Warikitta Kankei desu kara.

Warikitta Kankei desu kara. (割り切った関係ですから。, Because It’s A Relationship With Benefits.)
Author: FLOWERCHILD
First Published: 2019
Serialization: Comic Yuri Hime (Ichijinsha)
Volumes: 1 (Ongoing)

I’ve been waxing lyrical about this one on Twitter every month since it started its run so needless to say it’s a firm favourite of mine, ticking all my boxes – as in the dirty, dangerous and lewd ones.

Two women meet each other on a mobile dating app.

16-year old high-school outcast Kaburagi Aya aka AYA yearns to meet someone new and manages to exchange contacts with an adult lady named KURO.

They talk about what they ate today, their hobbies, and progress to exchanging selfies…but they’ve yet to meet.

One day, AYA notices that there’s something a little off about KURO’s state of mind. Feeling anxious, she goes over to KURO’s apartment to meet her…

That’s the official blurb, and the moment Aya steps into her apartment is where it all starts going to pot.

Rewinding back a little first – both Aya and Kuro, real name Kurosaki Sei, aren’t being truthful when they hook up on the app (but who is?). Aya lies that she’s a 19-year old college student and Kuro sort of lies that she’s a 24-year old public worker – she’s really a high-school teacher.

Kuro is provocative and manipulative – commenting that Aya’s breasts look big from a selfie she sent, constantly texting Aya about wanting to see her and eventually saying ‘I want to fuck you & mess you up’, giving Aya her address and telling her to come or else she’ll block Aya on the app.

Naive Aya obliges, much to Kuro’s amusement. Aya is enraged by Kuro’s antics; she was genuinely worried, only to find out that Kuro’s playing her and Kuro in turn accuses her of being dishonest with herself – if she’d really wanted some chaste friendship talking about food and hobbies then she should’ve stuck to Instagram and not gotten on a matching app.

Kuro pulls Aya into her flat and launches into a series of sexual acts on the teenager – biting, groping, kissing, licking her stockinged foot…yikes, Kuro’s an unabashed pervert. Aya does little to stop Kuro until she comes to her senses when Kuro starts to entice her into her bed.

Despite the encounter leaving a bad taste in Aya’s mouth she can’t bring herself to block or ignore Kuro and so, the push and pull continues for a few chapters as Aya’s resolve crumbles ever more quickly in the face of Kuro’s determination to break her down. Things get heavy during a karaoke date when Kuro mentions how she was in love with her best friend in school (named Yoru) & that they’re no longer in touch now after she confessed to & kept pressuring her despite being rejected.

Aya, wishing to maintain this ‘no strings attached’ relationship, agrees to take the place of Yoru in Kuro’s fantasies and they take things to the next level with a particularly lengthy and erotic sex scene that plays out over most of chapter 5, the last in Volume 1.

Along the way, we’re introduced to side characters like Kuro’s gyaru students who tease her about rumours that she likes to get it on with her pupils, plus Aya’s BFF Haruki who seems a lot more dangerous than she lets on – she’s even told Aya that she’ll die if Aya were ever to get a boyfriend.

We’re still in the early stages of the story with only 5 chapters gone but the tone is already set and I’m expecting major drama down the line as Haruki tries to wrestle Aya back from Kuro’s grasp. Of course, I can’t help but root for the main couple – there’s just something cathartic about seeing two broken people patching each other up, even if it’s through the most depraved of ways.

The art is of course, exceptional. FLOWERCHILD really has a way with drawing female bodies and putting them in incredibly suggestive positions – it’s sexy but not outlandishly so.

Just a minor change in the tankoubon where Kuro’s nipples are drawn in, plus the usual extras. Loved the bonus pages about how FLOWERCHILD met her editor and eventually got serialised – it was hilarious how her future editor already knew who she was, as the ‘person who draws erotic yuri’, and how he introduced himself as the guy who did a ‘yuri pregnancy anthology’. They’re a match made in yuri heaven!

Seriously hoping the series does well enough to warrant a decently long run….!

Wana Girl

Wana Girl (罠ガール, Trap Girl)
Author: Midoriyama Nobuhiro
First Published: 2017
Serialization: Dengeki Maoh (ASCII Media Works)
Volumes: 1 (Ongoing, Vol 2 due in summer)

Camping girls, agricultural girls/boys, mountain climbing – what other original premise could possibly be brought to the table that we haven’t already seen? Enter Wana Girl.

Asahina Chiyomaru is a high school girl from a rural town and the daughter of a farming family. Despite being only 18 years old, she holds a Trapping License that permits her to catch wild animals that roam around ruining villagers’ fields. Follow the realistic trapping tales of Chiyomaru as she faces off against the animals!

This manga is the first serialization for Midoriyama Nobuhiro aka siho, a real-life son of a farmer and an artist who used to work as a mangaka’s assistant in Tokyo before moving back to his hometown in Fukuoka to start farming.

Wana Girl is partly based on his own experiences battling against the deer and boars terrorising his farm and was also created in an effort to raise awareness of Japan’s serious crop damage problems as well as to encourage younger people to take an interest in agriculture. There are certainly shades of hunting manga Sanzoku Diary in this work, with added emphasis on the trapping aspects.

The story follows MC Asahina Chiyomaru, Chi-chan for short, who has a best buddy and schoolmate Hiruma Lemon who’s also the daughter of a farming family. One day, Lemon checks in on her fields to find that her spinach plants have been set upon by a rogue boar, and she pleads with Chi-chan to help her capture the offending animal. Chi-chan is reluctant, but Lemon knows her weakness – a love for collecting farming tools. She promises to buy her a hoe if she complies, and it’s a done deal.

With a couple of tools and bits, Chi-chan rigs up a simple wire snare and with a bit of patience, they manage to trap the wild boar. Other characters soon come into the picture, starting with Yozora Tsumuji, the student council president who enlists Chiyomaru’s help in getting down to the bottom of the mystery of the wild beast that is turning the school’s club rooms upside down and foraging in the canteens’ rubbish. Again, Chi-chan has to be persuaded with the promise of a limited edition farm tool keychain. Wow, she’s simple. This case turns out to be the work of a tanuki (raccoon dog), and we learn that they are a bit dumb and easily trapped.

Then there is Tsumuji’s granddad, an experienced hunter and butcher who answers Chi-chan and Lemon’s SOS for help to take down a deer they’ve trapped in order to stop it from eating from Chi-chan’s kumquat tree. Ojiichan guns down the deer and takes it home to skin & quarter and the girls are invited over to observe & partake in the process, as well as getting to consume the fruits of their labour.

Granddad also has a young protégé hunter – a girl named Shimizu Natsume who Chi-chan and Tsumuji first meet at a wildlife memorial service. Natsume’s shy with strangers so she literally says hi and bye, but she runs into the girls again sometime after in a home centre, the duo this time accompanied by the Lemon, who’s freshly attained a Trapping License of her own. The girls are in search for the perfect box trap to aid Lemon’s grandma in catching the rogue animal that’s destroyed her entire watermelon crop, and Natsume’s on hand to give tips (more like lectures) and they later bond over a wild boar curry udon meal.

So we’re 11 chapters in and the formula is pretty much the same – a different type of animal is rampaging around fields, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake and Chiyomaru and friends are roped in to save the day…! Basic stuff, but its no-frills, earthy approach is incredibly charming. And it’s educational! A lot of effort has gone into explaining the technical and legal stuff like actually applying for a permit to capture animals, how to differential animal footprints, what to do once an animal has been trapped and so on, in a way that won’t bore laymen like me.

Quickly listing down the series’ merits:

1. lovely, detailed animal art – take a look at that chart explaining how to differentiate raccoon dogs, badgers, raccoons and civets
2. the research and care gone into imparting knowledge on the animal kingdom, trapping and practical processes – I never knew I wanted to know anything about animal droppings, types of snares or how to skin animals
3. the comedy – it is laugh-out-loud funny at times, especially Lemon’s reactions
4. the characters – no helpless moe girls here, just badass trappers and hunters!
5. the produce & the meat – this is a trapping/wildlife manga first, food manga second.

Animal lovers and vegans might want to look away but omnivores, food lovers who’d like to learn more about the farm-to-table process and anyone who likes series that make a slightly left-field topic accessible through the passion & power of cute schoolgirls (re: Yuru Camp, Yama no Susume) will find a lot to love about Wana Girl.

Kago no Shojo wa Koi o Suru

Kago no Shōjo wa Koi o Suru (籠の少女は恋をする, The Caged Bird Sings Theme of Love)
Author: Kawanami Izumi
First Published: 2017
Serialization: Comic Dengeki Daioh (Kadokawa)
Volumes: 1 (Ongoing)

Running in the same publication as the popular Yagate Kimi ni Naru (Bloom into You) as well as sharing the same editor (Kusunoki Tatsuya), Kago no Shōjo is one of those series yuri purists are never going to love in spite of the generous servings of girl x girl action being dished up. What gets people’s goats is the story’s very premise:

A boarding school where girls with outstanding beauty and brains are gathered. A special place with unusual health check-ups and curriculum not seen elsewhere. Chased out of a house where she is not welcome, Chizuru transfers to the school and learns of the harsh paths in life that await the girls who live there…

That’s the official blurb, but let’s elaborate a bit.

1. Unusual health check-ups: The last question on the medical check sheet Chizuru has to fill in is ‘Have you ever had sexual intercourse?’ (above)
2. Curriculum: This includes ‘practical training’ in order to learn how to satisfy their future clients (more on this later)
3. Unwelcome house: Chizuru’s parents died in an accident so she gets sent to live with relatives where she’s abused by her uncle and male cousin (it’s implied that she was made to drink their semen from a cup) but of course, her aunt sees her as the source of the problem and sends her packing
4. Harsh path in life: Basically, the school is a bride-production factory. Girls are groomed to be perfect wives, and ‘graduate’ when they are purchased by rich and powerful men

MC Chizuru rooms with a pair of sisters, the older one of whom is soon to graduate. Siblings Fuyuko and Mio have been ‘partners’ throughout their time in the school and from Mio’s perspective, there is ‘love’ between them. Still, Fuyuko has to graduate, leaving Mio heartbroken….but with a promise to reunite – she intends to persuade her future husband to take Mio as a bride as well.

Meanwhile, Chizuru learns about the school and its strange ways – she is in the elite class that receives special lessons, while there are others in the ‘B’ class who are in danger of being ‘expelled’ to an uncertain fate. The girls are free to have as many ‘partners’ from the school should they choose to – indeed, she soon stumbles upon Fuyuko making out with honours student Kei in the chapel, a relationship that Kei implores Chizuru to keep secret from Mio.

The time comes for Fuyuko to graduate and the school holds a mock wedding sans groom to send her off. Shortly afterwards, Chizuru receives a letter informing her that it is time to begin her practical training courses – she’ll be having sex with a ‘partner’, usually whoever her roommate is (in this case, Mio), as preparation for her future sex life…hoo boy. Mio informs Chizuru that the sessions would be done in the presence of a teacher, so she wants their first time together to be a private moment.

Mio is a kind and conscientious lover, but Chizuru knows she is going through the motions – after all, her heart is set on one goal alone: to reunite with her sister Fuyuko. Following a lovemaking session, Chizuru finds herself unable to sleep and goes for a walk, where she runs into captivating beauty Yue, who was actually the first student Chizuru came across when she arrived at the school.

Curious, Chizuru questions Mio about Yue and learns that others label her a witch, possessing alluring beauty that once drew the attention of a prominent customer. For whatever reason, the whole affair went wrong and the school is now whoring Yue out at night to repay the damages. Despite her reputation, Chizuru finds herself increasingly drawn to Yue. They become closer, and Yue gradually manages to get the stoic Chizuru to release her pent-up emotions.

It’s easy to see why this series garners hate – there literally isn’t going to be any pay-off for the girls when they leave the school and perceivably not for yuri fans either: no happy endings for any relationships that may develop between the characters – just no-strings and no-emotions attached sex. At least, that is what the series would have us believe.

I looked up what author Kawanami Izumi had to say about the premise in a joint interview with Yagakimi author Nakatani Nio:

“I love yuri that ensues in Ōoku (shogunate harem quarters), Yōkaku (brothel towns) & brothels. Like a romance between Oiran (courtesans), it is a relationship that is ‘only for now’. That was the expression that led to the initial idea [for this series]”

If you’ve read Yoshinaga Fumi’s Ōoku or watched its live-action adaptation, you’ll recall how it portrays homosexual sex within the shogunate quarters as a normal occurrence. ‘Situational sexuality’ is the tropey term I’m looking for here – where a character’s actual sexual orientation or preference is moot because of their situation or the setting they’ve been placed in. In other words, it doesn’t matter if they’re het; once placed in a closed den of people of the same gender, they’ll end up having sex to alleviate boredom and to fulfil their needs and desires.

I think Yagakimi’s Nakatani hit the nail on the head when she described the series as egui (エグい, nasty/harsh). It’s kind of similar to yabai (やばい, dangerous/wicked) in that these 2 words had negative connotations in their original forms, but have now entered the modern lexicon as slang terms with inverted, positive meanings – think of English equivalents such as ‘sick’ or ‘wicked’. Reading Kago no Shojō is like being given front-row tickets to a torture chamber show – you know it’s going to be repulsive, but you just can’t take your eyes off what’s happening right in front of you.

There are positives – chiefly that the character art is great; clean and crisp and actually rather reminiscent of Nakatani’s work. When the art is good, I naturally enjoy the sex scenes more – they’re not too titillating or gratuitous, but just sensual enough to send your temperature a little bit higher.

Obviously, some aspects beggar belief – how does having sex with other females prepare you for coupling with your future husband? Or that any guardians in their right mind would accept sending their daughters, no matter how hated or unwanted, to a school to be trained, in effect, to be slaves to older men?

I did have a few issues with the lack of discernible personality traits in the 3 main characters. Kawanami did note in the interview linked earlier that she’s not afraid of writing characters that people might hate but 7 chapters in, I still don’t feel like I know Chizuru, Mio and Yue well enough to harbour such strong feelings about them. Still, it’s early days yet and maybe the story will be as slow-burningly satisfying as Yagakimi – the 2 works certainly share more than a few similarities what with a recent, eyebrow-raising plot reveal that I am loathe to spoil here.

Ah yes, the ‘reveals’. This series has been full of unexpected twists so far, with an exceptionally big one at the end of chapter 5 that made my heart stop. I do sense a lot more turbulence in store for Chizuru and the other girls and it’s not particularly encouraging when Kawanami herself states that she likes reading works that make her sick to the stomach and that she’s aiming to achieve something similar with Kago no Shōjo. I’ll probably need to ready a paper bag before I read future chapters…

I’m not quite sure what the general reception in Japan towards Kago no Shōjo is, or who the target audience might even be, but I do hope that there is enough interest to keep the series serialized for a while yet. Fingers crossed that there is no compromise and Kawanami continues to be granted the freedom to tell the story that she wants to tell.