Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: [es] ~ Eternal Sisters, Volume 2

September 1st, 2005

Anyone notice the advertisement in the Google Ad block on the right of Okazu this week? “Kissing Techniques” – assumably because of the post on Transistor ni Venus :-) You gotta read the site – it’s a *scream*. And I’m not just saying that to make you click the ad – it’s really, unintentionally, funny in its sexism.

So, here’s a little known fact about [es]. It was bought by Ichijinsha, the same folks that bring you Yuri Hime. I assume it was an independent yuri anthology before that.

I wasn’t blown away by the first volume of [es], but I didn’t hate it. This, the second volume, is pretty much more of the same, but slightly blander.

I’m sitting here going over the stories and there’s barely anything to hang on to. Some marginal confessions, a little embracing, lots of the usual high school tropes and fetishes. Sweet, cute, etc, etc.

There is one interesting point – the story “Pops” which ran for two parts in Yuri Shimai is continued here as “Someday the Sun Shines”.

But otherwise, like the first collection, this volume of [es] is the same harmless, sweet, stereotypical stories over and over. There’s the clingy younger girl, or the admired/desired older girl, the sick best friend, the slacker best friend, the genki best friend, the bathing suits and uniforms and lunchtimes and gym clothes. Nothing we haven’t seen a thousand times by now.

Perfect for moe-Yuri fanboys and those who hate the thought of adult women in love. Also not a bad birthday present for your favorite babydyke otaku-in-training. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Cutey Honey 1984

August 29th, 2005

I really wasn’t kidding when I said that the new shelves have allowed me to find stuff I haven’t seen in forever.

A few years ago Rica Takashima, the magnificent author of Rica ‘tte Kanji!?, was cleaning out her apartment and she gave me a bunch of cool early yuri magazines and manga. Her foundational works. One of these was a collected volume of the original Cutey Honey manga, by Go Nagai. When she gave me the book, she commented that, as a little lesbian, she was really into Honey, who was the first heroine who really didn’t need a man around at all. I never had a chance to read it thoroughly and then, as my manga collection grew out of control, I wasn’t able to find it. I knew it had to be *somewhere*, but couldn’t pin it down, until I got these new shelves. ^_^

Anyway, last night I sat down and really read the story and wow! was this one of the grimmest, most violent and depressing stories I’ve ever read! It was quite amazing.

The spoilage on this story is so huge that I won’t put it in the main review – I’ll add it in as the first comment, so no one who doesn’t really want to know has to suffer.

In any case, like the first iteration of Cutey Honey in anime, Kisaragi Honey is awakened as an android, the Black Claw attacks her father, she swears revenge. She attends a girl’s school and befriends Na-chan, who immediately falls for her more than a little. The two main teachers are, as in the anime, the openly lesbian and thoroughly repulsive Alphonse-sensei and the pinchy-faced and sadistic sensei who the girls all call “Histler.” (This is not a typo. Histler, *not* Hitler, nuh-uh.) The Prinicpal of the school is a no-name doughball who, before the final traumatic ending finds love (and hot, yet horrible to contemplate, lesbo sex) with Alphonse-sensei.

Honey sneaks off every night, naked transformation scenes abound and she always beats the Claw henchmen. Lalalala.

Oh, and btw, Seiji in the original manga is a total doofus. He mostly gets captured and tortured and Honey has to rescue him. I think Nagai-sensei really let his character get out of control and become too important in subsequent versions. Bad insane genius, bad!

Because this is Go Nagai, there is a ton of nakedness, male and female, lots of torture, some seriously hideous lesbians, and general horribleness of all kinds, including a topless gang leader with exceptionally hairy…erm, everything. Shudder. She was horrible.

The end of the main part of the story is violent with a capital “Oh my god!” Which was made truly appalling by the light-hearted romp that was the final chapter in which Honey destroys Sister Jill and sings her own musical theme.

Ratings:

Art – 6 (Early Go Nagai….bad anatomy….)
Characters – 3 (each more horrible than the last)
Story – 5 (c’mon! she has a CLAW coming out of her head!)
Yuri – 8

Overall – 5 for normal people.

On the whole, I really liked it, except when…oh, hell, I’ll admit it. I thought it was brilliant. Brilliant, disturbing, weirder than anything I could come up with on acid, Cutey Honey was, and is, a lesbian manga icon.





Yuri Manga: Transistor Ni Venus, Volume 5

August 27th, 2005

Transistor ni Venus 5I know you were all wondering, as was I, where agent April Enus gained her obvious skill in kissing, as chronicled in Transistor Ni Venus. Well, your wait is ovah! In Volume 5 of this delightful action/pin-up fusion we, at long last, learn Enus’ secret.

We could have never guessed the truth in a million years.

The year is 2264, April Enus is only 16, a young, but highly promising agent-in-training for whatever planet she agents for. (I haven’t really bothered to translate the name, because, really, who cares? Call it the People’s Republic of Zod, or whatever you wish.)

Her skills are rapidly increasing…but, to her shame, she’s a loser at kissing. All the other agents say so, and one by one, all the pretty girls leave her and kiss other agents, ’cause she sucks at it.

Luckily for Enus, she is given the task of minding a powerful seer, Atakui. Atakui steals a bit from one of my friend Sparkle’s Sailor Moon fanfics, and gets a jolt upon meeting Enus. I’m sure you can see what’s coming a mile away. Atakui certainly could.

There’s some adventure and spies and attacks and stuff, but really, we all want to know what’s going to happen with Enus’ sucky kissing, right? Which is good, because that’s really the plot. Oh, and Enus gets blown up a few times, too. But really, the important bit is when she begs Atakui to help her become a better kisser. Which the seer does. The two women hold a ritual to ask the Goddess for her blessing. (Don’t be a dork and ask which goddess, okay? Venus, obviously….) And lo and behold! The Goddess bestows this precious blessing on Enus! Yay! Now she is not only a good kisser – she is the BEST kisser in the universe!

There was some spy stuff happening too, but no one was paying attention. ;-)

Ratings:
Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 8
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

Transistor ni Venus is a ridiculous, silly piece of fluff, but it never fails to make me smile.





Yuri Manga: Ichigo Mashimaro, Volume 2

August 9th, 2005

I’m woman enough to admit when I’m defeated. And there is no doubt in my mind that Ichigo Mashimaro has won by a knockout.

I originally caved back in May, when I reviewed Volume 1 of the manga, but now I’m full blown moe-geeking at the utter cuteness and wacky humor of this story. Look, Ma, I’m a genuine otaku now!

Volume 2 is more of the same nothing that is usual for Ichigo Mashimaro. Miu and Nobue treat everyone – especially each other – with unusual cruelty that somehow manages to be adorable even as its being eviler than just about anything else I’ve ever seen. And that, in a nutshell, is what has got me hooked. I just adore psychotic women. lol

So, in Volume 2, we are introduced to the last of our main cast, the European doll-like Ana, who hails from Cornwall, but has about as much English as the average Japanese elementary school student. In other words – almost none. Watching as Ana tries desperately to pretend to not know Japanese or any of the right customs is just plain hysterical.

The rest of this volume is taken up with several fanservice-y shorts, a bath episode, a Christmas episode, a running gag about a local vending machine that serves up random objects and other goofball stuff that’s funnier than it has a right to be.

And, at last, there’s a hint of the yuri that I just haven’t seen until now. Okay, its true that Nobue hugs Ana when she meets her, but she is drunk at the time. And she clearly thinks of Matsuri as a pet, not as a girl. After reading Volume 2 (and 3, but that’s a later review) I’m sticking with the Miu x Nobue combo. Miu has it bad for Nobue and frankly, I can see Nobue being okay with that. Remember, manga Nobue is 16…not so huge and uncomfortable a gap between that and Miu’s 12. I’m pretty sure we *all* had crushes on older women at that age. (In retrospect, mine was probably my babysitter, Biz Ann.) So, yeah.

The final chapter traces a cold that begins with Chika, but ends up being Miu’s. In her eternal desire to gain Nobue’s attention, Miu demands that Nobue see if she has a fever (she doesn’t….but she will.) As she lifts her face to Nobue, Nobue leans over and kisses Miu on the lips. A little surprisingly, Miu freaks. They then go on to play doctor, in a way that I’m pretty sure I never did as a kid. But I digress. Oh, and the best gag of the chapter is Chika sneezing messily on her older sister. Twice. It’s infantile, and gross, but really, really funny.

Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Yuri – 5

For sheer bizarro wacky humor and psycho babydyke-in-training Miu, this manga is a serious win.





Yuri Manga: Transistor ni Venus, Volume 4

August 5th, 2005

Transistor ni Venus, Volume 4 is one long gag about smoking. Or, more accurately, about how unsexy smoking is.

Enus is assigned to guide and protect Mag, a 21-year old who looks significantly younger, and a professor who happens to be one of the ferret-like sentient race that inhabits the Transistor universe. As usual, they are followed, attacked and generally harrassed by other spies trying to gain the information Mag and the Professor have, but Enus always comes through and saves them. The gag begins when Enus wants to collect an appropriate reward from Mag…who is fine with a little sex, but wants to have a ciggy first. The Professor joins her. Enus goes to sleep infused with second-hand smoke and an attitude.

About halfway through the book, Enus loses Mag and the professor, but picks up Tes, from whom she gets a few kisses, but is almost immediately interrupted by the arrival of rival spy Kara, who promptly steals Tes. We regain Mag and the Professor and the smoking club has now grown by two.

The whole story ends with a big kissfest, but Enus goes to bed alone. I imagine the others are outside for a cigarette break.

As with all the other Transistor volumes, this one is good, wholesome fun trash. The emphasis is on comedy, with a little light yuri.

While I was reading this volume, I showed it and the artbook to a friend who has no interest in anime and she perked right up! “Why didn’t you TELL me about this?” she asked when, of course, I’d been telling her for years.

If you know a lesbian who thinks all this yuri is crap, show her this series – I bet she pays a little more attention. ;-) Partially its the art – the artbook in particularl looks like pin-up art more than manga art. A couple of the pictures would make nice tattoos. ^_^

So the yuri quotient is a little lower in this volume than the others (which I have reviewed previously, use the search feature up top on the left to find the entries) but is still a fun read.

Once again, many thanks to Touko_no_doriru-san for opening my eyes to this wonderful series!