Archive for the English Manga Category


Confidential Confessions Manga, Volume 4 (English)

May 6th, 2008

Back in the bad old days of Yuri, in between the frantic melodrama of the 70’s and this current decade, (and with the exception of Sailor Moon) it was fairly common in manga to find lesbian love paired with mental unbalance. Confidential Confessions, by Momochi Reiko is a series that allows us to wallow in the depravity of “true” stories and incidentally, see some crazy lesbians.

You know the television show that’s on WEtv (which as you know, I like to refer to as the “Violence Against Women Network,”) High School Confidential? This manga was written 10 years ago – and it’s the exact same stuff. Teenage pregnancy, abuse, drug use, etc. Freaky, huh? Guess good girls in bad trouble still appeals to some.

In Volume 4, we “deal” with a number of unpleasant issues; institutionalized abuse of female students; prostitution; bullying; and, in “Forbidden Kiss,” a lesbian love affair complete with insane jealousy, a knife and an ambiguously asexual ending.

The author’s notes dramatically explain that all these terrible things go on, and she feels that, by telling these stories, she’s bringing these issues to people’s attention, so the bullying and abuse and prostitution will stop. She doesn’t mention the lesbianism. If I was young and had read her story, I might have been tempted to stop being a lesbian. Those girls were *crazy*! ^_^; This is the same tone of slavering “concern” with which WEtv deals with the same issues in their show – oh, how awful, isn’t it just terrible what happened, did you hear, I know I was shocked too.

The art in Confidential is decidedly old-school, and in a way it made me nostalgic. If you like the dredging up of sleazy “true” stories, then you’ll be happy to note that the series is 6 volumes long and there’s a second series, Confidential Confessions: Deai, as well. So plenty of teenaged girl misery and abuse for you to bathe yourself in and either feel better about your own life, or get secretly turned on, or whatever floats your boat.

While I do love me my Evil Pycho Lesbians, I’m less moved by this kind of teenage pathos. But, if you love tabloid drama Confidential Confessions is certainly dramatic. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – N/A
Characters – N/A
Yuri – 6
Service – 5

Overall – 7

A tip of the hat today to Ted the Awesome for sponsoring today’s review! (You may have noticed that I haven’t added anything recently to the Yuri Wishlist. That’s because I’m positively *drowning* in things to review and want to make some of it all go away before encouraging you all to throw more on top of an already untenably large pile. When these piles are gravitationally stable again, I’ll add more stuff to the wishlist! Thanks, everyone, for your support!)





Ninin ga Shinobuden Manga, Volume 3 (English)

May 1st, 2008

Is there a word in the English language more perfectly suited to bringing forth titillated giggles from 12-year old boys than “boobies?

Don’t answer that – it was meant as a rhetorical question.

In Volume 3 of Ninin ga Shinobuden, Onsokomaru is a jerk, the various Sasukes are a freakish kind of “noble savage,” and Shinobu is still sweet with a little light lechery on the side. Kaede is, of course, still living in hell having all sorts of fun with the ninjas.

This volume is more of the same kind of thing as usual: Shinobu gets small, the ninjas all help Onsokomaru “clear” the levels of a game in his mind, Shinobu finds a baby elephant in her bed, the Ninjas get lost in a forest, a typhoon comes and other nonsense.

For Yuri fans there’s more Shinobu/Kaede time, and the usual sorts of hints that Shinobu’s feelings are what they are. In the chapter where female ninja instructor Izumi shows up looking for someone to pose as a finacee – and we learn what we already knew – that Shinobu’s the best man – and in a later chapter, the best ninja – of the bunch. :-) And we have to wonder…if Kaede doesn’t like Shinobu “that way,” you know, why on earth is she still coming to the ninja school at all? Because I don’t know too many “friends” who would make visits to Bedlam. Every day.

The reproduction is much more consistent than previous volumes, the tones all reproduce nice enough, and the translation seems tight. Because this book is drawn practically border to border, the translation notesget crammed in to the tight spaces between panels. But you know, it works okay. No complaint from me.

Best of all, there’s the riveting author’s notes about Koga chewing a lot of gum to lose weight.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6 – this volume at least has a variety of set-ups for the usual chaos
Characters – 6
Yuri – 3
Service – 3

Overall – 6

Unfortunately, we probably won’t be seeing Volume 4 in print. I only care because it has the best Kaede x Shinobu chapter in the series. Oh well.

Super thanks to Michela W for sponsoring today’s review!





Karakuri Odette Manga, Volume 4

April 17th, 2008

It’s always a pleasure to find a new series to read. It’s especially a pleasure when both my wife and I find something in common to enjoy. So, when it turned out that the author of one of her pretty demon boy series turned out to also be doing a series about a robot girl, we agreed to try it.

Karakuri Odette by Suzuki Julietta, is indeed about a robot girl, Odette. (That’s Odette looking decidedly Utena-esque on the left of the cover.) Her guardian and inventor, Professor Yoshizawa, created her in the image of a high school girl and Odette is taking her role very seriously. In the beginning of the series, when she realizes that there are differences between her and the girls she saw going to school, she tells the Professor that she would also like to go to school. So, she does. And little by little, she closes the gap between her and the human girls around her.

Odette’s a good kid. She’s thoughtful and kind and wants to be a good human, so she throws herself into things like school and making friends and learning to eat with zeal, surprising, but not displeasing, the Professor. When a second robot, Chris, shows up to kill the Professor, Odette befriends him and ultimately, he’s adopted into the Yoshizawa household.

Crises in Odette can be just about *anything.* From wanting to understand “flavor,” to android assassins, to staying over a friend’s house for the night – the chapters run the gamut from sweet to freakish with nary a breath between.

In Volume 4, Odette is sent to the house of spoiled, creepy Ringosaka Shirayuki. And true to her name, Odette plays the prince to this Snow White, waking her from a lifetime sleep of loneliness and unhappiness. The entire volume follows Shirayuki as she is awakened by her prince (sadly not with a kiss) and as she changes her whole life to be closer to Odette. It’s not quite Yuri, but it’s sort of on the edgier side of akogare and friendship. Shirayuki has to learn to share Odette and play well with others. The end of the volume sees the two of them hand in hand as they walk off to face tomorrow.

There’s really nothing to dislike in Karakuri Odette. The character is charming in her sincerity; her relationship to the Professor never fails to make me smile. “Professor! I want to go to school.” “Whah? Okay.” “Professor! I want to be able to eat.” “Why? All right.” “Professor! I want a cell phone.” “No.” His reactions are very much those of a parent of a teenaged girl. ^_^

The human drama is spliced into silly android drama, so that any chapter might be about “what is love” or escaping from people trying to kidnap Chris, by shopping for sneakers. Because it is a “high-school romance” shoujo story, there are several rivals for Odette’s affection. Yukimura, the first-year boy who has no idea she’s a robot, Chris the other robot, who does, and Shirayuki, who also does. And then there’s Odette’s sempai Asao. He’s a “bad,” but sensitive type, who is blunt with her about important things, but is very protective of her. One of the best things about the story is that there isn’t that “He’s mean to me because he loves me” dynamic that rules so much of shoujo manga.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 2
Service – 1

Overall – 7

So, while mild on the Yuri side, I have to say that I’m quite enjoying having a new shoujo manga series to follow (the first one since Marimite!) and, as an added bonus, I can share it with the wife. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Kashimashi Girl meets Girl, Volume 4 (English)

April 2nd, 2008

Let’s recap the story so far in Kashimashi ~ Girl Meets Girl:

In Volume 1, Tomari has difficulty coming to terms with the fact that her best friend, Hazumu, has become a girl.

In Volume 2, Tomari has difficulty coming to terms with the fact that she has always loved Hazumu

In Volume 3, Tomari has difficulty coming to terms with the fact that she is *still* in love with Hazumu and is willing to fight Yasuna for her.

And now, in Volume 4, Tomari has difficulty coming to terms with the fact that Hazumu’s life may be coming to a premature end.

Looking at it this way, it sort of seems like Tomari’s really the protagonist, doesn’t it? ^_^ And, in a way, she is.

Hazumu, by her own admission, is incapable of making any decisions. Yasuna has made her decision, but will not do anything change the status quo, as befits her gentle, “proper girl” personality. Which leaves Tomari holding the whole ball of wax in terms of crisis, climax, angst and any other random emotions wandering around.

To my surprise, I find that I never originally reviewed this volume in Japanese, probably because it felt like, at the time, that the story pretty much screeched to a dead halt, and we were waiting for the series to run out of chapters so it could end. Now that I’m looking at it from a different perspective, it pretty much just looks like the next plateau of a fairly formulaic series. In every volume so far, the basic premise of Kashimashi has been watching Tomari tortured by something everyone else appears to have haphazardly accepted. Of course they haven’t, they’ve been wracked with doubt and despair, but as our focus is turned primarily upon Hazumu and Tomari, we’re not able to see it any more than Tomari does.

Just as Tomari finally does come to accept her (and Hazumu’s) feelings, Yasuna forces the situation to become more complex, by existing. She ends up acting as a catalyst for Tomari’s and Hazumu’s growth, without every really doing anything specific. In this case, it is the rumor of her leaving for New York that makes Hazumu scoop her up and kiss her. The irony of course is that Tomari has just learned the lesson “If you give in to the fear of losing something, you’ll never be able to keep it safe,” but Hazumu hasn’t.

As always, the adaptation and translation for Kashimashi is superb. Tomari is now, along with everyone else, referring to Hazumu as “she.” Tomari has also stopped speaking like an old man, which is nice. The page tones seemed to have reproduced a little roughly, leaving some moire patterns on pages with large toned areas, but unless that’s important to you, it’s easily enough overlooked. Once again, I really want to say, this book has the smoothest, most natural translation/adaptation I’ve ever encountered. It never fails to impress me.

Other than the fact that nothing really *happens* in this Volume, it’s quite excellent. If one took the essentially ridiculous plot complications away (aliens, time running out, etc), it would be a nice slice-of-life piece about a newly transitioned girl and the girls (and boys) who love her.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Yuri – 9
Service – 4

Overall – 8

My thanks to Ted the Awesome (new nickname, as discussed at Anime Boston,) for sponsoring today’s review!





Yuri Manga: Eternal Alice Rondo, Volume 3 (English)

March 27th, 2008

Perception without conception, is blind; while conception without perception is empty – Immanuel Kant

Volume 3 of Eternal Alice Rondo Key Princess Story slams us smack dab into a wall of the same theme, if you will, with which we were beaten soundly about the head and shoulders in Kannazuki no Miko – obsessions are bad.

Speaking as a person whose life is, at this juncture, greatly enriched by an obsession, I’d like to clarify that. *Bad* obsessions are bad. Good obsessions are easily rationalized as dedication, specialization and/or subject expertise. ^_^

In the case of the characters in Eternal Alice, obsessing about your best friend who never notices you, or your inexplicably adopted otaku half-brother or your dead best friend you accidentally killed while playing hide-and-seek or power or a fictitious character means you will be attacked by girls with questionable fashion sense and their own boring obsessions.

…that’s the lesson I got out of this book, anyway.

(The wife says, “woo-hoo! sign me up!)

That, and Aruto may die a raging bore, but not a virgin. Go, all you otaku – if Aruto can get some, surely there’s hope for you! Ignore the fact that he is a badly-conceived 2-dimensional drawing. Pretend he is real – then you will be just like him pretending Alice is real. Isn’t that ironic?

The art in Volume 3 is a train wreck, what passes for the plot is a thorn whip of angst and the characters become less and less interesting as we learn more about them.

There’s Yuri. Kirika and Lorina aren’t actually in love, but since they obsess so intensely over one another, they are no doubt paired in most readers’ minds. Kisa still has the hots for Kiraha. And Mika and Suwa, uh, yeah, them too.

Oh, and according the the color page, Kirika wears underwear. Were you as worried as I was?

Ratings:

Art – 4
Story – 4
Characters – 3
Yuri – 7
Service – 8

Overall – 4

I just finished re-reading the Kyoshiro manga yesterday. I can’t help but wonder if the artist half of Kaishaku went and got some art lessons or something – it’s miles better than this.

I find it eternally amusing that fangirls get angry with me for hating Kannazuki, which I don’t, and liking Kyoshiro, which I don’t, but only the fanboys seem to care about Alice.