Archive for the Staff Writer Category


Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, Volume 2, Guest Review by Luce

February 9th, 2022

It’s Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu and again we welcome back Luce for continuing coverage of Eri Ejima’s school life series!

In volume one, we met Mitsuki Aya, a girl who had given up fighting games prior to joining a posh game-banning school on schloarship, and ‘Shirayuri-sama’, a girl who is highly revered for her poise and elegance… And just so happens to love fighting games! The two embark on matches together, but their previous safe haven had been locked. They can game outside at the weekends if the weather is good, but that’s not good enough!

Thus, in volume two of Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, we see them try to find a place indoors where they will be able to game. There happens to be an empty room with a broken lock, but just when they think it’s safe, there’s a knock on the door… The Dormitory Affairs Committee!

The second volume is as daft as the first, but we gain some teammates. One isn’t so good at fighting games – or rather, has become disillusioned with losing to online players, and they set her to training. The other craftily joined the committee so she could have a single room and therefore game to get hearts content. Those closest to the law, and all. With the four of them in one of the Dorm Affair senpai’s room, they are free to game. And game they do. Surely that lack of sleep has got to catch up with them?!

Amusingly, who we thought was called Shirayuri-sama… actually isn’t called that at all. It’s a nickname unwillingly given to her by the gushing school girls: she’s actually called Yorue Mio, and Aya’s agreement to use her name makes her pretty happy, but also opens up rumours around school that they might be dating. We have in-universe yuri shippers. This flies over their heads because they’re far more concerned with mentally strategising about beating each other to a pulp (in their fighting game).

There is a lot of fighting game talk in here. I’ve never played fighting games, but I have played some other games, so some concepts are more foreign to me than others. For the people not in the know, there are notes peppered around if something can be easily explained, but at the end of each chapter, there’s a more thorough debrief of the concepts included, so you don’t feel too alienated by the talk. It’s actually nice to see someone doing a manga around something they are clearly passionate about – and choosing to do it with notes helps with not having heavy exposition laden text. I applaud that decision, as conversation flows better, and means we don’t have to have the token newbie who knows nothing like usual. 

The art, as ever, cracks me up. It feels very real to have two teenagers complaining that they’re going to die if they can only game at the weekend. It’s actually really nice to see those tumultuous emotions not applied to romance. As for romance, clearly their schoolmates think they’re dating. They clearly aren’t, and I’m on the fence, but it’s so self-aware of it looking like a romance that I could probably see someone getting together at least. Maybe those senpais…?

I’m enjoying this series a lot more than I thought I would, starting out. It’s ridiculous, but in a good way.

Story – 7 (now I think about it manga about girls gaming feels kind of rare?)
Art – 8
Service – 3? Aya is in a bath, but it’s never purposely salacious.  
Yuri – 5? The in universe shippers certainly think something is going on, but some frames…
Overall – 9

I think this is actually one of my favourite new series coming out at the moment! I’m looking forwards to more. Next time: a tournament! Looking forward to seeing how these girls practice and sneak out of school for that one. 

 
 




Double Your Pleasure Yuri Anthology, Guest Review by Luce

November 24th, 2021

A cropped header of the cover of Double Your Pleasure Yuri Anthology. (I have used the cropped one as the full image whilst not explicit, is not really safe for work)

I’m Luce and often my curiosity gets the better of me. See also: I read and reviewed it so you don’t have to! Gave Erica a break, anyhow. You can find me on the Okazu discord as farfetched, and on tumblr as silverliningslurk. Onward, at your own peril.

Double Your Pleasure is an erotic yuri anthology based around twins, from authors such as Naoko Kodama who has done Days of Love at Seagull Villa. I think this is what they call ‘Dead Dove content’, also known as ‘does what it says on the tin’. I don’t know if I was expecting anything different from what I got, to be honest.

This review could be as short as: a series of twins having sex in various places. That’s pretty much all this is. If that’s your thing, then it’s great. I do find twins interesting… but not so much in this context. As far as I’m aware, sibling relationships are much more common in Japanese media than they are in English media, as are teacher-student relationships. I don’t know why – someone more versed in Japanese culture might be able to comment more thoroughly on it – but for some reason, they seem to go down a treat, at least with enough people to get published. I somehow can’t imagine something like this being published in the western world, but this made it here, so presumably there is some demand. I could possibly guess the type.

To be honest, where a third party was included it was a bit more interesting to me, but the focus on twins being so obsessed with their differences felt quite odd. Maybe it was low-hanging fruit, but nearly all of the stories featured twins either trying to be exactly the same, or very focused on the few things that they matched in. I’m not a twin, so I can only imagine that it probably is something they are concerned about to a degree, but I feel like most twins (I happen to know two separate triplets, too) I know don’t like being compared, and are no more interested in their siblings than non-twin siblings.

Basically, this is a fetish-catering manga. There is a lot of focus on nipples, and the sex is shown. The preview on Bookwalker has one full short story, and it’s about the same from there. One of the ones that particularly irked me was a story where two twins are very different… but their weights are the same. Why? Because the one tries to match her intake and output to the other. Loosely linked to binary stars?

Basically, if you’re into it, you’re into it, and it does what it says on the tin, and does that pretty well. If you’re not, you’re probably reading this with a sense of horror. If you’re curious, read the preview on Global Bookwalker, (with an 18+ warning to click through) and if you hate that, it only gets better in the sense that the rest of the book isn’t quite as non-consensual. Oh, did I mention that? In the first story, the twins get annoyed that someone can tell them apart and force themselves on her as punishment. It’s my least favourite… not that I had any favourites. I won’t be reading this again.

Ratings:

Art – 7 – mixture of artists, all fairly decent.
Story – 1: twins have sex, sometimes someone else is included, in one it was a dream. I think.
Characters – 2 – few characters have any depth beyond ‘I’m obsessed with my twin and this correlates to sexual activity with them’.
Service (level of salaciousness) – 10. Lots of sex. Every story. Dead dove content, if you will.
Yuri –  10, I mean. They’re all explicit yuri, so…
Overall – 4.

Thank you to Seven Seas for the review copy. I’m off to read something a little more wholesome.

Erica here: Thank you Luce, for once again stepping in to give us a solid review of this jiggly collection.

For my part, I was merely sad that none of the creators tried to do something interesting with the premise. Like, an astronaut returns fall in love with another astronaut of a space station and they find they were separated at birth…or something. But as you say, this is “a series of twins having sex” so, if that’s a reader’s thing, then that reader ought to like it.  ^_^





Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games! Volume 1, Guest Review by Luce

November 17th, 2021

Cover image of the manga Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games by Eri EjimaI’m Luce, several time reviewer here and long-time book collector who is very much a tsundoku exhibiting person. I’ve been reading my manga though, including this one, a small gem from Seven Seas who are probably my new favourite company. Not that I really have those, but they do a lot of Yuri. I’ll ignore some of the other series they do. Anyhow! I can be found on the Okazu discord as farfetched, and on tumblr as silverliningslurk. Ready, fight!

In Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, Mitsuki Aya is one of the only new students in Kuromi Girls Academy, a prestigious private school, attending on a scholarship. She’s trying her utmost act as ladylike as the other (mostly rich) girls in the school, but none more so than Shirayuri, the epitome of elegant grace and another new student. At least… That’s what everyone thinks, including Aya, until she catches her late at night not only playing fighting games, but violently trash-talking the person she just trounced. Outing herself as a gamer to Shirayuri accidentally, Aya is asked to join a match, but she’s given them up – or at least, tried to. Aya’s own previous obsession with fighting games and a new-found rivalry between the two aside, there’s a big problem here – all games are banned at the school!

It sounds ridiculous. It kind of is ridiculous. It clearly doesn’t take itself too seriously, with the name ‘Shirayuri’ (literally white lily) being pointed out in the translation as something incredibly flowery and a highly unusual Japanese name. But it’s good. The way that Shirayuri flips on a coin from a lovely girl held on a pedestal to someone downright crass is funny, and some of the responses to things that Aya says are hilarious. For example, Aya starts saying how she eschewed fighting games to become a ‘proper lady’ and all this noble speak… And Shirayuri basically responds with ‘wtf you talking about, fight me’.

That’s pretty refreshing, honestly. Shirayuri clearly has no intention of leaving something she loves to fully become the mask she portrays everywhere else, and doesn’t see why Aya is so hung up on this ideal. They have several virtual matches, which are pretty well drawn and narrated as such by Aya’s thoughts, breaking down her predictions and actions in a way that feels pretty smooth and close to what I feel like a slow motion fight scene would feel like. They get caught… and their escape is just as ridiculous and funny as the reactions. The series flips quite well between the elegant lady aesthetic and a caricatured ugliness of real emotion. The mangaka does both quite well.

As for yuri, well, I’m not 100% sure that it will be yuri, but if it is, it certainly won’t be something fluffy like Girlfriends. They’ll be fighting all the way along. But some of the scenes and panels on their own make me feel like this series could well go on a yuri-ish direction. There is clearly a lot of idol worship towards Shirayuri that could lean that way, but even other than that, some of the art just makes me think this will be yuri. Natsume, Aya’s roommate, clearly thinks they’re together. I mean, Shirayuri, her name aside, is introduced with lilies in the background. Bookwalker told me it’s yuri, so I’m going to believe it, since it feels too self-aware to not be.

Next volume, they decide they have to find something safe to game inside. I hope Aya comes to a revelation that she can enjoy things and be elegant, or just… enjoy things and not worry so much over what other people think. I’ll be looking forward to it.

Art – 8 – does both pretty and grotesque quite well. The comic violence in and occasionally out of the in-manga game is good.
Story – 6. It’s ridiculous. I have questions. But it’s fun.
Characters – 8
Service (level of salaciousness) – 2? Aya is in a form-fitting turtleneck at one point, but that’s about it, and it’s not played for anything. It’s also not a male-gaze type of form-fitting. The skirts are not magic, either.
Yuri – 4. For the moment.
Overall – 8

My questions are mainly: how many first year students with long white hair can there possibly be, and how can you be (presumably) that loud and not get caught. It’s not meant to be serious, so they’re not serious questions. I also want pg115 on my wall, it’s glorious. Other than that, check it out!

Erica here: Thank you very much for this fantastic review. I hope you’ll all take this chance to pick up and enjoy this silly story. ^_^





How Do We Relationship, Volume 4, Guest Review by Matt Marcus

November 10th, 2021

Welcome to another Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu. I am so delighted to introduce a new Guest Reviewer here today for so many reasons: Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, such as the JRPG games club podcast Lightning Strikes Thrice. Finally, after me waiting patiently to have someone to talk to about this…here we are at last. There will be spoilers in this review and let me tell you, I am so relieved! Please give your attention and a warm welcome to Matt!

How Do We Relationship is a story about college first years Miwa and Saeko who, once they learn that they are both attracted to women, decide to date. Last we saw them in Volume 3, the lack of open communication had continued to strain their relationship, leaving Saeko troubled over her standing with her partner while Miwa is tempted by the reappearance of her old high school crush Shiho.

There is no sense being coy about it: How Do We Relationship, Volume 4 is where the girls break up. Saeko had been using sex as the panacea for her insecurities, but troubles in the bedroom, coupled with confronting the reality that Miwa harbors deep romantic feelings for another woman ends up straining her to the breaking point. Miwa wrestles with guilt over her conflicting attractions and tries to cling to the relationship but to no avail. The two agree to stay friends, however it is clear that Miwa believes that she carries the sole blame for the end of their courtship.

The fulcrum on which this series balances is how tolerable you find Saeko, and in this volume we see her at her worst so far. She starts to seriously lose control of the defense mechanism that she developed after her traumatic experience in middle school–the facade of a carefree and kind partner. It is not until late in this volume that Saeko finally has a moment of emotional honesty, voicing some of the ugly thoughts and fears that she had been repressing–but not with Miwa. If you have seen or experienced this emotional playbook, this can be a tough read. I want to root for Saeko to grow and truly heal from her past, but on the flip side she hurt Miwa quite badly and has yet to even acknowledge it. The sole consolation I have is knowing that with seven volumes currently out in Japan, there is quite a bit of runway for her to turn it around.

I have focused on the heavy stuff, but like the rest of the series the emotional drama happens around character-driven shenanigans with mixed results. A particular low note are the couple of chapters that focus on group singer Mikkun and Saeko working around the former’s jealous new girlfriend, which does little to drive the plot forward and rehashes the “straight cis man has a crush on a lesbian” beat from Volume 3. In a story with quite a large supporting cast, I would have liked to see a little more character development in their subplots.

As for Yuri/queer content, this volume pushes things ever-so-slightly forward, with the final chapter opening the door for a couple more queer relationships to develop. Another noteworthy element is the reappearance of Kan, the “villain” of Volume 2. It is hard to say for sure from what little we see of him, but he may have started letting go of his internalized queerphobia. At the very least he comes off as less of an unrepentant asshole (heavy emphasis on “less of”).

I have always appreciated Tamifull’s art, particularly the outfit designs and instruments. On occasion it can be disorienting (for example, second year Mozu–who already looked like a dead-ringer for Miwa but with light-colored hair–reappears with black hair just to make things more confusing for two pages), but I found the tumultuous energy accurately reflects the free-wheeling nature of one’s first year of college. When it counts, Tamifull knows how to visually punctuate an emotional moment or punchline (shoutouts to the Pound Cake Face).

All in all, I found these chapters challenging but rewarding. If you have found the messiness of the story and the characters compelling thus far, this volume really delivers on moments that will have you screaming internally the whole way with some heartrending lines to boot. Other than a small tease of a flashforward near the end, I have no idea where the next movement will take this series, but I know that I will be tuning in for it.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Has a few standout moments in the series so far.
Story – 8 A little uneven at times but lands the big moments.
Characters – 7 Compellingly infuriating.
Service – 3 There still is sex, however it is less of a focus compared to previous volumes
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 7 Someone actually says “lesbian” out loud; unfortunately, it’s Rika.

Overall – 8 A challenging but rewarding read.

Lastly, I have to give big props to Tamifull’s very cheeky reveal in the author’s notes. You will clearly see what they meant if you flip back to Chapter 1.

Erica here: Thanks very much Matt!

OKAY. Now that you have all caught up I need to say this. Saeko and Miwa always were a terrible couple. I’m glad they broke up. You all were cooing over them in Volume 1 and I was up to Volume 3 chanting, “Break up, break up, break up.” ^_^ In fact, if they hadn’t, I was going to stop reading, because Saeko’s jealousy was intolerable to me; traumatic experience or not. I can assure you this, I am about to dive into Volume 7 in Japanese and 1) I am still reading and 2) this is a completely different, (dare I say, much better) story now.

Volume 5 is slated for a February release in English and everything (including the cover style) is about to change.





School Zone Girls, Volume 2, Guest Review by Christian LeBlanc

September 29th, 2021

Welcome to Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu! This makes a third guest review in a row and we have at least two more on the way! If you enjoy our guest reviews, I hope you will support the Okazu Patreon. Thanks to our Patrons, who make reviews like Luce’s review of Volume 1 of this series and Christian’s review of Volume 2 possible! Welcome back, Christian LeBlanc for today’s review. ^_^

So, let me admit something to you: Ningiyau’s second volume of School Zone Girls from Seven Seas has proven to be a very hard book for me to review, as I would often find myself re-reading the stories instead of trawling its pages for beats to describe and funny lines to quote. Flipping back and forth through its short, episodic chapters is like a ludic loop of dopamine hits.

With its ensemble cast of misfit high school girls and their cool-as-hell uniforms of black dress shirts and white ties, this manga feels a bit like if Azumanga Daioh went through an emo phase (at least stylistically), abandoned the 4-koma style, and leaned more towards slacker than absurdist humor. Chapters are three to eight pages long on average, and this brevity perfectly suits the lighter tones of this book full of lovable, surly idiots.

Tall, breezy, beautiful Yokoe Rei (as seen on the cover) is still disastrously crushing on her best friend since middle school, the short, perpetually-perturbed Sugiura Kei (last volume’s cover star). Their friend and classmate Negoro Yatsude is the connective tissue between most of the cast, since she’s also friends and classmates with Matsuri Fuji, and club senpai to Hinase Tsubaki, both of whom we’ll get to. Yatsude’s withering reactions of concern and/or annoyance over everyone and their bull$#!t make her the perfect foil for her friends’ eccentricities, bouts of despair, etc.

Hinase Tsubaki is a bit of a wallflower (a friend of a friend describes her as “a gloomy li’l reject loner girl”), although bright and cheerful Kaname Yamashiro keeps taking the initiative of being friends with her. Tsubaki’s twin, Hiragi, is a surly loner, and also has a bright, cheerful classmate (Utsugi Ren) she’s getting closer with. To be honest with you, it wasn’t until I got towards the end of this book that I realized these were four different people, instead of two (Volume 2, due to reasons, was my first time reading School Zone Girls). We do see some flashbacks in this volume, so I expect we’ll soon learn why Hiragi hates her twin Hinase so much (which may or may not be related to Hinase’s let’s-hope-the-author-just-drops-it sister complex, ugh).

Matsuri Fuji is new to the cast, and is first depicted playing a crane game with increasing fury; the prize (which she thinks looks stupid anyway) has twisted itself in her mind into some form of character growth, like a next stage of enlightenment she needs to attain. You’d be right to assume from this that she takes herself way too seriously; she speaks with a heightened dialect that only makes her look more awkward to the arcade employees, and tortures herself with inner dialogue spirals about honor, respect, doing good deeds for selfish reasons, etc.

Once arcade employee Kishiya admits to feeling embarrassed over something, she becomes an inadvertent mentor to Fuji, helping her realize that even adults can be imperfect – and that’s ok. It’s almost like the relationship between Miyako and Sayaka at the coffee shop in Bloom Into You, except, well, Miyako would never laugh her ass off if Sayaka freaked out and gave herself a nosebleed. (Or keep replaying the moment in her mind, laughing a little harder each time.) Incidentally, I hate to admit how much Fuji reminds me of myself at that age, and I have to wonder why I’m being called out in this manner.

Most of the time, our cast is just $#!tting around: hanging out at school, riding each other over who can’t wink with their eyes, watching TV during homework dates, falling down 3 flights of stairs into a bloody mess before admitting they need someone to walk them home because the ad for a scary movie messed them up, etc. Stakes are fairly low all around, in spite of how hard Rei freaks out whenever she interprets Kei’s gruffness as affection, or Fuji’s obsession with winning that stupid stuffed toy at the arcade.

As I said earlier, School Zone Girls eschews the 4-koma style, so the comedy has more room to breathe naturally. Chapters are exactly as long (or short) as they need to be, contributing to the natural rhythms and quick pacing. I think this makes the poignant 18-page It Was a Joke stand out that much more, increasing its dramatic impact. This tale sees present-day Rei narrating some flashback scenes from middle school that shed light on why her crush on Kei hasn’t gone any further than it has. I’ll admit, the slapstick and spit-takes up to this point had my guard down, so I wasn’t expecting to see such an affecting portrayal of why two girls would still be stuck in a “will they or won’t they?!” stasis required by the plot. And, I know I can be a bit of a soft touch for scenes like this, but I dare you to flip back to the first page of this chapter again after you’ve read it and not feel something for poor Rei.

This section actually struck me as realistic (as opposed to contrived for the plot), but I got hung up on whether or not that was for me to judge. I asked Erica for her opinion, and she reminded me that authenticity is individual, but to go with my gut; my gut simply told me not to speak for others on what is or isn’t authentic to them. And then I wondered if I wasn’t overthinking a book where someone got punched in the tit last issue. Such is the genius of School Zone Girls!

Ratings:

Art – 9 A good comedy needs expressive, inventive body language and exaggerated expressions, and this one has it. Clean lines, screen tones that expertly give depth to the page and guide the eye, and engaging character designs all contribute to this rating. Ningiyau is particularly skilled at rendering affectations of disdain.

Story – 7 There’s a lot of fun nothing happening, except when Ningiyau decides to hit us in the feels with some of those bittersweet drama times. And that’s fun too.

Characters – 7 The twins still confuse me, but there’s hints that we’re about to see their history soon. Rei is best girl and I want everything to work out for her.

Service – 2 One panel stands out as a little cheeky, but otherwise there’s a welcome lack of gaze.

Yuri – 6 The audience is meant to root for Rei and Kei to get together. I can see some relationships forming among other cast members, and others staying platonic, but everyone else is just friends at this point.

Overall – 9 There’s a fair bit of substance here, in spite of its plain title and covers. The humor is dumb but in a smart way, and it feels like there are hints of relationships and future story arcs sprinkled throughout.

Special commendations should be given to the translation/adaptation team of Avery Hutley and Jamal Joseph Jr. for translating a comedy that reads briskly, naturally, and lands all the jokes and interactions, along with slang that sounds fresh, natural and unforced. Aidan Clarke’s lettering helps convey all the different beats as well – font types and sizes change when they need to, and sound effects do a great job matching the varying ways the original kana are written.

Erica here: Thank you so much, Christian! You and Luce have convinced me to read this comic! As we mentioned last time, Volume 3 is on the way in November, as well.