Archive for the English Manga Category


DNA Doesn’t Tell Us Manga, Volume 1 Guest Review by Day

October 3rd, 2018

It’s Guest Review Wednesday again and we sure have a Guest Review for you today! Welcome back Day who know hos their own category, where you can find all their reviews. The stage is yours Day…take it away!

What if, all over the world, animals suddenly began turning into teenaged girls? Well, in DNA Doesn’t Tell Us, Volume 1 (published in English by Seven Seas) what happens is that special schools would be formed for these young ladies to attend, complete with exploding uniforms (sometimes the girls revert to their animal forms, you see, and mere clothing rarely survives). Youko, our lead, happens to be one of these young ladies; once upon a time, she was a bighorn sheep, but after living for two years with a farmer, she’s now a student at Animalium in rural Japan. Animalium’s purpose is to teach former animals how to live in the human world as humans. Youko herself is displeased with being separated from her father figure, but she adapts fairly well to the situation and makes some friends.

What follows is fairly standard stuff for what is probably best classed with monster-girls-go-to-school tales, itself a fairly large subset of the burgeoning monster girl genre. Youko and her friends have a career day, there’s an athletic day, we spend an inordinate time peering into a high school locker room, Youko teaches her friends how to bathe like humans do… there’s a sexy lady in a skirt suit who runs the place, and who is, of course, there for those of us who don’t dig schoolgirl panties. But through it all, we get a pleasant surprise – Youko is far and away the most competent girl in the room, her time living on the farm as a human having already done a lot to ready her for the wider world. Given how common heroines are depicted as being “cutely” stupid and clumsy, it’s such a relief to run across a case where that isn’t so, and its genuinely enough to elevate this manga from tolerable to decent for me. Well – that, and that we get a good-natured story that, despite the fanservice, doesn’t descend into mean-spiritedness in its treatment of its characters.

I’ve made a bit of the visual fanservice thus far, so I feel its worth noting that while there is a decent bit of nudity, it declines from the quarter-way mark or so. There is a former Jersey cow later in the volume whose breasts are genuinely overwhelming, but, mercifully, she’s an adult, and she only shows up for a few pages.

As for Yuri… on the back cover, there’s a panel re-printed showing one girl biting another girl, with the caption “#girlxgirl”. I am sure that many readers fervently believe that the scene this is drawn from is a love confession scene which involves supporting characters Shin and Usami. I am equally sure that many readers of Okazu would feel much more skeptical toward it. A bit more grist can be drawn from Youko’s friendship with another sheep, her room-mate,and former Australian Merino, Fuwako. They actually seem genuinely fond of one another, which helps; its clear that Fuwako relies on Youko, and Youko enjoys spending time with Fuwako. She also regularly helps Fuwako get dressed, and we all know how sexy it is to have to clothe your romantic partner every day, right? Right??? Ahem; I’m being a bit mean, but although there’s more grist there, I myself still don’t see it, and its pretty obvious that the folks involved in this manga’s production want people to think its so without actually having to move it to the realm of text.

All in all, this is a decent if not particularly novel manga about girls in a special school with a solid heroine anchoring the whole thing, and I found it entertaining enough for a rainy afternoon. I am even considering picking up the second volume! If you dig monster/animal girl manga, but prefer to leave out the harem aspect many of those carry, this will likely float your boat. I wish the art was a bit less moe, but its polished and, sure, it’s cute (other than the poor Jersey cow woman), even if there’s no way any of the girls remotely resemble a teenager.

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 2
Service – 5

Overall – 6

Thanks again, Day!





Yuri Manga: Mushroom Girls In Love (English)

August 24th, 2018

Well, I’m not gonna say that this wasn’t a really original book. In Mushroom Girls in Love, Murayama Kei creates a multi-layered society and an entire planet ruled by sentient mushroom beings. There is a royal ruling class, a military, scribes, herders and traders. According to the “Shroompedia,” the world was once inhabited by “gods” but now only the simple fungus folk live here.

On this world, all the beings are female-bodied, but in a blatant rejection of biology, some mushroom people still are “husbands” and others “wives” who are meant reproduce. If two fungi marry but are not compatible they might die from rot. Arriala and Erriela get married and are not compatible. Arriala almost dies, but surgery is performed to remove her spores (which I’m gonna be honest, gagged me a bit.) Because of this inability to reproduce  which grants her an immunity to the royal curse, a Princess desires Arriala and kidnaps her. Erriela defies family, tribe, custom, law and the royal family to get Arriala back.

They are reunited, and leave both scribe and herder tribes behind them to join the traders and make a new life for themselves together.

I’m not gonna say that this wasn’t a really original book.

I’m probably also not gonna say it was an enjoyable book. Between the fungus-infected spiders and the extreme grotesquery of political infighting in the royal family, I kind wished both Arriala and Erriela got to be plopped down in another story completely. 

But it sure was original. 

Ratings:

Art – Both pretty good and pretty ick at the same time
Character – The leads were epic, everyone else was a total fungus
Story – Again epic
Yuri – Arriala and Erriela are very much in love
Service – 10 if you are a mushroom fetishist

Overall – I really wish Bruce were alive so he could have argued the pro side on this for me. Here is his review of the Japanese original as a stand-in. 

I wonder if it hadn’t been mushrooms, how I would have felt about some other plant form. “Dandelion Girls in Love”? I have no idea. I’m probably gonna think twice before eating mushrooms for a few days.

 





Yuri Manga: MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 7 (English)

August 23rd, 2018

Another day, another set of grizzly murders in MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 7. And, the best person to get on the case is, obviously not the police, but psychopath Kumori Kuroko and her sidekick Tozakura Hinako. This time, they are bringing back some old friends and bringing in some new ones to build their team.

Due to a slight misunderstanding by Hinako, Kuroko believes Chiyo no longer cares about her, so she’s more than ready to take it out on someone else. Hinako develops two exciting new obsessions, we get a bunch of bombs from Minako, the high-school bomb maker, Narumi (formerly Teresa) drops off a few helping items and we meet Urara, a former cage fighter, now bartender, who will be providing us with some extra large muscles.

I want to be ever so slightly critical of this volume. The “Sakura pruning” group’s name in Japanese begins with “Tozakura” which is also Hinako’s family name. She is not, as the localizers chose, seeing “Hinako” painted around town. She is seeing “Tozakura” which is both extremely creepy and a lot more mysterious. It would not make sense for the “Sakura Pruning Group” to be painting “Hinako” around the the town. “Tozakura” does make sense.

Other than that one comment, this volume is spot on from what I want from a volume of MURCIÉLAGO – grotesque deaths, grotesque lesbian sex and Hinako’s weird obsessions, now including beetles and banchou capes.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 10
Yuri – 9 

Overall – 8

And Kuroko gets to have lesbian sex with a prostitute. That’s always fun.





Yuri Manga: Bloom Into You, Volume 5 (English)

August 22nd, 2018

Bloom Into You, Volume 5 is a fairly major turning point in this story – characters are starting to be more honest with themselves and about themselves and, as a result, running into far more complicated questions about who they really are.

Touko and Yuu spend some time together during summer vacation. For a little while they get to be just two teens having a nice day together. It feels good. But once back at school the school festival is getting close and Yuu has become even more convinced that ending of the play must be changed – for Touko’s sake and for the sake of the play.

Which brings about an unusual shuffling of allegiances in the student council. Sayaka, who likes Touko and has always been by her side, betrays her for her own good. As they wait for their time on the stage to begin, Touko finds Yuu demanding she leave the idea of her sister’s unrealized legacy behind and be who she is. Forced by the play, and her best and closest friends, to give up everything she though she was, Touko has nothing but belief in Yuu left.

This volume feels different in a lot of ways. We and Yuu have been watching Touko define their relationship, but in this volume this changes. Now it’s on Yuu and she’s never seemed more confident. I’ve said from the beginning that I want to believe in the creator and hope that she will carry this story through. In this volume I think I can see where she’s going. Touko had no idea who she was, and neither did Yuu. Once Touko finds herself, if Yuu finds that she does have feelings for Touko it won’t feel like nearly so much of a punt. Ultimately, I really kind of hope that this isn’t a manga that ends with Yuu and Touko together, but I expect to be in a minority of one on that. ^_^

There’s also a side story about playwright Koyomi learning that her favorite writer is a woman and being surprisied by that. She’s forced to rethink her own expectations about meeting the author. I wonder, every time I have read that scene, just who it was for. I feel so strongly that there’s a semi-private conversation gaining on between Nakatani-sensei and someone specific there. 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8 As they become more complicated, I like them more
Yuri – 3
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Quoting from my review of the Japanese volume, “This is the first volume we’ve seen Yuu push back at Touko and my interest in this series grew three times as a result. I guess I’d been waiting for Yuu to be an active participant in the narrative; 5 volumes into it, she finally has become one. I now look forward to seeing what becomes of her.“





Yuri Manga: After Hours, Volume 2 (English)

August 21st, 2018

In After Hours, Volume 2, Emi finds herself lost in the cracks of her own life. She likes being part of what Kei is doing and she likes the team, but she has no confidence in herself, or the choices she’s making.  And the fact that she’s never told Kei about her boyfriend, her apartment and the life she walked away from is driving a wedge between them.

In the meantime, the team has added a new member, Midori and navigated more than one breakdown in teamwork. But they’ve got a location and equipment and music and a designer and Kei and Emi are working together pretty well…so why is neither of them all that happy?

Luckily for them, Emi snaps and comes clean, and finally asks the question that really is eating at her – wat, exactly, is she to Kei? She’s a little surprised to find that Kei’s answer is conventional and they get to say to each other that being together is what makes them happiest. 

And then…it’s the night of the event. 

The characters in this series – especially for such a short series- pretty well-developed, but we still have to a do a fair bit of reading into the characters, particularly when it comes to motivation. I can’t help wonder why Emi makes the choices she makes. Kei, who was presented as a bohemian free spirit, turns out to be pretty traditional after all.

Ratings: 

Art – 5
Story – 8 
Characters – 9 
Service – 2 
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8

For a seinen magazine, and for a story that is mean to frame sex scenes, the frame is pretty solid and the sex scene in’t too pandery.  

Volume 3 will be available at the end of 2018, and we’ll get to see what happens when Emi and Kei are able to work in sync, at last.