Baba Yaga
Shitsurakuen
Zettai Shoujo Seiiki Amnesium
Kimi Koi Limit
Otome Senshi Lovely 5
El Cazador Manga
Sukoyaka Paradigm Shift
Gatch Gatcha Manga, Volume 8 (English) Guest Review by Sean Gaffney
First, a small digression. A lot of manga have sidebar comments interspersed throughout the volumes. In the magazine, this is a place where the page was thinner so that an advertisement could be placed. For the volume, the publisher asks the artist to fills those spaces with original material to draw in a reader who may not want to buy something they already read in the pages of, say, Melody magazine. As readers of shoujo manga know, 90% of the time the material is the artist talking about what they ate, or where they shopped, or the awesome fellow manga artist they hung out with, or simply whining about how awful they are. And Yutaka Tachibana does this a bit too, no doubt. But she also discusses this series, and the choices she made.
She talks about Motoko, and how the editor asked for her more violent and lecherous tendencies to be toned down, but that Tachibana put her foot down. She also mentions Yuri, and said that she tried to make her a girl who’d only gone as far as kissing with her boyfriends, but felt Yuri worked better when she was ‘less pure’. More to the point, Tachibana wrote this manga ‘doing what she felt like’, and decided to simply dispense with most of the shoujo romance most series demand. Volume 8 gives us a good idea of why – it doesn’t fit the characters at mall. At least not the female characters. Yuri spends most of this volume trying to get herself to fall out of love with Yabe and in love with Hirao. She certainly does have some feelings for Hirao, and notes that she’d be jealous if she saw him with another girl. But she doesn’t get him. When she finally goes on a date with him – a very awkward one – she senses stares coming from the other females in the room, and worries that they all see Hirao as some ’empty-headed bimbo’. Later, seeing him blushing after eating a bite of her food, she compares him to… a princess.
Role reversal is the order of the day throughout this volume. Yuri dreams of being rescued from a snowy mountaintop by a ‘prince’ whose face she can’t quite make out. It’s clearly Motoko, but she hasn’t yet connected those dots. Later, she and Hirao are captured by the evil gang leader who’s been trying to make everyone’s life miserable this whole series. She then decides to disguise herself as Hirao and take the abuse and torture of her captors so that he can escape. Yuri is supposed to be the blushing shoujo heroine, only she simply can’t fall into those lines.
Neither does Motoko. Her main character arc wrapped up in Book 7, so here she simply does what she does best – makes insensitive yet telling remarks and beats up tons and tons of people. Much of this is a facade, of course – we’ve seen how much Motoko cares for Yuri, and she’s been trying to get her and Hirao to stumble towards each other almost from Day One. It’s not working, though, and clearly Yuri’s happiness is more important to her than she ever expected – Sekine understands this when he asks in a prior volume how she feels about Yuri and Hirao, and Motoko blankly replies “Dunno.”
So the climax of the series is, of course, Motoko coming to Yuri’s rescue, not Hirao. And in the final scene, we see Motoko finally at peace with herself. Her big sister is back, but seems to have lost the obsession with Motoko that led to jealous insanity. Motoko even cut her hair again, now that she doesn’t have to be ‘girly’ to ward off Kanako’s affections. And Yuri notices, saying that Motoko looks cool and makes her heart skip a beat. Now, Motoko had flirted with Yuri in a joking way several volumes earlier, but this comment seems to pull her up short. Then she just smiles and says “You bet I do.” This is lampshaded by the author, who has Sekine noting to Hirao while this is going on that Hirao has to win Yuri quickly and keep her or else he’ll lose her. But then the final line of the author’s narration is “Then again… maybe it’s already too late?”
The author already mentioned she stood her ground on keeping Yuri and Motoko the flawed yet far more awesome characters they were. More to the point, most of the time she didn’t go for the easy out, or the typical plot. The narrative, from the start, clearly was about the meeting and subsequent friendship of these two girls. And the two guys co-starring were shown, over and over, to be fairly weak and ineffectual, no matter what was done to toughen them up. As a result,
when it’s implied Yuri and Motoko get together at the end, this isn’t a surprise. It’s what the series has been working towards.
Ratings:
Art – 6. Still can get busy and confusing, especially during action scenes.
Story – 7. There are some cliches here, don’t get me wrong, but I liked the way the author stuck to her guns much of the time.
Characters – 9. Fantastic, especially the females. Even the psycho incestuous sister, Kanako, gets a depth rarely seen in psycho incestuous sisters.
Yuri (no, not the character): 5. It can still be read as hypothetical, but you’d have to squint, especially with the final pages.
Servicey – 2. There’s not a heck of a lot of service here.
Overall: 8. A highly underrated series from Tokyopop, and I’m pleased that it is finally finished. Definitely worth the effort to find it.
Also, the inside cover picture has Motoko wearing a fedora while snuggling Yuri. Fedoras make everyone sexier.
Yuri Manga: Blue Friend, Volume1
Man, was Blue Friend (ブルーフレンド) depressing.
Where Nakayoshi‘s Nobara no Mori no Otome-tachi is melodramatic in a Strawberry Panic! kind of way, and Ciao‘s Waza-ari Kiwami-chan is energetic and positive, Ribon Magazine’s contribution to the growth spurt of Yuri in shoujo manga trots out every nasty, tawdry, icky-feeling, angst-making trope it can find. And does it quite well. ^_^;
Ayumu is athletic, popular, smart. Misuzu is ostracized, unlovable, broken. Through circumstance, Ayumu find herself defending Misuzu against just about every jerky way school kids have to be mean to each other. And for her troubles, she is rewarded by a kiss from Misuzu. Misuzu, who hates boys, eventually admits that Ayumu – and only Ayumu – can be close to her. But this immediately turns possessive, when Misuzu runs off a boy who wants to become close to Ayumu. Even though it ultimately turns out that Misuzu was right and the boy was a jerk, the two cannot get their act together as friends or…whatever…because immediately a new threat appears. Someone who knows Misuzu’s dark past is determined to torture her with it. Notes threatening Misuzu appear in her locker. Ayumu can see something is bothering Misuzu, but does not know what.
The newcomer, Satsuki, who has returned from suspension for undisclosed reasons, clearly has an axe to grind and grind it she does, against Ayumu’s unknowing friendship and Misuzu’s already ground-down soul.
Thing come to a climax when papers identifying Misuzu as having had an affair with an older man, a doctor, and ruining him, are plastered all over the school. In Misuzu’s memory, we can see that this is probably not the whole story, but it’s too late for Misuzu, who collapses.
There will be a second volume, and there is an (apparently happy) after-story that has just been published, but Volume 1 is pretty much unremitting angst, no less angsty because you can see everything coming from a mile away. Ayumu is a bit too completely perfect, Misuzu is a bit too completely broken for my taste. But both are sympathetic in their own ways. I do hope for that happy ending, even if I know it’s not going to be them together.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 6
Yuri – 6
Service – 3
Overall – 6
If you loved Pieta, or any of the old, angsty classics of Yuri manga, you should probably take a chance on Blue Friend.
I did want to mention that the obi that comes with this volume reads “This Yuri Manga is great” in Japanese. Now that’s kinda interesting, isn’t it?
Top Ten Yuri Manga of 2010
As always, writing this list is a struggle. Am I telling you the 10 I liked the most? Including lesser titles because I know you can get a copy? Am I merging English and Japanese titles to fill spaces, or separating them so I can include more?
There was a nice pile of manga on my possibles list when all was said and done, so I am going to separate out the English titles, otherwise they’d never appear on the list at all. Which means you’re getting a Top 5 in each language.
Let me remind you, as I always do, that these lists are *in my opinion* and therefore may not be your opinion. You are most welcome to add items you feel were noteworthy in the comments. Without further ado, here are my Top Yuri Manga Lists for 2010
Top Five Yuri Manga in English
10) Jormungand – Right, the Yuri is barely there, but what there is is openly portrayed for the one-sided (but not rejected or mocked) crush it is. Otherwise, it’s a ridiculous story full of guns and chases and people dying – i.e, a good action story.
9) K-ON! – One of the abiding qualities of anime and manga fandom is the insistence on seeing relationships where there are none. Mugi does that for you, so you don’t have to. Oh and by the way, the series is a delightful slice-of-life comic strip with charming characters.
8) Azumanga Daioh Omnibus – Azumanga Daioh was the first 4-koma style story to make it big over here, very likely because the anime hit first. It set the bar for those following it and when Yen put out a new edition, they brought us back to that magical moment when we discovered the Japanese comic strip. For letting us relive that, and reminding us what we’re looking for, the new edition gets #3 on this list.
7) Hayate x Blade – I’m not done talking about this series, even though this may or may not be it for us in English. (I don’t know Seven Seas’ plans any more than you do, so don’t ask.) For getting as far as Hitsugi and Shizuku being awesome in battle (background music and all) and giving us the slightest taste of Sid and Nancy, as well as all the wonderful shinyuu pairs and their Yuri-ish sensibility, Hayate x Blade is forever in my Top Two.
6) Gunsmith Cats Burst – The final moment of this series came with exactly the right note of melancholy, hope, sex and danger. Surrounded by car chases, gun fights, explosions and drugs, Rally Vincent conceded the one thing she could never truly keep to Goldie. And the story bowed out with a recognition of all that we had ever thought was true. In English, in the year 2010, this is my Top Yuri Manga.
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Top Five Yuri Manga in Japanese
5) Ohana Holo Holo – This story was an unexpected find. It’s not a “Yuri story,” but this tale of an alternative family far surpasses the confines of any category. A past love shapes a current relationship and there’s some sense that that love may not yet be dead. However, that’s not the point of the story. The point is that the family we make is as strong as any family we are born into. This is an excellent manga and I look forward to more.
4) Octave/GIRL FRIENDS/Aoi Hana/Renai Joshika/Sasamekikoto – These series are all, in their own way, creating a revolution. Dramatic, funny, sexy, cute, every one of these books did something special – they looked at love between women not as a fetish, but as a relationship. These books took us step by step through the process of feeling scared, ecstatic, alone, fulfilled, all the many and various ways that we can feel when we find ourselves attracted to another woman. These stories capture everything from first love to old loves rekindled in an refreshingly honest, no-punches-pulled way. This is the revolution we’ve been waiting for. Here it is. Girls loving girls, women loving women, portrayed with honesty and depth by artists who care to tell a story, not just frame a sex scene.
(Yes, yes, this is a cheat, by making this a 5-way tie, but it’s because the stories themselves take back seat to the intent here. I can sleep at night with this, so don’t complain. ^_^)
3) Rakuen Le Paradis – By far and away, my favorite of the quarterly anthologies I’m reading right now. Artists I like, telling stories I like, with a decidedly “talking to the adults in the room” flavor. This is not for the kiddies, and moe fans will be turned right off by most of what’s here. This is the magazine I’ve been waiting for for years. If I could give Yuri Hime one piece of advice, I suggest it use Rakuen as a role-model, so it grows up into a beautiful, poised woman.
I almost fudged this again and went for a tie. But no, I’m going to force myself to make a decision. It could have easily gone the other way. But here we go. My top two series of the year are:
2) Gunjo – There’s just about nothing left I can say about this series that I haven’t already said. Nakamura Ching-sensei is one of my heroes. She tells this remarkable story with her whole heart and soul and every single chapter I am flattened by it. Volume 1 is one of my prize possessions. Brutal, dark, touching, sublime…this series is still the most amazing thing I have ever read and I still have no idea where she’s going with it. Like I said, this easily could have been Number 1 this year. Gunjo is a masterwork.
1) Nobara no Mori no Otome-tachi – The sole reason this series made number 1 is because it led the pack in bringing Yuri back to shoujo manga. Yuri in seinen has never been a surprise, and in shounen has been used as a plot complication for many years, and it’s resurgence in josei has been on the rise for the past few years…the one place it was missing was shoujo. Shoujo Yuri is what got me into the genre and this series, this child of Maria-sama ga Miteru and Strawberry Panic!, has led the genre back full-circle. The series is utterly melodramatic, romantic, creepy, sexy – a perfect Yuri soap opera. Because I’m apparently a sap for Yuri in shoujo manga, Nobara no Mori no Otome-tachi makes my #1 spot for the year.
What was your top ten for 2010? I look forward to reading your thoughts in the comments!
Yuri Network News – December 18, 2010
Short report today, folks. It’s been a long week.
Yuri Manga
YNN Correspondent Katherine H. starts us off right with the news that the first volume of Waza ari- Kiwami-chan ( わざアリっ きわみちゃん ) is due on the shelves on December 24. You may recall from my review, this series has a little bit of Yuri in the form of a friend crushing on Kiwami, but the real strength of the story is in Kiwami’s “this girl don’t take no BS from the boys” attitude.
The New Year is also going to start off with bang – the second volume of GUNJO (羣青) will be on sale at the end of January. This year the story has been full of wild ups and downs. I haven’t been reviewing the chapters because every time I get a copy of IKKI, I think I’ll catch you all up…then the story overwhelms me and I can’t write about it. I’ve begun describing reading this series as “eating the most delicious razorblades ever.”
Also on sale at the end of January, Mikuni Hachime’s Mousou HONEY (妄想HONEY), a collection of the Yuri Hime installments.
From MangaTime KR comes Kyoumei Suru Echo (共鳴するエコー), a collection of stories that range from school love to love between adults and all around the barn. Regard for this collection has been rather high on the Japanese Yuri lists, but I’m always loathe to take that as gospel. In any case, this seems like an interesting bet.
Ibara no Namida, ( いばらの泪 ) is another Yuri Hime collection slated for the beginning of next year.
And just a reminder that Tsubomi, Vol. 9 (つぼみ) is now available. Can you believe that? They must have had some good investment money in this….
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That’s a wrap for this week.
Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.
Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!
