Archive for the English Manga Category


Magic Knight Rayearth Manga, Volume 2 (English)

June 18th, 2012

Unlike the second season of the anime, Volume 2 of the Magic Knight Rayearth manga does not have a Yuri subplot. For which I am eminently thankful. In fact, the lack of Nova and her annoying mother went a considerable distance to cleaning up the exceedingly messy plot. What’s left, then, is a far more straightforward, much less morality-play like story.

Umi, Fuu and Hikaru, having returned to Earth after fighting Zagato, are…unhappy. They want to go back to Cefiro. Fuu particularly, has reason to go, as Ferio is there. And one day, when they meet up at Tokyo Tower, they find themselves transported back, but not to any place they recognize as Cefiro!

It turns out that now that Emeraude is gone, Cefiro is collapsing. Clef and the others are gathered in a castle floating above the planet surface. The Magic Knights return to find what’s left of Cefiro under attack from three nearby planets – Autozam, Fahren and Cezita.

Joined by old allies, the Magic Knights have to find a way to protect Cefiro. This is complicated by the fact that their enemies all turn out to be decent people who are just trying to help their own worlds – and the knowledge that the Pillar system of Cefiro is innately, dangerously flawed.

The story is mostly taken up with relationship building, rather than fighting, and the conclusion, while predictable, was far more satisfactory than the scattered, messy ending of the anime.

A great deal of the story follows our enemies and, instead of giving us reason to hate them, we learn to like them. Eagle and Lantis are presented very much as a couple, but when Hikaru comes en scene, she could reasonably be paired with either of them – or both – in a way that makes sense. Moreover, their dynamic is subtle enough that a child could read this without any concern.  Growing Ascot up into a tall, handsome young man for Umi was a nice touch and even Ferio gets a power up. All in all, a satisfying ending.

Which is odd, when you consider that the end is a modified form of colonialism. Having destroyed the Pillar system, the Magic Knights replace it with a completely alien system. This would all be very uncomfortable if the worthies of Cefiro were not already ready to see the back end of the Pillar system. So, its okay then, phew.

Ratings:

Art – Less wonderful than Card Captor Sakura, but still very CLAMP-ian
Story – Less messy than the anime
Characters – Less annoying than most, until Mokona’s true identity is revealed
Yuri – Less than none
Service – Less than usual

Overall – I’m less enthusiastic about this series than CCS, but more than I expected.

Many, many thanks to Okazu Superhero Amanda M. for sponsoring today’s review!





American Comic: Womanthology Heroic (English)

June 13th, 2012

By now, I hope all of you have heard of Womanthology Heroic, the anthology created by over 150 women comic creators. It had an amazingly successful Kickstarter (to which I contributed, so in the back, among the many, many names of supporters you’ll find mine ^_^) and is quite possibly the most beautiful book I have ever seen in my entire life.

The project came about on Twitter, where a number of female comic creators finally just lost their bacon at the industry trope of “women don’t x comics” (where x can stand for “like,” “read,” “draw,” “make” etc.,) despite the masses of evidence to the contrary.  It’s pretty apparent that there were plenty of folks – women and men –  who were very ready to read something just like this.

Womanthology is…a book of treasures. I’m not going to single out a story or three. It’s not for me to tell you which are the best stories in a collection of good stories. Buy the book, open it up and begin to read. Art and stories are variable, but none of them are less than excellent. You’ll like some better than others, some will touch you more deeply, but those particular gemstones are for you to find in this box of treasures.

Womanthology is…inspirational. Yes, some of the stories are about empowerment, but really not. What they are about sometimes is what it takes to grasp the power in ourselves. But that is so beside the point, because the underlying presumption in this collection is that we already have power, and we can use it any damn way we like. Some stories are just plain creepy, or sad, or silly. Some stories work with stereotypes, others bash them gleefully. There is love of the female form and psyche and not one person tries to “fix” that.

Womanthology is…luscious. Full color pictures, stories that run up to 6 pages, but many that are a chunky page or two. Some have morals, some have plots, some have messages, some are just explorations of “wtf can I draw today?” The paper is thick, the cover is beautiful and my first words upon getting this copy was, “There is no way I’m giving my Library this. I’ll get them a separate copy.”

Womanthology is…educational! I love the Pro Tips that run throughout the book, with real advice about art, writing, networking, getting and making jobs. For that alone I’d say every female who wants to be part of the comic industry needs to get this book. If I taught an art class, I’d make this my text book.

Womanthology is…layered. Read it through for the shorts, then again for the bios and info about the creators, then again for Stacie Ponder’s comic strip that runs through the entire book on the page bottoms, then again for the Pro Tips. You’d find something to love all over again every time you do. It’s too much of everything to take in one reading. Read it as you might eat a box of delicious chocolates, a few pages at a time.

Womanthology Heroic is about, by and for, women and girls who create, read and love comics. If you buy one book this year, it should be this one (especially if you’re buying for a library.)

Ratings:

Overall – 10 (But really way more than that.)

The really cool thing about this book is that so many of the creators are on Twitter, and many of them have their websites listed on their bios, and you can talk to them directly to tell them how much you love this book. And, of course you can always shout out to @Womanthology. I’m sure they’d love to hear from you.





Chance to get More Yuri on JManga! Your vote counts

June 7th, 2012

Hobunsha, which publishes Tsubomi Yuri anthology in Japan, has a new page of free previews on JManga. Among the titles they are offering a free previews for is Otomo Megane’s Himitsu.

Clicking the “Like” button for that title is considered a “vote” – so is any other interaction with JManga – reading the preview, telling  them by contact form, on Facebook, on Twitter, sharing the info on Twitter, etc. Make sure you let JManga know you’re interested and let them know you want to see more Yuri from Tsubomi magazine. ^_^

 JManga on Twitter

JManga on Facebook

JManga contact form





Yuri Manga: Kimino Tamenara Shineru (English) now on JManga

May 24th, 2012

At last! Now you can enjoy the goofy gags of Heian period gag comic KiminoTamenara Shineru by Kuzushiro, translated and edited by ALC, lettered by Carl V. on JManga!

In addition, to help you better enjoy the comic, Erin and I wrote a short essay about the Heian period, Imperial life and some choices we made about translation and transliteration. You should be able to read the essay as long as you have have registered on Jmanga, regardless of your subscription. I sure hope you enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed working on it. ^_^

 





Lesbian Comic: she said (English)

May 14th, 2012

Readers of Okazu frequently see me request more “After the happily-ever-after” manga; stories in which the girl, having gotten the girl, proceeds to make a life with her.  Well, there’s a good reason why we don’t get that so much. For the presumed male audience who is really only interested in Yuri as fantasy, there’s relatively little interest in the building of a real relationship. Take Shizuma and Nagisa out of Miator and their relationship, which is doomed to fail once it hits the real world, is a bore.

But, if there’s one thing that keeps people from exploring the after the happily-ever-after moment in comics, it’s the harsh reality that after happily-ever-after comes, sometimes, not happily, and not ever-after.

When the Prince rides off with the Princess, we fade out so we don’t have to listen to the Princess wondering why his friends are such losers, or listen to them screaming at their kids. Obviously.

Equally, when the girl gets the girl, we often fade out because its really hard on reader and writer to have to wade through the period after 6 months or so, when the fires of lust burn less hotly and people are trying to figure out where they fit in to each other’s lives. One of the ways to do this is to create a death off-screen, and have the character deal with it, as in June Kim’s 12 Days. This kind extreme crisis, what I call “hand of god” writing, is not easy to do well, but it makes the situation fait accompli for readers. We deal with the situation as it was presented to us. (June did it very well, btw.)

What is significantly harder is a deft handling of the end of a relationship. One of the finest I’ve ever read is “Your Hair” by Niki Smith, which we included in the Yuri Monogatari 5 collection. It’s tense and frank and uncomfortable and sad. Absolutely stellar work.

Up until now, I have never read a story that covered the beginning, middle and end of a relationship in a way that was worth recommending. Today I say to you, run, do not walk over to Lulu and buy she said by Kris Dresen.

This story starts with the beginning of a relationship, goes through the flirting and the getting together, the being together, the discomfort of a growing rift, and the final throes of a parting all in few words. Each page has single spoken line, at most two. Nonetheless the story is rendered in depth with terrific facial expressions and evocative body language. (I’m a sucker for this especially, as shockingly few comic artists do more than pose their characters. One day I will show you Nishi Uko’s “Collectors” and you’ll all cry at what you’ve been thinking is good art.)

The most interesting thing about this story is the piece that’s left out. By the end of the book, we have no idea what, really, split them up. Although one can hazard a guess, that’s not the point. The point is that this story is every relationship cliché stitched up together to tell a story we’ve all heard a thousand times. But never once like this.

One of the things I like best about Tsubomi magazine right now is their willingness to deal with the not-so-beautiful parts of lesbian relationships. Abuse, both physical and emotional, and even overt homophobia, never grace the pages of other Yuri tales, but these are the realities that real women face.  If we want our stories to evolve, it’s necessary to face the whole thing and not stay stuck in childhood fairy tales. (Now that I think of it, we sort of got that backwards, with lesbian literature so focused on the end in early stories, then tentatively adding in happy endings, and now going back to face those endings more realistically and honestly. Less knife fights and predatory lesbians.)

Kris Dresen tells us a fable about the before, during and after happily ever after. It may not be happy, but it’s damn good.

Ratings:

Because all my ratings are really geared for Yuri manga, I’m going to stick with an overall for this one.

Overall – 8

My very sincere thanks to Kris who inscribed my copy with something inspiring and who inspires me to do more. ^_^

Quick disclaimer – although she inscribed it, I bought my own copy of this book. Don’t want you to think I’m sucking up to her! ^_^