Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Sasamekikoto, Volume 4 (ささめきこと)

April 13th, 2009

Sasamekikoto (ささめきこと) Volume 4 is the story of a misunderstanding. In fact, it is the anatomy of a misunderstanding, built up from the bare bones of misapprehension, attached by ligaments and tendons of high-school drama, and filled in with the muscle of self-doubt, covered in the thin skin of self-awareness.

(I’m not sure if the above paragraph is accurate, but it is impressively disgusting, isn’t it? ^_^)

The days immediately following Ushio’s and Sumi’s confrontation in Volume 3 are awkward and increasingly painful for both of them. We learn that Ushio was seen to have kissed Sumi, but she vehemently denies this, claiming that Sumi is – obviously – a “normal” girl, as opposed to her own publicly, repeatedly, stated perversion.

Sumi is, of course, not “normal” at all, but beset by fear and indecision, she makes no attempt to breach the gap between her, Ushio and their true feelings for each other.

The book them takes a look back once again, continuing the story of Ushio’s arrival in middle school and the fallout after her proclamation that she likes cute girls. It comes as no surprise that the girls around her mock her, call her “Lez-ko” and are generally unkind. Sumi makes an awesome Prince, standing by Ushio, befriending her and eventually making it possible for Ushio to become part of the crowd once again.

It is on a class ski trip that Sumi is suddenly faced with the disturbing fact that her feelings for Ushio are not merely friendship.

Back in “real” time, Ushio and Sumi are >this< close to saying something, to touching, to breaking through the wall, but when the book comes to an end, nothing has been said or done. The volume begins more lightly, with a side story about the president of the Joshibu, Tomoe, who turns out to be from an extremely wealthy family. Her lover, Miyako, is seen as an affront to the family dignity as much because she is the daughter of the chauffeur as because they are both girls. But Tomoe doesn’t care – she lives openly and happily – the complete opposite to the veil of lies that have trapped both Ushio and Sumi. Volume 4 is more serious than the previous three, but that is not a bad thing. The overall impression I had is that we’re now allowed to take Ushio and Sumi a little more seriously, and the accept that this is not “just a phase” or a whim or a crush.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 4

Overall – 8

Will it turn out okay in the end? I don’t know, but I feel a few more plot complications coming on before we find out.





Yuri Manga: Akatsuki-iro no Senpuku Majyo, Volume 2

April 9th, 2009

Akatsuki-iro no Senpuku Majyo Volume 2 (暁色の潜伏魔女）is translated as “The concealment witch of color at daybreak II” which is a good argument for Japanese publishers not trying to do their own translation. ^_^

In Volume 1, we met Akira, a girl with the magic of electricity, who was burdened by a curse and is really looking for her sister at Tenshi Gakuen. She’s befriended by several of the other students, including Tokiko, and at the end of the volume she meets Yoru-sempai, her sister.

Volume 2 starts off with a glimpse at Tokiko’s true love, Shouya, who is in love with Yoru, who is in love with Akira, who is in love with a memory. Tokiko is desired by Tomo and Akira is the objet d’crush for Robert. It’s not so much raging hormones and love as raging crushiness and sincere “like.” Aside from the magic, it reminds me pretty thoroughly of high school, in fact.

This particular love polygon involves the characters in an extended-family of a sort, since they each want to support the person they like and are usually friends with each other. So when Akira is punished by a teacher for circumstances beyond her control from the first volume, they all pitch in to help.

Yoru creates a magic pill (magic medicine is her specialty) which she ends up taking, focusing her interest on Shouya who has a thing for her. but it turns out that she actually intended it for Akira, hoping to “become more friendly.” Akira rejects that, but is glad enough to be plenty friendly with Yoru as it is.

We follow Robert’s struggle with his magic power – the ability to make things move – that has severely lessened since he was young, and when Akira is struck with a cold, everyone moves heaven and earth to try and make her well.

Tokiko’s interest in Shouya brings Tomo up against a wall as she sees into Tokiko’s heart while trying to be kind to her. She’s not giving up, but she knows there’s really no chance for her.

And in a radical turn of events, a second girl trapped in an iron suit appears. Only this girl, Mimosa, brings with her an evil and unkind magic that possesses Akira and makes her do bad things. The book comes to an end as Akira faces the fact that it may have been a terrible mistake to let Mimosa out of her iron suit.

Yuri this volume is one-sided, a bit annoying, but constant. Tomo’s crush on Tokiko will remain unrequited, but it’s real. Yoru’s interest in Akira includes wanting to turn her into a love slave, so I think we can say it goes beyond sisterly feelings and there’s a random breast grope when Akira is possessed by Mimosa’s evil snake spirit.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Yuri – 3
Service – 2

Overall – 7

As you know, I am not a Hakamada Mera fan, but as far as this particular artist goes, I think this way well be my favorite book and definitely my favorite series so far. It’s not great drama or hysterical comedy. It retreads extremely well-worn paths, but it’s quite nice actually, and comfortable, like a well-worn shoe…with magical shoelaces.





Yuri Manga: PreCure Splash Star: Chikuwaku Kiki Ippatsu!

April 6th, 2009

It’s been a long time since I first watched Sailor Moon and found my heart stolen away by fictitious, 2-dimensional magical girls. Over a decade, in fact. And in that time, I have become far more cynical about anime and manga. It’s impossible to not become cynical when you’re watching wave after wave of fetishism come and go and the same three plots used over and over. But. Every once in a while, I like to reexamine my “roots” if you will, and take a look once again at some mahou shoujo that is actually made for girls.

PreCure Splash Star: Chikuwaku Kiki Ippatsu! feels very much like a “movie” manga. It’s a single volume, self-contained story, with a superficial bad guy, a passel o’creatures and a simple plot. Rocket science it is not. :-) If you remember the Sailor Moon movies, the Card Captor Sakura movies, or pretty much any magical girl series movies, you know the drill.

Saki and Mai have a big date coming up. They are supposed to be meeting early but Saki, as usual, is running late. Mai wonders if her watch is broken, so she checks at a creepy clock shop. (All clock shops are creepy, really. All that ticking…) When Saki arrives, there’s no Mai, and in the way of such things, they fight about whose responsibility it is that they are now very late.

Out of sorts and out of synch with each other, they arrive very late to the big singing contest they’ve been practicing for. They are allowed in but, as they are in the process of – quite literally – falling on their faces, time stops. The bad guy whisks them into a world where a giant clock has ceased to function, throwing the inhabitants (mostly cute abstract shapes and creatures) into disarray. Our plucky victims who have come to get help are, in fact, the long and short hands of the clock. They are cleverly named Hour and Minutes. ^_^

Saki and Mai transform, but they are still peeved at each other, so their powers are insufficient. They are defeated and separated. Each wanders alone through Dali- and Escher-esque landscapes, worried about the other and rethinking their fight of earlier in the day. They also realize that their hearts have to be open or their powers will not be at maximum. With this revelation, they are reunited to their mutual delight, they defeat the bad guy, restore the clock and are returned to our world where, holding hands and in perfect synch, they sing their hearts out at the contest.

As I say – not rocket science. But there are some genuine positives in this manga. For one thing, Hour and Minutes are more likable than you’d expect. :-) The irritating little fluffballs that are Saki and Mai’s sidekicks are joined by more irritating little fluffballs, but as this is a manga I don’t have to actually *hear* them say “Floppy~!” and “Choppy~!” over and over.

And, most of all, this story is about how much Saki and Mai need each other – not just to be PreCure, but because they, well, *need* each other. They can handle anything, they say confidently, as long as they are together. Right after Mai swears to be together with Saki, forever. Oh, yes. Mai is totally besotted and Saki will be so very surprised the day she kisses her….ok, that’s just in my imagination. lol

Negatives – the utterly stock bad guy turning a raging horse demon thing. I blame Hottie Shinz for the images stuck in my head in reference to anthropomorphic horses. Anyway – that was kinda icky, but PreCure wins with the power of girl’s love, so yay! ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 1

Overall – 7

It is once again my sincere pleasure to thank Okazu Hero Komatsu-san for his sponsorship of today’s review and for this chance to once again remember that for magical girls, their love for each other always saves the day. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Otome Kikan Gretel, Volume 1

April 1st, 2009

My sincere apologies for my recent silence. This week has just been like that. I’ll probably have to resort to guest reviews for the next few days but, I’m going to pound at least one review out this week, so I don’t feel as if I’ve abandoned you all.

Of the series currently running in Yuri Hime S, there are about two I really like. “Really like” as defined by “I will spend money on this series.” One of them is “Otome-iro Stay Tuned,” by Fujieda Miyabi. No surprise there. The second, for no real reason that I can pinpoint, is Otome Kikan Gretel (オトメキカングレーテル).

As Volume 1 opens, it is the near future. Because of an infestation/invasion by the Formica, horrible little bugs that turn into great big beasties, sugar is forbidden. At a girl’s school this is far worse than a curfew. Still, Mikoshima Yuu looks forward to her beautiful school days at St. Millefeuille Girl’s School. I presume the name is meant to be ironic.

And irony is exactly what awaits poor Yuu, as she is scooped up by beautiful Nagi, then almost immediately seduced into a kiss. Yuu is not objecting, mind you, it’s just all going very quickly – when they are attacked by a Formica. Yuu surprises everyone, not least herself, when she drops the gargantuan attacker like it’s a fruit fly.

And so, Yuu’s dream beautiful days of life and possibly love at school become a comedic nightmare.

Not only is she paired with highly sexualized Nagi, she has been teamed with truculent Mari, whose powers are really pretty impressive, but she’s too passive-agressive to really be likable. Yuu faces trials and tribulations designed to bond the three of them as a team, explore the scope of her power and throw her into endless service-filled situations. Like, in order to activate Yuu’s power, she has to deep kiss Nagi or Mari and in order to bond them together, Yuu, Mari and Nagi share a futon. zOMG.

It’s not like this book is genius or anything. It’s stupid, when you think about it. And it’s full of the usual service – big breasts perched uncertainly in bras and clothes too small for them, panty shots, sloppy kisses, etc., etc. But, I dunno, for some reason I like this one.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 7

Overall – 8

No rhyme or reason to my likes and dislikes, is there? How maddening for you. lol





V-Hunter Manga

March 25th, 2009

I’m pleased as punch and mad as a porridge knife to offer you a Guest Review today by Okazu Hero Katherine! Katherine thank you so, so much for this review because it means I didn’t have to write anything for today! Yay! :-) I would like to take this opportunity to flog an old horse. This review is about a scanlation. You may have noticed that I do not do reviews of scanlations. I either buy the book in English or Japanese, or one of the Okazu heroes buys it for me. I know that some scanlation groups simply desire to share obscure and out-of-print things with fans. However, I strongly object to fans who read scanlations and watch fansubs but do not support the genre in any meaningful way. I know that my readers are huge purchasers of Yuri, and for that I am immensely proud and thankful, so I am not accusing you, dear reader. Just making a point for people who should stumble upon this review randomly, or who have never considered the issue before. Thank you for your patience, the dead horse flogging is done, the review will now commence.

When I found Shizuru Hayashiya’s debut work, a modest one-shot titled V-Hunter, my heart went aflutter and my eyes lit up with childlike glee at the thought of seeing the starting point for Hayashiya-sensei’s professional manga career, which would later include the excellent action-comedy Hayate x Blade and the delightfully goofy rom-com Strawberry Shake Sweet. After reading V-Hunter, all that I could think was, “Hayashiya’s come a long way since then….”

Don’t get me wrong. The story features Hayashiya’s trademark energy, screwball humor, and of course, Yuri. (Yay!) But like any incipient mangaka, her story is marked with the telltale signals of inexperience. First, the artwork. The character designs are very 90s shoujo. Hayashiya was clearly still defining her own unique style when she drew this. While full of dynamic facial expressions and expressive body gestures (a signature of her later manga), the art lacks the confident, solid line work and more appealing, refined character designs that she would hone in her later works. (Although her take on Rhett Butler is hilarious.)

The story itself is fairly unique. A high school-aged girl (come to think of it, she never gets a name…) rents an old VHS copy of Gone with the Wind (E here…OLD? That’s all we *had* in the 90s! Sheesh.) from a local video store. But since she’s playing the video for the 666th time (*insert evil laughter*), out pops a demonic version of Rhett Butler who, being a demon, needs the blood of a virgin after arriving to earth. That does mean what you think it means, but before Rhett can sully our virtuous heroine, a mysterious woman conveniently shows up (the V-hunter or “video stream manipulator,” who does get a name) and, upon the girl’s request, banishes Rhett back into the video (I’m laughing as I type this) using another video demon from a well-known horror flick. After the V-hunter’s task is complete, the girl asks her how she can repay her. But since she can’t pay the monetary fee (3,000,000 yen), she agrees to “pay” the V-Hunter using her body. (Which again, does mean what you think it means, but Hayashiya doesn’t show anything more than strictly necessary. Sorry. :) ) The V-Hunter then leaves, and the omniscient narrator sagely reveals that the V-Hunter only saves pretty girls. How noble. :)

So, despite the threat of non-con, this comes through as a fluffy, fun one-shot (more fun than it really should be @_@;;) that will satisfy those looking for some goofy humor and a weird story, if not the storytelling chops and broadly appealing characterization that appears in Hayashiya’s later works. (But hey, it’s a one-shot.) Anybody who’s a fan of Shizuru Hayashiya’s manga should check it out, if only for the fun of seeing how far she’s progressed and which elements have been present in her work since the beginning of her career.

Ratings:

Art: 6 (Fun, but kinda sketchy.)
Story: 7
Characters: 6 (Nobody I would want to meet, but still entertaining.)
Yuri: 7
FanBoy: 3
FanGirl: 4
Hayashiya Fan: 8

Overall: 7

Thanks again Katherine and Lililicious, for bringing us a look at another screwball Yuri comedy from the screwball mind of Hayashiya-sensei. I’ll be back tomorrow, but no clue if I’ll care about you all enough to post. See you soon!