Yuri Manga: Mars no Kiss (マルスのキス)

April 14th, 2008

Many Yuri fans are already familiar with Maka-Maka, the two-volume full-color manga by Kishi Torajirou. (Here are my reviews of Volume 1 and Volume 2 for thems as are interested.) The synopsis of Mars no Kiss (マルスのキス), Kishi’s newest manga, didn’t fill me with glee; it’s basically a “Story A” type story – that is, girl falls for girl, nothing happens. But, Mars no Kiss is well constructed, nicely drawn and surprisingly sweet, so the execution more than makes up for the fact that the plot is the same old thing all over again. The fact that the obi advertises this as a “Girl’s Love Comic” was kind of interesting, but what really pleased me was that synopsis on the obi described this as a first “real” love story.

Yukari is a “bad girl.” She rebels against her controlling mother by dyeing her hair, polishing her nails and having an older boyfriend, with whom she has an intimate relationship. In fact, as she notes, that’s kind of all they have right now. He never takes her anywhere; they just go to a karaoke box, sing a bit, and have sex.

Miki is a “good girl.” She’s tall, and has classic Japanese beauty. She’s quiet and bookish and smart. And a bit aloof.

The two are forced to share a double desk at the beginning of the term which annoys Yukari no end. Like most bad girls, her initial reaction is disdain and derision for the good girl’s behavior. But, one day, after school, she sees Miki in the Art Room, gently kissing a statue of Mars and her heart starts to race. When someone comes up from behind, both Miki and Yukari know that they’ve been seen, and everything changes between them.

Yukari and Miki talk in the library, and Yukari promises to never tell anyone what she saw – and she means it. She’s more worried about her own reaction – why did her heart start to pound at the sight? Miki admits that her reason for doing it was to see if her glasses would get in the way when she kissed someone. Yukari thinks this is hysterical. ^_^

A friendship quickly develops between the two. Miki also has controlling parents – being bookish is her way of escaping. The two start to walk home together, and meet in the library for heart to heart talks. More and more, Miki is in Yukari’s mind…even when she’s with her boyfriend.

When Miki excitedly tells Yukari that she’s got herself a boyfriend, Yukari has to stop herself from being unkind. The boy is a nerdy-looking kid Miki knew in middle school, so Yukari unkindly jokes that if they both are wearing glasses when they kiss, the glasses might get tangled up. She leaves Miki, not wanting to be spiteful, but totally unhappy about her friend’s good fortune. Eventually, she realizes that her feelings for Miki are well past that of “friend” and she recognizes that she’s jealous, plain and simple. In a moment of shock she realizes that what’s she’s feeling, is love.

Here’s what makes this story work. In most cases, we’d expect that the bad girl would tease the good girl at this point, trying to seduce her – or worse, toying with her. Instead, Yukari finds that her feelings for, and friendship with, Miki start to rekindle her own sense of youthful innocence. She cuts her nails, takes off the polish, dumps her boyfriend and softens the hard, cynical edge of her personality. Even Yukari’s expression changes, as she looks on Miki with a whole new perspective.

One day, Yukari brings Miki to the library again, where they talk about Miki’s kiss with Mars. Yukari reminds Miki of their earlier conversation about glasses getting tangled. She shyly pulls out a pair of glasses that she bought, she says, the day before, special for this purpose. She offers to kiss Miki to see if it’s really a problem. The next few panels are especially great, as we see Yukari’s view of Miki through the frames of the glasses, which sit unevenly on her face.

They kiss. The glasses don’t get tangled. Accidentally, Yukari confesses that she likes Miki. Miki’s reaction is to reply that she likes Yukari too, but it’s clearly a different use of “like.” As she removes the glasses from her face, Yukari confesses to herself that she loves Miki.

The story ends there, with the two of them moving to new desk partners the next semester. But they see each other in class and wave. On the last page, Yukari thinks that this love will always be her precious memory. It has a decidedly sweet, rather than bitter, flavor and it leaves one with a good feeling.

In a lot of ways, this story reminded me of the main plot of Hen. It has the same set up – girl in relationship with a guy falls for another girl. But where Hen played everything for high over-the-top-ness, Mars no Kiss is a more realistic look at a similar situation. The lack of seductive pervyness and/or emotional manipulation that we’ve come to expect from “girl loves girl” stories is very refreshing.

The splash art between the chapters is also quite sweet, as it tells a shortened version of the story. In the first chapter, Yukari and Miki sit, openly sulking, next to one another, not looking at one another. By the end, they walk hand in hand.

For fans who want a little more, the novelization of this story appears in the short story anthology Confession, along with, presumably, other stories of love confessions. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8 (particularly those last few pages)
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Yuri – 4
Series – 4

Overall – 8

Yukari likes Miki. The End.

Posted in Maka-Maka, Yuri Manga | 4 Comments »


This Week in Yuri

April 12th, 2008

I’m pleased to report that I was completely totally wrong about the Love My Life, live action movie. It is indeed coming here for a US release, courtesy of Wolfe Video. It’s always a pleasure to be wrong about such things. :-)

I kept meaning to mention this, but never did. In case you were having difficulty finding copies of My Otome/My Z-Hime, Volume 4 – I spoke with the folks from Bandai at Anime Boston. They tell me that the DVD had some problems, and that the new error-free disc was shipping just about then. So hang on and you should be able to find it soon.

Eagle-eyed Sean tells me that Morning 2 magazine, home of non-moe Yuri story Gunjou, is going monthly, so perhaps we’ll get chapters of this great story on a regular basis. However, the website still hasn’t updated, so who knows.

Coming up from Ichijinsha, look for the Yuri Hime manga of the popular game Aoi Shiro, and Yuri Hime 12. (For fans of Aoi Shiro, there’s actually another manga of the story, not from Yuri Hime, but from Jive. I’ll be reviewing it in day to come.) Also up from Ichijinsha, the third and final volume of Hatsukoi Shimai. All of these have a release date of April 18.

Last – and quite probably least – a quick clarification on the new Ikkitousen:GG series. Looks like Ryofu will be making a return, as will Ryomou, Hakufu and Kanu, so I think we can say that the sleazy Yuri fanservice will also me making a comeback. :-)

If you know any interesting news of interest to Yuri fans, feel free to email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com, and I’ll be sure to add it to the next This Week in Yuri!

Posted in Yuri Network News | 6 Comments »


Mai HiME Destiny: Ryuu no Miko Drama CD, Volume 1

April 11th, 2008

This may well be the dumbest review I will ever write because, to be honest, I didn’t understand a bloody thing that went on in Mai HiME Destiny: Ryuu no Miko Drama CD, Volume 1. And it basically followed the book, so there’s really no excuse for me, is there? ^_^

If you’ve read the Light Novel, Mai HiME Destiny, you know that the focus of the story is Kagura Mayo, a girl who wanders onto the campus of distant Fuuka Academy, a school for young people with extraordinary powers, wearing a pair of unbreakable dragon handcuffs and bearing an uncontrolled and uncontrollable ability. The first novel was mostly expository, re-introducing for the umpteenth time the characters that inhabit Fuuka. Shizuru is cooler and more adult (and favors black,) Natsuki is a bit more sociopathic, Haruka and Yukino are as we remember them, Nao is a troublemaker (duh,) Chie and Aoi watch everything and comment like a Greek chorus on events, Nagi is annoying, etc, etc. The only other new item is another student with a mysterious past, Shion, who Mayo claims to know but who insists she’s never met Mayo before.

In between the random bits of pointless service, a story slowly develops: the clubs are battling it out for supremacy and Nagi, for reasons of his own, is trying to pull strings. Shizuru, the Principal and the Chairman (one of whom is Fumi and one Reito, but I can’t remember which is which) all seem to know that something else is afoot. Mayo’s mysterious powers, which she can never remember using, and her handcuffs, are never explained, although the author quite exhaustively speculates on how she gets dressed and goes to the bathroom and other important stuff, with those handcuffs on.

The Drama CD covers much of the same material as the LN, without most of the plot. That has been sacrificed, because it was obviously too complex for the audience, in favor of the panty battle between Mayo and Nao and the kissing scene between Shion and Mayo. There’s a lot of screaming too, and some sound effects that lead me to believe that there is fighting.

What makes this DCD so hard to follow (aside from the sneezing and coughing on my part) was that every other track is a *commercial* for something else. These inserted tracks are so jarring – and so full of screaming – that it made it almost completely impossible for me to figure out what anyone was saying. Threw me off every time. The other thing that made it hard to figure out what was going on was that there’s was an awful lot of silly voices being used. Natsuki was practically barking her words, and Chie – what on earth was going on with that voice? I have no idea what she said at all.

The Light Novel stopped just after all the players were introduced (or, I should say, all the players from the original Mai HiME anyway) and I kind of wondered where the story was going, if anywhere. Looks like the story continues in the Drama CDs. The end of this DCD covers a bit of Mayo and Shion’s back story – in a frameless memory kind of way. Looks like, if we want to know what’s going on in this universe’s Fuuka A., we’ll need to tune in once again.

Ratings:

Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 2 (1 point for Shizuru pursuing an especially passive-agressively closeted Natsuki, and 1 point for the faux Yuri Shion x Mayo thing)
Service – 4

Overall – 6

It’s nothing as traumatizing as the one Mai Otome DCD that I listened to, or as blatantly disgusting as any of the manga series. But other than a lot of screaming, I’m still not sure what actually *happened*.

Posted in Drama CDs & Audiobooks, Mai Hime | 1 Comment »


Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime S, Volume 4

April 10th, 2008

Last week, I briefly mentioned that I found this fourth volume of Yuri Hime S soulless. I wondered why that was, so I spent some time today, in between sneezing my head off, to re-read it and ponder what my problem was with it.

In short, my problem is that most of the stories end where they should begin. The endlessly rehashed tension of two barely pubescent girls who “like” one another is, well…boring. About half the stories in this volume are just that – girl likes girl. Girl confesses, other girl doesn’t push her away, the end. Let’s call it moe Yuri “Story A” for short. That will save me from having to keep typing it over and over.

Cherry Lips – “Story A” with cat-eared, kimono-wearing loli urchins. Three fetishes at once.

Cassiopeia Dolce – Alternate end to “Story A,” in which Anna’s confession to Elsa-sensei is met with “Great! I like you too! Let’s work hard together!”-type, wrong interpretation of “like.”

Kotohana Link – “Story A” setup in which girl fails at romantic scene in school play and the director confesses her feelings.

Flower Flower – Nina continues to abuse Shu physically and emotionally, while Shu continues to try and woo Nina. This is a comedy manga, FYI.

Peach-colored Sigh – “Story A.”

Secret Stream – “Story A” with a twist. They *both* are torturing themselves with their feelings about the other one.

The Two of Us Under the Sky – This iteration of “Story A” is a continuation of last issue’s “Himawari Saita,” as Nasuna tries to decide on a classmate to pursue. Her friend Ma-chan volunteers with a really sloppy (I mean gross sloppy) kiss.

Minus Literacy – Miharu has left. I have no idea why.

Honey Crush – takes a complete turn away from Kyouko and the ghost stressing about Madoka, and instead has the ghost stressing about the existence of the *other,* cuter spirit that lives, bathes and sleeps with Kyouko. Ghost tries to scare cute little Mitsu away, but fails and learns to play nice.

Otome-iro Stay Tune – Arise and drinking buddy Tomoe show up at Hinako’s place where, through drunken stupidity, Arise’s “Story A”-type concern is blurted out. Arise jumps Hinako, insisting that her interest is real.

Fragments – “Story A” between two sisters, one of which looks 8. So a double whammy of negativity for me.

The People Who Are Near Her – Continues from last volume’s “Kaichou and Fukukaichou,” this time from the Vice President’s point of view. Every time she wants to help the President out, or be near her, other people are already there. She manges to share her lunch and take care of Student Council business, and the President comments that she’d be nowhere without her. Happy, happy, joy. joy. Not yet at “Story A” point, but crawling slowly there.

Model Maiden Gretel – continues from last volume, as Yuu, Mariya and Nagi continue to bond as a team through sleeping, bathing and destroying beasties together, with the occasional sloppy kiss. Looks like Mariya is developing a “Story A” type crush for Yuu, while Yuu is completely gaga over Nagi, with her no personal boundaries and mean kissing skills. A second team of three girls tell them to get a grip and become a tighter team already, then show them up with sparkly Orb powers.

Nanami and Isuzu – Valentine’s Day and general “Story A” wackiness

Hime-chan is a Shy Girl – “Story A” buildup, with a side trip on the seven school mysteries and playing someone else’s recorder.

So, as I was saying, in all but a few of the stories, the formula is pretty static. Stories end when the two girls decided to be together, which is basically the same thing that annoyed me about fairy tales as a kid. All that sound and fury for not much pay off. Of the few continuing series, “Gretel” is the most original (which isn’t saying much, but at least it’s something!) and “Otome-iro Stay Tune” is the only one with adult women who like women.

Ratings:

Overall – 5

If you are a fan of moe Yuri, this book is made for *you.* I’m about 1/8th satisfied with it, myself.

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Yuri Manga | 8 Comments »


Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora Manga, Volume 3

April 9th, 2008

Short review today because 1) I’m sick (again!) and 2) there’s basically not much to say about Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora, Volume 3.

Kyoushiro’s big brother Kazuya has shown up and, surprise!, he’s as crazy as everyone kept saying he was. He admits to wanting to destroy the world and Kyoushiro in particular…and really, who can blame him? Kazuya beating the daylights out of Kyou is *still* my favorite part of the series. I could read/watch Kyou having his brother complex and spine shattered at the same time, a million times without it getting tired in the least. :-)

But of course, love and stuff win the day. There’s lots of exposition about the various Tenshi’s dreams and hopes, most of which is kind of abstract, and people pop in and out of existence in a way that really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense (as the wife would say, “Just go with it.”) Kuu and Kyou get to be reunited, only to be be torn apart as Kuu dissolves into pieces, which is followed by Kyou heading out on a quest to find Kuu again because, for some reason, even after she dissolved into a million shards, he think she still exists somewhere. Setsuna gets sympathy sex, until, miraculously, they find Kuu, who is even “emptier” than before.

Mika-sensei dies wondering why Himiko got the girl when she was so awesome, but Himiko does, in fact, get Kaon. They have a nice, non-servicey scene, so we can see them safely in each other’s arms happily ever after.

And Tarlotte and Soujiro return to doing whatever it was they did.

Poor Waltesia is left with a broken Kazuya.

The End.

I still maintain that it wasn’t bad. It isn’t anything as bad as Eikyuu Alice and in many ways I liked it better than Kannazuki. No, it is not *about* the lesbian couple, but the ending for Kaon and Himiko beats both anime and manga endings for Chikane and Himeko.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 6
Service – 7

Overall – 7

“Snuggling in a boat on the lake as a couple” trumps “probable repeat of horrible fate” or “being reborn as sisters” in this reviewer’s eyes.

Posted in Kannazuki no Miko | 3 Comments »