Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Manga: GIRL FRIENDS, Volume 5

February 16th, 2011

After a rollercoaster ride of emotional growth, we have at last arrived at Volume 5 of Morinaga Milk-sensei’s definitive work, GIRL FRIENDS. And it is good.

Mari and Akiko have only a few more things left to deal with before they can face the world as a couple. One of these things is the physical component of their relationship, which is played for both laughs and “aww”s and is a sweet, rather than salacious, moment in their journey.

Of course their high school life is another thing they must deal with, and the hurdle of what will they do after they graduate takes up a large portion of this volume. It’s resolved satisfactorily on all sides. Akiko and Mari graduate without problem and in a giant handwave get to live happily ever after – at least as far as into the next stage of their lives.

And, despite the big stick o’happily ever after being applied liberally to the end of this series, I find myself not as satisfied with it as I had hoped to be. Bear with me as I explain why.

There are, IMHO, three obvious and perfectly legitimate reasons why the ending was given to us in an amorphous ball of “and they lived happily ever after,” rather than in any detail. Please allow me to indulge in a bit of overthinking here. These reasons might have been:

1) The author herself is clearly a specialist in the space between realizing “I like you” and getting together as a couple. It may be she has no interest in portraying anything after that.

2) The editor may have suggested that the audience isn’t terribly interested in the non-high school hurdles a gay couple has to face, or that the frisson of first love/first lust is sexier and more appealing to them than the domestic minutiae of buying furniture

3) Since all romances are, in some key ways, fantasies, the author may have wanted to portray a perfect world in which a couple of women, having decided to build a life together actually can, without pressure or difficulty from family or discrimination in housing or employment.

As I said, all three of these reasons are absolutely perfectly acceptable. And yet I remain unsatisfied. Why? Because for 4 volumes, Morinaga-sensei had constructed what I consider to be an incredibly realistic look at two young women in love. No, I absolutely did not need to see Mari and Akiko stressing over coming out to their families, but one handwave to wipe away all the many, many obstacles a young lesbian or gay couple faces was slightly irksome in the face of spending 4 volumes delving deeply into that very thing.

When you are part of a young gay or lesbian couple, your life is never truly private. Every act you do as a couple is a political statement, demanding recognition. As David Welsh of MangaCurmudgeon so brilliantly put it, every time he goes food shopping with his husband it is a subversive act. Constance McMillan never set out to make a political statement – she just wanted to take her girlfriend as her date to their senior prom. But the adults around her immediately turned that perfectly average desire into a divisive political declaration. For those of us who are LGBTQI, this happens every day.

So, when all of that is simply skipped or ignored, after 4 volumes of dealing with every single possible emotional hurdle between two girls and a life together as a couple, I found it to be disappointing. Had Mari at least thought, “Well, we still have a lot to deal with,” as she considered their life together in the epilogue, I would have been 100% satisfied. As it is, Morinaga-sensei gives away a little of the issue with the wrap-up in which we are told that Mari and Akiko still remained friends with Sugi-san and Tamamin and the others. This was never really a story about Mari and Akiko as Girlfriends. For Morinaga-sensei and her readers it was a story about Girls and their Friends. And in that story was a very sweet romance between two of those girls.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 10
Service – 4

Overall – 8

This series, at a comfortable 5 volumes, would be an excellent candidate for a American manga company who wanted to take a chance on a “Yuri” manga.





Hayate x Blade Mini-Drama CD

February 15th, 2011

If you bought the deluxe version of Volume 13 of Hayate x Blade, you received a Mini-Drama CD. As with most of the other HxB Mini Drama CDs, this one has a pervasive feel of fourth wall destruction and chaos.

Hitsugi has once again decided to record a Drama CD and to that end, she has gathered together the main characters of the story so she can inform them of her decision. This gives an opportunity to become reacquainted with the character’s voices – and to acclimate to the new voices in the cast, most notably Ensuu, Mei, Sid and Nancy. In all honesty, this CD could have ended after Sid and Nancy are introduced and I would have been happy, but no…Hitsugi has a much, much more diabolical plan, erm, planned.

For it is Tatewaki Hikaru who is called upon to step to the front and upon whose broad shoulders Hitsugi-sama places the important task of writing the script for the next Drama CD! Which is to say, she leaves Tatewaki alone in a room with some crackers and tea and a computer and tells her to clean up when she’s done.

And this, my friends, is the most amazing thing ever. Asano Mayumi has forever changed my impression of both Tatewaki and voice acting in general. The next scene, as Tatewaki bemoans her fate, mutters crazily to herself and chortles – not just chortles, but does the BEST CHORTLE EVER – alongside of dialogue recitation as she types, I considered myself schooled in the ways of voice acting by a Master.

The next scenes are a series of odd couple pairings, presumably in the scenes Tatewaki was composing. The wrap-up allows Hitsugi to be mean to her once more.

Then came the Bonus Track. Apparently I was not the only one impressed by Asano-san. The theme was “what character would you like to be,” and without hesitation several of the actresses stated that they wanted to be Asano Mayumi – to which I replied, “Agreed!” This despite the refrain from everyone else pointing out that Asano-san was not, in fact a character, but a real person.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

All I know is that the star of this Mini Drama CD was Asano Mayumi-san. The manga is totally worth getting – this CD is worth moving both heaven and earth to get.





Hayate x Blade Manga, Volume 13

January 30th, 2011

For six years, I have been telling you that Hayate x Blade (はやて×ブレード) is a most amazing manga. For six years I have been crowing about the fantastic characterization, the awesome action, the hilarious comedy of the women of Tenchi Gakuen.  And in all that time, I never once have said that “this volume wasn’t as good as the last one.” You have to figure that at some point, statistics will catch up with this series and there will be a volume that is not as good as the last one.

Volume 13 of Hayate x Blade is not that volume.

Volume 13 is absolutely one of the funniest things I have ever read, and has the beginning of an arc SO full of awesome that I find I am unable to talk about it without using far too many superlatives to be taken seriously.

The volume starts as graduation comes to Tenchi Gakuen, and spring break comes soon after. Graduation at Tenchi is a moving ceremony, as you can imagine – or would be if Hayate knew how to behave in public. Spring break is a chance to see all our regulars kick back a little and have some fun.

It also gives us a chance to see some of the characters involved in a Buffalo hunt in Arizona. (Bet you never expected that, huh!)

And it gives us a chance to meet a few new characters who will be attending Tenchi when the next term starts. Sae’s little sister Saki, who dislikes Akira, but hits it off well with Hayate, is one. And will Nagi become shinyuu with the tall, strong and not-too-bright newbie that is blundering around the campus? These and more new faces will enter Tenchi…soon.

But not until the fight of the century is over.

Since the first chapter there has been a fight that has been discussed, but never fought. A fight that will decide the very future of the school. A fight that will make the word awesome mean something again. A fight that has me freaking right the fuck out as it plays out in current chapters in Ultra Jump. As this volume comes to a close, we are witness to a fight that has everyone in the school on the edge of their seats.

Amachi Hitsugi and Miyamoto Shizuku vs Mikado Akira and Inori Sae.

This fight is everything you could hope it to be.

So, while statistically speaking, there will probably have to be a volume of Hayate x Blade that isn’t *quite* as good as the one before it – that hasn’t happened yet and I don’t expect it to happen at least for another volume.

Hayashiya Shizuru continues to be one of the best story-tellers in manga, IMHO and this series is an absolute must-read for anyone who cares about the craft of manga. Smart-dumb, funny, action-filled and emotional all at once. As surprisingly good at Volume 13 as it ever has been.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Yuri – 3
Service – 1

Overall – 9 and creeping ever higher….

This volume came bundled with a mini-Drama CD that will receive a review of it’s very own. Even if you can’t understand a word, you should listen to it for the chance to hear Asano Mayumi (Tatewaki Hikaru) rule the world of voice acting. Also for Sid and Nancy.





Yuri Network News – January 29, 2011

January 29th, 2011

Yuri Anime

Here is a trailer for the Morita-san ha Muguchi (森田さんは無口) OVA that is being bundled with the third manga volume. The OVA looks Yuri-er than the manga, but seems just as fun overall. For an overview of the story, check out my reviews of Volume 1 and Volume 2.

This was unexpected and happy-making – Digimon Tamers has been made available by Toei on Hulu.com. At last, I get to refresh my Ruki/Renamon fixation! Still want it on DVD, though… But for the first time ever, I may well try out Hulu. I’m actually pretty excited about this news. I loved Digimon Tamers. It was an amazingly good series, even aside from Ruki being a big ole babydyke. Oh screw it – squee!

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Yuri Manga

The tops stories here were already broken this week, but to recap:

Vertical has announced that they are publishing Princess Knight, Ribon no Kishi （リボンの騎士）apparently under some pressure from the Tezuka folks. Good for them.

And this week saw the release date for the second (middle) Volume of GUNJO. In reply to my congratulations on Twitter, Nakamura-sensei replied that all that was left was the final volume, phew! She promises to keep working hard.

You may remember Gakkou no Sensei, a story about three young teachers and their wacky adventures being pretty bad at their job. Volume 3 is out and the Japanese Yuri lists have upped the Yuri rating. That means fairly little, speaking from my subjective view, but it was a slightly fun manga with some Yuri-ish bits.

And in all honesty, this has to be the seriously weirdest news so far this year – with the popularity of Gantz, and the big global movie release last week, Oku’s first big series is making a comeback. Yes, folks HEN is back in bunko versions, being published by Shueisha. This series is of interest to Yuri fans, BL fans and people who can stand the way Oku draws ears. I reviewed this series ages ago, way back when it was one of the few Yuri series we actually had. Here’s my review  of the Hen anime and manga (from almost *7* years ago! That’s positively stone-age.)

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Yuri Drama CD


Man, you can always tell it’s mid-winter, when the Drama CD news comes pouring in….

You may remember that there is a new Hayate x Blade Drama CD –  Hayate x Blade Ultra Drama CD! Ichiban Hoshi! Zekkyoutsumeawase! that was released last month. Well, it was two of three being released in three months. The second of the set,  Hayate x Blade Ultra Drama CD Niban Hoshi! Tokkun Tsumeawase! was released this week. A third CD will be slamming your pocket next month, too. I haven’t gotten to listen to the first one, because the mini-CD that came with the last volume has been *so* insane and funny that I’ve had to listen to it three times so far. Review will happen eventually, when I stop laughing.

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That’s a wrap for this week.

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Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!





Second Volume of Gunjo on Sale

January 28th, 2011

Since we’re on the topic of squee-making manga news, today the second Volume of GUNJO is on sale.

Let’s show Nakamura-sensei as much support as we can!