Archive for the Guest Review Category


When the Villainess Seduces the Main Heroine, Volume 1

December 4th, 2024

A busty blonde woman in low-cut red dress is embraced by a smiling black-haired beauty in a low-cut dress and corset as they lay in a plush bed.Guest review by Paul S. Enns

When the Villainess Seduces the Main Heroine, Volume 1 by Kasai Fujii, is a ridiculous bit of fluff, ending with an equally ridiculous story.

It’s about the Villainess, Akuya Krei Jou, seducing the Heroine, Sei Hi Roin, away from the Prince, San Punkan. All of which happens in the prologue, a whole four pages.

After the prologue, the next hundred pages are 90% lovey-dovey day-to-day activities of two women deeply in love with each other and the other 10% what Yaaba (Akuya’s housekeeper and instructor) and Stray (the stray cat that loves watching lesbian love) think of that.

Then it goes dark.

That’s where story happens, and it really changes the mood. It’s where Sei shows that she can get out of trouble and not just depend on her partner to rescue her. It’s where Akuya gets to show off how villainous she can be to protect Sei. It’s where… No. I’m not going to spoil it. But it did induce some squick in me.

While there is plenty of service, there’s no actual genitalia shown. Breasts and discussion of what Akuya will do to Sei and Sei’s reactions cover it.

As a whole, I enjoyed the fluff of the beginning. The story felt like it was from a different writer writing in the first half’s style. The jarring difference was too much. If it made up its mind and was one or the other, it would work better. I say “first half”, but the story part is half as long. Still sticks in my memory better than the fluff.

My favorite short would have to be the one that deals with consent. It’s an important topic to me.

The translation feels solid. Every gesture and sound is given a translation. Nothing jarring in the text to signal problems. Another stellar job by Yen Press.

Looking at the original review of the Japanese version, I must sadly say that none of the punny names come through in English.

Ratings:

Art: 7 Better like long eyelashes.
Story: What story? But I’ll give the story part a 3.
Characters: 7 No denying that Akuya and Sei are lovely together. Stray gets some good humor, too.
Service: 7 I’ll not rate higher without genitalia shown.
Yuri: 9.5 To be 10 there wouldn’t be any sex with men, right?

Overall: 5

It should have been just the shorts, but would this be Volume 1 without the story? It does end with “To be continued…”. I don’t know which would be better: more shorts or more story. It doesn’t leave me optimistic. We’ll find out when Volume 2 arrives in the new year.





Otherside Picnic, Volume 11

November 27th, 2024

Two women stand holding their ears, as if against some noise. One with long, blonde hair in a green jacket and one with medium-length dark hair in a plaid coat. Looking large behind them is a schoolgirl with silver hair done up in plaits, coquettishly touching her open mouth.by Sandy Ferguson, Guest Reviewer

Having dealt with the mystery of Kanno Sanuki in Volume 10, Otherside Picnic, Volume 11 consists entirely of “The Whisper Is At-Your-Own-Risk”, and it is a delightfully exhausting read.

We start with Sorawo being locked up by Runa Urumi and her fan club. Sorawo assesses her situation and considering that she is being held by a cult led by one of Satsuki’s devotees, it is not looking good. This leads to Sorawo reflecting on her past as someone who managed to escape a cult, and in doing so we are introduced to Sorawo’s ‘coping personality’.  We then follow Sorawo, as she uses her experiences from the past to do what is necessary to escape Runa and her fan club, using a skill set and mental attitudes that combine the Otherside and MacGyver.

As we hear later from Kozakura, this ‘coping personality’ can change how people perceive Sorawo as they indirectly receive an intense glimpse into the trauma that has shaped Sorawo’s life.  But later we witness Sorawo reflecting on the nature of this ‘coping personality’ and how it compares with Sorawo as we now know her, someone who is evolving as a person through letting people into her life, much to her chagrin.

Coping Personality Sorawo escapes from her confinement and picks up Kozakura. They discover that Runa has been collecting Fourth Kind contactees, drawn in such a way that reminds us how lucky Sorawo and Toriko are in how they have been touched by the Otherside.

Their escape is brief as Runa’s fan club recapture them, which gives Runa an opportunity to share with Sorawo and Kozakura her plans. Then Runa leaves Sorawo behind in what becomes a dangerous situation. It is at this point Toriko enters the story kicking arse, ably supported by Migawa from the DS Lab.

More excitement ensues as Sorawo, Toriko and Migawa follow Runa and her fan club to the DS lab.  When they arrive the decision is made, due to concerns over Runa’s use of the voice, that Sorawo and Toriko will confront Runa. And then the volume ends with a ‘wow’ moment that sets us up for an intense climax to this story in the next volume.

From this volume we learn more about Runa, how a young girl hoping for internet attention is changed by the touch of the Otherside, or she prefers to call it, the Blue World. Is she a cult leader? Or an idol with a devoted fan club? Is she just looking for some awesome friends?

And throughout the volume we witness Sorawo’s frustration over the fact that ‘Everyone Loves Satsuki’ with Runa the latest more extreme addition to the Satsuki Fan Club. And although jealousy is a critical part of Sorawo’s response, we the reader can’t ignore the fact that Sorawo is right about Satsuki being an iffy person and we can appreciate Sorawo’s desire to shake Toriko and all the others while yelling ‘am I the only one who sees that Satsuki is up to no good?”

What I appreciated most about ‘A Whisper in the Dead of Night’ is Kozakura giving us some candid insights into her challenges in defining her relationships with Toriko and Sorawo and how she struggles with the aftermath of her relationship with Satsuki.

Ratings:

Story– 9
Artwork– 9 Exciting artwork that draws us into the excitement of this volume, covering action in this world as well as the presence of the Otherside.
Character– 9 An interesting piece of self-analysis by Sorawo as she reflects on the fact that throughout all her escapades with Toriko she never needed her ‘coping personality’. And later Sorawo discovers how her relationship with Toriko has led to her taking her first steps on developing empathy for other people.
Service– 8 Warning, intense hugging action! It looked like Sorawo needed a warning…
Yuri – 8, Yuri Otherside Picnic style as Sorawo gushes over the image of Toriko in full action hero mode, while being jealous that Migawa had witnessed such awesomeness.

Overall – 9

The story continues in Volume 12, which will be here in Spring 2025!





Girls Band Cry, Guest Review by Cryssoberyl

October 9th, 2024
Pictured: On a blood red background, four girls spin in magical-girl power moves, color streaming from their instruments.There’s a show called Shirobako, which began airing exactly ten years ago today, as it happens. A love letter to its own industry, it’s an anime about making anime. In that show, there is a conflict between the cast about the place of 3D computer-generated imagery in anime, with many of the senior animators dead-set against its then-nascent creep into the industry. “2D anime is about hand-crafted animation, unlike 3D!” says one. “3D animation is a waste of time. There’s no flavor or style to it,” says another. I have always been in complete agreement with those characters. So when I learned that there was a 3DCG show called Girls Band Cry that was blowing up in Japan, I was unhappy. I felt like a popular 3DCG show would only accelerate its rise in anime.
 
In short, I didn’t want to like this show. I didn’t want to watch this show. But my partner Zefiris, always the more reasonable of us two, wanted to give it a chance – and well, we can add this onto the large and ever-growing pile of wonderful experiences I would not have had without her intervention. Thank you for everything and for this, dearest.
 
Those animators were wrong, and I was wrong. At least about Girls Band Cry.
 
This is both an odd show for Toei to have made, and a completely unsurprising show. Odd, because Toei is known primarily for safely commercial, mainstream, primarily children’s animation. Unsurprising, because Toei has become one of the most routine and extensive users of 3DCG in their shows; Precure ending sequences have for many years been tech demos of what 3DCG can do, at least in terms of expressiveness and fluidity in dance sequences. In short, Toei has been building their in-house 3DCG muscles for a long time, and it’s clear the company felt that it was time to show them off. The result is one of the most carefully and masterfully crafted shows you may ever see, with a staggering amount of polish and uncountable small flourishes of attention and care. This is never more true than during the show’s frequent band performance scenes, which may just be some of the most visually and cinematographically impressive scenes of that kind that anime has ever produced.
 
What Toei has done here, though, is not only to have made a great show. It is just possible they have shown us a blueprint of what the future of anime might look like. One of the most interesting parts of GBC is when it chooses to use, not 3DCG, but conventional 2D animation. This happens frequently, and at both high- and low-budget moments. Some of the most important and climactic scenes of the show are in 2D, but it is also used for many quick and simple moments when making and choreographing another 3DCG model clearly would’ve been more work. The show leverages both formats to cover, contrast, and enhance the weaknesses and strengths of the other. If this is a blend that will be adopted to a greater extent in the future, we can only be hopeful that it shines the same way as in GBC.
 
All of this is to say, the show is a clinic of technical excellence – but so far this is all just an anatomy lesson. We have yet to speak of the soul of the show, of the writing and the characters, and just as much care, thought, and effort went into crafting that spirit as did the body for it to live in.
 
The cast of GBC, and their relationships, are by turns beautifully, hideously, startlingly human. Let’s not pretend they aren’t cute anime girls, they certainly are, but they are also a diverse and thoughtfully-written group of complex, flawed, self-contradictory, self-destructive young people. The soul of the disillusioned counterculture rocker abides deeply within them, manifesting in a myriad of flavors: Nina’s adamantly inflexible self-righteousness and anger at the world for constantly disappointing her idealism; Momoka’s wounded cynicism and trust issues, still moving forward but only in a kind of bleak inertia at times; Subaru’s awareness and dislike of her own two-faced facade, though she is in fact healthier in her relationship with herself and her problems than most of the others; Tomo’s deeply antisocial perfectionist nature at odds with a desperate desire to be heard, included, and valued.
 
Finally, there is the contrasting spice to the rest of the cast, Rupa. The only true adult in the band, in a maturity sense if not an age sense, the tragedy in Rupa’s past dwarfs all the other girls’ first world problems, but her whimsy and gentle kindness is of one of those extraordinary people who were able to emerge from hardship with their wisdom and empathy tempered by the experience, to be a blessing to all who encounter them.
 
The cautious friendships between these girls, all hurting in their own ways, tentatively reaching out despite their fears of more pain and disappointment, are all the more endearing, all the more believable for their frequent clashes. The arc of this group of young women is of groping slowly toward greater understanding and greater unity, with their resonating feelings of hesitance and fear leading ultimately to an intense trust and comradery that might otherwise be impossible. There are many funny, cheerful, and feel-good moments that are all the stronger and better for the struggles betwixt.
 
And in fact, the moments when the choice of 3DCG shines the most is not in its sumptuously-wrought performances, but in these moments, the emotionally intense interchanges between characters. There is a subtlety and intimacy to the interplay of the body language at these times that 2D simply cannot replicate, and it adds so much to the effectiveness of emotional scenes. I won’t spoil, but there are many movements, touches, and gestures that you will remember later as defining moments of the show.
 
The only real weak point in this glorious mélange is that the show makes liberal use of stock “girl band drama” tropes to drive its greater ambitions. There are times, more than once, when you may roll your eyes at another “X is threatening to quit the band!” moment, or feel yourself benumbed at “will they cancel the event?!” furor. But if this is an anatomy lesson, think of these moments as the bones of the show, supporting the meat. This unassuming scaffolding is what makes the great performances, the growth of the band, and the wonderful, ugly, beautiful character moments possible.
 
But yuri, you ask? Well…in the classic sense of the word, this is a very yuri show, one that is centered on deeply emotional, consequential relationships between women. But if you are asking about romance specifically, the picture must largely be one of your own making. Nina and Momoka have a particular scene that would be easy to read in an explicitly romantic way but (as often happens with such moments in anime), the show never follows up on that moment or invites the participating characters to reflect on what it meant, leaving the viewer to fend for themselves. Of more interest to me is Tomo and Rupa, who come into the show with an established relationship of deep trust, intimacy, and mutual care which is so beautiful to see. Again nothing is ever confirmed, but it is worth noting, Rupa is more than once shown to be incredibly popular with the female fans…
 
Well, I better stop here. I haven’t even mentioned the music itself! Which is its own galaxy of interest and execution that could be talked about! Go watch the show!
 
Ratings:
 
Art – Honestly? 10. For sheer craft and the success of that craft, nothing more could reasonably be asked.
Story – 7, the show frequently resorts to the tried-and-true “band drama” playbook, but it’s all in service of the,
Characters – For me 10, a frequently irritatingly human, always supremely lovable cast of prickly young women and their relationships.
Service – 1, there are a vanishingly few number of scenes and shots that could be taken this way.
Yuri – 3, there are two couples here if you want them, but you must do the mental legwork yourself. Rupa’s a ladykiller though, that much is certain.
 
Overall – 10, an amazing achievement and its success is richly deserved.
 
Girls Band Cry is, finally and at length, available for purchase on the Microsoft Store, Amazon Video, Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu), and for free on Hoopla if you are fortunate enough to be a member of a library within the Hoopla network (unlike my local library). If this distribution seems odd, you aren’t alone in thinking so; this is not the first Toei work to have a confusing and difficult path to the West, and probably won’t be the last. But it’s here now. Take advantage of it.




3 Days at AnimeNYC, Event Report by Matias Mintz

September 11th, 2024

Logo for AnimeNYC

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Friday, 12:15pm, and I’m tiptoeing in a bathroom stall, cautiously stepping on my shoes, one at a time, avoiding the floor as if it were lava, getting changed into my Kyouko Sakura (Madoka Magica) cosplay, preparing to attend Erica’s first panel at AnimeNYC. I’m 35 years old and I’ve never cosplayed in my whole life. It’s my third time at AnimeNYC, and every year I told myself that I would dress up as my favorite character, Kyouko. But for some reason, I always found excuses not to do it, and always regretted it. Each flight back to Argentina, I promised myself that next year I would, for sure.

That’s why the excitement of getting into my stockings, my skirt, and my frilly dress is so overpowering that I forget what this bathroom stall has seen before me and what it will endure with its next occupant. I come out, and the only thing left is the final touch: the cute bow.

The transformation sequence is complete. I am now a Magical Girl.

Hello, world!

 

AnimeNYC 2024, Javits Center full of anime and manga themed banners and people in costume. Photo by Matias Mintz, 2024.

 

“The Rise of Queer Manga” was an amazing panel about how Yuri and BL evolved into queer narratives that explore LGBTQ+ representation, both through memoir and fictional writing. The panel was great not only because of the diverse voices and perspectives with a strong presence in the industry, but also because the panelists were fans themselves, and it showed in the way they spoke. When a panelist’s voice breaks while speaking about something that’s important to them, you know it’s rooted in deep love for the works being covered. It’s heartwarming to see folks who resonate with the medium in the same way that I do. On top of being informative and emotive, it was genuinely fun. The crowd had a great time; we all laughed with the four panelists gushing over their recommendations, and, of course, we cheered each time we heard our favorite mangas mentioned.

Works that I want to check out after attending this panel: Just Like Mona Lisa (Tsumuji Yoshimura), Boys Run the Riot (Keito Gaku), Until I Meet My Husband (Ryousuke Nanasaki).

 

 

 

After that great start, I saw the immensity of this year’s convention; the Javits Center was packed even though it was a Friday. Aside from the date, there were some other changes from last year. Everything was bigger, and there was more of it, but at the same time, it didn’t feel as exciting. Speaking for myself, there weren’t many international guests that I was eager to see, except for Chiwa Saito, but, of course, I didn’t win the lottery for her signing session. I also found the layout of the booths and tables harder to understand; I got lost quite often when trying to backtrack to a shop that had something I liked, which, more often than not, was somewhat on the expensive side.

Another thing that surprised me was the lack of variety in terms of shows and merch. It seemed like everyone played it safe and only carried items from classic shows (Evangelion, Sailor Moon, Madoka, etc.), ultra-popular shows (Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, etc.), popular video games (Honkai Star Rail, Genshin, etc.), and trendy or seasonal anime (Frieren, Demon Slayer, etc.). I love some of those series, but I was looking for merchandise from more niche series, and I didn’t find it.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of the Frieren merch was very shippy, and that bothered me. Himmel was everywhere, as if the only reason for Frieren to exist was to pair her, the strongest sorcerer of all time, with him, the blue-eyed hero. It was honestly disappointing to see that a significant focus surrounding the series was disconnected from what makes the show beautiful to me. There wasn’t even Flamme, Eisen or Heiter merchandise, mainly Frieren, Himmel, Fern, and Stark. That merch doesn’t pass the Bechdel Test, I swear. I have to admit that if I had found anything with Kanne and Lawine, I would have bought it though… Oh, well.

 

One of my highlights was meeting Erica, Sean Gaffney, and Rica Takashima at Erica’s table. It was great seeing a very brief history of Yuri on the wall, with the ships we had discussed on Discord. It was fun to see how our online chats led to real-life connections. We shared a few Alfajores and Conitos de Dulce de Leche that I brought from Argentina, we discussed academic topics, I received tons of recommendations, and bought a beautiful tote bag with Rica’s art.

Erica won’t tell you, but as early as the start of Day 2, she sold out every last book she brought to the convention. (Erica here: Oh yes, I will absolutely tell people! ^_^ Buy my book! Buy my book!!)

While I was at the Yen Press booth and checking out the preview of The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All, I started chatting with someone who was also looking at the book. As it turns out, she had bought By Your Side and a few Yuri prints!

 

Matias Mintz as a magical girl and Erica Friedman posing in front of a wall of images from Yuri anime at Anime NYC 2024. Photo by Matias Mintz

 

When the bells announced 7 pm, I tried to go to the cosplay changing rooms before my carriage turned into a pumpkin, but they were already closed, so I had to wait for a bathroom stall to clear up to change back into my everyday clothes. Again the tiptoeing, again the dance around the shoes, again the regret of having to change to take the train.

But… why?

That’s the question that I kept asking myself during the ride back to Brooklyn.

And that’s how I realized that I wanted to fight against that fear, and why, the next day, I got changed in my room and went out on the street with my costume on. The feeling was incredibly liberating.

While I was sitting on the train, a lady came and told me that she loved my outfit; it felt so nice ❀. That was just the start of it, because during that day and the next, two more people on the street (non-con-goers) complimented the cosplay!

I love checking the artist alley, so I spent a lot of time walking there and examining every table, but after three days, I said goodbye to my dream of getting a Sweet Blue Flowers t-shirt, charm, keychain, enamel pin, or whatever I could get my hands on. I did get to meet Pemprika again, and we chatted a lot about Houseki no Kuni, Madoka, and Utena. I also left all my earthly possessions at her store because her art is beautiful.

 

 

I never take pictures of myself because I just don’t know what to do; I feel self-conscious and awkward. But, by being Kyouko, I had a few people come to me and ask for pictures of my cosplay. I was anxious but excited at the same time, and even though the first few ones were probably not great, I felt more at ease with each photo. I even ended up taking a picture with someone who was cosplaying Aya from The Guy She Was Interested In…

On Saturday, I attended the “Category Is: Magical Person Realness” panel, which explored queerness and queer coding within the Magical Girl genre. I found myself sobbing a lot with the fragments presented and laughing a lot with the commentaries. To wrap up the panel, there was a very fun fan-voting session to determine the definitive Magical Girl ship, in which Madoka and Homura won against Haruka and Michiru in a very tight final. I was pleasantly surprised that Cocona and Papika made it very far in the brackets.

Works to check out after attending this panel: Witch Hat Atelier, Kill la Kill.

On Sunday, I attended the other panel where Erica was participating; this time it was “A History of Manga by Decade: Manga’s History Two Books at a Time,” where Zack Davisson and Erica did a great job immersing the audience in a trip through Japan’s modern history told through comics. I loved this panel so much that I wished it lasted another hour or, at least, included a few more books per decade because it was incredibly rich, and Zack and Erica made a really entertaining and thought-provoking team.

From this panel, I need to check out more information on Shigeru Mizuki, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (Hitoshi Ashinano), and Our Dreams at Dusk (Yuhki Kamatani).

 

ANYC 2024 Manga By the Decade Zack Davisson, Erica Friedman, Jillian Rudes, photo by Matias Mintz

 

 

After that, I wandered around taking pictures of cosplayers, checking out booths I had missed, and realizing that post-con depression had set in earlier than expected.

As people flooded out of our glass castle into the streets of New York, I made my way back to the subway.

And there, suddenly, in the reflection of a train platform timetable, I found myself: that 12 13-year-old in love with Asuka and wanting to be her at the same time. Projecting myself as the character who had to act tough because that’s what she thought society demanded, constantly looking for validation from others rather than loving herself.

My younger self, entangled in video games, always picking the heroine, always identifying with the princess, always longing to be them.
The make-do mirror returned the image of a strong, proud, magical girl, a few directions on how to get to Brooklyn, and an arriving train schedule.

Erica here once again: Thank you Matias! It was amazing meeting you…and I am still enjoying the sweets you brought. ^_^

For those of you wondering where my report is…well Sean Gaffney and I did a very rich review of the American Manga Awards that should post soon on Anime Herald…and I have a special treat from Yen Press coming up (!), so check back for that! ^_^ It was an amazing event, as usual. I hope to return again soon.





Otherside Picnic, Volume 10

July 24th, 2024

Two women stand back to back. The shorter with collar-length dark hair in a green jacket over striped shirt holds her hand up to her face near a blue eye, that does not match her other brown eye. Behind her is a taller women with long, blonde hair, looking back over her left shoulder at us. In the background are a tall girl with red hair, her hand on a shorter girl's shoulder. The shorter girl holds up a fist as if ready to protect the other girl.by Sandy Ferguson, Guest Reviewer

Otherside Picnic, Volume 10 includes the satisfying conclusion of ‘Sannuki and the Karate Kid’, the beginning of ‘The Whisper Is At-Your-Own-Risk’ and the always welcome bonus Kozakura story ‘Getting Lost in Self-Loathing’, the title is a bit of a spoiler…

In this volume the events of the stories happen in our world. Sorawo and Toriko do not enter the Otherside, instead they are responding to the Otherside interacting with our world in both stories, though in very different ways.

Throughout this volume Sorawo shares her thoughts concerning the nature of the Otherside and how it becomes part of our world.

And through conversations Sorawo explores the distinction between those who actively seek an encounter with the Otherside, people like her and Toriko who are willing to risk the consequences of such an encounter, compared with those who stumble on a ‘patch’ of the Otherside that has somehow infiltrated our world. This is partly as an explanation of why she is willing to help those who stumble into the Otherside, but as she also makes clear she doesn’t want to deal with them being a nuisance who might get in the way of her and Toriko’s fun.

We hear more of Sorawo’s definitions of urban lore and ghost stories and why the distinction is so important to her, with a harrowing glimpse into her childhood to explain why this is the case.

One aspect of Otherside Picnic I appreciate is the ability to portray the presence of the Otherside in an ordinary setting that I find unsettling. For example, Sorawo’s response to seeing Satsuki in a crowd and what happens next.

Satsuki Uruma looms more and more into the narrative throughout this volume in a variety of ways, such as Sorawo becoming annoyed when people are happy to tell her that she looks like Satsuki.

Satsuki haunts Sorawo’s life, not just with her presence, but her fears of what will happen if she shares with Kozakura and especially Toriko that she can see Satsuki. We see more of the connections that Satsuki made, the young women who were drawn to her and who she recruits. The question that arises is what was Satuski’s objective bringing these young women into her vision of the Otherside?

In ‘The Whisper Is At-Your-Own-Risk’ we meet Runa Urumi, also known as Luna-sama, a Satsuki devotee touched by the Otherside with a talent that is a powerful illustration of the consequences of what happens when elements of the Otherside being deliberately introduced into our world.

But it is useful to remember that Satsuki and her ilk are not the only people bringing the Otherside into our world. Sorawo uses the gift of her eye to prepare Akari for her confrontation with the Kano Sannuki.

‘The Whisper Is At-Your-Own-Risk’ is one of my favourite stories from the novels, and the manga has already got a good start in its version of the story, with its dramatic recreation of the kidnap, the story of Luna-sama being touched by the Otherside and Sorawo’s realisation that she has to face the trauma of her past as she is confronted by held captive by a cult who worship Luna-sama.

I am really looking forward to Volume 11, which comes out in November!

I was particularly drawn to the bonus short story, “Getting Lost in Self-Loathing”. As always, we are invited to witness Kozakura’s perspective on events, and this one was a doozie. Kozakura’s honesty about her complicated feelings about Satsuki, Toriko and Sorawo and how they had drawn her into the Otherside is compelling and raw.

Sorawo’s role in Kozakura’s musings are particularly interesting, as Kozakura expresses a combination of annoyance with a dash of gratitude over how Sorawo has changed her life.

Ratings:

Story – 9

Artwork – 9 “A whole lot of…teeth?” is a scene that will be haunting my dreams. And then there is the ethical dilemma, can we enjoy the wonderful artwork of Akari beating up what looks like an old woman?

Character – 9 We are given more glimpses of the complexity that is Sorawo, how she responds to the trauma of her childhood and how this has shaped her ability to be in relationship with other people. And ‘Getting Lost in Self-Loathing is an excellent character study of Kozakura

Service – 7

Yuri – 8 In this volume we are introduced to more potential Yuri thanks to Natsumi and Akari.

Overall – 9