A oneshot by Battan got translated today. It's up on the dex.

Thanks for the heads up. That was kind of sad and bittersweet.

Definitely feels a lot like My Sister's Friend in terms of tone.

Battan never misses, Jesus Christ.

Battan has had a couple volumes of (quite varied) one-shots along with the two other series she's had since Kakeochi Girl came out. She's also been steadily working as an illustrator and has had at least one gallery show in Tokyo that I know about. Also, she's never claimed to be a yuri mangaka. It's a little weird to see people extrapolating things about male characters and whatnot based on her other stories, especially given how those stories have ended.

As for this one, I am locked all the way in. A pushy, manipulative editor who uses her wiles on her stable? With black, unknowable eyes? I am enchanted.

Yes, it needs to be reminded that Battan isn't a yuri mangaka. And she never pretended to.

Her stories are about human relationships, not necessarily WLW. "Kakeochi Girl" and "My Sister's Friend" are less about lesbians than about life struggles, emotions, love and growing-up.

She recently published a oneshot (for the first time!) in Yuri Hime and Fatale Game seems to be geared toward relationships between women, but there's no guarantee there'll be no meaningful interactions with men.

Just enjoy the story for what it is, without expectations it'll glorify WLW, ala Sal Jiang.

I've always understood Battan as someone who writes lesbian relationships in a way that includes a lot of elements of difficulties of society and expectations, exploring love and what it means to be in love, which part of those narratives and her exploration of them includes relationships with men. To me Yuri is an umbrella term for lesbian relationships, and series such as "Run Away With Me, Girl" is also Yuri for that reason. Yuri can be a whole variety of experiences and exploration, and I'm usually interested to see all the ways authors explore themes in their own ways. I enjoy some realistic angst, dramatic angst, realistic fluff, fantastical fluff, so on and so forth. I think a wide range of authors that cover all different kinds of narratives is part of what I enjoy about Yuri.

I've always understood Battan as someone who writes lesbian relationships in a way that includes a lot of elements of difficulties of society and expectations, exploring love and what it means to be in love, which part of those narratives and her exploration of them includes relationships with men. To me Yuri is an umbrella term for lesbian relationships, and series such as "Run Away With Me, Girl" is also Yuri for that reason. Yuri can be a whole variety of experiences and exploration, and I'm usually interested to see all the ways authors explore themes in their own ways. I enjoy some realistic angst, dramatic angst, realistic fluff, fantastical fluff, so on and so forth. I think a wide range of authors that cover all different kinds of narratives is part of what I enjoy about Yuri.

That's a really great viewpoint! Personally, I feel the same way about Amano Shuninta. Some of her works explore playful lesbian relationships, while others highlight the diversity of relationships and don’t always sugarcoat things. There’s a certain rawness in some of her stories, rather than ending with a happy relationship, the characters find peace of mind and a deeper understanding of themselves, like in The Feelings We All Must Endure.

I also really liked your point about yuri being an umbrella term. I've come across quite a few people who say they don’t want to read yuri because they think it’s too "girly" or too cute. That’s such a closed-minded narrative as if just because it’s a romance between women, it has to be mostly cute. It really shows how reductive some people’s views on yuri are. I love how diverse it actually is.

With this newest chapter i wonder, does this qualify for a flavor of the player tag?

Hmm, this chapter reminded me of the one-shot Battan did recently, "Memories of Rouge," or at least the second main character in it. SPOILER!!! That character later mentions how she "loves all kinds of people" and this is her justification for cheating. I feel like the editor in this series is similar, she picks up on these mangaka because she finds them interesting and fascinating, but slowly loses interest once her curiosity has been satisfied.

on another note is that bunny-looking thing supposed to be a labubu? haha :D
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/fatale_game_ch03#13

last edited at Jul 29, 2025 10:10PM

ah so she's a man(gaka)-eater

Is this some kind of cry for help or an attempt at being a whistleblower of the manga industry?

Yes, it needs to be reminded that Battan isn't a yuri mangaka. And she never pretended to.

Her stories are about human relationships, not necessarily WLW. "Kakeochi Girl" and "My Sister's Friend" are less about lesbians than about life struggles, emotions, love and growing-up.

She recently published a oneshot (for the first time!) in Yuri Hime and Fatale Game seems to be geared toward relationships between women, but there's no guarantee there'll be no meaningful interactions with men.

Just enjoy the story for what it is, without expectations it'll glorify WLW, ala Sal Jiang.

Well, whatever Battan's original vision was, Run Away With Me Girl ended up with a reputation of making lesbianism look quite stylish and cool. And I don't know how the concept of two women being in love could take a backseat in a story where the main character who is a woman "steals" her pregnant ex-girlfriend from her abusive husband, especially when it's depicted in such a gorgeous art style. RAWMG is about human relationships and all those other stuff, but it's about those things mostly from the perspective of women of a certain persuasion.

That's not to say that I have any hard expectations for Fatale Game, but I don't see how Futami seducing Nanakusa and ruining her life would be this fundamentally different strain of yuri from Sal Jiang's Black & White. I guess it's possible (though unlikely) that this series ends up spending the same amount of time on Futami managing the male mangaka in her rotation as the female ones, but that would also mean a presence of F/M relationships on a far higher level than in RAWMG.

Maybe I'm also a little confused by what this glorification of lesbianism is supposed to look like if Sal Jiang's work engages in it but RAWMG does not.

Oh, this is how women fall for sociopaths.

I understand the world more today than I did yesterday.

Honestly I just want to see more kissing between a girl who's sparkling and a girl with empty eye's, the men is just there for lore purposes and if he doesn't get in the way of my lesbian kissing I'll be happy

I don't think Batan's incredible artstyle can convince me to keep up with this story. The premise seems so absurd to me, in a way that is frustrating rather than interesting.

While I love Battan I feel this manga is just so over the top, I really liked the realism and real-life struggles that were portrayed in RAWMG and none of that is here. Still, I'll stick to it, for a while but I'm not feeling this rn

Ooooh, so that's why the art style felt familiar! Those eyes are sure something.
But frankly, I might not go past chapter one for now and binge-read it at some later point instead. The other series wasn't all that terrible but I vaguely remember getting frustrated.

Yas baby let’s get some toxic Yuri!!!!!!!

Typo on the first page of chapter 4. "onle" instead of "only".

Typo on the first page of chapter 4. "onle" instead of "only".

it's fixed.

Does she have the whole magazine under her spell? Woa
Wonder what it says about her character her running under the rain while having an umbrella with her

I out loud yelled at my screen "what a bitch" and had to stop reading like twice in this chapter. I love it so much.

Also, just noticed but her art has gotten a lot better compared to Run Away With Me, Girl. I remember the hands of the characters looking awkward before, but they look great here.

Reading this makes me less sad I'm single

Oh editor you master manipulator... Sigh
https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/fatale_game_ch04#31

I have to be honest. When I first read the chapter title: "To the Point Everything Else, Except for Me, Will Turn Gray"

I was speed reading titles, so I read 'Gray' as 'Gay', and I thought that sounded absolutely silly. I only realized my mistake when I loaded the chapter and saw the Angst tag.

So, I somehow disappointed myself.