Archive for the English Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Stray Little Devil, Volume 5 (English)

January 20th, 2009

Up is down, good is evil, lions are lying with lambs and the whole world’s existence lies heavily on the shoulders of one young girl in Stray Little Devil, Volume 5.

The evil, manipulating angels and the good, innocent devils edge ever closer to war, as Pam struggles with her feelings for Lin-fa. Babylonian mythology is twisted into incomprehensible babble as the Tupismati’s power is unsurprisingly revealed to be the key to everything!

But, the one piece of “everything” that *we’re* all watching is Lin-fa, possessed by power too monstrous to control, coming >thisdeus ex machina she wears around her neck. As Babylonian mythology gives way to Qabala, we learn all the pieces of the story that, if we were to have thought about it for five seconds, would have been obvious anyway, but that’s okay – that’s what a climax is for. ^_^

So, Yuri? Yes. Pam and Lin-fa save all the worlds with their love for one another. Although we don’t see the *actual* kiss, we get enough of the lead-in that it’s kinda inevitable. lol The whole “I’ll give my life for you” and “Everything will be fine as long as I’m with you” is almost unneeded – but not unwanted. The epilogue offers another tears-of-joy embrace, just to put a period on it. So, yes, I’ll bow to the majority opinion on this one, and proclaim it “Yuri.” ^_^ And thanks to everyone who kept insisting I should make it all the way through this series.

Stray Little Devil broke no new ground; it was pretty predictable as these kind of series go, and it had questionable service, IMHO. But, I’ve definitely read worse, and wouldn’t hesitate to suggest it to readers who like their Yuri cute, sweet, slightly moe and with symbolic violence rather than real.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 6

We have a new Okazu hero today! Clearesta T. step up please, take your bow and receive my thanks for sponsoring today’s review!





Your and My Secret Manga, Volume 2 (English)

January 5th, 2009

It’s all hormones all the time in Your and My Secret, Volume 2.

Momoi Nanako is a “masculine” (read: jerky) girl and Uehara Akira is a feminine (read: doormat) boy. Through an implausible and vaguely irritating handwave, they have switched bodies. They, have instantly excelled at being the opposite gender since, as we all know, all boys are jerks and all girls are doormats. ^_^;

But Volume 2 is not about gender roles – it’s about sex. More precisely it’s about nearly uncontrollable sexual urges that cause all sorts of hilarious complications when a boy in girl’s body ends up sharing a room with the girl he likes and the girl in a boy’s body chooses random sexually charged behavior to play around with.

Thus, Akira finds himself sharing a room with Shiina, and Nanako finds herself sharing a room with Senbongi and everyone spending several raging hormone and unresolved sexual tension filled days in Okinawa. At the end of it all, no one’s purity was befouled. Amazing, isn’t it?

We also learn that for all her talk, Nanako isn’t nearly the jerk she acts like, as Shiina confesses that although she and Akira (with Nanako inside) have been going out for some time, he hasn’t actually tried to do anything with her. Of course she blames herself.

A certain level of balance is achieved after they return from the island. Until Shiina’s older stalker brother shows up at the school and makes himself intolerable to everyone – including me. Thank god the plot moved on quickly and we reach and crisis as Senbongi, Akira’s friend and classmate who has a crush on Nanako now that’s she’s so girly, suddenly puts two and two together. Oh noes! I’m not really sure that this is a crisis, personally I would think it would be kind of a relief and take the pressure off of Akira, but hey, that’s my logical brain thinking thing again. ^_^

There’s a little extra chapter, in which we get to enjoy Nanako’s pre-switch behavior on an empty stomach and the now-ironic statement that if she were a guy, she’d become Shiina’s boyfriend. Waah, waah, waaaah~

The Yuri, such as it is, is silly – pretty much Akira, in Nanako’s body, ever so mildly lusting after Shiina. The actually amusing bit was after an apparent girl-on-girl scene, spied by Nanako (in Akira’s body,) she went running off to deflower Senbongi. For some reason, that struck me as funny.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 6
Story – 6
Yuri – 2
Service – 6

Overall – 7

Thank you Okazu hero Dean C. for once again sponsoring a review and providing us all with some much-needed entertainment!





My-HiME Manga, Volume 1 (English)

December 30th, 2008

In Volume 1 of My Hime, strange things are afoot at Fuka Academy. Monsters are appearing, girls with magical powers are fighting…and all of it seems to surround one boy, a transfer student by the name of Yuuichro Tate.

Tate is trying to redeem himself after a series of unavoidable choices caused tragedy to both him and the girl who admired him most. Instead of redemption, Tate finds himself in the middle of a storm, in which exceptional girls with exceptional powers want him to provide them with the means to fight.

Unlike the My HiME anime, this story is not about Mai, or Natsuki, or Mikoto. And unlike the anime, the service here has a nasty edge. Welcome to Champion Red and it’s special brand of woman-hating seinen manga. Despite the fact that you can expect to see woman depantsed, and deshirted with steady frequency, and the occasional rape thrown in for good measure, there are still some things to like about My Hime. The story is similar enough to the anime, that you can at least follow it,and there’s no Duke Nagi putting women in chains and beating them, for one thing. But that’s not what I was referring to. What I was referring to, of course, is…the Yuri service.

Shizuru remains a decidely Yuri character, with fangirls falling over themselves to be close to her. She also remains eyes only for Natsuki, so if that’s a key feature of the My/Mai franchise for you, then rest assured. The implied frottage between Mikoto and Mai is of questionable value to me, but I think that for this manga’s audience it’s spot on for appeal.

And despite the fact that this manga series is not about any of the many interesting characters in My HiME, instead focusing on the least interesting character in the known universe, it’s really quite all right for a trashy fantasy about trashy fantasy. ^_^

Ratings:

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

Overall – 6

Speaking of fangirls, I am a huge fangirl for today’s sponsor, Okazu superhero Ana M! She is the absolute bomb! And btw, please notice the spiffy new “Hero Roll” on the right sidebar. Become an Okazu superhero by sponsoring a review and you too can be enshrined there for our permanent admiration.





Top Ten Yuri Manga of 2008

December 29th, 2008

Unless you’re a brand new reader, I don’t think anything on this list will surprise you. Here’s my choices for Top Ten Yuri Manga of 2008:

English Manga

5) Strawberry Panic – The manga was stoopid and silly and the light novels were *hysterical.* The manga series was killed in Japan, and the light novels died an equally ignominious death here in the US, but they gave us all something to talk about – and were the start of my Yuri military force. lol For using more than one private helicopter in a single volume, and putting a helipad on the top of the tower in St. Spica *high school*, I graciously give the number five position to the literary portion of the Strawberry Panic franchise.

4) S.S. Astro – It was yet another 4-koma with yet another Yuri-fetishist character. But it was not about school kids and their names were not cleverly thematic and the Yuri character was a suit- and glasses-wearing adult woman. Score. All of that *and* we get to welcome a new publisher to the list! Thanks Yen Press – give us more S.S. Astro!

3) Kashimashi ~ Girl Meets Girl – As a story, it was flawed in any number of ways. As an adaptation, it was nearly perfect. For not turning Hazumu back into a guy and actually having a resolution, the final volumes of Seven Seas’ translation of Kashimashi makes the top five of the year handily.

2) Hayate x Blade – I want to apologize, because this series has made one of my top ten lists I think for every year since I started doing them. But this year is different! Hayate x Blade is making the English language portion of the list, so how about that? I love this series and you’re all just gonna have to deal with me telling you over and over and over how good it is, so there. Seven Seas comes in with their third book on the list at number 2 for 2008.

1) Maka-Maka – Maybe this does surprise you. In a way, it surprises me. The story is totally “PWP.” The characters are surprisingly real and therefore, kind of annoying. lol But Media Blasters did such a spectacular job of reproducing the book that after reading both volumes I still think I like the English editions slightly more than the originals. My number one English-language Yuri manga of 2008 is Maka-Maka.

Japanese Manga

5) Girl Friends and Rakuen Jouken – While these two manga are written for completely different audiences, they have quite a lot in common. Both of them deal with “coming out”s of a sort; Girl Friends in a high school setting, Rakuen no Jouken in adult life. In every case, the story is driven by a woman coming to understand her feelings for another woman. In every case, the emotions feel totally honest to this reader. Because of this, they both make my number five.

4) Clover – I know that no one is paying any attention to Otsu Hiyori’s work. And I know that my words will not suddenly catapult this book to superstar status, but by god, if you want to read Yuri that does not suck AND has a happy ending, buy this damn book!

3) Octave – Unlike Clover, Octave is getting a lot of press (probably because it’s at least partially scanlated already.) Another example of a story that is not about schoolgirls, it touches on some very reasonable issues about sexuality and sex, it’s surprisingly adult and extremely well written. It’s a genuine pleasure to add Octave to the top five this year and here’s hoping that I’ll be able to do the same next year.

2) Sasamekikoto – Yeah, it’s back to schoolgirls again, but you know, it’s funny. Laugh Out Loud funny. And sweet, in a really annoying way. And touching in a really touching way. Above all, Sasamekikoto is a conglomeration of just about every possible Yuri trope all at once and it works. Waiting for Ushio and Sumi to get it together and get together is such pleasant agony. It’s a clear shot at the number two slot for this series.

1) – No surprises here. I told you right from my very first glimpse that this would be my number one Yuri manga series of the year. And nothing I saw convinced me otherwise. The writing is stellar, the art is captivating, the story is compelling, raw, horrible and beautiful. I have never read anything like it and probably never will again. Absolutely, positively the numer one Yuri Manga of 2008 in any language is Nakamura Ching’s Gunjou.

As always, you can find all the English manga listed here and many other titles available on the Yuricon Shop, where your support nabs you great Yuri. ;-)

Check back in a few days for my Top Ten Yuri of the year!





Day of the Revolution Manga, Volume 2 (English)

December 23rd, 2008

Have you read Orlando, Virginia Woolf’s love letter to Vita Sackville-West that she cleverly disguised as a novel? If you have, you have also read Day of the Revolution, Volume 2.

Megumi, formerly Kei, is dealing with the single most pressing issue of her *entire* life – how to find a boyfriend, quickly, before she cracks under the pressure of being the only desirable female in the entire school. Really, shouldn’t there be at least one other issue that is at least as important than the absurd notion that she must hury-hurry-hurry and pair up immediately!!!!!!!!! Oh, right, right it’s a comedy. And it is amusing, as Megumi’s best friend forever hooks her up with her own little brother, Mikoto. Mikoto, you might remember is forced to cross-dress on a regular basis in another of Tsuda’s stories, Princess Princess. So, of course he’ll understand Megumi’s issues. Unfortunately, Mikoto’s still just a kid, so Megumi’s kind of forced to be the seme in that relationship, and for both their sakes they will have to take it slow. Which works out okay in the end.

Like most classic “comedies,” the girl who was a boy gets the boy who is occasionally a girl for money, and everyone lives *happily* ever after. ^_^

What?

Oh, Yuri? Ah, nope. But the author’s notes are as interesting as ever.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 0
Service – 0

Overall – 7

Many thanks to Amanda M. who is the sponsor of today’s review and our newest Okazu hero! Amanda, email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com and receive your Hero’s Badge. ^_^