Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri is My Job, Volume 6

November 9th, 2020

Depending on who you feel is the actual protagonist of the story – or whomever you are personally rooting for – Yuri is My Job, Volume 6 by Miman can be hard on the heart.

Let us say, for instance, that you feel Hime is the protagonist, as we’ve been following her since the first page of the series. In that case, Volume 6 is largely her struggling trying to not hurt her former best friend again, while also not hurting her newer best friend and preserving the even newer relationship she’s built with that former best friend.

If you’re rooting for Mitsuki, you’re about to watch her spill her heart and soul out in front of Hime without any guarantee of it being recoverable.

If you, like me, actually sympathize most with Sumika and Kanako, you’re going to be watching as things break and you cannot even help to catch the pieces this time.

It seems like something is going to have to give and Hime decides that that thing…is her. Or, is she just running away again? We don’t know yet. (Frankly, we *still* don’t know in the ongoing serialized chapters in Comic Yuri Hime, either. ^_^;)

Despite Miman’s protestations to the opposite in the author’s note, it seems like the story is very much under control. We, the readers can’t yet predict the outcome….but we can conjecture on the possible courses to lead to the outcomes we want, which is a wholly different thing.I know what I want – it isn’t Hime and Mitsuki as a couple. I expect that is what we’ll get, and that’s jut fine. But it’s not that I want.

Miman’s art is stronger than ever before, backgrounds are really being filled out and characters have more definition. So, when we get the next volume, pay close attention to the background people. They are getting people-ier. ^_^

When the Yuri in this volume lands, it lands hard. ^_^

Kodansha is doing  clean job of the reproduction. And we’re getting people to credit now for that work. Translation by Diana Taylor captures the emotion beautifully, Jennifer Skarupa’s lettering helps keep the story moving along. Logo design and cover design by Phil Balsman and My Truong respectively are terrific and editing by Haruko Hashimoto pulls it all together.

 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 4 Mitsuki’s cleavage is its own character
Yuri – 7

Overall – 8

Yuri is My Job, Volume 6 is a pivotal – and emotional – volume of a a series that is more than the sum of it’s Yuri trope parts.





Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 3 (不揃いの連理)

November 5th, 2020

In Volume 1, we met Iori and Minami, an career woman and a server at a izakaya whose relationship is surprisingly not fraught, and Saori and Shizuku, Iori’s little sister and Minami’s “sister” at the orphanage whose relationship is more of a light hand-to-hand combat than a battle.

In Volume 2 we added manga artist Heke and her editor Shinohara, who are partners in an onling RPG, but not quite there in real life.

Volume 3 of Fuzoroi no Renri (不揃いの連理), by Mikan Uji, adds a new couple to the collection. Kujyo-sensei is interested in women but cannot bring herself to go into the lesbian bar, so she keeps visiting the maid cafe next door. Sugimoto one of the students at  school, works at the cafe and thinks Sensei is kind of cute and awkward.

The remainder of the volume is snips and clips of the various couples’ lives, as they deal with whatever life throws at them. The art is cute and also kind of dynamic. The stories are slice-of-lifeish scenarios and the characters are all pretty cute. Although I really hope that Shinohara manages to finally confess to Heke-sensei soon.

This manga is light-hearted and fun. It’s a lovely distraction in these stressful times. I’m glad for Mikan Uji-sensei having three volumes so far and think Kadokawa seems a good fit for their work.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 2 Even less than usual, as we spend time with more couples, less of it is intimate.
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

I’m always happy to see Shizuku and Minami’s piercings and Minami’s tattoos, just because we so rarely get characters that look like that, but also because I like piercings and tattoos! If you’ve seen me in person you know I have my own collection of holes in my face and a couple of tattoos that are waiting patiently to be added to. ^_^

 





Comic Yuri Hime, November 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年11月号)

November 4th, 2020

There were loads of great stories in Comic Yuri Hime, November 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年11月号). The cover is one again Rolua’s scifi-ish ouvre, which I am really enjoying. Honestly so far, maybe my favorite year since the 2011 reboot covers.

The issue starts off with a rough chapter of “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” by Miman, as everyone in Liebe Cafe struggle with the tangled relationship between Hime and Mitsuki, as the cafe celebrates a double birthday event for Kanako and Mitsuki.

“Futari Escape”  takes us to, among other places, the Fukui Prefecural Dinosaur Museum. Honestly, I love that we have an honest-to-goodness Yuri travel to random places series. I’m not in love with Taguchi Shouichi’s characters, but I forgive that because…dinosaurs.

Overall, Shime’s “Yurizukushi no Kyoushitsu de,” we focus on Oohkouchi Kisaki, a rarity in Yui manga. Kisaki is genuinely heavy, not just plump. She’s also well-loved by her classmates and a badass at volleyball. It is so refreshing that her weight is neither a joke, nor a caution, and the girls around her adore for her self.

The star story this issue is “Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsuiatteiru” by Ohi Pikachi, as Hayama-sensei has something very important she wants to ask Terano-sensei…. Look, I know this series is complete fantasy, but please allow my fantasy in which women who love each other are given room to be adorable and adored.  ^_^

“Watashi no Oshi ha Akujyaku Reijou,” hit a key scene which, if I described it to you, you would stare at me like I was crazy. Don’t believe me? Okay – Rei blackmails Claire’s father into allowing her to be Claire’s maid. Yes, blackmail. See?

Equally as wonderful is Ohsawa Yayoi’s “Hello Melancholic!”. I mean, yes, I love that Minato and Hibiki are starting to communicate – that Minato is starting to communicate, specifically and yes, they may be on the same page after all…but I love that Minato took the reserve chair position in the grownup band, too. She’s changed so much already.

“Kaketa Tsuki to Donut”s is moving towards a climax, so this chapter is the new girl meets the old girl episode. Hinako is going to have to figure out what she wants. It’s not that simplistic, of course, because adults. ^_^ I love everything about this story – art, story, characters. Usui Shio is my jam right now. (Also Yuni, but that’s a review for another day.)

Inui Ayu’s autobiographical comic has gotten to the heart of every lesbian relationship – who cooks and who cleans. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 9

A fantastic issue this time and I look forward to the final issue of the year to see what it brings!





Get a Piece of Yuri Manga History at Cheapmanga.com

November 3rd, 2020

Our friends at Cheapmanga.com have been kind enough to make all remaining ALC manga volumes available at discount prices!

Yuri Monogatari Volumes 3,4 & 6, the English-language global Yuri anthology from ALC Publishing are available for $18.00 for the set! This Yuri anthology includes selections from Japanese artists like Rica Takashima, Eriko Tadeno, Akiko Morishima, Nishi UKO, as well as artists from every corner of the world.

 

 

YM1 and YM2 were very small runs and due to a host of reasons could not be reprinted. I’m sorry about that now, but the initial idea was to print it like a doujinshi, with short annual runs for shows. Then it got a little more popular and we had to print more, and then printing exploded and all our files couldn’t be read the same way and what had been high resolution was now very low and we didn’t have a way to fix that (or, in some cases, reach the artists to get the rights to reprint permission,) so those are long out of print.

 

WORKS by Eriko Tadeno, the second Yuri manga to ever be published in English is available for $7.  This collection of 4 stories that walk us through lesbian lives and loves, including stories of coming out to family, old school crushes and a workplace romance long before the current Shakajin craze.

Buy all 4 books for $25 – and with the code ALC2020, you’ll get free US shipping on orders of $25 or more! This code is good for any books and it’ll stay good, so feel free to hit them up later, for more manga!

 

 

I want to personally thank all of you who have already purchased these books – the folks at Cheapmanga let me know they *love* the kind notes and comments they’ve been getting. With all the conventions canceled, they’ve missed the interaction with fans. This morning I handed over another set of boxes and was told, specifically that my crowd was the nicest people. I’m so thankful to all of you for being the nicest people! ^_^ Definitely keep writing nice notes and comments for them, please. They’ve been good friends for many years, and the loss of conventions this year has been hard on them emotionally and business-wise.

Thank you all for your patience with this weekend’s website security issues and for your support of Yuri manga! And also of my massive cleanup of the office, because every box of books you buy is extra space for me! ^_^





Éclair Rouge: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart

October 30th, 2020

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.