Archive for the English Manga Category


Our Teachers are Dating!, Volume 2

February 19th, 2021

In Volume 1, we met Hayama Asuka and Terano Saki, two teachers at an all-girls high school who find themselves falling in love with each other, pretty much in the public eye. Luckily for them, their students, peers and administration all think they are absolutely adorable.

In Our Teachers are Dating!, Volume 2, Saki and Asuka continue to be ridiculously adorably in love. Bandou-sensei, the Yuri otaku, thinks HayaTera is the best ‘ship ever, even as she’s annoyed to death by them. ^_^ And they are, honestly so absurdly adorable that it’s very hard to take their drama seriously. Between a minor misunderstanding and visible hickies after an enthusiastic birthday evening, they just keep getting cuter and cuter. This is not a bug, it’s a feature.

It’s really critical to me to have manga like this where we see an ideal situation – where a world without homophobia and sexism is modeled for us, so we can imagine that one can exist. Queer literature is full of failure to make utopias works, and failure of current society to give space to the joys of life. Come at me, but I think it is equally as important to have stories that center joy, even if it means ignoring reality. Saki and Asuka are in love – their first love. And we are able to enjoy their feelings, think of our own, and enjoy a world full of sparkling sunshine and blue sky days and moonlight nights, full of those feelings. It is perfectly okay to want that.

For those of you who might counter, “But what about society, Erica? Aren’t you always banging on about queer characters having someone to talk to?” My reply to you is yes. Bandou, while not gay herself, is a good friend and gives good advice, but also…wait. This series may be a bit idealized, and because of that, you can be sure there will be someone to talk to. ^_^

In any case, this series is darling and handled in the most charming manner by translator Jennifer Ward, adaptor Rebecca Scoble, editor Jenn Grunigen. Erika Terriquez does a nice balanced lettering and retouch job and kudos to Nicky Lim for another creative cover design that doesn’t just mimic the Japanese, but still feels right. T

Ratings:

Art – 9
Characters – 10
Story – 9
Service – 5 There is nudity and sex, but it is sweet rather than salacious
Yuri – 10

Overall – 10

Finally, you all know what I mean when I say “Okay-saurus!”

Thanks very much to Seven Seas for the review copy. It’s always appreciated. Great job as always.

Full of Yuri joy, Our Teachers Are Dating is a celebration of love. You’ll be able to enjoy Volume 3 next month when it hits shelves at the end of March 2021.





Goodbye, My Rose Garden, Volume 2

February 8th, 2021

Hanako has traveled from far-away Japan to England, ostensibly in search of her favorite author. In Volume 1, Hanako is employed as a maid by Lady Alice, a beautiful, but always somehow sad, young daughter of a noble house.

In volume 2 of Goodbye, My Rose Garden, both Alice and Hanako are coming up against their feelings for one another, which are definitely not friendship, or appropriate to mistress and maid. And, possibly destructive of those feelings, both of the women are keeping secrets.  When Alice’s secret turns out to be related to Hanako’s, what could sunder them permanently, might also bring them closer.

When I reviewed the first Japanese volume of this series in spring 2019, I said, “I expected the volume to be a penny dreadful, with Victorian creepiness, but it’s actually a sad little story that I expect to see turned around in a pleasantly predictable ending.”

The “look at all the details I’ve researched!” feel of Volume 1 has settled down into a story that indicates plainly (if you understand the signs) that it is actually very much about gay life and literature here in Volume 2. References to Oscar Wilde are pretty blatant, but the references to Kate Chopin, author of The Awakening and Sarah Orne Jewett, author of The Country of the Pointed Firs, make it clear that this story is not just another costume drama, but intends on making a strong statement about feminism and queer existence in a time when the term feminism had only entered British speech a decade earlier and “gay rights” was long off.

Dr. Pepperco’s art has settled in and there’s more detail in expression over “stuff,” with a lingering sense of lecture on class relations.

Despite some potential for darkness, this volume ends up in a stronger place than it began, and we’re left waiting for the third volume expectantly hopeful.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 3
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7

Volume 3 is already available, so grab that climax today!

Thank you very much to Seven Seas for the review copy.





Even Though We’re Adults, Volume 1

February 4th, 2021

Takako Shimura’s Even Though We’re Adults, Volume 1 is a very strong opening to a series I still have no idea in what direction it is going. Ayano, a teacher, meets Akari when she stops by a place for a drink. They end up sleeping together. Both Ayano and Akari want to see each other again, but when Ayano does come to the restaurant Akari works at, she’s accompanied by her husband.

Ayano tells her husband that she’s interested in Akari and he basically has no idea what to do with that information. He’s in love with his wife, and he’d like a child with her, but thinks (fears?) that she’s slipping away. Ayano isn’t sure what she wants, except that she is sure she wants to see more of Akari. Akari is in a worse spot; with a history of failed relationships, the last thing she needs is to be falling for a married woman…but that is definitely what is happening.

Quite a lot of manga people I know who are also queer, including myself, have very ambivalent relationships with Shimura’s work. She does seem to focus quite a lot on gender and sexual minorities, with varying degrees of verisimilitude. In my personal opinion, this story feels equal parts solid and kind of icky. It may also be that I’m not particularly thrilled to have either another “messy relationship with a married woman story” or a story that makes the lesbian performatively self-loathy. At the same time, there are elements here that keep bringing me back to this story, which is at Volume 4 now in Japanese.

One of the best things about the series so far is the art. There are moments, especially when Shimura-sensei is using the watercolor style she often relies on for covers and color art, when she really shines. I talked about this a little in my review of Volume 2 in the Japanese, as well.

As always, the team at Seven Seas has done a great job. Shimura-sensei is great with *moments,* but has a harder time sustaining conversations over a scene. Translator Jocelyne Allen and adapter Casey Lucas allow the conversations to flow naturally. Everything about this book – the lettering and design, as well as the writing and art – is given room to get out of the way of the characters and let them tell their story. I’m  not at all sure where that story is heading, but I guess I’m here for the ride!

Ratings:

Art – 8
Character – A not-sure-yet 7
Story – Same 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 1 Hardly any, in fact. The 1 is mostly on principle

Overall – 7

Thanks very much to Seven Seas for the review copy! Volume 2 is slated for a summer release. I’m definitely going to have to bump up Volume 3 in Japanese on the to-read pile and see what happens.





A White Rose in Bloom Volume 1

January 20th, 2021

Periodically (pun intended) I subscribe to a manga magazine named Rakuen Le Paradis. It’s technically a Jousei magazine, but is an unusual one. Hakusensha lets their artists have a pretty long leash and so, one finds both men and women creators in its pages creating things that are not conventionally “for adult women.” The stories I’ve seen in the magazine range widely from cute school drama to BDSM. The stories have been straight, BL and Yuri. Some years it was heavily Yuri, and others less so. One of their best known BL names turned their talents to Yuri and so in 2019, we were treated to Nakamura Asumiko’s Mejirobana no Saku.

Now, in 2020, we’ve gotten a chance to read this series in English as A White Rose in Bloom, from Seven Seas. This volume is a perfect blend of a classic Yuri at a private girls’ school story with highlights of the modern world intruding at every turn.

Ruby Canossa’s parents are having trouble and she’s very much caught in the middle. Tossed by their selfishness into an uncomfortable and lonely holiday break nearly alone at school, Ruby find a cause to believe in. But her relationship with the only other girl who stayed behind for the holidays, school star “Steel” Steph, is still awkward, uncomfortably intimate and hard to navigate. As Ruby starts to build some stability, her parents make it impossible for her to stay, but she doesn’t want to leave.

YMMV, but I like Nakamura’s balance of overly dramatic expressions on Ruby, to Steph’s almost complete lack of expression. Nakamura’s got a Goya-esque style that gives everyone a long, lean look that suits the halls of a storied school for wealthy girls. Kudos to translator Jocelyne Allen and the entire Seven Seas team for another excellent job on a book that I hope people won’t overlook, thinking it’s just another school romance.

This book is marked volume 1. There is no Volume 2, yet. Rakuen Le Paradis (楽園 Le Paradis) magazine is only released 3 times a year and the magazine is pretty chock full of top talent, so not every story is featured every issue. I’m so far behind in Rakuen issues (the last one I read was Issue 30)I don’t even know what happens! I’m clearly going to have to make some time to catch up. But it definitely is continuing. Issue 34, the current issue (available in Japanese on Global Bookwalker) lists a new chapter in the table of contents. Good! I really want to know what happens!

Ratings:

Art – As I say, YMMV, but 8 for me
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – There is a little, but not what you might expect.
Yuri – 7

Overall – 8

In the meantime, you can enjoy Nakamura-sensei’s great nonplussed facial expressions and slapfighting in the hallways of a staid old institution…and wonder what on EARTH is going on with that headmaster, because she honestly looks so untrustworthy I am sure she’s a blackmailer in her spare time. ^_^

Thanks to Seven Seas for the review copy!





Okazu Top Yuri Manga of 2020

December 29th, 2020

There were so many wonderful Yuri manga series in 2020, I make no pretense to this being a countdown of any kind. There is no best one manga this year, just ever-widening, ever-lengthening bookshelves worth of amazing Yuri manga treasures! The top four are basically tied for first place, we’ll talk about why when we get there.

I’ve included links to both JP and EN volumes when they are available.  Almost all of these titles are available in English. The few that are not are available as print from Amazon JP or e-books from Bookwalker JP,  which also has e-books in English available on Bookwalker Global.

Please join me in enjoying some of the many Best Yuri Manga of the year. ^_^ 

***

 

Tsuki to Suppin (月とすっぴん) / Night and Day

Akegata Yuu’s odd couple story, Tsuki to Suppin, is so…nice. Nothing happens, and there’s so little drama it almost seems like it might not be worth it, but it always, always is worth it to me. Watching a couple who just *work* together and understand one another is so absurdly refreshing. The simple art and the apparent lack of complexity is appealing. Everything about this series is Shodensha doing the exact kind of Jousei Yuri I want to see in the world.

And now you can read this series in English as Night and Day for free on Manga Planet or decide to subscribe and support them in getting more. ^^

Available in English from Manga Planet

 

 

 

 

Hitogoto Desukara! (ヒトゴトですから!) / It’s Personnel

Now that Shakaijin Yuri is an established subgenre, it’s easy to feel that the initial office romance plots have become stale. Rather than girl-meets-girl, we have woman-meets-woman. But, in Yuni’s comedy drama, Hitogoto Desukara! (which is so clearly written to adapted into a live-action television show!,) we get playgirl vs playgirl in the office…in the one department where they can’t really be in competition, but have to find ways to work together. There’s a lot of insight to the kinds of office politics one sees in large corporations – with exactly the right amount of rage as a response. ^_^ Once again, Manga Planet offers you a chance to try this out before committing, much like the characters of this story. And extra points for the stellar naming sense for It’s Personnel. ^_^

Available in English from Manga Planet

 

 

 

 

Still Sick & Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana (付き合ってあげてもいいかな) / How Do We Relationship

Both these series, Akashi’s Still Sick and Tamifull’s Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana made this list for the same reason – they show adult relationships that have some complicating factors. Personal experience and external influence both have impact on the characters here, which means that these are not necessarily the healthiest relationships. As Yuri develops as a genre, I don’t want our romances to become WE TV, with endless flogging of stereotypes and trauma to create the tension, but it’s also good to have more than one-note romances on our shelves. Both these series have characters we’re rooting for…even as we can see they have a lot of stuff to work through.

Still Sick is available in English from Tokyopop

How Do We Relationship is available in English from Viz Media.

 

 

 

Yamada to Kase-san  (山田と加瀬さん) / Kase-san and Yamada 

In Yamada to Kase-san we encounter old friends once again. Having left their hometown and traveled to the big city, both Yamada and Kase-san are now spending their days building adult lives, making friends and trying to fit each other into this new construct. There is no doubt that they love each other a great deal, and it is a joy to be able to continue to watch over them as they build their lives together..and to know that we’ll get to spend more time with the characters we’ve grown to care about. What a great way celebrate our tenth anniversary with this series!

Available in English from Seven Seas.

 

 

 

Yagate Kimi ni Naru (やがて君になる) / Bloom Into You

Yagate Kimi ni Naru makes the list for three reasons, all of which are meaningful to me as a reader, as a reviewer and as a fan of Yuri. Let’s take them in reverse order. As a fan, I am delighted that a whole new crop of folks have discovered Yuri through this series as their “gateway Yuri.” ^_^

As a reader, this series provided me with both a lesbian character and functional adult role models for that character – the two things which were my favorite quality about the story…then gave me the added bonus of light novels telling that character’s story in more detail.  As a reviewer, the journey we took in this series felt whole. We didn’t stop midway, there weren’t handwaves where they just would go on to be happy off-screen; there was a terrific balance between school life romance and bildungsroman. It felt…complete and well told. At the beginning I had so many doubts, but by the end, I had none. And for all of that, Bloom Into You definitely deserves a place on this year’s top list.

Available in English from Seven Seas

 

 

 

Éclair Yuri Anthology series

If you are a regular reader here at Okazu, you know how important a place in the history of Yuri I give to anthologies. They gave Yuri creators a community where there was none previously, they give established creators a place to expand their art and a place for introducing new creators to a wider audience. I am delighted once again that you’ve had the opportunity to experience a Yuri anthology series, with all of it’s varieties of creators and stories so that you can decide for yourself whose work you love. For their importance in the past, the present and, I hope, the future, the Éclair Yuri anthology series makes this list.

Available in English from Yen Press

 

 

 

 

The next four manga are all basically tied for first, because they share a key quality among them that I believe is the single most important quality in any media I want to see right now:

 

 

 

Hello Melancholic! (ハロー、メランコリック!)

This is one of two series on this list that is not translated. I hope that will change. I’ve loved Ohsawa Yayoi’s work for years. She’s got a way with characterization that is wholly unique and her art style has really developed into something stylish and fun. Hello Melancholic, a tale of a girl who is able to rekindle her love for music, touched me. The characters around her all felt real and…fun. It was a story about finding love – and about finding and learning to believe in one’s self.

It just wrapped up in Japanese and I really hope that you’ll all be able to experience it one day in English. Because it is just…lovely.

 

 

 

 

Kaketa Tsuki to Doughnuts (欠けた月とドーナッツ) / Doughnuts Under A Crescent Moon

Hinako is a woman who has been told her entire life that she must present herself in a certain way, and seek certain things from her life. In Kaketa Tsuki to Doughnuts, despite the fact that it made her miserable, she never questioned any of it, until she meets someone at work who simply ignores all the rules. As her life begins to change, Hinako discovers herself and love. I love Usui Shio’s art. It’s everything I want in a Jousei romance story.

It’s a pleasure to know that shortly you’ll be able to enjoy this series along with me, as Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon. I hope you find it as quietly triumphant as I do.

Available in English from Seven Seas

 

 

 

Itoshi Koishi (いとしこいし)

Takemiya Jin is a fixture here on my end-of-year lists. I really wish someone would license her work, because she is the one manga artist working in what we might now call “mainstream Yuri” manga who consistently has lesbian representation in her work.

This year, in Itoshi Koishi, we got a character who knew who she is and what was important to her and knew she wanted to share it all with her closest friends. It took a few volumes, but when Hina comes out to her best friends, they reiterate their love and acceptance for her. It was a beautiful manga about a couple that is supportive and caring and who are supported and cared for in return.

 

 

 

 

Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru (羽山先生と寺野先生は付き合っている) / Our Teachers are Dating!

In Ohi Pikachi’s series, Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru (羽山先生と寺野先生は付き合っている), Hayama Asuka and Terano Saki are two adult women who find love for the first time and everyone around them is so charmed by their pure joy in each other, that there is complete approval from their peers, their administration, their students, random strangers on the street….

As a parable of acceptance, it’s perfect. As a model of what can be, it’s the kind of fantasy I want a million tons of, until I get sick of it, thank you very much. Ohi Pikachi’s art is adorable and sexy. Asuka and Saki’s love and their joy in one another is wholly adult and totally squee-worthy.  I hope you’re reading Our Teachers Are Dating and enjoying it all, too! This is Yuri manga presenting the world I want to see.  ^_^

Available in English from Seven Seas

 

By now, you may have figured out what all these have in common. Love and acceptance of self was the theme of the year. All the best Yuri Manga of 2020 was about learning to love and accept one’s self, and be accepted in return. 2020 is the year of “acceptance fantasy” in Yuri and I am totally here for it. ^_^

As always, please feel free to share your top yuri manga of the year in the comments!