Archive for the Miman Category


Yuri is My Job, Volume 10

January 9th, 2023

Pictured: 5 girls in an old-fashioned dark green Japanese school uniform pose in front of a large sunny window. In the front row, are three girls, one sitting to the side with pinkish hair and a bow tied in a "rabbit ear style on top of her head, a blonde in the middle, and leaning on her, a dark-haired girl, with her hair pulled up primly. In the back row are two older-looking girls. One with long-brown hair, and one with blonde hair and glasses. A white fancy bracket encloses the words in white: Yuri is My Job! In the top left corner in black, there is a 10 and the author's name: mimanI’m currently in the middle of reading Volume 11 of Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! so what a great time to take my pent-up feelings out on Yuri Is My Job, Volume 10! ^_^ /Insert scream here/

This series, which began with a parody of ‘S’ tropes as seen through the lens of a popular light novel series, and has always always been a rom-com, unless it wasn’t, suddenly…isn’t. Not really. For one thing, it’s gotten rather queer, almost despite itself (I jest. Miman is a capable author and knows what they are doing…) and the insertion of Yoko into the story has made it feel rather grown-up and darker than it had previously been. Have a bit of pity for Kodansha, a company that licensed a goofy comedy and now has a pretty heavy story on their hands.

There’s an important little thing that happens in this arc. Originally, Sumika gave her version of what happened in the cafe to Kanako and Hime. Now we’ve encountered Yoko, and Nene has given us her version. There’s one more version to go. Wait for it. It’s important.

We now officially have an unwinnable situation. Nene is fucking done with everyone and who can blame her? Sumika is in denial, Kanako is delusional, Yoko is toxic relationships on the hoof and Hime and Mizuki are pretty much relegated to supporting cast. I wasn’t sold on Hime previously, but here she steps up and is a genuinely good friend to Kanako. Too bad it’s too late. Kanako is not okay. I wish I could feel bad for her.

The climax of this arc hasn’t yet happened and I really have no idea what will happen, but I know what I want to see. I want Sumika and Nene to team up and take Yoko down. Will I get that? Tune back in and we’ll see!

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 10
Characters – 10 Nene is now my favorite character. Sumika, you’re killin’ me.
Service – 5 Large breasts
Yuri – 9 Looking for love in all the wrong places.

Overall – 9

I summed this volume up in my review of the Japanese volume 10 as “Yikes.” But what amazingly scripted and drawn “yikes” it is.

I must mention Diana Taylor for a great translation job here – everyone has their own voice. You can practically hear Yoko ooze. Jennifer Skarupa does a fine job matching the S/fx to the Japanese’ everyone on the Kodansha team is giving us an excellent reading experience! Cannot wait to see what they do with the two-page color spread that just ran in Comic Yuri Hime. (It was a lot of Yoko’s breasts.)

Volume 11 is out now in Japanese (and on my list of things I will review shortly!), but you’ll have to wait until June to see Yuri Is My Job!, Volume 11 in English.





Yuri is My Job!, Volume 9

August 26th, 2022

Before we get to the meat that is Yuri is My Job!, Volume 9, let’s step back for a second and look back at a story that has traversed a whole lot of ground, while never moving. ^_^

The situation comedy that starred a young woman more concerned with how she appeared to others than anything else, became an emotionally fraught tale of two childhood friends whose idea of what they wanted from their friendship was irreparably different. Nonetheless, Yano and Hime are, at the moment, relatively functional as a pair of “schwestern.”  Now, we’re looking at the remain cast at this Yuri concept cafe and finding that again, things are wildly out of balance.

Kanako was and is, obsessively focused on Hime. To the point where she really hates even thinking about sharing her with Yano in any but the most superficial way during work hours. This is, of course, not healthy. Sumika, as Kanako’s older sister offers to help her navigate this, but she’s finding that all this Yuri around her…and her own history…has gotten into her head. She’s having decidedly unsisterly feelings about Kanako.

I like Sumika and this arc is killing me.  For oh so many reasons. Mostly because she’s a big assholey clueless straight girl in a very gay Yuri cafe and is an utter dumbass about everything possible. ^_^ Kanako’s obsession makes her almost impossible to like, but you have to sympathize with big ole dumbass Sumika, until….

As Sumika’s brain plays gay games with her, bad news arrives at Liebe and the next few volumes will be a 4-way train wreck between Sumika, Kanako, Sumika’s former little sister, Nene and the woman who broke it all, the woman who destroyed Sumika’s happy days at the cafe the first time and is looking like it’s her plan to to do that again, Gouto (cafe name Goeido) Yoko.

You know I love me my evil lesbians, but in this arc, my hat is thrown into the ring for Nene and her “fuck you, straight girl” faces, which I might need to make into a meme.

Miman has take us so far from the opening salvo and I’m still hooked on every chapter, wanting to know where and what and who and why. The art is orders better from early chapters as well. Facial expressions are outstanding this volume. Since the story is focusing on conversations over cafe scenes, faces and body language really have to carry the visual weight. They do that successfully.

This volume has a short extra story of unrequited love, “I am Your Destiny,” Miman-sensei’s author’s notes which are always interesting and another page of the Cafe’s “Operating Manual,” for fun.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 4
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8.

As I said in my review of this volume in Japanese, “A fantastically unpredictable volume from a series that never stops surprising me.”

Top notch translation from Diana Taylor, solid lettering by Jennifer Skarupa and editing by Haruko Hashimoto makes this an easy reading, set-up for next volume’s gut punches.  Get yourself ready… Volume 10 will be here in November.





Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 10 (私の百合はお仕事です!)

July 14th, 2022

Now that an anime for Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! is in our future, I think it’s important that we stop and evaluate just how far we’ve come with this story. The goofy set-up is that a Yuri Light Novel-themed concept cafe exists, in which the staff perform as students who form bonds as “schwestern” at a private girls’ school. It seems very silly, but almost immediately we were able to see that the relationships here are not at all what they seemed. Protagonist Hime found herself involved in an uncomfortable triangle made of her closest friends from past and present – two girls who cannot and will not like each other. This issue is relevant to the current arc.

And now, in Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu! Volume 10 (私の百合はお仕事です!), Sumika, the fourth inthe cast is herself bound by ties  that connect the cafe’s past and present. Former cast member Youko understood herself well when she, Sumika and Nene formed the first full cast with Mai, when she chose an “evil girl” as her persona.

Where Mitsuki’s love for Hime is pure and one-sided, and Kanako’s love for Hime is obsessional and not particularly healthy, what we learn lies between Nene, Sumika and Youko is far more adult, complicated and toxic…and breathtakingly sad. And so we watch the only lesbian in the story, Nene, navigate a complicated forest of thorns between Sumika’s cluelessness, Youko’s manipulation and her own desires. Only this time, Youko has help…and it’s not good for anyone. I read each chapter holding my breath.

In short, this volume is summed up with “Yikes.” But what amazingly scripted and drawn “yikes” it is.

Ratings:

Art – 10 Outstanding, Miman-sensei excels
Story – 10 Yikes, but I want to know what will happen
Characters – 10 Nene is now my favorite character. Sumika, you’re killin’ me.
Service – 5 Some more large breasts
Yuri – 9 Looking for love in all the wrong places.

Overall – 9

I’m waiting for the boots to begin dropping and trust Miman-sensei, but argh!. Again…what a long, long way we’ve come in this story from it’s goofy premise. At this point, an anime can barely scratch the surface. I expect a 3-season live action series next. ^_^





Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu! Volume 9 (私の百合はお仕事です!)

January 14th, 2022

When Miman-sensei created a series about a concept cafe based on a popular novel series about ‘S’ relationships at a mission school, I was hooked right away. I honestly would never have believed we’d be 9 volumes into it and still ongoing…and still amazing. But here we are. Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!, Volume 9 (私の百合はお仕事です!) is an endless series of small delights and mortifications. ^_^

Having finally settled the major drama (but not the minor, daily, drama) between Mitsuki and Hime, we turn our eyes to the senior figure at Cafe Liebe, Sumika. Her character at the cafe is both bookish and suggestive, cornering her cute schwester to make her blush. In daily life, Sumika is said to be a bit of a gal, but I’m not convinced, honestly. Nonetheless “gal-sempai” has been a bit of mystery to us. We know her one desire is that everything stay the same at the cafe, and we know why – her first little sister was stolen by another member of the cast. Nene, the former little sister, thinks Sumika’s version of the story is full of horsepucky, but it is true that she’s moved into the back of house since.

Sumika has been obsessed with trying to get Kanako to stop obsessing over Hime, so far unsuccessfully. And now Sumika has another problem…she’s starting to have raunchy dreams and romantic thoughts about her reluctant little sister.

And all of that is about to come to a head when the woman who stole Nene from under Sumika’s protective wing shows up at the cafe! What does Goedo Youko want?

This volume was amazing, from beginning to end. It had everything, suspense, drama, fakey romance, real….something, if not romance, then what? And a new back of house employee which gives is the brilliant opportunity to ask all the cast what the S-style sister relationship means to them. When Shinooka is debriefing with Mai, she says that her favorite definition comes from Sumika who says that it is “A Romance, with the romance taken out.” I can’t imagine it better said.

Miman-sensei ends the volume with process discussion, which is always enjoyable and now, as soon as I am done with this, I’m cracking open the next Comic Yuri Hime, so I can see where this new arc is headed. And you will get to read Yuri is My Job, Volume 8 in March. Trust me, there’s a lot to look forward to!

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 4
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

A fantastically unpredictable volume from a series that never stops surprising me.





Yuri is My Job, Volume 7

August 19th, 2021

In Volume 6, Mituski poured her hear out to Hime and instead of bringing them closer, as she hoped, it may have separated them forever.

In Yuri is My Job, Volume 7, everyone at Liebe Café is trying to patch up the rift between Hime and Mitsuki. Except one. Kanako has absolutely had it with what she sees as Mitsuki’s self-indulgent attitude to Hime. She’s not wrong…but she’s not right, either.

Hime has come up against a wall that she has long wanted to avoid. There are only two people in the world she has trusted with her truth and they each need something from her she can’t give them. Hime’s decided to take herself out of the story, in order to keep anyone from being hurt…and thereby hurting them both.

Sumika wants things to stay the same, Kanako’s ready to be there for Hime, Mitsuki wants someone to understand her for once, and Mai, attempting to smooth over the rough areas, causes cracks to appear elsewhere.

This is an extraordinary volume in what initially appeared to be merely a Marimite parody. We are full on in deep emotional drama and although I read this with every issue of Comic Yuri Hime, I have absolutely no idea where it might take us or how we will get there! That’s always very exciting.

Extra chapters here take us a little into Miman-sensei’s life last year and character and café trivia. Everything about this book kept me on my seat. Lots of emotional moments and I’m just so interested to find out what happens!

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 1
Yuri – 7

Overall – 8

Wrapped in old-fashioned school uniforms and Yuri tropes, Yuri is My Job is a compelling Yuri drama, wholly grounded in the present.