Archive for the Bloom Into You / Yagate Kimi ni Naru Category


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. ^_^;





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.

 





Yuri Anime: Bloom Into You, End of Season Review

January 28th, 2019

Bloom into You, streaming on HIDIVE, wrapped up and I wanted to to take a look back at it as an overall series and discuss what it did well. Because, I’ll admit, it did a number of things very well. 

To star with the weakest link, I do think we need to revisit the current trend of eyeball closeups in anime.  And live-action television and movies and every other visual media. I do not want to be that close to anyone except my wife. It is creepy. Please stop. And with the strangely animated eyes (eyes are hard, I know, but that is not how they look) I found it very distracting to have to view them so close, so often.  It was particularly vexing as the animation was otherwise quite pleasant. I really wish they’d just back up.

The story was a fair representation of the manga. It ended just before the play – I sincerely wish we had been able to see that because it is such an important moment, but the anime captured two of the other pivotal scenes and did an excellent job with them, so I accept the decision. (It would still make an awesome Blu-Ray extra.)

The thing the anime excelled at was bringing the characters to life. Voice actors gave the characters more depth where needed and less heaviness where it was not warranted. We were able to spend time with Maki and Sayaka, two side arcs that I found in and of themselves intriguing. And we herd the characters’ voiced in a way that really gave them more agency than I ever would have expected. Yuu is especially strong in this regard. 

Overall, I was deeply impressed by the anime; far more so than I would have expected. In fact, it was because of the anime I was able to “hear” Sayaka so clearly when I read the Light Novel about her.

Ratings:

Art – 6 The eyes were a genuine distraction
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 5 + 1 for Sayaka, so 6
Service – 1 on principle

Overall – 8

If you still haven’t taken a look, or you like or are on the fence about Bloom Into You, I hope you’ll watch the anime and let me know what you think in the comments!





Yuri Light Novel: Yagate Kimi ni Naru Saeki Sayaka ni Tsuite (やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について)

January 20th, 2019

Yagate Kimi ni Naru Saeki Sayaka ni Tsuite (やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について) has radically changed my opinion of this whole series. For the better. But it was a radical change. 

When we begin this book – presuming we have read the Yagate Kimi ni Naru / Bloom Into You manga or have seen the anime – we already know most of this story. Sayaka has told us most of what will happen. So none of it will come as much surprise. The narrative follows Saeki Sayaka from elementary school through high school. 

In the first section of the book, we learn about a girl she went to swimming lessons with who was – clearly, from our point of view, much less clearly from hers – infatuated with her. 

This is followed by a more detailed retelling of her first relationship with her sempai from choir, an upperclassman who asks her out and later breaks up with her after leaving for high school.

These two sections are marked by some brilliant tone of voice. I’ve said that I don’t much care for Iruma’s writing (I recently finished another novel by them and will not be reviewing it here, unless I get desperate,) but Nakatani-sensei’s touch in Sayaka’s voice and the illustrations by her makes me think she was intimately involved in this work. The Sayaka we know (and whose narrative voice we are familiar with) from the manga is captured perfectly in the exploration of human relationships by an interested, but mostly uninvolved, outsider….a tone that I am 10000% sure I will not be alone in recognizing as similar to my own internal thoughts as a young person.  Sayaka can see that someone else is interested in her; she is equally interested in and confounded by this. Her internal monologue seeks to make sense of the feelings she receives and those she does – and does not – feel in return. 

The volume ends when she enters a new high school and meets Nanami Touko and utterly, completely, falls for her. 

So, since we knew all this, how did it radically change my perception of the series? Let’s begin with the title. In Japanese the title is “Yagate Kimi ni Naru,” which I, as a typical American, translated from the first person – “In the end, I will become you.” The transliteration “Bloom Into You” is not much of a help, since again, as a westerner, I presumed a first person subject. 

I was wrong.  As I read this novel, I realized how wrong I was. The subject is not first person…it is second person. “In the end, you will become you(rself).” And with that realization, I saw what I had never seen before – there is only one plot in the manga, but that plot applies equally to every character. Every character is in the process of becoming themselves. In retrospect that seems kind of “duh” for this series, but when you realize how it all is being handled by Nakatani Nio-sensei, it suddenly becomes really rather extraordinary. We are of course watching these children become themselves, but holy shit we are watching an intentional narrative of these children becoming who they are and learning to verbalize and accept themselves and…wow. The same plot applies as much to Sayaka as it does for Touko and Yuu. And Maki. And Miyako. And everyone else.

I said from early on in the series, that I was giving Nakatani-sensei the benefit of the doubt. I have no doubts left; whatever happens from this point on, this novel has proved to me that she deserves my trust.

Ratings:

Art – 10 well, since the creator of the original did the illustrations, that stands to reason
Story – In and of itself, not riveting, but since Sayaka is the reason I follow the series…8
Character – 10
Service – 3 bathing suits and changing rooms
Yuri – Well, now…this is hard. I’m calling it a 5 because it’s so complictated

Overall – 9

I’m being asked if this will be licensed. A few years ago I would have rolled my eyes and said no way. Nothing happens, But, depending on how well Bloom Into You is doing for Seven Seas, they might want to consider it. These days, all I can say is “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” I will say that this was an easy read and much less plodding than Iruma’s original works I have read.





Monthly Dengeki Daioh, January 2019 (月刊コミック 電撃大王 2019年1月号)

December 13th, 2018

One of the most fascinating aspects of 2018 for me is the fact that I am once again reviewing individual magazine issues much more often this year than I had for years previously. And typically, with mainstream manga like Yagate Kimi ni Naru/Bloom Into You, once it gets established and popular I tend to not bother, since I’ll review the collected volumes.

However. The January 2019 issue of Monthly Dengeki Daioh (月刊コミック 電撃大王 2019年1月号) contains something so extraordinary and – for me – so important – that I felt it was worth a special call out. And it had a clearfile. ^_^

To begin with, I will remind you that I have had several reservations about the narrative and characters of Yagate Kimi ni Naru, since the beginning. I have also trusted Nakatani-sensei to have good judgement and have trusted her to tell a compelling story that holds up to scrutiny. I feel that my trust has been well-placed, which is really refreshing.

I will also remind you that I have long desired the portrayal in manga of adult role models for younger characters, so they are not left to struggle with feelings of same-sex love in what they believe is isolation. This is one of the things that keeps me coming back to this particular series, as we’ve seen Kodama Miyako, the cafe owner, befriend high school student Sayaka and take on this role. 

In this issue, we learn how Miyako and her lover (a teacher at Yuu’s school,) Hakozaki Riko, met. They met in college and while their story is not groundbreaking, it is pleasant and realistic. What is groundbreaking is that we see the two getting ready for bed and chatting – and Riko-sensei says to Miyako that it must be strange for her to be a role model to Sayaka. Miyako says that it is a little weird to be guiding the girl, but it must be harder to be a teacher. 

This exchange is mind-blowing. Not only is there an established female couple to exist as role models for the young woman who knows well enough what she is, but is still looking for who she is, they talk about it. I have never before seen that in a Yuri manga. In the real world, most of the older LGBTQ folks I know do, in fact, talk about this. We talk about the importance of being out and being role models precisely for this reason. But even in manga where characters openly identify as LGBTQ, I have never before seen a character say, well, yeah, it’s weird that I’m a role model, but I’m glad to be able to help a young person find their way. Which Miyako basically does.

And that, my friends, my dear readers, is the “cut, scene,” moment for 2018 for me. We have come so far in such a short time. I cannot *wait* to see what 2019 has to offer!

Ratings:

Adult Role Models who know that that is what they are doing for the fucking win. 10

I’m going to spend some time this weekend working on the end-of-year- Top Ten lists and I have never before looked forward to them so much!  ^_^