The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Volume 7

July 26th, 2024

A young woman in a pink dress, and red cape, her blonde hair tied on both sides with ribbons faces us, her palm outstretched, other arm akimbo. Behind her, a silver-haired girl in blue, a yellow bow in her hair, holds one fist up to her chin. A palace can be seen in the distant background above a city.So, you’re a Princess with memories of another world where “magic” tools existed, an obsessive interest in research on magic that is opposed by a lot of the nobles and the academia of your country and you’re always getting in trouble for pursuing that research, and your brother does something so gob-smackingly stupid that the country will have to turn to you for leadership, only you fall in love with your brother’s ex-fiancee and she with you and in the course of remaking the monarchy, you become a dragon and she becomes an immortal spirit. And the two of you do remake the monarchy with her as Queen and you as her consort, and save the country, reconcile with the nobility and academics and your brother and gather around you a team that includes a vampire, and humans from all the classes….

…where do you go from here?

This is the question that is front and center of The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, Volume 7.

In most fairy tales, “happily-ever-after” marks the end of the story. So what if the princess (and prince and country) suffered trauma and loss to get to the wedding? So what if the prince had been a frog or the princess a swan, they get on with their lives. I’ve long looked for stories that stop and take a sober look at the after happily-ever-after. I love epilogues for that reason and sequels that take place 10 years later.  So what did the Heroes of the Revolution do when they got home? They could hardly pretend to be ordinary people anymore.

Piero Karasu has, to my immense joy, actually taken up the mantle of what happens next and presents a grander tale than I could have imagined. As ruling Queen, Euphylia has a vision…for Anisphia…to make their country a center of magicology research. But the capital is simply not the appropriate place to create this. So she conceives of a plan so grand it will require a new city, with Anisphia as it’s architect.

Anis, having embraced her inhumanity, now has to dig deep back into it to learn how to lead the people she has gathered around her.

Sure this series has its fill of dragons and vampires and werewolves, of magic swords and flying cars, but it is centered around the idea of answering the question, “what if someone wanted all those magic things to matter?” And when those someones are two women who are deeply in love, who have sacrificed their human lives to make their country a better place, they do matter.

Don’t think for one second that this is a profound book, though. This volume is full of small, human conversations, about dreams and hopes and fears, about a shared vision for a better future and the understandably selfish desire Anis and Euphie have to just stay together and ignore the world.  It’s not brilliantly written, but the love Anis and Euphie have for one another is explicitly stated – I believe this may be the first time they say they love each other openly – and their vision for their country is, well, vast. There’ll be plenty of room for them to grow into it and more stories to tell.

Ratings:

Art – I just cannot with this art. It needs to be epic and they look 6.
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – Rather less than any previous volume
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8

Do I want to read a series about two magical women building a city of magical research? Hell yes, I do.

Posted in Light Novel | 3 Comments »


Koharu to Minato: Watashi No Partner Ha Onna No Ko, Volume 1 (小春と湊 わたしのパートナーは女の子)

July 25th, 2024

Koharu to Minato: Watashi No Partner Ha Onna No Ko, Volume 1Two women smile at one another holding tapioca teas. One is taller with collar-length black hair that fades into lavender, wearing a fashionable black suit and accessories. The other is shorter, with long light brown hair, casually dressed in a green tee and jeans with her arm around the other woman's waist. (小春と湊 わたしのパートナーは女の子) is a fictionalized autobiographical comic essay on the real-lives of the creative team, Daruma and Hiarron, which has been running in Comic Yuri Hime magazine. Originally in the end pages of the magazine, it has recently been moved into the body. Conveniently I found some time recently to finish up this first collected volume in the middle of a very busy week. 

The main point of this book is that Koharu and Minato are adorable together. 10 years apart in age, Koharu is a bit of a free spirit, naturally a bit butchier than Minato, while Minato tends to be a fashion plate. The two of them are good for one another and their relationship is wholesome as can be. (As I write this review, my wife and I have just shared a bowl of cereal for an afternoon snack and we’re feeling very wholesome ourselves, so, like, I get it. ^_^)

The story, as such, becomes more interesting when they tell they story of how they met online and ended up meeting, then dating long-distance and eventually moving in together. I will say that I find myself oddly interested in the minutiae of their lives together. ^_^

There is no major conflict here. Maybe they go out for boba tea, or they have a date to see a movie. They live together and are very in love. It’s the kind of manga you’ll want to read a small section at a time, so you’re not overwhelmed with the cuteness. The art here is loose and comfortable, a style that suits the narrative very well.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters  – It’s never not weird to score a person’s perspective on themselves. They both seem very nice. 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8

Although this is a fictionalized autobiographical look at their lives together – and they do discuss marriage at one point – there is little discussion of queer life in Japan (although that may be addressed in the next volume. For that reason, I am scoring this a a Yuri, not  LGBT comic.

This series began as a digital comic, but there’s a definite “meant for publication” feel to it. Despite that, it is currently in digital format only, so only available on Kindle in Japan, multiple JP digital manga sites and Bookwalker outside.

Volume 2 hit digital shelves in May, and if I need more comfort food Yuri, I’m sure to reach for the next volume as well.

Posted in Comic Essay, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Otherside Picnic, Volume 10

July 24th, 2024

Two women stand back to back. The shorter with collar-length dark hair in a green jacket over striped shirt holds her hand up to her face near a blue eye, that does not match her other brown eye. Behind her is a taller women with long, blonde hair, looking back over her left shoulder at us. In the background are a tall girl with red hair, her hand on a shorter girl's shoulder. The shorter girl holds up a fist as if ready to protect the other girl.by Sandy Ferguson, Guest Reviewer

Otherside Picnic, Volume 10 includes the satisfying conclusion of ‘Sannuki and the Karate Kid’, the beginning of ‘The Whisper Is At-Your-Own-Risk’ and the always welcome bonus Kozakura story ‘Getting Lost in Self-Loathing’, the title is a bit of a spoiler…

In this volume the events of the stories happen in our world. Sorawo and Toriko do not enter the Otherside, instead they are responding to the Otherside interacting with our world in both stories, though in very different ways.

Throughout this volume Sorawo shares her thoughts concerning the nature of the Otherside and how it becomes part of our world.

And through conversations Sorawo explores the distinction between those who actively seek an encounter with the Otherside, people like her and Toriko who are willing to risk the consequences of such an encounter, compared with those who stumble on a ‘patch’ of the Otherside that has somehow infiltrated our world. This is partly as an explanation of why she is willing to help those who stumble into the Otherside, but as she also makes clear she doesn’t want to deal with them being a nuisance who might get in the way of her and Toriko’s fun.

We hear more of Sorawo’s definitions of urban lore and ghost stories and why the distinction is so important to her, with a harrowing glimpse into her childhood to explain why this is the case.

One aspect of Otherside Picnic I appreciate is the ability to portray the presence of the Otherside in an ordinary setting that I find unsettling. For example, Sorawo’s response to seeing Satsuki in a crowd and what happens next.

Satsuki Uruma looms more and more into the narrative throughout this volume in a variety of ways, such as Sorawo becoming annoyed when people are happy to tell her that she looks like Satsuki.

Satsuki haunts Sorawo’s life, not just with her presence, but her fears of what will happen if she shares with Kozakura and especially Toriko that she can see Satsuki. We see more of the connections that Satsuki made, the young women who were drawn to her and who she recruits. The question that arises is what was Satuski’s objective bringing these young women into her vision of the Otherside?

In ‘The Whisper Is At-Your-Own-Risk’ we meet Runa Urumi, also known as Luna-sama, a Satsuki devotee touched by the Otherside with a talent that is a powerful illustration of the consequences of what happens when elements of the Otherside being deliberately introduced into our world.

But it is useful to remember that Satsuki and her ilk are not the only people bringing the Otherside into our world. Sorawo uses the gift of her eye to prepare Akari for her confrontation with the Kano Sannuki.

‘The Whisper Is At-Your-Own-Risk’ is one of my favourite stories from the novels, and the manga has already got a good start in its version of the story, with its dramatic recreation of the kidnap, the story of Luna-sama being touched by the Otherside and Sorawo’s realisation that she has to face the trauma of her past as she is confronted by held captive by a cult who worship Luna-sama.

I am really looking forward to Volume 11, which comes out in November!

I was particularly drawn to the bonus short story, “Getting Lost in Self-Loathing”. As always, we are invited to witness Kozakura’s perspective on events, and this one was a doozie. Kozakura’s honesty about her complicated feelings about Satsuki, Toriko and Sorawo and how they had drawn her into the Otherside is compelling and raw.

Sorawo’s role in Kozakura’s musings are particularly interesting, as Kozakura expresses a combination of annoyance with a dash of gratitude over how Sorawo has changed her life.

Ratings:

Story – 9

Artwork – 9 “A whole lot of…teeth?” is a scene that will be haunting my dreams. And then there is the ethical dilemma, can we enjoy the wonderful artwork of Akari beating up what looks like an old woman?

Character – 9 We are given more glimpses of the complexity that is Sorawo, how she responds to the trauma of her childhood and how this has shaped her ability to be in relationship with other people. And ‘Getting Lost in Self-Loathing is an excellent character study of Kozakura

Service – 7

Yuri – 8 In this volume we are introduced to more potential Yuri thanks to Natsumi and Akari.

Overall – 9

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Posted in English Manga, Guest Review, Otherside Picnic, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Omai Series

July 22nd, 2024

Promotional image for the TikTok version of Omai Series, showing Omai (left) and Mina (right) hugging her.Thailand’s next-door neighbor Vietnam is poorer and more socially conservative, and has a government more resistant to addressing its LGBTQ population’s concerns. Thus it’s understandable that Vietnamese bách hợp (“lily”) films and series are still few and far-between. One of the most recent and most interesting ones is Omai Series (no “the”) from Fimbé, filmmakers associated with Brave Films & Entertainment, a Ho Chi Minh City production house. Omai Series was originally released in the form of very short TikTok videos, in Vietnamese only. These were then combined and released as longer YouTube videos with English subtitles for international fans, and then combined again into a movie-length season 1 (with a season 2 compilation perhaps to follow in future).

Born on the internet and unconstrained by the strictures of broadcast TV, Omai Series (literally) shows its colors in the first scene: First-year university student Mai (nicknamed Omai after the Hanoi dried fruit snack) arrives at her new apartment in Ho Chi Minh City to find a strange flag on the door. “Is my roommate a foreigner?” she wonders. No, that’s the lesbian flag, and her roommate is the sultry and sophisticated Mina, a third-year student. Mina directs Omai to sit with her on the only bed (“no chairs in this room”) and teases Omai about her nickname (“Sour? Sweet? Or spicy?!”) while reassuring her, “Don’t worry, I won’t eat you.”

Indeed she doesn’t, at least not literally, but as time goes on Omai gradually finds herself succumbing to Mina’s charms. She’s cheered on by her two classmates and friends Watermelon and the gay-coded Loa Phường, and opposed by her rebellious twin sister Lili, who’s resentful of Omai’s status as the “good child.” Lili’s machinations, Omai’s relationship with her parents, and Mina’s relationship with her mother (who’s trying to match her up with a handsome doctor) drive most of the plot.

Live-action romances live and die based on the sparks that fly between the main couple, and Omai Series does not disappoint in that regard. The actor Omai is especially good at portraying both Omai and her polar opposite Lili — on my first watch I didn’t realize they were played by the same person — although she doesn’t make a truly convincing drunk. The actor Mina is a worthy foil to her. (In a promotional livestream the actors expressed a preference to be identified by their nicknames – which are the same as their character names — rather than by their full real names, and the show credits reflect that.) The acting for Omai’s best friends is broader and less professional — not surprising since Watermelon and Loa Phường are portrayed by the director/screenwriter and Brave’s PR manager respectively.

Omai Series is a relatively low budget show, but it’s a reasonably professional production with adequate English subtitles. However the vertical format sometimes forces odd choices in the cinematography, and for a good part of the show the subtitles are in small yellow text that can be difficult to read at times, especially on a smartphone. To my knowledge it’s the first yuri entry from Fimbé and Brave. I hope it won’t be the last.

Story – 7 (the addition of Lili livens the action)
Characters – 7
Production – 6
Service – 3 (a chaste first kiss leads to something more intense later)
Yuri – 10
LGBTQ — 7
Overall – 7

Omai Series is a sweet and savory Vietnamese treat, whether you snack on individual episodes during the day or make a full meal of it binge-watching in the evening.

Posted in Frank Hecker, Live Action, Staff Writer | 1 Comment »


Cooking Anime: 50 Iconic Dishes from Your Favorite Anime

July 21st, 2024

Illustration of cute food items with faces, in Japanese bento boxes.Hello Okazu family, this is Pattie, ‘the wife’ and first lady of Yuricon and Okazu.

Here’s a little-known fact about Erica… she reads as many cookbooks as I do. There is typically a collection of cooking magazines, vintage promotional cooking pamphlets, and random cookbooks on the table where we eat. When I finish one, I pass it across the table for her to read. I like to think I’ve helped Erica cultivate a taste for them. So, when we were standing in Five Below, looking at the books, this one was too in our wheelhouse to NOT purchase.

Cooking Anime: 50 Iconic Dishes from Your Favorite Anime* by Nadine Estero honestly surprised me. The author has some serious cooking chops. I was expecting the typical basics of Japanese cooking, and while yes, there are some, the bulk of the recipes on offer are much more involved. More on that in a minute. The other thing that sincerely amazed me was just how up-to-date the series are that are included. Laid-back Camp, Odd Taxi, and Godzilla Singular Point were right next to oldies like Howl’s Moving Castle, Cowboy Bebop, and Card Captor Sakura.

So, the recipes! Each begins by naming the series, season, and episode that inspired the recipe, followed by a description meant to establish the recipes’ background. Some are pretty obvious, based on the series, like the recipe for Tofu Steak from Restaurant to Another World. Others… less so, like Sasha’s Stolen Bread and Potato Ration Soup from Attack on Titan (Erica informs me that potatoes are definitely a thing in AoT, something I did not know.) Most recipes include a delightful color illustration, estimated prep and cooking time, and there are quotes about food from the recipe’s series sprinkled liberally throughout. Many of the recipes are multistep, but the author’s careful step-by-step break down of the process makes even the most difficult recipe seem approachable. For example, the Miso Chashu Ramen from Boruto: Naruto Next Generation literally starts with building the broth, making the chashu, the miso tare, and the infused finishing oil to drip on top. Nothing out of a can or box going on here! And yet, her conversational tone assures you that it’s only a matter of time before you’re placing flavorful bowls on the table.

There was precious little in this book I wouldn’t make, to the point where I was shocked that she was able to sell me on Tuna Meatballs in Orange Sauce from One Piece. I mean, really, that sounds foul… and yet…

The only downside, IMO, was the estimated prep and cook time. But, to be frank, I have this issue with just about ALL recipes. The Land and Sea Mix Okonomiyaki from Himouto! Umaru-chan R says it will take you 15 minutes to finely chop 3 cups of cabbage, 2 scallions, peel and devein 12 shrimp, chop octopus legs, squid heads, mozzarella, and pork belly… aside from making the okonomiyaki base. Apparently, I’m slow.

Ratings:

Art – 9 charming, colorful, enticing
Utility – 9 there were more than a few recipes that called for nothing more than pantry staples
Characters – 10 there were a bunch, for sure
Service – 10 this book WILL make you want to cook
Yuri – 10 I really do love my wife

Slow or not, if you’re like me and Erica; into anime, and food, AND cooking, grab this excellent book. Sincerely, it’s worth twice the price.

*The link to the book on Amazon includes some weird brandjacking by a skin cream, but this link does go to the book. I hope. Or check your local Five Below to see if they have it. ^_^

Posted in Guest Review, Miscellaneous | No Comments »