Archive for the Series Category


MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 16 (ムルシエラゴ)

June 18th, 2020

Well. I didn’t expect that. When I told the Square Enix folks that I enjoy MURCIÉLAGO because it has some of the ugliest lesbian sex I’ve ever seen, I did not expect them to take that as a compliment – which it was totally meant as, mind you. MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 16 (ムルシエラゴ) begins with an extended, explicit ugly lesbian sex scene between the former high school bomber and her sex slave. Well, okay then.

Then we drop back into the storyline of the “Comedy Writer” and the Elder God-inspired Bugg Shash Circus. BUT, far more importantly we finally see something we knew had to be there, but we’d never seen it before. For the first time ever, we see Hinako completely unhinged and murderous. It’s been implied a number of times that she is capable of extreme violence, the police have talked around it. We’d seen Hinako be reckless and unhinged from reality, but we’d never seen the combination of all three. And it’s as ugly as you might imagine.

I would, therefore, expect a Hinako storyline in this series’ future. But in our present, Hinako is once again returned to the loopy and only slightly (within normal parameters for this series) violent person we know. We have a little breathing room until late July when Volume 17 is on the market in Japan.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Service – 10,000
Yuri – 10, but its ugly

Overall – 8

This series has it all…if by “all” you don’t mean literary value.

It does have, as I said, an explicit lesbian sex scene, some generic bathing scenes, and extraordinary violence and a creepy murderer. Oddly, not one of these things involve Kuroko. She spends the volume having a polite conversation before killing someone neatly and quietly.

Huh.





Shinyaku Ribon no Kishi, Volume 1 (新約・リボンの騎士)

June 11th, 2020

Today’s review is in part thanks to the constant evangelizing of Raybon No Kishi on Twitter, who alerted me to some interesting plot complications in this recent reworking of the story of Sapphire, the Girl Prince. Shinyaku Ribon no Kishi, Volume 1 (新約・リボンの騎士) is…well…it’s kind of interesting.  Written and drawn by Bureido (the pen-name for a three-person team of Miyamoto Loba,  Hamamura Toshiki, and Muramasa Mikado (many thanks to Hamamura-sensei for the correction_ whose work otherwise seems to be pedestrian and pornish – it’s a not-terrible homage to the iconic character created by Tezuka Osamu.

The story follows the outline of Princess Knight‘s origin, with some interesting changes. In Silverland, the rule of the Kingdom is entailed and can only be passed on to male heirs, so Sapphire reluctantly pretends to be the dashing Prince. It does not make Sapphire happy at all to do so. Upon saving a young woman, Sapphire takes the girl’s beribboned hat as a reward and wears it, gaining the moniker “The Ribbon Knight.” Really, Sapphire just liked the pretty hat.

Duke Lester wishes to dethrone Sapphire and doesn’t really care how he does it. He hires Willema, an assassin, to either prove Sapphire is a girl or to kill the Prince if he is a boy. Instead…Willema and Sapphire find themselves attracted to one another.  After she and Willema sleep together, Sapphire rides to confront Lester, while Willema rides off to talk to her mother, with tragic consequences.

Lester immediately begins working on a new plan…a weapon to destroy Silverland! And there will be pirates, as once might expect, if one has read the original.

As you can see, while basic plot idea is the same, pretty much everything else is different. Sapphire definitely does not like pretending to be a boy…and in this story she is pretending, there is no dual heart or a fairy who gave it to her. It is still Sapphire’s nature to be princely and she certainly is dashing, but she’d really rather not have to lie about her sex or gender.

This iteration has a fair amount of nipple-less nudity and the principal women are busty, which seems to be the style Bureido prefers. But even with that, it doesn’t feel too skanky. Honestly, this volume held up pretty well for a more modern retelling. What it loses in Disneyfied innocence, it gains in Yuri. ^_^ I’m not gonna lie, I wouldn’t mind watch this Sapphire wreck Lester’s stupid face.

Ratings:

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

I mean, I get it, Willema’s doomed, and no Sapphire isn’t going to be living happily ever after as a boyish girl, but I’m actually still interested to see what happens in Volume 2, so that’s good. ^_^





Sailor Moon Stars Limited Edition, Part 2, Disk 3

May 18th, 2020

There is no chance that this is the last post I ever make about Sailor Moon, but it may be the last post I make about the original 1990s anime. For the last time, we are going to talk about Sailor Moon Stars Limited Edition, Part 2, Disk 3, in which no one listens to either of the Princesses they have sworn to defend, because 16 year olds make shitty decisions.

Because no one listens to Usagi and Kakyuu-hime, and no one else suggests they all work together, they are picked off by Galaxia, whose backstory isn’t as much of a surprise as she apparently felt it might be. No Sailor Cosmos here to clog up the works, just another Senshi blundering around with mostly no idea what to do.

Which makes me wonder how I would have ended it. Let’s do that at the end.

On the positive side, Seiya gets to say what needs to be said to Usagi. This time, I was really glad about that. Once Mamoru’s fate was revealed, it was a lot easier to forgive both of them for everything they didn’t do right.

Haruka and Michiru spend the last few episodes being really gay, in case you didn’t know they were a couple.  I felt and still feel that this was specifically directed at the corner of fandom who just would not admit that they were really together. Their final moments are both heart-wrenching and extended and good heavens there were still people who just would NOT believe they were together. (I bet those people are all gay now, if you know what I mean…)

And then the epilogue comes and everyone lives happily ever after. For real.

Until 1000 years in the future when Crystal Tokyo is destroyed. Because just as no one thinks “Hey, let’s listen to the Princess,” no one would say, “HEY, we know what happens, let’s not be defeated by the Black Moon.”  I’m looking at you, Ami. You’re supposed to be the smart one.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 9
LGBTQ – 5 Michiru and Haruka are very, very gay.
Service – 3 Does Galaxia’s hair count? It’s really great hair. Oh, right, and some nudity

Overall – 8

So, how would I have ended it? How about this…

Sailor Moon and Kakyuu-hime would have convinced the Senshi to work together. They would have combined their powers and healed Galaxia, reuniting her with Chibi-Chibi. Hell yes, I would have included Sailor Cosmos – that’s a great costume. SHE would have told the combined Senshi Galaxia’s backstory and would have accompanied Sailor Galaxia home, by way of healing the planets she destroyed.

We would have had two epilogues…the one we got and one in Crystal Tokyo in the future where everything was shiny and perfect and Princess Small Lady was a little older, playing with the Asteroid Senshi, Saturn and Pluto at the Doors of Time, while the rest of the Senshi attended Queen Serenity and King Endymion in Crystal Tokyo as other planetary Senshi visited.

But no one asked me.

Viz has done an exemplary job with this classic title. I want to once again thank every person who worked on this release. Your love and attention was greatly appreciated. This is the definitive Sailor Moon.





Bloom Into You, Volume 7

May 11th, 2020

If Bloom Into You were a movie, this would be the part of the movie where, instead of hastening towards the climax, as American movies do, the characters would spend the next half hour moping, then run halfway across town to finally see each other, but Bloom Into You isn’t a movie, so while Touko and Yuu do exactly as described above, there is a different person for us to follow while they mope.

In Bloom Into You, Volume 7, Sayaka confronts her final boss, the fear inside herself. Happily, she doesn’t do it alone, because Sayaka has an adult role model to speak to, happy day! Miyako takes Sayaka on a reconnaissance mission and for the first time, Sayaka gets to talk to someone like her, and see what life can become. Fortified by the knowledge that she is choosing to do what she wants to for herself, so she can grow from it, Sayaka finally confesses her feelings to Touko.

…And the movie resumes, with Yuu and Touko running across town to see each other and finally have their own moment.

I’ve never been terribly invested in Yuu and Touko as a couple, not because I don’t like them, or because they shouldn’t be together, but just because this story was always presented to us as a Yuri romance. Yuu and Touko were fait accompli from the beginning. But Sayaka was a delightful – and meaningful – addition to the story.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8 The Sayaka parts are a 9
Characters – 9 They’ve developed into people now
Service – 1 Really not this volume, but we’ll talk again in V8.
Yuri – 7
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 9

As always, the technical for this are fabulous, Jenny McKeon’s translation does something specific I don’t want to spoil, but that I really liked in the climactic moment between Touko and Sayaka. Adaption, editing and lettering are all top notch, which means you’ll never notice them, but kudos to Jenn Grunigen, Julie Davis and CK Russell and I’m thrilled to see a proofreader, Danielle King. Do take a look at the credits for this volume, because IMHO, this is best of breed. You as a reader get to how many people it takes to get this book to you. I think it’s important that you understand that every book is a village.

I would love a side story about Touko and Yuu learning that Riko-sensei was gay all along. In the meantime Volume 8 is up for pre-order, with an August release date and Volume 3 of Bloom Into You Regarding Saeki Sayaka will be headed our way in the autumn. I can’t wait for you to read it!





Sailor Moon Stars Limited Edition, Part 2, Disk 2

May 5th, 2020

Sailor Moon Stars Limited Edition, Part 2, Disk 2 has some good and some bad…and some annoying, upsetting, frustrating, bittersweet, sweet and a host of other feelings. It’s like an M&M bag full of feels.

Sailor Lead Crow realizes that the absence of her “rival” is a hole she may never fill. The Three Lights learn that being hard-asses doesn’t really pay off. The Outers don’t learn a damn thing and the Inners learn that Usagi has been lying by omission. Both Seiya and Usagi learn that Seiya’s feelings are very sincere and everyone learns that Kakyuuu-Hime was hanging out in an incense burner watching them. That’s not weird at all.

We all learn the high stakes of Galaxia’s attacks. Are we worried? Not really because even aside from this being 23 years old, we know Sailor Moon will win the day. Which is why her emotional is torment especially upsetting, because why?!? What benefit is there to do this to the audience?

On the positive side, we spend some time with each Inner Senshi for the first time in a while. Minako, particularly, has a moment to shine bright, as we might expect from Venus.

I have to eat my words and say that while Seiya had stopped jokingly hitting on Usagi, he (for I will continue to refer to Kou Seiya as a “he,” as Seiya’s actions and behavior still read masculine identifying to me, while Taiki I think would just have been better off not having to pretend to be a hard ass guy, and Yaten remains Yaten) has terrible timing. I sympathize with Seiya, but no, you cannot be enough when she doesn’t even know whether or not she should be sad or angry. So, yes, I acknowledge that Seiya might have, in an entirely alternative timeline, been a decent choice, but he loses all the points for poor timing and inappropriateness.

The art has pulled itself up a tad, too, as if everyone knew they were coming down to the wire.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 8
LGBTQ – 4 Michiru wants you to know that she and Haruka are very gay. They have one scene, and its gay.
Service – 1 Seiya shirtless, I guess, works for some people

…and here we are. It’s down to 6 more episodes, 4 of which will be everyone dying. Whee! Grab the hankies, we’re going in…

Route Venus is one of my favorite of the Senshi image songs. Here’s Fukami Rika not murdering it for plot purposes.