Archive for the English Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Eve and Eve (English)

May 31st, 2019

Eve and Eve by Nagashiro Rouge is a collection of stories that ran in several publications, including shorts from Comic Yuri Hime. By the time I had read the Japanese edition, the license announcement had already been made, so I decided to skip reviewing the JP volume altogether. So here we are today.

The stories that make up this volume are largely science fiction. These touch on end of humanity, robot x human relationships, artificial and human intelligence, among other themes.  Several of these also express a greater interest in pregnancy that I personally have. A number of the stories ran in a publication listed as Yuri Pregnancies, so there’s no doubt what the point of those are. They are also some of the first adult content we’ve seen in English-language Yuri manga since ALC Publishing published the Yuri Monogatari series.

Which brings me to the sex. Apparently, there are some people who believe that Seven Seas has censored or altered the sex scenes. This is patently untrue. Seven Seas has reproduced the Japanese collection exactly as it was printed. As I noted in a Twitter thread this morning, my guess is that some readers assume this to be true because of their misunderstanding of the 18+ label.

What gets an 18+ label in the United States and what gets an 18+ label in Japan are not the same. Regardless, most 18+ content in Japan is not explicit when it comes to genitalia or penetration. And, everything published without an 18+ label in Japan will definitely not be explicit. The Japanese volume of this manga is exactly as you see here. Vulvas are not drawn or even implied, there is simply blank space. 

In the west, manga with even a hint of sexual contact is labeled as 18+, especially if the participants are likely to be perceived as young. And, as Lara pointed out in the middle of the Twitter discussion, any LGBTQ content was, until recently, considered 18+ in manga. This is not because manga companies suck but because sucky people exist and no manga company wants their manga to be cause for litigation. All of ALC’s Yuri Monogatari had to be labeled 18+, which meant I could never get bookstore space. Because every volume had at least one story with a physical relationship, no one would carry the book without the 18+, either.

So, there is sex in this book. There is both nonconsensual and consensual sex (and your mileage may vary of which is what) and as explicit as it can be – and as it was for the Japanese edition of the collected volume. Any changes to the content was made for the Japanese volume. It is drawn in a way that requires you to imagine a woman’s body parts. For those who complain about the lack of explicit drawings, all I’m hearing is that they have a significant paucity of imagination. Sucks for them.

The two stories that piqued my interest when they ran in Comic Yuri Hime were a completely non-scifi exploration of the roles of uke and seme – here translated appropriately as top and bottom – set in a school, that I just liked as a cute little standalone comedy, and the final story about two women’s desire to express their love in a cosmic sense. This story becomes rather epic, but ends on a very human note.

Ratings:

Everything is variable, as this is a collection of short arcs or one-shots over time from multiple publications

Overall – 8

I didn’t love the collection because I do not have any interest in (and feel some antipathy towards) pregnancy, but I did appreciate the science fiction and the “Top or Bottom: Showdown.” 

Translation by Stephen Christiansen, adaptation by Asha Bardon and lettering by Raymond Rex are all excellent, especial in regards to the final, decidedly sci-fi story.

I’d also very, very much like to thanks Seven Seas for adding the original story publishing credits! I may well be the only person in the world that reads them, but I do and they are super helpful to me, so thank you for doing that! It’s such a help.





Yuri Manga: Kiss & White Lily For My Dearest Girl, Volume 9 (English) Guest Review by Christian LeBlanc

May 29th, 2019

Hello and welcome to Guest Review….Thursday. Yeah, I dropped the ball yesterday and simply forgot to post this. But I didn’t want you to miss this terrific review by Senior Kiss & White Lily Correspondent, Christian LeBlanc of 3DComics! So please welcome Chris back and give him your kind attention as he breaks it all down once again for us.

Let’s cut right to the chase: this penultimate Volume 9 of Canno’s high school “Yuritopia” Kiss & White Lily For My Dearest Girl (translation by Leighann Harvey, lettering by Alexis Eckerman) is a better end to the series than Volume 10, and if you enjoy these books well enough but happen to only own a few volumes, you owe it to yourself to add this one to your collection, because s*** gets real.

How real? Well, one girl forgets her toothbrush after sleeping over at her girlfriend’s house, someone else gets so angry at the world that they turn to cosplay to cope with it all, and in the climax of the series, another girl tells off their mom and then makes out with the girl she likes! (Suggested listening for this scene: your favourite pump-up music, be it something from Sailor Moon, Kill La Kill, or, if you want to get real campy, the opening 27 seconds of “Everything Louder Than Everything Else” by Meat Loaf.)<

With that out of the way, let’s back up a little and talk about our final new pair of characters. Asuka Sakurada finds herself repeating her final year of high school due to a basketball injury that made her miss too many days (it must have been a concussion or something, because she’s only shown with a broken leg in flashbacks, and I assume the poor girl would have had access to crutches). As a senpai forced to join her kōhai, she gets a *huge* chip on her shoulder about it, attending only the bare minimum of classes, refusing to integrate or socialize with anyone, etc. Her self-destructive attitude becomes extreme enough that she turns to that most delinquent form of rebellion, cosplay, which is how she meets Mikaze Hagimoto. Asuka cosplays a character who has a lot in common with Mikaze and vice-versa, the two hit it off, and we quickly see them making out on school benches, fashion wigs and all.

All of this is framed as a tragic romance, by the way – the first two words in the book are “It’s over.” If you’re like me and have a predilection for the melancholy, it means good times all around: put on your favourite gloomy Cure record and enjoy the tearful scenes that are to come. (I joke slightly, but it does get dark for poor Mikaze, who takes the break-up very hard indeed: the color has gone out of her world, she can’t concentrate in school, she starts skipping classes…we see later on in flashbacks that she spent at least one night alone with Asuka, which perhaps sheds light on why she’s having such a tough time, if things had gotten that intense between them.)

I think a much stronger ending would have seen these two making peace with each other as friends, but, you’ve already seen the cover, and you’ve probably read at least a few volumes of this series before, so you’ll just have to put on a different Cure record, I guess (one of their happy ones, that make you want to live). This is why Volume 2 will always be my favorite, by the way – Chiharu is rejected, but we get to see her *move on*, and she gets the entire volume in which to do so. Here, it feels like Canno wanted to explore a good break-up story, but had to wrap things up in order to get her characters posed happily for the cover shot; Asuka’s sudden change of heart even feels more like a plot requirement than anything sincere.

As for flagship characters Ayaka and Yurine, both characters get the plot resolution that the entire series has been building towards. Both of their chapters start with the same event (viewing exam results, the only thing that makes Ayaka feel alive…I worry about how she’s going to cope after high school, actually), and then follows either Ayaka or Yurine for the rest of their respective chapters as they resolve their plots in a neat bit of parallel story-telling. Yurine even gets a call-back to the very first chapter of the series, which makes it feel like a better ending than Vol.10, even without things “officially” wrapping up.

For analysis, let’s back things up again a bit. Ok, a lot: having lived and died centuries before Yuri began 100 years ago, René Descartes likely did not anticipate getting the opening quotation, “Conquer yourself rather than the world!” In this book, this means bringing about change through internal, rather than external, factors. Ayaka can’t change how her mom feels, but she can change how she accepts and internalizes the support she gets from others. Yurine doesn’t stop feeling alienated because of how she performed on any external exams, but by realizing she’s been gradually becoming a “normal girl” with her own community of friends all along. Mikaze tries to become someone “special” enough to win back her ex-girlfriend, but realizes it’s much healthier to try and accept the break-up, who she is, and that neither partner should have to change to suit the other. And Asuka stops cutting herself off from everything, after realizing she’s gone too far in cutting Mikaze out of her life. To drive the point home, Asuka’s pocket mirror keeps getting passed back and forth between her and Mikaze, further reflecting (sorry) this focus on the self and internal change.

In all, it’s a wonderful volume of Kiss & White Lily – we get closure for plots that have been in motion since the very first chapter (along with some related tender scenes), Ai Uehara and Kaoru Machida each get some good scenes to help lighten the mood (Ai could be one of Yuri’s best supporting characters ever, if we only got to see her more often), Asuka and Mikaze bring some enjoyably melancholy drama, characters in Kiss Theater flit in and out of cameos as always, and anyone who’s ever been on a cover of K&WL appears in at least one panel.

Canno’s Continuity Corner: there’s an incidental panel of Ayaka and Yurine starting Year 2 from Volume 3 (this time drawn as background characters); Lyrical Seira, which Asuka and Mikaze are cosplaying as, is the anime from their childhood that Sawa and Itsuki went on a movie date to see in Volume 5; there’s some bonus Valentine’s Day vignettes at the end featuring our cover-stars from Volumes 5, 6 and 7; we briefly see Yurine’s little sister again (poor Sumire – this marks her last appearance in the series, and she only gets the one panel, just like in Vol.7). In one of my favourite tiny details, the exam results show Nagisa and Hikari from last volume placing in the top 10, consistent with their characterization as high achievers – not only that, but Nagisa is even 4 places higher, which fits with how she had complained “Why does everyone always put Hikari and me on the same level? I have better grades!” while a visual of their test results shows her getting 98 vs Hikari’s 97.

Ratings:

Art – 9 The thicker blacks compared to the Japanese edition aren’t as destructive this time around; I looked, but couldn’t find any tell-tale moiré patterns. A point is still taken away for how much art gets trimmed off the edges, though. Canno’s art is gorgeous, expressions are delightful, and backgrounds really contribute to the atmosphere in a few key scenes.
Story – 9 Plot resolution, dramatic tension, sweetness, cosplay…this one has a lot going for it.
Characters – 10 Ayaka and Yurine have grown a lot as characters, and their relationship has evolved over time to reflect that. Asuka and Mikaze with their cosplay were a fun change of pace as well.
Yuri – 8
Service – 3 As Erica said in her review of the Japanese edition: “I’m not gonna lie, that kiss was pretty hot”

Overall – 10

I still remember back in April 2018, how excited I was when the 2-page colour illustration from the opening was teased on Twitter, showing Ayaka and Yurine holding hands while they emerge from a cold, snowy winter and walk off into the warm spring-like foreground together; I immediately retweeted it stating “THEY ARE HOLDINGS HANDS THIS IS HUGE THIS IS NOT A TEST” in all caps. It’s still one of my favorite illustrations from the series.

And, you don’t have to be a genius like Yurine to know how things will end up, but you’ll still want to see how it all happens in the final Volume 10, which is set to come out on October 29, 2019 from Yen Press.

Erica here: “anyone who’s ever been on a a cover of K&WL appears in at least one panel.” Foreshadowing the entirety of Volume 10, frankly.
Christian, you deserve an award for this review. It was absolutely brilliant and got both laughs and thumbs up from both members of the household here at Okazu Central. Well done.





LGBTQ Manga: Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare, Volume 1 (English)

May 14th, 2019

I have been waiting to review this book for about a year. And finally, here it, is, Our Dreams at Dusk, Shimanamai Tasogare, Volume 1 by Yuhki Kamatani is out in English and I cannot express how happy I am for you to be able to read it!

Practically everything I want to say about the book, I said in 2017 when I reviewed the first Japanese volume. I hope you don’t mind if I quote myself.

Tasogare Shimanami begins with Tasuku, a stressed out high school student being bullied by his classmates who call him “Homo,” contemplating suicide. When he sees a woman apparently leap off an even higher ledge, he finds himself dragged into the lives surrounding the “consultation room,” a kind of cafe for outcasts. Compelled by “Dareka-san,” the woman no one really knows, Tasuku finds himself helping with a local non-profit group for the summer.

Tasuku isn’t gay, he insists at school, but when he meets Haruko who casually mentions she’s a lesbian and refers to her “wife,” Tasuku’s chest literally  bursts with pent-up emotions and the pressure of the closet he’s created for himself. And, as he helps Haruko break up a decrepit shack in order to build a shelter, he tears into his own fears and desires and finally admits to himself and others that, he is, after all, gay.

Dareka-san is here translated as “Someone-san” and the consultation room becomes a Drop-In Center, which seems the right choice. Translator Jocelyne Allen and adaptor Ysabet MacFarlane did a bang-up job on both the language and the tone of the story. No only are there some not-quite-the-same terminology when it comes to LGBTQ terms in Japanese, but there are inevitable cultural differences as well. Volume 1 is a good set up for this story which is unusual in Japanese manga merely for being a coming-out narrative. While that is very common in western LGBTQ literature, its still pretty rare to see it as a plot in manga.

There are a lot of elements to like in this volume. The art is brilliant; both evocative and expressive. When Tasuku encounters Haruko, who cheefully describes herself as a lesbian and speaks of her “wife”, Tasuku’s internal closet walls shatter in a magnificent page. The idea that Tasuku has older role models – something that is so critical to young queer folks – makes this manga an important resource for both younger and older gay folks who sometimes don’t really think through their own internal homophobia. It’s terrifying, as Tasuku discovers, to admit to yourself that you are gay, but it doesn’t have to be traumatic, if there is anywhere you can turn. And, let me remind you that no matter where you live, there are people you can turn to. The Internet is your friend. Here are some US-based LGBTQ youth resources, but a search engine can help you find resources near you. Hopefully the generation growing up now sees plenty of folks around them who are queer and happy, which will make great inroads into the feeling of being alone that so many of us dealt with.

Emotions are raw in this manga, and relationships are confusing, which, if my memory serves me, was pretty much exactly the way it was in high school. Tasuku’s journey through this landscape is compelling. It is also fantastic, in all the meanings of the word. There’s a lot to get through here and it is my – and I hope your – pleasure to be here for all of it.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters- 8
LGBTQ – 10
Service – 0

Overall – 9

Volume 2 will be available in July,  Volume 3 in September and Volume 4 in December this year, so you won’t have to wait too long for the whole story to play out. This terrific series is currently on the top of the LGBTQ Manga category and I expect it to be there for most of 2019. ^_^ Thanks to Seven Seas for licensing this series – you did good.

 





Yuri Manga: Transparent Light Blue (English)

May 10th, 2019

Transparent Light Blue, by Kyoko Iwami, was a collection of two multi-chapter short stories that ran in Comic Yuri Hime (and, I believe a earlier as a doujinshi. My Japanese volume is buried in the files, so I cannot check.)

The first story follows three friends, Ritsu, Ichika and Shun, as their friendship faces a severe crisis in the form of a love triangle. Both Shun and Ritsu are in love with Ichika. The tension between them threatens to pull the three of them apart until Ichika makes a decision. When she chooses Ritsu, the crisis passes and Shun accepts that his friends are now an item. The overall narrative is a bit pat, and there is a lot of service in the form of ear-cleaning, which stands in for sexual intimacy and is therefore rather more breathy and double entendre-laced than we might expect.

The second story is a messy little tale about gender, cross-dressing and sublimating sexual desire, with a shockingly happy ending. Upon re-reading I was surprised how almost-absurdly satisfying I found both endings, especially as I recall debating with myself when I read this in Japanese about even reviewing it, as we had better manga already to talk about.

But now that it’s in English, I think it’s worth taking a look at, if only to springboard from it into the vastly superior current work by Iwami-sensei being serialized now in Comic Yuri Hime, Luminous Blue (ルミナス＝ブルー). The only reason I have not yet reviewed this manga is that I cannot get a copy! It sold out almost instantly when it came out and hasn’t yet been restocked on Amazon JP.  Everything Iwami-sensei does in Transparent Light Blue, she does better in her second series.  And so, if you like to see the evolution of a  Yuri creator, I do actually suggest you read this volume, so when Luminous Blue is licensed, you will see where she came from and how far she’s come.

Ratings:

Art – 7 Drippy
Story – 7 Messy, but satisfactory
Characters – 6 Questionable choices / unreasonably positive results
Service – 6 Sexy ear-cleaning, making the cute girl cross-dress
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7

In 2010, Transparent Light Blue would have felt like a triumph. In 2019, it feels a little regressive, but still delivers a dose of dopamine if you like soap opera.

 





Maiden Railways Manga (English)

April 21st, 2019

It’s always a pleasure to welcome a new publisher to the stage and today we have that pleasure. At AnimeNYC 2018, Denpa Books announced a series of very interesting licenses, including panpanya’s Invitation from a Crab (which I included on my Best Manga of 2018 list for The Comics Beat and The Comics Journal)  and Nakamura Asumiko’s Maiden Railways, both collected from comics serialized in Rakuen le Paradis magazine. Each story is connected by the theme of trains – specifically the Odakyu-Odawara Line – and young women. (The original title for this is Testsudou Shojo, i.e., Train Girls.)

I very much enjoyed the individual chapters that made up this volume when they ran in the magazine and am now equally as pleased to review Maiden Railways, as a collected work. That is to say, this is a review that I am both very pleased to be able to write and deeply unhappy that I must write. I should not be reviewing this book for Okazu. That honor ought to have gone to our late friend Bruce P, train enthusiast, Yuri enthusiast and guest reviewer of the original volume in Japanese.

Every story in this volume is…intense. There’s a lot of heightened emotions, often not spoken of. There’s suspicion and tension, and betrayal, but all told from a slightly aloof perspective, as the protagonist is sucked into someone else’s problems and can’t quite extricate themselves without being changed by it. If there is a single overarching emotion that describes the characters in these stories it would have to be nonplussed. As a result, it frequently appears that the characters are creepy, or strange, until you realize they were simply stunned. ^_^ This is very common for Nakamura-sensei’s work and it helps to remember that as you read anything she’s done.  Once you stop waiting for the boot to drop, some of these stories are surprisingly touching.

In Yuri story “Overpass Crossing” our nonplussed character encounters and has her life changed by another woman. And we’re given two color pages to show that it is a change for the better for both of them.

I am also inordinately fond of “Savarin Thursdays” in which a married man has his life changed for the better, as well. I also very much liked “Night After Night”. All the stories do something unexpected, they all involve a young woman, the obvious love Nakamura-sensei has for the Odakyu Line…and then they turn out to be tied up in a neat bow after all.

Denpa Books did a lovely job on this lovely manga. I recommend it for some unusual and fun reading.

Ratings

Art – 8 YMMV, but I like her art
Story – 9 All of them are enjoyable
Characters – Same
Service – 0
Yuri – 8

Overall – 9

“The Odakyu Odawara Line (小田急小田原線 Odakyū-Odawara-sen) is the main line of Japanese private railway operator Odakyu Electric Railway. It extends 82.5 km from Shinjuku in central Tokyo through the southwest suburbs to the city of Odawara, the gateway to Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture. It is a busy commuter line and is also known for its “Romancecar” limited express services. From Yoyogi-Uehara Station some trains continue onto the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line and beyond to the East Japan Railway Company Joban Line.”