Crazy, wacky gender-bendy hijinks turn into slightly serious gender-bendy hijinks in Volume 4 of Your and My Secret.

Akira, still stuck in Nanako’s body, is being wooed by his best Senbongi, while Nanako, happily passing her days in Akira’s body, is still going out with her best friend Shiina.

The bulk of the volume follows Akira’s wavering feelings, as he is alternately attracted to Senbongi, repulsed by his own interest, and still – he insists – in love with Nanako. Senbongi says plain out that he doesn’t care that its Akira in there – he likes the Nanako he is. Akira gives in and they begin to date – which doesn’t actually make him any happier, except when it does.

We get a little glimpse back to their earlier years and see that Senbongi hasn’t changed much. He’s more sensitive in some ways and less in others, but overall he’s not a bad guy. And there’s no reason to doubt his affection for Akira.

Their date ends at a love hotel, but nothing happens on account of the unlikely appearance of Grandpa. Ah, ha. Ha.

Meanwhile, in the only dribble of Yuri in this book, Nanako is still dating Shiina and doing a damn good job of it too, by the looks of it. Ironically, upon seeing her best friend’s body in tears, Shiina, still out of the loop on the switch, admits that if she were a guy, she’d want to go out with Nanako…which, she is. Just not the way she thinks. If there’s anyone I sympathize with in this story, it’s Shiina, who is the sweetest, least manipulative character and the only one of the four who doesn’t know what’s up. I don’t see it being a good end for her.

The end chapter is a generic extra story about a boy who is clueless about girls.

I sincerely hope that the next book delves a bit into Nanako’s issues dating Shiina, because Akira’s reactions are kind of limited and I think we’ve run through his whole repertoire now.

It’s not a bad series for a forced gender switch comedy manga. Now that we’ve had a volume off of Nanako being a jerk, I’m ready to turn the spotlight back on her, though.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 6
Story – 6
Yuri – 1
Service – 5

Overall – 7

Many, many thanks to Okazu Superhero Ted the Awesome for sponsoring today’s review!

Welcome to Wednesday on Okazu, the day I crash and burn and pass the baton to whomever is standing closest and doesn’t think to run away. Today’s victim Guest Reviewer is the much beloved, admired and bewildered Sean Gaffney! Let’s welcome Sean with this Laurel and Hearty handshake.

Gin Tama is a very successful Shonen Jump series that has been running in Japan since 2004. It’s being released by Viz 6 times a year in their ‘Shonen Jump Advanced’ line (where it is less than successful, but hey, they can’t all be Naruto), and Vol. 13 just came out this month.

The basic premise combines a gag comedy with a samurai action manga. The manga is not afraid to veer wildly back and forth between these – 2/3 of the time it’s stupid self-referential gag manga (Gin frequently can be found reading Shonen Jump, and a recent chapter arc has the characters fighting each other after seeing their rankings in the new popularity poll), but when it gets serious it can be almost Kenshin-esque in its dealings with samurai honor and how one should go about getting revenge.

The main characters are our hero, Gin, a silver-haired samurai (the title Gin Tama is a naughty pun in Japanese); the ‘straight man’ bespectacled Japanese guy, Shinpachi; and Kagura, a superstrong alien who acts like an obnoxious Chinese girl most of the time. Shinpachi also has a sister, Tae (or Otae, depending how formal people are), who is usually sweet and very Japanese until anyone crosses her at all, whereupon she’ll happily throw them into walls – usually while smiling sweetly.

Now, by now I’m sure you’re asking where the Yuri is. This is an Okazu review, after all. In the newest volume out from Viz, Tae is kidnapped by a bishie eyepatched ninja, who we see from flashbacks has known her since childhood. The ninja is Yagyu Kyubei (you may groan here), Tae’s childhood friend. She’s supposed to be confused for male by everyone, but frankly, she’s not drawn in any way that I didn’t immediately think she was female. She has, however, been raised as a male, and has returned after years of rigorous training to fulfill her childhood promise – marry Tae.

Our heroes rush to her rescue, and a huge battle ensues (which continues well into Vol. 14, out in September). This is the usual Gintama battle, being filled with swords and silliness. Kyubei’s gender is noted, as is her being raised as a male, which seems to solve the whole I want to marry Tae thing. However, Kyubei is quite aware that she is female, and is in love with Tae anyway. Further volumes show she tries occasionally to be more feminine (wearing a flower as her eyepatch, for example), but her one-sided love remains true. (Tae thinks of her as a very good friend, mostly, with occasional tease, but as this is a comedy action manga, there aren’t any real pairings anyway). Gin Tama is not really a series to read for the Yuri, as the two characters don’t appear that much. But if you like silly comedy with lots of hard-to-translate Japanese puns and toilet humor, also veering into serious action angst, and frankly not caring if folks break their neck going between the two poles, then there’s some Yuri here for you.

Ratings:

Art – 7. Nice balance between bishie swordsmen and completely idiotic expressions.
Story – 6. As noted, the series veers wildly, but mostly sits in the ‘stupid comedy’ end of things.
Characters – 8. Lots of likeable, fun characters who are enjoyably insane.
Yuri – 4. Kyubei’s feelings are real, in my opinion, but this isn’t going to go anywhere.
Service – 4. There really isn’t much here for Fanboys, as Gintama doesn’t do a lot of fanservice at all.

Overall – 7. A fun Jump manga that caters to fans who wanted to see Kenshin on the toilet reading manga more often. With added Yuri eyepatch ninja girls.

–SG

As usual, Sean manages to make it sound good. I tend to pare things down to the problematic core, worry it a bit, then spit it back out. These are complementary skills, I think. ^_^ Thanks Sean! You’ve made me all happy now. Which is good, considering what my next review is on….  ^_^

If you have read Volume 1 and/or Volume 2 of Alice on Deadlines, then you already know what’s going to happen in Volume 3.

There will be service, there will be lots of screaming, there will be lots of running around, cross-dressing of all kinds, and a new, crazy, violent character will arrive, throwing Alice into danger and forcing Lapan to deal with his past. But in between these snippets of plot, there is more service.

We begin with service, with a beach episode, in which we are treated any number of bathing suits that defy the laws of physics. Ume has a little crisis because he realizes that Lapan will never truly see him has a woman…I admit to being a little confused as to his transition as well. It’s hardly important in a grander scale but there’s some inconsistencies from volume to volume that confuse me as a reader.

But then Alice is captured by crazed, broken Shinigami Regina Rosso, who was clearly involved in Lapan’s tragic past. He traps Alice in a beautiful but mute doll’s body, forcing both Lapan and Alice to recognize their feelings for eacch other. The volume ends with a shocking revelation that really isn’t shocking, but we’ll pretend it is. ^_^

Yuri comes in a variety of flavors this volume. Ume’s feelings for Lapan in Alice’s body have not changed. Lapan in Alice’s body and Alice in the doll’s body make a nice Yuri-looking couple, and poor Someya, the one lone human girl in all this, still has strong affection for her sempai Alice, no matter how she’s used by Lapan or abused by Ume.

I’m not at all sure whether I’m just getting immune to this series, or it’s getting better. ^_^

Ratings:

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

Overall – 4

Our Sponsor for today’s review is Okazu Superhero Amanda M – many thanks Amanda for the entertainment!