is a Japanese ''

yuri Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. *Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Jap ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

collection of one-shots by

Milk Morinaga Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulati ...

. The chapters are unrelated except for taking place at two affiliated all-girl schools, though characters reappear in several of the stories.

Plot

The story revolves around the lives of various girls attending Sakurakai Girls High School and the ups and downs of their love lives. While each chapter is a stand-alone story, characters from other chapters do appear throughout.

Characters

;Nana Kobayashi :Nana Kobayashi is a cheerful high school student who has known Hitomi Fujimori since grade school and have been friends for just as long. When it came time to graduate from junior high school, Hitomi coaxes Nana to take the entrance exam for Sakurakai high school due to the sailor-style uniform, but Hitomi did not make it into the same school. After their separation Nana was left thinking about her relationship with Hitomi. She is a main reoccurring character and is the focus of three chapters. ;Hitomi Fujimori :Hitomi is Nana's best friend and the one who convinced her to take the entrance exam for Sakurakai high school, however Hitomi did not make it into the same school and attended Touhou high school instead. She is a main recurring character and is the focus of three chapters. ;Natsuka Katō :Natsuka Katō is a ghost who still resides in the high school she attended before she transferred to another school and later died. She enjoys spending time in the school's infirmary because in life she had fallen in love with a girl named Komatsu who later became the school nurse of the high school she attended. ;Narumi Abe :Narumi Abe is a member of the drama club who plays the lead role of the princess in the school play, her upperclassman Tachibana plays opposite her as the prince in the tale. ;Chisato Suzuki :Chisato Suzuki has known Mizuki for years now, though does not know her well. In her first year of high school, Chisato tried to help Mizuki out, who had a hickey on her neck, by offering to cover it up with a bandage, though Mizuki did not want her help. Two years later in their third year, Chisato has been dreaming of Mizuki at night. ;Chiharu :Chiharu became friends with Eri in high school after being put into the same class and loves to eat the sweets she makes. Chiharu has been in love with Eri for years, but has never told her because she did not want to push her feelings on to her good friend. ;Eri :Eri is a flute player and was with the school band, but after she injured her left arm she could not play anymore, she started making sweets once she entered high school. ;Nozaka :Nozaka is a member of the literature club, and she writes short romance stories for the school's literary magazine. ;Michiru Endō :Michiru Endō started reading Nozaka's stories and over time ended up falling for her. She joined in the literature club, and one day confesses her love to Nozaka and asked her to go out with her.

Release

''Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo'' is a collection of one-shot

chapters written and illustrated by

. The first five chapters were originally serialized in Sun Magazine's now-defunct ''yuri''

manga magazine Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...

Yuri Shimai Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. *Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Jap ...

'' between June 28, 2003 and November 17, 2004. When ''Yuri Shimai'' was discontinued, the last two chapters were serialized in the magazine's successor ''

Comic Yuri Hime is a manga anthology magazine published in Japan by Ichijinsha. It began as a quarterly publication in July 2005, but was issued bimonthly on odd months from January 2011 to December 2016, when it became monthly. Kanako Umezawa has served as ''Co ...

'' between July 18 and October 18, 2005, published by

Ichijinsha is a Japanese publishing company focused on manga-related publication, including magazines and books. The company was first established in August 1992 as a limited company under the name Studio DNA whose main purpose was to edit shōnen manga. ...

. These seven chapters were later collected into a single ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volume released on January 18, 2006 by Ichijinsha. Morinaga restarted the series in the October 2011 issue of

Futabasha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Higashigokenchō, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.会社概要
" Futabasha. R ...

's ''

Comic High! was a Japanese seinen manga magazine published on a monthly basis by Futabasha. It was launched as a special issue of '' Weekly Manga Action'' but became its own independent monthly anthology. The magazine was first published on 2 March 2004 as t ...

'' magazine and it ran until the February 2012 issue. Futabasha republished the entire series in two volumes on April 12, 2012. The series is licensed by

Seven Seas Entertainment Seven Seas Entertainment is an American publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original English-language manga, but now publishes licensed manga and light novels from Japan, as w ...

and was published in a single omnibus volume in June 2013.

Reception

''Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo'' was featured as

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

's Import of the Month in October 2007 where it was praised for being "heart-meltingly cute—and not in the brainless moe-moe way, but because the feelings expressed are so honest." However it was noted that "it may be an emotionally moving work, but that doesn't stop it from often plunging into cheesy melodrama territory." Erica Friedman of ''Okazu'' said that the stories were "well-executed," and praised the inclusion of the "lovely" color pages that had originally appeared in magazines within the '' tankobon'' edition.

References

External links

* {{Comic Yuri Hime 2003 manga Futabasha manga Ichijinsha manga Romance anime and manga Seven Seas Entertainment titles Seinen manga Shōjo manga Yuri (genre) anime and manga 2000s LGBT literature