Archive for the Guest Review Category


How Do We Relationship, Volume 8 Guest Review by Matt Marcus

February 8th, 2023

In a watercolor-style image, a woman with short, black hair, in a brown shell with a light gray plaid short over it. She wears a guitar case over her left shoulder. Her eyes are closed, but she's smiling broadly, with her left hand half lifted, as is she's about to reach out or wave. White letters read "How Do We Relationship?" in black letters, "art and story by Tamifull." A black number 8 is in white word balloon, as if the woman is thinking it.Welcome to another Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu. Matt Marcus is back again to cover Tamifull’s continuing series of young adult life that has a lot of layers to parse. Please welcome Matt back and give him your attention. Matt, the mic is yours…!

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, such as the JRPG games club podcast Lightning Strikes Thrice, which is currently covering Final Fantasy VIII.

In Volume 8 of How Do We Relationship While Still Being Friends With Our Exes, we follow Miwa and Saeko as they try to learn….well you get the idea.

Saeko and Yuria are still enjoying each other’s company, but their mutual dislike of being touched has put their sex life in suspended animation. Miwa, who accidentally baited Tamaki into a confession using her cat (so this time the cat outed the girl from…the bag…hmm), is nevertheless trying to maintain the status quo with her kohai in fear that her crush will lead to another debilitating heartbreak.

During the Band Club summer retreat, Tamaki starts flirtatiously teasing Miwa, or as one chapter aptly calls it, “Messing With You, To Great Satisfaction.” Miwa continues to hesitate, but Tamaki’s escalating pursuit–and a small push from Saeko–leads her to open up about her feelings. The two begin dating, which raises the dual thorny issues of Tamaki’s plan to transfer to another school and how to handle introducing their relationship to Tamaki’s friends.

I have a confession to make: I did not like Tamaki when she first showed up. But credit where credit’s due, Tamaki steals the show here. After a volume and half of getting closer, then backing off, only to get closer again, the way in which she pushes forward towards Miwa here is a very refreshing change. Something I noticed as well is that there are moments where the art shows her in a much more attractive light, particularly when she is acting confident. Compared to previous volumes, it’s one hell of a glow-up. Plus, she gets to show some developing maturity during her date with Miwa as they discuss their potential future.  I knew that the story would pair her up with Miwa, but what I was not prepared for was coming away from this volume thoroughly convinced that Tamaki is worth rooting for.

What makes Tamaki more than just a new love interest is how she poses as a foil to Saeko. Both are quite blunt and have a tendency to drop a biting line here and there towards Miwa. In a way, Tamaki’s harsher comments resemble some of Saeko’s in the first three volumes, such as when she calls Miwa a “bit of a wimp.” However, Tamaki’s are more on the line of teasing instead of insecure lashing out. Also, as time has gone on it’s become more clear that Saeko’s “toughness” that Miwa so idolized was a falsity; for Tamaki, her “difficult personality” is just who she is, and it’s that fortitude that pushes her through the various homophobic reactions of her friends when she comes out about her relationship with Miwa. It made me think back to Volume 6 where Saeko says that Miwa’s next girlfriend would need to be mentally tough to weather the challenges of being queer in a society that is openly hostile to it. It’s as if Tamaki read the job requirements before applying, but not in a “too convenient to be believable” way. 

Just to camp out on the coming out scene a bit more, the economy of storytelling Tamifull employs is worth highlighting. There’s a denial (“No way!”), a joke (“you’re just playing at dating, right?”), a somewhat condescending acceptance (“oh that’s very trendy of you!”), AND a flat-out rejection (“I don’t like people like that, it’s gross.”), all in the span of a few pages. It’s pretty impressive stuff, plus it gets those issues out of the way so the story can focus on the relationship itself going forward.

All of that said, there are still other developments going on. The most important one is how Miwa and Saeko’s friendship has continued to change. Miwa is trying to stay close, thinking of Saeko as her best friend, while Saeko is trying to pull back because, despite what she thinks, she’s still not completely over Miwa. The asymmetry of their feelings and how they process them internally is nuanced in a very compelling way. It is also fairly evident that the next volume will put Saeko more in the spotlight, since we did not see much progress about her body issues in this volume–not that she doesn’t play a big role in these chapters, but the Miwa/Tamaki story definitely took top billing.

The last plot thread I think is worth mentioning is the entanglement of Rika and Mikkun. It’s a case of the unstoppable force of casual sex meeting the immovable serial-dating object. I’ve mentioned being curious about Rika’s role in this story in past reviews, so perhaps we may see some progress here. Or it can just be a vehicle for jokes at Mikkun’s expense. I give it 70/30 towards the latter.

There are countless little positives I’d like to call out, like Yuria’s realistic body shape, the callbacks to the first band retreat, Saeko’s many new hairstyles that have clearly been done by Yuria. I’ve found the more time I spend revisiting previous chapters, the more I find moments where these later volumes carry echoes of the earlier ones in a way that I find very satisfying.

I think this is a fantastic volume, with deliciously playful tension and gentle but meaningful character development. Also, if you’ve been waiting for Good Things to happen for Miwa, you’re gonna love how this goes.

Art – 9 Fantastic paneling, great use of light and shadow, strong perspective choices–I’d say it’s the best looking volume so far
Story – 9 There are some predictable beats here, but the timbre continues to impress
Characters – 9 Tamaki won me over this volume
Service – 4 There’s a lot of non-sexual intimacy while nude, which is a form of service
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 9 Got a complicated friendship between exes AND two couples to boot

Overall – 9 Band camp continues to deliver fireworks (just not literally this time)

Can I admit that I’m a mark for POV shots that take into account height differences? I mean, I just did, but we can be cool about it, right? Right.

Erica here: Totally cool. ^_^  Thanks very much, Matt for this insightful review. You’ve clarified some of my thoughts on this series, as well. It continues to feel more “real” than just almost anything else I’m reading these days for better and ill. ^_^





My Idol Sits the Next Desk Over 5, Guest Review by Luce

February 1st, 2023

On a white background, two girls stand arm-9in-arm, making "peace sign" gestures near their eyes as if for a photo op. One girl has light brown hair in two pigtails and wears a yellow sweater vest. The other has red-brown hair worn loose, no vest over her white blouse. Both wear red bows and teal skirts. In black letters, the titles reads, "My Idol Sits The Next Desk Over" - they word Idol is highlighted with larger letters and yellow glow. In red, letters "Story By" and "Art by" then, in black letter, "Tetsu Tsitsui" Koyubi Sugawara" respectively. A black number 5 is backed by a white square surrounded by a re flower design Welcome once again to Guest Review Wednesday here on Okazu! I’m very pleased to welcome back Guest Reviewer Luce with another fun review. Please give Luce your kind attention and good will. That said, take it away, Luce!

It’s been a while! I’m Luce, occasional guest reviewer and long-time manga reader, with more books than I know what to do with. In any case, a review of a book I can’t get in physical form (yet, I did ask Kodansha though. They said no), My Idol Sits the Next Desk Over, Volume 5!

 
We’ve gotten to know Sakiko, Maaya and Chihiro, watching them grow into themselves, change to lesser or greater degrees, and get closer as friends. We’ve seen Spring Sunshine become more popular, such that Chihiro landed an acting role, and in practicing acting with Maaya, things get a little bit yuri… maybe?
 
The first part to this is the cliffhanger to the acting practice episode. I genuinely wasn’t sure how they were going to finish this, but while (spoiler!) Maaya and Chihiro don’t kiss, Sakiko is left with the idea that Maaya is in love with Chihiro – honestly, she’s not wrong, really, but she’s more confused about her own feelings. The drama Chihiro was practicing for goes on air, and is quite weird, to the confusion of everyone. But it gains a fan following – meaning Chihiro gets some solo work on various talk shows, including one that a fellow SpringShine member, Asuka, has always wanted to be on. In discussing her concerns with Sakiko, they get closer. Sakiko and Maaya go on a school trip to Kamakura, and end up doing a pilgrimage around some sights included in a Spring Shine video. Finally, the three of them have an overnight trip.
 
This felt like a volume where they really started to think about how they all feel about each other. I’ve no idea what the endgame pairing is, or if there even is one, really – I could actually see it being any combination of the three – but Sakiko thinks about the fact that Maaya is “in love with” Chihiro, and at one point tries to ascertain what her own feelings are in comparison. Maaya, on the other hand, comes up against her original lie – that she wasn’t already a huge fan of Spring Shine and Chihiro before meeting her – and finds herself battling to try and tell her.
 
Maaya does something in this volume that Sakiko gets rightly mad at her for, and I’m all for it. It’s an invasion of Sakiko’s and Chihiro’s privacy, and I’m really glad that she gets angry. She still stands by Maaya in many ways, but it also shows how far she’s come – I’m not sure she would have been able to do this a few volumes ago. I feel like these two definitely got on a more level footing, which is nice. Maaya, for her due, seems less certain about her actions – she’s not as gung ho and self-assured all the time. I’m hoping for more development next volume, although sadly, volume 5 had been out for a while, and Kodansha hasn’t updated the website to state when volume 6 might be coming out. Might be in for a wait. I’m intrigued to see where this leads, whenever we get it!
 
 
Story: 8
Yuri: 6, definitely getting there
Art: 9, props for actually having a difference between a character wearing make-up, minimal make-up, and no make-up
Service: 1? There is a bath scene, but not really any service
Overall: 8

I’m hoping volume 6 isn’t too far away. In the meantime, I’ll be watching MagiRevo!

Erica here: Thank you so much Luce for keeping up with this series for us! I’m glad it’s “getting there”!





Run Away With Me Girl, Volume 1, Guest Review by Matt Rolf

January 25th, 2023

 With the blue sky as a background, we look up at two young women in what can be understood as wedding dresses.. One with flowers in her light brown hair touches the lips and cheek of the other, with dark hair and glasses. "Run Away With Me Girl," and "Battan" are in black, handwriting font letters, The number 1 in black is surrounded by a circle of words that reads "Run Away With Me Girl," in a smaller type.Welcome to another exciting Guest Review on Wednesday on Okazu!  Today we welcome a new reviewer, Matt Rolf with a look at an intense new series. Let’s give him a warm Okazu welcome and don’t forget to leave a kind word on the comments for him! Matt, the floor is yours….

Creating art that deals with abusive relationships in queer contexts is challenging. The cultural canon contains a long list of works where queers get what they deserve for being gay.  Likewise, queer relationships often exist in spaces between gay and straight, without clear distinctions or categories that allow the participants an easy way to figure things out. Run Away With Me Girl, Volume 1, by Battan, begins by tackling both these fraught topics, and the results are rocky. Content Warning: Domestic Violence.

Midori and Makimura formed a close romantic relationship in high school. They split up at graduation because Midori thought they had outgrown their girlish relationship. Ten years on, Maki is single and still wants to be with Midori, while Midori is engaged to a man. When the two women meet by chance before Midori’s wedding, they rekindle their friendship. The first volume of Run Away With Me Girl contains the first six of sixteen episodes in Maki and Midori’s story.

Both of Midori’s relationships, the one with her fiancé Tonoike, and the one with Maki, are not what one would call healthy. Midori herself has an outlook of self-doubt, and struggles to reconcile her identity and desires with society’s expectations. Some panels explore Tonoike and Maki’s individual backgrounds and experiences, but Midori’s struggle is at the core of the story. The themes of the book become increasingly dark as the novel goes on, culminating in an indefensible act.

The character artwork is detailed and attractive, appropriately contrasted with mostly sparse backgrounds. The economy of the artwork is not intrusive, and several panels are fully rendered in a beautiful way. Battan has done very well with the most important parts of the visuals, and the result is pleasing to look at.

This book is definitely yuri, but the relationships depicted are difficult and may not be enjoyable for the reader to return to later. Maki is clear-eyed in her love for Midori, and that’s where the clarity ends. Fan service is light: there are a few panels of kissing and holding hands, with some panels of Midori naked. The drawings of Midori are more about vulnerability than titillation.

The focus of the book is on the fairly realistic portrayal of an imperfect set of adults navigating unhealthy relationships that may or may not be worth the effort. Readers who can relate to these experiences may find it difficult to finish the book. The story is well told and gives the reader food for thought after they put down the book. I suspect these characters have a lot more to go through before they find their resolution.

Final Verdict: A book you keep on your shelf because it’s good, but don’t read much because it’s hard. This series is published by Kodansha Comics, with translation by Kevin Steinbach and lettering by Jennifer Skarupa,  

Ratings

Art – 7
Story 8 – +3 for undertaking a challenging narrative, +2 for mostly succeeding, -2 for there’s a reason the narrative is challenging.
Characters – 5 Given the meat of the story, the characters are a little underdeveloped.
Service – 3
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

Erica here: Thanks Matt, I appreciate you taking a look at this series for us!

 
 




77 Oleander Avenue Ghost House Investigation, Guest Review by Patricia B.

January 18th, 2023

Title image of 77 Oleander Avenue, Ghost House Investigation, written out in white letters. The image is dark and moody, showing a brown-skinned woman with red short curly hair, hunched over herself, blood visible on her white tank top. A wine bottle label shows a woman in a red dress. A broken window in the background.Welcome to our first Guest Review Wednesday of 2023! I’m extremely pleased to welcome back Guest Reviwer, Patricia B. on her own account and also because she is here to tell us all about a Visual Novel of note. Thank you Patricia, the floor is yours!

My name is Patricia Baxter (she/her). I am a bisexual autistic writer who has previously written articles concerning how media represents different marginalized communities. You can find more of my work through my personal website “Autistic Observations”.

July 22nd, 2022.  Tabby, a paranormal investigator, wakes up in a dilapidated and abandoned house without her phone, wallet, keys, or memory of how even she got there.  She quickly realizes that she is not alone in the house, upon meeting a ghost named Evie who is significantly better at being adorable than she is at scaring people.  Tabby soon sets up a plan: find her lost items, remember why she woke up at 77 Oleander Avenue, learn more about Evie, and perhaps even uncover the truth behind the house’s final residents: the Larkspur family.  That is if she can survive the night.

77 Oleander Avenue Ghost House Investigation is a visual novel that reminded me just how much I love video games and the unique forms of storytelling that can only be experienced through the medium.  Runa Liore Winters pulled no punches in crafting a horror game that is deeply unsettling to experience, even upon re-exploration.  The writing, visuals, and audio design, all work in tandem to create a place that may have been a house once but was never really home.  The sound design deserves especially high praise, both for its soundtrack and sound effects, which not only allow the player to empathize with the experiences of the protagonists but also feel the house’s hostility surround them through their headphones.  Furthermore, the interactive and cyclical nature of video games helps add to the terror of being trapped in a haunted house.  

At its core, 77 Oleander Avenue is a queer horror game both in terms of its protagonists and central themes.  Tabby and Evie are two delightful lesbians who are the type of endearingly charming people I would be more than happy to befriend in reality and still clearly human in their complexities and personal baggage.  Additionally, the game posits important questions about queerness and how it impacts how we are remembered after we are gone.  In a world deeply entrenched in cissexist and heteronormative ways of viewing people, historical accounts of queer people tend to be ignored at “best” or have their lives entirely rewritten at worst.  It has only been recently through the efforts of the LGBTQ+ community, that we are beginning to uncover those lost histories.  Tabby considers this question as she explores the house, and we see the effects of this erasure as we learn more about Evie’s past.

For all my praise for this game, it is still one where I insist upon reading the content warnings the developer helpfully provides before fully diving in, as the game is full of scenes that may be deeply triggering for queer players and/or those who grew up in abusive households with strict religious upbringings.  I personally found it was better to play the game over three days, one for each level of the house, as this was an effective way of tackling the game’s heavy content without emotionally exhausting myself.

Overall, 77 Oleander Avenue Ghost House Investigation is an exquisite example of the type of stories we can only tell in video games, and one of the greatest examples of queer horror I have ever experienced.  And yes, you can pet and name the (metal inanimate) dog.

You can purchase the game either on Steam or itch.io.

Visual Art: 9 (the game relies more on photography than the digital art typically associated with indie games in the genre, so YMMV on how well that works for you)

Music & Sound Design: 10
Story: 10
Characters: 10 (Tabby & Evie feel like real people, as do the other characters for better and for worse)
Service: 0 (violence is there for discomfort, not salaciousness)
LGBTQ+: 10 

Overall: 10

Thank you so much, Patricia!  This sounds like an intriguing visual novel that I am sure folks here will be interested in.





Soulmate, Volume 2, Guest Review by Laurent Lignon

December 21st, 2022

Welcome back to Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu! This time of year is always too-busy here and this year I have complicated matters for myself by trying to squeeze out one last video for Yuri Studio before the end of the year, as well as the Okazu Patron Holiday Party! So thank you, as always to Journaliste/Chroniqueur Laurent Lignon for taking time to share this review of Soulmate, Volume 2 . Laurent reviewed Volume 1 last spring. So, let’s jump right into it – take it away, Laurent!

It is time for us to go back to the story of Qi, a Chinese lesbian teacher whose mind has been switched in time with her past teenage self. Will she then be able to save the woman she loves from the disease that is slowly killing her? Soulmate has been released as a webtoon, in Mandarin Chinese by Kuaikan Manhua and the printed version in French by Nazca Editions.

IN THE PRESENT : The relationship of Yuanzi and Qi was anonymously revealed on social networks, and by no one other than Xinjue, Qi’s student assistant. As the homophobic flame starts to rise online, Qi is temporarily laid off by her administration until the rumor calms down. For Teenage Qi, who is still struggling to adapt herself to an adult life in an adult body, the blow is hard. Her lover Yuanzi tries to calm her down by organizing a meeting with their old high school friends, only for Qi to ask to meet the only person she remembers from her teenage years that was supportive to her : her father. However, Teenage Qi learns that she hasn’t seen her father for seven years : when she came out to him while he was in a middle of his divorce, he overreacted and rejected her, pushing her to cut all ties with him in order to stay with Yuanzi. As Teenage Qi confronts her father about accepting her life of Yuanzi, she has an unexpected encounter with Chen Shuo, the boy who was in love with her during high school and was unable to express his feelings for her. Unknown to them, this encounter lead to a sudden change…

IN THE PAST : Adult Qi is still actively trying to date Yuanzi years before they became an official couple, in order to push her to be diagnosed and treated for the disease that will kill her 10 years later, and which Yuanzi is yet unaware she has. However, Adult Qi starts to see that things are changing from her memories and not in the way she expects it. First, a painting done by Yuanzi and inspired by Qi is stolen. Then, Chen Shuo confesses his love to her, something he never did in the original timeline. Hearing this, and thinking Qi may actually love Chen Shuo and think of her as nothing more than a friend, Yuanzi run away, leading to Qi chasing after her and hurting her ankle in the process. This accident allows for a long conversation between the two girls, in which finally Adult Qi confesses her true feelings for Yuanzi, further changing their past.

Let me be clear : a lot of things happen in those 200 pages. The story written by WenzhiLizi is gripping, rooted in everyday life and will speak to everyone, with all the characters being well developed and having a distinct personality. Most importantly, this development sheds a new light on the personality of two characters : Chen Shuo, who is finally revealed to have spend his whole life in the shadow of the love between Qi and Yuanzi, and is unable to move forward with his life ; and Xinjue, who is revealed to be secretly in love with Qi and, behind a friendly and helpful face, a manipulative personality who anonymously reveal Qi’s homosexuality online out of spite when she understands that her love will never be returned.

The struggle of Teenage Qi to adapt to adult life is paralleled in the way past Yuanzi learns to accept her own sexuality : both girls hide their true feelings and personality behind the mask of shyness, until they manage to accept their love for each other. In some ways, this is a classic ‘master and student’ story, with each of the main characters playing the opposite role in each of the different timelines. This is a story that had me totally hooked, the thin veil of sci-fi never hiding the beautiful slice of life I’ve read here.

ART : 7 – Keranbing’s art is still good looking, even with computer-colors (mind you, it was first designed to be read on cellphones and e-readers). It suits the story well, the only flaw I can find is that nearly all adult male characters don’t seem to have aged a bit during the 10 years gap between the two timelines : lucky bastards!

STORY : 8 – Even better than the first volume, with higher stakes and many twists. However, I think that the part about the forced coming out on social media is important but not as developed as I had hoped it would be. This is quite a problem in the real world, and it would have been interesting to see it tackled more deeply here.

CHARACTER : 9 – All characters get more fleshed out, even the secondary ones. More importantly, all motivations behind actions get explained. The past is changing, and with it the way each people see themselves and their place in the present little play.

SERVICE : 0 – Not even a kiss.

YURI : 10 – A lesbian time-traveling into the past to save the life of her lover and live happily ever long after with her : how more Yuri can you get ?

OVERALL: I won’t lie, I read it in a single take. While the sci-fi nerd that I am is quick to point out some small inconsistencies (time paradoxes, all the way!!), it never distracted me from the fact that this is a well written story, with charming characters that are easy to get attached to.

I can’t wait to read the third and final volume, for they all deserve their happy ending (yes, even poor Chen Shuo and jealous Xinjue!)

“to answer your question: the person I love is currently carrying me on her back.”

Erica here: Fantastic. I wonder what Volume 3 will bring! Thank you again, Laurent.