Archive for the English Manga Category


Revolutionary Girl Utena: After the Revolution

November 20th, 2020

Tenjou Utena was a girl who wanted to become a prince. She actually did rescue a princess…and became the power to revolutionize the world. But at what cost?

20 years have gone by and the members of the student council are still trapped in their own drama. The girl who gained the power to change everything had left them behind to find their own way out. Being mere humans, not princes, they had failed to do take the steps they needed to be free. If this sounds like a fanfic, well, it pretty much is. Like so many fanfic it begins with Touga, Saionji, Juri and Miki still caught up in the same dysfunctional relationships that bound them at Ohtori. 

In Revolutionary Girl Utena: After the Revolution, co-creator of Revolutionary Girl Utena Chiho Saito, revisits the Student Council members. Touga and Saionji are finally allowed to cast off the lingering ghost of  the Chairman of Ohtori, and find the camaraderie with each other that had been twisted into a toxic rivalry. Juri discovers in herself a more honest reason to keep fighting and is able to let go of of regret and failure. Miki is finally able to have an honest discussion with Kozue about their relationship.

Viz Media’s reproduction of this 20th anniversary manga is so excellent, I’m almost sorry that they didn’t give it a hardcover edition to match the box set of the original manga. Adrienne Beck’s translation kept the voices we already knew so well. Sara Linsley went out of her way to do an award-worthy lettering job. She’s detailed how she hand-drew the sound effects to match the Japanese volume on Twitter. Designer Alice Lewis did a terrific job and I know that Nancy Thistlethwaite as editor gave it the most loving treatment possible. It looks terrific. Great job folks.

Like so many fanfic, this manga is excellent, right up to the point where it fails to do the last thing it needed to do. Because, as she says in the afterword, Saito-sensei was unwilling to allow Utena to grow up…indeed, she youthens her for this story, Utena and Anthy’s reunion is not of this world, but very much in a world that only the two of them occupy. I had read the chapters as they came out in Flowers hoping desperately that we’d get to see Utena and Anthy together in the “real” world. It’s wholly understandable why this was the path chosen…it’s just not the one I wanted. ^_^ OTOH, Juri is still with Shiori and Utena and Anthy do find each other again, so that’s something. Depending on what your fandom of Utena is rooted in, your mileage will vary. For me, this was a beautiful, but ever-so-slightly unsatisfying story.

Ratings:

Art – 9 I have repeatedly mentioned that Saitou-sensei’s art is amazing.
Story – 8 One point off for not giving Utena and Anthy the time and page count lavished on the student council
Characters – 8
Yuri – 5
Service – 3 Naked Anthy is still a thing.

Overall – 9

I guess I’ll just have to stick with my own Utena fanfic for now, since Saito-sensei and I don’t share a vision. If it were up to me Kozue and Shiori* would not have been given so much real estate. ^_^

* I don’t dislike Shiori….I just don’t like Juri and Shiori together. Juri deserves someone better.





Amongst Us, by Shilin

November 18th, 2020

Shilin is an artist I have been following for many years. I began reading her epic fantasy Carciphona a decade ago. I was delighted to have picked up a couple of her art books at TCAF; I have reviewed Toccata II here on Okazu.

Last year, Shilin ran a Kickstarter for a collected volume of the alt-universe versions of her Carciphona protagonist Veloce, and antagonist, Blackbird.. I jumped right on that, because the story is fun, but what keeps me coming back is Shilin’s gorgeous artwork.

In Carciphona, Veloce is a deeply emotionally wounded sorceress, a woman who has been used and abandoned by her society and family. Pulling the strings to get Veloce to join her is Blackbird, who is a spirit who does not much care for humankind and thinks Veloce ought not to either…and she has a legitimate case. But Veloce has been befriended by some humans who believe in her and she’s fighting with them to protect humanity, even if the humans don’t appear to appreciate that music at all. The magic in this world revolves around music, which makes for some really lovely “battles.”

Amongst Us is a fun fanfic of an intense series and makes a physically beautiful “real-world” counterpart to the dramatic Carciphona. It’s also a lot of fun to see a creator playing around with her characters in a completely different oeuvre. You don’t need to have read Carciphona to appreciate this alt-version, which is an added bonus. In this alternate reality Veloce is a cellist with a tendency towards the melancholy (appropriate for cellists, I always think) and Blackbird is her flightier conductor girlfriend. It’s presented as a goofy slice-of life comic with very little real conflict, however Veloce and Blackbird are at each others’ throats constantly, which is perfectly natural for them. ^_^ 

You can enjoy the Amongst Us on Webtoons. The comic has been adapted for reading in book format, which is always more work, but gives the pages an appealing look.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – A goofy 8
Characters – 8 Divorced from their origins, they still seem pretty intense. ^_^
Service – 0 That postcard of Veloce in an evening dress was smokin’. But no, not really.
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

Another simply gorgeous work by Shilin. This is now available on Shilin’s shop, thanks Sylvie for the link!





Get a Piece of Yuri Manga History at Cheapmanga.com

November 3rd, 2020

Our friends at Cheapmanga.com have been kind enough to make all remaining ALC manga volumes available at discount prices!

Yuri Monogatari Volumes 3,4 & 6, the English-language global Yuri anthology from ALC Publishing are available for $18.00 for the set! This Yuri anthology includes selections from Japanese artists like Rica Takashima, Eriko Tadeno, Akiko Morishima, Nishi UKO, as well as artists from every corner of the world.

 

 

YM1 and YM2 were very small runs and due to a host of reasons could not be reprinted. I’m sorry about that now, but the initial idea was to print it like a doujinshi, with short annual runs for shows. Then it got a little more popular and we had to print more, and then printing exploded and all our files couldn’t be read the same way and what had been high resolution was now very low and we didn’t have a way to fix that (or, in some cases, reach the artists to get the rights to reprint permission,) so those are long out of print.

 

WORKS by Eriko Tadeno, the second Yuri manga to ever be published in English is available for $7.  This collection of 4 stories that walk us through lesbian lives and loves, including stories of coming out to family, old school crushes and a workplace romance long before the current Shakajin craze.

Buy all 4 books for $25 – and with the code ALC2020, you’ll get free US shipping on orders of $25 or more! This code is good for any books and it’ll stay good, so feel free to hit them up later, for more manga!

 

 

I want to personally thank all of you who have already purchased these books – the folks at Cheapmanga let me know they *love* the kind notes and comments they’ve been getting. With all the conventions canceled, they’ve missed the interaction with fans. This morning I handed over another set of boxes and was told, specifically that my crowd was the nicest people. I’m so thankful to all of you for being the nicest people! ^_^ Definitely keep writing nice notes and comments for them, please. They’ve been good friends for many years, and the loss of conventions this year has been hard on them emotionally and business-wise.

Thank you all for your patience with this weekend’s website security issues and for your support of Yuri manga! And also of my massive cleanup of the office, because every box of books you buy is extra space for me! ^_^





A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 5

October 26th, 2020

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 5 by Makoto Hagino addresses an important conundrum for young people. Their lives are not theirs to decide until they are…and then the entirety of their trajectories as adults are dumped into their laps all at once. What do you want to be? Where do to want to live? What do you want to do? How can they possibly know who they want to become, when they barely know who they are?

Koyuki is facing this conundrum. Typically, she’s struggling alone and in silence until Konatsu’s classmate Kaede inserts herself into the older girl’s life. It’s an accidental meeting at first, but Kaede’s easy manner and forthright honesty helps Koyuki come to several decisions – one that might bring her closer to Konatsu…and one that might separate them forever.

Until this volume, I hadn’t really given Kaede a thought. She was “Konatsu’s classmate and friend.” But here, she becomes a catalyst for positive change. What will happen remains a mystery to me because my copy of Volume 6 is stuck in a warehouse in Kawasaki, not being shipped for another month!

I’ll probably have Volume 7 before 6 ever arrives. (-_-); Nonetheless, you can catch up to me shortly, as the salamander comes out into the light to be seen, at least for a little while.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 0 not really
Yuri – 3

Overall – 7

The team at Viz: John Werry, Eve Grandt, Yukiko Whitely and Pancha Diaz once again did a great job, with this quietly sweet, quietly angsty story of coming out of one’s shell.

Thanks very much to Viz for an advance review copy. You’ll be getting a chance to read this book in November.





A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 4

October 19th, 2020

In my review of Nettaigyo ha Yuki ni Kogareru, Volume 4 (熱帯魚は雪に焦がれる ), I lightly commented that “this series has moved slowly, and almost haphazardly, like the tropical fish of the title, lazily moving between plot points.” But Konatsu chooses another form of symbolism completely, befuddling both Koyuki and us, in A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 4 – the symbolism of a childhood tale of a shy salamander and it’s frog friend.

The festival has arrived and the day Konatsu and Koyuki have practiced for is here. Only, Koyuki is home sick. Worried for her friend and worried about the show, Koyuki tries to sneak out, but is stymied. She’s thrilled to find that Konatsu has done the fish show, but worried that her outgoing new friend will leave her behind.

At this point it has to be obvious to us, that Koyuki’s problems are deeper than just being treated like she’s perfect. She’s developed some seriously deep wounds. Her concerns are not alleviated by the fact that she’s barely gotten better when the second-year’s class trip pops up, separating them again. Koyuki starts to finally realize how important Konatsu has become to her.

Once again faced with her emotions, Koyuki snaps, and yet again, Konatsu is there to pick up the pieces and accept her. And we learn who the salamander and the frog are to one another.

This is not a romance in the more usual sense. Koyuki is far too fragile to be in love or like. In that sense, it’s a bit more like Konatsu building a ladder, one rung at a time, to help Koyuki climb out of a hole she’s dug for herself. Because this story is positioned as a Yuri romance, we can kind of expect what the end will be, but I sincerely hope we see Koyuki coming out of that hole before it happens. Otherwise, she’ll just be adding new baggage before the old stuff is dealt with.

The team at Viz is handling this story well. John Werry’s translation and Eve Grandt’s lettering is light-handed, so we’re left to feel for Koyuki on our own, without heavy-handed tactics. The design work by Yukiko Whitely and editing by Pancha Diaz, contribute to another authentic manga reading experience.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 1 on principle only, there really isn’t any
Yuri – 4

Overall – 7

As I said in my review of the Japanese volume, “This series has always been, in large part, about Koyuki’s journey to find herself. It would be nice if she finds some self-confidence and we can see their relationship develop from here.”

Volume 5 in English will hit shelves here in November, and Volume 7 has been out since summer in Japan, we should probably expect Volume 8 before the end of the year.