Something about Tokuwotsumu’s art really appeals to me. I have no idea what it is. Something about the way Tokuwotsumu creates characters also appeals to me, but this time I know exactly what it is. 

Ise-san and Shima-san, Volume 1 (伊勢さんと志摩さん) is not a Yuri manga. It is, however a delightful manga about two close friends and roommates who are very comfortable together and who challenge each other to live their best lives. It’s honestly a delightful manga about absolutely nothing.

We meet Ise-san and Shima-san, coworkers and roommates as they are contemplating their “Challenge” sheet, on which they decide upon things with which to challenge themselves. These include things like giving each other a surprise, or staying up all night. It’s a fun life and one without too much emotional strain. Ise-san and Shima-san actually quite like each other, and have a lot of fun together.

We learn how they didn’t quite have a chance to become friends in school, because they ran in completely different circles but, when Ise-san was assigned to break in the newbie at work and it turned out to be Shima-san, they’d been friends ever since.

What appeals to me about the characters is the lack of drama and the open friendship they have for one another. They support one another, confide in each other and just generally are very good friends without complication. It’s really nice and very rare to see friendships between women portrayed without drama in manga. As a result, this manga about two best friends is a perfect palate cleanser after yesterday’s review. ^_^;

When Kisaragi Mayu joins the Art Club in Warui Onna no Ko (わるいおんなのこ), everything goes to hell.

Mayu is, as the title says, an evil girl. Through manipulation, both sexual and emotional, physical torture and blackmail the entire club becomes her slaves or is injured and even killed for resisting. The pages of the volume close on the teacher for the art club showing obeisance to Mayu and being tattooed by Mayu’s slaves.

It’s a cheerful little manga, as you can imagine. ^_^

Crazy eyes and shock eyes inhabit most of the panels. The art is all the more disturbing because it is good. The story is disturbing because it is disturbing.

When I heard that Complex Age creator Sakuma Yui was drawing a Yuri manga, I had no idea what to expect. I expected a Yuri manga, at the very least. This story isn’t Yuri, so much as uses the frisson of Yuri as one of the various forms of predatory grooming and psychological manipulation. So…that was fun. (-_-);

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 4
Characters – 3 One has hope at the beginning. Not so at the end.
Service – 5 It could be worse, but there is a lot of blood
Yuri – 1

Overall – 4

Depending on what you like, but I found it dire. If you like trainwreck stories starring creepy assholes successfully being creepy, you’ll love it.