Bloom Into You, Vol. 1

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By Nakatani Nio. Released in Japan as “Yagate Kimi ni Naru” by ASCII Media Works, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Jenny McKeon. Adapted by Jenn Grunigen.

One of the benefits of having been around in any fandom or genre for a while is the delight you find when someone takes what would appear to be another old, cliched take on an old, cliched premise and manages to breathe some life into it. I had already heard a lot of positive buzz about this title, but from what little I’d read about, I wasn’t sure what the fuss was about. The premise sounded like Maria-sama Ga Miteru clone #2,739, and the cover, featuring the cool black-haired sempai staring into the eyes of her no-doubt adoring kouhai. What I thought might be the reason it was catching on was the apparent lack of fanservice and “we need to lure in male readers”, which has been very common with the yuri genre lately. then I read the first volume, and I think I know why it’s so popular: Yuu, the main character.

Basically, while Yuu looks to be the main stereotype of the first-year yuri student, complete with handy uniform ribbon that will no doubt become crooked at some point, her personality is nothing like what you’d expect. She was confessed to by a guy who she’d been friends with in middle school, and takes a while to answer him as she’s trying to figure out the best way to do it. Seeing Nanami (the other main lead) forthrightly rejecting someone confessing to her, and getting further advice, gives her resolve, and she is able to say no. The interesting part comes when Nanami confesses that she’s fallen in love with Yuu… and Yuu spends most of the volume realizing she DOESN’T feel the same way. Her heart isn’t pounding. This is a nice reversal of the usual, where it’s the younger girl’s earnest, persistent efforts that eventually make the older girl fall for her (seemingly, usually the second girl will admit she was in love all along.)

Yuu isn’t exactly emotionless, but she’s very placid and calm much of the time, and it shows in her actions and her reactions. I really liked the scene where, after Nanami forces a kiss on Yuu to show that she’s not talking about the “admiration” kind of love, there’s an awkward silence and Nanami asks “what should I do?” Yuu, who knows her yuri cliches clearly, looks away as she asks “shouldn’t I be the one asking that?” As the book goes on, we learn more about Yuu (who has a very normal family who run a bookstore) and Nanami (who has a classmate and best friend who I’ll lay you two to one is secretly in love with her, though that seems difficult to say given how this title has caught me off guard so far), and deal with the Student Council Elections, which Nanami wins with the help of Yuu, who proves to be an excellent campaign manager. Throughout it all, Yuu continues to calmly and somewhat sadly realize that she ISN’T in love with Nanami, and she seems a bit puzzled by the fact that Nanami is seemingly OK with things being one-sided.

Basically, the story and characters here are excellent, and while it may seem like your typical high-school yuri romance, I was surprised several times throughout. Definitely recommended.

No Game No Life, Vol. 5

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By Yuu Kamiya. Released in Japan by Media Factory. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Daniel Komen.

I was not quite as grumpy with this volume of No Game No Life as I was the previous one, despite the fact that it has many of the same problems. It could be that it had more interesting things happen – one fight takes up well over a third of the book – or that the denouement of the Siren thing was slightly amusing, which it was – emphasis on slightly. I suspect, however, that the main reason is that this volume was delayed and delayed and then delayed again, to the point where it now hits nine months after the last. Does absence make the heart grow fonder? More likely I was able to settle in after having forgotten literally everything about the last book, and it took a while to recall. The publisher may have figured this out as well – Vol. 6 has already been delayed a month or two as well.

I’ll start my mentioning what I didn’t care for, and then move on to what I enjoyed. As I observed in the previous volume, Sora and Shiro’s development continues to annoy me, mostly as the author has seemingly forgotten that the dichotomy between “invincible gamers” and “social incompetents” was what made them so fascinating. Here, as in Book 4, they almost never have a breakdown or completely lose it. Part of that is the nature of the game they’re playing in the first half – it requires them to be touching, basically, as they have to function as a pair of wings. But I suspect it’s more that the author just enjoys writing them as smug winners. We do get a little bit more time in their heads this volume, which is both good (Sora) and bad (Shiro’s incestuous feelings).

There’s also the resolution of the Dhampir/Siren plot, which was all right, but I wish more had been done to overcome the “Sirens are bimbos” stereotype. As it turns out the way to solve the riddle and wake the princess is simply not to do what she asks for – if you’re an unattainable love that she can never have, you win. Naturally, this is done with a lot of mental and emotional abuse, supposedly justified because she was so annoying, really. And then there’s Plum, whose surprise reveal wasn’t much of one, but whose other revelation – being a secret mastermind manipulating things – worked much better.

And then there’s Steph, who remains the main reason that I’m reading these books. I sympathize with her over the top suffering, of course, but more to the point, she’s developing more and more into a leader and keen observer every book, and people are starting to take notice – particularly Izuna, who is able to get past her verbal tic to realize that Stephanie is not as dumb as she thinks she is, or Sora and Shiro make her out to be. Of course, in the long run, I suspect this is shaping up for Stephanie to rule over everyone once Sora and Shiro win the game. I also liked the backstory with the Flugel race, and how imagination, curiosity, and the desire to create are what they desperately needed – but only Jibril had. There’s hints of some intriguing backstory, which I’d like to see more of.

So overall a mixed bag, and I think those who have been grumpy about this release won’t stop being so. But it’s still worth a read if you can tolerate twinked-out protagonists and their slangey dialogue.

Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, Vol. 8

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By Natsuki Takaya. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Sheldon Drzka.

This volume sees the completion of the ‘Yuki and Kyo are mirrors of each other’ arc, as we finally get long flashbacks to Yuki’s childhood. We’d seen bits and pieces before, but now we truly see how wretched it was for him, and also how his own life interacted with Tohru’s as a child, and not just Kyo’s. One interesting thing is that we see, not a kinder gentler Akito per se, but an Akito who is at least less mercurial and violent. Sadly, it doesn’t last. Of course, there’s also another purpose to all of this, as the Yuki/Tohru ship is sunk here. I never shipped it, but if I had I’m not sure I would buy Yuki’s reasoning either. That said, we also start to get the setup of Yuki paying more attention to Machi, and also begin to see into her own tragic past.

In between tragic flashbacks we have what is no doubt the funniest arc in the entire series, as it’s the cultural festival and Tohru’s class is doing Cinderella. Of course, the casting is a bit… off, and so after attempting to get everyone to act against their better natures, the script is rewritten (and, my guess is, relies heavily on improvised dialogue). As a result, we have Cinderella-ish, in which Hanajima’s gloriously uncaring Cinderella goes up against her adorable and caring older stepsister Tohru and the grumpy Prince Kyo. Interestingly, this actually ties into Kyo and Tohru’s main story as well, as Cinderella accuses the Prince of being content to “lock himself away forever”, and this clearly strikes a chord with Kyo, who replies seriously, and Tohru, who breaks character to try to stop it.

The second half of the omnibus is mostly taken up with the backstory of Kyoko, Tohru’s mother. This serves several important purposes. First, it fleshes her out, shows us what Katsuya, Tohru’s father, is like (he’s sort of a kinder, gentler Shigure – don’t hurt me, Furuba fans) and how much his death devastates her, to the point where she’s considering killing herself. But more importantly, it serves to show us that Tohru has totally put her mother on a pedestal, and that Kyoko was not remotely the perfect all-loving mother she seemed – in fact, even after her recovery and desire to be a good mother to Tohru, she still seems to have the wild mood swings which have dogged her most of her life. And, once again, we see how the lack of love in a family can lead to things like this – as Katsuya tells Kyoko’s parents, parenting isn’t something that can just be abandoned when you find it too difficult. Something that most of the parents of the cast also need to hear.

There’s still a lot to resolve – the curse, Haru and Rin’s relationship, and whether or not Kureno will watch that DVD all come up in the last chapter – but I’m especially grateful that this is the last review I will have to play “hide the gender pronoun” for. Stay tuned for omnibus 9, containing the volume that broke Furuba fandom more than any other.