Sorairo Utility, streaming on HIDIVE

January 13th, 2025

On a turquoise background, girls and golf equipment are scattered about.Who could have possibly imagined that I’d be writing about yet another golf anime. And yet, here we are.

After the breakaway Gundam AU, gay and breathtakingly outlandish Birdie Wing, after which most of fandom understood that what we wanted was more gay and outlandish women’s sports drama, what the old men who run entertainment conglomerates decided was that we needed more anime about golf.  Not the Dinah Shore kind of golf, either. I’d be down for that.

So instead of gay and outlandish rugby anime (I imagine an anime version of Ilona Maher and start praying for  women’s rugby anime immediately) or gay and outlandish guts and tears softball anime, we get more golf. Okay, we work with what we get. I wrote a review of the second season of Tonbo! for Anime News Network and here we are today, talking about Sorairo Utility, streaming on HIDIVE. This is not the same as the Sorairo Utility movie on Crunchyroll.

For once, we begin with a true newbie. Minami is a girl who likes gaming and truly does want to be good at something, anything, but just does not have the skills needed to find a club or sport that she takes to. When she helps an elderly gentleman in town, she finds herself introduced the world of golf… and to the cool onee-san whacking the balls at the driving range. Taken by this older girls’ form and skill, Minami is introduced to the world of amateur golf, with a foursome that is helpful, encouraging and doesn’t mind that she sucks.  Did I mention that the older girl is cool? Haruka lends Minami equipment and advice and encouragement and is very, very cool when she golfs.

This…is very refreshing.The two old dudes have old-man humor, but are very chill as far as their playing goes. And Haruka genuinely seems to want Minami to *enjoy* golf, more than be good at it. It is this last that imbued Tonbo! with its watchability and here, it continues to be the driving force of an anime that is otherwise about learning golf.

Since golf courses in Japan are probably watching their clientele of old dudes in the corporate world aging out and young people skipping things like over-spending in order to get into niche circles of access to power, the recent flight of golf anime probably isn’t that surprising. Anything to get young folks to keep up the old traditions, like shogi, go, and bankrupting one’s self to golf with the boss’s boss.

And fanservice. Because clearly if you’re making an anime about a wholesome sport for “ladies and gentlemen,” that doesn’t have to be for old dudes only, you definitely want to make sure there is a long conversation between the two young females in the shower as that is the only place young women have heart-to-heart discussions. So, yeah, that kinds of sucks the sincerity right out of the series, which is otherwise really kind of nice.

Tiresome service aside, Sora-iro Utility is a shockingly nice anime. About golf.

Ratings:

Art- 7
Characters – 9
Story – 8
Service – 5
Yuri -1

Overall – 7

 

Posted in English Anime | 3 Comments »


Red Sonja: Consumed, by Gail Simone

January 12th, 2025

Here’s a fact about me that you may not know – I was a huge fan of Robert E. Howard’s Conan The Barbarian series as a tween. Even had a Frazetta poster on my wall. My dad has first editions, which sadly did not survive to be handed down to me and I read those over and over.

It is a miracle of timing and joy that this year has two very decent human beings who I quite like as people as well as creators working on Conan properties. Jim Zub’s Conan the Barbarian and The Savage Sword of Conan both were on many best comics of 2024 lists. Jim is a genuinely nice guy,who gives advice freely to people in his #ComicsSchoolTutorials posts and online. He *gets* what I want from Conan and it is such a genuine pleasure to read his work.

In even more righteous news, today we are gathered together to discuss the miracle that is Gail Simone writing Red Sonja. If you follow American comics at all, you’ll probably have read a character she’s written for. Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey, Deadpool, Secret Six, and currently, Uncanny X-Men, which along with Zub’s Conan, are dominating comic sales figures right now.

Simone is a pro-level troll of mediocre brains on social media and an incredibly pleasant person in real life and online. Here, she channels her red haired mischief, her trolling, adds a dollop of “fuck you” and gives us Red Sonja. 

Red Sonja comes from a harsh country in Howard’s series. Hyrkania has little about it of interest except it’s horses and horsecraft. In his books, Sonja is a mercenary like Conan, from as harsh a life as he. They bang heads and other body parts in several novels, but they live parallel lives that only occasionally cross. Here Sonja has broken her lover’s heart to steal a precious item that catapults her into a cursed adventure of demons, gladiator matches, horror and death…just like Howard used to make. This Sonja is going home for the first time in years and will be forced to reckon with her past, as she deals with a new terror.

In Red Sonja: Consumed, Simone gives us the perfect Red Sonja. She is angry. Consumed with rage for losses she has endured, Sonja puts up with no one’s bullshit. Consumed with ill-timed curiosity, Sonja gets herself into and out of trouble constantly. Consumed with hunger – this Sonja has strong carnal appetites. Even reading Howard’s books I assumed Sonja was bisexual at the very least. This Sonja is bisexual and polyamorous and it is handled beautifully. Simone’s Sonja is a master of horsecraft and fighting, as one would expect and she’s fantastic at tactical thinking and kind of shitty at strategy, also as you might expect. Sonja likes meat and doesn’t want to have to decide what kind, just give her some meat to eat.

This last is an ongoing gag in the novel, one that is played just close enough that you might not notice, but it made me laugh every time.

Simone absolutely *gets* Red Sonja in a way that I have spent a lifetime hoping for. Sure, the 1985 movie with Arnold Schwarzanegger and Brigitte Nielsen tried, but it was pretty standard b-movie stuff. What I wanted from Red Sonja was exceptional b-movie stuff! This is the Red Sonja I have been waiting my whole life for.

Ratings:

Overall – 10

Grotesque monsters, hardcore action, and beer maids asking confusion questions about what kind of ale. Red Sonja: Consumed is a fantastic read and the queer as fuck Sonja we knew was in there. The link above goes to Amazon, but I read this through my local library on Libby for free. Libraries are amazing – use your local library!

 

Posted in Novel | 5 Comments »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – January 11, 2024

January 11th, 2025

In black block letters, YNN Yuri Network News. On the left, in black silhouette, a woman with a broad brim hat and dress stands, a woman in a tight outfit sits against the Y. Art by Mari Kurisato for Okazu

Yuri Manga

Yorita Miyuki has launched the Kickstarter campaign for her next volume of「Her kiss, my libido twinkles and it has already passed the initial and first stretch goal!

Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru, Volume 5 (踊り場にスカートが鳴る) hit shelves last month.

Via Comic Natalie we have a couple of Yuri-ish items: 

Love ka Like ka Wakaranai! (ラブかライクか分からない！) by SasaKuma will begin serialization in the February issue of Managatime Kirara. This is after 3 stand-alone chapters of the series about the relationship between two best friends have previously run in the magazine.

In Danshi Koukousei, Otome Game no Akuyaku Reijou ni Tenseisuru.Volume 1,  (男子高校生、乙女ゲームの悪役令嬢に転生する。) A boy is reincarnated into an otome game as the villainess and pursues a “non-existent Yuri route.” Check out sample pages in Japanese on Bookwalker.

Gatchi Koi Count 2.9 (ガチ恋カウント2.9) follows office lady Rico who becomes “Heel Maiden Toriko” in the wrestling ring after meeting her favorite wrestler at a home center . It looks absurd, but also fun in the 46-page sample on Bookwalker.

And Dengeki Daioh is running yet another story about a guy reincarnated, this time as the only man in a Yuritopian world
 in Danshi Kinsei Game Sekai de Ore ga Yarubeki Yuiitsu no Koto Yuri no Manihasamaru Otoko toshite Tenseishiteshimaimashita. (男子禁制ゲーム世界で俺がやるべき唯一のこと 百合の間に挟まる男として転生してしまいました).

Via YNN Correspondent Cryssoberyl, Twinstar Cyclone Runaway, Volume 1 is on sale on Bookwalker.  I read this volume, but apparently never got around to reviewing it. ^_^;

 

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Anime News

As mentioned when I reviewed Volume 10 of Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau this week, the official news is that there will be no Japanese Blu-ray release for the anime. After delays and news of poor working conditions, this new is a bitter, but not unexpected pill.

I sincerely doubt we’ll get the kind of Yuri we had with GWitch, but Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuux certainly has a bunch of girls, which will undoubtedly cause shipping. Interestingly, Khara and Sunrise, who are teaming up for this series, are releasing a movie first, before the television series. Check out the trailer on Youtube.

SugoiLITE’s SUGOI BINGUS account on X notes that Miss Kobyayshi’s Dragon Maid: A Lonely Dragon Wants To Be Loved, movie sequel from Kyoto Animation will have new info announced this coming week.

 

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Other News

Via Sr. YNN Correspondent Sean Gaffney, loveandladyjustice on Tumblr takes a look at Modern Yuri/BL and Queer Identity.

 

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal now, into 2024, is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

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Posted in Yuri Network News | No Comments »


Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau, Volume 10 (ささやくように恋を唄う)

January 9th, 2025

Two girls sit facing us, surrounded by falling pink flower petals. One girl with collar length blonde bob, wears a pink smock dress over a white blouse, holds a bouquet of pink and white flowers or roses, mums, daisies and baby's breath. The other, taller girl has long black hair pulled up into bun, wears a black blouse and skirt. In the wake of the final episodes of Whisper Me A Love Song anime finally seeing light of day, and the cancellation of a Blu-ray release, I wanted to finally take a moment and catch up on the manga  a series that is one of the top titles serialized in Comic Yuri Hime.  I read Takeshima Eku’s series in the magazine, but it is easier to see the story progress when I read it in a collected volume. ^_^ And I apparently forgot to review Volume 9, which is the final arc in the Aki / Shiho conflict, woops.  Don’t worry – if you watched the anime, you’re basically caught up. ^_^

Sasayakuyou no Koi wo Utau, Volume 10 (ささやくように恋を唄う) came with a little 24-page booklet that centers Shiho and Aki, and a a photo of themselves taken at a photo booth in better times, before the band break-up and Shiho’s spiral into whatever it is that she became. It is cute, and poignant and – in the bigger picture – a little silly, because these characters are like 17 years old and this huge falling out was probably 3 years ago. Life is so much more when we are young, because we have so much less to compare it to.

The majority of this volume follows Shiho and Aki as they go on a date. This is a rather huge moment for the two of them, and we watch every cringe and cute moment to see if they can navigate through the coral reefs they’ve both built up around themselves. Aki is a master at pushing Shiho’s buttons, but Shiho surely must get props for actually trying.

Yori stays over Himari’s house and once again, they discuss consent. In a very entertaining scene Himari’s mother cops to knowing that they are an item and welcomes Yori into the family. It was nice to see a scene where a parent just accepts her child’s girlfriend with a smile – there will be no fraught coming out for these darlings.

So, now, Himari and Yori are ridiculously happy together and now that Aki and Shiho are a couple…what’s next? Well, Aki’s younger sister and Himari’s best friend Miki has a sempai in the brass section of band, Aya. Aya reaches out to Miki’s older sister, Aki, who reaches out to Yori and the next thing Aya knows the whole band and Himari are in on her struggle to decide whther to tell Miki her feelings. Aya does fess up, but when Miki learns that everyone in the entire cast knew before she did, she understandably gets royally pissed at Aya! Is their relationship dead on arrival? We’ll have to keep reading to see if this is another Yuritopian school. ^_^  That is to say, yes, it is, and probably they will get together cutely.

Takeshima Eku’s art is instantly recognizable at this point. Her characters are cute, endearing, sincere and frequently seen at dramatic angles. The adorable-ness of everyone here is at Level 9000. Now that Shiho is reformed there is no one to really even dislike… although she’s probably be a prickly favorite for at least a few more volumes. ^_^

Sasayakyouni Koi Wo Utau just continues to be a really sweet series, that is growing just a little every volume.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 8

Whisper Me A Love Song, Volume 1-8 are available in English from Kodansha, Volume 9 is headed our way in autumn 2025.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing, Volume 3

January 8th, 2025

A wolf-woman in a butler's suit tucks a sheep girl in a fluffy bed surrounded by pastel colors and stars hanging from the canopy.by Luce, Staff Writer

In Volume 1 and Volume 2, we met and got to know Aki, a Wolfa butler, and Momo, a Sheepa princess. Momo was clearly interested in Aki, but even now that Aki has realised how she feels, the gap between them feels too wide for her to bridge, and with talk of marriage on the horizon…

In Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing, Volume 3, we see the end of Momo’s birthday party, and Kunya leaving. Momo realises that she missed Aki’s birthday and does her best to celebrate! Bluebell, Momo’s maid takes ill, and the only person Momo would be comfortable taking over is, of course, Aki! The full moon comes around again, and Momo knocks at Aki’s door? Finally, with encouragement from Kiku and Sakaki, Aki finally tells Momo that she cannot reciprocate her feelings due to their differing social classes… How will Momo respond?

This manga is quite hard to review, as it’s generally just… pleasant. I enjoy it, but there aren’t many particular things to discuss – the art is cute, suitably fluffy when it needs to be, and good at making the characters look good. I like the interaction between Aki and Momo, especially in this one as Aki loosens up a bit. There are two sections that were notable in this volume though, both fairly brief.

There is a short moment at the start where it seems that Kunya may rat Aki out for her feelings… But it turns out she’s a huge fan of royalty/servant pairs, and just wants the details. Phew. I’m glad that she didn’t turn out nasty. I’m not sure her portrayal is necessarily the best representation, as there seems to be a flavour of the ‘exotic foreigner’ to her, but she is contrasted with the other character of colour who broke Momo’s heart and causes her to shut herself away, so at least she’s nice. (Upon a reread, I noticed there is another maid who is a person of colour, so there are a few).

The second full moon scene is something that probably needs a bit of a caution – when Aki refuses to let Momo in, as she knows that her emotions are harder to control, Momo orders her to let her in. Even if Momo is fully aware of the kind of thing that will happen if Aki loses control, and even wants it, it feels like an abuse of privilege, and not very fair to Aki. They don’t really get anywhere with it, as Aki shows enough control and escorts Momo back to her room, but I feel like it’s only fair to be warned about it.

Finally, I’m glad that Sakaki (and Kiku) manage to talk Aki out of separating herself from Momo, due to her perception of the difference between their social classes being too high to overcome. It’s always classed in fiction as some noble ambition to not hurt the other person, but really, walking away like that just means protecting yourself from seeing the hurt that you caused.

I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say that Momo is elated that Aki says that she loves her. As she points out, Momo is the one who will have to persuade her family to accept it. In fiction, the power differential doesn’t seem so big, and I hope that they can make some kind of relationship.

Art: 8
Story: 6
Service: 4 (mainly in low cut dresses and maid uniforms)
Yuri: 8 not sure a man has been named on page yet. More on the ‘yuritopia’ end of series. Everyone has a crush on another woman it seems.
Fluffiness: 10

Overall: 7

If you enjoyed the previous volumes, you’ll likely enjoy this one! Volume 4 came out in November, hopefully the review for that will be done a bit quicker than this one!

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »