Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Strawberry Marshmallow, Volume 2

December 20th, 2006

So, you see why I wanted Sean to get me that darn review already. ;-)

I’m an old Comparative Literature major (just like Satou Sei, lol) and I can’t help myself, so – for compare and contrast, here’s my review of the Japanese Ichigo Marshmallow Volume 2.

Because the content of Volume 2 remains the same, I don’t feel the need to go over the “what so much, but I do want to say a few things about the “how.”

The translation is…well, I’m not really sure what it is. There are moments of sheer brilliance, moments of complete incompetence, and in between I keep finding myself asking, “who is this translation for?” Let me attempt to explain:

None of the sound effects are translated, nor are there notes next to them. I don’t care personally – as I’ve said many times, I don’t see them, myself. And I can read them in Japanese, so it’s no loss to me. But I’ve been told that people *do* read them, and the standard these days is to either translate and replace them (which is a lot of work!) or to write translations next to or near them. Sometimes translated s/fx are put into a detailed glossary in the back. Doing none of the above assumes that *I* am the reading audience – people who can either read them, or who don’t care.

Second – Ana’s name. Her family name is the source of a large body of the gags in this volume. And nowhere is it explained *why* her name is such an issue. That seems really bizarre to me. (Ana Coppola in Japanese sounds really weird – something like ‘hole bone cave’. It’s not dirty, it’s just giggle-making strange.)

Third – about once a chapter Nobue turns British. Everytime it happens I do a double-take. “Dirty pool”? Who says that other than Gomez Adams?

And of course, nothing else is explained, either. Which, I like. Miu says Randolph instead of Rudolph, her Jinglish version of Randy Travis is transliterated, so it reads like Jinglish, and Ana, when she accidentally writes her name in Japanese on the blackboard reacts with a large Japanese hiragana “Da!”

But then, Sasazuka is told to stand in the corner, instead of the hall. Go figure.

In one sense, it’s maddeningly inconsistent. In another sense it fits right in with the sheer randomness of the story as a whole. I’d like to think they thought about it beforehand…but it seems unlikely.

As Sean said yesterday about Strawberry Marshmallow Volume 1, for us (that is, he and I) this series is really all about Miu and Nobue. I think the two scenes that encapsulate them – and their relationship are these: Miu, attempting to impress Nobue, does extreme stretching, then asks Nobue if that was amazing. Nobue responds, “Well, yeah…in a freak show kinda way.” Nobue hears how Miu told Ana’s class about her weird name. When questioned, Miu says, quite seriously that even *she* knows the difference between good and evil…and, she says happily, did it on purpose.

Ratings:

Art – Up from last volume – 6
Story – Crazed like a loon – 7
Characters – Ditto – 8
Yuri – Ditto – 4
Service – 6

Overall – 7

Ah, Evil Psychotic Lesbian-in-training Miu. You are the wind beneath my wings. ^_^

 





Yuri Manga: Strawberry Marshmallow, Volume 1

December 19th, 2006

It’s my great pleasure to offer you a review of the English translation of Strawberry Marshmallow, Volume 1 today by guest reviewer Sean Gaffney. And it only took me two solid weeks of nagging to get it!

For comparison’s sake, here is a link to my original review of the Japanese-language version of Ichigo Mashimaro, Volume 1.

In any case, take it away Sean!

The problem with the first volume of Ichigo Mashimaro is obvious right from the start; it kept its pilot episodes.

Basically, the artist had no idea this would be a continuing series, and the first three or four chapters have different designs (except for Chika) and different personalities (except for Chika). They’re almost proto-IM, and very odd indeed.

However, once the series proper gets started, you’ll know. You’ll know because there’s Miu. She was technically in the first few chapters, but not really. That was someone else with Miu’s name. True Miu…EVIL, INSANE Miu… arrives about the same time that Nobue stops being a bottle blonde and becomes the chain-smoking grump we know and love.

There are, technically, other characters. There’s Chika, who is the normal one. There’s Matsuri, who is the doormat by which all other anime doormats are measured. In a contest between Matsuri and Shinji, Matsuri would win hands down as being the most spineless.

But I honestly don’t gush over them at all. They add to the manga, but you don’t say ‘wow, was that Chika fun in that part!’. And why? Because Miu is insane, and Nobue’s reactions are wonderful. That’s why you read IM. Miu and Nobue. By the end of the volume, things are fully formed, and you realize how much of Miu’s life is devoted to making Nobue NOTICE HER, DAMMIT.

Yuri? Not anything explicit (not yet), and the design tends to make everyone look 5 rather than 12, but I think Miu has a crush on Nobue even this early, and one that grows larger as the manga wears on.

This is a funny, cute manga, and if you’d been avoiding it as it looked too loli, then grab a copy. Just be prepared for a slow, rocky start before you hit the paydirt.

Did I mention Miu? Cause, Miu.

Erica here: I say, amen to that, brother! And my thanks once again to Sean Gaffney, “guest reviewer of the gods.”

My own quick comments – in order to do get this review up, I had to reformat two older reviews and, as a result, I had a good chance to look at the new English-edition vs the Japanese edition side by side. For once, I actually like the translated edition cover better. The stark white background of the original is too unfluffy and uncute for this bastion of cuteness. The light red-an-white-plaid background on the Tokyopop edition hits just the right note of cute.

The translation wanders in and out of good to meh to excellent. It gets better as it goes on. Of course, no honorifics which, in this series, really fails, since the younger girls all call Nobue “Nobue-nee-san,” “Nobu-‘nee” just “‘nee-san”, or any number of other manipulations, depending on the character and the mood, something that is lost entirely. Matsuri-chan becomes, inexplicably, “Mats.” I will forever disapprove.

Ratings:

Art – this is totally personal, but for me – 5
Story – starts out weak, then gets going, as Sean said – 6
Characters – same as above – 7
Yuri – “Haruka-san, look at me!” – 2
Service – sigh…6

Overall – 6

When the ball gets rolling, it gets “wtf” funny. I still laugh out loud at it, which annoys me no end. ^_^

 





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….





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. ^_^





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.