Éclair: A Girls' Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart (Volume 1) (Éclair: A Girls' Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart, 1)

With yuri manga, as a genre being especially vulnerable to endless cycles of will-they-won’t-they (often without even directly acknowledging the characters have romantic feelings for each other in the first place), the one-shot format is a great way to cut the BS and get straight to the meat, as immediately illustrated by Nio Nakatani’s “Happiness In The Shape Of A Scar,” which gets first billing and provides the cover art. It’s an angsty, internal little piece which delivers all the set up-pay off-resolution of a “crush from afar” storyline in a few dozen pages that I found infinitely more compelling than what I read of Bloom Into You.The vast majority of the stories are high school dramas, which is basically what you expect going into anything yuri, but there are a few that break the mold, and, if you’ll forgive the inelegant formatting, I’ll rattle off a list of the stand-outs below:Shuninta Amano’s Human Emotion is the tale of a low-affect, underemployed service worker and the klutzy clod of a co-worker she learns to love (to bully). As a sort of “full disclosure,” Amano is my favorite artist in the genre, and I *believe* this is her first English-released story, and also a new one for me, AND it’s about bullying a cutie, my favorite trope! So it’s like stumbling ass backwards into a full-on treasure trove of horny zoh-based stereotypes. Really, if I’d known she was in it in the first place, that would’ve made my purchasing decision for me (and I’d kill to see any of her other stories—ESPECIALLY her long-form The Feelings We All Must Endure, translated into English). So, that kinda makes Eclair a five-stars-by-default sort of thing for me……..THAT BEING SAID, the rest volume is no slouch. Izumi Kawanami’s “My Cute Bitch,” which dives deep into another perennial favorite trope of mine “the “straight” girls who—shocker!—actually only has eyes for each other best friend, but torques the method slightly, as the title aptly suggests, by toying around with who’s the top/bottom in their relationship.Kagekichi Tadano’s Game Over justifies itself by its twist alone, which I won’t spoil, except to say that it’s one of the few stories to acknowledge modern day homophobia—albeit obliquely, and without angst. It’s pretty rare for yuri to address that sort of societal ostracisation (and when it does, it feels like it’s more often in manga that are technically categorized as “seinen”). Game Over is barely 10 pages long, but it tells a complete tale with all the obverse details it doesn’t portray about its world.That trifecta forms the stand-outs for me, but other relevant stories include Canno’s The Unemployed Woman and the High School Girl skirts age lines—which is something you often have to stomach just to read yuri in the first place—but I’m a sap for overachieving younger partners paired up with useless couch potato older ones, so sign me up! Kazuno Yuikawa’s A Tale of Weeds is a sweet, and thankfully chaste, grade school story of trust and betrayal. And, finally, I was surprised by the penultimate story, Hachi Itou’s Belle the Rabbit and the Wolf. I wasn’t expecting a dose of kemono-mimi in here, and while the story itself, about cute animal people running a pastry shop, was a little too twee for my tastes, I’ll never say no to an aloof wolf girl (*with* ~kakkoi~ facial scar, no less). And seeing the author essentially making their own built-in Coffee Shop AU was a nice way to bring the anthology to a close.As far as I know, Eclair is basically the only anthology of its kind in the English mangasphere (though I’d be happy to be corrected!) and it comes out of the gate swinging for its genre. If you’re interested in more traditional yuri stories, there’s easily twice the amount of standard high-schoolers-being-cute in here as the ones above, that appealed more to my “ughhh wait i’ve almost spent more of my life PAST high school than UP TO high school sensibilities. Either way, Eclair’s a hard recommend, and you can… take that to the bank? …i guess? i don’t have catch phrase worked up and I’m a little done with writing this and you’re probably a more than a little done with reading it, so thank you for your time and let’s call it at that!!)(as a side note, both the cover and the paper stock feel a little flimsier than your average manga release, even Yen Press’s other recent, Delicious in Dungeon. I understand it’s probably a given, since it’s got a bigger-than-average page count for a manga volume, but just be warned if you’re picking up the hard copy. It’s not a big deal, but I thought it was worth mentioning that I felt I had to be a little more careful with throwing this into my bag on the way to work than I usually do)

A great collection of cute, romantic yuri stories and some bonus illustrations. I'm really happy that an anthology was translated and brought to a Western audience. Most of the stories focus around high school romances, some stories of unrequited love, but there's also some fantasy and adult stories too. It's a great mix overall, and provides some additional mangaka to research. You might recognize the cover art from Nakatani Nio (Bloom Into You) and she also does the first story. The sub-title, "A Girls' Love Anthology That Resonates In Your Heart" is perfect. I was all smiles and butterflies after reading through this!

This is a good-sized anthology at almost 300 pages. Most of the stories are decent but I was hoping for more variety, as most of them are the usual cliché of school students experiencing their first love. I’ll summarize each plot below so you know what you’re in for. FYI, most of these stories are pretty tame. While most have kissing, not all of them do, and there is only one actual love scene, which is interrupted before it gets very far.The anthology opens with three full-color illustrations by Non, Yutaka Hiiragi, and Sunao Minakata, independent of the stories that follow:Happiness in the Shape of a Scar, by Nio Nakatani (16 pages). This story is about a high school student who is crushing on the lone wolf of the school. Her crush only cares about one thing, becoming an expert pianist. She jealously wishes for some tragic accident to befall the girl so she can no longer play piano and will have time for her. But she changes her tune when her wish actually comes true.Tears in the Clean Room, by Shiori Nishio (22 pages). A high school love triangle. The main character’s crush starts dating another girl, and she has to learn to accept that she can never be with her.Human Emotin, by Shuninta Amano (20 pages). I thought this one was pretty cute. It’s an opposites-attract story about two stylists, one who is perfectly poised and one who is a complete klutz. The sophisticated one decides her coworker’s clumsiness is adorable and her desire to take care of the helpless girl blossoms into love.Intro, by Chihiro Harumi (16 pages). The student x tutor trope, one of my favorites! The art is absolutely divine. The girls in this story are gorgeous! (But what is up with that title?) Intro, by Chihiro Harumi (16 pages). The student x tutor trope, one of my favorites! The art is absolutely divine. The girls in this story are gorgeous! (But what is up with that title?) I wish this author had more published yuri but all I can find are het hentai books and I have zero interest in that.The Unemployed Woman and the High School Girl, by Canno (8 pages). I found this story to be pointless filler. As the title suggests, it’s about a woman who sleeps with people just to mooch off of them and a rich high school girl who pesters her (unsuccessfully) to become one of her victims.The Hairdresser, by Uta Isaki (16 pages). A high school girl grows close to her crush by braiding her hair daily.Alice in the Minature Garden, by Sakuya Amano (24 pages). This story is unique to the anthology in that it takes place in Victorian Europe, but I wasn’t a fan because it’s about children. A young girl hand-picks an orphan to be her maid. The maid feels sorry that her little mistress is a lord’s illegitimate child, so she is strict with her to prepare her for the cruel gossip she will undoubtedly encounter as she grows up.Master for 1/365, by Mekimeki (8 pages). A high school girl offers to be her best friend’s slave for a day, since it’s her birthday. But she’s disappointed when the birthday girl only wants a snack from a vending machine, and explains (with a kissing demonstration) that she should ask for something more special.Two Years and Eleven Months, by Kabocha (25 pages). Pretty art, but I didn’t like this story at all. Two middle school students decide that when they grow up they’ll run away together. But in high school they have to amend their pact to only be together until they graduate because the one girl’s parents have since divorced and her mentally ill mother now needs a caregiver.Game Over, by Kagekichi Tadano (11 pages). This story had the potential to be my favorite in the book, but it was too short. The two high school girls featured enjoy sexy roleplay, so they find an abandoned house and pretend it’s the apocalypse. But they hear a weird sound and run away.My Cute B****, by Izumi Kawanami (26 pages). Cute art, but not my kind of story. Two women whose boyfriends are best friends move in together to save on expenses. They are crushing on each other, but the one sleeps with a different man every night, including her new roommate’s boyfriend, to make her jealous. I actually hate this trope. A lot.A Tale of Weeds, by Kazuno Yukikawa (16 pages). A “love triangle” about little girls. One is manipulative and controls her pushover friend, coercing her to lie for her. When this mean girl steals another classmate’s notebook and then plays innocent, her doormat has to take a stand at last and tell the truth at the risk of ending their friendship. Boring.The Two of Us and Apples, by Taki Kitao (8 pages). Pretty cute story about a girl who always cooks food for her male crushes, but has to have her female friend help because she is a terrible cook. One day, after having a dream that her soulmate was right in front of her the whole time, she offers their freshly-baked apple pie to her female friend instead of a guy.Belle the Rabbit and the Wolf, by Hachi Itou (26 pages). Adorable anthro story about a bunny girl who runs a tea café and a vegetarian wolf girl looking for a special dessert. Probably my favorite story in this book, and I don’t even like anthros.Your Jinx, by Fumiko Takada (10 pages). Worst story in this anthology by far. It’s about a little girl who thinks she is pregnant, but it turns out she was just constipated.My Idol, by Auri Hirao (6 pages). In the disappointing wrap-up to the anthology, two pop idols dressed like German clog dancers try to overcome their stage fright by clinging to each other. But after their performance, when the one tries to continue hugging the other, she is rejected.After the curtain call, the book gives you a basic Japanese language tutorial on the use of honorifics and the value of the yen, then each author and artist from the anthology writes a sentence or two in closing.

A anthology series of Yuri style storytelling. Some make you crave more. Some will leave, a bittersweet taste in your mouth. And some have you in between on how to feel. I found around nine of more stories in this anthology very enjoyable.

A couple stories are interesting and different, including a few that aren't just first meetings which is nice to get people already in a relationship. Some of the stories are boring or the art isn't great. It's an uneven volume, but the good stories I enjoyed.

A lot of cute stories, but unfortunately there's some thrown in involving minors and adults. Is this a common theme in girls love?

I only enjoyed half of these stories. The rest was too poorly plotted out.

great short stories

A great collection of yuri stories from different authors. Oneshots that have their own twists and unique style, love it! Hope to have more yuri anthologies translated in the future.

El manga japonés tiene diversas variantes y la conocida como"Yuri"a menudo es considerada como sinónimo de lesbianismo. En realidad, este tipo de historias tratan de las relaciones entre chicas en todos los aspectos de la amistad. Algunas de estas historias son hermosas,otras divertidas,algunas reflexivas y otras tristes,pero todas merecen estar en una antología como esta. No en balde el significado de "Eclair"es pasión por vivir.

El manga es una antología de historias con muchos artistas, unas buenas, otras malas (a opinión personal). El problema es que hay tantos artistas y son pocas páginas las que tienen por lo que no les da tanto espacio de desarrollo.

a collection of short yuri based storieswhats not to love about that

Came in well protected, the book itself is clean, feels fresh and the text is well worded and clear.