Archive for the Artists Category


Assorted Entanglements, Volume 6

November 20th, 2024

A woman in a business suit with short dark hair, holding a beer, hugs her younger sister in a white blouse and dark blue skirt her black hair in pigtails.

by Matt Marcus, Staff Writer

Last we left our ragtag crew of sapphics, dates were “enjoyed”, feelings were revealed, emotional wounds were bonded over. We were left just short of a handful of plot payoffs: will Kujou give in to Sugimoto’s trial date idea? Will Heke-sensei be able to game hard enough to earn the right to date her boss? Will Shizuku and Saori just hook up already?

In Assorted Entanglements Volume 6, three of our four pairings arrive at significant inflection points. One couple is embarking on a new adventure as a couple, one is pretending to do the same, and the third…well that one is about to get complicated.

For Saori and Shizuku, the twin-tailed “normie” decides to sneak out of the house at night for doughnuts and deadpans her way into Shizuku’s apartment (this time choosing to be let in through the door instead of smashing the window. Character growth!!). She continues to find herself drawn to the delinquent, and has begun to see through some of Shizuku’s self-loathing. While escorting Saori back to her house, Shizuku recognizes a woman from her past. This is setting up a Shizuku character arc, and I’m surprisingly here for it. Never would’ve thought I’d say that about Shizuku of all characters, but here we are.

As for our mangaka/editor duo, Heke-sensei finally achieves her level goal in the online FPS game, putting her on “even footing” with her gaming oshi. This means she can finally ask Shinohara out! However, she nearly chickens out after spending the day together on a date. Heke-san clutches out the “win” and the two finally come together as a couple. I’m satisfied that this didn’t get dragged out for another who-knows-how-many volume. Now, the real question left is will Heke-sensei be more capable of hitting deadlines now that her editor is her girlfriend?

And for our third major turning point, Kujou and Sugimoto go on the long-threatened trial date. Naturally, it’s at the most sapphic of date destinations: the aquarium! Sugimoto continuously props up Kujou in the face of her gym teacher’s unrelenting defeatism and emotional self-sabotage, which is, honestly, kind of sweet. Sugimoto isn’t actively putting the moves on her teacher (in fact, she doesn’t seem to recognize her long-growing feelings), but by the end of the date, Kujou has the realization that the two of them have gotten too close for their own good. I was starting to worry that Kujou would remain oblivious for a good while longer.

…Also Iori and Minami are there. There’s a silly miscommunication that gets blown out of proportion, complete with the obligatory punch (on panel this time!), but it ends with a sweet moment together. At this point for me, these two are mostly here as supporting cast for the Saori x Shizuku storyline.

Again, I have to say I’m impressed with the improvement of the storytelling from the early volumes. It’s a direct result of the shift to longer chapters allowing the characters more space to interact and to make something resembling plot progress. Hell, it’s making me invested in Shizuku’s backstory, and how the past’s resurfacing will affect her relationship with Saori in the present. A deep character drama this ain’t, but it has become much more than the series of gag strips it began as.

Ratings:

Art – 7 Continues to be solid
Story – 8 We’re actually starting to cook here, with each of the three “active” plot arcs developing
Characters – 8 There is the right amount of angst injected with the humor, allowing for good chemistry
Service – 4 For a real payoff for our Best Couple
Yuri – 8 / LGBTQ – 8 Aquarium date!

Overall – 8 Would invite this volume to go on a shopping date to Yodob*shi 

Volume 7 of this ensemble story of sapphic misfits is coming our way in February.

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, as well as the writer for the blog Oh My God, They Were Bandmates analyzing How Do We Relationship in greater depth.





Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!, Volume 13 (私の百合はお仕事です!)

November 18th, 2024

A blonde in an dark green, old fashioned Japanese smock-style school uniform that is cut below her breasts with a white blouse with a purple ribbon, leans back into a background of flowers, as if to hide.Many lifetimes ago, I was writing a fanfic and I found that after about 4 hours straight of slamming words onto a screen, I had written myself into a corner. It just so happened that the next night was the regular broadcast of the series I was writing about -and let me tell you, the plot that week was not the strongest. I found myself thinking, well, if they could write themselves out of that mess, then so can I. I wrote all night long and as the morning alarm rang, I finished up the fic, It was a perfectly adequate story, I just remember it as a moment when I had really written myself into a corner and had to write myself out again.

It is my opinion that, in Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!, Volume 13 (私の百合はお仕事です!), Miman-sensei has written themselves into a bit of a corner.  Not completely, because the current arc actually concluded in subsequent chapters of the manga that ran in Comic Yuri Hime, but which have not yet been collected, as the story went on indefinite hiatus after that conclusion.

The arc in question is the incredibly fraught Kanako x Sumika arc and frankly, as I survey the bodies on this battlefield, I cannot see a way out of it that allows for something even far short of happily-ever-after. Kanako might find closure, but to do that, she will have to hurt Sumika. Sumika might have found find closure, but expressing that to Kanako hurts the younger girl. The folks around them have remained largely clueless, with the most minimal apology from – again – the only adult in the cafe. Kanako needs therapy, not a part-time older-sister figure. Her single-minded obsession with the one person who has been 100% truthful to her – and honest about wanting to be close friends, but no more – is exhausting.

And so, for the moment, after one of the most shocking arcs I have read in a manga not openly centered on violence, this series comes to an unsatisfactory stopping point. Kanako did finally have her say in the final chapters of the magazine, and I hope we will eventually get those…but will we ever get a fully formed resolution to this series? Only time will tell.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 0

Overall – 8

I sincerely hope that Miman-sensei can find a way out of this corner and this series gets the ending it deserves.

Hime absolutely shines in this volume. Despite her pretense to other people, her platonic affection for Kanako is absolutely brilliant.





Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koishiteru, Volume 3 (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる)

September 12th, 2024

A blonde wearing an off-the-shoulder red blouse looks intimately up at a dark-hared woman in a button down shirt as they smile at one another.We left Ayaka in full “hitting on Hiroko-sempai” mode in Volume 2. In Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koishiteru, Volume 3 (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる), we finally get some backstory on why Hiroko is fighting so hard to not give in to Ayaka, despite her coworkers’ apparent support (or, at least, lack of negativity.) It’s not an uncomplicated situation.

When Hiroko was a newbie, she too had a supportive sempai in the workplace. Rumors of their relationship forced Chinatsu to leave in order to protect Hiroko’s career. Hiroko is still haunted by those days and watches her colleagues and bosses to see if they express the kind of homophobia she remembers destroying Chinatstu’s career. Weirdly…she isn’t seeing it in among her peers who generally seems to be accepting, curious or shockingly uncurious. A few of the older bosses express dismissive “it’s a phase” commentary, which Hiroko takes as a reminder to not hope too much for happiness.

But Ayaka, still convinced that she is not gay, just gay for Hiroko refuses to be stopped by the specters of Hiroko’s past. The ending of the manga differs a little from the live-action, and feels a little more authentic, as Hiroko finally puts her fears to rest.

Much like Cheeful Amnesia, this is not a series one takes seriously, but it takes itself – and it’s audience – more seriously than the former, taking time to address and resolve some issues. The main concern of homophobia in the workplace is absolutely handled with a handwave of “or, what if there wasn’t any?” Frankly, that’s a handwave I can get behind.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 10
Service – 2
Yuri – 7
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 8

In the end, this story is cute, silly, over-the-top and both very gay and kinda not all that gay, somehow? In the final pages, the story addresses a major “thing” (imagine me flailing my hands as I struggle to fin the right word here) that does NOT happen… then it does. Hiroko and Risa are definitely gay, Ayaka is still working on being in love with Hiroko. One hopes that she’ll wake up one day and say. “Oh, wow, I am gay (or bi or pan…).” In the meantime this series ends with the kind of happily-ever-after that eludes most people in real-life office romances, which is how we know that it is a fun office romance fantasy.

I know Black & White: Tough Love At The Office by Sal Jiang is intense and not for everyone. I think this would make a good license  that is funny, a little poignant, and ultimately satisfying.





Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 8 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。)

August 21st, 2024

A girl with long silver hair stands in the foreground, a girl with collar-length brown hair behind her, both wearing fantasy school uniforms of red jacket and blue skirt with white underskirt, both looking concerned. Behind them a blonde woman in a white shift dances in front of a display of blue flowers, bathed in light from the moon.Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 8 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。) is the climax of Yu’s arc and, as a result it is poignant and touching in about 4 different ways.

To begin with, the entirety of Rae’s conversation with Misha is expanded upon with their meeting as children. Misha, ever practical, finally demands to know the truth about Rae, who she insists is nothing like her childhood best friend. When confronted with the truth, we learn two key things – one that Rae was adopted and two, sometimes in this world children just…appear from nowhere. No one knows where the Children of the Forest come from, Misha says and this seemingly random fact will come back several times in this story in surprising ways. 

With Rae’s unbelievable, yet truthful admission, Misha, at last is ready to help the team free Yu. In an epic moment, in front of the eyes of virtually the entire capital, Yu takes her place as the woman she is, throwing her mother’s plan to dominate the throne into complete disarray. It’s a fantastic moment, drawing magnificently. This will not be the only trans narrative in this story, but it and the other are both very good.

Rae is punished of course, for her actions and ends up being removed from the Royal Academy…again, a seemingly small moment that will have massive repercussions later in the story. Which makes me think about the ping=pong nature of so many epic Japanese stories. How many Gundam series, for instance have world governments overthrown and replaced and overthrown again in the course of what has to be a few months at most? And here is Rae, who catapults to the top of the school, is named a Knight, saves everyone from a chimera, now is thrown out, works for the King, thwarts a revolution and will eventually return to the school as an instructor, only to leave almost immediately as an exchange student to Nur, where she foments revolution there. That seems like a perfectly normal couple of years. ^_^;

Anyway…this volume is fantastic and beautiful and you should definitely get it!

Ratings:

Art – Excellent, with one egregious choice that…woof.
Story – Fanastic
Characters – The princes step up like crazy
Service – Everyone deserves to have their needs served, not just the salacious ones.
Yuri – The main relationship is set on the back burner in service to the larger narrative

Overall –  A brilliant volume of manga.

Volume 7 is on the way in English this October from Seven Seas!





Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 7 (雨夜の月)

August 12th, 2024

Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 7 (雨夜の月) is absolute perfection. It was so good, that the moment I finished it, I started from the beginning and read it again. And cried both times. I’m actually thinking about re-reading at again, as soon as I am done writing this.It was just that good.

In Volume 6, Kanon and Saki processed a lot of feelings – about themselves, about each other and about the people around them. In Volume 7, Kanon’s decision to be part of her school’s life is about to face a test.

But first! Rinne gets the spotlight, as she deals with the consequences of her decisions. After Kanon lost her hearing, Rinne stopped doing the things she enjoyed, so as to not cause her sister distress. Now she’s made a new friend, Chiyama, a girl who is ashamed of her excessive sweating. They quickly become friends and Rinne starts to think about someone else for the first time in a long time. Once again, we see a character opening doors for another person for them to choose whether or not they want to step through. In talking about what she wants to do, Rinne admits that she had given up her dream of going to see a live musical performance. Chiyama promises to go with her to see one, and Rinne finds door opening for her, too.

The school festival is upon them – Kanon is worried that it will be too much for her, but one of her classmates designs a menu meant to be pointed at, so she can take orders. Tomita offers Kanon a button that reads “I cannot hear well, please look at me when you speak” but in a moment of pride, Kanon does not wear it, and fails to explain the menu well to a customer, making it too much for her handle. Saki saves her, but defeated, she leaves to a quiet spot where she can reset. Where she is joined by her former best friend, Ayano. I won’t spoil that scene at all, it’s too fabulous.

The big chorus concert sets Kanon up against her worst fears, but as she and Saki and their class lean into the joy of the moment, everyone is crying happily. Finally, as the volume winds down, Kanon and Saki are off to finally have some fun at the festival. As Saki holds out a hang and says “Let’s go,”  Kanon thinks that now it’s her turn to learn more about Saki.

Ratings:

Overall – 10 No notes.

Absolute perfection.