Éclair Rouge: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart is the fourth volume in Kadokawa’s Éclair anthology series put out by Yen Press. Overall, I thought it a pretty decent anthology, with some inclusions I very much liked. It still makes me so personally happy that you’re able to read work by Kitao Taki and Amano Shuninta in English, finally.

There are some changes made from the Japanese edition, which I reviewed almost a year ago. I know of two and think I understand both, although I don’t know specifically if I might have also chosen them, having not been in the position of editing this volume. So let’s address these up front and then get in to happier tidings. Yen was very honest about having cut a story from the Japanese edition. I have been asked what it was about, but to be perfectly honest, I can’t answer that. My copy of this volume in Japanese is buried in a carton with a thousand other volumes, while I have undertaken a massive cleaning and renewal of my office. While I cannot tell you specifically what was objectionable, I know Itou Hachi’s stories tend to be unreadable for me and I feel absolutely no loss whatsoever not having to skip past it quickly.

The other change is something I cannot do more than speculate why as it was made. In my review of the Japanese edition, I noted that Morishima-sensei had added trans inclusivity into her story, “When I Undo Her Button.” The scenario is that a woman does not like to show her body to anyone, not even her lover. At the beginning of the story, Rikako wonders why that might be. Among other possible scenarios, she considers if Miyu might be trans. Rikako’s not concerned about that, she’s concerned that she hasn’t communicated to Miyu that she is loved unconditionally. Please do not assume the worst of Yen. Since we do not know why the choice was made, let us give them them benefit of the doubt and assume it was a specific request, or something similar. It is absolutely possible that they thought mentioning being trans in that context would read like it was on a list of bad things that had to be accepted and, with that reading, was best left off.

All that having been said, my favorite stories remain the same, Kabocha’s “Nice to See You, It’s Been A While” and Taki Kitao’s “The Legend, the Newbie & Me” which gets to the heart of her style that I enjoy – crazy reaction faces and silly situations. Fans of Canno will be happy to see the continuation of her “Unemployed Woman and High School Girl” series.

Translator Eleanore Summers does a fab job and the lettering by Erin Hickman ought to be noted, especially when the font really captures the tone of the original. I know Yen doesn’t always credit everyone who worked on a book, but the technicals are solid, so hats off to the entire crew.

If you’re a fan of Yuri manga, Éclair Rouge: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart gives you a chance to experience some of the best creators in the business.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

All in all, a solid Yuri anthology. This volume is a hefty 251 pages of content by creators who are riding a wave of popularity in Yuri – some of them have been doing it for 20 years, some are relative newcomers, but they all bring a lot to the table. The next one in the series is Orange, which came out last winter in Japanese. There has, so far, been no further volumes of the series in Japanese.