Archive for the English Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Tetragrammaton Labyrinth, Volume 6 (English)

September 6th, 2009

In Volume 6 of Tetragrammaton Labyrinth, what was always implicit becomes finally explicit.

As Angela, Meg and their allies face the evil, insane and powerful Gilles de Rais, and find that their own power comes up short against his, he raises the issue that has been the leitmotif of this entire series. Killing the living, raising the dead and stealing souls, he attests, is not for personal power. No, he commits heinous acts of brutality for *love.*

It will come as no suprise that this fails to convince Angela to sympathize, but it brings up the obvious. De Rais asks Angela if she has anyone to love – truly love – give up her life for love. Well duh, dude.

The final acts play out exactly as one expects. The good guys peel off one at a time to fight the bad guys, so we can be sad at our losses and the final confrontation has reversals and lots of screaming and blood and severed limbs. And, the ultimate sacrifice, as Angela gives up everything to keep Meg at her side.

In the final pages, Angela and Meg get to acknowledge in death (or undeath) what they could not in life and their love, which was always the unstated obvious is now, at last, just obvious.

And no one lives happily ever after.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 7
Service – 8

Overall – 7

For a manga that was built around loli and guro among other things that aren’t my schtick, it had a pretty decent ending.

Once more it is my great pleasure to thank Okazu Superhero Eric P. for sponsoring today’s review! This volume was the best of the series, I think. ^_^





Hidamari Sketch Manga, Volume 4 Guest Review by George R.

September 2nd, 2009

It’s Guest Review Wednesday once again on Okazu and once again, it is my sincere pleasure to welcome George R. for this week’s guest review!

The fourth volume of Aoki Ume’s Hidamari Sketch manga (ひだまりスケッチ) came out in Japan this past January. I was a bit slow in picking it up, but am glad that I did. It doesn’t have a deep involved plot or more than hints of Yuri, but then again Hidamari Sketch never has. If you’ve liked the previous manga, light novels, or anime, you’ll probably enjoy this as well.

Ume-sensei has a strong cast of characters already and we can again enjoy the amusement in their daily lives. But she doesn’t make them carry the entire load in this character-driven manga. The first extra we meet is Yuzawa Arisa, a senior art major, who is the only one left in the art room to answer Yuno’s phone which she forgot there. She can’t resist Yuno’s cuteness and has her pose for a sketch.

The end of the school year brings exams and Yuno does poorly enough to need to take a supplementary test on English grammar. Everyone offers their help, each in their own way, and thanks to that she scores 100% on the retest.

A new school year brings new students to Yamabuki-high, and two new freshman neighbors to Hidamari-sou. The landlady talks the Hidamari-four into help clean their rooms before they move in.

Nori moves into room 103 and adds a modern touch, bringing her computer and the internet to Hidamari-sou. Her computer-related interests are incomprehensible to the other residents, but they accept and welcome her all the same. She also becomes a good friend and supporter of the other new resident.

Nazuna is a polite, timid girl who moves into room 203 next to Miyako. She had lived in the area, but had to move when her father’s job transferred him elsewhere after she was accepted to Yamabuki. She feels unready to live on her own, being bad at cooking and cleaning. Yuno gets the chance to grow, as she learns to support Nazuna like the others supported her last year. When Nori wants to put up curtains, Nazuna is able to direct them to the local “I’m Home” [Depot?] to get them. Ume-sensei is able to show humor in this simple shopping trip, though perhaps Miyako with a chainsaw is more frightening than funny.

The volume ends with an extra chapter of “ordinary manga,” instead of the usual 4-panel. This tells of Natsume’s entry to Yamabuki-high, and how she met Sae on her first day there a couple years ago. She finds that Sae’s confidence, looks, lifestyle and career make her irresistibly cool, and so develops a huge crush on her. When she finally gets the courage to go talk to Sae again, she finds Hiro already talking with her about what to make for dinner. Sae’s easy thanks and offer to accompany Hiro grocery shopping on the way home shatter Natsume’s dreams, though not permanently. Previous volumes show us that Natsume continues to carry a torch for Sae.

This volume offers the humor and double-meanings I’ve come to expect from Ume-sensei. What Yuri can be seen centers around Sae, in either her relationship with Hiro or Natsume’s crush on her. I think the level of Yuri peaked in volume 3, with this one returning to that of the first two.

Over time Ume-sensei’s art style has grown on me, or maybe I’ve come to see it as the natural way to depict these characters I’ve come to like.

Did this volume blow me away? No, but that is also not the style of Hidamari Sketch. Did it give me a wonderful time with my “old friends” at Hidamari-sou and added some new ones to the group? You betcha! Did I enjoy it? Definitely. Several times I was glad not to be drinking while reading, as spraying manga with milk from your nose is not a good way to take care of it, or any other book.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 8
Yuri – 1
Service – 1

Overall – 7

I hope that Yen Press will continue on and translate this volume as well. There’s really just one way to encourage them to do that, and that’s for all of us to show them it’s profitable by going out and buying the first three.

Absolutely agreed George. Our support for this genre must be expressed with $ or we’re just killing the thing we love. Thanks again for a loving look at this gentle slice of life comic!





Alice on Deadlines Manga, Volume 4 (English)

August 10th, 2009

After yesterday’s amazing interview this will immediately pale into the obscurity it deserves, but it has to be done. ^_^

We have, through much hardship and effort, made our way through to the final, climactic volume of Alice on Deadlines and still, the title remains the best part of the story.

The final showdown is less of a showdown than a melee and characters are being stabbed through the gut left and right (with scythes. Seriously? Who uses a scythe to *stab*?!? I mean, yes – you can do it, but what a miserable misuse of a lovely weapon. My long-handled, edged-weapons-loving self protests.)

But in no way is this really anything to do with the story. The story, such as it is, is really about Alice and Lapan, each stuck in a body that is not theirs and only one of them happy about it.

So the final showdown with Regina comes and, instead of it being Lapan vs Regina, it’s everyone vs everyone, with really hard to follow art, but we’re able to parse a few key concepts. The big takeaway – personal loyalty trumps silly plot complication.

As we always suspected – everyone in the Tsurukame family, the heads of the company for which Lapan works, is a cross-dresser. Unlike the sex-obsessed male members of the family, the President and eldest sister seems to actually have business in mind. The severely competent, cross-dressing female business leader stereotype strikes again. Thankfully, she puts an end to the nonsense of destroying lots of lives just to let Lapan and Regina destroy each other.

Somuria remains completely Yuri for Alice, even after she regains her body…in fact, I’m never really sure Somuria realized that it was Lapan in there for most of the series. Because she was competent and hunky, I will also insist that President Tsurukame is gay. ;-) That’s about it for Yuri.

Way, way, waaaaaayyyyy down in what teeny, weeny little soul this manga had, it was a love story. And although we have been told many times that Shinigami and humans cannot be together, Lapan somehow manages to live happily ever after with Alice. No explanations will be given, so just move along, thank you, nothing to see here.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 3
Characters – 4
Yuri – 3
Service – 7

Overall – 4

Many, many sincere thanks to today’s Sponsor, Okazu Hero Ed S! All this needed was popcorn and it would have made a perfect rainy Sunday afternoon snark-a-thon. ^_^





Hitohira Manga, Volume 3 (English)

August 7th, 2009

In Volume 3 of Hitohira, the spotlight remains firmly on Mugi’s transformation from a pathologically shy girl to one capable of dealing with being in the public eye. But even Mugi’s new pair of wings doesn’t mean she’s always going to be able to fly.

Although they had their triumph, Nono’s renegade Theater Group does not get enough votes to survive and is formally, and tearfully, dissolved. But, what Nono could never get while it existed, she finally gains as it is disbanded, and the two theater groups celebrate Christmas as one. Nono and Mirei look forward to their own parting from their precious kouhai, knowing they did everything they could to have the best possible time during their high school years. Although they have not yet left the story, exeunt Nono and Mirei.

The spotlight shifts slightly now, allowing another character to enter from the wings. Mugi’s friend, benefactor and protector, Kayo, tells her something that will completely derail Mugi’s new-found freedom. She had hoped she could share it with her dear friend, but instead learns that Kayo is leaving to go to school overseas. Even after Kai intervenes, hoping to force a climactic confrontation, the denouement of this volume arrives with no resolution.

Now that Mugi is no longer a simpering whiner, I’m so much more able to enjoy this story. Of course, I wish it were really about Nono and Mirei, but it’s not. And this crisis with Kayo will be resolved with the usual last minute confession/forgiveness/farewell but, even as predictable as this plot complication is…it’s still pretty all right.

So, nothing new in this theater of the non-absurd, but nothing hideously absurd, either. From its birth where I felt it was an irksome manga about a annoying girl, it has left its chrysalis to become a nice manga about a nice girl who is only occasionally annoying as the plot requires. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 8
Story – 7
Yuri – 1
Service – 1

Overall – 7

Once again it is Okazu Superhero Daniel P who has sponsored today’s review, so once again he is the recipient of my sincere thanks. Become an Okazu Hero yourself by sponsoring a review and join the Okazu Hero Roll!





Zombie-Loan Manga, Volume 3 (English)

July 24th, 2009

Having sold her soul to the Ferryman, Michiru’s life went from miserable to chaotic. But, in Zombie Loan, Volume 3, it’s finally settling down into a pattern of hunting zombies with Shito and Chika in order to pay off the loan that keeps her alive. Of course, as with all things regarding credit, the late fees, renewal rates and interest are, in this case quite literally, a killer.

The first half of this volume ends the Butterfly arc, in which /massive spoiler/ serves to /spoiler/ /spoiler/.

Sorry, I’m just being silly. Chika’s best friend ever turns out to totally not be what Chika thinks and, as a result, Chika falls into a depression.

The Ferryman, in a uncharacteristic moment of noticing that his employees have feelings, decides to take them on a short getaway to build team spirit. (Oh, yes, pun intended.) As usual with this kind of chaos-comedy, it only partially works.

At the hot springs, Yomi comes on to Michiru pretty blatantly, but sadly Michiru doesn’t bite. Yomi’s reaction makes it obvious that, despite her apparent pervishness, she actually *likes* Michiru and is quite hurt by the rejection. (As we suspected, naturally.) We’ve never seen Yomi sexually harrass anyone else since Michiru arrived, I don’t think. So, it’s a confirmed siting – Yomi is a member of Team Lily. But that hardly helps her, since Michiru isn’t.

Shito is a freak, (why should today be any different?) and Michiru still can’t figure him out (ditto) but the end of the volume implies that the next character to be emotionally brutalized will be him. Yay.

I find myself staring in confusion at most of the funny omake comics. I’m not a “fan” of the series – there’s an engagement necessary to have the detail one needs to find these funny. I lack this engagement, so…. hah? Likewise the Dears/Rozen Maiden/Zombie Loan crossovers in the back. I know they are all Peach Pit stories, I’ve followed two of the three…I’m just not getting the jokes.

Other than this teeny little piece of “meh” I liked this volume best so far. The characters are starting to become – dare I say it? – human to me.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 6
Service – 3

Overall – 7

It is my pleasure to once again thank Okazu Superhero Dan P for his sponsorship of today’s review! You are truly a superhero to Okazu readers everywhere.

Also – let this story be a warning to those of you who never lived through the vast overplaying of Chris DeBurgh’s “Don’t Pay the Ferryman.” Take the message to heart, my young friends.