In Volume 1, we met Hayate a woman who by day is a costumed stage performer in a hero show and by night is an actual superhero, “Rapid Rabbit” and the former evil Team Leader, Honey Trap, who has defected for love. Hayate and Honey make a good team and, so, evil Antinoid leader “X” steps up the attacks.

But in Volume 2 of Hero-san to Moto Onna Kanbu-san (ヒーローさんと元女幹部さん) Hayate and Honey prevail, and X comes to visit Hayate, to check out the competition, to get her secrets and to throw a few cutting remarks at Honey. X is also, like 12 years old. X mobilizes more of her managers, Melt Down and the Yuri-loving Cool Down.  To defeat the new team, Rapid Rabbit and Honey are joined by a pair of sisters. Hina has an obsession for her older sister, and when Hina joins Honey and Hayate (hark, I heed a habit!) as Orb Owl, the story takes a dark turn.

Attempting to save Hina, her older sister is shot by X and Hina goes ballistic. Before she is defeated, Hina comes back to herself, but they do not have a happy ending, and it really puts a harsh on Hayate’s mood. If Honey weren’t there to keep her grounded, I…just…don’t know what she might do. Joke, they are fine as they walk away and leave two dead kids on the beach. (In the comments CW informs me that they are merely unconscious, which doesn’t change anything. We saw them shot, “killed,” and our heroes walk away … absolutely not at all relevant to heroism. They *walk away* from two wounded children.)

The Yuri in this series is more an abstract concept than an actual relationship, bit I like the battle scenes and the loud screaming of unrealistic tactical evolutions and attacks, and who doesn’t like a sentai series that makes basically no sense? ^_^ Not this kid.

Most importantly, Kyouka ends the series being spanked because there hasn’t been enough violence against children in this happy-go-lucky book of violent nonsense.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 6 X being a goth-ish 12 year-old annoys me for some reason.
Service – 5 It was doing okay, right up to the gratuitous spanking at the end
Yuri – 3 Cool Down’s a Yurijin and Hina has a crush (gawd) on her sister.

Overall – 7

Good heavens if I never ever read a siscon again for the rest of my years I will be so thankful. It’s such an excruciatingly dull plot device. Hopefully, this will be a little more fun and a little more Yuri next volume…but probably not. ^_^

Mayumi has walked away from her life and is planning on living in obscurity in a small seaside town. As she stops on a bridge to contemplate her choice, looking out over the water, a truck stops, a young woman jumps out and begs her not to jump! Startled, Mayumi reels backward, and she and the woman plummet into the water. And so, Mayumi’s new life begins in Uminekosou days Volume 1 (海猫荘 days).

Mayumi’s “rescuer,” Rin, turn out to be the manager of a local old-fashioned boarding house, that Mayumi will be living at, when she takes up her new job as a teacher. Rin is casual, a little coarse, but she’s open-hearted and kind. Mayumi finds herself taken into Rin’s care, along with Rin’s niece and the illegitimate child of a local figure. Sometimes Mayumi even starts to relax a little, but the things that are eating at her are heavy and she’s happy to sublimate her own problems with her former lover in the problems of the people around her. Despite all of that, Rin does start to break through Mayumi’s walls a bit in Volume 1.

Kodama Naoko’s work always has an edge to it that I find, frankly, uncomfortable. Partly, because I’m familiar with her previous works, and partially, because she keeps throwing things into this story that make me really uncomfortable. ^_^ And some of the Yuri falls into that category as one of the residents of the boarding house is a middle school student in an apparent relationship with her half sister.

But Rin is so likable that I kind of want her to fix whatever is broken in Mayumi. But…and I know this partly because I’m reading this story in the manga and partly because this is Kodama-sensei’s thing….there is going to be stuff we’ll have to work through and some of it will be based in manipulation, and emotional abuse.

Update: Based on some of the comments here, I need to clarify. I would hope that at this point, you’d all trust me to tell you if there was any positive representation of any kind here. I did not, and I kind of hoped you’d infer that means there is none. This story is about alternative family, but there are, at least into volume 3, no lesbians.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7 Erm, ah..it has moments in between other things.
Characters – Oh, god, why do I do ratings?! 6 But we’ll see.
Service – Yes. Ask me how I know Mayumi has large breasts.
Yuri – 5 Yes, but nothing I care about yet

Overall – 7

I’m just sort of buckled in while we get through Mayumi’s issues.