Live Action: Sailor Moon for a new century!
Part 1A friend of mine coined the phrase "gateway anime" - you know, the kind of anime that, for whatever reason, brings many new fans (read: "obsessive otaku") into the fold.
Ranma,
DBZ,
Bugglegum Crisis, whatever's on Cartoon Network right now..., etc, are all examples of gateway anime.
And no matter how your tastes evolve, you never forget your first, the series that made you a fan.
Sailor Moon was my first.
Now a new generation is being introduced to the Senshi through what is being affectionately referred to as
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, aka
PGSM.
The show was originally targeted at very young girls, but if you watch the commercials, you can see the age creep happening - where all the first commercials were for little kiddy underwear and candy, now we're seeing ads for real grown-up make up and other health/beauty aids for adult women. And the storylines have matured, as well - forcing the writers to introduce a cuter, young character just to keep the kiddy appeal. (And probably to appease the creator, who loves her Luna.) The original run was meant to be 26 episodes or so, but after a few episodes, the series was boosted to 52 episodes. And boy are *we* glad!
The question all of you have to be asking (assuming that you're not already watching this obssessively - and if you're not, why not??) is, "Is there yuri?"
You betcha there's yuri! Enough for any fan.
I'll spend the next few entries lovingly discussing the yuri subtext of nearly every Senshi introduced so far. But in the meantime, I have to go watch Episode 37...again. :-)
Oh, and please feel free to join our prayer circle at the
Yuricon Mailing List. Here's the mantra: "Please gods, let them get to the Outers." :-)
Yuri Anime: Madlax
As promised, today I'm discussing the rather promising new Bee Train anime,
Madlax. Now, bear in mind that a) Bee Train doesn't have really overt screaming yuri scenes; b)Bee Train also doesn't bother tying up all the loose ends in their plots, so alot of what's going on will never be resolved and; c) that this is a seriously biased overview from a person who has watched way too much anime recently... ;-)
"Madlax" is the name of a young woman, bogyguard and assassin by profession, tragic heroine by role. She lives and works in Gazth-Sonika, a war-torn banana republic in an undisclosed part of the world. It is established early on that, while she is very competent at her job, you probably wouldn't want to invite her to dinner, since, like Jessica Fletcher, someone is likely to die when she's around.
Meanwhile, in beautiful, vaguely European, Nafreces, where everyone is affluent and happy, rich girl Margaret Burton is introduced and established to be eternally spacey - perhaps as a result of a trauma she experienced as a small child...perhaps as a result of hallucinogenics in the drinking water, perhaps as a silly plot complication - the one thing we can be sure of is that we will probably never find out.
Protecting Margaret is Eleanor, a hyper-competent and unremittingly weird maid/bodyguard, who is by far and away, the most fascinating character to date. She is involved with...
Vanessa Renee, Margaret's next-door neighbor who was like an older sister to a young Margaret, but is now no more than a vague memory to the spacey one.
When Vanessa invites herself, quite literally, into Margaret's life, Eleanor finds her amusing and after a while, it becomes clear to those of us who watch anime with "yuri goggles" that Vanessa and Eleanor are more than just having dinner with each other. The repartee' becomes, at times, almost risque' between them, while Margaret is totally oblivious.
We do learn that there is *alot* more to both Eleanor and Vanessa as they save Margaret from being ravished by a tiresome boy-type character. Most maids aren't *that* good at hand-to-hand combat. And few of them are likely to be that vicious, either.
Meanwhile, back in the plot, Margaret locates a weird book which has mystic writing, which will in some way involve the token man (who works as an agent for *every* organization in the story), a tribal hot chick whose knowledge will probabaly not further the plot much, but will create more bath scenes and allow for yet *another* character to be looking for Margaret. (Now that I think about it, the youngish girl who is part of the tribal deal is probably going to involved with Margaret one way or another...)
This all may or may not have something to do with the illegal activities of the company Vanessa works for (and I'm betting Margaret owns, or something...) and a mafia-like organization, Enfan, that has a leader with the siliest and least fear-inspiring name ever...Friday Monday. I kid you not. He sounds like a bad guy from
Pokemon, for pity's sake.
Vanessa has gotten herself tranferred to Gazth-Sonika, where Madlax has the nigh on impossible job of protecting her from herself and random assassination attempts. Vanessa's yuri rating kicks up a notch or two when she invites Madlax to share a bed with her and in screencaps for the episode from last week, she embraces Madlax in a decidely huggy way. Now all the Eleanor/Vanessa fans are crying, "Poor Eleanor!" Not that I think that Eleanor would mind, much. Madlax has also decided that Vanessa is a Princess and she, Madlax, is her Prince, and we, the audience, all looked for the spinning roses.
Lastly, there is Rimelda, another hyper-competent female sharpshooter, who works for the military and has a total obsession with Madlax, as well as Hisakawa Aya's sexy "grown-up" voice. Yay!
So, the story is only at halfway and there are many, many plot elements to be sorted out - what the mystic book and Enfan have in common, what it all has to do with Margaret's disappearance as a child, whether Vanessa goes home to Eleanor, and many, many other things that will never be resolved.
In the yuri goggles, Madlax/Rimelda, Vanessa/Madlax, Vanessa/Eleanor all look pretty yummy and will doubtless provide much fodder for horrible fanfiction and fan art. I can't wait and I'm sure you feel the same way. :-)
Is
Madlax worth watching? Depends - if you like tight stories, then avoid it like the plague. But as always with Bee Train work, the music is compelling, the action is fun (once we moved past the battle dress in the first episode,) and the yuri is pretty strong. Lots of chicks with guns. Lots of chicks in general.
Ratings: Plot - hahahaha. Characters - 8, for Eleanor alone. Art - 7. It waffles from being excellent to being "eh." Yuri - 8, maybe 9. Music - 9. Overall - 8
It's a fun watch so far. Not "Read or Dream" quality, but darn fun.
Yuri Anime: Bee Train does it again
Bee Train, best known for their work on
Noir and the
.hack universe, have once again brought us thinly veiled yuri subtext with many hints of a cool storyline, uber-competent female characters in a mysterious setting, none of which will be explained or resolved to anyone's satisfaction in their newest series,
Madlax. LOL
Let's just recap today, for those readers who do not remember, or have not yet discovered the Bee Train tendency towards yuri.
In
Noir we follow the violent experiences of amnesiac assassin Kirika and cool assassin Mirielle, as they track down their respective pasts and the occult/medieval/conspiracy/quasi-religious organization that binds them together. In the process thereof, we see Kirika and Mirielle open up to one another so far as to use whole sentences from time to time, never actually kill each other, with tantalizing bits of nudity, bed-sharing and affection shown in ways that only a fan could love. :-) A letter, written by Kirika to Mirielle towards the end of the series, beginning, "My beloved Mirielle" is marginally more overt. In a panel at Anime Expo 2002 (which I moderated, so I KNOW they said this, it's not third-hand info) the Bee Train team discussed the potential relationship between Kirika and Mirielle stating simply that it was there if you wanted it to be, and if you didn't, it wasn't. So there you go. Whatever you want to see is the truth.
.hack/sign showed us the burgeoning affection of two young people in the virtual "The World" (the mainstay vitural universe/game that ties all the .hack stories together. Tsukasa, played by a female, but male in "The World," has been trapped and is becoming, (or has always been) schizoid. Subaru, played by a wheelchair-bound woman, is powerful in "The World" by nature of her experience and skill, more than having any actual *power.* Subaru and Tsukasa bond, and perhaps, start to fall in love. In the final moments of the show, in fact, during the final credits, the two women who play the characters meet in the real, non-virtual world, in what is actually a touching scene. It's certainly hopeful, at any rate.
Less satisfying was the ending of
Avenger, Bee Train's last series where nothing is resolved...nothing explained, either and the entire story really didn't make any sense, since everyone was gonna die, anyway. The "yuri" in
Avenger reads way more like a mother-daughter relationship, IMHO, but hey, remember, whatever you want to see, *is* the truth with the ole' Bee Train crew.
Which brings me to the newest series,
Madlax. Tomorrow I will review this series in irritating detail for your enjoyment. :-) In the meantime, run out and watch all of
Noir and the last ten minutes of
.hack/sign, so you get the feel for Bee Train yuri. :-)
Anything for my readers
One of my loyal readers (I assume, anyway!) asked me in a comment to post the track listing for the Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD, Vol.2. Well, don't say I never did anything for you.... :-)
Track 1: Wednesday's Anxiety, Friday's Battle (sequel)
Track 2: A Harsh, Bitter Weekend
Track 3: Hot Two Week's Time
Track 4: Fruity Sunday
This is my rough translation, using the following tools:
NJStar Communicator which allows me to type in kana or kanji from my keyboard
Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Server, Translate Words Page, which allows me to type (or cut and paste) kanji directly into the box and get definitions. (Beware, though - this ONLY translates kanji well. It is seriously less good at hiragana and doesn't account for most alternate forms of words.)
and
Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Server, Multiradical Kanji Lookup. Since I don't have a kanji dictionary at work, this page is invaluable. It allows me to find kanji I don't already know, just by clicking on the radicals that make up the character.
And while I'm on the subject, I also frequently use
Jeffrey's Japanese-English Dictionary Server. This is a romaji translator, i.e., you put in the romaji spelling of a Japanese word (or an English one) and get the equivalent in the other language. My recommendation is to set the Japanese text image color to "black" and don't use the in-line function. If you play around with this site, you'll see what I mean.
When I'm at home, I use the
NTC's New Japanese-English Character Dictionary for kanji lookup. It's pretty nifty, once you get used to it, I think.
and
Sanseido's Concise Japanese-English Dictionary. This book is worth its weight in gold, I swear. Not only does it include common usage of any word, but frequently has idioms and slang, as well. I strongly recommend this book, especially if you're reading manga that has unusual, or technical, terminology.
Anyway - there's my "secrets" to translation, in case you ever wondered. :-)
Yuri Manga: Free Soul
It constantly surprises me that so many people are interested in manga and anime and yet, they persist in learning absolutely nothing at *all* about the source language. I cannot imagine how, after watching and listening and reading so much in Japanese, for so many years, that they could not pick up at least a few words and phrases.
More than anything, learning the language means that you can read/watch and enjoy many more stories that will never come over here, never be translated, and never be available in Barnes and Noble. This includes many of the older stories that are dated, but wonderful, or are just not popular enough to warrant a company going after them. Sadly, many of the best yuri manga out there fall into these two categories. And while I'd love to license some of the most fun manga, licensing a Japanese title is nothing like easy.
Which means that, until I can license it, many yuri fans will never even *see* a
Yamaji Ebine story, much less read one. And that would be a terrible crime, since Yamaji-sensei is, along with Rica Takashima and Eriko Tadeno, one of the few really excellent yuri mangaka out there who happen to be lesbian.
Over time I have reviewed almost all of Yamaji Ebine's extant works in this blog.
Indigo Blue(1/23/04),
Love My Life (3/11/04) and the newest work,
Free Soul, (1/21/04). Well, now that it has concluded, I felt that
Free Soul deserved a revisit.
Running in josei monthly
Feel Young,
Free Soul is the story of a young manga artist, Keito. Having seen a photo of Yamaji-sensei, I can safely say that her protagonists look remarkably like herself (and gee, Keito's a manga artist - how amazing! LOL)
Free Soul is actually two stories - the story of Keito's creation, a manga about Angie, a black jazz singer from New York, and Keito's own story, as she meets and falls in love with mysterious, sexy Niki.
Angie's story in some ways is the more compelling - we see Keito create her, bringing her to life, making her strong and real, until her story is as real as Keito's, while Keito herself remains a little distant from us, even as she tries to find connection between herself and the people around her. Her affair with Niki is intense, but not entirely fulfilling, since we can see that Niki isn't the kind of person that will stick around. Of course, eventually Niki breaks Keito's heart and leaves, but in doing so, pretty much becomes more real to us as a person.
The end of
Free Soul was both good and bad. Niki comes back abruptly, somewhat unrealistically, admitting that she realized that she loves Keito - but you know, it never felt right to me. Keito, for her part has grown enough that she doesn't just collapse into Niki's arms, but is willing to see how it pans out. So the girl does get the girl, and the protagonist grows slightly more real, but the ending didn't satisfy me, somehow.
I think when I've had a chance to see it all collected into one volume, I'll be able to assess the story as a whole. (I missed the first few chapters and had to play catch-up through the rest of the story...)
Nonetheless, as yet another seriously decent josei yuri manga, complete with happy ending,
Free Soul has got to be high on the list of any serious yuri manga anime fan. :-) (2006 note: You can see scanlations on the
Lililicious site, and of course you can pick up a coy on the
Yuricon Shop.)
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Yamaji Ebine, Free Soul
Events: Off to Anime Next!
I and a few other
Yuricon folks will be spending our weekend at
Anime Next.
We hope you'll join us for the Yuri panel at 3:00PM on Saturday, in Panel Room 2 - but if you can't get to that, then you can find us in the Dealer's Room.
Drop by, say hi, buy some great yuri manga and doujinshi, sign up for the
Yuricon Mailing List and chat about you're favorite yuri manga and anime!
Next week, I'll have more yuri and shoujoai reviews for you!
Drama CD: Maria-sama ga Miteru 2
Well, we're still a few weeks away from the premiere of the second season of
Maria-sama ga Miteru, but since I'm totally addicted to the continuing non-adventures of these girls, I keep feeding my habit with non-anime outlets.
This month, along with my regular dose of
Margaret, for the chapter du mon, I splurged and purchased the second Drama CD for the series. This
second CD completes the first arc of the anime, ending with Yumi becoming Sachiko's petite soeur.
To be honest, nothing in this CD stands out as distinct from either the anime or the manga. On the whole, I liked the manga version of the end of this arc best, but the Drama CD was pretty much exactly like the anime - nothing taken away or added. If you're audially fixated like I am, and want to be able to hear the voices anywhere you go, then definitely buy the CDs. If you're happy with the anime, then the CDs will add nothing to your pleasure.
The manga still differs a little, and I think it's a little closer to the novels in the fact that the characters more openly express their feelings, at least to themselves. You'll never hear Rei say that she loves Yoshino in the anime, but you can read it in the manga or novel. I'm interested to get the Yellow Rose Revolution arc CDs and see if she says it there.
As for extras, there's still no bonus track with the seiyuu, which disappointed me - I would have liked something similar to the
Koi Shimai CD bonus tracks, but instead one gets fun stand-up plastic dolls of, this time, Yoshino and Shimako. I can only assume that if I purchase all of the upcoming CDs, then I'll have the whole cast. (I suppose I can then make my own little scenarios...but I was never any good at playing with dolls that weren't carrying guns. lol)
So, the ratings for the second CD are the same as the first, no change. Because I cannot bring my computer everywhere I go, it's nice to have the option of hearing Yumi, Sachiko, Sei and the rest, whenever I want them. Like, now, at work. :-)
In the meantime, I will wait with baited breath for the "Forest of Thorns" arc in the manga and Drama CD, so we can once again wallow in a young Sei's lesbian angst. LOL
As always, please feel free to join us at the
Yuricon Mailing List and join the on-going Marimite love fest. :-)
Tags: Yuri Drama CD, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD
Drama CD: Koi Shimai 2
It seems only moments ago that I reviewed the first
Koi Shimai Drama CD, but actually, it was already over a month ago, on
May 4th.
The
second CD picks up where the first left off. A new student teacher has come to school- Hiiragi Touko. As befits a good anime/manga lesbian, she arrives on a motorcycle and has an inutterably sexy voice actress. In fact, Hiiragi-sensei is voiced by Park Romi, the seiyuu that so brilliantly voices Aikawa Maki in
Air Master, which I reviewed several times, but originally back in
February.
Haruna and Chika are happy enough being together, but they have never really talked about their feelings. When Touko-sensei shows an obvious, and wildly inappropriate, interest in Chika, Haruna withdraws into herself and watches Chika pull farther and farther away from her.
Touko-sensei flirts with Chika, takes her for rides on her bike - she's openly dating Chika and doesn't hesitate to tell the girl that she finds her attractive. Chika can't help herself; Touko is too sexy to ignore. She confides in her friend Akiho that she is concerned because Haruna isn't fighting for her and seems to be creating distance between them.
Akiho confronts Touko-sensei about the situation. She accuses Touko of trying to break Chika and Haruna up, but Touko only responds with a counter-accusation, that Akiho is really jealous of Chika, of the attention she gets from Haruna, because she wants Chika for herself. Akiho is just projecting that jealousy onto her, Touko. Because this strikes close to home, Akiho is sobered, but she still feels that Touko-sensei should leave Chika alone.
Crisis looms when Chika spends a quiet moment with Touko-sensei. When Touko begins to seduce her, Chika can't stand the pressure and runs away. She falls down a small cliff and twists her ankle, until Haruna comes running after her (egged on by Akiho) and slips down beside her. While waiting for help, the two girls have a honest talk - about how Haruna was feeling jealous, but powerless, and how Chika doesn't want anyone else but Haruna. By the time Akiho and Touko-sensei find them, the two are reconciled.
After Chika politely rejects Touko-sensei, Akiho confronts Touko again and Touko tells her this story: When she, Touko, was in high school, she fell in love with another girl. They spent time together, but never really discussed their feelings, so she lost her lover when they graduated. As soon as Touko saw Haruna and Chika, she knew that they were exactly the same - and she didn't want them to lose each other they way she had lost her lover. So she forced the issue. Akiho rightly thinks that Touko's full fo crap and lets her know it in no uncertain terms, at which point Touko asks Akiho out. LOL Akiho concedes so far as to "allow" Touko to hang out with her while she's substituting at the school. I kind of like to think of the two of them as a couple - just because. :-)
Meanwhile, Chika is spending the night at Haruna's and Akiho's house, in Haruna's room. Akiho very matter-of-factly enters and basically tells them to just sleep together already, but they argue about who will sleep where, eventually, awkwardly, deciding to share the bed. While laying in bed, holding hands, Chika asks Haruna directly what her feelings are. Haruna, in a stunning display of stupidity, says that she loves Chika like a sister, but more than that (from which the whole series draws it's name - Koi Shimai, i.e., "love sisters.") Chika seems happy with it, but I thought it was a copout. And no goodnight kiss. Bleah. I'll just sit here and imagine Akiho sneaking out afterwards to go out riding with Touko and end up making out in a quiet spot somewhere. :-)
On the whole, it was a well-done CD, and Park Romi is sexy as hell as Touko, but the ending was, IMHO, lame. A real kiss wouldn't have killed them.
On a more amusing note, as a bonus track, all the seiyuu discuss their school years - about half went to all-girl schools and talked about same-sex crushes they saw or experienced, but the common thread was that they couldn't think of anything to say - it was actually pretty funny. :-) The seiyuu for "Girl C" was excellent - telling all the girls who were listening who loved another girl to go for it and not give up! Yay "Girl C"! LOL
The ratings are basically the same as the first CD - there were some sexy moments with Touko, but then end was a bit naff, so we'll drop the overall down a point to a 7. But the yuri definitely stays up at a 10 for this one.
In conclusion - a nice addition to a yuri-focused Drama CD collection and very well voiced. :-)
Tags: Drama CD, Koi Shimaie, Yuri Drama CD
Live Action: Petticoat Planet
And now for something completely different....
While in Dallas for A-kon, I was subjected to, erm, enjoyed watching, a remarkably bad movie that I wanted to share with you all, because misery shared is misery halved. :-)
Petticoat Planet is not an anime or manga, but it definitely has yuri content and it's so utterly tacky that it's quite charming.
The basic premise is that, on a frontier (and by frontier I mean that everything is sort of wild-west-ish) planet, all the men have died, leaving the women alone. The Mayor and the Sheriff have a steamy, yet lame, relationship, but poor straight girl Lilly longs for a man. Ta-da! Steve Rogers crash lands on the plant and finds that all the women are fighting over him. Steve turns out to be a space garbageman, which is perfect for this movie. In the end, he and Lilly leave together and the Mayor and Sheriff return to their bizarre approximation of sex.
This movie is cheesy in every possible way, including but not limited to, dialogue, costume, sets, dance (snort) choreography and plot. Theres is no doubt that Sheriff Sara runs this town with an iron fist, and possibly thighs, but the lesbian "sex" is laughably awful and goes nowhere. The people I was with called it "rubbing sex" and left it at that. It's just as obvious that the men (who all died in a "mineshaft" accident,) were gay and that the "Mineshaft" in question was a gay club.
This movie is perfect late-night MST material and the Sheriff and Mayor are brilliant. Mayor Delia's line about "Gimme a bottle a'redeye and a crazy straw!" made the movie for me.
So, while this is NOT yuri anime or manga, it is yuri, erm...softcore dreck, and if you have my low tastes, you'll enjoy it. :-)
Yuri Manga: Boku Ai
Today's review is on a one-shot comic,
Boku Ai, which ran in Flower Comics'
Sho-Comi, a magazine for older teens.
Sho-Comi tends to have off-beat stories that are violent or filled with strange sex and other fetishes.
Boku Ai was the first (as far as I know) yuri manga that they've ever run.
Boku Ai was scanlated by
Shoujomagic. You can get it on irc at #shoujomagic@irc.irctoo.net - I wasn't able to see it on their website, but the download page was down, so perhaps they will make it available again that way. You can also find it through the
lililicious channel, #lililicious@rizon.net, since they serve many yuri manga scans.
The story of
Boku Ai is a simple one - Sara and Youko were friends when they were young, but now, in high school, Sara runs with the beautiful people, while Youko is decidedly average. When Sara renews her acquaintance with Youko by sneaking into her room one night and kissing her goodnight, it's a short trip for Youko from infatuated to seriously gaga.
Sara continues her pursuit with some serious kissing and generally pisses off the rest of the student body, who are all now jealous of Youko.
But Sara has an ulterior motive, as Youko learns when she comes home to discover her mother and Sara's father in bed together. Youko goes running back to Sara, who calls her a fool and rejects her, claiming that her affection was really only a form of revenge.
Lucky for us, Youko's stronger than Sara thought and she fights back, ultimately gaining Sara's respect and love.
It's not a deep story - it's only a one-shot, so it seems a little rushed - but the kissing is nice. :-) Everything else about it is average, really. Nice to have scanlated, though, and many thanks to the Shoujomagic crowd for doing so!
Events: Back from A-kon
I'm just back from A-kon, in Dallas, where I had way too much fun.
No review today, except this: If you like the utterly tacky, I strongly recommend
Petticoat Planet, which was undeniably one of the stupidest and funny sort-of-lesbian softcore movies I've ever seen. It's live action (although using the word "action" in reference to this movie is pushing it a bit...) but the Sheriff and the Mayor are a great couple. And the Mayor actually says, "Gimme a bottle a redeye and a crazy straw." That alone was worth watching this piece of crap. :-)
While I probably won't be returning to A-kon next year, we may just have a table there anyway, because many yuri manga from
ALC Publishing were sold over the weekend - and there was an impromptu yuri panel at 1AM, as well.
I'll post a new review once I am again coherent. In the meantime, mark down our next date - June 18-20, in Secaucus, NJ for
Anime Next. I hope you'll drop in at the yuri panel on Saturday at 3PM, or say hi to us at the table and buy some great yuri manga!
Yuri Manga: Shiroi Heya no Futari
Check out the
Shoujo Yuri Manga Guide and you will find that way on the top of the list, resides the oldest shoujo yuri (yuri manga written for a female audience) ever created. It's name is
Shiroi Heya no Futari, which means "Our White Room". Published by Ribon Comics in 1971 (back far enough that even *I* was a child), written by Yamagishi Ryohko, this story is the godmother of all yuri that came after it.
Now, thanks to the wonderful team at
lililicious, you too can share in the melodrama of
Shiroi Heya no Futari. And, oh, what melodrama it is!
Shiroi Heya no Futari introduces us to blonde, doll-like "good" girl Resine, as she's dumped by a uncaring aunt at a boarding school. Because she's a late transfer, the school puts her in a room with "bad" girl Simone - with the admonishment to not take notice of Simone and, if it gets too much, she can ask for another room.
Unfortunately for the school, Resine and Simone get along reasonably well, even going so far to actually like one another, then really like one another...then really, *really* like one another. When Simone plays the Prince to Resine's Princess in the school play, their kiss is passionate - and real.
Their confession of love is overheard by a classmate and soon the entire school knows about them. In denial, Resine begins dating a young man with a vengeance, but her jealousy for Simone keeps pace with Simone's own dark feelings. When the pressure becomes too much, Resine runs away, leaving Simone to find her own reconciliation, alone. Of course, Simone, high strung and emotional, finds her denoument in a tragic and pointless death.
Resine, having returned home, finds out about Simone's death many months later and rushes back to the school. All she is able to do is learn the truth of Simone's death and swear that she will continue living for the two of them, loveless and cold, forever.
It's actually pretty funny. :-)
The story (as you might be able to guess from the names) is set is France, which fits well with the over-blown melodramatic tone of the story. The setting was current for it's time - early 70's - so the clothes are a scream and there's underage drinkin' going on in very French-looking clubs.
Of *course* this has a tragic ending. Could we expect anything else? But the love and physical attraction Resine and Simone had was real - not just
akogare admiration, but actual desire, which made it groundbreaking stuff.
I cannot recommend reading this enough, if only to see the grandmama of all yuri manga and to appreciate our historical roots. Plus, the story's fun.
And, don't forget to thank the
lililicious folks when you do. They spent alot of time and money putting this thing out there for you to see for free. I know they'd appreciate the kudos.
Then, after sending them thanks, wander over to the
Yuricon Mailing List and let us know what you thought of it!
Ratings:
Art - very 70s. Give it a 8.
Story - 8.
Yuri - 10.
Character - 10, just for Simone's brooding Heathcliff-ness. ;-)
Overall - 9.
Yuri Manga: Houkago or "After School, Part 2
Well, last week I told you that I'd tell you if
Houkago was worth your time - and now, after a fortuitous trip to the manga store, I can safely say that it is. :-)
Houkago, if you remember back a few days, is running in
Cookie monthly, and was the story of Itoi, a girl who was finding herself alientated from the people around her at school. When she is invited to go shopping in Shibuya by Ariyoshi, a cool, loner girl in her class, Itoi's "friends" want to come along. When Ariyoshi denies them the right, they retaliate by bullying Itoi with increasing viciousness. To escape this, Itoi and Ariyoshi find themselves together more and more, until one day, they simply decide not to go back at all. That was the end of Chapter 1.
Chapter 2 finds them hanging out in Shibuya, closing the shops, then the cafes, and ultimately having to avoid police and unsavory types who stalk the night. They find short-term refuge with a girl gang in a bathroom, and after that, a late-night cafe. When morning comes and the trains start again, they can't bring themselves to go home, so they rent a karaoke box. Ariyoshi starts to look bad, and get woozy, so Itoi uses the last of her money to get them a hotel room.
In the sex-charged atmosphere of the room, and given the tension between them, it's natural that they should kiss and that the kiss might become something more...but one of them leans on a button which starts a stereo blaring and they're both scared witless and collapse on the bed with exhaustion once they manage to turn the noise off.
Although their "moment" has passed, they admit that they do love one another and decide to be together as long as they can. In the first chapter, it was Itoi who broke down and admitted that she was unhappy - in this chpater Ariyoshi is the one who opens up and cries.
When they finally return to school, rumors abound, but both of them, buoyed by their love for one another, make light of the rumors...and show the bullies that they simply don't care anymore. In the end, they will spend their days at school waiting until it's over - then go out and have fun, together.
There are several notable qualities in
Houkago...most important, the angst in this story is NOT about their love. Not one ounce of it. The girls' attitude is very much "fuck 'em if they can't take a joke." Any angst resides completely with their dissatisfaction with school life and the people they are forced to endure. There is no sense of the ephemeral here, either - unlike
Blue, we can actually believe that *maybe* Ariyoshi and Itoi have at least a while together, even thought that's not important - this story is not about one single perfect moment, nor is it about forever. And it does not link lesbianism and mental diease.
There's a very emancipated, modern feel about the love in
Houkago. The girls aren't shocked by it, they aren't traumatized or terrified. They *are* relieved by it, and draw strength from it and ultimately, find immense happiness, not even in a sexual way, but in a close bonding way, in their relationship. So for that,
Houkago *is* a kind of groundbreaking work. It's a LOOOONG way away from
Shiroi Heya no Futari and not just in years.
Maybe that should be the moral of today's story:
Houkago may not read like a groundbreaking piece of work, but the fact that none of the usual stereotypes apply is a sign that things have changed. Perhaps is is a quiet sign that things will never again be the way they were and from now on, we'll see more and more of this "happy ending" thing in our shoujoai.
I guess we'll just have to stick around and see. :-)
In any case, it looks like
Houkago was a two-shot, and I'll try and scan it in for the lovely ladies of
lililicious to perhaps, one day, scanlate for you. But remember, you read it here first. :-)
