Midori is a loner. She’s competent at work, but does not have friends. She always wears black and prefers to be alone. Or so she believes. When she receives a phone call informing her that her friend from high school, Tsugumi, is dead, she is overwhelmed instantly by memories.

Midori attends the funeral, at which she learns that Tsugumi has a daughter, Haruko. Haru, as she prefers to be called, has no one else left except a distant relative. Moved by emotions she does not yet recognize, Midori offers to let Haru live with her.

And so, Haru to Midori, Volume 1 ( 春とみどり) begins the tale of an unlikely family,; two people connected only by the death of a loved one. Haru adapts quickly to Midori’s household. She is friendly, but not intimately so, with her new guardian.  Midori begins to shed layers of hurt and loneliness almost too quickly for her to handle. She admits to herself, perhaps for the first time, that she was in love with Tsugumi and had mourned her loss long before she died.

Awkardly, for Midori is an awkward person, she opens up to the daughter of her beloved. Hesitantly, because she is suffering from a recent loss, Haru opens up to the idea of caring for someone new. They change each other gradually. By the end of Volume 1, they could take tentative steps to becoming a family, but its Haruko who pulls back.

The art is solid. Midori always looks slightly unkempt, as you might expect, Haru looks like a young woman who has had to put her life on hold for an indefinite amount of time.

I had no expectations whatsoever when I started reading this manga. We’re at the section of the pile I think of as throwing darts –  could be good, could suck, won’t know until I read it. ^_^ This time it turned out to be much…nicer…than I expected. Not at all creepy or weird, I’m rooting for Haruko and Midori to be a child and a guardian who each learn what Tsugumi saw in the other.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9 Not much is “happening,” per se, so we have a lot of time to spend on character
Yuri – 3 Only in retrospective, as Midori starts to unpack her feelings for Tsugumi
Service – Does Midori getting a new sweater count? No? 0

Overall –  Another solid 8

I’ll definitely look for Volume 2.

As you read this, I am at the seaside and very probably walking down a boardwalk in the morning sun, looking forward to a date with the Atlantic Ocean (she’s beautiful, but oh so hungry, won’t you just join her for a swim?”) with very sincere plans to meet up with an ice cream cone later.

If it’s feasible or appealing to you, why not step away from the computer today? Take a book and sit under a tree, drink a cool glass of whatever and watch the clouds, coat yourself with sand-attracting sunscreen and watch the Altantic eat the East Coast of the United States….

If it’s neither fun nor feasible, I give you the day off from “being productive” for your corporate masters. Feel free to create if that is what you want to do. Enjoy your day. Watch an anime you wanted to make time for or whatever. And if you are working, thank you. I appreciate your making my and other people’s lives easier with your effort.

Have a pleasant day. (Below image is of Casino Pier, Seaside Heights, New Jersey, from under the giant lumberjack’s legs, )

In advance of J-Novel Club’s release of Otherside Picnic, the sci-fi light novel by Miyazawa Iori, I picked up the manga for the story. In Urusekai Picnic, Volume 1 (裏世界ピクニック ) the manga adaptation of the story introduces us to Sora and Toriko, two women who have access to the “Otherside,” a world populated by weirdly wiggly aliens and strange phenomenon.

The manga begins as Sorao is dying. She has no idea why she is or how she got here, but here she is, submerged in some kind of liquid. She remembers finding a door to the “otherside” and seeing one of the wiggly aliens. She is rescued by another human, a woman of apparently about her age, Toriko.  Toriko tells Sorao that she’s hunting…and after she shoots an alien, it turns out that what she is hunting is the chrome cubes they leave behind along with their physical form.

Sorao almost loses her life once again, as the aliens grow inside her like a plant. Although Toriko saves her, Sorao finds that 1) she can kind of hear them now and 2) her one eye has turned blue,

We learn that Toriko is also hunting…a friend, Satsuki. It is pretty clear to Sorao and us that Satsuki was more than a friend to Toriko. What strikes Sorao as odd is her own reaction to that. She hasn’t put a name to it by the end of Volume 1…but I can.

The two women meet a man who has lost his wife and clearly some measure of his sanity on this Otherside. The guy is not with us long, but his disappearance is the catalyst for learning that Sorao’s alien eye can also see alien tech for what it is, which allows her, for onc,e to save Toriko.

I found it a little hard to engage with the book at first. Not because it lacks context (which it does) but because it lacked any kind of character development. Sorao is a blank. We know almost nothing about her when we meet her and by the time the first volume is over, we know about the same amount of nothing. The same is true for Toriko, although we can see that she is driven to find her – probably – lover. The two women are more interesting together because neither appears fearfulnor hesitant. When Toriko shows up at her school and asks Sorao to hunt with her, Sorao is right on it. If there’s a single specific quality of the characters that appeals to me, it’s that.

The art by shirakaba is conventional, but solid. All in all this looks and feels exactly like  what it is said to be – a science fiction manga with, one presumes, a Yuri plot somewhere in there.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 7
Story – 8
Service – 1, maybe
Yuri  – 2 by implication so far

Overall – 7

I have absolutely no idea where the story will go, but I guess I’ve signed up to go hunting with Toriko and Sorao. ^_^

Final Update! Via Rachel Thorn’s Twitter feed today, Viz has rectified the deadnaming of translators Rachel Thorn and Dana Lewis in the Nausicaä manga release. Thank you very much Viz, for addressing this.

With this, I consider this matter closed in the best possible way. Viz rose to the occasion and did all the right things the right way. I am very appreciative – and hope that if you wrote them to complain, you’ll write them with thanks for their handling of the the situations!

2nd Update! Viz is reaching out to Dana and Rachel and will be making the changes that are needed. I really appreciate Viz moving quickly on the larger issues as well. Misnaming and lack of credit will be fixed. Thank you Viz for handling this.

Update! Viz has promptly addressed the issue of the booklet mislabeling Haruka and Michiru’s relationship. Still waiting to hear back on whether Dana and Rachel receive an apology or correction.

Viz has released a formal statement and will update people on how to receive a replacement booklet.

The team here at VIZ was very excited to take on the honor of localizing Sailor Moon, especially acknowledging that Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus are not friends, but in fact, partners. pic.twitter.com/TNPpvEBIXU

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) June 24, 2019

We made a mistake in the Sailor Moon Sailor Stars booklet and we deeply apologize for the implications of our error. We have initiated a reprinting of the booklet with updated language.

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) June 24, 2019

More details to follow about how to receive a replacement booklet.

Full statement: https://t.co/kO9uVRQbUT

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) June 24, 2019

I appreciate Viz’s acknowledgement and hope that they’ll manage to do better going forward. I want to thank all of you, too, for being part of this campaign to right a wrong.

Let me introduce you to Friedman’s Razor: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by organizational decentralization.” At no point in time did I assume malice. I strongly believe that these mistakes are because editorial and translation are jobbed out in pieces with little time or money given to overall consistency. A managing editor watching over the entire project ought to catch this kind of thing, but if no one has an eye on the project, then these kind of things are more likely to happen.

***

I’m sharing a letter I wrote today to Viz Media on the subject of several editorial decisions leading to LGBTQ erasure this week. I hope you will read it all the way through and then follow up at the end with your own actions.

Hello –

My name is Erica Friedman, I’ve been a loyal customer and reviewer of Viz media products for many years and I am writing today to express two specific concerns with recent editorial decisions that combine to become one troubling trend.

The first and most important is the exceedingly problematic and insulting use of both Rachel Thorn’s and Dana Lewis’ deadnames in the new Nausicaä manga release and in your Banana Fish release. This is not acceptable and I have not seen any apology to either person for this mistake. It cannot remain unacknowledged by Viz.

Also concerning is the recent description of Haruka’s and Michiru’s relationship in Sailor Moon Stars as “friendship.” This is patently absurd, as their dialogue is often intimate. As they were described as “partners” in Sailor Moon S, its quite inexplicable – especially in light of Viz’s earlier promise that their relationship would not be erased or hidden. As your promo for ‘S’ stated…”no cousins.” And here you are, bowdlerizing them.

Any of these decisions alone is concerning, but them all coming at the same time makes me very concerned for the current state of acceptance and tolerance of LGBTQ people at Viz.

Whether these were all mere lazy editorial decisions and not overtly meant to be insulting, we still respectfully request an apology – and these errors to be fixed immediately.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

***

If you have any opinions about this, I encourage you to write politely worded messages to Viz on Twitter, Facebook or use their customer service form on their website and add your voice to those who are requesting appropriate apologies and corrections.

I’m doing some spring cleaning, so it’s time for some Okazu Lucky Boxes!  And you know that you totally want utter crap that I’m cleaning out of my house! ^_^

This time we have 4 Lucky Boxes: 2 Medium size boxes and 2 Large moxes. All the boxes contain a random assortment of manga, books, candy, toys, random pieces of paper things I put in there, and a lot of stuff from our friend Bruce’s collection. Because this is stuff we had around the house, these are bargain sale priced to go!

When you email me, please refer to the box you want by the title ans #1. First come, first served and these always go fast! These are listed out so I can cross them off as they go.

Large Box 1 – $35 – Claimed
Large Box 2 – $35 – Claimed
Medium Box 1 – $25 – Claimed
Medium Box 2 – $25 – Claimed

I can 100% guarantee these boxes are filled with absolute pure stuff, with no guarantees of any other kind. No returns, because look – either you like the fact that you’re spending money on someone else’s stuff, or you don’t.

***

How to be eligible to buy a Lucky Box: Follow these instructions carefully. Please. Thank you. Failure to follow all of these instructions will disqualify you. It’s not personal, they go fast and I don’t have time to track you down for a piece of information.

1- You must live in the Continental USA (contiguous 48) only, no APO/FPOs – sorry about that, really. It’s vexing, I know.

2 – You must be over 18, I am not policing which books you get and since these boxes have doujinshi and other items, I really don’t know what you’re getting.

3 -Email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with the subject “Lucky Box”. Use an email you check regularly.

4. *****Please include your name, age, mailing address. ***** Tell me which box you want. Even if you’ve given me your address previously, please include it, I am very lazy.

5- I will contact you at that point and give you details about payment by Paypal. Please be prepared to check your email and get payment out so this post doesn’t linger. Thanks in advance.

This whole process will be handled with utmost capriciousness, as usual. ^_^ 

Ready? Get your Lucky Boxes!