We recently had the pleasure of three guest reviews for Plongée dans la nuit, the French edition of Yoru to Umi, by Goumoto. I had read the first volume in Japanese, myself, then forgotten in the c…
Oct 15, 2023 • Subscribe
More like this
Tokyo Sweetheart (東京の恋人, Yasuki Chiba, 1952)
A fake ring causes untold chaos in a small corner of Ginza in Yasuki Chiba’s charming ensemble rom-com.
Otona no Yuricon 2020 (大人のユリコン2020)
After a prolonged trip across the ocean, a long-awaited doujinshi has finally arrived at my home. And, like clockwork, the Melonbooks website is down for maintenance, so I…
Hametsu No Oukoku
At first I gave Hametsu No Oukoku the pass. Oh you know, I thought this would be a standard affair of a main protagonist whose life got screwed…
Chua Tek Ming~*Anime Power*~ !LiVe FoR AnImE, aNiMe FoR LiFe!
Watashi no Blue Garnet, Volume 1 (私のブルーガーネット)
Akiyama Haru is a name we’re quite familiar with here on Okazu. Creator of the excellent series Octave, she has participated in many a Yuri anthology and had…
The Mannequin House Murders / 人形館の殺人
I didn’t like this book at all. I don’t have much more to say about it.
Yume no Hashibashi, Volume 1 (夢の端々 上)
Yume no Hashibashi, Volume 1 (夢の端々 上) is a story told by leaps backwards in time, of a relationship between two women that would never have been allowed…
The Human Wall / 人間の壁/ Ningen no kabe (1959)
Obscure Japanese Film #113 Kyoko Kagawa Fumiko (Kyoko Kagawa) is a teacher at an elementary school in Saga Prefecture in the south of Japa...
Love and Murder of Sheep and Wolf 羊とオオカミの恋と殺人 (2020) Director: Kayoko Asakura
Love and Murder of Sheep and Wolf has a great concept about dating a hitwoman but a dull final result in its execution. Love and Murder of Sheep…
Uyanotsuki, Volume 1 ( 雨夜の月)
Saki loves piano. Or does she? She loves taking lessons with her teacher, she’s sure of that. But her teacher is leaving… In Uyanotsuki, Volume 1 ( 雨夜の月),…
Three Stories of Love 恋人たち (2015) Director: Ryosuke Hashiguchi
Three Stories of Love 恋人たち (2015), a solid drama about three different people breaking out from isolation and loneliness from director Ryosuke Hashiguchi
Shinyaku Ribon no Kishi, Volume 1 (新約・リボンの騎士)
Today’s review is in part thanks to the constant evangelizing of Raybon No Kishi on Twitter, who alerted me to some interesting plot complications in this recent reworking…
This Year’s Love (今年の恋, Keisuke Kinoshita, 1962)
The intense friendship between a pair of underachieving boys sparks romance between their mismatched siblings in Keisuke Kinoshita’s charming romantic comedy.
Death Within the Evil Eye / 魔眼の匣の殺人
It’s difficult to succeed genius. Chrono Cross isn’t as good as Chrono Trigger , Bioshock 2 isn’t as good as Bioshock , and National Treas...
The Twilight Years / 恍惚の人 / Kokotsu no hito (‘Senile Person’, 1973)
Obscure Japanese Film #153 Hideko Takamine and Takahiro Tamura Akiko (Hideko Takamine) is a middle-aged woman with an office job who lives...
Seven Samurai (七人の侍, Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
Desperate peasants recruit samurai protectors in Akira Kurosawa’s classic historical epic back in UK cinemas Oct. 29
Thorns Of Beauty (恋のいばら, Hideo Jojo, 2023)
A jilted ex and the current girlfriend team up against a no good guy with compromising photos of them both in Hideo Jojo’s playful drama.
Kinuyo’s First Love (絹代の初恋, Hiromasa Nomura, 1940)
The changing social mores of the 1930s are played out in the fortunes of two sisters unwittingly falling for the same man in Hiromasa Nomura’s romantic drama.
Episode #87 (S11E7) – 100 Yen Love [百円の恋] (2014)
Film fan and podcaster Sam Inglis joins the show today to discuss Masaharu Take’s boxing romance, 100 Yen Love. We break down the story, discuss some of its…
Yuri Manga: Sore ha, Haru no Arashi no You ni, Volume 1 (それは、春の嵐のように)
Aoi is an office lady who dreams of a “normal life.” She tells her her friend that she wants to get married. Chi-chan appears to accept it. Aoi,…
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 6 (雨夜の月)
Do you remember Morinaga Milk’s series Girl Friends? It was an incredibly popular and influential Yuri manga in the early 2010s, so more than a decade ago. The…
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 2 ( 雨夜の月)
In Volume 1, we met Saki, a high school student who plays piano, and her classmate (and piano teacher’s daughter), Kanon, who is hard of hearing. Kanon is…
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 8 (雨夜の月)
Volume 7 of Kuzushiro’s school life drama, finished up the school festival arc and, while it had its fair share of maid costumes and cat-eared girls, it also…
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 3 ( 雨夜の月)
2022 has been an absolute celebration of amazing Yuri manga licenses and releases. Almost everything I wanted to have been licensed has been. Of the two remaining that…
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 5 (雨夜の月)
In my fevered anticipation for The Moon on a Rainy Night, Volume 1 coming from Kodansha next week, I was thrilled to have the newest volume of the…
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 7 (雨夜の月)
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 7 (雨夜の月) is absolute perfection. It was so good, that the moment I finished it, I started from the beginning and read it again.…
Amayo no Tsuki, Volume 4 ( 雨夜の月)
Well, wow. A whole lot of story happened in this volume. First, Saki finds Kanon’s former best friend – the one Kanon feel betrayed her – and learns…
Fuufu Ijou, Koibito Miman - Episode 1 - Akari Bounces
Akari bounced with emphasis when she explained that Jirou should show signs of affection for the cameras. Fuufu Ijou, Koibito Miman - Episode 1
Koisuru Meiga (恋する名画), Volume 2
In 2020, I reviewed Volume 1 of a series that overtly connects Yuri with fine art. Today I want to take a look at the sequel, Koisuru Meiga,…
The Labyrinth House Murders / 迷路館の殺人
The shin-honkaku movement has always been a bit meta. It’s right there in the name: it means “new orthodox,” as it’s a revival of the origi...
House on Fire (火宅の人, Kinji Fukasaku, 1986)
An anxious writer fears collapse under the weight of fatherhood in Kinji Fuksaku’s adaptation of the autobiographical novel of Kazuo Dan.
The Seven Great Detectives / 7人の名探偵
Yukito Ayatsuji ’s The Decagon House Murders was published in 1987, and is credited with kick-starting the shin-honkaku (new orthodox) mov...
The Twilight Years (恍惚の人, Shiro Toyoda, 1973)
A middle-aged woman struggles to care for her father-in-law as his dementia intensifies in Shiro Toyoda’s empathetic drama.
The Black Umbrella Mystery / 体育館の殺人
The Black Umbrella Mystery is a story with the soul of Ellery Queen and the body of an anime protagonist. There are a few Japanese…
Eleven Samurai (十一人の侍, Eiichi Kudo, 1967)
Faced with dissolution, a wronged clan plots revenge against a selfish and entitled young lord in Eiichi Kudo’s nihilistic jidaigeki.
Onna x a Onna Umakuikanai Renai Essay parlor, Volume 1 (女×女のうまくいかない恋愛エッセイ parlor)
Onna x Onna Umakuikanai Renai Essay parlor, Volume 1 (女×女のうまくいかない恋愛エッセイ parlor) by Fujio, has had a long journey from there to here. This manga began more than a…
Yume no Hashibashi, Volume 2 (夢の端々 下)
In Yume no Hashibashi, Volume 1, we took a journey backwards through the years, following Kayoko and Mitsu as adults. From their senior years back through their different…
Yubisaki Kara Honki No Netsujou 2: Koibito Wa Shouboushi
OMG! OMFG!!! I never would’ve expected it in my wildest dreams because a pseudo hentai series got a sequel!!! A SECOND SEASON???!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Yup. As…
Chua Tek Ming~*Anime Power*~ !LiVe FoR AnImE, aNiMe FoR LiFe!
Hametsu no Oukoku - Episode 2 - Chloe Morgan Instructs
Sadly, Kingdoms of Ruin will only show the beautiful witch, Chloe Morgan, through flashbacks. Hametsu no Oukoku - Episode 2
Fuufu Ijou Koibito Miman
Don’t you just wish that back in school they teach us things that would prepare us for life. Instead of teaching us useless stuffs that we will never…
Chua Tek Ming~*Anime Power*~ !LiVe FoR AnImE, aNiMe FoR LiFe!
『戦国魔神ゴーショーグン 時の異邦人(エトランゼ)』のあとがき
『戦国魔神ゴーショーグン 時の異邦人(エトランゼ)』のあとがき
The Town of Headcounts (人数の町, Shinji Araki, 2020)
A disaffected young man gets a fresh start in a utopian community but quickly becomes disillusioned in Shinji Araki’s slick dystopian thriller
Samurai Kids (水の旅人-侍KIDS-, Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1993)
A small boy grows closer to the natural world while guiding a tiny samurai on his journey to the sea in Nobuhiko Obayashi’s charming family adventure.
Murder in the Crimson Manor / 紅蓮館の殺人
Murder in the Crimson Manor is lit. Actually, I think it’s just okay, but “Murder in the Crimson Manor is lit” seemed like a snappier opening, and obliques…
Koharu to Minato: Watashi No Partner Ha Onna No Ko, Volume 1 (小春と湊 わたしのパートナーは女の子)
Koharu to Minato: Watashi No Partner Ha Onna No Ko, Volume 1 (小春と湊 わたしのパートナーは女の子) is a fictionalized autobiographical comic essay on the real-lives of the creative team, Daruma…
Koudou Ryou no Seizana Hibi, Volume 1 (黄道寮の星座な日々)
One again, this review comes with a story. I was standing in Animate in Shibuya and saw a book I had been meaning to read for a while,…
Kono Naka ni Hotori, Imouto ga Iru! この中に1人、妹がいる!
Mikadono Shougo, son to a rich and powerful company chairman, has to attend school to find a girl he is serious on before he can inherit the company.…
Hana Monogatari, Volume 1 (はなものがたり)
Hana Monogatari, Volume 1 (はなものがたり) by shwinn, is one of my new favorite series ever. Hanayo’s husband has been dead for 49 days, so her mourning period is…
Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 4 (不揃いの連理)
Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 4 (不揃いの連理) by Mikan Uji, is both a whimsical look at several Yuri odd couples and a profouns story about about found family and…
Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 3 (不揃いの連理)
In Volume 1, we met Iori and Minami, an career woman and a server at a izakaya whose relationship is surprisingly not fraught, and Saori and Shizuku, Iori’s…
Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 2 (不揃いの連理)
In Volume 1, we met Tanaka Iori, a careerwoman with a job that she does not love, and a former juvenile delinquent girlfriend, Minami, whom she does. Ultimately,…