Archive for the Artists Category


Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!, Volume 3 (平民のくせに生意気な！)

January 18th, 2024

Two young women in fantasy school uniform, one with medium-length brown hair and one with long blonde curls, and two little girls with blonde hair, in matching pink and blue dresses, look up and reach towards us.It is not often that a book makes me choke up. Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!, Volume 3 (平民のくせに生意気な！) made me choke up three times…even though I knew what was coming.  I appear to have a weakness, which I will discuss eventually. ^_^

This is the final volume of the Claire perspective of the events in I’m in Love With The Villainess, with a lot of “intermission”s from the perspectives of other characters. When the first two volumes came out, I noted that there are characters in this story that did not appear in the original… and many of the characters that do, are seen from such a vastly different point of view that what we thought we knew about them turns out to be not entirely true. Or truer than we thought.

This story also goes deeply into the circumstances around the death of Claire’s mother and the secrets being carried by the people around her.

Above all, in this story, we are given Claire’s perspective of her vastly changing life, from a high-ranking noble’s daughter to that of a commoner, with a beloved partner in Rae Taylor and two beautiful adopted daughters. It’s not the family life she expected, but she loves it, all the same.

Generally speaking with Light Novel “other” perspectives, I find them a little dull, but in this case, so much depth is added that it is well worth reading this series. She’s So Cheeky For A Commoner, Volume 1 (which I reviewed last year) is already available in English from Seven Seas and Volume 2 will be out in a few months. If you enjoyed the main series, whether Light Novel, anime or manga, I highly recommend you read this iteration. It’s going to add a lot of new information to what has happened. And may even move you to tears.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 10 Outstanding writing, yet again
Characters – 10 I cannot express to you how *good* the characters are here
Service – 3? 4? A bit, sometimes
Yuri/LGBTQ+ – Why yes, actually.

Overall – 10

 





Mage & Demon Queen Finale

January 15th, 2024

A buxom dragon lady with silver hair and golden eyes, holds up a smiling young woman with medium brown hair, who shoots a peace sign at us.Back in 2018, a webtoon series premiered that made such a splash it caused ripples in several ways. Mage & Demon Queen, by Color_LES, brought Yuri to a whole new group of readers who were more used web comics than previous generations, it pushed Yuri from the Philippines into the limelight and helped WEBTOON become the behemoth it is in the web comic space. I interviewed Color_LES here on Okazu, back in 2020. Now, 5 years after it began, the series has come to a close and, before it goes to a paid model on Webtoon of January 25, 2024, I wanted to take a moment to talk about it.

Put simply, Mage & Demon Queen is set in an RPG-style adventure game, where talented mage Malori is obsessed with the beautiful and powerful Demon Queen, Velverosa, not to defeat her, but to woo her. The story is a vast epic, with a number of twists and turns that lead characters through, in some cases, time and space…and ends with love. It’s a grand jest of goofy jokes, raunchy innuendo, sweet romance and dangerous sexy times and yet remains PG no matter how dark or emotional or bawdy it gets.

Like so many series I enjoy, the main selling point of the series is the characters themselves. Side and background characters are given depth, and then, when they come up again, that depth is given another wrinkle, keeping everyone more than just their one joke. Above all, the love Malori has for Vel is so sincere and guileless, that it’s impossible to dislike her. Velverosa likewise develops from the Big Bad TM to a formidable foe, to so much more.

The series also gives readers a chance to watch the artist’s skill develop over time. With a deadline work, there really kind of no way for the artist to not improve. Some chapters have musical backgrounds, and some of those were created by Ari North of Always Human, a comic that I will never stop recommending.

So, if you have not yet read and finished Mage & Demon Queen, do drop by WEBTOON and get on that. The ending is exactly right.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – Yes, but mostly by implication than actually portrayed.
Yuri – 10

Overall – Excellent. Go read the ending. Right now, shoo.





I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 2

January 12th, 2024

A girl with collar-length brown hair wearing a fanciful red school uniform grips the shoulders of a blonde girl in the same uniform as she kisses her. Pink flower petals fly around them.Rae and Claire are about to face their reckoning, once again, in I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 2.  The revolution is upon them, the various forces are arrayed against them and their allies are dispersed. Will Rae Taylor, reborn into this world, be able to save her Villainess love?

This second volume is even better than the first in terms of story. Everything between Rae and Claire moves more quickly, as the forces pushing the revolution increase the pressure. The wave of change catches the two of them up and some significant things are done and said. Narrrator Courtney Shaw is absolutely brilliant, especially as Claire at the climax of the narrative. Equally, she’s delivers devastating pathos in the final chapters of the book. Those of you who have read it know why. Those who have not, may wish to have a tissue or hanky at the ready. The only complaint I have is the continued (and in this volume, expanded) odd choices for pronunciation of a few names, but it’s not worth getting upset over. It’s just a small minor objection to what is otherwise a fantastic narration.

If you reading the light novel did not appeal to you, or you’d just like to know what happens after the anime ended, this audiobook version is highly recommended. If you are already a fan of the series, I’d say this a really terrific way to experience the feels all over again. Shaw does a very good job giving Claire and Rae personality and charm. She makes Rod slightly unpalatable, Yuu fragile, and Thane impenetrable…until we understand him better.

And for those of you already enjoying this audiobook series, Volume 3 was released this week and is up on the Yuricon Store, with a number of purchase or streaming options. Book 4 is coming in February, you can pre-order it now on B&N and Bookwalker Global. It is clear that Seven Seas Siren is getting these out with alacrity, while the series is popular. I have a fannish hope we’ll hear some news about a second anime season before these are completed in March. ^_^

Ratings (for the adaptation only):

Overall – 9





Yuusha ni Naritai Shoujo To, Yuusha Narubeki Kanojo (勇者になりたい少女と、勇者になるべき彼女)

January 1st, 2024

In front of a fantasy landscape with large building and mountains, a small girl with black hair in a ponytail, wearing a halter top connected to a short skirt by belt garters runs joyously in front of a long-silver-haired girl, who stands self-deprecatingly behind, wearing a kind of military inspired school uniform.It seems very appropriate to start our happy New Year with some happy new Yuri, so today we’re going to take a look at Yuusha ni Naritai Shoujo To, Yuusha Narubeki Kanojo (勇者になりたい少女と、勇者になるべき彼女), written by inori., illustrated by Akamoku.

The English translation used by inori.-sensei for this is, “Me The Wannabe Hero and You Who Oughta Be A Hero” and is shortened to BokuKimi in Japanese. This is the story of two girls at Yuusha Academy and their struggle against bias and expectation, as well as the power of simply not giving a shit what people think.

It was a lot of fun. Everything I want in a Dengeki Bunko read – a “light” novel in the broadest sense. It’s small, quickly paced, not entirely predictable and ends just where you want it to.

The story begins with Ruchika, a demon girl who has come to the capital to enter Yuusha Academy and meets a human girl Leonie.

Please let me stop here and digress into translation notes. (One sentence into the synopsis, wow, Erica. ^_^)  I’m sticking with Yuusha because neither “Brave” Academy or “Hero” Academy is working for me, but you do you. Likewise, I am using Ruchika entirely for the aesthetics of the R, because otherwise the leads are Luchika and Leonie and that…annoys me somehow? ^_^;  But really, Luchika is easier to say than Ruchika, so use whichever works for you, as you read.)

The wars between demons and humans are over and the two races are at peace. Demon girl Ruchika wants to be a Hero, because she thinks it would be neat. Leonie, the daughter of the most famous Hero of the world, who slayed the Demon Ruler, is expected to become a great Hero. They meet as  Ruchika collapses from being hungry. Leonie and her childhood friend Noor (or Noru, choose your poison) see Ruchika and Leonie buys her some food. At which Ruchika asks Leonie to marry her.

Students at Yuusha Acadamy use AI collars around their necks called Gear. Ruchika learns pretty quickly that Gear do not work for her demony-fighting style, so against all student norms, she tosses her gear, Proto, off and kicks ass in her test mock battle. Leonie, the daughter of the most famous Hero of the world, who slayed the Demon Ruler, is not that great at fighting.

Together they will fight the prejudices – both societal and individual – to become a great partnership.

And the girl gets the girl, but you probably already guessed that. ^_^

This story is not as deeply embedded in issues of queer identity as I’m In Love With The Villainess is, but it’s not not there, either. Ruchika states that it simply doesn’t matter to demons, and Leonie protests that it kind of does to humans, but that is not the main conflict here. Also not the main point, but given time and attention, is issues of how society treats “other.”

So what is the main point? The main point is that Leonie is fighting from the first page against the expectations heaped on her by having a famous mother. Some people are disappointed in her, others enraged by her. The antagonist sees her as a barrier that must be removed. Ruchika, as a demon, simply does not care at all about what she is “expected” to do and she eventually frees Leonie from her own burden, redefining the way everyone in the story sees Heroes… which was a really excellent moment that was not at all what I expected.

What did I expect? Well, something happens early on that was either a plot point that slipped away, or will be used in a sequel…or was one of the best MacGuffins I’ve ever encountered. I spent the entire volume looking in that direction, while the real story was right under my nose the whole time. If it turns out that that plot point comes back around, it could make for an intriguing delve into the history of Yuusha Academy and how it trains Heroes.

Akamoku’s art is both good and I didn’t much like it. It is not to my personal taste – once again, everyone looks just way too young for the story. I know that’s just how it is light novels, but I’ll never stop hoping that we get characters who look their stated age once again. On the other hand, the illustrations actually illustrate the scene one is reading, rather than just being a character image – I appreciate that very much.

One other note before I wrap this up. Leonie’s friend Noor, in another book might have become a rival, a plot complication or a handwave. I thought the way Ruchika handled the question of what Noor and she would be to one another was absolutely brilliant. I’d love to also talk about one other character, but after trying three times, I realize that everything I say would necessarily be at least partially a spoiler, so I’ll confine myself to say, I hope we get more of them in a way that suits the overall tone of the story.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – 9

Overall  – 9

This was a fun and fast read and everything I hoped for from both inori.-sensei and Dengeki. I look forward to the sequel.

I purchased this at Melonbooks (this was one of two things I absolutely wanted to get while I was in Japan this past time,), so got an acrylic standee of the protagonists, which really is quite adorable. So often standees have the title of the series either baked into the stand or on the plastic that one throws out. In this case, the title is an active part of the standee display. It’s really grown on me. ^_^

 

And it came with a bonus book cover which was the closest thing to service in the story. ^_^ It comes with a bonus story on the inside.





I Married My Female Friend, Volume 1

December 26th, 2023

A woman with long, dark hair in a green dress and a woman with collar-length light hair wearing pink overalls and a beige shirt, share the handles of a plastic bag as they walk and talk.Kurumi and Ruriko are friends. They have decided to be married even though neither of them feel romantically inclined toward one another. They come up with rules to follow to preserve their relationship and immediately those rules feel strained in I Married My Female Friend, Volume 1.

“Or so they think…” weighs heavily in every scene in which they monologue about their feelings of friendship for one another. Kurumi is a free spirit, but on a solo trip she keeps thinking about Ruriko. Ruriko is glad to let her wife roam, but her mind is always on what would make her happy.

They negotiate boundaries. When Kurumi messes up the garbage Ruriko redistributes the labor more sensibly. When Ruriko doesn’t tell Kurumi about how sick she is feeling, until she has to be rushed to the hospital, they find themselves discussing what will make “them” work. For that…and for the moment, Kurumi comes running into the hospital asking to see her wife, left me feeling happy, with a coda of “been there.” Very happy, because it’s still new and exciting to see women identifying themselves as wives, and I don’t see it becoming less wonderful as time goes on.

The one thing that feels different from Usui-sensei’s other “couple figures it out” series, Doughnuts Under A Crescent Moon, is that from the beginning, there’s a very distinct sense that, while Ruriko says she’s only gto feelings of friendship for Kurumi and Kurumi does not seem to have any romantic feelings for Ruriko, there’s an overwhelming sense that that is where we’re heading.

I have been thinking a lot about platonic intimacy between women…and I have always been an advocate for a legal partnership that is not meant as an indication of a romantic pairing. Why shouldn’t friends just be able to designate one another as “family?” Of course, with same-sex marriage in some countries, we’re a little closer to that, but I cannot designate my dear friends who are married to each other, as members of my family, in case of emergency or need. That has never made sense to me. Why shouldn’t people who live together and share household requirements just be able to be seen as a “family” legally? This first volume skirts this issue, as Kurumi and Ruriko balance what their friendship means to them and what their marriage means. 

This series is less of a personal journey into sexuality and identity than Doughnuts, but is, perhaps, more of a journey into social identity. It’s also quite goofy at times, which is fun.

The folks at Seven Seas brought us a wonderfully clean adaptation, with retouched sound effects (yay! whoo! It looks great! Thank you Aly Villanueva and Seven Seas for allowing Aly to do that.) Avery Hurtley’s translation does a great job of giving Kurumi and Ruriko their own voices. I care deeply about that kind of thing, especially for a manga in which these two voices are most of what carries the story. The cover, which is a straight-up gloss looks great, thanks cover designer M.A. Lewife.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 6

Overall – 8, with loads of potential

This is not the deepest book about queer identity (the issue of same-sex marriage is handwaved away as “it’s legal now”) we’ve seen in 2023, but it doesn’t need to be. Sometimes, all we need is a gag about a roaside radish.

Thanks very much to Seven Seas for the review copy…I had bought myself the print volume first, but I appreciate the thought!