Yuri Manga: Choir, Volume 3

March 31st, 2011

Choir (ちょいあ!), Volume 1 was an easily forgettable 4-koma manga centered around otaku activities of a bunch of girls who hang out and do otaku stuff together. It had a Yuri romance and, at the end of the volume, Shousei and Mayuko are indubitably a couple.

I know I read Volume 2, but did not review it here. I believe that was because in Volume 2 the fanservice switched with the Yuri, so that Yuri was pushed to the background and moe lolicon cat-ear-wearing became the focus. In fact, I cannot remember exactly what happened during Volume 2, which is always a sign that it wasn’t very good. ^_^

In Volume 3, Yuri and fanservice collide in a massive matter/anti-matter explosion of drama without content. Given that the premise of the series is “a bunch of girls hang out” and the drama is “they all want the loli” it gets pretty tired, pretty fast. Complicating factors for me is that Shiroyuki and Shousei look so similar that I have to keep checking which one is with Mayuko at any given time.

In the other Yuri affair going on, Mawata is a inconsiderate Dom to Kyouko’s very sensitive Sub, and I found myself repeatedly frustrated and annoyed at the way Mawata treated Kyouko. When Mawata consented to pay attention to Kyouko, they weren’t a bad match, but quite inexplicably, Mawata insisted on pursuing Mayuko.

The tedious fanservice is at red-alert level. If naked moe loli cat-ear-wearing girls is high priority for you…this is the book you’ve been waiting for. They all go to a hot springs so they can be naked for many chapters.

The drama is mostly “everyone in the series pursues Mayuko,” who also drove me crazy with her inconsistent affections. She was not a particularly riveting character and seemed to be appealing to everyone only because she was the loli. In every way she’s just…annoying.

Mayuko and Shousei end up still together although I have to be honest and say, I don’t know how. Shousei is practically a non-entity in this volume and Mayuko treats her terribly. In my review of Volume 1, I wrote, “Mayuko appears to find it amusing to string Shousei along, then push her away. (Run, Shousei, run! Don’t do it!)” and I stand by those words here in Volume 3. Shousei will be better off after she graduates and finds someone less of a tease than Mayuko, Shiroyuki will be better off with anyone than Mayuko, and Kyouko will be better off with someone other than Mawata.

Ratings:

Art – 3, unless you like moe loli with characters that are hard to identify
Story – 6 It’s situation comedy.
Characters – 5 After repeated “treating their partner badly” scenes Mayuko and Mawata drop down to a 3
Yuri – 8
Service – 9

Overall – 6

Isn’t Lesbian Drama hi-larious?

3 Responses

  1. Mandy says:

    I think Mayuko and Shousei got together at the end of Vol 2… I have no idea how, because this manga was definitely not good enough to bust my brain with a dictionary over. And then Vol 3 was very wtf. This manga… I just don’t know… There’s something very squicky about the fan service and I feel like I need a shower after I flip through it. And yet I bought all 3 volumes *face-palms* I blame Kinokuniya for having it somewhere noticeable and I was boggled enough that it was there to grab it.

  2. @Mandy – Mayuko and Shousei became a couple at the end of Volume 1. I just don’t know how they *stayed* together, when it’s obvious that Mayuko’s a little jerk.

  3. Anonymous says:

    In my opinion Choir! fails at being a 4-koma manga. Instead of punchlines we get Yuri pandering, and this happens far too often.
    Compare with other Yuri 4-koma like Rakka Ryuusui, where strips that do not have punchlines are very minimal (when it happens, it advances the romance – tastefully and subtly, unlike Choir!’s disgusting pandering), or Ichiroh! (grabbed my copy of volume 4 some time ago, and boy, the Yuri level has gone up by quite a bit! Looking forward to your review!) or even Kyoukan Astro (too bad the series was left hanging), and many other 4-koma manga.
    In other news, a new series ‘InPro’ is starting serialisation next month in Kirara Carat. Hopefully it’s Yuri, considering the mangaka is Kirara’s ‘Yuri meister’ (as one Jap blogger put it) Sanada Ikki. Crossing my fingers now.

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