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Syrup: A Yuri Anthology #3
Syrup: A Yuri Anthology Vol. 3
THE FIRST NIGHT That special night when bodies and hearts are joined for the first time... In the third volume of this yuri anthology, Syrup draws back the veil on the first night of women’s love—whether it’s unexpected, long-anticipated, bittersweet, or joyful.
180 pages, Paperback
Published April 27, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
April 29, 2021
Yes, it’s time for another volume of the themed yuri anthology Syrup. While Syrup has always been the bottom rung of yuri compilations for me, surely this volume can’t be any worse than the second instalment? Right?
Well, no, of course not. Nothing could be worse than the second volume. It took a really brave soul (or hard-headed reviewer, hello!) to suffer those increasingly awful takes on forbidden love - which pretty much every author took to mean “hateful”.
No, the theme this go-round is ‘the first time’ and you get a wide variety of stories centred around that theme, from a very goofy story about two hapless virgins to one melancholy tale that spans almost forty years. There’s definitely a lot of sex in this volume.
The two best stories in the book are actually really good. One story about two long-standing - and long-suffering - roomies who end up as something more (or do they...?) could easily have been a full series with a little fleshing out. I felt the ending to this one was realistically hopeful, yet messy.
Milk Morinaga once again has a stellar entry, a tale of a gym trainer and her client, that is actually more forbidden than her entry for volume 2. It’s a lot of fun and it’s neat to see her style evolve to put a little more meat on her characters. It made me miss her long-form series yet again.
Everything else is various shades of tolerable to okay. Canno’s usually pretty reliable for at least something interesting but their entry is surprisingly toothless. There’s a good one from, I believe, the author of Yuri is my Job, who explores two very different students who wind up together.
Annoyingly, the book leads with its worst story, an exquisitely drawn piece that happens to feature an eighty year age gap (!?) romance between two inari. It just feels very icky the whole time, but mercifully it is not representative of the whole here, which I was really dreading.
2.5 stars and boy I am having real trouble with not being able to award half stars this week. Still, an average collection with some above average work and some okay to meh as well. Since only the first story really grated on me, we’ll round to 3, but anybody who wants a taste of a truly stellar yuri anthology should really check out Eclair Blanc first.
Well, no, of course not. Nothing could be worse than the second volume. It took a really brave soul (or hard-headed reviewer, hello!) to suffer those increasingly awful takes on forbidden love - which pretty much every author took to mean “hateful”.
No, the theme this go-round is ‘the first time’ and you get a wide variety of stories centred around that theme, from a very goofy story about two hapless virgins to one melancholy tale that spans almost forty years. There’s definitely a lot of sex in this volume.
The two best stories in the book are actually really good. One story about two long-standing - and long-suffering - roomies who end up as something more (or do they...?) could easily have been a full series with a little fleshing out. I felt the ending to this one was realistically hopeful, yet messy.
Milk Morinaga once again has a stellar entry, a tale of a gym trainer and her client, that is actually more forbidden than her entry for volume 2. It’s a lot of fun and it’s neat to see her style evolve to put a little more meat on her characters. It made me miss her long-form series yet again.
Everything else is various shades of tolerable to okay. Canno’s usually pretty reliable for at least something interesting but their entry is surprisingly toothless. There’s a good one from, I believe, the author of Yuri is my Job, who explores two very different students who wind up together.
Annoyingly, the book leads with its worst story, an exquisitely drawn piece that happens to feature an eighty year age gap (!?) romance between two inari. It just feels very icky the whole time, but mercifully it is not representative of the whole here, which I was really dreading.
2.5 stars and boy I am having real trouble with not being able to award half stars this week. Still, an average collection with some above average work and some okay to meh as well. Since only the first story really grated on me, we’ll round to 3, but anybody who wants a taste of a truly stellar yuri anthology should really check out Eclair Blanc first.
October 16, 2022
In what I have to wonder is a move to boost sales, this volume of the women-loving-women anthology really pumps up the erotica quotient, and just like that it's less interesting again after the improvement I saw in the last volume.
I have one more on hand from the library, so I'll press on for now.
FOR REFERENCE:
Contents: Inari's Marriage / Hachi Ito -- The First Night Aftermath / Subaru Homura -- I Want to Get Dizzy with You / Izumi Kawanami -- Her Ring / Shimako Chiruda -- Night of the Loser Virgins / Yu Yoshidamaru -- Spare Key / Kiyoko Iwami -- At the Summer Retreat / Takashi keda -- Private Consideration / Jiang Sal -- A Story of the First and Last Night / Canno -- If It's You, Anything Goes / Milk Morinaga
I have one more on hand from the library, so I'll press on for now.
FOR REFERENCE:
Contents: Inari's Marriage / Hachi Ito -- The First Night Aftermath / Subaru Homura -- I Want to Get Dizzy with You / Izumi Kawanami -- Her Ring / Shimako Chiruda -- Night of the Loser Virgins / Yu Yoshidamaru -- Spare Key / Kiyoko Iwami -- At the Summer Retreat / Takashi keda -- Private Consideration / Jiang Sal -- A Story of the First and Last Night / Canno -- If It's You, Anything Goes / Milk Morinaga
June 8, 2022
Better than the second volume but that's not too difficult considering how bad that was. The theme this time is "the first time" and there're much more interesting stories to be told here, especially again by Milk Morinaga, whose entry about a personal trainer and her client is one of the best. Obviously, it wouldn't be a Syrup anthology without some weird or uncomfortable stories - the one about the record producer, her wife, and the third woman is exploitative – but at least there are no Nazis this time.
Gradual improvements and lovely art direction make this better than the first, but once again, many of the stories just feel flat. One shots are nice but the reader really needs a bit more time with some of these characters to make their relationships feel more real.
Gradual improvements and lovely art direction make this better than the first, but once again, many of the stories just feel flat. One shots are nice but the reader really needs a bit more time with some of these characters to make their relationships feel more real.
April 23, 2025
This is a collection of short stories of varying quality. The stories often felt like they were only half-begun by the time they ended, which is a shame as some had real potential.
March 22, 2022
Another great set of yuri stories.
The theme of this volume is first time sex between partners. It's a wonderful subject. Most of the stories are happy, but there some that really bring a tear to the eye. As is expected of Syrup, the art is top notch, and includes some of the biggest names (and rising stars) of yuri manga. This is such an enjoyable book. Give it a read, even if you normally don't go for yuri. You might just find that you like it!
The theme of this volume is first time sex between partners. It's a wonderful subject. Most of the stories are happy, but there some that really bring a tear to the eye. As is expected of Syrup, the art is top notch, and includes some of the biggest names (and rising stars) of yuri manga. This is such an enjoyable book. Give it a read, even if you normally don't go for yuri. You might just find that you like it!
April 14, 2023
all the stories were about the first times, I like that kind of stories, but the volume has to much erotica, and don’t get me wrong, I like it, but at that point became to much, but besides that I really enjoy it
February 11, 2024
With reluctance to how bad the second volume of Syrup was, I read the third volume, which this time is about the first time. So this theme definitely is going to be erotic (which one can question if it was just done to boost sales because sex sells, but that's not for me to decide). For this review, I'll summarize each story and my thoughts about them, then compile my thoughts on them.
The first story, Inari's Marriage by Ito Hachi, is about the marriage between 2 Inari friends who must "consummate" their marriage per their custom. I was not too fond of this one. The age gap of eighty years is way too big, and one of the Inari still looks like a child. Shiro even mentions that her friend hasn't changed since then and still looks small. Seeing the art of the physically looking child Inari and her friend consummating was creepy. Luckily, this is the only story like it, so thank the universe for that.
The second story, The First Night: Aftermath by Homura Subaru, is about the day after Ayaka and Sumie have sex. Some of the sex art was too much (like the long saliva string and the way too unnaturally pointed nipples). Their shyness in class is cute, I will admit.
The third story, I Want to Get Dizzy With You, by Kawanami Izumi,
is about Nana and Mutsuki, who go on a heartbreaking road trip after Mutsuki is dumped. The breakup trip was an excellent idea, but only a little happened.
The fourth story, Her Ring by Chiruda Shimako, is about two women who meet at work and pawn off their rings for a night at a love hotel with each other because both of their husbands hate their food. The art style is really hit or miss with me.
The fifth story, Night of the Loser Virgins by Yoshidamaru Yu,
is about two women, around their thirties, having sex for the first time. The art wasn't too bad, and it's just a silly story about how hooking up can go for experimenting women past the age where they care too much about sexiness. I know it's silly, but I liked this and their exploration.
The sixth story, Spare Key by Iwami Kiyoko, is about two roommates spending their last night together before one of them moves to Tokyo for her work. After thinking about this one, I liked this one a lot. The reminiscing was cute, and I appreciated the open-ended nature of this one and how it could lead to more than friends. It could be an excellent short manga if this was fleshed out more.
The seventh story, At the Summer Retreat by Ikeda Takashi, is about a young lady of a wealthy family (master) and the daughter of a live-in manager (servant), coming together after years of being apart. This one was my least favorite one. I wouldn't say I liked the master-servant aspect; the art was hit or miss. "Miss" annoyed me, and she wouldn't stop crying.
The eighth story, Private Consideration by Sal Jiang, is about a couple dating for a year, trying to see if they want to have sex with each other. Maybe it's because I haven't been in a relationship or dated anyone before, but wouldn't by a year they know if they want to have sex with each other? Wouldn't there be communication at some point to see if they are on the same page?
The ninth story, A Story of the First and Last Night by Canno, is about a woman spending her first and last night with her ghost fiance after she died tragically. While this one is the shortest, I liked it from what I counted as being 8 pages long. It would've been better if this had been a bit longer. I will admit I teared up during the ghost meet-up. The grief will still be there, but Asako got closure.
The final story, If It's You, Anything Goes by Milk Moringa, is about the relationship between a gym trainer and her client/gym member. I was excited, thinking this would be about an asexual relationship, but remembering this is about the first time, I was disappointed when it turned out into shower sex that would undoubtedly get the trainer fired. It feels wrong that the asexual gym member throws away her beliefs after two pages. I know, like everything, asexuality is a spectrum, and some don't mind having sex; they don't experience consistent sexual attraction, but the ending just felt off, like she'd denounce her asexuality because Makoto looked and was that good in the shower. Though with reading how Shiori felt about kissing a boy, one can argue it could be more that she's realized she's a lesbian instead of asexual, but as someone who latched onto the asexual aspect and is asexual myself, that's all I can think of.
Overall, this volume is better than the second, but anything could've been better than the second volume. The art was, as a whole, hit or miss between stories, and I did like two or three and only hated one, maybe two. Everything else ranged from tolerable to okay. I've debated between 2.5-3 stars, but because I didn't have too big of a problem this time, I'll give this a tentative 3 stars out of 5. Because I'm stubborn and want to finish this series to see how I enjoyed it, I'll be reading volume 4.
The first story, Inari's Marriage by Ito Hachi, is about the marriage between 2 Inari friends who must "consummate" their marriage per their custom. I was not too fond of this one. The age gap of eighty years is way too big, and one of the Inari still looks like a child. Shiro even mentions that her friend hasn't changed since then and still looks small. Seeing the art of the physically looking child Inari and her friend consummating was creepy. Luckily, this is the only story like it, so thank the universe for that.
The second story, The First Night: Aftermath by Homura Subaru, is about the day after Ayaka and Sumie have sex. Some of the sex art was too much (like the long saliva string and the way too unnaturally pointed nipples). Their shyness in class is cute, I will admit.
The third story, I Want to Get Dizzy With You, by Kawanami Izumi,
is about Nana and Mutsuki, who go on a heartbreaking road trip after Mutsuki is dumped. The breakup trip was an excellent idea, but only a little happened.
The fourth story, Her Ring by Chiruda Shimako, is about two women who meet at work and pawn off their rings for a night at a love hotel with each other because both of their husbands hate their food. The art style is really hit or miss with me.
The fifth story, Night of the Loser Virgins by Yoshidamaru Yu,
is about two women, around their thirties, having sex for the first time. The art wasn't too bad, and it's just a silly story about how hooking up can go for experimenting women past the age where they care too much about sexiness. I know it's silly, but I liked this and their exploration.
The sixth story, Spare Key by Iwami Kiyoko, is about two roommates spending their last night together before one of them moves to Tokyo for her work. After thinking about this one, I liked this one a lot. The reminiscing was cute, and I appreciated the open-ended nature of this one and how it could lead to more than friends. It could be an excellent short manga if this was fleshed out more.
The seventh story, At the Summer Retreat by Ikeda Takashi, is about a young lady of a wealthy family (master) and the daughter of a live-in manager (servant), coming together after years of being apart. This one was my least favorite one. I wouldn't say I liked the master-servant aspect; the art was hit or miss. "Miss" annoyed me, and she wouldn't stop crying.
The eighth story, Private Consideration by Sal Jiang, is about a couple dating for a year, trying to see if they want to have sex with each other. Maybe it's because I haven't been in a relationship or dated anyone before, but wouldn't by a year they know if they want to have sex with each other? Wouldn't there be communication at some point to see if they are on the same page?
The ninth story, A Story of the First and Last Night by Canno, is about a woman spending her first and last night with her ghost fiance after she died tragically. While this one is the shortest, I liked it from what I counted as being 8 pages long. It would've been better if this had been a bit longer. I will admit I teared up during the ghost meet-up. The grief will still be there, but Asako got closure.
The final story, If It's You, Anything Goes by Milk Moringa, is about the relationship between a gym trainer and her client/gym member. I was excited, thinking this would be about an asexual relationship, but remembering this is about the first time, I was disappointed when it turned out into shower sex that would undoubtedly get the trainer fired. It feels wrong that the asexual gym member throws away her beliefs after two pages. I know, like everything, asexuality is a spectrum, and some don't mind having sex; they don't experience consistent sexual attraction, but the ending just felt off, like she'd denounce her asexuality because Makoto looked and was that good in the shower. Though with reading how Shiori felt about kissing a boy, one can argue it could be more that she's realized she's a lesbian instead of asexual, but as someone who latched onto the asexual aspect and is asexual myself, that's all I can think of.
Overall, this volume is better than the second, but anything could've been better than the second volume. The art was, as a whole, hit or miss between stories, and I did like two or three and only hated one, maybe two. Everything else ranged from tolerable to okay. I've debated between 2.5-3 stars, but because I didn't have too big of a problem this time, I'll give this a tentative 3 stars out of 5. Because I'm stubborn and want to finish this series to see how I enjoyed it, I'll be reading volume 4.
September 12, 2023
Really, we’re gonna start w/ cheap, underage cat girls—after all the backlash? At least be a more creative animal or art style. Of course the 8 y/o is a lesbianic “century old” bushy-tailed thing. The artist is actually good at drawing flowers and grassy mountains in a memorable way, and the checkboard or chicken backgrounds, what a shame to use that talent on something so blunt and derivative. Like, do we need it hammered home how long she looks in conversation too, or how they’re foxes, or the written word PRESS over their backs so many times?
The next story has clownishly pointed nipples (also ironic because volume II was so PG-13). The figures are drawn cuter from farther away. Skinny but round in the hips and bust. The shyness in class between the is cute but the story ends before it can get twice as explicit. The following story, Dizzy, has a cool concept of a Poconos-style “break up” trip where a girl comforts her dumped friend after a lush sushi dinner and hot tub soak. The faces are just unappealing to me with big noses or Sonic side character hair. Not much happens.
The next story is about young women w/ disrespectful husbands who don’t appreciate their cooking. They decide to pawn their crazy overpriced non-jeweled wedding rings for a night on the town. Only their eyes are cute, sometimes their limbs are too long or mispositioned like male dolls or something. The end was funny and the hair nice. “Loser Virgins” is also set in a love hotel but the girls have eyes like Gumby, jezus WTH? It is a silly story making fun of how hooking up can go for experimenting women past the age where they care too much about sexiness.
The next piece is about roommates’ last night together. I’m not normally into short hair or glasses but her skin is so silky and her eyes are cute solid. The last scene is cute and how they stick to their differing personalities. Following one is about a servant who looks distractingly like a dorky boy while the femme is too dowdy and puff-droop-faced. The rainy mansion, dark shutter light, and bath faces are nice but I def skimmed this one… Does anybody not cry in this book? Creepy tear fetish.
The next one is too unbelievable the women who’ve been together a yr wonder if the other wants to have sex yet. The role reversal later is good but the climax and all the exciting stuff before and after are missing. All the characters in this book look too similar: curvy blonde woman and a brunet pasted on a man’s body that magically has boobs when they undress. The next story was about a ghost wife. They have the most beautiful physiques though it doesn’t show in clothes. Wow, is the last story wordy w/ another half of a couple that looks childish. Maybe I’m misremembering but it also doesn’t seem like Milk’s typical art style. People built like lollipops illustrated at odd angles. If she put this together, she should have changed her character name so it wasn’t a repeat. I guess a fitness trainer relationship is good for developing suggestive scenes but when your pupil admits they’re asexual, it just feels wrong they should abandon that hard felt belief in two pages. Guess she was lying?
The next story has clownishly pointed nipples (also ironic because volume II was so PG-13). The figures are drawn cuter from farther away. Skinny but round in the hips and bust. The shyness in class between the is cute but the story ends before it can get twice as explicit. The following story, Dizzy, has a cool concept of a Poconos-style “break up” trip where a girl comforts her dumped friend after a lush sushi dinner and hot tub soak. The faces are just unappealing to me with big noses or Sonic side character hair. Not much happens.
The next story is about young women w/ disrespectful husbands who don’t appreciate their cooking. They decide to pawn their crazy overpriced non-jeweled wedding rings for a night on the town. Only their eyes are cute, sometimes their limbs are too long or mispositioned like male dolls or something. The end was funny and the hair nice. “Loser Virgins” is also set in a love hotel but the girls have eyes like Gumby, jezus WTH? It is a silly story making fun of how hooking up can go for experimenting women past the age where they care too much about sexiness.
The next piece is about roommates’ last night together. I’m not normally into short hair or glasses but her skin is so silky and her eyes are cute solid. The last scene is cute and how they stick to their differing personalities. Following one is about a servant who looks distractingly like a dorky boy while the femme is too dowdy and puff-droop-faced. The rainy mansion, dark shutter light, and bath faces are nice but I def skimmed this one… Does anybody not cry in this book? Creepy tear fetish.
The next one is too unbelievable the women who’ve been together a yr wonder if the other wants to have sex yet. The role reversal later is good but the climax and all the exciting stuff before and after are missing. All the characters in this book look too similar: curvy blonde woman and a brunet pasted on a man’s body that magically has boobs when they undress. The next story was about a ghost wife. They have the most beautiful physiques though it doesn’t show in clothes. Wow, is the last story wordy w/ another half of a couple that looks childish. Maybe I’m misremembering but it also doesn’t seem like Milk’s typical art style. People built like lollipops illustrated at odd angles. If she put this together, she should have changed her character name so it wasn’t a repeat. I guess a fitness trainer relationship is good for developing suggestive scenes but when your pupil admits they’re asexual, it just feels wrong they should abandon that hard felt belief in two pages. Guess she was lying?
May 10, 2021
'Syrup's third volume continues to be a fun themed anthology of yuri stories - this time all about the first time having sex together. It is explicit, but also really gets into how this is also embarassing, awkward, humorous, and generally just very much a human moment of connection for the couples. There's a good range of stories and art styles, and so I'd recommend this for an afternoon's read or for a way to try out a number of authors.
January 30, 2022
This was... fine?
I enjoyed the anthology enough to keep reading until the end, and it's definitely an improvement from Vol. 1, but it still wasn't fantastic. The first and second stories both made me feel uncomfortable (manga artists drawing a character in a romantic couple as physically smaller, younger, and almost prepubescent when compared to the other older and wiser character is... weird, to say the least) and there was only one story ("Her Ring") that I particularly enjoyed.
I enjoyed the anthology enough to keep reading until the end, and it's definitely an improvement from Vol. 1, but it still wasn't fantastic. The first and second stories both made me feel uncomfortable (manga artists drawing a character in a romantic couple as physically smaller, younger, and almost prepubescent when compared to the other older and wiser character is... weird, to say the least) and there was only one story ("Her Ring") that I particularly enjoyed.
February 28, 2023
After volume 2 left a really bad taste on my mouth, reading this one's first story about an adult waiting for a minor to become of age to have sex with her almost made throw it into the bin, but I endured and turns out the rest of the stories are actually good. Some are funny, some are cute, some are sad, some are hot and I enjoyed all of them. Great improvement.
July 25, 2021
This one is quite a bit more explicit than I was expecting. But there are some sweet stories in there.
November 9, 2021
Why the fuck was this one good!!!!!!
November 19, 2021
Of the three anthologies, this is the one I liked best
February 14, 2022
I liked it more than the first two!
April 18, 2022
It was all good except the first story.
April 21, 2022
This was SO cute. SO good. My first Yuri & I loved it. Gonna pick up vol 2 ASAP.
Read
August 1, 2023I don't think I'll continue with the series. Too much erotica for me.
September 2, 2023
too much erotica for my taste.
Read
August 29, 2024vitterligt just hentai
October 14, 2024
Series rating 3⭐️
October 13, 2025
one of these stories almost made me CRY. COME ON.
February 13, 2022
First nights are the topic of this volume. Consequently there is more open sexuality but nothing pornographic. The joy of physical love is a natural consequence of emotional bonding. My favourite story is the two virgin losers in a love hotel, which combines comedy with tenderness. (They win each other, which is a great prize.)
I only wish the layout put a blank page in between stories to emphasise the breaks.
I only wish the layout put a blank page in between stories to emphasise the breaks.
April 30, 2021
This was the bets one yet
I love then theme of this one. Basically they gave me a lot of wholesome disaster lesbians being spicy. And it was fantastic. This one felt so relatable since most one shots were real life situations. The comedy was top tier too. One of then made me cry so do prepare for that one.
I love then theme of this one. Basically they gave me a lot of wholesome disaster lesbians being spicy. And it was fantastic. This one felt so relatable since most one shots were real life situations. The comedy was top tier too. One of then made me cry so do prepare for that one.
May 31, 2022
This was definitely better than the second one (which had artistic talent but the theme and its interpretations...ehhhh). Full of first times that are sweet, heartbreaking, and everything in between, this volume of course has more explicit art than the others. As usual, even when the stories don't move me as much, the art is always nice.
May 14, 2021
Familiar sweet couples and their first times.
Sweet first time stories from manga you've read or are familiar with. Read this one out of order but will read the first 'Syrup' next.
Sweet first time stories from manga you've read or are familiar with. Read this one out of order but will read the first 'Syrup' next.
January 2, 2025
Very gay, very good. First story felt very groomer-ish though so i ripped it out. Rest is good
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews