I had every intention of doing a YNN this week, but decided that my first week off in months was more important. ^_^
See you next week!
Watashi o Tabetai, Hito de Nashi, Volume 11 (私を喰べたい、ひとでなし)
Wow, was this a great volume. In Watashi o Tabetai, Hito de Nashi, Volume 11 (私を喰べたい、ひとでなし), Hinako, Miko and Shiori are enjoying the school festival for which they and their classmates have worked so hard.
But first, Shiori has something she needs to tell Hinako. And she knows that, although she pours her heart out to the human girl in front of her, telling Hinako that she intends to be with her as long as she lives, she is only partially successful. But she is rewarded with a real smile from Hinako, at last.
We also get a little interlude in which we once again see the two-mouthed woman, Ayame, in her new job at an ice cream truck. Upon seeing a mysterious woman walk by, Ayame quits.
Back at the school, Hinako’s aunt lets her know she’ll be dropping by the school festival. Miko has some questions, but before she can ask them, Tsubame the tanuki arrives with a gift for Hinako and a warning…there is a strange human walking around the festival. Hinako has already gone to the gate to meet her aunt….and all of us, Shiori, Miko and Tsubame and we readers, head over to see this aunt.
When they arrive, Miko asks Hinako “what do you see?” If your hackles weren’t up before, they are now. Who they see is another piece of the puzzle that is Hinako and Shiori’s story….
This was another fantastic volume of a slow, creeping sensation that something is not right. It was just so good. The juxtaposition of the cheerful school festival, Miko and Shiori being the most “human” we’ve seen them…and this fear the yokai feel…is just fab.
Yuri in this series has always been Miko’s possessive friendship of Hinako, but in this volums we see that beyond just a yokai harem, whatever Shiori feels for Hinako might be something more than protection, or obsession. Maybe, it might be a kind of love? We’ll have to tune in next time and see.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – something is building.
Overall – 9
This Monster Wants To Eat Me, Volume 1-5 are out now from Yen Press, Volume 6 is on the way in May!
Can I Call You Unnie?, Book Signing Event Report
by Sasori, Okazu JP Correspondent
Nothing excites me more than a yuri event, and in April we have not one, but two book signings for Can I Call you Unnie? (オンニって呼んでもいいですか？) by Hanakage Alt . (Reviewed here on Okazu last week by Erica.)
The signing I participated in was on 4/12, at iconic yuri manga cafe/bar: ANCHOR Rainbow Port Tokyo, also featured in the actual manga. The second signing will be at bookstore (マルジナリア書店) on 4/26, tickets seem to be still on sale as of writing this article if you happen to be in Japan!
Can I Call You Unnie? manga is about a K-pop fan meeting her fav graduated idol through a dating app, with fluffy moments in abundance. The manga was released per chapter on app/web through CandleA on Comic Walker, but now celebrates its first full Japanese volume release. It’s available from multiple retailers in print and digital formats on the Yuricon Store.
I was a huge fan of Hanakage Alt sensei’s work, and reading it per chapter was a great experience. Full of adorable dates, concert flashbacks, and cliffhangers after each chapter. As a fellow concert fan, a lot of the content resonated with me. I loved how it included both Korean and Japanese languages at key moments, to keep the content realistic for their characters and source material. I could tell Hanakage Alt sensei loved K-pop as much as they loved yuri.
So on 4/12, I lined up at 10am at ANCHOR in Shinjuku Ni-chome, for my first book signing. It’s pretty common to ask for doujin and yuri manga signatures at events, such as Comitia or Comiket, if advertised by the artist’s social media, but seeing it as a whole event was a first time experience for me.
The flow of the event was as follows:
- Sign up before hand to participate.
- Go to the event by 10am to draw a lottery ticket for the signing.
- Line up in order by number.
- Purchase a drink at the venue and a book to have signed by the mangaka.
After drawing our lotto tickets, we lined up, went inside the cafe, and sat at the bar. Hanakage Alt-sensei and their staff introduced themselves and had a very beautiful floral stand and book signing area near the counter. Complete with acrylic stands of their characters and their mangaka mascot plush. I appreciated how inclusive Hanakage Alt-sensei was of their fans, welcoming all yuri/gender/and nationalities to participate. Their English pronunciation was equally fantastic, despite the event being in Japanese. I think they were very excited about engaging with foreign fans as well as local ones. Participants were also allowed to buy them a drink and give them small gifts, which was such an interesting and fun way to interact with them.
The staff was very sweet and allowed me to write in the Anchor cafe’s memo guest notebook. I was happy to see so many English and other languages besides Japanese in the guest book, as well as cute yuri doodles from various fandoms, and even some art from well-known Yuri mangaka. I’d highly recommend visiting ANCHOR if you are ever visiting Japan, even outside of this event if you are a yuri fan, they even have rainbow cake! ANCHOR also has a pixivFanbox for local yuri events and special perks for book signings.
If you enjoy Can I call you Unnie? as much as I do, be sure to buy the manga on the Yuricon Store or at various Japanese book stores, they even come with cute sign cards depending on the store. Sales support really helps with future volumes and hopefully localization. The official tags for the series on X are #オンニて #CICYU so please use those as well. If you’d like to tag Hanakage Alt-sensei in English, they have a bluesky for English comments.
Thanks again for the lovely opportunity and I’m looking forward to future yuri book signings!
Erica here: Please welcome our newest member of the writing staff here on Okazu! Sasori-san will be our Japan correspondent going forward. Hopefully this will bring us up close and personal with more Yuri events. Welcome Sasori-san!
Koharu and Minato: Happy Life with My Girlfriend, Volume 1
Koharu and Minato: Happy Life with My Girlfriend, Volume 1 is a fictionalized version of the lives of two very real women, a team that go by the names Daruma and Hyaluron. This retelling of how they met, fell in love and moved in together, is the first collected volume of an ongoing serialization in Comic Yuri Hime magazine.
Overall, this is a very cute and sweet slice-of-life story. There are no great (and very few small) conflicts in this tale. Despite that – or, maybe perhaps because of it – I think this is a really important story. Over the years, Comic Yuri Hime has had a few serialized manga featuring lesbian characters, (thank you Morishima Akiko-sensei, inori.-sensei), occasionally living together (thank you Inui Ayu-sensei!) but it’s not a magazine that tends to wave rainbow flags, or display Pride stickers. Manga in the magazine often include lesbian content without explicit or implicit lesbian identity.
I don’t mean this as a dig against the magazine at all. Sometimes, it’s just not relevant to the story or the setting. Sometimes it might complicate the issue. I do actually like when characters take note of their sexuality in real-world(ish) manga. I am very happy to see a comic essay about a happy lesbian couple running in the only monthly Yuri manga magazine. Even if, in this volume “lesbian” life in Japan isn’t the main focus.
Koharu and Minato meet online, then in person, then start dating and fall for each other. Now they live together and despite small disagreements, are living very happily in love. This volume is full of a lot of lovey-dovey moments as the relationship builds. The art is quite cute, without being overly moe. In this volume they do not talk very much aboutpolitical issues regarding Japanese same-sex couples. Here, it is all very charming and low-key. And lesbian. I’m happy with that.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – As I said in my review of the JP volume, “it’s never not weird to score a person’s perspective on themselves. They both seem very nice. 8”
Service – 0
Yuri – 10
Overall – 8
Volume 1 just came out this week from Seven Seas! Volume 2 will be out in English this summer. And thank you to Seven Seas for providing the review copy for ANN, where I reviewed this for their Spring Manga Guide.
Comic Yuri Hime, May 2026 (コミック百合姫)
Comic Yuri Hime, May 2026, (コミック百合姫) begins with a cover showing a young woman in lavender-grey outfit, another girl in a pale green dress, her face unseen, as the rest of these covers have been. As we never see the girl in the background, I’m finding these covers slightly menacing. What’s your impression of Chiriko’s covers?
We start the magazine off with “Genjitsu Sekai (Real) Demo Shiawase ni Shite Kudasai ne?” by Shiborikasuko, a reverse -isekai harem, in which all the characters of a game world have come to our world. A calamity will occur on the night of the meteor show in their game world…will everyone be able to return in time? And will they be able to get back to our world if they do?
Usamimiki’s “Zangai Shoujo, Kirakirana Sekai no Soko” continues the story of a bunny-eared android and the tinker girl who fixes her in this dystopian world.
In Touma’s “Kimi no Seinandakara, Sekinin o Totte you ne” both protagonists are feeling their way slowly closer, while navigating the gaps in their knowledge of each other because they met as client and escort.
“Koharu to Minato” gets a center color full spread as they and their dog, visit their friends for an overnight. It’s all fun and games for everyone -even the dog. ^_^
“Muryoku Seijo to Munou Oujo ~ Maryoku Zero de Shoukansareta Seijo no Isekai Kyuukokuki ” by Tamasaki Tama picks up yet again, with Nana stressing out about the upcoming wedding, as she and the Princess have not yet been able to clean up the miasma that besets the villages.
Now that Haru’s voice is being heard and appreciated, Yuu is feeling like she might lose her, in Kashikaze’s “Kimi ga Hoeru Tame no Uta o” and now that Yuu’s mother has made an appearance, their success is more important than ever.
I absolutely loved “Girls Live In Live House” by Moriguchi Ryou. This one-shot follows two co-workers who get to learn about each other’s truest selves when they mosh at live shows. It was adorable.
Now that we are in a musical mood, Kujou takes the stage in “Inkyo Gal Demo Ikigaritai!” which was really nice to see. ^_^
Comic essays, letters, anime promos and many other series fills another great volume of Comic Yuri Hime!
Ratings:
Overall – 8
The June issue is out now in Japan.
