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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…
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…
Mejirobana Saku, Volume 4 (メジロバナの咲く)
In the fourth volume of Nakamura Asumiko’s first Yuri series, small crimes are on the rise at school, and Ruby is determined to get to the bottom of…
Yuri Manga: Mejirobana Saku (メジロバナの咲く)
This year we are starting off 101 CYE and I wanted to pick something really special to begin with. It was a difficult decision, let me tell you!…
Hanasaku Iroha 花咲くいろは
Ohana, a Tokyo high school girl, who had been living alone with her single mom has no choice but to relocate to her grandmother’s inn when her mom…
Auto-tagged Hanasaku Iroha ~Blossoms for Tomorrow~
Funeral Parade of Roses [Bara no Soretsu]
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Girls in the Orchard / 花の中の娘たち / Hana no naka no musumetachi (1953)
Obscure Japanese Film #109 Mariko Okada Toho’s first feature film in full colour concerns the Ishii family, who live in the rural area of ...
Auto-tagged Colorful
Haru Tsuzuru, Sakura Saku Kono Heya de (春綴る、桜咲くこの部屋で)
Haru Tsuzuru, Sakura Saku Kono Heya de (春綴る、桜咲くこの部屋で) is a deeply poignant and touching manga by Tokuwotsumu, an author who does low-key Yuri that I absolutely love. Haruki…
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.
Auto-tagged Shigeru
Heimin no Kuse ni Namaikina!, Volume 3 (平民のくせに生意気な！)
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…
Tune of the Week: Requiem of the Rose King’s Ware, Bara ni Insu
This show I’ve found myself enjoying far more than I should, though it really needs a better budget. The tune of the week is the opening to Requiem…
Auto-tagged Requiem of the Rose King
Hana no Asuka-gumi Infinity, Volume 7 (花のあすか組 ∞インフィニティ)
Buckle in, folks, today’s review is going to be a lot of expository commentary for a payoff that may seems small to you, but is hella powerful to…
Hana no Asuka-gumi! ∞Infinity, Volume 9 (花のあすか組! ∞インフィニティ)
Once again, we come to the end of the longest-running girl-gang manga series. I say “again,” because this series has ended several times before. This first time when…
Hana no Asuka-gumi Infinity, Volume 8 (花のあすか組 ∞インフィニティ )
A few weeks ago, I reviewed HabuCore F, the 10-years-later epilogue to a series Hayate x Blade (はやて×ブレード), which I described as “a gonzo battle/school manga series.” I…
A Mother’s Touch (桜色の風が咲く, Junpei Matsumoto, 2022)
A young man begins to ponder the meaning of his life while losing both his sight and hearing in Junpei Matsumoto’s heartwarming biopic.
Hana ni Arashi 13 (はなにあらし)
In their time, Nanoha and Chidori have spent 3 years together. In real time it has been a very slow, very gentle, even tentative 5 years. Hana ni…
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…
ka no you ni かのように - Meaning in Japanese
What ka no you ni かのように means in Japanese. Grammar and examples.
Fives: Zenshu, Hana wa Saku, Ojisan, Girumasu
Whoops it didn’t work. I figured sooner or later Zenshu was going to get a little dark. Natsuko has been TOO good, and early on in the episode…
Sixes: Zenshu, Hana wa Saku, Ojisan, Girumasu
Oh, he can fly after all. How convenient. In the last episode of Zenshu, it looked like Natsuko was going to get eaten by the void-blob, so when…
11s: Zenshu, Hana wa Saku, Ojisan, Girumasu
I’m in despair! Zenshu 11, “Despair,” brings us plenty of it. Lots of shots of voids overrunning the city and eating people while scattered heroes and friends try…
Tens: Zenshu, Hana wa Saku, Ojisan, Girumasu
This week’s episode (10) of Zenshu is titled “Chaos” and next week’s is “Despair,” so things aren’t going to look up for the nine heroes or that town…
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...
Auto-tagged Colorful
Thoughts on A White Rose in Bloom Volume 1
A White Rose in Bloom is a yuri manga written and illustrated by Asumiko Nakamura. I’m told that Asumiko Nakamura is the creator of the “modern BL classic”…
Thoughts on A White Rose in Bloom Volume 2
Ruby is aiming for a scholarship in the second volume of Asumiko Nakamura’s A White Rose in Bloom. Unfortunately, her father is determined to not let that happen.…
Thoughts on A White Rose in Bloom Volume 3
The third volume of Asumiko Nakamura’s A White Rose in Bloom shows how Liz first met Steph. This volume contains chapters ten to fourteen.
First Impressions – Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku (Flower and Asura)
If you think things couldn't sound any more wholesome, you're pretty much on the money.
Auto-tagged Asura, Flower and Asura
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 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 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 12 (はなにあらし)
We met Chidori and Nanoha 5 years ago in real time, 3 years ago in their time. At the beginning, all we had of them being girlfriends was…
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 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…
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 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…
Finales: Zenshu, Hana wa saku, Ojisan, and Girumasu
Excellent visual in a disappointing show. I have little to say about the Zenshu finale. Luke smashes the crystal, there’s a lot of death and destruction, everyone dies…
The Apothecary Diaries Episode 22 Review – Make The Roses Bloom Mad
Maomao’s incentive for making the blue roses is to be a hater. That’s it.
Auto-tagged The Apothecary Diaries, GYO: Tokyo Fish Attack
The Albino’s Trees (アルビノの木, Masakazu Kaneko, 2016)
An emotionally distant young man is forced to face up to the nature of existential struggle when tasked with killing a god in Masakazu Kaneko bucolic drama
Kita no Onna ni Tamesaretai （北の女に試されたい）
Hokuryuu Aya, who is a tall, cool woman, meets Kuromizu Suzuka who is also a tall, cool woman and both are surprised that the other is as tall…
Auto-tagged Suzuka
Eights and nines: Zenshu, Hana wa saku, Ojisan, Girumasu
Oh shut up obsessive killer bird. For Zenshu 8, I don’t really know what Kametaro Tsuruyama the bird who directed “A tale of perishing,” is up to. It’s…
Lying to Mom / 鈴木家の嘘
(Warning: not exactly spoilers, but this review does include some detailed info about the latter half of the film.) Japanese cinema of the last 20 years (and much…
Casting Blossoms to the Sky (この空の花 長岡花火物語, Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2012)
An emotionally arrested journalist begins to reconnect with the past through wartime stories of Nagaoka in Obayashi’s compassionate plea for a kinder future
Auto-tagged Sumiko
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.…
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…
Jigoku Hanazono (地獄の花園)
Jigoku Hanazono (地獄の花園) is absolute trash, hilarious and unforgivable, and probably puzzling to anyone who isn’t deeply interested in girl-gang lore. It’s a movie tailored almost …
Kalanchoe (カランコエの花, Shun Nakagawa, 2017)
The truth is, most people genuinely mean well but they often make mistakes. They make them because they don’t think things through, fail to consider perspectives outside of…
Suna No Bara: Yuki No Mokushiroku
HAPPY BELATED NEW YEAR 2025 EVERYBODY! I guess it is always the same ol’, same ol’ every year, huh? Me making unofficial resolutions to watch more animes again…
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,…
A White Rose in Bloom, Volume 3
Content Warning for off-screen violence and implication of intended sexual assault. We have thus fa, been paying attention primarily to Ruby Canossa, that breath of fresh air that…