Archive for the Guest Review Category


Run Away With Me Girl, Volume 3

May 22nd, 2024

Two women in wedding dresses laugh happily holding a colorful bouquetGuest Review by Matt Rolf

Having run away with high school friend Makimura as an adult in Volume 2, Midori wants to keep running in Run Away with Me Girl, Volume 3. Fortunately for her and for the reader, we are finally at a point in this series where Midori has to make a clear decision about what she’s going to do. Battan graciously provides some clarity and closure to this interesting series, but don’t expect much more than that in this final volume.

The first volume of this series was rocky and dealt with challenging relationship questions; the second volume gave the characters space on an island away from the ordinary to try and answer those questions. The third volume, by comparison, is something of a letdown. The main plot point gets wrapped up, but a lot of the hard issues raised by the first two volumes get swept under the rug.

What is sexual orientation? How does that square with societal expectations and our own desire? How do we reconcile our day-to-day responsibilities when they may not be compatible with our core values? What if we push our core values away and make toxic choices in an attempt to meet those responsibilities? What does it mean to commit to someone? And what does it mean to unwind one’s life after having committed? All of these questions are raised implicitly or explicitly by the first two books. While these are admittedly hard questions without easy answers, the final payoff comes without addressing them fully. Maki and Midori’s epilogue is fine, if a bit too obvious. Komari’s epilogue is annoying, bordering on infuriating to this reviewer.

Perhaps, like Midori through most of this work, we’re not supposed to think too hard about the answers to those questions. Maybe the answers are just matters of the heart. Even so, I think the characters deserved a more thorough reckoning with the choices that they made. Maybe once Battan has some distance to this story they will reconsider and give us another volume.

The artwork is still good, but the impact is less than the first two volumes. Battan gives the culmination of the book the rich attention it deserves. Outside of that, the drawings don’t hit that hard.

Finally, this book is yuri. Exhausting, aggravating, and annoying, but in the end, yuri: the exploration of a semi-toxic relationship between women that concludes with as little character growth as possible. And that, if nothing else, will make you think.

Final Verdict: A disappointing ending to a challenging series.
Series Verdict: Worth reading and thinking about.

Published by Kodansha Comics, with translation by Kevin Steinbach and lettering by Jennifer Skarupa.

Ratings

Art – 8
Story 5 – This is fine.
Characters – 7 I wouldn’t be let down if I hadn’t had any expectations.
Service – 5 Tease me, please me, no one needs to know. -Scorpions
Yuri – 8
Overall – 5 for this volume, 7 for Vol 1-3 inclusive.





Otherside Picnic Manga, Volume 9, Guest Review by Sandy F

May 8th, 2024

Two women sit on a bench outside a dilapidated building, eating. The blonde holds a rise ball in both hands one of which is transparent, the brunette with one blue eye and one brown eye holds a sandwich, as she speaks animatedly, smiling.Recently, to much excitement, the cover for the ninth novel of Otherside Picnic was revealed. What I noticed was how it was a neat reminder of the importance of food and drink in this series.

And food is certainly a theme in Otherside Picnic manga, Volume 9.

We have already witnessed the importance of food and drink as a way for Toriko and Sorawo as a way to recover from the trauma of the Otherside. In the conclusion to ‘The Little Birds in the Box’ Toriko and Sorawo are joined by Kozakura for a meal. A meal that leads to a conversation where Kozakura struggles to understand the hold that the Otherside has over Toriko and Sorawo despite their best efforts to explain it.

And then, with Yamanoke Presence, we have the main event! In volume 3 of the novel series, we finally had the picnic that the title promised us, and now we have it in the manga series.

It is a fun moment, with just a dash of weirdness. But in Yamanoke Presence we are reminded of what I find to be one of the compelling strengths of Otherside Picnic; its ability to shift from a cozy slice of life moment to encounters with horrors that will haunt your dreams with a dash of ‘what the heck is going on?’ conversations. For example, one of my favourite moments is watching an absolutely clueless Sorawo trying to understand Toriko’s family solution.

In this volume we also witness moments of Sorawo and Toriko’s vulnerability, particularly in the aftermath of The Little Birds in the Box. I was struck by the sight of Sorawo without her glasses, lying in a hospital bed hand in hand with Toriko. For me this moment was a reminder that Sorawo and Toriko are young women who may be strong enough to face the terrors of the Otherside, yet at the same time are struggling to connect with themselves and one another.

One of the many things I appreciate about Otherside Picnic is how Iori Miyazawa uses dialogue to make observations about larger issues. For example, Toriko’s response to Sorawo’s description of the Yamanoke critter possessing women and Toriko responds with a compelling question, “why do so many of these things go after women?” One aspect of the artwork I found very compelling is how successfully conveys Sorawo’s struggles with the Yamanoke as it possesses her. We definitely get the sense of the Otherside seeping into Sorawo’s consciousness.

Remembering that the entities of the Otherside take forms shaped by folklore and urban legends created by people, creating stories where women are all too often the victims.

We also have the first chapter of Sannuki and the Karate Kid, and A Daytime Guest which gives us Kozakura’s perspective on ‘Karate Kid’.

I confess that I enjoy watching Sorawo in full panic mode as she tries to figure out how Akari Seto found out about Kozakura’s place, and then more panic as she faces being dragged into someone else’s problem. The mention of Satsuki Uruma doesn’t help the situation, especially as her baleful presence has been noticed by Sorawo throughout the volume. Sorawo wonders what does Satsuki want, and how much of a threat is she to this unfamiliar sense, for Sorawo, of being happy? Through conversations and reflection we gain more insights into Sorawo and Toriko that reveal their unique path towards being in relationship with one another as they learn more about themselves.

Another great volume in this series.

Ratings:

Story – 9|
Artwork – 9
Character – 8|
Service – 6
Yuri – 8

The mutual nature of their relationship is growing as Sorawo muses on how much she enjoys sharing the Otherside with Toriko. But for a brief moment I do have to give a 0 rating with Sorawo’s complete befuddlement over Toriko’s parents!

Overall – 9





Blank The Series, Guest Review by Frank Hecker

May 1st, 2024

Viewed from above, a girl lays her head on her homework on a table. She is holding hands with an older woman who sit next to her, listening to musicA young woman on the cusp of adulthood latches onto an older woman and pursues her, but a sheltered adolescence causes her to come off more child-like than her age might suggest. The older woman, burned by past relationships and not looking for another, thinks of the younger woman more as a daughter than a potential lover, but eventually finds herself reconsidering what they mean to each other.

Wait, didn’t I review this story several weeks ago? But, no, this is not Monthly in the Garden with My Landlord, Volume 2 , it’s season 1 of the Thai live-action yuri production Blank: The Series.

Blank: The Series is an adaptation of a novel by Chao Planoy, the author of GAP: Pink Theory, and is set in the same universe. It’s squarely targeted at fans of GAP: The Series, although its age-gap premise has occasioned online controversy among some in that fandom. 36-year-old Neung (the older sister of Sam from GAP) is a mature woman burned out on relationships, four years on from ditching rising politician Chet at the altar in the series’s opening scene. As previously seen in GAP: The Series, Neung is estranged from her grandmother, has rejected her place in the Thai aristocracy, and is pursuing a life on her own as an artist (partially subsidized by Sam).

Into her life comes 20-year-old Neung (the identical names are not a coincidence). Young Neung (or Aneung, as older Neung refers to her) is a young woman denied a normal adolescence; she’s still in high school, held back by ill health. She has no friends her own age, and her only family is her demanding and censorious grandmother. Aneung’s only escape is reading yuri novels, and when she meets older Neung (whom she calls Ar-Neung or “Aunt Neung”) she immediately sets out to win her over, alternately flirting with her and pouting at the older woman’s rejection of her advances. As for Neung herself, she goes from finding Aneung annoying to struggling with her ambiguous and growing feelings toward her.

“Faye” Peraya Malisorn is excellent as Neung in a role that calls for subtle acting to show Neung’s slowly evolving emotions. “Yoko” Apasra Lertprasert generally acquits herself well as Aneung, although her performance at times threatens to become repetitive. “Ice” Papichaya Pattaralikitsakul and Marissa Lloyd have the thankless jobs of following in Freen’s and Becky’s footsteps as Sam and Mon respectively, but they are very much the side couple here.

Like GAP, Blank has its share of melodrama, especially involving Chet (“Kun” Kittikun Tansuhas) and Phiangfa (“Ploy” Preeyaphat Silahom), Aneung’s long-absent mother. The producers toned things down somewhat from Blank the novel — for example, they aged up Aneung — and hopefully will continue doing so with the second season, which apparently has even more melodrama. They could have toned things down even further, for example getting Aneung out of a high school uniform and dialing back her childish aspects a notch or two. In terms of production values, the major problem with the series is the mediocre to poor English subtitles, which sometimes left me struggling to figure out the meaning of certain lines.

Despite that issue, Blank season 1 is a welcome addition to the GAP extended universe. The core relationship is handled well (except for Aneung going overboard at times), and there’s minimal “service”. I liked it enough that I’ll watch the second season, which begins airing in May. It will presumably deal with the fallout from the final episode of season 1, which ends on a cliffhanger.

Rating:

Story – 7 (unless you hate age gaps)
Characters – 7
Production – 5 (the subtitles drag it down)
Service – 2
Yuri – 6
Overall – 7

 




Akaiito HD Remaster, Guest Review by KatGrrrl

April 17th, 2024

Akaiito HD Remaster is a 2023 remaster of the 2004 visual novel Akaiito, which was originally released on Playstation 2. The remaster is available on Nintendo Switch and Windows and features English and Chinese translations for the first time. Akaiito tells the story of Hatou Kei, a high school girl who has recently lost her mother and travels to a rural village to check out her fathers house that she has inherited. During her 4 day stay, Kei encounters a pair of oni who are after her blood, as well as many allies who try to protect her, all while she learns and remembers more about her past.

Firstly, the technical aspects of this remaster. On Windows, the game forces a 1920×1080 resolution and can’t be changed, meaning you can’t play on anything with a smaller resolution without external tinkering. This also means the game forces a 16:9 aspect ratio, despite the entire game being 4:3. The controller mapping is set solely for a Switch controller, so with an Xbox controller or similar, A and B are swapped, which is very confusing. It seems the Switch version was priority here, with little changes being made for the Windows version. There’s a bug with selecting choices ingame, if you select the second option at a set of choices, then at the next set of choices the second option will be highlighted instead of the first, if you select the second option with moving it will instead choose the first option, making it easy to select the wrong option without knowing. Sometimes audio lines just don’t play. I also found at least 1 CG that wasn’t in the CG library for some reason.

This remaster includes Japanese, English and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) languages in all versions, easily changeable in the main menu. The English translation here is rough. It’s filled with typos and grammatical errors and at many times difficult to read. In particular is many accidental misgenderings, such as ‘him’ instead of ‘her’ and ‘man’ instead of ‘woman’, which gives off the vibe of a machine translation. There’s no text scaling for English chapter and ending titles, so they frequently get cut off as they are much longer than their Japanese counterparts. The tips page is always sorted by kana, even in English. Overall, this translation achieves the bare minimum, it’s readable but it’s clear to me that little to no editing or adaptation was done here.

The gameplay of Akaiito is more involved than a lot of visual novels, with 32 endings, 5 of which are true endings. There is no main route or ending, instead 5 character routes that branch off early, each telling different stories. The choices you make influence which route and ending you get and unlike other novels, I generally found it to be fair and intuitive. The inclusion of a flow chart was especially appreciated. That said, I did not like the seal system, where upon getting some endings you unlock other routes. It does not make any logical sense, it’s like if you did something in the present that changed the past, though luckily getting all the seals isn’t too difficult. Akaiito is fully voiced, with excellent voice acting all round. The art is beautiful with a large amount of CGs, characters designs are distinct and fit their characters perfectly. The music is a particular standout, capturing the atmosphere brilliantly, and remains stuck in my head many days afterwards. Despite there being 5 true endings, there is only one ending theme unfortunately, can’t have everything I suppose.

Japanese folklore is very present in the story of Akaiito, as well as themes of death, family and love. At the start of the story we learn Kei’s mother has recently passed away. Whilst Kei acts tough, traveling to a rural village on her own, she is sometimes reminded of her mother and shows that she is still struggling. These moments are small but help the character feel grounded and really stuck with me. Ultimately, each true route shows Kei overcoming this struggle by either finding new family, or re-finding old ones. The driving force for this arc is a millennium old struggle against a power hungry god. As a villain, he and his motivations aren’t particularly interesting, but adequately provides tension to fuel the story. Kei finds herself in the midst of this as she has inherited from her father, the Nie no Chi, a special and powerful blood that can revive the sealed away god. Kei is routinely attacked by a pair of blood-sucking oni, and depending on the route, it is the girl who saves her that Kei starts to form a strong bond with. How strong this bond is depends on your choices, fail and you will get one of the many truly tragic endings, which can often see Kei sacrificing her life to save the ones she loves. Akaiito really utilises the potential of the medium here to tell such heartrending endings you wouldn’t normally see. Overall, this storyline is where Akaiito truly shines, Kei’s journey of discovery, of herself and her past, as well her future and how the choices you and Kei make impact that. But there’s still one big elephant in the room I haven’t talked about.

So, the Yuri. The game’s title, ‘Akai Ito’, is Japanese for the ‘Red Thread of Fate’, an East Asian belief of an invisible red thread around the finger of those destined to be true lovers. The Yuri in Akaiito is light. Despite that, many of the character routes in Akaiito are undoubtedly romantic ones, though not particularly overt.

Starting with the least romantic route is Tsuzura’s, because well, she’s a young child. This route was the weakest for me, Kei learns little of her past and her future is vague. I find it hard to place Kei’s relationship to Tsuzura, Kei doesn’t take on a particularly sisterly or parental role and it’s obviously not romantic, she cares for Tsuzura and that’s about it. In general, I did not care for Tsuzura. Nozomi’s route is the shortest and focuses more on her than Kei. I liked how it takes an otherwise uninteresting antagonist and completely changes how not only we the audience see her, but also how she sees herself. This route was ambiguously romantic, but given its short length I didn’t really find that an issue.

Uzuki’s route is likely the first route you’ll finish and largely focuses on her opening up and becoming friends with Kei. My favourite aspect of Uzuki’s character was her moral conflict, she’s an oni slayer who slays all oni, but Kei’s defence of Yumei makes things awkward. Thanks to Kei, Uzuki comes to realise that not all oni are evil, and in fact many oni have similar goals as her. As for her relationship with Kei, Uzuki is distant at first, but eventually starts to share intimate moments such as sharing a futon and Uzuki dressing Kei in a yukata, and by the end Kei has fallen in love with Uzuki. Frustratingly, the story ends before we get to see Kei confess her feelings or what the future looks like for the two of them.

In Sakuya’s route we learn of both her past and her past relation to Kei. There are few scenes where Sakuya sucks Kei’s blood (with consent) in order to gain its power, it’s very intimate albeit non-sexual. There are a couple moments in this route where Kei says she loves Sakuya but in a “I love you but not like that way” way, and I’d be fine with this if Kei later properly expressed her love, but unfortunately that never happens. Sakuya gets to confess her love for Kei, but bizarrely not in the true route.

The true route does have them living happily together which is nice, and they’re very clearly in love, so I find it annoying how the game gets so close to and then weasels its way out of having them say it. This and Uzuki’s route show the biggest issue I have with Akaiito in the current day, with how it’s not afraid of depicting romantic love between girls but it is often afraid of describing it as romantic love. Yumei’s route is by far my favourite and you could also say it’s the truest route, as she and Kei are the ones wrapped by the Akai Ito in the game’s cover art. This route sees Kei learn the most of her past and her frequently choosing to have Yumei drink her blood in intimate scenes like in Sakuya’s route. Kei refuses to leave Yumei’s side as she uncovers the truth of her past and in the process falls in love with Yumei. The epilogue to this route sees Kei and Yumei living together, going food shopping in a scene that just screams ‘domestic lesbians’! In a way, it’s a simple ending, but an unambiguous and non-frustrating kind of simple that elevates this route above the rest for me, as ultimately, I can’t help but feel satisfied with this ending.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 5 intimate blood-sucking, onsens, Sakuya-san
Yuri – 3

Overall – 8

Overall, though Akaiito shows its age and the remaster leaves a lot to be desired, the story is absolutely worth a read even if the Yuri is on the light side.

KatGrrrl finds herself getting more addicted to Yuri by the day. Socials at linktr.ee/katgrrrl.





Yuri-themed Board Game Yuri Ranbou (百合乱慕), Guest Review by Lee Sanhwa

April 3rd, 2024

3 cute girls, one blonde, one red-head with slightly darker skin than the others, one with black hair and very pale skin, surround a girl with medium-length brown hair, wearing a flower barrette in her hair. Happy Guest Review Wednesday! I am so incredibly excited for us all today. We have a new guest reviewer!

Lee Sanhwa is a South Korean science fiction writer. He is best known for his Yuri cyberpunk detective novel An Error Has Occurred (오류가 발생했습니다, 2018). For a more detailed profile and full list of works, please visit his website.

He has happily volunteered to review a Yuri board game that I first mentioned in 2021. Please give Lee Sanhwa-nim a warm Okazu welcome in the comments!

***

There are at least hundreds of board games out there covering every possible niche theme from birdwatching to sharksploitation films, and Yuri is no exception. I’ll not say there are plenty of them, but still, there are some! If you are looking for a cooperative game with an emphasis on Yuri story-telling, then you should check out Yuri made by Everyone (which is basically a spin-off version of BL made by Everyone, a BL-themed board game). And if you want something more competitive, then here’s Yuri Ranbou, a “High-speed competitive Yuri harem building card game.”

General Information

Players: 2-3

Time: 10 Min

Age: 9+ (Difficulty-wise, not content-wise)

Yuri Ranbou is developed by Stromatosoft, a Japanese game production company now in development of 3D Yuri dungeon crawler RPG Witches & Lilies. In Yuri Ranbou, you become one of six girls and compete with your opponents to acquire as many other girls as possible. How? By declaring the relationship between you and each round’s love interest. Maybe she is your childhood friend. Maybe you really hate her. Or maybe you and her have kissed before……. Whoever declared the most effective relationship wins the girl.

Each game begins with a “Relationship cards” draft, where you choose which card to keep in hand and which to give away. Then in each round, a “Lover” card is presented and all players simultaneously play a relationship card from their hands. Each relationship has different strength points(1 to 10) and effects. Some of them are “Encounter” cards, which take their effect when you play them. Others are “Memory” cards, which take effect only after you lose a round by playing them. Some cards specialize in countering only the strongest relationships, so even if you play “Kiss of the Vow”(strength 10), you can still lose to “I’m Curious About Her”(Strength 3, makes the weakest card win this round). After completing all three rounds, whoever acquired the most girls wins. 

The whole game consists of 35 cards, but you only need 16 of them(6 lover cards and 10 relationship cards) to play. The rest are 3 rule summary cards, 6 character profile cards and 10 illustration cards. As you can expect, the gameplay is surprisingly fast. All three rounds can easily be finished in less than a minute! Truly a “High-speed” card game. But for its volume and playtime, Yuri Ranbou is quite an intense experience. Choosing the right card in card drafts, building your strategy, and guessing your opponents’ hands correctly in each round are all important to win the game. 

About its Yuri aspect, Yuri Ranbou shows some interesting considerations even at the game mechanic level. For example, if three players acquire exactly one girl each, it’s “True Coupling” and everyone wins! I also found it interesting that the “Childhood Friend” card is somewhat…weak, especially compared to “I’m Curious About Her” or “I Really Hate You”. Illustrations done by Aomushi (あおむし) fit well to the game, with their characteristic bright-but-omnious atmosphere. You will easily be able to imagine how the six characters world speak, behave, envy, cry, snap, etc. 

With its small volume and simple gameplay, Yuri Ranbou is surely not a game you want to play over and over again until you master it. And you may find it strange that the game allows you to acquire a maximum of three girls, which is only a bare minimum of what you can call a “harem”. But I think this simpleness and compactness are what makes Yuri Ranbou a well-designed game. You can bring it anywhere, play it anytime, and simulate a dramatic Yuri love story with anyone. That’s enough, isn’t it?

Ratings:

Art – 8
Gameplay – 7 (Simple but fun!)
Characters – 1 (Names and profiles provided, but they’re basically just stereotypes)
Service – 1 (There’s kissing, and that’s all)
Yuri – 7 

Overall – 7

I’ve purchased Yuri Ranbou at a board game store in Yodobashi Camera Shinjuku Nishiguchi. As far as I know, Stromatosoft’s official online store does not provide global shipping.  

Erica here: We can use a buying service like Buyee or a shipping service, if you have an account with one to get it shipped out of Japan if you’re motivated to grab a copy.

Thank you so much for the terrific review!I just picked up a copy of 오류가 발생했습니다 on BooksonKorea.com – they do overseas shipping. I can’t wait to read it!