Archive for the Yaoi Manga Category


Yaoi Manga: Lover’s Kiss

August 24th, 2006

I’ve been holding on to the classic manga, Lover’s Kiss, for a while, meaning to review it eventually. After reviewing Audition, I thought it might fit in nicely this week. :-)

Written by Yoshida Akimi in 1999, Lover’s Kiss is best known as a Boys Love high school drama. (Yoshida is probably best known here in the west for Banana Fish.) But towards the end of the story is a Yuri narrative that is not without interest.

The narrative as a whole involves six students at one high school in a complex love polygon, which I will attempt to summarize. (I do so under protest…I tried to find a good synopsis to steal quote, but no one has written one that I could find in 45 seconds of searching. So here we go:

In a seaside town, Rikako (female) has fallen in love with Tomoaki (male). Tomoaki is also the object of desire for Sagizawa (male), who is the object of Oosaka’s (male) desire. Oosaka is best friends with Eriko (female) who is in love with her sister Rikako’s best friend Miki (female)…who is in love with Rikako. You got all that? That’s only the “love” part of the equation – the “hate” part just complicates things. :-)

One of my favorite moments in the manga is when Eriko draws a little mental relationship chart in her head and wonders “What’s *with* this school?” ^_^

Just over half the story focuses on the awkard relationships between the guys in segments refered to as “Boy Meets Boy” and just under a half covers Eriko’s story in “Girl Meets Girl.”

In order to do this review I sat down yesterday and re-read chunks of the manga and you know, it’s pretty damn good. There’s just about no histrionics or hysterical denials in the BL arc – very unlike the typical BL story, from my perspective. The art lacks many of the more annoying qualities of Yaoi manga, as well. It’s much more just guys trying to deal with various difficult relationships, while still functioning in their school and in society. TheYuri arc reads much the same – a perfectly natural set of crushes and unrequited loves that don’t come with more shrieking than necessary.

Eriko’s love for Miki becomes painful when she realizes that Miki is in love with her older sister, a sister that she herself cannot stand. Eriko’s confession, rejection and ultimate understanding of both Miki and Rikako make good drama – while almost completely lacking in melodrama. In other words – it’s a damn good story.

Ratings:

Art – Classic, but you know, I don’t really like it – 5

Story – Realistic, tense without being annoying – 7

Characters – Soap opera-esque interconnections, but that’s the handwave – 7

Yuri – None of the girls get the girl, but I don’t think any of the boys get the boy, either. And the one girl doesn’t get the guy, so it’s evenly distributed misery. ^_^ – 6

Service – None. Nada. The kisses are staid and age-appropriate. 0

Overall – 7

In 2003 a live-action film version was made of Lover’s Kiss. It apparently keeps to the manga pretty closely, with a slight emphasis on Eriko’s story over the boys’ (Because it’s easier to sell movies where girls kiss than boys?) I have not had a chance to watch it, but you can be sure that if I do, I will report back.





Yaoi Manhwa: Audition, Vol. 1

August 22nd, 2006

No, you did not read the title incorrectly. Today I am hitting *two* firsts for Okazu – reviewing a yaoi narrative and a manhwa, a Korean comic. :-)

Trust me, okay?

Here is the incredibly succint synopsis that I found on buyDVD.com for Audition, Vol. 1, by Kye Young Chon:

Buok Pak runs her own detective agency, but she’s without a case. Business is slow and she needs to make rent. As luck would have it, she gets a visit from her first potential client. Too bad it’s none other than her old high-school rival, the beautiful and spoiled Myung-ja Song.

It turns out that Myung-ja’s father, head of Song-Song Records, has just passed away. An eccentric man, he had put a crazy stipulation in his will that keeps Myung-ja from inheriting the company outright! In order to claim her inheritance, she has to find four genius boys that he met in the past and bring them together to form Korea’s greatest boy band!

The four “geniuses” have grown up into talented young men – but their personalities are not exactly “star” quality. Can Buok and Myung-ja find them in time to sign up for Song-Song’s Audition?

Okay, read the first two paragraphs again. Notice the lead characters. They are, in fact, the typical love-hate Yuri rivalry couple. The boys are, at least for Volume 1, nothing more than background scenery in front of which the two women become reluctant partners, roommates, boss and employee, and mistress and servant. Seriously.

See – you can trust me. Even in BL, I can find Yuri. :-) I am not alone in this, by the way. My beloved wife, who is not a Yuri fan, nor does she go around burdened with a set of Yuri goggles, saw a  Yuri vibe immediately between Buok and Myung-ja.

Audition marks the first time I’ve been able to review a book by my good friends at Drama Queen, one of the coolest group of Yaoi fans I know. Drama Queen is seeking to do for BL what ALC Publishing is doing for Yuri – find and promote good stories and great artists. Their books are always sleek and clean, with solid translations and a good look. Obviously, because of the focus on Yaoi, I’m not likely to read too many of their series, but the owner of DQ, my friend Tran, is always shooting me off a few copies of stuff she thinks I’ll enjoy. In this case – she hit it head on. Both of the readers in my house finished this volume with “I’ll definitely read the next volume.” And when you’re talking about two people with a gazillion series they’re following between them, you *know* you’ve made an impression.

The one down side of this series is, I’m sorry to say – the art. I am not a fan of the typical tropes of BL art, the long-limbed, sunken-chested lads with girlish faces and behaviors. As you can clearly see from the cover above, this particular artist has issues, as well, with proportion. If *I* can see that the head is too small for the body, it’s obvious. The story is rife with handwaves but, like, Simoun isn’t? :-) I don’t see anything actually happening with Buok and Myung-ja, but that’s what fanfic’s for, isn’t it? LOL

Ratings:

Art – 4
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 2 (doesn’t need Yuri goggles to see, but they help)
LFG – 2 (the pretty boy stereotypes, sure to become annoying in later volumes, are barely distracting in this one)

Overall – 7

Character trumps art in this case and Audition, Volume 1, remains enjoyable for Yuri and BL fans alike.

 





Yuri Anime: Loveless

December 26th, 2005

You may wonder why I’m reviewing Loveless so long after it aired on Japanese TV, and so long before it debuts as a DVD release here in America. Some of you may wonder why I’m reviewing it at all. The answer to the first is – I forgot about it. The answer to the second is – tune back in later this week.

Loveless is a mostly BL, mostly shota (the boy equivalent to lolicon, i.e., little boy suggestiveness and sexuality…something that squicks me even more than loli does, if that’s even possible) series that runs in Zero Sum magazine which is, incidentally, published by Ichijinsha, the same folks who put out Comic Yuri Hime. When I visited Ichijinsha’s office in April, they had gigantic Loveless cardboard cut-outs and posters. As they portrayed a shota catboy BL couple, I turned a blind eye and never paid it a bit of attention. Well hah on me! Because along with the BL catboys, there was a pair of Yuri girls…with cat ears, admittedly, but I can overlook that. (No, I do not think animal ears are cute. And I hate cats in any case. Bad lesbian! Bad!)

Animal ears notwithstanding, Kouya and Yamato make a strong arc for an otherwise okay series. The basic plot of Loveless as I understand it is that same-sex partners pair to engage in some kind of battle, in which one partner provides power and takes the hit and the other makes the attacks with the other’s power. Among one pair who were, I believe, lovers, the one who takes the hits died. His younger brother wants to know the truth about him, so he takes his dead brother’s place as the partner of an older bishounen who, needless to say, falls in love with his prepubescent catboy self. (The cat ears, btw, are an outward expression of virginity, as far as I can tell. They come off when the person loses the aforementioned. All very creepy and fetishy.)

Into this set-up comes a pair of women, Kouya and Yamato. They have been created(?) and trained to be each other’s partners. They are clearly in love, but terrified of the situation – and of their master. Their arc comprises about one volume’s worth of anime, about three or four episodes, but in those few episodes there’s plenty of soul-searching angst and yuri for any teen catgirl wannabee. And honestly, it’s a pretty decent coming-out/falling in love/starting a life together type story. Especially as their lesbian love is portrayed as what saves them from a miserable fate and sets them off on a free life of their own. A nice change from the more classic Yuri misery that we thought we’d never see the back of.

I’m not saying that this series is worth watching for this arc – but I do think this arc is worth watching for itself. Luckily I may be able to help with this. :-)

Ratings (for the Yuri arc only):

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 9
Service – 7 (see above lingerie…and don’t forget the ears/virginity thing)

Overall – 7 and worth a look, at least.

For those interested in the manga version of this arc, the series has been licensed by Viz and is being put out in 2-in-1 volumes. Here’s a link to Volume 1.





The End of an Era: Kaguya-hime Manga, Vols. 26 & 27

April 27th, 2005

Wow. I never honestly thought that this series would end.

For a refresher course in the utter weirdness that is this series, try this synopsis from 2004.

But if you haven’t read all 27 volumes, it won’t really help. ^_^

Okay, when we last left Akira and her gaggle of obsessives, crackpots, aliens, mythical beings and assorted other psychotic hangers-on, we’d basically determined that her father was the source of all evil on the planet, as well as being incestuously obsessed with Akira. His name is Kashiwagi, so we never really expected much from him in the way of being good. ^_^

And to his credit, since Akira slept with her foster mother and sister, we really can’t blame her foster father for falling prey to the same urges….I guess….

Yui and Midori and Akira are still embroiled in a passionate, yet hopeless, three-way love triangle, while Mayu (who has, after dozens of suicide attempts has come to realize that her foster sister will never again sleep with her) has finally let go of Akira.

Sutton and Miller (who, due to taking over his clone’s body, is now the crown Prince of England) almost finally get together, but in a bizarro-world ending, *don’t*. Of all of the non-couples, this one bugged me the most.

Because…after Yui finally kills Kashiwagi and revenges himself for all the crap he has put the world through, and after an hugely emotional scene in which Akira and Yui restore the world’s peace from outer space…Yui leaves and Akira marries Miller.

Huh?

Yes, after all the Yuri and BL and incest and violence and clones and strange science and dinosaurs and Tennyo, Akira and Miller just get married and live happily ever after.

However, as Akira lays dying after a long life (but not having aged a day) like Kaguya-hime of the legend, the Tennyo – in this case, Yui – comes and takes Akira back to her rightful place at his side on, presumably, the moon. Or something.

So the ending, while filled with the same level of violence and sex and weirdness that makes the story so damn cool, gets all unbent. The boys all marry the girls, Sutton goes back to his wife (well…his clone’s wife, anyway) and poor Mayu is :*completely* forgotten about. I insist that she remained in China with Shunran and lived happily ever after in as normal a lesbian relationship as one could have in a mythological feudal Chinese kindgom surrounded by people who are obsessively in love with one’s foster-sister. For this story, that *would* be a relatively normal relationship.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 9, but it’s love it or hate it
Characters – 9, again, you either love them, or…
Yuri – 0

Overall – I don’t regret a single moment spent with this series. But I sure as heck want to start over from the beginning and re-read all the bits where Akira’s foster mother, sister,and her servant Shunran, sleep with her. Not for any particular reason, I guess it’s just that those were the moments I disliked Akira least.





Yuri Manga: Kaguyahime

March 4th, 2004

Shounen, Shoujo, Let’s Call The Whole Thing Odd

After you’ve been reading manga for a while, you start to realize that there are definite patterns in the way magazines are marketed to the public. Ribon and Nakayoshi, for instance, are pretty clearly for the 8-11 year-old-girl crowd. Shonen Jump for early teens in the male populace. There may be crossover, especially in the case of a really popular series, but for the most part magazines are pretty consistent in who they are trying to attract. Knowing this, it becomes obvious after a short while that Hana to Yume is for the creepy, weird, sci-fi, action-oriented girl otaku out there. Many of my favorite series, such as Sukeban Deka, which I reviewed yesterday, are Hana to Yume titles. So is today’s title – and this one takes the prize on weird shoujo.

Kaguyahime – Shimizu Reiko

This series has been running for what seems like forever. In fact, it began in 1994 and is showing no signs of ever ending which is kinda cool, even if it’s only coming out at the rate of one tankubon a year or so. (Update: In fact, the series ended in 2005.)

There is *no* way to simply describe the plot of Kaguyahime, but let me try and get the main points across. Expect to be very confused:

The story begins as two mysterious boys (who look like girls) kidnap our heroine, butchy and cool Akira (who looks like a guy) from the home of her foster mother (who is her lover) and her foster sister, who is in love with her.

She accompanies the two boys, Midori and Yui, to a mysterious island, where all but twelve of her companions die from a mysterious disease. When Akira’s foster sister arrives on the island, having killed her mother in a jealous rage over Akira – you just *know* this is going to be one weirdo ride.

As the story progresses, we add in bizarre science (Akira, Midori, Yui and the other boys all are clones created to be replacement parts for really wealthy, rich people who keep dying from some mysterious disease, probably caused by the piece of moon rock they own, but when the clones’ bodies are used, *their* personalities take over and now they are powerful and rich) , mythology (1) the clones were created to: feed Kaguyahime, who comes from the moon and; 2) the fantasy Chinese feudal kingdom that Akira now rules as the replacement clone and; 3) Yui, who also appears to be from the moon) and an amazing amount of violence and sex. (Mayu, Akira’s suicidal/homicidal foster sister is raped no less than three times, Akira sleeps with *everyone,* including her foster mother, foster sister, the girl in the feudal Chinese kingdom, Yui, the guy from the feudal kingdom and probably, eventually, her foster father – who looks like he’s the real bad guy in this series.)

There’s just tons and tons of same-sex overt and covert storyline. Several of “the boys” (my name for the other clones) are gaga over each other, but those are implied, or played with, while Midori and Yui have definietely slept together, and Akira’s above Yuri forays. Despite this, the main love interest is supposed to be Yui and Akira, and they are obviously in love, but I live in hope that Yui will die or have to go back to the moon, or something – I don’t like him much.

This is not an easy read, and it’s coming out slowly, but wow, it just gets stranger and stranger with every volume.

If you like a challenge, strange sci-fi, conspiracies, pretty boys, hunky girls, angst, fantasy, absolutely ravishing art, and a TON of BL and Yuri, you need to read this manga.

Let me just stop and say this – the art in this series is absolutely stunning. Shimizu Reiko is one of the most genuinely talented artists out there drawing right now. It’s complex, yet easy to follow, detailed and the clothes and settings are luscious. She uses minimalism when it’s called for and some of the most gasp-making frames have the least in them. It’s really worth it just for some of the color pictures of Akira dressed as the queen of the fantasy Chinese feudal kingdom.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Characters – 9
Story – 9, either you like this kind of strange, or you don’t. I love it.
Yuri – 8

Overall – 9