Before I begin today’s review, I would like to take a moment to thank every one of you who purchased and read ALC translations on JManga. It was such a pleasure to be able to bring you all fun Yuri manga in a digital environment. Of all the books we worked on, the hands-down most difficult was Kuzushiro’s Kimi no Tamenara Shineru (姫のためなら死ねる). Erin S. did amazing work translating it, and both of us ended up doing quite a bit of research for it. It was a challenge and a pleasure. Thanks to Erin  and thank you all for your support. I’m sorry we’re not going to have the opportunity to bring you Volume 3, but I’m pleased to be able to review it, at least. ^_^

As established in Volume 1 (reviewed here in 2011) and Volume 2 of this series, famous Heian period diarist Sei Shonagon is a slacker, blogger and…crazy.  If we take a moment to think about life in the Heian Imperial Court without any idealism , we can guess that it would have pretty much been life at any dorm anywhere – politics, backstabbing, crushes, affairs and pranks. This is exactly what we see in this manga.

Speaking of pranks, we are introduced to Ichijou Tennou,  the Emperor to whom Teishi and Shoushi are Consort. In reality, Ichijou’s reign is emblematic of the Heian period at its finest, with an Emperor who loved and encouraged art and literature. In this comic, he is 12 years old and as tsundere as possible.

The rest of the volume plays out as usual. Shonagon swings back and forth between ecstasy and misery as she is the focus of Teishi’s attention. When Teishi’s mother suggests her daughter use her wiles to control the distance between her and her lady in waiting, we almost get to see Shonagon proclaim the title oath all the way through, until she is interrupted.

Yuri is, as it always is in a gag series, is a mixed bag of misunderstanding, silly set-ups and other things that make people pant and get red in the face, like illness and sports. Which brings me to Kemari, which is the hackeysack-like, non-competitive sport played as early in Japan as 644 CE.  One of the funniest set of gags in the manga is Shonagon, who has no idea how to play, teaching Teishi, who also has no idea what she’s doing.

As a goofball look at Heian court life, Kimi no Tamenara Shineru remains a highly amusing manga that is totally worth the effort it takes to read.  ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 4 (And a weird 4, too. Having a cold is really not that sexy.)

Overall – 8

I admit, I hope that life in the Heian Kyo looked more like this, than Tale of Genji.

Kuzushiro’s  Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san (犬神さんと猫山さん) is a very silly premise, charted out in a series of very silly 4-koma strips.

Inugami-san is very dog-like, but likes cats and Nekoyama-san is very cat-like, but likes dogs.  They are made for each other and they might be perfect together but this is a comedy, not a drama. There is no destination to this journey. Dagwood will never quit his job, Nekoyama-san and Inugami-san will never be a “couple”. Like most comic strip characters, they are gags on the hoof. (Pun intended.)

Speaking of hooves, the menagarie is not complete until we mention mouse-like Nezu Mikine and cow-like Ushiwaka-san, who add to the Yuri yucks, the moe quotient and the ensuing wackiness.  This zoo even has a keeper – Aki-san who, by being Inugami-san’s  childhood friend, can’t escape the role.

If you’re familiar with Kuzushiro’s work from Kimi no Tamenara Shineru, nothing here will surprise you. The humor is mostly puns based around the character’s personalities and proclivities. Yuri in the series is madcap hijinks, some thinly veiled real lust and service. Which doesn’t mean that Ushiwaka and Nezu don’t belong together or Inugami and Nekoyama wouldn’t be perfect for one another. It’s just that that is completely beside the point. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7 Some strange inconsistencies and their heights – which are put under repeated scrutiny – seem to fluctate as the scene requires
Story – 6 There isn’t one, but that’s okay
Character – 6
FanService – 6 Mostly lustful fantasies
Yuri – 6 Mostly lustful fantasies

Overall – 6

As gag manga goes, this wasn’t too bad. I chuckled here and there, might have even laughed out loud once or twice.

When you think of Heian period literature, two names come instantly to mind, Murasaki Shikibu, creator of the Tale of Genji and Sei Shonagon, writer of the Pillow Book.

What may not come to mind is the image of Shonagon as a 27-year old NEET, blogger, Twitterer and…well, perv.

That is, it may not come to mind, until after you’ve finished reading Kimi no Tame Nara Shineru (姫のためなら死ねる). After that, you’re just about guaranteed to think of her that way. ^_^

This book is a series of exceptionally silly 4-koma gags set in the Chuugushiki, the residence of 13-year old Empress Teishi. A mutual friend, sick of Shonagon’s shut-in, slacking ways, suggests she apply for the position of Teishi-sama’s lady-in-waiting. Teishi is moved by Shonagon’s handwriting and Shonagon, in turn, falls head over heels for the Empress.

Nothing happens in this volume, really. Yuri is limited to heavily overplayed service, in which nearly every woman is nearly in some Yuri-ish position with nearly every other, but it’s all gags, no substance. Nonetheless, Shonagon is pervy about Teishi-sama, and Teishi-sama seems to return the feeling, in her own, immature way.

Of course Murasaki Shikibu is a character, as is her charge, the Second Empress Shoushi.

Honestly, I should probably have hated this book. It’s got all the annoying qualities of 4-koma gag comics. But, I didn’t. The story turns historical luminaries into jokes, and relates behaviors of the past to unlikely, but accurate analogies of the present with historically inaccurate, but nevertheless amusing, conviction. Shonagon as a blogger rings pretty true to me, anyway.

I’m reminded by my wife of a passage by Sei Shonagon, about the annoyance she felt when the snow slipped from the roofs of the buildings and covered the paths, making it difficult to walk. The Shonagon of this book is not that woman, but I think I might prefer this silly Shonagon to the real one. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 4, for the gags about Murasaki’s breasts and all the almost-Yuri

Overall – 8

Remember how I always say that no research is necessary to form an opinion of a manga? Well, in this case, I’m wrong. I actually had to do a fair bit of research. ^_^