Archive for the English Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Hayate Cross Blade, Volume 1 (English)

October 30th, 2008

It has been almost three and a half years since I first reviewed Hayate x Blade and in all that time, never once has my delight in this series lessened one iota. So you can imagine how thrilled I am to tell you now about the English-language edition of Hayate x Blade, Volume 1. (In case you somehow missed my raving about this manga, please feel free to check out my reviews of the volumes already out in Japanese.)

The story of Hayate x Blade is an entertaining mix of comedy, action, drama, chicks with weapons, and a a Yuri-ish setup that grows ever more Yuri as the plot develops. Pairs of girls, sword sisters, competing in battles for supremacy, power and money….and mostly for the amusement of the chairwoman of Tenchi Gakuen, the wholly whimsical Amachi Hitsugi. This is awesome stuff.

In terms of the reproduction there’s something I really need to tell you. It was my pleasure to be able to be the copy editor on this book. No, seriously. Remember way back last spring when I told you that I had gotten a side job? Well, that side job was to be able to edit manga for Tor. I love working on the Seven Seas manga, not just because it gives me the opportunity to see the books early (because, frankly, I don’t really feel any need to see Inukami ever, much less early) but because they do such good work. It’s very enjoyable to be part of the process.

So, before I tell you that the English edition is damn good, you need to understand that it’s pretty much a conflict of interest. ^_^; Nonetheless, I honestly think they did a pretty damn good job with this book!

The volume is not entirely without problems, but those that exist are so small – slightly too thin paper, slightly too dark print, I don’t really love the design for the logo – are so incredibly small and tedious that they bear mentioning only in the interest of fairness. The important stuff – the reproduction, the translation, the adaptation, the lettering, the sound f/x, etc. are all top-notch.

Yuri in Volume 1 is mostly confined to the existence of openly lesbian (i.e., shounen-style pervy girl) Kuga Jun, roomate to one of our leads, Mudou Ayana. But don’t be disheartened, the Yuri quotient rises as the series goes on. And I just finished reading the most recent chapter and can swear to you that the series has never let me down in any way. Yuri, comedy, drama, action – it’s all there in spades.

I am so very, very glad that Hayate x Blade made it out in 2008, so I can happily name it the best English-language Yuri manga of the year.

Ratings:

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

Run! Run! Buy this for yourself and two copies for friends. Yes, it’s that good.





Lady Snowblood Manga, Volume 2 (English)

October 23rd, 2008

Since we’ve been discussing adult female protagonists, I though I would keep the trend going today and take a look at Lady Snowblood, Volume 2. First, let’s say grace and thank Kelly G for sponsoring today’s review – thanks Kelly!

You’ve seen Lady Snowblood, haven’t you? This classic Japanese film series follows the violent life of revenge by a woman named Snowblood, in retribution for all the evils that have befallen her and her family. Bwahahahah. It’s a great set of films that Tarantino ripped for his own film doujinshi, Kill Bill. (Lucy Liu has *nothing* on Kaji Meiko.)

The Lady Snowblood manga’s old, old school art and the period story instantly transports us to a Tezuka-style world, where revenge is the only option for those destroyed by greed, lust and pride.

Snowblood’s whole life has been a hunt for revenge and, as a result, she’s become very, very good at it. Like the Count of Monte Cristo she uses sex appeal, her honed fighting skills and her extremely sharp business acumen to do whatever it takes to ruin those people who ruin others.

In Volume 2, it takes Snowblood passing herself off as a Buddhist nun and seducing the daughter of a powerful businessman. Aya is dying from some wasting disease and the continued sexual activity dissipates what little life force she has left. She dies, but at least she dies happily. ^_^

There’s a grim kind of pleasure we get as we watch Snowblood take on the privileged and corrupt with her own brand of vigilante revenge. While she receives little satisfaction as her reward, we can wallow in her ability to lie, to cheat, to kill and ruin those whose reckless disregard for life and their fellow humans has led them to take everything they can get at the expense of everyone around them. Hmm…seems kind of timely doesn’t it? It would be kind of darkly amusing to create a Snowblood 2 set in the modern world of stock trading, wouldn’t it? ;-)

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 6
Service – 5

Overall – 7

Just another nod to Kelly – welcome to the ranks of Okazu heroes!





Day of the Revolution Manga, Volume 1 (English)

October 8th, 2008

How fitting that today, the Day of the Revolution, we start with a hero. Today’s review was sponsored by Martin S from Austria – thank you very much Martin. You are today’s hero! ^_^

Day of the Revolution tells the story of Yoshikawa Kei, a little punk-ass boy who is respected by his punk-ass friends and kind of idolized by them as well, since he’s kind of cute and girly. Kei learns that he is actually Intersexed. Because of a complicated family situation, he chooses to become a girl, rather than continue on as a boy. Hilarity ensues. Kei, now known as Megumi, finds it just about impossible to hide her identity from her former pals, which was a relief, since an extended series of gags while she attempted to do so would have been dire. ^_^

Tsuda Mikiyo, who also draws under the name Zaou Taishi, has a number of strongly gender-bendy and fakey Yaoi and Yuri titles under this name. Previously, I reviewed Family Complex, another series picked up by DMP. Originally, DMP announced Day as a Yuri title, but I and other folks wrote in to explain why it really isn’t. Nor is it truly a transgender story, but so few manga really are, when you think of it. So, once again, if you’re interested in MTF gender switching, this story could be of interest to you. In a way it is a sort of Intersexed story although, as with so many gender and sexuality stories, the larger issues of identity are subsumbed by inane details of gender roles. I cannot believe that the *most* important issue of someone transitioning from one sex to another is sitting with their legs closed. I just cannot.

Nonetheless, this is a reasonably amusing story. Much like Family Complex the fake BL and fake Yuri actually work in terms of the comedy. I don’t feel like the author is dissing or minimizing the issues, just that she’s writing a comedy and we should stay light hearted about it all.

The other feature of this book is the author’s extended author’s note. Tsuda is the only author I’ve ever read that draws herself as a human as well as some avatar character. And her author’s notes are detailed pieces of autobiography that give some actual insight into the woman behind the art. It’s refreshing and entertaining, a stark contrast to most of the other author’s notes I’ve read. (The worst two so far, “Recently I’ve developed an interest in hand lotion,” and “…who has started developing feeling for organutans.” I mean, really.)

At the end of the volume, Megumi, stressed out about the possibility of having to one day have sexual relations with a man after an aborted attempt at rape, chooses her friend and mentor as a woman, Makoto, to be her partner. This is what DMP assumed made it a Yuri story. It isn’t. Obviously they hadn’t read the second volume. But I had. ^_^

More gender-bendy goodness to come in Volume 2!

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7, 9 if you’re looking for Intersex stories that aren’t porn
Characters – 8
Yuri – 2ish, if you squint
Service – 5, a little for the BL fans, a little for the rest.

Overall – 7

I think I actually like Tsuda on her own more than with her BL manga partner Eiki Eiki. Sacrilege!

 





Yuri Manga: Burst Angel, Volume 1 (English)

October 1st, 2008

BurstAngel1I previously reviewed the Burst Angel manga back in 2005. You can find all of those reviews under the Bakuretsu Tenshi category on the right-hand sidebar, if you want to compare and contrast my first impressions.

In the original manga reviews I pointed out that the manga is somewhat – not significantly, but somewhat – Yurier than the anime. Sure, in the anime it’s *obvious* to anyone with two eyes that Jo and Meg are together. They even go so far as to show affection for one another. What we *want,* however, is a big old snogging scene where Jo rescues Meg and reaps the just rewards of that effort.

We don’t get that in Volume 1 of Burst Angel manga, either. ^_^;

What we do get, is more of Meg fantasizing about the life she’d like to live with Jo, instead of the hand-to-mouth, job-to-job, violent existence that they currently lead.

I’ve read comments here and that dismiss the manga because there is a young boy character inserted into the story. Don’t dismiss it because of that. The story is never about the boy, even if he does return later in the volume. The story is absolutely, firmly, about Jo and Meg. And, like the anime, it quickly becomes about Jo.

If you like the classic western structure of the early anime episodes – Meg and Jo get a job, defeat the bad guys, don’t get paid, move on, get a job, etc., you’ll enjoy this volume of the manga. If you’re looking for something more like later episodes of the anime, hang on – it’ll get there. The last chapter gives us a glimpse into that, as Amy and Sei-who-is-not-named-Beth show up on the very last pages, hinting at more to come.

The translation and adaptation are all fine, no complaints here, but I was really floored at how awful the reproduction of the art is for this TokyoPop edition. It’s pretty loose art, hard to follow at times in the original – very pencil drawing sketchy, if you know what I mean – but the pages of the English language edition…! If you don’t have the original to compare from, it might not seem that bad, but wow. It really is. I hope the second volume is reproduced better, since it’s my favorite of the three.

In the meantime, enjoy this action-filled prequel to the Burst Angel anime!

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 5
Service – 5

Overall – 7

Thanks once again to Eric P. for being the sponsor of today’s review! You have joined Dan and Ted the Awesome in the ranks of Okazu superheros. ^_^





Battle Club Manga, Volume 6 (English)

September 18th, 2008

While Battle Club is in no way a “Yuri” manga, Volume 6, the last of the translated volumes, has a pretty big chunk of Yuri.

Ostensibly, the story is still about Tamako’s quest to gain strength and skill through wrestling, but since the book starts with their teacher Tondemon disappearing, we pretty much abandon that quest to wallow in cosplay, lesbianism, tragic tales of the past, trap-infested obstacle courses into mansions of the rich, ghosts and other completely real things.

For those of you who read Battle Club for the plot, you’ll be pleased to note that for all that these stories are pretty much unrelated to the wrestling club, in their own way they have *more* plot than the entire story up to this point.

The rest of you, which is to say, all of you, will be pleased to learn that there’s plenty of service in both quantity and variety. For the purposes of this blog post we’ll stick to the Yuri.

After Mukoda is defeated by Tondemon-sensei and Tondemon disappears, we turn our attention to Shiba, ex of the Karate club and supposed lesbian. She starts the chapter off by an extended fantasy about sex with Tamako, followed by a string of circumstantial circumstances that, lo and behold! are exactly like her dream. Only she doesn’t get to have sex with Tamako.

Later, as Wrestling Club Captain Taiki reflects on his past and how he became a cross-dresser (although not as to the origin of his large rack of lamb) we get a glimpse of the (of course) lesbian feelings heaped upon the (of course) receptive captain of the Black Cat High wrestling club.

I’m fascinated at the eroticization of wrestling. Although I don’t find it half as appealing for myself as someone just seriously putting the beatdown on someone, I can kind of see where people are going with it. And this manga takes it to such utter bizarre extremes that it ultimately would have to be read as a comedy, even if it weren’t also full of ridiculous gags, puns and purely comedic scenes. I wonder if that makes Battle Club the first erotic wrestling comedy in manga? Probably not, what was I thinking?

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 2
Characters – 3
Yuri – 6
Service – a zillion

Overall – 4

I don’t have anything left to say about this manga except my thanks to Everett L. for his sponsorship of today’s review!

…oh wait, yes I do. When Shiba joins the wrestling club, they spell her name wrong on the name plaque in the dojo. D’oh!