Yuri Life

by Kurukuruhime

Girlfriends, Together in Love and Life!

Cohabitating can make or break any relationship, but with a little luck, a lot of love, and a healthy dose of patience, living together can bring out the best in a couple! There's a lot to navigate-clashing personalities, age gaps, business trips, conflicting feelings, jealousy, sex, and even the supernatural-but these women in love find a way to make it work!

Genres: Manga, Yuri, Romance, LGBT, Queer, Lesbian, Graphic Novels

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 26, 2018

About the author

See also: くるくる姫

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sweet, cutesy, but insubstantial short stories of lesbian romance. Mostly each ten page tale is told in a series of one-page gags, which makes for weird pacing and an odd tone.

UPDATE, June 22, 2024:

Insubstantial is right. This book totally evaporated from my brain, and nearly five years down the road I inadvertently checked it out of the library a second time and read it through without recognizing it at all until I went to log it on Goodreads. Oops.

This time through, twhat caught my attention was that almost all the stories are about twenty-somethings already cohabitating and enjoying their relationships without having to deal with heavy coming out or homophobia issues. Still, the slice-of-life aspect just made it too low-key for me. Not memorable at all . . .

[juliette · Rating 1 out of 5]

a fluffy, not-entirely-unproblematic, wlw anthology in vivid color.
i was not aware beforehand that this is an anthology. the fact that each couple whose story is briefly introduced to us has only about a 10 page spread to cause readers to feel emotional investment is it's downfall. almost all of the characters in the relationships in each story are based heavily on romantic tropes so they lack originality and depth. there is very little conflict per story and the stories with conflict get resolved almost as quickly as they are proposed.
i personally took issue with the problematic tropes. several of the couples had large age gaps which isn't problematic on its own, as long as both parties are legal adults with developed brains; however that was not the case for every story and it still calls into question the implicit power dynamics and how those can allow for abuses within relationships. one story in particular about a school teacher's relationship with her student was especially creepy because the student was underage and living with the teacher. that is not the basis of a healthy relationship, that is pedophilia. when an authority figure initiates a relationship with someone under their direct authority, there will always be an unhealthy power dynamic present within the relationship. lesbians are just as prone to being in abusive romantic relationships as anyone else; we need representation of healthy relationships, not the romanticization of unhealthy ones.
i don't know much about yandere, so i won't speak on it as if i do. i want to simply relay my immediate thoughts and reactions, based on the little information i was able to gather from the single story that explicitly used yandere as one of it's character's tropes. the girlfriend clearly has some stalker-ish, homicidal tendencies. it seems to imply a version of the "crazy girlfriend" trope, which is destructive to women in real life because abusive partners (most often men) can invalidate their partners' feelings and reactions to abuse as "out of proportion" and "over-exaggerated." i think it is important to consider the real world effects that fictional stories might have according to their content. how do the messages inform the audience? will it encourage harm or improvement?
this manga collection is unfortunately forgettable. i hope that if the author and artist decides to write another book in the future, they focus on a single story and rely on healthy, domestic, realistic fiction, rather than heavy tropes that glorify patterns or behaviors of abuse.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

There wasn't really enough here to make up a full book's worth of story.

[Ophilia Adler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Im not sure, It was both cute and blend. Nothing i will remember in the long run.

[Curious Madra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gotta say, the 10 short stories were really cute at varying at what the main characters do occupation wise and what their personality trait were in each story. However it missed the mark of attempting to engage with the reader due to plot and character development not being taken seriously I did notice the art was rather meh and pacing felt off. It’s disappointing that I wasn’t able to enjoy it fully :/

[Noiiya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good and pretty funny series, just really dislike the one couple of a teacher and her 16 year old student, enjoyed it other than that

[Aya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This manga was absolutely wholesome and lovely to read, I always pick it up to brighten up my mood and it works everytime! The stories are super short and simple which some people didn’t like, but I loved t he simplicity of it. It’s also fully coloured which is super beautiful, the art style and colours are just so gorgeous to look at! It’s definitely worth a read!

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute, and it's always nice to see stories of adult lesbian women already living together, instead of the far more common trope of schoolgirls in love. Still, we linger for such a short time on any given couple, I wish we had a chance to get to know at least some of them better. Here's hoping for a volume 2!

[Shannon Luchies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, fun mini-stories of various yuri couples. It's a fun, light read. My only issue is that I wish some of the stories were longer and/or fleshed out more. The shinigami/business woman romance would make a good ongoing...

[Ciel Dahlberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this would've worked better as 4-koma not pannel style. It was an anthology of one shots, which I wasn't a huge fan of because there was no real plot. But it was pretty cute and romantic and explored many different archetypes, so it gets a point for that.

[Izzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute small slice-of-life oneshots, nothing explicit or graphic

just a wholesome easy read with minimal plot, but i like that bc i don't have to think or be triggered after a long day at work :-)

[Dani(elle) · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the exception of the yondere and the student/teacher story, this is a really cute, wholesome collection. I love the quirks of cohabitation theme that ties them all together, and I love how much character is packed in to such short stories. Good stuff.

[L. Luck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, it was cute! Also, I liked the kinda deconstruction of the “yandere” trope (but it’s still not... great). There was also what appeared to be an ace spectrum love interest in one couple, so that was refreshing. I mainly had problems with two couples that were included: a student-teacher relationship (the younger girl was like 15/16 and the older woman was mid- to late-twenties) and the aforementioned yandere relationship. It shouldn’t be surprising that they bothered me enough to drop it to 3*.

3*
Warnings for sexual moments/discussions (no full graphic sex nor nudity is shown), yandere, student-teacher/minor-adult relationship/pedophilia, hair-collecting (related to the yandere)

[typewriterdeluxe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unapologetically mushy short love stories about lesbians in their home lives. And these short stories are very short. Each couple gets a character introduction page, 7 pages of comics (which are actually 7 individual page-long comics that only sometimes connect to form a plot), and a chibi doodle page bookending the story on each end, for 10 pages total. This format is harsh, since you'll only have your first impression of a couple and their story and no chance to get to know them. Most of the sections were misses for me but I did like the ambition and variety in a few of them.

If you, like me, like the fluffy premise of this collection but wish that some of these interesting stories were long enough to enjoy to enjoy more, I recommend that you read I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up.

[H · Rating 1 out of 5]

A graphic book with short chapters focusing on one of ten different couples.

I really liked some of the concepts of these relationships but the execution was poor. The chapters are very short, with seven single page bits on how they interact. I wanted more plot on how they met or decided to move in together but instead it’s very basic cooking, cuddling, flirting together scenes. Cute, but not really much content plot wise. Also a lot of the relationships are based purely on tropes which just makes it boring and not as entertaining. I wish the author would have chosen 3 characters and instead focused on building out their story, showing their growth together, challenges, and how it works out. But instead it’s pretty art with barely any plot.

[Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yuri Character Sketches

Art is cute, but the stories are short and serve more as character sketches. This made it harder for me to get invested in any of the characters. Also, a few of the stories are worthy of serious side-eye (namely the student and teacher, and the yandare). It's fine for an easy read, but you've got to set your expectations accordingly.

See more reviews at Quinn's Curios.

[Cynthia · Rating 1 out of 5]

The art was nice. A couple of stories were cute and mature, 2 of them were disturbing (1 student/teacher (also age-gap-y), and 1 destructive possessiveness "yandere"), 2 did not portray full-on unhealthiness explicitely but were about age gaps of more than 10 years with 18 or 21yo, the rest was more or less okay.

[Bee (BacchusVines) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The 2 star rating doesn't mean this book was bad. It wasn't the kind of book I thought it'd be. Yuri Life is more of a anthology of 3-4 pages of different couples in different settings. I like that the manga was all in color, and some of the stories had me feeling those feels. If you like anthology manga, then this one might be for you to check out.

[Jillian -always aspiring- · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won’t be mean since this volume was the creator’s first book, but I expected a bit more depth to the characters and their relationships than what was portrayed. It’s cute, but I don’t think it could be a reread candidate for me. I’ll check out the creator’s future work, though!

[Orcbard · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shallow stories, relationships and characters. None of the shorts was remotely interesting.
No build up, no payoff.

[Anaika · Rating 2 out of 5]

Average Rating: 2.8 stars

[Rachel Isaacson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a yuri short story collection by KuraKurahime. There are 10 stories and a bonus which has characters from story one. All stories deal with a different couple living together. Some of these I really enjoyed, some were forgettable and some I just was like um no thank you (room 5 & 6). The art was great, and I would pick up another short story collection by this mangaka.

Star rating per story:

Room 1. A Laid-Back Life Together: 4 stars
Room 2. A Love-Hate Life Together: 3 stars
Room 3. Life with a Writer: 5 stars
Room 4. Life with a Grim Reaper: 3 stars
Room 5. Life with Sensei: 2 stars
Room 6. Life with a Yandere: 1 star
Room 7. Life with a Dog: 2 stars
Room 8. Life with Little Miss Vixen: 3 stars
Room 9. A Stage-Managed Life Together: 4 stars
Room 10. A Steamrolled Life Together: 4 stars
Special Room: 3 stars

Content Warning for 2 of the stories:
Room 5 is a student teacher relationship. The teacher is 27 and the student is 16. I don't mind age gaps, but this one did bother me since they are living together when she's so young.
Room 6 deals with a yandere which the translation notes describe as: This type of person is so romantically obsessed with the object of their affections that their love gives way to violent or murderous tendencies.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, this is an all color manga which had so many colorful panels and the formatting was a lot like Wotakoi Love is Hard for an Otaku (thankfully there's no time confusion but I wouldn't recommend this format for new manga readers nonetheless).Second, this is an anthology of short stories with all different kinds of Yuri/Girl's Love stories and couples that were all so cute and fun. This is an adult manga so I wouldn't recommend this for younger readers, However, I think it was a good one for someone like me who is very new to Yuri and Girl's Love because of all the different couples and unique stories to find out what you like. For instance, there's a hilarious Grim Reaper and Woman Yuri story that I found so cute and then there was an age gap student teacher romance that was okay but not my favorite. Overall I loved this and would definitely reread this over and over again if I want some Yuri short stories. However, I am not a fan of the format and if I had to change one thing it was that (although I loved all the color). Because of these points, I have to give this a 4 out of 5 stars

[Doc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is rated Older Teen with some mature content involving girl on girl relationships but there is nothing in the book showing actual sexual interactions (much less nudity) so be aware it may not be appropriate for younger readers who probably won't understand what is going on during these short snippets into the lives of 10 same sex partners.

With a large variety of pairs and some technical trios the book gives us a little taste of various relationships though each couple is basically only given enough pages to show the highlights in their life then give them a possible live happily ever after message signalling the next couple. Still even with limited pages I enjoyed seeing love experienced like some strange kaleidoscope manga changing shapes as you read on. There are definitely better romance manga out there but if you want a quick and easy sampler of Yuri action then this is not a bad book to look into.

[Terrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the few anthologies I've enjoyed, probably because of its format (full color and inspired by 4-Koma / single page panel comedy). Each story details a different couple cohabiting together or meeting up on the regular. The progress in their relationship varies, some being strangers, working partners discovering their attraction, some being longtime lovers, and some wife and wife.

It loses some points for a few things. For one, it was sometimes difficult to figure out who was speaking or thinking. Most of the thoughts aren't in bubbles, and the speech is sometimes just in a circular bubble without any directional edge that tells you who is speaking. Another thing, some of the couples display unhealthy relationships. For instance, there's a long distance relationship where the girlfriend contemplates chopping up her friend so she can put her in a bottle. There's also a teacher x student relationship. But overall, I enjoyed most of the work.

[Sasa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yuri Life is a slice-of-life anthology of yuri (girls' love) stories. This feels like a collection of what artists do between big projects where we take on smaller projects that we can finish in a day or two to blow off steam. A lot of these stories are short, simple, and sweet. I like that every inch of the book has fully colored pages with cute art. It's rare in manga. However, a couple of these stories have problematic relationships where a 27-year-old and a 30-year-old engage in inappropriate relationships with teenagers. That's not right and I don't know how it got greenlit in NA. No adult should be writing a relationship like that. It's irresponsible, predatory, and gross. You could easily pass this up for fuller, better stories. I recommend Bloom Into You and Kase-san.

[b (tobias forge's version)]

A hit-or-miss collection of slice-of-life yuri vignettes. Some of these were pretty adorable, and I think that they would be great if expanded into longer stories, especially the one about the reaper and the girl she's supposed to usher into the afterlife. I also loved the art style and the fact that there were so many stories about adult women! But some of the tropes/plotlines were not for me. I do think that the mangaka's afterword here is one of my favorite I've ever seen--I like the slightly anthropomorphized glasses that do most of the speaking!

[Marisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this was cute. I liked the art style, the color illustrations, and most of the stories. I loved that these were all about adult couples with jobs and happy lives. I’ve had difficulty finding yuri stories that weren’t set in high school or middle school. The only negative was the pedophile teacher and student relationship, that was creepy and should not of been there. It promotes the myth of gay people being predators who prey on kids.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must have read this short anthology about a dozen times now. I LOVE it that much. So cute. It's currently in my bag I wear to shows and hasn't left since I put it in there. Also, curious show goers who have asked me about it have seemed to have their interest piqued as well after I've shared my enthusiasm for it.

Great variety of "yuri" couples!!!

[peewee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this I thought it was a cute way to show different types of relationships. Although it felt like I was reading one shot fanfictions and I wish there was more story to each of the characters, I hope kurukuruhime comes out with more manga surrounding these girls so we can learn more about their relationships.