Archive for the English Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Sweet Blue Flowers, Volume 4 (English)

July 9th, 2018

Of Volume 3, I wrote “This volume is, in my opinion the strongest of what Viz will release as four volumes. We can see the progress the young women make as people, before the story turns back into itself to fulfill the requirements of a romance series.” 

Volume 4 of Takako Shimura’s Sweet Blue Flowers, begins with a  problem. Akira is dating Fumi. They have a physical relationship and she’s not unhappy with it, but…she’s not happy, either. Fumi’s interest is sincere and intense, but Akira is going along with it to make Fumi happy, not for herself. This is not a problem that will go away with time.  

The ladies of Fujigaya and Matsuoka schools are all heading into their third year. Once again, the focus is on the school festival, the play and, this time, the class trips. Fumi and Akira’s friends all scramble to find themselves as high schoolers, before they are asked to become adults. Lives and loves are in turmoil as they decide at 18, what will affect them for years to come. 

Akira goes to London, where she seeks out Sugimoto, who seems to have found herself at last. Sugimoto gets Akira to admit that there is a problem with her relationship, but it remains unaddressed – and Sugimoto walks any criticism back.  Which, as an adult reader, made me want to storm into the room and sit them both down. 

The problem builds quietly until, just as quietly, Fumi and Akira break up. Once again, as a reader, I was relieved. And I was thrilled to see, through Akira’s eyes, Fumi with someone else. If the book had ended there, I would have been satisfied. But it didn’t. Was Shimura-sensei pressured by her editor or the fans? Did she have no particular conviction? Or was this the plan all along? I don’t know. 

As I said in 2013 when I reviewed the end in Japanese, “Without spoilers, I will assure you that you the ending does not bring closure. It has the one thing I had hoped for – ambiguity.”

Other relationships, however, get my blessing. Ko and Kyouko, having gone through so much, maybe have a chance, but the one wedding that I wish we had spent more time on was Yamashina-sensei and Ono’s big sister, who come out to family as a couple, even if their families aren’t ready to accept them.

Ratings: 

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters –  9
Service – 3
LGBTQ – 10

Overall – 9

Here’s the the thing that’s amazing about Sweet Blue Flowers – it started serialization in 2005. It’s 13 years old. More than a decade ago it was a beacon of Yuri. In 2018, it’s an important stepping stone to where we are now, and now that we have a definitive edition for this in English, it’s time to move forward into a genre that has matured.





Cutie Honey-A-Gogo Manga (English)

July 8th, 2018

From the moment you see the brokeback pose and the modern-yet-Op Art cover, you know that you’re in for a ride with Cutie Honey a Gogo. And then you look at the credits: Original Story by Go Nagai, Honey’s creator, Story & Art by Shimpei Itoh, creator of Hyperdolls and artist for Taisho Yakyuu Musume, with cooperation from Hideaki Anno, the Director of the 2004 Cutie Honey Live-Action Movie and you know that this manga is going to be out of this world. 

And so it is. 

Cutie Honey a Gogo is a 2007 iteration of the eternal heroine Kisaragi Honey, aka Cutie Honey, a transforming android, who fights against the grotesque and violent Panther Claw, run by Sister Jill. 

This volume has everything I could ever want in a Cutie Honey story. Nat-chan is strong (and angry) and goes a little soft because of Honey, Sister Jill is obsessed, useless authority figures abound, random and pointless BDSM is inserted and, in the final pages, at St. Chapel Girl’s School (woo-hoo!) we get a sweet little bit of Yuri between Naoko and Ayu.  Couldn’t ask for anything better. 

If I haven’t been clear, let me be plain – this is a bluntly violent manga in which there are many casualties, but not as violent the original manga in which no one survives. 

But then, as someone on Twitter noted (but I cannot find the post to credit) Dirty Pair sounds filthy, but it’s not and Cutie Honey sounds innocent, but it’s not. It never has been. When you step into a Cutie Honey story, expect fanservice and death to follow.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Shimpei Itoh was a great choice
Story – 9 For a Cutie Honey story, this pretty much is exactly right.
Characters – 9 Same
Service – Yes, duh. Itoh does a terrific job of translating Honey’s transformation into sequential art
Yuri – Dribs and drabs. Let’s call it a 3

Overall – 8

I’m so glad to see this most excellent iteration of such  a timeless, yet always questionable, series. ^_^ 





Yuri Manga: Éclair: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart

July 6th, 2018

Éclair: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in Your Heart is the first-ever Yuri anthology to be translated into English. Featuring work by Canno (Kiss and White Lily For My Dearest Girl) and Nio Nakatani (Bloom Into You), along with other well-known names in Yuri circles, sucha Shuninta Amano, Hachi Itou, Taki Kitao, Sakuya Amano, Auri Hirao (whose Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu is being made into an anime later in the year)  and others. 

The stories primarily focus on school-life scenarios, with a few forays into adult life. Nakatani-sensei’s opener sets the tone, with a complex and nuanced look at how complicated attraction can be. This continues throughout the volume, in which love is not as simple as “A girl likes another girl.” More often, the girl has much more layered approach to the other girl, as in Shuninta Amano’s “Human Emotion” in which a girl finds her essential humanity by caring.

I especially like Kagekichi Tadano’s “Game Over” in which two girls appear to be living in a post-apocalyptic story, but aren’t. No one will be surprised that I like Taki Kitao’s “Two Apples and Us,” as I’ve been a fan of her work for (erk!) decades.

For a slick, professional look at “Yuri” as seen by a number of unique artistic voices and styles, Éclair is a great example of one of the foundational blocks of the Yuri market from the days before Yuri manga magazines – collected stories by talented artists in a thematic anthology. I hope you all enjoy Éclair and clamor for more – there’s at least three more in the series,  rouge, blanche and bleue. ^_^

Ratings:

All ratings are variable as its an anthology.

Overall – 7

For a glimpse of people doing their own work in the confines of a major publisher’s rules, Éclair is an “original” work. In English, it’s unique.





Yuri Manga: Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl, Volume 6 (English) Guest Review by Christian Le Blanc

July 4th, 2018

Hello and Welcome to Guest Review Wednesday, where we welcome back returning Guest Reviewer Christian LeBlanc! It took me a little too long to ask him to do this, especially as he is undoubtedly this series greatest advocate in North America. So, please welcome him, thank him and let us know your thoughts on this manga in the comments. In the meantime, the floor is yours, Christian!

Before going too far into this review, let me first declare my subjectivity, so you can keep this in mind while reading: I am a huge fan of Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl. I get commissions of Chiharu and Izumi when I attend conventions. I proudly wore the 2018 Yuriten K&WL t-shirt while tabling at a con, as well as when I went to my local comic shop the morning this volume was released. I often listen to the drama CDs, even though I only understand about 5 to 10% of what is said. I have a playlist in my head of songs that I think “work” for certain characters. I celebrated when I saw my favourite couple ‘aged up’ for the Yuriten 2018 main illustration, because this confirmed they were still together years later. I loved a single chapter of Volume 5 *so hard* that Erica asked me to write this guest review for Volume 6. So when I say “Everyone should run out and buy three copies of this book!”, you should probably temper that advice and just buy the one copy instead.

So! Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl, Volume 6, introduces us to Amane Asakura and Nina Yuunagi, who are in an open relationship – except Nina doesn’t really want it to be, but is scared she’ll lose Amane if she says anything about it. This is complicated by the arrival of Ryou Hiruma, who develops a crush on Amane (Amane has been helping her out with notes and chores while Ryou’s hand heals…and the crush is mutual). This is complicated even *more* when Nina and Ryou develop feelings for each other – poor Nina gets so twisted up with guilt and insecurity that she has a bit of a breakdown at Ryou’s place, where the gang all ends up meeting and hashing things out.

To put it in even simpler terms: since Nina wants to be in a monogamous relationship with Amane, she feels jealous when Amane and Ryou start getting close, and ashamed when she, also, starts to develop feelings for Ryou.

I was hoping this review would help me ‘get’ their relationship and enjoy them more, but the opposite happened. As interested as I was in reading a story about polyamory, the more I re-read this section, the more I’m convinced that this is a very unhealthy depiction of one. Nina would be a sympathetic character, except she shoves Ryou into some wet garbage, has murderous thoughts towards her right after, and forces a kiss on her later when she starts to develop a (one-sided, at this point) crush on her. Amane would be sympathetic, except when Ryou tells her about the pain Nina is in, Amane takes it personally and gets mad at Nina for not being honest with her. And for her part, Ryou doesn’t tell Amane she wants to get closer until after Nina tells her to back off, allowing ‘spite’ to be a motivator in her relationship with Amane.

Our trio achieves perfect equilibrium by story’s end, and maybe they’ll all be happy together from here on out after they’ve had their touching heart-to-heart, but I can’t help thinking that as soon as Amane falls for someone outside their circle, their happiness will vanish into thin air faster than a fart in a hurricane.

In contrast, returning heavyweights Chiharu Kusakabe’s and Izumi Akizuki’s relationship is much stronger and healthier, and much more fun to read. Izumi wrestles with the concept of polyamory after receiving a flower from Amane (this happens early in the book, before Ryou even appears), but ends up charming the hell out of Chiharu when she gets caught returning the flower (in any other series, seeing your girlfriend handing a flower to someone else would result in chapters and chapters of drawn-out misunderstandings; Canno’s abundance of new characters forces her to abandon these clichés in order to keep things moving, which I find really fresh and appealing). For her part, Chiharu gets a surprise visit from her former crush Hoshino-senpai, forcing her to deal with the last of her lingering feelings towards her, which culminates in a beautiful scene between her and Izumi. We also get a mini-chapter with these two at the end, as well as a very quick check-in with the other couples from the series. There’s even a 4 koma that shows how Ryou hurt her hand, revealing herself to have been the reason Chiharu had to attend an emergency disciplinary committee meeting and be late for her date with Izumi (Canno puts a *lot* of thought into her linking elements).

If you didn’t like Chiharu and Izumi from Volume 2, I don’t know that this volume will turn you around on them. If, however, you’re on the right side of history and swoon over the cute interplay between Izumi’s boundless affection and Chiharu’s cool, sarcastic exterior that hides a painfully shy but deeply loving interior, then you’ll love this book. I think it’s fantastic whenever we get to see a couple being a couple – so many romance stories are about characters falling in love; we don’t get nearly enough stories like this about people just *being* in love.

There’s a really sweet moment where Chiharu tells Izumi the reasons why she’s late for their date – Izumi is stung, but she falls forward into Chiharu’s shoulder for comfort, instead of turning away in anger. That one small detail is incredibly touching to me, as is Izumi’s trust in Chiharu when she realizes, hey, she didn’t do anything wrong (it just took her by surprise).

There’s one even smaller detail which I think is even more important, and possibly more affecting. At one point, Izumi thinks to herself: “Like in a tv show, you have just this one special person…and they tell you you’re special too…maybe this thing with me and Senpai is the same old story. Someone somewhere decided on the ‘mold.'” To Izumi, her relationship with Chiharu is the most natural, normal thing in the world, because of course it is, and I love seeing anybody feel that way. I don’t know if Canno intended it to be such a powerful beat (Izumi’s only thinking it because she’s mulling over Amane’s proposal of polyamory, which Izumi had never thought of before), but it’s right up there as one of my favourite moments in comics, and I think it’s perfect that this was published in time for Pride Month.

Ratings:

Art – 10 (Very fittingly, the only rough spot is when Amane, Nina and Ryou have a group hug)
Story – 10 (I averaged 6/10 for Amane’s, Nina’s and Ryou’s section, and 14/10 for Chiharu’s and Izumi’s section. You know, to be fair and impartial.)
Characters – 10 (see above)
Service – 3 (There’s a topless scene, played with zero salaciousness, which I think is neat; no, I rate this a 3 just for the expressions on the faces of Chiharu and Izumi when they kiss)
Yuri – 10. “How on earth did they let you in high school?” Chiharu asks Izumi; because she tested so highly in Yuri, obviously, which is the most important pre-requisite for attendance at Seiran. Now that I think of it, even the cats outside the school are probably in a Yuri relationship: “You’re so cuddly. Cuuuuute! Maybe you’re sisters?” Oh, Nina. You’re so naive.
Overall – 11, and you should buy three copies.

Erica here: As it happens, I love this volume. In a series that for me is cut, rather than meaningful, this volume stands out as a really excellent and important volume. I liked it in Japanese and generally consider it to be my favorite volume to date.





Nameless Asterism Manga, Volume 2 (English)

June 27th, 2018

In Volume 1, we met Kotooka, Washio and Tsukasa, three inseperable friends whose relationship is facing stress from several directions. Washio likes Kotooka, Tsukasa’s got a beau from another school, and Kotooka has a secret that she hasn’t shared with either.

As Volume 2 of Nameless Asterism by Kina Kobayashi begins, to give Washio room to be alone with Kotooka, and because she can’t think of a good reason not to, Tsukasa accedes to Asakura-kun’s request to date. She’s still on the fence, although Asakura is a perfect gentleman. Tsukasa’s twin brother is not on the fence and will go to great lengths to keep loathed schoolmate Asakura away from his sister. But, when Asakura starts to befriend him, Shinobu may end up with another problem.

And Washio, Tsukasa and Kotooka are all convinced that simply pretending nothing is different will be best for the three of them…a strategy that is no doubt doomed to failure. 

The art remains pleasant, on the shoujo side, with an emphasis on cute, rather than beautiful. The story is, as of yet, quite up in the air. I am interested to find out what will happen. My guess is that Kotooka is in love with one of her friends. My money is on Tsukasa, because that would be the most complicated. And I have solid money on Shinobu ending the series with a boyfriend-ish.

In our discussion at TCAF (which I apologize to all of you, I haven’t had a second to write up,) Seven Seas Marketing Manager, Lianne Sentar and I agreed that, while not gay, per se, we’d both put this manga in the “queer” category. While I, as a reader, expect few of the same-sex relationships to make it through the fray, the characters are dealing with affection and attraction and the boundaries that establish relationships as friends and/or lovers. 

Ratings: 

Art – 7
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Service – 1 on principle
Yuri – 3

Volume 3 will be available in English in late October. 2018 is continuing to be a helluva year for queer manga. ^_^