Archive for the Artists Category


The Moon On A Rainy Night, Volume 6

December 27th, 2024

Two young women in summer yukata stand on a balcony looking at one another, as fireworks explode colorfully above them Volume 5 left us on a bit of a cliffhanger, as Saki accidentally allows her truest thoughts to be seen by Kanon.

The Moon On A Rainy Night, Volume 6, by Kuzushiro, picks up with Saki mortified beyond her ability to express and Kanon struggling to find words to address it. Luckily for both of them, life as a Japanese teenager is filled with enough activity to allow them both some space to roll around on their beds, screaming into the pillow.

Nonetheless, things are changing, Kanon has become aware that since she lost her hearing, she has not been a good friend to the people she leaned on. She takes a small step to caring about someone and something other than herself. Suddenly aware of all the people around her who have given her opportunities, Kanon is changing. Saki reaches out to the one adult she is pretty sure gets what she is going through, and Tomita returns to class with surprising results. Although they have spent most of the summer together, Saki suggests one special event for them to share watching fireworks together from her apartment balcony, where they take one more towards opening up to one another and to themselves.

Rinne finds herself changing as well. As a little sister, she was unable to help Kanon much, could only watch over her in a general sense. But she sees that Saki has changed her sister for the better and it’s made Rinne more willing to take a risk, a little despite herself. She encounters Chiyama, a girl with a condition that is not harmful but which has, and will, make her life difficult and unpleasant. Rinne decides to get involved and be a friend.

I have repeatedly said here and elsewhere (and to anyone I could pin up against a wall and tell) that I love this series. From my perspective – which is not that of an HHD person, but of a person who is chronically ill and had many of the same kinds of issues as both Saki and Kanon as a teen – this story does everything right.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 2 Saki and Kanon in yukata is definitely meant to serve.
Yuri – 4 It’s only just begun.

Overall – 9

The Moon On A Rainy Night is a masterwork of manga and an outstanding example of how good storytelling can help us to be better.

I cannot *wait for you to read the next couple of volumes! Volume 6 is out now from Kodansha.





Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 8 (雨夜の月)

December 19th, 2024

A girl with reddish hair in a green striped button-down shirt sits at a kitchen table eating with a smile. Across from her, a girl wearing a red blouse with her long, dark hair tied back in a ponytail, earnestly leans across the table. Volume 7 of Kuzushiro’s school life drama finished up the school festival arc and, while it had its fair share of maid costumes and cat-eared girls, it also resolved one of Kanon’s lingering akashic ties – her relationship to her former best friend, Ayano. Both young women have changed in the days since they last saw one another and are able to start over once again as friends.

Friends. Because of Saki, Kanon is able to be a better friend to Ayano, and interact with her classmates. Because of Saki, Kanon was able to participate in the school festival. Because of Saki…

In Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 8 (雨夜の月)Kanon is very aware that, while Saki has been there for her, she doesn’t really know her friend the way she would like to. This is new to Kanon. Since she lost her hearing, she’s been very much alone inside her head, but now, Saki makes her want to learn about another person. And, as she thinks about Saki…Kanon realizes that she thinks about Saki a lot. All the time. When the teacher mentions writing for a lover, when she wants to learn how to make macarons, when she hears that Saki has an upcoming recital, but she has not yet been invited. Or when she see’s Saki’s reaction to the news that her former piano teacher will come to the recital. What is that woman to Saki?

Saki, for her part is flailing in exactly the same way. Will Kanon be more upset if she is invited to a recital she cannot hear or not? Why does she immediately think of Kanon when the music she plays is described as being “for a lover.”

The sports festival is coming up, but first Saki has this recital. And when Kanon see Saki in a vintage dress with her hair styled…well, she’s going to have to deal with that, too.

This volume never once retreats from the  complexity of human lives. Yes, both Saki and Kanon, separately, have started to give voice to their feelings, but the business of school and life still goes on. They have obligations, but also take on new responsibilities for their own desire to become whoever they are.  It’s beautiful. I don’t think I have ever rooted for two fictional characters as hard as I root for these two.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – We’ve seen them in yukata and maid outfits with animal ears , so more dress up? Yes.
Yuri – 6

Overall – 10

Volume 6 of The Moon On A Rainy Night is out now (and next on my to-read pile!) from Kodansha. Fireworks! ^_^

 





I’m in Love with the Villainess: She’s so Cheeky for a Commoner, Volume 3

December 2nd, 2024

Two girls in red fantasy school uniform and two little girls, one in pink and one in blue look up as they hold their heads up and out to us.By the time we get to Volume 3 of the Villainess’ side of the story, is there even anything left to learn? Well, in I’m in Love with the Villainess: She’s so Cheeky for a Commoner, Volume 3, the answer is a resounding “Yes.”

This final volume of the series once again takes us through key points in the main story, from Claire’s perspective. Although we already know what Rae was planning – and why – watching Claire struggle against what she had to see as blunt force manipulation is both powerful and frustrating. In a sense, now we are able to understand Rae’s desperation fully. But, also, we are given much deeper insight into the person whois and who became Claire François.

We learn the full story of her youth, the loss of her mother and the ripples from that death that continue through and after the revolution. To fill the backstories with details we would not otherwise understand, we get the perspectives of Claire’s father, and mother, Pip and Loretta, Manaria, Lene, Misha and more.
The epilogue let’s us look both backwards…and forwards to see what becomes of some of our noble cast.

I have been a huge fan of this series from the first moment I read it, back in 2020. As a reverse-perspective, this spin-off series manages to provide a lot of insight and new information, a promise that reverse-perspectives often don’t live up to.

As I said, of my review of the JP volume (which wasn’t even a year ago…wow) 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

I’m sorry to leave this series behind and hope there will be a published sequel one day.





Assorted Entanglements, Volume 6

November 20th, 2024

A woman in a business suit with short dark hair, holding a beer, hugs her younger sister in a white blouse and dark blue skirt her black hair in pigtails.

by Matt Marcus, Staff Writer

Last we left our ragtag crew of sapphics, dates were “enjoyed”, feelings were revealed, emotional wounds were bonded over. We were left just short of a handful of plot payoffs: will Kujou give in to Sugimoto’s trial date idea? Will Heke-sensei be able to game hard enough to earn the right to date her boss? Will Shizuku and Saori just hook up already?

In Assorted Entanglements Volume 6, three of our four pairings arrive at significant inflection points. One couple is embarking on a new adventure as a couple, one is pretending to do the same, and the third…well that one is about to get complicated.

For Saori and Shizuku, the twin-tailed “normie” decides to sneak out of the house at night for doughnuts and deadpans her way into Shizuku’s apartment (this time choosing to be let in through the door instead of smashing the window. Character growth!!). She continues to find herself drawn to the delinquent, and has begun to see through some of Shizuku’s self-loathing. While escorting Saori back to her house, Shizuku recognizes a woman from her past. This is setting up a Shizuku character arc, and I’m surprisingly here for it. Never would’ve thought I’d say that about Shizuku of all characters, but here we are.

As for our mangaka/editor duo, Heke-sensei finally achieves her level goal in the online FPS game, putting her on “even footing” with her gaming oshi. This means she can finally ask Shinohara out! However, she nearly chickens out after spending the day together on a date. Heke-san clutches out the “win” and the two finally come together as a couple. I’m satisfied that this didn’t get dragged out for another who-knows-how-many volume. Now, the real question left is will Heke-sensei be more capable of hitting deadlines now that her editor is her girlfriend?

And for our third major turning point, Kujou and Sugimoto go on the long-threatened trial date. Naturally, it’s at the most sapphic of date destinations: the aquarium! Sugimoto continuously props up Kujou in the face of her gym teacher’s unrelenting defeatism and emotional self-sabotage, which is, honestly, kind of sweet. Sugimoto isn’t actively putting the moves on her teacher (in fact, she doesn’t seem to recognize her long-growing feelings), but by the end of the date, Kujou has the realization that the two of them have gotten too close for their own good. I was starting to worry that Kujou would remain oblivious for a good while longer.

…Also Iori and Minami are there. There’s a silly miscommunication that gets blown out of proportion, complete with the obligatory punch (on panel this time!), but it ends with a sweet moment together. At this point for me, these two are mostly here as supporting cast for the Saori x Shizuku storyline.

Again, I have to say I’m impressed with the improvement of the storytelling from the early volumes. It’s a direct result of the shift to longer chapters allowing the characters more space to interact and to make something resembling plot progress. Hell, it’s making me invested in Shizuku’s backstory, and how the past’s resurfacing will affect her relationship with Saori in the present. A deep character drama this ain’t, but it has become much more than the series of gag strips it began as.

Ratings:

Art – 7 Continues to be solid
Story – 8 We’re actually starting to cook here, with each of the three “active” plot arcs developing
Characters – 8 There is the right amount of angst injected with the humor, allowing for good chemistry
Service – 4 For a real payoff for our Best Couple
Yuri – 8 / LGBTQ – 8 Aquarium date!

Overall – 8 Would invite this volume to go on a shopping date to Yodob*shi 

Volume 7 of this ensemble story of sapphic misfits is coming our way in February.

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, as well as the writer for the blog Oh My God, They Were Bandmates analyzing How Do We Relationship in greater depth.





Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!, Volume 13 (私の百合はお仕事です!)

November 18th, 2024

A blonde in an dark green, old fashioned Japanese smock-style school uniform that is cut below her breasts with a white blouse with a purple ribbon, leans back into a background of flowers, as if to hide.Many lifetimes ago, I was writing a fanfic and I found that after about 4 hours straight of slamming words onto a screen, I had written myself into a corner. It just so happened that the next night was the regular broadcast of the series I was writing about -and let me tell you, the plot that week was not the strongest. I found myself thinking, well, if they could write themselves out of that mess, then so can I. I wrote all night long and as the morning alarm rang, I finished up the fic, It was a perfectly adequate story, I just remember it as a moment when I had really written myself into a corner and had to write myself out again.

It is my opinion that, in Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto Desu!, Volume 13 (私の百合はお仕事です!), Miman-sensei has written themselves into a bit of a corner.  Not completely, because the current arc actually concluded in subsequent chapters of the manga that ran in Comic Yuri Hime, but which have not yet been collected, as the story went on indefinite hiatus after that conclusion.

The arc in question is the incredibly fraught Kanako x Sumika arc and frankly, as I survey the bodies on this battlefield, I cannot see a way out of it that allows for something even far short of happily-ever-after. Kanako might find closure, but to do that, she will have to hurt Sumika. Sumika might have found find closure, but expressing that to Kanako hurts the younger girl. The folks around them have remained largely clueless, with the most minimal apology from – again – the only adult in the cafe. Kanako needs therapy, not a part-time older-sister figure. Her single-minded obsession with the one person who has been 100% truthful to her – and honest about wanting to be close friends, but no more – is exhausting.

And so, for the moment, after one of the most shocking arcs I have read in a manga not openly centered on violence, this series comes to an unsatisfactory stopping point. Kanako did finally have her say in the final chapters of the magazine, and I hope we will eventually get those…but will we ever get a fully formed resolution to this series? Only time will tell.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

I sincerely hope that Miman-sensei can find a way out of this corner and this series gets the ending it deserves.

Hime absolutely shines in this volume. Despite her pretense to other people, her platonic affection for Kanako is absolutely brilliant.