A match made in hell. Be careful to avoid the flames and stay hydrated.

I guess these are all trials and tribulations that come with living in...

A Room for Two

Dodges tomatoes, retreats

Some people receive confessions wherever they go, some, whenever they go.

God rest ye merry immortals, may nothing you dismay~
Remember that eternity is license to be gay~

That's new.

The real boobs were the supports we made along the way.

If it exists, then there must be a lesbian version of it.

Love how the Santa outfits subtly mirror the Revue uniforms.

Don't let your dreams be dreams, Patchy! Turn them into crimes against humanity.

Morrigan has a different lesbian for dinner every night, and starts over once she's burned through everyone in Europe.

Oh come on, this is too quick. =[

And now I look stupid for saying the story was not over, lol

To be fair, if Canno did get axed, then the story isn't exactly over- it's just truncated to a point where it ends at a certain date instead of following the original plan. This was one of my ongoing favourites, so I'm pretty bummed about it- it's rare to get a series that's well-written, innovative, charming and positively representational all at once. I do hope Canno doesn't give up on writing poly yuri after this- while there might not be a huge market for it, she seems hugely passionate about the genre, and you can see it in every page she draws.

Insert obligatory rant about Japan, shit taste and not having nice things here.

Anything where one or both girls have freckles? I'd prefer stuff without drama or angst, especially love triangles. Thanks x

Futari Escape is a good one. Romantic angst is nonexistent, though there's some existential musings, and the series is basically just about two girls trying to get away from the daily grind via various low-budget means. Not too high on the yuri (despite serializing in Yuri Hime), but if you're into chill cohabitation and SOL, it's got the perfect vibe.

Speaking of which, I do not think that historical development can only be "leapfrogged" by a temporal outsider, i.e. a person from a society at a later stage of the same evolutionary path (roughly Western European, in this case). As a counterexample, I point to Claude from FE3H and contend that any kind of outside perspective, if taken serious (which most of the time it isn't) can help a person or a group resolve long-standing contradictions and live a happier life.

I personally think it varies on a case-to-case basis. If a person from modern Britain was transported to the middle ages, they'd obviously run into issues like the language barrier and so forth, and would probably die before they get to any major court and inform the nobles about vital political events.

But if, as in Anise's case, they came back as a privileged political figure, they could achieve incredible things with some decent planning and strategy. Most groundbreaking ideas have always been unprecedented, or they wouldn't have been revolutionary in the first place. If a moderner can figure out how to a) pitch a change without getting executed for insanity or blasphemy and b) reverse-engineer progress by gradual advancement (like creating muskets instead of jumping to assault rifles), then major changes can definitely be instituted.

I'd argue that savants like Da Vinci were more revolutionary in their respective eras than John Smith from a random city street would be if sent back to that same period. It's all a matter of getting in touch with the right people and producing results, so to speak.

Sengoku Komachi Kurotan is one manga I can think of that handles the 'moderner in the past' genre quite well, and explores how shifting something like agriculture could cause a domino effect that alters military campaigns, the results of major conflicts, political dynamics and the nature of affiliated societies.

last edited at Dec 28, 2020 2:07PM

I love the manga, but I think the success of the anime will depend on how well they nail the horror and the uncanny valley effect of the various anomalies. On the one hand, animation allows you to do some insane shit with movement, but on the other, there's also a lot more things that could go wrong or ruin the tension. CGI, despite being despised by many an anime fan, would actually bring out the otherwordly nature of the outsiders incredibly well, but there's no way to know unless we see it in motion. I also hope they don't dump in fanservice to make up for the inevitable lack of yuri in a twelve episode run.

I haven't heard of any good horror anime recently (the Junji Ito Collection was terrible), but I've got high hopes for this one as long as they faithfully adapt the source. It stands as a fascinating work irrespective of the yuri, and I'd love to see its charms applied to an animated medium.

Azurite's buddy seems like the kind of gal who has a secretly terrible family, turns into a monster after issues from said family peak, gets saved by the mahou shoujo, becomes a mahou shoujo herself mid-season, has better weapons and powers than the main duo, does cool shit for three episodes, and then becomes irrelevant for the rest of the series except for jobbing and the occasional spotlight episode. She'd be in that middle territory where she's not number two and the technical deuteragonist and girlfriend of the lead, but also not one of the numbers four onwards, who tend to be interesting and experimental and morally complex.

Indeed, on a more abstract level, it is Anise's existence that unbalances the setting, but I still contend that in Euphie's specific case, she wasn't the catalyst of her derailment from the default life path(s) that their feudal/aristocratic institutions had groomed her for. :-)

That's fair. From Euphie's perspective, the shattering of the engagement was the point where her life went off-track, but this would've happened regardless of Anise's reincarnation, so I decided to consider it part of her 'destiny', so to speak. There's no parallel worldline where the engagement wasn't broken, because the event stems from the personalities of everyone involved and is a foregone conclusion, even if Euphie can't detect it (much like how your average citizen would be much better at detecting a revolution in the making than a sheltered aristocrat, but the revolution itself would be born of sustained tension that had built up over decades). In my opinion, the point of divergence is Anise jumping in and offering Euphie a different, happier lifestyle, using her status as a temporal 'outsider' to alter the progression of events, because she has perspectives and ideas that weren't 'earned' via historical progression, but carried over from a different universe.

While I often agree with you, Kirin, I think you are way off the mark this time. Not about uncertainty -- that much is true, but about the role Anise plays in it and specifically in Euphie's life. Euphie is, indeed, diverted from her predetermined path, but not by Anise, but by the political/marital machinations of her own fiance. I may agree that this merely set Euphie onto another predetermined path, namely, that of fading into obscurity as a dishonored would-be queen (a sad reality for many medieval noblewomen), and Anise is gently pushing her off that track at the moment because it only leads to her destruction, rather than in an effort to impose her value system onto her. The problem is that while Euphie has already realized emotionally what track she is on, she hasn't recognized it on an intellectual level, still clinging to her role as a dutiful servant of the royal family.

I was referring more to Anise's position as someone who's reincarnated from the modern world and has modern values, which she physically can't help expressing. Just as Euphie is defined by her background and saddled with noble values, Anise is influenced by her past life in a modern country and has considerably less respect for the aristocratic way of life than she would if she never regained her memories. Ergo, if Anise wasn't the 'reincarnated princess', the plot wouldn't be anything similar, since her entire obession with magic and her rebellious attitude stem from those memories. This isn't my headcanon- it's explicitly stated.

Anise obviously isn't trying to influence Euphie in a standard otome isekai way, i.e. through knowledge of the world. This is new territory to her, and so she acts on the basis of her own instincts and judgment rather than using videogame knowledge like Rei from I Favor the Villainess. With that being said, her existence is fundamentally atypical and disruptive, because the mechanisms of social control and enculturation that shape everyone's perspectives don't apply to her. She's like what you'd get if you sent a modern scientist or artist into the middle ages- not intentionally manipulative, but different on a fundamental basis. And of course, this influences Euphie, because she's exposed to a democratic, individualist perspective that her upbringing never allowed her to enjoy- not something that comes from a hedonist or a corrupt noble, but from a person who's different in every way. One of them needs to adjust to the other, and of course, Euphie, thanks to her lack of confidence and vulnerable position, will bend to Anise's perspective.

TL;DR- Anise changes Euphie's life by mere virtue of existing in a powerful position where she can assert her (decidedly atypical) will over events.

This series handles ambivalence pretty well- for all the emotions running high this chapter, the underlying theme is a deep, gnawing sense of uncertainty. Characters in a story, whether they're tragic or comic, have a path that they're supposed to take, defined by their circumstances and relationships, shaped by the times. But as an outsider, Anise diverts people from those paths, introducing the values of a different world to the locals. In the long-term, this might save them, but their first impression is always going to be confusion and bewilderment, and Euphie's desperate attempts to fit everything Anise says into her ideals of duty and obligation is an example of that.

The only way for her to adapt is to see the world through Anise's eyes, but that isn't going to be as easy as going from tsun to dere- she'll have to relearn everything, and not via surrender or obedience, but by thinking things over for herself. Anise did give her a second shot at life, but it hasn't come easy, since Euphie also needs to speedrun the developmental process all over again, struggling to forget what she already knows. She's an NPC without a quest, a heroine on an unscripted route, and there's a certain amount of existential dread she has to overcome before realizing that she can do anything.

I love that the series takes the time to explore all this instead of leaping into fun adventures- the first chapter's bottle-rocket pace isn't just a hook for readers, but also shocking for the folks in-story, and everything after that has just been drifting and trying to regain our bearings. It reminds of the last scene in The Graduate, when two runaways on a bus realize that they didn't really have a plan beyond escape, and now need to spend the rest of their lives with each other without even being sure what they want.

last edited at Dec 27, 2020 10:38PM

I like how the sweater stayed on.

This epic bildungsroman about Fuyuki finding love and purpose in a small fishing town continues to be as great as ever, but I'm not sure why the author's devoting so much time to the shy girls from the aquarium club. Are they lesbians? Are they amphibians? Seems kinda distracting, tbh, 7/10.

On a more serious note, we might actually need an Amphibian tag to describe stories about girls who aren't sure about their feelings for their best buddies and use tons of ocean metaphors to express this.

last edited at Dec 27, 2020 2:03AM

Excellent doujin. It really captures what makes each character of Seiran so appealing- an interplay of strength and vulnerability, drawn from the same sources. They're defined by their pasts, but not in positive ways- unlike so many of the girls from Seisho, they can't just draw on happy memories to recover brilliance, because those memories are the source of their sadness. But without having experienced true brilliance, they also can't create anything new, and strive instead to be jealous and vindictive, stealing from those with success to obtain something for themselves, even if they know that this victory will never be legitimate. And in the end, those that were kicked into darkness and denied starlight realize that true beauty lies not in regaining what they've lost, but in the strength they had to get back up, and the people they met on the way.

Seiran's girls are a foil to Seisho's- while the latter strive to let the welfare of the troupe overcome the selfish interests of a single star, Seiran's girls never fit into a troupe, and became bitter outcasts instead, having their desire for unity and collective progress turned cruelly against them. They never wanted to be revolutionaries, but the failure to be 'normal' forced them to turn into invaders, even though they're betrayed yet again by the person who united them under Seiran's banner- Yakumo. And in the end, they come to the same realization as the girls from Seisho- that togetherness and unity is the real treasure, and the answer is not to fight for an institution or for your own acceptance within it, but for the sake of your true companions, no matter where you end up. Like all of Starlight's stories, the conclusion is a confirmation of togetherness, of emotions and love beyond tokens or trinkets or traditions.

In that sense, the scene in this doujin where Koharu promises to conquer the world and make it her kingdom really shows off the character development at work. For the sake of her friends, she's ready to be a king and launch another campaign, but Suzu and Hisame tell her that they've got their own worlds to strive for, and there's no reason to be invaders or thieves anymore, because they've found their own brilliance now. Seiran are no longer the girls defined by their longing for a distant, beautiful figure from their childhoods, no longer the outsiders trying to stake claims to a play that doesn't embody their story. Starlight was never going to be the right fit for Seiran- for one, they don't operate in Flora and Claire pairs, but are a considerably stronger, self-sufficient trio.

Therefore, just like Karen and Hikari, they need to create their own story, to move beyond a disruptive 'blue storm' and become a proud 'kingdom of blue'. Even Yakumo, eternally obsessed with resurrecting the good old days and re-enacting Starlight, realizes that these girls are not replacements or puppets for her to project her adolescence onto. They're fiercely individual, powerful and brave, and eminently capable of creating their own world instead of stealing or conquering the ones built before. As always, the answer is renewal, and an enduring hope in the power of today. And this doujin really captures that resilient, valiant spirit, giving Seiran a fitting segue into their future. I'm glad I came across it- Starlight really does character parallels like nothing else.

As great as this is, nothing can beat the translation on MD that gave everyone Australian accents. I almost coughed up a lung at lines like, "Momo, luv, I never considered you ma homie."

The radioactive inhuman eye stays on during sex, silently observing everything.

Succubi grow 50% stronger on Christmas, which is why Shamiko is still conscious here.

Reindeers are for peasants, real nobles use horse/pegasi/cowboy/lesbian/yakuza hybrids.