Welcome to another Guest Review Wednesday, Today we’re welcoming back G-Man, who has a lot to say about semelparous, Volume 2. ^_^  Take it away, G-Man!

Time for a much overdue look at the continuation of everyone’s “favorite” yuri action manga! More action, more gay, more twists and turns, and more controversial art! But is this new installment in the semelparous saga an improvement on the first? Let’s take a look…

Spoiler Warning! To discuss major plot points in this volume, I gotta talk about the big twist I mentioned in my Volume 1 review.

When we last left our protagonist Yorino, she’d discovered that the kaiju attacking the walls between their world and ours were in fact spiritually connected to a person in the human world. In other words, every time Yorino or another bouhekishi soldier kills a kaiju, someone dies. Despite knowing this, Yorino powers ahead in her goal of putting a stop to the attacks once and for all. She’s willing to “descend into hell together” with her partner, Captain Youko.

Right out of the gate, Volume 2’s plot is much better than the first. Whereas Volume 1 felt like a kaiju-sized pile of setup, with exposition being dumped left and right and characters not being given much of a chance to shine, the opposite (for the most part) is true here. A lot happens in this volume. Like, a LOT. New characters are introduced, relationships are deepened, new plot elements are revealed, etc. We also finally get a glimpse at some human villains working behind the scenes. One could potentially argue that too much happens in this volume, resulting in breakneck pacing that doesn’t give readers much time to digest everything. However, I’d argue that it makes sure the story is never boring. I finished the entire thing in one sitting, always eager to see what would happen on the next page.

Volume 2 also does a good job of raising the stakes. Ever since the Kaiju-Human connection was introduced, I knew it would result in more heartbreak for Yorino. Lo and behold, a routine kaiju takedown results in one of Yorino’s school friends dying. While it does relegate said friends to more plot devices than actual characters, they do their job rather well. Not only does their death, combined with Haruka’s death from Volume 1, reveal that Yorino is being directly targeted by the villains, but it also gives the sense that no one is safe in this world. Seeing Yorino grow closer with Youko has me now fearing for Youko’s safety as well. And it was at this point that I realized something… I was actually starting to care.

Yes, this manga is still a guilty pleasure as many elements of it are problematic and completely ludicrous. As such, I can’t say that everyone will grow invested as I have. But I can say that what started as a mindless yuri action romp with distracting male gaze has become something that feels like it has genuine effort and passion put into it.

Speaking of caring, the characters (at least the main duo) are given some decent development. Yorino continues to have more trauma piled onto her with the death of another person she was close to, instead of just more random citizens. The scene where she goes to school the day after the fight only to find her classmate in tears is a genuine gut-punch. As for Youko, the volume starts with an entire chapter dedicated to her backstory and how she killed her own sister through a kaiju. She’s definitely the more interesting of the two leads as it’s not always clear how she’s feeling. It almost seems as if she’s accepted her past demons and become completely numb to them, and now she simply goes with the flow and doesn’t allow herself to feel anything beyond surface-level joy, anger, or other such emotions. Okay, maybe I’m reading a bit too much into it, but it could explain why she’s so desperate to protect Yorino. A scene where she has to persuade Yorino to mourn her friend’s death, saying “Crying is what keeps you from losing your heart,” reads to me as her trying to prevent Yorino from becoming like her.

There are a few other characters of note this time around, but not nearly as much to say about them. Yorino and Youko get two new bouhekishi partners in the form of Rina Kitamura and Ryouka Manabe. Rina crushes hard on Yorino like a typical tsundere, which some may find endearing, but she can also be rather creepy and borderline stalker-ish, as she enjoys reviewing Yorino’s combat footage and getting off to it (did I mention this manga was made by a hentai artist?). Ryouka has very little going for her, aside from occasionally teasing Rina about her crush on Yorino.

The artstyle pretty much carries over from Volume 1 in every way. The girls all still suffer from absurd proportions, impractical combat outfits, and in-your-face camera angles. Of course, as mentioned above, we’re stepping into hard NSFW territory now with Rina pleasuring herself to Yorino. This is not helped at all by character bios inserted between chapters that remind you these girls are in their teens. Bleh. However, what continues to impress me about the art unironically are the action scenes. I think I can safely say that semelparous has hands-down the best action I’ve seen in any yuri manga (which isn’t saying much given the lack of action yuri, but still). Ogino Jun truly understands the power of “wind-up and follow-through”; every punch thrown and sword swung is preceded by a panel of the kaiju or bouheksihi rearing back for the strike, which makes the force of the resulting impact that much more felt. That, in tandem with the destruction that follows the combatants’ strikes, makes the fights truly feel like clashes between colossal monsters and superpowered humans.

Finally, we have the yuri content, and I’m pleased to report that it’s yet another step forward. The leads’ relationship in Volume 1 was cute, but it was mostly just Youko teasing and Yorino getting either annoyed or flustered. Here, the two support each other not only in combat but emotionally. Youko wants Yorino to live a normal life and not be consumed by her mission to defeat the kaiju, and thus encourages her to spend time with friends. She’s also the first person Yorino shows a vulnerable side to, such as in the aforementioned scene where she tells her it’s okay to cry. It all culminates in their first kiss and declaration of love, and it’s honestly very heartfelt and adorable. After that, they share plenty more cute and flirty moments, including another shower scene (still a hentai artist). Yorino questioning whether Youko truly loves her, only for the Bouhekishi Captain to proudly declare she’s totally her type and would love to have sex with her admittedly put a stupid grin on my face.

Ratings

Art – 7 (again, when discounting the ridiculous proportions. 5 when counting them)
Story – 6 (a lot more going on and thus never boring, but still very nonsensical and can feel rushed in places)
Characters – 6 (the leads get more development, but the new additions are fairly flat so far)
Service – 10 (still for all the wrong reasons, only now we’re entering NSFW territory)
Yuri – 9 (seriously, what the heck is this sweet and healthy dynamic doing in my dumb ecchi action series???)

Overall – 6 (If this were my personal opinion I’d give it a 7, but I have to be fair. While several aspects are improved from Volume 1, there are still things that readers may find uncomfortable and impossible to look past)

One last note– as of writing this, semelparous is still on hiatus due to Ogino Jun undergoing medical treatment. Opinions on the manga aside, please wish Jun-sensei good health and a swift recovery.

Erica here: Thank you so much for this review. semelparous Volume 2 by Ogino Jun is out now from out from Seven Seas, available on Amazon, Bookwalker, RightStuf or wherever you get your manga. Volume 3 will be on sale this summer (Amazon, RightStuf).