Shuninta Amano

The second volume of this women-loving-women anthology takes a step up in quality for its second outing even as the theme of taboo relationships brings in a few yucky tales with pedophiles and stalkers. There's a bit too much infidelity for my taste, but enough of the stories were twisty or humorous enough to earn the collection a thumbs up.

The stand-out story is "Swallowtail Takes Flight," a fantasy piece about a wasp and a caterpillar. "That's What She Wants" and "A Passion for Your Work" were well done tales about affairs and manipulation.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Call of the Mayflies / Izumi Kawanami -- Photography Addiction / Goumoto -- That Girl in the Library / Megumi Tsuji -- That's What She Wants / Canno -- A Passion for Your Work / Shuninta Amano -- The Left Leg Shackle / Hachi Ito -- My Little Sister's Ice Cream / Mako Takahashi -- The Fourth Woman / Natsumi Matsuzaki -- Swallowtail Takes Flight / Yu Yoshidamaru -- Slit / Takashi Ikeda -- At What Point? / Milk Morinaga… (plus d'informations)

It's nice to have an anthology of comic stories about women loving women, but the actual execution is a little lacking with with these (mostly) ten-page stories feeling a little disjointed or rushed.

Still, despite the chaff, there are a few good stories in the middle. And I do like that the stories try to do different things instead of just pure romance or sex scenes. And the character types are all over the place with office ladies, strippers, teachers, porn stars, florists, and otakus.

So, while it's not a favorite anthology, it may have something to offer in future volumes, so I'm going to stick it out for a bit.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: [creator names are formatted family name/given name]
• Cover illustration / Fly
• One AM at the Laundromat / Yukiko
• Daily Smile (^ ^) / Kodama Naoko
• Coward Queen / Yoshimura Kana
• My Girl / Goumoto
• The Cram School Teachers / Mocchi_au_Lait
• Night Flight / Kawanami Izumi
• Promise / Shioya Teruko
• The Florist and the Wednesday Night Lady / Amano Shuninta
• The Abandoned Cat and the Lamp / Ohi Pikachi
• Mama x Mom / Yoshidamaru Yu
• Rose Quartz / Kurogane Kenn
• My Femme Fatale / Matsuzaki Natsumi
• First Grown-up Love / Ito Hachi
• Working with an Angel / Morinaga Milk… (plus d'informations)