Archive for the Sal Jiang Category


Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko!, Volume 2

May 11th, 2026

A blonde woman in pink, whispers into the ear of a woman in a grey suits and white button down shirt, who is visibly cringing with embarrassment, under the words Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko (echoed)In Volume 1, we were thrown into a torrent of emotion as beloved and competent office sempai Hiroko, has a passionate, if awkward, junior, Ayaka, who is doing everything she can to catch Hiroko’s eye. 

When Ayaka finally just tells Hiroko how she feels…Hiroko rejects her. As Ayaka grieves, her best friend Risa asks if Ayaka couldn’t find a way to going out with her. But, no, Ayaka is not able to give Risa what she wants. Everyone is unhappy. 

And then something important happens. The ladies at the lesbian bar unpack Hiroko’s baggage.. They explain to Risa and Ayaka just how much different things were 15 years ago and how being out carries a lot of weight for an older generation of lesbians. This is a crucially important bit of storytelling. Hiroko has her own personal heartbreak and the consequences that she’s been carrying, but also a lifetime of society forcibly rejecting queer people. Not like the conservative extinction burst attacks we’re seeing now, but the full confidence of a majority of society being queerphobic. Hiroko’s beloved sempai, a woman she admired and loved, took the fall for her and she cannot let that go lightly.

I love that this has to be explained…how genuinely wonderful for younger queer folks who rightfully see transphobia and homophobia as the problem, rather than themselves. But it does have to be explained, because while that kind of queerphobia still does exist-  people are still regularly thrown out of homes, lose jobs, access to family, children, housing, – it is nowhere as common as it once was. So for folks who have not experienced it, here is an example.

And, having learned the whole truth, Ayaka, Risa, and Hiroko are ready to move on. No, wait, Risa and Hiroko are, but Ayaka has other ideas. She’s still convinced that Hiroko just need convincing. In Ayaka fashion, that means she’ll choose the wackiest way to go about it.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 10
Service – 6 When Ayaka stops dressing for attention, it’s actually pretty funny
Yuri – 7
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 8

This volume manages to be funny and poignant with Sal Jiang’s fabulous reaction expression art. A good read, a fun read, and a read that I hope in 15 years will make almost no sense at all to the next generation of queer youth, who will be befuddled by anyone who doesn’t just automatically acknowledge their right to exist.





Wicked Spot, Volume 1

April 30th, 2026

On a vivid yellow background, a woman with wild pink hair in hot pink and black, sits cross-legged, manicured long nails visible on her hand, smiling broadly with fangs showing and an intense look in her green eyes as looks a us.In my review of this book in Japanese I said, “Sal Jiang’s newest manga, Wicked Spot, Volume 1 is a classic case of a story beginning in one place and ending way far away from there in many different ways. I love it. ^_^.” 

Now that I have read it it English, I still love it. ^_^

Sada is a young with and the rules around staying hidden and away from people chafes. When a cell-phone opens up the world to Sada, she becomes a hit social media influencer (largely by walking into stores and just taking what she wants, courtesy of  bit of magic.)

Hanako has been tormented her whole life for being “a witch” because of her enormous strength. In the wake of Sada’s public confession that she is, in actual fact a witch, Hanako goes from fan to hater in a moment. When they meet, many worlds will collide!

If you like Sal Jiang’s work, you love this, if you are new to her work, hopefully, you’ll grow to love the wacky reaction faces and crazy muchness of both Sadako and Hanako’s situations. 

For me, it’s a fun read with just enough emotional buy-in to keep me reading what amounts to a action and magic filled comedy.

Ratings:

Art – 8 sometimes beautiful, other times messy
Characters – 8 Yes, this kind of off the wall, please
Story – 9 Awesome so far
Service – Cute clothes are about it
Yuri – Could go any way right now, but I trust

Overall – 8

Thanks to Vertical/Kodansha for a review copy through ANN for their up coming Spring Manga Guide! This volume is headed our way in a few weeks!





Ayaka Is In Love With Hiroko, Volume 1

January 1st, 2026

A woman in a business suit on the phone looking off to her right, is watched by a blushing woman in a pink off the shoulder dress who crouches down to look up at the other woman.Right off the bat, I need to point out this excellent cover design by Aracelli Ejarque Villegas for Ayaka in in Love with Hiroko, Volume 1.  I honestly think it improves upon the original, which had the word “love” spattered about. This echo effect is outstanding.  We’re off to a good start with this edition from the LoveLove imprint of Tokyopop.

This is this first of three volumes that follows the comedic inability to communicate between life-long lesbian and hyper-competent workplace sempai, Hiroko and her junior in the department Ayaka, who is crushing on Hiroko so hard – and dressing provocatively to that end – that she’s throwing the entire department into chaos.

At the heart of the mix-up is Hiroko’s assumption that Ayaka is straight. Ayaka is full on in gay-for-you mode, with little understanding of her (or any) sexuality. it’s going to take a lot to get this cluelessly infatuated woman and her desperately attracted but unwilling to deal with a straight girl love interest together. As I said in my review of this volume in Japanese here on Okazu, “Hiroko is put out greatly by Ayaka’s flirting. The problem isn’t that Hiroko isn’t interested…the problem is that she is. Very interested. And this apparently straight girl is driving her out of her mind. Poor Hiroko drinks away her pain every night at a lesbian bar, screaming at how vexing this all is!”

Volume 1 comes to a climax when Hiroko goes to her secret and safe lesbian bar…only to find Ayaka and another department junior already there. Quelle shock!

So, the one question that underpins this whole volume is why is Hiroko *so* deeply closeted at work? Japan currently has workplace protections for LGBTQ employees , but if you’re paying attention, you’ll understand that that is not really meaningful if an employer, manager, or coworkers are hostile. As the series goes on we’ll also delve a bit more into the specific personal reasons Hiroko has for remaining closeted.  I hope that this is a comedy which will one day simply make no sense to a young audience because this bullshittery around sexuality and gender will be a non-issue. I look forward to that day. ^_^

Sal Jiang does great faces reacting to situations in which they have lost control. Hiroko will constantly be losing control of both Ayaka and her own feelings, while Ayaka is a force of nature, indiscriminately affecting everything. 

As a workplace comedy, the story needs a lot of misreading the situation and missed opportunities for communication. It is still rather amusing.  It’s also very nice to have a Yuri manga about a lesbian to start off our new year. ^_^

Ratings: 

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 10
Service – 5 
Yuri – 7
Lesbian – 9

It’s always good to see another Sal Jiang in English, but even more interesting is the way her work is being published by different publishers here. Seven Seas put out Tough Love at the Office: The Complete Yuri Collection last year, Tokyopop is has this series and Kodansha will be publishing Wicked Spot, Volume 1 in spring! 

Thanks to LoveLove for the review copy, provided to me through ANN, for which I reviewed this book as part of the winter Preview Guide. Volume 1 is hitting EN shelves in February, pre-orders are open now. 





Ayaka Is in Love with Hiroko, 2nd Stage

August 10th, 2025

The promotional poster for season 2 of Ayaka Is in Love with Hiroko. On the left the actresses embrace, wearing Hawaiian patterns and a lei on the right Hiroko holds a blowdryer over Ayaka's hair. by Frank Hecker, Okazu Staff Writer 

The live-action adaptation of Sal Jiang’s manga Ayaka Is in Love with Hiroko! ended with Hiroko agreeing to accept Ayaka as her girlfriend. Although the live-action series covered all three volumes of the manga, its producers decided to create a sequel going beyond the original story. Thus we have Ayaka Is in Love with Hiroko, 2nd Stage, now streaming on GagaOOLala (along with season 1).

Any sequel faces the problem of matching the appeal of the original while creating a new story that doesn’t retread old ground. Ayaka Is in Love with Hiroko, 2nd Stage attempts this by moving almost completely away from the office setting of season 1 and focusing on Ayaka’s relationship with Hiroko and (to a lesser degree) Hiroko’s relationship with her family.

As 2nd Stage begins, Ayaka has been living with Hiroko for half a year. Hiroko caters to Ayaka’s every need, including making her breakfast and cleaning up after her, but (as Ayaka’s friend Risa implies) Hiroko treats her more like a pet than a lover. Ayaka wants them to be a “real couple” (i.e., to have sex), Hiroko is reluctant to do so, and Ayaka doesn’t understand why. And, quite frankly, neither do we: Hiroko offers excuses to Ayaka (she needs more time to sort out her feelings) and to herself (she’s worried about her “selfish desires”), but this part of the plot requires a major suspension of disbelief, especially now that Hiroko knows that Ayaka’s feelings toward her are genuine.

As in season 1, Hiroko’s ongoing misunderstandings and miscommunications provide the springboard for multiple comedic moments. But comedy isn’t as funny when someone’s getting hurt, and it becomes clear through the course of the series that Ayaka is more and more distressed and confused about Hiroko’s behavior. It’s almost a relief when the show turns to the secondary plot concerning Hiroko and her family (she’s still not out to them) and to the goings-on at Bar Kiyoko (where Risa’s new girlfriend Kyoko informs everyone that Risa has gone from a “clueless puppy” in bed to “a wolf who’ll bare her fangs”). But these digressions can’t compensate for the fact that the show drags on for too long. The plot threads finally resolve in episode 6, thanks to Ayaka’s actions and the innocent intervention of Hiroko’s young niece, a sweet ending that I can’t help thinking could have come one or even two episodes earlier.

As Hiroko, Kanna Mori once again excels at wide-eyed reactions, mixed in with more subtle acting in the final episodes. But the real star of 2nd Stage is Shiho Katō, whose performance as Ayaka is the beating emotional heart of this sequel: We feel her pain, echo her confusion, and cheer her on as she forthrightly declares her love for Hiroko to Hiroko’s sister and mother: “This is how I truly feel. There’s not a single bit of pretense.” Riria Kojima joins the cast as Hiroko’s sister Keiko, who offers some cringey (meta)commentary in response to Ayaka’s outing herself (“I’ve been really into Thai dramas, so I know a bit about this kind of thing”), while former otokoyaku Hiroki Nanami brings sultry sex appeal (along with advice for Ayaka) to Bar Kiyoko as lady-killer Jun.

Ratings:

Story — 5
Characters — 8 (+1 for Ayaka, -1 for Hiroko)
Production — 7 (the subtitles are occasionally clunky)
Service — 4
LGBTQ — 10
Overall — 7

Ayaka Is in Love with Hiroko, 2nd Stage provides a satisfying ending to the story of Ayaka and Hiroko, but it takes its sweet time getting there. Fans of season 1 should expect less comedy, more angst, and increased frustration at Hiroko’s cluelessness and self-delusion.





Tough Love At The Office: The Complete Yuri Collection

August 4th, 2025

A woman with ripped blouse and bloodies face and body, scowls at a pair of woman's legs in white heels and a pink skirt.CW: Extreme personal violence, rape, emotional and psychological abuse in a workplace setting.

Sal Jiang’s Black & White, the  3-volume series of violent and psychopathic competition at highly competitive Japanese financial firm is now available in English as Tough Love at the Office: The Complete Yuri Collection and it asks us to ask ourselves what is really important to us….but not until we grin through 400+ pages of two women who are trying to eat each other for lunch, in all the meanings of that phrase. 

Kuroda Kayo comes in to her new job brimming with confidence and acclaim and immediately runs into Shirakwa Junko, who has her eyes set on power. The two of them instantly dislike one another, but also cannot stop having violent, angry sex that is clearly meant as rape to destroy the others’ will. Both are equally matched in smarts, skills, popularity and desire to destroy the other. 

I loved the first volume of this in Japanese and I still think it is the strongest part of the story. To quote myself from my review of the JP Volume 1, “Jiang’s art is terrific – clean and stylish, cute and approachable, and nasty af, in turns as the narrative requires. The characters are terrible people, but they sometimes do good or kind things, which gives them nuance. Neither of them is a sadist to the pleasant office drones around them. They are, however, two dominant humans fighting for dominance in every way possible. Yeah, baby. I’ll take as much of this as I can get.”

When Kuroda and Shirakawa are teamed up by a scheming senior executive, he gets exactly what he hopes for – an unethical power-hungry machine to take down his enemies. But then they are turned on one another again. When Kuroda makes a misstep on an overseas trip, she causes a chain reaction that will ultimately lead to the end of the series…

…where we are asked to consider what is truly important to us. The answer to that question for both Kuroda and Shirakawa may surprise you. 

This is not a Baihe-style “in love with my cold, tough boss” story. This is a potentially/eventually disturbing exploration of deepest, darkest expressions of five of the seven deadly sins. But what this story also is is pitting two evenly matched competitors against each other in a evenly balanced match. And for that reason, I can enjoy the heck out of it (although I admit, I would have ended it differently. ^_^) 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – 7 Not a lot of nudity, but a lot of sex and violence
Yuri – 7 See above

Overall – 10

 

 

Alexa Frank’s translation and Asha Bardon’s adaptation does everything it can with the blurry “business” stuff . The Seven Seas team does a great job here as usual.