Archive for the English Manga Category


Assorted Entanglements, Volume 3

April 10th, 2024

A woman in pink hair and headphones sits in front of a keyboard, in a gaming chair, while a woman with blue hair leans on the desk next to her.by Matt Marcus, Staff Writer

Previously in Assorted Entanglements Volume 2, sparks and virtual bullets flew as we met mangaka Heke-sensei and her editor Shinohara, who not-so-anonymously play an online First Person Shooter game together while harboring mutual crushes. Meanwhile, Shizuku and Shiori slowly float closer to each other, somehow.

For Assorted Entanglements Volume 3, Mikanuji-sensei must’ve thought “hmmm the last new couple was a little too wholesome. It’s time to spin the Wheel! Of! Problematic! ‘Ships!” A giant prize wheel rolls in and is vigorously spun. Plasticky ratcheting sounds burst out then slowly decelerate as the selection arrow slowly passes over OL x JK, then Sister x Sister (Adopted), and finally Sister x Sister (Not Adopted) before landing on: Teacher x Student. A sizzle reel plays for the winning couple. For some reason they are riding jet skis at a Sandals Resort.

That’s probably not how it happened (I’m sure there was an editor involved somewhere). However, it is less dire than you may be thinking. For now.

Our new pair of star-crossed acquaintances is the stoic gym teacher Kujou and one of her students, 3rd year Sugimoto. Every day after school, Kujou stands outside the door of a lesbian bar, too afraid to enter. Inevitably, she chickens out and instead frequents the maid café next door where Sugimoto works. Sugimoto, who is a bit of a misanthropic loner despite her good looks, decides seemingly on a whim that she is going to help Kujou on her quest to enter the bar and finally find herself a girlfriend.

It becomes clear pretty quickly that Sugimoto is on her way to catching feelings for Kujou; blessedly, her gym teacher doesn’t even register her as an option, despite noticing that her student is pushing the boundaries of a proper teacher/student relationship. (I hate that I find this refreshing.) Regardless, the comedic dynamic between these two works. Sugimoto’s acerbic tongue is a fun foil to Kujou’s sad puppy vibes. I’m just mildly concerned about where the story is going to take them.

Aside from these two, there are still three other “couples” to check in on. Not too much has changed between Minami and Iori, however the same can’t be said for their “jilted” hangers-on. In fact, Shizuku’s hard-assery has softened considerably towards Shiori, much to the latter’s chagrin. You can see the little dance they are doing, inching towards each other then repelling apart mostly because Shiori likes to throw Shizuku’s feelings back in her face to goad her into anger for a laugh. Despite that, progress is being made. For some reason, I’m rooting for them.

Meanwhile, Heke-sensei and Shinohara begin spending more and more time with each other, often pretending to be lovers for “material” to inspire Heke-sensei’s storyboarding. Each time Heke-sensei tries to close the gap, Shinohara’s bluntness and desire to hide her crush ends up unintentionally sending the wrong signals to her coworker/secret gaming buddy. They are the goofiest and most wholesome pairing in this series, so it’s always a nice reprieve when they show up.

I mentioned the art’s Same Face Syndrome in my review of Volume 2, but somehow the issue has now spread to entire characters. You can’t have your characters say a line like “you should be able to recognize your students” and then give multiple characters 99% the same face and haircut.

These are three different characters. Two of them are 12 years apart in age. No, I can’t tell them apart either.

Also, every now and then there’s some weird body proportions. There’s one panel in particular where Shinohara’s right arm appears to have grown 30% too big for her body.

The thing that continues to hold my interest is the humor (again, shoutout to Eleanor Ruth Summers for the excellent localization). Unfortunately, there are still moments of “yikes” that keep me from truly singing its praises. It’s like eating that PB&J sandwich you packed with you to the beach: no matter how careful you are, you will get a bite or two of sand that feels like it’ll crack your teeth. In one notable case, Minami is acting passive-aggressively and Iori has no idea why, and it turns out that she is grumpy because the night before, Iori, who was blackout drunk, did something out of pocket in bed. It’s supposed to be a reversal joke, but there’s enough “ick” to it that it is hard to handwave, let alone laugh at it. The series continues to be one that has enough rough spots to make it difficult to recommend.

But despite my complaints
I am still reading it. This is perhaps the funniest volume so far, and there’s plenty of joy to be had in cropping out panels as reaction images or meme fodder. You just have to be OK taking your Yuri with a grain of sand.

Art – 6 Seems like the art has regressed a touch, and the sameness of the character designs is not helping
Story – 7 A handful of questionable choices hurt it, but the humor stays sharp
Characters – 7 This really is a manga for people who like Women/Girls Who Suck
Service – 4 Iori and Minami’s sex life is still present, and it is a little uncomfy in a couple places
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 9 You did hear me say lesbian bar, ya?

Overall – 7 I’d tell it to run a few extra laps

Volume 4 is currently available in English from Yen Press, with Volume 5 arriving in June. A twisted Yuri comedy with some punch.

Matt Marcus is a serial enthusiast whose range of appreciations include guitars, watches, and a particular genre of Japanese popular media named after a flower. Outside of writing for Okazu, he cohosts various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, where he frequently bloviates about video games, anime, and manga. He also hosts a blog Oh My God, They Were Bandmates analyzing How Do We Relationship in greater depth.





A Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing, Volume 2

March 29th, 2024

A wolf girl in a dress decorated with black trim, and a sheep girl in a flowery frock embrace in an ethereal bedroom setting.by Luce, Staff Writer

In Volume 1, we met Aki, a Wolfa butler, and Momo, a Sheepa princess who announced her intent to enter a relationship with Aki. They went on a date with Momo in disguise. Here, in Volume 2 of A Sheep Princess in Wolf’s Clothing, we see the end of that date, where the queen’s friend, a dressmaker, gets Momo to try on a load of outfits that reveal a fair amount of skin, leaving Aki pretty flustered. They also prepare for an event to celebrate Momo’s coming of age, wherein Aki is reminded that Momo will likely have to marry someone soon… and that won’t be her. Just how does she feel about Momo anyway?

The idea of either marrying into royalty or being long lost royalty had been a trope in fiction for centuries. The escapist ideal of being a lost princess, or being the (usually) woman to get to marry a handsome prince, is the older fantasy version of today’s ‘if I win the lottery’. It’s understandable – for the vast majority of people both then and now, royalty and wealth was something far out of reach and only attainable through fiction. You could argue that wish fulfillment is one of the oldest reasons to make stories.

This is sort of one of those. Aki is a commoner, albeit a servant in the royal castle, which must be a relatively high up position, while Momo is the princess that fell in love with her. In real life, this would be a horrendous power imbalance. In fiction, Momo barely acts like a princess, her maid ships them, and it’s clear they’ll get together by the end of the manga, so the politics is just a complication between their happiness, rather than anything to get too bogged down in.

The thing that amuses me is that the fact that Aki is Wolfa and Momo is Sheepa is made very little of. The royal family is Sheepa, and they are in the land of Sheepa, but many of the commoners are Sheepa, too, and while the influence of the moon on Wolfa is noted and commented on several times, this isn’t seen as a problem, just a consideration. If you like girls with animal ears, you have plenty of them here – the mangaka states here that the story started from a one shot, so we get the author ‘wish fulfillment’ here; it’s not stated, but I suspect they just wanted to draw cute girls with animal ears and made the story around that.

This volume actually introduced other ‘races’, although most are in the background, except a hyena character (Hyenaa? It’s not mentioned) Kunya, a princess from another country, who looks similar to Momo’s first love, the reason she shut herself away in the first place. We also get a glimpse of a troubled part love of Aki’s, although no details. Perhaps in a future volume.

I’m not in love with the fact that the first love of Momo’s is darker skinned and clearly not a great character, nor that the Hyena princess, Kunya, feels like she’s set up to be a third member in a love triangle – but at least she seems to be nicer than the other character of colour we see. I’m hoping that Kunya isn’t just a plot device.

Art – 9
Story – 6
Yuri – 8 (I mean, there really aren’t even many men given page time, there are two budding lesbian relationships and previous ones)
Service – 8 (Momo tries on some slightly scandalous clothes, and has a bath. It doesn’t feel super salacious, but it’s there.)
Overall – 7

If you liked the first one, there’s plenty more here to keep your attention. I’ll be continuing to read – hopefully Kunya will get a bit more development, I enjoyed her character.

Luce is collector of books, part time reader, identifies as a book dragon. I can be found on Discord as farfetched1235. I also have a Goodreads as Luce where I do mini reviews on the manga and graphic novels I read, and a Storygraph as farfetched where I do the same with novels and light novels. I hope you enjoy this review today!





Monthly in the Garden With My Landlord, Volume 2, Guest Review by Frank Hecker

March 27th, 2024

A woman with dark collar-length hair standing in the kitchen and a woman with long blonde hair sitting on the veranda, both wearing casual clothing smile as they speak to one another.In the first volume of Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord, manga editor Asako Suga, dumped by the latest in a series of girlfriends, finds both a new place to live and an unforeseen housemate, her landlord Miyako Kitano — who turns out to be a former idol. It’s a premise not unknown in adult yuri manga, in which manga artists and their editors frequently appear, along with the more-than-occasional idol, and it’s common for two women to go from sharing a house or apartment to building a life together. It is thus, not particularly ground-breaking within the yuri genre. Rather it’s a very well-executed example of its general type, deftly blending slice of life, comedy, idol intrigue, and at least one potential romance.

Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord, Volume 2 combines two plot threads. In the main story Asako and Miyako (“Landlord-san”) settle in to life together, each displaying their characteristic personality: Miyako is somewhat lazy and more than a bit of a slob, and takes child-like enthusiasm in even the most mundane aspects of her life with Asako. For her part, Asako finds herself picking up after Miyako, cooking for her, caring for her when she’s sick, and in general behaving more like a mother than a potential lover.

But love is indeed in the air, as shown in a hilarious sequence in which Miyako finds herself growing jealous of a houseplant, the pachypodium that Asako brings home, nicknames “Packey,” and treats like a new pet. Before long it’s obvious how Miyako feels about Asako. However, Asako herself isn’t sure exactly what their relationship is and should be, even when later circumstances force her to express a judgment on it.

In her review of volume 1 Erica Friedman speculated whether readers of just that volume would see this as a yuri story or not. I’ve seen others argue that Miyako’s relatively young age (she’s still 19 in this volume) and the mother-daughter dynamic she has with Asako make a romance between them both implausible and problematic. I disagree.

Miyako was likely working as an idol since her middle teen years (another Elm member is only 16), and as such would have lived a very sheltered and constricted life. By Miyako’s own account her parents placed lots of restrictions on her even before that time. Her grandmother gave her more freedom, but “Matsuba-chan” was often absent and away. It’s therefore not surprising at all that Miyako might develop feelings for someone who is with her every day and lavishes her with care and attention.

For her part, Asako is a very giving person (“too nice for her own good”) who finds enjoyment in helping others. However, at least one of her past girlfriends, and perhaps more than one, found that behavior quite off-putting. I can well believe that the ideal girlfriend for Asako would be one whom she can mother more than a bit, and that Miyako might someday fill that role after she comes of age. Since this is marketed as a yuri story, it’s more likely than not.

The other plot thread in this volume concerns Miyako and the other idols in Elm, now reconstituted under the leadership of Ruri Samukawa. Miyako opens up to Asako about her past as an idol and why she retired, and contemplates reconnecting with the group members she left behind. That process is helped along by Ruri and Elm uber-fan Hato Hatomori, who in volume 1 was flabbergasted to find her fave living with Asako. In this volume Hato is almost literally pulled into the middle of the group’s affairs, a development that both delights and disconcerts her. It’s a fun subplot, one I’m definitely invested in and would like to see more of.

The main characters of Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord are all fundamentally decent people with their own distinct personalities — people you might enjoy having lunch with, to use a traditional Okazu criterion. The art is a style I particularly like, clear and clean, not overly cartoony, with dynamic and varied panel layouts. It’s well-suited to showing both Miyako’s beauty and the comedic situations she and Asako find themselves in. The translation reads very well as English, the lettering is quite readable, the text appears to be entirely free of typos and related infelicities, and the overall look of the volume is attractive. Kudos go to translator Stephen Paul, letterer Elena Pizarro Lanzas, and the Yen Press editorial and design team — Fortune Soleil, JuYoun Lee, and Wendy Chan — for their work.

Ratings:

Art — 9
Story — 8
Characters — 9
Service — 2 (for idols)
Yuri — 4 (“Okay, it’s happening!” but where it will go is as yet unclear)
Overall — 9

Volume 2 of Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord is an entertaining continuation of a solid volume 1. If you’re a fan of adult yuri who missed the first volume, this is the perfect opportunity to catch up on what promises to be an excellent series. Volume 3 is slated for release in English on August 20 of this year.

 





Mr. Right Turned Out To Be A Younger Woman!? Guest Review by Em Evergreeen

March 20th, 2024

Two office women stand close, one leans in to whisper something into the other woman's ear as they both grip a folder between them.Content warning: there is one scene with sexual aggression and non-consensual touching, and the narrative doesn’t meaningfully explore any relationship consequences this might have.

I’ve enjoyed Kozumi Miura’s contributions to Yuri anthologies (White Lilies in Love BRIDE’s, Yuriquer Alcohol Yuri Anthology,

and to creator-owned magazine Galette, as well as her collection of one-shots, Totsuzen Nantonaku Tonari no Seki no Douryou to Kiss Shitaku Narimashita, so I was quite excited to see her office worker romance Mr. Right Turned Out To Be A Younger Woman!? made available on digital manga site Renta. It’s not only the first of her works to be translated into English, but also the longest Yuri story she’s created so far. Originally published by iProduction’s women-focused web manga label Comic Donna, the story was expanded from a one-shot to about the length of a single print volume.

Our heroine, Haruki Shiina, is a 33-year-old marketing professional who’s stalled out in romance and at work. She feels like her time is running out to find a boyfriend, get married, and have children, and she’s built up quite the reputation around the office as a energy-drink-guzzling, hard-partying, almost salaryman-like figure. So when she awakens after a night of drunken revelry with her co-workers to the clear aftermath of a one night stand, with vague but positive memories, she’s hopeful that it’s going to be the start of a magical office romance that’ll lead straight to marriage. There’s only one problem – she’s not quite sure who the previous night’s paramour was!

We know from the first page, however, that her opposite number is none other than her workplace rival, the serious and high-achieving 23-year-old Risa Takagai. Risa treats her coldly, makes competing marketing proposals, and interrupts her when she chats up her male co-workers. Though the two frequently butt heads, they also inspire each other to do their best work. We see a magnetic attraction quickly develop between them, culminating in the early reveal of Haruki’s anonymous lover.

The characters and their chemistry are compelling enough that I’m glad the story was expanded beyond the original one-shot, and that we get to see their relationship develop beyond this point. There’s a lot packed into these 6 chapters, but as a result, many interesting threads feel under-explored, and the dramatic tension comes and goes a bit erratically. There is a sustained focus on Haruki coming to terms with dating a woman for the first time, and on the pressures that the difference in their ages puts on the relationship, topics that are depicted realistically and with care. There’s even some attention paid to lesbian culture and the issues faced by queer women in Japan, though it ends up feeling a little “Lesbians 101” at times.

The anonymous translation, credited only with “Localization by Renta,” occasionally stumbles a bit, and the quality of lettering similarly isn’t up to par with releases by the major US publishers. More than the sometimes-stilted language, though, my primary issue with the translation is that it introduces a somewhat misogynistic tone to certain scenes that’s not present in the original work. This is a shame for a manga that otherwise draws on the best traditions of female-focused manga in its heart-pounding moments, emotional introspection, and appropriately-adult sexuality without unnecessary fan service.

Mr. Right Turned Out To Be A Younger Woman!? is absolutely worth figuring out Renta’s points system for (bad news: it’ll cost you $15 to buy, and you’ll end up with 300 points afterwards. sigh). The art really shines. The important moments are lovingly rendered, as are the outfits, and the jokes are paired with deeply funny reaction faces. I quickly got invested in Haruki, Risa, and their happiness, and was glad to see the story reach a satisfying ending. Our pair and the rest of their co-workers are realistically flawed, but there are no villains here, and our cast comes together to support one another when it matters.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Service – 3
Yuri – 8

Overall – 7

Em Evergreen is a lonely lesbian with a manga addiction. Find her at linktr.ee/em.evergreen.





How Do We Relationship, Volume 10

March 13th, 2024

Two women smile at us, as they walk arm in arm in a city at night.by Matt Marcus, Staff Writer

The other day I attended an “empty the bar” party for a friend of mine who is moving to Hawaii. Naturally, most of the drinks served were tiki drinks, strong but easy-drinking concoctions of tropical fruit juices mixed with multiple types of overproof rum, often complimented with an earthy hit of allspice dram. The first drink I reached for, however, was not like the others: it was a Bardstown, a potent mix of apple brandy and rye, the kind of drink you nurse slowly as the ice in the glass melts, softening the bite of the booze. I took one large sip and nearly coughed it up onto the floor. I decided to set it aside and make the rounds through the other offerings—a mai tai, a zombie, a painkiller—but I would come back and take a sip of Bardstown here and there. I liked it, but I was not looking for something so intense in such a large dosage.

I was thinking on how to approach this review of How Do We Relationship Volume 10, and as I mulled it over, I was thinking about the discussions I’ve had within the Okazu Discord and elsewhere, especially after Erica’s review of Volume 11 in Japanese. I remembered that Bardstown, and the thought rose in my mind that you can think of manga series like cocktails. Citrus is flashy and trashy like a tequila sunrise—a poor decision in a glass. Whispering You A Love Song is a virgin Shirley Temple: bubbly, sweet, and at worst will give you a tickle up your nose. How Do We Relationship—when the mix is right—is a negroni. It’s complex, with top notes of herbaceous bitterness but lying beneath is a sweetness that carries you forward to the next sip. And if you have a low tolerance it will knock you on your ass. It’s not to everyone’s taste, and it may not be the right drink for every occasion, but those that love it will reach for it over and over again. The rub is, after all the heartbreak we’ve seen these girls endure, I’m sure that a lot of readers are thirsting for some sweet relief. But Tamifull is the bartender, and their hand is getting heavier on the pours.

In Volume 9, Saeko went through a rough stretch leading up to her coming-of-age ceremony only to be saved serendipitously by Miwa. Saeko opens up to Miwa about her past, and the two connect more deeply as friends than they ever had as lovers. Meanwhile, both are having mild struggles with their respective girlfriends, but with each other’s support they should be able to weather these small bumps in the road. The volume ended with a potentially awkward run-in with Tamaki that may blow their “we’ve only ever been friends” story.

Of course, if you’ve read the series this far you know that Tamifull loves to set up a cliffhanger to end a volume only to lead to an anticlimax at the start of the next. Despite a little bit of sulking, Tamaki ends up making use of the knowledge that Saeko used to date Miwa, because she’s in need of some advice. Miwa wants to have sex frequently and she just can’t understand why. But even knowing the “why” does not answer the “how” she will handle it.

What it boils down to is that Miwa and Tamaki have completely different feelings on sex. Miwa’s sex drive is high but has yet to be satisfied; Tamaki mostly feels like sex a chore, albeit one she can sometimes enjoy in her own way. They do have a conversation about it, but you can tell that they are not really understanding each other. Tamaki isn’t really being honest with herself about her needs and wants, and she is definitely unaware of the mixed signals she gives to Miwa. Miwa for her part is letting her anxiety overpower her ability to listen. The tension continues to simmer throughout these chapters.

Meanwhile, it turns out that Yuria struggles with depression (surprise!) and does not want Saeko around when she is in that mood. Adding to her feelings of personal failure at work, she feels miserable about Saeko’s decision to aim for a high-paying office job to help support her dream of starting her own salon. Saeko feels like she’s acting with the best of intentions, but she can’t convince Yuria to accept her choices. The injection of this point of conflict feels like a hard left turn for Yuria’s character in a way that seems calculated. On a metatextual level, I can feel the hand of the mangaka planting the seed of destruction for the relationship, which is a bummer especially after all the work and growth that those two have accomplished together. Nevertheless, it is darkly funny to me for this turn to happen right after I sang Yuria’s praises in my last review.

That’s not to say that this volume is all doom and gloom. When Tamaki reaches out to Saeko to talk about Miwa, it is a nice moment of vulnerability for her and an opportunity for Saeko to help her friend. Miwa also runs interference with Yuria and helps smooth over the current rough patch with Saeko, demonstrating how much she cares about Saeko’s happiness. Yuria and Saeko have a fun onsen trip together, and at the end of the volume they visit Yuria’s hometown to meet her twin sister and her fiancĂ©. All of this great character growth building off of the last volume. That said, there isn’t much relief to be had because of the festering undercurrents that are flowing beneath both relationships. Think of it like replacing the Gosling’s in your dark & stormy with the Reed’s Extra.

I’ve noted in past reviews that the way this series tracks time is quite loose, and in this stretch I felt it most acutely so far. It was surprising for me to realize that by the  end of this installment over a year has passed since the end of Volume 8. (Someday I will map out each volume on a timeline for the blog, which I will update eventually I swear.) That leaves an awful lot of time that we don’t get to see. In particular, we don’t really spend any time with Miwa and Tamaki enjoying an outing without some kind of tension undercutting or tempering the proceedings. What Tamifull choses to show has always leaned towards scenes that drive the plot forward, which naturally means conflict. It can be exhausting, unless you are someone who has a high craving for drama. After all we’ve seen Miwa go through, I think we deserved to have her be happy and satisfied on the page for more than a few fleeting moments.

There is one other pattern in Tamifull’s writing that I am starting to notice, which is that relationship developments for side characters function almost entirely to comment on or signal something about the main pairings; in this volume, it is Mikkun and Rika who serve that purpose. It can feel a touch on the nose, like when Tamaki voices her empathy for Mikkun’s old ex-/current/soon-to-be-ex-again girlfriend, who is described as  sex-repulsed. Tamifull does mention in the author commentary that there are lots of dangling threads for the secondary characters that had to be cut to keep the story moving, and this is one of the consequences.

Personally, I’m still enjoying the story even if moments started to wear on me. There are plenty of elements of Tamifull’s writing that I continue to appreciate, such as the continuity of character. I briefly turned into Leo DiCaprio pointing at the TV when Tamaki observes that Miwa has a preference for romantic clichĂ©s, something that goes all the way back to the beginning of the series. Also, Saeko’s tendency play caretaker makes another appearance as she tries to keep Yuria from falling deeper into a self-care spiral. The dishwashing scene is a very well observed moment of caring for a partner who struggles with depression that really hit home for me. It’s the depth and nuances of small moments like these that constitutes the sweetness that lingers after the bitterness fades.

Apropos of nothing, I am always amused when a series sums itself up in a single panel

If nothing else, How Do We Relationship continues to serve up the most potent dose of painfully relatable love in the Yuri/GL space. If you’ve missed that stinging sensation on your palette from earlier in the series, you’re going to be savoring this volume.

Art – 9 You know you’re in too deep when you start to notice how the way the character’s noses are drawn has been subtly changing over the past few volumes
Story – 8 You can start to feel the needle move back towards the negative, which may be fatiguing for some
Characters – 8 There is some unevenness with Miwa and Yuria in the service of drama that feels a touch heavy-handed
Service – 6 Yes there is sex but I’m also counting Saeko in her job hunting suit in this score
LGBTQ – 10 Is there really any doubt at this point?

Overall – 8 The bitter top notes are starting to overpower the other flavors, but it is still plenty potable

Volume 12 is currently available in Japan and you can catch up completely with the simulpub chapters on the VIZ Manga site or app. A college LGBTQ drama so real, you’d swear you owe tuition. 

Matt Marcus is a serial enthusiast whose range of appreciations include guitars, watches, and a particular genre of Japanese popular media named after a flower. Outside of writing for Okazu, he cohosts various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, where he frequently bloviates about video games, anime, and manga. He also hosts a blog Oh My God, They Were Bandmates analyzing How Do We Relationship in greater depth.