Girls' love / Yuri

I've recently been enjoying the works of Nagori Yu. They seem to really like Younger Girl x Older Woman pairings, since pretty much every work they've done features that pairing.

I first read Yuki and the Authoress, but my favorite work by them so far is Snake Woman and Offering-Chan. That particular work makes me wonder if they took the Great Serpent from Sekiro and made the concept of "marriage to the Serpent" a bit closer to the literal meaning.

I recently read a story they wrote featuring a girl and a Yuki-Onna. Kind of refreshing to see Yuki-Onna stories that aren't tragic.

They also apparently have a work that looks like a harem story, once again featuring a young girl being pursued by beautiful older women. Kind of looks like an otome game, only with the boys being replaced by women.

Edited by dragonfire5000 on Sep 22nd 2019 at 11:20:37 AM

You did that on purpose, didn't you.

Edited by Lyendith on Sep 22nd 2019 at 2:55:40 PM

Yuki Onna seem inherently tragic considering the traditional backstory is that they froze to death. Even Yo-kai Watch's Frostina has a sad backstory of freezing alone in a cave.

The last chapter of Yagate Kimi ni Naru was nice. Even though it's just a winding up epilogue for a few years down the line, I like how peaceful it is. No radical swerves or anything, just a change of hairstyle. Though not quite up to the one panel cutaway from the previous chapter because they haven't actually moved in together yet... seemingly because Yuu wants to give the full reason and not just claim they're roommates.

The last chapter also reveals that Sayaka is dating a girl called Haru.

Yeah, Nakatani threw the poor girl a bone at the very end. I kinda hope we see Haru-chan in the volume bonuses. Also, that Akari-Doujima tease was cute.

Well, not much to say, it was a fitting way to wrap all of this up. That ring on their left hands though. <3

I had to go through the chapter again; I compeletely missed it the first time.

Isn't there one more Sayaka-focused light novel coming out some time? I'm guessing we might be able to see her new girlfriend there.

For Halloween, Nakatani Nio drew a picture of the three main girls of Bloom Into You in costume. And now I'm feeling just a tad sad that the manga is over.

Kyoot. <3

In other news, Canno of AnoKiss fame will start a new series this winter. In Dengeki Daioh this time (to fill the hole left by the end of Yagakimi?)

Canno has also released a Revue Starlight doujin and contributed to the two Syrup anthologies. So yeah, she's been busy.

For anyone currently looking for a new yuri series, Machikado Mazoku is really cute and fluffy. Not a lot of fanservice, and it's mostly soft-and-silly cute girls doing cute things. But it is adorable.

That show is yuri? I didn't know that…

Oh, yeah, it's super soft and fluffy. It's one of those shows where they're not even rivalish enough to be rivals before they're basically dating.

The manga manages to reduce the subtext even further somehow.

How? That big scene in the last episode was basically a confession. (Or possibly a proposal).

I've just read through Kyou Kara Yonshimai. It's about a family of four sibling whose second sibling (Kashiwa) has just come out as a trans woman. The relationship between Kashiwa and her girlfriend Kasumi is extremely heartwarming and easily the highlight of the manga. That said, everything aside from their relationship ranges from mediocre to terrible. Kasumi also says some questionable things in volume 3, partially because of faulty fanslation.

So not really worth looking into, then?

I do have an overall positive view at a whole. I think chapters 6 and 7 are definitely worth reading.

A trans Youtuber has a more detailed review.

If you don't mind, could you elaborate? With spoiler tag if needed. What exactly was said and how is it the fault of the translation?

Okay, In the later chapters, Kasumi expresses wish that Kashiwa doesn't go through surgery. English Kasumi says "I like you as a guy." Japanese Kasumi actually says something like "I don't like you as a guy, but in order to have a family, there is no other way." Kasumi is referencing Japan's marriage laws. In both versions, she doesn't want to see Kashiwa give up her dreams either, so she has always dodged the question "do you want me to go through surgery?"

Also, as with most Japanese media, most of the gendered pronouns are a product of the localization.

Edited by RAlexa21th on Nov 3rd 2019 at 1:07:49 AM

Bloom Into You LN is out digitally later in Dec.

https://sevenseasentertainment.com/books/bloom-into-you-light-novel-vol-1/

Welllll… it's a case of a borrowed Japanese word that's used differently in the West than in Japan.

Over there the term can indeed mean "love of little girls", while in the West it's usually understood as "love between girls", or "light yuri". In Japan lesbian romance is called "GL" or "yuri", no matter the degree, no one calls it "shoujo-ai" for the aforementionned reason.

The term we'd use in the West for underage porn (in manga/anime form anyway) would rather be "lolicon" (which is also used differently in Japan).

I'd understand if someone more familiar with its Japanese meaning was uncomfortable though.

Edited by Lyendith on Nov 27th 2019 at 2:57:27 PM

I'm not familiar enough with the Japanese side of things to say how shoujo-ai specifically is used in that fandom, but in the English-speaking fandom I've only ever seen it used to refer to Yuri Genre or, as Lyendith said, a lighter or less explicit yuri (though not everyone seems to draw a distinction). They might have fallen out of favor, but shoujo-ai and shounen-ai have been the standard terms for the genres as a whole since the early 2000s.

In other words, no, I've never seen the term used to mean specifically pedophilic content (unless we're counting any and all works featuring high school romance as that now).

Edited by RedSavant on Nov 27th 2019 at 8:58:44 AM

It is a borrowed term-in English, it is a catch-all for non-explicit (PG) lesbian relationship material, while Yuri is explicit lesbian material (ranging from ecchi to smut and straight up porn). Is correct the term in Japanese is synonymous with pedo.

FWIW, English publishing companies have appropriated these term(s) for official designations of their publications; so they usually have Shoujo Ai or Yuri printed right on the cases/covers of their official releases.

Edited by ViperMagnum357 on Nov 27th 2019 at 9:03:20 AM