New Hana no Asuka-gumi Manga, Volume 1
Kuraku Asuka is back. And the Zenchuu Ura isn't happy about it.
Welcome to
Shin Hana no Asuka-gumi.
Asuka has returned from America, eighteen years in real time, and about 3 months later manga time. And immediately weird stuff begins to happen. Strange markings are being drawn upon people, things and buildings around Tokyo. The Area Masters, the leaders of the gangs in each section of Tokyo, are hearing strange whisperings about Hibari's new favorite, and about a possible takeover of power among themselves. And in the middle of all this, Asuka strolls in, with her studied nonchalance, and hyper-mad gang fightin' skillz, and basically turns everyone on their heads.
There's lots of girls fighting, and gang leaders waxing philisophic and world-weary, and a lots and lots of...cell phones.
Yes, in the three months and two decades Asuka has been gone, cell phones have taken over the lives of the girls of Tokyo - including the girl gangs. In fact, my clearest memory of Volume 1 is Miko screaming at Asuka because she never remembers to take her cell phone with her. :-)
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know I adore the girl gang manga series of the 80's. And I, along with a multitude of middle-aged women, adore the fact that Asuka is back on the streets of Shinjuku, moving the Area Masters and their gangs around like pieces on a chessboard.
That's all the good. The bad is that this manga had a rocky start, and took a while to find a magazine to call home (it ended up in
Feel Young, the same magazine that carries Yamaji Ebine's work,) so the first volume is a bit inconsistent, and a little unfocused. The art is actually not quite as tight as the original manga - I'm sure it's because Takaguchi has all new assistants these days, and after all, she hasn't drawn Asuka for nearly twenty years. And lastly...and this is the real killer for me...Hibari has gone off uniforms and is into Goth-Loli now. Isn't that dreadful??? I mean - Kasuga in a uniform was one of the highlights of the original manga!
Anyway - this is one of those manga in which the *main* cast numbers in the dozens, so I won't even really bother trying to explain who is who and what is what. I will say that the standard tropes of
Asuka remain consistant - damsel in distress that Asuka saves only to draw her into a tangled web of internecine gang warfare and politics within the Zenchuu Ura headquarters, and possible threats from the HQ enforcers, and Miko yelling at Asuka, and Hime being *way* too cool and together for a 13-year old. Okay, maybe 14 now.
There is one more thing that is not so good about this volume, but there's absolutely nothing that can be done about it. Yohko is still dead. In fact, Yohko isn't even mentioned, which bums me right out the door. But in the current chapters, the plot is a-thickening and I hold out hopes that something yuri-ish this way comes. For now - its a bust.
Ratings:
Art - 6
Story - 6
Characters - 8
Yuri - 1 (but only because of Asuka's natural animal magnetism)
Loser MiddleAgedFanWomen - 8
Overall - 6, unless you're one of the AMAF above then 8, dammit.
Girl gangs fighting in the streets of Tokyo - now that's the Japan I wanna see!
Tags: Manga, Hana no Asuka-gumi, Girl Gangs
Yuri Manga: Strawberry Shake Sweet
I cannot tell you how happy I am to be able to review the first volume of
Strawberry Shake Sweet. Here are some of the reasons why I think that this manga is particularly important:
1) It's the first time that Hayashiya Shizuru has professionally published a volume 100% yuri story, for an audience of yuri fans. It's not like she hasn't written tons of yuri into her works, both professional and doujinshi, but this is the first time that a professional story by her has yuri as the target genre.
2) This volume is explicitly *marketed* as a "Girls Love" comedy, with a cover obi that reads that "Girl falls in love with girl at first sight!!" Yuri has, of course, been marketed as yuri in the past...but that was and is usually explicit yuri for a primarily male audience - this is fun yuri for a primarily female audience. (I got that info firsthand from the editor of
Yuri Hime, so you'll have to trust me on that.)
3) This is one of the first manga volumes put out by
Yuri Hime Comics, collected from the body of
Yuri Shimai and
Comic Yuri Hime magazines. It's a very decent showing. Large-size format makes it easy to read, the color pages that appeared in
Yuri Hime are reproduced (instead of that yucky dark black look that many color pages turned B&W get.)
All in all - this volume marks a significant movement forward in establishing yuri in Japan as being both *by* women and *for* women. Something that I feel fairly strongly about. :-)
Okay, so let's move on to the actual manga. I'll pretend that neither you nor I am familiar with the story, just as an exercise.
Strawberry Shake Sweet is the story of young pop idol Tachibana Julia who, at 16, is both popular and busy in her entertainment career. She is asked by her agent (a dorky little guy) to take a new upcoming talent under her wing, show her the ropes, etc. Julia objects flat out. She's no dummy - and this new kid would be her rival. There's no *way* she's going to train up the person who might end up stealing her career!
That is, until she opens the office door and finds herself face to face with Asakawa Ran, the tall, attractive upcoming new talent. Julia does a complete 180 and demands to be the new kid's mentor.
The next few chapters cover the utterly psychotic way in which Julia, tormented by her desire to be near Ran, but also to keep herself distant, treats her poor junior. Ran, luckily, is a little doofus-y, and starts to assume Julia's mania is really a form of tough love.
It's not until their overstressed manager, Saeki Ryouko points out that Julia's in love with Ran (after carefully pointing out that a girl/girl scandal would NOT be good for anyone). Julia, who had no idea that she was in love, is both relieved and energized. Now she has a name to put to this insane feeling! Saeki immediately regrets mentioning it at all.
Saeki is the series' constant "straight man". She fends Julia off of Ran, beauty parlor owner/operator, lesbian and former classmate Shinjou Kaoru off herself, and generally is the butt of many a gag. I quite like her - and the fact that she's clearly a lesbian magnet. Not only is Kaoru openly desirous of her, Saeki's junior in talent management is also wanting her pretty badly. Surrounded by lesbians as she is Saeki starts to wear down...eventually. But we'll get there later.
Also contributing to the high lesbian quotient is Ryou, the lead singer from "hyper visual band Zlay." Zlay has four members, all female, split into two couples. Ryou's partner is Goth-Loli Reki, the creepy cute doll-like synth player. Ryou pops into the story suddenly and quite literally sniffs out Julia's desire for another woman. But later, when she meets Ran, crushes Julia's hopes by saying that Ran does not have the scent of
onnadoushi. (Don't worry - Ran later tells Julia that she is an important person to her. And let's face it - it's a girls love story. They'll get together...*eventually.* lol)
Last, and kind of least, is babydyke Haruna, who is another idol, but a year younger than Julia. She is out and out in love with Kaoru, who doesn't dislike the attention one bit. (In fact, in the most recent chapter from
Yuri Hime, it's fairly obvious that Kaoru and Haruna have a genuine thing going on, as Kaoru shows up drunk at Saeki's door to complain about her relationship with Haruna.)
By the end of Volume 1, Ran has made Julia happy, sad, pychotic and elated about a thousand times, and the two of them are so inevitably growing closer, that you can just *see* Saeki wilting and her ability to keep the two of them apart starting to break down. But more importantly, Ran's big debut has arrived at last and both Julia and Ran are left alone, desperately desiring to see one another - but holding back to try to be strong. And the maddening thing is - this takes us to the last chapter but one, and I don't know what's going to happen!!! Arrrrgghhh!!! (The last chapter was a New Year's gag issue, so we're still waiting to find out how Ran handles her debut for an art magazine.)
Ratings:
Art - 8
Story - 8
Characters - 8
Yuri - 8
Loser FanBoy - 3
Overall - 8
If you're familiar with, and like Hayashiya's art style, you'll be familiar with, and like
Strawberry Shake Sweet. It's the same kind of physical humor, gags, bops on the head, nosebleeds and the like that you'll find in her doujinshi as Jesus Drug, and her professional art in series like
Hayate Cross Blade.
Oh, and gosh - a story of a lesbian pop idol...now where have I heard THAT before? Just for the record,
Shoujoai ni Bouken came *first*. :-)
If there's one down side to this story it's got to be that
Yuri Hime is, at this point, quarterly. Which means we can't expect a new volume for at least two years! Sob...
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Hayashiya Shizuru, Strawberry Shake Sweet
Yuricon News, Okazu News
If you are regular reader, you may notice a few small changes going on around here. This entry is pretty much a "We apologize for the inconvenience while renovating" type post. ;-)
Here's what's up on Okazu:
Because I've been doing Okazu for over three years now, the monthly archive is, as you can see, huge and not easy to navigate. (Gee, what was Erica talking about in Sept. 2003?). Blogger does not have a real categories function, so I'm using a workaround I found, which is basically to use Blogger search for certain preset keywords. If you look on the right-hand sidebar, you'll see a new section called "Categories". I am retroactively retitling all the several hundred posts on Okazu to have one or more of these keywords in the title. It'll make it a bit easier...I *hope*...to find relevant posts. And it will force me to use more consistent titles.
The Categories are broken down into basic, obvious areas - Yuri Anime, Yuri Manga, Marimite-related, General Yuri news, Yuricon news, etc. Not every post will be keyed in to one of those categories, but most will - eventually. My apologies for any issues you encounter with links and general difficulties until it's all done. I'm starting with my very oldest posts, and my very newest one and working towards the middle.
I guess the question I have is - should I leave the monthly archive up, too? Does anyone other than me use it? Let me know in the comments section.
Onto
Yuricon:
Firstly, the final day to submit a picture to the
2006 Yuriko Fanart Contest is January 31. (I know the rules say the 30th. I'm giving readers and
Yuricon Mailing List members an extra day.)
Secondly - we are starting to think about 2007 and a possible event. IF we decide to do an event in 2007, it would be a US version of what we did in Tokyo. That would be a one day event, cosplay welcome (but no cosplay event held) with a focus on video programming, panels and workshops. So keep an eye on autumn 2007 in Newark, NJ and if you are 18+ and think you'd like to help out, email me at
anilesbocon01@hotmail.com!
Tags: Okazu, Yuricon, Yuri Event
Yuri Anime: Winter 2006 - Kagihime Monogatari Eikyuu Alice Rondo
I actually considered starting today's review of
Kagihime Monogatari Eikyuu Alice Rondo with a symbolic fit of hysterical laughter, but decided that it would be more trouble than the anime is worth.
Instead I will start this review with a note that today is Lewis Carroll's birthday. So it is somehow completely suitable, and yet somehow also an abomination that I am reviewing this anime today. LOL
I have been following the manga in monthly
Dengeki Daioh for over a year now and frankly, I can make neither heads nor tails of what is going on. I long ago ceased to care, flipping through the pages mostly for the plentiful hot bunny-girl on bunny-girl action, and barely even glancing at the words. Yes, I'm kidding. I don't even like bunny girls.
So, basically, the manga is the kind of thing I've come to expect from Kaishaku - a nonsensical story with gratuitous yuri servce thrown in to ensure that the fanboys won't care. Which is why you have not seen a review of the manga here.
So now we have an anime. Let's look at some of Kaishaku's other work, shall we? Just to get a basis from which to compare:
1.
Kannazuki no Miko, which was meaningless, self-contradictory, had giant mecha and yuri
2.
Steel Angel Kurumi, which was silly, had androids, no resolution, shota and loli, and yuri
3.
UFO Princess Walkure, which is meaningless, unresolvable, has aliens from another planet, heavy-duty loli, with a light frisson of yuri, if you're inclined to see it. (Also Ogata Megumi, but despite that one plus I still can't watch this.)
And now we have
Alice, which has bunny girls, incest, loli and yuri. The manga has non-consensual lesbian sex, but I don't know if the anime will. From what I *can* tell, the anime is not exactly like the manga, which seems to revolve around a female character, not the male character of the anime. (Or, probably more correctly, the art is so bad, I simply can't tell the difference. But all the characters I've noticed in the manga have breasts, which is *usually* a good indication. But of course there are obvious exceptions. (BOCTAOE. Remember this acronym - and thanks to Scott Adams.)
Alice has a transformation scene reminiscent of
Walkure, where the girl's breasts grow larger and their butts get perkier, and a plot reminiscent of
Kannazuki no Miko, by which I mean it makes basically no sense at all.
To sum up, in a bitter and sarcastic manner:
Those people who have "Alice Power" (who are primarily female) fight to capture each other's "books" (aka, heart crystals, souls, Rosa Mystica, you know the drill). Somehow, if all the books are obtained, the "Endless Alice" will be written. In some way this is supposed to be connected with the third Alice book that Lewis Carroll never wrote, but is purported to be in existence, partially completed. (My wife, who is an obsessive Lewis Carroll fan, has never heard a rumor about any such third book - and some basic research brought up nothing on it. It is, in fact, made up for this story.)
The hero of the story, whose name completely escapes me because I don't care (and because he is repeatedly and irritatingly referred to as "oniiiiiii-chaaaaan!!!!" by his obsessed little sister, something that makes my brain go off-line,) is a fan of the Alice books, and wants to write his own Alice book. He somehow has the ability to get into the magic space where all the Alice Users fight, and copy down the girls' books. So - he decides to copy down all their stories, and that will be the "Endless Alice" - which is the third book Lewis Carroll didn't complete.
Did you follow that? No? Good. You are sane.
Anyway, in the anime, the yuri comes in the form of a unhealthily obssessed friend of the little sister (whose name is the unfortunate Kirihara Kiraha). Friend becomes a fighter to erm, protect, erm, something something something.
I don't know if we can expect the mass yuri that the manga offers or just this pale shadow of yuri. And frankly, more yuri won't make this a better story. But perhaps there may be some points of interest later on.
...
Or not.
Ratings:
Art - 4
Story - 3
Characters - 3
Music - 3
Yuri - 4
Loser FanBoy - 8
Overall - 4, but I'm being generous.
Tags: Anime, Yuri Anime, Eikyuu Alice, Kagihime Monogatari
Yuri Anime: Winter 2006 - Kashimasi Girl Meets Girl
Let's start from the beginning, shall we?
Kasimasi Girl Meets Girl is about a boy named Hazumu. He's, shall we say, a "sensitive" kind of guy, who loves gardening. He's also in love with beautiful, but distant Yasuna. He confesses his feeling to Yasuna, is rejected and goes off for a walk into the hills to burn off his misery. As he stands on the mountain trying to let go, he is hit by a crashing alien ship and killed. BUT! The aliens feel bad, so they revive him - except inexplicably, they can only bring him back as a girl.
The aliens helpfully broadcast the announcement over the entire earth, so Hazumu is instantly the source of interest to press. But his friends and family seem to be mostly okay with the whole thing. His mother even helpfully mentions that she'd always wanted a girl, yay for her!
There is a period of adjustment: For Hazumu, as he has to learn not to show his underwear in a hundred and fifty different ways; For his friend Asuta who is much less interested in Hazumu's well-being as he is in staring at Hazumu's boobs; And mostly for Hazumu's best friend Tomari, who seems to be the ONLY person freaked out about the whole thing. It's not until Hazumu has a meltdown and she has to protect him (as she has their whole lives) that she really gets that this is still the same Hazumu she's always cared for.
Hazumu's opinion of the whole thing? Well, I guess this is just the way it is, so...
Can I express a small measure of doubt that too many people would be that blase' as a result of an sudden, unwanted gender switch? Oh, but, it's okay - Hazumu has always been kind of girly, so it's no big deal. Uh-huh.
The anime is pretty much following the manga, with a little softening of the slightly more annoying perviness - no scene in which Hazumu's mother has bought her clothes but no underwear. We do get a bra-shopping scene, but it wasn't *quite* as annoying as in the manga.
Since the story is the same as the manga, let's talk voices. I think they are pretty good, actually. Kana Ueda's "boy voice" for Hazumu sounds like Yumi from
Maria-sama ga Miteru, and her "girl voice" is moderately girlier, more Mikan from
Gakuen Alice. Not unpleasant - and different enough to account for Tomari's discombobulation. I was desperately afraid that Horie Yui as Yasuna was going to be dog-whistle high, but she isn't. (Iwao Junko could do that for Tomoyo and get away with it....anyone else fails.) Nor is Tamura Yukari's Tomari annoyingly boyish. I was especially pleased with Ayuki's voice as done by Asano Mayumi - which sounded exactly like it did in my head. lol
The animation looks like the manga animated, so nothing remarkable there. In fact, there's nothing remarkable about
Kasimasi Girl Meets Girl except that is quite pleasant. The love triangle will heat up shortly and then we'll get all sorts of yuri-ness.
Ratings:
Art - 7
Story - 7
Music - 6
Characters - 7
Yuri - 8
Loser FanBoy - 7
Overall - 7.
To sum up, the good things about the story are still good, the bad things are marginally less bad, and the only thing we need to wait and see is where the story actually goes.
Tags: Anime, Yuri Anime, Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl, Kasimasi Girl Meets Girl, Hazumu and Yasuna and Tomari
Yuricon News: Drama CD section on the Yuricon Shop!
If you're a regular reader of Okazu, you know how much I love Drama CDs. Well apparently I'm not alone in this. :-) I was asked to add a section devoted to Drama CDs on the
Yuricon Shop. And so I have. Right now there are two sections:
Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CDs (including links for the special box sets w/figurines)
The
Other section has the upcoming
Hatsukoi Shimai CD from
Yuri Hime, the two
Koi Shimai CDs from
Yuri Shimai, and the
Kannazuki no Miko Drama CD.
Hayate x Blade to be added as soon as the link is available - and more to come in the future.
These Drama CDs are all available through Amazon Japan - and they are in Japanese. Even if you don't understand every word, these are great practice tools for those of us trying to learn the language - and in some cases, even a beginner can follow a story pretty well, especially when it's similar to an anime or manga.
In any case - for those of you who like such things - enjoy!
Tags: Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CDs, Marimite Drama CDs, Yuri Drama CDs
Maria-sama ga Miteru Tenth Novel: Rainy Blue, Part 3
Rainy BluePart 3
How much did I *not* want to read this part of the novel....
The bulk of the novel is internal monologue and thoughts, so the anime really just couldn't manage to convey what was going on, I think. The animators sucked. In fact, they managed to totally misconvey everyone's emotions in this episode, so Touko seemed evil, Sachiko seemed heartless and Yumi seemed like a happy bunny run suddenly over with a steamroller. In fact, Touko is smart but just doesn't like Yumi, Sachiko is distracted and troubled, and Yumi...well, Yumi is engaging in a bout of well-deserved overwrought angst brought on by a lack of ability to communicate. She's 17. Just remind yourself of that from time to time. If you're over 25, it'll help. ;-)
***
It was losing the umbrella that did it. If she hadn't lost the umbrella, she would have been okay.
***
The umbrella had a hydrangea pattern on it, hence the hydrangea imagery in the anime with which we are beaten.
***
Yoshino and Yumi are talking when Tsutako comes up and asks if she can take a picture of them for the weekly. Jokingly, Yumi lifts her bag to hide her face and refuses.
***
Yumi walks to Sachiko's classroom, and comes across the scene of Touko begging Sachiko to go with her on a drive. Yumi is so offended by Touko's impudence that she turns around and leaves.
In the anime, Sachiko is smiling in this scene. In the novel, she's quite serious.
***
During the scene when Yumi asks after Sachiko's family, Sachiko really *could* have told her. So the problem does begin with Sachiko, right here.
***
Yumi has, in fact, noticed that Sachiko touches her all the time. And she *likes* it.
***
When Minako shows Yumi that Sachiko and Touko are talking in the hall, she mentions that that has occured every day, recently. Yumi's surprised, but acts like she's not. This scene was pretty well done in the anime, but it did leave out Minako's description of her friend acting like a wife whose husband is cheating on her. The onee-sama was going out with another girl, giving her presents all secretly. The friend knew it, but pretended she didn't. The friend cut her club activities in half, saying that it was too much for her.
Minako also says that none of this has anything to do with the newspaper, and in fact, she's thinking of retiring.
***
When Sachiko calls the next time to cancel, Yumi has many questions but doesn't ask any of them. Up to this point, Sachiko has to shoulder the blame, but at this point, Yumi is as culpable.
***
The next day, Yumi is depressed, so of course she runs into Touko. She really doesn't like Touko and feels jealous of her.
***
The next day, in the Rose Mansion, Sachiko's kind words only hurt Yumi. She's begun resenting Sachiko, and feels that onee-sama's words are sugar-coated, but empty. That day the teacher discusses the hydrangea and how it, because it changes color, it is also known as "capriciousness". She thinks, but the color is so lovely, why would anyone want to change it? - thinking of the hydrangeas on her umbrella. Then she thinks that Sachiko's feelings have changed.
***
The scene in the Rose Mansion where Yumi asks for a new promise was done straight in the anime, but afterwards this was cut:
Yumi goes out the back entrance to be able to see the hydrangeas – she notices that their color is already slightly different than they were in the morning. The rain is pounding down and she comes across Sei, huddling under a overhang. Sei asks Yumi to let her under her umbrella. Sei was standing in a place that is popular for sheltering from the rain.
Sei asks Yumi if Shimako has changed. Sei had cut class the day before, but some classmates said that they saw someone who looked like Shimako near the college. Yumi realizes that Sei doesn't know about Noriko and then realizes that Sei had been hanging about waiting to ambush Shimako. ;-)
Yumi thinks about how Sei has always been there to save her, every time she was depressed or upset.
Sei asks if the cause of Yumi's depression is "tate roll" (the narrator's description of Touko's hair) and Yumi is surprised that Sei knows. Sei confesses that she had just seen Sachiko walk by with her a little while ago.
While waiting for the bus, Sei asks Yumi to not abandon Sachiko.
***
Saturday – Sachiko isn't at school. After the way they parted, Yumi doesn't want to see Sachiko, but the thought of her not being there at school makes Yumi a little lonely.
Rei and Yoshino have reconciled. Shimako and Noriko are also happy. "Yellow and White, how nice for them."
Touko *is* at school, which relieves Yumi a little, but she still feels bitter and suspicious.
On the way home she stops at a convenience store to get butter (unsalted) for her mother. That's when her umbrella is taken. Done heartbreakingly well in the anime.
***
Sunday when she calls Sachiko's house, her alibi is to apologize – NOT because she did anything wrong, but because she said too much.
***
When Yumi meets Sachiko outside the shoe locker room, Yumi is ready to give the rosary back, but her hands are full and she can't reach it in her pocket. Sachiko tells Yumi that they have a lot to talk about, and takes a step forward towards her. Yumi panics for no discernible reason, and steps backwards. She has mixed feelings – she's glad Sachiko waited to speak with her, but she's afraid that Sachiko wants
to ask for the rosary back.
As Yumi runs off, leaving Sachiko and Touko behind, she knows that she looks the picture of a emotionally wounded heroine from a drama, but she doesn't stop running. She runs past the statue of Mary to the front gate where a group of college students are gathered. Among them, she sees someone she knows. In the middle of all the gaudy colored umbrellas, one black men's umbrella stands out.
When Sei turns around to see Yumi running at her, so does a pink umbrella, a yellow one with blue dots and a checked pattern. Their owners all stop to watch the scene.
Sei is considerably shaken by Yumi throwing herself at her. Yumi is too upset to explain coherently, so she just cries into Sei's chest.
In the end, it was the fault of the rain that Sachiko drove off without a word – she couldn't see Yumi in the gloom and the haze of rain.
Not the end. Thank god.
Ratings:
Story - 6-8, depending on the section
Characters - 8
Yuri - 7
Loser FanBoy - 10 (Marimite will always hve a LFB rating of 10, because...well, DUH...)
Pathos - 10
Tags: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Marimite, Rainy Blue, Sachiko and Yumi
Maria-sama ga Miteru Tenth Novel: Rainy Blue, Part 2
Rainy BluePart 2
Yellow Rose Storm Warning
(I believe that the title of this particular anime episode was mistranslated. All of the three sections refer to the rainy weather, which is so indicative throughout.)
It wasn't a big deal, until she made it into one. It was more light than heat, until Rei hotted it up. It wasn't a problem until she said "no." Really, she's a baka.
Yoshino's comment about wanting to join kendo club makes Rei suspend eating a piece of cheesecake mid-motion. As they argue, the cheesecake slides from the fork onto her plate, where it splatters, getting a piece of cake in Yoshino's water glass (thus the odd call for water in the anime) and a piece of cake in Rei's hair. As the argument heats up, Rei runs her hands through her hair, smearing the cake, so when the waitress comes up, she eyes Rei strangely and bails as fast as possible, because Rei looks quite gross. Yoshino watches all this (without telling Rei about the cake in her hair) and thinks that Rei's fans' illusions would be completely shattered at this moment if they could see her.
As Rei starts going over the difficulties of kendo, Yoshino starts to be convinced, because she hadn't really considered the issues of working out in a unheated dojo in the winter, etc, but when Rei gets cocky, Yoshino gets mad. She says that 2nd dan (second degree black belt) Rei-sama need not concern herself about a lowly beginner, but then immediately hates herself for saying it.
Throughout this chapter, Yoshino is berating herself for saying things in anger.
Yoshino realizes she doesn't have the rosary on, and believes that this is Maria-sama's way of saving her from herself. She thinks that throwing the coral necklace (which was from her parent's honeymoon) at Rei wouldn't hurt her emotionally, so she leaves. But she does regret not finishing her dessert, and leaving the chestnuts behind.
***
Rei and Yoshino live an 8-minute walk from school.
***
Yoshino is kicking the shoe boxes, as she puts her school shoes on. She kicks a shoe off in anger, and the pair of legs next to her says, "What are you doing?" Yoshino reprimands herself – obviously, the legs are not speaking, so she lifts her eyes to see Yumi attached to those legs. :-)
***
In class, Yoshino turns to Yumi and says, "About the conversation this morning..."
Yumi has absolutely no idea what Yoshino is referring to. Yoshino thinks she's faking, gets annoyed, then realizes that Yumi really has no clue, although she was present at the Rose Mansion when it occurred. She reminds Yumi that Noriko will be joining them today. Yumi is amazed – she has no memory of the conversation at all.
Yoshino gets a bad feeling when Yumi mentions that she hasn't seen Sachiko, then her face stiffens, and droops. Yumi says that Sachiko cancelled their date. Yoshino is appalled this is the second or third time she's done that. Sachiko is a princess, Yoshino thinks, but she ought to know better and treat the commoners more fairly.
***
Yoshino is running around getting permission and clearance to join the kendo club. She is being old over and over that with Rei's permission, it would be easier. The school doctor, Hoshino Eiko (semi long wavy hair, very lovely, lots of students admire her, doesn't look the thirty years older than Yoshino that she is) has to check with her attending physician.
***
Thoughts that were not audible in the anime, but are damn fun:
When Sachiko welcomes Noriko to the Rose Mansion, her smile, Yoshino thinks, would make her fans positively dizzy. :-)
Yoshino thinks of the whole meeting with Noriko as an "omiai," a marriage meeting, with Red and Yellow Roses acting as attendants and go-betweens. She thinks the engagement is a given – everyone seems positive and interested in the pairing.
She's a little jealous of Shimako and Noriko – their relationship is new, the future unclear. She thinks that she and Rei have hot "the stage of fatigue" of married couples – there's no doki-doki left.
. By seeking stimulus in the form of joining the kendo club, Yoshino feels that she may have pushed too hard and precipitated a divorce.
***
When the Kendo club president says that it's her fault that Rei's out of school, because last night she told Rei about Yoshino's petition to join the club, Yoshino becomes furious at Rei. She thinks it's deplorable that she'd stay home from school because of such a thing. (She's not. Rei has a cold, but Yoshino doesn't know that yet.)
***
In order to be able to join the club, Yoshino has had to get permission from the club president, the club faculty advisor, the head teacher, the school doctor and her attending physician. They held a special staff meeting about it, and approved her conditionally. In general, Yoshino feels that they handled it all with fair speed.
***
Having gotten a chance to join kendo club, Yoshino is determined to play by the rules. No slacking because she's tired, or using her health as an excuse. She also doesn't want to involve or invoke Rei at all.
She's assigned to Tanuma Chisato (the girl who won the half day date with Rei back on Valnetine's Day) because Chisato is the last person to join. Yoshino understands this, but is annoyed as hell. She also hates Chisato's way of speaking. The girl never says anything wrong, per se, but is always slightly snarky. Yoshino thinks the short haircut looks crappy on Chisato. :-)
***
More Yoshino wonderfulness that had to be cut as it was internal monologue:
Thursday noon as they walk down the hall, Yumi asks Yoshino how kendo is going. She answers that it's fine, but to herself calls it "The stretching marathon and muscle conditioning association." And her legs hurt.
Yoshino sees Shimako standing in the window, looking like she bears some secret pain. It makes her look her impossibly sexy.
The three of them walk to the Rose Mansion together and we get a replay of the triple sigh scene, from Yoshino's point of view. For the life of her, Yoshino can't figure out why Shimako is hesitating about Noriko. They clearly want to be together. She knows it was the same with Sei and Shimako, but couldn't comprehend that, either.
When Shimako runs off so suddenly, Yoshino wonders out loud if she's hurt her feelings.
***
This scene was done in the anime just fine, but as Konno Oyuki is so particular about language and I am so fascinated by her use of words, I want to address a few things:
Rei says to Yoshino, that "Yoshino's life is Yoshino's. I have no right to stop you." Rei goes on to say that she was thinking about kendo club and soeur "stuff". Yoshino thinks, "In other words, you were thinking about me, but you can't say that straight." As we learn later, Yoshino is actually wrong…. Rei says that Yoshino "abuses" her. The verb was translated in the anime by the fansubbers as "blow off" which isn't the same thing and I think they lost something crucial here. Remember this, it comes back later...
That day Rei takes over the training of the underclassmen. Yoshino is feeling particularly crappy, but she doesn't want to take the day off so she seems like she's lost to Rei.
We see half of this scene in the anime. The half cut out is infinitely more interesting. Yoshino is doing a practice exercise she finds particularly difficult. She has trouble with it (they translate this in the anime to her falling while doing a simple deep knee bend, something I found extra irritating...). When she falters, she sees Rei looking at her and shoots her a peace sign. Rei turns away. Here's the bit that was cut: Yoshino watches Rei turn away and becomes so incensed that she has to fight the urge to drop her index finger so that only the middle finger remains extended. LOL She immediately quashes the thought because, of course, Lillian students do *not* behave that way.
(Yoshino has always been one of my favorite characters, but I simply adored her for this. I wanted to take her home and hug her after this display of bad temper. lol)
***
It becomes apparent to Yoshino that Chisato is the only one who speaks to her honestly and normally. The first-years think she's a bit odd for entering the club late, with the high-and-mighty title of "Rosa Foetida en bouton". The second-years mostly joined to be with Rei, so see her as encroaching on their territory, and the third-years are in and out like ghosts. So as much as it galls her to do so, Yoshino relies on Tanuma Chisato, erstwhile rival.
***
By herself, with no one to watch and correct, Yoshino knows that exercise tends to slack off, but she keeps focused so she doesn't "lose." Then she wonders to whom? Herself, or Rei? After a moment, she admits...both.
She hears footsteps and knows instantly that it's Rei.
Earlier when Rei said that they had been thinking about kendo and their soeur relationship, Yoshino assumed she meant that she was thinking about Yoshino (as we were meant to, assumably.) However, she was really thinking about her *own* roles. The problem, Rei goes on, is that Yoshino doesn't listen to her and she honestly thought it would be a problem in kendo, since Rei, as a senior member *must* be listened to. The anime does a nice version of their reconciliation, so I'll leave you to (re)watch that.
Yoshino offers Rei the chance to take the rosary back, but Rei says she doesn't want it. Rei says that she doesn't want Yoshino to lessen by even one milligram. Yoshino asks what Rei wants her to do – what can she do to make it right between them. She offers to quit kendo for Rei. Rei of course, tells her its okay she can continue to "abuse" her, and they embrace.
The keystone of the story, IMHO, is the verb Oyuki-sensei has Rei use. In the anime the translators translate it as "You blow me off." The actual verb, which can mean to "abuse" is also used to say "wield" as in a weapon. It's much more active than just ignoring Rei. In a sense, Rei says, "you wield yourself as a weapon against me" which of course, Yoshino does, frequently. So I kind of feel that the subbers lost the point there.
The anime made Yoshino seem much more of a jerk than the novel does, and bizarrely added a lot of extraneous dialogue.
One last muy importante note. The animators were clearly suffering from a paucity of experience with exercise (well, duh) because they made Yoshino seem positively moronic in the simplest exercise, instead of what she is in the novel – an extremely out of shape girl. She did *not* scream and cramp when she stretched, nor did she fall over doing a knee bend, which was just stupid. She was just stiff and uncoordinated, in a perfectly normal way considering that she'd had a freakin' heart condition her entire life.
End Part 2
Tags: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Marimite, Rainy Blue, Yoshino and Rei
Maria-sama ga Miteru Tenth Novel: Rainy Blue, Part 1
Rainy BluePart 1
This novel is split into three sections, each following one of the three second-years of the Yamayurikai. All three stories happen simultaneously, something that was not, I think, communicated well in the anime. The weather is not only symbolic, it's how you know *when* you are in the stories. Several of the scenes are seen through various eyes: the scene where the 2nd-years are all walking to the Rose Mansion and sigh, we see from Shimako's and Yoshino's viewpoint; the scene where Yumi and Yoshino share a moment at the shoe lockers are also in each of their sections. These are also indications that the stories are happening simultaneously and give you a frame of reference for "when" we are in any given story.
The anime did a fair job of each of the stories; the best of the three was Shimako's. None of the key scenes were cut, but you did lose all of the characters' thought processes, which make everyone – especially Yoshino and Sachiko – seem more heartless and/or capricious than they do in the novel. I also have to fault the animators for this – they did an abysmal job on the facial expressions. In one case in the novel, Sachiko is quite serious when talking to Touko and in the anime they have her smiling. It makes the essential meaning of the scene change completely. And puts more of the blame for the whole blowup on Sachiko, when it's at least 40% Yumi's fault. (45% Sachiko, %5 Touko.)
Touko isn't evil.
She *is* a brat, but again, the animators made her seem more like she was an active participant in Yumi's misery – and they gave her evil eyebrows, which make her seem suspicious. In fact, she's quite boring, and utterly oblivious of any damage she causes, like most drama queens. She does have one very awkward habit of not being audible when she walks, so she suddenly *appears* on the scene with no warning, usually when someone has mentioned her, which also makes her seem scheming when she really isn't.
These three stories can be summarized thusly: Shimako feels too much; Yoshino talks too much; Yumi doesn't *do* enough.
11 pages of notes, but I have a new notebook, so whether that would have been more or less in the old system, I don't know. And by the way...I didn't mention this, but I posted 203 times in 2005, for an average of just about 17 times a month. Worrisome, if you think about it.... ;-)
Part 1 - Drops of the Rosary
The season is early summer. Shimako wonders why, during the season in which they change winter for summer uniforms doesn't she feel lighter? We get an internal discussion of the fact that the winter and summer uniforms are functionally the same – not heavier/lighter material, just shorter sleeves.
Even though it's not raining, Shimako feels in her heart as if it will never be clear again.
From the Rose Mansion they can hear the folk song club singing. (One day, I'm going to list all the clubs we're heard about...)
Sachiko, trying to convince Shimako to take Noriko as a soeur already, says "please take your time choosing a soeur, but do it before summer vacation." (Shimako thinks that Sachiko is becoming more Youko-like, which isn't surprising as she admired her onee-sama so much.)
Rei comments, but you didn't choose until the school festival (She's *nothing* like her predecessor...) Rei uses "nobinobi" – rattling around unattached, to which Sachiko takes issue.
Sachiko insists that she didn't know of Yumi's existence until the second term, and since *someone* had just rejected her offer, it was a bitter experience. At this point in the novel, Sachiko points at her cup, which is empty and Shimako (obviously the "someone" in question) fills it without comment.
Rei then calmly points out that it took Sei a long time to decide, so maybe it's a White Rose tradition.
***
This scene was truncated slightly in the anime which lost several things – most notably Shimako's feelings and Touko's creepy ability to appear suddenly:
Noriko is described in the novels as looking like an Ichimatsu doll. You've seen them. They have dark hair medium length cut bluntly across the bangs and back...look it up on Google image search.
Shimako asks Noriko to go home with her and Noriko gets all happy (So cute!) She says she has nothing to do other than running around avoiding Touko. Shimako envies Noriko's spontaneity – she was a little worried about Noriko adapting to Lillian student life, but she seems to be doing fine. Shimako feels thankful that Noriko is so capable of relating to everyone normally – but in a corner of her own heart, she still feels lonely.
As she's standing there thinking about Noriko (waiting for Noriko to get her bag from the classroom) Shimako says out loud "Touko, she said" and Touko is suddenly *there* with no noise or warning. Shimako thinks that she doesn't dislike Touko – which even she finds strange. lol
Touko complains that Noriko won't join a club (if you remember, we learned that in middle school, joining a club is mandatory. It stands to reason that some girls would internalize that through high school, as well. I imagine that that's why the administration make it mandatory. Touko says that it's horrid that Noriko won't, if not join theater club, then at least *some* club! Noriko whirls on her and says "which one of us is being horrid? Don't involve Rosa Gigantea in this." And she calls Touko – "Touko", which is obviously against the rules. Noriko follows this up with a poke to Touko's forehead. Watching Noriko throughout this, Shimako feels her chest tighten a little, in a good way. (Mine too – I am now officially a Noriko fan. LOL)
Noriko tells Shimako that's she's just not interested in a club – she tells Shimako about being recruited by the bible club and Shimako has to smile at the idea.
Shimako thinks how similar they are, like polar opposites. She says, quoting her own onee-sama, that Noriko should consider a club, because high school life is so short and should be more than just studying.
Touko insists that Noriko should join anything: koto, tennis, ping-pong, handicrafts,. She becomes very impassioned, raising her fist in the air.
Shimako tells Noriko that she can wait and see. She and Noriko start to walk off. They walk in silence for a while. Noriko jokes that she was considering starting a club for Buddha statue viewing, but then says that she doesn't want to join any clubs, in case she ends up assisting the Yamayurikai.
***
Three days after this conversation, Noriko visits the Rose Mansion for the first time. For Noriko's benefit, Rei takes off the day from kendo club and during the lunch break Yumi and Yoshino drop by the Rose Mansion and clean really well.
When Noriko arrives, Sachiko has her smile on the highest setting, inviting Noriko to sit for tea. When Noriko refuses Sachiko's offer, Shimako is dizzied by her bluntness.
Rei takes control of the conversation by insisting that Noriko be a guest for the day, thus avoiding Sachiko having a fit. Rei seats herself between Noriko and Sachiko. Shimako notes how skillful she is in handling the situation.
Noriko drinks her tea black, Yumi w/ cream and sugar, Yoshino with 2 dollops of cream until its beige. lol
Shimako sits there, her mouth totally dry, but drinking tea doesn't help, she's so nervous.
When Noriko is asked about her family, (Noriko has a little sister, btw) Shimako thinks she looks a little dubious (like, "why are they asking that?" when it's kind of normal at Lillian to ask such things) so she answers for Noriko. Shimako is completely overwrought by now, worrying that "the Inquisition" will upset Noriko, but when Noriko seems at ease when she answers, she relaxes a little. Shimako catches
herself thinking, "this is part of the process" then wonders "the process" of what?
Shimako thinks of her smile like papier mache – it never moves, and is very fragile.
***
Our Tsutako scene was truncated in the anime:
Tsutako calls Noriko Shimako's "reflecting board" – she makes Shimako glitter. Tsu says that today Shimako doesn't shine and says that she (Shimako) can confide in her (Tsutako).
Shimako tells Tsu that she really can't explain why she's down – she doesn't have words for it. She doesn't feel that she can ask Yumi or Yoshino about it. She notes that Noriko was in the council room with her, but that she, Shimako, didn't glitter.
Shimako confides that she feels clumsy. Tsutako tells Shimako that the others don't quite understand her, so they seem like they are trying too hard with Noriko. Tsutako goes on to say that as a cameraman, she sees into people's hearts – then she admits that she doesn't like having pictures taken of herself. She wants to take pictures of
Yoshino, Yumi and Shimako, not to be in them.
Shimako asks Tsutako why she told her that, and Tsutako admits that it just slipped out – and asks her not to tell Yumi or Yoshino. As Tsutako turns away, Shimako, in her mind, snaps a picture of her and thinks that she makes a great photographic subject.
***
Cut scene:
Shimako is walking with Yoshino and Yumi to the Rose Mansion. The first-years are greeting them as they walk – it's a pleasant scene, Shimako thinks. But she's not satisfied, because Noriko is not with her. But, then, she also doesn't want Noriko to have to be part of this.
The first-years surround them, because they are popular, of course. Shimako finds a little pleasure in the whole situation, especially watching Yumi and Yoshino greet the younger students. Even though none of them has the poise Rei and Sachiko have, they all handle it well. As they part from the first-years, Shimako can hear them mention that all three of them look upset.
Shimako asks Yumi and Yoshino what the matter is – they seem extra quiet today. Yumi turns to Yoshino and agrees, saying that Yoshino has hardly said a word. Yoshino shoots back that the same applies to Yumi, and her face is gloomy. They all deny being unhappy and fall quiet again.
As they get outside into the school grounds, they simultaneously heave a sigh. Yumi asks, "What?"
Yoshino replies, "What what? You did it too."
Shimako asks what's worrying them and Yoshino responds that it's not worth consulting a person who was just sighing themselves. To which Shimako replies that there are different kinds of heavy sighs.
Everyone falls silent, no one budges.
Shimako thinks, Yoshino's sigh was about Rei, Yumi's was about Sachiko. One can't help but think about those who are important to one.
They get the Rose Mansion and stand in a line, looking up the stairs.
"Guess we ought to go up."
"Yup."
Nothing.
Yumi and Yoshino do start up, but Shimako sees Goronta run by and breaks. She feels as if her feet are moving by their own will as she runs off.
***
In the scene where Shimako sees the university, she doesn't cry, but she does desperately wish to see Sei. She sums up her problem thusly: Sei graduated, Noriko arrived. Noriko can fill the emptiness in her heart, but she hasn't really discussed it with Noriko – or the others in the Yamayurikai.
(It's fairly obvious to anyone that the Yamayurikai members would love to have Noriko join them, but we have to allow Shimako her moment of irrational angst.)
Classes have started already, but she stays there, in the far corner of the school property, wishing she could be with someone. Not be called "Rosa Gigantea", but just stay by someone's side. She starts walking and comes to a cross-road. Go back to the Rose Mansion or to Noriko's classroom? Wishing she had a more relaxed personality, but noting that it's not easy to change, Shimako chooses to head back to her own classroom.
***
When Sachiko scolds Noriko about calling Shimako "Shimako-san" Shimako immediately feels guilty because she knows Sachiko's right – she was totally laissez-faire about the issue.
Noriko completely realizes that Sachiko is scolding her because she cares. She instantly realizes that Sachiko is the kind of person to ignore everyone unless she actually gives a damn about them. When she catches up to Shimako she says this, and Shimako confirms it. She's surprised that Noriko noticed so quickly that it's just Sachiko's way.
I absolutely *loved* the bit where Noriko offers to "borrow" the rosary, to take the burden from Shimako, because it weighs heavily on her but to Noriko, it means nothing and will be light to carry.
Shimako thinks of Noriko as a guide with a candelabrum leading her through the maze of her feelings.
When she holds out the rosary, Shimako can see the water dripping off the beads – they look like drops of water themselves, hence the title of the section, "Drops of the Rosary". The sun breaks through the clouds, even as it rains, shining light on them in a particularly cheesy s/fx. lol
"Although the rain fell, inside Shimako's heart was clear weather."
Awwww...
Tags: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Marimite, Rainy Blue, Shimako and Noriko
Yuri Manga: Air Master, Volume 26
Sorry about being away so long, but I needed a break from doing mostly everything - and a long holiday weekend celebrating the accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King and the people who believed in his dreams and made them real, was a perfect fit for my much-needed R&R.
So, well-rested and relaxed I come back to the topic of yuri. I haven't mentioned
Air Master in a very long time. The manga and anime both have yuri in the form of Mina and her overt love and desire for our heroine, streetfighter Maki. I suppose some people could argue that Maki doesn't return the feeling, but I really would have to disagree - there are several scenes in the manga, especially, which convince me that she does. She's just a doofus and not the kind of person to even admit it to herself. I trust Mina to wear that down eventually.
In any case, the anime ended some time ago, and while it was licensed, will not be released here in the US past Volume 3. Geneon is not shipping Volume 4...although I am not sure they have officially announced that. I know through back channels.
It may surprise some of you to know that long after the anime finished, the "Fukamichi Ranking" arc of the manga is not *yet* complete. In fact, Maki, who lost her battle with the ranking number one fighter, Byoubou, has been all but absent from the manga for the last several volumes. Sometimes we would see her nearly unconscious body in the distance. Last volume she moaned. In this one, she manages to ask Miori to massage her limbs so she can try to move again. In the meantime, we are focusing on one of the most agonizingly dull fights ever - five of the fighters trying to take down Byoubou. Of them, only Kai is marginally interesting to me.
I guess I'm not the only person who complained that the manga is called
Air Master and why are we watching five fighters who are not Maki endlessly?, because in Volume 26, we are given an omake story with not only Maki, but her four goofball school friends. In a game of "What do you want to be when you grow up?" not too many of them have a clue what they could actually become. Maki is at a complete loss beyond her immediate occupation. But Mina joyfully proclaims that she wants to be Maki's wife, complete with fantasy image of blushing Maki in tux and Mina in bridal dress. Michiru and Yuu both proclaim that impossible and they move on.
There you go - the longest time we've spent with Maki in oh, about three/four volumes has a nice little yuri moment inside Mina's head. :-)
Ratings:
Art - 3 (I think it's getting worse, if that's possible)
Story - 2
Characters - Omake only? 8, Rest of volume 4)
Yuri - (Omake only 8, rest 0)
LFB - 8 (Air Master always has a high LFB rating, on principle)
Overall - 5
I'm totally ready for Byobou to go away now....
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Air Master, Maki and Mina
Yuri Manga: Steady Beat, Volume 1
As I mentioned on the
Yuricon Mailing List, I'd been meaning to mention
Steady Beat for a while, but just kept forgetting. In fact, I'd stare at my "to review" list and say, "Gee, wasn't there something I wanted to add to this?" But thanks to Erin, and her
review on her LJ, I am not only motivated, but have remembered long enough to mention it, at last. Thank you, Erin!
First off, this is the first "American manga" I've purchased (if you don't count publishing
Yuri monogatari that is.) I bought my copy at
Onna!, and didn't get to read it for several months afterwards. The art is, IMHO, typical of American-style manga art, with more rounded everything, less clean lines, and an uneven grasp of panel structure. But it's not unpleasant to look at.
The plot, such as it is, involves Leah, a slightly underachieving (compared with her perfect older sister, anyway) high school student finding a love letter addressed to her sister Sarai. The letter is signed "Love, Jessica" and it's not a confession letter so much as a "let's meet again in the usual place" letter. The first volume is built around Leah attempting to figure out what the deal with her sister is, while not getting in trouble with her over-protective and over-critical mother. Somewhere in the middle of this Leah ends up meeting a guy, which is assumably our eventual love interest. The volume ends with a dramatic confession by Sarai to us, out of Leah's hearing that the answer to Leah's question is "yes." Said darkly and with great big sad eyes.
The book is not bad, really. It's supposed to be a bit "wacky hijinks" and goofy, and there were definite funny moments. The complication of the perfect sister with the unforgivable flaw is a bit melodramatic, and I think it might be worth emailing the author Rivkah and asking her to make sure the girl gets the girl, as a preventative measure. :-) It's hard to say whether plot and characters are developed - or even developable - as the first volume is short and no new volumes have been released as yet.
All that having been said, it's a nice story, and I'm all for manga fans expanding their horizons and supporting non-Japanese artists...especially as this sort of thing is clearly the wave of the next decade.
Ratings:
Art - 6
Story - 6
Characters - 6
Yuri - 6
Loser FanBoy - 2
Overall - 6
If you're looking for manga in English with yuri themes, you could definitely do worse than this. :-)
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, American Manga, Steady Beat
Maria-sama ga Miteru: Drama CD 7 - First Date Triangle
This is going to be a short review, because the seventh
Maria-sama ga Miteru: First Date Triangle is simply wonderful.
It's full of so many good moments, that it's kind of hard to really nail down one special one thing. But the best part of it is that it is much more based on the novel than the anime, which shredded so many of the scenes.
If I had to pick one thing that stood out, though, it was every single second we heard Yoshino, ably and enjoyably voiced by Ikezawa Haruna, torturing herself about following Rei and Chisato and, those moments later, as she listened to, hated and ultimately sympathized with Chisato. This was great theater.
Also wonderful was Shizuka's bewitching and dulcet tones spoken and sung by rino. She was a total wow as she confused Shimako enough to make her, for once, respond spontaneously. Of all of the three dates, their's was still cut the most.
Then there was Sachiko and Yumi. Frankly, I don't think I can ever get enough of the two of them in the jeans shop, as Yumi fantasizes about Sachiko...then is annoyed as heck that onee-sama looks so bloody good in jeans. lol
Like all of the Drama CDs, we can spend slightly more time with the story, so there are thoughts and scenes that were cut from the anime. If you like the ladies of Lillian and you know even a little Japanese, Drama CDs are a brilliant way to enjoy practicing your listening skills. You can watch the anime, get up to date on the scenes, then listen to the Drama CD and have fun feeling happy when you recognize a scene and who was saying what. Cheaper than a language tape and a lot more fun. ;-)
As we've got the whole Yamayurikai in silly plastic little dolls, we've now moved on to magnets, did I mention that? Yes, we have two Yamayurikai members per CD, who now all live on my refrigerator along with a bizarrely large number of odd magnets. Where the heck did I get all these? But I digress.
Good CD. Me like. Try for yourself.
Tags: Yuri Drama CD, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD
Yuri News Feed on Yuricon
We've got a brand new feature on the
Yuricon site and you're all welcome to use it. Yuricon and ALC Publishing proudly present the new
Yuri News Page and subscribable feed. You can get Yuri and Yuricon/ALC related news on your newsreader, or from the News page itself. We're hoping to update this at least once a week, more on busy weeks.
Any yuri news items you want to share will be welcome, so send any cool Yuri news to
anilesbocon01@hotmail.comTags: Yuri News, Yuri Newsfeed, Yuri News RSS Feed
Yuri Manga: Negima! Volume 8
Once again, I am pleased to present a guest review by Sean Gaffney, in order to save myself any but the most minimal effort today. It's been a loooong week. :-)
This is a fairly sedate, but good, volume of Negima!. We get a mix of plot, sex comedy (mostly nudity...) and fighting. In fact, the one drawback is that the fight takes up the entire second half of the book. Good if you like seeing fights drawn out, I guess.
Every volume we seem to examine one or two new girls in the class of 31. This time it's Chizuru Naba, who's similar to Mutsumi from Love Hina but less airheaded. She's very motherly (and yes, has the biggest breasts in the class - 94 cm), and takes to Kotarou (the dog boy who makes a return here and is pretty much a semi-regular after this arc) like a duck to water.
For fans of Mai-HiME CG art, she, like Shizuru, likes to practice the art of sticking leeks up people's butts to cure what ails them. And, like Shizuru, she gets a bit carried away doing this.
The other student we meet is Chizuru and Ayaka's roomie, Natsumi Murakami. She's rather plain and has freckles, and thus feels inadequate most of the time, especially since she's rooming with two big-busted beauties. She mostly exists as a straight woman in this volume... hopefully she'll get more to do later.
Meanwhile, Negi is training with Evangeline in a special time-controlled environment... which Asuna and a bunch of others promptly break into. But that's OK, as it leads into Negi finally telling Asuna about his tragic past. It is indeed rather sad, epecially the guilt he's carrying around from it. We also see the entourage starting to try to learn magic, though they're all bad at it with the exception of the experienced Setsuna.
After this we get the meat of the plot, as the demon from Negi's past (gosh, he shows up right after Negi revealed it) shows up, kidnaps the girls, and challenges Negi to a duel. Kotarou joins in, and the duel is, as I said, about 65 pages long. Negi loses and everyone dies. Wait, no. Negi wins. Sorry, got confused.
There's no yuri (OK, a villain zaps Setsuna by disguising herself as a naked Konoka, but frankly, Setsuna doesn't have much time to get aroused before she's knocked out). Nevertheless, I'd say it's a solid volume. Still more interesting than Love Hina.
Thank you Sean for another review! While there is no "new" yuri, it does look like the resident cute yuri couple have some staying power. We can all hope for one decent fanfic and a few cute pictures repeatedly endlessly on the yuri picture boards. :-)
Tags: Manga, Not Really Yuri Manga, Konoka and Setsuna, Negima!, Mahou Sensei Negi, Magister negi Magi
Yuri Reviews: Yuri Card Games?
Really? Yuri card games? Well...sort of. :-) Today's card game review was brought to you primarily through the generosity of Touko_no_doriru-san, whose gifts still make me happy, every time I take them out and read/look at/listen to them. So, let's see...9 months later, I still thank you!
There are many and various fan made games based on parody and original series. H-games, dating sims, fighting games, etc. These two card games are also fan/artist created and you've probably seen some of the art without knowing where it came from.
First, let me introduce you to
Seeraa Fuku o Anata ni...:
What makes this card deck so notable is that the art is by the same artist who does
Transistor ni Venus and a bunch of other yuri stories. Each card is a drawing of a different school uniform, with each school identified for ease of "fuku spotting." For instance, I randomly pulled the "Seisshin Shoujo Gakuin" uniform, which looks to be a natty light blue and a striped blue and white summer blouse.
No actual *yuri* except on the cover there, but it's got that "six degrees of yuri" thing going, since the author is so very much a yuri mangaka. Yuri by inference, shall we say. And lots of goofy uniform fun if you're into that kind of thing.
Next up we have the reasonably well-known
Mari-un-Zero:
Now THIS is a notable deck. The game is, like the one above, basically Uno(TM)-like. But the art is all done by artists you know and many pictures you've seen on yuri picture boards live here in bright color. The four suits are the three rose families and a "brown" suit with other non-rose characters. Shizuka, Mami, Tsutako, etc. Many of these pictures are yuri, or yuri-esque and most of them are brilliant. For fun, I'm including two here, so you can see what I mean:
The first is probably a picture you've seen around. The artist is Shoutarou Tanaka and I'm sure some wonderful reader will jump right in with his website URL, since I don't have it to hand. I included the second because this particular large-eyed picture of Kanako is drawn by
Miyabe Fujieda, author and artist of
Iono the Fanatics. Cute, huh? :-)
Mari-un-Zero is a popular fan work and has lots and lots of lovely pictures. I always feel guilty about opening the box and taking the cards out to look at them though! LOL
Lastly, I wanted to share with you something that is really not yuri at all, but it is timely. One of the popular diversions for many centuries at New Years in Japan was a game called
Hyakunin Isshu. In short, each card has one half of the first line of a Heian period poem. The second halves of the lines are laid out on the floor between two people and when the first line is read all hell breaks loose as the contestants try to obtain the second half. The one with the most cards and least brusies wins, assumably. We actually did a modernized, westernized version of this game for Onna! and we expect to the next time, as well. It was fun and popular - even if the verses were too hard for most of the contestants. (Which is a rant for another time, because I picked verses which are very famous...sigh...)
Anyway, as New Year's Day has just passed, and as everytime I saw anyone playing this game on TV in Japan it was women, AND as we know how much sexual tension competition breeds (coughBattleAthletescough, I thought it might be fun to show you what a deck of Hyakunin Isshu cards looks like. This is my deck, btw - not a picture I found online. Last time I was at Sanseido bookstore in Edgewater, NJ, they had decks and decks for sale - even deluxe models with CDs with someone reading the verses. Lots of kimonoed fun, trust me. The women who played this on TV when we watched were *viscious.* It was a scream. LOL
At any rate, whether or not "yuri" per se, lots of beautiful girls and women, some great art and fun card games for all. :-)
Tags: Card Games, Yuri Card Games, Seeraa Fuku, Girls in School Uniforms, Mari-un-Zero, Hyakunin Isshu
Yuri Manga: Eve's Apple/Eve no Ringo, Volume 4
We ended the year with a discussion of the best, so it seems fitting and balanced somehow to start the year off with, if not exactly the worst, then certainly one of the lowest.
Eve's Apple is waaaay down there.
If you haven't already, you might want to catch up to us by reading my reviews of
Eve Volume 1,
Volume 2 and
Volume 3. Okay, now you're ready to jump into Volume 4 of
Eve no Ringo.
The manga begins with a very typical color-page type layout of Kirika in leather embracing a naked Mio. The next page is the two of them leaping out of the position and yelling at Miyamae sensei for getting them into that position in the first place. It's actually quite funny. :-)
The first chapter consists of the antics of one of Kirika's school friends, who first makes a few quick bucks by flashing the boys in class, then drags Matsuda-kun to "help" her shop for a bathing suit. She encourages him to pursue his dream of being a mangaka, to be honest with Kirika, then kisses him to let him know that she has feeling for him. She runs off with a happy wave.
Kirika is sitting with Yurika, when the grumpy editor walks by. Kirika blushes and excuses herself, but once in the ladies' room, she finds herself confronted by Miyamae-sensei. Miyamae tells her that what the editor meant by she doesn't need him, is that she's got a good story sense. Kirika admits that after the mad dash to get the new magazine off the ground, she's hit a slump. To get Kirika back in touch with her S&M sense, Miyamae takes her to the landing of the fire stairs. There, she proceeds to defrock Kirika, stressing that the shock and embarassment that she's feeling is part of the excitement. Kirika denies this, but the older woman uses her own body as evidence against her. This round goes to Takamae, as she puts them in the path of any of the Blue Velvet editors who might happen to slip out for a smoke. Kirika admits that the fear contributes to the thrill, as well. As a "reward" Miyamae tells her that *this* is what he meant by her not needing him. Kirika, left once again all hot and bothered, is NOT amused.
Mio is still not *quite* getting the whole S&M thing, so she wanders around for a chapter trying to figure it all out. She ends up with Matsuda-kun, and gee, what a surprise they end up doing a little B&D play. Matsuda is quite surprised at how much fun being the top is and wonders if he's got natural S&M talent. Mio corrects that assumption with a quick role reversal.
The beach episode! Bathing suits and other service. Mio almost drowns, Matsuda-kun rescuses her, they have sex. It would be very boring, but when Yurika, Kirika and Miyamae find them, they basically sit around and watch and comment on Mio's and Matsuda's technique critically. :-) When Shimazu-san (Kirika's friend from the first chapter) shows up, she's all interested too, but they are spotted and Mio is not at all happy about it.
And in case we didn't have enough sex and nudity, we head over to the hot spring resort after the beach. Miyamae gets in a little torture Matsuda time, and the girls all get naked and join gang girl Yano in the water for lots of breast grabbing. Then we all sit around and watch Miyamae become an angry and violent drunk. Kirika ends up outside with her evil editor, Mitsugu. He asks her for a personal favor, and gets very close, something only she can help him with. They end up in his room working on the magazine. Insert funny sound effect.
Kirika is asked to write a story that takes place in a soapland. She brings Matsuda with her to take reference sketches of the whole experience. We get walked through the bath and massage and hand job, which leads to blow job and, as Matsuda realizes he's getting a little too close, Kirika expresses her desire to see him come - for the manga, of course. Embarassed and feeling used, Matsuda run away. She apologizes to him, for not realizing how it made him feel, but frankly I don't sympathize with him at all...
Kirika's friend Mizuki calls her and asks if she'll join her for a double date. Mizuki's boyfriend has a friend, etc...Kirika says okay, and they go out for the day, ending in a karaoke box. When Mizuki and her boyfriend start getting it on, the friend plays up to Kirika, who's not opposed to a little recreational fondling. Mizuki's boyfriend starts to turn it all into an exhibition, and Kirika jumps up enraged. "THAT'S not how you do it!' She yells and proceeds to explain what positions are the most vulnerable and appealing. By the end, she has the three of them hogtied by microphone wires and runs off home to incorporate her new ideas into a story. LOL
The final chapter is a western, with Miyamae playing the part of the bad guy and Kirika the good guy, with a little Miyamae x Mio action in the middle.
Finall Mai, Kirika's kouhai in the chado club, arrives for club activities. Kirika is not looking so hot (long night drawing, we're led to believe) and she complains about Mai's "sempai!" "sempai!" all the time. Mai thinks about it and apologizes to "Kirika-oneesama!" Next page is Mai all tied up and partially dressed and begging mercy, but rather happily. She says Kirika's a great onee-sama and suggested they created a "sado club" instead of chado club.
Like all the other volumes of this series, this is trash. But it's funny, light-hearted and amazingly emotionally unburdened trash. Kirika still gets off less than the rest of them, which is sort of sad, but there's a sort of a indirect group sex thing going on among all the artists, where they all end up with one another at some point, which is kind of, I dunno...nice. :-)
Ratings:
Art - 7
Story - 6
Characters - 8
Loser FanBoy - 9
Yuri - 6
Overall - If you're bent that way, 7. Otherwise....
Tags: Manga, Yuri Manga, Fun S&M Manga, Eve's Apple, Eve no Ringo
Yuricon News: ALC Starts the New Year with a Sale on Shoujoai!
ALC Publishing is starting the New Year off with a sale on shoujoai - as in
Shoujoai ni Bouken: The Adventures of Yuriko, Volume 1!
Along with our heavily discounted sale price, all purchases of our unique shoujo manga-style yuri serial
SnB, with fantastic illustrations by Kelli Nicely, come with a free gift. So support Yuri, yuri and Shoujoai today by buying your own copy of the illustrated adventures of
Yuricon's hunky out lesbian pop idol mascot, Yuriko!
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Novel, Yuriko, Lesbian Pop Idol
