Archive for the English Manga Category


Wandering Son: Volumes One & Two

August 23rd, 2026

Reading an older manga can be very edifying. Re-reading an older manga even moreso.

I have written at length in many places here on Okazu and elsewhere about my conflicting feelings about Shimura Takako’s work. But as I re–re-read Wandering Son, which I initially started in Japanese and of which I reviewed a number of volumes in English, before the series was discontinued. I was, and am convinced that bringing it out in hardcover was a terrific idea, but no grounded in good business sense.

Now Fantagraphics is taking a second stab at bringing out this series. With much more staid covers, these are two-volume omnibuses, something that helps the story flow a lot better. This will become important in later volumes, as the plot slows and change also slows.

But here in Wandering Son, Volume One and Two, we meet Shu, a trans kid who AMAB is very strongly contemplating the idea that they are a girl. We also meet Yoshino, AFAB, who wants to be a man. I say it that way, very carefully, because issues of gender and gender presentation in this book is complicated… and maybe not what you as a reader might be looking for.

In part, this is due to Shimura who, for many years has been writing queer stories. I don’t object to her doing so, but she has said that she is not herself queer. And to be clear I don’t mind that, either! If it’s working and people find joy in it, that’s great. I love her art, and I have enjoyed watching her story-telling grow and change. So what is my pain point? I am conflicted at Shimura mining queer trauma for content. It makes me feel… icky. In this older series, her story-telling is not so skilled and there will be pacing issues, but also some choices that will sit uncomfortably.

All this to say that, while I absolutely think Wandering Son is worth reading it, like Sweet Blue Flowers may not have aged well. The last twenty years we have seen tremendous change in the way we approach gender and sexuality. There is so much more nuance now, leading me to think that, if Yoshino and Shu had met genderfluid or nonbinary people as well as trans people, their choices might have been less along a binary and more somewhere in the middle. I know if someone had to me at 11 or 12 that non-binary was an option, I know I would have leapt for that.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 0

Overall – 8

Thanks so much to Fantagraphics for the review copy, and I really look forward to reading this series again!





Pink Candy Kiss, Volume 5

August 10th, 2026

Two women stand close to each other in an intimate way, both facing the camera. The one on the left has long hair, the one on the right has short hair.

by Eleanor Walker, Okazu Staff Writer.

This review WILL contain spoilers.

It’s taken 5 volumes of Pink Candy Kiss, but we finally got the confession. It’s mutual, it’s as messy as everything which has come before and it’s all the better for it. The author says in the afterword “If it feels rough and ugly to you, then as the author, I’m pleased.” This is what I like so much about this series, it does feel rough and ugly sometimes, but it feels real because of that.

I worried in my review of volume 4 also here on Okazu that there was only so long the story could go without a confession, so I’m glad it’s finally happened. It happens at the end of the book and the rest of the volume leading up to it is mostly Ema and Takara talking to other people about their situation and feelings for each other. There are some other important moments though, like when Ema finally tells her mother she doesn’t want her in her life any more, which really shows how much she’s grown.

Hario comes to Takara’s office and they end up going for lunch together, when he voices his unease about Ema to her. We learn a little more about how he and Ema ended up getting together, and how he feels now. Whilst he is grateful for her new found confidence since Takara came back into her life, he also feels uneasy but can’t think why. He’s probably too naive to think his wife is in love with another (wo)man, but it’s going to have to come out eventually.

Pink Candy Kiss continues to be one of my favourite ongoing series. I will, of course, be picking up the next volume to find out what the fallout  is, but at this point, I have to wonder if anyone is going to get a happy ending.

Ratings: 

Art – 7. It’s still a shame there aren’t colour pages with the chapter art on.
Story – 7. Not a lot happened but at the same time an awful lot happened
Characters – 10 
Service – None. It still doesn’t need it. 
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8





Common-Sense Monster, Volume 2

July 29th, 2026

Surrounded by the gaping maw of a monster, two girls in dark blue Japanese school uniforms make the heart sign together. One girl, with long dark hair smiles gently, the other girl, with messy light brown hair, stares in abject horror.In Volume 1, we met Itou, an awkward high school student and the eldritch horror of a monster that is walking around in the skin of popular, attractive fellow student Takahashi.

In Common-Sense Monster, Volume 2, Itou is confronted by her incredibly creepy, shape-changing monster of a teacher Niehara-sensei, and accused of being a monster herself. Itou refuses to help Nie-sensei, but neither she nor Takahashi has the ability to kill him. No matter how many times Takahashi bites his head off, Nie-sen just pops up again, with his toothy grin and grabby hands.

Itou is then confronted by her next greatest fear – two classmates who want to be friends.  Itou’s personality is so cutely, weirdly awkward that these two classmates find her charming…and the next thing she knows, as the class trip looms, is that she’s part of a friend group for the first very time. Even if the fifth of their group is a…very…unknown quantity.

Itou’s still looking to Takahashi for guidance, and getting really solid, simple advice that she just cannot put into play. But more importantly, Niehara-sensei is getting more and more brazen with his taunting and attacks, until the end of the book which, while we were told it was coming, is still monstrous.

The underlying horror of this story is that monsters live among us. And we know it. Predators, abusers, “normal” people who destroy the people around them. Which is more horrific, really? A teacher who is a known sex offender that no one seems to be able to get rid of, or a monster that eats people? I argue that the former is far worse and causes more damage, but when both real and fantastic monsters are one and the same….it makes for difficult reading. 

This is not an easy book. Itou’s an anxious mess, but one sympathizes. Every quiet moment, every kindness, every moment of humanity is likely to be literally swallowed up. It’s hard to relax when the ordeals keep coming, piling on to one another, leaving no room for anything else.

Is this a Yuri story? Kind of. Itou admirse Takahashi, but also cares about her – even though she understands that it is foolish, she’s always clinging to any small kindness. In the bigger picture, Itou is simply without affection in her life, but her care and affection for Takahashi definitely feel a step beyond that.

What this absolutely is, is an uncomfortable mix of fears both real and phantasmagoric, without space between them for a horror manga that will keep you on edge. 

Ratings: 

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – Pervy teacher makes everything icky
Yuri  – 1

Overall – 8 

Common-Sense Monster, Volume 2 is out now from Yen Press.





Manga Mavericks Licenses Queer Manga Classic Sword of Paros

July 3rd, 2026

Last night at Anime Expo, Manga Mavericks Book announced the license for Sword of Paros, written by Kaoru Kurimoto with art by Yumiko Igarashi! /flailing hands/

This is being sold as a complete series in a deluxe print hardcover volume, with the most gorgeous design, including sprayed edges featuring the Sword of Paros itself. Dan Luffey is translator, I am editing, Jeanthrix Andres is doing the lettering and Darren Vogt is the designer. When I tell you that this will be *amazing* I am not using hyperbole. 

Here is the official synopsis:

The legends that speak of the Sword of Paros say that it can bestow either prosperity or ruin on its kingdom…depending on the heart of its wielder.

The kingdom’s current princess, the beautiful yet resentful Elminia, laments being treated as a soulless tool simply for being born in a woman’s body.

Accompanied by Count Yulias, Elminia rides as far away from the kingdom’s politics as possible. One day, Elminia meets a beautiful young girl named Fiona, and their lives and the kingdom are changed forever.

My 2004 review of this series missed a key point: Elminia (I favored ‘r’ over ‘l’ in my initial review)  is a trans masc or nonbinary character. Despite being told they have “two hearts” like Sapphire, Elminia is clear about not belonging in a woman’s body. I interpreted this in 2004 as Elminia being a masculine lesbian (as I interpreted Elminia’s desires through a lens of my own.) This book was written in 1986, and so the issue of Elminia’s gender could be the topic of respectful discussion, as Kurimoto was drawing on the “Girl Prince” archetype and playing with the idea of expected gender role vs gender presentation/gender identity. In a world where women are tools and men are free, the options are clear.  In our world, there is more nuance. I look forward to your thoughts.

I’m delighted to introduce this amazing, emotional, action-packed and incredibly beautiful queer manga Sword of Paros to the world!  Pre-order it today on the Manga Mavericks Store!  Direct orders are only for North America and UK. If you live outside US/CA/UK, keep your eyes on your local Amazon or check with your usual bookstore when the book is released.





What Does The Fox Say?, Volume 1

June 29th, 2026

A woman partially draped in a white blouse, shows her tattooed shoulder and back, as she smokes in bed.When What Does The Fox Say? hit Lezhin, it was an instant hit. (Which made it just that much weirder that the service terminated it in a purge of LGBTQ+ works.)  In some ways, I credit this series for the “toxic Yuri” phenomenon of the last few years. 

After many series set in schools, with apparently saccharine, immature romances, it makes sense that a generation of Yuri fandom, itself having graduated school and moved into the workplace, was looking for something more “adult.”

And where there are adults, there is “adult” content. Fans want their terrible people having sex. Every generation wants this. ^_^ Team Gaji had their finger on the pulse at the right time and place. 

In What Does The Fox Say?, Volume 1, Sungji, a young and attractive new worker at a company, is caught up in a very pointy three-way relationship. More accurately, Sunji’s boss, Sumin, has her eyes on Sunji, while also being the plaything of Seju, the company president. 

 The problem here for me is that everyone is passively just letting the situation become intolerable. Sungji is attracted to Sumin, who absolutely should not be encouraging that, but is, as an escape tor her own miserable relationship with Seju. No one’s particularly happy and absolutely nothing good can come out of anything as long as the pecking order stays intact. The other issue is that I prefer evil women over toxic. All that passive misery was setting my teeth on edge. Like, lean into it, do bad things with gusto! 

In terms of the technicals, the pages are a bit hard to read as they were transferred to a book format from online without adapting the layout. That leaves a number of pages with slow-paced empty panels, or the visual equivalent of mumbling, as words are squished on to a too-small page. 

All of this would have been fine if I could find interest in any of the characters. They may all be adults, but none of them were grown up enough to keep my attention. 

Ratings: 

Art – At the time it debuted, a beacon of adult women in a sea of children
Story – Pure 1970s soap opera
Characters – A bit flat
Service – There is sex. Some of it is quite uncomfortable-making
Yuri – 10

Overall – 7

This isn’t a bad manhwa, it’s just not the kind of adult content I’m looking for. Whether it wears well over time, will be very interesting to see. 

Thanks to Yen Press for the review copy, via ANN, where I am also reviewing this for the Summer manga guide.