Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Alter Ego by Ana C. Sánchez

March 17th, 2021

Noel is in love with her best friend, Elena. Or is she? She’s jealous when Elena spends time withe her boyfriend and now she’s going to have a new rival for Elena’s attention, June. Frustrated and feeling alone, Noel blurts out her feelings to a complete stranger. When Elena finally introduces her to June…you guessed it, she was the complete stranger.

Noel tries to keep her feelings about Elena front and center, and put distance between herself and this older woman, but “circumstances” keep bringing them together. The more about June she learns, the harder it is to keep distance between them. Noel struggles with conflicting feelings, until she’s forced to admit the truth.

There are a lot of things to like about Alter Ego, Ana C. Sánchez‘s manga-inspired comic from Tokyopop’s LOVE x LOVE imprint. I especially liked Elena, as we quickly realize she is neither clueless…nor without agency. June is an interesting character, as well. We’re told she’s older and indeed, her perspective does seem more mature than Noel’s in some ways, but not in others.

The weakest element of the book is Noel herself. Her behavior is not just immature, it’s often selfish, manipulative and, IMHO, quite toxic. I frequently sent mental waves to both Elena and June to tell her to shape the fuck up or get out of their lives. I will give Sánchez credit – she makes passive-aggressive behavior exactly as unpleasant as it actually is and doesn’t pretend it’s “cute.” I was also a little surprised that there is no mention of queer identity in this comic, but it wasn’t a point against, as clearly this is meant to be read as a “Yuri manga.”

The art is solid – it suffered, I think, when the artist was attempting to draw “a manga” rather than just draw her story, but this improves as the story continues. Overall, this is a fine one-volume story, that has a lot of the strengths and weaknesses of one-volume stories. If you’re looking for a one-shot Yuri romance that won’t ask too much of you but also won’t break any new ground, Alter Ego by Ana C. Sánchez is available from Tokyopop in Print and Digital in English and Planeta Cómic in Spanish right now.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – Noel was a 5, everyone else a 7
Service – 2ish?
Yuri – 7

Overall – a solid 7

Thank you very kindly to Tokyopop for the  review copy!

 





Syrup: A Yuri Anthology, Volume 2

March 11th, 2021

There are several games in town on the Yuri Anthology playing field in Japanese, Kadokawa, Ichijinsha and Futabasha. (Thank you CW for the correction!) In English, we’ve gotten the Éclair anthologies from Yen Press and Syrup from Seven Seas, respectively. If you read all the anthologies, as I am wont to, you’ll see a lot of the same names floating around on the contributor list, which occasionally gives one a sense of deja vu. ^_^ Today we’re looking at the second Syrup anthology  out from Seven Seas. Of Volume 1, I said “Syrup is a very good Yuri anthology for your growing Yuri anthology section of bookshelves and a great way to add work by some of the best in Yuri.” This holds true for Syrup: A Yuri Anthology, Volume 2, with some caveats. 

“Caveats?” you ask? Yes, to be very honest, overall, I am less fond of the Ichijinsha and Futabasha anthologies than I am of the Kadokawa. Second, because an anthology covers a wide range of styles and content, you are unlikely to love everything in any given anthology. In this volume’s case there were a few stories that put me off quite severely. One, by an author I know I don’t like and was therefore able to skip it, and at least one other by someone I had not previously been familiar with.

That said, here in Syrup, Volume 2, we have a fair number of decent stories and a brace of stories that I thought lifted the whole anthology out of the pack.

Matsuzaki Natsumi’s “The Fourth Woman” was an excellent crossover between two subgenres, with a idol fan and her idol meeting once again in office life, which left me smiling at the short, but on point story. The final story, “At What Point?” by Morinaga Milk also hit me in a few sensitive spots. The collection as a whole has some names I’m pleased to see; among them, Takahashi Mako, Whispered Words‘ Ikeda Takashi, Amano Shuninta, who I’m always really glad to see in any anthology and what now looks like a very, very early contribution by Kiss and White Lily for My Dearest Girl creator, Canno.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Solid work by translator Jennifer Ward and adaptor Asha Bardon make this a quick read. I want to note that doing lettering and retouch on multiple author’s work, as Kaitlyn Wiley did here, can be trickly. Another fine job from everyone at Seven Seas and another authentic manga reading experience.

Thanks to Seven Seas for the review copy!





A Witch’s Love At The End of The World, Volume 2

March 10th, 2021

In Volume 1, we meet Mari a girl at a school for witches who apparently has no magic. Assigned to help her in her studies is top student Alice who has a great deal of magic, and who has been warned to never fall in love. As I say in my review, ” Mari and Alice discover that they can transcend not only their personal limitations, but the strictures placed upon witches. Mari becomes a key and a lock, which Alice unlocks. In doing so, she finds herself changed.”

In A Witch’s Love At The End of The World, Volume 2, Kujira’s tale of magic and loss and love takes a shocking turn, as Mari and Alice find themselves wandering Mari’s old neighborhood…only to discover that all traces of her family have been disappeared completely. The situation is not at all cleared up when Madam Dolly finds them and sends them back to the school. Alice is feeling feeling she has been explicitly warned to stay away from and Mari, who doesn’t really care about being a witch at all, just wants to know what the heck is going on.

This book reminds me a great deal of a story from my childhood that I loved. The multiple perspectives of same events and characters trying to understand those perspectives. It’s not at all the same story, but it has a similar feel. As a result, I find myself probably more engaged with Mari’s quest to find the truth and make a path for her and Alice through this than maybe I might otherwise might have. In any case, I still enjoy the art – which has become much more filled in now that Mari and Alice are in the “real” world –  and the characters. I hope the story will hold up to through the end.

Yen’s edition is nicely put together, featuring the translation of Eleanor Summers and lettering stylings by Sara Linsley (who, relevantly, just had a great little Twitter thread about lettering over art.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – The jump comes from an unlikely quarter, but…yes
Service – Still not really

Overall – 8

Volume 3 will be out in May, and I’m hoping for the ending I want, not the ending it’ll probably get. ^_^

Thanks so much to Yen Press for the review copy and for bringing out this interesting story.





Still Sick, Volume 3

March 8th, 2021

Here we are at the end of Akashi’s workplace-romance that became a completely different story. In Still Sick, Volume 3, as I said in my review of the Japanese edition, there is a lot of story to tell and, overall, this volume is up to the task.

Maekawa is still locked in a struggle with herself about drawing manga. But being locked in a struggle is what Akane does best, as she’s simultaneously locked in two other struggles. Also vying for her attention is her increasingly serious feelings for Shimizu Makoto ,and her refusal/inability to deal with her depression…a depression that has some deep roots.

Makoto, in the meantime, has decided to be everything she can be for Akane. She’s supportive of the other woman’s choices, and forces her to confront some of those roots. And, while Makoto forces Akane to grow on in her personal life, her editor pushes her to do the same professionally. When the dam breaks for her, Akane, she is finally able to get past her blocks. Makoto takes a leap into the unknown too. Ultimately they walk together into a much less foreseeable future than either of them could have predicted.

As a story, this was also a stronger one than we could have predicted. There was a lot of room for Akane’s passive-aggressive nature to just continue to be played for “laughs,” but I believe that would have done a disservice to characters and readers. Instead, Akashi ties the series up pretty tightly and allows us to close the book knowing neither we nor Akane and Makoto were jerked around by lazy writing. As I said with the JP edition, to get everything tidy, the art suffers on some places, but I will always take a well-told tale with slightly sketchy art over detailed art, with an underdeveloped story.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Characters – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 9, LGBTQ – 7
Service – 3 some noodling around, underwear, bed

Overall – 9

Tokyopop did a decent job on the technicals with a solid translation by Katie Kimura, editing by Lena Atanassova and some very nice letting and retouch by Vibraant Publishing Studio. I took a closer look at the cover design and, honestly, without the title and author in black across front of the the cover, Sol DeLeo & Soodam Lee’s cover design is honestly more open and easy to read than the original. Nice work, folks!

Tokyopop has not announced any other Yuri Yuri manga, but they are still bringing out manga-inspired comics, so keep an out for more from them. ^_^





Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 3 (おとなになっても)

February 25th, 2021

Akari is ready to move on. She’s ready to reclaim her old career in the salon and stop running away from her life. She’s putting Ayano and her old ex behind her. She’s moving into a new place and ready to face a new day. Volume  1 and Volume 2 are old news.

So, in Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 3 (おとなになっても) when she walks outside for her first new morning and finds Ayano walking out of her own home at the same time, one can easily imagine some of the words that flit through Akari’s head. And when she gets off the train and finds she’s walking home with Ayano’s husband, she’s sure that a brand new level of hell has opened up just for her. Only, Ayano’s husband is, actually, kinda nice? And not in a creepy way, he just seems to be a decent sort. Even knowing this is the woman his wife is interested in, Wataru invites Akari to dinner. The story gets more complicated as Wataru’s NEET sister Eri now thinks something is up with Akari, but it appears she thinks it’s her brother having an affair.

Akari ends up being roped into a mini-marathon for the local town art festival. In doing so, she rediscovers her love of running. In fact, everything might be looking just great, if it weren’t for the fact that she just can’t seem to get away from Ayano, who she loves and Wataru who she’s come to like.

This was the first volume of this series that really focused our attention on Akari, as opposed to Ayano and like magic, I found myself way more engaged with the narrative. ^_^ I’m torn though, because I don’t want to care too much, either, because I don’t see this series having an ending I can live with. I just hope when the wreckage clears, Akari’s still standing.

Shimura-sensei’s artwork is confident and clean in this volume and to be very honest, this might be the best story I’ve read by her, narratively speaking. I don’t know what will happen and I am content to let it happen, which is exactly what I want from a drama about adults.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – Hrm….Ayano and Akari are still interested in each other.

Overall – 8

I’m putting my money down on this being a candidate for a live-action series.

Volume 4 is already out in Japanese and Volume 1 is available in English as Even Thought We’re Adults, (I reviewed that here on Okazu earlier this month) so share your thoughts in the comments if you’ve read it!