Archive for the Artists Category


Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koi Shiteru, Volume 2 (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる)

December 22nd, 2022

In Volume 1, we met the popular and charming work sempai, Hiroko, who is the object of Ayaka’s ardor. Ayaka tries very hard to gain Hiroko’s attention, but Hiroko remains a bit stand-offish. What can Ayaka, a woman who loves women, do to gain the woman of her dream’s attention? Unbeknownst to Ayaka, she is making an impression. The only problem is that Hiroko, also a woman who loves women, thinks Ayaka is a clueless straight girl sent to torture her.

In Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koi Shiteru, Volume 2 (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる), the heat ramps up as Ayaka drowns her misery at a local lesbian bar, only to learn, that Hiroko-sempai is a regular!

In the meantime, Hiroko is trying to resist the irresistable Ayaka, not realizing that she’s also queer as the day is long. But, even if she was, would a workplace romance be a good idea? The chaos levels rise, until Ayaka can stand it no longer.

She bursts into the office and demands everyone listen to her publicly and clearly state her feelings for Hiroko-sempai.

This is very much a “wackiness ensues” farce of a Shakaijin Yuri manga. You can just about hear Khaturian’s Sabre Dance playing in the background, while doors slam and people run to and fro. The resolution of this manga will also be anticlimactic. It’s the tension between ladies’ woman Hiroko unable to give in to her desires and Ayaka wearing another tantalizing – yet professional – outfit and trying to get sempai’s attention that is the plot.

Those readers who find the Black & White series by Sal Jiang a bit too much to swallow, might enjoy the playful goofiness and cuter art of this series. I’m here for the ridiculousness of the scenarios that surely could not exist in a real office for even a second. The more ridiculous this story gets, the more I enjoy it.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 10
Service – 6 When Ayaka stops dressing for attention, it’s actually pretty funny
Yuri – 7
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 8





Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 7 (おとなになっても)

December 8th, 2022

In Shimura Takako’s Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 7 (おとなになっても) a lot happens.

We left Akari and Ayano having been carefully not seeing one another for some time, as Ayano’s divorce proceeds. When they meet again, they mutually decide to begin over, but the rumor that Ayano is having an affair begins to spread.  In school, Ichika’s life has become more complicated as she’s refusing to return to class. I’m honestly way more invested in the well-being of the children than I want to be. ^_^;
Eri and Wataru are reeling as their relationships fail. Neither the adults nor the children are particularly alright.

But Akari and Ayano are doing a pilgrimage to Akari’s hometown, visiting her childhood haunts. They are taking time to talk through their lives – something they have never had a chance to do. It’s good for them. There is a particularly charming moment, when they fantasize about having gone to school together…who would they have been and how would they have related to one another? The art is especially cute as they (as adults) imagine each other as children.

When they return, they find that the rumors are picking up steam. But they have made a decision. They tell Akari’s family that she is moving out…and moving in with Ayano.

Shimura-sensei’s art is not refined in these chapters, but there’s a sense of motion, and emotion, that is subtle and intense.  When she’s good, she’s really good. This story is one of the adultest mange I have ever read. I cannot imagine being a teenager and giving a hoot about anyone in this manga for any reason. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8 I don’t think I dislike anyone…. there’s no bad guys here
Service – 0
LGBTQ+ – 6, maybe? Lives are changing while we watch

Overall – 8

Little girls and and friendship and school, adults and marriage and divorce and choices with consequences. This series would make a pretty solid live-action drama.
 





I’m In Love With The Villainess, Volume 5

November 14th, 2022

I have already read, enjoyed and reviewed this volume twice previously. The first time in Japanese and the second time in digital format, because I did not want to wait for the print edition. Now, at last, I have the print edition in English, from Seven Seas of I’m In Love With The Villainess, Volume 5.

Why did I read it again? Because as much as I love digital books for their convenience and accessibility, I find that I actually do read print differently. My eyes tire at a faster rate when I read text on paper than words on a screen, so a print book is a chance for me to slow down, take time with the words, the emotions, the feel of the story, rather than rushing through it for the content of the story.

In this final volume of the Demon Queen arc, we learn the Truth of The World. So many of the fragments we have been told suddenly make sense.  What was at first a grand, epic, high-fantasy tale, has become something far more complex…and far more interesting because of it.

When I read this book this first time, I reviewed it thusly, “What if you had the chance to remake the entire world in order to save the person you love…and learned that the world was never what it seemed?”

And when I read this series the second time, I said, “Stories in which communities come together to build a better tomorrow. The fact that the leaders of this particular community are queer women is delicious icing on this sweet and satisfying narrative cake.”

In between these two things is a fascinatingly complex series of connections that use everything we have learned in the first 4 volumes, but almost without exception, use them in ways we could not have expected. Things that seemed like they might have become a whole side quest on their own are resolved almost offhandedly, but only to allow space for something far more interesting and relevant. In the end, this is a series about how people form relationships and how complicated it is to make space in the world for those relationships to thrive.

Ratings:

Art – 9 hanagata presents characters as cute and moe, but the art is visibly improved from the first volume
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – Very little, for perfectly good reasons
Yuri – 10
Queer – 10

Overall – 10

The worst thing about this series is that it ends. It had nerve making us care so much about fictitious characters and situations. Luckily for the ILTV fandom our enthusiasm has made the series more popular now than ever. If you’d like to lend a hand, drop into the voting for the “Next Light Novel Award” which will begin at 13:00 JT on November 16th and give your vote to inori-sensei’s work – the LNs could use a little love in Japan.

Thanks to the Seven Seas team, and especially to translator Keven Ishizaka for making this book very readable.

 





Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 3 ( 雨夜の月)

October 21st, 2022

2022 has been an absolute celebration of amazing Yuri manga licenses and releases. Almost everything I wanted to have been licensed has been. Of the two remaining that haven’t, I am very hopeful that we’ll be getting good news in that regard before the end of the year, because this series is one of my favorite so far this year.

I’ve talked at length about some of the reasons why this series by Kuzushiro is so good, in my reviews of Volume 1 and Volume 2. In Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 3 ( 雨夜の月) we get the last piece that would make this series perfect, IMHO. Whatever happens now, I am in the front row, rooting for everyone.

The story begins with Saki and Kanon out doing, y’know, stuff. They run into a woman handing out fliers for a salon, who asks Saki to be a practice model. As it happens, she needs her hair cut, so Saki ends up there and has one of the most extraordinary conversations of her young life. Because…the woman cutting her hair – and doing a great job of it – has accurate gaydar and sees Saki for who she is. She talks to Saki like she’s been there  – for the first time in her life, Saki has a person with whom she can, should she want, confide in about the one secret she keeps closes to her chest.

Saki meets Kanon’s father who is in town to conduct his orchestra in a performance, and another extraordinary thing occurs. Rinne, Kanon’s younger sister, calls Saki and asks her to spend the evening with Kanon, so she’s not alone on the night of the concert, as Kanon does not wish to attend. Why is this extraordinary? Because it’s a perfectly nice thing a sister might do for a sister she loves…something we really don’t get much of in manga.

Saki invites Kanon over for a sleepover, but gets no sleep at all. She’s more and more aware of Kanon and her feelings for her. On the other side, spending time with Saki is definitely changing Kanon. She’s more open to new experiences. She’s having fun. And she’s looking forward to the next chapter in her life. She wants to be independent when she goes to college, but it also frightens her a bit. Saki suggests they live together and, embarrassed, admits that she cares about Kanon more than anyone else.

Mortified, Saki is ready to be treated differently the next day at school, but Kanon is the same as always, Saki runs away, just a little, still embarrassed…and runs into the girl who hurt Kanon in her previous school. Ayano tells Saki the story from her perspective…it’s honestly sobering. Saki will have a lot to think about in the next volume.

So this series is solid on HHD representation and perspective, shows families that like each other, but still have problems to deal with, pressures faced by people who are caretakers (even if they are self-imposed and/or misguided) and now, has added the last piece. Will Saki open up about being gay? How will Kanon respond? This series is #1 on my most-anticipated license of 2022 and I’m just impatiently waiting now. ^_^ Among other things, it’ll be the second time Kuzushiro has had a series licensed in English. Previously JManga licensed Kimi no Tamenara Shineru, which I edited and of which I have reviewed the first 6 volumes, it continued for many more volumes after that. It was so good, but super obscure. ^_^ I expect this one will have a much broader impact.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 9

I love this series and I hope you all will be able to read it soon, too.

 





Black & White: Tough Love At The Office, Volume 1

October 14th, 2022

Many thanks today to Okazu Superhero Eric P for sponsoring today’s review!

Shirakawa Junko is used to being at the top of the department pile. She’s beloved by her co-workers, one of the most productive members (the most, really, but she’ll demure out of humility) and is respected. So when newcomer – formerly of sales…SALES, you know!…Kuroda Kayo transfers in, Shirakawa isn’t going to let this woman get a leg up on her.

Kuroda knows Shirakawa’s type and she’s all ready for war. She’s done her research. Shirakawa will bow before her before long.

As Black & White: Tough Love At The Office, Volume 1 opens, the office is about to become a battlefield. And there will be blood shed. This is not for everyone, I know. But I love this manga so much. I can’t help the feral grin that these appalling people bring out of me.

But seriously CW for cold-blooded manipulation, violence and sexual violence. As I said in my review of this volume in Japanese, “This is not a pretty book about an office romance. This is a violent story about two terrible people being terrible to one another.”

Sal Jiang’s art is super stylish and slick. Kuroda is every inch the sales dept superstar, Shirakawa is the perfect HR sempai. But when they are alone, it is all teeth and nails in a visceral way.  When they do team up, there’s nothing and no one that can stand in their way, but their truest rivals are each other – and there are no rules they aren’t willing to shatter to destroy one another.

The team at Seven Seas has given us an equally slick edition to enjoy with color pages in place, a spot gloss on H. Qi’s cover design. The translation keeps up with the shifts in tone and sense in the scene, thanks to translator, Alexa Frank, adapter Asha Bardon and letterer Danya Shevchenko. Nice work on the editing and technical side, as well. Another great manga reading experience.

I won’t attempt to convince anyone to read this despite the violence. You really shouldn’t if you aren’t reading it for the violence. ^_^ But if seeing perfectly matched, equally powerful people go toe to toe is your wheelhouse, you, too, might enjoy this manga. If you want to know where the story is headed, I’ve reviewed Volume 2 in Japanese, as well. That volume will be headed your way in English next spring in April 2023. Something to look forward to. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – 7 Not a lot of nudity, but a lot of sex and violence
Yuri – 7 See above

Overall – 10

I just love this manga and all the terrible people in it. But my favorite may be their boss who completely knew what he was doing when we sent them up to “work together” and thinks it’s funny. ^_^

This was a really good month for me, with both Black & White and She Loves To Cook, She Loves to Eat out in English and I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 5 hitting shelves in print!