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brainbuffering · 1 year

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12 Days of Manga 2022

Day 10: Top 3 Favourite Completed Manga

(These aren’t necessarily series that ended THIS year, but they are series that I personally completed this year!)

1) Sweat and Soap by Kintetsu Yamada from Kodansha (T: Matt Treyvaud L: Sara Linsly E: Kristin Osani)

[ID: English Cover of Sweat and Soap Vol 11. A goofy shot of the entire wedding party for Asako and Natori‘s wedding. Asako wears a white lace dress and Koutaro wears a matching white suit.]

“In an office romance, there's a fine line between sexy and awkward... and that line is where Asako -- a woman who sweats copiusly -- met Koutarou -- a perfume developer who can't get enough of Asako's, er, scent. Don't miss a romcom manga like no other!

Asako's living her dream, working at the toiletry maker Lilia Drop. Little do her coworkers know, the reason she loves the company so much is that she's ashamed of her body odor, and their soap is the only thing that does the trick. So when the company's lead product developer, a perfuming genius, approaches her in the lobby and wonders what "that smell" is, she's terrified... but could it be... that he likes it? And, even more surprising to Asako... does she like him?

The hilarious ups and downs of an office romance at a personal care products company are the subject of this sexy, strange romp.

Sweat and Soap combines the odd-couple chemistry of Wotakoi, the "too real!" workplace comedy of Aggretsuko, and a heavy dollop of office steaminess!”

Sweat & Soap is yet another one of those manga that appears on everyone’s lists and actually deserves to be there. Which, if you want to be all 2013 Hipster about it, is incredibly frustrating but from every other perspective it is delightful and wonderful that a series that focusses on clear communication is so popular! If you’re looking for a series that deal with how kink negotation can be applied to every day life then this is one I can whole heartedly recomend!

Because that’s what Sweat & Soap comes down to: communication. Whilst Yamada admits the series began as simply them wanting to write about a big breasted office lady who got easily flustred (and honestly: valid) it quickly became something far more meaningful and stand out. Anytime I thought that a scene was a little off or that consent wasn’t clearly given it was talked about by the characters in an open and honest fashion!

When Ichise was introduced, i was worried it was going to decend into some sort of rival love triangle where both girls were out to get eachother; but rather what happened was a mature look at missed-out-love from her perspective, and clear boundry setting from Asako and Natori. It would be unreasonable for Asako to ask Natori to never speak to his work friend again, but it is not unreasonable for her to ask him to be less physically affectionate with her. He might see her like a little sister, but that doesn’t mean she is his little sister.

This series encapulates all that the phrase “Adult Romance” should. There’s sex, yes, but there’s also trying to figure out an appropriate work-life-balance, what to look for when moving into a new flat (advice I actualy used when moving out recently, so thanks for that on Yamada-sensei!) and how to get your girlfriend’s beloved family cat to actually play with you!!!!

I know I am going to be recomending this series for years to come, and I eagerly await to see if any of Yamada’s other work gets translated into English! Come on Kodansha, you like money, don’t you???

2) Tokyo Mew Mew by Reiko Yoshida and Mia Ikumi from Kodansha (T: Elina Curran L: AndWorld Design)

[ID: English Edition of Vol 3 of the Tokyo MewMew Omnibus. Ichigo wears a straawberry themed wedding dress and veil that is pushed back past her cat ears. She carris a bouquet of flowers, and sits in a ring of pink and yellow stars. The background is light pink with a pattern of baby pink strawberries.]

“Ichigo is out on a date with her 'crush' when suddenly she's involved in an odd incident in which her DNA is merged with the DNA of an almost extinct wildcat. When four other girls' DNA is merged with the DNA of four other almost extinct animals, it's apparent that they're part of a much bigger plan. Ichigo and her friends have been chosen to become a part of a secret project called the 'Mew Project'. Their mission: To protect the planet from aliens who are using animals to attack humans!”

I first read this series way back in year 9 of school, but I don’t think I ever got beyond volume 2 or 3? So when the anime was announced I decided to re-read the whole series. And what a lot of fun it has been!

It’s been fun to revisit this time in manga, and it reminded me of my love of Action Shoujo! It’s so quintessentially magical girl, but doesn’t have some of the more yikes tropes that have me hesitating to recommend Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura to children. (CLAMP... why? Why all the student-teacher relationships?!)

Sure, Quiche -- sorry: Kish -- is a major creep when it comes to declaring his undying love for Ichigo but he is the villain! If you’re going to have someone disrespect boundries, it should be painted as acts of criminality and evil!

And like all good Magical Girl shows, the focus remains on the power of female friendship and how they can raise eachother up! Just a group of lesbians supporting their bisexual leader as she fumbles her way through teen romance.

I’ll admit I felt the ending was a little rushed in places, which meant that some of the scenes that should have had huge emotional impact were brushed over too quickly. I’m hopeful though that the new anime will fix that problem and allow things to progresss at an appropriate pace. I think they’ve done a good job so far in adapting it, and another 12 episodes should be all it needs!

My biggest gripe with the series is how Kodansha localised the names so inconsistently, sometimes choosing to translate the characters’ names into their appropriate food related topics and sometimes not. But it appears that the fandom itself cannot decide what version to use so at least there’s consistency in the inconsistency. These decisions often come from above, specifically from the Japanese Team, so I don’t hold Curran responsible, but it’s still something worth noting in my opinion. If I ever find my TokyoPop versions I’ll be sure to do a comparison!

At only 7 Volumes across 3 Omnibus Editions, this is absolutely worth investing in if you’re looking for some old school magical girl fun! Be that as someone new to the genre, or a vetran looking to relive the glory days before everything was Pretty Cure.

Now come on Sentai, do every little girl a favour and dub this series into English!!!

On the topic of the anime... given Ikumi-sensei’s passing this year, i felt very emotional reading her thoughts on getting to see the orignal anime under production. She was so excited to see eveything made, and got the seiyuu to write up little messages as their characters for all the readers. It’s so sad that she never got to see the fans’ reaction to the reboot. I suppose it’s a reminder to cherish the moments we have together, and may her memory be a blessing to us all.

3) BL Metamorphosis by Kaori Tsurutani from SevenSeas (T: Jocelyne Allen L: Ray Steeves E: Jenn Grunigen)

[ID: English Cover for Vol 5 of BL Metamorphosis. Ichinoi (an elderly woman) and Urara (a teenage girl) sit on a japanese verander drinking tea in the sunshine. There are plants growing all around them. Ichinoi looks u at the sky, and Urara looks groggily in a similar direction.]

“In this heartwarming and award-winning manga originally known as Metamorphose no Engawa, an elderly woman and a high school girl develop a beautiful friendship through their shared passion for Boys' Love.

Ichinoi, a seventy-five-year-old woman living a peaceful life, unwittingly buys a boys' love manga one day, and is fascinated by what she finds inside. When she returns to the bookstore to buy the next volume, the high school girl working there-Urara, a seasoned BL fan-notices a budding fangirl when she sees one. When Urara offers to help Ichinoi explore this whole new world of fiction, the two dive into the BL fandom together, and form an unlikely friendship along the way.”

Age Gap Romances are OUT! Age Gap Friendships are IN!

BL Metamophosis was a wonderful slow paced read, perfect at 5 volumes. It was great to see Ichinoi and Urara form such a strong bond between them, not just because intergenerational friendships are so uncommon in media but also because it proved that it’s never too late to start a new hobby and make new friends! The pair learn a lot from eachother, there’s mutual value in their relationship and the story is much more than some cliched message about how “there’s value in youth and in age”.

Urara learns to become more confident in herself and in the things she loves due to Ichinoi’s encouragement, and Ichinoi learns that just because she’s only got a few more years left to live doesn’t mean that she has to just keep still. I was especially moved by seeing her reflecting on her past regrets, and seeing them through Urara’s fresh eyes and being determined to no longer live like that. She might be much older now than before, but if she wants to go to the top of Tokyo Tower than she will!

I will also have to say, as someone with varaious chronic conditions and mental health problems, Ichinoi’s determination to fight to stay alive until the final volume of her favourite manga is published was incredibly relateable!

As much as I would love to know how Urara is getting on at school and what her life plans are (is she going to try to make more BL Comics?) I’m very content with how the series eneded. It gave closure to everyone’s arcs, whilst giving it a realistically happy ending. Nothing felt out of place.

This is absolutely a manga I would recommend to anyone, whether they be Urara’s age of Ichinoi’s! I’d also consider it a great starter manga given how short it is, and whilst perhaps an understanding of BL tropes is helpful I don’t think it’s needed as Ichinoi is being introduced to the genre along with the reader. If anything, I’d be really interested to know what someone who doesn’t know anything about BL thinks of the series!

#Seinen #Shojo #manga #12 Days of Manga #12 Days of Manga 2022 #tokyo mew mew #Sweat and Soap #BL Metamorphosis

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beepofsleeplessdreams · 4 months

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thinking out loud about some anime an illustrator i like worked on

so, one of my favorite illustrators (at least, I think that's the right term for him) is yoshitoshi ABe. recently i made the decision to look through a bunch of projects he had a hand in, mostly because i wanted to see what kind of stuff he'd attached himself to over the decades. prior to this i'd only seen Serial Experiments Lain, but i feel like basically everyone's seen that so that's not saying much lol. this was partially spurred on by a friend of mine telling me Texhnolyze was among their favorites. at time of writing, i've finished Texhnolyze and NieA_7, and i'm watching Haibane Renmei on-and-off and loving it. the world is bizarre and beautiful, and the character designs are lovely and have so much personality in my eyes. so that's where i started. so below is a series of rambles and thoughts i've had on this little journey of mine up to this point. i've still got a ways to go.

misc. spoilers for Texhnolyze in the next section

texhnolyze was a show i really enjoyed, but falls into the same pit as serial experiments lain in my brain. i struggle to understand what it's trying to say below the immediate surface and i end up primarily enjoying it as a surface-level product. not to say that i didn't make some connections in my head along the ride, i have so many questions about the world that i want answered, and some really fun observations I made. ichise's conversation with the voice in the chair was something that i had a lot of fun picking apart because it tickled that little goblin in my brain that loves social science. with the whole idea that height relates to authority, the pile of stones bringing images of gods on mountains in myth, but the chair tying all that powerful imagery up in this idea of boredom. apathy of the gods and all that. the entire trip to the surface is something that had me on the edge of the seat, and kinda tied into my greater sci-fi brainrot. that whole idea that one a society stagnates and rots people seek "better times", and this is how you end up with so many space prussians/germans being bad guys in older sci-fi anime like classic gundam and legend of the galactic heroes. it's people clinging to an idea of a """better time""" to larp that they're better than they are. this is what was going through my head during the arc of the story on the surface, whenever i saw that outdated technology that lives only in old b&w movies and period pieces. despite these obversations, i feel like i can't formulate a big picture, this is by no means bad, but i can't help but feel like i'm "missing something". though, this might be rectified in lain's case when i get around to it, it's been close to 10 years since i last watched it.

misc. spoilers for NieA_7

this is one that i don't think i ever heard someone talk about prior to me just plucking it off of ABe's wikipedia page. it's this weird slice-of-life comedy about living in poverty but there's also humanoid aliens that are kinda just around and comically failing to integrate into society. that whole second point, with the aliens, i feel it kinda detracts from a lot from the show's actually really simple and touching heart about just trying to escape being poor. the whole thing is kinda tainted with this mild xenophobia for the sake of "comedy" and the vast majority of the recurring aliens are these really mean-spirited racist stereotypes. eventually i came to ignore the vast majority of that aspect of the show, besides the titular NieA, and focus on the part of it that really spoke to me. the main character, Mayuko, is a young adult working 3 jobs on top of going to cram school in a desperate attempt to get into a good college and escape poverty by getting a """real job""" and a """future""". the reason why i use quotations is the same reason why her character really spoke to me. she was so focused on the mere act of survival and vaguely working towards the future that she never found the time to really think about the future. no plans, no dreams, inching towards a success she has no idea how to capitalize upon. something similar happened to me, personally. i spent the vast majority of highschool and college fighting for good grades and accolades with no other plan than to just get away from a very toxic family situation. and i succeeded. i gave up a social life for the sake of advancing and was rewarded by getting poached right out of college into a fairly comfortable. i moved out 6 months later and subsequently broke down. without that constant pressure of ESCAPE ESCAPE ESCAPE i had this sort of psychological explosive decompression and became incredibly depressed, and almost made some very poor and very permanent decisions. i saw a character that was flying towards the same mistakes i made and i was wondering all along if the show would propose some kind of "solution" that i'd failed to see. it didn't offer anything concrete, but something much simpler that i nontheless really appreciated. a loving promise that things will be okay somewhere, someday. the same sentiment helped me when i needed it. i get that that's corny as hell, but i'm a stupid mushy man-thing. it's a show i really recommend people look at, because while the lows are INCREDIBLY low and mean, the heart is there and beautiful.

#texhnolyze #niea_7 #haibane renmei #yoshitoshi abe #serial experiments lain

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