Archive for the Staff Writer Category


Pluto: The Series

January 3rd, 2025

A promotional poster for the Thai yuri series Pluto. It shows the two main characters, Aioon and May, sitting on top of Aioon's van, looking at the sky.by Frank Hecker, Okazu Staff Writer

Believe it or not, there are Thai yuri novels written by Chao Planoy that are not part of the GAP extended universe; Pluto: The Series (streaming on YouTube) is an adaptation of one of them, from the powerhouse Thai production company GMMTV (who also produced 23.5: The Series). Unlike the other Chao Planoy adaptations reviewed here (GAP, Blank, and Affair), Pluto adds a mystery to the typical romance plot—though whether that’s an improvement is debatable, as we shall see.

Aioon (Namtan Tipnaree Weerawatnodom) is a tomboyish slacker working as a motorcycle courier. Ai is estranged from her younger twin sister Oaboom (also played by Namtan), and is thus surprised when right after Oom’s wedding (to wealthy heir Paul) Oom asks Ai to pretend to be her and break up with her ex-girlfriend May (Film Rachanun Mahawan). That night Paul and Oom are in an auto accident that kills Paul and leaves Oom in a coma. Ai feels compelled to carry out her sister’s last wish, goes to see May, and finds, first, that May is blind and, second, that she herself is becoming attracted to May. Ai decides to continue pretending to be Oom and not go through with the promised break-up. And thus the game is afoot.

The ensuing mysteries are many: Why did Oom decide to break up with May? How did May lose her sight, and is there any hope of her regaining it? What’s the connection between May, a lawyer, and Ai’s “motorpunk” friends? Will Oom ever come out of her coma? And most notably: Why doesn’t May figure out that Ai is not Oom, and why does Ai think she can get away with the pretense? The answers to these questions are revealed in the following episodes, so I won’t spoil them here. However, I will note that the series depends on a series of coincidences, connections between characters, and plot resolutions that are mostly implausible and contrived and therefore also mostly unsatisfying.

The appeal of the Pluto: The Series instead rests on the characters themselves and the actors who portray them. Here the series does better: both Namtan and Film are TV and film veterans, and both have challenging roles that they execute reasonably well, Namtan portraying twins with separate personalities and Film portraying a woman who’s lost her sight. Film also rescues May from being thought of solely as a victim of unfortunate circumstances, and shows that she has a scheming and conniving side as well, as befits a successful lawyer. As for their portrayal of the relationship between Ai and May, Namtan and Film can’t match the level of sensuality displayed by Freen and Becky in The Loyal Pin (or, for that matter, by Faye and Yoko in Blank), but they do make for a very affectionate and appealing couple, and they nail the occasional scenes of extreme emotion.

Finally, while I enjoyed Pluto: The Series for the most part, its existence does make me wish that Thai production companies would find more novels from other authors to adapt. Even the best screenwriters can do only so much with Chao Planoy’s novels, filled as they are with plot contrivances and sensationalistic elements. Other Thai authors surely deserve a chance to have their yuri novels become successful live-action series.

Ratings:

Story — 5 (too many complications, coincidences, and implausibilities)
Characters — 8
Production — 8 (the usual GMMTV professional work)
Service — 2
Yuri — 10
Overall — 7

Pluto: The Series is an enjoyable but uneven watch that struggles to overcome the implausibilities and contrivances of its source material and doesn’t completely succeed in doing so, despite the best efforts of Namtan and Film.





Qualia the Purple: The Complete Manga Collection

December 22nd, 2024

Manga cover for Qualia The Purple. The Complete Manga Collection. On a cover of purple stripes, a girl with long brown hair and big purple eyes looks up at us, her shadow spreading behind her.by Matt Marcus, Staff Writer

Qualia the Purple: The Complete Manga Collection is a story about a high school girl named Yukari, who sees all people as robots.

Ok, that’s not entirely true. This is a story about Manabu (aka Gaku-chan), a normal high school girl who is in love with Yukari but doesn’t quite realize it.


Alright, you got me. This is a story not really about either of those things. This is a story about quantum mechanics and theoretical physics that happens to center on Manabu’s metaphysical attempts to save Yukari from an early death at the hands of an evil science institute.

Based on the light novel of the same name, this single-volume collection is just as confused as the intro of this review. It begins with a strong concept: Yukari appears to be a chuunibyou, but in reality she has the ability to deconstruct and rebuild matter however she seems fit. Manabu is a normal girl with something of a princely streak. You think you’re in for some sci-fi-tinged high school Yuri yearning, but somehow it develops into a plot about a serial killer.

And then, roughly a third into its length, it decides to pivot into a multiverse story that damsels Yukari, the girl who is practically Dr. Manhattan, in order to put the story in Manabu’s hands (Manabu even addresses this bait-and-switch directly to the reader). By design, she is an empty vessel with a singular goal. 

The story already made a leap into the unpleasant with the serial killer subplot, but the back two-thirds ends up making Manabu out to be a monster as she tries everything, no matter how unpleasant, to achieve her goal. Most unfortunate of these decisions involves Alice, a child prodigy who arrives at the high school to recruit Yukari to the aforementioned evil science institute. A major pivot point involves an alternate universe Manabu falling in love with her, despite her being younger by a fair number of years. Our point-of-view Manabu ends up developing a relationship with Alice as a means to further her goal of saving Yukari. The whole thing feels like an unforced error, since there is nothing about Alice’s character that is gained by making her a few years younger than the rest of the main cast.

One could say that it’s subversive how Manabu and Yukari’s relationship sits neatly in the old paradigm of undefined schoolgirl Yuri crush, while Manabu’s (hella problematic) relationship with Alice is unambiguously explicit in its romantic and sexual nature. That must have felt novel in 2009 when this story was first released, but today it has notably less impact. Also, I’m sure I could write an entire paper on how an “impure” (putting aside the age gap) queer relationship is instrumentalized in the service of a “pure” Yuri love, but frankly I’m too exhausted by the belabored explanations of the Copenhagen Interpretation and wave function collapses to bother.

The biggest flaw of this manga is that the book itself is a poor choice for visual adaptation. The vast majority of the story is told in narration by Manabu, and there are few if any moments that let the visuals speak for themselves. That said, there is one extremely funny moment that takes advantage of the medium.

Given its age, I can forgive a few of its sins. (The fact that a flip phone played a major role in the plot did get a chuckle out of me.) That said, it pales in comparison to a short story collection made from a very similar mold: Last and First Idol. Where the edgy elements in Qualia just made me wince, the visceral gore and violence of LAFI played punctuated Gengen Kunano’s biting satire, be it for idols, gacha, or whatever. Qualia plays it very straight which lessens its appeal to me.

I’d say that if you are in the pocket for some sci-fi Yuri and don’t mind a misstep or two, Qualia the Purple could be worth your time. But I would suggest the light novel over this manga collection.

Ratings:

Art – 6 Not a whole lot to write home about visually; doesn’t take advantage of the medium enough
Story – 6 More disjointed than compelling
Characters – 5 What’s on the page is pretty stock
Service – 1 Higher if you like detailed explanations of Schrodinger’s Cat
Yuri – 5 / LGBTQ – 5 Some old-school yearning, but also has a queer relationship as a plot element

Overall – 6 Would have more impact if this release time-traveled back to 2009

Thank you to Seven Seas, who provided me with a review copy.

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, as well as the writer for the blog Oh My God, They Were Bandmates analyzing How Do We Relationship in greater depth.





Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born

December 11th, 2024

Promotional poster for the Korean drama series Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born, featuring Kim Tae-ri (center) as Jeongnyeon. Other characters (from left to right) are the director Kang So-bok, the current prince and princess Seo Hye-rang and Moon Ok-gyeong, and Jeongnyeon’s rival Heo Yeong-seo.by Frank Hecker, Staff Writer

The Takarazuka Revue has inspired several manga and anime. Now comes Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born, a Korean drama (currently streaming on Hulu and Disney+) that features an analogous 1950s-era all-female gukgeuk troupe performing plays based on classic Korean tales and featuring songs sung in the traditional pansori style. Jeongnyeon the series features Yoon Jeongnyeon the performer (played by Kim Tae-ri), a natural-born pansori genius who goes from working as a fishmonger to joining the Maeran Theater Company as a trainee and competing to become its new “prince.”

If you’ve heard about Jeongnyeon at all, you’ve likely heard that it’s based on a yuri webcomic of the same name, and that the explicit yuri elements were erased in the live-action adaptation. This is true: in the webcomic Jeongnyeon has a girlfriend, Kwon Bu-yong (the rightmost figure in the webcomic image below), who starts out as a fan of Maeran. There’s also a side character who was disrespected as a woman and decided to henceforth live life as a man. Neither are present in the TV series.

Nevertheless, Jeongnyeon is still of interest to yuri fans who enjoy dramas about the theater in general and all-female theatrical troupes in particular. And there is plenty of drama to be had: Jeongnyeon finds her quest to become a top star impeded by the violent opposition of her mother Seo Yong-re (Moon So-ri), who has a mysterious past and a hidden connection to Maeran’s imperious director Kang So-bok (Ra Mi-ran). She also finds herself beset by bullies, incurring the wrath of director Kang for various offenses, and enmeshed in a triangle of sorts with her rival would-be prince Heo Yeong-seo (Shin Ye-eun) and their would-be princess Hong Joo-ran (Woo Da-vi). Meanwhile, scandals past and present threaten the positions of current prince Moon Ok-gyeong (Jung Eun-chae) and her princess Seo Hye-rang (Kim Yoon-hye), and the future of Maeran and indeed gukgeuk as a whole hangs in the balance.

Promotional image for the webcomic Jeongnyeon, showing Yoon Jeongnyeon (center) and Heo Yeong-seo (left) in the trainee uniforms of white blouse and long blue skirts, and Kwon Bu-yong (right) in her own dark-blue uniform.The yuri elements discarded in the transition to screen reappear elsewhere as subtext: Ok-gyeong has the transmasc aura of the previous side character and with Hye-rang forms the troupe’s resident couple: They live in the same house, are casually affectionate with one another, and are even raising a young girl together. With Bu-yong absent, the show’s focus is solely on the Maeran trainees, and Joo-ran becomes a (very) thinly-veiled love interest for Jeongnyeong. Finally, in a rare example of heterosexual erasure, Yeong-seo loses the boyfriend she had in the webcomic and is free to devote her attentions to Jeongnyeon and Joo-ran. Almost all the remaining men have only minor roles or function as obstacles to the core group of women; the only other men featured, Jeongnyeon’s father and grandfather, are dead as her story begins.

As a show considered on its own merits, Jeongnyeon has a uniformly excellent cast, high production values, and a compelling if often bittersweet plot. Kim Tae-ri, who first came to fame starring in the Korean lesbian drama The Handmaiden, studied pansori for multiple years in preparation for the part, and it shows. I thought she played the role of Jeongnyeon a bit too broadly in some early episodes, but otherwise she’s completely convincing. Shin Ye-eun takes a common trope—the hard-working performer who’s overshadowed by an untutored genius—and makes Yeong-seo a complex and compelling rival to Jeongnyeon. Finally, Woo Da-vi is unjustly neglected in the show’s promotional materials, but her character is the emotional heart of the series. Joo-ran’s scenes with Jeongnyeon are some of the show’s most affecting, and certainly the most romantic.

As a story, Jeongnyeon harks back to Hana Monogatari and other “S” fictions, in which young women have relationships of “passionate friendship” (and sometimes more than friendship) with other young women, relationships ended by adulthood and (typically arranged) marriages. Gukgeuk itself lost its mass audience to television and its elite audience to Western opera (exemplified by Yeong-seo’s mother, a famous soprano who looks down on Yeong-seo’s chosen career). So, even if other events didn’t intrude, the time the characters would have with each other would be fleeting.

As a production, Jeongnyeon was created in a modern society marked by often violent misogyny and homophobia, and can be seen as a response to that. The series was written and directed by women, and its main cast are all women. The women in Jeongnyeon start and staff their own troupes and put on their own theatrical productions. They claim for themselves ownership of stories that are classics of Korean culture and sing in a style originally pioneered by men, a style that in its frequent harshness is the very opposite of the ultra-feminine stylings of the stereotypical present-day idol.

While yuri fans have bemoaned the changes made in the transition from webcomic to live-action, the mainstream South Korean audience has taken this example of “quiet feminism” to heart and propelled the show to high ratings and the number 1 position in its time slots. If Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born is anywhere near as popular outside South Korea—as it deserves to be—perhaps one day there’ll be an official English release of the webcomic, and we can experience the story of Jeongnyeon as it was originally conceived.

Ratings:

Story — 7 (a bit too much coincidence in the initial setup, and a somewhat flat ending)
Characters — 9 (complex characters vividly brought to life)
Production — 9 (impressive recreations of multiple theatrical productions)
Service — 1 (Ok-gyeong in a suit and fedora counts, I think)
Yuri — 5 (the subtext is strong with this one)

Overall — 8 (a kiss apparently left on the cutting-room floor might have made this a 9)

Yuri fans who can look past the (self-)censorship of a canon yuri story will find an entertaining and emotionally resonant drama elevated by standout performances by Kim Tae-ri and the other leads, along with splendid recreations of classic gukgeuk performances.

Note: If you want to further explore the real-life history of all-female theater in Korea, see Ha Ju-yong, “Female Masculinity and Cultural Symbolism: A History of Yeoseong gukgeuk, the All-Female Cast Theatrical Genre,” The Review of Korean Studies 24, no. 2 (December 2021), 107-144, doi: 10.25024/review.2021.24.2.107. This open-access article has a wealth of detail, including promotional posters and ads, photographs of performers, and even example sheet music for one of the songs.





Assorted Entanglements, Volume 6

November 20th, 2024

A woman in a business suit with short dark hair, holding a beer, hugs her younger sister in a white blouse and dark blue skirt her black hair in pigtails.

by Matt Marcus, Staff Writer

Last we left our ragtag crew of sapphics, dates were “enjoyed”, feelings were revealed, emotional wounds were bonded over. We were left just short of a handful of plot payoffs: will Kujou give in to Sugimoto’s trial date idea? Will Heke-sensei be able to game hard enough to earn the right to date her boss? Will Shizuku and Saori just hook up already?

In Assorted Entanglements Volume 6, three of our four pairings arrive at significant inflection points. One couple is embarking on a new adventure as a couple, one is pretending to do the same, and the third
well that one is about to get complicated.

For Saori and Shizuku, the twin-tailed “normie” decides to sneak out of the house at night for doughnuts and deadpans her way into Shizuku’s apartment (this time choosing to be let in through the door instead of smashing the window. Character growth!!). She continues to find herself drawn to the delinquent, and has begun to see through some of Shizuku’s self-loathing. While escorting Saori back to her house, Shizuku recognizes a woman from her past. This is setting up a Shizuku character arc, and I’m surprisingly here for it. Never would’ve thought I’d say that about Shizuku of all characters, but here we are.

As for our mangaka/editor duo, Heke-sensei finally achieves her level goal in the online FPS game, putting her on “even footing” with her gaming oshi. This means she can finally ask Shinohara out! However, she nearly chickens out after spending the day together on a date. Heke-san clutches out the “win” and the two finally come together as a couple. I’m satisfied that this didn’t get dragged out for another who-knows-how-many volume. Now, the real question left is will Heke-sensei be more capable of hitting deadlines now that her editor is her girlfriend?

And for our third major turning point, Kujou and Sugimoto go on the long-threatened trial date. Naturally, it’s at the most sapphic of date destinations: the aquarium! Sugimoto continuously props up Kujou in the face of her gym teacher’s unrelenting defeatism and emotional self-sabotage, which is, honestly, kind of sweet. Sugimoto isn’t actively putting the moves on her teacher (in fact, she doesn’t seem to recognize her long-growing feelings), but by the end of the date, Kujou has the realization that the two of them have gotten too close for their own good. I was starting to worry that Kujou would remain oblivious for a good while longer.


Also Iori and Minami are there. There’s a silly miscommunication that gets blown out of proportion, complete with the obligatory punch (on panel this time!), but it ends with a sweet moment together. At this point for me, these two are mostly here as supporting cast for the Saori x Shizuku storyline.

Again, I have to say I’m impressed with the improvement of the storytelling from the early volumes. It’s a direct result of the shift to longer chapters allowing the characters more space to interact and to make something resembling plot progress. Hell, it’s making me invested in Shizuku’s backstory, and how the past’s resurfacing will affect her relationship with Saori in the present. A deep character drama this ain’t, but it has become much more than the series of gag strips it began as.

Ratings:

Art – 7 Continues to be solid
Story – 8 We’re actually starting to cook here, with each of the three “active” plot arcs developing
Characters – 8 There is the right amount of angst injected with the humor, allowing for good chemistry
Service – 4 For a real payoff for our Best Couple
Yuri – 8 / LGBTQ – 8 Aquarium date!

Overall – 8 Would invite this volume to go on a shopping date to Yodob*shi 

Volume 7 of this ensemble story of sapphic misfits is coming our way in February.

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, as well as the writer for the blog Oh My God, They Were Bandmates analyzing How Do We Relationship in greater depth.





Throw Away The Suit Together, Volume 2

November 13th, 2024

A woman with pinkish collar length hair wearing denim shorts and a green tee shirt, holds up a can of beer, while next to her a woman with long black hair, wearing running shorts and a white tank top sucks on an ice pop, as she takes their selfie in front of a deeply blue ocean.

by Matt Marcus, Staff Writer

In the first volume of Throw Away The Suit Together, college students and partners Haru and Hinoto decide to ditch the city and the pressures of job hunting and escape to Hinoto’s aunt’s island summer home. Sure, it was an impulsive decision, but they can certainly make a new life here with no degree, no employment, and no money. Right?

Throw Away The Suit Together, Volume 2 opens as the girls finish writing up a marriage contract. It would be a feel-good moment if either of them had any plan on how they will make a marriage work. Haru immediately says they need to make a lot of money to afford a wedding, but even before that, they are nearly flat broke and need to make some money now.

Luckily, they had met local dive instructor Naruko via lost scooter. She offers them part-time work, and the girls feel like they’ve been thrown a little bit of a lifeline. Sure, they are literally living paycheck-to-paycheck each day, but it’s a start.

We spend a lot of time with Haru and Hinoto as they anxiously kill time between shifts. They do laundry at the local laundromat. They sleep in late on a day off. They go to a diner. They have plenty of conversations, except for the one they really need to have: what is their backup plan. Each of them is harboring doubts.

However, even before they can think long-term, Naruko mentions that they only have about three weeks of work left in the busy season. What that leads to is
going back on the job hunt. Given their remote location and high expectations of what kind of job they think they qualify for, options seem nil. In a hail Mary shot, Hinoto again uses her aunt, who has a connection to someone high up in a medium-sized company. This does not pan out, since the job requirements include a college degree. The volume ends with Hinoto calling her college about reenrollment, with Haru eavesdropping.

Like with the first volume, the book ends with a bonus story with a bit of spice, but it’s honestly pretty off-putting. I could do without ever seeing a bit where a partner gets jealous and so decides to cover their lover’s body with hickies so that they are forced to cover up. It’s never been a good trope.

I had some concerns with this story in volume one. Most of it focused on the nagging feeling that this whole plan is a house of cards, ready to fall with the slightest gust of wind. It made for very anxious reading, and it seems now that the feeling was the intended experience. But worse, I’m not sure what the story is really driving at. Sometimes love is not enough? There’s no escape from capitalism? That college degrees are important? I feel like I’m watching slow-motion Yuri Uncut Gems, with the girls gambling with their future.

The other thing that is bothering me is that we don’t get any view into Haru and Hinoto’s life before the story begins. Had they fought through adversity before? Are there any shared memories that they hold dear? Do they, uh, like things in common?? They clearly know each other well enough to give (loving) critiques on their personal quirks, but Keyyang-sensei’s got to give me something more to hold on to here.

The art also somehow seems worse this volume. The characters just look sloppily drawn to begin with, and then there are wild swings in style used for humor that causes even further whiplash. The one drawing I would say really hit for me was a full page spread of the girls job searching on their phones while sitting in the dark living room (which raises the question: how are they paying for their phone service?).

By the end of this volume, I am bracing for disaster. The girls are one missed paycheck away from ruin, and yet they seem to leave those envelopes of money lying around without much concern. The island dream may be over soon, but will a new dream follow it?

Ratings:

Art – 5 It’s getting more distracting as it goes
Story – 6 Things don’t appear to be getting better, but to what end?
Characters – 6 Haru and Hinoto continue to make bad choices
Service – 3 Only for the bonus story
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 5 Gonna leave this here

Overall – 6 Would possibly be put on a PIP, if they even had a job

The third and final volume of this island “escape” story hits shelves in February.

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, as well as the writer for the blog Oh My God, They Were Bandmates analyzing How Do We Relationship in greater depth.