Archive for the English Manga Category


How Do We Relationship?, Volume 3

October 22nd, 2021

How Do We Relationship?, Volume 3 by Tamifull takes a sharp turn away from our expectations. It makes for a harder read, but an infinitely more satisfying one.

Miwa and Saeko are not “out” to the general public but, in this volume, Miwa admits to someone else that she is only interested in women. Miwa’s taken a couple of huge steps forward into understanding and accepting herself…and we spend some time understanding where she came from in that regard and what that journey has been to her.

Saeko, though. She’s got a lot of stuff yet to deal with. Stuff she’s not telling Miwa…and stuff she’s not telling herself.

In my review of Volume 3 in Japanese, I commented “This is much less a Yuri romance at this point than a referendum on relationship communication issues, featuring a same-sex couple.” What I did not tell you at the time was I fought myself about four times about just giving up. Also I said, “Oh fuck you, Saeko,” more than once.

At this point, you may wonder if this manga is worth your time. I assure you, this manga is totally worth your time. But it is going to make you work a bit. And for that, I completely credit creator Tamifull, whose work is excellent. We, like the characters, are going on a long journey. It will take us through their and our pasts and present and future. We and they will not be the people we know right now, but I am convinced we’ll all be better for it, in the end.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 Getting harder, not easier to read, but also becoming queerer and more real
Characters – 7 I’m rooting for everyone, but not liking everyone at this point
Yuri – 8 / LGBTQ – 6 still room for more
Service – 4

Overall – 8

This is not a “girl meets girl, they like each other, then end” story. And thank goodness for that.

How Do We Relationship, Volume 3 and Volume 4 are available now from Viz Media in print and digital.

Before I wrap up, I want to shout out translator Abby Lehrke, with whom I have had super fun conversations on Twitter where we basically screamed at each other incoherently about this series, and whose work is excellent. And mad props to Joanna Estep whose work in retouching will likely never be noticed by you, but the fact that she’s done the work of replacing Japanese S/fx with English, rather than setting them side by side or merely lettering the meaning, stands out to me. Well done and much appreciated Joanna! Fine work from Viz Media on this completely, not at all in any way simple series.





Whisper Me a Love Song, Volume 2

October 18th, 2021

Eku Takeshima’s Whisper Me a Love Song, Volume 2 is genuinely adorable, about relatable, charming characters, an idealized school setting and conflict so small and so satisfyingly reconciled that “cute and fluffy” don’t come close to doing it justice.  Amid the noise and haste of the world, this series is an oasis of innocence and joy.

Here in Volume 2, the major conflict on Himari’s side is her idea of what love is does not seem to be matching up with Yori-sempai’s but…and this is a huge but…both she and Yori are thinking about it and talking about with friends and each other. They agree on a course of action to try to see how their feelings will resolve by going out and spending time together. Well…that’s pretty much the point of dating, so rock on girls!

In trying to think of a way to describe this series to a group of folks in order to talk about why publisher ratings are madness, I mentioned that in 5 volumes of this series there’s been nothing more physically intimate than a kiss (and that of those 5 volumes 2 have been mostly taken up with a battle of the bands) and yet, it is rated 16+. I’ve been a manga publisher, I know why publishers are required to be cowards and how that very rating  that protects the publishers can  be a hassle for librarians. I hope that we’ll talk about that in an upcoming panel, in fact.  This is especially crazy when you realize that Even Though We’re Adults and I’m in Love With the Villianess are both give 13+ ratings and both are way more openly queer and adult. All three have different publishers and comparing across publisher is awkward, but, c’mon Kodansha. I’d happily recommend this series to 11 and up, it’s that carefree and well, harmless. I don’t think these ratings are an evil conspiracy, but it’s worth discussing why these choices are made.

Takeshima-sensei’s art really conveys Himari’s joy beautifully. Kevin Steinbach’s translation is fantastic – Yori’s voice in this volume is more perfect than the voice I read her in. At one point she said something and I though, “YES! This is exactly right!” Her cool factor is upped by several degrees, without sounding too adult. Well done. Jennifer Skarupa’s letter matched this perfectly. I’m not sure the last time I absolutely could hear every character so clearly. Tiff Ferentini did a bang-up job on editing because we never notice the editing ^_^  Well done to the entire Kodansha team.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

 

Whisper Me a Love Song is a sweet treat of a Yuri manga. A genuine delight. Volume 3 and Volume 4 are available in English
and Volume 5 is available in Japanese





Even Though We’re Adults, Volume 3

October 12th, 2021

Akari and Ayano met in Volume 1, but their relationship was instantly complicated by the fact that Ayano…is married. In Volume 2, Akari moves to give herself a fresh start only to find herself literally face to face with Ayano, as her new home is across the street.

In Even Though We’re Adults, Volume 3, Akari can’t get a break…she’s walking to the train in the morning with Ayano, and home with Ayano’s husband Wataru. As they chat, Akari is sucked deeper and deeper into the quicksand of their family life and her own past. Akari returns to her previous job, which means she’s meeting her ex, as well. It’s a complicated set of circumstances in which no one is wrong, and everyone is trying, but the mortification just keeps piling up. Poor Akari.

I’m absolutely convinced that this is the best work Shimura-sensei has ever created, as the people are all relatable; from the two girls in Ayano’s class who may be targeted because they like each other, to Eri, Wataru’s shut-in sister.

Every single character here is doing their best; every single character is trying to figure out how to be, how to navigate the complicated waters of society and relationships. And nearly everyone is struggling. I love this story. There’s no good guys or bad guys, there’s no one who is more than slightly, very normally awful. Everyone is smiling, but also hurting, and trying to figure out how to make it through the rapids of life safely.

In and among all of this, I am particularly on tenterhooks about the two girls in Ayano’s class. They don’t know, yet (or ever) that they have an ally, but I hope that they end up okay.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 7 I’m liking most of them, even if they annoy me sometimes ^_^
Service – 0
Yuri – Yes. Also Queer.

Overall – 8

Thanks very much to Seven Seas for the review copy! Volume 3 is hitting shelves today, so grab yourself a copy of this queer and complicated story about adult life. Excellent lettering by Rina Mapa, as well as outstanding translation by Jocelyne Allen.

I especially loved this panel of a phone argument. ^_^





Failed Princesses, Volume 3 & Volume 4

October 4th, 2021

In Volume 1, we met Fujishiro and Kurokawa, girls from completely difference circles in school. In Volume 2, they have started, slowly to figure out who they are to one another. Today we’re playing catch up with two more volumes of Failed Princesses, by Ajichi.

In Volume 3, Fujishiro faces pushback from the cool group, who has taken a huge hit to their prestige, and a school trip in which important things may not get said. The cool girls turn mean girls to punish Nanaki but…when their leader pushes it too far, she finds herself in hotseat. Nanaki has it out with her former friends and throws in with the nerdy girls, who are more than happy to have a fourth for the school trip. Hijinks and refusal to say what must be said means Nanaki and Kaede are split for rooms on this trip.

As Volume 4 opens, Nanaki and Kurokawa aren’t actually spending much time together, but they are on each other’s minds. Unbeknownst to them, this sows more unhappiness, as Izumi harbors feeling for Nanaki and Iroha thinks of Kurokawa as her savior.

As I said in my review of volume two, this story feels so much like what it is, a short story that has been extended. Every character has pent-up emotions about every other character in a way I find more than a little artificial.

BUT, Volume 4 does some things that redeem that. When Izumi confesses her feelings to Nanaki, they have something close to a conversation about gay people as I’ve seen in school life Yuri manga. Nanaki, of course, plays the part of the clueless straight girl. I actually laughed the translation of her speech as “The LGBTs, right?” Well-played, translator Angela Liu!

Service is pretty high here, as bathing suits and changing rooms and baths all take up too much space in the narrative. I will forever believe that these things add nothing of value to a manga like this.

While I feel no particular urgency about Nanaki and Kaede getting together, I do like that the nerdy girls are positioned as welcoming and friendly, as opposed to just another clique. In my personal experience this has been very true of nerdy girls, even back in school, when we all lined up together for Star Wars and Star Trek and went out for Heavy Metal and Rocky Horror midnight showings.

Ajiichi’s art has definitely improved in the last four volumes, expressions level up, really, in Volume 4 overall. The story is definitely being strung out…but, really, where’s the rush? We might as well just let the story play out as it  will.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 5
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7

Many thanks to Seven Seas for the review copy of Volume 4! Another fine job. This is definitely a series for lovers of emotional school Yuri drama. ^_^

Volume 5 is slated for a late March 2022 release, so you have time to catch up!





Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Volume 2

October 1st, 2021

Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon, Volume 2 continues to be one of my favorite Yuri manga series. It has almost everything I like in it, it’s thoughtfully fraught, fully adult, and packed with unpacking all the baggage we carry in an adult life. Most importantly, it contains powerful lessons for shedding that baggage and learning to relate to people as they, and we, are.

Here in Volume 2, Hinako is absolutely sure she has some kind of feeling when she’s with Asahi, but has no way to identify that feeling…because her entire life has been lying to herself about how she feels about things.

Asahi is on the cusp of letting go of the one thing she’s been clinging to instead of living her life and it terrifies her so much that she’s in almost complete denial.

These two are women like so many women I have met, who were trained to diminish themselves to the point of barely existing. Now that they are being given room to expand, they fear it. To Hinako’s credit, we can see that she’s pushing back a lifetime of normalization of a single, narrow path to happiness. One piece at a time, she’s throwing a stepping stone down, and tentatively letting her weight rest on it. It’s absolutely beautiful when she tells her woks friends for the first time what she’s thinking and they respond in pretty much the best possible way.

Asahi’s going to be a tougher nut to crack and it will take some external pressure that Hinako cannot provide. Two other characters will be the arms of that nutcracker, Asahi’s old friend Fuuka and, much more critically, her sister, Subaru. Subaru is a fantastic character…a very aware, very smart and very sensitive young woman, surrounded by what can only be seen as adults who are incapacitated emotionally. Subaru can see that Hinako is the fulcrum of the cracker and Asahi can only be squeezed just enough, before she shatters. Watch this space, is all I’ll say about that.

I love this story, I love the art, I love the characters and the writing ….and I love the care and attention Seven Seas is giving this story! Jenny McKeon’s translation is fantastic. There were a few turns of phrase that had me clapping my hands. Adaptation and editing kept it a tight and easy read. I continue to love the logo design by George Panella and lettering and retouch by Rina Mapa. This is the kind of book where all the details of localization fade into the back, but that’s exactly the point of good localization – it reads naturally, authentically. This team brings us another authentic manga reading experience.

This book is a guaranteed top 5 on my end of year lists and I hope Usui-sensei continues for many years. This is my moe – adults finding out who they are and what is important to them.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 6 and climbing slowly
Service – 0

Overall – 10

I want to thank Seven Seas especially this time for offering me a review copy because this book has been particularly difficult to get a copy of in print. It was never really available at any book store or online, and is now so unavailable, Amazon isn’t even really saying “unavailable”, it’s saying “Give it up kid, you might want to just get it on Kindle.” I expect you all have heard about the supply line issues publishers are having. Well, this is affecting pretty much everything, from manga to appliances to food to clothes. My HVAC guy says he can’t get parts for air conditioning repairs. If you’re in the US, it’s not going to get better any time soon, but do consider calling your state and federal representatives to ask them what they plan on doing about it. ^_^;

Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon is an outstanding and beautiful adult Yuri drama. Get it today from Seven Seas!