Manga Review (plus some rambling on what I am watching): Akuma no Riddle volume 2

Volume 1 introduced Tokaku, an assassin, Haru, her target, and the other members of their, haha, high school assassin class, who all want to kill Haru. Volume 2 finishes establishing the rules of this series, showing us that the incentive for the assassins to kill Haru is that whoever succeeds will be granted pretty much anything she wants.

First up is Otoya, the serial killer who wants legal immunity for life and pretends she wants to be Haru's friend like Tokaku to get her to let down her guard. Unlike in the anime, here Haru isn't knocked out and tied up by Otoya. On one hand, I missed seeing Haru kick Otoya and manage to get away despite being tied up. On the other hand, I'm glad she didn't get stripped here. She uses the same method as in the anime to neutralize Otoya as a threat, but comes to the knowledge she needs for it differently. In the anime, there's some set-up for it, while in the manga, Haru turns out to have the knowledge about what to use when she's running from Otoya. It feels more deus ex machina-ish that Haru happens to find what she needs right when she needs it without knowing it's there (and I liked the karma of Otoya's initial "weapon" being used against her in the anime), but I like the idea of Haru having ways to do what helps her in this situation memorized for self-defense. In either version, Haru's reaction to Otoya makes her more interesting. Otoya obviously isn't likable, or someone you're supposed to like, but she is effectively creepy. We also get mention of Chitaru's motivation for being in Class Black, which isn't Haru, and mention of Haru's most plot-relevant ability.

The next assassin is Kaminaga, who I remember as the least interesting assassin. Her backstory is being an orphan who is part of some kind of assassin group fronted by nuns. It's an amusingly pulpy backstory, but Kaminaga herself is still very forgettable. She wishes to be able to quit being an assassin, but why she has to kill Haru to make it come true doesn't fully make sense. She has apparently always sucked horribly at her job and it looks like no one in her group except her dead mentor ever liked or believed in her, so why would her group keep using her for assassination assignments? Why is she here?

Haru continues to be squirrelly about her past to Tokaku, and we see a little more of it. After each assassin fails, she gets transferred out, and their teacher Mizorogi-sensei, who is there to be the cheerfully oblivious grownup in a story about teenagers, is sad and bewildered by it. Cue the first portion of Haruki's arc, which is one of the two best assassin arcs.

On the yuri front, Hitsugi and Chitaru get appropriately cast as Romeo and Juliet in their school's play, and Hitsugi is very obviously into Chitaru while Chitaru doesn't get it yet. Haruki spells out Haru and Tokaku's similarity to Romeo and Juliet to Tokaku, and Tokaku is only annoyed because she strongly values free will and doesn't see herself as someone bound by fate. Those values are going to be a huuuuge source of angst for her later. This bit of foreshadowing wasn't in the anime, and I think makes for better plotting.

This volume is the meat of the story kicking in. We get the same pluses compared to the anime as volume 1, with the additional plus of the foreshadowing mentioned above, some new pluses and minuses from Otoya's arc, and Kaminaga's still a lame character. Another plus compared to the anime is the fight scenes here aren't hampered by budget.

If you like the Akuma no Riddle anime to this point, you will probably like this volume. If you haven't seen the anime, it's still silly, fight-y, yuri-ish entertainment, with continued finger-crossing from me that its ending won't suck.

Bonus note:
Here's what I'm watching from what's airing.

Yuri Kuma Arashi: AGH. Most recent episode, AUGH. Best of the season so far, but AUGH. My girlfriend and I are sad about the most recent episode's ending because we really liked you-know-what-I-mean-if-you-are-watching, like anyone else with a soul.

Yona of the Dawn: Still a compelling fantasy-adventure. Also almost over, ugh. I know there's a lot more manga material, so even though I can just read the manga for more (and I plan to read it regardless), second season, please.

Maria the Virgin Witch: Also compelling fantasy. I'm scared for Maria right now despite the most recent episode's Disney-like happy resolution for [spoiler], since [spoiler] is such a sociopath. One more episode, ugh.

Death Parade: Jesus Christ, why didn't I try this show sooner? I hadn't started it at all before this past Saturday, and I finished catching up Sunday. (Being stuck at home sick helped, but still.) If you like Jigoku Shoujo, you will probably enjoy this show, too. I described it to a friend who also just got into it as a great mixture of sweet and soul-crushing tragedy. lol

Go! Princess Precure: Still pretty much the same pluses and minuses as initially, just with a new magical girl.

I still need to try Shirobako, since everyone and their grandma loves it, and I need to try Rolling Girls, since it seems like it could be fun.

Manga Review: Akuma no Riddle volume 1

If you read my writing on the Akuma no Riddle anime, here, here, and here, you might remember that I started out apathetic, warmed up to it, then was irritated by its ending's hand-waviness and failure to deliver as much yuri as its marketing promised. The Akuma no Riddle manga, which is three volumes long so far and still running in Newtype, has been licensed by Seven Seas. Its first volume is due for release in English this October. I obviously can't vouch for how the manga will end, but so far, it's an improvement on the story we got from the anime.

Azuma Tokaku, our butchy lead, has mad assassin skills, but hasn't actually killed anyone. She is sent by the, uh, assassin school, where she is the top student, to Class Black, a class in a normal high school composed of twelve assassins and one target. Class Black's assassins quickly figure out who the target is: the only aggressively nice one out of all of them. After getting to know said target, who is conveniently a cute girl named Haru, Tokaku decides to defect to her side.

So... the manga really doesn't move as quickly as the anime, but I actually think it's for the better. It ends before Tokaku attends the meeting where all the assassins are briefed on the rules of how they can target Haru, which happens in episode 2 of the anime. The payoff is Tokaku, having just protected Haru from one of the assassins, Isuke, telling Haru she will protect her rather than carry out her assignment. This happens after a volume of their getting to know each other while their classmates get some characterization- Haru and Tokaku still get the lion's share, befitting their status as leads, but the side characters get more than they got at this point in the anime, which I appreciate. For example, at the tea party where Isuke tells Haru she has two dads, we get the flashback to how one of her dads adopted her after rescuing her from an abusive home, which provides some nuance to her character. When Chitaru and Hitsugi meet Haru and Tokaku, we also see how they met, which helps establish why they have the dynamic they do. I still enjoyed the bulk of the anime, but I like that the manga doesn't reserve development for every character who isn't Haru and Tokaku for their respective arc, shortly before they leave. The manga has the luxury of more room to breathe, without feeling slow.

The art does what it's supposed to. It isn't going to win any awards, but it's clean, consistent, and easy to follow. The anime adapted the manga's art style closely.

Yuri so far is Tokaku's obvious desire to protect and attraction to Haru that she has a hard time explaining, and the beginnings of the Hitsugi x Chitaru pairing.

Btw, most Japanophiles know "haru" means "spring", but the kanji for Haru's name is the kanji used for "to clear up" or "to be sunny", which fits given how she reminds Tokaku of sunny places. I'll add that if you're learning Japanese and looking for manga with a lot of furigana to practice reading, this series is an option if you want something aimed at an older audience than shoujo and shounen. The bonus pages don't have furigana, but the story does.

In short- this series still isn't high art, its premise is still ludicrous, but it's entertaining and better executed in this medium than in its animated form. Admittedly I benefit from knowing there's some calculated reason for Haru's friendly behavior (though she does genuinely like Tokaku) and she can defend herself better than she has in this volume, though this volume still indicates that there's more to her than people assume. It might be foolish of me to hope for this series to correct the flaws that most hurt the anime in my eyes, but I would love to see more titles that feature blatantly lady-loving female characters in a story that isn't strictly school romance or slice-of-life (which is one of my many reasons for enjoying Yuri Kuma Arashi), so here's hoping for better than what we got from the anime.

Manga Review: Gakuen Polizi volume 1

 I still love that all of the English language releases of Morinaga Milk's books tout her status as a yuri icon. She is a hard-working mangaka who has been drawing—and helping pioneer the growth of—good yuri for over a decade, and she deserves all of the success she has gotten. I am thrilled that her work has sold well enough in English to warrant multiple licenses of her work, so even though this series wrapped up sooner than I (and most readers) expected at two volumes and I am a little worried about it not getting the breathing room to satisfactorily conclude the slow burn it seemed like it was going for when I first read it (review here), I am still happy to be reviewing this volume. Fingers crossed for that second volume.

Anyway, I don't have much in the way of new thoughts about this book—I last read it a little over a year ago, and enjoyed it as Morinaga Milk trying something different while indulging her love of police dramas, with dashes of her other favorite things, magical girl shows and yuri.

I still appreciate this volume's on point social commentary about stalking, law enforcement's failings in response to stalking, and creeps in general, especially given the incredibly male gazey magazine this series ran in. Social commentary has been a thing in Morinaga's work since Girl Friends, as GAR GAR Stegosaurus's Day and I discussed about Girl Friends here, and as I mentioned here in my review of the Kisses, Sighs and Cherry Blossom Pink omnibus.

This volume is very pre-yuri- it has a lot of set-up for the relationship that should develop between its leads Sasami and Midori later, following your classic "they don't get along, but warm up to each other" model, unlike most of Morinaga's famous work, in which her leads tend to have a fondness for each other right off the bat. That works for the buddy cop dynamic Morinaga is going for as a starting point, though.

As expected, no complaints about this as a physical release either. Seven Seas' translation and editing is strong as usual. If you're wondering why Seven Seas went with Gakuen Polizi for this series' English release title instead of School Police, it's because they figured Gakuen Polizi would grab more attention than School Police, and its starting with a G would allow it to be placed closer to Girl Friends in bookstores.

In short, this volume is a light buddy cop school comedy with hints of darker characterization ahead that becomes a kind of kick ass social commentary by the end, with a good amount of set-up for a potential relationship between its characters. I enjoyed rereading it, and look forward to seeing what volume 2 has in store.

Manga Review: Whispered Words (a.k.a. Sasameki Koto) omnibus 1

Ikeda Takashi's Whispered Words (originally Sasameki Koto in Japanese) was a yuri staple for years. Over the course of nine volumes, fans read to see how long it would take for Sumi and Ushio to get past their barriers to admitting they love each other and get together already, damn it. (The wait was exacerbated for fans who could only read this series in English by the fact that the scanlations caught up to the entire series over a year after it finished.) One Peace Books, a mostly non-comic publisher, very quietly licensed this series- they need to work on that compared to, say, Seven Seas' heavy fan engagement and promotion of their titles- and here we have the first omnibus.

Like many a yuri manga set in high school, Whispered Words is about a girl in love with her best friend. Sumi is tall, competent, and the black belt heir of a karate dojo where she lives with her dad and three brothers. She's also pretty goofy and prone to fantasies about her best friend Ushio, who is openly gay but only likes girly girls. Sumi quit karate in the hopes of appealing more to Ushio and tells herself she never really loved it, but she lights up when she starts doing it again later in this omnibus. I quite like her. Anyway, Ushio's crushes keep going down in flames while Sumi winces and pines after her and figures her feelings are hopeless.

This omnibus contains the first three tankoubon of this series. The first tankoubon focuses on establishing character relationships in a mostly slice-of-life format. Besides Sumi and Ushio, you have: their quirky friend Kiyori, who is the one straight girl in this series; Tomoe and Miyako, who are a cute couple and act as a slightly snarky greek chorus throughout this series; Akemiya, a guy in their class who cross dresses, has a crush on Sumi, and is way more important in the copy on the back of this omnibus than in the actual story.

Volume 2 introduces Aoi, a yuri fangirl who loves a light novel series that is clearly Maria-sama ga Miteru. Because Sumi is awesome and accidentally makes herself look like a fan of not-Marimite, Aoi gets a crush on her and ropes her into co-creating a doujinshi for GLFes YuriFes. This isn't the most substantial of arcs, but it's geeky fun and has a sweet resolution. I also like that the beach chapter's beach portion ends two pages in with Tomoe's car exploding right after she, Miyako, and her friends get to the beach.

Volume 3 introduces Lotte, a short, girly-looking German transfer student who loves karate. Lotte is Ushio's type but likes Sumi a lot more because Ushio keeps trying to make her less tomboyish while Sumi helps her improve at karate. She serves as the catalyst for the biggest turning point in this omnibus, causing this series to turn from a romantic comedy with dramatic elements to a romantic drama with comedic elements. There's also a great flashback to how Sumi and Ushio became friends. The flashback portions of this series are some of its strongest, imo.

I'm glad this series is licensed and will buy volume 2, but the copy playing up Akemiya's role is annoying, the typesetting has a surprising amount of errors for a professional publication, a few minor lines are left untranslated, and the author's notes from the original release aren't included. Story-wise, my only real complaint so far is that Akemiya's sister is creepy and his chapter is kind of pointless.

Anyway, despite the kind of crappy release, Whispered Words is a good romance with a heart, and a series I enjoyed revisiting.

The Audio, Slideshow, and Transcript for my Sakura-Con 2014 Yuri Panel

Last weekend my girlfriend Amy (@phoenix_red) and I went to Sakura-Con, where we did a yuri panel on Saturday night from 9:00 to 10:15 pm. In previous years (like here, here, here, here, here, and here), I have written about panels (or panel-esque events) that I have hosted. Rather than just tell you about this one, I uploaded my recording of it onto SoundCloud (link here) and have uploaded the transcription I made of it onto Google Docs (link here.) You can also see the slideshow slides here.

I was initially very annoyed at Sakura-Con because they charged Amy and I admission, since the standard practice at cons is not to charge panelists admission and Sakura-Con didn't make it clear that their policy differed beforehand, but I still really enjoyed the weekend and had a lot of fun doing that panel. Other things I attended: the MINT and Angelic Pretty fashion shows, the latter of which was especially fun even though I'm not interested in wearing Lolita fashion myself; the Attack on Titan Q&A, with Mikasa's voice actress Ishikawa Yui and AoT's producer Kinoshita Tetsuya; the Noitamina panel where Amy and I won a Noitamina commemorative book in a raffle; and the Attack on Titan autograph signing where I had my copy of volume 10 of the manga signed.

The panel was a lot of fun, and it got way more people than I expected. It was a "Whoah!" moment in the best way to see this line on arriving to our panel's room.

And here you can see the audience below.

The panel started later than expected because of technical issues, but Amy was a badass and got shit resolved, together with Edward Elric. Before the panel started, one of our moderators, an Ariel from The Little Mermaid cosplayer (I was surprised by how much Disney cosplay there was, even not counting all the Elsas from Frozen) warned us that some people in the audience might ask inappropriate questions because of our panel topic and that we didn't need to answer anything that made us uncomfortable, but that didn't happen. The audience was pretty great.

Amy's and my friend Ben, who designs games including a yuri one mentioned in the presentation (he recently did a BL game also), our other friend Ben, who is the creator of the Licensed Heroes webcomic, and our friend Jake, who creates the Modest Medusa webcomic, were in town for the con weekend and were able to attend our panel. Adding to the coolness, Kelly (azumarrill.tumblr.com) and Audrey (achievement-hunter.tumblr.com), the awesome Ymir and Christa cosplayers I geekily photographed earlier that day

attended the panel also, resulting in this photo after the slideshow ended.

Anywho, it was a lot fun! Panels are basically a way to geek out with other people who are interested in something you like enough to create a presentation about. For this panel, I redid most of the slides to put more emphasis on trends in yuri. When I put together my first panel, back as a senior in high school, I emailed Okazu's Erica asking for panel advice and she was really nice and gave some good tips, so if you want to do a yuri panel and have any questions about it, feel free to ask me.

Manga Review: A Centaur's Life volume 1

Murayama Kei's A Centaur's Life is the newest thing with yuri content from Seven Seas. It is running in the seinen magazine Comic Ryu and has three tankoubon out in Japan.

This series is a slice-of-life about a shy, polite girl named Himeno and her best friends Nozomi and Kyoko. What makes this series different from your usual high school slice-of-life is that the characters live in a world in which everyone is some kind of fantasy creature.

Himeno is a centaur, Kyoko is pretty much a satyr ("goatfolk" here), Nozomi is a "draconid" (a human-dragon hybrid), and there are angelfolk (like the student council president Manami), catfolk, mermaids (which haven't appeared in this volume), and the completely non-humanoid-looking "Arctic people" ("snake people" being the offensive term for them), who have only appeared in media (a magazine and an old movie) so far.

This volume covers Himeno responding to a boy asking her out, a school play in which Himeno plays the princess to Nozomi's prince, a school marathon in which Kyoko has trouble keeping up, Himeno getting a temporary part-time job as a model because her mom's magazine editor friend needs a centaur, and a chapter focusing on Himeno's family, especially her mom. Then there's an afterword in which Himeno, Nozomi, and Kyoko chat with Murayama Kei (drawn as a goat) about this series' development, and a history of the fictional town the characters live in.

I want to kill the first chapter of this series with fire. It resolves a body issue of Himeno's in an über-servicey way. It made me half-joke to a friend that I wondered if this series' author knows what vaginas look like outside porn. The virginity fetishizing doesn't help.

Take away the first chapter, and it's a decent series- a typical slice-of-life, just with the world we know adapted to fantasy creatures inhabiting it. The worldbuilding is well thought out, and I had fun discussing it with the friend who read my copy of this volume. For example, centaurs used to be samurai in Japan, but were enslaved for riding elsewhere, so it's legally considered a hate crime to ride them everywhere including Japan. Cue discussion of whether this world has actual horses since they have cows, but maybe the animals whose fantasy-influenced characteristics the humanoid characters have don't exist here. And "How do the cold-blooded Antarcticans survive in Antarctica?" Mundane details (like clothes, shoes, and how certain house designs might be less convenient for centaurs; I'm curious about what mermaids do) are covered also, and there's an amusing Obama reference.

Apparently there's a lesbian couple in Himeno's class- I'm not sure if they appear in volume 2 or volume 3, though. In this volume, the yuri is Himeno kissing Nozomi because a classmate altered her script for the play. Nozomi is flustered, but seems like she kind of liked it. After Himeno saves Nozomi from a stage injury, Nozomi kisses Himeno on the cheek in a "My hero!" kind of way. I liked that the girls in their class were like "Kyaa!" over Himeno kissing Nozomi.

As expected, the translation is good and honorifics left intact. The first page is a glossy color page featuring Himeno,  Nozomi and Kyouko walking next to a café on one side and the full cover image (their walking to school with some classmates) on the other side. The back has a preview of another Seven Seas series, Monster Musume (Seven Seas has been especially interested in "monster girl" titles lately), which looks like every awful magical girlfriend series, just with a snake girl.

Story: F for chapter 1, C+ for the rest. More noteworthy for its setting than its story or characters, which are pleasant but not standout for me.
Art: B
Overall: C

Pick what you want licensed next!

So sayeth Seven Seas:

• Kodansha titles include Akiyama Haru's Octave and Shirasawa Marimo's Nobara no Mori no Otome-tachi. Kodansha titles are off the table for Seven Seas because Kodansha has a US publishing branch, Kodansha USA.
• Shueisha titles include Eban Fumi's Blue Friend. Don't ask about Hayate x Blade either, because Seven Seas had to stop publishing it a few years ago because it switched publishers and became a Shueisha title.
• Shogakukan titles include Nakamura Ching's Gunjo, Onozucca Kahori's Aido (a.k.a. Love Slave), and Est Em's ongoing Golondrina. Shueisha and Shogakukan titles are a no-go for Seven Seas because Shueisha and Shogakukan co-own Viz Media. Because Gunjo, Aido, and Golondrina are Ikki magazine titles, if any of them are published in English, it'll almost certainly be under Viz's Ikki line.

I'm sure there's something I missed, but those are all the relevant Kodansha, Shueisha and Shogakukan titles that are on English speaking yuri fans' radars.

I asked the guy representing Kodansha USA at Anime Boston about Octave (I tweeted from the Kodansha USA panel and @angelx03 thought to tweet me to ask about it), and he looked intrigued when I described it and said he would take a look at it, so fingers crossed. (And psst, maybe politely let Kodansha USA know that you're interested in Octave too! Nothing to lose from doing that, right? Here are their Twitter and Facebook accounts.)

Also, awesome, Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink must be selling well if Seven Seas is asking about which yuri title they should look into licensing next. There are a bunch of titles I would love to see in English, so even if one I voted on isn't chosen, I'll probably still be happy with what they choose next. I cheated and voted for Shimura Takako's Aoi Hana and Morishima Akiko's Hanjuku Joshi. I hold both titles near and dear to my heart.

The reasons for my choosing Aoi Hana are, I hope, obvious. And why Hanjuku Joshi out of all of Morishima's wonderful oeuvre? As a two volume story, not just a series of one-shots, it's probably the best title for them to publish first by Morishima- although I'm not sure how much its sexual content- i.e. the need to shrinkwrap and be like "Don't read this if you're under 18!"- would limit its sales (not that I wouldn't be perfectly fine with being proven wrong), even though I would have loved the hell out of it in high school too. Minamoto Hisanari's Fu~fu would be my next pick. Hayashiya Shizuru's Strawberry Shake Sweet may be a bit too old at this point, much as I love it to pieces too (Tachibana Julia is my hero), and Nishi Uko's Collectors and Yamaji Ebine's yuri titles don't seem like they really fit Seven Seas' catalogue regardless of age, awesome though they are. Takemiya Jin's Omoi no Kakera would, imho, be a great choice for Seven Seas after it ends, since it shouldn't be very long and has growing buzz among English-speaking yuri fans. But again, there are plenty of other titles I'd be happy with too.

So yes- there are a load of titles you can vote for, so vote! You can not only let them know what you want on Twitter, you can let them know on their Facebook page.

I'm still wowed that this happened: Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink, The Complete Collection

You know the movie romance trope in which the protagonist spots their love in a crowded room, and everything else- aurally, visually- melts away? That was my experience when I encountered a stack of copies of Seven Seas' release of Morinaga Milk's Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink Complete Collection at Anime Boston even though its release date is today. I was with three other bloggers and we each bought a copy. Few English-language manga releases have made me as happy to read as this one.

Covering the technicals first- this omnibus has the same page size as the Girl Friends omnibi, no surprise there. I love that the back of this omnibus not only touts Girl Friends' status as a New York Times best-seller- which Girl Friends omnibus 2 also does- its front cover proclaims, "From the best-selling author of Girl Friends!" Here's to Kisses making the best-seller list too!

As with Girl Friends omnibus 1, the Kisses omnibus is marketed on Amazon and Barnes & Noble's website with a tagline selling the "forbidden-ness" of the gay aspect of its protagonists' relationship, but thankfully, the actual books- and their descriptions on Seven Seas' website, as well as on Right Stuf's website (not sure about other retailers')- don't have that.

It's Seven Seas, so the translation is strong, as expected. It's a good quality release all-around, collecting the Kisses chapters that ran in Yuri Hime magazine as well as the new ones from Comic High! in the order in which Comic High!'s publisher Futabasha re-published them last year. I reviewed both volumes of Futabasha's release of this series fairly recently, here and here, so look there if you want an in-depth look at Kisses' contents. I also reviewed the original Kisses tankoubon published by Yuri Hime's publisher, Ichijinsha, making the original Kisses chapters the most re-reviewed (and re-bought) thing I've written about here.

It was funny to start reading this book and remember how, until not too long ago, I wasn't sure I would see the Yuri Hime Kisses tankoubon in print again- I had no idea what Morinaga's rights to it vs Ichijinsha's were or how that would affect its status in out of print limbo. Delightfully, not only did Futabasha pick up all of the original Kisses stories, they ran them online and re-printed them, Morinaga drew five more chapters giving us a great send-off for Kisses' main couple, and here we have the entire thing being published in English. The planets really aligned for this series.

As with Morinaga's Girl Friends, I have read this collection multiple times. To add to my previous commentary about the new Nana and Hitomi chapters- despite the concern I expressed about part of Nana's rationale for not wanting Hitomi to strive to be "the man" in their relationship, I'm still glad Morinaga included some discussion of gender roles in gay relationships, especially given that a lot of straight people assume someone has to be "the man" in gay relationships, among other similarly presumptuous ideas about gender roles/expression in such relationships. Granted, there are folks in the lesbian community who make boneheaded gender role assumptions too- although like Hitomi, not necessarily for unsympathetic reasons (actually quite sympathetic in Hitomi's case)- hence the plausibility of Hitomi's behavior before Nana clears the air between them. Just to clarify, I'm not criticizing butches or butch-femme relationships- just, for example, folks who think that if you're butch, you must only do things traditionally considered masculine or always be "the strong one" or... well, you get the picture.

Anyway, if you liked Girl Friends or you're a yuri fan... you're probably waiting for your copy of this series to arrive. lol Like Girl Friends, Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink is a favorite of mine, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys good love stories.

Final Grade: A

Some takeaways from the news about ALC Publishing

You surely are familiar with this news. (Sorry for the slowness in posting this. Was under the weather earlier this week, and the original draft of this thing was kind of messy and all over the place, so I decided to wait and come back to it.)

In the comments of my previous post, on JManga, I commented on how, even though I like and appreciate JManga, I would have liked it more if their titles had been available as download to own- even knowing that licensing manga is a complicated process that I know little about, having never worked in it, and there's only so much a licensor has control over when negotiating with the (not necessarily forward-thinking or reasonable) company that holds the rights it wants. I know, even typing this, that I'm just an armchair quarterback commenting on the pros.

ALC did with the excellent yuri manga Rica'tte Kanji!? what I (and many others) consider the ideal means of selling manga digitally- making it available as a downloadable, DRM-free ebook. The digital Rica omnibus (with more story material than the original print version) was priced lower than the original print version at $4.99 and $5.99, the $5.99 version coming with more nifty extras than the $4.99 version. With enough digital copies of the Rica omnibus sold, ALC could put out a print version of it, which is what a lot of people held off buying the digital version for. It's a catch-22 that didn't translate into good sales. (Btw, the Rica omnibus is still purchasable electronically, and one can still read it online for free.)

I'm focusing on the low sales for the digital release of Rica in my reaction to the news about ALC here because I- apparently naïvely- expected its sales to be better than they were, and saw it as a model for how manga (and books, period!) should be sold digitally. That is, as close as possible to what it is like to buy a print book, with your purchase not dependent on whether whoever you bought it from remains in business.

Anywho, thanks to ALC, I got to read some great yuri by mangaka who would not be sought out by other manga publishers, being josei and independent. I also saw Poor Poor Lips and a bunch of Yuri Hime titles licensed thanks to ALC's partnership with JManga. Yeah, it didn't work out, but better to try and not succeed than not try at all- something that a lot of people fail to grasp.

In short, I am thankful for what ALC has done during its years in business, appreciate the effort Yuricon has put into events in the past (a lot of people talk about wanting a yuri panel or event where they live, but few take action to make it happen; if you really want one and there isn't one in your area, stop talking and walk the walk, unless you live in an area where holding an event focusing on fictional lesbian relationships wouldn't fly), and look forward to continuing to read Okazu.

News: JManga Shutting Down

Wow, didn't expect to see this announcement today. I'm definitely sorry to see JManga go, especially since they have been friendly and open to responding to customer feedback (like pushing to make their titles available worldwide), and their partnership with ALC Publishing has given us a number of yuri manga licenses- including a bunch of titles I like.

It does suck to see them go, but they don't deserve our getting angry at them, and they aren't "betraying" us. If a restaurant that serves food you like goes out of business, are you going to walk up to the owner and rant at them for closing down? I hope not, because that would be assholish. Same deal here. I'm not happy about seeing JManga go either, but am not going to act like a baby about it. That rant concluded (btw, feel free to disagree with me, but arguing with me about this won't change my mind, and likely won't change yours if you still feel that way this point), I am, again, sorry to see JManga go. I appreciate how much they promoted their yuri titles and got some good entertainment out of their releases.

Manga Review: A Transparent Orange in the Lip

I've been slow to try this collection. Tried some of Rokuroichi's other work, didn't like it, and her(?) art's kind of ugly. But I gave this collection a shot, and... didn't like it either.

This series' protagonist, Chizuru, is a girl who used to be part of a trio of unpopular girls. Kae, a stylish girl from Tokyo, transferred into her class and gave her two friends makeovers, making them popular. Chizuru effectively became the odd man out, quietly tagging along with Kae and her two "friends" as they proceeded to pal around, mostly ignoring her. Without ever speaking to Kae, Chizuru built up a godly image of her in her head and proceeded to get a crush on it.

One day Kae- gasp- talks to Chizuru (and to her credit, is more pleasant than Chizuru's friends are when they do address her), so Chizuru celebrates by buying the same orange lipstick she sees Kae buy at a make-up store. (Hence this collection's strange title, originally Kuchibiru ni Saketa Orange.) This isn't the first time Chizuru has bought something just because Kae did. Chizuru also buys a wig that looks like Kae's hair and secretly wears it and the orange lipstick in her room while imagining Kae having sex with her.

One day Kae's two friends need to stay at school extra-late, so Kae and Chizuru hang out. They don't have any chemistry, but we are meant to believe that Kae thinks Chizuru's something special. The next day, Kae visits Chizuru's house and sees the wig and they have sex and are supposed to be in love.

Then there are two bonus one-shots. "Close to Your Heart, Okay?" is about two cousins who are being raised together, in case you wanted some eau de incest on top of the boring and awful that already is this book. They have sex, one is afraid the other is going to dump her, and that doesn't happen. "Don't Know If This Is Love" is about two best friends who get together and have sex.

The only thing I can't complain about is the translation of this book's JManga release. ALC has done another quality translation, however lousy the story it's telling in this case is. It is possible to make a premise that has been done many a time (like popular girl x unpopular girl, or best friends who get together) good, or even excellent, through strong writing and characterization. This book doesn't do that. Every character is flat, every coupling contrived and devoid of chemistry, and I found my mind wandering off more than once. We have gotten a bunch of worthwhile yuri manga titles licensed in English lately- A Transparent Orange in the Lip isn't one of them.

Art: D
Story: F
Overall: F

Manga Review: Ameiro Kochakan Kandan volume 1

It's hard to resist food metaphors for Fujieda Miyabi's Ameiro Kochakan Kandan (Chatting at the Amber Teahouse)- warming and relaxing as a cup of chammomile tea? Sweet as a pastry? A lot of people were happy when this series was licensed by ALC and JManga, and for good reason.

Sarasa, a serious, responsible honor student, works part-time at the Amber Teahouse because she is in love with its kind owner, Seriho. Inept as she is at managing things on her own, Seriho should be a character who annoys me mightily, but by some alchemy of writing, I like her. She and Sarasa go together like, well, a tea cozy and teapot, as Seriho notes in a really cute visual metaphor.

When Sarasa leaves on a school trip, she unwittingly gives her two best friends (and Amber Teahouse regulars) Haru and Hinoka endless opportunities to rib her for her "Seriho-withdrawal." For her part (thanks to an older lesbian couple who patronize the Teahouse), Seriho realizes that she cares about Sarasa much more than she expected to. ... Like, "stay with me for the next fifty years" caring.

Sarasa decides to attend a culinary school where she will learn restaurant management and become a pâtissière. She tells Seriho her hope to remain by her side at the Amber Teahouse, and she and Seriho look forward to a future working together. They haven't quite come to the understanding that they want to spend their lives together in a different sense by the end of this volume. Here's looking forward to that. ^^

This volume also includes a bonus chapter showing how Sarasa and Seriho met, the chapter in which Sarasa, Seriho, Haru and Hinoka hold a Tanabata event at the Teahouse to save it from shutting down, and a short in which Sarasa and Seriho take a look at some possible new work uniforms designed by the characters from Alice Quartet (a fun, yuri-ish series about four fashion designers by Ameiro Kochakan Kandan's author).

As I said above, this is a sweet series. For now, it's pretty much a slice-of-life focusing on the gentle, romantic atmosphere Sarasa and Seriho have whenever they're together. Despite Sarasa not knowing that her feelings are returned, there isn't much angst. It helps that Seriho mentions gender not being a factor in who she falls in love with, giving Sarasa some hope that she has a fighting chance.

Like many a romance, this series runs a heavy risk of inciting cynicism at points- arguably, more than most romance fiction. When I first read through this volume, I was in college and angsting over what I wanted to do, and thought it was really foolhardy of Sarasa to just know where she should attend school/what career to choose based on who she is in love with. Which it is. (Although, I know, easier not to project a future with more idealism than one normally might when one isn't besotted with someone. I'm reminded of one of the bits of advice that is given to the first-years at my old college dorm: "House booty is bad booty. Everyone thinks they're the exception.") But this is a fictional romance- as much a fantasy, in its own way, as Fujieda's Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to (I mean, this is also a story in which one of the leads becomes a two time lottery winner, right when she needs it most)- and it's executed well enough that I can roll with it here, like I do for the handwaves in other romances I like. Maybe it's just because I'm not at the point in my life I described above, but I felt less cynical reading this volume this time around even though I know the handwavey aspects are there.

Anyway, if you want to read a feel-good yuri romance with an unusual premise (have to give Fujieda credit for always coming up with premises that haven't been done before in yuri, and doing them well), this is a strong choice. It will get better in the second, final volume, which made me tear up at one point when I previously read through it.

As usual for ALC's releases, the translation is strong. I appreciated the extra note explaining the history behind the bonus chapters, since the average person reading this release is less likely to know that history than the average person who bought this series in Japanese.

Story: B+
Art: B+
Overall: B+

Manga Review: Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu

Taishi Zaou and Eiki Eiki's Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu is a miracle of a series. I say so because its first two chapters are fucking awful, but it's still a long-time favorite of mine- a collection I've re-read a number of times. Admittedly, it holds some sentimental value as one of the earliest yuri collections I enjoyed, but its first two chapters (which I normally skip) aside, I do think it's a great collection.

Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu is about three couples at an all-girls' school- two student couples, and the school doctor and one of the teachers.

The first chapter, "Expressions of Love," is about how new student Akiho and her popular classmate Haruka get together.

The second chapter, "She-Wolf," focuses on how new student Fuyuka and her popular classmate Natsuki... well, they don't get together at this point, thankfully, but they do strike up a tenuous friendship. These two chapters, especially "She-Wolf," are riddled with tropes that make this book arguably the most problematic thing I love me want to light them on fire. It's some kind of miracle of writing that I like these characters as couples in the later chapters focusing on them.

The next arc, "First Kiss" (which ran in three parts in Yuri Hime magazine), shifts focus to the school doctor Reiko and a teacher named Ayano. Reiko and Ayano are best friends and alumnae of the school they work at. They fell in love as classmates and shared their first kiss, but thought, in keeping with the heterosexist assumptions they were ingrained with, that their feelings were a phase. After graduating high school, they swept their feelings under the rug and dated men, each oblivious that the other still carries a torch for her.

Things come to a head when Ayano mentions the possibility of marrying her boyfriend to Reiko, making Reiko despair and accept her boyfriend's proposal. I don't want to spoil too much, but if this story's resolution doesn't turn you into a quivering lump of jello, you have no soul.

At the end of "First Kiss", Reiko gives Fuyuka advice about her feelings for Natsuki- preventing Fuyuka from making the same mistake she and Ayano made.

Taking Reiko's advice to heart in "Little Red Riding Hood Strikes Back" (which ran in two parts in Yuri Hime), Fuyuka pursues Natsuki, showing that she doesn't do anything by halves. Ironically, now that she is interested in Natsuki and being really obvious about it, Fuyuka finds that Natsuki isn't as assertive about her feelings as she assumed.

Natsuki and Haruka (and their respective groupies- remember, this is still an all-girls' school story) can't stand each other, but Fuyuka and Akiho become friends and get along beautifully. Some misunderstandings later, Fuyuka makes it clear to Natsuki that she fully returns her feelings (unlike the sort of-girlfriend Natsuki once had), while Akiho and Haruka remain happily in love. Ayano and Reiko also get one last, nice cameo, giving the two younger couples a subtle helping hand to sort out their drama. In an extra-smile inducing touch, Fuyuka and Natsuki react to their first kiss the same way Ayano and Reiko did theirs. And naturally, Fuyuka has no intention of letting her painstaking research into what it takes to have great lesbian sex (courtesy of some advice books) go to waste.

In "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter", Fuyuka, Natsuki, Akiho and Haruka go on an overnight trip to the beach together. It's a sweet conclusion to this series.

Again, this series holds sentimental value for me, but it became a favorite of mine for good reason. It has two of my hooks- multiple yuri couples (who know about each other), and queer women helping younger queer women have an easier time being who they are. "First Kiss" is emotionally wringing but more than delivers in pay-off, and the more humorous "Little Red Riding Hood Strikes Back" and "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter" chapters are a lot of fun and quite funny. (And admittedly, when I first read them, had the bonus appeal that the better examples of such stories would hold for a lesbian high schooler who doesn't knowingly know any other girls who like girls.)

This collection also has an amusing bonus, unrelated one-shot titled "Her," about two best friends who have feelings for each other, and are clearly going to learn that their feelings are mutual very soon.

This collection is one of the earliest series serialized in Yuri Hime magazine, but, like Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo, it holds up as one of the most moving, enjoyable collections put out by YH.

I'm reviewing the English-language release of this book on JManga. As usual for ALC's releases there, strong translation, no complaints.

Story: B+ overall.
Art: B+
Overall: A-

My Top 11 Yuri Manga Highlights of 2012

Sorry about the neglect here as of late- I moved from my hometown in Florida to New York City last Thursday. Now that things have settled down, this blog will revert back to regular posting. Sorry again about the dry spell, and thank you for your patience!

The Top 11 titles below all came out in tankoubon format in Japan in 2012. Following them, I've listed a few series I really look forward to seeing as tankoubon and, last but not least, a summary of the goodies English-speaking yuri fans saw published in 2012. (In that respect, we have a lot more than we did after 2011 and 2010.)

Aoi Hana by Shimura Takako (7 volumes, ongoing):
Because like many of you, I love Fumi and Akira and am waiting with bated breath to see what becomes of them. I have more to say about their current relationship and its possible final outcomes, but will save that for my review of volume 7. Also- not in volume 7, but I love the increased focus Hinako and Orie got in recent chapters.

Collectors by Nishi Uko (1 volume, ongoing):
Collectors is that rarest of yuri delights- a series about two women who are already in love and well past "Does she like me back?" Takako's hobby is collecting fashionable clothes while Shinobu's is collecting books. Despite their very different interests, they clearly belong together. Nishi Uko has been drawing realistic yuri doujinshi as one half of a circle called UKOZ for years (some of which I own; you can read some of her earlier work in English in the Yuri Monogatari 5 and 6 anthologies), so it's great to see her going pro with this series, which is running in the josei magazine Rakuen Le Paradis.

Girl's Ride by Isomoto Tsuyoshi (1 volume, complete):
Wow, does this series make me grin. Simple premise- Sei is a new student at Nan's school, Nan befriends Sei, Nan picks up motorcycle riding because of Sei, and Sei and Nan go riding to different places- often out of town- together. This series has a bit of an old school seinen vibe, it isn't servicey (not even the beach chapter), and its characters are incredibly charming. And, well, it's part of a yuri imprint, so... ^^

Gunjo by Nakamura Ching (3 volumes, complete):

Volume 2 of this series was, as noted in my Yuri Manga Highlights of 2011 list, an emotionally gut-punching book. Volume three's resolution is... haha, I wont tell you. I'm not just being an asshole here- you really should read it without being spoiled. If someone had spoiled it for me prior to my reading it, I would feel like punching them in the face. On that heartwarming note, if you're following this series but haven't read its ending, I hope you get to asap. By far the most likely licensor for this title is Viz (because of its Sig Ikki line; Gunjo ran in Ikki magazine), but I could also see it fitting in, say, Vertical or Dark Horse's catalogues. (Basically, publishers that have shown interest in dark, offbeat seinen titles.)

Hatsukoi Kouzoushiki by Amano Shuninta (1 volume, complete): 

I've become such a big Amano Shuninta fangirl. This collection is a goodie bag of everything she does well- goofiness, sweetness, realism, weirdness, and, yes, sexiness. (She is one of the special few mangaka whose PWP work I find hot. See why this list is so subjective?) My favorite in this collection is one of the non-PWP stories, though- the one about a woman who decides to counter how boring and stuck-in-a-rut she's becoming by ordering a mega-spicy bowl of ramen and eating the entire thing before, eyes watering and lips swollen as an unintended side effect of the ramen, confessing to the co-worker she's in love with. It's utterly adorable, and I love its message.

Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo by Morinaga Milk (2 volumes, complete): 

Specifically, the Kuchibiru reboot, for giving Nana and Hitomi a more conclusive Happily Ever After, and their own place! ^_^ Morinaga has wanted to finish Nana and Hitomi's story for a long time, and Futabasha finally gave her the chance to do so. She did a wonderful job, and while I would be thrilled to see more of Nana and Hitomi, I'm happy with where they are at the end of this series.

Pie wo Agemasho, Anata ni Pie wo ne by Sakamoto Mano (1 volume):
For, quite simply, excellent execution of a variety of premises, featuring characters who feel like people I could know and make me want to see what will happen to them. My favorite in this collection is the one about an actress (a lesbian, happily in love with her girlfriend) moving on from how the idol duo she was once a part of broke up. I don't want to spoil too much, but it's a really lovely, poignant story. As with Nishi UKO, Nakamura Ching, Amano Shuninta, Goto Hayako and Morishima Akiko's work on this list, this collection's focus on adult characters is refreshing.

Poor Poor Lips by Goto Hayako (4 volumes, complete):

Ahhhhhhh! I don't want to spoil how this series resolves either. I will let you know that volume 4 ends happily, and that there is a completely unexpected plot twist in it. I'm so, so happy to see Ren and Nako get a happy ending, though. Those two had me rocking in a fetal position in a corner, hyperventilating, after the events of volume 3.

Renai Joshi File by Morishima Akiko (1 volume, sort of complete):

As long as Morishima Akiko continues putting out at least one yuri tankoubon a year, she'll always have a spot on these "Top Yuri Manga of Such-and-Such Year" lists. This entire collection was great, but it included two things I especially like- seeing a character who lost in a love triangle in another series find her own love, and a long-term, adult lesbian couple acting as role models for a younger lesbian couple finding their footing. I hope it's a long, long, long, long time before Morishima Akiko retires.

Sasameki Koto by Ikeda Takashi (9 volumes, complete):

Sasameki Koto's final chapter came out late in 2011, but its final tankoubon came out in early 2012. As you can see from volume 9's cover, our two lovebirds Sumi and Ushio finally graduate high school. The ending they got made me tear up, in a good way- particularly when I read the chalkboard message from their classmates.

Series That Haven't Been Published as Tankoubon Yet:

Cirque Arachne by Saida Nika:
This series' last chapter ran in the last issue of Yuri Hime to come out in 2012, but its tankoubon hasn't been published yet. It's due to (finally!) come out on February 18. Anyway, want to read something different- as in a yuri manga with an unusual setting? Check, this series is about two women who perform in a Cirque du Soleil-like troupe called Cirque Arachne. What's that, you want to know if the actual story is good? Yes, it's very sweet.  And have I seen Kaliedo Star? Yes, I enjoyed it quite a bit. If you liked it, you should like this series.

Kazuma Kowo's one-shots in Yuri Hime:
Count me as a Kazuma Kowo fangirl also. I've enjoyed Junsui Adolescence and Sayonara Folklore, her two other Yuri Hime collections (and Dear Tear, her het romance from Rakuen Le Paradis), but her one-shots are my favorite part of her body of work so far. I'm also glad she continued the couple from "Recalculation"'s story, since I liked them (especially Kisaragi) quite a bit in their original one-shot. Oh, but all of them are squee-worthy. ^.^

Hayashiya Shizuru's one-shots in Rakuen Le Paradis:
It's no secret that Hayashiya Shizuru's Strawberry Shake Sweet is one of my all-time most beloved series. As great as Hayate x Blade might be as a yuri-flavored action-comedy, I'm very glad to see Hayashiya also doing more romance-centric work in Rakuen Le Paradis. ^^

Under One Roof by Fujio:
I will probably die of old age before this series comes out in a collected volume (it being only 6 or so pages in each issue of Hirari), but man, this is such a delightful little series. Miho, a recent college graduate, decides to move out of her parents' house, so she tours a sharehouse where the only resident is a woman around her age named Fuuka. Fuuka and Miho get along swimmingly, and Fuuka tells Miho right off the bat that she's gay, just to be sure Miho's cool with it. Miho is, and they become housemates. What happens when Miho and Fuuka fall for each other? ^^ (Hint: Squeeee!)


Goodies English-speaking yuri fans got last year:

Cardcaptor Sakura omnibi 3 and 4 by CLAMP (release by Dark Horse):
Yeah, sucks for Tomoyo that she didn't get the girl, but she's still one of yuri's most iconic classic characters, and CCS is a great story all-around.

Girl Friends omnibus 1 by Morinaga Milk (release by Seven Seas): And omnibus 2, now that it's out. Want a realistic coming-of-age yuri romance? Girl Friends is just the ticket. Not only was having this series published in English an utterly delightful surprise, so was its selling well enough to make the New York Times best-selling graphic novel list, AND Seven Seas licensing Morinaga's Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo, which they will publish this summer.

Rica'tte Kanji!?: Tokyo Love by Takashima Rica:
This wonderful yuri classic about a lesbian college student named Rica- her moving from her hometown to Tokyo to attend a college and finally meet other women in the lesbian community, before getting together with her girlfriend, Miho- is now in electronic format, with the addition of Takashima's Rica chapters from the Yuri Monogatari anthologies, a cracktastic original doujinshi by Takashima, and some snazzy all-new content. This 2.0 version of Rica'tte Kanji!? is going to come out (hurr) in print at some point- but for now, it's available as a DRM-free downloadable e-book and can be read for free on ALC's website, which I think is quite neat.

Sailor Moon volumes 6 through 8 by Takeuchi Naoko (release by Kodansha): Haruka and Michiru. Enough said.

Lots of yuri on JManga, most of it published in partnership with ALC Publishing:
Thanks to the influx of yuri on JManga, I got to see some favorites licensed and released this past year (like Sweet Blue Flowers a.k.a. Aoi Hana, Hanjuku Joshi, Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu, and Poor Poor Lips) and check out titles I hadn't read (for the love of god, if you haven't read Tears of Thorn, READ IT). I'm glad Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan is on there as of today, and look forward to seeing what else comes next. ^_^

Manga Review: Sailor Moon volume 6

At long last, a Sailor Moon review. Specifically, of the first volume of the S arc, which introduces the wonderfulness that is Haruka and Michiru.

I won't bother summarizing Sailor Moon up to this point. If you're considering reading the sixth volume of this series, you should already know what Sailor Moon's premise is. I will say that the volumes up to this point (covering the first two arcs) are excellent. And Haruka and Michiru are one of the most enduringly beloved, mega-popular yuri couples for good reason.

Just to be up front, although I've written about it here before, Sailor Moon is my gateway manga and anime and holds many sepia-tinted memories for me. For what it's worth, on re-reading this series as an adult, I still find it well-written and enjoyable, although naturally, some aspects of it read differently now.

As for what is in this volume...

A new arc, a new set of baddies. And a new pair of Sailor Soldiers who we know will be allies, even if Sailor Moon and the other Inner Soldiers don't yet.

Yes- kyaa!- this volume introduces Haruka/Sailor Uranus and Michiru/Sailor Neptune in its first chapter. Haruka being mistaken for a guy plays out less comedically here than in the anime, and there is more confusion on Usagi's part over her fleeting attraction to Haruka. And one... surprisingly creepy line from Haruka to Usagi. And there are a lot of helicopters. Helicopters seem to be to Haruka and Michiru in the manga what fluttering flower petals are to them in the anime.

We first see Michiru emerging from the swimming pool in her penthouse and Haruka wowing everyone at a racetrack before they fly together in their private helicopters to the elite school they attend. Strawberry Panic!, eat your heart out. One of the funniest moments in this volume is when a character Haruka and Michiru track for a bit (because she entered the villains' headquarters without realizing it) emerges outside and is like, "Oh wow, it's dark, and I need to get home. Kind of dangerous to walk after dark from here, isn't it," and they suddenly swoop down in a helicopter and are like, "Oh hey, we were just passing by in our helicopter. Want a lift home?" I also question the extent to which Haruka and Michiru desire to keep their Senshi identities a secret from the Inner Senshi, given that they give a big hint about it to Chibi-Usa and Haruka nicknames Usagi "Dumpling" (after her hairstyle) when she encounters her as a Senshi and as a civilian.

The Sailor Moon manga is darker and less campy than the SM anime, but it still has some comedic gems- this is the origin of attack names like "Jupiter Coconut Cyclone!", "Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber!", and my favorite, from a later arc, "Star Gentle Uterus!" (Poor, poor Taiki.)

Mugen Academy, the elite academy that Haruka and Michiru attend, is a towering glass skyscraper where preschoolers through graduate students are cultivated to be the leaders of tomorrow. Mugen Academy and its affiliated lab are owned by Professor Tomoe, a mad scientist who acts as the ringleader of this arc's villains.

While the head villains in the previous arcs had fantastical backstories, Tomoe is just a widowed man with a sick young daughter named Hotaru. Hotaru doesn't know what her father is up to, although she notices that his behavior is strange and his hands colder than they used to be. Tomoe and his lab assistants, the Witches 5, create creatures that latch onto to people and turn them into inhuman things, which Sailor Moon and the other Sailor Soldiers vanquish when they encounter them, returning the possesed people to normal.

My one criticism of the villains in this arc is that the Witches 5 aren't as... well, entertaining in the manga as they are in the anime. Physical appearance and attacks aside, they're pretty interchangeable. The manga's pacing doesn't give it as much room to give them individual quirks as the anime does, but one still misses how much of a hoot their anime counterparts are.

Another downside of the manga's tighter pacing is that we don't have time to see Haruka and Michiru being playful and lovey-dovey in this arc the way we do in the S anime- although we will get that itch scratched later in the manga, when Haruka and Michiru don't have their hands full trying to prevent the apocalypse by themelves. Despite their current lack of lighthearted couple moments, they're very cool and display plenty of badassery while indubitably being an item.

The Inner Senshi come to distrust Haruka and Michiru for understandable reasons, but Usagi still believes they can be allies. More like Usagi than she thinks, Chibi-Usa believes that Haruka and Michiru are trustworthy also.

Chibi-Usa also meets Hotaru, who is reticent and reclusive and a little floored by Chibi-Usa's desire to befriend her. One of the nicest developments in this volume is Hotaru opening up to Chibi-Usa.

Towards the end of this volume, Neptune and Uranus save Mercury from an enemy attack and a familiar face pops up in Mugen Academy's university science department. How will these elements tie together? Keep reading and see! ^_^

The glitches in Kodansha's early translation of this series have smoothed out by now- but don't be mistaken, it has always been good and made me weep with joy compared to the old localized Tokyopop version. For a softcover release, Kodansha's edition of Sailor Moon has very good production values, with sturdy binding (another aspect I can't helping contrasting with Tokyopop's release from eons ago) and (in this case, somewhat spoilery regarding Hotaru) glossy color art pages at its beginning. There are translation notes in the back and a preview of the next volume.

I especially appreciate the color art pages because I love Takeuchi Naoko's ethereally pretty artwork. Takeuchi has some really freaking beautiful drawings, especially in color. The best aren't in this volume's color pages. I want to send Kodansha flowers not only for re-releasing this series in English, but going the extra mile by planning to release a snazzy new Sailor Moon artbook in Japan, the U.S., and five other countries (not sure which ones right now) in 2013, since the Sailor Moon artbooks have been long out-of-print worldwide. (I actually have the German release of the first Sailor Moon artbook, since I spotted it while traveling in Germany years ago.) There may be some artistic inconsistencies in the Sailor Moon manga, but Takeuchi's art style still delights me to an extent that few series match, just as her storytelling does.

Story: A-
Art: A- (A for the color art.)
Overall: A-, but even with its flaws, no less loveable than any other other series.

As a bonus, a cute Haruka and Michiru Christmas fan art by one of my blog's readers, Kori! (Who I know some of you know as the person who pens Prince of Cats, which I still find adorable.)

Her DeviantArt page (where I got this fan art) has a lot of other good Haruka x Michiru/general Sailor Moon pics.

Manga Review: Tears of Thorn (Ibara no Namida)

Rikachi's Tears of Thorn is about a lesbian college student finding love after learning not to let opportunity pass her by. As I mentioned in my review of Fujieda Miyabi's wonderful Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to, I love seeing fairytale tropes given a lesbian spin, which Tears of Thorn does with its influence from Sleeping Beauty.

Basically, Tears of Thorn is full of win.

On their first day of college, Maki and her best friend Lilia meet another freshman named Kanna. Maki and Kanna hit it off, and Maki gets a crush on Kanna. Kanna asks Maki out, but in her surprise (and momentary stupidity), Maki blurts that she doesn't feel the same way. Maki wants to apologize and tell Kanna she didn't mean what she said, but when she finally works up the nerve to do so, she realizes Kanna has been snagged by another girl. Rubbing salt in the wound, the girl Kanna likes resembles Juli, the girl who Hiromi, Maki's first love and former best friend, fell in love with several years ago.

As Maki remembers the words Juli taunted her with ("Have you heard of Briar Rose? She just lay in wait, safe behind the briars."), the story flashes back to how she fell for Hiromi. Maki was always timid, and Hiromi saved her from bullies and brought her into her circle of friends in grade school. In middle school, Hiromi saved a new transfer student named Juli from isolation also. Juli pursued Hiromi, quickly making her her girlfriend and rubbing it in Maki's face.

After that, Maki went to a high school far from where she and Hiromi attended school, where Lilia became her first new friend. Lilia silently pined after Maki while Maki silently pined after their friend Yuki. Maki misread Lilia as being in love with Yuki also, and realizing Lilia noticed her feelings, worried about possibly looking like an interloper/another Juli to Lilia. Until she and Lilia saw Yuki kiss her new girlfriend.

When the story returns to the present, Maki and Lilia are having dinner at a restaurant, Maki ordering lots of booze to drown out her frustration at how she screwed up her chance with Kanna. When Maki dozes off after Lilia makes sure she gets home safely, Lilia gives her a kiss, not realizing that Maki was still awake. (SUBTLE HINT FOR WHAT THE KISS REPRESENTS: When they're riding to Maki's place in a cab, Maki slurs "I... wish I'd been born a princess" while leaning against Lilia and Lilia says "...You are princess." And then there's what Lilia says when she leaves Maki's apartment.)

Maki has a hard time acting normal around Lilia now. She never thought of Lilia in that light before, but now that she knows how Lilia sees her... Lilia keeps acting the same- but one day she stops attending class and Maki can't reach her. The more time she spends without Lilia, the more she realizes how much she really misses her.

She finds out why Lilia disappeared from Yuki, who, kind of hilariously, thinks they're already a couple. ("Go bring her some Valentine's chocolate, or something. She's crazy about you, y'know.") Seeing that Yuki knows a lot more about Lilia's situation than she does (Lilia's misguided attempt at giving Maki as little to worry about as possible), Maki wonders if Lilia still cares about her.

But she finds Lilia anyway and gives her a lovely confession. ^__^ The entire scene is really squee-worthy.

Then the story wraps up, and Happily-Ever-After. Unlike the Happily-Ever-After in Rikachi's other yuri series, Sky-colored Girlfriend, it's a Happily-Ever-After I feel happy about. There's also a short bonus chapter, giving a little more insight into Lilia's perspective.

So, yeah, I really enjoyed this series- SO much more than Sky-colored Girlfriend. I like Maki and Lilia, and I like them as a couple. The college aspect and the fairytale-influenced aspect are selling points for me, but both of those things are moot if I'm not sold on the characters and story. (See: The awfulness of Kimi Koi Limit, which features college students, and Sky-colored Girlfriend, which plays with fairytale tropes also.) I also have a soft spot for stories that follow their leads' growth through different phases of their lives- like Ashihara Hinako's Sand Chronicles, Ikeda Riyoko's Rose of Versailles, Takahashi Rumiko's Maison Ikkoku, Umino Chica's Honey & Clover, and so on. Tears of Thorn has a lot less length to work with than those series, but it makes great use of what it does have. Highly recommended, if you're looking for a good romantic drama. Reaaaad it. XD

Tears of Thorn is another JManga release. ALC worked on it, so, as expected, the translation reads smoothly and naturally. No complaints there again.

Story: A-
Art: B+
Overall: A-

*still doing cartwheels over the election results*

BGM: "Darlin'" - Beni