Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Mars no Kiss (マルスのキス)

April 14th, 2008

Many Yuri fans are already familiar with Maka-Maka, the two-volume full-color manga by Kishi Torajirou. (Here are my reviews of Volume 1 and Volume 2 for thems as are interested.) The synopsis of Mars no Kiss (マルスのキス), Kishi’s newest manga, didn’t fill me with glee; it’s basically a “Story A” type story – that is, girl falls for girl, nothing happens. But, Mars no Kiss is well constructed, nicely drawn and surprisingly sweet, so the execution more than makes up for the fact that the plot is the same old thing all over again. The fact that the obi advertises this as a “Girl’s Love Comic” was kind of interesting, but what really pleased me was that synopsis on the obi described this as a first “real” love story.

Yukari is a “bad girl.” She rebels against her controlling mother by dyeing her hair, polishing her nails and having an older boyfriend, with whom she has an intimate relationship. In fact, as she notes, that’s kind of all they have right now. He never takes her anywhere; they just go to a karaoke box, sing a bit, and have sex.

Miki is a “good girl.” She’s tall, and has classic Japanese beauty. She’s quiet and bookish and smart. And a bit aloof.

The two are forced to share a double desk at the beginning of the term which annoys Yukari no end. Like most bad girls, her initial reaction is disdain and derision for the good girl’s behavior. But, one day, after school, she sees Miki in the Art Room, gently kissing a statue of Mars and her heart starts to race. When someone comes up from behind, both Miki and Yukari know that they’ve been seen, and everything changes between them.

Yukari and Miki talk in the library, and Yukari promises to never tell anyone what she saw – and she means it. She’s more worried about her own reaction – why did her heart start to pound at the sight? Miki admits that her reason for doing it was to see if her glasses would get in the way when she kissed someone. Yukari thinks this is hysterical. ^_^

A friendship quickly develops between the two. Miki also has controlling parents – being bookish is her way of escaping. The two start to walk home together, and meet in the library for heart to heart talks. More and more, Miki is in Yukari’s mind…even when she’s with her boyfriend.

When Miki excitedly tells Yukari that she’s got herself a boyfriend, Yukari has to stop herself from being unkind. The boy is a nerdy-looking kid Miki knew in middle school, so Yukari unkindly jokes that if they both are wearing glasses when they kiss, the glasses might get tangled up. She leaves Miki, not wanting to be spiteful, but totally unhappy about her friend’s good fortune. Eventually, she realizes that her feelings for Miki are well past that of “friend” and she recognizes that she’s jealous, plain and simple. In a moment of shock she realizes that what’s she’s feeling, is love.

Here’s what makes this story work. In most cases, we’d expect that the bad girl would tease the good girl at this point, trying to seduce her – or worse, toying with her. Instead, Yukari finds that her feelings for, and friendship with, Miki start to rekindle her own sense of youthful innocence. She cuts her nails, takes off the polish, dumps her boyfriend and softens the hard, cynical edge of her personality. Even Yukari’s expression changes, as she looks on Miki with a whole new perspective.

One day, Yukari brings Miki to the library again, where they talk about Miki’s kiss with Mars. Yukari reminds Miki of their earlier conversation about glasses getting tangled. She shyly pulls out a pair of glasses that she bought, she says, the day before, special for this purpose. She offers to kiss Miki to see if it’s really a problem. The next few panels are especially great, as we see Yukari’s view of Miki through the frames of the glasses, which sit unevenly on her face.

They kiss. The glasses don’t get tangled. Accidentally, Yukari confesses that she likes Miki. Miki’s reaction is to reply that she likes Yukari too, but it’s clearly a different use of “like.” As she removes the glasses from her face, Yukari confesses to herself that she loves Miki.

The story ends there, with the two of them moving to new desk partners the next semester. But they see each other in class and wave. On the last page, Yukari thinks that this love will always be her precious memory. It has a decidedly sweet, rather than bitter, flavor and it leaves one with a good feeling.

In a lot of ways, this story reminded me of the main plot of Hen. It has the same set up – girl in relationship with a guy falls for another girl. But where Hen played everything for high over-the-top-ness, Mars no Kiss is a more realistic look at a similar situation. The lack of seductive pervyness and/or emotional manipulation that we’ve come to expect from “girl loves girl” stories is very refreshing.

The splash art between the chapters is also quite sweet, as it tells a shortened version of the story. In the first chapter, Yukari and Miki sit, openly sulking, next to one another, not looking at one another. By the end, they walk hand in hand.

For fans who want a little more, the novelization of this story appears in the short story anthology Confession, along with, presumably, other stories of love confessions. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8 (particularly those last few pages)
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Yuri – 4
Series – 4

Overall – 8

Yukari likes Miki. The End.





Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime S, Volume 4

April 10th, 2008

Last week, I briefly mentioned that I found this fourth volume of Yuri Hime S soulless. I wondered why that was, so I spent some time today, in between sneezing my head off, to re-read it and ponder what my problem was with it.

In short, my problem is that most of the stories end where they should begin. The endlessly rehashed tension of two barely pubescent girls who “like” one another is, well…boring. About half the stories in this volume are just that – girl likes girl. Girl confesses, other girl doesn’t push her away, the end. Let’s call it moe Yuri “Story A” for short. That will save me from having to keep typing it over and over.

Cherry Lips – “Story A” with cat-eared, kimono-wearing loli urchins. Three fetishes at once.

Cassiopeia Dolce – Alternate end to “Story A,” in which Anna’s confession to Elsa-sensei is met with “Great! I like you too! Let’s work hard together!”-type, wrong interpretation of “like.”

Kotohana Link – “Story A” setup in which girl fails at romantic scene in school play and the director confesses her feelings.

Flower Flower – Nina continues to abuse Shu physically and emotionally, while Shu continues to try and woo Nina. This is a comedy manga, FYI.

Peach-colored Sigh – “Story A.”

Secret Stream – “Story A” with a twist. They *both* are torturing themselves with their feelings about the other one.

The Two of Us Under the Sky – This iteration of “Story A” is a continuation of last issue’s “Himawari Saita,” as Nasuna tries to decide on a classmate to pursue. Her friend Ma-chan volunteers with a really sloppy (I mean gross sloppy) kiss.

Minus Literacy – Miharu has left. I have no idea why.

Honey Crush – takes a complete turn away from Kyouko and the ghost stressing about Madoka, and instead has the ghost stressing about the existence of the *other,* cuter spirit that lives, bathes and sleeps with Kyouko. Ghost tries to scare cute little Mitsu away, but fails and learns to play nice.

Otome-iro Stay Tune – Arise and drinking buddy Tomoe show up at Hinako’s place where, through drunken stupidity, Arise’s “Story A”-type concern is blurted out. Arise jumps Hinako, insisting that her interest is real.

Fragments – “Story A” between two sisters, one of which looks 8. So a double whammy of negativity for me.

The People Who Are Near Her – Continues from last volume’s “Kaichou and Fukukaichou,” this time from the Vice President’s point of view. Every time she wants to help the President out, or be near her, other people are already there. She manges to share her lunch and take care of Student Council business, and the President comments that she’d be nowhere without her. Happy, happy, joy. joy. Not yet at “Story A” point, but crawling slowly there.

Model Maiden Gretel – continues from last volume, as Yuu, Mariya and Nagi continue to bond as a team through sleeping, bathing and destroying beasties together, with the occasional sloppy kiss. Looks like Mariya is developing a “Story A” type crush for Yuu, while Yuu is completely gaga over Nagi, with her no personal boundaries and mean kissing skills. A second team of three girls tell them to get a grip and become a tighter team already, then show them up with sparkly Orb powers.

Nanami and Isuzu – Valentine’s Day and general “Story A” wackiness

Hime-chan is a Shy Girl – “Story A” buildup, with a side trip on the seven school mysteries and playing someone else’s recorder.

So, as I was saying, in all but a few of the stories, the formula is pretty static. Stories end when the two girls decided to be together, which is basically the same thing that annoyed me about fairy tales as a kid. All that sound and fury for not much pay off. Of the few continuing series, “Gretel” is the most original (which isn’t saying much, but at least it’s something!) and “Otome-iro Stay Tune” is the only one with adult women who like women.

Ratings:

Overall – 5

If you are a fan of moe Yuri, this book is made for *you.* I’m about 1/8th satisfied with it, myself.





Lesbian Manga: KOOLS

April 6th, 2008

KOOLS is a collection of three one-shot josei manga stories. They make a perfect lead-in to today’s digression – the difference between josei manga and Ladies’ Comics.

Here in the west josei manga is categorized as manga targeted towards women 18-30. However, if you look at Japanese publisher websites, you’ll see that they often market their magazines in four flavors – “For boys” “For girls” “For women” and “For men.”In reality, shoujo magazines target an audience of (roughly) 7-12 year olds and anything older than 12 becomes josei. And even some of that shoujo stuff runs older that I’m comfortable with. In other words, teen, older teen, mature readers all are lumped under “women,” not “girls.” The upper age limit for josei is also approximate. For many years I read Feel Young magazine, in which there were constantly comments by readers much older than 30 – sometimes even as old as me. ;-)

Now, while josei manga can be translated as “Lady’s Comics,” they are in no way the same things as Ladies Comics, which is an entirely different genre in Japan. Ladies Comics are “adult” titles, by which I mean that they are smut. Aurora Publishing, which is the western imprint of Oozora Shuppan (the publishers of the lesbian-themed Ladies Comic Mist,) are putting out the first translated Ladies Comic – Luv Luv. Here’s what Aurora has to say about the title: “Aurora Publishing, Inc. brings “passionate manga for women” to America with their new Luv Luv imprint. Extremely popular in Japan, but never before available as a genre in the U.S., Ladies Comics, or Redikomi, are romantic, hot and sexy manga about modern women and the men they love.” I love the use of “modern” there – the codeword for post-sexual revolution women who think sex is fun and not just a marital obligation. The term is so 70s. ^_^

To sum up, most of what we think of shoujo, is actually josei. And josei manga is in no way the same thing as Ladies Comics.

Which brings me to today’s topic, KOOLS. This book came out under the imprint KC Dessert comics – all of which are targeted towards older teens, but have “adult” situations. Because high school girls like to read about sex, too. These are josei manga, not Ladies Comics. KOOLS is, as I mentioned, a collection of three stories, all of which are sincere, have genuine moments of sweetness and are about as “After School Special” as I’ve ever read in a manga.

The first story, “KOOLS,” which stands for “Kiss Only One Lady,” is the story of Sae, who slowly, but steadily comes to grips with the fact that she is lesbian. She meets, fall in love with, joins a softball team with, moves in with, breaks up with and then gets back together with Tomo, who is quite possibly the best lesbian ever in the history of manga. The subject matter is told as a story, but there’s a definite edge of educational about the thing – the moral of the story is, “it’s okay to be gay.” Along the way, the audience is also introduced – gently – to other sexual minorities, and the unique forms of discrimination that can occur, even within a small community.

Sae is not a bad person, Tomo just has the misfortune of being her first, so when she all of a sudden has a crisis of identity, its Tomo who bears the brunt. But Sae, with the support of their softball team, (named the KOOLS,) comes to grips with herself and we are lead to believe that the end looks bright and rosy for them. It’s a very pleasant ending to what, ten years ago, would have been a tale that ended in tragedy or marriage.

The two stories that follow are gritty reminders that we genuinely cannot confront issues of rape and abuse enough times. In the rape story a party girl is gang raped, but does not report it, because she is sure that no one will believe her or that they will make it out to be her fault. Through the tough love and friendship of a total stranger, she moves through the pain, and into a new life, where she is able to once again face the idea of being with a guy. Eventually, she finds the strength in herself to testify against the men who raped her, when they are arrested for another rape.

The last story is set in high school, where a nice girl is going out with the hunky guy – who beats her. The story covers all the ways women lie about their abusers, to themselves and to other people. The violence escalates, but again, someone else intervenes. In this case, as the abusive boyfriend goes off the clock and starts to take it out on the woman who has stepped in to protect the girl, she is told to run and get the police.

The last two stories are rough. Nothing is held back. There’s no implication or whitewashing – these are brutal situations told brutally. And the advice is stated just as brutally – it’s up to you to stop it. Now. Hotline phone numbers and crisis center information is given plainly and simply in the notes.

I admit to finding the first story less satisfying since it was lumped in with the latter two. It gave the whole book a sense of it being a “things girls might have to deal with” handbook. For obvious reasons, I would prefer to simply see a story about two women who fall in love, with no teacher’s guide for discussion attached. However, as an educational story, it was a pretty good narrative with characters that didn’t stand out as silly stereotypes or behaviors. No Takarazuka butches, no lipstick lesbians behaving like old men – just a bunch of women, who happen to love other women.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 10
Service – You know, I really don’t want to think about that. In a perfect world, 0.

Overall – 7

KOOLS a refreshing contrast to Yuri series and makes a nice story to give a friend or relative without sounding too preachy. Once again, thanks to Erin who pointed this out to me.





Yuri Manga: Kashimashi Girl meets Girl, Volume 4 (English)

April 2nd, 2008

Let’s recap the story so far in Kashimashi ~ Girl Meets Girl:

In Volume 1, Tomari has difficulty coming to terms with the fact that her best friend, Hazumu, has become a girl.

In Volume 2, Tomari has difficulty coming to terms with the fact that she has always loved Hazumu

In Volume 3, Tomari has difficulty coming to terms with the fact that she is *still* in love with Hazumu and is willing to fight Yasuna for her.

And now, in Volume 4, Tomari has difficulty coming to terms with the fact that Hazumu’s life may be coming to a premature end.

Looking at it this way, it sort of seems like Tomari’s really the protagonist, doesn’t it? ^_^ And, in a way, she is.

Hazumu, by her own admission, is incapable of making any decisions. Yasuna has made her decision, but will not do anything change the status quo, as befits her gentle, “proper girl” personality. Which leaves Tomari holding the whole ball of wax in terms of crisis, climax, angst and any other random emotions wandering around.

To my surprise, I find that I never originally reviewed this volume in Japanese, probably because it felt like, at the time, that the story pretty much screeched to a dead halt, and we were waiting for the series to run out of chapters so it could end. Now that I’m looking at it from a different perspective, it pretty much just looks like the next plateau of a fairly formulaic series. In every volume so far, the basic premise of Kashimashi has been watching Tomari tortured by something everyone else appears to have haphazardly accepted. Of course they haven’t, they’ve been wracked with doubt and despair, but as our focus is turned primarily upon Hazumu and Tomari, we’re not able to see it any more than Tomari does.

Just as Tomari finally does come to accept her (and Hazumu’s) feelings, Yasuna forces the situation to become more complex, by existing. She ends up acting as a catalyst for Tomari’s and Hazumu’s growth, without every really doing anything specific. In this case, it is the rumor of her leaving for New York that makes Hazumu scoop her up and kiss her. The irony of course is that Tomari has just learned the lesson “If you give in to the fear of losing something, you’ll never be able to keep it safe,” but Hazumu hasn’t.

As always, the adaptation and translation for Kashimashi is superb. Tomari is now, along with everyone else, referring to Hazumu as “she.” Tomari has also stopped speaking like an old man, which is nice. The page tones seemed to have reproduced a little roughly, leaving some moire patterns on pages with large toned areas, but unless that’s important to you, it’s easily enough overlooked. Once again, I really want to say, this book has the smoothest, most natural translation/adaptation I’ve ever encountered. It never fails to impress me.

Other than the fact that nothing really *happens* in this Volume, it’s quite excellent. If one took the essentially ridiculous plot complications away (aliens, time running out, etc), it would be a nice slice-of-life piece about a newly transitioned girl and the girls (and boys) who love her.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Yuri – 9
Service – 4

Overall – 8

My thanks to Ted the Awesome (new nickname, as discussed at Anime Boston,) for sponsoring today’s review!





Interview with TOKYOPOP Editor Hope Donovan

March 31st, 2008

In 2005, when Shoujocon and Yuricon teamed up to run Onna!, the focus of the event was women in the comics and animation industries. We wanted attendees to meet these women and see what kind of advice they could impart about breaking into and making a life in these notoriously competitive (and male-dominated) fields.

Recently, I have been able to talk with other women who are working on Yuri manga titles in one way or another and, just as with Onna!, I wanted you to meet them, learn from them and support their work. :-) Over the next several weeks, I’ll be posting interviews to give you, the readers of Okazu, insight into the industry and introduce you to some of the women who work on the Yuri we love.

I’d like to open this week with an interview with fabulous editor Hope Donovan of TOKYOPOP. I met Hope at last year’s New York Anime Festival, where I learned that Hope is working on the TP edition of Kannazuki no Miko.

1) So let’s start with the most obvious question – tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hope Donovan here. I’m an editor at TOKYOPOP and have spent the entirety of my professional life there.

2) Are you a manga reader yourself? Did that lead you into working in the manga industry? Or do you just do it for the fame, glory and chicks? ;-)

My path into manga is backwards. I liked the sexual freedom and alternative gender roles in manga, but until I began interning at TOKYOPOP, I didn’t know I liked manga for anything other than straight-up porn. I’ve since been touched by many manga stories, and have come to appreciate the diversity, heart and earnestness of the medium.

As for the internship itself, I had some experience as the editor of my college’s satire magazine, DUIN, and couldn’t bear the thought of another summer at home. I applied online and was accepted for an editorial internship during the summer of 2004. TOKYOPOP ran on the power of slave-labor interns at the time, so I was thrust into a real job situation. I learned a lot. Fortunately, I was hired as a copyeditor after I finished school.

3) Tell us, in general terms, what you do – where does your job fall in the process of producing a translated manga?

An editor of licensed manga oversees the translation, English adaptation, proofreading, layout and quality control of a book. To a certain degree they prompt the marketing of the book and write all kinds of various copy. They are the point person responsible for a book. But editors don’t translate the manga themselves, and most of the editorial staff at TOKYOPOP does not speak a word of Japanese. What’s important to the job is a love of comics.

4) Are you a fan of Yuri manga? Did you know it existed before you started working on a title? What were your thoughts upon seeing your first Yuri job?

For me, getting to edit a Yuri title was the golden prize. Many of my friends from high school and college have gone on to more illustrious careers in science, but I sincerely hoped that through manga I could help show young queer teenagers representations of other people with common experiences and feelings. We’re woefully underrepresented in the media and every little bit counts. Knowing that I finally got to make a contribution was very meaningful for me, even if the subject matter was something rather exploitive, like Kannazuki no Miko. Even that can make a difference.

5) Not every Yuri series is equal. What, if any, thoughts do you have about the series you’ve worked on?

The title I’ve worked on is Kannazuki no Miko. Kannazuki no Miko shows what happens when the earnest desire of two women to be in love is twisted by the circumstances of their world. In the case of Kannazuki no Miko, the circumstances are extreme. Chikane and Himeko are reincarnated priestesses hounded by a squadron of mecha as well as an annoyingly irrepressible hero. Chikane is also a deeply scarred individual, who truly believes the only way she can ever be with Himeko is by raping her. For her part, Himeko’s just a confused teenage girl. Twisted as it may be, I bought the pain at the core of the story, even while recognizing that Kannazuki no Miko offers, at best, an impossible ideal of a relationship that literally cannot exist at the same time as the world.

6) Have you gotten any fan feedback? Anything you want to share?

I’d sure like to get some. Go buy it, starting May 2008! It has color pages~

7) Any Yuri titles you’d like to see make it over here? Anything you’d like to get to work on?

Honestly I’m not as versed in Yuri manga as I should be. But I get to read Yuri Hime magazine for free at work. I really like “Tokimeki Mononoke Gakuen.” It’s weird, and I feel like it has more to offer than “two girls fall in love.”

8) What’s your favorite and least favorite thing about your job?

Favorite things: would I be off topic if I said the Rising Stars of Manga? I love getting to see new artist’s work. Niki Smith, who was featured in Yuri Monogatari 5, was a finalist this year. Besides RSOM, I’d say being in a workplace environment where the office decor is manga posters and everyone has dozens of volumes of manga on their desk is pretty sweet.

The least favorite part would have to be that there are limitations. You can’t license every title you want. You can’t make every correction you see. You can’t afford to work with every artist you want.

9) Anything else you want to tell our audience?

There’s a lot of manga out there that isn’t worth your time. Find the titles that matter to you and love them. Buy them.

Hope, thank you so much for your time and your insight. I know many folks, including myself, are looking forward to seeing Kannazuki on the shelves. :-)