Archive for the MURCIÉLAGO Category


MURCIÉLAGO Manga, Volume13 (ムルシエラゴ)

May 21st, 2019

MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 13 (ムルシエラゴ) is a rare volume. While there is a ton of violence and fighting and implied lesbian sex and the return of a fan favorite enemy, very little actually happens.

A new enemy appears, and is summarily dealt with by Rinko, after a dramatic rooftop battle. 

But, much more importantly, Narumi (former Therese at Rose Marie Acadamy) tells us that Gold Marie’s body is missing! And we can see that she’s up to her old tricks, or at least maybe she is, since a bed full of girls looks awfully like her old tricks.

And then a new enemy appears, in the form of a couple of corpses with their necks bitten almost all the way through. I applaud Yoshimurakana-sensei for her ability to convey visually that the bites were made with human teeth. That was extremely well done. And, as we’ve got Aika and Shizuka on our team now, I’m feeling a bit like this will be a grand battle.

I’m always fascinated by the violence and the new, even more horrific forms of death explored in every volume. I’d love to be a fly on the wall during the ideation sessions.

“So, this time, we’re going with a depraved lunatic who rips people’s throats out with their teeth.”
“Nah, too conventional. We need a better hook.”
“Oh! How about they *take a bite* out of the victim’s throats. Like they are food.”
“Now you’re talking!”

Ratings:

Art – 8 In so far as it is conveying horrific violence, I think it’s getting better.
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 7
Yuri – 3 One bed scene and a threat of Chiyo’s jealousy does not much Yuri make. Not in this series

Overall – 8

I quite like this gang of lesbian psychopaths and I like watching them kill the people they kill so cheerfully. ^_^ More lesbian grindhous,e please.

 

 

 





Yuri Manga: MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 8 (English)

November 20th, 2018

While Kuroko, Hinako, Rinko and Shizuka take on the the Tozakura Group’s 70-year old grudge in the sewers, crazy eyed sniper Reiko is contracted to neutralize their above-ground operations.

Hinako’s new golden beetle obsession remains obscure, and we get a new, exciting psychopath killer, Aiko, for our roster of crazy women. 

The fights in MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 8 are ridiculous, bloody and physics-and sense-defying, which is pretty much everything we’ve come to expect and love from a volume of MURCIÉLAGO. 

And, as an added bonus, Reiko gets sex and a new girlfriend. 

 

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 10
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

No complaints here. ^_^

 





Yuri Manga: MURCIÉLAGO BYPRODUCT – Araña (ムルシエラゴ- BYPRODUCT -アラーニァ-)

October 25th, 2018

While there are clearly oodles of series for which a side story is merely a way to extend a franchise (i.e., squeeze more money out of series fandom) there are some stories the world needs. 

The sex and violence-filled side story MURCIÉLAGO BYPRODUCT – Araña (ムルシエラゴ- BYPRODUCT -アラーニァ-) that follows crazy-eyed sniper, Kuchiba Reiko, is absolutely a story the universe needs. By universe, I mean me, obviously. ^_^

Reiko and her business partner, user of questionable martial arts Momo, are contracted by a Chinese syndicate run by Long and Fu (Dragon and Tiger) to fight other Chinese syndicates and their disposable henchmen. And they do, while bodies and heads explode outward in showers of blood and guts from Reiko’s gun, whose bullet caliber seems to magically transform as circumstances require. Since the point of this side story seems to be the violence and sex, it’s not like you’d be expected to tune in for the complex writing. 

In between these fights, Reiko turns out to be very accommodating to women who need sex. Reiko and her lovers have sex which is not at all as bizarre and grotesque as that portrayed in MURCIÉLAGO proper, but she does seem to be quite the stone butch.

It is nice to see that Reiko has a lover with whom she lives; the young lady whose life she saved. And they certainly seem happy enough. 

Ratings:

Art – 7 It may never be “good,” but it certainly is creative.
Story – 7 Ditto
Characters – 7 Ridiculous to absurd. 
Service – 7
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8

Like MURCIÉLAGO,  MURCIÉLAGO BYPRODUCT – Araña is “messy and gross and violent and gay.” I love it. 





Yuri Manga: MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 7 (English)

August 23rd, 2018

Another day, another set of grizzly murders in MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 7. And, the best person to get on the case is, obviously not the police, but psychopath Kumori Kuroko and her sidekick Tozakura Hinako. This time, they are bringing back some old friends and bringing in some new ones to build their team.

Due to a slight misunderstanding by Hinako, Kuroko believes Chiyo no longer cares about her, so she’s more than ready to take it out on someone else. Hinako develops two exciting new obsessions, we get a bunch of bombs from Minako, the high-school bomb maker, Narumi (formerly Teresa) drops off a few helping items and we meet Urara, a former cage fighter, now bartender, who will be providing us with some extra large muscles.

I want to be ever so slightly critical of this volume. The “Sakura pruning” group’s name in Japanese begins with “Tozakura” which is also Hinako’s family name. She is not, as the localizers chose, seeing “Hinako” painted around town. She is seeing “Tozakura” which is both extremely creepy and a lot more mysterious. It would not make sense for the “Sakura Pruning Group” to be painting “Hinako” around the the town. “Tozakura” does make sense.

Other than that one comment, this volume is spot on from what I want from a volume of MURCIÉLAGO – grotesque deaths, grotesque lesbian sex and Hinako’s weird obsessions, now including beetles and banchou capes.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 10
Yuri – 9 

Overall – 8

And Kuroko gets to have lesbian sex with a prostitute. That’s always fun.





Yuri Manga: MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 11 (ムルシエラゴ)

July 13th, 2018

In Volume 10, we took a frenetic tour of an aquarium, watched Hinako eat metric tons of seafood, watched a shark die and met Suiren, a young woman whose father disappeared under mysterious circumstances. In Volume 11 of MURCIÉLAGO (ムルシエラゴ), all of this comes to a completely batty ending in the crypts below this quiet seaside town, where we learn the eventual fate of all of the kidnapping (and murder, of course) victims.  From giant sharks to brains in jars, that’s what I like about this series.  It’s all class, all the time.

The climax of the arc also gives us a surprising bit of insght into Tsuru’s life-long quest to discover the story behind his wife’s death. He can now close that case.

We spend a bit of time with the murderer, and then turn our eyes to a new arc, full of murderers. Like I said, all class. This particular arc brings back some old friends, again, and a whole new crowd of creepy dudes who Kuroko will be better at everything than, despite their lifetime of pursuit martial arts. Woops.

Much more importantly, Kuroko and Chiyo get to have ugly lesbian sex! Like I said, all class, all the time. 

Ratings:

Art – Look, this is Volume 11. You’ve got to know what you’re getting into by now
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 9
Yuri – 9 Ugly lesbian sex for the win

Overall – 8

I am kind of looking forward to a new yakuza-focused arc. They always have the most satisfying fights. Needs more sniper Reiko.