Archive for the English Manga Category


LGBTQ Manga: Wandering Son, Volume 6 (English)

June 18th, 2015

511cg24nZpLIn Takako Shimura’s series Wandering Son, Volume 6, the school festival rolls around again and again Shuu-chan’s class has chosen to do a gender-switched play. Not just a gender-switched play, this one will be an original work. But as the festival nears, it is morphed back into a typical Romeo and Juliet. Chiba-san objects and with her steamrolling the class, she and Shuu-chan rewrite the play again to reflect the more realistic concerns of trans people…and add some random violence.

I feel I understand Shuu-chan and Yoshino, Mako and the rest, but still find them rather on the prickly side. Hormones and alliances and identity all mixing up, as Shuu-chan worries how hairy his legs will be, or as Yoshino suggests switching names…or as Chiba-san stays angry with almost everyone.

I was discomfited by Yuki-san appearing  – again – in a suit.With this series, I constantly feel like we’re do-si-do-ing back and forth every volume over the same three of four steps.  I understand this in regards to Shuu and the others, but am much less forgiving in regards to Yuki-san, whom we are meant to believe is living her life truthfully.

Finally, as the pages of the book come to a close, I cannot stop thinking that Shuu-chan is going to have to talk to Maho sooner or later.  There is also one serious flaw with the entire narrative in this volume – no school would have allowed a play like that to be performed. Educational administration in both Japan and America are notoriously conservative. Combined with the feeling of going over the same territory again and again, I’m starting to feel the narrative grind down to a halt.

Still, I’m rooting for the kids in Shuu-chan’s class to find themselves and grow up with a chance at happiness, so I’m still reading.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
LGBTQ – 8

Overall – 7

Seya is the only character that seems to have actually matured so far, and he’s done a good job of it.





Kampfer Manga, Volume 3 (English)

May 12th, 2015

kampfer3You know, I kind of had high hopes for Volume 3 of Kampfer.

Hahahahahahaha, just kidding, of course I didn’t have any hopes at all for Volume 3, because I’m a realist and I’d seen the anime.  I knew perfectly well that nothing of importance would happen and nothing would be explained.

Instead, Volume 3 is a lengthy diversion into the workings of Japanese “fan clubs” in which several self-appointed “fans” assign themselves the role of extorting other fans for the chance to spend a moment with the celebrity du jour.

Also so new characters are added, but as none of the old ones have any real purpose in the story, it’s meaningless plot complications all the way down. ^_^

It still doesn’t make any sense, but hey, if you’re this far in and still reading, you might as well keep on, only there is no more in English to read. DMP apparently has given up on this series and who can truly blame them?

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 2 Not even an attempt at one
Characters – 3
Service – 8
Yuri – 4 Girl Natsuru is the school idol.

Overall – 4

I would like to very much thank Okazu Superhero Day for contributing to my sleeping well. This was the book I was reading last at night so that my eyes would just sort of naturally close and I’d drift off. ^_^

I was going to write “I wish someone had made entrails animal plushies” then realized that no, no I didn’t.

 

 





Kampfer Manga, Volume 2

April 6th, 2015

Kampfer2At the beginning of the year, I was ambiguously pleased to review Kampfer, Volume 1 on Kindle, the manga of a short-lived and utterly forgettable anime series about a guy who turns into a girl and has to fight for reasons that remain obscure through the series. Now, through the good will of Okazu Hero Day, I am able to assure you that two volumes in to Kampfer, we are no more well-informed about the situation than we were.

In Kampfer, Volume 2,  on Kindle, from Digital Manga Publishing, Natsuru has to get into the girls’ section of the school. In a normal situation this would not be particular difficult, but this school has strict segregation, enforced with high walls, security (and barbed wire fences, probably.) Why? Who knows…add it to the list of “whys?” for this series.

Natsuru has learned that the President of the Student Council is a little smarter than the rest of the Kampfers – in order to force Natsuru over to the girls’ side, she’s kidnapped Sakura. Natsuru plays the hero(ine) and rescues the happless damsel, who was already in love with her girl form and is now completely gaga over her. Sakura asks girl-Natsuru out on a date, causing boy-Natsuru to die a little inside.

For no reason, Natsuru accepts and we are “treated” to girl-Natsuru dress-up dolls. No new plot information is revealed. So, basically, the entire volume had a single chapter’s worth of content.

I am shockingly not filled with despair at the idea of a third volume as, at this point, I want to see how long they can string this along without having to actually do anything with the plot. Much like the Battle Club manga, I expect nothing from Kampfer. Not even so much as an explanation, much less a resolution.  It’s already had the same Yuri we saw in the anime.

At the end of Volume 2 we have exactly the same amount of no idea at all why anything is as we did at the end of Volume 1. On to Volume 3 for more nothing!

Ratings:

Art – 7 Good enough that with all the service, I can’t read it in public
Story – 3 Nothing, with a side of who cares
Characters – 4 Sakura would be cute if she weren’t a doofus
Service – 8
Yuri – 3

Overall – 4

Bets on Volume 3 being any better? I didn’t think so.

Along with Kampfer, there is some actually good Yuri manga available on the Digital Manga page of the new Yuricon Store. Check it out for titles old and new for your Kindle device or app.





Yuri Manga: Whispered Words, Volume 3 (English)

March 10th, 2015

ww31Yay!! Woo!! Other terms of exuberance! We have reached Whispered Words, Volume 3, out in English from One Peace Books! Whee!!

But before we celebrate, let us take a look back at how far we’ve come.

In Volume 1, we met Sumika, who is tall, athletic and hopelessly in love with her best friend, Ushio who never even considers Sumika as a possibility. Ushio isn’t trying to be cruel, but she is sure that Sumi is “normal” as she terms it and doesn’t want her to get roped into the negative treatment she’s come to expect from the other students.

In Volume 2, it becomes increasingly obvious to everyone even, eventually, them, that Sumika and Ushio are in love with each other. Even as they start taking tentative steps to be together, life gets in the way.

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In Volume 3 as Sumi, Ushio and their friends all start thinking about graduation, Ushio’s grandmother is injured and asks for Ushio to come and take care of her, potentially splitting her and Sumi apart just as they are starting to have something to stay together for. Ushio’s brother reunites with an old flame and their grandmother puts pressure on them to marry.

While all that is going on, Sumi runs for Student Council President. When rivals for Student Council President use dirty tactics, and a member of the Karate Club gets in a fight, Sumi feels her best action is to remove herself from the contest. To everyone’s surprise, Ushio steps up and takes her place in the election. There can be no underhanded tactics, after all, Ushio’s been out since middle school.

The end of this volume is everything we could really have hoped for. Recognition that life is not easy – it even has some real-life homophobia, so when love wins the day it’s just that much sweeter. It’s a story we’ve been told a million times since we were kids, but it’s rare that we get to see it in a Yuri manga – sure, the real world can be awful, but love makes us strong. And so it does. Also weak. And stupid. But sometimes it works out  and when it does, it’s totally worth it. Just like this manga series.

The third volume goes on sale officially on March 17th. Pre-orders have already shipped.

I promised you – I swore to you – that this manga was worth it. Trust me, the ending is just as much fun in English as it was in Japanese. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Yuri – 10
Service – 1

Overall – 10

Thanks very much to Robert of One Peace books for the review copy, it was even better than I had hoped. ^_^ If you’re still waiting to get a copy of this series, take this opportunity to check the offerings out on the new Yuricon Store, where Volume 1 and Volume 2 are currently listed with multiple vendors and Kindle Editions are also available!





Yuri Manga: Whispered Words, Volume 2 (English)

February 8th, 2015

ww21Whispered Words, Volume 2  (Amazon / RightStuf) is the English-language edition of Sasamekikoto, Volume 4, Volume 5 and Volume 6.

And, as I said in my reviews to those volumes, when this much pressure has been built up…something’s gotta give.

The series started as a mostly-comedic “best friend with a crush” plot, expanding out to almost all the possible Yuri tropes that we were familiar with. For that alone, this was a pretty terrific series. But then the veil of comedy became thinner and thinner and we started to see a serious drama beginning to unfold…and more importantly, the abyss of possible tragedy. In a fascinating sort of reverse meta, the characters are painfully aware of the impending calamity.

Sumika and Ushio are speaking to one another, but nothing is being said. Everyone around them can see what lays between them. Even when they know what it is, they can’t just say it. The logjam becomes untenable. Thankfully, the tragedy that breaks it up is laughably mundane. Phew.

This volume has some of the best storytelling I’ve seen in schoolgirl Yuri manga. No complicated school rituals, no gender switched plays…no tortured metaphors. Just two people you can imagine knowing, in a situation you can imagine happening, and the manga is still funny and ridiculous and painful in places…just like life.

Technically, Volume 2 is a notable improvement over the first printing of Volume 1. I know just how difficult it is to publish a 100% error-free book, and it amazes me how jarring even a single typo is. Generally speaking, I think 1 error per 100 pages is acceptable. This book has fewer than that. Nice work by One Peace.

Volume 2 includes a sweet little short about a schoolmate of  Ushio and Sumi’s with powers of divination who can’t see her own future. It has a very “awww” ending.

The best part of this review? Volume 3 is already shipping. If you gave up on this series, for whatever reason, I ask you right now, as a personal favor – give Volume 3 a chance. It’s worth it. I promise.  ^_^

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Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

Many, many thanks to One Peace for the review copy.  Volume 2 was as emotionally wrecking as I suspected, and I’m very glad it’s in English for us all to be brutalized. ^_^ Volume 3 ahoy!