Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. Volume 7 ( 私の推しは悪役令嬢。)

December 21st, 2023

A nun with silver hair and red eyes stands in the center of the cover, flanked by Rae and Claire. Lilies bloom and ice shards fly around her.In Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 7 ( 私の推しは悪役令嬢。) a new characters is introduced that will (arguably, has) changed the course of the narrative. Cardinal Lily Lilium, daughter of Prime Minister Sala Lilium enters the story proper and chaos ensues.

Claire has been brought face to face with the plight of poverty and Rae has incited her to learn more and find solutions to the issue of poverty in Bauer. At Prince Yu’s suggestion, Claire and Rae head to the Spiritual Church, a Catholic-ish organization that runs the hospitals and orphanages, feeds the poor, and tends to the spiritual needs of the populace.

Right away, Lily is a strange character. Stuttering and shy, she blurts out rude comments from time to time. Her own nuns do not respect her and although she seems sincere, there’s something off about her.  She takes a liking to Rae, when Rae defends homosexuality and becomes a cast regular almost immediately. Claire and Lily push Rae into a story about her first love, from her previous life. This segment is both frustrating and poignant as a character who we later learn was struggling take their misery out on other people. I cannot accept that, even if we are told that everyone made up later. 

Then Lily drives us full-tilt into the next arc which will refer back to Rae’s story…

…but first! A game of dodgeball.

As one does.

This becomes a bridge to the next major arc, which will again, throw things into chaos. In a huge way. In fact, as I look over my reviews for the novels, “chaos” seems to be the defining characteristic. Reading reviews of the anime, again chaos seems to be the main takeaway, as most of the things seeded by the time the anime ends, won’t become apparent until a second anime season. In the meantime, we have the manga with Aonoshimo’s amazing drawings to fill in those gaps.

I’ve said it before but, really, the manga in many ways improves upon the Light Novels, as Aonoshimo’s art is so very good and doesn’t have the LN habit of being mere portraiture. And the anime, while being absolutely excellent in terms of characterization, did have pretty basic animation. For folks looking for a satisfying visual version of this story, the manga is highly recommended. Volume 5 is out now, in English, which takes you to the same point the anime ended.

Ironically, I was listening to Volume 2 of the Audiobook this week and ended up on the same exact place that Volume 7 ends. So now I’m primed to move forward into the last major arc before the chaos becomes a revolution.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8, although I find Rae’s backstory tough going
Characters  – 8 Lily is not my favorite character, but she is crucial from here on
Service – Not much, maybe a panel here or there
Yuri – 8
LGBTQ+ – 9

Overall – 9

I had purchased this volume at Kinokuniya here in the US, but it came with no extras, so while in Tokyo, I bought a second copy to get the extra “Claire in Wonderland” comic from Gamers. It’s a cute little “weird dream” comic that includes series characters dressing up as western and eastern iconic fictitious characters exactly as one might expect. Very cute!





Does It Count If You Lose Your Virginity To An Android, Volume 1 Guest Review by Matt Marcus

December 20th, 2023

A gynoid with purple hair undressed her nonplussed mistress on the cover of Does It Count If You Lose Your Virginity To An Android, Volume 1 Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network. He is still on the hook for a Xenosaga KOS-MOS x Shion fanfic for their next Patreon goal.

Sometimes, you come across a piece of media that really strikes at the heart of humanity. What does it even mean to be human? To have emotions? What if there were beings that look like us, feel like us, act like us, but are wholly man-made? Is synthetic love still…love?

If you are looking to explore these heady ideas, then may I suggest Pluto by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka, now with a fantastic anime adaptation on Netflix (who did not sponsor this post).

However, if you are looking for something less Philip K. Dick and more, say, Philine K. Shlick, you could pick up volume 1 of Does It Count If You Lose Your Virginity To An Android? by Yakinikuteishoku. Now, I hear you saying, “But Matt, shouldn’t the title say ‘gynoid’?” Well observed, dear reader! In fact, the referenced lovebot uses the term herself, but alas, it seems that it failed in focus testing, much like my alternate title Is It OK To Objectify A Sapient Sex Toy?

Here’s the rundown: in a near future where AI isn’t about art theft and Google Glass manages to succeed, Tsuda Akane is an office worker in her late twenties who is very reliable and professional on the clock, but outside of work she’s a complete slob who drinks heavily every night and has no real romantic experience to boot. During a drunken stupor, she places an order for a cleaning robot but what arrives the next day is a super advanced—and very illegal—sex gynoid named Nadeshiko. Akane spends the volume constantly at her wits’ end trying to keep herself out of jail and her incorrigibly horny new companion in check, however much to her chagrin she is very much putty in Nadeshiko’s skillful hands.

I expected this manga to be hornier than a buck hunter’s trophy wall and, sure enough, page one opens mid-coitus. Hell, the central point of conflict is Akane’s refusal to register herself as Nadeshiko’s owner via a fingerprint scan, and I’m sure you can infer what that entails. The premise is so nakedly (ha) transparent in its aims that even when a gag is eye-rollingly contrived (of course that’s where the power switch is! Of course!) I find myself unable to find it distasteful. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pandering as all get-out, but it doesn’t rise to a significant level of grossness unless you give any thought to how rank that apartment must smell.

What really made this volume stand out as more than just I, Robot After Dark is the snappy writing. Huge credit to the localizer Casper Kazor, who really punched up the dialogue to great effect. There are a lot of really fun little turns of phrase that got me chortling, none of which I will deign to spoil. This is one to pick up for tits and giggles.

So, back to the titular question: does it indeed count?

رارا I Evess

(all apologies to KC Green)

Thank you to Seven Seas, who also did not sponsor this post, but did provide a review copy.

Art – 8 All the character designs are cute but the fluids are a touch excessive
Story – 7 It’s a gag comic were sex is The Joke, but the flourishes in the writing elevate it
Characters – 6 This ain’t Bladerunner 2049, but I’m sure no one needs it to be either
Service – 9 Docking it one point for the few services that Nadeshiko will not provide
Yuri – 7 / LGBTQ – 7 Akane seems to be a clueless ladykiller with a cadre of admirers at the office 

Overall – 8 

You cannot fathom how disappointed I was that Seven Seas beat me to the Electric Sheep reference–and on the back cover, no less. So many jokes lost to time, like tears in the rain.





The Witches Marriage, Volume 1

December 18th, 2023

A tall girl with long dark hair, wearing a witch's hat hold hand with a younger girl with red hair who points to the distance. A magical door floats behind them mid-air.Melissa is a witch driven to excel. Her partner Tanya is a hard worker, but, for some reason, her skills simply won’t increase, which frustrates Melissa beyond her tolerance. Together the two of them are determined to form a bond known as The Witches’ Marriage, which will allow them to attain greater abilities. But first, they must deepen their bonds.

For Tanya, this is easy enough, as Melissa is her idol. But for Melissa who is not open or forthcoming at all, and is hiding a great deal from Tanya, as well as just being irritable and hard to please, the effort will come at a greater cost. Can they attain truer intimacy and unlock their skills? Well…obviously, yes.

This is not generally my kind of story. I found Melissa’s treatment of Tanya intolerable. I also found the ane-loli art style objectionable. Nonetheless, but the end of the volume I, like Melissa, had come around to it. Even though it felt mostly undeserved, the end of the volume was surprisingly satisfying. If my objections are not yours, you will probably like this story even more than I did. ^_^

Yen’s team does a very fine job here managing to create the right tone for each of the characters.

A very interesting note – this manga is not credited to an artist or two, but to a team of around 30 artists who work together under the name Studio Headline. They all work together on multiple projects, which sounds hectic, but fun.

Ratings:

Art – Exuberant and messy
Story – Tsun vs dere
Characters – Competence does not have to come with cruelty
Service – No one wear clothes like that with that big a chest
Yuri – Definitely

Overall – 7

Thanks to Yen Press for the review copy. I look forward to Volume 2 which just hit shelves in English this month!





Cheerful Amnesia, Volume 1

December 11th, 2023

It’s a stock romance trope – one partner loses their memory of the other and ends up falling in love all over again. It’s a great trope, because when done well, a character in a stable, loving relationship gets to feel the thrill of a new love and the other partner gets to woo their lover all over again. Cheerful Amnesia, Volume 1 by Tamamushi Oku (creator of Yuri harem romp I Don’t Know Which Is Love, reviewed on Okazu by Luce), somehow manages to create a story that sacrifices all the wonderful bits of the memory loss trope for not-terribly-funny gags about underwear and having sex.

Our late friend Bruce’s last review here on Okazu was of the Japanese edition of this manga. I’m sorry to say, I agree with his summary, “Arisa and Mari have been living together for some years. But as the story begins Arisa is lying comatose in the hospital, suffering from a severe case of plot device. When she awakens, she has no memory of Mari or their life together. Mouth wide open she wonders who this lovely, unfamiliar, unsmiling woman is sitting by the bed. When Mari informs her she’s her lover, Arisa’s little brain short-circuits. She blushes, shrieks, squirms, squees, wriggles, and generally provides evidence as to why Mari never once smiles through the rest of the Manga.”

In a nutshell, this is the main problem with this manga. At no point do Arisa and Mari have a single important conversation about…anything. Was Arisa’s amnesia from accident or disease? No idea. How does Mari like her coffee? No idea. What did they do for fun? No idea. What was Arisa like before her coma? No idea, except that she initiated sex. Instead of asking Mari any one of a thousand questions about their lives together, Arisa obsesses about the idea that their bras are in the same drawer. Instead of learning how to foster a new intimacy, Arisa freaks out over and over at the idea that she has had sex with her lover.

It feels very much like Arisa has returned to her life as a 14 year old. And maybe, if that had been said, it would have worked. Instead she’s an adult person completely- repeatedly –  befuddled by the idea that she had a life with a woman with whom she lived.  As Bruce said,  “From this point on Arisa has to get reacquainted with the intimacies that go with living as a couple. She doesn’t manage it well. She actually doesn’t manage it at all. She’s just so embarrassed and excited and squirmy to know that her lover is this lovely, unfamiliar, unsmiling woman (wait, wasn’t that page 1? Yes, and many, many pages beyond). It’s heavy going for Mari as they work their way from holding hands to soapy bath-times to the frilly underwear. It’s heavy going for us all.”  Oh Bruce, how I miss you. ^_^;

I can totally see how this series could read like a very fun, goofy 4-koma, if one read a page or two at a time. As a volume, I felt so desperately sad for Mari who has the body of her lover back, with the soul of a gaping child inhabiting it. I also know a LOT of people really love this series and were looking forward to it being out in English. I am very happy for them! I’d recommend reading this series first, then taking a look at I Don’t Know Which Is Love, to see how the creator’s work has and (has not) changed.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – It could have been amazing
Characters – My sympathy to Mari in these trying times
Service – Mari injures her hands so Arisa has to gasp! wash her
Yuri – 9

Overall – 6

The team at Yen Press did a great job with this volume.  I honestly wish it were worth it. If you are interested in Tamamushi Oku’s work, I highly recommend the interview on Yuri Times. Part 1 and Part 2 have been translated into English, thank you Ayumi-san!





Hana ni Arashi, Volume 11 (はなにあらし)

December 4th, 2023

Nanoha and Chidori are two young woman in love. They know that when they graduate thing will change and their lives will grow more compliacated, but for this one summer…. life is relatively simple.

Nanoha plans a wonderful, romantic date for Chidori’s birthday. While laying there, contemplating life after a magnificent picnic lunch, a sudden downpour drenches them both, in a moment that they both know is very representative of life. But still, it doesn’t change that they are happy and in love.

Kobachi Ruka’s Hana ni Arashi, Volume 11 (はなにあらし) is one more quietly sweet, timeless volume in this series that I cannot imagine has been given 11 volumes to so slowly movie through the lives of Nanoha and Chidori it almost feels as if we’re reading in real time.(Not really, but you know what I mean.) If anything, I force myself to read this manga slowly, so I don’t speed through it at the same pace they are speeding through their youth. ^_^

The art and narrative here are pretty, much like this cover. It’s all about precious moments that we remember. Many years from now they’ll be talk about that day and they’ll laugh, but one will remember the smell of the wet bus stop, and the other, the sun on their skin and it will fill them both with a lot of unspoken memories., which is exactly why we’re reading this series – to relive those moments from own own lives.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 1 Nanoha and Chidori dressing up for one another is a kind of service

Overall – 7

Only recently, my wife and were reminiscing about our dates to an infamous rodent-mascot pizza and arcade chain, before it got really the fuck weird, when it was only marginally weird. The pizza was never good, but the arcade was fantastic. We spent a lot of time and quarters  there. Oddly, I can only remember what it sounded like….you’d think I would be able to remember the smell of pizza.

I was wrong, there is a Volume 12…and 13, which appears to be the final volume. I can’t say I’m on tenterhooks, but I’ll be interested to see where this ends.