Short Takes: Kageki Shojo!! 8, Citrus+ 5, and My Pancreas Broke but my Life got Better

  

Citrus + (plus) Volume 5

    Yuzu runs into her old middle school friends. She's with Mei and doesn't properly introduce them. Yuzu is torn about how to tell them while fearing they might leave her. Like the rest of the Citrus + series, this volume is definitely lighter as well as a bit more realistic than the original series. If you've been liking this sequel series, this is a total normal volume in that series.

Kageki Shojo!! Vol. 8

    The fall-out of Sarasa missing her first performance due to her sick grandfather. The students also move into their second year. Narata also begins some self-discovery about what her path in the theater might look like. A good overall volume.

My Pancreas Broke but my Life Got Better

    The next volume in the ongoing autobiography manga series by Nagata Kabi. This is the series that started with My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness. My feelings about this volume are similar to my feelings on the last couple, good points, good honesty, uniquely rough art, but also feeling a bit redundant without the heavy hit of that original volume. Tough to know if the original book was alter in the series if it too would feel less, as if it simply hit harder as the first and being so shockingly different. However, as the later volumes have focused more on Nagata's health, alcoholism, and some of her mental health, it doesn't feel as taboo as the first volume's subject matter. Additionally, I really wish she'd go deeper into her relationship with her mother, that looms over everything. Worth a read, but certainly don't expect the intensity of the very first book.

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Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

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Skip and Loafer (anime season 1 review)

    I'll make this quick, I highly recommend "Skip and Loafer" season 1 (let's hope there will be more seasons to follow). It's exactly what you want from a light, but emotionally meaningful, shoujo high-school romance.

    It centers on Mitsumi, who grew up in a small isolated town and heads to Tokyo for high-school with the dream of becoming a politician and returning to her town to help revitalize it. She's everything you want in a shoujo heroine: spunky, earnest, occasionally clumsy, determined, and imminently likeable. She brings people together and she opens people up.

    But in many ways, this first season sees the development of Sousuke, whom one can only presume will be the love interest. He is a former child actor who has some trauma in his past and is trying to lead a normal life, keeping his secrets, and not being his authentic self. 

    Naturally, his time with Mitsumi begins to open up his sense of self worth and we see the first glimmers of their romantic interest blooming. Due to his interactions with her, he begins to push back against old narratives and reclaim pieces of himself. 

    The show is sweet, funny, and earnest. It isn't a deeply psychological show like Kare Kano or Ao Haru Ride, but does have enough emotional depth to balance the light-hearted moments. 

    I particularly loved Mitsumi's voice actress. The animation was also completely fine. Not necessarily anything special, but decent enough quality. 

    Basically, if you like shoujo high-school romance and want something on the lighter but still emotionally meaningful side of things, this is a really enjoyable show. I definitely recommend it. (Currently available on Crunchyroll)

✩🚺

Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

All comments are moderated by a real person who only checks them once a day. Therefore, comments may take a while before they show up. Thanks for understanding. It's how we keep this a community of lovingkindness.

Sound proof Drum Isolation Booth in my basement!

    So aside from my day job in special education, and my love of anime and manga (and art, and books, etc...) I used to be a recording engineer/producer. I recently took up drums as a way to keep myself in music. So naturally, I needed to build a soundproof drum room in my basement. Here's a blog post detailing the basics. Perhaps most important is the air handling system I designed (and which is working great in practice).

    I originally designed the room with some added sound proofing features (such as using rockwool) but had to cut some costs when the total materials cost came in (I do all the construction myself). So I ended up with pink fiberglass instead. But after doing much research, it turns out rockwool doesn't make quite as much difference as people say.

    The basic construction including the room having an air gap between the outside foundation walls and the drum room walls. Then there were two layers of drywall on the outside of the wall, pink fiberglass insulation, and two more layers of drywall. For the soffits around the existing HVAC duct work, I did four layers of drywall on the inside of the room, then the insulation, but no drywall on the other side of the soffit. For the ceiling, given the low height of the basement, I went with pink fiberglass between the ceiling joists (first floor floor joists), then a layer of 5/8 OSB, then 2 layers of drywall. Might not seem like much, but that extra half inch of ceiling height helps, especially with the reflection foam on the ceiling after that (remember folks, the wall foam is not sound proofing, it is to limit reflections!).

    The floor plates for the walls were pressure treated in case of moisture from the floor. I kept the cement floor of the basement and just put area rugs instead of a finished floor. Cement slab floors don't transmit sound, so there was no need to build a floating floor and given the low ceiling height, this helped a lot. The floor plates also were caulked under the pressure treated wood, and along each edge, inside and out, to prevent any unevenness in the floor or board from creating a sound gap.

    The door is an exterior steel door with internal insulation. This has good weather stripping for sound, and is better than a wooden door for sound isolation. The challenge was that I had to cut it down due to the low ceiling height. I cut down the bottom edge, reinforced it with additional wood insert, filed down the rough steel edge, and it worked perfectly! 

Here are some random construction pics:

Love google sketchup, I still use the old free one.

Framing, notice on the left, there is an alcove to get access to the central stack snake port (lower left corner)

Insulation and starting drywall.

Cut down the steel door. Then replaced the blocking at the bottom, then glued it all tight and clamped it. After this, I filed down the rough steel edge and primed. Worked perfect.

    But now to the fun part! You can't have a soundproof room, with all the joints caulked, and weather proofed steel doors, without ventilation. You'll roast in there! BUT, if you just run the regular ventilation from the house HVAC system into the room, the sound of the drums (or whatever) will just travel through the vents into the rest of the house, which means you might as well not have even built the room.

    The solution is to build a ventilation system that is NOT connected to the house, but makes use of the fact that the room is in the basement. Basically, I built two baffled duct systems, one with an intake fan, and one with an output fan. The intake fan is located at the front bottom of the room, it draws in cool air from the basement floor. The output fan is located near the ceiling of the drum room, and pulls hot air (which rises) out of the room and spits it back out into the basement. You thus have cool air coming in, warm air going out, and none of this is connected to the house HVAC system. Below I will detail how I built these as well as some acoustic measurements I did showing the sound isolation properties of the baffled vent system.

    The basic premise is to have the sound from the room travel through a twisting and turning path (each right angle slows the sound down, and slow sound is quieter sound). The path should also be absorptive. I went with foam at first and not soft insulation or fabric because I didn't want dust build-up, however, it wasn't quite enough, so when I added a ribbed duct, I added pink insulation in any gaps. So the sound actually goes through the duct, but there's plenty of absorptive material as well. I made the decision to add the duct and foam after doing acoustical tests. You'll see those below too. 

    And then it's also important that your fans don't add noise. The fans were the fun part. I basically bought two 8" super quiet computer case fans, connected them to a cheap 12 volt power adapter, and put that into a switched wall outlet to turn them on and off.

    Lastly, you need to get audio and in and out of the room if you want to record. So I did a multi elbowed PVC conduit into and out of the room, the ends stuffed with foam. It has multiple curves, because each change in direction of sound decreases speed which decreases volume. Works perfect.

Here are pictures with descriptions:

Plywood frame. The box jutting out on the lower left is what will go through the wall into the drum room and have a wall grate placed overtop. The round hole on the bottom right is for the fan.

Here it is with the first layer of foam. 

Added a rigid and ribbed duct with extra pink foam in the gaps after doing acoustical analysis and finding that the hard foam cavity on it's own wasn't enough. Now there's more insulation for the outside, and the ribbed nature of the duct further disrupts and slows the sound.

Here's an early test mounting without the fan for acoustical tests. You can see the test mics laying on top of it.

Here are the two mounted. The bottom one is the cold air intake, the top one in the back is the warm air output from the booth

Side view

Lots to unpack with this one, these are the acoustic measurements with no baffle (just an opening from the drum room into the basement (approx 8"x10"), with the baffle (but without any duct in it), and with the baffle with the duct. The mics were in two positions. "On axis" means directly in front of the opening from the drum room into the basement. "Fan opening" means in front of the part of the baffle where the fan would be (the in/out side of the baffle). For the one with no baffle, I left the mic in the place it would be had the baffle been mounted. Omni directional measurement mics were used. 

As you can see, starting with the on-axis (top row), we get typical white noise profile with no baffle, the mic is simply picking it up straight from the speaker. With the baffle (but no duct in the baffle) we get significant high end and mid-range attenuation (YAY!) but the low end is still not great. Once we add the vent with the added pink foam (top, far right), the low end drops as well. This is because there is more between the mic and the inside of the baffle. The sound goes through the side wall of the metal duct, then pink foam, the rigid foam, then the plywood (instead of just the rigid foam and plywood).

The bottom row is at the fan side. You can see from the left bottom, that high end is a bit attenuated as you would expect since the speaker is in the drum room, projecting out the vent opening, and is perpendicular to the mic placement. The middle bottom shows that with the baffle (with no duct) there is the expected additional high end/mid attenuation. And the bottom right shows the additional modest low end attenuation with the duct and pink foam added. 

All in all, with the baffle, duct, and two types of insulation, we're getting upwards of 20 db attenuation at some frequencies, and at least modest attenuation at the low frequencies (the hardest to cut down). In practice, when walking around the drum room while someone was playing, I was blown away by just how quiet the sound leakage was from these vent systems. Worked better than I hoped.

For fun, I did the same tests using music (Thanks vintage Paramore!):

You can basically see all the same stuff as before. Highs and mids are dramatically cut from the no baffle tests (on the far left). Lows are still hard to cut down, but there's at least some drop.

Here's the audio conduit using PVC:

Here are some pics of the finished room. Enjoy!

You can see one soffit around an existing HVAC line. You can also see the hot air outtake vent in the upper right corner of the picture. There are power outlets on the three walls without the door.

Picture from the door, looking in.

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Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

All comments are moderated by a real person who only checks them once a day. Therefore, comments may take a while before they show up. Thanks for understanding. It's how we keep this a community of lovingkindness.

SHORT TAKES: Kageki Shojo vol. 7, Like a Butterfly vol. 1, Even Though We're Adults Vol. 6, A condition called Love Vol. 3, Stealing Rembrants (book), Tonikawa Season 2, Tomo-chan is a Girl Season 1

    I've been awol. Thankfully for good reasons. But I know I haven't posted in forever. But I've been reading and watching and here are some very very short takes on all of that:

MANGA:

Kageki Shojo vol. 7 - Now that I've embraced what the series is, and isn't, its a fun read. I continue to like that there really aren't any antagonists, and Sarasa continues to be compelling. I like that she's working to go beyond her natural talent and really thinking about her own development. I'm eager to see what she does in the performance.

Like a Butterfly vol. 1 - I like Suu Morishita's art but found her previously released series disappointingly conventional after a solid start (although maybe Like a Butterfly came out before it in Japan?). Sadly, the first volume of this starts out very conventionally. That being said, sometimes conventional is okay. A simple girl meets boy. I am cautiously intrigued to see how they develop Suiren's character given that I'm a bit skeptical of her presentation in this first volume. But maybe she'll be humanized a bit more. She feels a bit "objecty" to start. We'll see.

Even Though We're Adults vol. 6 - So I'm a huge fan of Takako Shimura. Huge. I'm still on the fence with this series. But thankfully it continues to be interesting and messy, things I love in her work. I've read this volume several times but it feels a bit like filler. I'm still very into seeing where things go and how they get there though.

A Condition Called Love vol. 3 - It's settling into a pretty conventional story. Valentine's chocolates. Conventional is fine, like I said about Like a Butterfly. But given how it started, I was hoping it would be a bit darker and moodier. Where is my next Kare Kano or Ao Haro Ride?

BOOKS:

Stealing Rembrants - I'm a big big fan of art theft books, art forgery books, etc... So I was interesting in this book detailing a huge number or Rembrandt heists throughout the years. Sadly, it was disappointingly written. The underlying stories are cool (and true) but the presentation was middling in the prose (and sometimes even worse) and the book was organized a bit strangely. An interesting read, but not an engrossing one which is a shame given the topic. There are better books out there on these topics.

ANIME:

Tonikawa Season 2 - I believe my review of season 1 was basically this: "Better than it should have been, pretty bad animation." And that's basically the review of season 2. Minimal character development, basically the same type of stuff as season 1. But at least we get a little more of the behind the scenes as to who Tsukasa might be (or what she might be?). The show kills time in an inoffensive way, but is very mediocre.

Tomo-chan is a Girl Season 1 - I had started the manga a few years back and got bored quickly. After the first couple episodes of the anime, I was feeling the same way. However, the anime very quickly got things moving, characters developing and changing, and was a fun series. The pacing worked here, perhaps better than the manga. I definitely enjoyed this as light-hearted fare. 

✩🚺

Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

All comments are moderated by a real person who only checks them once a day. Therefore, comments may take a while before they show up. Thanks for understanding. It's how we keep this a community of lovingkindness.

Annie on My Mind (Book Review)

    I'm not sure how I came across a recommendation to read this book, but "Annie on My Mind" by Nancy Garden was a beautiful and minorly startling read. Startling only because it was written so openly about gay teen girls back in 1982! It both felt of it's time and equally prescient 40 years later. But the short take: do you like lesbian teen stories that are beautiful (you probably do and that's why you read my blog)? If so, this is just a really sweet and well written teen novel from the 80s about being gay and in love.

    The story focuses on Liza, who attends an ailing private school in a nice part of New York City and her chance encounter at a museum with Annie, who attends a public school in a not-so-nice part of 1980s New York City. They click instantly, and then, they really click and they keep clicking, and they keep getting closer, and...

My Cute Little Kitten volume 1 (manga Review)

    Have you read Milk Morinaga's other works? Do you like Milk Morinaga's other works? I think those are probably pretty crucial questions to answer before deciding to read "My Cute Little Kitten" volume 1.

    For those uninitiated, Milk Morinaga writes yuri manga that features explicit dating and romance between high-school or adult female characters. The fact that Morinaga-san makes these relationships explicit and clear is a huge plus compared to a lot of the wishy-washy yuri out there. And some of Morinaga-san's work is generally quite good ("Girl Friends," some of the stories in "Kisses, Sighs, and Cherry Blossom Pink," and my favorite: "Secret of the Princess"). But some of her series are a bit lack-luster compared to others and frankly, "My Cute Little Kitten" doesn't start super strong.

A Condition Called Love - Volumes 1 and 2 (Manga Review)

    A few more volumes are going to be needed to really assess "A Condition Called Love." So far, I've read the first two volumes. Basically, it's a high-school romance between a guy who loves hard and a girl who isn't sure she's interested in love. They decide to have a trial relationship, and by volume 2, she's interested in continuing to see where it goes. The art is decent. Just a straightforward Shoujo series on the surface.

    However, I am either intrigued or concerned about how they depict the boy and his actions. In some ways he could be seen as a very loving boyfriend who dotes on her. But it comes off as obsessive and a bit creepy to me. That could be good if it decides to really explore his past, maybe there's trauma there, maybe he's overcompensating, or maybe this series becomes dark like "Kare Kano." That would be really cool to see it dig in.

Doughnuts under a Crescent Moon volume 4 (Manga Review)

10/9/23 - There was a comment below that had me really thinking, and I responded to it. But I haven't been able to let it go, because while I think the commenter raises some good and very true issues with my perspective, I also think that the quality of my own writing didn't express what I was trying to get across. So with that, I've edited and added to this review to better represent what I meant. So that the edits don't undermine the original commenter, I have left anything I'm removing in the post but with strikethroughs. Anything I'm adding from the original are now colored blue so you can all see what was changed. I appreciate whenever a comment has me doing so much introspection. In this case, it was a mix of unpacking my own bias mixed with realizing that a fast-take no-edit post probably didn't do my underlying issue with the series/volume any help. On to the edited review:

    Whelp, "Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon" volume 4 (the final volume) manages to take a very mediocre manga and absolutely destroy it with a major "fuck you" conclude it with an unexpected and poorly set-up character-based explanation at the very end. 

    Basically, I spent all but last page or so of this 4 volume series thinking/hoping/expecting that it was about two adult women's burgeoning understanding of themselves and desire to be in a relationship with each other. I'm always hoping for that because there either isn't much romance Josei being written or just isn't that much being translated (or a combination). So I'm pretty desperate for adult lesbian representation that isn't too trashy (written by men?) or too emotionally dark. Sometimes I just want that nice "cup of evening hot chocolate" type lesbian romance (I don't even know if that metaphor makes sense, lol). And while Doughnuts (my American brain cannot adjust to it being spelled that way - come on, it's DONUTS! amiright!?!?! lol) does deliver on the LGBTQ representation in its own way, it didn't deliver on its final reveal in a literarily-solid way (now I'm just making up words, so sue me!). If you don't want spoilers, don't read the rest of this post. 

The Girl that Can't Get a Girlfriend (Manga Review)

    "The Girl that Can't Get a Girlfriend" by Mieri Hiranishi is an auto-biographical LGBTQ manga. In keeping with my general philosophy towards auto-biographical works, I will not be commenting on the story or characters themselves because those are real people and real events, so it's not for me to dissect them. Also, out of respect for the author, this is their work and their life, and they should be proud to have it out there for the world to see. That's a very brave thing.

    All that being said, I wanted to love "The Girl that Can't Get a Girlfriend" but I didn't. It was okay, just okay. I think it suffers in comparison to some extraordinary works, particularly "My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness" which is extraordinary on so many levels, that most things will pale in comparison. But I also think about graphic novels like "Fun Home" or "It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth" or even "Hyperbole and a Half" and unfortunately "The Girl..." just doesn't compete.

Adachi and Shimamura Volume 4 (Manga Review)

    I know I'm going to take flak for this, but I just continue to not really like "Adachi and Shimamura" and even after re-reading Volume 4 several times, it's just not doing anything for me. Of course, your tastes might be different, what connects with you will be different than what connects with me, and I recognize that the light novels are much beloved. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt if you're a fan of the light novels.

    Volume 4 centers around Adachi becoming jealous/insecure that Shimamura is talking to other students in their new class, Shimamura reconnecting with a slightly strange old friend, and Adachi begging her way into a sleepover at Shimamura's house. 

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey (Book Review)

    I'm not a huge fan of contemporary fiction. That's not exactly true. I just don't read much of it because I'm not interested in much of it. But there is a lot of wonderful contemporary fiction out there and I'm very pleased to say that "The Echo Wife" by Sarah Gailey is one of those.

    I was in a bookstore, just randomly browsing, not intending to buy anything, but a clerk had written a brief description of this book and it was enough to make me want to buy it. This won't be a review exactly, but perhaps my attempt to do for you what that clerk's write-up did for me.

    "The Echo Wife" could be summed up as a modern gothic near-future (futurist?) feminist novel. It centers around a woman, her ex-husband, the other woman, and human cloning. Neither woman is exactly likeable, but both are easy to root for despite their flaws. This is feminism in the best sense in that we have empowered women, struggling against a variety of patriarchal forces, but they aren't perfect people. They are flawed and unique and messy (very!) and the fact that we empathize so deeply with both of them while also recognizing their flaws is an evidence of the author's mastery of craft. 

    The narrative and prose are tightly constructed and well executed. If I had any qualms, it's that I'm still digesting the very very very ending. After a first reading, it feels just slightly less thought through than the rest of the book which is so perfectly built that I'm not sure the ending works. However, it may also be an ending that grows on me over time. Or, perhaps, it is intentionally not as tight as the rest for one of two possible reasons: 1) it's showing the main character's increasing release from her past trauma in that she is less studious and purposeful, and/or 2) that we are meant to question how things might unravel after the novel. It's that last part that has me unsettled. I guess time and re-readings will tell.

    Basically, if you like gothic and victorian proto-feminist works but want a modern (slightly futurist) setting with less angelic characters who are flawed but engaging that is well written, "The Echo Wife" is sure to please. I highly recommend it.

    

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Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

All comments are moderated by a real person who only checks them once a day. Therefore, comments may take a while before they show up. Thanks for understanding. It's how we keep this a community of lovingkindness.

Fruits Basket Another volume 4 (manga review)

    If you're reading "Fruits Basket Another", then you love Natsuki Takaya and her series "Fruits Basket." So do you really need a critical review of volume 4, the final volume? Probably not. So don't expect me to get all analytical here. I just don't want to be that person in regards to this series.

    In this volume, we get a long, single, final chapter to the "Another" series, we also get the six part "Three Musketeers Arc" and some warm fuzzies at the end with the original series.

    The final chapter, just like the prior three volumes, goes by at a frenetic pace, without necessarily a clear goal or arc in mind. In fact, from the first volume to this one, there's quite the shift in which characters are the focus (and honestly, I had trouble remember who was who after such a long publishing delay between volumes). Is that a criticism? No. If this was a "formal" series I'd be tempted to dig into it's pacing, organization, and narrative structure. But I continue to view this as being more akin to fan-service to those, like myself, who love the original "Fruits Basket." So no matter how it's presented, I love living in their world and meeting their children.

    What I do particularly like about this volume, and actually wish was made into a full series in it's own right, is Shiki's relationship with his mother. For those who haven't seen the original series, I won't spoil who his mother is. But this chapter offers a fascinating glimpse into the fallout that character experienced after the original series. And I thought, as with all that Takaya-sensei does, it is remarkably kind and sensitive even to a character that could be very hard to sympathize with. 

    I did read somewhere that this final chapter, with it's focus on Shiki, was actually a "one-shot" and not necessarily part of the prior three volumes, which may account of the shift in narrative perspective. Either way, I would have wanted much more time with him, just like I would have wanted much more time with Sawa (the primary lead in the first three volumes - although they're frenetic with focus as well). But I'll take anything that Takaya-sensei wants to give us. I love her art, I love the feeling, and if nothing else, this was some relatively light, hopeful fun with that bit of bittersweetness that is so strong in her works.

✩🚺

Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

All comments are moderated by a real person who only checks them once a day. Therefore, comments may take a while before they show up. Thanks for understanding. It's how we keep this a community of lovingkindness.

Love at Fourteen volume 12 - the final volume (manga review)

    I was tempted to not even write a post on "Love at Fourteen" volume 12 (Yen Press). I of course, was tempted to not even continue reading the series after the first few volumes. But, having relented in completing the series (because I do like the main character's story) I figured I'd might as well post a few thoughts on this final volume.

    If you're reading this post, then I'm assuming you've either read the series or my posts on the series, so I won't try and summarize things at all. So here are some random final thoughts on this volume and series:

1)  I don't mind the way it resolved the main couple's storyline at this point, although I still find it a bit unnecessarily dramatic that he is moving away (like a forced plot point). There's a sense it was done to create a partial ending for a series with a finite length, rather than having to explore what it means to grow up after starting a relationship young (whether they stay together or not).

 

2) I still find aspects of this series disturbing in terms of the number of adults who are interested in children and the fact that those actually mature into relationships. This is particularly painful in the encore which shows the wedding of two of the side characters. This is not proper adult behavior, to pursue a relationship with a 14 year old.

3) It's interesting that the adults who pursue relationships with children are all adult women. Part of me wonders whether this is some fantasizing by the author or whether it was done because an adult male pursuing a female fourteen year old is societally much creepier (even though the adult women pursuing young teens is just as creepy in my mind). I wonder if it was done because it might not raise as many alarms when it's an adult woman in pursuit? Don't know, but it's still creepy. Also, there was never any critical exploration of the implications of an adult and a teen in a romance. The series simply treated them as okay and that bothers me to no end.

4) There were so many interesting characters, but in the end, I still found the series sort of hollow. I would have liked several more rigorous series devoted to each of the side characters who were fairly well realized here as individuals, and yet somehow left relatively unexplored as well.

I really can't say I'd recommend this series at all. The first volume starts off so strong, and intermittently there are really powerful moments both in the main character's arc and even with some of the side stories (no matter how creepy and inappropriate they are). But in the end, it doesn't really go anywhere or reveal anything, or contribute to how I look at romance. As I said above, it's sort of a hollow series. Maybe it tried to do too much. Maybe it didn't do enough? Either way, it's not consistently strong and there are too many adult/child relationships (ie, a number well above zero) with no critical commentary on them.

✩🚺

Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

All comments are moderated by a real person who only checks them once a day. Therefore, comments may take a while before they show up. Thanks for understanding. It's how we keep this a community of lovingkindness.

Citrus + Volume 4 (Citrus Plus vol. 4, Manga review)

    Citrus + (Citrus Plus) volume 4 continues the sequel story to the Citrus Manga. Short-take: it doesn't have the deep plot and high stakes as the original series (maybe a negative?) but also doesn't have as much salaciousness as the original series (a plus for me). Volume 4 feels a bit adrift, almost like a fan fiction or a low-key fanservice just to give us more time with the couple. That's neither good nor bad, just know that it's mostly just low-key slice of life/romance that is neither particularly well done, nor particularly bad or problematic.

    Of course, being Citrus, it has plenty of busty teen girls and lots of horny camera operator framing of their bodies. But unlike the original series, the actual sex is toned way down. With different art, this would just be a run-of-the-mill yuri romance at this point. I read it because I like the original series even with it's many faults and I want more time with Mei and Yuzu.

    Volume 4 of Citrus + is focused on Mei's attempt to buy a birthday gift to Yuzu as well as their ongoing preparation for entrance exams. Matsuri pokes her head into a few places, but unlike in the original series, she seems to be less intent on stirring the pot and actually is supporting Mei and Yuzu's relationship. The upsetting subplot with her from the original series doesn't seem to play into Citrus + at all leading us to believe that the resolution of it in the original series has stuck. 

    If the art wasn't so intent on putting breasts into our faces at every turn, I would really like it. So basically, I do like it and I just ignore the unnecessary fan-service aspects. From the writing standpoint, I found the characterization of Mei occasionally weak here but it could also be that since this volume skips around in time that there are things going on in between that would contextualize some of her more.

    Basically, it isn't the strongest series, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you like the original Citrus for the romance (and not the sleaze). Volume 4 feels the weakest yet in Citrus + as if it just is spinning it's wheels a bit, but at least we get some Mei and Yuzu cuddling.

✩🚺

Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

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Even Though We're Adults volume 5 (Manga Review)

    I'm still not sure what to make of the series "Even Though We're Adults" by Takako Shimura, and the same goes for volume 5. 

    Disclaimer: I love both her series "Sweet Blue Flowers" and "Wandering Son" even though many would call her writing uneven and a bit problematic in ways, and maybe even raise concerns about her legitimacy as a writer not knowing for sure what her personal sexual/gender identity is and whether she has any business writing about LGBTQ characters. I frankly don't care if she is a cis-woman (and I'm not saying Shimura-sensei is, just that it wouldn't matter to me if she was or was not) because I find so much connection with those two series and they are so personally meaningful to me as a trans-lesbian. As I mentioned to an acquaintance once, I like her writing because her characters and stories are messy. They aren't "perfect" LGBTQ spokespeople, their lives don't neatly fit into media and agenda friendly boxes. To me, that's what makes them more real and the complexities of their experiences resonate. 

    But I can't quite figure out if "Even Though We're Adults" rises quite to the heights of those earlier series. 

    As you may know, this focuses on a married young woman who develops a relationship with a single young woman and then needs to decide what on earth to do with that. In the early volumes (light spoilers), Ayano eventually tells her husband about Akari and the three even meet up. This didn't strike me as the way anyone in this situation would handle things. But eventually Ayano does ask her husband for a divorce. 

    However, in volume 5, she still has not told her family exactly what is going on with her husband. They think they're just fighting and that's why Ayano is living with her parents. So, her parents continue to invite her husband over for dinner, again and again, and even forcing things a bit further. Wataru, the husband, even pushes things himself with Ayano in one of the most painful moments I've read in a Shimura-sensei work (I won't give it away). That was a moment that hinted at Shimura-sensei's powers as a writer. That scene felt true to me on many many levels. 

    We also see that despite their attempts at creating space, Ayano and Akari can't stay away from each other. But we don't get much of them together in this volume.

    Interestingly, Volume 5 also spends some time with Eri, Wataru (the husband's) sister, and her emotional/social struggles as well as relationship with her mom. I find that the mom is well written, particularly in this volume, as a real and whole person, not a stereotype. And while some of Eri's hikikomori-type ("shut-in") tendencies have been depicted decently throughout the series, the turn her arc takes in volume 5 felt a bit abrupt. However, in that abruptness, Shimura-sensei again creates messiness, which has it's own value yet again. Maybe the abruptness was only a factor of the medium and not wanting to prolong getting to this particular plot point? Maybe it will feel less abrupt if I were to read volumes 1-5 in succession rapidly to catch little changes in Eri that I just didn't remember when reading volume 5?

    Thinking about how I sometimes struggle to fully appreciate manga series when months go by between volumes, only to find more cohesion when I re-read the series all at once, I bet that will emerge with this series too. Even then, I'm not sure it will have the profound effect on me of her earlier two series, but I'm starting to see the messiness I like in her stories/characters. 

    And maybe "Even Though We're Adults" doesn't have to be profound, complex, or genre defining? Maybe Shimura-sensei is just writing a "simple" (for her) story with engaging/messy characters, and that's enough? I'll definitely keep reading because even in it's potential lack of greatness it is still much better than most of the middling shoujo and yuri manga I end up reading (not for lack of trying to find better stuff, trust me, and suggestions always welcome).

✩🚺

Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

All comments are moderated by a real person who only checks them once a day. Therefore, comments may take a while before they show up. Thanks for understanding. It's how we keep this a community of lovingkindness.