Archive for the Staff Writer Category


Vampeerz – “My Peer Vampires,” Volume 2, Guest Review by Christian LeBlanc

March 29th, 2023

Last week Christian introduced us to the first volume of Akili’s vampire Yuri comedy. This week, Christian is back with a continuation of the series, so grab yourself a stiff drink and please welcome him back!

***

I don’t want to look like I’m pushy,
Or complain and get labelled a wussy,
But when minors take baths,
What I thought I’d see last
Was a detailed view of their loofah!

In the second volume of Akili’s girl-meets-vampire, girl-likes-vampire, girl-is-asked-to-kill-vampire-and-doesn’t-want-to Yuri romance, Vampeerz Volume 2 – “My Peer Vampires” (published by Denpa and translated by Molly Rabbitt), the romance is starting to blossom, but so are a few…issues we need to look at.

Ichika (14 years old, long black hair, not a vampire) has already told Aria (??? years old, short blond hair, is a vampire) that she likes her in the last volume, and in this book, has decided that she’s entitled to smooches and make-outs with Aria in return for all of her blood she’s been letting Aria drink.

Now, you and I are used to romances where someone is tsundere, and, due to the power of manga, somehow it’s ok for them to keep saying they’re not interested, while the other character is all “Oh-ho, the chase is afoot!” like they’re some ancient metaphysical poet writing about fleas biting them as a conceit for why they should be getting down.

Aria, however, in spite of being old enough to have maybe met John Donne in person, tells Ichika that “I still look like a child and think like one too. I have no interest in romance.” Welp. In Ichika’s defence, she’s only 14, and figures Aria must be just on the verge of getting into romance, or she’s just saying that, or something – she’s lost a fair bit of blood so maybe she’s not thinking logically. This is a romance manga, and if you’re good with this, ok; if you’re a bit skeeved out by the maturity gap and want to go back to reading something more wholesome (like Citrus), that is also a natural reaction!

Now Vampeerz is a comedy after all, so maybe that affects how you feel about lecherous, licensed-doctor vampires abusing their powers of hypnotism to day-drink during their job as school nurse and lustily suck the blood from hapless students who show up when they cut themselves doing school things…which is my way of re-introducing Sakuya, Aria’s supposed mom, who has a larger role to play in this volume (mostly as Aria’s servant; as we learn in this volume, Aria is apparently some kind of ‘big deal’ in vampire circles). “Ha ha ha, classic Sakuya,” you might say, “the way these middle-school girls are wigged out by this grown-ass creeper mackin’ on them is very droll, quite!” But, again, if that sort of thing creeps you out regardless of the lighter tone of the book: it would be sketchy as hell for anyone to try and talk you out of that.

In the final chapter, Aria is given an antagonist in the form of Khara, another vampire who’s after the sacred sword introduced in volume 1 (a special artifact able to destroy vampires when wielded by certain special humans, like Ichika). I gotta say, if your story has more than one person in it who seems to be from India, then it might not be as big of a deal when one of them is drawn with dirty feet and a bad smell from having to stow away in a shipping container to get to Japan. As it stands, when your only person of color is depicted this way, it’s just – you don’t do that. Why would you do that. Like, why.

Ok. With these issues out of the way, let’s get back to what the book has to offer. Well, the art is still fantastic, imho. It’s fun seeing Ichika in love and going for it and pursuing the object of her affections (more so if you can think of her as being on equal footing with Aria). Ichika’s advances are thwarted when Aria switches to drinking fetal bovine serum, which means she won’t have to drink Ichika’s blood anymore and is therefore excused from smooches as compensation. (In case you were curious about how fetal bovine serum is harvested, I just looked it up, and, oh my god, Aria what the hell is wrong with you) Uh, the other chapters have a…fun camping trip, a spooky test of courage…some clothes shopping…those poor cows, uh, let’s just get right to the scores, shall we?

Art – 9 I still really dig the detailed artwork, and Akili’s skill with faces and expressions and tones.

Story – 5 Girl pursues vampire, everyone goes camping, and we get a big fight scene. Hopefully Akili gets to draw more fighting, there were some really cool angles and perspectives in here.

Characters – 4 Jiro (Aria’s manservant from volume 1) doesn’t show up. I miss Jiro. I like everybody else a lot less this time around.

Service – I was not expecting to see a 14-year-old girl’s vulva that clearly through the bathwater. Like, everything’s drawn all wavy and ripply, but now that I look closer, there’s no mistaking it.

Yuri – 7 Smooches happen, even if Aria’s not into it. Sakuya comes onto way too many young girls. Score given is for quantity and not quality.

Overall – 2 I started out closer to a 6 when I was just lightly reading this for fun, but the more things I noticed and the more I started thinking about them, the less fun it got. I was worried about talking you, dear reader, out of trying this book; now, I almost kind of hope that I did?

Final thoughts: if you’ve read Vampeerz vol.2 and really like it, that is wonderful; I’m honestly not trying to talk anyone out of enjoying something. To paraphrase Matt Allex from horror film podcast Horror Show Hot Dog: you like more stuff than I do, that means you’re winning, in a way. There’s a cute story in here if you’re able to gloss over some stuff (just like how the cover is fully glossy now, booo). I just want you to understand that if someone else has some issues with this book, they have some legitimate reasons, and they’re not just being intentional spoilsports out to ruin your day or anything. We cool? Cool.

Erica here: I mean, yes. All of this. And the fact that although the manga continues, the narrative kind of really doesn’t. Akili’s love of pervy peekaboo is openly on display here. When you remember that Denpa Books was originally co-founded by the VP of Fakku Comics, it’s not that surprising, though.





Vampeerz – “My Peer Vampires,” Volume 1, Guest Review by Christian LeBlanc

March 22nd, 2023

So this girl wants a vampire lover.
But first, take a look at this cover!
Dappled texture and flaps
It in no way detracts
From the contents, it adds lots of lustre!

Chocolate and peanut butter. Coffee and donuts. Yuri and vampires. All famously great pairings, and Akili’s Vampeerz, Volume 1 (subtitled “My Peer Vampires” and translated by Molly Rabbitt) is yet another addition to the latter, joining the likes of Killing Me!, Hungry for You, Scarlet, Ms. Vampire Who Lives in my Neighborhood, Vlad Love, etc etc etc. (For more on why there are so many Yuri vampire stories, please see Erica’s video on the subject here: https://youtu.be/rkE3pg-ihvA

So what does Vampeerz have that sets it apart from these other stories? I reached out to publisher Denpa to help me answer that, because I was curious about the cover binding, which I thought was quite thick and classy; it even has those nice flaps you see sometimes. I was told it was gloss, with no extra laminate, whereas most other covers have two layers of film instead of the one layer used on Vampeerz. To my eyes, this produces a cover with a bit of texture in the gloss, an almost dappled toothiness that sets it apart.

As for what the story has that other works don’t? The short answer to that after thumbing through those other works is “less chaos,” but let’s delve into that.

When we begin, Ichika (14 years old, long black hair, not a vampire) is mourning the passing of her grandmother Chiyo. This in turn brings about the arrival of Aria (??? years old, short blond hair, is a vampire), who claims to have been a friend of Chiyo’s.

From the start, it’s obvious to the reader that there was more to Aria’s relationship with Chiyo than she’s letting on, but Ichika is taking a little longer to suspect, maybe in part because she quickly finds that she’s fallen for Aria (I know this pun diminishes you and I both, but it was truly love at first bite for her). In turn, Aria ignores questions about how she can know certain archaic things, and blatantly brushes off any peculiarities with a hilariously patronizing wide-eyed “Wow, golly!” feigning of innocence. She’s a busy vampire with goals, after all. You almost get the sense that she relates to the humans around her the way most adults do to children: she can’t really be up front about what’s going on, because she assumes most people aren’t ready to have those conversations yet. And honestly, Ichika isn’t just a child compared to Aria; she *is* still a child, full stop.

And what are Aria’s goals? It turns out vampires (Aria prefers the older term ‘Lilu’) in real life don’t resemble the ones from movies very much, aside from drinking blood (which is inexplicably sexy, of course, in a similar vein to how women are shown enjoying chocolate in tv commercials), hypnotizing people, and living a long time. It’s this last bit that Aria wants Ichika to help her with: feeling that she’s lived long enough, Aria needs Ichika to be the one to end her, because…actually she was just getting into why it had to be her, when Ichika interrupts her to explain all the reasons she doesn’t want to just kill somebody.

And thus, we have the main story elements of Vampeerz: girl meets vampire, girl is asked to kill vampire, but girl likes vampire.

Getting back to my earlier question, what is there that recommends Vampeerz over the many other vampire Yuri works? Well, Ichika has a cool Emily King wall scroll hanging in her bedroom, for one. The rad cover, like I mentioned. The artwork carries a certain classiness and charm, and the calm, quiet pace invite the reader to take their time and enjoy how this story is being told. There are microscopic touches of slapstick (Aria has to clobber a manservant to throw off suspicion), mystery and the supernatural (there’s a really cool depiction of how a barrier is preventing Aria from entering a shrine), but Ichicka’s growing feelings for Aria are what take prominence.

Lastly, I understand that the use of modern slang and references to memes can take certain readers out of the story, but Aria channeling Steve Buscemi as she introduces herself to her new classmates is both appropriate and hilarious, and I applaud Molly Rabbitt for going there.

Ratings:

Art – 9 I really like the slightly quirky art style, as well as the detailed tones and excellent use of shading.

Story – 6 One girl likes another girl, that girl is a vampire, and with that comes some mystery.

Characters – 5 Jiro (Ichika’s manservant) is really cool and I genuinely wanted to see more of him. The fact that I can say that about a minor dude character in a Yuri romance, as well as the fact that I keep getting distracted by the cool cover, should tell you what I’m too polite to say out loud: I like our leads, I really do, but I also can’t help comparing them to potato water in terms of being able to hold my interest!

Service – 3 Fairly tame for the most part…but while I say that, this is also probably the first time I’ve been able to make out someone’s labia majora while they were wearing pyjamas.

Yuri – 7 Ichika is definitely into Aria. Ichika’s mom Sakuya is definitely into young women.

Overall – 7 It’s missing a certain je ne sais quois, however, the art carries it a lot, and as far as vampire Yuri romances go, it’s certainly the most coherent one I’ve enjoyed.

Erica here: I didn’t want to detract from the joy of reading the limerick right away, so instead I’m jumping in as a final word. Those of you have been following Akili’s work from back in Tsubomi days under another name, will remember that this artist started with porn and this manga has all those hallmarks, without the actual porn part. Sexualizing Yuri vampires? No one has ever done that before! ^_^ Seriously, though, we could do worse than having Akili turn his hand to it. Maybe, also better, but definitely worse. ^_^ Thanks so much to Christian who will be back next week with Volume 2!





Pulse, Volume 1 and Volume 2, Guest Review by Eleanor W

March 8th, 2023

Two women lay, clasping hand, sprawled in a bed of white flowers. "Pulse" is written in large cursive letters across the cover in a cursive letters that end in a heartbeat from a cardiac monitor.Welcome to Guest Review Wednesday, where you and I both get the benefit of someone else’s voice here on Okazu! This week we welcome back Eleanor W with a look at the Seven Seas edition of Rata Satis’ Pulse. I reviewed Satis’ own release of this book in 2016! Wow, time flies. I’m looking forward to hearing what Seven Seas has done with this series, so take it away, Eleanor!

Hello again, as always, it’s nice to be back. You can find me on various parts of the Internet as @st_owly, including the Okazu Discord. This is a series that has been on my radar for a while, but I’d never quite gotten around to it until I saw the first volume in the shops. I’m grateful as always to Erica for offering me the opportunity to review it. 

2022 was the year print editions of webcomics exploded, with several publishers now offering full colour printed graphic novel editions of popular comics from online platforms such as Webtoon, Tapas and Lehzin. Most of these releases are of Korean comics, but today’s review covers a notable exception. Pulse was originally released on the Lehzin comics platform, and is by Thai artist Ratana Satis. Due to the mature content, this series is not available on the Lehzin iPhone app, you can only read it on their website.

The synopsis from Seven Seas on the back of Pulse, volume 1 is as follows:
Mel, a renowned heart surgeon, is well-known for being a stoic loner. She views her erotic flings with other women as a tool for pleasure rather than a show of affection. Then she meets Lynn, a beautiful and spirited cardiac patient who needs a new heart, but refuses a transplant. The two women meet with minimal expectations but soon become enthralled in a relationship that changes everything for them both.

This Girls’ Love comic–and first place winner of the 2nd Lezhin Comics World Comic Contest–is one of the most popular series by fan-favorite Thai creator Ratana Satis, also known for Soul Drifters and Lily Love.

Seven Seas covers are usually excellent, and these two volumes are no exception. The title is embossed on the volume covers and spines, and the heart monitor line in the logo is a nice allude to the theme of the series. The volumes themselves are printed on nice glossy paper, and the lines and ink are crisp, especially important for a full colour release. Moving on to the actual contents of the books, it’s nice to read a yuri story where one of the main characters is openly described as a lesbian. The first 2 chapters are all about Mel. Lynn, the other protagonist, isn’t actually introduced by name until chapter 3, when after a chance meeting in the hospital corridor, circumstances mean that she and Mel meet formally as doctor and patient. Lynn strong arms Mel into buying her lunch the next day, and as the book progresses they gradually start getting to know each other. Read together, volume 1 feels like an introduction, setting the stage for the actual story to start in volume 2, but I don’t see this as a bad thing.

Volume 2 begins with Lynn showing up at Mel’s apartment and announcing she’s moving in with her. U-haul lesbians are a meme for a reason, but this is fast even by lesbian standards. There’s even an obligatory yuri aquarium date later on in the volume, where it’s lovely to see them both just genuinely enjoying each other’s company and, as the book goes on, Mel realising she cares for Lynn in more than just a professional way. Hints at Mel’s romantic past are sprinkled throughout the 2 volumes, no doubt all will be revealed later on, and I’m definitely sticking around to find out. The two of them are too charming not to, and I’m rooting for them to get their happy ending. 

 

Ratings:

Art: 8. Whilst it’s not particularly unique, it’s attractive and well done and some of the facial expressions are a delight.

Story: 7. Don’t think about it too much, just enjoy it for what it is and you’ll forget how implausible the scenario actually is (does this hospital not have an ethics board?) 

Characters: 9. These two really do make the series. Lynn reminds me of a little puppy with her energy and eagerness to please, Mel is the cold hearted one who “doesn’t like dogs” and their growth, both as individuals and as a couple, over the two volumes is very endearing. Service (level of salaciousness): 10. This one is rated Mature and shrink wrapped for a reason. The erotic scenes are plentiful (2 in the first chapter alone) and there is very little left to the imagination. 

Yuri: 9. Two women who need each other more than they both realise. It’s lovely to see Mel opening her heart (no pun intended) to Lynn. 

Overall: 8. If you’re looking for something with adult characters and a decent bit of spice which isn’t just porn, you could do a lot worse than Pulse. 

Erica here: Thank you so much! Now that this is available digitally, I might pick up the next volume and see where the story leads ^_^





Sirius: Twin Stars by Ana C. Sánchez, Guest Review by Luce

February 15th, 2023

In front of a night sky over an ocean, two young women dance. One of them has long, blonde hair and smiles happily, the other, with short dark hair, looks at us somberly. In yellow letters the title reads Ana C. Today on Okazu - Sirius: Twin Stars by Ana C. Sánchez.Hello and welcome back to Guest Review Wednesday! I am so pleased to be able to host another great guest review today! Thanks so much to Okazu Patrons and Supporters for making this possible, we could not do it without you. If you’d like to see us host more guest reviews, support Okazu on Patreon or Ko-fi and become part of the Okazu family! Today we once again welcome Luce!

It’s Luce, catching up with reviews; I can be found on the Okazu discord as farfetched. This time, it’s a Spanish manga offering from Tokyopop.

Sirius: Twin Stars tells the story of Dani Torres, daughter of a star tennis player. Trying to follow in her footsteps, Dani asked her mother to coach her. Her mother’s perfectionism causes the relationship between them to become ever more fraught, until her heart literally gives out. Fresh out of heart surgery and fresh out of aspirations, Dani is packed up to the family’s vacation home by the beach to ‘recuperate’ – or escape her mother who will no longer speak to her, as she sees it. There, she meets a girl called Blanca who loves astronomy and the stars. They have a bit of a rocky start, but Dani begins to build a friendship with her – and more.

I really enjoyed this story. Not many of us have been where Dani is literally, but I think we’ve all been a little lost, not knowing where to turn or where to go next, so her feelings are relatable. Blanca is adorable, vibrant and happy without being over the top, and I liked how their relationship developed. I greatly appreciated that there was no ‘but she’s female!’ from either party. Unusually for a manga, it was set in Spain, although aside from the names, there wasn’t a great deal to remind you of this. Still, it’s nice to get a story not set in a high school, although they are of school age.

Being a single volume, the conflict of the story isn’t drawn out, but it’s backed up enough that it doesn’t feel rushed – you can see that both Dani and her mum are hurting, and although due to Dani being the protagonist, we side with her – it’s obvious that this split is hurting Dani too. I also really enjoyed the resolution of it; there is an epilogue with neatly ties up a few loose ends, and ends us on a happy note.

The art here was lovely, too. It really suited the story, and detail is given where needed. There are a few colour pages at the start which really ping, and the figurative illustrations of Dani’s struggles really come through. In the physical version, somewhat unusually, these are matte pages, but it still works very well.

Story: 9
Yuri: 10
Service: 2 – they’re in Spain in the summer so some clothes are more revealing, but nothing feels salacious or is done with service in mind
Art: 9
Overall: I would usually hedge my bets, but I actually love this story, so for me personally, it’s a 10. A really good balance between angst and resilience.

This came out from Tokyopop a while back. Ana Sánchez also wrote and illustrated Alter Ego, which I haven’t read yet.

Erica here: Thank you so much Luce! I have read Alter Ego and reviewed it here on Okazu in 2021. There is also a sequel in the works, Noel Y June. It’s great to see Sánchez developing as an artist and a writer.





How Do We Relationship, Volume 8 Guest Review by Matt Marcus

February 8th, 2023

In a watercolor-style image, a woman with short, black hair, in a brown shell with a light gray plaid short over it. She wears a guitar case over her left shoulder. Her eyes are closed, but she's smiling broadly, with her left hand half lifted, as is she's about to reach out or wave. White letters read "How Do We Relationship?" in black letters, "art and story by Tamifull." A black number 8 is in white word balloon, as if the woman is thinking it.Welcome to another Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu. Matt Marcus is back again to cover Tamifull’s continuing series of young adult life that has a lot of layers to parse. Please welcome Matt back and give him your attention. Matt, the mic is yours…!

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, such as the JRPG games club podcast Lightning Strikes Thrice, which is currently covering Final Fantasy VIII.

In Volume 8 of How Do We Relationship While Still Being Friends With Our Exes, we follow Miwa and Saeko as they try to learn….well you get the idea.

Saeko and Yuria are still enjoying each other’s company, but their mutual dislike of being touched has put their sex life in suspended animation. Miwa, who accidentally baited Tamaki into a confession using her cat (so this time the cat outed the girl from…the bag…hmm), is nevertheless trying to maintain the status quo with her kohai in fear that her crush will lead to another debilitating heartbreak.

During the Band Club summer retreat, Tamaki starts flirtatiously teasing Miwa, or as one chapter aptly calls it, “Messing With You, To Great Satisfaction.” Miwa continues to hesitate, but Tamaki’s escalating pursuit–and a small push from Saeko–leads her to open up about her feelings. The two begin dating, which raises the dual thorny issues of Tamaki’s plan to transfer to another school and how to handle introducing their relationship to Tamaki’s friends.

I have a confession to make: I did not like Tamaki when she first showed up. But credit where credit’s due, Tamaki steals the show here. After a volume and half of getting closer, then backing off, only to get closer again, the way in which she pushes forward towards Miwa here is a very refreshing change. Something I noticed as well is that there are moments where the art shows her in a much more attractive light, particularly when she is acting confident. Compared to previous volumes, it’s one hell of a glow-up. Plus, she gets to show some developing maturity during her date with Miwa as they discuss their potential future.  I knew that the story would pair her up with Miwa, but what I was not prepared for was coming away from this volume thoroughly convinced that Tamaki is worth rooting for.

What makes Tamaki more than just a new love interest is how she poses as a foil to Saeko. Both are quite blunt and have a tendency to drop a biting line here and there towards Miwa. In a way, Tamaki’s harsher comments resemble some of Saeko’s in the first three volumes, such as when she calls Miwa a “bit of a wimp.” However, Tamaki’s are more on the line of teasing instead of insecure lashing out. Also, as time has gone on it’s become more clear that Saeko’s “toughness” that Miwa so idolized was a falsity; for Tamaki, her “difficult personality” is just who she is, and it’s that fortitude that pushes her through the various homophobic reactions of her friends when she comes out about her relationship with Miwa. It made me think back to Volume 6 where Saeko says that Miwa’s next girlfriend would need to be mentally tough to weather the challenges of being queer in a society that is openly hostile to it. It’s as if Tamaki read the job requirements before applying, but not in a “too convenient to be believable” way. 

Just to camp out on the coming out scene a bit more, the economy of storytelling Tamifull employs is worth highlighting. There’s a denial (“No way!”), a joke (“you’re just playing at dating, right?”), a somewhat condescending acceptance (“oh that’s very trendy of you!”), AND a flat-out rejection (“I don’t like people like that, it’s gross.”), all in the span of a few pages. It’s pretty impressive stuff, plus it gets those issues out of the way so the story can focus on the relationship itself going forward.

All of that said, there are still other developments going on. The most important one is how Miwa and Saeko’s friendship has continued to change. Miwa is trying to stay close, thinking of Saeko as her best friend, while Saeko is trying to pull back because, despite what she thinks, she’s still not completely over Miwa. The asymmetry of their feelings and how they process them internally is nuanced in a very compelling way. It is also fairly evident that the next volume will put Saeko more in the spotlight, since we did not see much progress about her body issues in this volume–not that she doesn’t play a big role in these chapters, but the Miwa/Tamaki story definitely took top billing.

The last plot thread I think is worth mentioning is the entanglement of Rika and Mikkun. It’s a case of the unstoppable force of casual sex meeting the immovable serial-dating object. I’ve mentioned being curious about Rika’s role in this story in past reviews, so perhaps we may see some progress here. Or it can just be a vehicle for jokes at Mikkun’s expense. I give it 70/30 towards the latter.

There are countless little positives I’d like to call out, like Yuria’s realistic body shape, the callbacks to the first band retreat, Saeko’s many new hairstyles that have clearly been done by Yuria. I’ve found the more time I spend revisiting previous chapters, the more I find moments where these later volumes carry echoes of the earlier ones in a way that I find very satisfying.

I think this is a fantastic volume, with deliciously playful tension and gentle but meaningful character development. Also, if you’ve been waiting for Good Things to happen for Miwa, you’re gonna love how this goes.

Art – 9 Fantastic paneling, great use of light and shadow, strong perspective choices–I’d say it’s the best looking volume so far
Story – 9 There are some predictable beats here, but the timbre continues to impress
Characters – 9 Tamaki won me over this volume
Service – 4 There’s a lot of non-sexual intimacy while nude, which is a form of service
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 9 Got a complicated friendship between exes AND two couples to boot

Overall – 9 Band camp continues to deliver fireworks (just not literally this time)

Can I admit that I’m a mark for POV shots that take into account height differences? I mean, I just did, but we can be cool about it, right? Right.

Erica here: Totally cool. ^_^  Thanks very much, Matt for this insightful review. You’ve clarified some of my thoughts on this series, as well. It continues to feel more “real” than just almost anything else I’m reading these days for better and ill. ^_^