Archive for the Series Category


Yuri Manga: Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo, Volume 10 (あの娘にキスと白百合を)

May 15th, 2019

Whenever a popular and long-running manga series ends, I’m always tempted to start the review with the lyrics of My Way. I may even have given in to that temptation once or twice. In any case, here we are at the end of the 5 year run of Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo by Canno. For 5 years we’ve enjoyed tales of love and rivalry and admiration and desire at a girl’s school in which a larger than usual number of girls would like to be, or are, lovers. Among these stories is that of the two top students of the class, the genius slacker Kurosawa Yurine and Shiramine Ayaka.

In Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo, Volume 10 (あの娘にキスと白百合を), Ayaka is having trouble facing, indeed, even understanding, her feelings for her rival. To provide herself some context, she walks around the school meeting and speaking with all of the characters we’ve met in previous volumes. And, because this is the final volume of the series, shes uses these conversations to sum up their stories and to explore all the ways her own has developed, by asking people to describe their relationships with their lovers/rivals/friend/etc to her. I found this to be a bit “Are you my mommy?”-ish, but it worked well enough, and gave us closure and assurance to some of the more-tenuous relationships.

In my opinion, Ayaka’s cousin and sempai, Mizuki, dropped the ball on this. Having been closest to Ayaka, I kind of feel her softballing her relationship to Moe was a failed opportunity to be a good role model. But YMMV. ^_^ Nonetheless, revisiting each of the storylines from the series gives Ayaka a chance to work through all her feelings for Yurine and admit what we’ve all known for a while – that she likes her.

The epilogue wraps their storyline up sweetly and, finally, ties up the story in a neat bow made of the series title.

As a tale that was always set in Yuri wonderland of a school, in the middle of which there there was a bit of realistic story-telling and some reasonable emotional growth, the outcome was never in doubt, really, but it’s still nice to see it unfold and end the way it did. The cover says it all – the same protagonists as the first volume, but their body language and expressions have changed significantly.

Ratings

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8 
Yuri – 8
Service – 2 Still nice kisses

Canno-sensei’s art has improved so much since her first volume, and she still can turn out an emotionally intense scene or three. After her breakout series was a pretty big hit, I hope she is able to do something she’s really happy with for her next series and not just have to pump out something to please her editors. Sophomore slump is a real thing, but I’m confident she’s got room to grow.





Yuri Manga: Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Volume 7 (やがて君になる)

May 8th, 2019

Since the first volume, I have been cautious.

“All this having been said, I need to bring up two important issues I have with this manga. The first is that it is presented as a romance. The story is apparently that we’ll side with Touko as her sincere feelings for Yuu are eventually returned. ”

I have repeatedly pointed out a glaringly obvious problem with this series.

“I’m still not sure if Yuu is supposed to be confused because she just hasn’t had an “a-ha!” moment or because she’s genuinely asexual. I don’t think the mangaka knows, either and I’m positive Yuu herself has no idea.”

“Which leads me to the, I think, obvious conclusion abut Yuu. What if she’s asexual? If so, she’s never going to have those feelings for Touko or anyone. She might come to love Touko and continue to admire and like her, but never have sexual interest in her. So, then I can’t help but see Touko’s coming on (to be crude) to Yuu as another burden, rather than a blessing.”

“Both these things nag at me while I read this manga. And I worry that Yuu’s agency will be stripped from her as the narrative continues.”

“Where they will end we cannot say (well, okay, obviously we can. It was abundantly clear from the first page of this series it was meant to be a romance. As I noted in my review of the first volume back in 2016…. So, yeah, obviously it has been heading in this direction from the very beginning. Which I’m still kind of sad about. I would really have preferred to have Yuu as a rare aromantic manga protagonist. Oh well.”

And so on…. every volume has been problematic.

Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Volume 7 (やがて君になる) is not helping. ^_^;

That said, there is a lot to like in this volume. We get another moment when Sayaka sits down with Miyako and really talks about the thing that they have in common; a thing Miyako has largely dealt with, but that Sayaka has not, yet. We also get a chapter backstory for Miyako and Riko, in which we see how they met and came to be a couple. Those are both wonderful moments. And, continuing on, we see Sayaka take an important step forward in her own growth. For all of this, this volume is very, very good.

But the big glaring problem does not get smaller here. Yuu is going to have deal with how she feels about Touko – – which is not the glaring problem. The big glaring problem is how her being set up as an aromantic is going to be dealt with. I do not want to spoil a thing, but… I did was neither surprised, nor impressed by the way it was handled. The way it was handled is the big glaring problem. When the series is complete in English, we’ll talk about it. Until then, I look forward to spoiler-free comments from you!

Ratings:

Art – 9 It is palpably better in this volume than it has ever been
Story – If the point of art is to create a reaction in its viewer, then this is a 10, for both good and ill
Characters  – 10
Service – Nothing salacious, buy Miyako and Riko getting ready for bed was a kind of service. ^_^
Yuri – 10+

Overall – 9

It was very “aauuggghhhhh!” and very “yay!” and I need you all to read it asap so I can *talk* about it! You will have the chance to read it in December, while Volume 8, which will hit shelves in autumn in Japan, will be the final volume. When this all over about a year from now, we shall sit down and have a good long talk about this series. ^_^;





Sailor Moon SuperS Anime, Part 1, Disk 1 (English)

April 15th, 2019

It’s been a long time since I watched Sailor Moon Super S the very first time and I am not at all surprised to find that I consider it as unwatchable and excruciating as I felt the first time! It’s got just about everything I don’t like all crammed into a very thin plot (Chibi-Usa, Pegasus, creepy Amazon Trio ripping women’s dreams from their chest while they beg them not to….shudder…) , and while I – like all good fans – have rewritten and retconned it in my own head to be a valuable piece of the mythology, in reality it’s really pretty eh, unless you genuinely enjoy Chibi-Usa and Usagi screaming at each other for a lot of episodes.

That said, there are actually a couple of really interesting plot needles among the rest of the plot hay. So, I’m basically ignoring the story of SuperS for all of those.  You know the rule – it’s 25 years old, there can be no spoilers.

The first interesting plot element is that the Amazon Trio are all male (do not try to make sense of the name, therefore) but Fish Eye is the second gay male character who crossdresses in the series.  With all the women who pass as men in the spotlight of ‘S’ and “Stars”, its sometimes easy to forget Zoisite and Fish Eye who provide the queer quotient in the first season and “SuperS.”

The animation suffered significantly for this season. Remastering could only work so far when the original just wasn’t that great to begin with. The sound quality was surprisingly good, but as the music was mostly on automatic, it adds little to the overall experience. Even the end theme “Baby Baby Love” is not one of the strongest in the pantheon of Sailor Moon music. Especially when you consider the end theme of Stars, which is weep-messy-tears worthy.

I hope you will forgive me for otherwise ignoring much of what happens in this season. I would probably not even be reviewing it but for the most amazing thing being included on Disk 1. The Sailor Moon SuperS Special consists of 2 short stories both of which are basically the only reason this whole season has for existing. This is the first official release of this special in English and you must run out and watch this immediately if not sooner.

Part 1 of the SuperS Special follows Haruka and Michiru as they encounter the Dead Moon Circus at a resort hotel. Haruka is sick in bed and flirting with the maid who is taking care of her, forcing Sailor Neptune to fight the Dead Moon Circus alone.  The punchline of this episode is Michiru’s line – which is the one of the three best lines in all of Sailor Moon – “There seems to be a misunderstanding. It’s not worth saving a world without Haruka.”

Part 2 is the only Chibi-Usa story I can tolerate and is one of the chapters from “Chibi-Usa’s Picture Diary” from the manga.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 2 Ask me how much I care about Chibi-Usa and Helios. Have a seat. It’s gonna take a while.
Characters – 3 Hawk’s Eye and Tiger’s Eye did not age well as character designs or concepts, but we’ll get more Inners, later.
Service – More BDSM creepiness than I’m comfortable with, frankly.
Yuri – 10 A whole episode of Michiru and Haruka being so very, very gay.

Overall – 9 for the Special, 6 for the rest of the season

The SuperS Special and the SuperS movie are good. The rest of the season can go hang. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Bloom Into You, Volume 6 (English)

April 5th, 2019

The moment has arrived….the school festival is here and now, at last, the Student Council will perform a play. Touko will achieve the thing her late sister was never able to do. She will be able to put her sister’s phantom behind her. And then what?

In Bloom Into You, Volume 6 Touko will have to ask the question that has been plaguing her for years – and she’ll do it literally in front of the entire school all her friends and her family.

Unusually for a manga, we are allowed to see the whole play. Konomi nails the character each council member plays and it is especially lovely to be able to see how close to the mark she got in the dialogue, not just hear about it. (Even though, of course Konomi is not writing, but being written that way, it  still works in context.)  We are also given the opportunity to see audience reactions, like Touko’s parents looking pained when the dialogue lands on their lap, or the intrigued whispers at Sayaka playing Touko’s lover. All of it skirting >this< close to plausibility that the audience – and readers – might be tempted to think it was the truth.

This volume was both a triumphant climax for the series and one of the best school festivals play episodes I’ve ever read. It’s a pretty common trope for the play to reflect the story in an unsubtle way, as we’ve seen with Torikaebaya in Maria Watches Over Us, or Shuu-chan’s original script in Wandering Son. This one wins. Now Sayaka will have to deal with everyone wondering if she and Touko are, were, or could be lovers. Which, if she weren’t actually in love with Touko, might be funny.

And Yuu, at last, has to confess out loud what we’ve already known for a while now – she has failed to keep her end of the promise she and Touko made. Her heart-wrenching confession puts Touko into a tailspin.

We, the audience of this play-within-a-play are in the somewhat unusual position of having to wait to find out what happens because Volume 7 does not come out in Japan until the end of April and in English in December! I have read one or two of the chapters in Dengeki Daioh magazine where it is serialized, but am otherwise in the dark about where this story now goes. Which I quite like, so please do not helpfully spoil me, thanks. ^_^

Seven Seas’ edition continues to be excellent. This volume was, I think, particularly critical for this series, with a lot of future ramifications being laid out, and I was confident that translation by Jenny McKeon and adaptation by Jenn Grunigen were solid. The technicals were also especially good. Once again I feel that this volume offers the authentic manga reading experience fans are looking for.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 5
Service – 1

Overall – 8

In my review of this volume in Japanese, I called the play “terrifyingly accurate.” While we know damn well that that’s contrived, it still worked.

 





100 Years of Yuri at Toronto Comic Arts Festival!

April 4th, 2019

This week, you can listen to the me talk 100 Years of Yuri with the fine folks at Anime World Order. Check out Anime World Order Show # 173 – 100 Years of Yuri with Most Dangerous Erica Friedman, Yuri Bodhisattva. We’ll be talking about the Asagao to Kase-san movie.

We timed that beautifully, because Toronto Comic Arts Festival, May 11-12, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, announced that Kase-san creator Takashima Hiromi will be a guest at TCAF and I’ll be talking with her about Kase-san and Yuri!  I am so impossibly excited, I can barely stand it. ^_^

I’ll be presenting a talk at the Japan Foundation during TCAF on 100 Years of Yuri, as well. TBA on that.

AND, I’m curating a 100 Years of Yuri exhibition in the Gallery Display at Page & Panel in the Toronto Reference Library! These are objects out of my personal library – some of these  items have not been out of the house since the Yurisai event Yuricon ran in in 2007.

TCAF is open to the public, there is no admission fee. There will be a ton of awesome panels and workshops and so, so many terrific comic artists and books to read and buy.

Thanks ever so much to Jocelyne Allen and all the fantastic people at Seven Seas and TCAF for helping make this a reality. I cannot think of a better place and a better group to  kick this celebration into high gear.

I hope you’ll join me at this terrific comic event and help me celebrate 100 Years of Yuri!