Once again, time to take a look at another anthology of yuri stories – this time the next entry of the Éclair series, Éclair Orange. Seventeen different people contributed to this volume, offering up an interesting variety of yuri stories.
Front cover of Éclair Orange, featuring Ayumu and Michi from Nio Nakatani’s Double Bed
Love is complicated in all its forms, but the feelings of girls especially so. Return again to tales from maidens’ hearts with this fifth instalment of Éclair! Continue the journey of young and arduous love with authors like Canno (Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl), Yuriko Hara (Cocoon Entwined), and Kabocha (Kemono Friends á la Carte).
As with the other Éclair anthologies, this one opens with colour illustrations, before getting into the manga stories. The list of people who contributed to this volume as a whole looks a little something like this:
- Nio Nakatani
- U35
- bb Kuroda
- Kumiko Takeba
- Miyako Miyahara
- Iri Arata
- Yuriko Hara
- Musshu
- Ruka Kobachi
- Taki Kitao
- Aya Fumio
- Kazuno Yuikawa
- Canno
- Kabocha
- Izumi Kawanami
- Haruka Kiriyama
- Auri Hirao
Definitely some names in there that I am very familiar with, but also seeing plenty that I don’t seem to recall from before. It’s nice to have a mix of old and new, and this particular group do offer up some nice variety with their stories.
The main theme that connects all the stories here is simply “yuri”. Nothing deeper than that; this is simply a collection of stories about girls loving girls. Simple enough.
As with every anthology such as this one, certain stories tend to stand out from others, whether it’s personal taste or some other factor. In one case, though, Éclair Orange has a story that stands out due to its genre: Kazuno Yuikawa’s A New Star. It is the only story in this collection that is sci-fi. Also has a very intriguing premise, and might be one of my favourites in this anthology.
Other notable stories for me include Iri Arata’s Tear Drops, Musshu’s You Should Look Properly, Taki Kitao’s Please Go Home and Auri Hirao’s Karen-chan Master. That last one in particular has quite the ending…
Whilst I may be picking out favourites, I don’t really think any of the stories in this anthology are bad by any stretch of the imagination. Definitely a solid collection of yuri tales to be found here, and a very nice addition to the Éclair series. Can’t seem to go wrong with this one.
Oh, and not every person contributes a story – in this case, U35 and bb Kuroda have contributed the colour illustrations on the first couple of pages. Both are great, but I do like bb Kuroda’s just that bit more.
Definitely a worthy addition to the collection for any yuri fan.
Rory Muses 