Archive for the Artists Category


Yuri is My Job, Volume 6

November 9th, 2020

Depending on who you feel is the actual protagonist of the story – or whomever you are personally rooting for – Yuri is My Job, Volume 6 by Miman can be hard on the heart.

Let us say, for instance, that you feel Hime is the protagonist, as we’ve been following her since the first page of the series. In that case, Volume 6 is largely her struggling trying to not hurt her former best friend again, while also not hurting her newer best friend and preserving the even newer relationship she’s built with that former best friend.

If you’re rooting for Mitsuki, you’re about to watch her spill her heart and soul out in front of Hime without any guarantee of it being recoverable.

If you, like me, actually sympathize most with Sumika and Kanako, you’re going to be watching as things break and you cannot even help to catch the pieces this time.

It seems like something is going to have to give and Hime decides that that thing…is her. Or, is she just running away again? We don’t know yet. (Frankly, we *still* don’t know in the ongoing serialized chapters in Comic Yuri Hime, either. ^_^;)

Despite Miman’s protestations to the opposite in the author’s note, it seems like the story is very much under control. We, the readers can’t yet predict the outcome….but we can conjecture on the possible courses to lead to the outcomes we want, which is a wholly different thing.I know what I want – it isn’t Hime and Mitsuki as a couple. I expect that is what we’ll get, and that’s jut fine. But it’s not that I want.

Miman’s art is stronger than ever before, backgrounds are really being filled out and characters have more definition. So, when we get the next volume, pay close attention to the background people. They are getting people-ier. ^_^

When the Yuri in this volume lands, it lands hard. ^_^

Kodansha is doing  clean job of the reproduction. And we’re getting people to credit now for that work. Translation by Diana Taylor captures the emotion beautifully, Jennifer Skarupa’s lettering helps keep the story moving along. Logo design and cover design by Phil Balsman and My Truong respectively are terrific and editing by Haruko Hashimoto pulls it all together.

 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 4 Mitsuki’s cleavage is its own character
Yuri – 7

Overall – 8

Yuri is My Job, Volume 6 is a pivotal – and emotional – volume of a a series that is more than the sum of it’s Yuri trope parts.





Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 3 (不揃いの連理)

November 5th, 2020

In Volume 1, we met Iori and Minami, an career woman and a server at a izakaya whose relationship is surprisingly not fraught, and Saori and Shizuku, Iori’s little sister and Minami’s “sister” at the orphanage whose relationship is more of a light hand-to-hand combat than a battle.

In Volume 2 we added manga artist Heke and her editor Shinohara, who are partners in an onling RPG, but not quite there in real life.

Volume 3 of Fuzoroi no Renri (不揃いの連理), by Mikan Uji, adds a new couple to the collection. Kujyo-sensei is interested in women but cannot bring herself to go into the lesbian bar, so she keeps visiting the maid cafe next door. Sugimoto one of the students at  school, works at the cafe and thinks Sensei is kind of cute and awkward.

The remainder of the volume is snips and clips of the various couples’ lives, as they deal with whatever life throws at them. The art is cute and also kind of dynamic. The stories are slice-of-lifeish scenarios and the characters are all pretty cute. Although I really hope that Shinohara manages to finally confess to Heke-sensei soon.

This manga is light-hearted and fun. It’s a lovely distraction in these stressful times. I’m glad for Mikan Uji-sensei having three volumes so far and think Kadokawa seems a good fit for their work.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 2 Even less than usual, as we spend time with more couples, less of it is intimate.
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

I’m always happy to see Shizuku and Minami’s piercings and Minami’s tattoos, just because we so rarely get characters that look like that, but also because I like piercings and tattoos! If you’ve seen me in person you know I have my own collection of holes in my face and a couple of tattoos that are waiting patiently to be added to. ^_^

 





GUNJO, by Nakamura Ching Getting a Movie on Netflix!

October 27th, 2020

Thanks to YNN Correspondent Mercedes for bring this to my attention early today. Nakamura Ching’s GUNJO is being made into a movie by Netflix. This true-crime style story follows the aftermath of a murder. A desperate woman has the woman who has loved her for years kill her abusive husband. The story happens as they run from the police. The Netflix movie will star Kiku Mizukara and Honami Sato.

Komatsu-san at Crunchyroll News has the details.

Volume 1 of GUNJO is available in English at Nakamura-sensei’s site, on a per-chapter basis. I was able to edit is, with Erin Subramanian doing a fantastic job on translation. I hope you’ll read it! With luck, we’ll get a collected e-book volume soon.





Hello, Melancholic!, Volume 2 (ハロー、メランコリック!)

October 16th, 2020

Volume 1 introduced us to Minato, a girl who loves playing music, but has been hurt by schoolmates. She is discovered by Hibiki, a sempai who runs a casual band/club who encourages Minato to have confidence in her skills.

In Hello, Melancholic!, Volume 2 (ハロー、メランコリック!), the band is about to perform live for the first time, but there are no ends of problems and setbacks. For one, Hibiki’s wrist is injured and she’s had to refrain from playing drums. Secondly, Minato is near paralyzed at the idea of performing in front of people. But both these things are resolved by Minato. She suggests making plastic bottle maracas to get the crowd to be part of the show…and even though she spots classmates from her previous school in the audience, Minato find some strength in herself, leading the audience and rocking out on trombone. It is a massive success.

As she looks around after the performance, Minato spies Chika and Sakiko kissing, which throws her into a tizzy. Chika drags the hapless trombone player off to a family restaurant and regales her with the tale of how she and Sakiko met, fell in love and became a couple. More importantly, though, Chika makes Minato confront the idea that she might be falling for Hibiki. A “date” with Hibiki does not help clear that off the table.

I cannot tell you why, exactly, I want Minato to be happy – although there are a lot of superficially obvious reasons that I might feel that way – but I really want Minato to be happy. If Hibiki can make her happy, I’m all in for them. But I also know that there’s a lot standing between them before they get there…among them Minato herself. She’s a walking bundle of insecurity and hesitation. Ohsawa Yayoi’s come so far in the last few years – Minato’s expressions are really something. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9 Humanizing Chika is surprisingly effective
Service – 2
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8.5 we’re climbing, slowly

Nonetheless, we’ll watch and wait, and listen to pleasant ensemble music featuring flute, drum, piano, and trombone as we do. (Couldn’t also find one with a guitar, but this was close…)





Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 2 (おとなになっても)

September 23rd, 2020

In Volume 1 of Shimura Takako’s adult life drama, we met Ayano, a grade school teacher, and sever Akari, who meet and sleep together. It’s only later Akari finds out that Ayano is married to a man. Despite this, neither of them can stop thinking about the other.

It is on this precarious footing that Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 2 (おとなになっても) begins I spent the entire volume angry for Akari, as everyone in Ayano’s life seems to make a point of going to her restaurant in order to size her up. While Akari is trying to figure out what she wants from her own life, Ayano and her husband are unable to process their own problems in private, as family issues pop up and take their time and attention. At the beginning, Ayano’s husband announces suddenly that they’ll be divorcing, but by the end of this volume it’s harder to know what they will actually be doing.

The fact that I felt so vexed is probably a good sign, as it meant that I was engaging with the drama, something that Shimura’s work rarely does for me. I had to laugh, because my reaction to this volume is exactly the same as my reaction to the ending of Sweet Blue Flowers; that is to say, I want desperately to pluck the lesbian out of this story and find her a decent girlfriend! Yes, yes, maybe Ayano will become a decent girlfriend. I remain skeptical. ^_^

We get a long look at an episode from Ayano’s youth, in which she was a tall, boyish girl whose friend clearly wanted more than friendship from her.

As I wrote this review, I considered the art. It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to say. Shimura-sensei has been at this a long time and I was thinking her art has changed a lot. Her fine art, the water color-style paintings that usually grace her covers and fill her art books are really quite excellent. Even rendered in black and white, her “watercolor” work has improved. I don’t think her drafting has gotten worse, but it hasn’t really made the same strides as her “fine” art. I’m too lazy to scan in the images I’m looking at here, but two chapter pages; one in ink and one painted, really make my point. (Fine, I’ll scan them in. Pardon my shitty, quickly done scans. The pages are the same size, but the first one has a white border, fyi.)

There’s nothing wrong with the first image. Nothing at all. It just lacks some quality that the second picture has, a depth of emotion, even in black and white. All of this is of course, in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

Ratings:

Art – When it’s good, it is so very good, I just wish that were more often.
Story – ARGH
Characters – In a holding pattern
Service – Nope
Yuri – Yes

Overall – 7

So once again, I find myself in a holding pattern with a Shimura series, waiting to see what is in store for our characters, and hoping, despite myself, that she will write them a good story and not just handwave the end, as she has in the past.