Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Simoun

December 12th, 2006

I spend a lot of time here at Okazu commenting on random slivers of Yuri lodged in the fingers of larger and un-yuri manga and anime series, so it’s nice, sometimes, to be able to review something that was actually created to appeal to the Yuri fandom, and yet not jam-packed with nothing but fanservice and lowest common denominator plot bunnies. Simoun, as it ran in Comic Yuri Hime is both those things. (In stark contrast to the evil twin Simoun manga, which runs in Megami magazine as a parody gag manga and deserves a review of its very own.)

Let me start with the biggest negative of this Simoun – it ended WAY too early, before the story even started, really. With this great, complex world, and all these characters to work with, the manga reads almost like a summary of the main relationship’s storyline from the anime. I can only imagine that there was a management decision involved in this. (And bizarrely, as I type these words, my iPod shuffle just started playing the Simoun anime opening song. The chances are 2:120 that I’d get a song related to Simoun. lol)

As the story begins, Aeru is a newcomer to the Chor, where she finds and confronts Chor Tempest’s Sibylla Aurea, Neviriru. Why aren’t you flying? she asks. And in doing so, she sets off a series of emotional confrontations. Her first confrontation is with Parietta, Neviriru’s close companion and self-proclaimed protector. Aeru then encounters Mamiina, Rodoreamon’s partner, who eventually challenges Aeru to a battle of will in the air, from which Aeru emerges triumphant.

We learn through flashbacks that at least in part, Neviriru is still grieving for her former partner and deceased lover, Amuria.

Also though narration and flashbacks we see that this is the same world as in the anime, a world in which all people are born female and must choose their gender. In the manga, they make their choice of gender at 15, not 17 as in the anime, but the choice is equally as fraught with…well, fraughtness. It’s THE choice they have to face. And Aeru quite openly shuns it. We also learn that the Chor are fighting a war, as they do in the anime, but the politics and pressures that affect them in the anime are absent here; as I said, the series was cruelly cut short before we could get into any of that.

Aeru’s success in breaking down Neviriru’s walls upsets Parietta, who now has to face her own feelings for Neviriru. On the cusp of forcing herself upon Neviriru – who may or may not welcome it – Parietta finds the strength in herself to give Neviriru up completely.

Free, Neviriru runs to find Aeru and vows to continue to fly with her. As priestesses, they pray together, and hear each other’s vow of loyalty and love. In a finale marred only by the fact that it comes too soon, they kiss.

A final chapter entitled “Intermission” follows devoted Rodreamon as she discusses her evil-eyebrowed, but good-hearted partner Mamiina with Aeru, then as she shows her devotion with a little emergency hair care and gentle words. Mamiina walks away, vexed that she cannot despise gentle Rodo’s affection. ^_^

The art throughout is solid, if not to my personal taste, with those little girl faces, a tendency to close-up in a decidely soap opera fashion, and clothes that quite frankly distress me in their design. LOL The color pages from Yuri Hime are reproduced, as they have been with all other Yuri Hime collections.

Honestly, the ONLY bad this about this story is that it’s over before it begins. I would have gladly read this for years and years to come. But oh well. There’s always fanfic.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 7
Story – 6
Yuri – 9
Service – 6 (Did I mention the distressing clothes?)

Overall – 7

Undoubtedly Yuri in every way, for a female audience, Simoun will probably make my “top ten” list for the year, but I just can’t stop thinking about what might have been….





Yuri Manga: Himitsu no Kaidan, Volume 2

December 8th, 2006

So, we come to the end of “Schoolgirls week” here on Okazu, with another – neither the last nor the least- of the seemingly endless supply of manga about girls in private school, Himitsu no Kaidan, Volume 2.

For the fan of Yuri, Himitsu no Kaidan can easily be seen as a tease. There are so many characters that *could* be paired, and many good stories that could be written with them, but everyone remains persistently and irritatingly realistic…which is to say, largely straight. There’s a few moments here and there that, with finely tuned yuri goggles, one could make some yuri stone soup from, but its still rocks there at the bottom of the pot.

Unlike the three previous series I’ve reveiwed this week, Himitsu no Kaidan does have one very much superior quality – the girls all look like girls really do at the age they are supposed to be. Again, I know I’m in a minority on this, but I’ll always prefer the more realistic body shape of a Himitsu no Kaidan or Aoi Hana character to the grotesque cutifying of the current style.

Volume 1 begins when Na-chan enters her room to find a boy asleep in Marie’s (btw, that’s pronounced Mah-ree-eh) bed. The boy, it turns out, is Marie’s cousin and has run away for a very silly reason, but his pride is keeping him from going back. Na-chan – and eventually several other members of her dorm – manage to keep his presence there a not so secre secret. By the time Marie comes to collect him, Na-chan and “Daniel,” as he called himself, are good friends.

The second chapter is a little backstory of cool Takarazuka Top Star-like Mimasaka Hanano. Orignally she had long hair that was much admired by the other students. After repeated threats to do so, she has it all hacked off…but still remains a much-admired sempai. At the end of the chapter, the “April Angel” appears in the form of flower petals wafting through the inside of the dorm.

Grumpy Mishima-sempai and Na-chan are out doing errands, when a pretty girl suddenly appears from nowhere, half fainting. The girl turns out to be another of the memory/dream spirits that inhabit the school. In thanks for her kindness, the girl invites Na-chan to a tea party in an empty room, which is suddenly full of spirits – including the beautiful inner self of Mishima-sempai, a graceful, long-haired girl who resembles the boyish, unmannered actual Mishima not at all. The spirit girl brings Na-chan to her magic garden, where we learn the sad story of Yuriko’s first love. Sorry kids, it was a guy.

Miyuki pays Aya-chan (another one of the sempai, one of my favorite characters) a visit to tell her tale of woe – one of her characters from her novel has gone missing! Seriously. The character is completely AWOL and Miyuki can’t find her. Miyuki sees a light and suddenly runs off after what she thinks is her character (who turns out to be a girl we met in the first volume of the manga) but doesn’t catch her. When she suddenly sits up, Miyuki thinks she must have fallen asleep, but her character and her inspiration have returned. I think this chapter is incredibly charming, but that’s probably because I’m a writer. ^_^

Marie has a cold. She wanders around the school in a daze and runs into grumpy ole Mishima-sempai. But she also discovers a picture of a not at all grumpy younger Mishima. Marie stops by Mishima’s room to deliver an apple before returning to her own, even sicker than before. Mishima appears to visit her (an unheard of occurence) and Marie finds herself being given an apple in return.

Saeki-san is a distant, somewhat cold upperclassman, but somehow, through a series of events that include falling down that darn hidden staircase, Na-chan warms Saeki right up. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen fan art for these two, too. ^_^

Last up, Na-chan, dressed in that oft-repeated fairy costume, slams into an attractive male visitor. They converse and Na-chan uses her wand to make him disappear in the hallway. The book, and the series ends, as we see the same young man, now a teacher at the school, waiting patiently in the same hall for a woman to join him, As the pages come to a close, we see an attractive woman going to meet him and he calls out to her in greeting “Na-chan.”

I have to wonder, as I read this series, how anyone gets anything done in the school, when the people you have in your club may be half phantasms and half time traveling memories….  ^_^

So, no raging hormones, sexual harrassment, open desire or declarations of love. At all. And yet, of the four books this week, my favorite.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 1
Service – 1

Overall – 7

I notice that the books I reviewed this week were: boy series, girl series, boy series, girl series. There’s no significance to it. I just wanted to point it out. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Rakka Ryuusui

December 7th, 2006

There are many ways in which I gain information about interesting Yuri manga titles. Some of them involve trawling Japanese sites for news. Sometimes I just read the English-language news sites, or get heads up from folks who are in the know. One of the most random ways I ID series of interest is to go through the order reports on the Yuricon account on Amazon JP and simply see what people are buying. It’s gives me a good idea of what’s popular and sometimes gets me an interesting title I otherwise would not read. Rakka Ryuusui is one of those titles.

Like Tori Koro or Azumanga Daioh, Rakka Ryuusui runs in a 4-panel comic strip format. Also like the above series, the plot is more a running series of gags, rather than strong character- or action-driven plots. This series runs in the magazine Mangatime Kirara whose primary intended audience is guys and which has, on the whole, rather more of what I consider loli than not. Because of these things, I did not rush out to get this manga. After a little while, swayed by the fact that the characters appear to do Kyudo (Japanese archery – and we all know my weakness for chicks with weapons,) I gave in and picked up the damn book.

I admit to being pleasantly surprised.

Yes, the characters are given that little-girl face which I find so irksome in general. That just seems to be the fashion of the times and it has that in common with both Strawberry Panic and Hatsukoi Shimai. I just keep looking forward to the day when the trend reverses again and young women are drawn to be sexy and cool, rather than cute.

Rakka Ryuusui, which means “Mutual Love,” starts as Hayama Akiho visits a potential high school and is wowed by the Kyudo skills of Hokaze Minatsu, which decides her on the spot – she will come to this school and join Minatsu’s Kyudo club!

When Akiho gets there, she meets fellow first-year and complete whackjob, Kusaba Haruka. She learns that her beloved club is really quite,erm, poor. But Minatsu-sempai is still cool.

And eventually, our seasons are completed by the unlikely appearance of the club advisor, Shimotsuki Mafuyu-sensei, who just happens to look 7 years old, even though she is an adult. (Honestly, I just pretend she’s a Little Person, because otherwise it’s too stupid for words.)

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 6
Yuri – 6
Service – 4 (some nudity and breast gags)

Overall – 6

The comics are light-hearted, goofy and Akiho definitely, positively has a crush/desire thing going for Minatsu-sempai. Much, again, like Niwa-chan’s thing for Yae in Tori Koro. And basically that’s the same audience it will appeal to. If you like 4-panel silly comics with a slightly whacked perspective, flavored with a little Yuri, you’ll like Rakka Ryuusui.

 





Yuri Manga: Hatsukoi Shimai, Volume 1

December 6th, 2006

“Schoolgirl week” continues here on Okazu!

Imagine my surprise when I realized I had not reviewed the first volume of Hatsukoi Shimai, when I reviewed the first wave of manga from Yuri Hime. Particularly surprising, as I’ve been following the series since it was nothing more than a couple of pieces of cover art and a few paragraphs of story. :-)

Once again, to get you up to date with the story, Hatsukoi Shimai began its life as the cover images for the first three issues of Yuri Shimai magazine. Inside the covers were short text stories about the cover couples – just little vignettes, nothing more. The three couples pictured were Chika and Haruna, Akiho and Touko-sensei, and Miyu and Kirika.

The first two couples were brought to life in the two Koi Shimai Drama CDs, both of which I have reviewed previously. (Here are the reviews for Koi Shimai 1 and Koi Shimai 2) and eventually, after Yuri Shimai folded and was resurrected as Yuri Hime, the series was resurrected as Hatsukoi Shimai, now with longer short stories (does that even make sense?), a manga and the Hatsukoi Shimai Drama CD which, this time, included our third cover couple as well. The manga is so far based on the events of the first two Drama CDs, with some slight alterations.

The manga, while based on the character designs by Hibiki Reine (illustrator for Maria-sama ga Miteru) and the original Drama CDs, is clearly a work by committee. There are a whole host of names for the art, writing and production.

I will assume, as I always do for collected volumes, that you have not read my summaries of the individual chapters. So, we begin.

Hatsukoi Shimai is primarily the story of Matsusato Chika who, when she visits the very hoi-poloi girls’ school, known as “Tsunojo”, meets up with cool upperclassman Kanzaki Haruna. During their day together touring the school, Chika falls in love with Haruna and determines that she will study very very hard and get accepted. Also during the course of the day, she trips and falls. Haruna uses her handkerchief to clean the wound and Chika, moved by Haruna’s gentle care, promises to return the handkerchief in the spring when she enters school.

Time passes and despite the odds, Chika does get accepted into Tsunojo. She meets a classmate, Kanzaki Akiho, with whom she becomes quite friendly. Akiho learns about the handkerchief and encourages Chika to return it. But…when Chika finally finds Haruna, she is coldly rebuffed. Confiding in Akiho, Chika is shocked to learn that Haruna is Akiho’s older sister!

Despite Haruna’s disinterest, Chika persists, and eventually finds Haruna in her “secret place” – a sunny glade by a pond. Chika returns the handkerchief and is gratified to see Haruna acting more the way she remembers. Naturally cheerful, Chika drops by every day to see Haruna.

One day Haruna confronts her, hostile and confused, demanding to know why Chika is following her. Chika plainly and simply confesses to being in love with Haruna.

Depressed because Haruna has once again rebuffed her, Chika’s grades drop. When she does poorly on mid-terms, Akiho sets her up with Haruna as a tutor. Able to be with Haruna at last, Chika works very hard and aces the makeup exam.

But.

Their class president, Teshigawara Chiyo, is a very unpleasant sort and is always on Chika’s ass. When Chika’s makeup exam is scored, she and some of the other girls accuse Chika of cheating. After all, failures don’t turn into A students that easily. Akiho hears the accusation and runs off to find her sister – the only person who can confirm that Chika simply studied hard. (In the CD, Chika was forced to take a retest, as Teshigawara didn’t exist.) Haruna runs up and shields Chika from the others and, for the first time, calling Chika by her given name. After an honor student upperclassmen tells them they’re dirt, the girls all back off – except Teshigawara, who has other issues, primarily a raging case of jealousy.

The volume ends at a cafe, where Haruna gives Chika a barrette as a present for doing so well. Chika promises to treasure it always, and points out, a bit coyly, that Haruna called her “Chika-san” when she defended her. Haruna is mortified, because she is just a formal and stuffy kind of person. She and Chika share their souffles and, in a complete reversal of personality, Haruna licks a crumb from Chika’s cheek, which makes Chika explode in a really cute SD panel. ^_^

End of volume.

The book, like all the other Yuri Hime Comics, has been given a high-quality treatment. Color pages are reproduced and the cover and inside cover art is cute. The book cover includes several 4-panel comics, two of which actually made me laugh out loud. And the book comes with a small insert pamphlet with rough sketches by the manga artist, with commentary (in Japanese, of course.)

Where Strawberry Panic is filled with tons of fanservice, this series almost runs to the other extreme, with not only no service, but hardly anything happening at all. No horse-racing, falling off towers or library seductions here. Instead, the narrative is primarily character driven, with lots of doki-doki moments and small moments of almost tortured intimacy. If translated into English, Hatsukoi Shimai would not be nearly as popular as Strawberry Panic, by virtue of having no related anime and not being created expressly for appreciation by the Lowest Common Denominator.

Ratings:

Art – 6 (still a little on the young side for my taste)
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 6
Service – 1

Overall – 6

Even for me, Hatsukoi Shimai a tad tame (but we must remember it began in the pages of Yuri Shimai which constantly erred on the side of chaste romance.) That having been said, slight insipidity is superior to a charge of tedious trashiness. IMHO. (Note the entirely unintentional, yet remarkably clever, repetition of consonant sounds that makes the former sound classy and the latter junky and crass. Aren’t I a clever girl.)

Update: I joked about “no library seductions” but I belatedly realize, I lied. The text story that introduced Akiho on the inside cover, actually takes place between Akiho and her eventual lover….in the library.





Yuri Manga: Strawberry Panic, Volume 2

December 5th, 2006

Welcome to “schoolgirls” week on Okazu.

Feel my excitement as I contemplate yet another half dozen manga with pretty much the exact same subject. I hope you’ll forgive my lack of enthusiasm – I have a cold and a cranky attitude.

Let’s start with the “omg, most AWESOME 4tw, this series roxors!!!!11111” series since Kannazuki no Miko, shall we? I am of course, speaking of Strawberry Panic which, by the sheer number of emails and comments that look like the above phrase, has an even less discriminating sophisticated fanbase than KnM.

And yet.

I read it. I enjoy it. I find it amusing. (For those of you tempted to write in that I am a moron because I cannot see how wonderfulness Strawberry Panic is, please read the first three sentences of this paragraph again. Then again, until you can understand that I *do* like it. I just don’t think it’s as amazing as some do.)

Let’s start with the cover. You can see that the main character and her stalker roommate are depicted realistically. For eight year olds. However, they are actually 15.

And let’s enjoy the causal wear they are modeling. Exactly *which* part of the school uniform is that? Because clearly it’s only part of it.

But, hey, I’m told by dozens of people that this series is GREAT! Well, usually they say something like “its grate” – and no, I am not kidding or being mean. This is completely representative of the comments I’ve seen on Strawberry Panic.

DESPITE the fact that the fanbase is appalling, the second volume of Strawberry Panic has deviated quite remarkably from the anime and even from the first volume of the manga, which was primarily dedicated to light sexual harrassment which, if it had been guys doing it, would have made most fans of the series upset. But it was two girls, so many enjoyed it anyway. Just, not me.

In Volume 2, the Etoilesen, the competition for the school’s star couple, is about to begin. Unlike the anime, in which each school put up one couple, in the manga version many, many couples from all the schools appear to be eligible to compete. Of course the only two we care about are the Shizuma/Nagisa and Amane/Hikari pairs.

The competition opens with the swearing of vows of love and loyalty, all very wedding like. A couple clearly gets points on style, hence Amane’s swinging Hikari into her arms romantically (something also used in the anime, rather inexplicably if you hadn’t already read the manga. Luckily, I am getting the monthly issues of Dengeki G’s that the manga runs in, to cover just such situations. lol)

In the manga, it is Shizuma and Nagisa who are standing for the Etoile, not Tamao and Nagisa. Shion, president of Spica, is not above using dirty tricks to get Amane and Hikari into the Etoile position, so she secretly sends Nagisa info on Shizuma’s former partner. During the vow portion of the event, Shion asks Shizuma to swear that her love wholly and completely be given to Nagisa. After a moment of hesitation, Shizuma falls to her knees and makes the vow.

Nagisa is totally confused about everything which, for once, I can’t really blame her too much.

The first test is obviously designed to place Amane/Hikari above the pack with an awesomely stupid contest in which all the “cadets,” the younger partners, are shoved onto a platform on a tower, while the “ane,” the older partners, ride a steeplechase, save their princess from the tower and ride back. Of course tragedy strikes as both Hikari and Nagisa manage to fall. Of course they are saved. I mean, puh-leeze. We could hardly hope that they would be allowed to die so soon, more’s the pity. LOL Instead we are treated to Prince Amane and Etoile Shizuma at their knight-on-charger coolest. (And, btw, they are *still* an allegory for Heaven vs Hell. Just want to make the point. Amane all in white on her gray [white horses, for those of you non-horse people, are all “gray”] and Shizuma, all in black on her big black horse. [There’s no real black horses either. FYI.])

After the first round is over, there’s a little party at which Nagisa expresses her self-doubt. Shizuma restates her vow and the two seal their promise with a kiss.

End of volume.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a plot starting to develop in this volume – Kaname’s desire to win the Etoilesen has now been augmented with her open desire to win it *with* Amane (which leads to a great scene where Amane complains that if the two of them run together they’ll look like a Boy’s Love couple, which is countered by Shion saying that as a couple of Takarazuka Top Stars, they’d be a winning pair.) Kaname remains an EPL (Evil Psycho Lesbian), but Momomi is, at the moment, at least, not part of the equation. One hopes that she and Kaname will end up together.

Shizuma and Nagisa’s relationship is not being dragged unnecessarily through the angst fields as with the anime, and the kiss was neither sleazy nor servicey. In fact, for this series it was quite sweet. …I’m all for false hopes.

Ratings:
Art – 6 (too loli for me)
Story – 6
Characters – 5-6 depending on my mood
Yuri – 8
Service – 7

Overall – 6

It’s written by guys, for a fanboy audience. But I’ve seen (and enjoyed) worse. Not bad enough to be funny, not good enough to be “good,” it will no doubt be immensely popular when Seven Seas translates it.