Archive for the Artists Category


Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 4 (おとなになっても)

June 23rd, 2021

In previous volumes of Otona ni Nattemo, we met Akari and Ayano, who met in a bar and spent the night together, Ayano’s husband Wataru, who has wondered what that means for him, and assorted family, friends, coworkers and students who have become involved in the lives of our principles. No one know what they are doing. Sure, they are adults, but…

In Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 4 (おとなになっても), the whirlpool sucks them in further. Wataru suggest a separation and Ayano agrees. Wataru’s going home to live with his parents. Akari, not knowing this, has also decided to move to give her distance between her and Ayano. At school, Ayano is playing at being a grown-up with answers for the children who have their own love triangle issues and is torturing herself on faking competent adulthood for elementary schoolers, while her own life is in turmoil.

Ayano and Akari coincidentally meet at the train station and coincidentally look back at one one another and, as the final pages of the volume are turned, Ayano suggest they go to the cafe at the station and talk….

I’m calling it – this series is Shimura Takako’s best work to date.

For years, I have said that her work reminds me of Melissa Scott’s novels – solid concepts with slightly too much emphasis on sex and gender considering the lack of conviction with which it was executed. For the first time ever, I feel that this book isn’t trying to say something – it’s a fully conceived story about people who might be real, and neither sex nor gender is the story, just part of human existence as a whole.

One does not dislike Akari, Ayano or Wataru, they are all sympathetic in their own ways. I don’t pretend to know what the future holds for any of them, frankly. I don’t even have an opinion on whether any of them ought to be together. I’m content to see where the story – which is well-drawn and well-told – goes.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri / Queer – Impossible to tell at this point. Ayano may be bi, Akari is lesbian, Eri might be ace, but we can’t be sure about anyone of them but Akari.

Overall – 8
I hope you’re all reading this story as it comes out in English as Even Though We’re Adults from Seven Seas. It’s Shimura at an absolute peak of her work and a story wholly for as well as about, grownups. Volume 1 is out, Volume 2 just came out last week, and Volume 3 will arrive in October (you can pre-order it on RightStuf or Amazon already.)





Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts, Volume 2 (欠けた月とドーナッツ)

June 17th, 2021

In Volume 1, we met Hinako, a woman who is crumbling under pressure to conform to society’s requirements for a “good” life and Asahi, a woman who has cast aside any interest in conforming for her own reasons. Usui Shio’s Kaketa Tsuki to Donuts, Volume 2 (欠けた月とドーナッツ) brings them to a whole new level of intimacy between two adult women who are very tentative about trusting someone else with their true selves. I know I have said this before, but it bears repeating – I adore this series. There’s nothing melodramatic here, just quiet real-life concerns, and two women whose loneliness had become a fact of their lives that they didn’t think they could do something about.

In Volume 2, Hinako is desperately trying to not impose on Asahi and Subaru but, equally desperately, loves spending time with them. When Subaru asks Hinako bluntly to please, please free her sister from her own choices, Hinako finds a little courage to admit that she actually wants to do that…and then, magically, takes steps to do so. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that her feelings for Asahi are more than she’s willing to cope with, until she meets Fuuka, Asahi’s ex (bing bing! the bell goes off in Hinako’s head) and best friend. Fuuka makes Hinako look her own feelings straight in the face and acknowledge them.

As for Asahi, we learn why she’s so removed from her own life. She’s made choices that prioritize Subaru over herself. This will not go unnoticed by her little sister, who simultaneously wants Asahi to have a happy life of her own, for herself to be free of obligation and to forge her own path forward. To be fair, Subaru really likes Hinako and is clearly rooting for the two older women to get together, for all the reasons.

I absolutely love everything about this story. The characters are all entirely likeable and we cannot help but root for them, not just to get together, but to be happy. I love the art, which is stylish and clean, and the constant touches that make this story feel so firmly rooted in adult women’s lives. Clothing and makeup and food and peer pressure and work concerns….these could be real people who you might know.

The struggles are internal, the drama is internal. This is not the explosive hyper-dramatic relationships of high school. It’s not even a messy relationship. It’s just really…tentative. And we want, so very much, for everyone to be happy. If Hinako and Asahi end up happy together, then yay for all of us. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 6
Service – 0

Overall – 9

Volume 1 is already available from Seven Seas and Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Volume 2 is headed your way in August, so get ready for some grown-up feels!





Meisou Senshi – Nagata Kabi (迷走戦士・永田カビ)

June 13th, 2021

In my recent conversation on with the folks at Manga Mavericks about My Alcoholic Escape From Reality (a conversation that will go up on their Patreon later this month) we talked a little bit about this book as well. In the comments on Nagata Kabi’s TCAF spotlight, some lovely person expressed a wish that the author’s next book is about her hugging kittens. Well…it is definitely not that. 

Having given herself recognition that her comic essays are a valid form of artistic expression, Nagata-sensei has once again turned the spotlight on herself. In Meisou Senshi – Nagata Kabi (迷走戦士・永田カビ), she  tackles some of the things we might have been asking all along about her relationship with her gender and sexuality…and how that, and her physical and mental health,  affect and are affected by that relationship.

This is not an easy book to read. If anything, it open up whole new areas of discomfort. Content Warning: this book deals with sexual assault as a child. But, as we make our way through this in her wake, we can see (more clearly than we can with ourselves) how pieces of a life make up a whole. Her discussion of how  insurmountable was the effort of filling out the questions on a dating app, really struck home with me in regards to something wholly unrelated to dating.

Once again we see the power of a comic essay. This book contains increasingly intimate knowledge of her past, and tantalizing tidbits of her present, but we know we will never know the actual person through these.  These chapters are the comic equivalent of Van Gogh’s self-portraits….a visual record of her over time looking at a mirror and drawing what she sees. Some days the face that looks back at her is more haunted than others…sometimes it is almost happy. This records allows her to explore why that might be…and expose what the roots of that haunted look is.

I am curious, for reasons that will become immediately apparent when you read this book, what her parents thought of it. Nagata-sensei’s feelings about how she hurt her family in her initial volumes are made plain in later volumes and in her TCAF interview. This volume wasn’t going to make for light dinner table conversation and yet, I got the feeling that she and her family may have struck a bargain over this and while it may not be fun, they won’t be blindsided again.

Seven Seas has announced the license of this book as My Wandering Warrior Existence, which has a projected release date in English of March 2022. If you don’t want to wait, you can read this online in Japanese on Web Action. 

Yet again, I will not be rating this book, for reasons that will become apparent when you read it.

It is compelling.

Next up, we return to the beginning, with her plumbing the depth of her relationship with food, in Meisou Senshi・Nagata Kabi Gourmet De GO!  (迷走戦士・永田カビ グルメでGO！) the first chapter of which available on Web Action.





I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 3

June 8th, 2021

As I said of the Japanese edition of  I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 3, “We’ve already established that all norms are off the table in this series, so the plot here is a little bit of everything – school drama, romance, socio-political drama, and some other things and then the demons arrive. From this point on the book is spinning plates and juggling balls and then an axe or two on a high-wire.”

And indeed, we are handwaved into an idyll that will be shattered, trod upon, and sliced and diced and none of it – not one word – hit me as hard as the final scene in a throwaway side story. (T_T)

Former daughter of the nobility and school villainess, Claire Francois and her wife, the supernaturally powerful and gifted protagonist of the game Revolution, Rae Taylor, are living a reasonably comfortable life. Given that this life was built in the ruins of a revolution to take down a monarchy, it’s a very sweet life. Their adopted daughters are energetic and precocious. They have jobs. Why would anyone give up all that they have carved out for themselves?

The answer is of course that Claire believes in her upbringing – that, as a (former) noble, she has standards  and serving her country is the core of her beliefs. That her country is, maybe less worthy than she hoped, is a given. Instead of rethinking society into a more equal structure, all the government wants to do is create a new kind of second-class citizen of women and queer folks. That’s only just about 100% likely.

But instead of wrestling with rich men’s refusal to share power, we head off to the Nur Kingdom. At which point, I would like to digress and discuss my personal interpretation of the country names. As I see it, they are as follows: Bauer is kind of Germany; Alpes is Austria; Sousse is Switzerland. That’s kind of straightforward.

Okay let’s do Nur. In Japanese its written as ナー, so more like “Naa”

What country might that be? Hm, I wonder what aggressive militaristic country is threatening to Japan right now. It’s not hard to see that Nur is China, and Rusha (Russia) is “north” of that.

I want to note that Frieda, who affects a fake French accent here is from Melica, or, as I think of it, ‘Merika. Because ‘Xico and Nacada (or something like that) will get a mention next book and there will be reasons. So, while this is my interpretation and not at ALL a criticism of the translation, I think of Frieda as a really annoying American. For reasons.

As I thought of all this, I realized that, in the smallest and most tedious way possible, I’m kind of in Rae’s position. I know what’s coming, but I don’t know how it might turn out, only how it has turned out, when it’s over.  So gosh, how irritating for Rae. ^_^;

In any case, as with Volume 1, Volume 3 is mostly introduction and set up and I will also say that not every question posed here will be answered in V4. Which is why I stare with longing at GL Bunko’s listings waiting for a V5 to be listed.  inori-sensei has also posted all the final chapters of this arc and her story from Claire’s perspective on pixiv fanbox and I hope that will bring up the page count enough for the next volume soon.

Now I will return to reading the manga for my fix. And waiting for V5 in Japanese or V4 in English, neither of which have a date as of yet. In the meantime, we may enjoy the sweet scenes of domestic bliss, holidays and celebrations and what will pass (for now, eff you new government) as their wedding. And that’s still not the queerest part of the book.

I mentioned that the emotional impact here for me was, rather than the childrens’ trials, the final chapter where Claire experiences a Rae who does not love her and how bereft her life becomes. That one got me in the gut.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – Kind of, but I’m alright with any and all of it.
Yuri – 10
Queer – 10

Overall – 10

There are STILL questions I have even after Volume 4. In the meantime, I have one question for you – what did you think of Dorothea? I adored her, as you might imagine and need a lot of fanart of her. ^_^ Sadly she’s too cool and competent (and adult /eyeroll/) for most fan artists, who seem to prefer Lily or Philene. Sigh. Poor me.





Hello, Melancholic!, Volume 3 (ハロー、メランコリック!)

June 2nd, 2021

When we last saw them, Minato had just blurted out that she liked Hibiki. As we begin Hello, Melancholic!, Volume 3 (ハロー、メランコリック!) everything between them is so normal it’s making them both uncomfortable. The pressure is going to build and the rest of the band is just waiting for it to blow. In the mean time, new first-years have joined and Minato is now a sempai

But, we’re not done yet, because Hibiki’s online posts opens an opportunity for Minato that she is absolutely not at all ready to take. A local band of adults – one that has a reputation for a high level of musical proficiency – has invited Minato to try out for a position as backup, a high honor. Minato’s good enough, but she is emotionally still so scarred from her previous experience in trying out for a band position that she rejects the chance. Even when Hibiki helps her to confront her fears, Minato continues to retreat into herself, eventually lashing out at Hibiki.

This too comes to a head, after Minato asks the only other second year in the group for advice. Luckily for her, Emma is a good advice giver and in a moment of clarity, Minato realizes that she’s never had a friend to ask advice from – and it takes her breath away. Finally everything comes down to a confrontation, and as the rest of the band eavesdrop outside the door, Hibiki and Minato say some things that they need to say. Minato works through last lingering doubts about Hibiki going off to college with help from the ever-chill Sachiko and Chika.  The book ends with Minato (sporting a new look) and Hibiki meeting up again on a spring day a year later.

The extra chapter delves into Emma’s secret life with an older woman.

Okay, you’re probably looking at this and wondering why I picked *this* story for day two of Pride Month, since I’m usually so intentional about my choices? (I hope you notice that I’m intentional.) Well for a couple of reasons – things that happen in this series that I think are very relevant to right now.

One – this is a story about a kid who had been bullied and it is not a miraculous story of redemption or perseverance. Minato slowly, carefully sheds some of the baggage she was burdened with, but it’s not without risk to her and to survive it, she just grows. The whole school isn’t applauding her, she isn’t made prom queen, this isn’t a Hollywood story. Minato finds some people who help her grow up and grow beyond the damage – I honestly wish this was a narrative that we got more often. Most of us who were bullied don’t get a reckoning, we just get old and the things that weighed us down, don’t anymore. I was in college when one of the kids who had bullied me as as a tween was sitting in a class I walked into. She saw me and said something rude and I just…laughed at her. I mean, really? Was I supposed to care what she thought? It was too ridiculous to imagine.

Two – and this made me cheer out loud. Minato, all upset at losing Hibiki to college, assumes Chika and Sachiko will be going to school together. As it turns out, Chika’s going to trade school to be a dental hygenist, Sachiko’s going on to a private school. Minato, shocked, asked if they aren’t upset at never seeing each other and they stare at her like she’s turned purple. Why? Because they have cell phones, for pity’s sake. Cell phones and days off and maybe they’ll move in together, but really – there is no reason that high school is the end of it allTM. Why wouldn’t they keep seeing each other?

Three – yesterday was pretty heavy going with The Rose of Versailles and tomorrow is pretty heavy going and I wanted something light and fun and a story about a girl meeting and falling in love with her sempai in band is about as close to an autobiography as I’ll ever get in a manga. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9 More conflict in this volume is a good thing, as Minato becomes less passive
Characters – 9
Service – 1
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

Thank you Ohsawa-sensei for this utterly delightful story.