Archive for the Artists Category


Yuri Manga: Watashi no Taisestuna Tomodachi, Volume 3

August 25th, 2010

In Volume 1 of Hakamada Mera‘s Watashi no Taisestuna Tomodachi (わたしの大切なともだち), we met Ebisawa Shouko, an otaku girl with low self esteem who is repudiated by an old childhood friend. When that friend, Tachibana, loses her memory, Ebi-san inserts herself back into her life with a little white lie, that they were the best of friends. Tachibana joins Ebi-san at a design school that was meant as a stop-gap measure during Ebi’s ronin year.

In Volume 2, Ebi-san and Tachibana are swirled up in the more demanding requirements of their friend Waka, and her famous manga artist sister Hiako.

Volume 3 picks up in the middle of summer vacation, and during a deadline crisis for Hiako-sensei. Ebi-san and her classmates are roped in by Waka to assist her sister. At the end, Ebi-sawa has shown such dedication and talent, that Hiako asks her to be her assistant…and protege. The first is a positive thing for Ebisawa, but the second is life changing. Ebisawa starts to lay her self-esteem issues to rest.

However, at this point, Tachibana has been relegated to the position of supporting character. She’s seen and heard repeatedly obsessing over ice cream, but there’s barely any interaction between her and Ebisawa.

And when the next arc – masterwork projects for the school festival OMG! – begins, it’s *still* not about Tachibana and Ebisawa. This time, it’s Waka, driven, focused, imperious and demanding, who is the center of the story. Waka alienates her classmates, who feel as if she doesn’t understand how *hard* they have to work to get half as far as she does on sheer talent. Offended to the core, because she feels that she works twice as hard as everyone else, Waka stalks off. In the meantime, everyone else struggles to work on their own projects.

Waka comes to a realization that her project is, in fact, not *her* project, but *their* project, and she returns with abject apology, and an offer that all six of them will have their names on the project. Fences mended, we all produce award-winning work. Ebisawa’s project is the prototype for a manga she wants to draw about her “most important friend.” Tachibana’s project is also a manga, the story of how she lost her memory when she was hit by a meteor.

When the school festival draws to a close, Tachibana apologizes to Ebisawa for dissing her that day. “I’m sorry I killed Tanabata,” she says, referring to the nickname she had before she lost her memory.

The next chapter covers Ebisawa and Tachibana’s story from Tachibana’s point of view. How, even as she said what she said, she knew it was hurtful but couldn’t stop herself. Her memories returning, she realizes that she and Ebisawa *were* best friends for so many years and it’s up to her to reclaim that – but now she feels she has no right to do so.

They graduate. A year passes, but Tachibana does not attend the friendly get-togethers the classmates have…nor has she seen or spoken to Ebisawa in all that time.

Tachibana’s two highschool friends from the first scene are still friendly with the new, formerly slightly addle-brained, now increasingly-depressed Tachibana. Ebisawa has gone on to some reknown as the creator of her manga which, the two say, is like a love letter. When the two visit, they can see that Tachibana’s bumming about not speaking to Ebi-san, so they decide to interfere. They email Ebi-san a link to Tachibana’s blog.

Ebi-san reads the blog, which Tachibana writes, she says, because she lost her memories once and she doesn’t want that to happen again…so she writes everything down so even if she loses her memories, she has them somewhere. Honestly, movingly, she tells the story of how she hurt and repudiated a good friend and how much she regrets what she said. Ebisawa, tears running down her face, runs out to see Tachibana. Tachibana is miserable, brooding over the loss of Ebi-san, and thinking “it’s not like she’s going to come running around the corner,” when Ebi-san comes running around the corner. They reconcile, with tears.

As the epilogue dawns, it appears that Tachibana and Ebiasawa are now living together. Their friends from design school are dropping by and the resulting gag was predictable, but amusing.

And the books ends.

I had hoped for much more from this story, to be honest. The digression into the “exhausting life of a mangaka” was interesting (and a trend I’m seeing more and more in manga as artists attempt to explain to their readers just what they go through to get the work out there…) but I feel as if the main plot basically happened as an afterthought, or off scene, while all this other stuff was going on.

The ending read very subtexty to me, but gosh darn I really would have liked to see it be a little more overt texty. I don’t live with all my friends, but I do live with one…the one who is *my* most important friend. And Ebisawa’s manga was “like a love letter.” So…yes, I think this was Yuri, but only by implication. While the author took a volume and a half having us watch something else, could Ebi-san and Tachibana not have had a second to think, “Damn I miss her…and want to hold her and…”? Meh. That’s what I think.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 7
Story – 6
Yuri – 2
Service – 0

Overall – 6

By the end, everyone was very real, but the story was only marginally satisfying.





Yuri Manga: GIRL FRIENDS, Volume 4

August 19th, 2010

GIRL FRIENDS Volume 4 is the kind of story-telling that fills volumes of literature, but manga fans generally can’t stand. Having established in previous volumes that both Mari and Akiko feel the same way about one another, manga fans (who have been trained to be terrible readers by illicitly scanned porn doujinshi and impatiently written fanfic) bitch endlessly “why don’t they just get together (i.e., have sex) already?”

Maddeningly for them, this series is not a porn series. Instead it is a graphic novel series about a shockingly realistic – and therefore frustrating – relationship between two girls young enough that merely identifying one’s feelings at all is problematic. One of the complaints I’ve heard regularly about this series is that it is not realistic at all, but I feel that it absolutely is realistic. The folks I’ve heard this from the most live in a culture and with families that are largely tolerant and accepting of same-sex couples. I can assure you that in parts of the world where there is not a high level of acceptance and/or tolerance, this kind of agonizing hesitation is quite normal.

In Volume 4, Akiko is confused, hurt, frustrated and puzzled by Mari’s lack of response to her kiss at the end of Volume 3. It seems obvious to Akiko that she’s communicated her feelings properly but, inside Mari’s head, the bunker has been shut down. Having only words and unreliable emotions with which to parse Akiko’s actions, Mari has convinced herself that this was merely a kiss between friends…despite all evidence to the contrary.

The bulk of the volume is taken up with the class trip, and the comedy of errors, misunderstandings and miscommunication that keep Mari and Akiko apart. Some of it is not their fault, but a great deal of it is simply lack of a quiet moment to have the talk that they need to have. When, over a heart-shaped stone that is supposed to guarantee eternal love, they finally have that talk – amazingly – much of what keeps them apart dissipates into the nothing it really was.

Now, at last, the two can start developing their relationship. We watch their first halting steps through the jaded eyes of their friend, Sugiyama, in what to me was a really miserable chapter about broken dreams and the death of innocence. But, hey, that’s realistic too.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

Volume 5 will simultaneously bring fans the climax they desperately want and the end of the series so they have something to whine about – also a critical factor in fan enjoyment. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Girlish Sweet

August 17th, 2010

I officially declare this week Takemiya Jin week here at Okazu. True, I only have two books to review by Takemiya-sensei, but two is enough for me. ^_^

Today we take a look at Girlish Sweet: Atashi no Kanojo, (Girlish Sweetアタシノ彼女) a collection of stories published by Hakusensha (home of Rakuen Le Paradis, among other magazines.)

As with Love Flicker, the stories in Girlish Sweet are standalones that connect.

In “Truffe Nature” and “Thyme Orange,” Kaede and Miyako deal with their feelings for one another while together in school and apart in college. A short omake covers a first kiss is aborted for a very silly reason and I know exactly what doujinshi Takemiya read to get the idea. :-) After the story is over, there is an image of Kaede and Miyako heading into a “Main Hall” to be seated.

Kinoshita has been looking after and admiring the President since they were together in high school in “Sweet Acid.” It’s obvious they feel the same way about each other but there’s the whole ethics thing. The omake, “Best Friends,” covers the two women receiving tickets from actress Yukari to her performance. We see the two of them heading to the Main Hall in the interstitial space between stories.

Hanaoka and Sonohara meet by accident, but together they tend the school’s flower beds, in “Good Faith.” They study together…and fall in love. The omake for this is a short with two of Hanaoka’s friends, Kado and Mori, becoming closer, as well.

In “Be Connected,” Kaede buys tickets for them to see Yukari, Miyako’s favorite actress and it turns out that she’s Hanaoka’s older sister…and that Sonohara is a huge fan. They are all seen walking toward the Main Hall.

Kado, Hanaoka’s friend, find herself battling for Hanaoka with Sonohara, in “Hands,” and in “Be jealous of” and “April 2/3” Mori’s backstory is brought to light. But by “May 3/3” Kado and Mori are clearly an item and by “tee hee hee” other people can tease them about it. They are seen heading towards the Main Hall. ^_^

“July 1/3” continues with Mori and Kado’s backstory, but “3/3 Memories” picks up in a present in which the two live together. An extended, very painful backstory for Kado, takes up a good portion of the latter part of this book. This is not at all easy to read and involves some not-explicitly rendered violence against children. Given the light tone of the beginning of the book, this was a surprising development, but that’s exactly what it is – character development for two side characters that become more prominent as the book goes on.

The book ends with Kado and Mori finding “Happiness” together as all of them are seated at last and await Yukari’s performance.

This is one of those manga that starts off one place and, as the story progresses, it goes somewhere completely different. The worst of these are meandering and vague, but the best hold together to make a coherent, interconnected story. I consider Girlish Sweet be the latter and, in a lot of ways, prefer it to Love Flicker.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Where Love Flicker is a series of fun Story As that have an interconnected thread, Girlish Sweet starts off as a series of fun Story As, then turns into an actual story.





Yuri Manga: Love Flicker

August 16th, 2010

Once upon a time, I found myself staring at my empty living room coffee table, wondering what I was going to review that day, as there was nothing really Yuri out. That was a while back and today, it occurred to me that I haven’t actually *seen* my table in a while. I’m not complaining. ^_^

You regulars here know that I very much like Takemiya Jin’s work. It’s not that the art is so incredible or the stories are amazing, it’s just that together, they are fun to read – which is my number one criteria for anything I read. I like fun things, because “fun” is better than a lot of the other options when I read.

The stories in this collection of Takemiya-sensei’s work, Love Flicker, (ラブフリッカー) is fun. And, much like Hiyori Otsu’s Clover, a chunk of it turns out to be an interconnected series and not just the one-shots we thought they were. Hah on us!

In the first story, Chika asks her sempai out because she likes her but, because of rumors, innuendos, a guy and other plot complications, sempai breaks up with her. Chika hits the guy on the head with an artist’s palette and they resolve the rest of the issues by ignoring them.

In the second story, a woman who works at her family’s bakery falls for a student who always buys one mini-croissant. After she tracks the girl, Sakura, down at the school festival, she learns that Sakura’s family is in the rice business. Rice bread is born and we all live happily ever after, except…

Ichi-sempai recruits tall, athletic Miharu to the volleyball team. Miharu finds her self attracted to Ichi, but Ichi breaks down and admits that the sempai (bakery woman above) she likes has a girlfriend. Double lez gross out, huh? Miharu says that she’s not grossed out by sempai’s sempai, or by Ichi’s feelings because she feels that way about Ichi!

At the new student ceremony, Kimura passed out. She’s caught by Kado, but it’s Rinko-sempai who carries her to the infirmary. Kado and Kimura decide to become love rivals for Rinko’s attention, but when Kado comes right out and asks Rinko, Kimura realizies that it wasn’t Rinko she was in love with. Luckily, Rinko realizes it too, and Kimura and Kado are able to get together.

Now that Rinko’s free, the Student Council President is able to realize her dream and capture Rinko for her own. When she and Rinko graduate they express their “close friendship” to Kado and Kimura in the form of a passionate kiss.

The book closes with Ichi-sempai realizing that her feelings for Miharu are…well..love. She and Miharu come out to her sempai and her mini-croissant girl. Ichi’s sempai responds to this with “You too?”

This wraps up what was an entertaining collection of “Story A” stories by one of my fave doujinshi to professional Yuri artists.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

Want a fun collection of Yuri stories? Get this book.





Yuri Manga: Manga no Tsukurikata, Volume 3 (まんがの作り方)

July 12th, 2010

In Volume 3 of Manga no Tsukurikata (まんがの作り方), Kawaguchi continues to be an apathetic and uninspired artist and it beats me how she got enough work done to get a tankoubon out or how it could ever sell, since I can’t project that someone so passionless could draw a compelling story. She’s also a miserable girlfriend, if you can even call her that at all. Takeda’s spiteful and unpleasant and Morishita is…I don’t know what Morishita is. Masato’s just pathetic.

In fact, the *only* reason I picked this volume up is because I knew how it ended. That last chapter happened to be in an issue of Comic Ryuu I bought, and, so for the end chapter alone, I bought the volume. The rest of the volume was exactly as expected – a welter of uninspired writing about an uninspired artist, surrounded by dedication she does not deserve.

And when her girlfriend – the one person who has unreservedly supported her through everything, asks if she likes her, all Kawaguchi can muster is, “Mm.” /spitspitspit/

In a final push to getting a collected volume out, Takeda is extra-specially spiteful and mean and it’s pretty clear that Kawaguchi is using her too.

Clearly Kawaguchi thinks there’s something wrong with her behavior because, after thinking over the situation for a while, she asks Morishita to break up with her. Morishita isn’t surprised. She’s resigned to it.

But after the release of her manga volume and few days apart, Kawaguchi waits for Morishita outside work. Before the younger woman can run, Kawaguchi hands her a pen body. It’s been about two years, she points out. And for their one-year anniversary, she bought Morihita pen nibs. “Will you please go out with me,” she asks as she hand over the body of the pen. And Morishita says, “Yes.”

If this series ended here, it would be forgettable, but harmless. Since it continues, I expect *something* to develop between them now. For Kawaguchi to continue to be passive-aggressive would be unbearable. For Morishita to continue to put up with it would be unreasonable. I expect a Yuri story now, kthanxplz.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 5
Characters – 5
Yuri – 2
Service – 1

Overall – 5

And I want both of them to go tell Takeda to go hang. What a jerk.