Yuri Pop, subtitled Girl*Girl stories, reminds me a lot of playing with dolls. Specifically the little SD characters one gets at arcades, or with candy."Hi, I'm Miharu," we say, moving the little toy back and forth so you know it's "talking."
"Hi," someone else moves another little piece up and down while they speak in a ridiculous falsetto, "I'm Yuyu. Miharu, I like you."
"Really?" we reply as if talking to a child, moving the little figurine in our hand. "I like you too!"
Then the two figurines are slammed together and each of us make a "mwah!" noise to indicate that the two plastic figures are now "kissing."
Reading this book is just like this same scenario, with 10 little dolls. The stories we create are a little different and, because we're quite creative, some of them are kind of fun. Is Haruka-sempai really stalking Yuki? (No, silly, she just wanted to get to know her better....) And what is with Erika and that white cape? (It looks cool, DUH.)
And in the end, we get all 10 dolls into the story and we have a good laugh and then Mom brings us cookies while we watch cartoons.
More importantly for me, Yuri Pop wins as the only Japanese manga I have ever read that uses the words, "Namby-Pamby" and "Herkimer Jerkimer." In English. Spelled right. Used right. Which has to win some kind of award, really.
Ratings:
Art - 6, but what do you expect of SD characters?
Story - 8, surprisingly, for variety and fun
Characters - 8
Yuri - 8
Loser FanBoy - 2
Overall - 8
Best page of the collection is the back cover. I stand agape with respect for the sheer freaking whimsy with which this utterly silly collection was built.