It’s Wednesday and we all know what that means here at Okazu…Guest Review Day! Once more we have the lovely and enthusiastic George R. with a review about Navy ships, cute girls and Marimite parodies.

Volume 2 of Kurogane Pukapuka-tai (黒鉄ぷかぷか隊) welcomes us back for more fun and adventures with the Nubile Nippon Navy. Volume 1 left us with a couple teasers to encourage us to buy this volume. They worked on me.

After a brief color section to set the mood (bathing on Unebi), we’re off to see what’s in store for Unebi and her crew. First comes finding a place for Elza, the Jewish girl Nina entrusted to Unebi last volume. Vice-captain Kuki’s bed isn’t agreeable with the crew, and the chase leads to the engine room where Elza finds a protector in chief engineer Kobayakawa, who is tall, strong and well built. Her good ear for engines, trained aboard U-800, earns her a home there.

Plot arrives aboard HMS Aldebaran with Mary and Captain Ann. The ensuing battle around a small island gives everyone a chance to show their stuff. Elza completes her integration with the crew by helping out with damage control. Chika steers so Aldebaran‘s torpedoes explode on a nearby reef rather than hurting Unebi. The “stuff” vice-Captain Kuki shows is her lack of trousers, since she rushed straight to the bridge from her bunk. The shock from the torpedoes tosses her off her feet, and she naturally lands with her nearly-bare crotch in Mamiya’s face. Mamiya’s reaction arrives with the strength of an express train (Engine No. D5215 to be precise) and she leaps up, invigorated, to return to her duties (less a bit of blood from her nose). Chika and Obama work together to overcome the forward turret being jammed and land a shot which blasts off Aldebaran‘s rudder, sending her hard aground on the island.

Life aboard Unebi consists of more than baths and battles. Among other amusements is a Judo match among the crew, though Kuki’s most effective attack on Mamiya has nothing to do with Judo. The paymaster, Murakami, also produces and sells a doujinshi, which must be kept secret from the higher-ups. Of course Kuki finds a copy someone dropped. In it she finds prose story, whose opening parodies MariMite (the sailor-collars are on navy-, not school-, uniforms, and it is the IJN Cruiser Yamayuri which is a garden of maidens, but the resemblance is obvious.) The story is a romance between a barely disguised Mamiya and Kuki (complete with “onee-sama”s and blushes). Kuki finds this disturbing, but an impassioned speech from Chika saves the doujinshi for the crew (including Mamiya) to continue enjoying.

Further relaxation for Unebi‘s crew comes with leave at Penang Island They enjoy the beach in swimsuits. Mamiya cuts a dashing figure in hers and is admired by most all, though she has eyes only for Kuki–not to mention delusions of a night on the beach with her. Mamiya gets a real-life reward when Kuki puts a hibiscus from their drink in her hair, declaring it cute.

Chibi-Kiku, the pilot, is more interested in finding a replacement for her plane destroyed by Aldebaran. She finds her dream, an A6M2-N Rufe. However, its pilot doesn’t believe Chibi-Kiku’s piloting skill and challenges her and Atsuko to a race. The stakes are: he’ll give Chibi-Kiku the plane or Unebi‘s whole crew will parade naked down main street. Our daring vice-captain accepts the challenge, confident in her crew, despite the plane Chibi-Kiku has to use is a decade older and 100kph slower. Her confidence in Chibi-Kiku is well placed as she wins through skill, strategy and the Unebi crew’s work on the old plane (including tuning the engine and dropping the drag-inducing floats).

Obama also has other interests than sunbathing, though Kobayakawa coming along as guard-dog saves the men of the island from her. The two do stop the Gestapo agent we met last volume from hurting a pair of kids, leaving him disabled on the ground.

Waiting for HMS Aldebaran to get her damage from Unebi repaired on the east coast of Africa. Mary works out her frustrations by shooting cans on the dry-dock wall. Ann comes up and works out her sexual frustrations on Mary, who manages to enjoy the experience while still maintaining her accuracy with a rifle.

Captain Joanna throws cold water on this exercise, literally. She has arrived with the cruise HMS Europa (which looks exactly like HMS Exeter) to hunt Unebi. Before she can do more than take Ann and Mary aboard, Nina shows up with U-800 and her torpedoes. The poor dock suffers hits from both Nina’s torpedoes and a collision with Europa. Mary saves them from further attack with a shot right through U-800‘s periscope lens, forcing Nina to break off.

In this volume Kurihashi-sensei has done a better job stringing the tales together into a longer narrative. The focus is still frolicking fun with the girls. His artwork of both girls and ships remains good. Once again, an interest in naval affairs helps to enjoy this manga.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 6
Characters – 5
Yuri – 6
Service – 6-8 (depending on your particular fandom)

Overall – 7 (lower if ships do nothing for you)

While I enjoyed this volume, I liked the first one better. I found the fanservice humor growing less funny. Perhaps it was my mood at the time, or maybe the jokes lack staying power. Looking back, I think the two volumes are comparable. Also Mamiya deserves better characterization than a horny schoolboy with long hair, breasts and a nice figure. I’d rather see a real relationship between her and Kuki (or between any other characters) than the jokes we’re given.

Thank you so much George, for this review! I think I might have stabbed something if I were reading this manga, so I’m very happy you were there to take this on. ^_^

It is once again my very sincere pleasure to present a guest review by George R. Please make him welcome, as always. Take it away, George!

What if the Imperial Japanese Navy built their own version of Germany’s Panzerschiffe, the Unebi, and sent her to attack British commerce in the Indian Ocean? Oh yes, and what if they crewed her with a bunch of nubile women? Add the appropriate suspension of disbelief, some Yuri fanservice, stir and out comes Kurogane Pukapuka-tai (黒鉄ぷかぷか隊,)! It lives up to its name: set in ships of steel [kurogane], the tales of this unit come lightly in puffs as pukapuka implies.

Kurogane Pukapuka-tai is aimed squarely at the intersection of two fandoms: World War II naval and Yuri fanservice, and is published by the fine purveyor of such, Ikaros Publishing, who also brings us Pixel Maritan and her friends.

So, on to the story, or more precisely the characters, as this is mostly a series of vignettes about them. Kuki is the vice-captain (XO) who efficiently runs Unebi and her crew of girls. She’s assisted in this by Mamiya, a female samurai with long, raven locks and a stoic …lust for her commander (not to mention a tendency to get lost in imagination about her). However, Kuki seems oblivious to her true feelings, or at least their extent.

Chika is the bespectacled navigator who calmly and capably steers Unebi. The one man aboard is the nominal captain, a gray-haired gentleman who seems to do little more than sit on the bridge drinking tea. Obama is the gunner, and quite possibly the only crew-member interested in men. She accurately directs Unebi‘s guns whose type and history Kurihashi-sensei carefully specifies.

Unebi seeks out her prey with the long-ranging eyes of her float-plane, piloted by Kiku and Atsuko, a Mutt & Jeff pair with a long, close relationship. Kiku is the small and energetic pilot; Atsuko is the tall, quiet navigator and observer. The two make a good–and cute–team, flying their plane and looking after each other. They’re definitely an established couple, though it takes goggles to see more than deep friendship.

The Germans follow a similar strategy and have sent U-800 to the Indian Ocean as well. Naturally the two ships meet up. This submarine’s Captain Nina comes aboard and is immediately taken by
Kuki. Mamiya jealously defends Kuki from Nina’s attentions and …aroma. Crammed together in the sauna of a submarine, showers are not something Nina and her crew get for months on end. Nina has come to enjoy sharing this smell with her crew. Obama has a direct solution, forcibly bathing Nina with a deck brush, then assembling a large bath on deck for the rest of the U-boat’s crew. (You knew the author had to figure out a way to work in bathing, didn’t you?)

England naturally objects to attacks on her shipping, so the destroyer Cutlass enters the story. Aboard her, Ann and Mary (E here: Ann and Mary?! Named after the infamous pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, obviously. Kind of cute, kind of, erm, yeah. ^_^) have a considerably closer relationship than a normal Captain and XO. Mary wields a mean pair of cutlasses and guards her captain as jealously as Mamiya guards Kuki, and she needs to, as Ann has a wandering eye to go with her killer kiss. Ann goes after her prey with plenty of gusto and a bit of recklessness, especially Unebi, but also Kuki herself, as she too is smitten with her on their first meeting.

Unebi‘s adventures in the Indian ocean range from sinking individual merchant ships to attacking whole convoys and battling it out with their escorts. The latter is how she encounters HMS Cutlass and Captain Ann. Their battle takes three chapters and includes gunfire, torpedoes, ramming and even a boarding action. It draws in U-800 as well so everyone gets a chance to compete for Kuki, who seems a bigger prize than any mere commerce. Mary and Mamiya show their skill with their blades, Ann demonstrates her killer kiss and Nina shows how potent a weapon Kuki’s bare chest is. Obama finishes things with a point-blank blast of Unebi‘s main guns which blow all the upper-works from Cutlass.

The volume ends with a pair of teasers for action to follow. Ann and Mary are given the cruiser HMS Aldebaran to replace the damaged Cutlass. Ann vows to continue her hunt for Unebi and her captain. Nina asks Kuki to take on Elza, one of her crew, for safekeeping. Elza is Jewish and had attracted the attention of a Gestapo agent when U-800‘s crew was taking shore leave on Penang island.

An interest in naval history definitely helps in enjoying this series. Kurihashi-sensei knows enough to draw Unebi, fictional though she may be, with the look of a ship which may well have been the product of Japanese designers. Of course, the female crew is completely a-historical, but it is also the one big handwave that lets the manga fit on this blog. (E here: Hahaha, how kind of her!)

One of the things that drew me to Kurogane Pukapuka-tai was the naval setting. I enjoyed recognizing that it was HMS Renown that Mamiya cuts apart in one of her dreams. With the introduction of each ship also are given the data on size, speed, armament, etc. To avoid historical entanglements, the creator avoids actual ships, giving those which appear new names, though ones which follow actual naming conventions. Other than Unebi, they do belong to actual warship classes. U-800 looks to be accurate as U IXc class submarine; Cutlass seems an accurate C-class Destroyer; Aldebaran is good Arethusa class light cruiser (as mentioned), however she is drawn with the bridge used on the subsequent Town and Fiji classes. Unebi, while fictional, has accurate weapons and fittings for what such a ship might look like, though I don’t buy the line about her being converted from an existing hull at a civilian shipyard. Kurihashi-sensei is more artist than naval architect himself, but he is good at drawing both ships and women.

The Yuri here is played for laughs and fanservice, with most of the cast smitten by an oblivious Kuki. We do get to see women in uniform, and while some are of school-girl age, others are enjoyably older. I could point out other inconsistencies, but the point here is to use history to add a nice flavor to the story, not to dictate it.

Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 5
Characters – 6
Yuri – 6
Service – 6-8 (depending on your particular fandom)

Overall – 7 (lower if ships do nothing for you)

Kurogane Pukapuka-tai is neither profound nor fully realistic, but I quite enjoyed reading it, chuckling frequently. My interest in the Pacific War and naval history in general added that extra bit of enjoyment for me, pushing me to buy the second volume. It also helps to be able to enjoy, or enjoy laughing at, the fanservice.

Thanks George for taking up the mission of reviewing this manga! Yes, I totally would expect the artist to cram bathing in there somehow…. 

While we’re talking Morita-san ha Mukuchi, I thought it would be fun to review Volume 3 of the manga.

Having established in earlier volumes that Morita Mayu is a competent, pleasant young woman, with lots of friends in school, who just happens to not talk all that much, Volume 3 continues on with many of the same kinds of gags as we found in the first two volumes.

Mayu keeps missing opportunities to speak, but she’s really good at listening to her friends, and they are starting to get the hang of understanding her, as well. A few of the gags are typical boy/girl school things, some are Mayu being smart about stuff things. We also learn that while Mayu isn’t verbally skilled, she does communicate by text on her cell phone.

Yuri in the volume is notched up ever so slightly. Mayu’s stalker is still a stalker, and we still know nothing about her, really. But when she finds herself hiding from Mayu in the library even she calls her own behavior into question. She might even say “good morning” to Mayu one day.

The most pleasantly surprising Yuri-upper is the Student Council President, Yamamoto. She was already on our radar from being a girl-magnet in Volume 1, and her attractive competence. But here in Volume 3 we learn that she’s not only the object of affection for other girls but that she considers the girls objects of her own attention. She’s just worried that she likes watching the girls so much that someone else might notice. It’s cool, Ritsuki, we have your back. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 9
Yuri – 4
Service – 1

Overall – 8

The nice thing about 4-koma is that they are not taxing on brain or heart. Whatever the situation is at the beginning of the volume will be the situation at the end of the volume. Like a manga sitcom, the story is in the gags. These particular gags about especially nice young women are pleasantly amusing.

…another sick week is upon us. I even have a Guest Review lined up, but no energy. I promise to get well and be back soon.