Archive for the Artists Category


HabuCore F

April 4th, 2024

On the right, a stern-faced woman with short dark hair and glasses, wearing a suit. On the left a red-haired woman in a scarf and red jacket over yellow tee shirt, smiling. Today’s post is less of a review than a story of how a chance encounter changed my life. ^_^

In the early 2000s, a reader of Okazu, touko_no_doriru_san was kind enough to gift me the very first issue of a series that would take up a lot of space in my brain for the next almost 20 years. Hayate x Blade (はやて×ブレード) was a gonzo battle/school manga series by someone whose art I  already loved as the doujinshi circle JESUS DRUG, Hayashiya Shizuru.

The original story was as follows: Kurogane Hayate, an energetic doofus enters Tenchi Academy (under, it turns out, false pretenses) in order to compete for money to wipe out the debt at the orphanage that took care of her and her twin sister, Nagi. To win, Hayate must find a partner to combat other teams with. Hayate ends up partnering with Mudo Ayana, a girl whose breakup with her last partner has traumatized her and made her swear off fighting. 

This all sounds very heavy – and, honestly, it is! There is a ton of deep, dark stuff here, but also so much more crazy, goofy nonsense and high-powered swordfighting action and quite a lot of violence. Gouting blood is a thing, but so are banana peel gags and the chairwoman of the school fighting to a song made famous by a real-world roller-blading boy band. The action was good, but what made this series shine was the characters. There are too many amazing characters to name – by 2015, there were 40 main characters in this series. Honestly, I was going to list out just a few, but in the end, I really can’t. ^_^

The series went through a lot of changes. A publisher shift in Japan meant that we only got the first 6 volumes in English. The series initially ended in 2013, with Hayate clearing the orphanage’s debt. In 2014, it began anew as Hayate x Blade 2 (Nyan), in which the school chairwoman Amachi Hitsugi creates an even nuttier battle royale, pitching all the students at the school, including an outsider group determined to take the school down completely, against one another. Students were split into “Heaven” and “Earth” teams and given dangerous and weirdly bizarre scenarios in order to fight one another. There was never any doubt who would win.

There were also 9(!) Drama CDs which live in my head rent-free, as masterworks of writing and voice-acting.

In 2018, we said good-bye to Hayate x Blade. As I said at the time, statistically speaking, one volume should have been less good than the others, but none of them were anything other than fantastic. The story ended, I was very happy with where and how it ended, which was on a gag that made me snort my drink out my nose. A perfect ending for this series.

But, selfishly, I want more. ^_^ I love epilogues in manga. I especially adore 10-years-later epilogues, to see what became of these people. I wanted that for this series.

Well last year, I got it. As part of the Habu Core, (Hayate x Buraydo Collection), Hayashiya-sensei put together a doujinshi of commission art of the HxB characters (squee) and a series of 10 years later sketches of all 40 (plus 1) of the main characters, plus some high-school-era comics for those pairs. And once again, it ends on a gag so utterly out of the pale, but completely in character for Amachi Hitsugi, that I choked on my drink. 

Habu Core F is the perfect epilogue to the perfect manga series.

I’ll never forget this series. At least in part because when Hayashiya-sensei was dissolving her backlog of manuscript pages, I purchased some of the panels for myself and plan on having them framed and added to my art gallery in my office this year.  ^_^

Once again, we say good bye to Hayate x Blade. I’m glad that Sid and Nancy seem pretty happy with their choices. ^_^

 





I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 4

March 3rd, 2024

We left Rae and Claire in the Nur empire at the end of Volume 3, and in I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 4 we get into the weeds of so many plots that I’m still reeling from the tone shifts.

Rae and Claire may be “exchange students” but they have revolution on their minds and spend the beginning of the book thinking how they can train Princess Philene up to be the revolutionary leader they need.

But first, we have a cooking contest! And a formal ball. And a murder mystery, and a mysterious magical item, and a kidnapping. And helping out many different people in their various personal issues.

And, of course, that revolution.

There are so many plates being spun that the foreshadowing is barely noticeable, except when it’s a bat to the back of the head.

This is a story that, despite the light-hearted opening, becomes quite serious by the end. Nonetheless, there are many funny scenes* here, as well as a number of sincere discussions of queer existence. When all of that is set aside, the story digs in and becomes both politically and magically, dark.

Once again, narrator Courtney Shaw does a fantastic job at voices. Pronunciation is still an issue, however. Pronouncing Lene “Lean” is a matter of interpretation. But sakura? How is sakura being pronounced “sa-KOO-ra” in 2024? Please.  Oh well. I blame the director. This kind of thing is easy to check. I had some qualms about accents, but I’ll get over listening to a German cook with a Italian accent and a lisp. It was kind of funny after a while.

This 9 and half hour book is a lot of entertainment for the money and while it sets up the final volume of the series, doesn’t really prepare you for it when it arrives

Once again, I think this audiobook allows for a different appreciation of the story for those of use who have read or watched it, and offers accessibility to folks who use audiobooks as an assistive tool. I’m 100% for that and glad to see more Yuri available in this format with Yen’s The Executioner and Her Way of Life added to the roster this winter.

Ratings (for the adaptation only):

Overall – 10

*I even laughed out loud at a breast size scene, possibly for the first time ever.

Volume 5, the final volume, is available this month from Seven Seas Siren.





Pulse, Volumes 3 & 4

February 28th, 2024

Two women with long, flowing hair, one dark purple, one blonde, embrace surrounded by flower, as sunlight shines down upon them.by Eleanor Walker, Staff Writer

Today I’ll be talking about Pulse, Volume 3 and Volume 4, by Ratana Satis. I reviewed volumes 1-2 a while ago, so let’s see how the story has progressed. 

Content warning: Volume 3 contains scenes of violence and homophobic slurs. 

Lynn has now moved herself into Mel’s apartment, and domestic bliss/lots of sex ensues. Mel’s feelings for Lynn both in a physical and a romantic way are growing, but the dark cloud of Lynn’s heart condition continues to loom over the relationship. The porn to plot ratio is more skewed towards the porn side than it was in the first two volumes and most of the story in these volumes actually takes place away from the hospital, with Mel getting tangled up in an old police officer friend’s investigation of a violent thug who targets women.

Two women, one with long brown hair in a brown jacket and gloves, and a blonde in a tawny coat and gloves, share a red scarf and smile at each other as they embraceThis arc didn’t really last long and I felt it was all a bit conveniently wrapped up, but a fresh Big Bad in the form of a new hospital director does appear at the end of volume 4. From what happens when she appears and the flashbacks in the chapters when she’s introduced, things are going to get very interesting for Mel indeed. I’m looking forward to the story getting back to the hospital and seeing what will actually happen to Lynn because of her condition. 

Ratings:

Art: 8. It’s still attractive and some of the chibi facial expressions are a delight. The erotic scenes are also very well crafted.

Story: 6. Despite this review covering 2 volumes, I don’t feel like a lot actually happened in the story. As with the last review, don’t think too hard about how implausible the situation is. Why is practically every female staff member at this hospital a lesbian? 

Characters: 8.5. Still by far and away the best part of the series. Mel and Lynn are incredibly cute together and the side characters are well written too. 

Service (level of salaciousness): 10. This series is rated ‘Mature’ and shrink wrapped for a reason. The erotic scenes are even more plentiful in these volumes and there is very little left to the imagination. 

Yuri: 9. It’s lovely to watch them growing closer and the walls around Mel’s heart gradually coming down. 

Overall: 7.5

 

Still an enjoyable series, just the story felt a bit weaker in these two volumes than the first two.

Volume 5 is already out, Volume 6 has just come out in English, with Volume 7 the final volume, due to hit this summer. 

Eleanor can be found lurking around the internet @st_owly.





Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 6 (雨夜の月)

February 20th, 2024

Two girls wearing Japanese yukata for a summer festival, look at each other with intensity as fireworks explode above them.Do you remember Morinaga Milk’s series Girl Friends? It was an incredibly popular and influential Yuri manga in the early 2010s, so more than a decade ago. The story followed an introverted girl, Mari, who becomes friendly with an extroverted girl, Akiko. Akiko is Mari’s first real girl friend. And, then, they start to fall in love with one another.  I bring this up because a number of Yuri series begin in a similar emotional space – someone has not previously had a close friend and then their feelings begin to change. Saki and Kanon have both had a close friend before. They both know how friendship feels. They both know how it feels to feel betrayed, or lost when that friendship cracks.

In Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 6 (雨夜の月) a whole lot of things happen that remind us that this story is absolutely not handwaving *anything.* This is a remarkably profound story that is not at all taking shortcuts, even when we might expect it to.

First, in the wake of telling Kanon how she feels,  Saki has decided that it’s time to speak to Akira, the hair stylist whose “friend’s” story of first love with another girl seemed awfully personal. It’s an important conversation for Saki, because she starts to accept her feelings for Kanon. She has no clue where she is going with them yet, but she she’s starting to understand that this is who she is. Secondly, Kanon is also wondering what to do with her emotions. She’s got no name for this maelstrom she’s feeling ask Saki asks her a favor under the bright lights of a fireworks display.

Whether or not they become a couple is entirely irrelevant to me. Watching them work through complicated feelings about other people and with other people to talk to, is very much the crux of the matter. But, this volume isn’t leaning back on just this one piece of the story, either. Saki meets up with Ayano and once again offers comfort and a way to move forward for the other girl and Tomita comes back to school, openly admitting her disability, and apologizing to her ignored friends in a touching scene.

Yeas ago, I was reading a comic that cleared the low bar of the Bechdel-Wallace Test but inspired me to create the Friedman Addendum to the Bechdel-Wallace Test, which includes these three criteria:

Does female character have agency?
Does she have society?
Does she have personality?

In Amayo no Tsuki, Saki has society. Her friendship has helped Kanon to build the same for herself… and that is what makes this volume so amazing. If these two fall in love, it won’t be because they are sheltered in a world of two, blocked from the rest of society. It will be because they want to face that world together.  In the meantime, Kanon is not only finding her own ways to make friends and be part of her class’ activities, she’s also finding her own individual voice as a writer.

The final story follow Kanon’s sister Rinne and how she learns to be braver about openly displaying empathy for others with help from her sister’s experience.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service –  Saki and Kanon in yukata is also a form of service ^_^
Yuri – 5

Overall – 10

This was a fabulous volume of a series that is already carved out a permanent place in my heart.  I recently did an interview with a media platform in which I was asked where I saw the future of Yuri. The answer is – this. This intersectionality with disability, gender, race, mental health – these crossroads where we explore with it is to be a human with a body and mind that is not always under our control or are othered by people who are not us. This is where I see Yuri going right now and I really like it.

This series is available in English, as The Moon On A Rainy Night from Kodansha,  Volumes 1-3 are out and I have, of course, reviewed them here on Okazu. ^_^

 





The Moon on a Rainy Night, Volume 3

February 13th, 2024

Two girls in bed, bathed in a golden glow. A girl with light-colored hair girl watches a dark-haired girl intensely as she sleeps.I’ve been filled with joy reading this series since my first glimpse at it almost two years ago. In my review of Volume 3 of Amayo no Tsuki, (雨夜の月) I said, “we get the last piece that would make this series perfect, IMHO. Whatever happens now, I am in the front row, rooting for everyone.”

Representation is a complex matter. It’s incredibly powerful just to see or read about someone who is like ourselves. In this way, this series has been fantastic, in providing excellent representation of disability and the way accommodation can function when people understand what it is intended to do. But in both narrative and real life the best representation is to actually meet someone like yourself and understand how their lives play out. In The Moon on a Rainy Night, Volume 3, Saki meets two critically important people.

First, she randomly meets a hair stylist in training who, quite disconcertingly, “sees” Saki, in a way that she is not yet ready to see herself. Akira’s gaydar absolutely pins Saki, and the younger woman is on the receiving end of a cautionary tale about first loves which makes her more self-conscious about the skinship between Kanon and herself. This becomes a bit of a crisis, as Kanon’s sister asks Saki to keep Kanon company one night. Kanon sleeps over and Saki is ecstatic and panicking all night long.

And then, Saki meets Kanon’s former friend, Ayano, who warns her about the price one pays as a caretaker. We can see right away that Ayano’s situation was different, and tragic on several levels –  but the warning Saki receives is, once again, reasonable. In both cases, she is seen and understood, and yet, not understood. Representation is complicated. Saki is going to have to figure this one out for herself…but not on her own, one hopes. Kuzushiro is pulling out all the stops here.

While translation, lettering and editing are all fantastic, technically, this book is a bit problematic. On the Okazu Discord, we recently had a discussion about the indifferent quality of recent print books from Yen and Kodansha. This book arrived with the cover cut too short for the pages. I might have assumed that was a fluke, but a second copy – from a different company – was the same. My last few volume of books from Yen have likewise been not-great quality. She Loves To Cook, She Loves To Eat had pages cut unevenly, and both publishers have had low-ink faded pages in recent volumes. As I type this, I notice the spine is not lined up correctly in one of the two copies I have. These are production issues that need to be addressed. I hope they’ll both improve their QA a bit this year.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – Really not
Yuri – 4, LGBTQ – 6

Overall – 9

Volume 3 put this series on my top ten lists for last year (and Volume 4 and Volume 5!) It’s a tremendously good series, with a LOT to say about life. If you’re not reading it yet, I really think you should.

Volume 6 of Amayo no Tsuki is out in Japanese and Volume 4 of The Moon on A Rainy Night, will be headed our way in April.