Manga: A New History of Japanese Comics

April 6th, 2025
Deep blue book cover, with a circle of brightness highlighting a classic manga baseball pitcher in mid-pitch.

Version 1.0.0

One of the best things that happens when one steps past “fandom” as an interest to “research” of that interest, is that one meets a community of people who are passionately analyzing, criticizing and rewriting the histories of those interests. The academic and independent anime, manga and comics (and larger pop culture) studies community has been one of the most welcoming group of people I have ever encountered. It has been possible for me to meet and correspond with some amazing minds from whom I have learned more than I could ever imagine. And, when I wrote my own book, their acceptance was heart-warming. So, as often as is possible, I like to return that favor and review a book you should definitely know about and read.

In 2022, it was a pleasure to read such a book,  Comics and the Origins of Manga: A Revisionist History, by Eike Exner, in which Exner painstakingly fills in the  gaps in most histories of manga from Edo-period sketches <time jump> to  manga. To quote that review, “Exner focuses on is the shift from extradiagetic narrative, i.e., blocks of text – often literally- outside the story that explain the story, to transdiagetic narrative tools like dialogue in speech balloons and sounds that both we and the characters in the story experience .”

In Manga: A New History of Japanese Comics, Exner builds a more complete history of manga from the perspective of what was happening with comic strips, then comic books, in Japan, to what we broadly categorize as “manga.” In chronological sections, the book peels away some of the accepted narrative that manga existed in it’s own uniquely Japanese vertical and was influenced only by previous Japanese art. Every section confronts an orthodoxy of thought about the creation, influences of and global spread of the manga phenomenon.

And this last piece is the main weakness of this book. I am friendly with Eike and have seen some of his struggles against these orthodoxies. I’m outside academia, so my support is relatively inconsequential, but I do support his work. Because he so clearly has struggled against being dismissed by the establishment in manga studies ( and, I presume,  Japanese cultural exceptionalism) the tone in this book is sometimes aggressive, almost angry. When arguing against strongly held, but disprovable, conceptions that are deeply entrenched in manga studies, I absolutely understand. When that same dismissive aggression gets turned upon fandom, it does feel a bit gatekeepy. Thankfully, that tone dies off quickly in the second half of the book, when he’s past much of the hidebound thinking about the creation of “manga,” (i.e., post-Tezuka).

There was so much information in this book, from the ongoing influence of western comics that has now become a dialogue between manga and comics worldwide – something I am also writing about right now for a project – to the continuds, ongoing influence of many creators and editors beyond the best-known names. I came away from this book having learned so much that I already know I’ll need to re-read this book and cement much of it in y mind. I’ve already used it as a reference in pieces for two other books and it’s not even out yet! ^_^

For a fresh, well-researched look at the history of manga, I highly recommend Manga: A New History of Japanese Comics by Eike Exner.

Ratings:

Overall -9

Many thanks to Yale Press for a review copy and a request for  blurb. I hope that will be on the book itself. ^_^



Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – April 5, 2025

April 5th, 2025

A blue silhouette of a girl with a white flower in her hair, embracing the earth. Blue block letters read YNN Yuri Network News. Art by Lissa P. For Okazu.Yuri Anime

We said goodbye to the last season and now we face a….no, no, there’s no way Momentary Lily would jut let us move on that easily. And so, there is one. more. episode to watch. It is certainly about intense, if nonsensical, emotional relationships between girls, so, sorry, it is required homework. Go with grace.

In better news, the shiny new Rose of Versailles movie is coming to Netflix on April 30. ANN’s Alex Mateo has the details. I know I’m pretty excited about it. We’ll have French food for dinner. Expect high ridiculousness from me about this. ^_^

Finally, on to new things! Rock Is A Lady’s Modesty has arrived on HIDIVE and it is being received with critical acclaim. The Okazu Discord was buzzing last night and Anime Feminist’s Vrai Kaiser has high praise for this mix of Class S aesthetic and girls’ band stuff….and Yuri.

Via Zack Davisson, the original 1990’s Sailor Moon anime is on Amazon Prime. If you haven’t watched it ever, and have Prime, this is a great time to boggle at the monsters of the day back in the 90s.

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Yuri Manga & Comics

Yen has a few license announcements for us and ANN’s Alex Mateo has all the info!  First up, is the manga for Rock Is A Lady’s Modesty, and the anthology comic for the Lycoris Recoil series. The third one, Muromaki’s “100 Yuri Situations” comics (#百合シチュ101 ) on Twitter has been collected and licensed. I know I read it, but somehow it slipped through the cracks here and I never reviewed it. It has been licensed by Yen as Lilies Blooming in 100 Days. I humbly suggest that “in” be replaced with “for”.

Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau offers us this voiced comic covering the days after the school festival as Aki and Shiho repair their relationship and become a couple.

S.I.R. , a “GL Motorcycle Jousting romance” by Fell Hound and Eleonora Bruni is up for pre-order, and will be hitting shelves in June. You bet I have pre-ordered a copy! ^_^

Mage and Demon Queen creator Color-LES is pleased to introduce her patrons to “Leina and Aisha, the main characters of my upcoming GL/ Yuri manga【Detective Reaper Morrigan】” Keep an eye out for that!

 

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Yuri Visual Novels

Noodletub games is very pleased to announce the launch of their Renai Bakudan on Steam and Itch.io. “The ultimate 18+ yuri visual novel! Romance seven beautiful ladies, work at the weirdest love hotel in Japan, and live your best life in Akiyama’s red-light district!”

Also adult, but in a different way, we have the Adult Life Yuri Bundle by Team ANPIM on Steam. They describe this as a collection of “4 yuri stories by Team ANPIM, featuring women who are 23 years and older! No longer students, they are finding romance while balancing the responsibilities of working, rent, and adulting.”

Studio Élan has a few announcements as well. A Tithe in Blood is getting a full Japanese translation as well as full Japanese voice acting on release. That’s all kinds of cool.  Their Upwards Rain, “The post office of farewells,” is getting a Steam release in July. Our Home, My Keeper now has a playable demo on Steam, as well.

If you are interested in writing reviews for Okazu, Yuri Visual Novels are a very good pitch. I don’t read them, but am very interested in having people who do, write reviews for us!

 

If you’d like to support Yuri journalism and research, Patreon and Ko-Fi are where we currently accept subscriptions and tips.  Our goal now, into 2025, is to raise our guest writers’ wages to above industry standard, which are too low!

Your support goes straight to paying for Guest Reviews, folks helping with videos, site maintenance, managing the Yuricon Store and directly supporting other Yuri creators. Just $5/month makes a huge impact! Become part of the Okazu family!

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Otherside Picnic, Volume 9

April 4th, 2025

I have one real beef with Iori Miyazawa’s light novel Otherside Picnic, Volume 9. It was too short.

I’m not joking or saying that like “Tee hee, it was so good, I wish it kept going, I mean it more like, “Dude, this thing needed a denouement, a coda, an epilogue, something, sheesh.”

Aside from this one thing, this volume was excellent. ^_^

After Volume 8, it would be really hard for any author to build a compelling narrative. But, as I said in my review for the previous volume, “Because Sorawo is our narrator and protagonist the story has allowed her the time and space to be unaware that she even is a mystery, or to have any real insight to the mystery that is her.” and, later, “One of the deep leitmotifs of this series is communication – or the lack of it. Sorawo doesn’t understand people and isn’t great at understanding herself. ” This is the main thread here. Once again, under the cover of Sorawo’s disassociative cluelessness, we watch as the people around Sorawo flounder trying to understand and accommodate her needs, while she moves the goalposts as fast as she sees that a goalpost is needed.

All of this is happening as DS Research asks Sorawo and Toriko to train their mercenaries to be as prepared as possible to face the kind of horror the Otherside presents. Along with Runa and the enigmatic “magician,” Tsuji, they set up The Farm to be a kind of terror-generator. Stuck in a campsite whose only goal is to push people past their normal limits of reason and sense, Sorawo struggles most with the banalities of life and she –  and we – must confront her worst fear as she is forced to understand who people give a shit about her and want her to reciprocate.

What really got to me is how relatable Sorawo’s confusion was, even as she’s being an annoying dipshit. ^_^  It was not at all surprising to learn that other people have a strong reaction to Sorawo, although she kind of sees everyone else as Toriko and not-Toriko.

What made this book work, from beginning to end, was the inclusion of former cult-leader, touched-by-the-Otherside Fourth Kind, Runa. We are reminded endlessly that she is a minor, but we’re never really given her age. I think this is an important distinction. She’s prone to sulking like a child, and having hissy fits, but is probably older than she acts…and, we think, has no real sense of the place of family and friends in a normal life. Runa’s skill in crafting deeply unsettling Otherside horror-inducing rooms makes for outstanding story-telling. But it is her relationship, such as it is, with Sorawo that will change the story.

I haven’t mentioned Kozakura, for a reason. When we meet her, we are told she is an adult…but until Volume 9, we really have only had the vaguest glimpses of it. Now that she (too) has someone to care for, her house is becoming a home, her maturity is suddenly apparent and it deeply affects Sorawo, who is not used to feeling…things… about people.

Everything is changing and despite herself, Sorawo may have built a family. If only she can see it.

Ratings:

Art – I really do not know, let’s talk about the art next volume
Story – Also don’t know, but wow it was compelling
Characters – 9, also compelling
Service – Either no or I am getting used to it
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

An incredible book, but it still needed a denouement. ^_^;



Galette, No. 29 (ガレット)

April 3rd, 2025

A cute girl looks at us from under a veil, her blue eyes sparkling with light.And….I was wrong. ^_^ Galette No. 28 was not the end of Hakamada Mera’s “Aikata System,” just of Kairo and Abiko-sempai’s story. In Galette No. 29 (ガレット) The next chapter takes the same seven years later to bring Nao and Ibuki-sempai back together. Nao is a beloved gym teacher at their old school, but when they sit down to talk, they’ve both left behind so much of what made them them in their school days, it feels like a goodbye at a reunion and not much more.

I am really very sorry that Hakamada-sensei did not take the opportunity to actively destroy the Aikata system that caused so much pain for our leads. Yes, maybe their circumstances were special…and maybe, more probably, they were not. I would really have loved to see Kairo go ham on the system. Ah well.

Bing! Bing! We have a winner! Aneido-sensei wins this issue with a fabulously original story. A grifter and her girlfriend target the accountant for a religious cult, when the handsome grifter pretends to be  the cult’s god.  I am absolutely dying to read the next chapter. ^_^

Morinaga Milk has two entries once again, “Watashi n Kawaii Neko-chan” in which Ren’a disatisfaction with Yuna’s sleep schedule grows and a reprint of Himitsu no Recipe from 2011-13 along with Yorita Miyuki’s “Kanojo no Kuchizuke Kansensuru Libido,” reprint from the beginning, as she announced a new movie based on her series.

Two original stories caught my eye, Yama Yuriko’s “That Girl – Day In The Life” and “Tochuu no Happy” by Miimi were both delightful monologues of just genuinely enjoying the company of the person one loves. Thumbs up for that. I have quite enough drama in real life, I can go for some “this was really just…nice.” ^_^

So this volume felt like a lot of reprints, but also has a pile of continuing content and new stories and 140-character pieces. Aneido-sensei’s story made me hurry up, so I could move on and grab Issue No. 30!

Ratings:

Overall – 8



Throw Away The Suit Together, Volume 3

April 2nd, 2025

By Matt Marcus, Staff WriterTwo women in business attire stand on a boat pier hold hands, looking out at the reader with serious expressions

“…This has been a really great conversation. We’re really excited for the possibility of you joining our team here at Island Industries.”

“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” I hear myself say. I clench my jaw, thinking It better be, after six interview rounds.

“We just have one last question for you. More of a case study, really,” says a man with closely cropped hair and narrow rectangular glasses. I’ve already forgotten his name, but I do know that he is some kind of VP. “We dug into your background and found your little, ah, ‘side hustle’ at Okazu.”

I chuckle nervously. “Oh it’s more of a hobby, really—”

“We were hoping that your review of…that series with the android would give us some insight about your skills in the field of AI, but, alas.” My eyes dart quickly between him and the two other members of the interview panel, looking for some kind of reaction. None show any readable expression. “What we found more interesting was that you have yet to review Throw Away The Suit Together, Volume 3.” 

My pulse accelerates, and I can feel perspiration dampening my shirt under my suit jacket. “Um, yeah, that’s a strange one. Hard to get a handle on it.”

“Well, we feel like this role requires someone who is able to forge a clear path in the face of ambiguity. It’s a demonstration of decisive leadership.” The man pulls out a paperback book from behind his chair and places it on the conference room table. He spins it around so I can see the cover properly and slides it towards me. Two young women are dressed in office clothes, holding hands and looking straight at me with resolute eyes. “I want you to tell us, what is Keyyang-sensei trying to say with this series?”

I try to swallow the panic that rises in my throat. This is crazy, I think. The recruiter didn’t tell me there was going to be ANOTHER case study. And what the hell does this have to do with this job??You know what, fuck it. I need this job. Just remember your interview training. My voice shakes slightly as I begin. “O-OK, so let me start with laying out the situation.

“In Volume 2, Haru and Hinoto lucked into some part time employment at a dive shop, which manages to buy them a few weeks of time before needing full time employment. However, neither are willing to actually make a realistic plan for the future. Instead, they revert to trying to hunt for the same kinds of jobs they were running from and find it impossible on this remote island. Haru overhears Hinoto call the college and ask about readmission, clearly setting up a conflict.

“So, their relationship begins to break down because each side is feeling more and more desperate and are failing to communicate. Both manage to get interviews but neither land a job, so they rip up their marriage contract and go back to Tokyo and return to the grind they tried to escape.”

They also have a lot of desperate, sad sex, but I’m going to leave that part out

“So, do you think the story is about the dehumanization of people who are forced to participate in capitalism?” asks a stern middle-aged woman, her hair pulled back into a tight bun that accentuates her sharp facial features.

“I mean, that is one part of the story, clearly. But that doesn’t sit fully right with me as the central theme. The story is so laser-focused on these young women and their misguided decisions. A lot of escape stories like this would lead to the main couple living with little money but a lot of joy, and instead neither partner can give up the idea of joining a large established company. Not only is being, um, ‘low income’ off the table for them, but they both tried to get jobs without going through proper channels or getting the credentials that would qualify them for those positions. It’s like, they feel that they have the privilege to skirt around the issue of qualifications and merit, if only because they find doing things the ‘proper way’ too stressful.”

“Do you think capitalism is inherently meritocratic?” The VP asks.

“We sure like to pretend it is, but obviously those with money—and therefore power—circumvent the rules all the time. Maybe in this case, these girls simply weren’t wealthy enough to pull off this plan of theirs.”

My last words hang in the air. Thirty seconds pass as we all sit in thought. Then, the third panelist, a stout, balding man with small, deep-set eyes who had been oddly quiet this entire interview, leans forwards and asks, “What do you think about the marriage license?”

I reply reflexively before I can formulate my thoughts. “I…I think it’s treated as the albatross weighing both Haru and Hinoto down, but also because it represents a non-legally binding relationship due to the lack of marriage equality in Japan, it kind of also represents nonconformity? It’s, like, more radical than just bailing from the bustle of Tokyo and trying to make a life somewhere else.”

My pupils begin to dilate as the words flow out faster and faster. “It’s as if the problem isn’t the girls’ impulsiveness or the economic system. The core problem is more fundamental than that. It’s simply that they don’t follow the basic rules of society. They decided to stick out, and society punished them for it. So they must conform. Go back to Tokyo, get those degrees, throw out the dream of legal partnership. But that message is so hollow, isn’t it? ‘Don’t get too big for your britches’? ‘Know your place’? Sure, their relationship survives this ordeal. But you could almost see a breakup down the road because the ‘dream’ will always be too heavy a burden to bear. It tries to end on a hopeful note, but it ended up leaving a really sour taste in my mouth.”

The small man stares intently at me, but then leans back in his chair and presses no further. Mr. VP chimes in, “I think that’s all we have on our side. Do you have any questions for us?”

Yeah, I do, like what the fuck just happened to this interview. “So, I guess Yuri is pretty popular in the office, yeah?” I try to joke. “It’s an essential part of the job, it says so right in the posting.” the woman replies. I look down at the printout next to my notepad on the table. Reading the page, I knit my eyebrows in confusion. Yuri Solutions Architect? The hell is…?

After a beat, the VP says, “HR will be reaching out to you for our final decision. Thank you for your time Mr. Marcus. Oh, and don’t forget your scooter.”

“My scooter…? I don’t own a….” I look to my right to see an old, well-worn moped revving up in the corner of the conference room. I recognize in terror that it’s Hinoto’s scooter, threatening to drive me toward ruin like it did it’s owner. Startled, I scramble out of the swiveling office chair and back away until I hit the full-length exterior window covering one wall of the room behind me. The scooter accelerates towards me, and the scream doesn’t have time to leave my throat before—

My iPad falls onto my face, startling me awake. I am on the living room couch in my apartment. I groggily tap the device to be greeted by my lock screen, an illustration page from Otherside Picnic. In the stark black and white image, two young women carry assault rifles down a side street of a derelict Japanese town. Superimposed atop the picture is large text that reads 3:12 a.m.

As I go to put the iPad away, I briefly see a LinkedIn job posting notification for a role at some company called Island Industries. I pay it no mind as I half-consciously shamble off to bed.

Art – 5
Story – 6
Characters – 5
Service – 3 
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 4

Overall – 5

Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network, as well as the writer for the blog Oh My God, They Were Bandmates analyzing How Do We Relationship in greater depth.