Archive for the English Manga Category


Scarlet, Volume 1

March 23rd, 2020

There is horror and then there is horror. Horror can be cerebral, or emotional, horror can be funny or outraging, horror can be grotesque or violent. Emily Carroll’s horror is not the same as Yoshimurakana‘s. And for different people, horror will serve different needs. Chiri Yuino’s Scarlet, Volume 1 sits on a fence in the middle of several kinds of horror, but commits to none of them.

Finé and Iris are bound by a promise made in blood. Iris, a werewolf will protect Finé and let her drink her blood, until Finé breaks the curse of the drug that she is under and becomes human once again. Then Finé will pay her debt with her life and let Iris eat her. Until then they travel together trying to stop the scourge of this drug that turns humans into blood-drinking monsters.

Whether this is a fairytale reworked to be gritty, or an allegory of drug addiction or just a mutation horror story, I still am not entirely sure. Nor am I sure that the creator was sure. In any case the story moves briskly from not being able to help a young girl to losing her sister (accurately named Misery) to a far more powerful evil.

Yuri has two equally unattractive varieties: Iris and Finé are lovers as much as they are anything else. As I said in my review of the Japanese volume,  “They are shockingly likeable. Iris is a cheerful drunken werewolf, Finé is the requisite emo bloodsucking creature with a sword. All is well with the world. Unless you are a elixir-mutated demon.”There is a kind of affection between them, certainly, in that they care for each other the way one does with a medication.

And, when they come to confront the demon sharing the drug around, they encounter an orgy of soon-to-be-inhuman women.  None of it is aesthetically pleasing but I assumed it was not meant to be. If you’re a fan of blood and mutating bodies, this might appeal to you. I found the breast-squeezing painful to look at, and we do spend a lot of time looking at Iris’ breasts.

The story will come to a climax and an end in Volume 2, which is slated for an October release.

“Scarlet isn’t a vampire story
Although it’s plenty bloody and gore-y
A fairy tale it is not
Revenge against evil is the plot
Against a Goth-Loli demon in all of her lace glory”

Also borrowed from my review of V1 in Japanese.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 6
Yuri – 6 In their own hungry way, Iris and Finé care for one another.

Overall – 8

Scarlet is slightly better than the sum of its parts, and not really a vampire story, but not really a drug story or a monster story, either.

Thanks very much to Seven Seas for the review copy!





Our Wonderful Days, Volume 1

March 20th, 2020

Koharu has finally made it to high school and she’s really happy about it. She’ll be back in school with her old friends Nanaya and Minori, and they are super happy to see a friend who knows them, as they live way outside town in a remote area. But the icing on the cake for Koharu is the return of her childhood friend Mafuyu, who has returned from Tokyo after many years.  Koharu learns that Minori and Nana live together and Mafuyu shames Nana into doing some of the chores.

In Kei Hamuro’s Our Wonderful Days, Volume 1 the four will get caught in the rain and enjoy ice cream and three of them will harass Minori at her club, the way friends do, and hang out, spending time doing nothing and everything.  As we spend time with them, we can’t help but notice that Nana’s got a crush on on the female gym teacher. More importantly, that Mafuyu has feelings beyond friendship for Koharu. And, maybe, Koharu has some feelings of her own.

There is no story here, it is a tale of lives being lived. The pace is slow, the drama is minimal, the lives are full of small joys, like visiting a convenience store or sharing snacks after school.  This is not a series if you’re looking for action or high emotion.

Ratings:

Art – 7 A lot of talking heads, so the simplicity of the art doesn’t affect the story
Story- 7 Same as above
Characters – 8 All likeable
Yuri – 6 Simple and sweet and given a lot of time to develop
Service – 0

Overall – 8

This manga is a pleasant read about nothing in particular.





Yuri Bear Storm, Volume 3

March 9th, 2020

In Volume 1, we met Kureha, a girl who hates bears and Ginko, a girl who is positive she is a bear. In Volume 2, we met Lulu who is is love with Ginko because of a childhood promise. We learned that Ginko and Kureha are in love, but that there is a secret that lay between them that is killing Ginko. Today we’re looking at Volume 3 of Yuri Bear Storm, the  English language edition of Yuri manga adaptation of Yurikuma Arashi, by Ikuhara Kunihiko, with art by Morishima Akiko,

In other Ikuhara stories, we’ve seen reality fractured into small pieces to be put back together, different realities layered on top of one another and here we have the entire narrative completely disassociated from its own reality.

There are no bears and everyone is a bear. Leia is dead or missing, but she’s alive and can be found. Lulu’s brother is dead, but he’s alive and standing right there, Sumika is a bear witch, but actually she’s just a kind person. And Kureha and Ginko are fated not to destroy each other.

In the end, we learn what that Ginko’s secret is, that it is untrue, that the real secret is that Ginko and Kureha are the inheritors of a love triangle between their mothers and Yuriika, everyone who we thought was dead is alive and we all end up happily ever after.

The end.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8 I cannot be the only one who would like a story about Leia, Yuriika and Kale in that Estonia Bear preserve.
Yuri – 8
Service – 3

Overall – 8

I’ve read this twice, watched it three times and it still basically makes no sense at all. ^_^ Which is perfectly okay.

I raise a glass to everyone at Tokyopop who worked on this, because there was no real way to make it make sense, which complicates things like translation and editing considerably! That said, Tokyopop, can you please confirm final covers on your solicits? It looks weird with all your listings saying “cover not final” for eternity.





Yuri Manga: Conditions of Paradise (English)

February 28th, 2020

It was 2008 when I had the delicious pleasure of reviewing Rakuen no Jouken in Japanese. Imagine my delight now, 12 years later, to be able to speak about an English language volume of it with you! I am beside myself with joy for English-reading fans of Yuri that you are finally able to enjoy Conditions of Paradise by Akiko Morishima. This volume contains short-arc and one-shot stories previously published in Comic Yuri Hime, (which was Yuri Hime magazine at the time) with an unpublished additional story, by one of the foundational creators of the modern Yuri genre.

The first arc follows two adult women who are completely opposite, but who find commonality in their love. The second arc is about a younger adult woman and the older woman she falls for…and how an age gap doesn’t have to make a difference at all. An unlikely couple finds strength in one another, a high school girl finds her first love. A historical drama tells the adventurous tale of a beautiful tragic, love. In this variety of shorts, we get to explore all kinds of love women have for one another.

Reading this book is like taking a deep breath and finally, after a long day, being able to relax. Morishima-sensei explores the  inner lives of women, taking time even in the one-shots to learn what experiences, dreams and fears make up their lives. There’s more in-depth character development in any one of these short stories than there is in chapters of other people’s work (semelparous, I’m looking at you…). It’s a treasure.

This book also marks the first work wholly by Morishima-sensei in English! If you have been reading Yuri Bear Storm, you’re familiar with her art. Here, you can enjoy a tall, cool sip of excellent Yuri storytelling alongside her distinctive artistic style. Fans of cute and/or moe art will find that here they are served here without any loss to the individuality or identity of the character. Cute and pink-cheeked they may be, but there are no fetuses in frilly dresses here, nor are the characters interchangeable stereotypes.

As always, the book has been handled beautifully by Seven Seas. Elina Ishikawa-Curran’s translation and Asha Baron’s adaptation reads as smooth as silk. Great job on this book. It was worth the wait.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – variable, 8
Characters – an almost universally likeable 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 4

Overall – 9

If you’re looking for a book to take the edge off the harsh realities of the world that doesn’t ask you to set aside sense or sensibility, take a look at Conditions of Paradise.

Thanks very much to Seven Seas for a review copy! It’s magnificent.





Yuri Manga: A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 2 (English)

February 25th, 2020

In Volume 1, Konatsu moves to a small seaside town where she meets Koyuki, a sempai who is a member of the aquarium club. Konatsu wants to be friends with Koyuki, but she’s have a surprisingly difficult time communicating with the other girl.

In Makoto Hagino’s  A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 2, (The Japanese volume of which I reviewed back in summer 2018) the communication gap is widening. Not because Koyuki doesn’t like Konatsu….it’s because she does and she’s got crippling social and emotional anxiety that will strangle their relationship if someone doesn’t do something. We know – as people who have read thousands of stories just like this, that this kind of “can’t say what has to be said” is a common basis for romance literature. But, to be honest, that doesn’t make it less frustrating for me as a reader. ^_^  Nonetheless, Konatsu isn’t shy, or socially awkward and when she finally has the chance, she’s not afraid to say what’s on her mind, which is why this series moves forward at all, when it does.

Top mark’s for Viz’s edition of this extremely slow-burn relationship. John Werry’s translation here is solid – and straightforward, as the development is in the silences and pauses as much as any of the words. Special shout out to Eve Grandt’s touch-up and lettering as a lot of the sound fx are large visual inserts. If you barely notice this kind of thing, the touch-up was done well.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

I like Koyuki, although her inability to so much as send a text makes me worry about her. Konatsu will be very good for her, if she can get the other girl to let her in at all.

I’m 4 volumes in to this series in Japanese, and I still don’t think it will do anything notable, but that’s fine. It can be a slow walk nowhere. Volume 5 is on the to-buy pile.