The Éclair girls’ love series is almost like having your very own Comic Yuri Hime to read. These anthologies consist of yuri one-shots and short stories, many of them from well-known yuri mangaka, such as Nio Nakatani, the creator of Bloom Into You. As a yuri fan, it’s wonderful to see so many talented creators coming together to celebrate women being in love.
I enjoyed the very first Éclair anthology that came out in 2018, so I was excited to read the newest addition to the anthology series: Éclair Blanche. Like its predecessor, Blanche was a good mix of fluff, fun, love, and bitterness. The art styles were varied as well.
That being said, not all stories are equal. There were many that I liked, while others were just…okay. My favorite entries tended to be on the longer side because there was more time to develop the characters and explore the dynamics of their relationship. Some of the shorter ones, unfortunately, ended before you could get a true understanding of the girls’ feelings for each other.
My personal favorite was The Princess and the Knight for Two Days a Week by Taki Kitao. Simultaneously funny and heartfelt, it had me alternating between giggles and aww’s. It’s about two girls who used to play Knight and Princess when they were younger. They’re grown up now, but one of them, Maho, is still acting out the part of a knight and treating Kurumi, the other girl, like a princess. Kurumi has a crush on Maho and can’t tell if the knight persona is just a farce or if it’s Maho’s way to show her feelings. The premise is unique, Kurumi and Maho are adorable, and their interactions are precious, making this one land in my top spot.
My other favorite was The Cutest Girl in the Universe by Shunito Amano. It was about an idol – AKA my weakness – who is used to always being the center of attention since she’s extraordinarily cute. When a new idol joins her troop, she is dumbfounded because the girl is cuter than her. In other words, she’s got a crush and doesn’t know how to handle it. She goes into gay panic whenever they are near each other.
I’d very much like to see an entire manga or anime all about this situation. Please.
A few other stories I liked were Though Summer Won’t Come Again, Happy Yellow Chick, Always in Profile, Let Me Keep This Secret, and Sewing Machine. Out of these, Though Summer Won’t Come Again was the strongest, but these all had something that made them stand out from the rest.
From the two stories I explained in depth, you can see that I go for the goofy stuff. I usually like angsty or tragic stories too, but none caught my interest in this anthology. Azalea Corner attempted to be edgy; however, its choppy transitions and difficult-to-follow dialogue made the ending’s “twist” lackluster. This was the only story that really struck me as poor. The rest weren’t bad per se; some were quite good. They just lacked either:
- The page count needed to really develop the story
- Were full of tropes I have seen a thousand times over in yuri manga (like the girlfriend going away to college)
- Or had problematic elements that didn’t sit right with me (i.e. a student/teacher relationship).
Like any anthology, the selection was a mixed bag. There were definite gems in this collection, though. I am praying for an all-out queer yuri idol anime. Anyway, if you like to gobble up as much yuri content as possible, Blanche is worth checking out, and it’s also a good starting point to find new girls’ love creators. No matter your taste, there’s bound to be at least a couple stories in this anthology that will tickle your fancy.