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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.