It’s been a long time since I last reviewed a volume of Marine Corps Yumi and I appear to have skipped Volume 3. This is entirely because I simply could not yet bring myself to deal with it. And, I’m going to be honest, reading this volume was hard. Ana and I had a lot of conversations about this in 2014-5.

Author Anastasia Moreno died in July 2015 of a very aggressive form of cancer and pretty much I think of her nearly every day. She was a great person and we had a lot of fun together. I catch myself saying “Dammit, Ana” about 4 times a week when she comes up in conversation. But I know that Marine Corps Yumi was her magnum opus and she’d be pissed that I wasn’t reviewing it. So today, I’m taking a much-delayed look at Volume 4 of Marine Corps Yumi (まりんこゆみ) by Anastasia Moreno and Nogami Takeshi. Nogami-sensei is still drawing the comic, which is still available in Japanese online for free.

Volume 4 is notable to me for several reasons. One, it contains the chapter for which Ana and Nogami-sensei, Tachibana Remi-san and Bruce and I went to a Takarazuka show together. All that punching just to give Japanese Self-Defense Force translator Sawa-san a personality. ^_^ Turns out she joined the JSDF when she didn’t make it into Takarazuka. I applaud that level of uniform fetishtry.

Sawa-san’s greatest moment, though, is when she encourages Donna King to try her hand at translating and Donna turns out to be pretty good at it…although her strategic exercises manuals come off sounding way more like BL novels than anything else. The look on Sawa’s face is brilliant as she reads Donna’s translation of coming in from behind and outflanking the enemy. Ana laughed for about an hour while telling me about that chapter. ^_^

We learn about the different kinds of promotions, as Yumi and her teammates all make Lance Corporal one way or another. Linda’s route is the hardest as she has to go through the exam process, but we all knew she’d get there. We learn about the different assignments the ladies get (except Rita, who was snapped up by intelligence and everything she does is classified.) And of course we get insight on Yumi’s long, exhausting days as an interpreter.

The bulk of the book is about the military’s interactions, both positive and negative, with Okinawans. Rita Fernandez, although she comes from a marine family, was born on Okinawa and considers it home. Her love for the place, and her desire to educate her friends and us about the real and allegorical ghosts of the war is deeply touching. I shed real tears as an old soldier and an exorcist help a wandering soul find his final “at ease.”

And, at last, we meet Yumi’s new roommate, the foul-mouthed, perpetually angry blue-eyed blonde haired predatory lesbian and Yuri fan, Erica Bush. Named after me and a former US President, Erica is a terrible human. ^_^

When Ana first floated the idea of a lesbian character with me, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was still enforced. We talked about how to indicate she was gay without her being so obvious that she’d be booted. But by the time she arrived in the narrative, everything had changed and she could just be openly gay. So, yeah. Marine Corps Yumi finally has a lesbian and she’s an absolute asshole. I think she’s hilarious and awful.

Erica macks hamhandedly on Linda, she and Donna can see they are in sympatico yet, on opposite sides of the doujinshi aisles, and she terrifies Yumi. I adore her, as you can imagine. She’s my very first character in homage and I will treasure her forever. 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9 Man, it’s always a bad allergy day when I read Yumi, my eyes get all teary
Characters – 8
Yuri – 6 Yuri, thy name is Erica!
Service – 5 Equal opportunity for those who like boys and girls this time! 

Overall – 9

Thanks, Ana. Thinking of you again today.

Today’s review begins, as do so many others, with a story. ^_^

Last month, I was asked to help out a friend with some editing for an free online course sponsored by Keio University, Introduction to Japanese Subcultures on the FutureLearn platform. The class had some really interesting content (some of which I wanted to argue about ^_^) and was free, so I signed up for the class after having edited for it. The class included a great number of written references for manga and academic articles, anime and pop culture writing. Among these, the lead professor, Ogushi Hisayo-sensei, mentioned today’s manga when the Takarazuka subculture was being discussed.

Since the class is online and free, I recommend it highly for anyone interested in the development of cosplay, otaku, moe and fujoshi culture. It was a very interesting class.

The upshot was that I went to Amazon JP to buy the first volume of this manga, only to find that it was out of print. But, hey isn’t that exactly what makes digital so great? I headed over to Bookwalker JP and sure enough, found all 10(!?!) volumes of Haruna Lemon’s manga on Takarazuka fan culture and in-jokes. 

If you do not know what Takarazuka is, ZUCCA x ZUCA Manga, Volume 1 (ツッカツカ) would be not-all-that-funny. All the vocabulary is defined in post-chapter glossaries, which goes a long way to “explaining” jokes, but you know the old adage about jokes that have to be explained…that adage is never as true as it is for an in-joke. ^_^ 

But because I am familiar with Takarazuka and ‘zuka-ota (Takarazuka otaku) culture, the jokes aren’t all lost on me. I’m gonna have to say, though, that I needed those glosses for some of the show-specific references, although the jokes about being obsessed were understandable enough. 

The manga is short, simple gags, following the lives of several obsessed women. From passing up opportunities at work because a particular Top Star was performing that month, to buying an unflattering jacket because it reminds them of a Takarazuka show, these women are completely relatable for any fan of any subculture. One of the most important facets of this manga is that it shows that the women are not isolated in any sense, they gather together in large and small groups to indulge their  passion, from formal fan club tea parties to clustering around the computer on ticket sales days. This is an important message and I’m glad the manga makes the point.

Ratings:

Art – 4 – Simple and simplistic
Story – 6 Gag comics, rather than narrative
Characters – 9 – We are these women
Fannishness – 10

Overall – 8

As I read ZUCCA x ZUCA, I realized that while I am a Takarazuka fan, I’m nowhere near being a ‘zuka-ota. That’s probably okay, as I’m fully obsessed with being an ota-rezu, and one can only have time for so many subculture obsessions in one life. ^_^

For about two years, I’ve been following Akili’s wecomic-turned-manga, Stretch. For two years I’ve watched Keiko and Ran, two adults who are clearly close friends and roommates act like close friends and roommates. This of course doesn’t stop some fans from seeing more. ^_^

Volume 4 of Stretch (ストレッチ), the final volume, begins with Ran telling Keiko that she’s getting married and moving out. Half of this is true. Her time relying on her old school sempai is coming to a close. In between suggestions for “dynamic stretching,” Ran and Keiko spend their last days together as roommates.

Their relationship never changes. It remains friendly, intimate and snarky right to the end. Two close friends who had fun as roommates and have every intention of keeping in touch. It’s anticlimactic in it’s normality. 

And, really, that was what Stretch always was. It was never a romance, or a Yuri manga. It was always a manga about two adult women who were friends. Had it been written for a female audience  it might have had less service, but probably would not have been otherwise much different.  

Ratings:
Art – 9
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 1
Service – 6  Some perfunctory bath groping.

As a vehicle for getting readers to do some stretching, Stretch was pretty fun.

Life. You know. ^_^;  

In the meantime, you should be ordering a bunch of copies of Absolute Power : Tales of Queer Villainy for yourself, your friends, your children and your friends’ children. ^_^