Archive for the Artists Category


Yuri Manga：Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 2（推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ）

November 13th, 2016

budoshin2 In Volume 1 of Hirao Auri’s new series, we met the idol group Charm Jam, and the otaku who “idolize” them. In Volume 2 of Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu,（推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ) we are given a sobering glimpse of the rigors of that fandom.

The popularity rankings have arrived and we find that they are driven not by applause or mail-in cards but purely by sales. Each idol sells goods and CDs at a table, post-show, which we kind of all knew, but never really grasped. Idols whose fans buy the most are accorded higher rank. 

(As an aside, I was not sure I could loathe the Japanese idol industry more than I did, but upon learning this, I found room to hate it more than ever.) 

Having emptied her account, Eri is able to catapult Maina into the front row. 

We digress into a story about Reo, the most popular of the group, and the group’s history, and some of the relationships between the girls themselves. It’s not hard to see something more than just fellowship between Sorane and Yumeri.

Eri does not realize it, but she wields a lot of power as a superfan. The other fans look to her for colors, sales leads, and other indications. She only has eyes for Maina, so much so that she cannot see that Maina herself wants desperately to reach pass the important wall that exists between fan and idol. Neither have any idea how to make that connection, since both play by the rules.

The end of the book forces us to see a situation in which the strict rules of contact and communication actually hurt, rather than protect.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8, dammit
Character – 8
Service – 1
Yuri – 4 I’m running out digits to cross, with the need to strangle the author.

Overall – 8

Despite myself, (very, very much despite myself) I find that I actually want to read this series. I’m not always comfortable reading it, but I am learning a lot and finding all sorts of new ways to strangle Hirao-sensei in my head with every page.





Sabishi-sugi Rezu Fuzoku ni Ikimashita Report (さびしすぎてレズ風俗に行きましたレポ)

November 4th, 2016

51a2nxeuzdl-_sx351_bo1204203200_Nagata Kabi’s Sabishi-sugi Rezu Fuzoku ni Ikimashita Report (さびしすぎてレズ風俗に行きましたレポ) was just licensed by Seven Seas as My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, so I bumped it up on the to-read pile, because I wanted to have my own impression of the work before reading it through the filter of a translator.

Nagata’s work was popular on the Japanese art platform Pixiv before it was picked up by East Press, a publisher that has given us a number of LGBTQ comic essays in the past few years. The story is an  autobiographical account of her struggle with depression, anorexia and anxiety far more than it is an account of her life as a lesbian.

The story begins as she is about to have sex with a woman, then immediately rewinds to ten years early as Nagata graduates high school. We watch as depression strips her of everything society holds up as the ideal of a human life. It’s a hard read, especially if you’ve been depressed, and know how heavy the burden is.

Nagata’s art isn’t super sophisticated, but it’s not bad. It isn’t a pretty manga – not that it has to be or that I expected it to be. The pink, white and black color scheme, and her art style combined to make it a more jarring experience, which I believe was the intent. The color scheme and art make it hard to avoid the prickly emotions of the story.

She ends up with a life and a career, but the loneliness is still there, although lessened. One closes the books with a prayer that she has some good people in her life now, who will fill some of those emotional and physical needs.

I think the story will resonate for a lot of people, although I am not one of them. I’m accustomed to my own bouts of depression and burn-out, but do not find solace in other people’s tales of their own experience. (I understand that this makes me atypical, but why should today be any different? ^_^) Nonetheless, I can easily imagine a lot of people will feel validated by this book and the knowledge that they are not alone in their travails.

I’ll be very interested to see what you all have to say about the English-language version of this when it is released next year!

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Character – 7
Service – 2
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7





Yuri Manga: Ani no Yome to Kurashiteimasu. Volume 1 (兄の嫁と暮らしています。)

October 31st, 2016

51-ohr1mxyl-_sx348_bo1204203200_Shino is a normal high school senior. Her parents died when she was young, so she moved in with her older brother and his wife. Then her older brother died, leaving her living alone with her young, beautiful and extremely sweet sister-in-law, Nozomi.

Did you ever have that moment, when reading a manga, when you’re about two chapters in and you think, “Why on *earth* am I reading this?” Yes, that was me about two chapters in to Ani no Yome to Kurashiteimasu. (兄の嫁と暮らしています。). Then, while staring at the cover, it suddenly dawned on me that this trope-tastic story was by Kuzushiro-sensei. I shrugged, decided to trust her and kept reading.

Shino and Nozomi are both perfectly nice characters and I wouldn’t really mind, particularly, if they did get together, but the trope of falling for the sibling-in-law is soooooooo tropey, I kind of cringe at that. I mean, this was a chestnut back in the early 90s, when stories like “Jukkai Me no Jukkai” were what passed for Yuri.

Shino starts to head down the slippery slope of attraction first. Nozomi is an elementary school teacher, she’s cute and cheerful and she and Shino are actually pretty good friends. Nozomi’s enthusiastic and easy to get along with. Shino starts noticing Nozomi more. Her expressions, her reactions…Shino’s edging closer and closer to “like” and is aware of it. She worries about their relationship. Are they…friends? Relatives? When Nozomi introduces her as a sister, Shino is both happy and sad.

Nozomi may appear clueless, but she’s not. She’s not seeing Shino’s interest in her, but is definitely aware that she’s aware of Shino. This distresses her, as she feels she should be the adult in the household, responsible and solid. 

The pot comes to a gentle boil when Shino decides to buckle down and really study for exams. Nozomi happily offers to help. As the books ends, they are both locked in a battle inside their heads over what they feel and what to do about it. I’m not even sure, yet, if this is a “Yuri” manga. I’ll just have to wait and see.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Cuter and less messy than her usual
Story – 7 Cuter and less messy than her usual
Characters – I’m tempted to repeat myself again, but no. They are just kind of…normal
Service – 2 In the form of “look how attractive she is just now”
Yuri – 2 Just barely edging in

Overall – 7

I’m willing to give this story the benefit of the doubt and hope fervently that Kuzushiro-sensei pulls out a new iteration of this tired old trope that blows me away. If anyone can, I think she’s the one.





Black Yagi to Gekiyaku Madeline, Perfect Volume (ブラックヤギーと劇薬まどれーぬ 完全版)

October 21st, 2016

downloadIn 2012, Ohsawa Yayoi had her big break in Yuri with the collection Black Yagi to Gekiyaku Madeline, which I reviewed here on Okazu.  It was a short story collection that had some good and less-good stories, but the one that stood out was the oddball title story, which then went on to a sequel, Strange Babies, which I also reviewed in 2013.

Now we are here in 2016 and Ohsawa-sensei’s original volume has been re-released, with additional content in Black Yagi to Gekiyaku Madeline Perfect Volume (ブラックヤギーと劇薬まどれーぬ 完全版).

The cover image got my hopes up immediately, with Yagi and Mado-chan as adults, and they are contrasted nicely by the color page inside. Unfortunately for me, the cover art is unsupported by the new content. Boo….

The stories from the original remain exactly the same, wrapping up with the story of two net idols who couldn’t be more different if they tried. Original chapters follow their first date out in public as a couple, on which Yagi brings along her Baphomet just in case and how Kokoto and Arisu end up at their school. I found this chapter frustrating for all the reasons watching Arisu pine after Kokoto were frustrating in Strange Babies.

I had hoped that we’d get a chance to see Yagi a little older and more self-assured and Mado-chan post cute idol phase, but I guess I’ll just have to use my own imagination.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Stories – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 2

Overall – 8

The one thing we do get is a quick glimpse at just how much Ohsawa’s art has improved. Just contrast the cover with that color page and the difference is amazing. In the last 4 years, she’s really gotten better. I want to see a story about that couple…





Torikaebaya Manga, Volume 9 (とりかえ・ばや)

October 13th, 2016

51xwd9km9el-_sx318_bo1204203200_The train wreck that is the plot of Saito Chiyo-sensei’s Torikaebaya, Volume 9 (とりかえ・ばや) just keeps getting wreckier and wreckier.

Sarasojuu who was born as a woman, but should have been a man, has been masquerading now for a while as a woman…as her sibling Suiren, in fact.  Suiren, who was born a man, but should have been a woman, has been playing the part of a male courtier as Sarasojuu.

Complicating things, Sara has fallen in love with the Emperor and Suiren with Toguu-sama, his female heir. In a botched attempt to meet Toguu-sama once more, Suiren and Sara protect Toguu-sama from being assassinated, but must be punished for violating protocols and endangering her in the first place.

I desperately want the Emperor to clue in on what’s going on, but as decent a person as he is, he’s showing no signs of that. And he’s being pressured to choose a male heir over Toguu-sama by enemy factions in the government.

This volume almost exclusively follows Sara as Suiren. And I’m feeling uneasy about it, because she’s starting to assimilate into her “switched role” as a woman. It doesn’t feel right to me at all.

BUT, in Volume 9 one really super important thing happens for which I am extremely grateful. Poor Shi-no-hime, Sara’s wife in name only, with two children by Tsuwabuki, lost, almost utterly alone, is redeemed. Her family petitions Sara’s family to dissolve the marriage, when they receive an offer from a much older man. The dissolution is approved, with genuine regrets on Sara’s part, but Shi-no-hime is not moving for love, but a sense of duty to her children. As she sets off on her trip to her new husband’s house, Tsuwabuki sweeps up and rides off with her. At his summer home, he promises to take care of his children if she’ll have him. They – finally – are allowed to be together.  Thank the gods. At least Shi-no-hime gets a happy ending. Of all the characters in the book, I felt worst for her.

As I read, it dawned on me that if either Suiren and Sarasojuu were gay – or, to be more precise, if they were allowed to be gay as the sex they best suited, this story would be very different. But instead, Sara is finding her life as Suiren less uncomfortable, while Suiren is still managing as Sarasojuu. If they are to find happiness in love, I fear it will have to be as their birth sex. There doesn’t seem a way through this in which they can both, be the sex they wish to be and have the love they wish to have. Even having the tenguu switch them now would only make things worse, as Suiren loves Toguu-sama as a man  and Sara loves the Emperor as a woman. Aughs. So many aughs.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 1

Overall – 9

Volume 10 is already out. Get the antacids ready.