I am about to say something I have never said before about a fellow translated manga distribution company – DrMaster is really *very* bad at their job.

I’ve read over and over that they’ve “gotten better” but given that they are coming from a place where translations are awful to abysmal, honorifics wander in and out of a book like a bored 13-year old and the reproduction of the pages is so poor that I honestly have no idea what’s going on, I can only imagine that they *have* to get better…because there’s not that much further down to go. Frankly, I’d be ashamed to put something out of this poor technical quality. The color page was so blurry and vague that it would be virtually useless to use it as a character guide, unless you had an idea who the characters were already.

Storywise, Tori Koro, Volume 2 is similar to Volume 1. The story is told in 4-panel comics, full of mind-bogglingly bad puns, Tatami’s weird-ass brain function and a lot of stupid sillyness. It’s not “wackiness,” not hysterical, just silly.

Niwa-chan’s feelings for Yae continue in this book much as they did in the first, with an added degree of desire. She’s wangled a place in the household where she spends a lot of time holding Yae in her arms as they sit around, and few times she slips and says something a tad more explicit than usual. As Yae appears to be blissfully unaware (or she’s perfectly happy with it – whichever reading you prefer,) that leaves Makishi and Tatami to react comically. Nothing in this book is anything other than comic setup, so expect no romance. Niwa’s still gets to hold Yae in her arms, so I’ll call that a win for her. ^_&

I had a good laugh at the rating on Tori Koro, too. They’ve rated it at 13+, which is fine, since there’s very little that can be called objectionable (some teeny-weeny bits of Makishi fanservice, almost as an aside and, of course, Niwa’s professed desire for Yae) but I defy anyone to find a 14-year old who would read three chapters in this manga with any enjoyment. The punch lines are so often based on regional cultural knowledge and bad puns that frankly I cannot imagine the American teenager who could read it with pleasure. ^_^;

Ratings:

Art – 4 (Weird at best, but because of the bad reproduction often completely incomprehensible here)
Story – 5 (If you like puns)
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 4 (Also mostly lost because of the bad reproduction)

Overall – 6

So, technically this book is the single worst I’ve ever seen, and the story, such as it is, is impenetrable. But I’m still glad it’s available in translation, because impenetrable puns may be bad in English, but every month when I read my Dengeki Daioh I just KNOW I’m missing 70% of what’s going on. ^_^;

(Oh and how ’bout that…*three* translated manga in one week!)