Archive for the English Manga Category


Yuri Manga: S.S. Astro, Volume 1

August 13th, 2008

Of the three 4-koma manga with Yuri put out by Yen Press, by far and away my favorite is the subject of today’s review, S.S. Astro, Volume 1. This should come as no surprise to anyone, since the characters are adults and there is at least one openly Yuri character. (For those of you who truly understand my tastes, you’ll also understand why she is not my favorite character.  ^_^)

So, for those of you who have not read it, S.S. Astro is a 4-panel comic strip series about 4 teachers in a generic high school. Izumi Maki is the usual slightly doofus-y lead character, this time a terrible homeroom and P.E. teacher who can’t remember her students’ names, and who is basically coasting through work. She is accompanied by Karasuma Kaname, who instantly falls hard for Maki and who spends the entire volume swooning and nose bleeding. Nagumo Yuko, the Japanese language teacher who looks ultra-refined, absurdly so, in fact, but at heart is a total BL fangirl. And my favorite character, Arai Setsuna, the school doctor who is evil incarnate and spends her days hoping someone will come into the infirmary really messed up and bloody. I like her.  ^_^

The comics are typical of the breed – situation setup with pun/punch to the head/nosebleed/hands over mouth -type endings. But unlike many “gag” 4-koma I actually laughed at more than a few of these! Crazy, huh? ^_^

As much as I approve of Karasuma’s suit, glasses, hypercompetence and crushiness for Maki, I find the fact that every time Arai pretends to hit on Maki, Maki forgets to protest, far more appealing. In general, Maki is the clearly Yuri fodder – not only does Karasuma lust after her, and Arai (who went out and broke up with Maki’s brother, so you can be sure that fanfic writers are all *over* that relationship) can’t stop herself from making inappropriate comments, Maki’s an all-around pere who happily plays bishoujo games and sets herself up in very Yuri-service situations.

The best bits are the character profiles, which are not only hysterical, but label Karasuma’s “gender” as “Yuri.”

With a *teeny* little rewrite, this manga would be perfect. If only Maki, Arai and Karasuma were all lesbians and Yuko the straight fangirl. Perfect, right? Only, it’s not, so we’ll just have to accept this not-quite-so-perfect-but-still-very-good actuality.

Ratings:

Art – 5 – sort of generic and hard to follow until you get used to everyone
Story – 7
Characters – 8 they grow on you as the volume goes along
Yuri – 4, with extra helpings of pointless service for laughs
Service – 2

Overall – 8

Kudos to Yen Press for the exceptionally not-jerky translation notes on both Yaoi and Yuri-related items. You win.

And let me thank Jo W. for sponsoring today’s review! A fun manga and a lovely gesture. Thanks Jo!





Sunshine Sketch Manga, Volume 1 (English)

August 5th, 2008

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. ;-)





Yuri Light Novel: Strawberry Panic, Volume 2

July 25th, 2008

Strawberry Panic Light Novel, Volume 2 is the touching story of girls in love at three girls private schools on Astraea Hill.

At Miator, the star, the Etoile of all three schools, Hanazono Shizuma has found herself completely out of control in her attraction to new student Aoi Nagisa. Nagisa is thrown into the competition for this year’s Etoile with Shizuma and, as a result, bears up under a alot of scrutiny and some bullying. Her attraction to Shizuma is so strong that neither bullying, nor knowledge of Shizuma’s past playgirl ways is enough to deter her – but upon learning that Shizuma truly loved her former Etoile partner, she finds her confidence wavering and her resolve starting to crack.

At Spica, the reticent and lone-wolf Ohtori Amane had found herself equally as head over heels about a transfer student, this time the angelic Kotohana Hikari. That Spica’s representative in the Etoile battle is a mere transfer student is so outrageous an idea, former student and famous violinist Kusanagi Makoto comes running back to Spica to sabotage her school’s best chance at winning. In the meantime, Hikari and Amane realize that their love is way deeper than anything they were prepared to deal with – especially Amane, who never cared for expressions of love between women.

And, at LuLim, the graceful Madonna of the school, Chikaru, pulls strings behind the scenes, and spoils her own harem rotten as she prepares them for a life of cosplay and intrigue.

…Dammit. I was trying to maintain a tone of affected sincerity, but blew it.

Oh well. lol

The book is filled with kisses- who can forget those touching moments when Shizuma gives Nagisa a hickey, or Yaya has her way with Hikari in the pool, or Chikaru gently kisses Kizuna’s butt. Not you – because I will keep reminding you of those things. You will never be allowed to forget them. Every time you tell me that this is a serious love story I will look at you and say – absolutely, especially when Chikaru dressed Kizuna up as a playboy bunny and kissed her butt. LOL

OTOH, Hikari and Amane’s love isn’t maddening. Yes, Hikari cries in every scene (see my review of this volume in Japanese for my suggestion about that) and yes, Amane doth protest too much, but they win hands down for best – well, least irritating – couple.

And I’m *still* annoyed that Makoto didn’t shut up long enough to kiss Chikaru. Makoto is so much more annoying in English, because now I have no excuse to not understand her tortured sentences.

Speaking of which, boo to Seven Seas for not crediting both translators on this book. (In fact, boo to them for not crediting every single person who works on every single book. There are a few books I from them have which only credit translator, adaptor and editor, as if it didn’t take tons of retouching and lettering, layout and production editing to make a book. Bad, bad. People who work on a book – *especially* people like the retouch and lettering people, who have hellish jobs – deserve to be credited.) There was a changeover in translators midway – which was very apparent in at least one thing. At the beginning of the book, Chikaru looks out the window as a white pigeon flew by. Okay, true, doves and pigeons are 1) the same family and 2) the same word in Japanese, but usually to be more symbolic and all, they are referred to in such moments as “doves,” because pigeons are basically considered to be rats with wings by those of us who have ever actually looked at one. LOL

Anyway, the translation smooths out and later on, they are indeed referred to as doves…which makes me wonder why the proofreader didn’t catch that and fix it. It takes a village to make a book, let me tell you. :-)

And in the end, all the lead contenders for Etoile are disqualified and/or pull out, leaving Makoto and Kagome which is still a breathtakingly bad combination.

I remembered this volume as being less servicey, more sincere and slightly more romantic than the first book of the series, and the English edition managed to capture that perfectly. It’s also still wild over-the-top melodrama that makes me think it would make the most awesome live action story ever. Even better than “Passions.” Actually – kind of like a Yuri version of “Passions.”

Ratings:

Art – 6 (one point off for so often illustrating things we don’t want to see and not illustrating the ones we do)
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 5

Reproduction – 7
Translation – starts out a little roughly at 6, but moves up to 8

Overall – 7

Little Princess Sara‘s English title is A Little Princess, fyi.





Stray Little Devil Manga, Volume 2 (English)

July 21st, 2008

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!





Suzunari Manga, Volume 1 (English)

July 14th, 2008

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. ^_^