Archive for the English Manga Category


I’m in Love With the Villainess Manga, Volume 1

March 31st, 2021

If you’re reading this, you’re probably aware that this particular isekai series has been given a lot of space in Yuri fandom’s head these days. With the successful light novels (Volume 1 and Volume 2 of which are available in English, Volume 3 on the way in July and Volume 1 through Volume 4 out in Japanese), a 5th place win in the recent survey asking what series fans want most to see as an anime, as announced at AnimeJapan, I think we can just agree to call this series an iconic series for Yuri in the early 2020s. ^_^ This point is key to today’s review, because this series, written by inori, with character designs by hanagata, has almost instantly become important to us. This emphasis will become relevant shortly, as we take a look at Volume 1 of the I’m in Love With the Villainess manga which was released this week digitally on Global Bookwalker.

Like the LNs on which the manga is based, we begin with Ohashi Rei, a worker at a company who finds herself reborn in to the world of her favorite otome game where she, as the protagonist, is finally free to romance the villainess, Claire François. There are a lot of things to like about this series. Much of fandom is thrilled to have an openly (and as it goes on, increasingly) queer Yuri work. I’m delighted to have an isekai work that addresses social and income inequities, government accountability, as well as surfacing gender and sexuality minority issues. Additionally, I really like that the protagonist is an adult, so their thoughts about these issues aren’t too simplistic. All of these things are part and parcel of why this particular series has made such a huge splash in Yuri fandom.  The fact that fandom has embraced this series with such passion is, in part, why the editing issues that lead to a excision of a passage in the first Light Novel (which has been restored already in digital editions) caused such a major uproar.  As I discussed in my recent article about Queer Representation, when we get more and better representation in media, we become more demanding, not less.

I really enjoy the manga iteration of this story overall. The art seems more lively/less moe than the original LN art, and there’s enough inconsistency in that art to highlight the comedy aspects. The nudity is entirely egregious, but it is also relevant to the story…not because the nudity itself is important, but what it says about the character. This is the core of the passage which had been deleted, in fact; the motivation of why Rae is the way she is. Those of us who have read past Volume 2 of the LNs will understand that this feels so long ago and almost irrelevant, but it had an impact on readers who were just beginning to love the story. To be perfectly honest, I assumed the story was originally a “comedy” that just morphed into a drama, and never felt Rae’s behavior needed explaining. But that’s just me.

Which is why it pains me to say this: The translation for the manga is not, in my opinion, very good. (Ironic, as I was just accused of being an apologist for Seven Seas last week. ) Jenn Yamazaki does such lovely work on the Light Novel translation.  Rae and Clarie’s voices are clear and appropriately translated.  As I read this manga volume, I became increasingly uncomfortable with the translation here. Given how absolutely critical Claire’s awareness of herself as a daughter of the nobility is to this story, some of the things that she says are crude, things said about her are uncouth and, ultimately in one of the final pages, she is seen to say, “bloody commoner.” 

I hate to be that person, but I am about to be that person. Not only is that not what she says in Japanese, which was 「本当にこの平民は・・・」 and not what is implied,  which I understood more as, “Really, this commoner is [just so]…”, it is wholly, unpleasantly vulgar. I  do not know if this was a failure of translation or editing, but it left me feeling absolutely bereft.

I’m with Rae. Claire high-handed arrogance is incandescent and her descent from that arrogance is a magnificent story which does not deserve greasy fingerprints of vulgarity. It left me thinking that neither translator nor editor care about this story and that is something I have not felt about a Seven Seas book in a very long time.  As I said at the beginning, this series has become important to us. It needs to be important to Seven Seas as well. I was so distraught at Claire saying “Bloody commoner” I woke up this morning and immediately composed an email to Seven Seas, letting them know what I would be saying here, so they were not blindsided. This translation did not feel as if it was done with love.

Surely one might assume that someone there would have thought to go over this before releasing it this week, after the problem last week?  A deleted passage is a problem that is fixable. An entire volume translated by someone who missed the point entirely may be fixable, but could have been prevented, if someone had been paying attention.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 8 It will improve over time. ^_^
Service – 5 Nudity and bathing
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8, with 1 off for the translation, which makes it a 7

If you don’t care about “voice” the way I do, it might not rub you the wrong way.  And, translation aside, this is still a fun manga, with great expressions and fun art and, of course, a terrific story. I’m still very eager to see the school festival cafe drawn by Aonoshimo-sensei. It was a scene that we all deserve to see realized. ^_^





Days of Love at Seagull Villa, Volume 1

March 29th, 2021

Mayumi has left her life in the big city behind. She knows she’s running away, but she’s committed to running as far as she can from the circumstances that have left her feeling empty. At the beginning of Days of Love at Seagull Villa, Volume 1, instead of of dealing, Mayumi has moved to a small seaside town to become a teacher. As she contemplates her future, she is accosted by a young woman who looks like a tough who thinks she is trying to do herself harm. One hilarious hijink later and Mayumi finds herself at the Seagull Villa, with a cast of characters and people with whose lives Mayumi will become involved.

When I read this series in Japanese, I felt very much that there was some kind of war going on between the artist and the story. Over and over it veers into the kind of dark territory so much of Kodama-sensei’s work is known for, and over and over it just sort of rests itself and tries again. It’s a very plucky story.

Mayumi comes across as a mope, but it quickly becomes apparent why and we do kind of root for her. But for my money, without landlady Rin’s jocularity, this story could and probably would have bogged down. That said, it doesn’t bog down and every turn for the worse, somehow pulls around into what will become an unlikely tale of alternate family and, (obviously, because this is a Yuri romance!) love. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7 It has moments.
Characters – 6
Service – Yes. It is a Kodama Naoko story, there is service
Yuri – 5

Overall – 7

Days of Love at Seagull Villa, Volume 1 by Naoko Kodama is available on Amazon and Global Bookwalker. Volume 2 is also available.





How Do We Relationship?, Volume 1

March 22nd, 2021

Miwa, like many young women, has come to college and hopes to fall in love. Also like many young women, she’s a bit unsure how to go about that. When she meets Saeko, the two of them start hanging out. They enjoy each other’s company. Miwa is introduced to Saeko’s circle – a group of folks working on becoming a band.  Saeko and Miwa are hanging out so much, that Saeko finally suggests that they just…date. And so they do.

But it’s not all smooth sailing. They don’t quite seem to be matching up; neither their physical needs, nor their communication styles are in sync. They both have some baggage too, before they can make this work.  In How Do We Relationship, Volume 1, Miwa and Saeko take their first steps along a path for which they cannot see the destination.

Tamifull’s art has a great feel of being grounded in reality – and even more appealingly, so does the writing. Both Miwa and Saeko are someone we might know,  folks we might have hung out with at school…or have been ourselves. ^_^ I remember those days in college when my relationships with other people were tenuous enough that I didn’t know who to rely on.

This story, while it is a romance, it is really a story about communication. Will Saeko and Miwa be able to work things out and communicate? I don’t want to jump the gun, but with five volumes already in Japanese and a 6th on the way, we can at the very least guess that they might. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 5
Service – 4

Overall – 8

If you like stories of people figuring out stuff beyond just “do I like her?” and how to navigate within a more complex society than high school, How Do We Relationship, might just be the narrative you’re looking for. I will want you, however, it will be a bumpy ride. ^_^





Syrup: A Yuri Anthology, Volume 2

March 11th, 2021

There are several games in town on the Yuri Anthology playing field in Japanese, Kadokawa, Ichijinsha and Futabasha. (Thank you CW for the correction!) In English, we’ve gotten the Éclair anthologies from Yen Press and Syrup from Seven Seas, respectively. If you read all the anthologies, as I am wont to, you’ll see a lot of the same names floating around on the contributor list, which occasionally gives one a sense of deja vu. ^_^ Today we’re looking at the second Syrup anthology  out from Seven Seas. Of Volume 1, I said “Syrup is a very good Yuri anthology for your growing Yuri anthology section of bookshelves and a great way to add work by some of the best in Yuri.” This holds true for Syrup: A Yuri Anthology, Volume 2, with some caveats. 

“Caveats?” you ask? Yes, to be very honest, overall, I am less fond of the Ichijinsha and Futabasha anthologies than I am of the Kadokawa. Second, because an anthology covers a wide range of styles and content, you are unlikely to love everything in any given anthology. In this volume’s case there were a few stories that put me off quite severely. One, by an author I know I don’t like and was therefore able to skip it, and at least one other by someone I had not previously been familiar with.

That said, here in Syrup, Volume 2, we have a fair number of decent stories and a brace of stories that I thought lifted the whole anthology out of the pack.

Matsuzaki Natsumi’s “The Fourth Woman” was an excellent crossover between two subgenres, with a idol fan and her idol meeting once again in office life, which left me smiling at the short, but on point story. The final story, “At What Point?” by Morinaga Milk also hit me in a few sensitive spots. The collection as a whole has some names I’m pleased to see; among them, Takahashi Mako, Whispered Words‘ Ikeda Takashi, Amano Shuninta, who I’m always really glad to see in any anthology and what now looks like a very, very early contribution by Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl creator, Canno.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Solid work by translator Jennifer Ward and adaptor Asha Bardon make this a quick read. I want to note that doing lettering and retouch on multiple author’s work, as Kaitlyn Wiley did here, can be trickly. Another fine job from everyone at Seven Seas and another authentic manga reading experience.

Thanks to Seven Seas for the review copy!





A Witch’s Love At The End of The World, Volume 2

March 10th, 2021

In Volume 1, we meet Mari a girl at a school for witches who apparently has no magic. Assigned to help her in her studies is top student Alice who has a great deal of magic, and who has been warned to never fall in love. As I say in my review, ” Mari and Alice discover that they can transcend not only their personal limitations, but the strictures placed upon witches. Mari becomes a key and a lock, which Alice unlocks. In doing so, she finds herself changed.”

In A Witch’s Love At The End of The World, Volume 2, Kujira’s tale of magic and loss and love takes a shocking turn, as Mari and Alice find themselves wandering Mari’s old neighborhood…only to discover that all traces of her family have been disappeared completely. The situation is not at all cleared up when Madam Dolly finds them and sends them back to the school. Alice is feeling feeling she has been explicitly warned to stay away from and Mari, who doesn’t really care about being a witch at all, just wants to know what the heck is going on.

This book reminds me a great deal of a story from my childhood that I loved. The multiple perspectives of same events and characters trying to understand those perspectives. It’s not at all the same story, but it has a similar feel. As a result, I find myself probably more engaged with Mari’s quest to find the truth and make a path for her and Alice through this than maybe I might otherwise might have. In any case, I still enjoy the art – which has become much more filled in now that Mari and Alice are in the “real” world –  and the characters. I hope the story will hold up to through the end.

Yen’s edition is nicely put together, featuring the translation of Eleanor Summers and lettering stylings by Sara Linsley (who, relevantly, just had a great little Twitter thread about lettering over art.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – The jump comes from an unlikely quarter, but…yes
Service – Still not really

Overall – 8

Volume 3 will be out in May, and I’m hoping for the ending I want, not the ending it’ll probably get. ^_^

Thanks so much to Yen Press for the review copy and for bringing out this interesting story.