yuri

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Lenni Reviews: “Catch These Hands!” Vol. 3, by Murata

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review

While Takebe is determined to leave her past self behind, Soramori doesn’t want her to change, frustrating Takebe who feels she is not getting the support she needs to accomplish her goal of becoming a “normal” adult.

I can see Takebe getting frustrated because a big part of her character is that she wants to be a functioning adult instead of an angry teenager who brawls all the time. It was a reach for me for it to cause such a falling out. It was funny to see it all come full circle as they have a fistfight about it rather than talking it out but this volume was just okay. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Hello, Melancholic!” Vol. 2, by Yayoi Ohsawa

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It’s time for the community festival but Hibiki’s hand injury won’t heal in time. So, Minato comes up with a solution so they can still perform. After the show, Minato discovers Chika and Sakiko have a deeper relationship than she’d assumed.

A good chunk of this volume is dedicated to how Chika and Sakiko got together and the nature of their relationship but we also get Minato and Hibiki on a date. Hibiki wants to find out if Minato has any feelings for her or not. There’s a little forward momentum but I’m guessing the big plot points will happen in the next volume. The date is cute and the other couple’s story has some interesting elements to is. This one is spicy but not overly explicit. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Catch These Hands!” Vol. 2, by Murata

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Since Soramori got Takebe to go out with her after a bet, Soramori keeps trying to find things they can to together as a proper couple. However, it seems Takebe is just going along with this because she lost that bet meanwhile Soramori has genuine feelings for her.

This volume is Soramori trying different activities to try and bring them closer together. The progression of their relationship here feels natural to me. It’s a bit slow but they’re still in the phase where they’re getting to know each other. They have a nice dynamic that’s pretty entertaining to watch. 3.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “How Do We Relationship?” Vol. 2 by Tamifull

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is recommended for mature readers.

Miwa is trying to become more confident not only in her relationship but in telling others she’s gay while Saeko is struggling with her own jealousy. While they grapple with their feelings, a guy named Kan joins the band club too and starts fishing around in their relationship and hates Miwa for some reason.

We also get a little backstory on their friend Usshi who doesn’t feel like it’s possible to get a boyfriend. It’s enjoyable save for Kan, who is seriously creepy and I hope he doesn’t hurt our main characters. I do want to see what happens next, though. And again, this is mature but not overly explicit. 3.9 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “How Do We Relationship?” Vol. 1 by Tamifull

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review

Miwa is an introverted college student that has trouble making friends or finding a girlfriend. When she meets an outgoing and out of the closet Saeko they become fast friends but Saeko suggests they date each other. They join the music club together but Miwa is scared to come out to any of them.

They are both so cute together as they figure things out. Miwa had never been in a relationship before so Saeko has to be patient with her. And this isn’t very graphic; focusing more on our main characters’ emotions. The art is soft and expressive, perfect for these two as they grow closer. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow” Vol. 1, by Makoto Hagino

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Konatsu Amano has just relocated from Tokyo to a small town with her aunt because her father’s job has taken him overseas. Concerned about making friends in high school, Amano meets a girl named Koyuki, the sole member of the Aquarium Club. Koyuki is excited to have another member and they become friends as they work in the aquarium connected to the school.

This manga is really sweet. I like that Konatsu slowly becomes more confident and has an adorable relationship with Koyuki. If you want some light and fluffy reading, this will fit the bill. It is, however, very ‘slice of life’ so if that bores you, there are parts you will want to bail in this volume. But I liked it. 3.7 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: Whenever Our Eyes Meet…: A Women’s Love Anthology” by ASCII Media Works

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This is a collection of fourteen short stories about women in live in different types of relationships from an artist with a crush on her subject to a high school puppy love getting a second chance when they’re grown up.

While well done overall with pretty art, all the stories are SUPER short. But that’s to be expected when you get 180 pages to tell fourteen different stories. Gotta make you point quick then move on to the next one.

My favorite of them would be “Everyone’s Missing Out.” by Irua. Not many romance stories – much less LGBT ones – have characters over 30-40 years old. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of those.

Not a bad collection if you’re looking for some relatively clean, short, yuri to read. 3.7 out of 5.

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It’s been awhile! And an anime review

I’ve been really busy trying to get Dreamhunter ready for re-publishing and brainstorming ideas for that other anthology I want to query. But in between those things, I managed to get my hands on some anime! So, here’s a long overdue review of Maria Watches Over Us.

I’ve watched season one and two and I’ve come to two conclusions:
1) I have a weakness for shojo. I can’t help it. As warped as I am, give me a good silly story with decent characters and I get emotionally invested. I wanted to know everything about these girls and I wanted them to have beautiful friendships with their "sisters" (it’s kinda their way or mentoring in the school they attend) for the rest of their lives. I laughed with them, teared up when they cried and genuinely wanted them to graduate and succeed.

2) Yuri is nothing like Yaoi. When searching around, this title came up under Yuri and me being ME, I’m thinking "If it’s anything like the yaoi titles I’ve seen, this is gonna be demented and I would want the rest of my family to be far away when I’m watching it." Not even close. Maria is primarily focused on the emotional relationships between the girls. In fact, it’s ONLY focus is how the friendships function and why, and how they grow and change over time. Grab any yaoi manga or video and that’s SO not the case. Given that the market for both genres is the same (young women) you’d think there’d be some more emotion in yaoi or more… *achem* sleeze in the yuri. While I am VERY glad there’s no sleeze in Maria (it’s set in high school, for gods sakes…) I see this divide everywhere. Even in so called yuri manga. Even if the women are obviously in love, they barely share more than a meaningful glance. Meanwhile, the men are boning like jack rabbits through the whole damn thing, sometimes before they even know each other’s names.

So, if you’re looking for Maria to be like say, the female version of Kizuna, you will be absolutely disappointed. But if you want a classic high school drama filled with real emotion that keeps you going to the next episode, I encourage you to watch Maria. It’s just too adorable for words.

Oh, and keep voting for my story on Web Fiction. They refresh the votes every week so daily voting keeps me in the top 5. 😉

I’m almost done with Peach Girl so I’ll be reviewing that next. 😉