This last volume of Transistor ni Venus is certainly full of kisses for our intrepid heroine Enus, but dammit!, I wanted to have a big Yuri bang for an ending. No go – and Takemoto Izumi knows it, so there’s a luv luv omake to make up for it.  ^_^ But I get ahead of myself.

Enus is contracted to accompany Princess Asatsuyu and her companion Pera – and their guardian Sena, across a snowy country to somewhere. Asatsuyu and Pera are maybe 12 and Sena is most definitely all grown up. All three greet Enus with, “Your reputation precedes you.” Enus is like, “what?”

The girls want very much to experience some of Enus’ goddess power, but Sena menaces Enus anytime she catches them in any even remotely suggestive position. Of course Enus has no interest in the girls, but they are definitely interested in her, and are constantly working out ways to be close to her in intimate situations.

Everytime the girls steal a kiss, Sena pops up and reminds Enus that she knows about the rumors (what rumors are those?, Enus always replies,) and Sena kisses her, as if she’s throwing herself as a sacrifice instead of the the princess.

After baths, and sharing beds, and falling into a snowy crevasse forcing us to huddle together semi-clothed, and after foiling an attempt by the enemy to something by Enus dressing up as a barmaid, she finally gets the girls to their destination, where she learns that they are not who they aid they are. The real Asayuki was masquerading as Pera and vice versa. Ahahahah.

Enus discovers, at last!, the markings on Asayuki’s back that she’s been undressing girls to find since the beginning of the series. I have no idea why, sorry. These are not easy books to translate. But I’m sure its important. :-D

In the end, Enus manages to get Sena back for all the kisses by REALLY kissing her, but good.

Enus’ last mission involves adorable little Miss Yabumusu, who has to go to a desert-type area to find some guy. Enus gets her kisses from Miss Y, but Miss Y ends up wandering off with Winslow, the cat. Enus goes to find the guy and find him she does, surrounded by two attractive women. Ririn finds herself unable to control herself and gives in to Enus’ charms, but Rinirinia finds it all a bit distasteful.

Meanwhile Miss Y finds the capsule we’re all looking for, still with Winslow. She returns, is kissed by Enus (much to her annoyance, because she’s hot and exhausted) and throws Ririn into a tizzy, because now she’s kinda embarrassed by it all. Miss Y leads them all to the capsule where tey are attacked by enemy lizards and Enus gets to be cool and spy-y. They all get to the capsule, find the aliens inside and help them get back to space. Yay us.

Enus and Ririn go to a dinner party – where “Miss Contro” (who had been mentioned by Ririn earlier in the story) approaches them, induces Enus to kiss her. You know – she stands in front of her. Miss C bites Enus on the lip in response. In the meantime, Miss Y snags Ririn and leads her off, leaving our poor overworked Enus alone. Boo hoo. End of story? Enus goes home and snags herself some Mariaana time.

This was not a bang-up ending, as I said, so to soothe us frazzled readers, the artists adds a “Omake Love Love Mariaana” picture, so our last image of Enus is of her and her honey kissing. Yay. :-)

I still would have preferred a big bad bed scene, and pages and pages of Yuri love, but without fail, Transistor ni Venus always makes me smile.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 5

Overall – 7

Not the strongest volume in the series, but good, clean, Yuri fun.

Feeling down? A little depressed? Transistor ni Venus is just the ticket. This yuri spy series is so exceptionally goofy that it’d take more than a blue mood to hold out against Enus and her adventures. As always, my deepest thanks to Touko_no_doriru-san for insipring me to read this series!

Volume 6 is a paean to love.

On a planet that looks like a Mediterranean resort, Enus and Eriari encounter a Romeo and Juliet kind of situation. Po, a young aristocrat, and Kurani, are in love. But Kurani’s family and Po’s are not about to let them be happy together, for reasons that are no doubt idiotic. Po’s brother is engaged to Kurani, but she and Po (who is male, btw…straight couples are rare enough in this series that it’s noteworthy) are really, really in love.

Of *course* they end up together, duh. No one suffers in Transistor ni Venus. And they look quite tropical and exotic in their wedding gear. Even young spy in training Eriari finds himself a cute girl. Enus is saddened that she doesn’t have a nice girl, or guy in a pinch, to marry. Shiku, shiku.

The second half of the volume is taken up with a search for cannisters containing something or other of crucial importance. For this job, Enus is teamed up with Professor “Call me Iselin” Suiminkova. Iselin spends every second she is not busy communicating telepathically with her trained dolphins to seduce Enus…or, really, to begin seducing her, the blaming Enus for making her do weird things. Thankfully, Enus and Iselin are captured by the Lizard guys and their pet human Samaja. Samaja and Iselin immediately forget Enus even exists, freeing her to free them all and recover the cannister and get herself the hell out of there.

Enus goes running off to find Mariaana, her usual fallback lover and takes her immediately to bed. She says to Mariaana that she’s glad that they are friends, and Miariaana goes all pouty. Just friends? Lovers, Enus assures her. Just lovers? Enus asks what she’s getting at and Mariaana wonders if Enus would marry her. Hooray! Enus is glad to agree and is ready to take off to do the deed this second, when Mariaana starts coming up with delays. Oh well – at least Enus got Mariaana in bed, and that’s good enough for now.

The outcome? Enus and Mariaana are more of a couple than before, and Enus really, really comes to dislike dolphins.

Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8

Now, if this series, and Hayate Cross Blade ever become anime, *then* I’ll be a happy Erica.

I know you were all wondering, as was I, where agent April Enus gained her obvious skill in kissing, as chronicled in Transistor Ni Venus. Well, your wait is ovah! In Volume 5 of this delightful action/pin-up fusion we, at long last, learn Enus’ secret.

We could have never guessed the truth in a million years.

The year is 2264, April Enus is only 16, a young, but highly promising agent-in-training for whatever planet she agents for. (I haven’t really bothered to translate the name, because, really, who cares? Call it the People’s Republic of Zod, or whatever you wish.)

Her skills are rapidly increasing…but, to her shame, she’s a loser at kissing. All the other agents say so, and one by one, all the pretty girls leave her and kiss other agents, ’cause she sucks at it.

Luckily for Enus, she is given the task of minding a powerful seer, Atakui. Atakui steals a bit from one of my friend Sparkle’s Sailor Moon fanfics, and gets a jolt upon meeting Enus. I’m sure you can see what’s coming a mile away. Atakui certainly could.

There’s some adventure and spies and attacks and stuff, but really, we all want to know what’s going to happen with Enus’ sucky kissing, right? Which is good, because that’s really the plot. Oh, and Enus gets blown up a few times, too. But really, the important bit is when she begs Atakui to help her become a better kisser. Which the seer does. The two women hold a ritual to ask the Goddess for her blessing. (Don’t be a dork and ask which goddess, okay? Venus, obviously….) And lo and behold! The Goddess bestows this precious blessing on Enus! Yay! Now she is not only a good kisser – she is the BEST kisser in the universe!

There was some spy stuff happening too, but no one was paying attention. ;-)

Ratings:
Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 8
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

Transistor ni Venus is a ridiculous, silly piece of fluff, but it never fails to make me smile.

Transistor ni Venus, Volume 4 is one long gag about smoking. Or, more accurately, about how unsexy smoking is.

Enus is assigned to guide and protect Mag, a 21-year old who looks significantly younger, and a professor who happens to be one of the ferret-like sentient race that inhabits the Transistor universe. As usual, they are followed, attacked and generally harrassed by other spies trying to gain the information Mag and the Professor have, but Enus always comes through and saves them. The gag begins when Enus wants to collect an appropriate reward from Mag…who is fine with a little sex, but wants to have a ciggy first. The Professor joins her. Enus goes to sleep infused with second-hand smoke and an attitude.

About halfway through the book, Enus loses Mag and the professor, but picks up Tes, from whom she gets a few kisses, but is almost immediately interrupted by the arrival of rival spy Kara, who promptly steals Tes. We regain Mag and the Professor and the smoking club has now grown by two.

The whole story ends with a big kissfest, but Enus goes to bed alone. I imagine the others are outside for a cigarette break.

As with all the other Transistor volumes, this one is good, wholesome fun trash. The emphasis is on comedy, with a little light yuri.

While I was reading this volume, I showed it and the artbook to a friend who has no interest in anime and she perked right up! “Why didn’t you TELL me about this?” she asked when, of course, I’d been telling her for years.

If you know a lesbian who thinks all this yuri is crap, show her this series – I bet she pays a little more attention. ;-) Partially its the art – the artbook in particularl looks like pin-up art more than manga art. A couple of the pictures would make nice tattoos. ^_^

So the yuri quotient is a little lower in this volume than the others (which I have reviewed previously, use the search feature up top on the left to find the entries) but is still a fun read.

Once again, many thanks to Touko_no_doriru-san for opening my eyes to this wonderful series!

I have two gentlemen to thank for this review – Touko_no_doriru-san, for opening my eyes to this series in general and Mr. Brent Adkins, who has very genourously donated this particular volume to the cause. (The cause being, of course, my enjoyment of yuri. lol) Thank you, kind sirs!

So, in Volume 1 of Transistor ni Venus, we are introduced to April Enus, expert in espionage, theft, derring-do and cosplay. Apparently in the year 2269, these are all crucial skills. :-) Intrigue, adventure and sleeping with pretty girls is raison d’etre for the lovely Enus, so of course I approve.

The first volume also introduces us to Mariaana, Enus’ sometimes partner in work and frequent partner in bed. I had no *idea* Mariaana was another agent! In the next several volumes she goes soft. She’s way cooler as a tough agent who manages to resist Enus’ charms for several whole chapters.

Oh, and there’s a story where Enus has to be a maid to do something or other…I kind of lost the thread of the story while watching her seduce the other maids. :-)

Ratings:
Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 9

Overall – 8

Not as wonderful as Volume 2, or as funny as Volume 3, Volume 1 of Transistor ni Venus is a charming exploration of several random fetishes. There’s sure to be one you find appealing. :-)