Archive for the English Manga Category


Black & White: Tough Love At The Office, Volume 1

October 14th, 2022

Many thanks today to Okazu Superhero Eric P for sponsoring today’s review!

Shirakawa Junko is used to being at the top of the department pile. She’s beloved by her co-workers, one of the most productive members (the most, really, but she’ll demure out of humility) and is respected. So when newcomer – formerly of sales…SALES, you know!…Kuroda Kayo transfers in, Shirakawa isn’t going to let this woman get a leg up on her.

Kuroda knows Shirakawa’s type and she’s all ready for war. She’s done her research. Shirakawa will bow before her before long.

As Black & White: Tough Love At The Office, Volume 1 opens, the office is about to become a battlefield. And there will be blood shed. This is not for everyone, I know. But I love this manga so much. I can’t help the feral grin that these appalling people bring out of me.

But seriously CW for cold-blooded manipulation, violence and sexual violence. As I said in my review of this volume in Japanese, “This is not a pretty book about an office romance. This is a violent story about two terrible people being terrible to one another.”

Sal Jiang’s art is super stylish and slick. Kuroda is every inch the sales dept superstar, Shirakawa is the perfect HR sempai. But when they are alone, it is all teeth and nails in a visceral way.  When they do team up, there’s nothing and no one that can stand in their way, but their truest rivals are each other – and there are no rules they aren’t willing to shatter to destroy one another.

The team at Seven Seas has given us an equally slick edition to enjoy with color pages in place, a spot gloss on H. Qi’s cover design. The translation keeps up with the shifts in tone and sense in the scene, thanks to translator, Alexa Frank, adapter Asha Bardon and letterer Danya Shevchenko. Nice work on the editing and technical side, as well. Another great manga reading experience.

I won’t attempt to convince anyone to read this despite the violence. You really shouldn’t if you aren’t reading it for the violence. ^_^ But if seeing perfectly matched, equally powerful people go toe to toe is your wheelhouse, you, too, might enjoy this manga. If you want to know where the story is headed, I’ve reviewed Volume 2 in Japanese, as well. That volume will be headed your way in English next spring in April 2023. Something to look forward to. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Service – 7 Not a lot of nudity, but a lot of sex and violence
Yuri – 7 See above

Overall – 10

I just love this manga and all the terrible people in it. But my favorite may be their boss who completely knew what he was doing when we sent them up to “work together” and thinks it’s funny. ^_^

This was a really good month for me, with both Black & White and She Loves To Cook, She Loves to Eat out in English and I’m in Love With the Villainess, Volume 5 hitting shelves in print!





She Loves to Eat, She Loves to Cook, Volume 1

October 9th, 2022

Nomoto likes to comes home and cook after work, but she can’t eat as much as she cooks. By accident, when she sees her neighbor coming home – a woman carrying large buckets of fried chicken – and asks if she’s got a family, the neighbor says that it’s all for herself. The next time Nomoto makes too much, she has a idea and brings some to her neighbor, Kasuga…and a friendship is born. In Volume 1 of She Loves to Eat, She Loves to Cook, Nomoto’s life is about to change and food is the catalyst.

I’ve already raved about this manga in reviews of Volume 1 and Volume 2 in Japanese. But now that you can read it, let me get into the weeds of all the things I really like about this series. ^_^

Obviously…food. I’m not a cook. I just love food and I love both eating it and enjoying other people’s  enjoyment of it, and the mitfreude of enjoying it with other people. This manga is very much about a woman who enjoys someone else’s enjoyment.

Kasuga seems intimidating initially, as a large woman with a flat affect. As we read, it becomes clear to both Nomoto and us, she does have reactions and we become more able to interpret them. Her body type is a nice change of pace and the way she eats with obvious gusto is drawn with care and a lot of attention. Whole panels go by which are just her eating, but it is not disturbing. There is an intensity in the ways the scenes of Kasuga eating are drawn. In my review of the JP volume I say this, The focus on eating and mouths here is not gross, completely unlike a similar obsession in Blue is the Warmest Color movie, which I found creepy and intrusive.  Kasuga’s a fantastic, fully-rendered character.

Nomoto is also instantly relatable. Disgusted that the guys at work think women exist for them, Nomoto’s journey will continue to be something that has a lot of feels. She’ll also flesh out as the story goes on in ways that make us relate to her even more. Both of them have complicated relationships with their families, as we’ll learn. Like, y’know, people do. 

Ultimately, the thing that sold me on this book is the relationship between Nomoto and Kasuga. They like each other and like to do stuff together and they tell each other that. It’s so refreshing, in a surprising way to just have adults say “I had fun today, let’s do something together again.” This relationship may (cough/will/cough) change, but it’s super nice here to see a relationship rooted in friendship first. The chapter in which Kasuga intuits that Nomoto is not well, and just goes out and gets her pads and painkillers and food made me, and Nomoto, love her. (The rule around my house is food, then caffeine, then drugs, then more food. It almost always works.) This whole manga is just…women taking care of each other. Wow. I love it for that most of all.

And then again, there’s the food. Sometimes it’s simple, or goofy, or complicated. But most of it is something you could do at home, because they do it at home. ^_^

Yen Press has done a decent edition. Caleb Cook’s translation provides a bit of a nod to Nomoto’s regional accent, without flooding the dialogue. Phil Christie’s lettering is clean, with the Yen house style of not retouching or replacing even the easy sound effects, so all s/fx are transliterated, then a translation is provided in parentheses. In the more crowded panels, this feels cramped and on big s/fx, the teeny script to the side just looks…small. I hope one day Yen will give letterers time and money to do retouch on at least the easier stuff. This manga has a lot of s/fx over the art, so maybe I’m whistling into the wind, but that’s on my wish list.

So, Yuri. Not here. Not yet. But it will happen. And it will be realistic and queer, so hang on for Volume 2! In the meantime, this book is absolutely guaranteed to be one of my Top 10 of the year here on Okazu. So just go get it now and enjoy. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9 We don’t know much about them, but what we know is sufficient to know them
Service – Does massive platters of food count? No? Then…no.
Yuri – 2 in this volume, more to come.

Overall – 9 but only so there is somewhere to go up.

What a fantastic manga. Cannot *wait* for Volume 2, which comes out in March 2023. (And Volume 3 in Japanese, which will be out in November of this year!)

 





Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Deluxe Edition, Volume 1

September 12th, 2022

After climate change begins to flood coastal cities and the remaining human population grows smaller, what will become of us? In Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Volume 1 by Hitoshi Ashinano – a series I have loved for many decades, – the end is inevitable, but gentle.

Alpha is an android. She’s a pretty advanced android, because not only does she look human, she cares about things like good coffee and beauty and can taste and cry. Alpha runs a coffee shop in what used to be Musashino City, and is now a small, sparsely populated area where the waving grass is slowly reclaiming roads.

In the pages of this series, we will be asked to experience things both common and fantastic from the perspective of someone who is always open to being moved by those things. Nothing happens in this series, but it often happens in the most breathtakingly beautiful ways.

Among the people we meet in Volume 1, is Kokone, another android . She is both more human, in that she can consume animal products and  also less, in that she worries quite a bit about fitting in with the humans she meets. Alpha will change her world, merely by being Alpha.

This deluxe edition is quite beautiful with color pages and color artbook images.  Yes, I have the artbook. ^_^ I also love the music from the Drama CDs and the stunning animation of the anime, which I would love to see be re-licensed, just for the beauty of the final scene over Yokohama.  I can’t lie – I’m with Kokone and find just staring at Alpha to be utterly entrancing.

The world in which this series is placed is so familiar and yet has elements of both fantasy and science fiction that make one question one’s own sense of reality. Shopping and fireworks and coffee…but also a giant ship shaped like a bird and a wild nature spirit and androids delivering packages… it can be our world, but would we want that? What will have to happen for us to have it?

The dialogue is simple, the scenarios are wholly about experiencing and feeling. There is no plot here. Just have a seat and a cup of coffee and watch the grass. At the end of the world, that’s all that’s left, anyway.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – A bit
Yuri – A little more than a bit, Kokone becomes infatuated, as we do, with Alpha

Overall – 9

My only criticism is that the word “android” is repeatedly translated as “robot.” As a science fiction fan, I don’t understand this choice at all. It is clearly “android” in katakana in the Japanese and the word android has been a word in the English language since 1837, as it happens. It simply makes no sense at all to translate this as robot.

UPDATE: I was mistaken about all of this. CW kindly informed me that it indeed “robot.” My memory was incorrect.  The translator was 100% correct. 

This one quibble aside, I cannot believe I am getting to read this series in English! Thank you to everyone at Seven Seas for such a beautiful volume for this poignantly beautiful series.





Otherside Picnic Manga, Volume 2 Guest Review by Sandy F

August 31st, 2022

Welcome to another Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu! Today we welcome back Sandy F, for continuing coverage on the Otherside Picnic manga from Square Enix. Please give him your kind attention and take it away, Sandy!

After quite a wait we have Volume 2 of the manga version of Otherside Picnic, with the conclusion of ‘Surviving the Eight-Foot-Tall Lady’, a large chunk of ‘Station February’ and a bonus original story ‘Late-night Chicken and a Gorilla’. It is worth the wait. I wonder if it this volume should have been titled ‘Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire’ as we follow Sorawo and Toriko surviving by the skin of their teeth. They celebrate their survival but afterwards wander into more trouble where they confront different Otherside Entities and just as dangerous, stranded US marines.

In ‘Late-night Chicken and a Gorilla’ Kozakura muses on how the mirror cube offers a different perspective on how to perceive the world, and I find that the manga does something similar in how it tells the story of the Otherside when compared with the novels. For example, in the novels everything is told from Sorawo’s perspective and her responses to what is happening around her. However, in the manga although Sorawo is the narrator, through the artwork we don’t have to rely upon her perception of what is going on. So, we witness Toriko’s growing feelings for Sorawo that challenges Sorawo’s ‘why would Toriko want to be with me’ mode.

The artwork continues to be effective in conveying why I enjoy this series so much. The ability to shift from the goofiness that is Toriko, the sullenness that is Sorawo to the insanity inducing visions of the Otherside is amazing. The artist does a wonderful job of conveying the ‘bloody hell’ moment when Sorawo and Toriko realise that they have unexpectedly arrived in the Otherside at night-time.There are some neat moments when we see Sorawo and Toriko strengthen their bonds as accomplices both in enjoying a drinking party and the terrors of the Otherside.

With ‘Late-night Chicken and a Gorilla’ we hear Kozakura’s voice. From wondering why she ate so much KFC, to an analysis of her thoughts on the nature of the mirror cube and what can she do about those meddlesome kids Toriko and Sorawo who are intruding in her life. With this story we see glimpses of Kozakura as a more complicated person than, for the most part, we see in the main novels.
All in all, a great read and now the wait begins for the next volume.

Story – 9
Artwork 9
Character – 8
Service – 4
Yuri – 5

Overall – 9

Erica here: Thank you Sandy! From my perspective what makes the manga so worth my time is that the art is quite good at capturing the qualities that make the Otherside creepy or scary, while also showing us the still-inexplicable, (sometimes less terrifying, occasionally more,) things that Sorawo can see with her blue eye. This adds an extra layer of confusion and fear to every story without being gross or, as the anime played it, boo!-scary.

I especially like the conclusion to the Eight-Foot Tall Lady story. That has stuck with me since I read it the first time. It’s going to have repercussions for volumes to come. The art here really captures the sights and feel of the Otherside in a way the LN art really had no chance to do. Looking forward to Volume 3, which will be heading our way in December!





Yuri is My Job!, Volume 9

August 26th, 2022

Before we get to the meat that is Yuri is My Job!, Volume 9, let’s step back for a second and look back at a story that has traversed a whole lot of ground, while never moving. ^_^

The situation comedy that starred a young woman more concerned with how she appeared to others than anything else, became an emotionally fraught tale of two childhood friends whose idea of what they wanted from their friendship was irreparably different. Nonetheless, Yano and Hime are, at the moment, relatively functional as a pair of “schwestern.”  Now, we’re looking at the remain cast at this Yuri concept cafe and finding that again, things are wildly out of balance.

Kanako was and is, obsessively focused on Hime. To the point where she really hates even thinking about sharing her with Yano in any but the most superficial way during work hours. This is, of course, not healthy. Sumika, as Kanako’s older sister offers to help her navigate this, but she’s finding that all this Yuri around her…and her own history…has gotten into her head. She’s having decidedly unsisterly feelings about Kanako.

I like Sumika and this arc is killing me.  For oh so many reasons. Mostly because she’s a big assholey clueless straight girl in a very gay Yuri cafe and is an utter dumbass about everything possible. ^_^ Kanako’s obsession makes her almost impossible to like, but you have to sympathize with big ole dumbass Sumika, until….

As Sumika’s brain plays gay games with her, bad news arrives at Liebe and the next few volumes will be a 4-way train wreck between Sumika, Kanako, Sumika’s former little sister, Nene and the woman who broke it all, the woman who destroyed Sumika’s happy days at the cafe the first time and is looking like it’s her plan to to do that again, Gouto (cafe name Goeido) Yoko.

You know I love me my evil lesbians, but in this arc, my hat is thrown into the ring for Nene and her “fuck you, straight girl” faces, which I might need to make into a meme.

Miman has take us so far from the opening salvo and I’m still hooked on every chapter, wanting to know where and what and who and why. The art is orders better from early chapters as well. Facial expressions are outstanding this volume. Since the story is focusing on conversations over cafe scenes, faces and body language really have to carry the visual weight. They do that successfully.

This volume has a short extra story of unrequited love, “I am Your Destiny,” Miman-sensei’s author’s notes which are always interesting and another page of the Cafe’s “Operating Manual,” for fun.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8.

As I said in my review of this volume in Japanese, “A fantastically unpredictable volume from a series that never stops surprising me.”

Top notch translation from Diana Taylor, solid lettering by Jennifer Skarupa and editing by Haruko Hashimoto makes this an easy reading, set-up for next volume’s gut punches.  Get yourself ready… Volume 10 will be here in November.