Renai Idenshii XX volume 1 + Drama CD and Parody Manga

The cover for the version that comes with the drama CD.

The cover for the version that comes with a booklet containing a yaoi (i.e. the characters are all guys in it) parody of the story.

And the cover for the normal edition. (I like the second cover best.)

I love Zaou Taishi and Eiki Eiki's Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu, even though its first two chapters aren't very good. I'm not in love with Renai Idenshii XX, but it's entertaining for something different (i.e. sci-fi themed) running in Yuri Hime.

The story takes place in 2160, 38 years after an incurable pandemic has finished wiping out the male population by making the Y chromosome K.O. The population continues to replenish itself via artificial insemination, which raises the question of how the hell they can make that work over the long term. (The sperm supply has to run out eventually.)

The women who came into power following the pandemic created the Eden Project, in which the population is divided into Adams (who perform tasks traditionally given to men, like having power and jobs) and Eves (raised to be traditionally feminine, by staying home and looking pretty). Adams and Eves must pair up and form families. Relationships between Adams and between Eves are forbidden. Even though it's a really bleak set-up (as the protagonist points out), there's enough humor to keep the story from feeling bogged down, thankfully.

Koshiro Aoi is an Adam transferring to a prestigious, government-run school for Adams, where she meets Kokonoe Sakura (my favorite), an Adam who's an Etoile (a member of the highest class in society) and a Top Star (one of the top five highest academically-ranked students in the academy). Refreshingly, Sakura isn't the lofty Onee-sama or Prince type. She's an easygoing, slightly goofy foil to the hyper-serious Aoi.

Aoi decides to become a Top Star so she can get guaranteed access to to the highest stratum of society and destroy the Eden Project from within. A classmate who figures out Aoi's plan after looking into her background (Aoi's mother's life was ruined by the Eden Project because she fell in love with another Eve), tells Aoi that she can't do it alone and needs to gather allies. By the end of this volume, Aoi is a Top Star, and she and Sakura are best friends. (And Aoi is in love with Sakura, even though she doesn't realize it yet.) Sakura's snooty fiancee, who is suspicious of Aoi from the beginning, also develops a grudge against her.

Most of this volume feels like the equivalent of a runner stretching before a race, just starting to take off by the end of the volume. I'm interested in seeing how it all turns out. If you question the premise at all, it begins to unravel (and a yuri story set in a single-sex world in which the characters can't have anything other than same-sex relationships, no matter how good, will never be completely satisfying for me), but if you just take it as a speculative fiction romp by two mangaka who specialize in gender-bending (and throw out some nice shout-outs: "Top Star", the class sections at Aoi and Sakura's school being named after Takarazuka troupes, the Adams wearing old-fashioned French military-style uniforms and fencing each other, and Sakura owning a pet cat named Oscar), it's fun.

There's also a short bonus chapter that's stupid and lowbrow (hint: Zaou Taishi gets to indulge her love of drawing boobs), but still funny. (Poor Aoi. ^_^;)

The drama CD is, like the Girl Friends CD, an abridged version of the first volume of the story, with the yuri bumped up a bit. The seiyuu did a good job, but I thought Taketatsu Ayana was miscast as Aoi. (Aoi sounds completely different in my head.) The last 11 minutes feature the seiyuu answering questions like, "What would you do if there were no men left in the world?"

In the sixteen page yaoi parody booklet that comes with the other special edition, male Aoi arrives at the academy, picks a fight with a classmate (because said classmate grabbed his butt, instead of insulting Aoi's dead mother's kendo sword like in the story proper), and some creeps try to gang rape him, but male Sakura saves him and they have sex.

Story: B-
Art: A- (I love Zaou Taishi's art style.)
Overall: B-

Girl Friends Drama CD

Finally! (Sorry about not having posted sooner. Finals knocked me out for the early portion of this week and Blogger was down for maintenance yesterday.)

The Girl Friends drama CD isn’t an original story, but an adaptation of the first ten chapters of the manga (ending when Mari realizes that she really is in love with Akko), with some sensible edits. A small handful of scenes, like the ones that include Mari’s and Akko’s families, or Akko showing Mari how to do her nails, are cut, and the dialogue is altered a little to make what is included flow together more smoothly. I have no complaints about the edits, since this CD would have been too slavish of an adaptation otherwise.

I usually prefer drama CDs that add a new story to their franchise’s canon, like the ones made for Fujieda Miyabi’s manga. If I were to choose a portion of the Girl Friends manga to adapt to a drama CD, it would include, say, the story covered by volume 4, when Mari and Akko become a couple.

But as an adaptation of the early material, this drama CD is excellent. All of the seiyuu do a top-notch job and bring the characters to life perfectly. It was a treat to hear how the material being covered would actually sound. And of course, since this CD starts at the beginning of the manga, it’s accessible to people who haven’t read Girl Friends. (Like anybody who hasn’t read Girl Friends is going to buy this. ^^;) As a bonus, the CD cover opens to the short drama CD comic Morinaga Milk drew for the January 2011 issue of Comic High! There’s also a photo of the drama CD cast. The image on the back of the CD case comes from the top of the first page of chapter 11.

While this isn’t the drama CD I would have made for Girl Friends, it was fun to hear the characters and perfect as an adaptation of what it covers.

Overall: B

とてもかわいい百合マンガ：Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan vol 1

Wow!! ^__^ My Japanese language professor just made my day. I just found out that she watched the Aoi Hana anime also, and thought it was a "とてもかわいい話" ("very cute story"). She isn't an anime fan (although she has seen some anime- mostly by Studio Ghibli), so I see this as further proof of Aoi Hana's greatness/crossover appeal to non-otaku. Score! And speaking of feel-good yuri stories-

As a romance, Fujieda Miyabi's Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan is as sweet as a sugar cube, and as gentle and relaxing as a cup of lavender tea. It isn't a personal favorite of mine, but definitely good for something heartwarming and simple. (Provided that you don't mind large doses of cute.)

It's a pleasantly straightforward story about a serious, responsible high school student named Sarasa, an airheaded but extremely kind tea shop owner named Seriho, and the slowly developing romance between them. By "slow", I don't mean that it takes them a long time to fall in love with each other (Yuri Hime's quarterly release schedule wouldn't really facilitate that)- Sarasa's head-over-heels for Seriho right off the bat, and she's working at Seriho's Amber Teahouse so she can get closer to her. Seriho clearly loves Sarasa, but doesn't seem to be fully cognizant of her own feelings, or the fact that Sarasa's in love with her. Sarasa's two best friends/regular customers, Haru and Hinoka (my two favorites), are gleefully aware of what's going on, and they enjoy dropping not-so-subtle hints in front of Seriho- even at the risk of incurring Sarasa's wrath. Sarasa eventually becomes so serious about Seriho (especially after Seriho asks Sarasa to stay by her side for the next 50 years or more- this isn't a full-blown love confession, believe it or not) that she changes her college plans and decides to enroll in a culinary academy so she can become a pâtissière and continue to work with Seriho at the Amber Teahouse. Following the main stretch of the volume, there's the Tanabata special in which Sarasa, Seriho, Haru, and Hinoka host a Tanabata event at the Amber Teahouse to save it from bankruptcy, along with a great new bonus chapter featuring a crossover-cameo from Alice Quartet. (Which means more eye candy clothing designs by Fujieda. I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. ^^)

This series is simply...cute. But in a good way. The characters are all likeable (although Seriho's ineptness does irritate me at points), and there isn't anything that I consider offensive. (Nothing remotely "adult" either; if an elementary school kid picked this one up and started skimming it, I wouldn't bat an eye.) There isn't an iota of conflict- the most we get is the threat of the teahouse closing down in the Tanabata special. But it's a Fujieda manga- we know the teahouse is going to remain open. I had to tune out my inner cynic (the one muttering "But you didn't decide to do what you originally thought you wanted to do after you began college, didn't you? How does she know it'll work out? Blahblahblah, nagnagnag....*white noise*") while reading parts of this volume, but it didn't really impact my reading experience. Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan is meant to be an airy, idealistic shoujo romance- and a Fujieda one at that- so I can take a handwave or two.

Like always, Fujieda's art is super-cute. ^^ I like his stylized character designs throughout his different works- although sometimes they cross the line to seeming a little overly simplistic (not counting the chibi scenes). But the art tells the story well (and sometimes beautifully, at key points), with good sequencing.

Again, this isn't a personal favorite, but still recommended for a cute yuri series to read.

Story: B
Art: B
Overall: B

And as far as the drama CD:
Like the "Pink Princess" CD that came with Yuri Hime volume 16, the "White Engage" drama CD that came with the LE (the one in which Sarasa and Seriho get engaged, with a cameo from Otome-iro Stay Tune's Mana-chan-sensei and Shiko) was cute to listen to. I loved the yuri meta-references- one reason I like Otome-iro Stay Tune. The DCD is basically more of what we're used to from the manga (terribly insightful, I know ^^;), so it would get a B also. The voice acting was done very well, although...despite Tamura Yukari giving a solid performance as Mana-chan-sensei, I'm not much of a fan of her voice.


Oh...and just to be really dorky get into "White Engage" more, I made Earl Grey milk tea and heated a slice of cinnamon coffee cake (fresh from Starbucks) to have while listening to it.

BGM- "Ceui" by Centefolia