Archive for the English Manga Category


The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This, Volume 1

July 18th, 2022

Ellie is a scriptwriter and Wako (whom Ellie refers to as “Wanko” for her puppy-like qualities,) is trying to break into voice acting. They are living together…they are, in fact, lovers. And like most people, they are a little goofy and a little doofy in their private time together. Their private time together is what we will be seeing in The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This, Volume 1.

The last book we had from creator Takashi Ikeda was Whispered Words and one can instantly see some remnants of that series’ physical comedy here in wacky expressions. However, this series is far more adult and chill and the art reflects that, as well. Where every other character looks like a manga character, Ikeda’s studies of Ellie’s face are stunningly beautiful. Individual panels of her expressions took my breath away through the whole series.

There is no high drama here. Drama comes from real-life stresses. Did Wako pass the audition? Wako’s mother comes to visit – there is no homophobia, just a silly sit-com misunderstanding. Oh, but having Mom visiting is plenty stress enough. Ellie and Wako root for one another and take care of one another. Their relationship is an anchor, not a strain. The two of them have adult lives that are, just pretty much like adult lives are.

I love this series. Unconditionally. There is nothing about it I didn’t like in Japanese. Every volume was better than the last, and Takashi-sensei, as I pointed out in my review of the Japanese edition, still knows how to end a volume. Art, story, character, this is one of the best slice-of-adult-life stories I’ve ever read and I’m ecstatic that you can read it too! It might not sound exciting, but this is the after-happily-ever-after story I’ve wanted to see for ages.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 5 a bit, it’s a story for adult readers
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9 so there is room to go up. It will need it.

I find that I always default to ‘r’ over ‘l’ in my mental translation, so Sakuma will always be Eri to me. ^_^ But that in no way diminishes the terrific translation job done by Anh Kiet Ngo, which gives every character a unique voice. I love when Rina Mappa is given space for the lettering to shine in retouching, there are a couple of choices here that are fantastic. Thanks to the proofreader, copy editor and editor – and thank to Seven Seas for having all three of those (!). Another fabulous job by Seven Seas. Highly recommended and a shoo-in for one of my Top Yuri of 2022. ^_^ (Honestly, though, this year is gonna be tough – so much amazing stuff is coming out in Japanese and English….)





Yuri Espoir Volume 2, Guest Review by Matt Marcus

July 13th, 2022

We’re back o schedule today with a Guest Review Wednesday! Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, such as the anime watchalong podcast Boku No Stop, which is currently covering the Yuri anime Flip Flappers. Welcome Matt back and give him our attention and kind words at the end of today’s review.  Take it away, Matt!

Back in the pre-pandemic, I would commute to work by bus. After a day of slaving over the computer, I would schlep my exhausted self into a seat near the back and space out while listening to a podcast. As the bus meandered through the suburbs of Maryland, I would often find my eye wandering to the other passengers. Among them, there were two regulars who stood out: the first, a white woman with a boyish haircut dyed Jolly Rancher red; the other, an Asian woman with an undercut, the top of which was colored a deep cyan. They didn’t know each other–in fact in the three years of that commute I don’t think they even sat near each other once–but on those dreary rides home, a part of me would wonder. What if…?

Had Kokoro Komadori been seated on that bus, she would have been furiously sketching a meet-cute, with hearts in her eyes and lilies blooming out of her hair. In Yuri Espoir Volume 1, Kokoro, a third year high schooler and daughter of a powerful CEO, learns that her father has picked her a “suitable” fiancé whom she will marry after graduation. However, Kokoro is only interested in girls–and “yuri” relationships in general. Knowing that she can’t refuse her father, she resolves to spend the “last year of [her] life” indulging in every yuri fantasy she can imagine and capturing them in a sketchbook with her best friend and comrade in arts, Amami, who is secretly in love with her. The volume ended on a cliffhanger as Kokoro receives a confession from a first year girl named Mitsuru.

And thus we come to Yuri Espoir, Volume 2. As with the first volume, each “chapter” comes in two parts–the daydreamer’s version chock full of familiar tropes followed by the real story that is more complex. I continue to appreciate that the true stories occasionally have some bite to them with a touch of bitter aftertaste, like 70% dark chocolate. Thankfully they are not all like that, else the reader would be left with a very dour outlook for real life yuri relationships. So far, we have yet to revisit any of the couples from volume 1, though this volume includes two bonus chapters that tell the backstory of side characters that made appearances in Chapters 2 and 3.

This volume focuses on Kokoro’s outlook on her situation and the perceived limits of her agency. Yes, she wants a love story of her own but not if it has an expiration date…or perhaps, it would have to be with a particular someone. One thing I like here is that Kokoro’s sense of filial piety has nuance to it: sure, she doesn’t want the marriage and will never forgive her father for arranging it, but also she knows and appreciates that he had not previously pressured her with any extraordinary expectations like is common for other children of powerful families. She is given a push by Mitsuru and later Amami to speak to her father and voice her feelings on the matter. Whether she will follow through with it is another matter entirely.

Amami gets to step up a bit in this volume. She may be a neophyte to yuri, but she is willing to indulge Kokoro in her lily-scented flights of fancy. The second daydream scene was a particular highlight that I won’t spoil, but it was very fun to see Amami get in the spirit of the exercise. Unfortunately, it seems that her behind-the-scenes machinations with her art teacher to thwart the engagement are not working out to her advantage.

To be honest, I didn’t care much for newcomer Mitsuru. Usually, when the object of your affection rejects you and slaps you in the face, that should not deepen your feelings for them. Maybe she proves herself a worthy character down the road, but here she comes off as a nuisance. I do like that Sou, the fiancé, is starting to get a bit of page time. The story seems to be trying to humanize him somewhat, but his eyes have never been drawn on his face which clearly feels pointed. I’m certain we will learn more about him in the next volume.

The art makes wild tonal swings, often to great effect. Whenever the topic of the engagement comes in, things suddenly take a horror manga turn with heavy lines and deep cross-hatching. The backgrounds are generally not very detailed, with most of the effort put into the characters. Overall, there is something about the art that feels “vintage” in a way that I cannot quite put my finger on. It’s got charm.

I haven’t mentioned it yet, but this series is surprisingly funny. Every chapter or so there’s a gag that hits me at just the right angle. The premise in general is a vehicle for coy winks to longtime yuri fans, so Okazu readers such as yourself will likely get a lot out of this series.

I am curious to see for how long this story ends up running. Could be four volumes, could be ten. So far, the series has felt quite fresh, but I wonder if this dual chapter trick will continue to sustain it.

It has been over two years since I’ve had to take that bus ride. Maybe the next time I do, a little Kokoro will be perched on my shoulder, weaving new stories in my ear as she sketches away. 

Art – 7 Simple but charming

Story – 8 Mostly vignette-driven with a heavy dose of winking metafiction
Characters – 7 With one exception, the characters all have a fun rapport
Service – 2 A couple of suggestive fantasy panels, but nothing too scandalous
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 1 It’s yuri all the way down

Overall – 8 The formula still works, the question is for how long

PSA: please don’t actually ship real life people. Also, don’t smoke.

Erica here: Thanks Matt! Are strangers you see on a bus really “real people”? Especially if you only see them once and never again? Of course they are real…with lives of their own…and thinking about those is what makes sonder a great exercise in creativity. I’ll admit that at least one fiction story I have written was inspired by compete strangers on a train. I also agree on not smoking. Smoking is really quite disgusting.

Yuri Espoir, V2 is on my to-read pile and I’m glad to hear it’s taking this unique way to look at Yuri tropes and building a real story with it!





MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 18 & 19

July 11th, 2022

So, MURCIÉLAGO. It’s still not good by any conceivable metric. And, while it never crosses the line into actual exploitation, it gets reallllly close pretty constantly. Therefore, I am bundling MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 18 and Volume 19, as a pair, so I can binge and purge the whatever it is that keeps me coming back to this gorefest. ^_^

Volume 18 wraps up the story of Sendou, the yakuza failure who kills people with a fencing sword, as he dies pretty much as ignominiously as he deserved. Of note was the fact that Chiyo-chan and Kuroko are now so much an established couple, the mangaka immediately tires of them. ^_^

In the new arc that begins after boring adult murders, another new, creepy man preys on girls because apparently that is what adult men want to read about. That’s not weird at all or anything. And what we are given is a a love so toxic and bent that girls are dying because a bereaved father has lost his mind to grief, magically ignoring the fact that he was a shitty person in the first place, as shitty people always seem to.

Serial killers are so common in Rurie no one would probably really care all that much about this one, except that Rinko becomes involved. Rinko, you may remember was another victim of a creepy serial killer…only, in her case, her father trained her to become an assassin herself, preying on people he wanted dead. Rinko has found a loving and perfectly suitable home living with Kuroko and Hinako, and Ai. A family of mentally unstable murderers, but a loving home nonetheless.  Proof of this is Rinko attending school, making real friends including Noel, a classmate with whom Rinko is very close. And potentially growing closer. Even Kuroko notes that Rinko and Noel are heading towards more than friends. She’s chuffed that her adopted daughter is so on the team. But in between them lies a horrible secret. Rinko is the person who killed Noel’s father and she’s afraid that it will ruin their friendship…until Noel is kidnapped by the current creepy dude.

In Volume 19, Noel is exceptionally cool under pressure, in a way that I know for sure I would not be. She plays along with the kidnapper, in hopes that the longer she survives, the longer she has to find a way to escape.

Kuroko, of course, ends up seducing Noel’s mother. Because of course she does. Team Kuroko does track down Noel’s whereabouts and for the very first time in her short, violent life, Rinko is a hero as she rescues Noel. During their tearful reunion, Rinko admits the truth to Noel, who says she likes Rinko too much to ever blame her. And they go on to become besties, as one might if one lived in the capital city of serial killers, elder gods and other indescribable horrors and unspeakable terrors.

As usual the final portion of the book is tied up in whatever Hinako is thinking, which is always impenetrable.

The next volume which is out in Japanese, is set up by the reappearance of the sniper with the spiral eyes, Kuchiba Reiko. I await it with glee. Or dread. I’m not really sure which.  Gleeful dread. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – Almost none, comparatively.  How creepy is that? Some mild nudity.
Yuri – 8 

Overall – 8

 
Volume 20 is out in Japanese and will be arriving in English in October.

This manga is such a specific flavor of fucked up, I feel like I can’t really stop reading until it, or the world, ends.





My Next Life as a Villainess Side Story: Girls Patch

July 10th, 2022

My Next Life as a Villainess Side Story: Girls Patch is something we get very few of in the west – a series-focused manga anthology. And, in this case, it’s even rarer – a Yuri doujinshi collection for a not-really-Yuri series, which makes it that much more of a throwback to the kinds of anthologies I used to spend a lot of time on. ^_^

The series in this case is My Next Life as a Villainess, the goofy, light-hearted harem isekai about Katarina Claes who, on account of a minor head injury as a child becomes suddenly aware that she is a character in a game – in fact, she is the game’s villainess, with a very bad end awaiting her. In Katarina’s attempts to avoid her fate, she befriends all the main player characters, including the game’s protagonist. 

Katarina’s friends are more than just besties, as her sincerity and kindness has made them all fall in love with her. Girls Patch is a collection that focuses on the female characters., Lady Mary, Sophia and in-story game protag Maria, and their desire to be as close as possible to Katarina. 

Like the originating My Next Life as a Villainess Light Novels, the stories in this collection are cute, sweet, only every so slightly risqué, with a strong emphasis on Katarina’s clueless charm. Also like the originating novels, the art is simplistic. Nothing deviates from the scenarios set by the novel series. Which makes Girls Patch a relaxing interlude, but offers little substance. This is a series for folks who love the characters as they are written and want to see more of them, not folks who would like to see a little deviation from the script. In other words, this is another Ichijinsha anthology, where creativity takes a back seat to the scenario as written.

That said, if you love the fact that Sophie, Mary and Maria are in love with a clueless Katarina – if that vibe is your jam – then you will enjoy this book. It is indubitably cute AND sweet AND touching and ever so slightly Yuri.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – Not really, but that’s not why you’re reading
Character – 100 THIS is why you are reading
Service – 3, maybe 4, depending on your feelings about Katarina’s face on Mary’s chest
Yuri – The feelings are there, but that’s all we can hope for…let’s call it a 5

Overall – 7

When series anthologies were the best and often only way we got more time with the characters, artists felt freer to explore the relationships outside the scripted versions. Love affairs were (and still are) among the most popular topics of doujinshi stories, in which fan artists and writers capture the characters we don’t see in the original text. This current crop of company-created doujinshi collections aren’t willing to do that, which always leaves me feeling….but, why bother, then?

If you love the series as written, you will love this collection. If you were hoping that this was going to be the Yuri stories you wanted for Katarina and her female harem…this is not that.





Catch These Hands!, Volume 2

July 8th, 2022

Today Okazu hit a new benchmark – all the reviews this week have been of English-language translations of Yuri manga. Wow. That’s a first.

Today, we’re looking at a property that fills me with glee every time I read it, Catch These Hands!, Volume 2. In my review of Volume 2 in Japanese I summed it up as “Yes, they are an item, but their relationship is still a work in progress.” That’s a pretty fine summation, if I do say so myself. It’s also where we’re going to start.

In high school Takebe and Soramori were rivals in gang warfare. Takebe was never able to beat Soramori and, as a result, she sees everything as a challenge. Including dating. It’s very easy to blame the apparent dysfunction of their relationship on Takebe, as she’s not very good at communication. But, let’s be honest, Soramori is just as culpable – overthinking things, coming to conclusions on her own and not really explaining the process. Amazingly, while this brings them to the brink of a crisis…they keep on going on.

This has to be seen as a triumph. Even as Takebe insists she’s going along with everything because she lost their fight, surely at some point she could just insist that she’s an adult and isn’t interested?

So in this volume, Soramori struggles to find things that will keep Takebe entertained. She learns more than she bargained for about her ertswhile girlfriend. Takebe learns that there is a path out of gang life into adult life that can include a functional relationship. And slowly, Takebe and Soramori take a few steps to actually communicating.

This super goofy gang-girl dating sim manages to make it through puberty in one volume. Not bad for a gag.

murata’s art is solid as I’ve ever seen. Takebe’s expressions as a child make this volume. The story-telling really rides Takebe’s annoyance levels perfectly. A little more would be too much, a little less would ruin the tension.

At the end of this volume, I’m definitely rooting for Takebe and Soramori to make it work. ^_^

Also solid is the translation by Amanda Haley, which always gives Takebe an extra rough edge that Soramori has smoothed out. Bianca Pistillo’s lettering as as good as Yen Press’s house style allows for. Editing is solid and thank you Yen for giving us the staff credits. Bundling them that way makes some solid sense. Lastly, fantastic job on the cover by Wendy Chan, Haley and Pistillo. It’s always a challenge to letter stuff in the background. In this case, that popsicle stick is indeed a winner. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 5 As I said, “Yes, they are an item, but their relationship is still a work in progress.”

Volume 3 of Catch These Hands! will be headed our way in autumn. Once again this week I say to you, it will be worth the wait. ^_^