Archive for the Artists Category


Yuri Manga: Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo, Volume 4 (あの娘にキスと白百合を 4)

April 25th, 2016

AkKnSYw4There is both good and bad about the “Yuri school” approach. It’s nice to see multiple couples set in the same world, but it’s also really very tiresome when nearly every character is introduced merely to be paired up.

In Volume 1 of Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo, (あの娘にキスと白百合を 4) we met Kurozawa and Shiramine, to opposite personalities who attract. And it was cute. In Volume 2, we watch a sempai-kohai couple with a protagonist who is a bit more fleshed out than the first volume. I thought I had read Volume 3, but appears I never reviewed it (and can’t remember it) so I may not have. Woops. ^_^

Here in Volume 4, we *mostly* spend time with childhood friends, track team manager Moe and her star runner Mizuki. Mizuki has an important meet to win, so Moe puts a curfew on their time together. Instead of helping Mizuki concentrate, it has the opposite effect. When Mizuki fails to qualify for the finals, the two take a good look at their feelings for one another and decide that they want to be together.

Their story is broken up with a sideline about a girl, Kaoru, who idolizes Kurozawa from the first volume. It’s a comedy of errors, but ends up with a shocking turn – the girls making new friends. It was a dorkily cute story and the extra added dimensions to the characters’ society made me smile.

While there’s  a little eye-trolling to be had in any series where it seems that half the girls are in love with the other half, at least this series isn’t in the habit of pairing everyone up. In the case of Kaoru’s arc, Yuri is a red herring.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 7 Cute, sweet, etc
Yuri – 8
Service – 1 on principle only

Overall – 8

It’s Yuri candy and not much more, but it’s cute Yuri candy. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Hana to Hina ha Houkago, Volume 1 (ハナとヒナは放課後)

April 4th, 2016

HanatoHinaHana to Hina ha Houkago, Morinaga Milk’s newest manga series, reads like a Cards for Humanity “Yuri Tropes” edition. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Hana works at a character goods store after school, despite the school’s explicit rules against part-time jobs. (Potential plot complication, duh) At work, she meets tall, beautiful Hinako who loves character goods and turns out to be younger than Hana and a transfer student into her school.

The tropes are strong in this series and the formula is a bit Odd Couple, as Hana turns out to like the character goods’ cuteness, but not really get the whole concept of character goods (or collecting them) and Hina loveloveloves character goods and knows everything about them. She’s also a fashion model, good at sports and smart, while Hana is sort of average at best. But it becomes obvious that Hina likes Hana, even if the penny has not yet dropped for Hana.

And yet, by the end of this first volume I kind of still like them both – despite Hina’s apparent perfection and Hana’s lack of clue.

The best thing about the series is the pacing, which is awkward, uneven and slow. ^_^ The first chapter or two, I felt like were sliding too quickly into an obvious romance that would be pretty much be Himitsu no Recipe all over again. But no. Instead of a headlong rush into a mis-match, Hina turns out to be a really likable character, and you finish this volume pulling for her and hoping Hana doesn’t take too long to get that clue she’s missing. Hana is never unsympathetic, either. You can see she’s  on the brink of cluing in, but she’s an average high school girl and not used to thinking outside very typical boxes.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Cute things and clothes drawn cutely, Milk-sensei’s specialty
Story – 7 with potential for higher
Characters – halfway through I’d have said 6, but by the end, 8
Service – 4 I mentioned the cuteness, right?
Yuri – 4, climbing, slowly, but inexorably

Overall – 7

You want them to come together – but you want it to be realistic and have depth of connection, not just ’cause this is a Yuri manga. Fingers crossed.





Rose of Versailles Manga, Volume 12 (ベルサイユのばら)

March 21st, 2016

download Rose of Versailles, Volume 12 (ベルサイユのばら), is composed of two stories. One following the hapless Florian F Girodel (no one knows what the ‘F’ stand for,) as he watches, but does not participate fully, in Versailles life – and while Oscar pretty much robs him of everything he desires, without even trying. She’s got his job, isn’t becoming his wife as he intends, she gets all the attention and she even gets the girls, as he finds out when he meets Fersen’s sister, Sofia. We watch him suffering through Oscar’s resignation, and her death, and we learn of his fate after the war. Girodel’s life, as so many others, ends with a date with Madame Guillotine.

The second half of the book, follows a tempestuous affair between a young woman, betrothed to a well-borm man old enough to be her father, and a gorgeous young noble, whose love of Lorraine matches her own. Despite her betrothal, Georgette sleeps with Regnier, and later admits her crime tearfully to her mother. The engagement is called off, and her lover, with the new prince’s permission, accepts a commission in the Army, sweeping Georgette away to Versailles to become Mrs. Regnier de Jarjayes, and the mother of Oscar Francois (named after the new Prince of Lorraine) de Jarjayes.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – More sex, but still a lot of crying 8
Characters – 9
Service – 2
Yuri – 1, if only for Sofia’s obvious crush on Oscar.

Overall – 8

Oscar’s mother is actually one of my favorite characters, because you sort of assume she’s not even alive at first, then suddenly midway through the series you find that she’s perfectly fine and has been at Versailles all along. ^_^

Also included in this volume are the 2014 images of Oscar created for fashion magazine Spur.





Yuri Manga: 2DK, G Pen, Mezamashidokei, Volume 2 (2DK、Gペン、目覚まし時計。)

February 22nd, 2016

2dk2-275x390As you may recall, I started my review of Volume 1 of this series with “Ohsawa Yayoi’s 2DK, G Pen, Mezamashidokei  is a sweetly cheerful version of the worst story ever written.”

Thankfully, Volume 2 of 2DK, G Pen, Mezamashidokei (2DK、Gペン、目覚まし時計。) is a far cry from that first volume. A far cry from the cutely neglectful relationship between Nanami the career woman and Kaede the manga artist, but only slightly closer to Yuri. And not between the principals, as one might expect. Not yet, at any rate.

In Volume 2, we spend the bulk of the book with cool, competent Nanami, whose life is nothing like she expected it to be. By now, she had thought she would be married, with a career she enjoyed. Well, she has the career. but no husband and it doesn’t bother her all that much, to her surprise. When she becomes the mentor to a junior team member’s new project, she finds that not only does she really like what’s she’s doing, she’s genuinely enthusiastic about the changes their making. And she becomes fond of the new kid on the block, Yuuko. Yuuko’s youth and enthusiasm is infectious and Nanami responds by becomes more determined, more energetic and more competent as the situation demands. A far cry from the rung-out woman of Volume 1. It is in fact a delight to see her be more of a character than just a straight man.  There is a very real spark between her and Yuuko, although whether that goes anywhere, we don’t yet know. Nanami herself seems to not have noticed, as she tells Yuuko that there’s someone at home waiting for her. But is Kaede actually waiting for her? I’m not so sure.

In the meantime, Kaede, working in tandem with fellow manga artist, Koyuki, has been pulling long hours and is accomplishing more than we could have presumed, given her slackabout ways in Volume 1.

The end of the book takes a look at the circumstances around which Nanami and Kaede met and decided to room together.

The final pages arrive with a small crisis as Koyuki, of all people, suddenly finds herself attracted to Kaede.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 2 Barely there at the moment, which means we’re getting a build into a relationship, rather than the normal “they must be together” thing we get.
Service – No fanservice, but the women have different outfits and care about their skin and what they eat and other actual human things. I consider that a kind of service to the adult female audience. ^_^

Overall – 8

All the characters are way less trope-y and way more interesting than in the first volume. With the current setup, there’s no guarantee that Kaede and Nanami will end up together and frankly, I think this is a far better series for that. At the very least it’s going into a third volume and I’m looking forward to future chapters much more than I was. ^_^

And getting more than two volumes for one of the few josei series running in Comic Yuri Hime is high priority for me. It’s refreshing and positive to see an artist I like being able to create a longer series about and for adult women in the middle of all those schoolgirls.





Yuri Manga: Watashi no Muchina Watashi no Michi. Volume 2 (私の無知なわたしの未知 2)

February 2nd, 2016

WMWM2Now here’s a thing we don’t see much any more – a review of a Volume 2 of a series for which Volume 1 was never discussed. Remember this kind of thing from back in the day, where we’d get a side plot in a long series? Like Loveless, or Usotsuki Lily? Only this is not like those at all.

Momono Moto is a Yuri artist who specializes in adult life series. Her Kimi Koi Limit exasperated me and her sequel Rainy Song redeemed her in my eyes.

Well last year, she began a short two-volume series titled Watashi no Muchina Watashi no Michi. Volume 1 followed Minato, a typical woman in a typical office who is slowly being strangled to death by boredom. Until she meets Asami, a moody coworker. I did not review it, because the story centered mostly on Minato realizing how she was dying a little each day and Asami was more or less the catalyst. I wasn’t sure if this series was going anywhere.

In Volume 2, Minato and Asami are starting to break down walls between them. They become lovers, but almost immediately it becomes apparent that there is a dark secret that involves them both. Asami used to study music with Minato’s father…until he claimed her music as his. When it becomes apparent that Asami knew Minato’s relationship with the man who stole her music, and was trying to “get revenge” of a sort, it splits them up. However, Asami realizes that she’s been a dolt and has actual feelings for Minato.

Having nothing left to care about, Minato leaves work and takes a job doing something menial that she can give a shit about. Three years pass and she never stops looking for Asami. I won’t give away the ending as it’s basically the the most interesting bit of the story.

Momono’s work has visibly matured. The art is assured and in places, even delicate. A professional’s work.

And the story too, has matured. Where Kimi Koi Limit took broad strokes at human nature, this series has finer lines and more subtlety. Where I loathed Sono, because of her unremitting selfishness, I could not dislike Asami. Although – in real life, I would not root for Asami and Minato to get together, I would want Minato to grow beyond the relationship and find herself someone without baggage, but of course in the manga we are supposed to want them together.

Another strong quality of this manga is the fact that everyone has society. As moody as Asami is, she has friends, nor is Minato isolated in her world. They exist outside the role they are given in their relationship. That is part of what, for me defines, this as an “adult life” manga, versus a “romance”, like Yagate Kimi ni Naru.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 8, there is no discussion of their relationship as such at all.
Service – 1

Overall – 7

Watashi no Muchina Watashi no Michi is a good, if ephemeral, josei Yuri series from Kodansha.