Archive for the Series Category


Top Ten Yuri Manga of 2012

December 28th, 2012

In addition to my normal disclaimers, I want to make the point that I do not consider digital to be a separate thing. From this day forward, digital will be part of this list. It’s just another means of distribution. However you buy it – local comic store, online shopping, book store, digital – it’s all manga.

And with that, away we go!

10) Tokyo Love  – Rica ‘tte Kanji!? – Modesty prevents me from putting this higher, but this year ALC released a 20-year retrospective edition of Rica Takashima’s Yuri Manga and we put it online for free. As I worked on the book, I was reminded of why I liked it in the first place. Rica and Miho feel “real” in a way that so few manga characters do. It’s funny and charming and snarky. It’s still online for free – so give a gay kid a smile for the holidays and share it around. ^_^

9) Poor Poor Lips – whether you’re reading it in Japanese or on JManga in English, you have the chance to read a rare item – a comedy that tells a serious story in a way that has some meaning. Poor Poor Lips is not a masterwork, but it transcended its 4-panel comic strip format and its Yuri genre to become an object lesson in a changing world. Quite probably, the story will be meaningless and obsolete in a few years, I certainly hope so at any rate!  ^_^ I’m glad it had the ending it did. I’m glad JManga has made it available to you. It deserves a place on this list.

8) Candy/Prism – These two series were, again, surprisingly realistic explorations of first love. In a sense they are groundbreaking, simply for getting the story and the emotions right. It’s been a long time that we’ve been reading stories that don’t really resonate with reality, it’s so refreshing that Tsubomi has published these.

7) Sailor Moon – Do I even have to tell you why this is on this list? As the series approaches a 20 year anniversary, can we just say it’s timeless and call it quits? ^_^ Haruka and Michiru will forever be the Queens of Yuri in my mind, and here they are…helicopters and all!

6) Girl Friends – Speaking of “reality,” this extended look at the evolution of a relationship is notable for itself and even more so for making it to English this year. Digitally on JManga or in print from Seven Seas (Volume 1 | Volume 2), it’s a sweet, cute look at what happens when an introvert and an extrovert fall in love. ^_^

5) Renai Joshi File – I said that this was Morishima-sensei’s best work to date and I stand by that. Another few moments of realism injected into the world of Yuri manga, not only about falling in love, but this time, about falling out of it, as well, and a nice dose of a couple who has been together for a long time, sets this book apart. Call me crazy, but I think we need more of this.

4) Sasamekikoto – This story floored me. It began as something silly and ended as something remarkable and memorable, The ending was nowhere near what I expected, but it was so far beyond expectations I almost have no words to express my feelings. Relief? Well, yes, but no. Celebration? That’s it! So here I am celebrating the way this series ended by putting it on my Top Ten List. ^_^

I sat here looking at this list for a long time and there is just no way I can decide between the next two, so I’m calling it a tie for 2nd Place this year between two of the differentest series I’ve ever read:

***

Subcribe with Patreon Enjoy today’s post? Subscribe to Okazu with Patreon!

***

2) GUNJO and Sweet Blue Flowers – GUNJO ended in a way that I had hoped, but also feared. Sweet Blue Flowers continues in a way that also leads to hope and fear. Both stories are, in their own way, sublime. These two series practically define the continuum of “best of Yuri” for me. Sweet Blue Flowers is currently available on JManga in English.

The most amazing things about both these series for me, are the way that the writers delve into the psychological lives of the characters. Neither narrative feels forced, awkward or full of that exhausting exposition so often seen in manga, in which characters “explain” what is happening through tortured dialogue. (This is seen most painfully in shounen action series, where attack combinations are explored in mind-numbing detail while the characters simply stand there, listening patiently to their enemy.) In both these series, the characters act and speak consistently with their age and life experience.

Fumi, for all that she’s a very mature teen, with a calm temperament, will have outbursts and rants (mostly internal, as befits a “good girl.”) Akira speaks without thinking (or perhaps, thinks out loud).

The brunette in GUNJO is broken before we ever meet her, pounded into bitter resignation by a life that didn’t have to be as hard as it was. The blonde’s idealism is shattered, rebuilt, re-shattered, rebuilt, until she finds an inner strength she had no idea she would ever need. Each of these characters is unique, three-dimensional and real in a way that I long for, but never really expected to see in manga.

And, as I have been saying repeatedly for months, so it really shouldn’t come as any surprise, my number one pick Yuri Manga for this year is…

1) Collectors – I’ve said this before and I hope to say it more often in coming days – THIS is the book I’ve been waiting for.

It’s got all the qualities I have been hoping for in Yuri Manga:

It’s about two adult women who are in love with one another and have been together for a long time.

It’s about the after happily-ever-after that is actually happily.

It’s about the moments of domestic bliss, the bullshitting, the teasing, the small conflicts and romantic moments of a relationship that has matured, but is not in danger of failing.

And it has art by one of the best artists in manga today. Not moe in the least, Nishi Uko’s art is adult and beautiful, just like her story.

I’m so very pleased to be able to say that Collectors is my number one Yuri manga of 2012.

Here’s to many more years of fantastic Yuri Manga!





Sailor Moon Manga, Volume 8 (English)

December 25th, 2012

In Volume 8 of Sailor Moon, three things of importance happen and I don’t want to spoil any of them. Instead, let me randomly discuss the concept of “destruction”.

If you are reading this, the Mayan calendar clicked over to a new cycle and the world did not end. Some of you are celebrating the birth of what you consider to be the Messiah. Others are celebrating the shifting of a small cycle of time, in which the big glowing ball of hydrogen in the sky does not disappear completely, but actually comes back to warm the planet for a teeny bit longer than it did the day before in the Northern Hemisphere (or less than it did the day before, if you’re in the Southern.)

This planet, the chosen land as Sailor Saturn calls it, faces destruction every day. And yet – here we are. Still. Reading manga, enjoying the company of family and friends on the road or at home. Every day we face some kind of Pharaoh 90, some person or persons who want to take our lives or our way of life and change it to their idea of what it “should” be.

As we face the new ba’aktun, the new year, the winter, tomorrow, consider this – Sailor Moon and the Senshi are written as ordinary people, selfish and silly, just like us. And, just like us, they fight every single day to realize their dreams. As should we.

Krampuslauf is past, Pharaoh 90 has been defeated. It’s time to enjoy the light that comes from the dark – dark will come again soon enough.

Have a great day. ^_^





Puella Magi Magica Madoka Manga, Volume 3 (English)

December 24th, 2012

Whoa.

Remember when I reviewed Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the manga, and I said it was not great? Well for Puella Magi Magica Madoka Volume 3, they took the blinders and fetters off the artist and the speed and tension of the story works. I mean..it *works.*

I’m basically re-experiencing this story for the third time. To be honest, I’m getting pretty done with it and I wasn’t looking forward all that much to re-living Homura’s transformation again. But hot damn if this volume didn’t totally take the reins in hand and run away with me. I was caught up all over again in Homura’s story and in what I still consider to be one of the best resolutions I’ve ever seen in an anime/manga.

The artist, freed of the constraints of the first two volumes (as stated in the artist’s note) did a really good job. It was a pleasure to look at the art this volume.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

And for good measure, at the very end, we get Homura and Madoka walking off together hand in hand. ^_^





K-ON! College Manga (けいおん！college)

December 21st, 2012

Let me be up front here for a sec – there is less Yuri in this new volume of K-ON! than there ever has been, which is to say, there isn’t a single shred of Yuri, even if you work at it.* Even Mugi has nothing to work with. So if Yuri is your single criteria for interest in this series, you’ll be disappointed in this volume when Yen Press publishes it.

If what you liked about the series is the interaction between the members of Houkago Tea Time, you’ll still have to deal with some change, but you’re less likely to be disappointed. ^_^

In K-ON! College (けいおん！college), Yui and the others find that the “Light Music” Club at college has a number of previous members who perform as a band. Tall, attractive Sara, gadfly Ayame and punk-y Akira end up taking their new kouhai under their wings, sort of. Akira, by virtue of proximity is asked to take care of Yui who, without Ui doing everything for her, is more annoying than I can adequately describe. The focus of the volume is mostly on Akira, her transformation to the punk look and her desire to be a pro, with some plot side trips.

With the focus so heavily on Akira and Yui, the rest of both bands fall back into supporting character roles. The real victim here is Mugi. If she says ten things through this volume, it’s a lot. Okay, yes, one of those things is, “Sabotage? That’s something I want to try!” But that’s her best line.

As a post-series fanfic, it suffers from the fate of many fanfic – the shift of focus from the main characters to someone else. But the someone else is as goofy as the originals, so it’s not much of a sacrifice. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 9
Story – 7 There is a limit to how many “Wake Yui up” jokes we can read before they begin to wear thin
Yuri – 0*
Service – 2

Overall – 7

*There is a teeny-weeny window for implausible slashers to pair Yui and Akira, but the creator works hard at limiting even that.





Yuri Manga: Asagao to Kase-san (あさがおと加瀬さん)

December 18th, 2012

Yamada is a completely typical Japanese girl, completely undistinguished, she thinks. On the other hand, Kase-san is athletic, attractive, popular. Kase-san’s a star long distance runner and Yamada is a nobody. There’s no way they could ever be friends.

In Asagao to Kase-san (あさがおと加瀬さん) Yamada finds that, amazingly, she does have something in common with Kase-san – they both take care of the flower boxes full of morning glories (asagao) on the school grounds. And, amazingly, they do become friends.

But as much as their friendship brings her joy, Yamada is tortured by Kase-san’s proximity. Her feelings are becoming far more intense than just friendship. She and Kase-san become a little closer when the runner decides that she’ll train Yamada for the marathon in gym class. They go out to buy Yamada proper running shoes, and we can see that their feelings are the same, but can they? It all comes to a head during the marathon when Yamada’s training is put to the test and so are Kase-san’s priorities.

Yet again, Hirari brings us a “Story A“-type story in which the pages end just as the story is beginning but, in this case, the emotions ring true and the story left me smiling. As “Story A” goes, this was a lovely little example of the beginning of a first love between two girls. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7 A little messy, but I liked it
Story – 8
Character – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 2

Overall – 8

The story broke no new ground, but the characters’ reactions were real enough to carry the volume. Of course, I wish we got to see them after this volume ends, when their relationship begins taking off. ^_^