Yu Yoshidamaru

Hello Fellow Readers,

This is a cute manga, not only about sexual discovery and awareness but also about friendship. Ogami is just your typical teenage girl, she loves the draw, she's a bit shy and introverted, oh and she also thinks about sex A LOT. Of course, we all know that during your teenage years with your hormones pretty much raging and out of control, this is normal. Unfortunately for Ogami, she thinks she's a total pervert and that if anyone finds out she would be ostracized and shunned by her classmates.

Then we meet Yaginuma, a boy who whenever he gets touched causes the person who touched him to say the first thing that comes to mind. What a weird ability to have, so I don't blame Yaginuma one bit for trying to keep his hands away from others, poor boy has probably heard it all. Eventually, Yaginuma and Ogami meet and she accidentally touches him, considering she's always thinking about sex, you can pretty much guess what she blurts out. What follows after this incident is two unlikely people becoming friends.

Despite all the talk about sex, this manga is actually pretty wholesome and I can't wait to read the rest.… (meer)

In what I have to wonder is a move to boost sales, this volume of the women-loving-women anthology really pumps up the erotica quotient, and just like that it's less interesting again after the improvement I saw in the last volume.

I have one more on hand from the library, so I'll press on for now.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Inari's Marriage / Hachi Ito -- The First Night Aftermath / Subaru Homura -- I Want to Get Dizzy with You / Izumi Kawanami -- Her Ring / Shimako Chiruda -- Night of the Loser Virgins / Yu Yoshidamaru -- Spare Key / Kiyoko Iwami -- At the Summer Retreat / Takashi keda -- Private Consideration / Jiang Sal -- A Story of the First and Last Night / Canno -- If It's You, Anything Goes / Milk Morinaga… (meer)

The second volume of this women-loving-women anthology takes a step up in quality for its second outing even as the theme of taboo relationships brings in a few yucky tales with pedophiles and stalkers. There's a bit too much infidelity for my taste, but enough of the stories were twisty or humorous enough to earn the collection a thumbs up.

The stand-out story is "Swallowtail Takes Flight," a fantasy piece about a wasp and a caterpillar. "That's What She Wants" and "A Passion for Your Work" were well done tales about affairs and manipulation.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Call of the Mayflies / Izumi Kawanami -- Photography Addiction / Goumoto -- That Girl in the Library / Megumi Tsuji -- That's What She Wants / Canno -- A Passion for Your Work / Shuninta Amano -- The Left Leg Shackle / Hachi Ito -- My Little Sister's Ice Cream / Mako Takahashi -- The Fourth Woman / Natsumi Matsuzaki -- Swallowtail Takes Flight / Yu Yoshidamaru -- Slit / Takashi Ikeda -- At What Point? / Milk Morinaga… (meer)

It's nice to have an anthology of comic stories about women loving women, but the actual execution is a little lacking with with these (mostly) ten-page stories feeling a little disjointed or rushed.

Still, despite the chaff, there are a few good stories in the middle. And I do like that the stories try to do different things instead of just pure romance or sex scenes. And the character types are all over the place with office ladies, strippers, teachers, porn stars, florists, and otakus.

So, while it's not a favorite anthology, it may have something to offer in future volumes, so I'm going to stick it out for a bit.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: [creator names are formatted family name/given name]
• Cover illustration / Fly
• One AM at the Laundromat / Yukiko
• Daily Smile (^ ^) / Kodama Naoko
• Coward Queen / Yoshimura Kana
• My Girl / Goumoto
• The Cram School Teachers / Mocchi_au_Lait
• Night Flight / Kawanami Izumi
• Promise / Shioya Teruko
• The Florist and the Wednesday Night Lady / Amano Shuninta
• The Abandoned Cat and the Lamp / Ohi Pikachi
• Mama x Mom / Yoshidamaru Yu
• Rose Quartz / Kurogane Kenn
• My Femme Fatale / Matsuzaki Natsumi
• First Grown-up Love / Ito Hachi
• Working with an Angel / Morinaga Milk… (meer)