Archive for the English Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Whispered Words, Volume 1 (English)

August 27th, 2014

ww1It’s been an exciting summer for Yuri fans, with series new and old that we love. One of the most exciting titles of the year to be released in English is Ikeda Takashi’s epic dramedy of Yuri tropes, Whispered Words out from One Peace Books. Volume 1 is available on RightStuf or Amazon.

The story follows the life of a high school student, Sumika, who is in the unenviable position of being in love with her best friend and classmate, Ushio. Sumika has everything going for her – classic looks, she’s tall strong, athletic, smart and a competent leader. Unfortunately for Sumi, Ushio dreams, not of being swept away by someone princely, but sweeping away her own petite and cute princess. Although Sumika is always by her side, Ushio never even notices Sumika’s feelings. Complicating this one-sided love, are about a hundred things, all of which are silly tropes of Yuri.

A male classmate who likes Sumika, is a cross dresser and is, in fact, so cute, that Ushio falls for him as a girl.

Aoi, Yuri light novel fan, thinks she’s found a like mind in Sumika…but she hasn’t.

Sumi and Ushio discover that there are, in fact, two lesbians in their class, and through pretense and blackmail are made to join Tomoe’s “Girls Club” for girl-lovers.

An extremely cute foreign student transfers in. Ushio, predictably falls for her, but Lotte wants to be strong like Sumi.

Each plot complication piles on Sumi, who bears the weight of Ushio’s obliviousness. And it’s apparent – especially after the somewhat messy arc with Aoi – that Sumika is a really standup kind of person. Ushio’s cluelessness hurts, and in a vulnerable moment, Sumika lets her mask slip. But will it bring them closer together?

Volume 1 covers the first three volumes of the Japanese edition (here are my reviews of Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3), which includes some emotionally charged reading in places. The story is comedic, but there are places where characters (and, possibly, readers) are found in tears. For a comedy, Volume 1 has a lot of drama. ^_^;

Technically, the book is much better than I expected.  It had only a very few typos in nearly 500 pages and nearly none of the other issues I noticed with the preview copy. The translation is absolutely excellent – I could really hear  the characters’ individual voices in the dialogue.   The story is by turns hilarious, heart-wrenching and lovely. Ikeda’s art is reproduced well and I like both the heft and paper quality of the translated edition. I feel like I’m getting something solid to hold, but not hideously bulky or heavy.

Volume 2 is already up for pre-order, with a release date in November 2014. I know that the typo issues are mostly resolved in the next Volume, and while these three volumes are the hardest to get through (Volume 4, Volume 5 and Volume 6), the finale of this series is well worth hanging in there for, I promise!

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 1

Overall – 8

If you’re looking for excellent Yuri, definitely get Whispered Words – good sales will translate to more Yuri. ^_^

My sincere thanks to One Peace Books for a review copy of Volume 1! It was great to be able to see this excellent Yuri tale told in English. ^_^





Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Short Stories, Volume 1 (English)

August 13th, 2014

pgsmss1As Kodansha has wound down the last of the releases of the 15th anniversary volumes of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, I want to take a moment to discuss, at long last, the Sailor Moon Short Stories. These shorts were included with the original artbooks and with the Japanese collected volumes. They have never made it over here as a whole before, so this was new for Kodansha’s English-language release.

Some of the stories in the two short story volumes are known to fans through the Sailor Moon movies. Probably best known is  “Princess Kaguya’s Lover,” which became the basis for the Sailor Moon S movie, while one of the Chibi-Usa’s picture diary stories, “Beware of the Transfer Student” made it into the legendary SuperS Special, which I believe we are getting as part of the Viz release, at last. (I’ve worn my old VHS out watching that, because the Uranus and Neptune short on it is so very wonderful. ^_^) These are both in Volume 2 of the Short Stories.

Volume 1 has one story of especial interest for us at Okazu. In this volume each of the Inner Senshi faces a crisis about their lives. Some of these are very poignant, especially Rei’s story. (And again, Ami’s chapter, “Ami-chan’s First Love” was an animated special and is also quite wonderful.) Interestingly, Rei features in Minako’s crisis chapter and the story was the basis of many a Rei x Minako fanfic back in the day – and will no doubt be again, for the opening color artbook picture alone, if nothing else.

Minako find Rei’s perfection vexing, and who wouldn’t? So she asks the question that set a million fans a-tittering, ala Beevis and Butthead. But that *still* isn’t why we should care about this story. We should care, because when Rei is possessed by the genus loci, she starts to kiss all the other girls at school, including Minako…perhaps forseeing their reincarnations’ smoking hot romance in a live action drama, 15 years later. Or not. ^_^; It’s service, but fun. ^_^ Also fun is Sailor Venus’ reveling in the adoration and crushiness of the girls’ school students.
Ratings:

Art – 7 Standard PGSM art
Story – 6 Sloppy storytelling, but I don’t care because…
Characters – 9
Yuri – 2
Service – 2-ish

Overall – 8

So, while it’s confined to service and light akogare, Short Stories, Volume 1 has some Yuri.





LGBTQ Manga: Wandering Son, Volume 5 (English)

June 27th, 2014

wson5One of the most maddening things about human relationships is our frequent inability to escape from previously established patterns of interaction with people. We return home to visit parents to find them – and ourselves – slipping into well-worn and often dysfunctional habits of communication and behavior.

As Nitori Shuichi begins 7th grade in Wandering Son, Volume 5 (Amazon | RightStuf), I couldn’t but help feel as if I was reading a return to old habits and relationships. Chiba’s still angry, Mako’s still perceptive in an awkwardly adult way, Sasa’s still energetic and Nitori and Takatsuki are still fighting battles on multiple fronts. A few relationships have changed, but many have not and the tensions they create fill the book with chapters that look eerily like the shadows of earlier chapters. But, even as I say that, I realize I’m being ungenerous. Everyone – especially Nitori and Takatsuki – have indeed changed.

Which is why I almost found it frustrating that the plot complication of the gender-switch play was introduced…again. Yes, it works for this class and yes it allows the characters to work some stuff out, but don’t you wonder if the rest of the kids in the class thought, “Really? Again?!”

And the super awkward obsession of the teacher is, well, just straight up freaky. Now I’m wondering if any of my teachers looked at me and thought of some past person they knew instead. (-_-);

The issue of the gendered uniforms is subsumed in Chizuru’s wearing of the boy’s uniform because she feels like it, while Takatsuki, who desperately desire to do so, does not. And Nitori is almost reflexively denying the desire to wear girl’s clothes, but Mako rightfully points out that they may not be able to get away with it for much longer. Puberty creeps ever closer.

In all sincerity, I am reviewing this volume for the last scene in which Chiba, in an unusually lucid moment, asks Nitori if he likes Takatsuki as a boy who likes a girl, or as the girl he wants to be liking Takatsuki as a girl. I’d also add the possibility that Nitori as a girl could like Takastuki as a boy. Not surprisingly, Nitori cannot answer that question. It’s a tough one and the answer to it is the primary reason I’ll read the next volumes.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
LGBTQ – 8

Overall – 9

I find this series deeply uncomfortable reading, but I keep coming back. I want to see how this plays out.





Marine Corps Yumi Manga (まりんこゆみ) Official English Website Relaunch

May 14th, 2014

mcyumiYumi Nagumo is an energetic, unfocused Nipponian high school graduate. With no real plan for the future, she decides she’ll become the President of the United States of Amerigo. Convinced by a bunch of veterans that the best path to citizenship and the Presidency is becoming a Marine, Yumi enlists in the Marine Corps. Welcome to Marine Corps Yumi, written by Anastasia Moreno with art by Takeshi Nogami.

Moreno-sensei explains the comic,”This comic is a fictional comedy about female Marines and what they experience before, during and after service. Although there is an abundance of books, movies and comics about and/or for the male Marine audience, there wasn’t much about or for the female Marine audience. We hope to fill that gap a little and provide some lighthearted entertainment to my fellow sister Marines.

“The Japanese version of this webcomic began back in September 2012 and new episodes were posted every Monday. We did a trial run of the English version on the same website, but we realized that the page navigation and other factors made the website not as user-friendly to English readers as we had hoped. After posting the first 30 English episodes, we decided to regroup and come up with a better game plan so English readers can access our comic better. That was last December.

“After a few months of butting our heads against the wall, the editors and creator team agreed to set up a new satellite site dedicated to English readers. We have also launched an official tumblr site and Facebook fan page, and will tweet the heck out this series on Twitter as well. We hope that these new endeavors will enable us to reach out to English readers like you.

From there, we will be posting a new English episode up twice a week — Wednesdays and Fridays (Thu and Sat for those in Japan) — until we catch up to the Japanese version. Once we catch up, we will post new English episodes on Wednesdays.”

AND…A CONTEST!

I’ve reviewed Volume 1 in Japanese here on Okazu, and  thanks to Moreno-sensei, we have 2 copies of Volume 2 in Japanese to give away! We’re going to make you work a little bit at this contest, because we really want to get the news out. Share this post on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, a mailing list or forum and let me know with an email to me at yuricon at gmail, subject “MC Yumi”. (I trust you, you can just tell me you shared it, no link needed. Just write something like “I shared it on Twitter” with your name and an email I can reach you at. You have to be over 18 to enter. Thanks for your shares, likes, RTs and posts in advance. ^_^

The site launches today in Japan. Stand up straight, eyes front and give your atten-tion to Marine Corps Yumi.





CBLDF Presents Manga: Introduction, Challenges , and Best Practices

April 21st, 2014

Quickie personal note – I haven’t had a lot of free reading time in the last few weeks, so my apologies for the slowdown in reviews. Next couple of months ought to speed up as I spend less time with actual people. ^_^.

In 2011, I was approached by Charles Brownstein, Exec. Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which was handling more and more legal challenges to manga in schools and libraries,  to edit a book for them on the topic of manga. I was working with JManga at the time and had my hands full, so I regretfully said no, but suggested the amazing Melinda Beasi, Editor-in-chief of Manga Bookshelf instead. Thankfully, Melinda said yes, and as the next few months played out, she and Charles pulled together an amazing team of manga journalists and reviewers to create CBLDF Presents Manga: Introduction, Challenges , and Best Practices. I’m immensely honored to have been a part of this project and I wanted to take a moment to talk about it with you.

The book begins with a solid, short overview of Manga, Anime, OEL/Global Manga, Manwha and Manhua by “Manga Critic,” Kate Dacey. This is followed by an extremely informative discussion on Shounen Manga written very entertainingly by Shaenon Garrity. I’ve been steeped in manga history, but both these chapters had something to teach me – a strong opening from this book.

Sean Gaffney of A Case Suitable for Treatment, also on Manga Bookshelf, handles the chapter on Shoujo manga with solid scholarship and his usual sense of the big picture, while Ed Chavez of Vertical Press brings his encyclopedic knowledge to the incredibly broad topic of Seinen Manga. Shaenon then deals with the least-familiar genre here in the West, Josei and later Boy’s Love. I was able to contribute chapters on Yuri and Doujinshi/Scanlations.  The book wraps up with a detailed discussion of challenges both librarians and teachers might face in regards to manga, penned by Robin Brenner of No Flying, No Tights and Shaenon Garrity, as well as a comprehensive list of resources for defending against challenges to manga in classroom or library.

The stand-out quality of this book is that it is clearly and simply written. Anyone without the slightest background with comics or manga will be able to understand the admittedly foreign concepts presented. For readers with a familiarity with manga, there is a tremendous amount of information you may not have seen or heard before.  As well-read as I am about manga, I learned quite a bit reading this book – and I really enjoyed myself reading each chapter. The slight differences in tone and handling of the material felt more like a panel at a con, than being lectured to. It’s all very approachable and personable, as are the people who contributed.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

This book is an important defensive weapon in the toolbelt of educators and free speech advocates. In addition, it’s a good read and solid source of history and info about manga for fans everywhere. We did good. ^_^ Purchase of this book does raise money for CBLDF to assist them with free-speech issues  and defense of comics and manga, so get two copies – one for you and one for your local library!