Ai ni Airashi Itoshi Anata (愛に愛らし愛しいあなた)

August 14th, 2020

Suzuki Yufuko’s Ai ni Airashi Itoshi Anata (愛に愛らし愛しいあなた) was not at all what I expected it to be. No, scratch that. It was exactly everything I expected it to be…only it turned out to be kind of charming. ^_^

Takimoto Mako is a senior in high school. He mother is an actress and often away, or hungover, and her father is a famous manga artist and is also often away. Mako is…average. She knows it, in fact she clings to her identity as an average girl with surprising fierceness.

One day at a cafe, the rumors of the “goddess” of the cafe, swirl around and a beautiful woman enters. Everyone is watching the goddess, but only Mako sees that she has her phone recording Mako and her friends’ conversation. Mako confronts her and suddenly finds herself outside on the street, where the goddess is offering her money.

Sonoda Aino is a young adult who is longing a bit for her school years. The people in her company are nice, but she find them crushingly dull and longs for the free chatter of high school girls. It’s a little creepy, but harmless and she begs Mako to not tell anyone. She’ll do anything, if Mako won’t get her in trouble.

Mako does have a problem that Aino can solve…so Aino stands in for absent parents at a meeting with Mako’s teacher. It all goes well and they both relax a bit. Mako is adamant that Aino shouldn’t record conversations,  (’cause that’s bad, duh) but the two of them become friends.

It’s kind of accidental that Mako starts to think of Aino differently, but her friends notice, and not all of them are happy for her. When her best friend’s jealousy causes Mako to doubt Aino’s affection, she breaks up with the older woman. It takes a confession by that same best friend to inspire Mako to make it right…and a confession from a completely different party to give her the whole picture. Mako and Aino make up.

The epilogue is wholesome. Four years later, Mako is graduating college, Aino is celebrating her last year in her 20s and they will, we can expect, live happily every after.

So yeah, it’s exactly what the cover looks like. And with that the premise, it really could have been horribly creepy. That was certainly what I expected yet, somehow, it just…wasn’t. It was instead kind of sweet. This was a Wings comics, and perhaps Wings Yuri has now developed a house style –  sweet Yuri with just a little real-world, but not too much. Real without being gritty.  In any case, the art is very teen-magazine-ish. I kinda liked it for this story.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Pretty things are pretty, cute things are cute
Story – 8 Better than the sum of its parts, for sure
Characters – 8
Service – 1 on principle only
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

I’d like more “real without being gritty” Yuri in my life, please, thank you.

Posted in Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Comic Yuri Hime, August 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年8月号)

August 12th, 2020

I just want to take a moment before I even begin this review and offer a tip of my hat to cover artist Rolua, who in a few cover pieces told a decent short science fiction story. ^_^

There are a couple of new series starting in Comic Yuri Hime, August 2020 (コミック百合姫2020年8月号). Yuri Light Novel Kundan Folklore is being serialized by creative team SukeraSparo. We’ll get to that in a second. Because, the magazine opens up with a huge spread for “Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou,” the light novel series which has been licensed by Seven Seas as I’m in Love With the Villainess. I didn’t hate it, but it sure veers close to fetishtry that does not overlap my own. ^_^

Rei, a miserable worker at a black company, wakes up one day in the otome game she had been playing, “Revolution.” although the game was specifically designed to partner the lead with one of the princes at the school, Rei had fallen in love with the obnoxious bully and rival for your choice’s attention… Claire. The harder Claire tries to bully Rei, the more Rei likes it. ^_^; This series is funny and just a tad creepy and I’ll be interested to see where it goes.

In Miman’s “Watashi no Yuri ha Oshigoto desu!” Kanako finally says some things Hime needs to hear, and Hime agrees to attend Kanako’s birthday event at the cafe. It feels very much as if we heading for a climax in this series…but we’ve got a few more bumps to deal with before we get there.

Something completely unexpected has happened in “Hello Melancholic” by Ohsawa Yayoi and I find that I really, honestly care about Minato now and desperately want her to be happy. ^_

“Kundan Folklore” looks…pretty interesting! Better thn that visual novel and let me  assure you that I’m surprised to say that. It’s front-loaded to be a scary family legend story, but it’s also a story about mismatched friends and protagonist who works hard to be where she is. I hope I like it.

Kodama Naoko’s “Umineko Bessou days” is also heading towards an ending, Sadly the complications are scraped from the back of the plot complication closet and just completely failed to keep this reader engaged. I don’t dislike this story, but it could have been so good. It was instead very average.

I adore the color washes give to Kon-chan’s dialogue in Inui Ayu’s autobiographical manga. Whatever the color of the “Hime Cafe” section of the magazine, is the color of Con-chan’s key lines. It’s adorable and I hope they keep it for any collected volume, should we get one.

Ratings:

Overall  – 8

As always, there are other stories I read and enjoyed and others I read and did not and a few I don’t read. A pretty even bell curve of interest and something for mostly any Yuri fan. The September issue is already out and has an amazing cover! I do like a woman with tattoos.

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Magazines, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Bloom Into You, Volume 8

August 11th, 2020

As we pick up Bloom Into You, Volume 8 by Nakatani Nio, out now from Seven Seas, it’s almost inevitable that the unctious strains of “My Way” come floating into our minds. ^_^

Yuu and Touko at last find each other and, more importantly, find themselves. They let go of the bonds they had imposed upon themselves, and in that, find freedom to be themselves, together. It is a fitting ending to a series that had such a tenuous beginning that I could not see them together without them losing parts of what made them, them. I wasn’t wrong, but Nakatani-sensei did it all her way…and, it worked.

When you’ve waited 7 volumes for a narrative climax, it’s often easy to feel vaguely let down by the end. For Bloom Into You, it’s very much the opposite. I originally expected a train wreck at the end, but the story and characters were given the time they needed to develop. I’m confident that Yuu and Touko can be happy together, maybe even moreso because they took the long way around.

An epilogue is always appealing to me. This volume’s epilogue is filled to the brim with catching us up on everyone and everything. If there is a flaw to this volume, its that everyone has done too well, and is too happy. ^_^ But I’m not complaining, as that is still rare and precious enough to just be enjoyed.

More importantly, we have a tantalizing glimpse into Sayaka’s future….a story that is currently playing out in Bloom Into You Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 1, Volume 2 which is out now in paperback and digital and Volume 3, which will be available later this year. I happily recommend all 3 volumes.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – There is a sex scene. Whether you consider that service or not is entirely up to you.
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

Several of the after-series publications mentioned in the afterword have come to pass already. I’m currently reading the short story collection of Nakatani-sensei’s work from the Éclair anthology series, Sayonara Alter (仲谷鳰短編集 さよならオルタ). I have not yet obtained the artbook, Astrolabe, (アストロラーベ). If someone has it and would like to review it, drop me an email!

Posted in Bloom Into You / Yagate Kimi ni Naru, English Manga, Nakatani Nio, Yuri Manga | 6 Comments »


Okazu Community Standards Have Been Updated

August 11th, 2020

I cannot believe that in 2020 I have to say this, but recently there have been a spate of really grotesque comments by supposed fans here on Okazu. I’m not talking about harassment, that’s always ridiculous and not at all worth worrying about. I’m talking about some new fans here on Okazu who have, in recent days, posted really not-okay things in the comments. As a result I have updated the Community Standards  & Commenting Guidelines for 2020. Please read them

Today I have added this passage to the guideline forbidding ad hominem attacks against other commenters or readers:

This guideline also bans comments with any expressions of prejudice, including, but not limited to: transphobia, homophobia, fatphobia, ableism, misogyny, misogynoir, racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, white supremacy, religious intolerance or bias against gender or sexual minorities. Pedophilia/pederasty are explicitly not included in this list and regards to those, apologist comments are unwelcome and will be removed.

But let me be VERY clear. At Okazu we love and adore our trans siblings. Transphobic comment are unwelcome and will never be allowed. Full stop. Fatphobic comments are equally unwelcome. So are all your purity tests, and anything else I disagree with. Okazu is my blog. Intolerance will not be tolerated. Everyone is welcome here…except bigots.

To the people who claim Okazu cannot be a real Yuri blog unless I fulfill some criteria they made up.  You like a genre called Yuri because I helped create it. There would be no “Yuri” without me, you dumb fucks.  ^_^

Posted in Okazu News | 8 Comments »


Weekly Magazine WOMAN, Volume 3 Summer (週刊文春WOMAN 夏号)

August 9th, 2020

In September 2019, when I was in Japan for the 100 Years of Yuri Tour, I had an item on my to-buy list that I honestly expected to have difficulty finding. Shunkanbunshun WOMAN, Volume 3 Natsugou (週刊文春WOMAN 夏号). This mook is a several-times a year special edition that is somewhere between a literary and a lifestyle magazine, addressing topics of interest to women or about women. It’s not a fashion/makeup magazine, although the advertising is, clearly, fashion and makeup.  Summer 2019 included tｗo articles of interest to me and I hoped I’d be able to find it. It was a wildcard on my list, and I honestly expected to have to special order it. I was surprised to find it pretty much in every place I shopped. Luck of the draw, undoubtedly.

In any case, it has taken me almost a year to crack it open to read Yamawaki Asou’s article “Ima Yuri Manga ga Omoshiroi!” – presumably riffing on the popular publication, Kono Manga ga Sugoi!. The article is, itself, pretty interesting. It includes feedback from Comic Yuri Hime editor Umezawa Kanako and columnist Fukusawa Maki, and it includes a number of very gratifying quotes by manga scholar Fujimoto Yukari. I say gratifying, because she and I have discussed the series she talks about many times together, so when she calls Shiroi Heya no Futari by Yamagishi Ryouko a “protoype” Yuri, it feels like a win for me. There’s also a discussion of the changing demographics of the fandom and how the content has shifted to accommodate those changes.

It’s a pretty good overview of Yuri, the changes we’ve seen over the decades, and the reasons for them. There’s a little bit about overseas fandom and a nice wrap up of the kind of “shakaijin” Yuri we’re seeing now. The article also mentions the inclusion of LGBTQ characters and issues in recent years The manga included was also a generally good selection of “best of breed” from the last two decades. With one exception – I will never, ever really understand how Yuru Yuri gets on Yuri lists, when there’s so little Yuri as to be negligible. . I think the list was worth reading, though, and reminded me I really need to read Yamashita Tomoko’s Ikoku Nikki (違国日記, which has been on my eventually to get to list for a couple of years, now.

Following this article is an interview with Shimura Takako, creator of Aoi Hana and Otono ni Nattemo, among other titles. It goes pretty well for an interview with a manga creator, although there were no amazing insights.

Ratings

Overall – A very solid 8

I’m pleased I was able to get this magazine and pleased that the summer of our 100 years of Yuri included this review of the genre for a – hopefully – new audience!

 

Posted in History of Yuri, Miscellaneous | 7 Comments »