Archive for the English Manga Category


Yuri Manga: MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 10 (English)

June 18th, 2019

MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 10 almost seems relaxing when it’s compared with the mayhem of previous volumes. When a giant shark yacks up a human arm, it sets Kuroko into the middle of a religious boondoggle, but that’s only what gets the gang to the location they need to be in.

More than anything else, this volume is almost wholly about Hinako and her multiple obsessive pursuits. What is the deal with Hinako? So far, we’ve only had portents and implications, but here in Volume 10 we can say with absolute confidence…that we have no idea. ^_^; She is obsessed with food, beetles, is a competent, if bizarre, ninja and she drives like she’s in Crazy Taxi and otherwise who or what they fuck is going on with her is unknown.

Almost shockingly, we get a genuine moment of sincere affection between Chiyo-chan and Kuroko. That’s almost immediately supplanted by arm-yakking giant shark and Kuroko perving on a girl with a large chest, so all remains normal in this volume.

But seriously, if we are reading Volume 10 of this “violence Yuri” series, we don’t need to be convinced to show up. Giant sharks are nice, but we’re here for the dead bodies and predatory lesbians.

Ratings:

Art – Well, it’s not getting worse
Story – 8
Characters – 8, although Hinako has been given an extra helping of weird along with her maguro
Service – 4 Shockingly low for this series
Yuri – 7 Chiyo and Kuroko’s moment was so sweet…until the shark yacked up the hand and died.

Overall – 8

As I said in my review of this volume in Japanese, “[n]ot *quite* as awesome as Giant Snakes, but Giant Sharks are cool too. ^_^”





Yuri Manga: I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up (English)

June 17th, 2019

Let’s start this week off with a manga that veered closeish to addressing LGBTQ life. That’s right, we’re talking Kodama Naoko’s I Married My Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up.

Machi’s parents are pressuring her to get married – because that is what should be done. And she’s just not interested. Her friend Hana needs a place to live while her apartment is renovated and she thinks she’s got a good idea – she and Machi will pretend to be a married couple. Surely that will get Machi’s parents off her back, one way or the other. Machi agrees, with significant reservations, while Hana gleefully starts playing house with the woman she clearly loves.

As I said in my review of the Japanese edition,(the title of which I read as I Fake Married my (Female) Friend Because of My Annoying Parents,)  “But if the idea of a fake same-sex marriage of convenience isn’t going to bother us, then the idea that the actual relationship between Hana and Machi is horribly unfair, is just fine. (-_-) ”  Hana is happy enough, but Machi, a character uncomfortable with herself her whole life, has no idea how to be a good friend to Hana, much less a good partner.

Machi’s character has a lot of developing to do, and we’re happy for her that she does it. Hana is there not just as a catalyst, although to call Machi’s development an “awakening” might be going a step too far. The end result is that Machi and Hana build a relationship that works for them and the Japanese readership learn (presuming they didn’t already know) about the Shibuya same-sex relationship certificates. As I say, this story veered cloeseish to addressing some real issues as Machi faces down derision and homophobia from her parents.

The last part of the book is a separate short about two girls on track team, their emotions around their own abilities…and each other. I think this story would have benefited from being longer and more nuanced, but “nuanced” is not Kodama-sensei’s strong point.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 9 for Hana
Service – 2 Some light romance/sexual discomfort
Yuri – 7
LGBTQ – 4 Mention of the real-world same-sex partnership certificates, but no discussion around it

Overall – 7

One could consider this a LGBTQ manga, but I’m still disposed to thinking of it as Yuri. I’m not sure why exactly – perhaps because it doesn’t feel like a sincere attempt to address those issues or that the issues were exposed only as a byproduct of a gag plot complication or maybe my discomfort with the artist’s take on relationships has colored my opinion. I cannot put my finger on it, and I’ve been thinking about it since I read this in Japanese the first time, last year.





The Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Part One

June 7th, 2019

Legend of Korra: Ruins of the Empire, Part One is the beginning of the new three-part comic series following Avatar Korra and her friends, allies and enemies. Many thanks to Okazu Superhero Eric P. for sponsorship of today’s review!

This time, the story begins just before the Earth Kingdom holds a democratic election, as a new general seeks to re-establish martial law and with it, the Empire. General Guan has the martial might and probably the force of personality needed to make him a real threat, but he’s also secretly brainwashing people, which will clearly give him an unfair advantage in the election.

Korra decides to vist former Earth Empire general Kuvira and gain her insight on this situation. The team is uncomfortable with this  decision, but when Korra allows Kuvira to leave her prison to help fight Guan, tensions run pretty high. Asami is not quiet about her lack of trust and unwillingness to be anywhere near the woman who killed her father.

Vivian Ng’s and Michelle Wong’s illustrations are solid, and the writing is now much like stepping into comfortable shoes. We know the people, we don’t need any of the “oh, hey, let’s deal with this thing over here” that we had to in Turf Wars. Korra and Aasmi’s relationship is stable, even if their perspectives are in opposition. That said, there is care taken to remind the reader that they are a couple. Just in case you didn’t get the memo. So while I would not say that this is a “LGBTQ” comic, it is a solid adventure comic (as well as a equally solid “Politics 101: Why People Suck” for tweens ^_^) comic that includes a stable lesbian couple.

Like the previous series, things move pretty fast in this short graphic novel. Whether, ultimately, Kuvira can be trusted is still up in the air. I’m hoping that she will be written as nuanced and complex as she was in the cartoon. For my money, one of the things LoK did best was the portrayal of the adult women as fully developed humans. I’m hoping we’ll see Kuvira in that light, once again. Some of her history is briefly surfaced, so that’s good.

If you’re looking for a YA graphic novel for a kid who likes to think, one that checks multiple boxes on diversity (although there is still room to expand in this regard), has male and female characters who are given the space they need to be seen as whole, and is an good entree into understanding politics and human society as we experience it in real-time, this is a great bet.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – 10 In this case, because Asami and Korra just are, together, not because of any grand coming out.

Overall – A very solid 9

The book itself has no ratings or age limits of any kind, which puts it by default into All-Ages. And it’s currently #1 in Amazon’s LGBT Graphic Novels category, to which I say, “Happy Pride Month, Korra and Asami, welcome to the family.”





Yuri Manga: MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 9 (English)

June 4th, 2019

We are fairly far in to this series now, so if you’re just tuning in to the this blog and have never heard of this “violence Yuri” manga by Yoshimurakana, you might not understand from anything I am about to say what this manga is about. So let me be plain – this manga is about a psychopathic predatory lesbian and her harem of sociopaths and murderers who all kill people that the police can’t quite stop. Breasts are huge, the lesbian sex is atrociously ugly and the means by which people die are creative and bloody.

In MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 9, the gang takes a stand against The Sakura Pruning Group – a terrorist relic of World War 2 – in the sewers. After which we all go fishing because that is totally a great way to blow off steam after a below-the city battle to the death. And some ugly lesbian sex on the beach for Chiyo and Kuroko. Joining the is former Virginal Rose student Narumi, who was fought to a standstill by Chiyo.

After which Hinako’s dream comes true and she gets to fight a giant robot in a robot of her own. This story adds a mad scientist to our roster of killers and crazies. This can’t be a bad thing.

And finally we get a couple of shorts, including one about a well-matched pair of incestuous sisters, notable mostly because it has some of the least ugly lesbian sex in the series.

It’s a volume jam packed with violence, and death, murderers and thugs and whatever Hinako is and ugly lesbian sex. In other words, a good strong volume of MURCIÉLAGO.

Ratings:

Art – How can one even judge the art? Good? Bad? Both?
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Service – 9
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

Still probably my favorite volume since the Virginal Rose arc and I’m with Hinako – giant robots are just what this series needed. Next volume, a giant shark!





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.