Archive for the Shimura Takako Category


Happy-Go-Lucky-Days

November 15th, 2020

“My first kiss was with a girl.

Her name was Yuri-chan. It sounds like a joke, but it’s not.”

These are the opening lines of Happy Go Lucky Days, the anime movie based on Shimura Takako’s manga Dounika Naru Hibi (どうにかγͺγ‚‹ζ—₯γ€…). The movie was originally supposed to have had a spring 2020 release, but due to COVID-19 delays, it was pushed back to autumn. The Asian Pop-up Festival streamed it with English subtitles. The opening 8 minutes of the movie are still on Youtube on the Cinema Today channel for you to enjoy.

The story is a loose conglomeration of scenarios that revolve around love and sex and romance. The first scenario follows Ecchan, who dated the above-mentioned girl named Yuri in high school. Years later, she’s attending Yuri’s wedding and finding herself crying in the bathroom, where she encounters Aya, who also has dated Yuri, in college. Motivated by their common ground of annoyance with Yuri, they end up sleeping together, then just being together, in a way that feels comfortable and not forced at all. Yuri’s marriage has done something good for them, at least. ^_^

The second scenario follows Sawa-sensei, a man who feels very closeted to me, as he navigates a confession from a student and need for affection.

The third scenario is my least favorite. Sayoko was thrown out of her house for doing a porn video and is staying with neighbors. Her overtly sexualized behavior and speech fucks around with Shin-chan who is only in 5th grade. He and his best friend and ultimately girlfriend Mika, are made aware of sex because of Sayoko. We watch as they navigate puberty…something I’m not really all that interested in doing.

The team at Pony Canyon for this movie was the same as brought us Asagao to Kase-san, so the animation was very pretty, although the scenery and content was less well-served by the animation. Hotel bathrooms can only be lovingly animated to a very limited extent. ^_^; 

The content is in exactly the space that Takako-sensei really sits most comfortably, as characters become uncomfortably aware of their sexuality (or, in other of her works, gender.) It’s never a wholly pleasant journey, but it’s not unpleasant, either. It always feels a little like she’s trying to figure something out, or standing outside, looking in on people’s inner thoughts, trying to work out something in herself.

In this case, I found myself relieved that the initial scenario was not unpleasantly complicated and we’re left thinking that it could be a happily-at least for a normal course of time- after. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8,8,6
Characters – 8
Queer – 8 in the first vignette, and yes…but, for Sawa-sensei. He’s questioning more than queer. Let’s give him a 5.
Service – Yes. Sex and sex adjacent stuff. I’d give it a 6.

Overall – 8

Happy Go Lucky Days was pretty and the lesbians are okay. ^_^





Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 2 (おとγͺにγͺ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γͺにγͺ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.





Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 1 (おとγͺにγͺっても)

May 28th, 2020

Shimura Takako’s work with gender and sexual minorities has been very influential and popular among western manga readers, and series like Sweet Blue Flowers and Wandering Son end up on LGBTQ manga reading lists with reasonable regularity. So it comes as no surprise that her newest lesbian manga Otono ni Nattemo has been picked up for license by Seven Seas as Even Though We Are Adults, just as I picked it up off my to-read pile. ^_^

In Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 1 (おとγͺにγͺっても) teacher Ayano meets Akari after work one night and they end up sleeping together. It’s not a relationship…but it’s not a one-night stand, Akari hopes, when Ayano says that she’ll stay in touch. Only, the next time she sees Ayano, she’s with her husband. Unsurprisingly Akari does not feel great about this major fact having been left out of their communication.

Nonetheless, they do see each other again, this time kind of starting from the beginning. The problem is that Ayano appears to be happily married. And Akari isn’t sure what she wants, generally, with her life, but she’s starting to think that she wants Ayano, specifically. I’m not at all sure what I think about either woman. It’s tempting to be angry at Ayano…but I’m not and neither is Akari. It’s tempting to be distrustful of Akari, but I’m not, and neither is Ayano.

The art is good, shockingly detailed for Shimura, in fact. It looks exactly like the Jousei manga it is.

This is an uncomfortable story about two adult women flailing a little bit while trying to figure out this adulting thing. I have absolutely no idea whatsoever what to expect from this story – I’m not even sure I liked it – but I think I’ll end up reading volume 2 anyway. ^_^ I don’t see a happily-ever-after-ending…to be honest, I’d be disappointed if this ended that way. I wouldn’t mind it staying kind of uncomfortable for the course. Let’s get stories about things that aren’t sappily ever after for once.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Character – A not-sure-yet 7
Story – Same 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 1 Hardly any, in fact. The 1 is mostly on principle

Overall – 7

I’m still unsure of so much yet, but I guess I’ll keep reading. Shimura’s work is, in my honest opinion, very flawed, but if she’s going to lean into the flaws, we might get an interesting story.

Volume 2 is available in print in Japan, but not in print shipped to the US at the moment. Both volumes are available digitally on Global Bookwalker. I’ll be getting Volume 2 digitally. Even Though We’re Adults has a January 2021 release date.

Speaking of Global Bookwalker – they are holding a huge “Stay Home and Read” deal with up to 50% back in coins, that can then be used to buy more books. Seven Seas and J-Novel titles are included in the sale. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Sweet Blue Flowers, Volume 4 (English)

July 9th, 2018

Of Volume 3, I wrote “This volume is, in my opinion the strongest of what Viz will release as four volumes. We can see the progress the young women make as people, before the story turns back into itself to fulfill the requirements of a romance series.” 

Volume 4 of Takako Shimura’s Sweet Blue Flowers, begins with a  problem. Akira is dating Fumi. They have a physical relationship and she’s not unhappy with it, but…she’s not happy, either. Fumi’s interest is sincere and intense, but Akira is going along with it to make Fumi happy, not for herself. This is not a problem that will go away with time.  

The ladies of Fujigaya and Matsuoka schools are all heading into their third year. Once again, the focus is on the school festival, the play and, this time, the class trips. Fumi and Akira’s friends all scramble to find themselves as high schoolers, before they are asked to become adults. Lives and loves are in turmoil as they decide at 18, what will affect them for years to come. 

Akira goes to London, where she seeks out Sugimoto, who seems to have found herself at last. Sugimoto gets Akira to admit that there is a problem with her relationship, but it remains unaddressed – and Sugimoto walks any criticism back.  Which, as an adult reader, made me want to storm into the room and sit them both down. 

The problem builds quietly until, just as quietly, Fumi and Akira break up. Once again, as a reader, I was relieved. And I was thrilled to see, through Akira’s eyes, Fumi with someone else. If the book had ended there, I would have been satisfied. But it didn’t. Was Shimura-sensei pressured by her editor or the fans? Did she have no particular conviction? Or was this the plan all along? I don’t know. 

As I said in 2013 when I reviewed the end in Japanese, “Without spoilers, I will assure you that you the ending does not bring closure. It has the one thing I had hoped for – ambiguity.”

Other relationships, however, get my blessing. Ko and Kyouko, having gone through so much, maybe have a chance, but the one wedding that I wish we had spent more time on was Yamashina-sensei and Ono’s big sister, who come out to family as a couple, even if their families aren’t ready to accept them.

Ratings: 

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters –  9
Service – 3
LGBTQ – 10

Overall – 9

Here’s the the thing that’s amazing about Sweet Blue Flowers – it started serialization in 2005. It’s 13 years old. More than a decade ago it was a beacon of Yuri. In 2018, it’s an important stepping stone to where we are now, and now that we have a definitive edition for this in English, it’s time to move forward into a genre that has matured.





Awajima Hyakkei Manga, Volume 2 (ζ·‘ε³Άη™Ύζ™―)

May 20th, 2018

In Volume 1 of Shimura Takako’s Awajima Hyakkei (ζ·‘ε³Άη™Ύζ™―) we take a look at the students of a school that sounds a lot like the school for a well-known all-female musical revue troupe.

Volume 2 explores the emotions and experiences of former students, graduates and top stars of the troupes and their legacies in regards to current students. 

The book is not particularly linear, and, like the previous volume, implies emotional and romantic relationships between students, rather than showing them directly. It also jumps around in some of the stories, showing us relationships between students, in and out  through years of knowing  – or not – one another. 

Like the first volume, it’s easiest read if each vignette is approached on it’s own as a standalone tale. Few of them have clear beginnings and endings and we often get sidetracked in the middle, which is pretty much exactly like life. 

In this volume, the strongest story was the shortest, a mere chapter in the beginning, about Kayo and Sana, a pair who might have been something important to one another in a different reality.

There’s a palpable sense of loss, or what might have been in this series. It’s as much about the things people don’t chose to say or do as it is about anything else. 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – Variable, averaging 7
Characters – 7, adults are often jerks
Yuri – 2
Service – 1 on principle

As a survey of “one hundred views” of a specialty school, it’s quite good for a weekend dose of melancholy.