Today’s review is once again written by Guest Reviewer and Yuri fan extraordinaire, Sean Gaffney.

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I’ve been enjoying a manga from Viz, Ouran High School Host Club. The basic premise is that a high school girl is mistaken for a man by the school’s Host Club, a group of bishounen parodies that walk the earth. They induct her into the club, and then resolve to keep her secret after it’s revealed (she wasn’t really hiding it, she just dresses in men’s clothing). The club itself seems designed to part high school girls from their money by pandering to their fantasies.

The manga is filled with yaoi parodies. The two twins are Fred and George from Harry Potter in Japanese clothing, and Hunny and Takashi are a cross between Momiji and Hatori from Fruits Basket and the couple from CLAMP’s Suki. Everyone at some point plays gay for the girls, who all go “SQUEEEEEEEEEE!” just like American yaoi fangirls do. :)

In any case, in Volume 3, Haruhi (our heroine) is accosted by 3 members of the nearby Saint Roberia Women’s Institute White Lily Club (also known as the Zuka Club). They’re the female counterparts to our heroes, and Zuka is short for Takarazuka. The club is known for their dramatic productions. Naturally, the Host Club immediately thinks one thing about these girls: “L-L-Lesbians!?” (Something which, for once, isn’t denied by the girls, at least not in this volume).

They insist they will get Haruhi to join their club instead, and the Host Club are worried, as they’ve wondered before, what with Haruhi wearing male clothing and enjoying the attention of the women who go to the Club, if she’s a lesbian.

This is only one chapter of the volume, but the chapter ends declaring that the Lily Club is a ‘new rival!’, so I presume we’ll see them again. The manga is quite funny, being a broad parody of yaoi and bishounen cliches, with this chapter also parodying yuri. The back says it’s for Hana-Kimi fans, but it reminded me more of Greenwood.

–SG
Viz’s footnote: Lily = YURI!

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Erica here again: I noted some interesting things about this manga when I read it. Notably, the girls of the Zuka Club appear in regular school girl uniforms, but they are imagined by Haruhi and the guys in full-blown Takarazuka outfits. ^_^

And it’s kind of amusing that fans of Hana-Kimi, in which a girl dresses like a boy to gain access to an exclusive boy’s school in order to be with the guy she likes, are assumed to want to read a story about another girl who dresses like a boy and goes to a boy’s school. Now…what kind of person might like that kind of story, in which the major feature is a girl in a suit? I wonder…. Maybe I ought to have someone do a story like that for Yuri Monogatari. ^_^

Again, my thanks to Sean for his guest review!

Once again, we bring you a guest review of Negima! Magister Negi Magi by the redoubtable Sean Gaffney! Yaaaaaay! (Say this last bit in a Kermit the Frog from the Muppet Show voice.) Sean’s review is quite timely, because as you know, I loathe Akamatsu’s work and didn’t feel like writing anything today. :-)

Let me take this opportunity to thank Sean, also, for having been one of the most AMAZING staffers we had at Onna!. He was a whirlwind, handling not only the panels, worksops and demos, but also stepping in to handle many of the Programming events, which freed me to do important things like tell people where to find paper and pens and interview for 80 minutes with people who quoted me for less than 20 words. LOL Sean, you have my eternal thanks. No foolin’.

Without further ado, here is Sean’s review of Negima, Volumes 6 and Volume 7:

The manga and anime Rurouni Kenshin is known for its Kyoto arc, which is generally considered to be lightyears ahead of the other arcs. Likewise, Negima really steps up with its own Kyoto arc, dropping most of the comedy for a Volume to focus on action and drama, as Negi and the others are under attack from their rivals.

The action is fairly well drawn, with little of the confusion that mars series like Trigun. We get a few more girls finding out Negi is a wizard, though Mana and Ku Fei don’t seem very surprised. Negi’s secret is still one of the worst kept ever.

Then there’s the Yuri. Aside from the ‘grasping at straws’ couples (“Look! Kaede is holding Yue in her arms after rescuing her! It must be love!”), there’s still just Konoka and Setsuna. Luckily, that’s more than enough.

Setsuna in this volume reveals her other big secret – she’s half demon, and has big wings. Setsuna is convinced this will make everyone loathe and fear her. But these aren’t bat-like wings, they’re big, fluffy bird wings – everyone notes they look cool. So Setsuna races off to save Konoka, who notes that they make Setsuna look like an angel. OK, self-worth crisis over, mostly.

(In the Negima anime, they kiss. But the Negima anime is awful in so many other ways that I can’t recommend it even to the staunchest yuri fan unless they just get one episode, watch the kiss, then delete it.)

In Volume 7, there’s less of a focus on the two. However, we see Konoka being told that with training, she could be a very powerful mage. She chooses to begin the training, and wants Setsuna as her partner.

This is the best part of the volume. Konoka relates to Negi that Setsuna says that girls shouldn’t kiss, but she wants Setsuna to be her partner, so is there another way to make a pact? It’s very clear from Setsuna’s denials that what she meant was that when the two of them kiss, it shouldn’t be just for a simple magical pact, but for something deeper. Her expressions are very cute.

One last thing to note on the yuri front is Kazumi, the sly newspaper girl, who is clearly amused at Setsuna’s blushing denials, and notes that ‘It’s just a kiss. Girls our age experiement with that stuff all the time’. Which again is a nice bone to throw to those seeking more yuri in the series than Konoka and Setsuna. OK, it’s a tiny fragment of a bone.

Negima continues to be far more interesting than it should be, considering the artist and all the shounen fanservice. And indeed the 10-year-old hero. Despite all that, it’s still a page-turner, and more and more characters are gaining depth as they get focused on.

Oh yes, and in the Translation Notes, Del Rey will tell you what a paipan is.

Erica here: Once again – thank Sean! (Insert wild applause, again in Muppet Show style)