Okazu

Yuri Manga: Air Master

Okay, I'm a little tired of talking about shoujo yuri titles, so I thought I'd cover a few shounen yuri series of note.

For those of you who aren't sure of the distinction - shounen is written for young (teenaged) men, primarily by male artists, while shoujo is written for young (again, teens) women by women. There are, of course, some series that defy clear categorization and, for the most part that's where yuri is heading these days - a melding of shounen and shoujo conventions that appeals to a wider audience. (In fact, that's where many good anime and manga are heading these days - a favorite example of mine is One Piece, which is a silly action-filled shounen manga and anime with *intense* personal relationships, character backstory and experiences a la shoujo manga. It makes for a really tight narrative.)


Air Master

I've talked about this one before, I know, but it bears repeating. The basic plot is...well, there isn't really a plot. It's about an ex-gymnastics champion turned street fighter. Her gymnastics skill manifest as a distinctly unique fighting style which involves seriously BIG air. Hence the name, "Air Master."

Aikawa Maki is a great heroine. Competent and cool in her millieu, sort of dorky and insecure outside it, she's surprisingly human and likable. Her friends are quirky and funny, and her enemies even quirkier and, in many cases, funnier. Of these, the best, by far and away is Sakiyama Kaori, who may possibly be the funniest, most imaginative and most likeable psychotic to ever grace a manga or anime.

The yuri comes in right at the start, as Maki's new friend Mina develops a raging crush on Maki, which quickly develops into a raging lust for her. In the anime, this is seriously minimalized, but in the manga, there's some terrific scenes as we get to see what Mina's actually thinking/hoping/wishing for in regards to Maki.

There's a few downsides to this series - for one thing, the manga art is *seriously,* distractingly bad. Not�One Piece bad, (Oda's art is purposefully distorted) this guy just can't draw. There's some intense fighting violence (which I quite like) and some serious sexual violence, as well (which I don't.) Episode 24 of the anime is one of the single most violent 20 minutes I've ever seen animated that didn't involve guns or mutating things. The little old lady who sat next to me on the plane while I watched it on my computer, almost had a heart attack, poor thing.

On the good side, you have great characters - I mean REALLY great. With the exception of one or two characters, even Maki's opponents are engaging and fun. In the tradition of shounen fighting anime, most defeated opponents become allies, so it's nice to have them stick and around and keep coming back. Rematches with defeated opponents are actually better than the original fights, as Maki's skills keep improving over the series.

The manga isn't complete as of yet, so there's still hope that Maki and Mina will celebrate the end of the Fukamichi ranking arc with an orgy. I'm not holding my breath, mind you, but it would be nice!

Ratings

(Manga) Art - 2
(Anime) Art - 6
Characters - 9
Story - 7
Yuri - 8

Overall - 8

Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Air Master, Maki and Mina

posted by Erica Friedman @ 10:53 AM   

Jubei-chan 2: Revenge of the Siberian Yagyuu Anime

How About A Quickie?

I'm a little pressed for time today, so today's review will have to be a quickie...

Jubei-chan 2: Revenge of the Siberian Yagyuu

Let me cut to the chase here - no yuri. BUT, it has instead everything else that makes a series worth watching, lots of hot women fighting with swords, wearing eyepatches and ninja clothes designed by Frazetta.

While there is no overt yuri, Jiyu and newcomer Yagyuu Fureesha (Felicia?) get awfully snuggly at times, and their relationship has tons of that popular love/hate tension. And when Jubei-chan resuces Fureesha from the moat....drool. I have no less than 3 screencaps of that scene. :-) There's plenty to work with in terms of fanon yuri here.

The side characters are still bizarre and kookie, Mikage is still a babe, Jiyu's dad is still a goofball. With the exception of Koinusuke, pretty much every fun character from the original series has returned. Instead of Koinuske's incompetent adorableness, we have his repulsive, if competent, son. And tons of drama, of course. 7 episodes into this series and it's been great.

If you liked the first series...or you like really hot, competent women who fight and are cool as hell (and wear eyepatches....did I mention that? I think that I've developed an eyepatch fetish - between Yuriko from Yuricon, Ryomou from Ikkitousen and Jubei-chan, I'm starting to realize that I *really* like women with one eye covered. LOL) then you'll enjoy this series too. No yuri, but lots of everything else and plenty of room for yuri subtexty fandom.

Ratings: Art - N/A. The art in the series varies wildly from stunning to awful on purpose. It's impossible to rate. Characters - 9. Story - 8. Yuri - 1. Overall - 8

posted by Erica Friedman @ 8:42 AM   

Two Utter Stinkers

When I hear that a series has yuri or yuri subtext, I'll usually give it a chance, even if it's not my particular thing. Just in case it is worth it, or might be of interest to yuri fandom in general. Well, this past week I wasted a cumaulative total of 46 minutes that I can never get back, watching two abysmal new anime series. Consider yourself warned.

Tenbatsu Angel Rabbie

This is a one-shot OVA for what must be a much longer, if not more complex, story. Rabbie is an "Angel," or attemtping to be one, to be just ike her cool, competent Mother. "Angels" are a combo of magical girl, hardsuit-wearing fighter chick and space police. In other words, they are a mixture of nearly every trite cliche' possible.

The improbably named heroine, Lasty Farson, has all the typical qualities of a mediocre shoujo heroine; she's clumsy and constantly late, has inexplicably good fighting skills and a best friend who passionately loves and desires her.

There's a mysterious "bad" girl, a renegade Angel who, in the manga, probably also desires Lasty, but in this shortened OVA, only says one line, smiles enigmatically and moves her cape around a bit.

Perhaps the yuri fanservice (and I can tell you know with complete assurance that that's all it would be) is greater in the manga, but there's so little even of that in this OVA that it's not worth saying its there.

The characters are lolicon-ed, so they look years younger than they are, but have fully developed chests - a convention which is beginning to disgust me - and the transformations Lasty goes through are unneccessary and ridiculous. The plot, if you can call it that, is superficial in the extreme. I probably wouldn't even push any of the characters out of the way of an oncoming train.

This series is a big zero - give it a miss if you value your sanity.


Futari ha PreCure (Pretty Cure )

This is a generic magical girl anime. It is *so* generic that it becomes apparent after mere moments that the artists are pretty hostile to the whole idea of working on this series, so they made it as uninspired as possible.

Two girls, butchy and athletic Nagisa, and smart, feminine Honoka, somehow manage to be drawn together to form the magical team of Cure White and Cure Black, who fight for...shall we *all* say it..."Love and Justice." Their costumes aren't even good, just sort of stupid. Of course, the butchy girl is REALLLY straight,and we have that beaten into our head a thousand times as she moons over some faceless boy.

The art is wholly uninteresting, the story predictable and tiresome, the Monster of the Week was *dire*.

But the worst, the absolute worst, thing about it was the ubiquitous cute, fluffy creatures. These were so horrible that I grit my teeth simply thinking about them. Each girl has been given what can only be called an anthromorphized cel phone which is really a cute, fluffy creature. These two creatures appear to be in love with each other. Mippiru and Meppuru add the syllables of their names to every sentence, which was enough to make me scream at the screen after five minutes of "Mippu, mippuuuu!". Gah.

It's very obvious that the entire point of this series is simply to sell stuff - in the first episode we get no less than 6 objet de plastic they will eventually try to sell.

Any yuri is strictly fandom-based. These two characters have to hold hands to attack, but there's no anything between them. Unless Honoka develops a raging crush on Nagisa, I'd recommend avoiding PreCure like the plague.

Just for Mippiru and Meppuru alone, this anime is in the negative number - it owes me for watching it.

posted by Erica Friedman @ 8:41 AM   

Live Action: Tipping the Velvet

A Must-See For All Fans of Yuri!

Today's review is a bit "off-topic" since it's about a live-action DVD, and a western one to boot, rather than something animated or drawn. But, in all honesty, this was SO good, I thought you ought to know about it.

Tipping the Velvet

Tipping the Velvet is a truly excellent three-part costume drama based (with reasonable accuracy) on the novel by the same name. TtV was written by Sarah Waters, who also wrote Fingersmithing which was an incredibly surreal and wonderfully weird book...I'd love to see THAT made into a made-for-TV drama!

TtV is a costume play set in Victorian England, dealing with the ups and downs, fame, fortune, loves and lovers of Nan Astley, a fisherman's daughter who grows up to be a famous stage actress and infamous lesbian. If you want to know more about the story, go visit the BBC website - it's much more thorough than I could be here. I just want to note a few basic things, like:

1) Rachel Stirling is so amazingly hot as Nan, she's breathtaking. She's Diana Rigg's daughter, and it shows - she has her mother's sensuality, and her cheekbones but...that voice! She does a superb job and deserves some kind of award for looking that good in a tux.

2) The lesbian sex is very nice. 'Nuff said.

3) The ending is slightly different from the book, but the outcome the same. To cut to the chase - the girl gets the girl and lives happily ever after.

4) Did I mention the copiuos sex scenes?

Anyway - this is a DVD at least worth a rent, if not a buy. Great story, fantastic acting, hot women...magnificent clothes and a yuri lover's fantasy ending. This gets 10s all the way around. Put it on your "To Watch" list immediately and thank me later.

posted by Erica Friedman @ 3:00 PM   

Yuri Manga: Paros no Ken/ Sword of Paros

Shoujoai Classics That Don't Suck
Part 2

Paros No Ken ( Sword of Paros ) - 1986 - Yumiko Igarashi

This is a fairy tale, plain and simple. Once upon a time, there was a kingdom called Paros, which had a beautiful Princess. Erminia, the Princess, prefers to dress and act like a Prince - but it's no secrect that she's actually a woman. Her best friend and partner-in-crime, a nobelman's son, Yurias, is always willing to go riding out with her - they make a dashing pair as the cross the countryside on their steeds.

One day, Yurias and Erminia see some humble washerwomen by the river. A wild horse is headed straight for them and Erminia rushes down to protect the beautiful maiden who is threatened. Erminia saves the washerwoman, Fiona, immediately, there is serious chemistry between them. Because, despite her lower than humble status, Fiona remembers a time from her childhood, when a beautiful Prince saved her, and she has always been sure that he would once again come for her. When Erminia saves her from the runaway stallion, Fiona is� absolutely dumbstruck - this is her Prince, she's sure of it!

They part, but Erminia can't seem to get Fiona out of her mind, while Fiona becomes subject to a great deal of taunting from the other washerwomen.After all, her wonderful Prince is really a Princess - and well beyond her reach. Erminia keeps coming back to look for her washer girl, even going so far as to help her with the washing. Yurias begins to realize that Erminia's feelings are more serious than just a little infatuation...just as he realizes that he's fallen in love with Erminia himself.

The King demands that Erminia choose a husband, or he'll choose one for her. When he picks Yurias, Erminia just laughs, but her father puts her under house arrest until she comes to her senses. Yurias sneaks in her room and switches clothes with Erminia...if he can't have her, at least he can help make her happy. He brings Fiona to the castle and she and Erminia sneak off to the town for the festival; they dance, and drink and, in front of the fountain, they kiss. Parting, they swear that what happened wasn't a fluke, but Fiona determines to never see Erminia again, so she can be married and bring the kingdom the stability it needs.

In the meantime, a storm is gathering outside Paros. The next kingdom over is planning on invading and only a strong front will be able to save her country...but Erminia doesn't care about Paros, she only cares about Fiona, the beautiful peasant she has come to love. She tells her father that she'll hold a tournament to find a suitor - if a man beats her, she'll marry him. Convinced she's better than any man, Erminia defeats challenger after challenger. But the enemy Prince ispowerful and equally as convinced that he can defeat Erminia. To weaken her resolve,� he has Fiona is kidnapped and raped. Fiona escapes, but doesn't tell Erminia what happened, knowing it would only upset Erminia. During the competition,�Yurias is blinded in a duel with the enemy Prince. The Prince defeats Erminia and, as the invasion begins, Erminia's father dies of a heart attack. Erminia is locked in her room until she gives in to the enemy.

Fiona escapes from the enemy and dresses as a page to sneak into the castle where is tearfully reuinted with Erminia. In the end, through Yurias' sacrifice, Erminia and Fiona escape to build a rebel force, and to live together in happiness, vowing to regain Paros one day.

Despite, or perhaps because of, Ermina's selfishness (and who among us wouldn't sacrifice everything for the woman we love? LOL) this is one of THE best shoujoai stories ever. The girl and the girl ride away into the sunset to live happily ever after.

Unlike her predescessors in the cross-dressing Princess category, Sapphire in Ribon no Kishi, and Oscar in Rose of Versailles, Erminia is unabashedly a woman, and just as unapologetically falls in love with a women - and they end up together. It really just doesn't get better than that!

Ratings: Art - 7. Story - 8. Characters - 9. Yuri - 9. Overall - 8

posted by Erica Friedman @ 9:21 AM   

Yuri Manga: Love Vibes

Shoujoai Classics that Don't Suck!
Part 1

After the last few reviews, you're all probably wondering if there are any early shoujoai stories worth your time, i.e., where the girl gets the girl and they all live happily ever after. The answer is, of course, yes, yes there are. And this week I'll be looking at a few of my favorites.

Love Vibes - Sakurazawa Erica, 1996�

Mako� is happy with her boyfriend, so when she's propositioned by outspoken lesbian Mika,� she's flattered, but not really interested. Mika's goodnatured about it, and steals a kiss betwen friends. The two women become closer as time passes and a real friendship begins to develop.

But as Mako's relationship starts to falter, she finds herself turning more often to Mika for advice, then comfort. Mika finds herself hopelessly attracted to Mako, but she's not stupid and won't wait around for Mako to change. She meets and falls for a mysterious and beautiful stranger, who has a bizarre story of her own. (I mean, a *bizarre* story...)

Mako and Mika's relationship stalls, as Mika begins to date this fascinating new woman. Mako desperately tries to figure out her feelings for Mika, and for her boyfriend, who now wants to be reconciled. Neither relationship works, and ultimately, they end up together.

Mika is happy enough, living for the moment, but Mako becomes increasingly concerned about her sexuality and being labeled. When she meets a man who recognizes her as "lesbian" she has a little crisis of identity. And to add to her stress, her boyfriend is back, and now he's angry at her for leaving him for a woman. In the meantime, Mika's former lover has come back as well and wants to see her again. Ultimately, a final confrontation leads to a happy ending as Mako and Mika literally run off hand in hand together.

Like most Sakurazawa stories, the characters are wildly imperfect. Mako's vacillating and unintentional manipulation is frustrating, but in alot of ways, she's the most realistic character. I wish there *were* more girls like Mika in this world, but there aren't - her self-confidence is unreal, but delightful. The story is, like so many josei stories about the spectrum of human sexuality,a little overwrought in its consideration of "what is gay?" but overall, this is a huge step forward from earlier yuri stories, where all that consideration leads nowhere. This is not the perfect yuri story, but it's a happy one and therefore worth a look.

Ratings: Art - 7. Story - 7. Characters - 7. Yuri - 7. Overall - 7

posted by Erica Friedman @ 3:02 PM   

Yuri Manga: Between the Sheets

Miserable Classics of Shoujoai!
Part 4

Between the Sheets - Sakurazawa Erica, 1996

Saki and Minako are as close as two friends can get only...Minako realizes that she really wants to be closer. Unfortunately, not only is Saki straight, she's really not a good person, playing various boyfriends off each other and off Saki. Ultimately, Saki finds comfort with one of Minako's jilted boyfriends, as both of them seek to get closer to Minako through each other.

This story is altogether unsatisfactory as a shoujoai, but it's actually a pretty good exploration of immature sexuality. Minako seems charming to the other characters, but from a mature perspective she's manipulative, superficial and mercenary. Saki's weak-willed, and the various boyfriends are all clueless and selfish. There's really not a single sympathetic character in the story. (Gosh doesn't *that* make you want to run right out and get a copy?)

Nonetheless, this was one of the first josei manga that explored a yuri theme and *the* first translated to English. The art and story are more adult that the average shoujo manga and the consequences have more to do with the essential qualities (or lack thereof) of the characters, than circumstance. This alone makes it worth a read.

Tokyo Pop has produced an English edition and I have to say, they did a really decent job of expressing the bleakness of this story well in their translation. This is NOT a story to read if you're a young lesbian looking for some reflection of lesbianism in manga...but as a character study, it's pretty good. It was also Tokyo Pop's first step into josei manga - an interesting choice for a company trying to reach a mostly shoujo audience.

posted by Erica Friedman @ 8:41 AM   

Events: BFI Lesbian and Gay Film Festival

The Utena Movie at the BFI Lesbian & Gay Film Festival in London, UK, on March 30 & 31, 2004

In one of those utter coincidences that rules my life, I happened to be planning a trip for entirely personal reasons to the UK in March. So, I will be once again presenting the Utena movie to a bewildered audience in London, England, on Tuesday, March 30 as part of the British Film Institute's 18th Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

I have no details yet, about time or place, but you can be sure I will let you know as soon as I have any. Tentatively, there is a Q&A session planned for after the movie, for those of you interested in discussion the state of gay, lesbian, yaoi and yuri anime and manga. (One of your questions can be to ask me why I think those are not the same thing. LOL)

My presentation is short, but I really hope I'll get to meet alot of you British yuri enthusiasts on March 30!

posted by Erica Friedman @ 9:51 AM   

Yuri Manga: Anata no Scandaru

Miserable Classics of Shoujoai
Part 3

Anata no Scandaru (Your Scandal)� - Shiina Ayumi, 1994-5

Tomoka, a rising star who plays piano, has spent every waking second of her 15 years of life looking for her Prince. One day, while being molested by a pervert on the train, her ideal Prince rescues her! Not surprisingly, she falls head over heels for him, despite the fact that she has no idea whatsoever what his name is, where he lives, etc....

A chance meeting with an old acquaintance from childhood brings her into proximity with her Prince - Yuuki Serika, who turns out to be the popular lead singer for a up-and-coming band. To Tomokoa's shock, she's asked to join the band as keyboardist. Tomoka agrees, since this gives her the chance to be close to Yuuki. Unfortunately for her, Yuuki expresses a clear dislike for girls.

As Tomoka presses her suit she learns why Yuuki feels this way - because Yuuki is actually a woman! Because of her boyish figure and deep voice, she can pass as a man, (and does, to escape an arranged marriage.) After Tomoka gets over the shock of the revelation, she decides that she doesn't care and that she's going to pursue Serika anyway.

Unfortunately for our readers, the mangaka didn't have the courage of her convictions. In the final volume of 5, Serika sits down with Tomoka for a serious talk. Serika insists that Tomoka doesn't *really* love her at all...she obviously really loves the old childhood friend she's barely spoken to during the entire series. It's an incredibly unrealistic and sudden ending, and even at the time, readers were annoyed slightly by it.

Nonetheless, as a comedy of errors with a gender-bendy twist, it was cute, fluffy fun. No awards will be won here with either the art of the story, but like so many gender-bending stories, it has some nice moments.

posted by Erica Friedman @ 10:34 AM   

Yuri Manga: Futte Mo Harrete Mo

Miserable Classics of Shoujoai
Part 2

Futte Mo Harrete Mo (Rain or Shine)� - Fujimura Mari, 1993

Yet another Margaret shoujoai manga. I had a copy of this series, but was so annoyed at the ending that I sold it on Ebay. Now I don't remember the protagonist's names. I guess I'll just have to get another copy of it, for the ol' collection. One day.

This 5-volume series starts off *so* hot, that it's a wonder the pages don't curl from the heat. Two girls, inexplicably attracted to one another, can't stop themselves from wanting to be in each other's presence. There is a hair-brushing scene in the first few pages which had me panting. Unfortunately, from that point on, the story goes downhill. Terrified of their reactions to the other, both girls desperately seek to distance themselves from each other, each ultimately ending up with a boyfriend, and vowing to be good friends. What a waste.

It isn't a happy shoujoai story, but to be fair, the concept of a "happy ending" at *all* in Japanese literature of any kind is a very, very modern concept. It's not just yaoi and yuri that end with melancholy longing and unfulfilled sexual tension - in fact, it's perhaps the single strongest theme, historically, in Japanese writing.

When considered in that context, FmHm is much less of a disappointing read. It is about ephermal youth and overwhelming feelings. If Romeo and Juliet had been a Japanese narrative, the protagonists, instead of running off together (happy ending) or killing themselves (tragic ending), would have parted with tears and gone back to their families, then married the partners their parents chose for them (Japanese ending.)� Seriously.

For more information of some of the classics of shoujoai literature, visit Kishiji Bando's wonderful resource, the Shoujo Yuri Manga Guide on your home for yuri and shoujoai in anime and manga, Yuricon.

posted by Erica Friedman @ 8:42 AM   

Yuri Manga: Jukkai Me no Jukkai

Miserable Classics of Shoujoai
Prologue and Part 1

Way back in the early 1970s, when Yamagishi Ryouko and Ikeda Riyoko were drawing up the first shouoai manga, the model for same-sex relationships was not a happy one. Like early yaoi, early yuri assumed an unhappy, unfulfilled or tragic ending for all lesbian relationships. (The same thing was happening here in western literature as well, so clearly it was an artistic edict that went well beyond individual culture.) The bottom line was - there was no happy shoujoai. And really, only a very few mangaka had the guts to depict any kind of lesbian character or relationship at all, so lesbians were happy enough to get what they could find. This situation lasted well into the 1990s, and frankly, IMHO, didn't really even *begin* to change until Sailor Moon broke the trend. Mostly what you had was a choice of one or more of the following: suicide; tearful parting and memories of something that might have been; marriage to some guy, because that's what you do.

Nowadays, we look back on these stories with disappointment and, in some cases, distaste, but remember, these were the first tentative steps in a process that is only *now* breaking free of its historical fetters. (And I'm not talking Yuri Shimai here - the real progress I've seen in yuri comes from lesbian artists like Takashima Rica and Yamaji Ebine.)

This week, I'm going to review a few of the decade-old shoujoai manga that you may not have heard of. Despite their unsatisfiying endings, these have some very good qualities.I'm not going to bother rating any of these, though. If you have questions or want to talk about these stories, join us on the
Yuricon Mailing List!

Jukkai Me no Jukkai - Akisato Wakuni, 1992

Jukkai Me no Jukkai is a short story that is part of a single-volume manga collection called Odamari!.�

Jukkai is a strangely uncomfortable story of a girl, Sayako, who falls in love with her brother's fiance'. Sayako meets her at school and, through an incredibly unrealistic mishap during a school play,� their lips touch. From this point on, Sayako can't get this mysterious girl out of her mind. When her brother announces that he's getting married to one of her schoolmates, Sayako has no idea that he means the same girl's she's already kissed. Their situation is made more complex by the fact that Sayako is older than her brother's bride-to-be...something that bothers her quite a bit. When she's introduced to Rio, Sayako is shocked and appalled at herself, her brother, and at the girl, Rio.

Rio is only marrying Sayako's brother to escape a life of loneliness...she's unwanted by famiily, and at 16 has already has several affairs with older men. She doesn't really love Sayako's brother, but she does think he's nice - and he's a great way to escape from her unhappy life. As it progresses, their relationship seems dysfunctional, and Rio comes off as manipulative, but neither Rio nor Sayako seem to be fighting the attraction between them too hard. The brother remains clueless throughout.

Ultimately, Rio marries Sayako's brother, but she and Sayako become lovers, carrying on when the brother isn't home. It's not a "happy" ending, but at least it isn't suicide. ;-)

posted by Erica Friedman @ 12:51 PM   

Gone Fishin'

I've been incredibly busy working at translating and lettering ALC's next translated comic, WORKS, by Tadeno Eriko. So, after three weeks of working for hours on the computer (after hours working on the computer at work) my eyes need a break.

I'm taking today off as a mental health holiday - be back tomorrow with more yuri and shoujoai reviews.

posted by Erica Friedman @ 10:49 AM   

Yuri Anime and Manga: Battle Athletes/ Battle Atheletes Victory

A little while ago I managed a few minutes in that magical land of used Japanese manga, Book-Off, and managed to find the entire run of the Battle Athletes Daiundokai manga. I immediately went home and read them with great interest - now I want to tell you all about it. :-)

More people are probably familiar with the OVA and the television series, distributed under the titles Battle Atheletes and Battle Athletes Victory, than the manga. The television series is based on the manga more closely than the OVA, so it's basically the same story as the manga, with Ichino given a stronger role to play, both in the story as a whole and in Akari's life. The manga is more about Kris and Akari and less about the back stories for all the other characters.... But there are few things that *all* of these have in common

Mylandah is psychotic in every series. I like that. I find psychosis to be an extremely attractive quality in a strong female character - the fewer morals, the more I like them. In the manga, like the anime, her psychosis stems from a once-healthy obsession turned ugly - her feelings *for* Lahrri changed into competition *with* Lahrri. In the TV series, they end up acting like a married couple, to the confusion and consternation of the other girls - their conversations approach near-silent communication. It's a cute, subtle touch, in what is otherwise a really dumb story arc. In the manga, just as in the TV series, Mylandah is forced to realize that what she really feels about Lahrri is *not* hate, but love. In the Epilogue of the manga, we see them cuddling in a thatched roof hut on a beach somewhere, completely alone. So that ends that story - and it's a really sweet picture. :-)

Anna's story is also in the manga - in fact, it is the same story as both the OVA and the television series, which makes Anna a much more bizarrre character than either of the two animated versions. Jessie, Ayla, and the others all exist in the manga, but their stories are reduced to mere traces, which didn't make me cry, really. What the manga really focuses on is Kris and Akari.

The relationship between Kris and Akari, in almost every version is made explicit, but I like the manga best. Sure, they kiss in the anime, and sure, even naive little Anna can see what's between them, and sure, Kris comments to Ichino that they are rivals for Akari (even if Ichino is in denial). But, in the manga, the entire end of the Cosmo Beauty competition is between the two of them and the final race is Chris versus Akari. A personal conflict comes between them and threatens their friendship on the eve of the final race. It's very tense, emotional and well done.

Ultimately they do race and, after the race is over, in front of all the spectators, and assumably the entire world watching on TV, they kiss. I mean they *kiss*. It's pretty fabulous. :-) I wish there were more anime and manga with such kisses.

The manga has so many of the good things about the anime and almost none of the really bad things - no cow, no aliens, no ressurected Tomoe Midori, none of that. The Principal of University Satellite is still a pervert, but that seems to be about as bad as it gets. The manga also loses Akari's crybaby tendencies, and her inability to learn from her experiences...a very good thing, IMHO. And the yuri is 100% real, no substitutes accepted. So, honestly, if you like the anime, then it's really worth it to get the manga for the *real* story...and that kiss. ;-)

Ratings: Yuri - Anime (7) Manga (9). Art - 6, it's nothing special in either manga or anime. Characters - Manga (8), Anime (6). Story - 7. Overall -Manga (8) Anime (7)

posted by Erica Friedman @ 9:23 AM   

Maria-sama ga Miteru: Thoughts on the first story arc

Well, the first arc of Marimite is complete, in both anime and manga, so I thought I'd write a quicky note on this series (you had to expect occasional Marimite updates, since it is kind of *the* yuri anime right now.)

Japanese fans of the novel series (which is still running monthly in Shuiesha Cobalt and now that there's an anime and manga to stimulate interest, probably will continue until the author gets utterly sick of all the characters and stops) are not exaclty thrilled with either the anime or the manga. As a fan of many novels that have been poorly to adequately treated in film and TV, I completely sympathize. (I may well be one of the only people on the planet who did not like the film adaptation of the Lord Of the Rings. Sure, it looked pretty, but the movies managed to miss the *point* of nearly each and every scene in the book.)

In the Marimite novels, there are many and various conversations which, for time and censorship issues, needed to be cut from manga, anime, or both. Of course, many of these speeches are the relationship-defining words between two soeur. The Yuri Kokoro web log actually listed scene by scene, "significant" speeches which were cut from the anime and manga arc of the first novel.

The manga suffers slightly less from this problem. On the whole manga is a freer art form than anything made for television, and the pacing of the manga is significantly slower and more dignified than the anime. What in the manga takes 7 chapters to cover, is handled in three episodes. So the anime, instead of being stately and graceful (which would be in keeping with the atmosphere of Lillian Academy) seem rushed and a little harried.

Then there's the issue of detail. Because of the pace of the anime, details have been left out that affect the audience's perception of the story. For instance - in the first arc, we learn that Sachiko is Kashiwagi's cousin, they are engaged and, more importantly that Sachiko actually has feelings for him. So, then, why does she seems so angry with him?

Well, in the manga (and the novels) we learn that Kashiwagi is gay. So, look at the situation from Sachiko's point of view - her father and grandfather don't respect their wives (it's well-known that they have mistresses). And because Kashiwagi is *really* not interested in Sachiko, she knows that she, too, will be in a loveless marriage of convenience. Yet, when we see Kashiwagi and Sachiko together, he pretends that he likes her, even going so far as to try and kiss her. Since she actually does like him (which, let's face it, will turn to bitter contempt in time...indeed has already begun to do so) she, rightfully, thinks he's a hypocrite.

Here's what we don't learn in the anime or manga - Kashiwagi recognizes that Sachiko has a genuine affection for Yumi, and he himself is interested in Yumi's brother, Yuki. (Yuki doesn't return the interest.) Kashiwagi actually suggests, at some point, that Sachiko become pregnant by Yuki, since he is unwilling to actually sleep with her himself. He implies that this way, they will have done their duty by the family and Sachiko can have Yumi's baby, in a twisted way.

NOW you understand why she is so angry, yes?

So, in conclusion, we're missing a *lot* of information from the novels in the anime and, to a slightly lesser extent, the manga. Nonetheless, the anime is very pretty, the manga is very lovely and I'm enjoying the heck out of watching these girls and their courting ritual. :-)

Check back for a quick overview of the second arc in a few weeks. This time it's all about Rei and Yoshino, the only *real* couple among the Bara-tachi.

And don't forget to join us on the Yuricon Mailing List to talk about Marimite to your heart's content!

posted by Erica Friedman @ 10:55 AM   

Yuri Manga: Rica 'tte Kanji!?

How stupid am I? I'm here, trying to tell you all about yuri anime and manga and I *completely* forgot to talk about this most yuri of yuri manga!

As you may have realized by now, I'm always on the lookout for characters that break out of the conventional molds of shoujo manga. And to be honest, right now I think that there are exactly *two* yuri artists out there who do so successfully. I've already reviewed Free Soul and Indigo Blue by Yamaji Ebine - today I want to talk about a wondeful, very unconventional yuri manga - Rica 'tte Kanji!? by Rica Takashima.

Let me state this right up front - I translated this comic, and I'm good friends with the author. That having been said, I think that this is one of the very few "pure" yuri manga available - and the *only* one available in English at this time. (By pure yuri, I mean that this is a lesbian narrative, written by a lesbian, for an audience of women.) Indeed, it's *because* I felt that way that I wanted to bring this story to the English-speaking audience.

Rica 'tte Kanji!? (the title has no meaning, by the way - it's like saying, "Like, Rica!?") is the story of a young woman who moves to Tokyo to attend a Women's College to study early child development. Rica is idealistic and funny, but not completely starry-eyed or naive. In fact, she's probably the single most realistic character I've ever read in any manga. In an early scene, she frets over what to wear for her first time at a gay bar, ultimately deciding on her regular clothes...but she makes sure she has clean underwear on. LOL

Rica meets quite a few nice people in the Nichoume (Tokyo's Gay and lesbian District,) including a cool and interesting art student, Miho. Rica and Miho's relationship progresses in Rica without high drama, angst, self-doubt, obsession over sexuality or roles. It's a refreshing and adult look at two women who know who they are and don't question their own sexuality. For this reason alone, Rica is entirely unique.

The emphasis in Rica is on character and realistic, but humorous, situations. We watch Miho nurse Rica through a cold, Rica makes dinner for a crampy and miserable Miho (one of my favorite scenes, as Miho bitches about the monthly joy of being a woman), they fantasize about each other, and in the end, they are just so damn cute, you can't stop smiling. There is some conflict, but don't expect suicidal angst here - these two women are long past high school drama.

The art in Rica is nothing like the conventional shoujo style - it has alot more to do with pop art, and contemporary modern painting, than shoujo manga. When the mangaka *does* use conventional imagery or themes, she tends to use it self-mockingly and point it out for us, so we can have a good laugh along with her. (Rica is portrayed fantasizing about her first time in the Nichoume with a background pattern of lilies - an author's note points out the flowers and comments "The usual flower imagery." ) It's touches like this that make Rica so delightful and approachable - we are allowed to laugh at the characters, and ourselves, through the artist's work.

The� biggest downside to Rica is that, at the end, I wanted more. I hated to leave Rica and Miho behind, so I hope to convince the mangaka to do more for us. Hopefully we'll be seeing a sequel in the next year or two. :-)

Ratings: Yuri - 10. Art - 9 (I *like* pop art!) Story - 9. Characters - 10. Overall - 9.5

Now here's the advertisement:
To get *your* copy of Rica 'tte Kanji!?, Look for the English-language manga at the
Yuricon Shop, or the Yuricon/ALC Publishing table at any of our events.

I mean this quite literally -this is the yuriest manga you can get in English. Get yours today!

posted by Erica Friedman @ 9:55 AM   

ROD, Read or Die, Read or Dream

I have actually already covered the newest anime addition to this series this past December in an earlier entry, but that was a while ago now and I want to cover the series as a whole continuity.

As mostly everyone knows, the original ROD was a 3-episode OVA, and a 4-volume manga. Read or Die is the full title of this earlier series.

Read or Dream is a new manga, of which one volume is out, so we don't quite know where it will end. And ROD The TV is the (so far) 26-episode anime currently running on Japanese television. What some of you may not know is that there are also several ROD novels, at least one of which may contribute to the current timeline in a meaningful fashion. (I have not seen, much less read, the novels, and everything I've heard about them are unsubstantiated rumor, so I'm including them only as a point of interest.)

I'm not going to explain the basic plot here - I'll assume that you know the story at least a little. If not- click the links above and read up.

In terms of yuri, Read or Die the OVA has luscious subtext. Not a few folks, including the artists at Newtype and Megami magazines, had a field day with Nancy and Yomiko. As a story, it was a neat, enjoyable 3-episode action story with good music, and great characters.

Not so the original RODmanga. Read or Die the manga was a frankly mediocre exploration of fanservice, tedious plots and uninteresting characters. I tried and failed to be interested in the ROD manga several times. If you were *very* clever and ignored all the evidence to the contrary, you could *try* and make a case for Nenene and Yomiko...but you'd be stretching the bounds of plausability. As an action story it was...okay. (The worst of it was that Yomiko, who in the OVA was almost unconsciously competent, was rendered clumsy and goofy in the manga.)

Then came ROD the TV. In practically one fell swoop, it not only gave us Nenene and Yomiko as a viable relationship, it also gave us butchy Maggie (a yuri fan's dream in terms of possibilities) and Anita's relationship with Hisa. Then it threw in five years of something between Nancy and Yomiko, just to keep things interesting. Whether one sees it all as overt text, or subtext, the complex relationships between all the women in this anime keep me on the edge of my seat - not to mention the incredibly decent (if really goofy) plot, which has been crafted to even *my* standards. This TV series isn't over yet, but so far, it's been stellar. While it helps to know enough of the manga to know who Donny is, or how
Nenene and Yomiko met, it isn't absolutely necessary. You can always catch up on the conversation at the Yuricon Mailing List, where we've dissected this baby within an inch of its life. :-)

Which brings me to the new ROD manga. I didn't, honestly, have much hope for the Read or Dream manga, given the crappiness of the Read Or Die quadrilogy. Well, once again, I'm wrong, because while it isn't high art, the first volume (for all I know, it's the only volume) of Read or Dream is a lot of fun and full of yuri. Of the six chapters, two deal with a blind girl who falls in love with Maggie. It's an incredibly sweet story, right to the very end, with one amusingly mortifying scene for poor Maggie:

Faye asks her to read a story she has written out loud. Maggie begins to read the story, and realizes that it is a self-insert love scene between her and Faye. What's worse is that Faye, being blind, had to have had her mother write it for her...but Maggie reads the story right through to the final kiss. So I'm raising the yuri flag over the Read or Dream manga, too.

So far, with the exception of the initial manga, this entire continuity has yuri all over it, and I recommend it strongly to all but the hardest-core shoujo fans. If you can't stand a story that doesn't have shoujo bubbles and flower-laden backgrounds, avoid the ROD series, but otherwise, learning Japanese is worth it, just for series like this. :-)

Ratings:

Yuri - 8
Art - 8
Story - 10
Music - 9
Characters - 10
Overall - 9

Tags: Manga, Yuri Manga, ROD, ROD The TV, Read or Die, Read or Dream

posted by Erica Friedman @ 9:11 AM   

Yuri Anime: Oniisama E / Brother, Dear Brother

Things I'm Not Going To Write About
Part 6

Oniisama E (Brother, Dear Brother) -

Steadily holding the #3 poster child position for shoujoai is this timeless classic anime and manga created by Ikeda Riyoko. So much of what we consider to *be* shoujoai began with Ikeda, so it's only fair that she be on any shoujoai-related list as often as possible.

Most people know the anime version of this series as fansubbed by the passionate, if heavy-handed, Technogirls. Despite the subbers' belief that there was *no* shoujoai in this series at all, no one who has ever seen Rei (Sainte-Juste) as she dressed in her nice white suit, fixed her tie, and bought flowers for Nanako, can really doubt that what she was doing was getting ready for a date.

There is a great deal of akogare in this series, and very little outright yuri, but I'm going to have to weigh in on the shoujoai camp. What Rei had with Miya-sama and, later, with Nanako, was something as close to love as makes no nevermind. And that's not even counting Mariko's crush on Kaoru-no-kimi and Nanako's crush on Sainte-Juste.

The manga is surprisingly short and painfully hip - Sainte-Juste has scary bell-bottom pants and mod vests. It's kind of hard to remember she's so cool when the clothes are so distracting. :-) Both manga and anime have a happy ending, but of a strictly hetero sort.

Oniisama E is soapy and angsty and really, really shoujo. If you're a guy, or a chick who likes action, you probably won't enjoy this, but I'll go to the grave saying this - no one makes doing drugs, smoking, going mad and dying tragically look as sexy as Sainte-Juste does. Yeah.

Ratings: Yuri - 8, Art - 6, Story - 7, Music - 4, Characters - 8, Overall - 8

posted by Erica Friedman @ 8:49 AM   

Yuri Anime: Azumanga Daioh

Things I'm Not Going to Write About
Part 5

This week, we'll continue the series of short opinion pieces on popular and well-known series with yuri content. Why not, eh? Next week, we'll pick up with some older, obscure works.


Azumanga Daioh:
This isn't a "yuri" series, per se. One of the secondary characters, Kaorin, is, however, clearly a babydyke in training. Her crush/obsession with the magnificently kakkoii Sakaki is *definitely* yuri.

The manga makes it plain that Kaorin worships and, at least in a vaguish sense, desires Sakaki. The anime loses any of the "vague" about it and makes it really, really obvious. (There's the seven jets flying overhead with rainbow colored smoke and wedding bells ringing as they dance, or perhaps it was Kaorin's New Year dream in which she was rescued from a girl gang by Sakaki on a white horse, awakened *just* as they are about to kiss...) The relationship is played for laughs since its completely one-sided, but the whole series is played for laughs, so that's not a negative thing. This is a loopy, silly series that makes me laugh so hard I snort. And it has yuri. That makes it good in my opinion.

The manga is alreadyavailable in English from ADV Manga and ADV Films has the anime slated for a Spring 2004 release. The downside to this is that the English translation of the manga is pretty lame. For once, the translators kept the yuri intact, but the translation tries so hard to adapt the manga for an American audience, that almost all of the jokes fall flat. It was very disappointing, especially as the manga is really quite funny, at least in Japanese. Unfortunately, ADV decided that we wouldn't "get" it, if they left Yukari-sensei as an incompetent English teacher, so they changed it to Spanish, thus rendering all of the gaijin and English-language related jokes completely meaningless. As a result, I hold low expectations for the dub adaptation of the anime, but they can't really screw with the Japanese version, so just watch that.

On an entirely wacky note (as befits this series) my *biggest* complaint about Azumanga Daioh is the lack of decent yuri doujinshi. There are many, many doujinshi of this series - a side effect of the minimalist art, which allows many people to recreate the style easily - but they seem to fall into two categories: 1) sexless parody and gag and ; 2) appalling hentai. Most of the AD doujinshi I saw at Comiket were in the former category, which was fine. But the few hentai doujinshi I saw were just...yeah. I mean, Sakaki and the *cat*??? Chiyo-chan and anyone? Hello? What about Sakaki and Kagura or Kaorin and Sakaki? Sheesh, I would have even accepted Tomo and Yomi...and I'm really stretching there, I think. LOL But bleah...the cat. I swear to god, every series I ever like, the doujinshi pairings are always the most appalling...sigh. There is exactly *one* KaguraxSakaki doujinshi and everytime I see it on Yahoo Japan, it's starting at $20. I'm just too cheap to spend that on something I can't see first.

But this is all irrelevant, isn't it? The series itself is hysterical and I encourage you all to purchase it (not download ripped files...go and get a job, become a productive member of society, pay taxes and support your evil habits honestly) and join us on the Yuricon Mailing List to chat about how funny it is.

Ratings for the Japanese version only: Yuri - 6, Art - 5 (it's intentionally minimalist) Story - 9, Music - 7, Characters - 8, Overall - 8

posted by Erica Friedman @ 9:26 AM