Archive for the English Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl, Volume 1 (English)

January 12th, 2007

I came to a conclusion today about yuri stories being “good” or “bad.” I was listening to the third Strawberry Panic Drama CD and I realized that, if Chikaru were a guy, most people would find him creepy and – in that particular scene – disgusting. And it dawned on me that that sort of defines what makes a story “good” or “bad”. If for instance, Chikane from Kannazuki no Miko had been a male character, would anyone *ever* attempt a rationalization of his behavior, much less openly declare it to be sexy? I think not.

So, going forward, when I comment that a series is “not good” you can take that to mean that, among other things, I think that if the characters were a hetero, rather than lesbian, couple the story would be boring, trite and/or vile. It’s a simpler criteria than trying to explain good writing all the time.

Ironically, none of that really applies to today’s review, as the character starts off as a boy. ^_^ I reviewed Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl, Volume 1 in Japanese back in May 2005. Because the story has not changed at all, I will not be re-reviewing the story itself. If you are not sure whether you want to read the story, by all means, please visit that first review. I rated the Volume an overall 7, if that helps.

What I do want to talk about today is the quality of the transition into English of this story. Which is, let me be honest, very, very good.

If you are a regular reader of Okazu, you know that I am constantly disappointed in English adaptations of manga and anime that remove honorifics and cultural references.

Based on that alone, it’s fair to say that this volume of Kashimashi may well be the single best adaptation of a manga into English that I have ever seen.

Every honorific – even the silly ones…especially the silly ones – are preserved. Notes are added that make sense of the puns and cultural relics, and the reading audience is assumed to have several functioning brain cells. It was the proverbial breath of fresh air to me, let me tell you. Overall, this may well be one of the best translation/adaptations I’ve ever seen. It was a seamless reading experience for this reader of the original version – my highest compliment for a translation.

The print quality is good, and although it did not bother me in any way, you should know that the sound effects are left completely untranslated. As I’ve mentioned many times, I don’t read s/fx, indeed I hardly notice them for myself (although I pay attention for review purposes.)

The story remains yuri, although with that edge of marginalization that exists in so many current Dengeki yuri series. It retains the service, the goofball plot complications, the sad wretch of a pervtastic father, and the “I’m a girl now, so I have to do abc…” and of course the aliens, that make it hard to judge this book harshly, since it’s so obviously ridiculous.

Still not my favorite example of “Yuri”, Kashimashi (which, btw, also means a loud or rambunctious sound) makes a decent enough entry into the Yuri market – and an exceptional showing for Seven Seas. Keep up the work, guys – and get some GOOD Yuri titles, please! Ask me, and I’ll be glad to offer some suggestions.

Ratings for the story:

Art – 8
Characters – 7
Story – 5
Yuri- 9

Overall – 7

Ratings for the adaptation:

Translation: 9
Print Quality: 8 (not at all easy to do…)

Overall: 9

I’ve never read a manga in English that I didn’t personally publish that felt more like reading the Japanese original. Kudos to Seven Seas.





High School Girls Manga, Volume 7

January 8th, 2007

First of all, thank you very much to everyone who sent their good wishes for our continued health. ^_^ I’m mostly okay, the wife is going to the doctor’s in about an hour.

Secondly, my deepest appreciation and thanks go out to everyone who sent me something from my Wish List. I will absolutely be reviewing everything you sent, but my sincere thanks to you all for your kindness and generosity. (Getting my mail today was a bit like Christmas morning. ^_^)

Now, on to today’s most excellent review, by our most excellent Guest reviewer, Sean Gaffney.

I received High School Girls, Volume 7 yesterday from Dr. Master’s online store, a mere year after Volume 6. HSG has ‘caught up’ with Japan, so I suspect we will start to see it as the traditional twice a year release that most caught up with Japan series get.

Content first: the series continues to be hilarious. There are tons of quotable lines, my favorite at the moment being “Teach me how dumb people study!”. The girls are as themselves as ever, though this volume does emphasize a subtle shift in the focus of the manga that we’ve seen since Volume 4.

When the manga began, Eriko, Yuma and Ayano were the stars, with Kouda, Himeji, and Ogawa as supporting players. The mere fact that the other three are *still* called by their last names emphasizes this. However, after a while it became clear that Kouda needed more air time, and needed to be paired with Eriko more. These were the most consistently funny situations.

So now you have the manga of Volumes 4-present, which stars Eriko and Kouda, with Yuma and Ayano dropping back to supporting. (Himeji and Ogawa have always had much smaller roles in the manga (they’re called ‘second string’), and the anime beefed up their presence a lot.)

In addition, when this shift takes place, the class itself, which had been fairly faceless, begins to get real people. Kouda divides them up into groups (A Girls, Sports, etc.) and they tend to stay there, but they do get personalities, especially the ‘Takarazuka pair’, our canonish lesbian couple. The manga has, to a certain degree, broadened its focus, and it’s made for a much better story.

This volume the stories involve the girls trying to figure out how to attract guys with the help of Yuma’s bitchy younger sister; Eriko suddenly finding it hard to concentrate and thinking that the others have turned her dumb (hands down the funniest story here); Himeji and Ogawa getting a focus story devoted to their friendship; and the school trip.

The trip is what would be called a ‘major arc’; it takes half of this volume and all of the following. Eriko and Kouda are naturally in charge of it, and find that the others have all agreed to hang out with other groups for a change. Himeji with the A-Girls, Ogawa with the Funky-Girls, Yuma with the Sports group, and Ayano with the Freaks. This leaves our heroines rooming with Nao and Sayaka (as Yuma notes, “Make sure you don’t get in their way…”) Eriko, thinking they’re all ‘divorcing’, then begins to freak out as only Eriko can do.

The volume ends with a nightmarish plane ride in which Kouda deals with air sickness and Eriko with her period, in the traditional unsubtle style of this book. The trip itself will be covered in Book 8.

So, I enjoyed the content, now what about the presentation? Well… they’re trying a lot harder, I’ll grant them that. We now have honorifics, complete with a guide at the back. The cover is handsome, and there are color pages at the start. I could do without the mature content label being in a voice bubble on the front cover, but hey. There are some culture notes, which are mostly… inadequate. Takarazuka is not described well at all, and some jokes are simply altered for the English volume, such as Yuma missing being the ‘tsukkomi’ of the group. But yes, it’s much better than Volumes 3-6 were.

There’s 4-komas interspersed throughout, and the end has a character poll that was done in Japan. The poll itself is very interesting, and tells you a lot about the Japanese audience for HSG; Ogawa’s #2 behind Eriko (loli loli loli get your adverbs here…), while Himeji is #11, behind some really minor characters. The art of Himeji sitting at a desk in deep depression is funny and rather touching. :)

The cover art style has changed, as the Japanese publishers redesigned 1-6 and re-released them before doing 7. Dr. Master are unlikely to re-release 1-6, so we just get a major style change. Yuma’s sister Momoko is on the cover.

Lastly, any yuri? There’s pretty much the usual. Nao and Sayaka are as gay as ever without actually saying they’re gay, holding hands on the plane and gazing adoringly at each other. Kouda, as Erica has noted in past reviews, has an unconscious crush on Eriko badly, and the scene where she poses in fairly outrageous bathing costumes for her would be Yuri if it weren’t so dumb.

This is likely hard to find at the moment (it was solicited late from Diamond, and Amazon has it in their ‘1-3 months’ category for shipping). I got it from the publisher’s store. But if you can get it, grab it. It’s the usual funny, vaguely gross, occasionally heartwarming High School Girls antics. Oh, and you get to see Kouda wearing a King Cobra as a bathing suit. And nothing else.

Ratings:

Art: 7. Mostly for the very amusing Kouda costumes.
Story: 8. Very funny, and more focused than before.
Characters: 7. Ditto.
Yuri: 4. Despite an ‘almost canon’ couple, there’s not much in this.
Service: 8. As always, there’s a high sleaze factor balanced with the practical discussions of life as a woman that would drive away many Fanboys. But any manga which has Kouda wearing a strap-on on her forehead will have a high service rating.

Overall: 7.

Once again, thanks so much, Sean! I’ve got so much floating around here, I’m not even sure where to start. (I know, you all feel my pain, I’m sure.) 

I’m back to work tomorrow, and quite possibly overwhelmed, so no promises for reviews, but I’ll do my best. ^_^

 





Yuri Manga: Tori Koro, Volume 2

December 1st, 2006

I am about to say something I have never said before about a fellow translated manga distribution company – DrMaster is really *very* bad at their job.

I’ve read over and over that they’ve “gotten better” but given that they are coming from a place where translations are awful to abysmal, honorifics wander in and out of a book like a bored 13-year old and the reproduction of the pages is so poor that I honestly have no idea what’s going on, I can only imagine that they *have* to get better…because there’s not that much further down to go. Frankly, I’d be ashamed to put something out of this poor technical quality. The color page was so blurry and vague that it would be virtually useless to use it as a character guide, unless you had an idea who the characters were already.

Storywise, Tori Koro, Volume 2 is similar to Volume 1. The story is told in 4-panel comics, full of mind-bogglingly bad puns, Tatami’s weird-ass brain function and a lot of stupid sillyness. It’s not “wackiness,” not hysterical, just silly.

Niwa-chan’s feelings for Yae continue in this book much as they did in the first, with an added degree of desire. She’s wangled a place in the household where she spends a lot of time holding Yae in her arms as they sit around, and few times she slips and says something a tad more explicit than usual. As Yae appears to be blissfully unaware (or she’s perfectly happy with it – whichever reading you prefer,) that leaves Makishi and Tatami to react comically. Nothing in this book is anything other than comic setup, so expect no romance. Niwa’s still gets to hold Yae in her arms, so I’ll call that a win for her. ^_&

I had a good laugh at the rating on Tori Koro, too. They’ve rated it at 13+, which is fine, since there’s very little that can be called objectionable (some teeny-weeny bits of Makishi fanservice, almost as an aside and, of course, Niwa’s professed desire for Yae) but I defy anyone to find a 14-year old who would read three chapters in this manga with any enjoyment. The punch lines are so often based on regional cultural knowledge and bad puns that frankly I cannot imagine the American teenager who could read it with pleasure. ^_^;

Ratings:

Art – 4 (Weird at best, but because of the bad reproduction often completely incomprehensible here)
Story – 5 (If you like puns)
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 4 (Also mostly lost because of the bad reproduction)

Overall – 6

So, technically this book is the single worst I’ve ever seen, and the story, such as it is, is impenetrable. But I’m still glad it’s available in translation, because impenetrable puns may be bad in English, but every month when I read my Dengeki Daioh I just KNOW I’m missing 70% of what’s going on. ^_^;

(Oh and how ’bout that…*three* translated manga in one week!)





Yuri Manga: Tori Koro, Volume 1 (English)

August 29th, 2006

Tori Koro, by hai ran, is another one of those series that rattled around forever on Japanese Yuri lists and sites, but I had never had a chance to look into it. Conveniently for me, DrMaster picked up the license to it and last year released volumes one and two.

Tori Koro, according to the comic itself, stands for “Tricolor.” The cover states, “tricolor-sisters +1 girl / nanase family’s 4-panel comics” Not very helpful I know, but it will make more sense in a second. ^_^ Tori Koro is yet another Dengeki Daioh series and one that I read monthly in that magazine. But…there’s a catch. I’ll get to that later.

First, the plot is a simple one. Nanase Yae, high school 1st-year, is informed rather suddenly by her mother, that two daughters of friends are coming to live with them. Sachie (Mom) wants the house to be lively again, as it was when Yae was younger and her husband was alive. Yae naturally is shocked – she hardly has time to get used to the idea before the two girls, Makishi (from Osaka) and Tatami (from Hiroshima) arrive. They immediately look at her cute, little body and think “yay, little sister” only to be amazed that Yae’s the same age they are.

The entire comic is slice of life “4-panel” strips, so there isn’t really a plot. The gags are mild, light-hearted and slightly goofy. They are also often based on cultural differences between regions of Japan. For instance, Makishi arrives with a takoyaki plate and Tatami brings a hot plate, to represent their local stereotypical cuisine. (Like, oh, someone from the South of the US bringing a deep fryer when they move.) Other gags are personality clashes and bad puns and some general stupidity. For example, when the postman arrives to deliver a package, he comments that he thought Mrs. Nanase only had one daughter. Sachie says that recently, she was reunited with her late husband’s two illegitimate daughters. Yae flips out at such an inappropriate joke. Of course, she also got burned by being put last on the family register at the front door, even though she’s the oldest of the three – and the only natural daughter….

And there is the catch. Between Makishi’s and Tatami’s accents and the silly gags, I find it nigh on impossible to comfortably read this comic in Japanese. Sometimes I can make the gag out, but often I really can’t without alot more work that I currently have time for. So I was *very* glad to see it in English. Tori Koro is not laugh-out-loud, gut-grabbing hysterical, but it’s cute and good for a smile. I haven’t seen any sign of Volume three from DRMaster, but if sales are good, then they may go ahead and put it out. So follow the links above and buy copies. Buy several. I want Volume 3+. :-)

Okay, so. The question you probably have is – where’s the yuri? And indeed, when I began to read this, I also had this question. I kind of assumed it would be fanservice yuri – misunderstandings between the new “sisters”, etc. Right at the beginning Makishi is talking to the person giving her a ride to the Nanase’s and she mentions that there’s a daughter and how she hopes she’ll get along with her. The driver comments that in cases like this, sometimes marriages come out of the situation…Makishi responds, “I said it was a girl!” and I thought, okay, that’s the kind of Yuri we’re likely to get. Fine.

Well, no. Wrong again, Erica. ^_^ I’m glad to report that, in this case, I just hadn’t been patient enough.

A few chapters in, a new character is introduced. Niwatazumi Keiko (“Niwa-chan”) sits in front of Yae, is very cool and very intimidating. And, it turns out, has a raging huge crush on Yae. A crush which she does not much to hide and everything to promote.

As far as technical issues go, the book has some good and some bad. Reproduced color pages look very spiffy. Sound effects are written in next to Japanese, which doesn’t bother me, although “bill and coo” for “betabeta” was just a weird choice. Using a 1930 dictionary are we? ^_^. It does look a little strange, especially when the S/fx could have been cleaned up. There’s consistency issues – in some case the page was retouched, in some cases not, Tatami’s name completely miswritten in an intro panel and honorifics are left intact in some cases but translated in others, which is very disconcerting. Even with editors and proofreaders, things slip through the cracks. But they probably should have stuck with either American or Japanese honorifics, not flip-flopped between them…in the same panel….

Ultimately, none of these issues make it difficult to enjoy the comics. Niwa’s crush is cute, Tatami and Makishi’s treatment of Yae is always good for a laugh, Sachie’s a nutball and as “wackiness ensues” type stories, this one is not at all taxing on mind or spirit. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 4
Story – 6
Character – 7
Yuri – 5
Service- 1

Overall – 6

Tori Koro is perfect for an enjoyable rainy afternoon reading. ^_^

 





Yuri Monogatari 3 and Shoujoai ni Bouken on Amazon

March 17th, 2006

It is incumbent upon all authors to, from time to time, mention that their book is really worth buying. ^_^ My friend, physics writer Jennifer Ouellette, whose book is very much worth buying, puts it this way on her own blog, Cocktail Party Physics, “I have no shame. Help keep my cat in the manner to which she would like to become accustomed. BUY THIS BOOK NOW!” I just love the subtle sales pitch.

In that spirit, I thought today would be a good day to let you all know that my book, Shoujoai ni Bouken: The Adventures of Yuriko is not only worth buying, you can now get it on Amazon! So if you don’t have Paypal, don’t want to send a money order, don’t trust the USPS (and who could blame you for that?) you can still get the first volume of out, lesbian pop idol Yuriko’s adventures as she returns to high school as part of a television reality show. The book has been wonderfully illustrated by Kelli Nicely – I really enjoy the pictures she did for this volume. As of yet no one has told me that it sucks, so I’m going to assume that it doesn’t. Help me keep my wife in the lifestyle to which she’d like to become accustomed! Buy my book! LOL

Your support of ALC Publishing not only provides you with fun, original yuri publications – it allows Yuricon and ALC Publishing to do more publishing, events, contests, etc. So, you’re making a difference when you buy our books – showing your support for Yuri in a concrete way, and getting something good in return.

(Let’s see – I’ve got 1) the hard, “buy it now!” sell; 2) the softer “It doesn’t suck!” sell; 3) the wussy, “it’s makes a great add-on to an Amazon order” sell, and; 4) the guilt-based “you’re doing a good thing” sell. Did I miss anything…?)

Oh, and remember this – if you enjoy the adventures of lesbian pop idol Tachibana Julia in Hayashiya Shizuru’s Strawberry Shake Sweet, Yuriko and SnB came first!!