Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Hayate x Blade, Volume 7

September 10th, 2007

I know that when I call Hayate x Blade Volume 7 a “Yuri” manga, I’m stretching the boundaries a bit on the word. There is, as I have mentioned previously, one lesbian character (Jun, who behaves in that typically shounen series pervtastic way) and there’s a whopping load of relationships which lie just on the border between shinyuu and Yuri between the shinyuu. (That sentence contained a pun, but it failed utterly in English. Bah.)

Volume 7 deals primarily with the endlessly fascinating Mikado Akira – she of the 80-member “A-Team” fan club. (Akira is a popular character with fan artists as well, I have quite a few doujinshi that deal with Akira’s apparently cool, but actually fraught, relationship with Hitsugi. And of course her relationship with her shinyuu/ sister-in-arms, Sae.) In this volume, Akira and Sae challenge Hitsugi to a duel, but the council president denies them the request. Instead, she insists that they will fight two other members on the Council, Sid and Nancy, in an exhibition match.

Much of the volume delves into Sae and Akira’s relationship and how, as a child, having been rejected for being a girl, Akira decided that she would become a boy. Sae met her when they were very young, but in typical boy fashion, Akira doesn’t remember that at all. ^_^ The flashbacks are an interesting look into Akira’s history, but an even more interesting perspective on Sae’s relationship with Akira. Upon remembering little Akira’s vow to become a boy, high school Sae pokes Akira in her breast and laughs, saying, “You lied.”

Sid and Nancy are appropriately dysfunctional, as befits their names. Sid, who is a pathetic, yet amusing freak  insists that she is an anarchist punk (again appropriately,) but she’s really a wuss. Nancy manipulates her very easily – should I mention how appropriate that is, again? Sid also curses in English rendered in Katakana. It’s always so rewarding to spend ten minutes staring at a conglomeration of characters, only to realize that it’s something brilliant like, “Holy Shit” or “Goddamn Bitch!” ^_^ Because it takes me so long to read Sid’s tirades, they are just that much funnier to me when I realize how utterly banal she is. (There’s a scene in the middle of their fight when Sid basically accuses Akira, who wears studded belt, collar at the throat and multiple earrings, of being a Hot Topics punk, while she says how she is a REAL punk – Anarchy! Fuck! – which completely cracked me up.)

Because of the nature of their natures, we barely pay attention to Sae fighting Nancy. Even they are sort of half-hearted about their side of the match, knowing that it’s their butches partners who are the real show here.

Hayate offers Akira good luck in the form of two cat mascots for her and Sae’s swords…does that make an even dozen cats now? I think so. Maybe more. During the battle, the cat mascots turn out to be a huge clue. Because. In order to ensure that their idol Akira is the hero of the day, the A-team has helpfully sabotaged her partner Sae’s weapon. But because they are as dumb as a sack of doorknobs, they got it and wrong and…you guessed, it, it is Akira’s weapon that falls apart, just as Sid launches a powerful attack. It’s a case of the immovable object being attacked by an irresistible force as the book comes to an abrupt, if not unexpected, end.

Ratings:

Art – 8 (I think it’s getting a little better in fact, but I can’t tell you why until I review Volume 8)
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 4
Service – 3

Overall – 9

This is good stuff. For a drama it’s funny; for a comedy, it’s deep and thoughtful. The action is over the top and interesting. The personal relationships are still the main focus. Hayashiya Shizuru really has the chops. She’s got something for just about everyone in this series. And she has just about everything I like under the sun in it. Hayate x Blade is total, purest win. And once again, in case you missed the announcement, Seven Seas has licensed the series. The first volume is slated to ship in Q2 2008. I’ll look forward to reviewing it. ;-)





Yuri Manga: Kawaii Anata (Japanese)

September 7th, 2007

While I gladly lined up for all of the first round of Yuri Hime Comics, the second round has been a little less delightful. Of the six or so releases, I’ve only purchased three: Hatsukoi Shimai, Volume 2, Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu and the subject of today’s review, Kawaii Anata (かわいいあなた) by Hiyori Otsu.

(If you are interested in any of the collections that I will not review, use these links to get yourself your own copy from Amazon Japan, and by all means, feel free to send me your review as a Guest reviewer! Apple Day Dream, Otome Cake, Sunset Prince and Dawn Princess, Nanami and Misuzu, Volume 1.)

It took me a while to realize that I consistently liked Otsu’s work. None of her stories are “Oh my god that’s brilliant!” They tend to be more on the order of, “That was pleasant.” So it wasn’t until we had had about 4 or 5 stories that I realized that I just liked the author, period.

Kawaii Anata is named after the story of the same name, about a boyish girl in an all-girl’s school who is given the role of the Prince to play for the school festival, as expected. The girl she likes volunteers to play the Princess, and in the course of their rehearsals together, it is the Princess who turns out to rescue the Prince, from her own self-loathing and the careless, not ill-meant, but still damaging teasing from the other girls.

The book begins with “Maple Love” which follows the meeting and wooing of Satonaka Kaede by Miyaji Erika. It’s probably the first story I really took note of, because the characters are in college and it’s not a typical “first crush” story. Erika calmly announces that she prefers girls, to which Kaede replies that she doesn’t care. Let’s test that, Erika says and kisses Kaede, who slaps her. Erika retreats laughingly to being a friend, but their relationship progresses anyway. The only down side to this story is the bad non-joke at the end. Rimshot, please.

“Love Letter” is slightly more bitter than sweet story about a girl realizing what her feelings are, and how much she will never get what she wants, no matter how much she tries to look and act like the guy her best friend likes. The redeeming quality of this story is that while yes, a heart breaks, it breaks quietly and in private and she moves on with no outrageous and useless drama.

“Hoshizora Cycling” was probably the first Otsu story to appear in Yuri Hime. Or, if it isn’t, it was one of the early ones. A transfer student who is not strong physically gets bicycle rides to school from another girl. They grow closer as time passes. One night, they find themselves wishing on a star, but when Mako confesses that her wish was for Momo to like her, Momo responds by bopping her on the head, because…duh, she already does.

Another love triangle leaves our protagonist in “Fuyu-iro omoi” out of the running, but this time, all three are women. Shizuka knows she’s lost before she’s started, but is still there for her sempai when *her* heart takes a beating. And in the final story, “Kokoro Bento,” Shizuka’s feeling for her classmate Izumi now strengthen, and this time, they may just be returned. We all know that the way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach, after all. (Well, it is to mine, anyway.)

All of Otsu’s art is crisp, clean, easy to follow and simple. If you like Aoi Hana by Shimura Takako, you’ll probably like Kawaii Anata It has a similar art style (in a broad, general sense) and a similar lack of screaming hysterics, even when the story includes tears. Let’s call it “not shrill.” In any case…I like it.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Stories – variable, but they average at about 7
Characters – ditto, 7
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Nothing paradigm shifting, but there’s a few fine cut gems in the job lot, if you know what I mean.





Yuri Manga: Jyoshi Kousei, Volume 9

August 30th, 2007

Brain still exploding. Thank god for Sean Gaffney.

I now have High School Girls Volume 9 in front of me. Despite the cover featuring the
two male teachers in the cast, and not a cute girl like the previous 8, it’s a good volume. (Standard ‘I don’t read Japanese so am guessing via the pretty pictures’ review warning.)

The first chapter does indeed focus on the teacher, Odagiri, and how he’s getting along on this trip. The answer is, not very well. His fellow teachers are freaks, and Kouda and the others torture him. He has a flashback to 3 years earlier, where we see him meet Kouda, fat Himeji, and Ogawa, and it’s clear that Kouda has been an appalling thorn in his side for a long time. Towards the end of the chapter we get the start of a running gag, as Eriko and Kouda imagine the female tour guide being taken advantage of by the horny male teachers. Instead, she’s drinking them all insensate.

The next two chapters are basically short little gags all strung together. Kouda discovers her appalling bathing suits are not the best when it comes to actual swimming… Ogawa resents being unable to wear a bikini as she’s so small, and Himeji tries to help her out… more touristy things as the group explores a cave… they once again think the tour guide is having sex, but she’s just getting her feet rubbed by the bus driver… and some more female-oriented bathroom and shower gags.

We then get a slightly longer bit where Yuma once again runs into the fact that her friends, mostly Eriko, have much larger breasts than she does. She thinks about the remedies she’s tried… drinking milk, working out, toilet plungers (?!), prayer… Eriko seems to suggest injecting silicone, something which is unlikely to work out well.

Then there’s a chapter with Yuma’s sister Momoka going to a boy’s school festival where they’re all cross-dressing. Including Ayano’s boyfriend Shimotakatani. I don’t care for Momoka, so this chapter wasn’t as good as the others. Perhaps translation may improve it. It’s filled with ‘guy’s in women’s underwear’ gags.

Then comes the chapters yuri fans will love. We get Nao and Sayaka, sitting on the hotel balcony at night after Eriko and Kouda have fallen asleep, reminiscing about how they met three years ago. Nao is in the nurse’s office for some reason and Sayaka comes in. We get a definite ‘my true love’ manga stare when they meet face-to-face. :) Nao’s lunch has gone bad, so Sayaka offers some of her ‘all-natural’ lunch, which isn’t much better. Then Kouda, fat Himeji (I do this merely to note the time period, sort of like Fat Elmer from Looney Tunes), and Ogawa burst in, as Kouda has done something stupid and hurt herself. More scenes of the two of them becoming friends and hanging out together. Then Nao shows Sayaka her dog, and the dog slashes open Sayaka’s hand. Off to the ER we go.

At the ER, Nao is being very apologetic and taking care of all the paperwork when she stares at Sayaka’s medical care card. And now, for those who recall Volume 8, we learn the Terrible Secret of Sayaka. No, she’s not secretly a man. :) She’s a year older than Nao, having been held back in school because of her various illnesses and allergies. Turns out Sayaka’s not just a naturalist because she wants to be – she’s allergic to almost everything in the world. Needless to say, being held back a year is a big deal, so she asks Nao to keep it a secret. As they walk back from the ER, we see the first scene of Nao acting cool and yuri-ish, and she notes that she’ll be Sayaka’s protector. From that point on, they were inseparable.

Isn’t that just adorable?

There’s a short epilogue where we see Nao (who was fairly lone wolf before this) dealing with Kouda’s being insane (there’s a short shot showing the now-thin Himeji beaming, so this is clearly the following spring) and Nao and Sayaka getting caught up in their antics a bit. Back in the present, we see the two of them wake up Eriko and Kouda to give Kouda her wish of the pillow fight. Of course, they have to use their own, natural pillows. Which are noticeably more solid. And Sayaka is VERY deadly with them. Despite this, Eriko and Kouda are clearly delighted to be ‘bonding’ at last.

Then there are some 4-komas, including Eriko smacking Himeji in the face with her bra pads using apparently just the sheer power of her boobs.

We then get the final big chapter, with the trip on its last day. They have a big party, with karaoke, and thank the tour guide woman for everything she’s done. The tour guide, watching them, gets melancholy and goes off, and Eriko follows her. After demanding an explanation, the guide notes that when she was in high school, she too had a group of inseparable friends that did everything together. And then came graduation, and now she hasn’t seen or heard from any of them in years. This horrifies Eriko, who is in tears. She returns to the others, determined that she will not let the same thing happen to the Baka Group, and a quick epilogue of them returning home, and Eriko being bright-eyed, optimistic and genki (as usual).

The manga then ends as usual with some more 4-koma wackiness.

I thought, aside from the Momoko chapter that didn’t hold my interest, that this was a very strong volume of HSG. It still had all of what makes it so not-beloved by others including grotesque toilet and sexual humor. But there was also some very good character development (notably, we see Kouda’s ability to be both totally appalling and draw people out of their shells in two different flashbacks) and even a good serious scene. And the story with Nao and Sayaka was not only perfectly done as a comedic romance, but for once handled the yuri beautifully. Can’t wait till Dr. Master imports this.

Ratings:

Art: 7. The art has lost all of the awkwardness it had in early volumes, and is very clean and well-defined. Plus, gotta love those funny faces.

Character: 8. Extra bonus points for Nao and Sayaka’s backstory.

Story: 6. To be honest, half of this was just standard gag manga. But it was FUNNY gag manga. And the story it did have was well done.

Yuri: 9. We didn’t get any of the usual fanservice yuri from the others, but instead we get the reward of REAL yuri. No, there was no kiss, but I don’t care. This was lovely.

Service: 6. The usual ambiguous rating, as the manga is filled with both titillating nudity and grotesque bodily function conversations.

Overall: 8. An excellent addition to the series.

–SG





Yuri Manga: Tetragrammaton Labyrinth, Volume 1

August 28th, 2007

When people first fall in love, one of the the inevitable feelings they encounter is that if their lover should, for even a second, stop needing them to exist, they might well cease to exist.

Imagine for a second if that were *really* true.

You would be tethered to that person forever. And they would be enslaved to you, or otherwise you could no longer be.

Somehow, it doesn’t sound so much like fun, does it?

In Tetragrammaton Labyrinth Volume 1, Angela is no longer alive, but neither is she dead. As long as her partner, a nun named Meg, needs her, she can remain in existence. If Meg should stop needing Angela, she would cease to exist utterly. But Angela has a need of her own – she wants to die as a human. To that end, she and Meg fight demons who infect and infest humankind in a battle to protect not only all humanity, but Angela’s chance at the death she craves.

The story takes place in Victorian England, but Angela is drawn as a Goth-Loli, and Meg is given rights and responsibilities not usually given to nuns. I particularly love the manga trope of nuns who hear confession, for instance. I’m not a Christian (although I have played Saint George in a mystery play, does that count?) but I know that only priests can hear confessions. And I am also fairly sure that Meg’s sexy nun outfits were bought, not from the convent, but from the local Halloween supply store. ;-) But I digress.

Aside from the religious dissonance, there’s temporal dissonance as well. This is a Victorian England in which occult magick and Big-Ass Guns(TM) coexist. If demons and their ilk didn’t *actually* walk the streets of Victorian London, I’m inured to their proposed existence from the oh-so-many series that include them. ^_^

Because of the existences of the aforementioned demons, B-A Guns and magick, it’s not too much of a surprise that Tetragrammaton Labyrinth is also full of violence and blood. This is your quintessential Victorian Goth-Loli horror manga, baby.

The book, like most of the adaptations by Seven Seas (and thanks once again to Jason and the folks at 7S for providing me with a copy to review!) is done well. The translation feels seamless, and in general, the reproduction is high quality. The fact that the source material is thoroughly and firmly “meh” is not their fault at all.

And therein lies the problem. Tetragrammaton Labyrinth just isn’t a very good story. Sure, there’s lots of action, and violence and some of what passes for plot, but at it’s heart, it’s basically a violent, bloody, string of servicey scenes that barely hold together.

Which brings me to the “Yuri.” I called this a “Yuri” manga in the title of the review, because it is an incontrovertible truth that Meg and Angela are inextricably bound to one another. Especially towards the end, they appear to even show affection for one another. The codependency of their relationship alone is grounds enough to call this relationship “lesbian.” ^_^ But with one being a nun and the other an undead pre-pubescent child, that sort of makes the relationship thing moot. So, really, the Yuri here is an implied fetish, no more. There’s no way to know if they are “in love” with one another and I’m fairly certain that the author is more interested in drawing Angela without underwear than answering that question, so don’t expect the Yuri to be more than two females draped over one another. If that’s enough for you, well then, enjoy! ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 6
Story – 7
Yuri – 2
Service – 4

Overall – 5

Considering that I had read this manga years ago in the original Japanese and basically dismissed it as tripe, I was surprised that I didn’t hate it in English. Is it high art? Nope. (Quick, name three manga that are. Exactly.) But since Scape-God never went past one volume, this ought to fill yours (and my) random fake-Yuri with scads of violence and blood needs for a while. ;-)





Yuri Manga: Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl, Volume 5

August 22nd, 2007

Feeling crappy today, so decided to review something “feel-good.” Looked at my pile of things to review and realized that with only two exceptions it was all feel-good. Kinda creepy, huh? ^_^

Today’s post will contain *massive* spoilers. I frequently have spoilers, but because there is a scene after the climax of this series that I want to discuss, I have to give away the ending. If you do not want to know how this series ends, do not read past the bit that ends “Massive Spoilers Follow”. If you read past that bit, you will be spoiled for the end.

Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl, Volume 5 begins after Hazumu’s fateful rainy-day kiss with Yasuna. Soaked and cold, they bathe together. This fills Hazumu with guilt so she runs over to Tomari’s house to rinse and repeat, because she’s so torn between her two lovers that she feels obliged to balance the service.

Having said her good-byes, Hazumu pretty much spends the book wandering aimlessly between places and people, constantly aware that her life force is running out. To make matters worse, both Yasuna and Tomari tell her that they love her outright.

The school festival approaches and with it, Hazumu’s final hour. The day is spent in near misses and lost last chances to see Tomari and Yasuna. Night falls and they both find Hazumu on the roof, ready to say good bye.

***Massive Spoilers Follow***

Before Hazumu can say anything, the fence behind her breaks and she falls off the school roof to her death. Only…as she falls, a hand grabs hers and we see two sets of legs falling.

Hazumu becomes aware that she is dead. Only…she’s not. She wakes up in the infirmary. She leaps out of bed to pull the curtain back on the next bed to see that it was Tomari who threw herself off the roof to save her. It was Tomari she had called out for and Tomari who she had wanted to see. And now it is Tomari that she tells, “I love you.”

Outside the room, Yasuna has overheard it all. She’s happy that Hazumu is alive, and happy for them, but cries against the wall while Ayuki holds her.

Here’s the bit that makes all this work for me – the Christmas Concert has arrived and Yasuna is the featured soloist. Hazumu and Tomari sit in the front row, hand in hand. And through her music, Yasuna wishes them well and commands them to never ever let each other go. Her blessing and her emotion carries over – Tomari and Hazumu get the message loud and clear.

On the way to a Christmas party after the concert, under the starry sky and a row of light-filled trees, Hazumu and Tomari kiss. At the party, everyone is happily rambunctious – “Kashimashiku”.

The End

Following the end of the main story are three omake stories – two creepy Ayuki stories (or, really, stories that explore how creepy Ayuki is) and one with the usual Tsukiko Namiko-sensei gags of self-pity and clumsiness.

The End, again.

So…I liked it. None of the over-the-top absurdities of the anime OAV ending. True, Hazumu did not entirely make the decision herself, but a decision was made, the girl does get the girl and it’s not a bad thing at all. Unless you really wanted Hazumu to get together with Yasuna. And you know, originally I did.

***End Massive Spoilers***

Unlike the anime, the manga handles the final decision with a class that, in general, the series lacked overall. lol Yasuna gets extra class points, as befits her character. Ayuki gets extra creepy as the story goes on which has incited me to create an equally creepy girlfriend for her. (If I was into media-crossovers, I’d surely pair her up with goth Abby from NCIS. But I don’t have that kind of time, energy or interest, thank heavens.)

Despite the service, the aliens, the gender switching, the harem plot, at the end of the series, we’re looking at two woman in love with one another. And that’s what I call Yuri.

I think the end justified the memes.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Character – 8
Story – 7
Yuri – 10
Service – 5

Overall – 8