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….

Posted in Simoun, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Silent Mobius Manga, Volume 1-6

December 11th, 2006


Just for not having any schoolgirls, this series is clearly the most awesome manga ever.

Seriously, this week, I’m going to try and see if I can not review anything with schoolgirls. Just to see if it’s even possible.

As with my re-watch of Silent Mobius anime, Vol. 1, I have been re-reading the manga for several reasons; in order to write the “Worldshaking” Fanfic Contest winner’s fanfic, and also, because it is, quite genuinely an excellent series. Translated ages and ages ago in 2001 by James D. Hudnall & Matt Thorn, I think this series stands up strongly to most, if not all, of what’s being translated these days. The translation itself is strong – really strong. And this was never an easy series to translate. Of course, all the honorifics are lost. Shame.

The timeline on the manga differs slightly from the anime, but in general it’s all the same story. The manga begins with the AMP team already assembled and we learn through flashbacks and or current storylines about the various team members’ pasts. I think it’s a bit more effective than the anime’s straight chronological order and in particular, I think Katsumi comes off as a stronger person for it. As that is crucial to the storyline, I’m on the side of the manga over the anime on this.

The Lucifer Hawks are much more complexly drawn creatures than they are in the anime; the art is heavy on black line and shadow and in some cases, they are very hard to see clearly …something else I think works in the manga’s favor.

There’s a nice blend of physical action, guns, chases, all set against the dystopian future where both technology and magic work, with a frisson of horror that we’re just not getting these days in our stories. Add to this a cast of genuinely three-dimensional, competent adult men and women who have jobs, but also time for real, and adult, emotions and what you get is a top-notch manga for grown-ups. No little-girl faces on adult bodies – while there is service, it’s much more “I like to look at beatiful women naked” (or, as Kyanite points out, in uniform) rather than today’s “I like to sneak peeks at little girls’ underwear” variety of service that makes my skin crawl so. SO much less vile.

As far as yuri goes, in the first six volumes of the manga, there is minimal to none. As I said in the anime review, despite fanon, Katsumi and Kiddy are both refreshingly straight, and their relationships are really pretty uncomplicated and realistic for any manga. ^_^ Ralph and Kiddy remain a particularly favorite couple of mine. If this manga was being drawn now, there’s just about no way they’d have gotten together – it would be all pointless unresolved sexual tension and Ralph “accidentally” getting panty shots and nose bleeds….

I know that at least a few fans see some kind of sexual tension between Rally and her evil sister Rosa, while I maintain that Rally is totally gay (using only my gaydar and my unflappable belief that lesbian manga characters are, in fact, cooler, better looking and more competent than the other characters around them.  ^_^) Although it is never, ever, stated or implied, I also remain convinced that Mana and Rally were lovers before Mana got married (to the world’s biggest loser…by which I mean the biggest loser in *their* world.)

In short, if you are a grownup, and like series written for grown-ups, there’s a good chance that you’ll like Silent Mobius. That having been said, this *is* a dystopian sci-fantasy (“speculative fiction” as they say these days) world and there is a great deal of violence with some serious death scenes – with no impossible, unbelievable resurrections to take the edge off. People who die stay dead. On the other hand, this isn’t misery for misery’s sake either and there are various lights at the end of various tunnels, all of which make the Silent Mobius series well worth reading (or re-reading, as the case may be.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – 1
Service – There is service, but there’s very little loser-ness to it. Nothing wrong with enjoying attractive men and women’s bodies. Let’s call it a 3.

Overall – 8

If you, like me, long for a story NOT about children and NOT about school or teen angst, with competent, beautiful adult women (in uniform!), then old-school Silent Mobius will feel like a refreshing change of pace.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments »


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. ^_^

Posted in Classic Yuri, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


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.

 

Posted in Yuri Manga | 5 Comments »


Okazu News: More site construction

December 6th, 2006

So, uh, once again, the old “under construction” sign is up around here at Okazu.

Blogger has a few new bells and whistles and I’m trying to get those working and keep all the old stuff in place. So, my apologies for any inconvenience as your RSS Feeds get 600 posts in the next several weeks, in clots of about 30 or so. (If I didn’t have to republish, I wouldn’t. But I do.) When it’s all over, we ought to have a nice automatically generated list of Labels for you to find things more easily, and I can lose the fakey categories I’ve been using.

I’ll still be posting all week, just to make this even more awkward and annoying. Got a couple more schoolgirl manga for y’all. :-)

Anyway, my apologies. I’ll try to make it as quick as possible. Thanks for your continued support of Okazu!

Posted in Okazu News, Yuri Network News | No Comments »