Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Teiji ni Ageretara, Volume 4 ( ๅฎšๆ™‚ใซใ‚ใŒใ‚ŒใŸใ‚‰)

February 10th, 2021

As Teiji ni Ageretara, Volume 4 ( ๅฎšๆ™‚ใซใ‚ใŒใ‚ŒใŸใ‚‰) opens, we find ourselves in a story that is  so grounded in reality that it seems almost magical.^_^

Kaori and Kayoko have been dating for a year now and they are genuinely happy together. In a lot of recent manga,  we’d skip to the end of the story at this point, and just have a wedding. But, we must understand that this story isn’t about fictional happily-ever-afters, it about two adult women in what looks very like the real world.

In this volume, Kaori formalizes their relationship by giving Kayoko a key to her apartment. Kayopko is adorable as she enters her lover’s apartment on her own for the first time. Then, more critically, Kaori takes the risk of her life as she comes out to her friends; the same friends with whom she had been unable to be wholly honest a few volumes previously. I have to give Kaori’s friends point for their reaction – they are surprised, but not stupid and now her previous reticence makes sense to them. One friend is worried about coming off as insensitive, and it seems like we’re going to have one of “those” scenes…but no. Once they know, they are all in on giving Kaori good anniversary present advice. It’s a nice scene in a series full of nice scenes.

Their anniversary is a festive occasion. The two discuss moving in together one day. As the final pages of this series arrive, Kayoko and Kaori are two adult women in love, building a life together. No, there is no fairy-tale wedding, but that’s not what this story was ever about, really. This story is about a couple navigating the kinds of hurdles that are common to most couples, with the additional stress point of coming out.

Inui-sensei’s art has pulled together beautifully here. While there is intimacy, it never feels as if there is service.

Ratings:

Art โ€“ 8
Story โ€“ 8 Relatable
Characters โ€“ 8 Same
Service โ€“ 1
Yuri โ€“ 9

Overall โ€“ 8

I’m delighted to remind you that you can read this series – legally, for free, from Manga Planet as If We Leave on the Dot. It’s a lovely series that gives one hope for both Jousei and Shakaijin Yuri, modeling happy, healthy relationships between people who are accepted and loved by the people around them.





Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Volume 2

February 8th, 2021

Hanako has traveled from far-away Japan to England, ostensibly in search of her favorite author. In Volume 1, Hanako is employed as a maid by Lady Alice, a beautiful, but always somehow sad, young daughter of a noble house.

In volume 2 of Goodbye, My Rose Garden, both Alice and Hanako are coming up against their feelings for one another, which are definitely not friendship, or appropriate to mistress and maid. And, possibly destructive of those feelings, both of the women are keeping secrets.  When Alice’s secret turns out to be related to Hanako’s, what could sunder them permanently, might also bring them closer.

When I reviewed the first Japanese volume of this series in spring 2019, I said, “I expected the volume to be a penny dreadful, with Victorian creepiness, but itโ€™s actually a sad little story that I expect to see turned around in a pleasantly predictable ending.”

The “look at all the details I’ve researched!” feel of Volume 1 has settled down into a story that indicates plainly (if you understand the signs) that it is actually very much about gay life and literature here in Volume 2. References to Oscar Wilde are pretty blatant, but the references to Kate Chopin, author of The Awakening and Sarah Orne Jewett, author of The Country of the Pointed Firs, make it clear that this story is not just another costume drama, but intends on making a strong statement about feminism and queer existence in a time when the term feminism had only entered British speech a decade earlier and “gay rights” was long off.

Dr. Pepperco’s art has settled in and there’s more detail in expression over “stuff,” with a lingering sense of lecture on class relations.

Despite some potential for darkness, this volume ends up in a stronger place than it began, and we’re left waiting for the third volume expectantly hopeful.

Ratings:

Art โ€“ 7
Story โ€“ 7
Characters โ€“ 8
Service โ€“ 3
Yuri โ€“ 6

Overall โ€“ 7

Volume 3 is already available, so grab that climax today!

Thank you very much to Seven Seas for the review copy.





Uminekosou days, Volume 3 (ๆตท็Œซ่˜ days)

February 7th, 2021

In Volume 1, wet met Mayumi, a woman on the run from the ruins of her life. She decides to become a teacher in a small seaside town, where she meets Rin, the former punk landlady of the small guesthouse in which she is living. In Volume 2, Mayumi finds herself drawn into the lives of the residents of the guesthouse and starts to make a place for herself among them.

Here we are at Uminekosou days, Volume 3 (ๆตท็Œซ่˜ days), the final volume of Kodama Naoko’s series from Comic Yuri Hime…and at last, we can see the core of Mayumi’s problems. Her “best friend” Touko has arrived from Tokyo and it is instantly apparent to us that Touko’s has been poisoning the well of Mayumi’s life for years. Whatever Mayumi might possibly ever have, Touko destroys it.

And wow, does Touko give it her best shot here, too. But Mayumi finally understands herself and tells Touko that she doesn’t get to make the decisions. Touko goes back to Tokyo and Mayumi is finally 100% the person she could always have been, as she sets off to solve a sudden crisis. In a final epilogue, we see all the characters happy, healthy and free to be who they are and love and live their lives the way they want.

This was a series that was, at the end of Volume 2, primed for going into some pretty dark territory, but instead, it sort of picked itself up, shook itself off and with a grand wave of the magic wand gave everyone a happily-ever-after ending. I’m still not sure if that was a positive or negative thing for the story, but I’m a little relieved as a reader. Yes, happily-ever-afters all around is a handwave, but did I really want another volume of Mayumi having her heart gutted by an obviously jealous and manipulative “friend”? No, I did not. So happily-ever-after it is and thank you very much.

Kodama-sensei’s work is a kind of knife edge for me. She’s at her best when her characters are broken; wounded, vulnerable, manipulative. I don’t actually enjoy stories about that, but Kodama-sensei has a habit of pulling things out. So every one of her series has a kind of sword of Damocles feel, as I wait for it to either get too dark for me to cope, or to wrap up. She’s getting closer with each series, to one day creating something that sandblasts me, but I stick around for the whole thing. ^_^

Ratings:

Art โ€“ 8
Story โ€“ 8
Characters โ€“ 7
Service โ€“ 3 less than previous volumes
Yuri โ€“ 7

Overall โ€“ 8

Seeing Mayumi stand up to Touko was worth the price of admission.

 





Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 7 ( ็งใฎ็™พๅˆใฏใŠไป•ไบ‹ใงใ™!)

February 5th, 2021

When we left Volume 6 of Miman’s “Yuri concept cafe” series,  Hime has rethought her desire to stay at the cafe, throwing the rest of the staff into complete chaos.

In Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 7 ( ็งใฎ็™พๅˆใฏใŠไป•ไบ‹ใงใ™!), the staff makes Hime and Mitsuki sit down and talk everything out. It does not go as planned. Or, well, sort of yes it does. The outcome just isn’t what they wanted.

Mitsuki makes her case…and she’s really pretty bad at making that case, frankly. Years of pining quietly for the friend she remembered has unmade her ability to see Hime in front of her as a real person. But – in an amazing scene – when Mitsuki ends up talking to some of her classmates, she finds that they giver her very good advice, and she is able to speak honestly with one, who is kind and supportive to her. That one scene may well have repaired a lot of damage in that girl.

Kanako finally lances the wound her anger has become. She lashes out at Mitsuki and she’s only a little wrong. But she is also wrong and Sumika has to hold her back, before she does new damage. The bits Kanako gets right, and the conversation with her classmate, force Mitsuki to rethink things. Ultimately, though, Hime is the one with final say. In her desire to not hurt Mitsuki…she hurts her very much.

The ensemble here is perfect. Kanako’s anger, Hime’s reticence, Sumika’s overwhelming need for things to stay the same, and Mitsuki’s cruel honesty make a tense, yet never quite overwrought, volume. Seven volumes into this series, if you’re not already reading it, this review is not going to be the thing that draws you in, but for a series that started with a silly premise, a bunch of mostly-unlikable characters and a handful of unrealistic plot complications, Miman-sensei has been really deft at managing this narrative into something interesting.

Ratings:

Art โ€“ 8
Story โ€“ 8
Characters โ€“ 8
Service โ€“ 1
Yuri โ€“ 7

Overall – 8

Another messy af relationship, but somehow I feel like this story will pull together in the end.





Even Though We’re Adults, Volume 1

February 4th, 2021

Takako Shimura’s Even Though We’re Adults, Volume 1 is a very strong opening to a series I still have no idea in what direction it is going. Ayano, a teacher, meets Akari when she stops by a place for a drink. They end up sleeping together. Both Ayano and Akari want to see each other again, but when Ayano does come to the restaurant Akari works at, she’s accompanied by her husband.

Ayano tells her husband that she’s interested in Akari and he basically has no idea what to do with that information. He’s in love with his wife, and he’d like a child with her, but thinks (fears?) that she’s slipping away. Ayano isn’t sure what she wants, except that she is sure she wants to see more of Akari. Akari is in a worse spot; with a history of failed relationships, the last thing she needs is to be falling for a married woman…but that is definitely what is happening.

Quite a lot of manga people I know who are also queer, including myself, have very ambivalent relationships with Shimura’s work. She does seem to focus quite a lot on gender and sexual minorities, with varying degrees of verisimilitude. In my personal opinion, this story feels equal parts solid and kind of icky. It may also be that I’m not particularly thrilled to have either another “messy relationship with a married woman story” or a story that makes the lesbian performatively self-loathy. At the same time, there are elements here that keep bringing me back to this story, which is at Volume 4 now in Japanese.

One of the best things about the series so far is the art. There are moments, especially when Shimura-sensei is using the watercolor style she often relies on for covers and color art, when she really shines. I talked about this a little in my review of Volume 2 in the Japanese, as well.

As always, the team at Seven Seas has done a great job. Shimura-sensei is great with *moments,* but has a harder time sustaining conversations over a scene. Translator Jocelyne Allen and adapter Casey Lucas allow the conversations to flow naturally. Everything about this book – the lettering and design, as well as the writing and art – is given room to get out of the way of the characters and let them tell their story. I’m  not at all sure where that story is heading, but I guess I’m here for the ride!

Ratings:

Art โ€“ 8
Character โ€“ A not-sure-yet 7
Story โ€“ Same 7
Yuri โ€“ 8
Service โ€“ 1 Hardly any, in fact. The 1 is mostly on principle

Overall โ€“ 7

Thanks very much to Seven Seas for the review copy! Volume 2 is slated for a summer release. I’m definitely going to have to bump up Volume 3 in Japanese on the to-read pile and see what happens.