Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Pieta

May 18th, 2004

Today I want to go over a few of the classic Yuri manga titles once again – a few that I already mentioned briefly, but have revisited recently, and a few that deserve revisiting for one reason or another. I’d like to start with Pieta, a surprisingly well-done little classic, by Haruno Nanae, published by Young You comics way back in 2000. (It seems a lot older than that, really.)

Pieta tells the story of Rio and Sahako, two girls in high school together. Rio seems cool and aloof and is the subject of many rumors in the school. Even though the girl’s uniform includes a tie, she wears it like a boy and is very boyish in looks and manner. Rio very overtly is dating one of the girls in her school and doesn’t seem to care what people think of her.

Sahako finds herself fascinated by Rio, and is very quickly drawn in by her charismatic, yet enigmatic, personality. For her part, Rio makes no bones about the fact that she’s interested in, and attracted to, Sahako, even going so far as to break up with her current girlfriend.

We learn that Rio, for all her external coolness, is actually a seriously emotionally fragile individual, with very painful memories of abandonment and rejection – and a classically evil, hurtful stepmother.

Very much because of this situation, Sahako is drawn closer and closer to Rio, until it becomes obvious to both themselves and everyone around them, that they belong together. The climax is not the final crisis, but in the end, there is a happy ending for them – and the girl does get the girl, which sets this story up among the few and far between.

On the whole, Pieta a slow-moving and sometimes painful story, but it is undeniably sweet and romantic – and in places genuinely touching. Watching Sahako watch Rio is so sweet and a little heart-rending. The plot is not earth-shatteringly new or unique, but it is tight and well-constructed, with a fair amount of tension.

While Rio is given a lot of depth, as a character Sahako is left a little fuzzy. Her family seem to disappear by the end, and there’s no conflict in her life, as there is in Rio’s…I keep wondering how her family reacted to what’s going on with her (remembering that my completely functional family certainly had a reaction to when I was falling in love the first time…), but we never see any of that.

The art is smooth and slow and very open, with white space and implications of motion and position, which goes well with the feel of the story.

All in all, you could do way worse than Pieta as a solid Yuri story.

I recommend that you get an actual hard copy, even though it’s out of print. You can usually find it wherever used manga is sold. Pieta would make *great* beach reading. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri -8

Overall – 8





Yuri Manga: Yuri Tengoku 2

May 5th, 2004

YT2Yuri Tengoku is an anthology of all-girl’s love stories. It sits somewhere between a doujinshi and a magazine and a – that is, it’s not *quite* a fan work, but it’s not really a professional magazine, either.

The first Yuri Tengoku was released in 2003, and I reviewed it on January 22, 2004. Looking back at that post, frankly *nothing* has changed from the first volume to the second. Yuri Tengoku still looks like a slick doujinshi, with a color slipcover and color pages of indifferent art. It seems such a waste to blow color pages on what are, IMHO, pictures of 7-year olds in school uniform not doing anything that any two girls might do at lunch – like lay next or sit next to each other. No sense of “love” there.

The preponderance of lolicon – characters that are supposed to be in junior high or high school that look 6 years old at most – still sets my teeth on edge. In fact, even more than the last issue, this felt more like a loli fetish manga than a yuri one. I mean, can we *really* conisder it “love,” much less a lesbian romance, when the character is a little kid?

And with only one exception, every single story is exactly the same. Here is the plot:

I am in love with my classmate, but I can’t tell her. I remember the day we met . Wait, maybe she feels the same way! (Something occurs to make characters realize they like each other.) Hug. I’m so happy.

By the fourth or fifth story I was beginning to feel caught in a loop!

There are two stories that are *clearly* anime fan art – one a Michiru x Haruka high school crush thing that has different names, but jeez guys, we’re not stupid! And a R.O.D. The TV parody that simply removed any names at all, but there was no other attempt to make the characters look like anything other than Anita and Hisa. To be fair, the Michiru and Haruka types are pretty common in all anime and manga, so it could be coincidence, but not so the ROD thing. Of the two, the Michiru/Haruka stand-ins were at least a semi-decent rendition of the same story as always.

Only the final story in the anthology managed to escape almost all the conventions of the rest of the magazine. I’m not saying it was *good*, but it was different. For one thing, the characters are actually post-high school. Phew! Three years after graduation, in fact. And the story is hardly like the others, since it includes a violent pimp, a beating and a large knife. Sadly, it also has absurdly misplaced breast-groping and two fairly unrealistic characters, but who cares? It’s different, at least.

I’m can’t recommend this volume of Yuri Tengoku unless you are extremely hard up for something resembling girl’s love, or you are absolutely stricken dumb with joy at cute little girls who are impossibly young-looking for their purported ages.

Ratings:
Art – Varies, but nothing better than a 7
Story – 4
Characters – 4
Yuri – 7

Overall – 5

You can definitely do better than Yuri Tengoku 2.





Weather Woman Anime and Manga

March 22nd, 2004

wwHow Low Can You Go?

Today I want to tell you about one of my all-time favorite series. Let me warn you first – this series is not for the faint of heart…it starts low and just keeps getting lower and lower and lower. In fact, that’s one of its great appeals; no matter how repulsive it gets, you just have to keep reading to see if it can get any *more* repulsive…and it always does. ^_^

Weather Woman/Weather Report Girl/Tenki Oneesama – Tetsu Adachi

The reason for so many titles is that each version of this, manga, anime, and live-action film have a different name. Isn’t that helpful?

The anime is cute – I’ve traumatized many a person by making them watch it. It’s a two-episode OVA that follows the manga pretty closely, so I’ll just talk about that. The live-action film is similar, but not the same – also not nearly as fun.

The first chapter of Tenki Oneesama introduces anti-heroine Nakadai Keiko. Never has manga seen a more sadistic, power-mad, conniving, shameless, scheming bitch on wheels. I love her. ^_^

Keiko’s dream is to be the star weather woman on television and she will do anything to accomplish that dream. She starts by putting super-strong laxative in the current weather woman’s lunch, causing her to, erm, have an accident, on television. Keiko steps in as the fill-in and immediately shakes up the station by flashing her underwear to the TV audience. Instantly, she’s a hit. Keiko makes the former weather reporter her personal slave, forcing Michiko to lick her underwear clean, and use her tongue to wipe the shaving cream from her body, among other, more evil, things.

When a new, very prim news announcer, Kaori, shows up, she thinks she can tame Keiko’s mad power trip. Their rivalry is hysterical – a bathing suit pulling fight in a public pool turns into a perfect synchronized swimming routine, for example – but after Keiko uses the recording devices in her own apartment to tape Michiko and Kaori having sex, Kaori becomes a reluctant ally.

To say that this story is insane is understating the case. A wrestling deathmatch between Keiko and policewoman “Hentai Hunter” Natsumi, becomes an evening of sex at a gentlemen’s club owned by….who else but everyone’s favorite weather woman! This arc also includes some serious Yuri goings on between Natsumi and her assistant Ritsuko. About time, too.

Sadly, the manga kind of just…ends. Keiko turns to us and says its been fun, but she’s got to go. Worst of all, she gets married to the yutzy guy in the story. But between the repulsive beginning and the inadequate ending, there’s a ton of Yuri and Yuri innuendo and just wacky and head-shakingly freaky chapters. I strongly recommend this manga if you like the horrible and unremittingly tacky, or you’re a bottom-feeding perv. Either way, you’ll love Weather Woman. If you like romance and sweetness, and things like scat, panties, sexual perversion, and emotional sadism bother you – stay as far away as possible from this series. ^_^;

The first volume of the manga is available in English, and the anime and live-action film, both have licensed subtitled versions. Links to these can be found at the top of this entry.

But if you read Japanese, or like looking at pervy Yuri pictures, Vol. 7 of the manga is the one you want.





Yuri Anime/Yuri Manga: Hen

March 16th, 2004

A Strange Series About Strange Love

I’m not really sure I agree that Hen, aka Strange Love is really hentai…but as it’s usually lumped in with the “adult” anime, I guess I should. What it *is* is a very funny, and sometimes touching romantic comedy starring two mismatched girls, from a distinctly seinen perspective.

Hen is the story of extremely well-endowed high school student Yoshida Chizuru. Despite the fact that she’s under age, Chizuru has a part-time job modeling, on account of her exceptional looks. The first part of the anime and the manga is incredibly dumb, as Chizuru seduces/outsmarts a pervy substitute teacher. The fun begins when a cute, very childish girl moves in next door to Chizuru’s boyfriend’s, rock star Hiro Yuki’s, apartment.

At first, Chizuru dislikes little Azumi; snubs her, makes fun of her, etc…but after a few days, she realizes that she’s begun to obsess about Azumi. (This leads to some highly amusing scenes in the anime, as Chizuru tries fantasizing about other schoolmates, to see if she is, perhaps, gay after all.) In a life-changing realization, Chizuru decides that she *is* in love with Azumi, and will marry her, despite the obstacles.

The anime ends at this point, but the manga goes on and on and on…. There’s a ton of really silly stuff that happens, some more bizarre than others, and everything, except Chizuru’s emotions, are played for laughs. There are a couple of touching scenes as well.

Is this a series worth watching? I think so. The OVA is only two episodes, but there are some really funny moments that make it worth owning.

The manga is *definitely* worth having. But, beware – there are two Hen manga, one that is Yuri, one that is BL…and they coincide at some point in both stories, so it’s a little confusing. It’s probably easiest to remember it this way – the Yuri Hen is the one with white spines, the BL has the colored spines. The Yuri Hen is 8 volumes, the BL Hen is 13 volumes…if you’re a completist, you’ll want those too, to get *all* of Chizuru and Azumi’s story.

By the way – the series, despite everything, *does* have a happy ending, as Chizuru and Azumi fly off together “to America,” which we all know is manga code for “to have a happy lesbian relationship.” ^_^

The art is really…odd, and the characters have awful ears, there is much fanservice, breast and panty shots, but if you look past the surface, this is really a very sweet series.





Chinese Translation of Yamaji Ebine’s Love My Life

March 14th, 2004

Love My Life News Item!

Here’s a great news item sent in by alert reader Zuan Yi. Apparently there is a Chinese translation of Love My Life. I’m sure there are plenty of yuri fans who read Chinese, but not Japanese, so this is your big chance to snag a copy of this wonderful manga. This faithful Okazu reader even sent us the link to Yesasia.com where it’s available for a very reasonable $8.99 USD.

So, thank you very much, Zuan Yi, for the link! Every little piece of info that helps Yuri fans worldwide is a good thing. ^_^