Archive for the Artists Category


Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koishiteru (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる), Volume 1

November 23rd, 2021

Ayaka-chan is fashionable and cute. As a result, she’s super popular with her male colleagues. Unfortunately for them, she isn’t interested. Ayaka only has eyes for her cool, competent sempai, career woman Hiroko.

Hiroko is put out greatly by Ayaka’s flirting. The problem isn’t that Hiroko isn’t interested…the problem is that she is. Very interested. And this apparently straight girl is driving her out of her mind. Poor Hiroko drinks away her pain every night at a lesbian bar, screaming at how vexing this all is!

In the meantime Ayaka amps up her seduction techniques. It drives her crazy that Hiroko never seems to notice her, no matter what she does. There is a punchline of course: What Hiroko will do when she finds out, is the subject of Volume 2. ^_^

And so their days go, each driving each other crazy in Sal Jiang’s office romance, Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koishiteru, Volume 1 (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる).

As usual with a Jiang story, the art is stylish, the characters feel completely real and the collision that’s coming is set up in a way that could be amazingly fun or bad (or both at the same time!) and still be equally entertaining.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 10
Service – 5 Ayaka is not above using her assets to get Hiroko’s attention, so mostly T&A.
Yuri – 7
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 8

I’m interested and pleased that this book is a Futabasha book. I’m always glad when Futabasha puts out openly queer work. You can read sample chapters in Japanese on Web Action, if you’d like to get a feel for this – I know there are plenty of Jiang fans reading this blog.

I’m going to hope that if her Black & White (which I reviewed here earlier this year and has since been licensed by Seven Seas,) does well, we’ll see this goofier story in English as well. ^_^ Normally, I wouldn’t assume, but Seven Seas already licenses stuff from Futabasha, so it’s not a stretch.

 





Days of Love at Seagull Villa, Volume 3

November 15th, 2021

Days of Love at Seagull Villa, Volume 3, teeters a the edge of crisis from almost the very first page for what might have been a really dark story but, ultimately, wasn’t. I’m still not sure if it was better for it, or not. ^_^

First, we learn that the real source of Mayumi’s self-doubt, is her “best friend,” who has spent a lifetime poisoning and manipulating Mayumi. Touko, who is clearly quite possessive of Mayumi, and also clearly willing to manipulate her and everyone around her, is already beginning the process of cutting Mayumi off from Rin at the beginning of this volume. When we understand that Touko has been doing this all her life, we’re pulling even harder for Mayumi to get away.

But that isn’t the only crisis. Rin’s being pressured to get married; after all, raising Hinata alone is hard. A storm is coming and it might bring darkness…

…Only, no, it doesn’t. ^_^

In the end, Mayumi stands up for herself, she and Rin tell each other their feelings and everyone lives happily ever after. And I find, as I read it, that it feels like a book that could have become another deeply disturbing series, but was cut off (early? perhaps, I can’t tell) and given a happy ending. For which I am very thankful.. The world is full of enough horrible, manipulative people who get away with terrible things, I’m not enthusiastic about that in my Yuri as well.

But also, does it make any sense that everyone in the story lives happily ever after – the terrible people, the clueless people, the good and kind people, and the protagonists? I still can’t tell.

I mean, sure I’m happy for the kids, I’m glad Rin and Mayumi make it work and are accepted and happy. We ended up with no worse than a sprained ankle, but I have the strangest feeling that we were supposed to have had – something – go worser. I’ll call us all lucky and move on. Touko’s manipulation is a mere shadow of the kind of emotional abuse Kodama-sensei portrays in some of her other work and maybe she just couldn’t bring herself to torture Mayumi. I’m okay with that.

Technically, the book is very well done, with clean translation done by Amber Tamosaitis and Mo Harrison’s nicely integrated lettering and retouch.  Once again a great job by Seven Seas. It’s a fast read and a surprisingly sweet ending from a master of Yuri dread. ^_^

Ratings

Art – 8
Story – 6
Characters – 8
Service – Not so much this volume
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8

Thanks so much to Seven Seas for the review copy. A lucky someone will get to enjoy this in an upcoming Lucky Box!





Bloom Into You Anthology, Volume One

November 12th, 2021

The Bloom Into You Anthology, Volume One is something we didn’t used to see much in the west – an “official” collection of shorts about the characters by artists other than the creator. It’s a testament to the popularity of Bloom Into You, that this series had two volumes of this official anthology. Today we’re looking at Volume 1.

To begin with, I find I never reviewed this volume in Japanese. Having re-read it now, I know why. It’s a fun read and very enjoyable if you are a fan of the series or, more specifically, of Yuu and Touko. Most of the stories focus on them and their dynamic, often with a kind of goofiness that I imagine is very appealing if you like them. Here you’ll discover works about Bloom Into You by other Yuri artists such as Canno,  Yuriko Hara and tMnR.

Tthis volume had a few stories I enjoyed.  Particularly, “Onigiri, Croquettes, Rolled Eggs,” by Okara Miyama, which looks into a bad day in the life of Yuu’s friend, aspiring writer Koyomi. It’s a lovely look at friendship.

Also appealing to me was Kazuno Yuikawa’s “In the Box,” for – again – taking a deep dive into Sayaka’s feelings about and relationship with Touko.

It’s a no-brainer that I like “Bitter Coffee Time” by Hiroichi, for focusing on Riko and Miyako.

This volume was beautifully lettered by CK Russell, and nicely translated by Jenny McKeon. The small error of Sayaka’s birthdate has already been acknowledged and will be changed in future editions. I wouldn’t mention it at all, except people do like to jump on that kind of thing, so I wanted to assure you, it’s been noted already.

Which brings me to a point I want to make yet again – should you see an error or have a sustainable argument against a translation choice, there is an effective means to communicate this to companies. Go to their website, click their contact forms, write a politely worded message detailing the error. Remember human beings work at these companies, so do be sympathetic. The wrong thing to do is become rude or vicious in a public forum, so avoid that if possible. I assure you, being polite works. I’ve addressed many problematic language issues in the years I have been writing here. All you need to do is be polite.

If you loved Bloom Into You and want more time with Yuu and Touko and their friends…this is the book for you!

Ratings are variable on account of it being an anthology.

Overall – 8

Bloom Into You Anthology Volume Two (linked here by an amazon affiliate link. I’ll get it up on the Yuricon Store when all the options are avaialable) will be out in January, so you have another chance to indulge your passion for this series, just around the corner.





2DK, G Pen Aftertime Ohsawa Yayoi Short Story Collection (2DK、Gペン、アフタータイム。大沢やよい 短編集)

November 11th, 2021

Ohsawa Yayoi’s adult life romance, 2DK, G Pen, Mezamashitokei was a part of the monthly Yuri contributions from Comic Yuri Hime from 2015 to 2018. After 8 volumes, in which we became familiar with the details of our protagonists’ lives and loves, we may be forgiven for wondering how they are doing now. ^_^

Ohsawa-sensei gives us a glimpse of Nanami and Kaede’s home life in the cover story of her new collection, 2DK, G Pen Aftertime Ohsawa Yayoi Short Story Collection (2DK、Gペン、アフタータイム。大沢やよい 短編集). They haven’t changed. Nanami is still busy, Kaede is still incapable of taking care of herself and a little prone to imagining things, but they are still love-love.

This is followed by a her recent shorts for Comic Yuri Hime. “Sono Hi, Night Date Nanode” is a delightful story about falling in love with, and under, the stars. And “Take Out Dekimaska?” is a nice little scenario between a delivery woman and a waitress that was both kind of sweet and deeply satisfying when the waitress loses her patience with the delivery woman not cluing in.

“Guragura Platonic” is a Ohsawa’s spin on a sex-worker fantasy. “Campus ni Trap,” is a teacher and student story (with bonus drunken teacher, so CW if this is not your thing). The final story is one of my faves, “Office Sempai, Kiraina Watashi,” which wraps up the 2DK storyline by showing us Tanihara Yuuko, Nanami’s over-acheiving kouhai, who now has a mythos of her own because Ohsawa-sensei could not let her go. I have a calendar from a Yuriten gone by of Tanihara exhorting me to give it my all at work, every month. It’s so annoying and hilarious I keep it on the living room table.  This month she reminds me that Business = Drama, so “Everyday Make Drama”. 「えヴリデイ、メイク・ドラマ」

Tanihara’s new kouhai just *cannot* figure out her enthusiastic sempai. Okata is completely confused by this bundle of motivational poster-energy and finds her both annoy and realizes that she likes her. ^_^

It was lovely to revisit with characters we know and meet new ones. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 5 There is some nudity and sexual situations, especially in the sex worker story.
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

I’ll always look forward to Ohsawa-sensei’s work and to see where it takes us and her. ^_^





I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 1…again!

October 29th, 2021

It’s not unheard of that we sometimes review the same book more than once here on Okazu. Books that were published by one company, then again by another are the most common culprits – like Azumanga Daioh by ADV Manga and again by Yen Press or Aria by ADV, then again by Tokyopop. We’ve definitely had more than one reviewer taking a look at the same material such as various perspectives on the Citrus anime. Today marks  – as far as I can remember – the very first time I am reviewing the same book that I have previously reviewed. And let me tell you, I’m really happy to be doing it!

In March, I took a look at the first volume of the manga for I’m in Love With The Villainess, which I had previously read in Japanese, but not reviewed because of delayed shipping.  This was followed by a review of Volume 2 in Japanese.

In the end, there were some problems with the first volume in English that I felt were impossible to ignore. I wrote a polite, detailed email to Seven Seas. I, like you, love this series, and wanted – needed – it to be perfect.  Imagine my surprise and delight to hear back from them recently, with an offer of a new edition!

So, today, for the first time ever on Okazu, I am reviewing the exact same book for the second time. Today I am looking at I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 1, written by inori, art by Aonishimo, character design by hanagata.

The story follows a Japanese office worker, Oohashi Rei, as she finds herself transported to the world of her favorite otome game, Revolution. Freed(?) from her previous life as a wage slave and given the chance to be the game’s protagonist, Rae Taylor as she is now known, pursues her favorite character – the game’s villain, Claire François.

The beginning of the story is goofy, as Rae plays the fool to Claire’s stereotypical high school rich girl villainess. But, as the story goes along, Rae’s behavior seems to have a different meaning and Claire begins to wonder what makes this odd and annoying commoner tick. We are also introduced to the rest of the players from the first novel of the series.

My sincere concerns about the word choices have been wholly alleviated. Claire remains high-handed and imperious, but now lacks any signs of vulgarity or uncouthness. She is the high-born noble daughter that Rae, and we, fell for. ^_^  I thank everyone on the Seven Seas team for going back over this translation and smoothing the rough patches out of the book. My especial thanks to translator Joshua Hardy, and editors Dawn Davis and Peter Adrian Behravesh, Also, some recognition to Courtney Williams who was given time to letter and retouch, which gives the story a smoother feel than just jotting in translated sound effects. (I know how hard that is and why it’s not possible for the artiest of s/fx, but I always appreciate the effort.) And once again, Nicky Lim’s cover design is lovely, with the embossed title.

As an added bonus, I genuinely think the illustrations by Aonoshimo-sensei actually enhance the story. This volume is of course, early days on this collaboration, but I know from later chapters, the art is good and will become fantastic.

This is the edition we wanted. Now I can recommend the manga as highly as I do the light novels. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 8 It will improve over time. ^_^
Service – 5 Nudity and bathing
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8

Volume 2 is heading our way in English in winter 2022 and I look forward to it with as much enthusiasm as I do Volume 3 in Japanese. Thank you Seven Seas for this review copy, and for taking our concerns and desires so seriously. It is very much appreciated.