Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Manga: GUNJO, Volume 1

April 9th, 2010

(Note to people looking for scanlations of this book. The author does not work herself to the bone and pay money out of her pocket so you can steal her work. Scans are not cool – they are theft. You want the book, click the picture and go buy it. Otherwise, you’re devaluing her time and effort and there is no justification for it, other than you are selfish.) 

“Is it settled?”

“It’s settled.”

With these few words begins one of the most profound, most emotionally engaging manga I’ve ever read.

Gunjo, Volume 1 (羣青 上)by Nakamura Ching is a journey from madness to madness, from profound misery to profound misery and from derision and fear into depths of despair where there is respect and even love.

It begins in the moments after a horrible crime has been committed. A woman has asked someone to kill her husband for her. She has asked someone she knows she can use – another woman, a lesbian, who has been in love with her since high school. The woman who requested the death is abusive, derisive. The woman who committed the crime is passive, almost apathetic. She flinches in the face of the other’s harsh words, but doesn’t fight back.

In between incredible, sudden violence, at moments when their existence is most tenuous, there is tenderness. No, it’s more like that there is only tenderness in the moments when they are most fragile.

We only learn later that the one woman has been serially abused by her husband, after a life with an abusive father. And we only learn later that the other woman walked away from a relationship and a life to commit this act of violence for her.

There is no real moral ambiguity here – these two women are violent and broken. They are insanely bad for one another and have together done something unspeakable. And yet, in the darkest moments, they realize they want to live and try to create something like a life out of the chaos they’ve created.

Nakamura-sensei’s art is detailed and realistic – and in those moments of terrifying violence it reaches the level of sublime. Her writing is subtle – and painful and hurtful – and breathtakingly beautiful especially when the situation is uncertain. There is a mastery of tension of just about every kind in every word and line of this story.

Moving, brutal, sublimely gorgeous and profoundly disturbing.

I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say this – Gunjo is the best manga I have read to date.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 10

I would love to hear from those of you who bought Volume 1 of Gunjo – what did you think of it, now that you’ve had a chance to see it for yourself?





Yuri Manga: Sasamekikoto, Volume 6 (ささめきこと)

March 29th, 2010

When you’ve got a logjam, there’s only two ways to break it up. Either something has to crack under pressure, or some external stimulus has to be applied to clear the congestion. In either case, I expected a “terrible crisis” to happen in this volume.

In Sasamekikoto, Volume 6 (ささめきこと) *both* things happen. And I was wrong – there is no “terrible crisis.” Well, there is, but it’s not that terrible, really.

I don’t want to spoil too much, because this was a very good volume, but let me say this: The one consistently weak thing about this story has been Ushio’s cluelessness. Well, that’s been taken care of now.

And now, I am even more interested to see where the series goes from here.

I loved that the crazy birthday party meme from the Drama CD was reused for this volume in a way that left one not feeling wrung out and irritated.

I foresee a ridiculously grin-making climax, but not at least for another volume, maybe two. Kind of weird for a series that became so thickly wrapped in angst, but also kind of a relief.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 9
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Damn this series, now I’m singing Jinsei ha Party all over again. Gah.





Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny Anime, Volume 1 (English)

March 12th, 2010

Today’s review is an ode to the “obvious.”

In Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny, Volume 1, it is “obvious” to us that Kan’u has an unrequited passion for Ryuubi and it is “obvious” to me that Ryomou has focused all her passion on two important women in her life – Hafuku and the (still-so far) departed Ryofu.

Still waters run deep and it’s so “obvious” that these women keep their deep well-spring of passionate feelings buried beneath their outward hardness.

It is “obvious” to those of “us” who are “looking” for it, that is.

And by “looking” I mean we are carefully scrutinizing animated facial expressions as if they are real and making judgements based on them, analyzing ridiculously small details of body posture, tone of voice and yes, going frame by frame to see the exact moment when we see that so-subtle shift between delusion and “obvious.” ^_^

In the fine tradition of turning great war heroes into buxom women whose skirts we look up, Ikki Tousen focuses on the awakening of the malignant spirit of the original Sousou and the subsequent chaos unleashed upon the Fighters of Seito, Nanyou and Kyoushou high schools. (I actually laughed out loud when I saw that the tagline for this series is “Romance of the Three High Schools.”)

Sousou is voiced, btw, by Dan Green of Yu-Gi-Oh TV cartoon fame on the English soundtrack.

In Volume 1, we establish the relative peace of Seito Academy, and how, although Chouhi and Kan’u are ever vigilant, Ryuubi is a total slacker. Albeit with a Dragon living inside her.

Ryomou visits to see the Dragon unleashed and we learn that she also has that same power in her. And Hakufu, too. Sousou, too, presumably, although that’s the least of his problems. Through small, poignant flashbacks, we see that Sousou really does have strong leadership qualities and the ability to inspire loyalty. Unfortunately for him, the evil former warlord isn’t having any of that, choosing to rule by fear instead.

Speaking of ruling by fear, Goei rocks. ^_^

So, yes, this series continues to be a travesty, a veritable feast of the most tedious perversions, but despite that, I like it. I would have liked it much better if the camera angles weren’t so obsessively upskirt and the men’s clothes exploded at least half as often as the women’s but…everyone fights. They fight with everything they have and then some. They fight for loyalty and love and because they *can*. That is pretty much what I fuel *my* delusions about Ikki Tousen with. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – No, seriously, no.
Characters – I kinda like them
Story – Heeheehee
Yuri – .5 unless you watch frame by frame as Kan’u deals with her “obvious” passion for Ryuubi, then 10
Service – 10

Overall – 5, unless you crave the “obvious,” then 8. ^_^

You may have heard that Media Blasters recently laid off a number of their employees, with the hope that these folks could be hired back soon. I have a number of friends working there, and I feel a great deal of fondness for them as a company. If they have ever put out anything that you liked, please support them by buying some of their anime or manga and make it possible for them to weather this storm. Your support can actually make the difference. Thank you in advance and here’s hoping that Media Blasters has a strong, building year.

In the meantime, let me thank Okazu Superhero Amanda M for contributing to MB’s bottom line and to Okazu reader enjoyment. Thank you once more for your support, Amanda.!





ChinMan Manga

March 7th, 2010

Before a manga artist gets a serial, they usually start with a few one-shot stories for a magazine. In this case, before she began drawing GUNJO, Nakamura Ching drew a number of one-shot manga stories that have been collected into a single volume, ChinMan (short for Ching Manga.) This collection is eclectic, odd and intruiging. Just the way I like it. :-)

The first story follows Sae, a young woman with a mysterious disease that causes extreme nosebleeds and some kind of internal convulsions when she’s over stimulated. ….Ahem. When’s she’s kissed deeply by a worried female friend, she realizes that her illness might not be so bad, after all.

Nanako listens to her grandmother’s story of how she and her grandfather lived through hard times and were parted during the war, but doesn’t really understand her grandmother’s feelings until she herself finds love.

“Sonny” is a boxer, whose son does not respect him, until he sees him give his all in the ring.

Noboru is a 19-year old slacker who decides that he wants to become a tattoo artist. He apprentices himself to a woman who really runs him through the traditional method of apprenticing – he cleans constantly, endures physical and emotional abuse until he proves himself worthy of taking ink and needle to the skin of his master. This was far and away my favorite story of the collection.

A local boy and girl have a very contentious relationship that ends with the boy becoming a hero eternally as a Kamikaze pilot.

“Lady Stanch” is a look at life among the bosozoku and the relationships that develop between friends, enemies and lovers in that world.

A young man faces the harsh real life of someone he admired when he was younger in “Cheerio.”

And the final story is a hyper-intensive look at an artist’s tools. I mean that literally. This is a manga about the pens, pencils and brushes and one woman’s over-the-top relationship with her writing utensils.

Each story in this collection is filled with remarkable intensity. The female characters really stand out as having some strength and every character shows resolve in a way that is bound to make a reader feel like s/he too can overcome any obstacle. But these are not comforting stories, even when they are funny. They are edgy in a very real sense.

I’m particularly glad to have had the chance to read the tattoo story, and in general to have gotten a glimpse at the early work of a woman I not only respect as a manga creator, but respect personally.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – Variable – 6-8
Characters – 7-9
Yuri – In the one story, 7
Service – 1, just on principle

Overall – 8

Before there was GUNJO, there was ChinMan.

And it was good.





Hayate x Blade Manga, Volume 11

February 27th, 2010

In fighting manga, it always seems like it’s those few quiet moments in between the fights that move the plot along fastest.

This is absolutely *not* the case for Hayate x Blade, Volume 11. In fact, if anything, the plot moves forward most in the giant handwave moments, the sweeping, epic, moments, and any moments that rocks or trees are crashing down the mountain. Frequently, onto Ayana.

Seriously, so much goes on in this arc that I’ll be hard put to synopsize even the broadest strokes.

You may remember from previous volumes, that Hayate’s twin sister Nagi had arrived at Tenchi Academy. Her superiority at the sword and her few-minute edge as the older sister leads both Nagi and Hayate to the conclusion that Nagi will now take her place as Ayana’s sister-in-arms. Hayate, sure that this is a fated conclusion, leaves the school, goes out to mountain behind the school and is found and befriended by obviously crazy Yannagi Makoto. Because of Makoto’s exceptional sword skills, her Edo-period patois and the fact that her hair covers one eye all the time, Hayate calls her Yagyuu (for Yagyuu Jyuubei) and oyabin (“boss” in Edo lingo.)

It turns out that Makoto is the first ever student who graduated from Tenchi’s Sword-bearing student program. Somewhere between her years in middle school and her third year of high school, she broke completely and fled to the mountain behind Tenchi where she has lived and trained, since. We don’t yet know why, but we do get the briefest glimpse of her past in a flashback.

Hitsugi decides that it’s time to deal with Makoto, so she announces a whole-school event – a randori (a many-against-one melee.) All of the swordbearers are told to find Makoto, with no regard for rank, with the exceptions of the student council who are sent out to obstruct the other ranks. The winner will get a prize chosen by which gate they started from – money, food or a trip to Hawaii. All of the students happily head out to find this mysterious graduate.

Except one.

Ayana couldn’t care less about Makoto. She’s super extra pissed off that she’s here at all and she only has one goal – to find and put the beat down on Hayate for being the cause of this nonsense. And, of course, get her back as shinyuu.

There are a number of scenes of awesome in this volume. Asakura Mizuchi’s preemptive introduction, before Ayana can forget her name again. Sid, being booted out of the helicopter by Nancy. The source of Makoto’s sword skills. What actually goes on inside Ensuu’s head. And Jun fighting Sae has some extra awesome on the side.

The randori format means that we’ll get to see pairs fighting that we’d otherwise never see. As Hayashiya-sensei never lets a character drop after introducing her, that means we get some good fights with characters that you probably forgot about.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 1
LoseFanBoy – 1

Overall – 9

The arc isn’t anything like done, although in last month’s Ultra Jump it came to a climax. What the future will bring – and what past will be revealed – is still anyone’s guess!