Archive for the English Manga Category


Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko!, Volume 2

May 11th, 2026

A blonde woman in pink, whispers into the ear of a woman in a grey suits and white button down shirt, who is visibly cringing with embarrassment, under the words Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko (echoed)In Volume 1, we were thrown into a torrent of emotion as beloved and competent office sempai Hiroko, has a passionate, if awkward, junior, Ayaka, who is doing everything she can to catch Hiroko’s eye. 

When Ayaka finally just tells Hiroko how she feels…Hiroko rejects her. As Ayaka grieves, her best friend Risa asks if Ayaka couldn’t find a way to going out with her. But, no, Ayaka is not able to give Risa what she wants. Everyone is unhappy. 

And then something important happens. The ladies at the lesbian bar unpack Hiroko’s baggage.. They explain to Risa and Ayaka just how much different things were 15 years ago and how being out carries a lot of weight for an older generation of lesbians. This is a crucially important bit of storytelling. Hiroko has her own personal heartbreak and the consequences that she’s been carrying, but also a lifetime of society forcibly rejecting queer people. Not like the conservative extinction burst attacks we’re seeing now, but the full confidence of a majority of society being queerphobic. Hiroko’s beloved sempai, a woman she admired and loved, took the fall for her and she cannot let that go lightly.

I love that this has to be explained…how genuinely wonderful for younger queer folks who rightfully see transphobia and homophobia as the problem, rather than themselves. But it does have to be explained, because while that kind of queerphobia still does exist-  people are still regularly thrown out of homes, lose jobs, access to family, children, housing, – it is nowhere as common as it once was. So for folks who have not experienced it, here is an example.

And, having learned the whole truth, Ayaka, Risa, and Hiroko are ready to move on. No, wait, Risa and Hiroko are, but Ayaka has other ideas. She’s still convinced that Hiroko just need convincing. In Ayaka fashion, that means she’ll choose the wackiest way to go about it.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 10
Service – 6 When Ayaka stops dressing for attention, it’s actually pretty funny
Yuri – 7
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 8

This volume manages to be funny and poignant with Sal Jiang’s fabulous reaction expression art. A good read, a fun read, and a read that I hope in 15 years will make almost no sense at all to the next generation of queer youth, who will be befuddled by anyone who doesn’t just automatically acknowledge their right to exist.





The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess, Volume 3

May 8th, 2026

On a background of fiery flowers, a woman in a blue uniform/dress with long pink hair is back to back with a woman in a blue dress, long pale hair and a tiara of dark crystals, weilding flame.In Volume 1 and Volume 2, we met former Office Lady Natori Midori, a woman whose genuine desire to be useful lead her to be fired by her employer. Reborn into the world of a otome game, Natori – called Natalie by the characters – find herself working as the familiar and assistant to the villainess, Lapis.

Natalie is in a bind. She likes the game protagonist, Diana, and wants to protect her from having to kill Lapis. She really likes Lapis, more than just wanting to save her. But the more she tries to protect them from their fates in the game, the more the game world pushes them all to the same end.

What’s a reincarnate to do? In The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants to Serve the Villainess, Volume 3, she gives up pretending. Having met the Prince’s confidant, Rubeus, who seems to be manipulating them all for his own (and, unwittingly, the Prince’s) sake, Natalie only sees one way to stop the worst possible things from occurring. She tells Lapis the truth. Then she tells Diana what she can. By trusting in people by whom she wishes to be trusted, Natalie believes she can protect everyone. She and Lapis share another confidence as well. They now know they their feelings are more than just assistant/employer, but there is much more to be said about that.

Rubeus is sending the country down a path towards commoner uprising and noble rebellion. will Natalie be able to stop it? Lapis and hopefully, Diana, are on her side. The relationship between these two is strained as well, so where all of this is headed, we can’t be sure. The story is actually getting a little fraught, but I’m hoping this game gets a well-deserved happily ever after.

Nekotarou’s art is great. While the magic is fairly standard, it’s fun to see Diana use people’s own spells against them.
And in the bonus story, one of Natori’s former coworkers learns that Natori was a decent person and she was the jerk all along. I wonder if that is going to play into the story at all.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – We’re up to intimate embraces
Yuri – 4…we’re getting there!

Overall – 8





Wicked Spot, Volume 1

April 30th, 2026

On a vivid yellow background, a woman with wild pink hair in hot pink and black, sits cross-legged, manicured long nails visible on her hand, smiling broadly with fangs showing and an intense look in her green eyes as looks a us.In my review of this book in Japanese I said, “Sal Jiang’s newest manga, Wicked Spot, Volume 1 is a classic case of a story beginning in one place and ending way far away from there in many different ways. I love it. ^_^.” 

Now that I have read it it English, I still love it. ^_^

Sada is a young with and the rules around staying hidden and away from people chafes. When a cell-phone opens up the world to Sada, she becomes a hit social media influencer (largely by walking into stores and just taking what she wants, courtesy of  bit of magic.)

Hanako has been tormented her whole life for being “a witch” because of her enormous strength. In the wake of Sada’s public confession that she is, in actual fact a witch, Hanako goes from fan to hater in a moment. When they meet, many worlds will collide!

If you like Sal Jiang’s work, you love this, if you are new to her work, hopefully, you’ll grow to love the wacky reaction faces and crazy muchness of both Sadako and Hanako’s situations. 

For me, it’s a fun read with just enough emotional buy-in to keep me reading what amounts to a action and magic filled comedy.

Ratings:

Art – 8 sometimes beautiful, other times messy
Characters – 8 Yes, this kind of off the wall, please
Story – 9 Awesome so far
Service – Cute clothes are about it
Yuri – Could go any way right now, but I trust

Overall – 8

Thanks to Vertical/Kodansha for a review copy through ANN for their up coming Spring Manga Guide! This volume is headed our way in a few weeks!





Rainbows After Storms, Volume 6

April 17th, 2026

Two girls in the same sailor-style school uniform of white blouse, dark blue skirt and red tie, in a church. One sits, as the other kneels in front of her, they hold hands looking deeply into one another's eyes.As Volume 6 of Rainbows After Storms opens, the school trip looms large. Or, it would do, if Chidori and Nanoha hadn’t had a fight that leaked into their public lives just before it. 

So, while planning group activities and buying cute underwear for the sleepover together with their friends, the two are conspicuously not speaking. Even when their friends point it out, they just patch it up a little. Until the final day of the trip, when their friends are very clear that they have ruined the trip for themselves, each other and for everyone. That, finally gets them to talk about the problem. 

The problem is, in a word, Mai. Nanoha’s former basketball team kouhai has managed to accidentally on purpose sow discord. This will have to be addressed, but first, Nanoha and Chidori are going to have to patch things up. Which they do. Spoilers, but the cover kind of gives it all away. ^_^

We are halfway through this series and Nanoha and Chidori have just expressed their feelings out loud. Are things are going to get hot and heavy from here on out? No, but that is not why you are reading this series. It’s a gentle, slow, coming together of two girls in love and that’s pretty much it. But it is cute. ^_^

As I said of the Japanese volume, sometimes it’s just nice to read something nice. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 6
Service – 2 

Overall – 7

Volume 7 is up already out and up on the Yuricon Store!





The Elegant Courtly Life of the Tea Witch, Volumes 1 & 2

April 15th, 2026

Two women sitting opposite each other at a tea table. The one in front has a short red bob and is wearing a maid uniform. Opposite her is a younger girl with long pale hair. I’m a big tea snob, I’ve got an entire kitchen cupboard full of assorted loose leaf teas and more teapots than one person could reasonably ever need or use. The Elegant Courtly Life of the Tea Witch therefore seems right up my alley, and the fact it’s written by one of my favourite authors just makes it even better. Ameko Kaeruda, perhaps best known in the English speaking word as the creator of the excellent Sexiled, both volumes of which were reviewed here on Okazu by Erica when it was first released. This series is also based on a light novel, but as yet there is no sign of that being released in English. Why Titan Manga decided to pick this up as one of their first releases I’m not quite sure, but I’m not complaining either.

In Volume 1, we meet our main character, Remy,  who just wants to be left alone to get on with her job as a tea witch, whose main job is “making a delicious cup of tea” for the king and court. Unfortunately she attracts the attention of the king’s first daughter, Princess Stella, who thinks she’s the coolest person in the world and is desperate to be friends with her. For Remy, who is desperate not to draw attention to herself, this is her absolute worst nightmare as she’s pulled into the princess’s orbit.

A woman in a maid uniform is in the foreground with a spilled cup of tea. In the background there is a topiary arch and two people sitting at a tea tableThe world building is solid, with references to a past conflict and the fragility of the resulting peace. We are introduced to another court mage, Alicia, who gives off very androgynous vibes, confirmed later on when their gender is described as “unknown.” When Remy learns that Stella is set to be married to another (male) court mage, she realises that this isn’t the world she fought for and vows to protect her, despite her outward annoyance with Stella’s insistence on being her friend.

Remy, as it turns out, is more powerful than she would like anyone to know. As well as controlling the tea she brews and being able to perfectly match it to the person she’s making it for, she can also use it as an antidote, a poison and a weapon, amongst other things. She’s essentially a magical herbalist. This power naturally of course ends up with her being assigned as Stella’s bodyguard, much to the chagrin of Stella’s wannabe fiance. Volume 2 covers a lot of Remy’s backstory, which according to the author’s afterword, wasn’t covered in the original novel, but I think it really adds to her as a character and the world building. She was a child soldier, and is clearly still bearing that burden, so I interpret her wanting to protect Stella as saving her from the same fate. Stella meanwhile is pragmatic enough to understand that her arranged marriage is a duty to protect the kingdom and the peace, so whilst she doesn’t really want it, she realises it’s for the greater good. Fortunately she isn’t written as an annoying child prodigy which is one of my least favourite tropes in fiction, along with amnesia.

In doing some research for this review I came across some Online Discourse with people saying that Remy and Stella’s relationship is inappropriate because Stella is only 12 years old. My personal interpretation is that this is more like a Class-S relationship and Remy cares for Stella more like a big sister would. In volume 2 we get some numbers, the man is said to be twice Stella’s age, so 24 and is older than Remy, who gives the impression she’s in her late teens/early 20’s. Yes, they go on a “date” but it’s just Remy indulging the whims of the younger girl, who is also a princess she can’t really say no to. Nothing untoward happens between them, the only kiss is Stella pecking Remy on the cheek because she’s read that this is what you do on a date.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by these two volumes. There’s more depth than I expected from what at first seemed like a fairly generic fantasy setting. Stella and Remy’s relationship is really open to almost any interpretation the reader chooses at this point, and it’s a good reminder to ignore the discourse and make up your own mind about something. Volume 3 is set to release at the end of April 2026, but as of writing, the 4th and final volume does not appear to be listed anywhere, not even on Titan Manga’s own website (neither is volume 3 so we’ll see how that goes). Hopefully we will eventually see it in English, along with the original novel.

Ratings: 

Art – 7 – the artist mentions at the end of volume 1 that this is their first serialisation, so I was pretty impressed when I read that
Story – 7
Characters – 7 we love a casual non binary/genderqueer side character
Service – 1
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7