Yuri Reviews

Before I started transitioning, I wouldn't really allow myself to read yuri or watch much anime, since I thought that men who did this were gross. So afterward I may have gone a little bit crazy reading yuri since I had access to something I didn't before. This page is to share reviews of the yuri that I have read since I thought that might be useful to others.

By yuri I mean media (not exclusively japanese) which focuses primarily on lesbian romance. I generally try to avoid yuri that prevents—by some mechanism—its characters from actually engaging with their feelings or romance (hereafter called "yurislop") which includes tropes like doomed yuri and yuribait.

Yuri works are sorted by media type and then by my subjective rating. I'll also comment on translations, since I'm usually reading translated works. I primarily read in English and Mandarin. There will probably be spoilers. I'll try to include content-warnings for intensely triggering content. I've included a blebcat rating system. 3 cats is an excellent yuri and 1 cat means it's not very good.

This is currently a work in progress and I haven't added every yuri that I've read, but if you want me to review something feel free to contact me. Reviews in progress:

• はなにあらし
• アネモネは熱を帯びる
• 君と綴るうたかた
• やがて君になる
• 付き合ってあげてもいいかな
• 关于被班上绿茶威胁那件事
• 亲爱的死对头
• Z.A.T.O. I Love the World and Everything in It
• Digital: A Love Story
• Analogue: A Hate Story
• わたしが恋人になれるわけないじゃん、ムリムリ! (※ムリじゃなかった!?)
• 我的室友陳小姐是個鬼

Rating:

I think Run Away With Me, Girl is really one of the best of the genre. It begins with the yuri cliché of two girls, Midori and Maki, pretend dating in high school and then going their separate ways. Ten years later, Midori receives a wedding invitation from Maki, who is pregnant, and needs to recon with her emotions while supporting her friend.

I like this romance because it is emotional and messy—just like real life. It confronts real issues that adult women face, and it's a beautiful story of how women can love each other even in the face of difficult circumstances.

Rating:

Definitely one of my favorite yuri of all time. Nomoto Yuki loves cooking as a hobby, but she can't really eat that much. Her coworkers tell her how good of a housewife and mother she would make, but she struggles to explain that her desires are different. Kasuga Totoko loves to eat, but people always cut her portions because she's a woman. Both women face misogyny for their joy in food and find comfort in eating with each other. Most of all, I think this is a story about finding comfort in community and how food can bring people together.

This yuri is interesting for several ways. First, its cast is adult women who are already have jobs. Second, it is an explicitly asexual romance. Nomoto realizes through conversations with an online friend that she almost certainly feels lesbian romantic attraction, but is asexual. At some times the characters feel distant or not intimate, but instead of coming off as a cold relationship, it seems like they are intensely trying to respect each other's boundaries. I think that's why She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat always feels so comfortable.

I have mostly read the Taiwanese Mandarin translation, but I've read some of the English translation and it's also very good.

Rating:

I think this is definitely my favorite “high school yuri”. The primary story entails a romance between Kindaichi Saki and Oikawa Kanon who meet on a dark night. Kanon is hard of hearing, but wants to experience an ordinary high school and not go to a school for the deaf. Saki wants to get to know her better and support her. The story is primarily about how many experience struggles that may not be visible to the naked eye. This might be a disability like deafness or family struggles (for Kanon's friend Ayano) or even trying to understand lesbian yearning (for Saki).

One of the reasons this yuri is so good is that the author doesn't define characters by their disabilities and does a lot of research. When the manga cites a statistic for hard of hearing people in japan, it gives a link to an actual study. I grew up in a family with many Deaf and hard of hearing individuals and currently live with another, so I think this hits close to home. I would recommend to anyone who wants a light-hearted but earnest romance.

Rating:

SQ is a high-school romance set in China between Sun Jing and Qiu Tong—hence the title. It's both a cute periodical webcomic with funny strips and an engaging romance with much plot development. All of the characters feel like they have depth. Overall, this feels like one of the most believable high-school romance yuri that i've read.

Unfortunately, it's very difficult to find high-quality versions of this comic outside of the official tencent app. The first volume was published in China and Japan, but the second volume faced intense censorship due to its portrayal of lesbian romance. The author, 坛九, refused to publish with the censorship included, and now the work will probably never be published in print.

Ever since the censorship the comic seems like it has waned in plot development and updates. Most of the chapters are now one-offs where Sun Jing and Qiu Tong are living together or going to a cafe or similar. I'm not sure if 坛九 is worried about more censorship or if she just became tired with the comic.

The English translations are highly lacking, and I'm not sure if I'd recommend them. My wife and I have considered scanlating this work ourselves, so write in if you would appreciate that.

Rating:

A high-school romance between a girl, Ōsawa Aya who loves rock music, and the girl who works at the record store, Mitsuki Koga, whom she mistook for a boy. I think this manga falls into some yuri tropes, but I think the characters have a lot of depth and individuality which makes it an engaging read. The green, four page format is interesting, and I'm glad it stands out. I think the music themes are fun, and the fact that Koga and Aya have music to bond over makes their relationship seem more real.

I think this manga definitely has some weak points too. The pacing is odd, and it's sometimes hard to follow. Occasionally, especially later in the work the relationship feels toxic. The four-page format is sometimes limiting, and it occasionally falls into classic yuri tropes. I'd still recommend giving it a read, but I can't guarantee everyone will like it.

I've read the first three volumes in Mandarin and the first four in English. I would say both translations are pretty good, and I'm glad I picked up physical copies while in Taiwan.

Rating:

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of this yuri. It feels to me like the author doesn't understand how to create intrigue by developing characters and their relationships, and instead only knows how to drive her story forward by adding more relationships. Many of the characters have a very shallow personality, including the main love interest Kino Himari. Several other characters, like Ayaka and Momoka seem to be put in the story solely to be in relationships with others, with no real characteristics of their own.

In my opinion, the story only get more bizarre over time, as the author creates more relationships to drive the manga forward. To illustrate, I created shipping diagram showing relationships at the current point in the story:

Another odd thing about Whisper Me a Love Song is that it involves male characters, but refuses to ever involve them in the story. The author appears to take every opportunity she can to never draw a male character, even though the story is set in a co-ed school. The only male character I can definitely say was drawn with a face was Yori's father in chapter 59, and very few were ever mentioned. I don't think it's wrong to make a story without male characters, but it's still odd to frame the story in a location with men and deny that any character ever speaks to or is friends with them.

Rating:

I think the premise of this manga is cute. It features a woman (Arisa) who has amnesia and forgot the last 3 years of her life. When she comes to, she is instantly smitten with her long-term girlfriend (Mari) whom she forgot. Both women are committed to each-other and have real lives and jobs, which is a plus.

This work is very horny and ecchi, which seems to be the artist's preference. I think works like this can be good, but the entire premise seems to be that Arisa is unequivocally the top, and forgot how to initiate romance or sex due to amnesia. I think this is kind of bizarre and doesn't lead to a very good story. Furthermore, Arisa constantly acts like a fan-girlish child. I don't appreciate any works that engage in pedophilic adult-child relationships in any capacity, even if this is only in a “temporary emotional capacity due to amnesia”. There are also some very problematic panels later in the story where the characters fetishize having children. I really don't want to go into details further, but this aspect of the story made me highly uncomfortable.

I think women deserve silly, horny comics about adult lesbian romance. Unfortunately, this is not the way to go about it. To any who wish to read a work like this, I would highly recommend 闲君's webtoons instead.