Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Chasing After Aoi Koshiba, Volume 2

October 26th, 2021

Sahoko and her high school friends head out after their class reunion for some karaoke. A friendly dare turns in to a kiss and both Sahoko and Anna find themselves out of sorts. What the kiss means for Sahoko, who is probably still pining after Koshiba Aoi and what it means for Anna, who appears (to us, at least) have an unrequited crush on Sahoko, are entirely different things.

Anna spends time looking back at her feelings about the elusive Koshiba and discovers the roots of her antipathy are not at all what she thought. Sahoko’s thoughts are centered on her struggle to be seen as cool, but not be overwhelmed by it. Aoi sits in the middle of maelstrom of emotional turmoil, all the while doing her best to hold her own life together.

As I have said many times, I picked this story up for the art, which – despite Fly’s tendency towards visible bra straps under shirts (as if camisoles and t-shirts don’t exist for this very reason) – I still quite like. But I won’t lie, I struggle with the story. What I had hoped would be an exploration of adult feelings is a pretty thorough wallow in school life and loves. It’s not that Takeoka Hazuki-sensei’s writing is bad…it’s actually quite good, which is why I am still reading. I just spend every volume waiting for the scraps of adult life. I’d like Anna to work through her feelings for Sahoko and wonder if adult Aoi will even make an appearance at all. Probably not. Certainly, if I were writing this story, she would not. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 2
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7

Volume 3 in English is headed our way late January 2022. I will probably switch over to just reading this in English, as I’m not motivated enough to read it in Japanese as well.

To that point, I want to say that the Kodansha editions are really substantial. I feel as if I’m getting a chunky, slickly produced book for my money.





How Do We Relationship?, Volume 3

October 22nd, 2021

How Do We Relationship?, Volume 3 by Tamifull takes a sharp turn away from our expectations. It makes for a harder read, but an infinitely more satisfying one.

Miwa and Saeko are not “out” to the general public but, in this volume, Miwa admits to someone else that she is only interested in women. Miwa’s taken a couple of huge steps forward into understanding and accepting herself…and we spend some time understanding where she came from in that regard and what that journey has been to her.

Saeko, though. She’s got a lot of stuff yet to deal with. Stuff she’s not telling Miwa…and stuff she’s not telling herself.

In my review of Volume 3 in Japanese, I commented “This is much less a Yuri romance at this point than a referendum on relationship communication issues, featuring a same-sex couple.” What I did not tell you at the time was I fought myself about four times about just giving up. Also I said, “Oh fuck you, Saeko,” more than once.

At this point, you may wonder if this manga is worth your time. I assure you, this manga is totally worth your time. But it is going to make you work a bit. And for that, I completely credit creator Tamifull, whose work is excellent. We, like the characters, are going on a long journey. It will take us through their and our pasts and present and future. We and they will not be the people we know right now, but I am convinced we’ll all be better for it, in the end.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 Getting harder, not easier to read, but also becoming queerer and more real
Characters – 7 I’m rooting for everyone, but not liking everyone at this point
Yuri – 8 / LGBTQ – 6 still room for more
Service – 4

Overall – 8

This is not a “girl meets girl, they like each other, then end” story. And thank goodness for that.

How Do We Relationship, Volume 3 and Volume 4 are available now from Viz Media in print and digital.

Before I wrap up, I want to shout out translator Abby Lehrke, with whom I have had super fun conversations on Twitter where we basically screamed at each other incoherently about this series, and whose work is excellent. And mad props to Joanna Estep whose work in retouching will likely never be noticed by you, but the fact that she’s done the work of replacing Japanese S/fx with English, rather than setting them side by side or merely lettering the meaning, stands out to me. Well done and much appreciated Joanna! Fine work from Viz Media on this completely, not at all in any way simple series.





Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts, Volume 3 (欠けた月とドーナッツ)

October 19th, 2021

What is love? How do we fall in love? What does that even mean? How do we make space in lives that are full already, for other people?

In Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts, Volume 3 (欠けた月とドーナッツ), Hinako and Asahi are wrestling with these questions and others. They aren’t the only ones, either.

The story begins with a crisis from an unusual quarter: Subaru is not planning on taking the college exams. Asahi, who has been working on the assumption that her younger sister would go to university, is confronted by an immovable will. Subaru has watched her older sister sacrifice everything for her and, frankly, doesn’t want that any more. They have a fight, Subaru says she’s leaving. Asashi insists it’s too late, so she’ll leave. And so she does, ending up with Hinako.

This precipitates a crisis with Fuuka, who is tired of waiting to be noticed. It’s too little, too late, but it does clear the growing miasma. Asahi and Hinako both have come to a realization about what they want…but they both, in their own different ways have no how idea to understand their own needs and desires. More importantly, they haven’t found a way to talk to each other about it all.

I love this series. I love how complicated every character is, how neither Asahi nor Hinako have any context for what I’ll call romantic affection in their lives, for completely different reasons. Asahi, who has prioritized her sister, is discovering her sister has other plans than the track Asahi expects. When that sister is off on her own, will Asahi even be able to prioritize herself? Hinako had been trying to fit herself into a path that does not fit and ever day is finding that path more confusingly unsuitable… . Now she’s starting to see the direction she needs to head in.

And for both these women, Fuuka and Subaru can see more clearly than they and know that they cannot squeeze too hard, or these fragile emotions will break.

I am interested in a frank conversation Fuuka and Hinako have here, about Hinako’s desire for Asahi. Hinako realizes that, while yes she does want to be with Asahi, she does not seem to have desire for her. As I am reading ahead a bit in Comic Yuri Hime magazine, I hope that this expression of asexuality is not tossed aside causally as it was in Bloom Into You. I’d like to see Hinako continue to be asexual, as opposed to her having never felt desire for her boyfriends because they were guys. For no particular reason I can verbalize, I trust Usui Shio-sensei more on this matter. I may be wrong, of course. It’s clear that Asahi and Hinako are on a course to, at the very least, be by each other’s side. What that relationship will look like is still in the future…but not that much more in the future, as this series is ending with Volume 4. (This link goes to Yuri Anime News, a great bunch of folks who translate JP Yuri news into English. Follow them on Twitter!)

Could I read about these characters forever? Yes. Should I? No. This story is going to end, and that’s okay. Usui-sensei has more to come and I will be here for it.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 6
Service – 0

Overall – 9

Volume 2 of Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon is out now in English, from Seven Seas and Volume 3 will arrive next March. You can pre-order it through this appropriately labeled affiliate link to Amazon, or, as soon as it’s listed on all of our multiple vendors, on the Yuricon Store. ^_^





Whisper Me a Love Song, Volume 2

October 18th, 2021

Eku Takeshima’s Whisper Me a Love Song, Volume 2 is genuinely adorable, about relatable, charming characters, an idealized school setting and conflict so small and so satisfyingly reconciled that “cute and fluffy” don’t come close to doing it justice.  Amid the noise and haste of the world, this series is an oasis of innocence and joy.

Here in Volume 2, the major conflict on Himari’s side is her idea of what love is does not seem to be matching up with Yori-sempai’s but…and this is a huge but…both she and Yori are thinking about it and talking about with friends and each other. They agree on a course of action to try to see how their feelings will resolve by going out and spending time together. Well…that’s pretty much the point of dating, so rock on girls!

In trying to think of a way to describe this series to a group of folks in order to talk about why publisher ratings are madness, I mentioned that in 5 volumes of this series there’s been nothing more physically intimate than a kiss (and that of those 5 volumes 2 have been mostly taken up with a battle of the bands) and yet, it is rated 16+. I’ve been a manga publisher, I know why publishers are required to be cowards and how that very rating  that protects the publishers can  be a hassle for librarians. I hope that we’ll talk about that in an upcoming panel, in fact.  This is especially crazy when you realize that Even Though We’re Adults and I’m in Love With the Villianess are both give 13+ ratings and both are way more openly queer and adult. All three have different publishers and comparing across publisher is awkward, but, c’mon Kodansha. I’d happily recommend this series to 11 and up, it’s that carefree and well, harmless. I don’t think these ratings are an evil conspiracy, but it’s worth discussing why these choices are made.

Takeshima-sensei’s art really conveys Himari’s joy beautifully. Kevin Steinbach’s translation is fantastic – Yori’s voice in this volume is more perfect than the voice I read her in. At one point she said something and I though, “YES! This is exactly right!” Her cool factor is upped by several degrees, without sounding too adult. Well done. Jennifer Skarupa’s letter matched this perfectly. I’m not sure the last time I absolutely could hear every character so clearly. Tiff Ferentini did a bang-up job on editing because we never notice the editing ^_^  Well done to the entire Kodansha team.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

 

Whisper Me a Love Song is a sweet treat of a Yuri manga. A genuine delight. Volume 3 and Volume 4 are available in English
and Volume 5 is available in Japanese





Anata no Yoru ga Aketera (あなたの夜が明けたら)

October 15th, 2021

Anata no Yoru ga  Aketera (あなたの夜が明けたら), translated on the cover as After Sunrise, Haru Harukawa Collection is a collection of shorts by, obviously Harukawa Haru. Some of these shorts have appeared in other collections, such as the Shakaijin Yuri anthology brought out in English here by Yen Press as Whenever Our Eyes Meet.

These stories are varied in tone, adult couples to a surprisingly poignant maid/mistress story, office stories and, inevitably a few high schoolers. A couple of the stories have some problematic age gaps, but whether you find that unpleasant or not is yours to decide. The stories themselves are not generally creepy. Sex is implied, or alluded to with tasteful nudes, rather than graphically depicted. But, like many of the kinds of stories I prefer, the emphasis is on emotional closeness, rather than physical relationship. And that is where I found the most problematic, content.

The first story is a classic modern fairytale. A woman who lost her husband hires a sex worker to sleep with. Not have sex…actually sleep. She cannot sleep alone. Now that she finds she can sleep this way, she has the sex worker fired from her agency, so she can…what? adopt her? own her? hire her?… full time. And because the client is so wealthy, she expects the sex worker to not work. What will she do with her days? she asks.  Whatever she wants, is the reply. My head is full of alarms and sirens throughout.  It’s fairy tale world, a sex worker and client fall in love live happily ever after. But…whatever she wants? Maybe she wants to be a sex worker, Ritsu. Did you never consider this?

A few of the stories had this “cool story, bro” quality, where if I told you the idea it would be fine, but when you dig down a bit, it is not so fine. Which made me like this book more than if it had just been one bland happy ending after another.

Ratings:

Art – variable, but mostly 8. You can tell the early stories.
Stories – 7
Characters – 7
Service – surprisingly little to none
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

Like an acquired taste, the stories had a complicated enough flavor to leave me with something to think about.