Archive for the Series Category


Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Deluxe Edition, Volume 2

June 5th, 2023

A green-haired android poses in the middle of a busyish street. Her hands are clasped as she faces us. Some of the passersby look at us as well. The words "Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Deluxe Edition," the number 2 and "Story and Art by Hitoshi Ashinano" are in prismatic rainbow colors.In Volume 1 we met Alpha, an android who runs a small coffee shop in what once was Musahino, and is now a wind- and sand-swept landscape. Alpha’s owner left years ago, now she spends her days making coffee for the occasional guest at her cafe, and experiencing the world around her.  In Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Deluxe Edition, Volume 2 we get to know more about Alpha and the people around her…and a tantalizing little bit about the twilight of humanity.

Alpha’s every day is filled with something, but it’s the somethings that fill a life when there is nothing particular to do. She goes to Yokohama to buy coffee beans (there aren’t that many left for sale), she meets the local ojisan, and the only remaining two children, Takehiro and Makki. Even so, Alpha can see that Takehiro is growing up, as time passes.

We get to see Kokone at work, and learn more about her, and then see her obsess about Alpha. They visit each other and pass the time together. Everything is quiet, here at the end of everything as we know it.

This is one of my favorite volumes, because we are introduced to Alpha playing the Moon Lute. In the second Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou Drama CD, which I reviewed on Okazu back in 2007, we were able to hear Alpha vocalize to the Moon Lute and at that point, I had pretty much fallen in love with this series – much like Kokone, I had been completely charmed by Alpha.

But time passes here, and we get some tidbits from the old professor – and the ship that floats gracefully above the planet – about the fate of the people living on it. There is a soft melancholy that pervades this story and allows us to hold on to the high points as Alpha does, enjoying those ephemeral moments more than we might in our busy lives.

This is such a beautifully drawn book and so well-handled by Seven Seas. With all that space on the page, letterer Ludwig Sacramento is able to do retouch on the s/fx – something that I actually feel quite strongly about for this series. It is a series of silences, and few noises, so those noises are important. Daniel Komen’s translation and Dawn Davis’ adaptation make for a story that reads so smoothly, I had to slow myself down to savor the moments. Nicky Lim’s cover design is just beautiful. Thanks to everyone who worked on this at Seven Seas. It is one of my favorite series of all time and I am so glad it is getting the treatment it deserves.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 1 on principle, but for me, the pinup images of Alpha and Kokone are 10
Yuri – Kokone’s feelings about Alpha are certainly Yuri-adjacent

Overall – 9

If only the end of humanity was this gentle and quiet.

 





Birdie Wing, Continued, Continued

April 25th, 2023

It’s not that often that I write a review and mere hours later, everything I said was *completely* wrong, but Birdie Wing has done it, by golf!

Golf changes *everything* here. It ruins the dreams of young women by leading them to defeat in a single high school doubles tournament, which clearly is the end of the road for any athlete.

Golf brings people together and tears them apart. It kills people (with the help of one of my favorite shoujo troupes, the cruise liner accident – and a love triangle between serious, yet dysfunctional, adults, a la Marmalade Boy.)

But all of this serves a purpose, I swear! If none of this happened, Aoi would pine after Eve and never really find her own golf. It is imperative that our protagonists develop an intense rivalry or they will just going on being a golf manzai partnership, with increasingly extreme reasons to not take their golf seriously at all.

As Steve Jones puts it on ANN, golfing hard is the message here: In Birdie Wing, “Golf becomes the axis on which the world rotates. You can golf hard enough to save your adoptive family. You can golf hard enough to cure amnesia. You can golf hard enough to die.” Surely, our protagonists can golf hard enough to be a happy couple, now that the most obvious twist turns out to be twistier than we thought.

Vipere returns this next week and the Birdie Wing fandom is (un)reasonably excited, as Eve – having helped Aoi win her competition, and unlocked her own memories*, is rewarded by being deported. Of course she is, that’s totally normal for Birdie Wing – and we love it.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 10 
Characters – 10
Service –
Yuri – Now that they aren’t sisters, maybe Aoi might get that kiss. Probably not, though.

Overall – 10

My love for this series is endless.

*Remind me to tell you my theories about Eleanor Burton.

 





Birdie Wing, Continued

April 16th, 2023

The first “season” of Title Poster for Birdie Wing featuring an ensemble of high school girls playing golf, surrounded by adult men and women looking portentous and menacing. Birdie Wing was an absolute triumph that didn’t so much come to an end, as just stopped. ^_^ And now what was being called the second “season” is more or less a continuation of the first.

In the middle of what might have been a climactic arc in any high school sports story, for Birdie Wing, it was just another stepping stone from one plateau of unreality, to another. What began as a high-tension story about underground mafia golf and corruption morphed effortlessly into a high school sports drama, complete with a rival pair that Aoi and Eve would have to beat before moving on to re-address the cutthroat world of adult golfers and lingering threats. Only this is Birdie Wing, not any other story and when Eve and Aoi finally take on Himekawa Mizuho and Oikawa Kaede…..they are rendered instantly irrelevant by Eve’s orange bullet. Watching Himekawa crushed might have even been a moment of pathos in any other story, but here is a passing note of “yup.” We’ve seen the opening credits – there’s like another dozen people to get through. ^_^

Also, almost as an aside, it is confirmed that Eve and Aoi are half-sisters, but if this came as a surprise to you then wow, were you not paying attention. Why and how are also pretty irrelevant in this series and I don’t think it matters at all how they are related, when Aoi’s primary goal is to get a kiss from Eve and Eve’s primary goal is to eat lot of hamburgers. As this series has established, there are no rules which it will not cheerfully break.

I don’t think I have to exhort anyone reading Okazu to watch Birdie Wing, by now, but let me just remind you to definitely watch Birdie Wing. It is the perfect sports Yuri anime precisely because both sports and Yuri are entirely wack.

Ratings:

Art – 10 Loving shots of unreal golf
Story – 10  Everything is valid when nothing is real
Characters – 10 Delightful and nonsensical
Service – There are things that can be considered service, depending on how much on likes detailed animation of golf strikes
Yuri – Aoi’s desire for a kiss, not much else, but it doesn’t matter much

Overall – 10

This is still the greatest anime I have ever watched.





She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, Vol. 2

April 13th, 2023

Hi all, I am back with my first review since falling ill and I hope you’ll all keep supporting me and Okazu, as I have a LOT of new stuff to talk about this month. I’ll do my best to develop some kind of a schedule again, as I have the energy!

To get back into the swing of things, I really wanted to talk about She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat, Vol. 2 by Sakaomi Yuzaki. I’ve been singing the praises of this series since I first read it last year. As I said in my review of this volume in Japanese, “Nomoto and Kasuga playing house is my new hygge.” And that’s pretty much the point of this story. These two women free each other up to find a life for themselves that suit them in a way that nothing they’d been offered by family or society ever had.

This really comes home as Nomoto once again falls ill and is pummeled with feelings of failure and being a disappointment to her family. Once again, Kasuga comes to the rescue, but this time, Nomoto allows herself permission to “like” the other woman, a huge step forward. And she learns just enough about Kasuga to understand her appetite is it’s own story. Each woman begins to carve out a place for the other in a wholesome and supportive way. It’s inspiring and adorable…and I cannot get enough of it.

Caleb Cook’s translation  is outstanding. Sensitive, where it needs to be, light-hearted where it can be, it allows us to really feel a full range of adult emotional experiences.

In between emotional revelations, this volume is laugh-out-loud funny, as they Netzflitz and chill. They make classic home recipes and share special holiday treats. All I can say is that this is a manga I needed in my life. I’m sure I am preaching to the choir here, but if you have not picked this series up – do! Thanks Yen for giving us a fantastic rendition of this fantastic manga!

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – Still saying that the food here are the money shots
Yuri – Let’s edge it up to 4, now that we know Nomoto is in like.
Food – 9 It all look so good. What the what, I could make a fruit sandwich!

Overall – 9

I cannot be the only person who checks out the color images of what they shopped for, surely? I know I’m not the only person who loves visiting food stores in other countries. ^_^





Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 5 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。)

March 6th, 2023

Before we start today’s review, I want to let you know that until May my reviews are going to be less regular. I have a relentless schedule for March and April, but at the end of it, I hope I have a lot of fun stuff to share with you all.

Today, to get this new schedule off with a bang, we’re looking at Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 5 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。) In the aftermath of the Commoner Movement and the resulting loss, Claire is depressed and Rae is desperately trying to cheer her up. But when Claire does cheer up, it is because Rae’s only real rival is arriving – Manaria, the crown princess of the neighboring country Susse. Manaria is good-looking, popular, accomplished and worst of all, she’s the only quadcaster in the world. She’s top-level at all four elements, to boot. Even worse than worst, Claire has a childhood crush on her “oneesama.” Manaria is an understandably popular character, but in the real world, she’d be insufferable. ^_^

Now it’s Rae’s turn to feel loss…and have her worldview challenged. Manaria pushes Rae to be honest about her feelings for Claire, then destroys her in a duel. But when Rae gets back up and challenges Manaria to an epic battle of vows of love, it will change everyone in the story. This is one of the most popular arcs of the original series, according to inori.-sensei. For good reason. There’s a lot of nail-bitingly good stuff here.

Art-wise, this book is phenomenal. From the tension on the spectators’ faces during Rae and Manaria’s duel to the incredible climax of the Scales of Love contest, there are whole volumes in Claire’s eyebrows. ^_^

This arc is a breather before the story takes a darker turn – a breather that is still quite intense. It’s also the first time Rae is able to meet someone in this world who admits to being queer…a remarkable thing that heralds many other remarkable occurrences in the series, as well as laying some foundations down for future arcs.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 7
Service – Manaria is a kind of service. ^_^

Overall – 9

This volume does not yet have a English-language release date, but when it does, don’t hesitate – it is wonderful. ^_^