Archive for the Kase-san Series Category


Yamada to Kase-san, Volume 3 ( 山田と加瀬さん。)

September 1st, 2022

Kase-san and Yamada moved to Tokyo last spring. Now winter is ahead of them and they are settling in, mostly.

As Yamada to Kase-san, Volume 3 ( 山田と加瀬さん。) begins, Yamada has taken massive strides towards building a new life. It’s true that, as a first-year, she lacks some confidence, but her bouts of low self-esteem are much rarer than before. She’s learning a lot, working hard at her job and making friends. And this year, as the school festival approaches, she’s honored to take part in a special edition of one of her favorite gardening shows. The gardening club is working with their favorite teacher to do a live performance, with a special guest – a famous voice actor.

Kase-san’s school festival is on the same exact day. How they balance the schedule, Kase-san dealing with one last (and for once, rather amusing,) round of jealousy and what becomes of them when the voice actor turns out to be a good gardener, a decent person and an adult who provides good advice, is the bulk of this volume.

The other half of the story is the inevitability of a coming crisis with Kase-san’s roommate. Kase-san’s old rival from high school confides that she knows Kase-san has a lover. Fukami is trying very hard to not care, but…she cares. It is becoming harder to ignore that her feelings for Kase-san are not roommate-y. What will happen with them? We don’t know and it may be moot – because Yamada and Kase-san start talking about the next year and maybe living together.

I like that this manga is moving at a pace that is slow, but somehow feels real-ish.  That is to say, we’re not hitting multiple festivals per volume, which means that we have time to look at both Yamada and Kase-san and see how far they’ve come. Even the art invites us to see both of them as more adult. Yamada, especially. They have distinct personalities, and styles. It’s been half a year, Kase-san is finally dealing with the jealousy thing, Yamada’s low-self-esteem has really changed from her days in high school. Our little girls are growing up and it’s…nice. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – Not really, this volume.
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

There’s no date yet for Volume 3 in English, but I bet it’ll be out in 2023!





Kase-san and Yamada, Volume 2

March 11th, 2022

Kase-san and Yamada have been dating for a few years now, and while they are both working on building lives for themselves that include each other, their schedules make it very difficult. And maybe that would be okay, but it means that they haven’t really had the time they need to discuss themselves with each other.

A surprise summer vacation for both Kase-san and Yamada makes them very aware of those gaps where their lives don’t mesh. In Kase-san and Yamada, Volume 2, that gap seems impossibly wide to Yamada. Unsure, made to feel unconfident, she still sees Kase-san as someone too cool and popular for her, someone she’s not worthy of. This causes a number of problems for them –  and for us, as readers. We’d become used to seeing Kase-san be unreasonably jealous, and thought we had left that behind. Now it’s Yamada’s turn to be unreasonable and we’re likely to be less tolerant as a result. But…is Yamada being unreasonable?

I think it’s worth remembering that Kase-san’s sempai teased her rather mercilessly only a year so so ago, and now she’s dealing with Kase-san’s roommate Fukami being a grade-A jerk. (It’s super obvious that she has a crush on Kase-san and all I can hope is that rather than dealing with that noise, Fukami will realize how shitty she’s being and feel badly about it.) As an adult reading this book, I kind of want to have a stern talk with Fukami-san. The more I think about this story, the more I think that Yamada’s done amazingly well, given how much crap she’s had to take from other people. So, I’m cutting her some slack her as she wallows a bit here. It is very easy to find other people’s relationship drama annoying, but since we’re reading How Do We Relationship…maybe we can cut Yamada a little break? ^_^

When it comes down to dealing with the problems, Kase-san shows she *has* matured. She accepts Yamada’s concerns, is supportive and understanding AND addresses the underlying issue – what does their future look like? Neither they nor we know what shape their future will take, but Kase-san is trying to create a future that will include Yamada and that’s good enough right now.  It would be nice if the two of them get to just be together and talk without everyone wanting to get in their way, but oh well, it’s a rom-com. ^_^;

The fantastic translation by Jocelyne Allen means I’m hearing different characters sounding like different people and outstanding lettering by CK Russell. It feels so much like it’s part of the original, I hardly notice it. Thanks again to the entire Seven Seas team for their great work.

If you’re looking for a comedy college life Yuri series that feels awfully like real life, with bumps in the roads and fully-fleshed out characters, Kase-san and Yamada fits the bill.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 5 a bit of skin
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

In the middle of all the running around, Hana being a rube and tanning jokes, let’s give a round of applause to Mikawacchi for finally figuring out a path forward for herself!





Yamada to Kase-san, Volume 2 (山田と加瀬さん)

December 16th, 2020

Happy anniversary to Takashima Hiromi-sensei for 10 years of Kase-san and Yamada.  Who could have imagined that, when the series debuted in 2010 in Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari, we’d be still  be following Yamada and Kase-san a decade later? It’s an absolute triumph of will that here we are at Yamada to Kase-san, Volume 2 (山田と加瀬さん).

College life has presented a number of challenges to Yui and Tomoka, both personally and relationship-wise. They are no longer able to see each other every day. Yui still has an unfortunate tendency to default to low self-esteem thinking, but a trip to the seashore with Mikawacchi and Hana seems just the thing to kick her out of her funk. Once there, she discovers that Tomoka is staying at the same inn! Only, of course, nothing is that simple. Tomoka and Yui eek out a few moments of time, and work on their own jealousy issues.

In the background a couple of interesting things are going on. Aikawa, Tomoka’s high school rival is hanging out with Fukami, Tomoka’s roommmate. And what on earth is going on with Fukami? Because something…definitely…is. 

We have watched over a decade as Takashima-sensei’s art has grown stronger and the characters become more who they are. And here we are, able to continue to enjoy that very thing Yamada and Kase-san in love. What a fantastic way to close out a brilliant (if slightly surreal) year for Yuri. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 5 a bit of skin
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

Happy 10th anniversary to Yui and Tomoka, and to Takashima-sensei…and to us! We’ve all come a long way. ^_^

I couldn’t wait for this to arrive in print, so I picked it up on Global Bookwalker.  ^_^





Yuri Manga: Kase-san and Yamada (English)

February 13th, 2020

Yamada is experiencing college life and it’s keeping her super busy. Kase-san is, as well. It’s a struggle for them to find time to be together and when they are, a lot of of their old habits keep them apart. And, neither of them have ever really decided what their relationship means to them as an individual. In Kase-san and Yamada, the sixth book of the Kase-san series, all of this will land on their heads, all at once.

Yamada makes a new friend, Hana, who is shockingly similar to herself in personality, which sets up a crisis with Kase-san, whom we have seen previously is prone to jealousy. Yamada also undergoes a crisis of jealousy, which is unusual enough for her that’s she’s not really sure what she’s feeling.

But what really stands out for me is that both Yamada and Kase-san are new enough to dating – and not around other queer couples – that they are both very closeted and don’t actually realize it.

On Twitter, I was chatting with some folks about this. When my wife and I moved out together, we were in a similar position for years – alone among peers and coworkers and schoolmates for whom being gay was not at all everyday, Coming out was not just a big thing for one’s own life, an admission of self, but a huge fucking load of baggage that could open people up to harassment, losing jobs, losing family or worse. That was a long time ago and seems to young people I know now a bit remote and abstract, but as the discussion went on we heard from folks in China and Japan who affirmed that being out was still quite fraught and who to be out to and how far to be out are everyday concerns.

I recently finished reading a YA lesbian romance that was very out in and of itself. Tell Me How You Really Feel, by Aminah Mae Safi has two women on the cover in a romantically intimate moment, with a pullquote that reads “The queer hate-to-love story you need in your life” on the cover. In the story, both protagonists are themselves out to friends, schoolmates and family, a priori and I think we’re still hoping that Kase-san and Yamada will one day be able to be comfortable being the people they are. We want to see them as happy, out young lesbians. But, they aren’t. And they won’t be because its not normalized in their society (and, more specifically, the society Takashima-sensei inhabits.) Instead, their discomfort is played for comedy. And how we feel about that says more about ourselves than the characters since they are merely ciphers for our own needs.

But when we take ourselves out of the equation. Yamada and Kase-san make some important progress in this issue. They increase the intimacy between them as adults and individuals, something that they could not have done in their hometown where other people’s expectations would create even more inflexible boundaries around them.

So, it may be true that they are not “out” as we understand that, but they make important steps towards being people who could support each other if they choose to come out in their future.

As we have come to expect from Seven Seas, the book’s technicals are lovely, with a really nice raised lettering cover and thick page count, so it feels like a substantial contribution to this series.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 8
Story – 7
Service – Does Kase-san in a suit count? Yes. 7
Yuri – 9 The real world is making itself more known.

Overall – 9

I’m still hoping for a scene in which they go to a Pride parade and a famous lesbian couple of a violinist and race car driver are the marshals. Just sayin’.





Okazu Top Yuri of 2019

December 31st, 2019

As we wrap up this year, the 100th anniversary of the Yuri genre, I like to imagine what Yoshiya Nobuko might think, if she were to spring to life and see Yuri anime, manga, novels, games…stories of women in love with women, in both fantasy and “real world” settings and bookstores around the world with Yuri titles and manga stores with dedicated Yuribu.  I’d like to think that once she got past the confusion of it all, she’d be pretty pleased about it. ^_^

For the 15th year in a row, I’m wrapping all the best Yuri people, companies, trends and titles up in one big old package and presenting it to you as the Okazu Top Yuri of 2019. ^_^ Please note there are no numbers, as this is not a countdown. Everything here is equally notable.

We’ll start with some well-deserved kudos to the pieces of the industry that set the places at which we sit and lay the feasts we enjoy.

 

Yuri Publishers & Yuribu
In this 100th anniversary of the genre, something almost miraculous occurred. Manga, anime and light novel publishers in the US and many of the major Japanese publishers are now investing in Yuri as Yuri.

My sincere thanks to everyone at Yen Press, VIZ Media, Seven Seas Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, J-Novel Club, UDON Entertainment, Kodansha Comics, Denpa, Lilyka Manga and in Japan, Ichijinsha, Futabasha, Shueisha, East Press, Seidosha, Hayakawa Shobo, Kadokawa Shoten, Akita Shoten and, at long last, Shogakukan.

Additionally, Japanese manga and bookstores have finally recognized that Yuri is a genre that does bring in business and have developed Yuri Clubs to help funnel money their way. ^_^ So thanks to Animate, Shosen, Gamers and Futabasha (again.) Toranoana has no Yuribu, but their Yuri Corner in the flagship store in Akihabara is worth noting, as well.

All these companies have recognized the potential of the growing LGBTQ and Yuri markets and responded to it with money and promotion (and in the case of US companies, care and attention,) which gives us hope for even more and even better Yuri in the year to come!

 

Yuri Webcomics
Webcomics have been an important arm of indie comics since the early 2000s and the last few years has really seen the growth in online platforms for comic artists.

Pixiv has quite literally changed the game for indie artists in Japan like Nagata Kabi, and Webtoons and Lezhin have been among newer platforms that opened up a whole new audience to the joy of Yuri manga and comics.

Artists like Ratiana Satis (Pulse) and Kuru of Color_LES (Mage and Demon Queen) have changed the landscape for how – and where and by whom – people are able to find Yuri.

I think this kind of work is very exciting and very entertaining and always look forward to more new independent artists breaking out!

 

Yuri Visual Novels/Games
I’m not going to lie, the visual novel landscape has a lot of problems, Steam’s inconsistent and obscure rule changes looming large among them.  But the industry is full of energy and creativity that is worth talking about.

In 2019, Studio Élan created a whole new game engine for putting out innovative, unique, and original work. What I have seen has impressed me so very deeply. Indie creators gather annually for the Yuri Game Jam which gives space for smaller creative teams and individual devs to work on their idea and for you to try them out. Itch.io has quietly become a significant independent resource for game and VN developers and players.

Even if I will never be the audience for them, there are some really excellent VNs and games being made and I think they absolutely deserve a place on this list this year.

 

Yuri Creators
There are so many creators of Yuri these days that it almost seems insulting to highlight a few names, but this year there has been some outstanding work by a few individuals, that I really believe it’s worth highlighting and celebrating them.

These are creators whose work has created change in the Yuri landscape: Yoshiya Nobuko (Yaneura no Nishojo) for setting in motion the creation of an entire genre by living her life and writing the stories she wrote;  Riyoko Ikeda (Rose of Versailles), for having conversation about gender presentation and sexuality 40 years before anyone else had words for them;  Takeuchi Naoko (Sailor Moon) who twenty-five years ago created characters so timeless, that we’re only now realizing just how important they are; Kabi Nagata (My Solo Exchange Diary), for her heart-breaking honesty – I know many of us want her to be healthy and happy; Takashima Hiromi (Kase-san and Yamada) for breaking Yuri romance out of high school where it had been locked for so long; Go Nagai (Devil Lady), for being a pioneer of queer women in his Devilman sagas;  Takemiya Jin (Itoshi Koishi) for walking us along the path with a young woman who wants to be out and open with her friends; Ameco Kaeruda (Sexiled), for writing a feminist power fantasy that is empowering, delightful and funny; Morishima Akiko (Conditions of Paradise) who at long last in 2020 will get the English-language recognition as a Yuri manga artist that she deserves.

Breakthroughs often pass unnoticed until long afterwards. I will note that 2020 will mark the end of one the most important decades in history for our genre, as well as the end of the first century for the genre. Some of these names created a solid foundation for us to build upon and some are among the leading lights as we head into a new decade. They most assuredly deserve our thanks and a place on this list.

 

Okazu Readers and Patrons
You, my Okazu readers, are critically important to our mission here. It is a testament to your engagement that so many of you have become writers for Okazu and a testament to your personalities that so many of you have become my friends. ^_^ My very sincere thanks to every one of you who reads and comments on and shares our content.

My very special thanks to Okazu Patrons for making it possible for me to celebrate this year with reviews and lectures and panels and events. Your financial and social support helps us pay for guest writers and reviewers. Every year you make this list, and once again this year I can say with all honesty, I could not have done it without you.

 

Light Novels & Novels
This year saw a veritable explosion of Light Novels and Novels in both digital and print. While as a genre LNs can be inconsistent, Yuri fans have been horribly spoiled by the high quality Light Novels we’ve seen.

J-Novel Club opened up their Yuri line with a salvo of truly excellent Yuri titles, including Last and First Idol,and Side-by-Side Dreamers. Seven Seas picked up what are extraordinarily good series-extension Bloom Into You, Regarding Saeki Sayaka. But the Light Novel that really blew my hair back was the totally-on-point brilliantly topical and deeply satisfying Sexiled series by Kaeruda Ameco. Those books scratched itches I didn’t know I had. If you haven’t read these, you should. Just go read them.

Will Yuri fans continue to be spoiled with top quality fantasy and science fiction Light Novels while everyone else has to deal with “the protagonist has no pants, hurh hurh” as a main plot point? I sure hope so.  ^_^

 

Now as we enter the final few of of our end-of-year roundup, I want to take a moment to note a few series that just deserve a moment of reverence and thanks for all they’ve done and all they will continue to do.

 

Our Dreams at Dusk Shimanami Tasogare
As I have repeatedly noted, this series is not Yuri. Instead, there is very real-world queer identity here; real problems faced by real people in the real world, which makes this series, if not unique, then at least extraordinary.

This story about self and community and creating a space in a world that isn’t welcoming…and then taking up that space and owning it, is a lot to ask of a work of fiction. Heck, it’s a lot to ask of life! Not only does Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare succeed at that, it does it beautifully.

This is the kind of LGBTQ work I hope we’ll see more and more of from increasingly open queer manga artists.

 

 

Sailor Moon Stars
Every year I joke that if there is a Sailor Moon out that year, it will find a way on to this list.  ^_^ Well this year a Sailor Moon that has never had an official English-language release is out and it so very, deeply, queer that it seems almost fantastic. Sailor Moon Stars is the final piece of the original series, and we’re looking forward to the Sailor Moon Crystal 4th season movies in the years to come.

Let me offer a toast to Sailor Moon Stars and to the permanent – and official –  partnership of Tenoh Haruka and Kaioh Michiru – and welcome to the the next iteration of Sailor Moon fandom. Here’s to cafes and night drive parfaits and anniversary albums. May we all be together once again for the 50th anniversary.

 

 

Rose of Versailles
The wait has not been in vain. It *just* squeaked onto this year’s list by having a limited release in December. Don’t be surprised to see it back again in 2020. It’s almost 50 years old but we have an official English language release of The Rose of Versailles at last and it is a truly magnificent thing. UDON has really gone above and beyond for this release.

Oscar’s struggle with gender and class expectations, with the pressures of a society in which she may not be the person she wants to be, takes us through love and loss and the overturning of an ancien regime in a story that is terrifyingly timely.

This story of the French Revolution seen through the eyes of Oscar François de Jarjayes is so very, very extra.

A classic manga just in time for our 100th anniversary. What a year we’ve had. Our Yuri shelves are already full to bursting, with even more amazing stuff to come in 2020!

 

 

Kase-san and Bloom Into You
Both the Kase-san series and Yagate Kimi ni Naru/Bloom Into You were relatively typical high school Yuri series. Both series managed to take the typical tropes of their origins and turn them into something interesting, unusual and ultimately,  original. Both had animation that went above and beyond the manga and both had a global impact.

Once upon a time, all we wanted was a genuinely happy ending for a Yuri love story, an ending that showed our characters moving into the future together. This year, we got two. Moreover, neither series is riding its fame into the sunset, yet. Takashima-sensei’s Kase-san is ongoing and we’re getting some post-series work from Nakatani-sensei in anthologies and artbooks and I desperately hope to see signs of a third Sayaka novel soon.

These series have made it onto both of the other lists and it seems only reasonable to just say this plainly – both these series were tops for 2019.

 

I’ve mentioned this repeatedly during these lists (and have to tell you, we’re not done yet…) but this year was an amazing one, for me, for the Yuri genre, for all of us. Which brings me to the very best Yuri thing this year.

 

100 Years of Yuri

Yuri Events were through the roof this year. It began with the an amazing time at TCAF and took me along, one fun Yuri-filled event to another. We did Yuri-focused Yurithon. We held the 100th Anniversary of Yuri Tour with a few like-minded friends, during which we spent time with the Sailor Senshi, and ate lunch with Fumi, flipped 500 yen coins at a shrine with Kuraku Asuka, bought Yuri goods and Yuri doujinshi and Yuri manga and glutted ourselves on food and threw money at Yuri artists at Girls Love Fest.

This celebration of Yuri’s 100th anniversary has been exhausting and amazing. I’ve met so many folks, got to meet new Yuri manga artists and see old friends and done so many presentations and had so very much fun.

The number one top Yuri thing of the year was…the year.

It’s been 100 Years since Yaneura no Nishojo (屋根裏の二) codified how we think and talk about Yuri. Thanks to Yoshiya Nobuko and thanks to all the people and companies on these lists. Thanks to all of you, my readers and commenters and my patrons.

Here’s looking forward to 2CYE (Common Yuri Era) in which the the fun is not over, as we extend the celebration into 2020 for the final 100th anniversary project here on Okazu. ^_^ Tune in tomorrow! And here’s to the next 100 Years!