For me, this is yuri because Kazuma Kowo's style is instantly recognizable. But I also think it's recognizable in the storytelling too. I haven't particularly often encountered this character dynamic (Kisaragi's confidence, Amamori's aloofness). It's pretty enjoyable as a setup.

Actually, I think I enjoy these setup chapters a bit more than the original followup chapter ("Recalculation"). Kisaragi's actions seem a bit less forceful/manipulative with the additional context. But yeah, either way I don't really have a problem seeing the characters as girls.

Hmm, I might not have read this if I hadn't looked at the comments. I think the yuri and bisexual tags should definitely go on there. I guess even the het tag can be borne with in the interests of accuracy. It's definitely preferable having the yuri tag up somehow than not having any of those tags up at all, in the interests of at least getting people to give it a look.

Incidentally, the first page of part B is pretty hilarious. I definitely had fun with this.

Feel like the 'wtf am I reading' tag is more a function of the translation here than the content...or rather, just in any case, the translation is pretty poor. I agree that the storyline is more or less heartwarming; if only the art were a bit better, heh.

No. The show about girls hiking holding hands the whole time has absolutely no yuri tones in it at all. It's completely flatline platonic.

Maybe sarcasm doesn't work too well on the internet...? I'm pretty hyped for S2 in any case.

For the record, Crunchyroll simulcast mangas generally have the most recent chapter up for free. (Backlogged chapters are also ripped by pirate groups for torrent, but that's neither here nor there.) Main point is, you don't actually need an account to keep up with CR mangas as long as you keep up with releases.

This is a perfect example of a plain bad manga having more attention than deserved because it is labeled as yuri. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of bad mangas leeching on niche genres pretty much as seen in Manga no Tsukurikata plot.

But this is over the top. Sometimes I wonder if the author had the whole thing done and just changed some of Youko's lines to make it yuri.

Actually, I'd rather say that this is an unexceptional but decently unique and interesting manga receiving more negative attention than it deserves thanks to the unreasonable expectations people have about the yuri tag. Ultimately the real worth of this manga lies with Youko in her characterization and personal development. Characters like Keita, though rather duĺl and unremarkable, are not really villains/should not be considered symbols of hatred so much as representations of the limitations of an average person/society. The important part is not to like or hate him but to see how he affects Youko's character development. In that regard he is a relatively decent character (on a writing level, not a personality one), although a bit heavy-handed in the early chapters.

Although part of Youko's frustrations come from being a lesbian (reason enough to consider the series yuri-relevant if you ask me, unless you really just can't stand anything aside from brainless fluff pieces), the story itself is more about Youko's growth and feelings in general. For that reason the story doesn't necessarily demand a fixed yuri couple or ending (though I would welcome it, of course). I just feel that most people are completely off base with their complaints about this series. Youko's hug with Maki was a pretty remarkable character moment, for example, in the latest chapter.

Thus, if you only get the main text translated/edited, you DON'T NEED TO do them at all - compared to which handing out a plain-text script would be of more good. If you expect your readers to understand what you left off in the raw's language, they must be able to read it (or at least, know something about it). Then what good are you doing except bringing the illustrations forward?

You're misunderstanding something. I never said that Crunchyroll releases only translate the main text. I said that they don't do anything fancy with the typesetting, such as redrawing the Japanese sound effects and replacing them with specialized fonts. It is really just completely laughable that you are claiming people can't 'understand' manga based on Crunchy's translations. I suggest once again that you not make wild baseless guesses about things you have no knowledge about.

Did you realize that the 'translation' process you complained about producing garbage was the one that most fan scanlators use? There is no actual difference in the level of craft and dedication used in producing official translations. You're going on about imaginary flaws or the terror of industry with no basis in reality. The vast majority of good fan scanlations are produced via the same 'multi-stage process' as licensed ones are.

last edited at May 12, 2014 5:49PM

Hahaha. That afterword was really something though.

Sorry, but that is a completely irrelevant argument. A translator or editor's craftsman's pride has nothing to do with what is actually good or acceptable for readers. In particular, facetiously disparaging the work of other craftsmen (translators or editors) without consideration of what is appropriate or necessary for their given environment or circumstances is nothing but selfish egoism. Until Gendo can point out an aspect of the particular comic's typesetting which actually effects general readers' experience negatively, he doesn't have a point.

Also, I can figure that you are probably influenced by experiences or conditions you've had to deal with in software engineering or something but you are still overgeneralizing in deciding that 'all industry is garbage'. There is nothing which actually prevents people or companies from applying dedication to industry (rather, the best products probably result from a combination of dedication and industry) so your blanket demonization of legal manga alternatives is simply nonsensical.

He's not, the typesetting is really bad. If you found it serviceable you simply have incredibly low standards.

What specifically are your issues with it? The fonts are legible, the placement appropriate. They don't do anything fancy with sound effects but that's how official releases should be given they're only supposed to be communicating the artistry of the original artists, not indulge in that of the typesetter's. I find it mind-boggling that somebody could complain about a typeset being 'below standard' when it manages to get across all of the actual text perfectly legibly.

I guess? I was thinking more of it as a work, though

Which is to say, the problems I was referring to are basically 'it feels cynical and pandering'

Kinda interested in the particulars of why you feel that way. As someone who was playing the game up until a few months ago (due to getting busy) myself, I can sort of imagine some ways in which those descriptors might apply to the franchise but I would still say that my core experience with the game was basically fun and positive, so I have to admit it is somewhat surprising to hear. Would it be based on the recent stuff with the marriage system, or do you have more fundamental issues with the game itself?

You won't be thinking so if you have become a translator/editor/etc yourself.

You're just talking out of your ass without knowledge of the relevant comic now.

There are advantages that legal solutions can sometimes provide which fan scanlations won't: guarantees of a certain level of translation quality, release consistency, access to different fan demographics.

You're kidding right? Have you ever even looked at CR's manga releases or just picked something off the shelf? More than half of them are worded badly horribly typeset and localized to the point that they make no sense. If you want good quality the professional translations are the last place you go, if you want to support the authors the professional translations are the last place you go. Essentially the only reason to buy licensed manga in the US is to support people who often steal the translations from scanlators in the first place making money off of doing poor quality work you can get better of for free.

I've been following the Spirit Circle simulpub coming out on Crunchyroll. I never know what kind of standards people who complain about 'typesetting quality' are on about so the chapters have seemed perfectly serviceable to me. Although I didn't have any complaints about the fan scanlation team, one of the advantages of Crunchy's service is its fixed release schedule. Overall I'm glad that Crunchy has started looking into up to date/simultaneous manga translation and would love to pick up a manga account if they get more yuri in their catalogue.

As for tankoubon, one thing that happened to me recently was handing off a copy of Osamu Tezuka's Buddha to my mother and (fairly aged) step-father. That is something I couldn't do with a torrent or an online reader link, and is one example of how licensed translations benefit overall manga fans. Another example is the 14 volumes I own of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. Even though Kumeta Kouji does have a fairly dedicated scanlation group which has released many chapters of SZS, with 300+ chapters in the series and the denseness of the references in the series I'm glad that the English licensors managed to translate so much of the series.

You can throw in novel translations I own like the first two volumes of Nishio Ishin's Zaregoto, or the novelized adaptation of Strawberry Panic, as well. Although none of these releases are absolutely perfect, they are all very high quality and obviously done by people who have a lot of respect towards the original work. In all of the ways mentioned above, licensed translations can be an invaluable resource to manga fans in ways that would be difficult or impossible for fan translations.

Incidentally, although my collection of licensed manga and anime is larger than my collection of raw materials, the amount of money I've spent on Japanese stuff is easily more. Importing Japanese stuff comes with its own set of 'middlemen' (importing costs). When I make Japanese purchases, a more significant portion goes to parties which don't even have anything to do with the manga industry (shipping costs, sometimes customs payments, wut) making English releases much easier to pick up on a whim.

One of the major reasons I'm here is because of Dynasty's hosting policies. Basically that it's a private host which will never place ads or take donations, and is in general supportive of scanlators, the original artists, and licensed releases. Actions like Dynasty taking down Girl Friends when it got licensed are things I respect. Because it's clear that Dynasty does not host these releases for self-profit or to disrespect anybody. Rather, it is providing a service for fans which encourages good fandom.

Obviously, in terms of directly supporting authors, the best method is purchasing the original material. For people who cannot read Japanese however, purchases like these basically constitute outright donations. As far as reading things like scanlations or licensed translations go, if these works weren't translated, the original authors wouldn't be seeing a cent from Western fans in the first place. That's why I think it's fine that fans don't go and make a RAW purchase of every scanlation they read. For authors that readers really are passionate about, though, I do hope they go and make those purchases.

Supporting licensed English translations is, I think, a whole different issue. Rail against "middlemen" as you like, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong about paying for legal, professional translations for manga. The fact is that readers in the western world speak a different language. If we want to read manga, it has to get translated somehow. There are advantages that legal solutions can sometimes provide which fan scanlations won't: guarantees of a certain level of translation quality, release consistency, access to different fan demographics. I think it's good/healthy that manga and anime possess both fan and professional translation scenes, so when I pay for licensed English releases, yes, it's to support the English licensing industry. Think about the fact that a complete translation of Voiceful would not exist/have been completed as promptly without a licensed translation team. Is it really so bad that manga licensing "middlemen" exist?

Ultimately, as far as supporting your manga hobby goes -- whether your favourite artists, or licensed professional translations -- it's true that you basically vote with your wallet. My reason for respecting Dynasty is that it respects/encourages those decisions. This goes for both the original artists and licensed releases. It is a fairly big step to expect inexperienced English fans used to simply pirating their manga to start making expensive import purchases of Japanese tankoubons. Licensed releases represent a nice intermediary step to becoming good fans who make concrete actions to support their passions.

Minna and Mio also happen to get the only canon kiss shown in the anime, though it happens when Minna (if I recall right) is drunk. There's a fair amount of subtext I think coming from Minna's direction, so I would say it is one of the stronger pairings among the anime characters (trailing behind Eila x Sanya and Yoshika x Lynne, but not much else. Perrine has strong subtext towards Sakamoto as well but I prefer her with one of the non-anime characters, Amelie).

Also, Eila and Sanya technically received two focus episodes if you're considering both the first and second seasons. Although their season two episode is the stronger one I still consider the S1 episode very enjoyable.

Ah, sorry, by 'completely scanlated' I meant by fan translators. The full series did get released in a licensed English volume, scans of which are the version up on sites now.

I actually haven't read it myself but Voiceful was licensed. It seems like scans of it have been uploaded to leech hosting sites, but looking at mangaupdates the series was never completely scanlated? I recall it because I think it came up in a discussion of older licensed series, about how it was unfortunate because it sold poorly and is now out of print/fairly impossible to get a hold of.

Toki x Ryuuka is frickin' great.

There's a pretty great doujin out there where Meiling's part of a youkai-hunting 'team' and while pursuing a specially dangerous one she comes across the Scarlets who were orphaned by the beast. Meiling kind of adopts them but at the end she's badly wounded taking down the beast and loses her memories, turning into the klutzy gatekeeper we know. Sadly, I can't remember the name :(

The Scarlet Kin. I liked it a lot too, but I'm sure Mizuki00 already read it. As for this story, I guess it was a bit too speculative for my tastes. I wouldn't say that I can't stand original characters, but I wasn't that fond of Laura's role with regards to Flan and Remi or their relationship in this story.

Minor, I guess, but a couple typos/inconsistencies in the latest uploads:
Series name: Yuuka vs Byakruen
Part 1: Yuka(?) vs Byakuren
Part 2: Yuka(?) vs Byakruen

Ah, that really brought back such great memories of the anime. Love this series. Also, confession time, but Yuzu x Aihara is my secret ship.

^They have the advantage of actually being associated with Yuri-Hime's artists but indeed, these have been quite nice.

I find this kind of stuff interesting just because it comes from normally het/shoujo authors. I used to be moderately into shoujo before I got into yuri, and I have to say that in general my impressions of the style and content of (het) shoujo versus yuri are kind of drastically different. This is a pretty strong/enjoyable work to me from that perspective, particularly considering I had been following Taamo's shoujo work until pretty recently. It doesn't hold back on the emotion, and feels kind of more raw/authentic in its tragedy than 'bad end' works from authors who are primarily into yuri.

These sports-manga-like tournament parodies involving Touhou characters are always pretty fun. Some of the eliminations were somewhat unclear/confusing but it was pretty neat seeing how Tohonifun integrated Bomberman rules with various characters' abilities. The tag team pair-ups made me think of Touhou Tag Dream. Good read.

Although I'm still an unfortunate 'secondary' myself, I really feel like fans shouldn't be so proud about it. The truth is that the franchise wouldn't be so popular in the first place if the games didn't have some quality, so however much one might enjoy the derivative works which have sprung up because of them, you should definitely still at least acknowledge the source.

Ultimately, I think that cordoning oneself off from certain parts of the fandom also might unnecessarily restrict one's enjoyment. For example, if you strictly stick to the manga and doujin side of the Touhou fandom, you'll never get to take in Touhou's music scene, which is another incredible part of the series' community. And the thing is, all of this great stuff -- Touhou's setting, characters, music, story -- ultimately comes back down to the games.

I really enjoy Touhou's setting/concepts so I've basically devoured all of the official manga and print works (Touhou wiki's official literature page is a great resource). Because of this I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of the 'canon' of the franchise, and this has helped me appreciate/connect with a lot of the more heavy/obtuse fan works out there. However, no matter how many of these supplementary materials I have read, I don't feel like I will have truly experienced and understood the franchise until I have played the games. In truth, if all I've experienced are the secondary materials, I can't remotely begin to compare my knowledge or experience with those fans who have played the games. In the end it's not inaccurate to say that people can enjoy Touhou without having to experience the source material, but really I think that the quality/*depth* of that enjoyment will be different. The thing is just that I definitely think there is a lot to enjoy about the Touhou games themselves or other areas of the fandom as well, so while there's no need to jump into them immediately, fans should keep an open mind toward them for the prospect of expanding their love for Touhou in the future.