Archive for the Artists Category


Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Manga, Volume 4 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。)

September 15th, 2022

Grab a hankie, it’s time to read, Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 4 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。) In this pivotal issue, the Commoner Movement arc develops quickly and comes to a climax, one that specifically affects Claire. Not only is she a noble, and thus stands in opposition to the commoners, but the collateral damage of this arc will damage her, personally. And, while the commoner’s movement is quelled, we are given to understand that it was also covering up a larger plot, one that will engulf everyone in the cast.

This is the volume where everything, all of the goofy light-hearted comedic moments, fall away and what remains is social justice withheld, love perverted into betrayal and a new, unpredictable, danger. We finally meet Salas, the King’s right-hand man, a key player in the oncoming storm. I mention him because it is often stated how attractive he is in the novels – in fact, without him being attractive, his character fails to make sense…so I was really interested in seeing how he was portrayed. Not at all coincidentally, we also meet Lily, the nun, who also become a major player in the narrative, for the first time.  I believe now all the primary pieces are on the board. The game begins with a huge loss. If you’ve read the novels, you know how huge a blow it will be for Claire, and as the end of the volume comes with a letter from Susse, what that means to Rei having to battle for her.

That’s about all I can say without spoiling anything in this highly emotional and action-packed volume. Aonoshimo-sensei’s art is really just fantastic. Everything, from Salas’ cold beauty to Relaire’s adorable jiggles, is just so good. inori-sensei’s characters come alive in these manga volumes. I hope this series can continue through to the final LN volume, because so many reasons! Nur, the dance, the *wedding*, Dorothea, the Demon Queen, that ending. Let’s all keep telling Ichijinsha how much we love this manga series!

Now that we’re past this volume, I can set aside the handkerchief and get ready for the coming of butchy Manaria-sama, and Rei’s greatest trial for Clarie’s love – until the next one. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 6, since it’s not the focus. But it soon will be.
Service – Rei in that outfit at the end is definitely service. Hope we get a standee of those looks.

Overall – 9

I am reading the exact same same scene in this month’s Comic Yuri Hime and in Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou -Revolution-, Volume 2 , so that’s kind of fun, getting the scene described, then seeing it drawn.

Volume 3 of I’m in Love With the Villainess manga, in English will be hitting shelves this month!





Yuri is My Job!, Volume 9

August 26th, 2022

Before we get to the meat that is Yuri is My Job!, Volume 9, let’s step back for a second and look back at a story that has traversed a whole lot of ground, while never moving. ^_^

The situation comedy that starred a young woman more concerned with how she appeared to others than anything else, became an emotionally fraught tale of two childhood friends whose idea of what they wanted from their friendship was irreparably different. Nonetheless, Yano and Hime are, at the moment, relatively functional as a pair of “schwestern.”  Now, we’re looking at the remain cast at this Yuri concept cafe and finding that again, things are wildly out of balance.

Kanako was and is, obsessively focused on Hime. To the point where she really hates even thinking about sharing her with Yano in any but the most superficial way during work hours. This is, of course, not healthy. Sumika, as Kanako’s older sister offers to help her navigate this, but she’s finding that all this Yuri around her…and her own history…has gotten into her head. She’s having decidedly unsisterly feelings about Kanako.

I like Sumika and this arc is killing me.  For oh so many reasons. Mostly because she’s a big assholey clueless straight girl in a very gay Yuri cafe and is an utter dumbass about everything possible. ^_^ Kanako’s obsession makes her almost impossible to like, but you have to sympathize with big ole dumbass Sumika, until….

As Sumika’s brain plays gay games with her, bad news arrives at Liebe and the next few volumes will be a 4-way train wreck between Sumika, Kanako, Sumika’s former little sister, Nene and the woman who broke it all, the woman who destroyed Sumika’s happy days at the cafe the first time and is looking like it’s her plan to to do that again, Gouto (cafe name Goeido) Yoko.

You know I love me my evil lesbians, but in this arc, my hat is thrown into the ring for Nene and her “fuck you, straight girl” faces, which I might need to make into a meme.

Miman has take us so far from the opening salvo and I’m still hooked on every chapter, wanting to know where and what and who and why. The art is orders better from early chapters as well. Facial expressions are outstanding this volume. Since the story is focusing on conversations over cafe scenes, faces and body language really have to carry the visual weight. They do that successfully.

This volume has a short extra story of unrequited love, “I am Your Destiny,” Miman-sensei’s author’s notes which are always interesting and another page of the Cafe’s “Operating Manual,” for fun.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 4
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8.

As I said in my review of this volume in Japanese, “A fantastically unpredictable volume from a series that never stops surprising me.”

Top notch translation from Diana Taylor, solid lettering by Jennifer Skarupa and editing by Haruko Hashimoto makes this an easy reading, set-up for next volume’s gut punches.  Get yourself ready… Volume 10 will be here in November.





Liberty, Volume 2 (リバティ)

August 19th, 2022

In Volume 1  Liz, the emotionally fragile singer for a band Liberty. And we met Maki, who is  is managing  the Liberty account for her company. Liz is a real handful, too, as she tends to use sex as a weapon.  Despite that, Maki has fallen for Liz. And sometimes, she thinks Liz returns the feeling. However, every time they get a little closer, something sets Liz off again, leaving Maki unsure of what she is to the singer.

Liberty, Volume 2 (リバティ) begins with another of the things that sets Liz off. Only this time it wasn’t a thing, it was a person. The very fashionable and sexy Sumire who works for Liberty’s newest sponsor. It’s immediately obvious to us, the reader, that there is some history between Liz and Sumire.  Unable to say no to Sumire, Liz finds herself seduced, possibly coerced…and more possibly that this is how they always have been since they met in school. Liz is ashamed of herself and unwilling to talk to Maki, who is feeling left out. All of this brings up an unwelcome memory for Maki as well.

We have hit pure Jondalar Syndrome* here, my friends. One honest conversation would end this manga. So, of course, that ain’t gonna happen.

*Jondalar Syndrome is named after one of the characters from The Mammoth Hunters (one of the Clan of the Cave Bear series.) Had he and Ayla ever just discussed anything at all, the book would have ended instantly. It was a nightmare for me, a Virgo (which has a lot of mythological tie-ins to communication), with a fetish for good communication practices between people. Made me so angry I named a bad plot device after it, for when two people just do not have the conversation they need to have as a plot driver.

Since this manga is about the drama – and about giving Liz makeovers – and it is drawn by queen of manipulative drama and mopey leads Momono Moto, I’m cool with it. But, I follow the author, Kitta Izumi on Twitter and she’s vehement about being one’s authentic self in public, so I’m hoping that we’ll get to a better place for both Maki and Liz.

I love the art in this manga, I think this is Momono-sensei’s best work to date. It’s super stylish, which suits the world in which it is set. And I love that Maki has a good friend who will realtalk her when everyone else around is either ignoring her or…what? I’m sure Maki doesn’t yet know what her role is in this story, but by the end of the volume, she may be getting there. I’ll wait on tenterhooks to see how things develops.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 7 we’re in a bit of a holding pattern in this volume
Characters – In the real world, we’d all gently suggest Liz speak to a therapist. For the story, she’s a walking plot complication
Service – Not really. Both the sex appeal and the sex are adult and mature.
Yuri – 10 Yuri all the way down

Overall – 8

While I wait, I have Volume 22 of Galette magazine to read, and Volume 23 will be debuting at Comitia next month!





白と黒~Black & White~, Volume 2

August 11th, 2022

In Volume 1, we met Shirakawa Junko and Kuroda Kayo two high-spec, elites in an international sales department, who are natural enemies. They don’t just fight…in fact, they don’t fight at all. Their battle is in the world of reputation. Who among their colleagues loves them best, who respects them the most. They go for the throat in business…and in bed. This hate-hate relationship consumes them both.

In Volume 2 of 白と黒~Black & White~ by Sal Jiang, both Kuroda and Shirakawa find themselves facing a new, unwelcome problem. They may not actually hate one another! Certainly, the people around them are sure that the two of them are close. And they are…physically, at any rate. HR has housed them in the company dorm as neighbors.  Shirakawa befriends Hashimoto, another lesbian in the ranks, who has just been surprise promoted in HR. It’s easy for Shirakawa to get Hashimoto as a confidant, but when Hashimoto asks her to say exactly what Kuroda is to her, Shirawkawa has no answer.

Kuroda is gung-ho when the entire sales department visits Singapore. So gung-ho, that she oversteps her authority and makes a deal she had no right to make. Kuroda, who had been taken under the wing of an established exec, Sakakibara, was feeling pretty chuffed, but now she’s in a tizzy. Reprimanded, she apologizes for making Sakakibara look bad.  Kuroda is also asked what Shirakawa is to her and she also has no answer.

Both women are driven and, now, jealous, and neither will give in. Where can Kuroda and Shirakawa even go from here?

There’s less overt violence in this volume, with one exception, but still, Shirakawa and Kuroda are a “yikes” couple in every way. Their loathing of each other is Shakespearean in scale…love would not help. But jealousy? That’s right in their wheelhouse. Two terrible people being terrible, but only to each other and only in a way that hurts no one else. This is perfection. I love this manga so much. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – 7 Not a lot of nudity, but a lot of sex and violence
Yuri – 7 Above, and now, jealousy!

Overall – 10

Best manga since GUNJO for best worst couple. I mean, just look at that cover! ^_^

You too will be able to enjoy this manga in English when Black & White Tough Love at the Office comes out in October from Seven Seas!





I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 5

August 4th, 2022

“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?” is what I said when I reviewed Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. Volume 5 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。) in Japanese. And, now, you have had the chance to read I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 5 and can, I hope, understand what I meant. ^_^ I’m still trying to avoid spoilers, as best I can. ^_^

The Nur arc comes to a crashing, sword-waving, magic-using, epic ending, that has shockingly little to do with Nur and Bauer at all. Because Volume 5 is about the Demon Queen and the truth of the world. Basically, if you primarily read isekai, you are probably mostly unprepared for just about anything here, until it all settles down.

As I re-read this volume I am fascinated by the scope of this story, which has implications far beyond this narrative. Will future volumes of the upcoming She’s So Cheeky For A Commoner (which I have reviewed in Japanese, as Heimin no Kuse ni Namaika, Volume 1)  – and any series will come after –  let these petals fall and be dispersed, or will they float around reminded us over and over of what, exactly, is going on? I look forward to finding out. There was a great deal of territory covered in this volume and repeated visits in future volumes might help to reify it.

Even more broadly, this series does all sorts of interesting things with the concept of “another world.” Like the Locked Tomb series, it is simultaneously both fantasy and science fiction and some new hybrid child of those genres and isekai. AND it contains that single important question that fills so much classic science fiction anime – what does it mean to be human?

Despite all this, this novel never pretends to be be meaningful in that pretentious literary way of very serious men writing about humanity. It is a human look at the power of community. Once again, I must quote myself here, when I wrote, “If you are familiar with Doctor Who, you will entirely understand how everything in this book works…and how it must work. ^_^ This leads to the only criticism, if you can even call it that, I have. Because of that specific narrative structure, there was no way to give it a punchy ending, which was perfectly okay. It ended as it had to…and then didn’t end for a few more post-epilogue shorts. When you like your characters, it’s hard to let go, I understand completely. ^_^ ”

What I mean to say here is that this ending was the right ending for this book. ^_^ This series ends where it must, with home and family. I have said this about a dozen times recently, but I’ll repeat it – this is what I am looking for these days in the books I read. Future-building with hope…hopepunk, as Ada Palmer calls, it. 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.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – Very little, for perfectly good reasons.
Yuri – 10
Queer – 10

Overall – 10

This…was a very good book. I hope you’ll all read it. If you have read it, do let me know what you think in the comments!