the relationships realistic-ish.

Fumi comes back to the town she grew up in, for the first time since grammar school. She meets, without realizing it, her childhood friend Akira – a pleasantly energetic and cheerful girl. When they were much younger, Akira had been Fumi’s protector, keeping her out of harm of bullies and saving her from the unpleasant emotional consequences of common pre-school blunders like bathroom accidents. Fumi is now a tall, attractive young woman, but still shy and retired. Without realizing who each other is, they meet on a train when Akira saves Fumi from a pervert. (Although why Japanese women don’t simply break train pervert’s fingers at the bottom joint, I’ll never really understand…it’d be easy to ID the guy with the broken finger. But I once again digress.) Fumi and Akira are reunited as friends when their mothers get together and the light dawns upon them. This time around, they are going to separate girls’ schools.

Fumi learns that her cousin is getting married, but seems appalled rather than pleased…. We learn later that they were having a physical relationship and Fumi had no idea she was engaged.

Kyouko is Akira’s classmate at school. It’s club time and the two decide to join acting club together. Kyouko has a secret – she is in love with an upperclassman at Fumi’s school. Fumi, unbeknownst to anyone is also developing a massive crush on this upperclassman, Yasuko. Fumi joins the club Yasuko is in – not really caring that it’s theater, just to be near the older girl. When Fumi’s school theater club decides to visit Akira’s school – to take in the wonderful rarified air of this oh-so-glamorous place – Fumi happens to wander down a hall where Kyouko confesses her feelings to Yasuko….and is rejected.

Koyuko runs off, but as Yasuko leaves she sees Fumi crouching down trying to be invisible. Yasuko asks Fumi to go with her outside – and hits on her with subtlelty and charm. Fumi’s a goner. Yasuko asks her out and she agrees.

In the meantime Kyouko’s brother asks for help trying to set up an “aicon” – an arranged group date-thing. Akira wants to go, but her brother screws it up, causing mild emotional damage. Luckily Akira has pretty high hit points, so she survives.

In the meantime, Yasuko takes Fumi out on a date. Their relationship might actually have to win for one of the most real and normal I’ve seen in anime and manga. They do everything in the right order. Hold hands, kiss, etc. Not all at once and not after a gap of a gazillion years. Fumi is completely totally gaga over Yasuko and so far, at least, Yasuko hasn’t been a scuzzball. In fact, she’s been very sweet and romantic, which is good, ’cause Fumi’s fairly fragile. They share their first kiss in the library stacks – I approve. :-)

The *drama* of the latter part of the book is hardly even that. Yasuko asks Fumi if she can walk to school with her, but Fumi has already given that promise to Akira. An awkward meeting between the three makes Fumi feel that she has to tell Yasuko, quite overly-seriously, that she can’t walk with her. Yasuko laughs and wonders when she got involved in a grammar school conversation, but she’s fine with the whole thing. Fumi isn’t *quite* done, yet, and tells Akira about her relationship with Yasuko. Yasuko’s mightly impressed that Fumi came out to Akira, but still thinks the drama was a bit silly.

Akira isn’t upset, but she’s not really sure *what* to think. She asks Kyouko what she’d say, hypothetically speaking, if Akira told her that she was in love with a girl. Kyouko is still smarting from Yasuko’s rejection, but she smiles and responds with the same question. Akira thinks about it and decides she couldn’t care less who her friends are in love with, as long as they are happy.

Kyouko runs into Fumi and asks her if she’s in love with Yasuko. Fumi, blushing and stuttering admits she is. Kyouko tells her that Yasuko’s wonderful – and Akira’s a really nice girl, then wanders off mysteriously.

That night Yasuko calls Fumi. They share the usual sweet nothings, telling each other that they love one another (it was very “aww” inspiring). Before she gets off the phone Yasuko asks about Fumi’s first love. Fumi thinks briefly of the cousin she was playing around with at the beginning of the book, but realizes that her first true love was back in grammar school, when she fell in love with Akira.

To Be Continued, the end of Volume 1 says.

Really, this was just a very pleasant yuri manga. No fanservice, no fetish (except for the schoolgirl thing, but the uniforms are really dull and uninterestng and not at all unreasonably fetishy.) It’s just a nice, semi-realistic tale of first loves and friendship among girls. I imagine it will remain almost completely unknown as a result.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

If you are looking for something that isn’t lowest common denominator Yuri – you’ve found it with Aoi Hana. I’m definitely looking forward to the next volume.





Yuri Manga: Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo

March 14th, 2006

Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo comes with the English translation Kiss, Sigh and Cherry Blossoms Pink. Just so you don’t have to work at it. ^_^

This is the second (only because I got it second) volume of Yuri manga from collected from Yuri Shimai and Yuri Hime magazines. This is the first collection of the stories by Morinaga Milk which, while not really a series, are related by virtue of them all taking place at a single girl’s school. From now on, to make things easy, I am going to call the series, such as it is, “Cherry Blossoms”. If a second volume comes out with a different title, I’ll work out something later. ^_^

So, my first thought upon cracking open Cherry Blossoms was that the stories had been reordered from the way they first appeared in the magazines. I have a sneaking suspicion that that had more to do with the printing process and placement of the color pages than with any textual redefinition. But as the stories are, at least in the beginning, stand-alones, it didn’t affect the series’ continuity one bit. The color pages that originally ran in the magazines are here reproduced – and very lovely all over again. There’s an additional color page in the beginning, depicting Nana and Hitomi, as they walk through a wood filled with cherry blossoms – Hitomi gesturing back to Abe and Tachibana who are also enjoying the petals. Appallingly cute,as you can imagine. :-)

As I did with the first volume of Strawberry Shake Sweet, let’s begin from the beginning as if we have never read these stories.

Cherry Blossoms is a series of connected stories about girls in love at what is a private girl’s school. In and of itself, this is not an original idea. But these are well executed, with a variety of personalities, character types and situations, so unless one objects strongly to the idea of high school girls in love, then it’s a pleasant enough example of same.

We begin with Nana and Hitomi, two girls who have been in school together since time immemorial but, for mysterious (to Nana, at least) reasons, Hitomi did not go to the same high school as she. The story starts off with her dreaming of the time she learned Hitomi would be going to another school. She wakes in tears. Nana is a pleasant girl, and has made some friends in the new school, but she’s lonely without Hitomi. One Sunday she runs into Hitomi who, having joined the basketball team at her new school has shorn her locks, and seems to be very friendly with her teammate. Nana tries not to be jealous and stricken. Hitomi jumps unmbrellas to return home with Nana, ostensibly to see her new school uniform. Once home, Nana breaks down in tears, telling Hitomi how unhappy she is. Hitomi reminds Nana that her feelings and Nana’s are not the same. In middle school she had kissed Nana, only to have Nana ignore it completely. Because she could not be just friends anymore, Hitomi thought it would be better to not be near the object of her desire. Nana throws herself into Hitomi’s arms, declaring that her feelings *are* the same, she was just scared and…and…she kisses Hitomi. It’s okay, Nana says, if we’re not friends. Rabu rabu.

The second story tells us of a ghost of a girl who attended the school in the past, and who now hangs around the school doctor. By accident, the ghost is absorbed into the body of a student who, all of a sudden wants to hang out with the doctor all the time. The ghost tells us of the time that she attended the school. She was very ill, and the girl who is now the doctor spent time with her every day. Ultimately the ghost grew to love her. Her friend went on to become the doctor to spend her days in the same office they had been in together. As they talk, the doctor realizes what has happened, and she addresses her friend by name. They kiss briefly, the ghost leaves the student’s body and all returns to normal…except that the student now has an inexplicable crush on the doctor. ^_^

The next chapter is probably my second favorite, and the couple I most hope we get to see more of – if only because they are perfectly unsuited for one another. Abe and Tachibana are practicing for the school play. Abe says that she can’t quite get into the head of the bound princess, so Tachibana removes the ribbon from her own hair, ties Abe’s hands behind her back, undoes her braids and says there! – now you’re a bound princess. As Abe recites her lines, Tachibana is moved to kiss her. When the rest of the theater club gets there, Tahibana has to explain that Abe burst into tears and ran off after she untied her. The club members are appalled. It turns out that Abe is in Nana’s class. Innocently, she asks Nana if she’s ever been kissed. Nana explodes, but Abe changes the subject before Nana is forced to prevaricate. In her mind, Abe says that she’d always imagined that her first kiss would be a prince – or at least a nice guy…but the image of the prince in her mind changes to Tachibana. The senior members of the club catch up to Abe to try and convince her to come back to the club. Tachibana overhears them – so when Abe bursts into tears, she grabs the younger girl and takes her away. Tachibana tries to apologize, but it seems to make Abe cry even harder, when she realizes and says out loud that she likes Abe. Tachibana asks what she can do to be forgiven. Abe tells her to say that she likes her once again. At the school play we see Nana and Hitomi in the audience and there’s just enough time for hijinks and goofiness before we cut.

The next story is probably the least comfortable or cute of the collection. Chisato had, when they first met, tried to help an outsider, Mizuki, but had been rudely rebuffed. Now in their third-year, Chisato still remembers that day, and can never quite take her eyes off of her classmate. Chisato falls ill with a cold; upon going to the doctor’s office, she thinks Mizuki is the doctor – apparently their voices are very similar. Chisato lays there, thinking about how her dream had been to be close friends with Mizuki….but that had never worked out. Chisato stays out of school for a few days, and is very surprised to have Mizuki drop by to see how she is. Mizuki apologizes for her behavior so long ago. She had just tested into the school and was being treated nastily by the insiders. She had kiss marks on her neck – when Chisato had offered a bandaid, she was just in bad mood and took it as more teasing. Chisato returns to school, but she’s still sick and ends up once again in the doctor’s office. There she talks to the doctor through the curtain about how she could never get Mizuki out of her mind. The doctor, who we can see is really Mizuki, tells her that some day she’ll have a wonderful love. Chisato thinks about that and wonders if, then, she’ll remember this – her first love.

Chiharu has always loved her friend Misato from a close distance. She loved the way Misato played the flute when they were younger, and now, after an injury has kept Misato from playing, Chiharu loves Misato’s home-made sweets. But really, more than anything – she just loves Misato. During a conversation at school, she’s lead to believe that the feelings are one way – and over the following days Chiharu can’t help but feel a little down. She is over Misato’s house to make sweets when Misato breaks out her flute and plays for the very first time in a long time. Chiharu is all starry eyed all over again. Misato says that she’s noticed that Chiharu was a bit blue and her music always seemed to cheer her up – but she’s gotten rusty since she stopped playing. Chiharu disagrees. Misato continues – she wanted to thank Chiharu for always keeping her spirits up when she was injured. Chiharu finds strength in this, “accidentally” downs a glass of wine (kids don’t try this at home!) and decides to bare her soul. As we cut out, Chiharu tells Misato that she has something important to talk about…

Nana and Hitomi kiss in full color! And, in the following pages, do more than that. But it’s all a naughty dream and Nana is appalled at herself – right in the middle of midterms, too. Sure enough, distracted as she is, she does badly and has to take a retest. This is all complicated by the fact that Hitomi has bluntly asked for them to do more than kiss. It’s not that Nana doesn’t want to…it’s that every time she gets a look at herself, she frankly cannot believe Hitomi wants a clod like her. She imposes a Hitomi ban upon herself, studies and takes the retest. It’s been a week – Nana hasn’t even answered her email. She calls Hitomi, only to hear the other girl’s phone ring under her window. Hahaha. Hitomi was in the bushes. Once safely in Nana’s room, Hitomi admits to being impatient – she couldn’t stand not being able to talk to Nana. Nana admits to feeling inadequate, which Hitomi forcefully denies. She thinks Nana is cute, and kind and beautiful, etc, etc. So, eventually, they do more than just kiss.

When Michiru, an underclassman, approaches and asks out Nosaka, an upperclassman, it throws Nosaka’s world into a tizzy. She wants to be friends, but Michiru insists that they are dating. After an attempted kiss is rebutted with a slap, Nosaka feels awful. She meets Michiru with new short haircut and thinks it’s her fault. But Michiru says it’s not. In the end, Michiru decides to be by Nosaka’s side, and plan her college encounters for her. Of all the stories, this one was the weakest, IMHO.

The postscript has a nice romantically sexy picture of Nana and Hitomi. ^_^

As with Strawberry Shake Sweet, the quality of reproduction is very good – no complaints there.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – Various, say 7 on average
Yuri – 9
Service – by virtue of being Morinaga Milk works, full of rosy-cheeked schoolgirls, 7

Overall – 8

Well worth your money, as long as you don’t mind schoolgirl Yuri.





Yuri Manga: Negima! Volume 9

March 10th, 2006

I was so not going to publish an entry today, and then Sean Gaffney, god among men, sent me this! So here you go – a new review by our beloved semi-regular guest reviewer Sean.

Negima! 9, at first glance, appears to be a rather uneventful volume. We get introductions to four girls (well, three and a half), a couple of others are developed a bit, there’s lots of wacky comedy of errors, gratuitous nudity, and people getting punched for being perverts. All very typical.

Of course, this is probably one of the most important volumes, for several reasons.

First of all, this volume sets up the School Festival. As of March 2006, Negima is about to finish Volume 14 in Japan, and we’re still only in Day 2 of 3 of this Festival. It’s a HUGE arc, and this volume starts it up.

Secondly, we meet Chao Lingshen, even if we don’t find out much about her (she’s the one-half). She’s brilliant and mysterious, and also wanted by most of the school for various crimes. I suspect her plot will end up being one of the ‘end games’ in the entire manga. Plus, she’s Chinese and wears her hair in odangos, but has a small bust and an IQ in the 200s, which makes a nice change from the Shampoo stereotype. :)

In terms of yuri, we continue to have some amusing bits with our favorite canonical half-couple, Konoka and Setsuna. Setsuna is blushing and stammering, Konoka is oblivious. Setsuna sees Konoka in underwear, she gets very embarrassed. We’re
sort of in a comedy holding pattern here.

Of interest, though, is another ‘non-canon’ couple. We meet the class’s resident ghost, Sayo, a cute yet klutzy girl who was murdered in the 1940s but who still haunts the classroom. After being ‘outed’ by the class, she finds that she can actually be seen by reporter girl Kazumi, possibly as they sit next to each other. The interaction between the two is cute, and naturally since Kazumi’s the one who can see her, Sayo rarely leaves her side after this. Many fans like these two as a yuri couple, despite the obvious problems (such as one partner being non-corporeal), but it’s pure fan speculation.

This is a good if not great volume of Negima, but it does set up the Festival, and there are some very good stories coming up in that. Recommended.

Thanks Sean! The way you describe this almost makes me want to read it – which is quite a feat, let me tell you! :-)





Yuri Manga: Plica-chan

February 28th, 2006

Time for a review of a 100% Yuri manga that is almost unknown here in the West.

Plica-chan, written and drawn by Amamiya Sae, is the bittersweet, realistic story of Plica, a young lesbian looking for love in modern Japan. Emphasis on the bitter, rather than the sweet – not because Plica doesn’t find love, don’t get me wrong! Bitter ’cause she’s just a bitter kind of gal.

The manga, which is written in 4-panel strip style, originally ran in Anise magazine, and now runs in the LOUD News, the newsletter for the LOUD organization. Youcan find the comic archive here. Plica’s comments are often on the nature of sexuality, the relationships between men and women, and between women and women. Erin S. has a section of her Yurizuki site dedicated to synopsizing some of the Plica strips, so you can get an idea of what’s going on.

The whole strip starts on a low note, as Plica returns from an ex-lover’s wedding. But not too long into it, Plica meets Mari, for whom she starts to have feelings pretty soon. But, like most butches, Plica is too unsure to try anything. (I have a theory about most butch women actually being really neko/uke…which begs for an essay on the perception and reality of butch/femme, neko/tachi and uke/seme. But I digress.) Thank goodness femme Mari is, like so many femmes, perfectly willing to go after what she wants. She and Plica have been together since. As I said, it’s a bittersweet comic – rather more real than fanciful, so don’t expect roses and lillies. ^_^

There was one collected volume of Plica-chan, with a section translated into English by none other than internationally known BL scholar Mizoguchi Akiko (a lesbian herself, and one of our guests at Yuricon in Tokyo.)

The art takes some getting used to if you’re used to the more traditional manga style but it’s good to take a break from the usual now and then. :-)

I particularly liked the comic posted on Feb. 21, 2006, where Plica comments that she finds Mari very sexy in a suit, but doesn’t want to tell her, yet, because it sounds so dirty old man that she’s afraid Mari will stop wearing them. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6 (minimalist, but not unpleasant)
Story – 7 (more bitter than sweet)
Characters – 7 (like real people, they are sometimes very annoying)
Yuri – 10
Service – 1

Overall – 7

Plica-chan is the almost exact opposite of yesterday’s Shoujo Sect – substance over style. If you’re looking for a more realistic look at lesbian life, take a look at Plica-chan.





Yuri Manga: Shoujo Sect, Volume 1

February 28th, 2006

I don’t have a lot of time today, so I thought I’d review something superficial. Shoujo Sect is about as superficial as they come.

The basic premise is…well, there really isn’t a premise. It’s a series of near-plotless sexual encounters between young women who attend a private school and in most cases, room together in a dorm. The common denominator is Naitou, a blond who moves through the other girls’ stories as a kind of ghost – and so is clearly the real protagonist.

In the first chapter Naitou bets Benio an iPod over which one can get the better kiss from Ayame. Benio gets full-blown sex but forgets to get a picture as proof. When, the next morning, Ayame gives her a big ole good morning kiss in front of Naitou, Benio wins.

Enjyoji Maya steals a kiss from Honda Shinobu – unbeknowst to Maya, Shinobu has a cult of personality at this school, a veritable Hugh Hefner. In not too much time, Shinobu has Maya naked and in thrall. Naitou interrupts.

Chizuru convinced her sempai Shigure that she really REALLY likes her. Naitou plays the voyeur

Tomoe runs into Suu-sempai one day as the older girl lays outside with another girl asleep in her lap. The next time they run into each other, Suu takes Tomoe into the art supply room for a little personal attention. Naitou and Shinobu have a little unrelated conversation about the school uniform and hamburgers.

Asafuki is crushing badly on housemate Naitou, who hasn’t noticed. Setsuka has, but she really has it bad for Asafuki. Setsuka takes things into her own hands and has her way with Asafuki, who screams Naitou’s name at the key moment. At dinner that night, Setsuka asks Naitou what her type is…a conversation which opens Asafuki’s eyes to the fact that Setsuka is a better option all around.

In what has to be the oddest chapter, we start with color pages of lovers Chikae and Utano. Utano does not speak, apparently. At school two of their classmates call them lesbians and insult them. They defend each other – but don’t deny they are lovers. One girl who was slapped runs off to get a teacher. Utano makes love to Chikae right there in the classroom, not stopping when students arrive. The girls leave, and after they finish, Utano thanks Chikae…and disappears because of a magic spell. When Naitou arrives, Chikae is on the floor huddled up, crying. Utano is gone. I pretty much liked these two the best, so it was a little depressing…

Naitou arrives at the clubroom, aka Shinobu’s personal playroom, with some copies. She finds a wide assortment of Shinobu’s girls, all dressed up in a variety of fetish outfits. (Naitou, on seeing Maya in low-cut leotard, stockings, heels and dog ears: “That’s some outfit, Enjyoji-san.”) In a small room on the side Kirin and Matsuri have sex, quietly, so Shinobu doesn’t hear them. Shinobu and Naitou go outside for a chat, and Shinobu confesses that she likes Naitou.

Omake chapter – a bunch of the girls have sex for spurious reasons.

Drawn by by Kurogane Kenn, the art is cute, but a little too moe/loli for me to really like. The sex is most definitely sex-like. Like Maka-Maka, this is pretty much Yuri porn by a guy. Decent porn. Not ugly, not gross, just “Plot, what plot?” porn.

Ratings:
Art – 7
Character – 4 (we don’t really get to know any of them)
Story – 2 (there isn’t any)
Yuri – 9
Service – 7
Overall – 6

Depending on your mood and tastes, this could be just the ticket. It’s definitely good, filthy Yuri fun.