Kannazuki no Miko

Kannazuki no Miko by Kaishaku
Overall: Interesting
Smexy Times: Panty-less
Art: Shoujo-y/Special Mix




Today is my one-year anniversary of reviewing manga! I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has supported me this year! And next year is going to be even better. Now onto the review!

So my big plan for today was to review one of the most famous yuri manga out there, so I had only a few choices. With my busy schedule until Christmas, this manga was all I could do. Unfortunately, I didn't like this manga as much as I thought I might, but we'll get into that.

Today's manga is about two priestesses, the Priestess of the Sun and the Priestess of the Moon. The whole mythos behind their origin is convoluted as fuck, so I won't get too much into that. But basically, the Priestess of the Moon is the super important one, and they find a Priestess of the Sun to be sacrificed in her place for who knows what reason. For some reason, there have been multiple reincarnations of these girls because they keep failing I guess.
This time, the Priestess of the Sun is named Himeko, and she's a cute thing, even though she's crying in pretty much every chapter. The Priestess of the Moon is named Chikane, a popular girl at school who everyone loves. In secret, these two are friends, even before they know about their priestessness (priestesshood?). But suddenly, GIANT MECHS come out of nowhere and reveal that a more sinister plot is going on, the likes of which are faaaar too detailed for me to explain or even understand. (Plus I think it's a worthy read, if only for it's status as a 'classic' yuri manga.)

As I read this manga, trying my best to like it, I wondered why it was such a yuri classic. I wondered if I just wasn't seeing the magic behind the series. I mean, I do understand that part of the appeal is the pure dynamicness of the manga. It's got yuri, shoujo, mechas, and Japanese mythology all mixed into one two-volume package. People who do not normally read yuri will be drawn to it for other reasons, and perhaps that is one of the reasons that it has attracted so much attention when most yuri manga just flop and fade out of existence before reaching popularity.
But then, why did I dislike this? Well, one thing that I have already alluded to is the overly complicated plot. As the chapters continued on, it just felt like they were adding on more cliches and complications to make the series longer and more dramatic (note: only one of those worked). At one point, a crucial moment in the series becomes completely overlooked for a bullshit, complicated reason.
The other thing about this manga that sits wrong with me is the relationship between the two girls. The relationship seemed very sweet and cute at the beginning, and I thought I just might enjoy these two, but then shit hit the fan. That crucial moment I was talking about? Yeah. Chikane deflowers Himeko. And Chikane just continues to be a total meanie face to Himeko throughout the rest of the series. But Himeko's reaction just makes me sad. Honestly, it reminds me of way too many hentai series. I can't stand watching these characters be raped and then fall in love with their rapists. THAT IS NOT HOW THINGS USUALLY WORK.

However, for all the gripes I have with this series, I account most of it to the fact that it's just not meant for my tastes. I do recommend that everyone try to read this series once in their lives if they like yuri, simply because it is a common yuri manga to be brought up in conversations about yuri. You can mention things like Strawberry Shake, and no one will understand you, but bring Kannazuki no Miko up, and they'll know what you're talking about. It's the same with Strawberry Panic.
Also, as I said before, the manga includes many elements of other genres that may attract viewers. The robots are very well designed, and each of the villains seems to have one, so there are lots of them if you like stuff like that. There's even a little bit of shoujo between Himeko and some guy I didn't care to remember the name of. And, of course, there's Japanese folklore up the wahzoo.
I will admit that the art can be very pretty as well. Mostly, this is in the romantic scenes between the two girls, but I think it's very admirable for the artist to be able to draw such sweet looking scenes one page, and the next, giant mecha battles. This artist definitely has diversity.

All-in-all, I do recommend this manga to an extent. If you have tastes like mine, you may not like this classic as much as you want to, but if you're at all interested in the other elements this series has to offer, you may just enjoy it.

Yeah... that's nice Chikane.

Baku Ai

Baku Ai by Anisaki Yuna
Overall: No Thank You
Smexy Times: Dry
Art: Shoujo-y








I apologize for the lateness of this review, but here it is, as promised on my Twitter!


The story of this manga is a little confusing, which could be the translation, but I think the plot just has a major hole anyway. But it could just be me. 
Anyway, the story starts off at a Catholic high school with two girls, Sara (the popular one) and Youko (the... other one). Sara and Youko used to be friends, but not anymore, for whatever reason. I don't really think that got explained. But for some reason or another, Sara decides she wants to be friends with Youko again. (Note that there is actually a reason, but... that's for later.)


One night, Sara comes to Youko's window (though I'm not sure how because it's on the second floor as far as I can tell) and wants to spend the night. She gives Youko a goodnight kiss, and for some reason, the taste of the kiss (cigarettes) is mentioned like five times after the kiss. Is the taste supposed to be important or something? The only thing it shows is that the little Catholic school girl isn't such a good girl, but I think we already knew that.
After that, Youko can't get Sara off her mind, so they start becoming "friends" again. I don't think friends tie each other's hands up while they kiss them though. Seriously, I don't get the hand tying thing. It makes no contextual sense! And then there's this scene with Sara and Youko's mom, and there's some sort of tension, but nobody cares. I'll explain that in a second anyway.


So they start hanging out and kissing a lot more. I'm surprised no one cares, to be honest. I mean, it's an all-girls Catholic school. They're not as ambiguous as they think they are. 
So one day, Youko forgets something at her house before going to school, so she hurries back and finds her mom and Sara's dad doing the deed. Sara enters the scene and says some pretty confusing dialogue, which I'm assuming means the whole relationship was a lie or something. See, this is the point at which nothing makes sense anymore. Now note that Anisaki Yuna tends to write a lot of smut, and this is the only yuri manga she appears to have. One-shot smut generally doesn't do plots very well (or at all), so this could be on the fault of the mangaka, or it could be a stupid translation. Because I honestly just have no clue. This is the whole problem with the manga. This one page! And suddenly the somewhat decent manga just falls apart completely. 


So to fix this problem, Youko decides to visit Sara while she's smoking at school (I honestly don't know how she hasn't been caught yet!), and Youko decides to prove her love to Sara by burning her leg with the cigarette. Somehow or another, this works, and they make out on the school stairwell.


Now obviously, this ending doesn't solve anything! Seriously, no conclusion about their parents, no real explanation for what the hell changed, nothing! This manga actually started out decently. It seemed like it could be a cute, fluffy story about forbidden girl's love. Cliché, yes, but not terrible for someone's first yuri manga. But then Anisaki decided to try to throw in some dumb plot line, and the whole thing just fell apart. The art is decent, certainly nothing special. And the biggest irony is that the only really sexy stuff is done by the straight couple. This manga could have been decent, but it's just stupid instead. 

Sweet Lovin' Baby

Sweet Lovin' Baby by Yamaji Ebine
Overall: No Thank You
Smexy Times: Dry
Art: Crap








I don't think I've ever reviewed a series of one-shots. How exciting. Of course, these one shots aren't very good, but, you know. The idea of reviewing something new is exciting by itself. 


So the first chapter is about a lesbian couple who have been going out for around five years. They make a new friend, sort of bringing her into their lives. The femme lesbian is always talking about threesomes and stuff. She's pretty interesting. Especially when she decides that she wants to go be straight and marry a man to procreate. The poor butch lesbian. But I guess it all works out in the end, when the third wheel and the butch get together. 
This one shot is probably the best of the three. Although I really wish the three of them could have been together without the complications. They had interesting dynamics with each other. (I'm not at all opposed to polygamy as long as all sides are equal and willing.)


The next chapter is pretty cute actually. Shorter than the first, but still pretty okay overall. It's just a short story about a girl who gets stuck in the rain and another girl who lets her stay in her apartment. They talk about problems, become close, and kiss, with the promise of a relationship for the future. I like the main girl's hair in this one. Actually, I like the designs for both of the girls. 


The third chapter is where the quality goes downhill fast. I wasn't paying much attention during this one, but what I did get was that a creepy looking girl liked a butch girl. But butch girl isn't actually a lesbian. She just looks like one because girl clothes don't look good on her or something. Honestly, I just wasn't interested. 


The last one was, by far, the worst. The art suddenly got horrible. I mean, I couldn't even focus on the story, it was so bad! I just tried to get through it as fast as I could. (Not like the story part was even that good or interesting.)


As you go through this series of one shots, they just keep getting worse. I can't recommend the last two at all, especially the last one. But the first two are interesting enough to bump up the rating. But the art in all of these is pretty terrible. I think the art in the second story was the best, but the first story's art wasn't bad either. Overall, this isn't really interesting, but you could try checking it out. 
(Though the first story just makes me want to go searching for a yuri polygamous relationship in a manga. I don't think I'll find one.)

Hidden Meaning

Hidden Meaning by Itou Chika
Overall: Lesicake
Smexy Times: Scissor Sisters
Art: Special








This manga is just about sex. It's super short. And it's basically all a sex scene. So forgive me for the review this week being short, but without any content, I can't write a long, fabulous review.


So here's how the "plot" of this manga goes. There's a writer and her manager (I think. Or maybe her publisher.) who have a relationship. In every story the writer writes, she always puts in a character like her girlfriend/manager/publisher. Her girlfriend remains unimpressed, thinking that everyone at work will find out they're dating because of this. Right, because she's the only person in the world who acts like that. Of course.
But the writer doesn't really care, saying she'll put this woman in all of her stories. Then they have sex. It's really terrible honestly. I mean, the way they have sex. I may not have any stories to tell, but I know that is not the way that works. (It was like watching The Kids Are All Right after hearing my English teacher say that the way the lesbians had sex was not how real lesbians have sex, and then that was all I could think about for the rest of the movie. But I digress.)


That's pretty much the entire story. I know it's lame, but what can you expect? The art has it's ups and downs, the up being this sexy face and the down being this hideous kiss. The plot is pretty much nonexistent, and the entire manga would only appeal to someone who likes close-ups of vaginas and two girls getting it on in an awkward manner. 

V Hunter

V Hunter by Hayashiya Shizuru
Overall: Interesting
Smexy Times: Dry
Art: Crap








I seem to have hit the goldmine. This, my friends, is another manga by the mangaka who did Strawberry Shake and Kiss Doll. Boy, I was excited to find that out too. 
Unfortunately, before you get your hopes up, this follows the standards of Kiss Doll rather than Strawberry Shake. But be happy, for it isn't as bad as Kiss Doll. 


Hayashiya seems to be good at thinking of interesting ideas for manga, but her one shots never bring these ideas to full potential. (I have yet to read her other yuri manga though, but that is multi-chaptered.) Her idea this time is this: characters come out of old video tapes from rental stores, and there's a hero who rescues pretty girls from these characters when they want naughty things. 
Yes, the 'coming out of the TV' thing does sound like a bad fanfiction, but I think it's executed much better here than in something you'd find on fanfiction.net. 


So we meet up with a girl who I didn't catch the name of, but it's not really important. She rented Gone with the Wind, but the tape is all fuzzy and hard to watch. The silly girl insists on watching it all the way through because she spent her money on it, even though she could probably go to the rental place and tell them their tape is all messed up and get her money back. But I guess she's not bright enough to think of that. So, upon finishing the tape, who should pop out but Butt Rhetler. No, I swear I'm not fucking with you here.
For some reason or another, this dude wants to rape main girl. (I've never seen Gone with the Wind, but I'm pretty sure this part isn't based on Rhett Butler's character.) Just when things get nekkid, who should come to save the day but our hero, Meiko! It's her job to catch these baddies and save pretty ladies. So Meiko seals the... demon spawn away, but she still needs to get paid of course. And since our little school girl spent all her money on a tape that didn't even work, Meiko accepts her payment in another way. 


This story isn't special by any means, but it's worth a read and a giggle. I've always enjoyed Hayashiya's humor, and this is no exception. I mean c'mon, Butt Rhetler? That's pretty clever. But the art is cringe-worthy, though not as much so as Kiss Doll's art. And as I've said before, it could have been even more interesting with a few more chapters. However, I do enjoy it for it's concept, so I can recommend it on that alone. 

Blue Drop - Maiorita Tenshi

Blue Drop - Maiorita Tenshi by Yoshitomi Akihito
Overall: Interesting
Smexy Times: Dry
Art: Crap / Special Mix








Hey guys, guess who hasn't been doing anything this summer? That's me. Unfortunately, this means I haven't updated this blog either. But today, I'm back. (Although I won't be back next week because I'll be camping. But hopefully after that, this blog will pick up again.)


Now onto the review.
I'm going to start out by saying I use the term 'Interesting' lightly. This reminds me of a certain other manga I've reviewed that had an interesting idea, but was not used to its' full potential. This is another one of those.


The story starts out during a war in Japan where Aliens called Gosta are trying to invade the planet by dropping pretty women from the sky who EXPLODE and destroy shit. Our main character has been orphaned because one of these living time bombs exploded and killed her parents. The girl, Sachi, takes care of some of the younger children by feeding them in their living complex. And then one day, a girl with no memories, Ai, comes to the complex as well. As the girl has no idea of who she really is other than her name, it's Sachi's job to take care of her, and they become roomies. Ai's a rather paranoid thing, so Sachi ends up comforting her quite a bit, and so they sleep in the same bed.


The next day that Ai is there, she trips and reveals that her blood is white, which is an obvious sign of being an Alien! This obviously explains Ai's fear. She doesn't want to be taken away by the soliders because she's a bomb just waiting to explode. This creates a bit of tension, but Sachi is glad that Ai didn't blow up because, you know, then we wouldn't get any homoromantic tension between the two. (No, actually, there isn't any homoromantic tension, being as Sachi is nine years old.)


Well that's when Ai decides to pull out all the lesbian stops, since apparently all Aliens are homosexual women. (What, you didn't know that?) They can also produce children with other women. No, don't ask me either.
Anyway, the army begins their Gosta Hunt, and Sachi helps Ai escape, afraid she will never see the lesbian Alien again. But then she sees that there's been an explosion nearby, and she fears the worst; Ai blew herself up.


Well skip some years later, and I think you can figure out what happens. Ai didn't die, she was just hiding, blah blah blah. If you didn't see that ending from miles away, you need glasses my friend. (But can't she still explode? Did the military disable her explosion system? I don't understand how she's NOT DANGEROUS now.)


The story isn't necessarily anything special. As I said before, the idea was interesting, but to say that they put it to full use would probably be a lie. Also, nine year olds in love just makes me feel awkward, and it's not something I would voluntarily want to read about in a yuri novel. So I will reluctantly rate this manga the way I do. The art isn't very pretty, but it's certainly a different, non-shoujo style. If this sounds like something interesting to you, you should give it a shot. It isn't a masterpiece, but it's something.

Strawberry Panic!

Strawberry Panic! written by Sakura Kimino and illustrated by Namuchi Takumi
Overall: Amazing
Smexy Times: Dry
Art: Be-a-utiful






This is a manga I got for my birthday from a friend, so I had to do some research on where you can read this. You can buy the whole thing at most places you can buy manga or online somewhere. (I saw it on Monday at Borders in fact.) Also, the link I provided you does not contain the last two chapters, so if anyone finds a link that has all 14 chapters, please tell me. 


For most people who don't know, Strawberry Panic! is one of the most famous yuri anime there is. It's rather infamous for its characters and school uniforms. Even I, as a young thing, watched the entire thing before I knew my own sexuality. This was years ago of course, so my memory of the storyline is rather limited. But it's okay, because we're talking about the manga here, not the anime! Maybe some day I'll review the anime, but that day is not today. 


This manga is about three all-girl schools, St. Miator, St. Spica, and St. Lulim. Aoi Nagisa transfers to St. Miator and gets lost trying to find her school when she runs into the beautiful Hanazono Shizuma. And, as you can guess, Shizuma takes a sudden interest in Nagisa, and things continue from there. You can imagine of course. 


But really, the main focus of this manga is the Étoile Competition. Basically, it's a competition among the three schools and the students to determine the sort of 'royalty' of the schools. They have no power really, it's just two girls showing their determination and love for each other and becoming... Queen and Queen. Basically, lesbians.
So, as I'm sure you can tell, Shizuma and Nagisa enter as a couple. The other important couple of the manga is 'the Prince', Otori Amane, and her angel, Konohana Hikari, from St. Spica. I enjoy Hikari a lot actually. She's really cute, and reminds me a little of myself. 


The thing that I enjoy most about this manga is the characters. There are literally so many girls that you could have a chance of liking that I'm sure everyone could find someone to follow the storyline of. Of course, the most focused on storylines are Shizuma's, Nagisa's, and Amane's. Hikari's is kind of just included and touched on. It's mostly the other three. But all of the other characters get something, so you'll find a character that you enjoy reading about. I personally adore all the Lulim students. (I think that's the school I'd go to too.)


Unfortunately, the manga is left unfinished. This manga literally says 'The Complete Manga Collection', and this confused me when I was left with a cliffhanger conclusion. So I did a little research. Turns out the manga really is unfinished. Which is downright sad. From what I can remember, the manga is pretty different from the anime, so the more unique take the manga uses is never concluded. 
So upon this discovery, I must now recommend you watch the anime if you enjoy what the manga sets up. The anime is more sexy than the manga (especially seeing as the manga has no sex at all). The anime is a bit more serious and angsty as well, but, as anyone who knows me knows, I adore angst. So this isn't a problem. 
But all-in-all, I think the manga stands well alone. I also recommend the light novels (which came before the manga), though I have yet to read them myself. This manga was a welcomed edition to my collection, and I hope the anime will someday join my anime collection as well.