Yuri Hime S, Volume 14 is the final volume of Yuri Hime S (百合姫 S). Around for almost 4 full years, it has now been merged into Comic Yuri Hime. A listing of the stories that will be carried over from both magazines can be found on the Comic Yuri Hime website, along with the new works debuting.This final volume doesn't particularly feel final, though. Most of the stories continue on just as they always have. It starts off with "Shinagami Alice," a story that has always felt to me as if it's limping along waiting to develop a plot or be killed. Having survived a first collected volume, it appears to be trying to develop a plot. The introduction of a new character, Masaki's relative, brings a teeny little thread of normality into what has been a free-floating "where? when? what?" kind of story. Then the Goth-Loli bad Shinigami comes back and that's all completely blown.
Color news pages cover mobile visual novels and games that are pure LFB material, a "Girls Festival" hosted by Animate and Tamayura which I have been watching and still don't see anything even remotely, slightly, sort of Girls' Love-ish about. It's sweet. I like it. But Girls' Love? Not so far.
Naoe Marimo's "Hime to Mahou-tsukai" is a cute little confection about a Princess and a Witch, obviously.
"My Steady" by Yamura Marika follows a young woman and the older woman she loves.
Then comes "Fu-Fu" by Minamoto Hisanari. I was thinking about the spelling of "Fu-Fu" the other day. Although the first chapter discusses the kanji of phrase "fufu," the title itself is spelled using Hiragana. ふ~ふ. And I wondered about that, because the blowing of wind is rendered that way. You may recall my review of the first Strawberry Panic Light Novel in Japanese, in which I commented on the excessive winds at Miator. (fuu~ fuu~) So, it occurred to me that, perhaps, we were meant to be reminded of the sound of wind blowing with the name rendered in Hiragana as it is. It certainly has become a breath of fresh air blowing through Yuri Hime S for many of us.
This chapter follows Kina and Su-chan on a trip (designed by Kana, Kina's older sister) that is their de facto honeymoon. Meanwhile, we see a new couple moving in next door and learn that they too are a "Yuri couple!" I predict "noises heard through the walls" jokes in future chapters.
Skipping "Mugen no Minamo" as I always do, which leads to "Marriage Black" which continues to be fraught, violent and full of unresolved tension of about twenty kinds. Lu-Chie becomes Lilicia's guardian angel by swearing that she, and none other, shall be the one to take Lilicia's life.
In "Flower Flower" Shuu *finally* makes it plain that when she says she likes Nina, she means in a "want to kiss you" way.
I skip a second chapter of "Mugen no Minamo" and move on to the next chapter of "Cassiopeia Dolce" in which Ana goes through crisis number 870 in between getting dressed and undressed. I did very much like the handful of eyeballs, though.
"Zettai Shoujo Astoria" comes to an end with one of the very lamest endings I've ever read. It really made all the screaming and running around seem pretty silly and pointless. But that's over, so we can move on to...
"Okkake Girls" has developed a sort of plot, as Marin has decided to devote herself to becoming an Otokoyaku.
And finally, *100* pages of Namori's "Yuru Yuri," which I have felt is utterly without interest since the very beginning. It's obvious that the editors at Ichijinsha love this series, since the page count has been steadily growing every volume, but 100 pages????? That's a whole 25% of the book! Can you say the word "excessive?" And worse, it's going to be in the new magazine. I can't wait until the day all the other stories are just jettisoned for 400 pages of this totally nothing story with barely any Yuri. BLEAH. Two thumbs down for this waste of ink.
And so, Yuri Hime S comes to a close with a really big yawn. Which it totally did not have to do.
Ratings:
Overall - 7, with two points off for 100 pages of zzzz, I mean "Yuru Yuri."