GLorious Love – Part 4

Happy Halloween! Here comes supernatural goodness~ 

Illustration for the series Yurimm Fairy Tales

Mangaka: Ruri Hozuki (script), Sakura Shio (illustrations)
Stories: 8 oneshots
Hotness: 2
Summary:

Those masterpieces that we found so exciting as children were really girl-girl love stories?!

These aren’t in a manga format, but they are so pretty, funny, sweet and sexy that more people needs to take a look at them! They are obviously lesbian genderbent retellings of the fairy tales most of us grew up with, plus some twists. What you can’t get from Disney, you’ll be able to indulge in the Yurimm Fairy Tales. The monochrome illustrations in rainbow colors are lavish, giving a lascivious wink to the readers, while also being whimsical where must, complementing nicely the playful texts.

The stories adapted are: Hansel, Gretel and the Witch, Lily White (based on Snow White), Little Yuri Riding Hood, Princess Kaguya, Rapunzel, The Little Mermaid, The Red Demon Who Cried Moe (based on Red Oni, Blue Oni), The Wolf-Girl and the Seven Kids. So expect virgin killers wolf-ladies, sexy witches melting over cute girls, crossdressing princesses, girl harems, lots of hugs, kisses and fooling around in various states of undress. Behold the power of yuri, which can even defeat poison!

Warning: debauchery, fornification, polyamory, lolita complex, incest, ‘bestiality’, and… diabetes! Procede at your own risk 😉

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Illustration for the cover of volume 3 (jp) for A Centaur’s Worries or A Centaur’s Life as published by Seven Seas

Mangaka: Kei Murayama
Volumes: 5 ongoing (1st published this November in English by Seven Seas)
Hotness: 1
Summary:

Being a teenager is never easy…especially for a centaur! Himeno is a sweet, shy girl, who like many teens her age, struggles with the trials and tribulations of attending high school. The difference is she’s a centaur; but she’s not alone. In fact, all of her classmates are supernatural creatures, sporting either horns, wings, tails, halos, or some other unearthly body appendage. Yet despite their fantastical natures, Himeno and her best friends—the dragon-winged Nozomi, and Kyoko with her spiraled horns—are down-to-earth, fun- loving teenagers who grapple with issues of life and love in a mostly normal daily school setting.

I am more than glad that in a few days this manga gets published in English and I encourage you to go purchase it and embrace all these cute monster-girls! A Centaur’s Life is quite unique, since it’s not a manga for sheer pandering but its cuteness is there as a plus. The themes of sexuality, racism and racial politics are touched with a certain sensitivity within an amazingly well-built world. When the story isn’t preoccupied with the budding akwardness of adolescent romance, the history of centaurs’ slavery or their tyrannical reign in other countries, and the relationships between amphibians and the rest of human-like species, it may be found in a baseball field or in a kindergarten where little imps and satyrs and centaurs quarrel and become friends or even in a house with lots of sisters and worries. It’s a fine slice-of-life series, an AU of our own reality with hybrids.

But why is it in the GL column? I’ll admit it’s not mainly a yuri or lesbian romance, but we do have a girl x girl side couple which kisses publicly in one chapter and mentions naughty neither-region activities in another, while there is subtext for the main heroine with her imp friend and a crush towards the angel class president. Although we do see prudent reactions from main characters and there’s a tint of a joke in these situations, I still feel that the fact the couple presents itself as something normal and legit in an otherwise non-GL manga is very important. In any case, it’s worth your time!

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Illustrations for Heart-pounding Excitement in Mononoke Girls’ Academy

Mangaka: Nangoku Banana
Volumes: 2
Hotness: 3
Summary:

On what was supposed to be her first day of high school, Arare somehow finds herself in a different dimension and ends up at an all-girls boarding school — for youkai. There, Arare tries to adjust to her new life, befriending youkai Kiri and Pero, while trying to keep her identity as a human hidden.

Nangoku Banana is largely known for her yaoi works, but the moment she put her hands on the yuri genre, she excelled. Tokimeki Mononoke Jougakkou is wildly known and loved among yuri fans, but I couldn’t not mention it on our blog as well and have the chance to praise it myself. Whoever hasn’t read it yet, should better hurry up! I am very picky when it comes to ecchiness and comedy, so when I say this manga has charmed me means it’s done a really great work. The art is also lovely and very sexy and helps to keep everything fun, silly and wanton without becoming lewd. Even large breasts, which are a pet peeve of mine in animanga, here appear quite attractive. The whole youkai affair is a big part of how enjoyable this title is.

Don’t enter expecting any great romance or serious plot; it does pull many dei ex machina in order to progress and wrap up things. The romance is a bit abrupt, but decent and very cute -they are teenagers after all. It also has some scenes and dialogues that are a bit unpleasant (what with youkai being hostile to humans and Arare’s sexual integrity being in danger). Tokimeki Mononoke Jougakkou is ultimately a yuri gag manga and it fairs more than well for what it strived to be. Arare and Kiri are a couple you’ll find yourself routing for, there are plenty youkai girls to fawn over, you’ll laugh lots and blush lots; whatelse would you ask for?