Wolf Girl and Black Prince (re-watched the anime - Review)

    I hadn't seen "Wolf Girl and Black Prince" in many years. And I didn't particularly remember anything about it, either good or bad. Usually I at least have some vague feelings about a show that I've watched in the past but haven't re-watched for some reason, usually lukewarm feelings. And then there are the couple of shows so upsetting that I either didn't finish them or vowed never to watch again. But I honestly couldn't remember anything about "Wolf Girl and Black Prince" so when I needed a romance show to kill some time, I decided to rewatch it.

    Long story short, it really sends the wrong message to girls/women. I don't know if I didn't see it at the time, or just forgot, but this show is made up of two of the most terrible tropes in shoujo/romance anime/manga: 1) that rude hot guys secretly have hearts of gold and 2) that a spunky, plucky girl can heal their wounds and change them for the better. Ughhhhh. And that is literally the entire premise of this series.

    The good: it's got an amazing opening theme song (posted at the end of this). And Erika, our heroine, becomes a bit more likeable as the show goes on, but not by much.

    The bad: Kyoya, our boy, is just so consistently awful to her. He manipulates her, he's mean to her, he says unforgivable things (which she forgives him for). He's emotionally closed off. He's really verbally and emotionally abusive to her through the entire show and she just keeps coming back for more and excusing him and forgiving him, and it's just awful to watch. We're supposed to excuse him because we know he's secretly a good guy (and the occasional gesture in that direction is supposedly enough to excuse all his awful behavior). 

    There are also at least two disturbing homophobic/transphobic jokes in the series that serve absolutely no narrative purpose (It's like rewatching "Friends" and forgetting how many gay jokes they made). In one scene, the joke is that parents would be upset if their slightly effeminate son (read: emotionally kind, soft-spoken, nice) might turn out to like men (heaven forbid!). In the other, Erika mistakenly thinks a transwoman is Kyoya's mom. Of course the transwoman (or possibly a drag performer, not sure how they want us to read this character) is presented in the most stereotypical way possible: huge muscular chest and arms, slinky dress, 7 feet tall, overbearing. I don't know about you, but this transgirl (gestures to self) weighs all of 130 lbs and there is a lot more diversity in the trans community than the stereotype presented here which only reinforces the terrible and wrong views on transwomen (I'm looking at you Texas governor!). Either way, these moments are played for comedy at the expense of LGBTQ people and it's not okay. It is, though, sadly typical of a lot of anime/manga from this time-period. It seems to slowly be getting better, but not by much.

    In some ways, this show reminded me of when I tried to re-read "Peach Girl" recently (considered a classic shoujo series) and realized that the two main boys are just so horrible to the girl from the very get-go. It was so disturbing to read, and the boy's terrible temperaments and treatments of her were so normalized, that I couldn't get past the first few volumes of my re-read. How did I ever make it through that series years ago? Did I not realize how truly awful it was back then? It's disturbing to think that I might not have recognized it or been as disturbed by it before. "Wolf Girl" is not much better. Although I did force myself to watch all the way through just in case I was missing something (I wasn't).

    Should you watch this series? No. There is nothing in it that is really redeeming. This show follows a long line of cruel, cold-hearted men in shoujo manga who are "redeemed" by the loving girl (I'm looking at you "Bokura ga Ita" - consistently ranked as a great shoujo manga, and the classic "Kare Kano" which is quite disturbing to read now - including how the heroine sacrifices all her goals and future for the shitty closed-hearted boy). This is some of the most dangerous messages we could be sending. To promote a message like this is setting up girls/women to tolerate abuse. It is never okay for men to treat women like this, no matter what happened to them in their past, we should never be holding up a man like that as an object of pursuit, and we should certainly not be teaching girls/women to put up with anything in the belief they can change a hurtful person if they just love them harder.

    Do yourself a favor and watch or read all the amazing series out there instead. If you must engage in the "hurt boy is healed by the stubbornly persistent girl" trope, then at least do do with "Blue Spring Ride" (Ao Haru Ride) which has bits of this type of storyline, but explores it in a much more nuanced, sensitive, and acceptable way. There are even bits of it in "Chihayafuru" but again, done better without the outright abuse that Erika takes in this series. And of course, there are so many wonderful romance and romantic-comedy shoujo series out that that don't use this set-up at all. Find yourself a series with a nice boy who treats the girl nicely ("Kimi ni Todoke" comes quickly to mind). Because that's what we should be holding up as the expectation.

Here's the amazing opening theme though by Special Thanks (I've had it on my phone so long, I didn't even realize it came from this series):

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Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

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Kase-san and Yamada volume 2 - Manga Review

   OMG OMG OMG, it's finally here. After initially ordering it sometime last year and then having my order canceled since the publishing was apparently delayed, the second volume of the sequel series/ 7th volume of the series (both are on the cover, somewhat thankfully actually), I finally have "Kase-san and Yamada vol. 2" in my hands! But after two volumes of this new series, I am a bit...worried? Somehow it is...different? No, that's not quite right. But I'm beginning to think that maybe Hiromi Takashima-sensei is drifting from what made the original 5 volumes so good...or is she? (dun dun DUNNNNN)

    Because it's been so long, I think two things are in order: 1) a quick summary of the series, and 2) a quick summary of how much I adore this series. 

    So 1) The first five books tell the story of high-schooler Yamada Yui, the cute, somewhat shy, flower loving girl that Kase Tomoka, the beautiful, athletic, princely high-school girl, reciprocally and adorably falls in love with. (Okay, so I know that my sentences are inordinately long and complex, that's what I get for taking a while off blogging/it's just what I do).  The first five "Kase-san and..." books tell the story of their meet-cute, new friendship, and eventual shy/adorable/but-not-chaste (good, they are actually high-schoolers, and high-schoolers are not chaste. I am really okay with shoujo/yuri manga actually depicting that teens have hormones. Although I do love the stolen glances, blushing, will-they-won't-they purity of other series...I digress) romance. With "Kase-san and Yamanda" volume 1, we see the two head off to their respective colleges and (flips through quickly because it was literally published in 2020) Kase gets jealous of Yamada going out with a new friend to a group-date, and Yamada begins getting jealous of Kase's new roommate. Basically, we get some of their cute flirtateousness, some princeliness, some cuteness, and some of both of them coming down from their emotional peaks to confess just how truly, maddeningly, in-love they are with each other. But that's not all we get in that volume (more to come).

    And 2) I love the first five "Kase-san and..." books. They are light, but emotional, the characters have some varied dimensions to them for such a light romantic comedy of a series - especially Kase who tries to project this princely quality but is actually hopelessly in love, a bit more girly than we'd expect, not really put together, and quite a softy. They are earnest books, they spend time with the two characters together, being cute and earnest together. It's just so...nice (and I mean that in a very good way).

    And therein lies the problem that started in "Kase-san and Yamada" vol. 1 and seems to continue with "Kase-san and Yamada" vol. 2. Volume 2 has much the same feel as volume 1. The characters spend little time actually together, less time communicating effectively, more time feeling jealous, and the general feeling of light niceness of the first series (5 volumes) isn't quite there anymore.

    In volume 2, Kase is roped into working at Inoue's family's summer beach-front hangout. By various means, all the series' characters end up staying in the same inn. What this volume continues are the hints that maybe Kase-san's roommate will become a central character, and perhaps even romantic competition for Kase's affections [although, a) we know Kase is oblivious to everything and b) Kase is hopeless for Yamada, so I'm not actually worried]. But with that and a few other things, Yamada spends a fair amount of time sulking rather than talking to Kase. Kase also continues to be quite busy and I get the sense that she's not really prioritizing time with Yamada, her girl-friend. We learn their universities are about 50 minutes apart by train, and even though Yamada has a job, she always makes time for Kase. But Kase has regular practice, track meets, travel, and now takes this summer job away from Yamada. Dummy.

    Before I get to any analysis, I would be remiss without mentioning that this volume also has some definite lovey-dovey moments between the two. My favorite is a small moment in the first chapter, at the fireworks festival, where Kase notices the nape of Yamada's neck in her yukata. It's such a slight small thing, a single panel, nothing spoken, no follow-up, but it's moments like that that crystalize the various parts of Kase's character and remind us of just how in love (and in lust) she is for Yamada. That's important. It's important that we always see this as a reciprocal relationship amongst equals. On it's surface, it would be easy to read this series as the homely but cute, shy and unassuming, shoujo heroine (Yamada) in a one-sided love with the out of her league, gorgeous, sporty Kase. But that's not it at all. Because Kase is just a dork, who is sort of a mess, and who is just as desperately in love with Yamada as Yamada is. These are two very nice, very kind, young women who genuinely like each other. And that's what made the first five volumes so good.

    That's also what is troubling me about these next two. They're almost fighting and misunderstanding each other, and not even spending that much time together, and there's this room-mate who is hinting at intruding on the Kase/Yamada thing, and there's tension in the series where there wasn't before.

    And then it hit me. They aren't high-school girls anymore. Life is changing. It's more complex when you don't live in the same town and go to the same school. Where you are working on figuring out your adult life, and rationing your time, and trying to make new, adult friends (nearly impossible for me, so I feel it when Yamada talks about that in volume 1), while still maintaining your old ones, including your girl friend. Their worlds are getting bigger. And bigger means change.

    And then it hit me even more. It connected me to a mistake I made last year. I'm over 40 now (ughhhh, that is so awful to say). But I've only been out as my true self, publicly as a woman for 2 years, most of which has been spent in the pandemic, and most of which has been spent divorced. When my ex-wife and I started the coming out process nearly 5 years ago, I talked about how I felt like a toddler then (specifically the image of Tinkerbell when she is first born in the first Tinkerbell movie, wearing that pretty white dress is what resonated with me). Sure on the outside I was this 40 year old, who was a parent, who had a career and a wife, etc... but I felt very young. I hadn't lived as a woman openly, I hadn't learned the things girls learn as they grow up with their moms, and aunts, and cousins, and siblings, and friends. I hadn't experienced life as a girl, young woman, and now adult woman. I was feeling new feelings in new ways for the first time every day. And two years on, reading this volume, I still feel so very very young. Maybe like a middle-schooler now.

    And I thought back to that mistake I made last year. I had only been out publicly a little over a year, I had been separated and on the way to divorce for about 8 months. And I met someone. I met someone who not only checked every box on paper, but who is absolutely a lovely and wonderful real person. I very quickly fell for. Fell hard. It was my first time loving someone as me, openly, as a girl/woman. I felt things in ways I hadn't felt before. But also, I was feeling things in ways I hadn't since I was a teen. It was like being an adult but having all that intensity of emotion that only teens can feel. Beautiful, exuberant, intense, uncontrollable, unfiltered, unself-conscious. And then it was over in two short months.

    I got the "it's not you, it's me" speech. But what I didn't understand at the time, and what took a full year of therapy later to really understand, was that it was me. It was me, not understanding what she needed, where she was at in her own journey, how what I was experiencing was putting enormous emotional pressure on her so early in our relationship. I felt jealous about things I had no need to and no business being jealous about. And I told her my feelings, thinking that was a good thing, since I had kept them hidden inside for decades with my ex. And I asked her questions about the future, and I worried that if we didn't have certain conversations early, that I would somehow hurt her or be hurt by her, and so I rushed those parts too. We only knew each other for 2 short months, 7 dates in total I think. But my mind and feelings were racing years ahead, sprinting, heart bounding, but it also brought out new and ugly feelings and worries and anxieties that put so much pressure on her.

    And this volume made me think about that. Where I was a teen in a woman's body, feeling things that weren't necessarily becoming of an adult and weren't what she needed at this point in her life and with all that she was still working through, she had your own needs and thoughts and rhythms and I wasn't there for her. I wasn't adding good things to her life, I was only applying pressure (however unwittingly). But maybe those types and intensities of feelings are exactly right then for Kase and Yamada? They are newly in college, newly experiencing all that rapid growth of freedom at that age, still learning about themselves and each other. Maybe what they are going through in these first two volumes of the sequel series is exactly right. They should be having ugly new feelings, they should be struggling to communicate, they should be unsure of how to handle their complex thoughts (passionate one moment, jealous the next, insecure, and overwhelming). Because they are 18 and 19 and it is messy to figure this stuff out. 

    I might want this story to stay the "little story that could" (to paraphrase another blogger) forever. But part of what made the series so wonderful was the humanity in these characters. They weren't stock. They had fully fleshed out reality behind them. They were people. So I connected to them, and I loved through them. And now, because they are so real, they have to grow and change and have new experiences and feelings. And those will be different than the ones they had in high-school, and so this series, about them now, in college, must also be different. 

    So while "Kase-san and Yamada" volume 2 has many wonderful traits from the original series, it also is exploring new things as the characters grow up. That's uncomfortable but also important and real and asking them to stay the same would be a disservice to them, to their creator, and to what they might become in the future. So here's hoping Kase-san and Yamada keep growing up and growing together and that we get to follow that journey for many many more years to come.

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Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

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Cocoon Entwined volume 4 (manga review)

It takes freaking forever between releases of "Cocoon Entwined" volumes. Volume 4 finally came out and I have to admit, just like with each prior volume, I could not remember almost anything of what happened before. Add to that that the overall writing style is so oblique and obfuscated that it is nearly impossible to know what's really going on. That's also not helped by art that is quite variable in quality from panel to panel and that has trouble distinguishing certain characters (I must note that I clinically struggle with remembering faces, so this is double tough for me).

All that sounds like a resounding dislike of this series, which is actually not true at all. I am fascinated by it because it is quite a dark take on the "class s" sub-genre of yuri. Long-story short, there is an all-girls school where the girls never cut their hair, and as they graduate it is cut and then turned into the uniforms for the incoming students (creepy!). Mix that with a troubled and mysterious girl who Hana is in love with, and the more typical moral-center/shoujo-herioine/average girl Youko who is in love with Hana, and we have the recipe for an interesting yuri. 

The biggest thing is I can't keep track of the other character's stories. The art is also so ambiguous (or poorly drawn?) at times that I can't tell exactly what is going on (was that a kiss on the neck or did we just introduce vampires? I think it was just a kiss). However, despite the inconsistency with anatomy and indistinctness of some panels, the overall art is unique and sometimes really arresting.

The story itself though, while having great promise on the surface, has taken so long to move forward (or maybe not because it's only 4 volumes - it's just taken forever for them to come out that maybe it feels slow) that it doesn't have the momentum I would like. We also don't have much actual depth on the characters. They pretty much exist in the here and now, and when we do get their inner voices, they are so abstractly written as to not reveal much. It's hard to have real sympathies and connectedness with the way the characters are handled. From the art, to the writing, to the overall creepy vibes, the series feels like it's holding us at arms length. It's not really letting us into their hearts. 

As for volume 4, why we are here, there are long portions without Hana or Youko that are unclear to me as to what is actually going on. But the portions with Hana and Youko are definitely the best, and most grounded, parts of the volume. Just like the prior volumes, the art is inconsistent. I mentioned before that the anatomy is often wildly wrong with awkwardness or musculature/structural issues that show a lack of advanced draftsmanship (draft-person-ship?). That takes me out of the story a bit. However, giving credit where credit is due, at least it's daring art. Lots of black, lots of contrast, lots of textures and movement and flow. At least it's not boring (see my prior review of the art in "If I Could Reach You" volume 6).

I'm going to keep reading it, and honestly, when it's all done, I will re-read it all to see if it improves without the loooooooong wait time between volumes. I bet it will. 

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Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

All comments are moderated by a real person who only checks them once a day. Therefore, comments may take a while before they show up. Thanks for understanding. It's how we keep this a community of lovingkindness.

If I Could Reach You Volume 6 (Manga Review)

There has been so much time between volumes of "If I Could Reach You" but I was glad to get this next one. What made me most excited was that this volume focused almost exclusively on Kaoru's present, past, inner-life, etc... It fleshed her out in a way that is likely to create greater plausibility and acceptability for what will come next in the series. But I am jumping ahead.

"If I Could Reach You" is a story about Uta, a high-school girl whose older brother dated and now married a woman named Kaoru. They dated all through high-school and she was like an older sister to Uta. But Uta comes to realize that her feelings for Kaoru aren't sisterly, they are romantic love. As the series has gone through it's first five volumes, it because clear to Uta that she can't keep living with her brother and Kaoru any longer (I can't remember where the parents are - like most shoujo manga they are either overseas working or dead, doesn't really matter for this purpose though). By the end of Volume 5, Uta has moved out into a small student apartment to be away from Kaoru and reclaim her life.

And that is why volume 6 is so refreshing. We actually get to learn about Kaoru. No longer is she just the stock character our main character has feelings for, but she has an inner life, she has complexities, and there are plenty of hints dropped that reveal more substance (and thus more potential) that maybe something could actually happen between her and Uta. I don't want to give spoilers, but it was refreshing for a series like this to actually flesh out the love interest.

That being said, here is my normal disclaimer that I am opposed to adults dating high-schoolers and I have no idea if this series will ever bring that relationship to consummation in any way, or if this will be more the melancholy longing and ultimate growing up and growing apart (which was done so masterfully in series like After the Rain). So I'm sticking with this series so far because it hasn't crossed any lines or made any overtly icky situations. That said, these things can turn on a dime, so just be aware that it's about a high school student with feelings for an adult. Let's hope the adults act like adults.

However, I can't deny that one of the things I love in manga (and god, I can't believe I'm admitting this publicly), is the step-siblings who fall in love with each other (see Citrus or Love Me Love Me Not or literally like half of all shoujo). And so while not step-siblings here (actually siblings-in-law), there is that forbidden love thing here too (I just wish it wasn't child/adult, but as I said, so far it's just feelings in Uta's head, which isn't necessarily abnormal for a high-schooler to have a crush on someone a bit older, I guess).

The art continues to be okay. It's in that slightly comic-booky/modern shoujo manga lightness that is only okay to me, but in no way memorable. If you've been reading this blog, you know I love 90's and early 2000's shoujo manga with the super disproportionately long limbs, sharp angles, and lots and lots of screentones. This has none of that. It's fine, but it's just not anything special. Even among contemporary manga, it's nothing like the art of Io Sakisaka who blends the best of contemporary figure proportions with exceptional draftsmanship, detail, and yes...screentones! tMnR, the mangaka behind this, is competent as an artist, just not memorable. Compare:

See the dynamic blacks, and long angular lines in Clamp's work, and the complex screen tones, and rich textures in Io Sakisaka's work, then look at the simplicity in "If I Could Reach You" by tMnR. You're mileage may vary as to your preferred style. (Right click and open to view larger)

Anyway, volume 6 is one of the better ones in the series because it fleshes out Kaoru's character. We do lose some momentum, but I think that is worth it for having a more fully realized person, not just a stock love interest. We also get hints that this series could resolve any number of ways, which makes me want to keep reading. The art is just average for modern shoujo/yuri manga, which is to say, nothing special at all, sort of perfunctory. But the writing is a bit above average and I'm interested to see where it goes and how it handles the complexity. So I'll keep reading and let you know what I think.

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Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

All comments are moderated by a real person who only checks them once a day. Therefore, comments may take a while before they show up. Thanks for understanding. It's how we keep this a community of lovingkindness.

Bloom into You Anthology Volume 2 (Manga Review)

Bloom Into You was one of those manga series that got better each time I've reread it (finding more nuance) and each time I've rewatched the anime (which only covers about 1/2 the story, but still ends in a satisfying place, FYI). So of course I bought the first anthology volume which was a collection of short side-stories written and drawn by colleagues of the original creator, Nakatani Nio. It was light fluff. Doesn't mean it was bad, but basically, it was a way to get just a little more time with our two main characters. So, knowing full well what volume 2 of the anthology would be like, I happily purchased it.

Bloom Into You anthology volume 2 is more of the same, 13 more very short short side stories with our favorite characters. One nice touch is a side story by Nakatani Nio herself. As a collection, anthology volume 2 is mixed, which was no surprise. Some of the mangaka really seemed to try to emulate Nio-sensei's style (or just naturally had styles close to hers) while others reinterpreted the characters in their own style, while still having enough in common to be recognizable. Sometimes the different art styles works (it was fun to see Canno) but sometimes it doesn't (see SheepD). 

The stories themselves are mostly insubstantial. A few of them, however, feel like they didn't quite get the essence of the original character's personalities. Other stories seem pretty on-the-nose. There is at least some romance, although most of this is just light humor. We get a little bit of a glimpse into some side characters. But on the whole, nothing is really added, which makes sense as this is probably considered non-cannon, but at the same time, there is nothing in it that really is significant enough to disturb the cannon either.

Hard to say much more. Did you really like Bloom into You? Do you want more time with those characters? Do you not mind if it's a bit uneven and insubstantial? Then you've probably already bought this volume. If you were just a casual reader of Bloom Into You, then just know this is fun fluff and nothing more. I wasn't disappointed because I knew exactly what it would be, and I DID just want more time with Yuu and Touko. 

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Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

All comments are moderated by a real person who only checks them once a day. Therefore, comments may take a while before they show up. Thanks for understanding. It's how we keep this a community of lovingkindness.