It is not often that a book makes me choke up. Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!, Volume 3 (平民のくせに生意気な！) made me choke up three times…even though I knew what was coming. I appear to have a w…
Jan 18, 2024 • Subscribe
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Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!, Volume 1 (平民癖に生意気な！)
We’ve all read the “other perspective” Light Novel by now, haven’t we? My Next Life as a Villainess, for instance, ends every chapter with the same story from…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 3 (おとなになっても)
Akari is ready to move on. She’s ready to reclaim her old career in the salon and stop running away from her life. She’s putting Ayano and her…
Mondays: See You “This” Week! (MONDAYS／このタイムループ、上司に気づかせないと終わらない, Ryo Takebayashi, 2022)
Harried office workers must get through to their dejected salaryman boss if they’re to escape a workplace time loop in Ryo Takebayashi’s zany corporate comedy.
Yuri Manga: Hana ni Arashi, Volume 3 (はなにあらし)
Chidori and Nanoha have a secret, we are told in Volume 1 and Volume 2. They are lovers, we are told. And we will have to believe what…
Mejirobana Saku, Volume 3 (メジロバナの咲く)
It was summer 2021 that last time we visited this manga by the insanely hard-working Nakamura Asumiko. When I initially encountered it in the pages of Rakuen Le…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 9 (おとなになっても)
I am currently reading two Japanese series about adults in complicated relationships. Both series are, in equal part, compelling and interesting and annoying as heck. Today we’re looking…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 7 (おとなになっても)
In Shimura Takako’s Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 7 (おとなになっても) a lot happens. We left Akari and Ayano having been carefully not seeing one another for some time, as…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 5 (おとなになっても)
Previous volumes of Shimura Takako’s adult life drama have centered on three adults whose life has been thrown into turmoil by unexpected emotions. Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 5…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 4 (おとなになっても)
In previous volumes of Otona ni Nattemo, we met Akari and Ayano, who met in a bar and spent the night together, Ayano’s husband Wataru, who has wondered…
Otona ni Nattemo, (おとなになっても) Volume 6
In Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 6, Shimura Takako has done something I’ve not seen before in a manga and I think I like it. ^_^ The main plot…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 1 (おとなになっても)
Shimura Takako’s work with gender and sexual minorities has been very influential and popular among western manga readers, and series like Sweet Blue Flowers and Wandering Son end…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 8 (おとなになっても)
Akari and Ayano have moved in together. This fact fills this book with all sorts of tensions, both positive and negative. Sure, they have been through ” a…
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 5 (はなにあらし)
While we’re able to enjoy Makoto Hagino’s slow-burn high school Yuri romance, A Tropical Fish Years for Snow in English, there is another Shogagakukan title with a similar…
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 6 (はなにあらし)
Nanoha and Chidori have shared their first kisses and, frankly, they are pretty sure that they no one has noticed, even though it got a little weird between…
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 8, (はなにあらし)
In Hana ni Arashi, Volume 8 (はなにあらし), Nanoha is starting to feel the weight of the real world and isn’t sure that she and Chidori inhabit the same…
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 4 (はなにあらし)
In Volume 1 we met Nanoha and Chidori, two girls who have a secret – they are lovers. They aren’t lovers, but they are in love and they…
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 9 (はなにあらし)
We have watched Nanoha and Chidori since they began dating. For a very long time, it was under the radar, but as they look towards a wider future…
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 11 (はなにあらし)
Nanoha and Chidori are two young woman in love. They know that when they graduate thing will change and their lives will grow more compliacated, but for this…
Hana ni Arashi, Volume 7 (はなにあらし)
In Volume 7 of Hana ni Arashi, (はなにあらし) something finally happens. Well…two things. Remembering that, in this series “happen” is very broadly applied word. ^_^ The first thing…
Touching the Skin of Eeriness 不気味なものの肌に触れる (2014) Dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
“Touching the Skin of Eeriness” turns from coming-of-age drama to supernatural mystery and is packed full of absorbing physical performances. 不気味なものの肌に触れる (2014) Dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi…
Touching the Skin of Eeriness 不気味なものの肌に触れる (2014) Dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
“Touching the Skin of Eeriness” turns from coming-of-age drama to supernatural mystery and is packed full of absorbing physical performances. 不気味なものの肌に触れる (2014) Dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi…
~ni naru ～になる - Meaning in Japanese
The meaning in Japanese of ni naru になる. Grammar and examples.
Love Nonetheless (愛なのに, Hideo Jojo, 2022)
A lovelorn bookseller is drawn into a world of romantic confusion by a high school girl with a hopeless crush and and his own requited love in Jojo’s…
Yakuza Graveyard (やくざの墓場 くちなしの花, Kinji Fukasaku, 1976)
A maverick cop finds himself sympathising with noble yakuza when confronted by entrenched corruption in Kinji Fukasaku’s jitsuroku-esque gangster drama.
Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai, Volume 1 (ロンリーガールに逆らえない)
Sakuraii is a model student but has a fatal flaw – she absolutely sucks at tests. If it weren’t for tests, she’d have no trouble at all getting…
Yuri Manga: Hana ni Arashi, Volume 2 (はなにあらし)
In Volume 1, we met Nanoha and Chidori, two high school students who are keeping a secret from their friends – they are going out with each other.…
Lonely Girl ni Sakaraenai, Volume 2 (ロンリーガールに逆らえない)
The best romantic comedies, in my opinion, are ones that stop trying to be a comedy. In Volume 1, this series was definitely a comedy. Lonely Girl ni…
Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta, Volume 1 (気になってる人が男じゃなかった)
Aya is a high school student who loves music of the 90s-00s. She’s content to sit and listen to the Foo Fighters in her ear buds, but when…
Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta, Volume 2 (気になってる人が男じゃなかった)
In Volume 1, we met Ohsawa Aya, a fashionable girl in most ways – except for her retro taste in music. When she walks into a shabby CD…
Dear Etranger / 幼な子われらに生まれ
It’s no secret that divorce is messy and complicated, particularly when children are involved. From the child’s perspective, it may be the moment that you realize your parents…
Bara no ki ni bara no hana saku / 薔薇の木にバラの花咲く / (‘Roses Bloom on the Rose Bush’, 1959)
Obscure Japanese Film #136 Ayako Wakao Rieko Sumi and Ayako Wakao Reiko (Ayako Wakao) is a senior university student majoring in English w...
Yagate Kimi ni Naru Saeki Sayaka ni Tsuite, Volume 3 (やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について)
Saeki Sayaka, very serious, prone to overthinking things, has met someone who will change her life. Edamoto Haru, first year in college has confessed to liking Sayaka, and…
Hana Monogatari, Volume 3 (はなものがたり)
In Volume 1 we met Hanayo, an older woman, newly widowed and Yoshiko, a woman of similar age who opens Hanayo’s eyes to many things, including the pleasure…
Kimi to Shiranai Natsu ni Naru, Volume 1 (君としらない夏になる)
Kimi to Shiranai Natsu ni Naru, Volume 1 (君としらない夏になる), subtitled in English “Throw away the suit together,” is one of my favorite reads currently in Comic Yuri Hime…
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,…
Mejirobana Saku, Volume 2 (メジロバナの咲く)
Back in 2020 when I reviewed the first volume of Nakamura Asumiko’s first manga that was specifically meant to be seen as Yuri, I kept my expectations relatively…
Éclair orange – Anata ni Hibiku Yuri Anthology (エクレア orange あなたに響く百合アンソロジー)
Last month, we took a look at the Yen Press translation of the second Éclair Yuri anthology in English Éclair Blanche: A Girls’ Love Anthology That Resonates in…
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Hana ni Arashi 10 (はなにあらし)
High school is a weird time. So much is going on in your body, in your head, in your heart. It’s the last time to have fun as…
Hana ni Arashi 11 (はなにあらし)
High school is a weird time. So much is going on in your body, in your head, in your heart. It’s the last time to have fun as…
Okiku and the World (せかいのおきく, Junji Sakamoto, 2023)
A samurai’s daughter falls for a lowly manure man in a city on the brink of change in Junji Sakamoto’s touching dramedy.
Totsuzen Nantonaku Tonari no Seki no Douryou to Kiss Shitaku Narimashita.(突然何となく隣の席の同僚とキスしたくなりました。)
I am so pleased to be reviewing this book today. Miura Kozumi’s Totsuzen Nantonaku Tonari no Seki no Douryou to Kiss Shitaku Narimashita.(突然何となく隣の席の同僚とキスしたくなりました。) is the first Yuri collectio…
Yuri Manga: Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Volume 8 (やがて君になる)
Since I cracked open the fantastic Bloom Into You Premium Box Set earlier this week, and plan on finishing it up tomorrow (except for the cheesecake, which will…
最終考察 うみねこのなく頃に Answer to the Golden Witch – Special Discussion
This is an excerpt from a publication on the famous Mystery Visual Novel Umineko no naku koro ni. As it left many questions open, there is probably a…
Seven Weeks (野のなななのか, Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2014)
“A death is a history” in Obayashi’s intensely moving tale of the interconnectedness of all things, love, death, war, and memory.
Angry Son 世界は僕らに気づかない Dir: Kasho Iizuka
A rewrite of my review for the very worthwhile topical film Angry Son, a meaty drama about the mixed-race experience (Filipino-Japanese) in Japan! 世界は僕らに気づかない Dir: Kasho Iizuka [Osaka…
Angry Son (世界は僕らに気づかない, Kasho Iizuka, 2022)
A resentful young man comes to a better understanding of his place in the world while searching for his estranged father in Kasho Iizuka’s sensitive coming-of-age drama
you ni naru ようになる - Meaning in Japanese
What you ni naru ようになる means in Japanese. Examples. Grammar.
~koto ni naru ～ことになる - Meaning in Japanese
The meaning of ~koto ni naru ～ことになる in Japanese. Examples and grammar.
My Sorry Life (愛のくだらない, Kozue Nomoto, 2020)
A self-absorbed TV producer gets a wake up call when her boyfriend announces he’s pregnant in Kozue Nomoto’s ironic dramedy