I want to start today’s review off by thanking Yen Press for the copy of Hidamari Sketch that they sent me. Before I had a chance to write a review, our guest reviewer for today, Jen, wrote one that is in every way but one in complete alignment with anything I might have said. So, with Jen’s permission, I am posting her review. I’ll drop back in at the end with a few more notes. Take it away Jen!

I picked up this 4-koma book mainly because it was the last one on the shelf, while every other New Arrival title was bountiful in supply. Seemed to have that going for it. Plus I was in a High School Girls kinda impulse mood (the series, not the genre). Didn’t regret the purchase, despite nothing really happening in it. But then, it was Book #1, and nothing really happened at the beginning of Azumanga, either. I’ll give it time. Plus I thoroughly enjoy the character Miyako.

Set in an Arts school dorm, Miyako (Miya-san) is the neighbour of the title’s lead character Yuno, who is thoroughly bland and uninteresting. Not as cute as Chiyo-san but not as thoroughly annoying as Ichigo Mashimaro‘s Matsuri-chan, Yuno is utterly boring. Teeny frail little freshman who’s heart goes pitter-patter at the slightest twinge of nervousness of life, she’s a walking cliche of moe. Dump her in the bin and move on to her best buddy Miyako.

Miyako is the cliche gaijin American character (despite not actually being American). She’s tall with long blonde hair, boisterous and buxom; Miya-san is the larger-than-life character. Always coming into unsolicited physical contact with the always-flustered dainty nihonjin girlies, Miyako is often seen barging into the room asking for/taking any food in sight… which she consumes voraciously. Leaping,bounding, always sporting an open-mouth grin coupled with eyes big n’bright or otherwise closed in that zen bliss state, Miyako is rough n’rowdy. She’s a stunner, and should therefore be gay. Sound logic to me. Her art style is more ‘Picasso/WTF?’, which doesn’t get nearly enough of a mention (ie. more than once), which is an utter shame.

Still, it’s a character-driven manga, but I still yearn for more. Naturally, not a hint of naughty stuff (unlike HSG‘s smoking, carnal craving or copious amounts of bleeding), Sunshine Sketch is all puren’sweet and otherwise predictable (ie. dull). Still, Miyako steals every scene she’s in. Miya (how the character’s gone this long without being abreviated to “Mya” with accompanying visual gags, I don’t know) kept me reading. Paired with Yuno by default, there’s no other yuri leaning other than her offhand “You’re pretty, too” sly remark to a rain-drenched Yuno who was herself commenting on the wet greenery… eliciting the requisite blush/steam cloud. Also has an eye for Yuno’s panties. You know, I still contend that I’ve never heard another woman use theword “panties”… not even as a schoolgirl; only men. Maybe it’s just an Australian thing.

The only other main characters featured is the other cliche: The Ambiguously Gay Duo. Think a younger Chie & Aoi from the MaiUniverse, only here it’s Sae & Hiro. Sae (Mai’s Chie) plays the role of starving artist, that is a tormented novelist who’s only in the Arts academy because she wants to do her own illustrations.

Forever breaking deadline, she’s cared for by Hiro, who cooks and cleans and provides the warm lap for a broken Sae to sleep on. We don’t really see much of Hiro’s own art career, which is again a shame. It seems playing wife is her role thus far. Oh well, only book #1. Throw in a juvenile yet buxom Arts teacher and you’ve got the ingrediants for an all-round girls school anime, which Google tells me does actually exist. I just hope they keep the ‘Get Yuno drunk’ scene. It’s one of the few scenes that give her (any) character. x__x

Erica here again: So the one thing I diagree with is that Miyako is the best character. Yes, I like Miu from IM, but in *every* other 4-koma style comic, I find that character kind of annoying. They are all the same – in Rakka Ryuusui, this book, Tori Koro – always blonde, always misinterpreting the same things to mean dumb things, etc. etc. I prefer Sae, myself, but entirely because she reminds me of another character in a set of doujinshi stories by Sakuraike.

Let me also add that, as with the few Yen Press books I’ve seen, the quality of reproduction is high. Translating 4-koma puns and gags is always difficult, so if there’s one or two moments where things fall flat, it’s probably not the translator’s fault.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 1.5
Service – 1

Overall – 7

I do agree that Yuno getting drunk was the funniest bit. ;-)

More amusing examples of “not only can’t you please everybody all of the time, sometimes you can’t even please some people some of the time.” LOL

When I openly admitted that I have completely made up the Akira x Alicia couple from Aria in my head, I was accused of being a moron. (My ongoing discussions of Aria as Yuri are in no way based on that completely fictitious and decidedly alternative-universe pairing – it is based on *other* fans’ perception of Aria as Yuri. Mostly, I really don’t think so at all.)

Conversely, when I pointed out that I didn’t see any Yuri in Murder Princess – not *yet* at any rate – I was…you guessed it, called a moron. ^_^

So today’s review is a chance for those of you who love to hate me to yet again call me a moron, because after reading the first two volumes of Stray Little Devil I’m really not seeing anything that I consider Yuri.

Let’s recap for those who are just joining us – In Volume 1, Pam is accidentally transported to the realm of devils and angels. She learns that no one believes she is a human, and is turned into a devil intern with the understanding that if she attains full devil status, she will be returned to her human life. It’s a devil’s bargain, as anyone who is not Pam can see. But being the chipper, friendly manga girl she is, Pam throws herself into her side of the deal and starts collecting the usual allies and sidekicks.

In Volume 2 we get a little more detail as to just *why* no one believes her story about being a human. And the book climaxes with a Iron Chef-style cookoff with Pam on the side of the devils against an (of course) loathsome, lying, cheating angel. No only does Pam win, but she thaws her angel adversary and best-friend-forever doppelganger Lin Fa, just a bit. In fact, Lin Fa goes so far as to not eat too much of Pam’s food so Pam will not suffer harm under the conservation of luck rule. That’s sweet, isn’t it? :-)

And that’s about it – it was awfully sweet. I would definitely say that there’s some akogare/admiration going on there on Pam’s side, accompanied by a little missing of her best friend Rinka…but Yuri? I shrug. I don’t see it. On Lin Fa’s side, Pam is probably the first being at all who hasn’t given a hoot about her status and is certainly the first devil who has ever been nice to her. So for her part it’s the Ice Queen thawing and maybe thinking about friendship between equals for the first time. If you see more than that, well that’s your prerogative, isn’t it? :-) If you don’t piss and moan at me about Akira and Alicia, I’ll let you have Pam and Lin Fa, okay? ^_^

I can’t say I like the art particularly, especially the tiresome obsession with little girl’s butts, but I very much do like the book cover. The Mucha-esque border (complete with lilies, so you can make assumptions right off the bat), and the textured feel provide a pleasant setting for the book. Overall the reproduction is quite good. I haven’t the vaguest clue how the translation is, but I don’t have any problem following the story, so I’ll err on the side of saying that the translation is good. ^_^

Stray Little Devil is definitely going to appeal to a crowd who favors cute over cool. For a shounen version of a shoujo story it’s an enjoyable enough read.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 1
Service – 4

Overall – 6

I’m will to go the distance and see if my interpretation of what you’re all saying is adorable Yuri is, in my opinion, adorable and/or Yuri. ~_-

Oh an my deepest, sincerest thanks to the sponsor of today’s review Brent A.! Thank you for you kindness and generosity!

Among the many amusing bits of fallout from my post yesterday, I got to bang my head against the the MegaTokyo Forums, the posters at which were completely befuddled by my refusal to stop being an all-Yuri publisher, and who, when I tried to gently explain that no one else out there is publishing the kind of Yuri I want to read, called me a “Feminazi.” I therefore dedicate this review to those fine, upstanding human beings.

Suzunari is a moe catgirl 4-panel comic, with mild implications of Yuri twincest.

I am well aware that there are many people who find it incredibly appealing to imagine that an underaged girl (drawn to look even younger) with cat ears might have an unrequited crush on a girl who looks exactly like her. I am not one of them. So for me, the “cute” in Suzunari went completely unappreciated.

In fact, I had to force myself to finish the book.

By about 2/3 of the way through though, I did actually say “hehe” in response to one of the 4-panel comics. So perhaps that is a kind of victory. ^_^

Suzunari is one of those manga that people naturally jump to the wrong conclusion and blame a bad translation for a muddled beginning, but since this is a 4-koma, and I know that they tend to be a little unfocused and assume that 1) you find owarai-style comedy funny and 2) are Japanese and thus need no explanation of the things going on, my guess is that the translation is fine – it’s just that the beginning of the story is a not as well-written as we might wish.

What we do glean is that a spirit of some kind is brought to Earth as a cat-eared girl that looks just like another girl, Kaede. For some reason, the cat-eared version is immediately accepted by Kaede’s family and for some other reason immediately forms a desire for Kaede. This setup having been established, the rest of the comics are they typical ha-ha type humor of four panel Japanese comics. Puns and misunderstandings abound.

Yen Press, who I thank for this review copy, did a fine job on the book itself. The pages looks crisp and clean, the translation does as good a job as possible with the material and the color pages look great. I’m really sorry that I couldn’t like it more.

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – 3
Characters – 4
Yuri – 3
Service – 9

Overall – 4

I *am* looking forward to S.S.Astro, which is the same dumb jokes, but a different Yuri setup. ^_^

Last time I was in Tokyo, I was standing in the K-Books used manga store in Ikebukuro (quite possibly my favorite place on earth) looking at titles. This series was pointed out to me at the time, with the caveat that while it had mild Yuri, I’d probably loathe it. ^_^ I don’t loathe it, but I will say that Stray Little Devil is one of those manga series that an awful lot of creepy guys think is “cute.” ^_^

Before I forget, I believe the today’s review was made possible by a grant from loyal friend of Yuri, Ted the Awesome. Thanks for once again being a hero and sponsoring a review, Ted!

In Volume 1, we meet Pam, an energetic kid who is trying to impress some friends by conjuring up some big magic. Shockingly, the magic spins out of control and she ends up being transported to another dimension. In this dimension, she learns, Angels and Devils live and fight and stuff. No one believes she’s human, so she’s turned into a Devil and told that if she manages to make full Devil status, she’ll be able to go home. Of course no one tells her anything at all about anything important – and of course she can’t figure out anything from reading the handbooks, because if any of that happened, there’d be no story. And it is *so* much funnier for her to bumble and stumble around hopelessly, causing havoc with every little thing she attempts because there is nothing more delightfully amusing than an incompetent moron who is thwarted at every turn. Like clown routines, Pam’s adventures are endless hysterical.

Of course, Pam is not a clown, she is a hapless manga character, so every time she manages to clear a level, she gains a new ally. Also because it is a manga, we look at her ass quite often. Apparently panty shots are not allowed in this manga…but staring at young girls’ asses being thrust in our faces in any number of unlikely positions and situations is perfectly acceptable. (Not in my book, personally. I find it exhausting on good days and on bad days it makes me murderous.)

In any case, in Volume 1, Pam is learning to become a Devil Intern, but before she does, she has a run in with a very elite Angel Lin-fa…who amazingly looks *exactly* like Pam’s Best Friend Forever, Rinka. (I’m only reading the English language edition, but I bet that those two names would use the same Kanji/Chinese characters.)

Lin-fa is yer basic Nadesico beauty with haughty attitude, who finds herself maddened by Pam’s energetic and cheerful bumbling. Absolutely not to be confused with the other 14 million series in which a classic Japanese beauty’s life is thrown into disarray by a cheerful, energetic average girl. And, of course, Lin-fa’s reaction is the *exact* reaction that Yuri fans who want to see 13-year old girls have romantic entanglements with other 13-year old girls see as the *exact* kind of love/hate they are looking for. The Yuri in Volume 1 is implication only, but based on what other people have said on the Yuricon Mailing List, it’s enough for many. ^_^

If you are of that ilk that like Yuri underaged, heavily sexualized, but in a way that you can mentally rewrite as “cute” and “sweet” you’ll probably like Stray Little Devil lots.

My genuinely favorite plot complication is the “conservation of luck” principle, which states that if a Devil helps an Angel, or vice versa, they will receive the same amount of bad luck in return. I quite liked that.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 6
Story – 7
Yuri – 1
Service – 5

Overall – 6

It wasn’t my cup of tea, no. Nor was it the worst thing I’ve ever read. I don’t think the plot itself would be enough to capture my interest without the Yuri angle – I’m not sure that that will be sufficient to maintain my interest in the long run. (And, oh god, PLEASE don’t write me and tell me how much better future volumes are. I’ve already read them, and they aren’t. I’m just reviewing *this* volume this time. Okay?)