Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: ROD – Read or Dream, Manga Volume 3

December 8th, 2004

Goofy, sexy, weird and fun, all in turn. Who’s your Paper Master, baby?

Read or Dream, Volume 3 continues with something for everyone (except, perhaps obsesseive Yomiko and/or Nenene fans….)

The inside cover has a fun surprise. Instead of the usual two-sided color poster, we get a color picture on the front of the three sisters and on the back, three book covers drawn by the artist for this manga. What makes these book covers interesting is that the author is Nishizono Haruhi.

I’ll wait while you try to remember who that is. (The sound you hear is my foot tapping)

I’ll give you a clue. The first title is Hatsukoi Hajimatta, in English – First Love Has Begun.

I’ll give you a second clue. In the TV series, the presence that fills the empty spaces is Yomiko. In the manga series, it’s Nenene whose presence hovers in the background, just beyond reach….

If you really can’t remember, look at the end of this review…* ^_^

Onto the actual stories:

The first chapter hits weird, fun and sexy at the same time – Maggie visits a strange bookstore and is given a book called, (loosely) “The 24 Faces of Maggie Mui.” (You all know the famous story, “The Three Faces of Eve,**” right? I don’t have to explain Dissociative Identity Disorder, do I?) Anyway, Michelle and Anita come home to find Maggie in a maid outfit, which then switches to a gang member’s gakuran, then a Vampire S&M ensemble and ending with a goofy fairy tale prince get-up. The story is silly and strictly a vehicle for the fanservice. It all ends with Michelle being given a book called “The 7600 Faces of Michelle Chan.” And we all laugh and shudder, since Michelle is already pretty schizoid. ^_^

The next chapter begins (as at least one story each volume does!) with the three sisters having had no income for some time. Michelle and Maggie fantasize about running a high-class restaurant, but for books instead of food. Instead, the three of them end up doing a comedy routine. Oooooookkkkaaaayy. Goofy and weird.

In the third story, they are all doing really well and, as a result of so much work, are eating regularly. Michelle has therefore gained a lot of weight. Ahahahah, we laugh as she tries and fails miserably to lose the extra pounds. Goofy and I guess someone will think its fun.

The volume gets a little more interesting and weird beginning with the next chapter, in which Anita gets a fever. She has a dream which ties into her memory from ROD The TV of the church in which she met Maggie and Michelle for the first time. (The subsequent refutal of this memory by Joker is ignored, or perhaps is merely irrelevant…) She wakes to find that Maggie has returned to be with her, and she discovers that not only is she *not* alone in the world, she has her sisters, but also that friends have sent get-well gifts and cards…including one from Lilth and Orion, from Vol.2. Although Anita has not told her sisters about Lilith, this is about to change. Echoes of the TV series start to build more and more with each chapter.

The next story is another Anita dream which is weird, goofy and fun. The inevitable cross-over to Alice in Wonderland, with a hefty dose of Wizard of Oz (Tin Man and Scarecrow played, respectively, by Maggie and Michelle) and Journey to the West (The Monkey King, Sun Wu Kung, part played by Chi-Hon, the boy Anita has befriended in previous volumes) ends with the Queen of Hearts being played by Hisa-chan!

Now, let’s back up…in this continuity, Anita has never *met* Hisa-chan. Even stranger, when, at the end of the dream, Anita wakes up and we see the pile of novels that the dream referenced, one of them is Anne of Green Gables. You may remember from ROD The TV that that novel is the one that Anita and Hisami read together and bonded over, identifying themselves with Anne and Diana. But, in this continuity they have never met, so, why would that book be there, and why would Hisa-chan appear as the Queen? Well, it gets more confusing in the next and final, several-part story, which is fun, sexy, weird and goofy all at once. ^_^

Hold onto your hat, it’s going to be a bumpy manga.**

The three sisters are contacted by a publishing company. They are asked to be the bodyguards to a Japanese writer who is coming over to do a book signing in Hong Kong. The author has received threatening letters and the publishing company is concerned with her well-being. The Three Paper Sisters Detective Agency takes on the job and heads to the airport to meet the author.

Sound familiar? Hmmm….gee, this is exactly the same way ROD The TV began, isn’t it? You think you know what’s coming, right? Well, hah on you.

The three sisters are greeted by a snazzy young blonde, who turns out to be the author’s manager. The author steps forward and she is…Hishiishi Hisami, 13, from Japan. Hisa-chan promptly throws up all over Anita, and thus a friendship is born. ^_^

At the book signing, the culprit shows and lo and behold! it’s Hisa-chan’s manager! Only it’s not, it’s Lilith in disguise and this time she doesn’t want a book – she wants the author! (It is during this section that we can be convinced that the lovely Lilith has a full-blown loli fetish, by the way.) She and her pet panther Orion take on the Paper Sisters. Anita has, of course, already encountered Lilith, so she isn’t tricked by the thief-turned-kidnapper’s wily ways. In the middle of the battle Anita has a revelation – she may loathe books herself, but she resolves to be the protector of authors who bring joy to so many *other* people. Of course, she rescues Hisa-chan and they become instant best friends. Is there implication of more? There’s  plenty of room for believing that in this series that seems to be very Yuri-friendly.

In the end, the publishing company and Hisa-chan are so pleased with the sisters’ performance, that they are asked to come to Japan to do more bodyguard work. Michelle turns to us and tells us that their Japan arc is beginning and we should make sure to come back for the next chapter…! Well, duh. *Now* I’m hooked.

Where before it was mostly fluff, the story has actually evolved to a parallel universe to the ROD The TV and now I wanna know where it will go!

Ratings:
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Art – 8
Yuri – 4

Overall – 8

If the manga series is crafted *half* as well as the TV series, it’ll be great. If not, it’s goofy fun, weird, sometimes sexy fluff with some Yuri implication and space for plenty o’fanfic. ^_^

* – Nishizono Haruhi is the older sister of Anita and Hisa’s classmate, and the author that debuted after Nenene, that we meet several times in the TV series. Remember?

** – I wonder if it means anything that I have *two* Betty Davis references in this review….





Yuri Manga: Pure Marionation, Volume 1

December 6th, 2004

A story about a lesbian android – isn’t *that* original?

Pure Marionation is an exceptionally cute story brought to us by our friends at Dengeki Comics and Mediaworks, your source for irritatingly cute and lolified yuri. Dengeki didn’t used to be so grossly cute – they did Battle Atheletes once upon a time when, apparently, men wanted to look at women, not children, kissing. Gah.

In any case, Pure Marionation is an older manga about Anon, an android, who is sent to school to “test” her AI. She is charged with making friends, and fitting in. As usual, her creators have given her everything she needs to survive, except all the basic information that a fifteen-year old girl might potentially have. So, when asked for her birthday, or blood type, Anon is completely unable to answer. Well, duh.

Anon promptly begins making friends by being adorable, lovable, sweet, kind, generous and affectionate, which just goes to prove that this is a fiction. If a kid like her showed up at *my* high school, she would have been dead meat in mere days. Her first friend, and most likely eventual love interest, is Miamo, a “cool” girl, insofar as this series has them. By the end of volume 1, Miamo learns about Anon’s special circumstances and vows to cover for her, making the promise to the only adult woman in the entire series, Anon’s creator, Madoka. Madoka is quite enamored of her creation, but I’m not really sure what this “test” would prove about Anon. Am I just being a hard ass? Probably.

There doesn’t seem to be any plot complication in this series, and the only antagonist thaws when Anon’s computer brain helps the two of them win a contest together. (There’s a teeny-weeny little jealousy between rival girl and Anon, but only because rival girl thinks that Anon is trying to steal her onee-sama. Quite unreasonably…I’m sure that, in her innocence, Anon doesn’t even know what stealing someone’s affections *is.*)

Each chapter has mild conflict like, erm, Anon overloads in the tub, and what *is* her birthday…? But don’t expect anything angsty here, this is fluffy cuteness in its purest form, with lots of bathing for ballast.

Will Anon and Miamo get together? I am sure that they do, but I imagine that it’s in a Shinobuden happy hugs all around way, rather than a passionate grand-scale Stellvia kind of way. Did I like it? No older woman, no eyepatches, no weapons,…it was okay. ;-)

Ratings:
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Art – 6
Service – 9
Yuri – 4

Overall – 6

Did I mention that this series is by the artist of Kokoro Library? Obviously, another guy obsessed with cute, happy girls who bathe alot. I always wonder if any of these guys ever get laid by real women…

 





Yuri Manga: Free Soul

October 14th, 2004

Back in June, I reviewed Free Soul, by Yamaji Ebine.

Last week, I received the collected edition of this series and let me just say that it is a definite must-have, all the way around.

The story hasn’t changed since June, but my reading of it has, so please forgive me as I go over it once more. The first time around, I began reading it in Feel Young magazine at the sixth chapter, and so was unaware of several issues. Most importantly, Angie, the black, skinhead, lesbian, jazz singer (very like Me’shell NdegeOcello) whose story fills the book, is not real, but a construct of the heroine’s imagination. Keito is a mangaka who spends much of the book writing and drawing Angie, speaking to her – and learning from her – as she deals with her own real-life problems.

Keito’s story begins shortly after she has run away from home at the age of 22. Her mother, a bitter woman, was extremely unhappy to learn that her daughter is a lesbian, so she has left. Keito meets Rui, an unconventional 80-something author, and is taken in by her. Keito does go back to talk to her mother, but her mother is never fully reconciled to her daughter’s “lifestyle.” Keito’s father, divorced from her mother some time earlier, seems a pale and shadowy man – he appears primarily to be told by Keito that it is not his fault that she is gay.

Keito, despite her less than happy family life, is a pretty cool kid. She gets a job at a jazz music record store and fits in quite happily among the primarily black male clientele.

At the record store Keito meets Niki, a bisexual trumpet player for a funk band. She loses her heart, but Niki explains that she’s not at *all* interested in having a relationship – but is perfectly willing to have sex. Keito’s pain as she fails to win Niki is touching, but not traumatic, and her quiet triumph as she regains Niki is enjoyable, but not ecstatic. As always, Yamaji Ebine’s work slides by comfortably, with a realistic and mature atmosphere – without hysterics or melodrama.

Yamaji Ebine’s art is stellar – everyone who sees it is moved by the simplicity, starkness and fine line work. I have, to this day, never seen anything else like it. As is also usual with a Yamaji story, the background music is jazz and blues.

What can I even say about the “Yuri quotient”? It’s a 100% Yuri story – written by a lesbian mangaka for an audience of adult women, about a young lesbian who falls in love with another woman. Period. With a sub-story about a lesbian jazz singer and her philosophies on life and love.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 10

Overall – a very strong 9.

If you aren’t reading Yamaji Ebine’s work…you are seriously missing out on the best yuri being published in Japanese right now. Run, don’t walk, to Amazon Japan and buy Yamaji Ebine’s work. You won’t regret it.





Yuri Manga: [es] ~ Eternal Sisters Yuri Anthology

October 13th, 2004

Another anthology about schoolgirls, [es]~ Eternal Sisters, is yet another entry in the field of pleasant, harmless and variable Yuri manga that are cropping up all over the place.

Like Yuri Shimai and Yuri Tengoku, [es]~Eternal Sisters focuses on cute, sweet relationships between girls in junior high and high school. Expect lots of blushing, some embraces and few kisses in these 200 pages.

The art ranges from quite professional to “Aggh! What’s that?!” but the stories are vaguely similar – in feel, if not in execution. Almost all of them focus on the moment of revelation, either one character realizing for herself, or both characters realizing the extent of their feelings, but little beyond that is touched upon.

What *does* make [es] stand out are the personalities of the characters involved. The couples themselves bear no relationship to one another. The first story, “Love Lunch” which starts out with two roommates who act like a married couple, gives the anthology a strong beginning. “Croquis,” later in the book, has another stand-out couple – cool, competent and pretty Sada, who is at a loss to understand why she is friends with incompetent, clumsy and plain Hayase. In the end, Sada is forced to confront her feelings – but it is Hayase who forces the confrontation. This was probably my favorite story in the collection.

Of course [es] has one of every usual sterotype necessary to round out such things – hyper-genki best friends, cuddly child-like best friends, wolf-like best friends, reticent, blushing best friends, longing, sighing best friends, etc, etc.

While [es] isn’t going to make any new trends, it’s enjoyable enough for what it is. It has the same layout problems and high quality of publication as Yuri Tengoku, but on the whole the art is a little less loli and a little better. Of the two, I think this one is marginally better. Like YT, if sweet stories of schoolgirls in love that go nowhere is your thing, this is a winner.

Ratings:

Art – 5-9 depending on the story
Story – 5 nothing groundbreaking here.
Characters – 7

Overall – 7





Yuri Manga: Chirality (English)

September 2nd, 2004

chiralityWhat do you say about an artist who likes his women well-endowed, mostly or partially naked, and shiny, as if they have been simonized? I guess you say, “Oh, look it’s Urushihara Satoshi.” (And many thanks to alert reader Tatjana who noticed that I mistyped his name!)

Urushihara has a long history of drawing women with women, from random artbook pieces to full-blown manga stories. Chirality stands out as one of the strongest of his many Yuri-friendly works. Translated by CPM Manga, by 2010 this series wass out of print, but you can still find it, sometimes. It’s worth looking for! As you know, I strongly recommend you actually buy your Yuri and support it in the only way that is meaningful.

The story is shounen sci-fi stuff – in the future humans are being atttacked by GMs, a kind of virus machine produced by an uber-machine whose original job was to protect humanity. To fight (and hopefully reform/uncorrupt) Gaia, several beings were created with that contained all of the DNA of every living creature in the world. These beings were called Adam and Eve.

Of course, nothing is ever easy – Adam became corrupted by Gaia and Eve became bonded to a young human girl, Shiori, in her “immature” form. As “Carol Guardian,” Eve vows to protect Shiori at all costs. Time passes and Carol and Shiori meet once again.

Carol is able to transform into a male form at first to protect Shiori, but when a mishap occurs and Carol accidentally injurs Shiori, she finds herself unable to transform. Meanwhile, Shiori begins to remember their original meeting, and realizes that she is in love with Carol, in any form. In fact, more in her female form.

Yes, they do get together, in a very real sex-filled way. And Shiori and Carol not only protect each other and everyone they love, but they save the world while they’re at it. Plot-wise, the story is a little sketchy, the science is very bad (and mostly organized around the women wearing clothes that make them look naked) but as a fun sci-fi Yuri story, where the story is really a frame for the Yuri, Chirality is pretty good.

CPM published Chirality originally as a series of pamphlet comic books, but you can find it as a set of four graphic novels – unless you obsess about the cover art, the GNs are a better deal and a little easier to find. Despite its age, this particular GN holds up pretty well – the translation is fine, the cost is reasonable.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 9
Service – 8
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8

For hardcore Carol and Shiori fans, Urushihara did do a follow-up story about Rachel Shiori Guardian, Carol and Shiori’s daughter, and her sempai/lover Kaede, in a book called Ragnarock City (link totally Not Safe For Work). It’s mostly torso shots of naked girls – not much by way of story.

Once more, from alert reader Tatjana, Ragnarock City is available in a German language version, for all you Yuri fans who can read German. ^_^