Okazu

Yuri Manga: Aoi Hana, Sweet Blue Flowers

Aoi Hana, or Sweet Blue Flowers as it is translated on the cover, by Shimura Takako, is both cute and sweet - and I liked it quite a bit. Which is pretty surprising, as it is both genuinely cute and sweet.

In essence, this manga is the story of four schoolgirls: Fumi, Akira, Yasuko and Kyouko and their various loves and friendships. It is not loli uber-cute or gaggingly sweet, nor is it highly melodramatic. It's actually more vaguely realistic, with an emphasis on the usual conventions and tropes of schoolgirl yuri - crushes on best friends, sempai, etc. The tone is quiet, the relationships realistic-ish.

Fumi comes back to the town she grew up in, for the first time since grammar school. She meets, without realizing it, her childhood friend Akira - a pleasantly energetic and cheerful girl. When they were much younger, Akira had been Fumi's protector, keeping her out of harm of bullies and saving her from the unpleasant emotional consequences of common pre-school blunders like bathroom accidents. Fumi is now a tall, attractive young woman, but still shy and retired. Without realizing who each other is, they meet on a train when Akira saves Fumi from a pervert. (Although why Japanese women don't simply break train pervert's fingers at the bottom joint, I'll never really understand...it'd be easy to ID the guy with the broken finger. But I once again digress.) Fumi and Akira are reunited as friends when their mothers get together and the light dawns upon them. This time around, they are going to separate girls' schools.

Fumi learns that her cousin is getting married, but seems appalled rather than pleased.... We learn later that they were having a physical relationship and Fumi had no idea she was engaged.

Kyouko is Akira's classmate at school. It's club time and the two decide to join acting club together. Kyouko has a secret - she is in love with an upperclassman at Fumi's school. Fumi, unbeknownst to anyone is also developing a massive crush on this upperclassman, Yasuko. Fumi joins the club Yasuko is in - not really caring that it's theater, just to be near the older girl. When Fumi's school theater club decides to visit Akira's school - to take in the wonderful rarified air of this oh-so-glamorous place - Fumi happens to wander down a hall where Kyouko confesses her feelings to Yasuko....and is rejected.

Koyuko runs off, but as Yasuko leaves she sees Fumi crouching down trying to be invisible. Yasuko asks Fumi to go with her outside - and hits on her with subtlelty and charm. Fumi's a goner. Yasuko asks her out and she agrees.

In the meantime Kyouko's brother asks for help trying to set up an "aicon" - an arranged group date-thing. Akira wants to go, but her brother screws it up, causing mild emotional damage. Luckily Akira has pretty high hit points, so she survives.

In the meantime, Yasuko takes Fumi out on a date. Their relationship might actually have to win for one of the most real and normal I've seen in anime and manga. They do everything in the right order. Hold hands, kiss, etc. Not all at once and not after a gap of a gazillion years. Fumi is completely totally gaga over Yasuko and so far, at least, Yasuko hasn't been a scuzzball. In fact, she's been very sweet and romantic, which is good, 'cause Fumi's fairly fragile. They share their first kiss in the library stacks - I approve. :-)

The *drama* of the latter part of the book is hardly even that. Yasuko asks Fumi if she can walk to school with her, but Fumi has already given that promise to Akira. An awkward meeting between the three makes Fumi feel that she has to tell Yasuko, quite overly-seriously, that she can't walk with her. Yasuko laughs and wonders when she got involved in a grammar school conversation, but she's fine with the whole thing. Fumi isn't *quite* done, yet, and tells Akira about her relationship with Yasuko. Yasuko's mightly impressed that Fumi came out to Akira, but still thinks the drama was a bit silly.

Akira isn't upset, but she's not really sure *what* to think. She asks Kyouko what she'd say, hypothetically speaking, if Akira told her that she was in love with a girl. Kyouko is still smarting from Yasuko's rejection, but she smiles and responds with the same question. Akira thinks about it and decides she couldn't care less who her friends are in love with, as long as they are happy.

Kyouko runs into Fumi and asks her if she's in love with Yasuko. Fumi, blushing and stuttering admits she is. Kyouko tells her that Yasuko's wonderful - and Akira's a really nice girl, then wanders off mysteriously.

That night Yasuko calls Fumi. They share the usual sweet nothings, telling each other that they love one another (it was very "aww" inspiring). Before she gets off the phone Yasuko asks about Fumi's first love. Fumi thinks briefly of the cousin she was playing around with at the beginning of the book, but realizes that her first true love was back in grammar school, when she fell in love with Akira.

To Be Continued, the end of Volume 1 says.

Really, this was just a very pleasant yuri manga. No fanservice, no fetish (except for the schoolgirl thing, but the uniforms are really dull and uninterestng and not at all unreasonably fetishy.) It's just a nice, semi-realistic tale of first loves and friendship among girls. I imagine it will remain almost completely unknown as a result.

Ratings:

Art - 7
Characters - 8
Story - 7
Yuri - 8
Loser FanBoy - 1

Overall - 8

If you are looking for something that isn't lowest common denominator yuri - you've found it with Aoi Hana. I'm definitely looking forward to the next volume.


Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Aoi Hana, Sweet Blue Flowers

posted by Erica Friedman @ 5:35 PM 4 comments links to this post   

Kamikaze Girls Manga

Remember - the order to encounter any story with the maximum amount of enjoyment is: 1) visual media; 2) manga; 3) novel. Why this order? Because with every suceeding version, you get more detail, more richness of story and character and more of the original author's intent. Go the other way, and you get annoyed at the loss of depth, character development and scenes that had to be cut for time and convenience.

Which brings us to the Kamikaze Girls manga. (Don't be fooled by the god-awful indexing at Amazon, which lists this as the novel. It is not the novel. The novel does not have people on the cover.)

The movie, as you may remember from my glowing review, was brilliant. Surreal and funny and reasonably well-paced, the movie was a visual and mental treat. I have since encountered two other movies by the same team, one I mentioned in my Sakuracon report, Survival Style 5 one a drug-induced hallucination, Mayonaka no Yaji-san Kita-san, and there are some things that are common to all. But by far and away, Kamikaze Girls was the best of the bunch.

So, of course, I wanted to read the manga.

It was - different. For reasons known only to the manga artist, she made Ichiko, our crude, but honest, Yanki (gang girl) very boyish and added a gag about her being mistaken for a boy. Momoko is made to look even younger than she does in the movie, but overall the realtionship between them is much the same - that is, they are almost destined to be friends, despite their lack of common ground. There is a word in Japanese, ironically used by Shinokita Reiko (Kita) in YajiKita Gakuen Douchuuki to describe her similar relationship with Yajima Junko (Yaji) - I can't find it at the moment, but it means people who can't, somehow, get rid of one another. :-)

What was stranger to me than turning Ichiko into a bishounen-looking girl, was that the entire movie/novel, was only half the manga. The second half was a wholly new story made up by the manga artist detailing the trials and tribulations of Ichiko's possible love for the twin brother of the guy she falls for in the first half. (In the movie, he is made into a parody of a gang type, in the novel, he's just a cool guy.) The twin, whose name is silly, wants to be a ballet dancer. Ichiko ends up donning goth loli clothes once more to inspire him as he tries out for his dream role. It really isn't a bad story, and is largely in keeping with the utter silliness of the movie, only it's drawn and written as a straight shoujo manga complete with melodramatic angst. I'm not sure if it worked or not. If you read the novel first, it doesn't. Remember, keep the order and keep your sanity. :-)

More importantly to us yuri fans, the first half of the manga ends much as the movie does, with Momoko riding off on the back of Ichiko's bike. As in the novel, Momoko lays her head on Ichiko's back, "like a lover" and thinks that she does, indeed love Ichiko. (The second half of the manga sort of makes that moot, but screw it - that's what we have good imaginations for. lol)

So, like the movie, this is a story of shinyuu, of friendship not of desire. As another retelling of a quirky and unique story - the manga comes in as interesting, but not captivating.

Ratings:

Art - 7
Characters - 7
Story - 6
Yuri - 1
Loser FanBoy - 1

Overall - 6

If you've read the novel - don't bother with the manga. If you haven't, then try it. The movie is better and the novel the best, but the manga isn't bad.

Tags: Manga, Not Really Yuri Manga, Ichiko and Momoka, Kamikaze Girls

posted by Erica Friedman @ 4:56 PM 0 comments links to this post   

In My Opinion...

This is not really today's post.

I'm not sure there *will* be a post today, as I'm back at work with a bad something-or-other - you know, the kind of cold they always get in anime, where they have fevers and hallucinations and you wonder, "Who on earth gets a cold like that?" Well, that's what I have today. And boy you should have seen me in my morning training session...it was special, I can tell you.)

In any case, I wanted to once again say "you're welcome" to all the many, many people who wrote in to thank me for the notes on the Maria-sama ga Miteru novels. I cannot tell you how good it makes me feel to know that you all enjoy reading them. They will be coming a bit slower from now on, as I have to summarize the whole book, rather than just note differences between novel and anime. But they will keep coming, I promise. :-)

Also, I thought it might be fun to do a Q&A entry one day soon, so I am offering up this idea to you:

Send me a question - any question, about anything, whether anime, manga, life, whatever, yuri-related or not - and I will give you my honest (at least at that moment) opinion on it. Want to know what I REALLY think of Kannazuki no Miko, or gay marriage or The Planets (Gustave Holst's or Dava Sobel's, your choice) or anything else? Send in questions to the comments section of this entry, or email me at anilesbocon01@hotmail.com, and I will, in a future post, give you my honest, sincere and completely biased opinions.

Why do I think you care about my opinions? Well, I have several reasons. In every panel or lecture I ever do, a largish bulk of the questions start with "What do you think about...?" I've been asked my opinion of gay life, Dragonball Z, the manga industry in Japan and America, the definition of a multitude of Japanese words and concepts, and my understanding of just about every possible anime or manga that ever might be considered to have even some yuri content. Not to mention various formats for writing, creating characters, how to handle negative email, open admiration from fans, and derision.

And lastly, you're reading this web log, which makes me believe that you care about my opinion - even if it is only to scoff at it.

In other words, for good or bad, people seem to care about my opinion.

So, feel free to send me a question and sometime in the next week or so, I'll answer it here. All questions welcome, although I may combine questions for neatness or ignore incredibly rude and stupid ones. Or maybe not. :-) I guess we'll see, won't we? lol

posted by Erica Friedman @ 11:53 AM 9 comments links to this post   

Sakuracon 2006 Event Report

The picture to the left here, graced the badges and program book at Sakuracon. We all commented that they must be a yuri couple as they are next to each other and touching. LOL (Little inside joke there from the Yuricon Mailing List.)

I'm going to be blunt here - Seattle is an odd city. The people, especially the panhandlers, were very creepy and had no sense of a sufficient personal space so as not to arouse the wrath of east coast visitors. I figure that in New York the homeless and/or crazy are so busy trying to survive that they don't really have time or energy to get into my face. In Seattle, clearly they have plenty of time and energy...and get into my face, they did.

The city itself is pleasant enough. Through no one's fault, the museum I wanted most to visit was closed, so that was a bit of a bummer. But we did manage to do lots of touristy stuff, which is always goofy fun.

"We" in this case included an unusual appearance by my wife. She almost never does cons with me. She and I were joined by Donna, Serge and Bruce; Yuricon staffers/supporters/minions/etc and people I am pleased to count among my dear friends.

We arrived on Wednesday, and met up with Donna and Serge. After dinner, we went on an adventure to Archie McPhee's, where, as I mentioned, I bought bandages that look like bacon strips, got a friend a hula girl duster, some other friends pirate and rubber ducky goods, and myself some Tiki packing tape. Also, I picked up some heinous things to put in the yuri grab bags we're going to be making for Anime Next.

Thursday AM, the wife and I set out to see the Seattle Space Needle. I, used to massive tourist lines, was shocked to find that we were able to go right up. We could see our hotel, and took in some nice views of the surrounding mountains and water. It had started sunny; by the time we got to the Space Needle it was cloudy over the city, but the mountains were still sunny. It looked quite cool. We have nice hills around here, but no real mountains and I'm always happy to spend an longish while looking out at really huge hunks of earth that stand out so massively from the rest of the scenery.

Next up was the Science Fiction Museum. It looked really ugly from outside - sort of a conglomeration of blue and metallic lumps. Inside, it was so impossibly geeky that I absolutely loved it. It's essentially a warehouse house for Paul Allen's private collection of sci-fi crap. As he has more money than god, it means that it's a really super-sophisticated, well put-together warehouse for his sci-fi crap.




Note the utterly, totally dork-a-riffic levels of membership:











And the signs on the bathroom doors. Could they be *any* more nerdish?











Needless to say, we had a great time there. :-)

We decided that as we were all togther by Thursday evening, we'd wander over to the conference center and get our badges. The first person we asked had the right answer, but for the wrong reasons. The second person we asked seemed to have the exclusive job of sending everyone over to the most overworked person in the room, which would have been fine, except the right person was in that room too. Once again - you get what you pay for with volunteers. :-) But, be that as it may, we did get in touch with our host, Sean Larson, Programming Director of Sakuracon, who had invited us out in the first place. He got us our badges and had to bail, which we totally understood. We headed over to the Marketplace, took a look at our table, introduced ourselves to our neighbors and left to do some dinner.

Let me digress here for a second. I want to mention that, at every con/event I have a table at, I do my best to befriend my immediate neighbors. I find that it makes the whole event a better thing when you and the businesses that surround you all get along. In this case, we had "Toys for Freaks and Geeks" on the right, CL Enterprises (I think that was their name) on the left and YesJapan.com in front of us. All were perfectly wonderful to be near. YesJapan is a "language" website, which sort of sells the idea that geeky guys can have cute Japanese girls as friends to practice language skills with. They played videos all weekend of basically, the guys who work there shooting the breeze with Japanese women, talking about useless and insanse things - interspersed with hard Japanese rock bands videos. They were hysterically funny, but somehow really awful too. :-)

Friday started with a nice, relaxed morning. Pattie and Donna headed out to Chinatown and Bruce, Serge and I went right to the Marketplace to set up. We were doing a rock-bottom sale on yuri manga from ALC, so sales were brisk and we had a fast day. The joke was that while all vendors are there to sell and are, therefore, only your friends as long as you give them money, we were the only ones who were open about it. When people bought a book, we'd say stuff like, "Buy a book and we'll be your friend five dollars worth!" LOL Serge got caught in a prolonged conversation that was going nowhere with someone who had bought a book. When the guy went away, he turned to me and said, "That was ten dollars worth of friendship for five dollars." It kept us laughing all weekend.

A few friends stopped by - Jen, and her friend Jahana and Devon and unexpectedly Derek and Diana - as well as a bunch of folks from the ML, which was a genuine pleasure. Especially Sara, who was very energetic and bouncy and made us laugh - and she brought lots of people by, which was great. So, thanks Sara! And the young lady who is cosplaying Chloe here, who was very cute. Thanks to her too. ;-)

Friday night we went out to Chinatown to Uwajimaya, a pan-asian market and mall, with a very large Kinokuniya bookstore. I wasn't feeling great, so managed to not spend anything. The wife and I went back to our room to crash.

Saturday was, for me, more of the same - the con in a dealer's room looks the same for most of the day. LOL The crowd changes as the new waves of people come in, that's about it. There wasn't any anime I needed/wanted to see, and games and the like aren't my cup of tea. We did have a friend, Hillary, drop by and later went to dinner with her, in the teeny space we had between marketplace and Yuri Panel.

The Yuri Panel was quite nice - about 50-60 people showed. The questions were pretty decent and everyone was very earnest. Serge and Bruce were GREAT on the panel and had a lot of good things to say. Interestingly, Serge was more up on anime, and Bruce on manga, so that worked out really well. We went back to the hotel and watched a brilliantly bizarre live-action movie called Survival Style 5. It's by the same director who did Kamikaze Girls and boy can you tell. It had alot of the same actors and tropes, but was really funny and weird in a whole new way. I think we all liked the storyline of the guy who kept killing this girl, but she kept coming back, and eventually they kind of fall in love, best. I recommend it for a healthy dose of surreal humor.

Sunday we made an appearance briefly at the table, then bailed to do some more sight-seeing. This time it was the Asian Art Museum, followed by a quick turn aroud Pike St. Market, so I could get my hairdresser the salmon I promised her. lol

The last night we were there was the wife's birthday, so we went out to celebrate, following that up with a Korean kung-fu (no joke - it was really a kung-fu movie, just filmed in Korea. Trust me, I know the difference) comedy. It was pretty funny, so it was a good end to a good trip. :-)

I can't thank Donna, Serge, Bruce and Pattie enough for coming out with me. It would not have been nearly as fun as it was without them. Thanks, guys. :-)

Our next event will be Anime Next, June 16-18, 2006 in Secaucus, NJ. I'll be doing the yuri panel and a fanfic writer's workshop. I'll let you know when they are scheduled.

See you there!

posted by Erica Friedman @ 1:18 PM 2 comments links to this post   

Maria-sama ga Miteru Twelfth Novel - Vacation of the Lambs, Part 4

Maria-sama ga Miteru, Kohitsuji no Kyuuka - Lamb's Vacation.

Part 4

Song of an Angel


They arrived at the Saionji's home just as it turned 6 o'clock. Their mansion was not surrounded by high trees, so when they come out of the woods, Yumi feels that time has reversed itself.

Sachiko had taken one wild lily from the garden and threaded it into Yumi's hair. Yumi wore the white "cabbage moth" dress. Sachiko wore a pale green dress with white floral pattern.

Sachiko asks if Yumi is ready. Yumi says yes - whatever happens now, she can keep her chin up.

Yukari greets them wearing a pink lame' dress with puffy sleeves. She welcomes them in and raises her voice to tell her mother that Sachiko is here with "the one you've been waiting for - Fukuzawa Yumi." Yumi thinks that that's awfully suspicious.

The woman who responds to this is wearing a deep blue dress with red feathers that matched her dyed hair.

Sachiko introduces Yumi with "composed cynicism." "Did I hear that you were waiting to meet her?"

Mrs. Saionji is not perturbed - "Of course I was. Your cute little sister is quite famous." And she welcomes Yumi to her home.

Yumi thanks her for the invitation politely. Mrs. Saionji assures them that this is a casual party and tells them to eat a lot, drink a lot and don't stand on formality. Yumi notes that it appears that Mrs. Saionji has already had a few herself.

About 30 people are already there. The main room is about three times the size of the one at the Ogasawara home. There's a big table with food catered by a famous hotel, and in the center of the room, a grand piano with a professional pianist providing atmosphere.

Sachiko heads towards the drinks.

Touko comes up to Yumi - she says she didn't think they'd come. Touko is wearing a red "retro" design dress. Yumi realizes that this is *not just a "enjoy the summer evening" party - she knows there will be traps. What kind, she doesn't know. Touko warns her to leave before it's too late.

Kashiwagi comes up to Yumi after Touko leaves. He says "You two have some courage," since they had to expect something terrible to happen, but they came anyway.

He tells Yumi that nasty things have been said about her. Yumi of course wants to know what they are.

Kashiwagi prevaricates, but when she presses, she learns that they are calling her "Koshihikari-hime." (Koshihikari is the kind of rice Yumi's mother sent to Sachiko's summer home.)

Kashiwagi make an "oh my god" pose and says, but you didn't hear that from me. He looks ready to run. He explains that he was at the Kyougoku tea party. He was utterly disgusted by Mrs. Kyougoku's feigned illness and the gossip about Yumi.

He goes on to tell Yumi that the girls have been spreading rumors about her, because they are spoiled and jealous of Yumi - and envious of Sachiko.

Yumi understands that, if they can embarrass her, then by extension they are embarrassing to Ogasawara family, which will pull the Ogasawara down from their predominance.

Sachiko comes back and apologizes for the wait - an old calligraphy teacher cornered her.

As they greet people, their reaction to Yumi's greeting is a litmus for whether they had heard the rumors or not. From the shadows, she can see people pointing, but she and Sachiko ignore it.

A Master of Ceremonies comes out and tells them that it's the person they've all been waiting for - the guest of honor, let's get a round of applause! An old woman in a wheelchair is brought out. Kashiwagi leans over to Yumi and whispers, "It begins."

Today is Yukari's great-grandmother's birthday - Sachiko didn't know. Yukari comes forward to give the old woman a bouquet. She does not take it, so Yukari places it in her hands. Great-grandmother does not say thank you, but prompted by the MC, everyone cheers. The MC announces that it's Great-grandmother's 88th birthday and her great-granddaughter Yukari has just given her 88 flowers. Applause. And now Yukari will play her great-grandmother's favorite piece of music on the piano.

Yukari sits at the grand piano and plays "Fur Elise". Great-Grandmother shows no interest to this, or any of the performances that follow. Kieko plays the flute, Kiku the mandolin and Touko the violin...Yumi thinks that she's surprisingly good.

Kashiwagi tells Yumi that there's absolutely nothing wrong with Great-Grandmother. She's not infirm or senile - she's just pissed off. When the Saionjis rebuilt their summer house, they cut all the tall trees down, which made her angry. She had a fight, stalked off and slipped down the stairs, which is why she's in the wheelchair. Kashiwagi asks if Yumi plays an instrument. She says no - she played piano once when she was young, but it's been years since she "hit the planks."

Immediately Yumi corrects herself - "wrong," and at that same time Sachiko says "that's not true." Sachiko had remembered their shared moment playing piano a second before Yumi.

Yukari approaches Yumi and asks if she'd like to perform, Yumi realizes that this is clearly the trap.

After a moment, Yumi steps out towards the middle of the room. Sachiko shouts her name and reaches out to stop her. She's concerned for Yumi, Yumi can tell. Sachiko, who never runs away, as their palms meet, Yumi can hear Sachiko's implied please that it's okay, you don't have to. So Yumi makes herself silently communicate that "it's all right, onee-sama" as she pulls her hand away.

Yumi thinks - she's worried about me. I'll return that gentle smile to her face with bold nerve.

"I'm a person with no particular talents, so I can't do a musical performance. But for your birthday this... Maria-sama's Heart." She begins singing "Maria-sama no Kokoro" a capella in front of everyone.

Honestly, she's amazed at her own courage.

But she was invited to a birthday party and not told, so she has no present, so a song will have to do.

She doesn't have a beautiful voice, or volume like Shizuka, but this was from the heart. Her voice trembles on the high notes, but she keeps going, because this is a birthday present.

Suddenly, after she concludes a verse, the sound of a piano playing the interlude is audible...Sachiko is sitting at the grand piano accompanying her. She's in synch with Yumi - they both make the song better by having their hearts in it.

As she sings, Yumi has an illusion of Maria-sama's blue sky. The piano music finishes, Yumi finally notices.

The song ends, silence fills the room. Yumi winders if she blundered. Sachiko stands up from the piano and nods at her. It's okay.

The sound of slow applause is heard. Great-Grandmother is clapping. Everyone's surprised that she's finally responding to something. Other people join in the applause. Yumi runs up the old woman, who reaches out and strokes her cheek. Thank you, Great-grandmother says, it was a wonderful song, a memory from my youth. Yumi pulls the flower from her hair and gives it to Great Grandmother. The old lady smiles and says, "Maria-sama's heart, huh?" Yumi replies "Yes!"


3

Great grandmother tells Yumi to come over and visit again. She calls her "Tenshi-sama" "Angel."

Yumi is exhausted and really wants to go home - all the rich girls have already left. Yukari's grandmother is on the sofa, drinking directly out of a bottle...

Sachiko and Yumi head for the door - once again they are of one mind. They want to walk home together on the dark night road.

Kashiwagi comes up after them - your song really touched Great-Grandmother's heart.

Yumi looks at Sachiko - it's because of onee-sama.

Sachiko looks at Yumi - it was from Yumi's heart.

They ignore Kashiwagi and laugh boisterously. All the guests are calling Yumi "Tenshi-san" now.

On the way home, Sachiko asks what Yumi wants to do tomorrow. Yumi says that she wants to lay around. Sachiko repeats "Lay around?"

I want to sleep until noon with onee-sama., I want to be lazy with all my heart. For one day not even put on shoes, no guests, no reading. Just being alone with onee-sama, a true luxury.

Sachiko says that that is a wonderful idea.

And they both think that that is the kind of thing that fits this place best.



4


Early Monday, Matsui comes with the car. Kyo hands Yumi her cooler bag, filled with the same lunch menu that Yumi's mother had made, because Sachiko ate it all. Even though, it turns out, she doesn't like asparagus or umeboshi. Kyo says that she made the onigiri with the koshihikari. Kyo says that when she was young, Sachiko had a very unbalanced diet. Kyo wins this round.

Yumi apologizes for not realizing, Sachiko blows it off. "Realize what?" She won't admit defeat.

Kyo and Gensuke see them off, not with "farewell," or "please visit again," but with "itterasshai" They wave after the car long after it disappears into the woods.

Even though its early in the morning, Yumi and Sachiko had plenty of sleep the day before.

Sachiko takes the travel-sickness pill and pulls a blanket over her lap. Yumi can hear her breathing even out.

Overall, it was a fun week.

Sachiko suddenly says, "About that...I thought that my heart was going to explode right then."

"Then?"

Sachiko says, "When you stepped out to sing." She starts to continue, then says, "no way" in memory, then smiles. Yumi asks what's so funny. Sachiko starts laughing so hard she's crying and has to wipe her eyes.

When Yumi stepped out to sing, she manages at last to say, Sachiko thought that Yumi was going to do the Yasugi dance! (The shoveling loaches dance from the talent show for the departing Rosas.)

***

Afterword

Konno lists all the food she mentions in the book, and says how she kept getting hungry as she was writing all the food scenes.

She comments that this is the first cover illustration where the girls are not in school uniform.

And she wonders if students today even do homework. She says she always had book reports, translation, math, a diary, to make a summer dress�...

She says that she'll re-read "Kokoro" in her free time (haha). It's been 22 years since she had to read it first.


The End

Tags: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Marimite, Vacation of the Lambs, Kohhitsuji no Kyuuka,Sachiko and Yumi

posted by Erica Friedman @ 12:13 AM 9 comments links to this post   

Sakuracon Yuri Panel Update

If you're at Sakuracon in Seattle, WA this weekend, don't miss the yuri and shoujo-ai panel at 8PM - 10PM, in Room 604 on Saturday, March 25. (Not that both time and place have changed from my original announcement...)

See you there!

posted by Erica Friedman @ 12:44 AM 0 comments links to this post   

Maria-sama ga Miteru Twelfth Novel - Vacation of the Lambs, Part 3

Maria-sama ga Miteru, Kohitsuji no Kyuuka - Lamb's Vacation.

Part 3

Groping Inside the Fog

1

They walk through the woods. Sachiko is naming all the trees. She knows all the flora in the area, and even the faintest birdcall she can identify.


Wednesday


Unusually, Sachiko was up early and asked Yumi to take a walk with her before breakfast.

There's a thick fog - they are hidden in a white world. As long as they walk straight, they won't lose their way. The thick fog surrounds them and hides the surrounding area. Even walking on the road they grow less confident. They may have changed course since now the ferns are covered in dew.

Yumi says that she loves fog too. It sharpens her senses. Yumi can understand why Sachiko loves this area. The guide book mentions shops and art galleries, but not things this far outside town - and the other things don't even exist for Sachiko.

Every morning Gensuke bikes out for fresh bread. Kyo gets meat and vegetables locally. A local woman makes jam. A retired man makes honey from the bees he keeps. A little removed from the swamp, fresh wasabi is grown. All these things Sachiko loves, but she doesn't go to see them. While she is here, she is bothered by nothing.

This place is like a peaceful child's room. Yumi has been invited into a place where Sachiko usually plays by herself.

Yumi takes Sachiko's arm. She feels a little emotional pain, and her chest has become hot, she doesn't want to have to chase after Sachiko a second time.

Sachiko asks if she's afraid of the fog.

Yumi shakes her head and says that she doesn't want mischievous fairies separating them.

They hold hands as they walk. Eventually they see Gensuke's bicyle light and follow it home.


2


Just after 10 o'clock, Ayanokouji Kiku-sama comes to visit. Kiku is the same age as Touko. Her summer home is only about 500 meters from Sachiko's. She comes up to the terrace and aasks for help with her homework. She drops an English version of Genji Monogatari, a dictionary and b5 paper on the table. Her homework is to translate "Mauve" back into Japanese. Translating into a modern language is understandably difficult. Surely Murasaki Shinobu would be astonished. Sachiko chides Kiku - she should do her homework herself.

Sachiko closes her book - she's done with her homework and has moved onto Shakespeare.

Kiku implores her to help her. She says that she wants to do homework by Sachiko's side. Kiku throws Yumi a cold glance. It clearly says, now that *she's* here, I'm all of a sudden chopped liver... Yumi sis surprised honestly, that Kiku is making her the issue. She's only here by chance.

Sachiko says that Yumi has nothing to do with this.

Kiku starts to have a tantrum, saying that it's not fair, Yumi's monopolizing Sachiko morning and night. Let me have her for a little while. Then Kiku goes on to say that Sachiko will now say that she's being willful with her scary face. But, she thinks its all Yumi's fault. She burst into tears and throws herself on the table.

Sachiko pats her on the back and tells her not to cry. Kiku, tears rolling down her face launches herself into Sachiko's arms calling out "onee-sama" over and over.

Yumi picks up her book and says she'll read upstairs. Sachiko apologizes, but Yumi insists that it's no problem. She fakes a smile and runs away. "I'm not the bad guy here" she thinks to herself. Even though Kiku is the criminal here, Yumi understands what she said about it being Yumi's fault. When Yumi leaves, Kiku gets to be the little sister.

The people who knew Sachiko first weren't interesting enough...Sachiko took "no mark" Yumi, turned her into a Cinderella. But, Yumi wonders, did Cinderella live "happily ever after"? Running off to live at the Prince's palace, she'd find little comfort, but no nostalgia over her harsh former life.

Yumi goes back to her room. Although she has ten pages to go in "Kokoro" (the book she's reading for school), she doesn't open it.

She loves Sachiko.

However, she doesn't think that the same love returned is bringing her happiness. When one is by the side of the person one loves, then other people may be made unhappy. A person is made up of fragments of other people, almost like a company is. Being here is not like the two of them being on a deserted island.

Yumi stares at the ceiling, shuts her eyes. But, when you come to love a person, they are important to you. Yumi says an Ave for herself, is her own supporter and tells herself to "gambare" in encouragement.


3

Afternoon came and so did Kyougoku Kieko. Sachiko studied with Kiku for an hour after she cried, then the girl went home in a bitter mood.

Sachiko is like a Princess, receiving courtiers, Yumi imagines. Inside and outside, public and private, people wanted to be near her.

Kieko is here to invite Sachiko to tea at her summer home. Her mother isn't feeling well so please visit. Sachiko feels bad because she had neglected to stay in contact with Kieko's mother, so she isn't sure what to do. She doesn't want to trouble Yumi, especially on the tail of the Kiku incident.

Yumi tells her to go ahead. She says that she'll stay here and house-sit and finish her book. In truth she had finished the book. She thought it would be expedient to lie to save Sachiko's feelings. She didn't think that it was wrong to tell this lie.

Kieko says that of course yumi could come too. Yumi says that she thinks it would be bad for her to have to deal with a stranger in her condition.

Kieko says that that's too bad, but her face clearly says "refuse." And it is definitely not Yumi's imagination.

At 3 o'clock Sachiko takes a pound cake Kyo had made and goes with Kieko to her summer home.

After Yumi sees them off, she comes back to the main room, Kyo comes up to her with an uneasy face and asks for a moment of Yumi's time. Kyo looks around carefully - but, what was she looking for? There was nowhere to hide in that room. Kyo asks what happened with Kyougoku-ojousama. Then she explains that she was asked a bunch of questions about Yumi.

About me? Yumi asks.

The girls were secretly investigating her - but what on earth was it about? She didn't even know how to feel about it.

The questions made Kyo mad - all about Yumi's family, her grades at school, etc. Kyo of course didn't know the answers so she didn't say anything, but...

Kyo drops her head and apologizes, then warns Yumi to be careful.

Yumi thinks that she's been there for three days and there are three more to go, how bad could this be? She tells Kyo that it's not important, but she thanks the woman for telling her.

Kyo says that the girls are of good breeding, high lineage...and Yumi should be careful of them.

Yumi just doesn't see what she has to be careful of.


4

When Sachiko returns from the Kyoukogu home, she is not in a good mood. She doesn't go into the room, or out onto the terrace, but without a word, goes right upstairs.

Yumi is writing her thoughts on "Kokoro" (the book she's reading) on the terrace. She sees Sachiko's profile, sees the strange look on her face, and follows her upstairs.

She asks what happened - Sachiko says nothing.

Sachiko goes into her room, takes the hat from her head and throws it on the bed. "What was I thinking going there? Her siblings and relatives were there having a garden party."

Yumi asks how Kieko's mother - Sachiko says that she was in the pink of health, sucking down champagne and eating BBQ.

Yumi asks if they said...if they asked about her. It had been a while since Sachiko had been hysterical. Yumi doesn't know if she should take Sachiko's hand, but she decides to wait until the storm passes. Just as she makes this decision, the wave recedes and the anger disappears. Sachiko seems to deflate.

Sachiko apologizes for transferring her anger onto Yumi. Yumi says it's not a problem.

Yumi notes that they are both being a little familiar in their language - maybe it was time to let their guards down a little.

But Sachiko is a "lion at home and a mouse abroad" - as a younger sister, Yumi is bound to follow her.

Sachiko suggests going home now quite suddenly.

Yumi asks what happened.

Sachiko says nothing. I was just disgusted. It was a farce. She topples onto the bed. "I just wanted to relax together with Yumi." She says, her voice trembling.

Yumi asks why she didn't just leave.

Sachiko admits that sometimes the Ogasawara name becomes oppressive. She looks at Yumi as if challenging her to tell Sachiko to stop. She says that she loves her family and is appreciative of everything they've done for her, but sometimes she has a dream of just living in a house about the size of this one, just the four of them - it would be lovely.

She goes on to say that ever since she was a child, they would come here for summer vacation, her parents and grandfather - and the men wouldn't have any other women with them.

Yui says, "so you came to love this place."

Sachiko gives a tiny nod. In a very small voice, she says, "I couldn't protect you."

Yumi asks what she meant. Sachiko says that at the Kyougoku home they were talking about Yumi.

Yumi is not surprised. She asks what was said.

Ridiculous things, Sachiko says. Just remembering it makes her get upset all over again. They were talking about a foolish unwritten article for the school newspaper.

Now what, think Yumi, and asks Sachiko to tell her. Outwardly, Yumi seems cool, but inside she's uneasy.

Sachiko finally admits that it was about the rice. It's not even worth mentioning.

Ah, Yumi thinks, it was the rice. Well, that would make a funny story. Yumi apologizes for embarrassing Sachiko.

Sachiko says that that's not it. She's sorry for embarrassing Yumi. Don't you understand, she asks. I didn't notice your discomfort, or the pain in your eyes. That's the worst.

Sachiko isn't good at conveying her feelings. Like an irritable child, Sachiko lifts her palms up to the ceiling and kicks her feet. She makes fists and brings her arms down. Yumi, she says, I wanted you to think of our time together as fun.

Yumi says emphatically that it is fun. Sachiko calls her a liar. Yumi insists - no, really, hard times, painful times, they are all fun. Sachiko starts to relax her fists.

Yumi goes on to say that just being together with Sachiko is happiness and asks Sachiko "Can't you understand?" If Sachiko wants to go home, then of course, she will go with her. If Sachiko decides to stay, we'll be together. Yumi smiles, and she can see that Sachiko's expression has softened, so she sighs. Sachiko says that she does understand, and if Yumi's willing, she'd like to stay through Monday. Yumi can tell that Sachiko is thinking that she really hates to run away.


5

Friday morning they receive an invitation to a party from Saionji Yukari for Saturday evening. It is addressed to both of them. Yesterday two of them came bay, tomorrow the next trouble. They talk about what to do.

"It's obvious what you should do. Don't go." Says a girl with braided hair.

A fluffy cotton-candy haired western doll mutters, "This is so infantile - like grade school teasing." Sitting next to the western doll is a Japanese doll.

At first glance, looking like a boy, the last sits and sips her tea, but says nothing.

It's just after noon on Saturday.

This intimate scene is in the Rose Mansion...not. Wrong, it's the Ogawasara summer home. Not a dream, or a prayer by a hopeless Yumi, either. These are the real thing.

It's not chance, either.

On Wednesday Yumi had sent out postcards. Thursday they arrived at the Shimazu and Toudou households. Yoshino and Shimako conferred and decided to go to Sachiko's summer house. Since Rei and Yoshino's plans were for Friday, they decided they could visit Saturday.

Yoshino tells Yumi that her postcard sounded grown up and bored. So, she talked to Shimako about it. Since the house's address was written on the card, they both got the feeling that they were being asked to come. Yoshino apologizes if they jumped to a conclusion - and is surprised that Sachiko was the one who wrote the address.

Shimako looks a little ashamed, but Noriko says that if the address was on a postcard, it meant that Rosa Chinensis wanted them to come.

Yumi thinks that Sachiko did it for her.

But, back to the party. Sachiko hasn't sent an answer to the invitation - there hardly seems any point in doing so this close to the party. Yumi says that Sachiko is perplexed about what to do.

Sachiko is currently at Touko's family's home. She was reluctant to leave, but Touko's grandfather is there - he was Sachiko's deceased grandmother's attending physician and she feels she ought to visit.

Rei says that she understands Sachiko. Yoshino says, "Understand what? " Rei explains - Sachiko is very upset . It's hard to not take up the challenge when its provoked. And if she retreats, it wouldn't drive the attackers away.

Yumi thinks that Rei understands Sachiko well - and she says she understands, somehow.

Rei goes on to say that the challenge is to Yumi, too. Sachiko's afraid of being shunned socially, but more than that, she's afraid that Yumi will return her rosary.

They all understand the weightyness of this threat.

If it were just Sachiko, Rei explains, she'd go to the party. An angry Sachiko doesn't show mercy - she'd wade in, find their weak points and attack.

Noriko points out that this time Yumi is with Sachiko...

Rei agrees and says that that is why Sachiko is perplexed, since Yumi is the target.

Yoshino asks Yumi what she wants to do. Yumi doesn't know which route to choose. If they go, it'll be bad, if they don't, it's running away.

So, you're likely to go, Yoshino asks.

Yumi says yes. Yoshino nods and calls her a baka.

Shimako also says that it's a foolish (baka) idea. It's a trap. Go home - in fact, come home with us. We'll all take the Shinkansen.

Yumi shakes her head - no, she'll go home with oneesama.

Sachiko returns home - she meets their eyes and says that she's glad that they've come.

Yoshino apologizes for their impertinence. Shimako says that if Sachiko hadn't written the address on the card, they'd have never found the house in this labyrinth.

Sachiko boastfully agrees. Noriko says that it's like a safe combination. Rei laughs and calls this Sachiko's secret base. Sachiko agrees - yes, her secret base.

Sachiko looks happy, and asks Yoshino and Rei how their walk up Mt. Fuji went.

Rei complains. They had to sleep in a hut 1/2way up. There were lots of people moving around, snoring, a big old lady nearby who ground her teeth...It was awful.

Sachiko inquires how the rising sun was.

Rei says that they worshipped it and Yoshino makes a peace sign.

This is the first time Yumi has ever heard the rising sun from Fuji called "raikou". It's certainly worth being worshipped, but since she didn't know their religious affiliation, and school is Catholic, Yumi just assumed that Rei and Yoshino weren't interested.

Lots of blisters - Rei says that the walk back down was like an onsen. Rei shows them the blisters on one foot and tells them that Yoshino rode a horse on the way down. Yoshino shouts "You said you wouldn't tell!" and pushes Rei. With one foot up, and off balance, Rei ends up falling off her chair.

Sachiko asks Shimako how their vacation has been and she says it was just day trips.


6


Happy times pass too fast.

The hand on the clock points to 4. The guests all prepare to leave, Sachiko asks them to stay over.

They ask her to return to Tokyo with them.

They part with "See you at school."

In the middle of her beloved woods, Sachiko waves at them with big motions.

Yumi and Sachiko turn back to the quiet of the house.

"Yumi?" Sachiko asks.

"Yes," Yumi answers.

"Is it okay?"

Yumi gives a big nod. Sachiko has decided, she can tell. "I'll accompany you to the Saionji residence."

***

By the way.

Mami and Tsutako find themselves unexpectedly running into each other, far away, in the middle of the woods.

Tsutako asks how Mami did following the White Rose sisters. Mami replies that she lost them midway - I missed the bus they took. Tsutako understands - you don't want to lose them, but you don't want to be seen. Mami tried to follow them on the next bus, but couldn't find them.

Tsutako was waiting for the Yellow Roses at the bottom of Mt. Fuji, but they didn't come down the way they went up and she missed them.

Pathetic, says Mami.

Serves us right, laughs Tsutako.

At the same time, they ask, so what brings you here?

They had both thought that since they lost their original target, they'd go look for the Red Rose sisters. Neither has found them, so they decide to work together.

The come to a low stone wall. It doesn't feel like ther's a mansion there - no high walls, no security, no sleeping beauty castle, no impenetrable thorns.

They puzzle over the nameplate that says "Sawa", and walk on. The next house is more like their preconception, with high walls. But the name plate clearly reads - in Romaji - "Kyougoku."

They can hardly walk up and down, knocking on doors asking for the Ogasawara house, so when the sun starts setting, they give up. As they turn towards the station, they see a mirage - the yellow and white rose sisters, like a fairytale vision.

Maybe its really winter and we're freezing todeath and this is just a dream of a summer day, Mami says.

Tsutako says that if it's a dream that's fine, as long as I can press the shutter.

Mami says, right, it is a dream, we can still run after them and get a surprise interview.

The dream of a Lillian Kawaraban super special Summer holiday supplement, extra large format - a good place to display their skills.

***

Concluded in Part 4

Tags: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Marimite, Vacation of the Lambs, Kohhitsuji no Kyuuka,Sachiko and Yumi

posted by Erica Friedman @ 8:05 PM 1 comments links to this post   

Safe and Sound in Seattle

Today has been long, but I wanted to at least drop in here and say that I'm in Seattle with some of the Archie McPhee, the best place to take care of your tiki, pirate, librarian action figure and bacon strip bandage needs. If you don't know Archie McPhee - you need to learn. If you too have already purchased a fez o'fun and a quart of toys, you can visit anyway and smile and nod, 'cause you too are cool and hip and wacky.

Tomorrow we're going to the SciFi Museum to geek out in a non-anime environment. I hope to have pictures, if I remember the camera. :-)

posted by Erica Friedman @ 1:19 AM 1 comments links to this post   

Event: Yuricon at Sakuracon!

Yuricon is on the road again! This week we'll be visiting Seattle, Washington to attend Sakuracon.

Look for Yuricon and ALC Publishing at Table 147 in the marketplace, near the exit. You'll be able to get yuri publications from ALC at *massive* discounts. We're doing a special $5/$10 sale for Seattle.

And we'll be holding Sakuracon's first-ever yuri panel. Join us on Saturday, March 25 at 9PM in Panel Room 1 (Room 603 on the 6th floor).

I will be joined by several Yuricon friends and staffer for the weekend, so make sure you say hi to myself, the wife, staffers Donna and Serge and friends Bruce, Jen, Hillary and who knows who else? :-)

I'll look forward to seeing you all - and don't forget to check the Yuricon Events page regularly for an event or panel near you!

I've got a new laptop for travel and I *hope* to be connected during this trip, so check back for updates and pictures. But the rest of the Lamb's Vacation synopsis will have to wait until I get some real time...

posted by Erica Friedman @ 6:11 PM 1 comments links to this post   

Maria-sama ga Miteru Twelfth Novel - Vacation of the Lambs, Part 2

To everyone who thanked me for these synopses - you're very welcome. And thank you, because it really does mean a lot to me that you took the time out to thank me. :-)

Maria-sama ga Miteru, Kohitsuji no Kyuuka - Lamb's Vacation.

Part 2


Bocchama, Ojousama (Little Master, Little Mistress)

1 Wednesday


Yumi's book is boring her to tears - it's a depressing story, and sitting and doing nothing is bring her down.

"Hey Yumi." There in the hallway is Yuuki! Sachiko welcomes him and invites him up to the terrace. He declines on the basis that he's only here to drop off the parasol Yumi forgot in their father's car.

When Yumi snaps at Yuuki, Sachiko scolds her, telling her that they are siblings; they should be able to get along. Yumi think that it would be more trouble than it's worth to point out to Sachiko that she has no siblings, and therefore no clue about sibling relationships.

Sachiko firmly requests Yuuki join them for lunch. He says that he has to go meet a friend in town. Yumi is instantly jealous and it shows on her face. Yuuki offers to take her with him to the main shopping street. Sachiko says its okay with her, if Yuuki is going to be with Yumi. Yuuki asks if Sachiko would like to join them, but she demurs, saying that she's been there and the crowds don't appeal to her.

Yumi is torn, because she wants to stay with Sachiko, but she wants to go. Yuuki takes her arm and tells Sachiko that he's going to borrow his sister for a little while. He takes Yumi in hand and starts walking off with her. He tells her that it was obvious that she wanted to go and since Sachiko wasn't going to...

They walk through the woods, past a pillar with a white nameplate that says nothing but "Sawa." Yumi stares at the name, wondering if it's the same "sawa" in "OgaSAWAra" and "SAWAmura" (Kyo and Gensuke's amily name).

Yuuki says that Yumi seemed gloomy and he just made the decision for her - as much for Sachiko as for Yumi, since if Yumi was hanging around being down, it would suck for Sachiko. Yuuki wanted to cheer her up. Yumi thinks that it's not always easy to be cheerful. As they leave the woods, Yumi holds up a hand to block the dazzling sunlight.

They come into town and meet up with a guy in a Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses and a "bocchama" haircut. He whistles as Yumi and Yuuki approach. Yumi recognizes him as Kobayashi-kun, Yuuki's classmate. Kobayashi greets Yumi politely, then turns to Yuuki and speaks in crude boy language. Yumi's not surprised - she assumes that when he's
not around her, Yuuki probably speaks that way too.

Town is very crowded. They try to figure out what to do. Yumi mentions ice cream and Kobayashi claps his hand and runs off, calling for them to follow. Yumi and Yuuki have no idea where he's going and would have lost him in the crowd but for his loud Hawaiian shirt. They end up in front of a coffee shop. Kobayashi says that this place is known for its ice cream.

Yumi asks why here, after all there's many places to get ice cream. Kobayashi bizarrely answers "Because it's just about time.". Ignoring the long line of people, he points to the store like he's conjuring something. At which a young man comes out and hands Kobayashi two ice cream cones. "Here's the ice cream you were waiting for." Kobayashi gives one to Yumi and one to Yuuki, who pays him for it. Kobayashi tells Yumi not to worry about it - the young man was a sempai.

As they walk along, Kobayashi and Yuuki bang fists and chat. Yumi thinks that they are rambunctious, but boy friendship is nice too. She thinks that she'll never get to that level of comfort touching Sachiko.

A couple of big guys see them and say, "Whoa, look, two Yukichis!" Kobayashi calls them Nikkou- and Gakkou-sempai. Yumi's like, what on earth kinds of names are those? They go on to say that Kashiwagi had mentioned that Yuuki makes a cute woman. They stand there eating ice cream and watching Yumi and Yuuki, commenting on the Fukuzawa siblings like they are watching a movie. One says that if Kashiwagi goes out with Yumi, then that would be cool. If they married, it would make Kashiwagi Yuuki's older brother.

At this Yumi goes all shaky and cold - and not from the ice cream. The idea of pairing up with Kashiwagi gives her the chills. The two guys go on, oh wait, Kashiwagi's got a fiancee'. Yuuki comments that Kashiwagi's fiancee' is his sister's onee-sama. Gakkou and Nikkou try to figure out that relationship. If Kashiwagi marries your sister's sister...

Yumi wonders, exhaustedly, if all of Hanadera is here.

All of a sudden, Yumi says she wants to go back. Seeing all the Hanadera sempai, she yearns for onee-sama. It'll be nice to get back to her. Yuuki asks Kobayashi where Kashiwagi said he'd be. Kobayashi mentions a restaurant. Yuuki says, good, because he said he had his car with him.


3

Yumi thanks Kashiwagi for the ride. He's very gracious in response. He then goes on to say that it gives him a chance to ride with Yuuki. She tells herself that he won't try to do anything with Kobayashi in the car.

Kashiwagi tells her to persevere (gambare yo) and she asks why. He says he just has a feeling. She asks about what, because she doesn't trust him - he's not above pulling a prank on her. Kashiwagi just responds that he'll say an Ave for her - the same thing that Yoshino had said before Yumi left on vacation...

Yumi isn't sure where Kashiwagi gets his foresight, but the trial isn't too long in coming. She goes into the house and can hear that there are many voices. Kyo is setting tea on the terrace. While Yumi was out, 4 girls have stopped by for a while.

Sachiko welcomes her back and beckons her to join them. She meets Yumi halfway, puts her arm around Yumi's shoulder to lead her forward. Sachiko introduces Yumi, who bows, but not before she takes a hard look at the four. The guests are all fluttery and frilly like butterflies. Yumi wishes she was dressed like a cabbage moth now in the white dress, instead of jeans and a t-shirt.

The butterflies all use flowery language. Touko is among them, looking ill-pleased.

Yumi asks her what about Canada and Touko says that there was a change of heart and they didn't go. As usual, Touko responds to Yumi coldly, but she seems glad to not have had to go to Canada.

Yumi feels sure that what saves her that afternoon is seeing a face she knows. It's pleasant enough drinking tea and eating sweets, but she did have trouble following the rich girls' conversations: some shop they like, a place in Paris, pleading for a horse for their birthday - these were the type of people who planned for month-long cruises. Yumi remembers a song from her past about people like this. She always wondered who did these kinds of things, and here they were in front of her. Although it was an everyday conversation for them, to her it was like a foreign language.

Just like sometimes she thought of Sachiko as an alien among earthlings, this time she was the alien.

They start gossiping about people and Touko abruptly stands and says it's about time to go. "Speaking ill of other people isn't one of my interests. I'm not comfortable talking about things I don't know the circumstances of."

The three other girls look at each other, not really knowing how to answer this charge.

Sachiko smoothly suggests they call that conversation closed. It's obvious that Sachiko felt the same way, but as her guests were the ones talking, she didn't feel comfortable scolding them.

Saionji Yukari says that if Yumi ever comes out here again, she should come by her summer home, taking Yumi's hand as she leaves. Yumi thinks that's a polite way of putting it. "If you're ever here again."

Touko leaves last. Yumi asks her why she said what she said before. Touko replies that it's just pathetic to gossip. She says she's fine with speaking ill of other people - when it's suitable. Yumi tells her that she's very adult. Touko says not really, then goes on to warn Yumi to leave quickly, so there will be no rumors about her. Her tone isn't friendly advice-like, it's threatening. She goes on to say that everyone admires Sachiko-oneesama. After Yumi became her soeur, many rumours spread. Yumi thinks that that explained the looks the three girls gave her when Sachiko introduced her. They looked at her like "what are you?" then shut her out completely.

Touko asks if that treatment made Yumi angry, as she walks off into the woods. Yumi watches her go, then thinks, that that made four of them, not three, who held her in contempt.

Sachiko is waiting for her in the main room. She asks if town was fun. Yumi comes up to Sachiko and says yes, but...then laying her head on Sachiko's shoulder, says that it would have been better with onee-sama.

Now Yumi could return to being cheerful, she thinks, as Sachiko slides her hand down Yumi's hair.

***

Cont'd in Part 3

Tags: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Marimite, Vacation of the Lambs, Kohhitsuji no Kyuuka,Sachiko and Yumi

posted by Erica Friedman @ 8:27 AM 2 comments links to this post   

Maria-sama ga Miteru Twelfth Novel - Vacation of the Lambs, Part 1

Maria-sama ga Miteru, Kohitsuji no Kyuuka - Lamb's Vacation.

Introduction

The first half of this novel has been translated. You can find it here. The translation is by a non-native English speaker so it tends towards the literal, but it is perfectly understandable and quite enjoyable. Since the first half is translated, I have taken no notes on it whatsoever. (Not entirely true - I took a few, but then thought, screw that, they can read the translation for themselves. LOL) My notes pick up immediately after the translation ceases. There will be many and various switches of tense and person, and even outright typos, because I am much too lazy to care about such things and its going to take me forever to type the notes up as it is. Point them out at your own peril. -_-

I found this book to be alternating between utterly delightful and irritating as hell. The bits where it bogged down almost killed me - but the end is wonderful and totally makes up for the slow bits. I think it'll make a fine anime, even if they cut the edges off. But I fear Sachiko will come off as a complete jerk no matter how they do it, because for a lot of this novel, she's a jerk. It really pushed the limits of my Sachiko-fandom, let me tell you...

Because there is as yet no anime, no manga, no Drama CD, I have tried to synopsize every scene fully. I have *not* translated the book for you, because I want to have a life, not homework, but I think I've managed to tell you everything that goes on - with emphasis on the fun, the yuri and the significant. 46 pages of notes and after typing it up, it's 28 pages long - if you have never thanked me before, *now* is a good time. Seriously.

This novel has got a fair dollop of fanservice. Sean Gaffney pointed out that it's the equivalent of the onsen episode of every crappy anime ever. Interestingly, I had been wondering about Konno Oyuki right before I started reading this book - how did she feel about people slashing her characters all over the place - it's of some interest to me how authors take it when people do weird shit with their original characters. For instance, J.K. Rowling has said that she doesn't mind fans slashing hers, (although she *has* read several, and has been quite surprised by her fans "creativity") on the whole she won't read HP fanfic for her mental well-being, but she doesn't care if they do pair 'em up. Anything to keep fan interest high. So, I wondered how Konno-sensei felt about it. This novel answers that. She doesn't mind...in fact, this novel *strongly* encourages Yumi x Sachiko. Very strongly. She practically beats you to death with the yuri bat. If nosebleeds were a literary technique, Yumi would have had anemia. (Which is actually a very funny doujinshi I own, now that I think about it...)

Anyway - go to the above link, read the translation and catch up with Part 1 immediately afterward. :-)

Part 1


A Message of Pressed Leaves

1 (continued from the translation linked above)

Sachiko introduces Yumi to the property managers as her younger sister. Sawamura Kyo and her husband Gensuke have been with the family forever. They greet Yumi warmly and encourage her to relax and rely on them while she's there.

The driver, Matsui, has to return to town - he thanks Yumi for the food. As he drives away, Yumi feels a little lonely. She sort of expected him to be there the whole week.

They enter a large hall and go through to a terrace where Kyo serves them tea and scones with homemade strawberry jam made by a local woman. Kyo asks after "the master" and "the little master". Sachiko replies that her grandfather and father are well. Kyo then asks after Sayoko-ojousama. Sachiko says that she's fighting off a cold, but otherwise well. Yumi thinks that Kyo and Gensuke must really have been with the family forever, if they think of Sachiko's father and mother as the little master and mistress.

Kyo says to Yumi-sama, that there's an express package that was delivered for you. Yumi is like, "huh?" Kyo brings out this heavy package. As she opens it, sweat begins to roll down Yumi's back - it's a 5k bag of rice, sent by her mother. (Good rice, but really...) Sachiko thinks this is absolutely hysterical - she is literally doubled over with laughter, holding her stomach. She says that no wonder Yumi and Yuuki are such great people - they were raised in such a family... Yumi wonders if that's a compliment, she doesn't know, but Sachiko seems to be having a lot of fun.

Sachiko tells Kyo to use this rice the whole time they are there, since Yumi's mom's onigiri was made with it and they were so delicious.

After tea Sachiko goes into the front room to play piano. Yumi follows. It's a 10-tatami room (about 30 sq meters or 35 sq. yards). No sofa, but there's a dining table with 6 chair, a fireplace and upright piano. Sachiko asks what Yumi would like her to play and without thinking Yumi says Gounod's "Ave Maria". Sachiko begins to play from memory.

It's an important piece to Yumi. Last spring, Sachiko played it for the 1st-year's welcoming ceremony and in that moment, Yumi was enchanted by the one called Ogasawara Sachiko. One year later, this same woman is her onee-sama.

Yumi's memories continue:

Although Sachiko probably doesn't remember it, just before they became soeur, they played a short phrase of this piece together in the music room. It would be impertinent to call it a "duet", but Yumi played the tune, while Sachiko played the left hand part. To Yumi, this is a precious memory. Therefore, of all the many "Ave Maria"s, this is the version she loves best.

Sachiko's fingers move across the keyboard as if they are dancing. It was fitting that a beautiful onee-sama play this song of praise to Maria-sama.

At some point Kyo and Gensuke had entered the room to listen, so when Sachiko finishes, the three of them burst into loud applause.



2

Upstairs there are three bedrooms. Kyo and Gensuke will share while they are there, so they each have their own bedroom. Yumi would prefer to share one, but Sachiko says that she tends to read at night and doesn't want the light to bother Yumi. Yumi thinks that that's a nice way of asking for alone time, so Yumi sucks it up.

Saying that she's going to pack, Sachiko goes into her room. Yumi wants to stay with her a bit more, but doesn't have the courage to follow her. Not wanting to be left in the hallway by herself, she goes into her room.

The room is an 8-tatami room, with toilet and bath. Phone and TV excluded - it has the feeling of an old hotel room. The bed is a full, there's an antique armoire, chest of drawers, desk and chair. The walls are white plaster, with dark wooden beams and pillars. From the open window a pleasant breeze blows through the curtains. Yumi puts her basket in the corner and rolls on the bed.

Here she is, at Sachiko's summer house.

What would happen for the next week?

Now that she was actually here, Yumi's nervousness and excitement increase. Other than the managers Kyo and Gensuke, they were completely alone. At school, Sachiko was Rosa Chinensis for everyone, but here Yumi would have a monopoly on onee-sama.

"Yay!" she banzais, when suddenly she hears a knock on the door. She can't tell which door, but then Kyo calls out "Yumi-sama?". She jumps from the bed and answers the door. It's Kyo with her cooler bag and lunch box all washed. Kyo proceeds to ask her about the menu for the bentou. Kyo asks if the onigiri had umeboshi in it - Yumi think she has ESP. Kyo wonders what Sachiko ate of the bentou and Yumi tells her one of each. Kyo sighs heavily and Yumi worries that she's perhaps fed Sachiko something she shouldn't have...but then, Yumi didn't see Sachiko's face explode or anything.

Kyo apologizes, she was just trying to plan the lunch and dinner menu - that's why I asked. Yumi offers to assist. Kyo, very firmly refuses. You're the mistress's little sister which makes you a daughter of the Ogasawara house. I'll be scolded if you helped. Kyo tells Yumi that lunch will be at 12:30 and takes her leave.

Yumi checks her watch - two hours to go, but she just had two scones and tea - she can't imagine being hungry. She changes out of her dress into a t-shirt and denim skirt.



3

When Yumi goes down for lunch, Sachiko doesn't show. Kyo says that Sachiko said she wants to lie down a little, she doesn't want any lunch. Kyo asks Yumi whether she would like to eat on the terrace or in the main room. Yumi doesn't care, so Kyo suggests the terrace, since the weather is nice.

Yumi sits at the table, thinking that she and Sachiko won't be eating together. Kyo explains that Sachiko does this every year - when she arrives, she rests until dinner. Probably the travel sickness medicine makes her feel tired. Kyo asks belatedly if there's anything Yumi doesn't care for and Yumi assures her she'll eat anything.

Kyo is relieved. She says that she planned egg and chicken sandwiches for lunch with cafe' au lait. Yumi responds politely, with deference - Kyo asks her not to speak that way to her. Yumi's response is to be opposed to talking down to Kyo, as the woman is older than she is - and she wasn't born an ojou-sama. Yumi inquires if Kyo and Gensuke don't share a room usually. Kyo says that they sleep separately, but she stops smiling as she answers, and Yumi thinks that this is an area that employers and guests are not supposed talk about with the help.

Yumi commences her lonely meal. Without Sachiko she really has no appetite. There's a whole loaf of bread on the table - too much to be eaten by one high school girl.

She makes a sandwich, goes to pick it up and sees a knife and fork on the sides of the plate. Ah!, she says, There's no mistaking that this is Sachiko's house. It's too bad she can't share a laugh about this with onee-sama. Yumi feels like this is a test. So she tries to eat the sandwich with the knife and fork, but the insides keep slipping out the sides of the bread. It's a bitter fight with the sandwich...Sachiko has been accustomed to it and can gracefully transport food to fork then her mouth. Yumi gives in, picks up the sandwich, grabs a piece of lettuce from the plate and pops it into her mouth. Chicken and egg - parent and child sandwich, she says to
herself, smiles by herself. The bread is soft, the insides are fresh, its all very tasty, but it's a lonely lunch.



4

Sachiko stays in her room until near dinner. Bored, but not comfortable with looking for something to do, Yumi returns to her room and unpacks. She bounces up and down on the bed meaninglessly.

After she gets tired of looking around the room, she looks outside. The house is surrounded by tall trees. She wishes she had brought a crossword puzzle. She did bring a small guidebook, but she was already tired of reading it. Rather than stay in the room by herself, she could go outside and look at the area. But this might be reckless to do on her own. Or she could walk to a busy tourist spot, but she couldn't even guess at directions and she might become lost. Yumi sighs.

She sees a small animal, long tail, short ears. Squirrel? It has unsquirrel-like stripes. Chipmunk. She tries to coax it closer, it runs away. Bored. Hurry up onee-sama and wake up.

It turns out that Sachiko has woken up that morning feeling crappy and low-blood pressure-y. So she's a bit out of it.

Dinner includes fresh mountain vegetables - perfect. Grilled trout, tempurared mushrooms, chopped local veggies and tofu, all delicious. But, after all the day's food, Yumi really has to rally herself to eat.

Kyo doesn't forget - she uses the rice that Yumi's mother had sent.

Sachiko asks what Yumi did while she slept, Yumi tells her. Sachiko comments that left to herself Yumi's quiet, huh? Yumi replies that yes, but without you it was lonely. (After all, it was Sachiko who told her to speak her mind clearly.)

(Note: This section is written for maximum double-entendre' effect. It's not your imagination.)

Sachiko asks if she wants to play a game tonight. Yumi asks if its okay, and Sachiko says of course.

Yumi shouts "Yay!". Her whole body fills with pleasure. She stands up she's so excited.

Sachiko tells her not to stand up in the middle of dinner. Being scolded doesn't put out the pleasure out in Yumi - instead, it increases it 10x. Really, she doesn't want to play a game, but doing anything with Sachiko - that onee-sama would make time for her - that makes her very happy.

Revived, Yumi takes an appetizer. More delicious than food, being with oneesama stimulated her appetite.

***

They drag Kyo and an unwilling Gensuke into a game of Babnuke (there were only chess and cards at the summer home), but they older couople never really understand the rules. The soundtrack for the evening was classic records. Yumi wants to stay up as late as possible doing this.



5 Tuesday


Yumi wonders what kind of fun they'll have today. Her chest swells and she bounds out of bed (her actual size remains the same, the narrator helpfully comments...)

She washes her face in the ballroom size bathroom and comes down stairs. They stayed up until 12:30 playing games, after that they all had their baths, so it was 2AM or so before she got to bed. Breakfast is at 8, so she got up at 7:40 - along with all the fathers of the world who were waking for golf. Compared with a sleepless night in Tokyo, she slept plenty.

At 8, Sachiko hasn't appeared. Gensuke comes in with fresh bread, he mentions that its still hot. He's wearing a bicycling helmet - he bikes every morning to get the bread.

Kyo asks Yumi if she'd like to help.

"Yes!" Yumi responds. She's glad to be asked - being treated like a guest dulls her body and spirit. Kyo says that she's being given the grave task of waking Sachiko up before the bread gets cold. Really, a weighty mission.

Yumi slaps her chest, tells Kyo to leave it to her and runs up the stairs. Excited, she runs up to Sachiko's room and takes a deep breath and knocks.

Even though a few hours together ago they were together, she wants to see onee-sama again - she can't get enough of being together. Because she wants to do anything to be by her side, the idea of seeing her morning face makes Yumi very happy.

Yumi knocks again. No answer. No noise from inside at all. She calls "Onee-sama." Still no answer.

She took this task lightly, but really Kyo was right - this is a serious mission.

Yumi doesn't feel confident enough to go into the room, really, but she thought maybe Sachiko couldn't hear her. She goes in.

(Once again, read all you want into this scene, because it *is* written for maximum service.)

Covered by a down comforter, in a deep sleep, Sachiko looks like Sleeping Beauty. On her messy black hair is one bare arm, making the skin look that much whiter in comparison.

Because Sachiko is so beautiful, Yumi, about to press down to shake her, stops mid-motion. It's quite a picture. "Imouto attacking sleeping onee-sama" is the title. Thank *god* Tsutako isn't here, or the shutter would be going like crazy, and they'd end up as a panel at the school festival.

Sachiko moans and rolls over.

Yumi thinks, "This is bad." Seeing such beauty, she's in real danger of becoming a member of the legion of hentai-san.

She calls Sachiko, not sure where it's okay to touch her. Eventually she settles on her shoulder and shakes her gently and tells her to wake up.

Sleepily Sachiko pulls the blanket over her head. (Argh! So cute!)

Yumi tells her that Gensuke's gotten fresh bread and Kyo has made omelets. Sachiko whines that she doesn't want breakfast, let her sleep for a little longer.

Yumi says, "Nope - I want to eat breakfast with you" and a little roughly pulls the blanket down. Sachiko is wearing a tank top night gown - in baby pink, the narrator helpfully supplies.

Sachiko is instantly grumpy, but she gives in and gets up. She tells Yumi she'll be out in 15 minutes. As she says this, she grabs the shoulder strap of her nightgown like she's going to change. After a short delay, Yumi realizes that she's being asked to leave - she says she'll wait downstairs then *bolts* out of the room, calling herself a baka. Because she was just standing there, staring at Sachiko.

Just stand there and gape, why don't you, she beats herself up and runs downstairs with a red face.



6


Yumi's all excited - what will they do, where will they go?

After breakfast, Sachiko sits on the terrace and reads - it's homework. Sachiko is not thrilled, it's a traveler's diary and she doesn't care for them.

Yumi asks if afterward they'll get a little rambunctious.

Sachiko looks puzzled and tells Yumi to do her homework - doesn't she remember their conversation about the first part of summer vacation would be relaxing, because the second half is planning for the school festival. Sachiko wonders why Yumi isn't doing homework.

Yumi says that she didn't bring her homework. She's about to snap that people don't usually bring homework on vacation, but then she realizes that to Sachiko this isn't really "vacation". It's just a summer house. Vacation is a trip overseas.

Yumi asks to borrow a book from the house if they have it, for her book report. Sachiko gets up and leads her to the library - which is of course, huge. Sachiko finds the book and comments that the theme is "yuujou" (friendship). Of course, she has read it. Yumi takes the book and reads the first line. The line and the weight of the book makes her feels that a weighty (important) story has begun.

That evening Sachiko works on English homework. Yumi writes out postcards to Yoshino and Shimako. They say, "Its lovely here - cool and quiet and we haven't done a thing." She presses unknown leaves onto the margins of the cards - she didn't bring homework, but she did bring paste for pressed leaves. That was standard for vacations. Sachiko leans over and writes the address of the house on the cards - she says so that it's easy to see that they two of them are there. Yumi wonders if this is a sign of some kind, that Sachiko is bored with her, or she'd like company.

***

Cont'd in Part 2

Tags: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Marimite, Vacation of the Lambs, Kohhitsuji no Kyuuka,Sachiko and Yumi

posted by Erica Friedman @ 8:58 AM 7 comments links to this post   

Yuri Monogatari 3 and Shoujoai ni Bouken on Amazon

It is incumbent upon all authors to, from time to time, mention that their book is really worth buying. :-) My friend, physics writer Jennifer Ouellette, whose book is very much worth buying, puts it this way on her own blog, Cocktail Party Physics, "I have no shame. Help keep my cat in the manner to which she would like to become accustomed. BUY THIS BOOK NOW!" I just love the subtle sales pitch. LOL

In that spirit, I thought today would be a good day to let you all know that my book, Shoujoai ni Bouken: The Adventures of Yuriko is not only worth buying, you can now get it on Amazon! So if you don't have Paypal, don't want to send a money order, don't trust the USPS (and who could blame you for that?) you can still get the first volume of out, lesbian pop idol Yuriko's adventures as she returns to high school as part of a television reality show. The book has been wonderfully illustrated by Kelli Nicely - I really enjoy the pictures she did for this volume. As of yet no one has told me that it sucks, so I'm going to assume that it doesn't. Help me keep my wife in the lifestyle to which she'd like to become accustomed! Buy my book! LOL

Also available on Amazon is Yuri Monogatari 3, for what I notice is an even bigger discount than we give you direct from the Yuricon Shop. To be honest, I make less if you buy my books through Amazon than if you buy them through the Shop directly...but somehow it's cooler. So if you've been looking for one more item to push your order over that magic "super saver" free shipping mark - consider choosing YM3. :-)

Your support of ALC Publishing not only provides you with fun, original yuri publications - it allows Yuricon and ALC Publishing to do more publishing, events, contests, etc. So, you're making a difference when you buy our books - showing your support for yuri in a concrete way, and getting something good in return.

(Let's see - I've got 1) the hard, "buy it now!" sell; 2) the softer "It doesn't suck!" sell; 3) the wussy, "it's makes a great add-on to an Amazon order" sell, and; 4) the guilt-based "you're doing a good thing" sell. Did I miss anything...?LOL)

Oh, and remember this - if you enjoy the adventures of lesbian pop idol Tachibana Julia in Hayashiya Shizuru's Strawberry Shake Sweet, Yuriko and SnB came first!!


Tags: Manga, Yuri Manga, Yuri Novel,Yuri Monogatari, Shoujoai ni Bouken, lesbian pop idol,The Adventures of Yuriko, ALC Publishing

posted by Erica Friedman @ 1:13 PM 0 comments links to this post   

Yuri Anime: Madlax, Volume 5

Madlax 5 is absolutely, positively worth the wait.

I know that most anime fans have the attention spans of a gnat, so I wanted to say that quickly, before you stopped reading - or if you, perchance, have stopped watching Madlax because you saw Noir and think that it's the same thing. It is the same thing - but better. Think of Noir as practice.

This volume is entitled "Convergence" and for once, the title actually fits. In this volume all the playing pieces gather together on one board.

Madlax and Vanessa have been framed so that the entire country believes that they have murdered a member of the royal family - which they have not. Rimelda (the official translation is Limelda, but I prefer the R to the L, so I'm sticking with my version, even though it is wrong) has been assigned Madlax as a target, but when she confronts Madlax and Vanessa, they give her the data they stole from Enfant.

This entire volume is the death and rebirth of Rimelda and it utterly, totally, completely rocks.

Rimelda dies as an elite sniper of the Royalist army and is reborn as an insane, obsessed killer. Think about that sentence for a while...eventually you'll realize that there is, of course, no difference at all. Rimelda hasn't *quite* gotten there by the end of the volume, but she's on her way.

Vanessa learns to shoot so she can take care of herself, which ups her cool factor a few notches. When Margaret and Eleanor (another name for which I refuse to use the official version) show up, she's not unhappy at all to have them join her.

They all *converge* upon Quanzitta's village, where Naharu (a third name I use my own version of) wonders why she can't get Madlax out of her head. Carlossea Doon shows up too, but he's such a non-entity in this series, even if he is one of the main three characters. (I'm being generous here... his name is pronounced Carlossur Dawn. But because I don't care about him, I'll use his official spelling. Which the dub actors pronounce "Dune." argh)

So we're all together and the three mystical books are gathered. Finally Quanzitta has something to do other than take baths.The plot is pulling together and they are all getting closer, as Laetitia points out. The tension runs high, and there end, while not far away is not really at all in sight. Something else, I like - when it's carried off decently. Plotwise, this is the beginning of the end.

But the strength of this volume is in Hisakawa Aya's portrayal of Rimelda, as she loses her life, her dreams, her status and her mind and replaces them all with an obsession. She falls in love with her idea of Madlax - and that supremely unhealthy love is only strengthened by every encounter with her prey. Rimelda nails their relationship after an aborted hand to hand fight with Madlax - if only Vanessa hadn't interfered, they could have continued the dance.

I love Rimelda and Madlax together, so I was a little peeved at Vanessa too. And in my yuri goggles, now that Eleanor is there, she and Vanessa can play family with Margaret, leaving the fightin' chicks to each other. Yeah, baby. LOL

My first thought - and one that resounded over and over as I watched this volume - Rimelda is Chloe, but done *right.* Not just because she has the same voice actress - but because they are the same lost little girl characters who are living a lie. Only where Chloe always seemed like a refugee from a different story in Noir, Rimelda is a crucial part of Gazth-Sonika. In many ways, she is more part of the world than Madlax herself - both as a character and as part of the larger mystical plot.

The song "I'm here," which plays before every scene in which Madlax gets all bad-ass, becomes, in this volume an actual, active part of the plot. The final use of it in the volume - it is as much part of the story as the action going on around it. If you haven't read the lyrics, do. It's absolutely the story talking to the audience. I was left quite breathless by it. Good song, too.

The liner notes are, as always, worth the read. There's a wacky little note about Rimelda written by Hisakawa Aya, which is very funny as it censures Rimmy about sleeping with Doon, but never even mentions falling in love with Madlax. LOL And I don't know why I missed these, but the extras on the DVD include "Conversations with SSS," which are completely insane dubbed scenes that are totally stupid, go on too long and are really funny. I'll have to go back and watch the back volumes now. :-)

Ratings:
Art - 7 (good, until it gets wonky)
Story - 9
Characters - 8
Music - 9
Yuri - 7
Loser FanBoy - 2

Overall - 9

This was *such* a good watch. I was really into it. I've heard from alot of people that they couldn't get into Madlax, or they felt it was just a Noir clone. I love Noir, but of the two, I really have to say that Madlax is the far superior story. As I said in the beginning, this volume is absolutely worth the wait.

Tags: Anime, Yuri Anime, Madlax

posted by Erica Friedman @ 12:54 PM 3 comments links to this post   

Utter Nonsense Today

You may have noticed that I've added a profile to this blog. I never really wanted to do that because I'm not particularly photogenic, and I thought that certain things would be obvious...but as usual, I overestimated my reading audience's average intelligence. (If you're offended by that, I probably meant you, btw. The folks who are intelligent *know* I didn't mean them. LOL)

Back in November, I answered some oft-leveled charges against me and as a result came up with the new "Loser Fanboy" Rating. Today, I'm talking about me, so you don't have to email me and ask these things anymore. I'm tired of answering them. From now on, if anyone emails me with these questions, I'll send them this link.

1) I am a woman. I thought that that was always fairly obvious, as my name - Erica - ends with a final "a", which usually denotes a female version of a male name. I.e., Patricia, to Patrick, Edwina to Edwin...Erica to Eric. For some reason, my obviously female name does not indicate *enough* that I am not a man. Nor do my comments in this blog that mention that I am a lesbian. Therefore, to make it easy, let me be blunt. I am a woman and a lesbian. Not a guy. No matter HOW many action/porn/shounen things I review, I am still not a guy.

2) I have NOT, in any way shape or form, mastered Japanese. I am not fluent. I am not incorruptibly, unequivocally correct in my translations. I'm barely limping along, ekeing meaning out of this wonderful language with hours of effort a day. I am always glad to be told when I got something wrong by someone who is fluent.

3) I have taught myself Japanese. I have not taken any classes (unless you count the year I did my wife's Japanese class homework along with her, because I thought it would be fun. And I sucked as badly as anyone else in the class. LOL But it was fun.) I am still teaching myself Japanese, which is probably a bad idea, but all I have time for. As a result my reading skills are fair, my listening skills are uneven and erratic, my writing skills are poor and my speaking skills are appalling.

So, frankly, when people write me and whine that they cannot read Japanese, I don't really think that's a valid complaint, because it takes no more than desire and time to learn. It's not a particularly difficult language, especially as compared with English. It IS difficult to master, like any language. If you want to learn - shut up and learn. There is no Matrix chip. Just time and effort. I've given myself a timeline of about 20 years before I expect to be reasonably fluent, at least in reading. Get back to me in 15 years and I'll let you know how it's going. (Think about it - when you are born, you're practicing you language skills EVERY WAKING MINUTE. And it still takes you 7 years to be able to speak with any skill - 14 to write with any and 20 for you to have anything interesting to say. So get a real timeline - not two classes. Not two years. 20 years.)

4) I do not take any of my opinions seriously. If I offend you, it's you. (Read my rules of life in my profile for clarification.)

5) I buy my manga and anime in a variety of places. I am asked often where I get things. Here's the list of places I use to get anime and manga:

Anime: Amazon (clicking through the Yuricon Shop, if it's not listed); Anime Castle.

Manga: Amazon; Anime Castle and, in a pinch; Borders for English-language

Amazon JP, Sanseido Bookstore; more rarely Kinokuniya or Asahiya for Japanese-language.

I am VERY lucky to have a Sanseido not 40 minutes from my house, and a Kinokuniya and Asahiya in NYC which is just over an hour away. But if I'm in a rush, or it's not a generally popular title - or is a novel, like all the new Marimite novels, I get them from Amazon JP.

Why Anime Castle, as opposed to the other online anime stores? Because I like the owner and the store/warehouse is not too far from me - once in a while I drive out to visit. Bill is a very nice guy, is always willing to put up with my and my wife's abuse, and he lets me make fun of the LFBs in his store. Out loud. To their faces. Which is worth the trip out to Queens. :-) He gives repeat customers discounts and he's been very good to Yuricon and ALC Publishing, so if I have business to give, I give it to him.

6) I am old and curmudgeonly. I get alot of puppies emailing me, using "u r" for "you are" and it irritates me. If you'd like to email me with a question, I would be much less rude if you used common, casual language. I just want you to be coherent, avoid stage directions like "tilts head" and "bounces up and down" or stuttering in text, "so, like, uh, yeah,". I'm not asking you to be over formal, either. Just be normal, please. If you are not a native English-speaker, you absolved from having to write normally, but frankly, most of the non-native English speakers who write me have excellent grammar comparitively. I am not 20ish - it was a long time ago that I was. If you are asking me how old I am, I am old enough to be your mother - in many cases your grandmother. How do I know this? Because only people under 20 or so ever ask my age. So write to me as if you are addressing an elder. Which you are. LOL

7) Last but not least - I am not Japanese. Why you can't figure that out from my name is beyond me. But apparently many of you cannot. Friedman is a German word that means "Free man" and was taken by many serfs and slaves when they were able to purchase their freedom. I am not German, but for some reason, my family has a German name. I imagine there was some German influence waaaaaaay back. My first name is Old Norse and means "leader" if you care. I am not Norwegian either. Neither am I Japanese. For the record.

Actually, this is the last thing - remember, you can be mean back to me, but you have to be FUNNY too. If you're already a friend of mine, I know you are mean and funny. The rest of you can feel to practice in the comments section. Being mean and unfunny is just dull and stupid-sounding. Don't try to be clever when you reply to this entry...you'll sound like you're trying too hard and we'll all be embarrassed. :-)

posted by Erica Friedman @ 2:17 PM 13 comments links to this post   

Yuri Manga: Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo

Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo comes with the English translation Kiss, Sigh and Cherry Blossoms Pink. Just so you don't have to work at it. :-)

This is the second (only by virtue of my having got it second) of yuri manga from collected from Yuri Shimai and Yuri Hime. This is the first collection of the stories by Morinaga Milk which, while not really a series, are related by virtue of them all taking place at a single girl's school. From now on, to make things easy, I am going to call the series, such as it is, "Cherry Blossoms". If the second volume comes out with a different title, I'll work out something later. :-)

So, my first thought upon cracking open Cherry Blossoms was that the stories had been reordered from the way they first appeared in the magazines. I have a sneaking suspicion that that had more to do with the printing process and placement of the color pages than with any textual redefinition. But as the stories are, at least in the beginning, stand-alones, it didn't affect the series' continuity one bit. The color pages that originally ran in the magazines are here reproduced - and very lovely all over again. There's an additopnal color page in the beginning, depicting Nana and Hitomi, as they walk through a wood filled with cherry blossoms - Hitomi gesturing back to Abe and Tachibana who are also enjoying the petals. Appallingly cute,as you can imagine. :-)

As I did with the first volume of Strawberry Shake Sweet, let's begin from the beginning as if we have never read these stories.

Cherry Blossoms is a series of connected stories about girls in love at what is a private girl's school. In and of itself, this is not an original idea. But these are well executed, with a variety of personalities, character types and situations, so unless one objects strongly to the idea of high school girls in love, then it's a pleasant enough example of same.

We begin with Nana and Hitomi, two girls who have been in school together since time immemorial but, for mysterious (to Nana, at least) reasons, Hitomi did not go to the same high school as she. The story starts off with her dreaming of the time she learned Hitomi would be going to another school. She wakes in tears. Nana is a pleasant girl, and has made some friends in the new school, but she's lonely without Hitomi. One Sunday she runs into Hitomi who, having joined the basketball team at her new school has shorn her locks, and seems to be very friendly with her teammmate. Nana tries not to be jealous and stricken. Hitomi jumps unmbrellas to return home with Nana, ostensibly to see her new school uniform. Once home, Nana breaks down in tears, telling Hitomi how unhappy she is. Hitomi reminds Nana that her feelings and Nana's are not the same. In middle school she had kissed Nana, only to have Nana ignore it completely. Because she could not be just friends anymore, Hitomi thought it would be better to not be near the object of her desire. Nana throws herself into Hitomi's arms, declaring that her feelings *are* the same, she was just scared and...and...she kisses Hitomi. It's okay, Nana says, if we're not friends. Rabu rabu.

The second story tells us of a ghost of a girl who attended the school who now hangs around the school doctor. By accident, the ghost is absorbed into the body of a student, who now wants to hang out with the doctor all the time. The ghost tells us of the time that she attended the school. She was very ill, and the girl who is now the doctor spent time with her every day. Ultimately the ghost grew to love her. Her friend went on to become the doctor to spend her days in the same office they had been in together. As they talk, the doctor realizes what has happened, and she addresses her friend by name. They kiss briefly, the ghost leaves the student's body and all returns to normal...except that the student now has an inexplicable crush on the doctor. :-)

The next chapter is probably my second favorite, and the couple I most hope we get to see more of - if only because they are perfectly unsuited for one another. Abe and Tachibana are practicing for the school play. Abe says that she can't quite get into the head of the bound princess, so Tachibana removes the ribron from her own hair, ties Abe's hands behind her back, undoes her braids and says there! - now you're a bound princess. As Aber recites her lines, Tachibana is moved to kiss her. When the rest of the theater club gets there, Tahibana has to explain that Abe burst into tears and ran off after she untied her. The club members are appalled. It turns out that Abe is in Nana's class. Innocently, she asks Nana if she's ever been kissed. Nana explodes, but Abe changes the subject before she can prevaricate. In her mind, Abe says that she'd always imagined that her first kiss would be a prince - or at least a nice guy...but the image of the prince in her mind changes to Tachibana. The senior members of the club catch up to Abe to try and convince her to come back to the club. Tachibana overhears them - so when Abe bursts into tears, she grabs the younger girl and takes her away. Tachibana tries to apologize, but it seems to make Abe cry even harder, when she realizes and says outloud that she likes Abe. Tachibana asks what she can do to be forgiven. Abe tells her to say that she likes her once again. At the school play we see Nana and Hitomi in the audience and there's just enought time for hijinks and goofiness before we cut.

The next story is probabaly the least comfortable or cute of the collection. Chisato had, when they first met, tried to help an outsider, Mizuki, but had been rudely rebuffed. Now in their third-year, Chisato still remembers that day, and can never quite take her eyes off of her classmate. Chisato falls ill with a cold; upon going to the doctor's office, thinks Mizuki is the doctor - apparently their voices are very similar. Chisato lays there, thinking about how her dream had been to be close friends with Mizuki....but that had never worked out. Chisato stays out of school for a few days, and is very surprised to have Mizuki drop by to see how she is. Mizuki apologizes for her behavior so long agao. She had just tested into the school and was being treated nastily by the insiders. She had kiss marks on her neck - when Chisato had offered a bandaid, she was just in bad mood and took it as more teasing. When Chisato returns to school, she's still sick and ends up, once again, in the doctor's office. There she talks to the doctor through the curtain about how she could never get Mizuki out of her mind. The doctor, who we can see is really Mizuki, tells her that some day she'll have a wonderful love. Chisato thinks about that and wonders if, then, she'll remember this - her first love.

Chiharu has always loved her friend Misato from a close distance. She loved the way Misato played the flute when they were younger, and now, after an injury has kept Misato from playing, Chiharu loves Misato's home-made sweets. But really, more than anything - she just loves Misato. During a conversation at school, she's lead to believe that the feelings are one way - and over the following days Chiharu can't help but feel a little down. She is over Misato's house to make sweets when Misato breaks out her flute and plays for the very first time in a long time. Chiahru is all starry eyed all over again. Misato says that she's noticed that Chiahru was a bit blue and her music always seemed to cheer her up - but she's gotten rusty since she stopped playing. Chiharu disagrees. Misato continues - she wanted to thank Chiharu for always keeping her spirits up when she was injured. Chiharu finds strength in this, "accidentally" downs a glass of wine (kids don't try this at home!) and decides to bare her soul. As we cut out, Chiharu tells Misato that she has something important to talk about...

Nana and Hitomi kiss in full color! And, in the following pages, do more than that. But it's all a naughty dream and Nana is appalled at herself - right in the middle of midterms. Sure enough, distracted as she is, she does badly and has to take a retest. This is all complicated by the fact that Hitomi has bluntly asked for them to do more than kiss. It's not that Nana doesn't want to...it's that everytime she gets a look at herself, she frankly cannot believe Hitomi wants a clod like her. She imposes a Hitomi ban upon herself, studies and takes the retest. It's been a week - Nana hasn't even answered her email. She calls Hitomi, only to hear the other girls' phone ring under her window. Hahaha. Hitomi was in the bushes. Once safely in Nana's room, Hitomi admits to being impatient - she couldn't stand not being able to talk to Nana. Nana admits to feeling inadequate, which Hitomi forcefully denies. She thinks Nana is cute, and kind and beautiful, etc, etc. So, eventually, they do more than just kiss.

When Michiru, an underclassman, approaches and asks out Nosaka, an upperclassman, it throws Nosaka's world into a tizzy. She wants to be friends, but Michiru insists that they are dating. After an attempted kiss is rebutted with a slap, Nosaka feels awful. She meets Michiru with new short haircut and thinks it's her fault. But Michiru says it's not. In the end, Michiru decides to be by Nosaka's side, and plan her college encounters for her. Of all the stories, this one was the weakest, IMHO.

The postscript has a nice romantically sexy picture of Nana and Hitomi. :-)

As with Strawberry Shake Sweet, the quality of reproduction is very good - no complaints there.

Ratings:

Art - 8
Characters - Various, say 7 on average
Yuri - 9
Loser FanBoy - by virtue of being Morinaga Milk works, full of rosy-cheeked schoolgirls, 7

Overall - 8

Well worth your money, as long as you don't mind schoolgirl yuri.

Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Morinaga Milk, Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo

posted by Erica Friedman @ 2:08 PM 2 comments links to this post   

Drama CD: Hatsukoi Shimai, Volume 1

Whee! I am so happy to be able to review the first Hatsukoi Shimai Drama CD, "Tenshi no Present"!

There's more positives than negatives, so let me get the negatives out of the way quickly. For one thing, it's too short. I don't know how long it is, exactly, because there's no total on the disk, liner notes or product info, and I never bothered totalling up the tracks, but even it had been three hours long, it would have been too short. There wasn't enough Touko/Akiho and Haruna *still* hasn't said she loves Chika - at least to her face.

04/14/06 Note - upon relistening to the earlier Koi Shimai Drama CDs, I realize I have been a bit harsh on Haruna. She's more expressive than I originally gave her credit for, calling Chika her "important person" in the first CD. And, in the second CD when Chika said it would be nice to be Haruna's sister and be with her always, Haruna replied that she cared for Chika alot, but NOT like a sister - more than that. Chalk it up to my insufficient Japanese comprehension the first time. That having been said...Haruna still does not say she loves Chika directly to her face.)

That about covers the negatives.

Right from the beginning, the language used on this particular CD, like that of the original Koi Shimai CDs, is basic. If I were fluent, this would be a negative. As I am not - and am thrilled to be able to follow much more of the story than usual - this is a definite positive. If you're learning Japanese and want a fun and yuri-ful way to practice your listening skills - this is just what you are looking for!

Let's start with the cast:

Matstusato Chika: Nakahara Mai (Mai from Mai Hime/Mai Otome)
Kanzaki Haruna: Chiba Saeko (Natsuki from Mai Hime/Mai Otome)

Hiiragi Touko: Park Romi (Maki from Air Master)
Kanzaki Akiho: Nonaka Ai (Konoka from Negima!)

Kirika: Satou Rina (Tsutako from Maria-sama ga Miteru)
Miyu: Ohara Sayaka (Alicia from Aria/Layla Hamilton from Kaleido Star/Ezra from Vandread)

Not too shoddy, huh?

Okay, so let me back up two steps. If you recall from my four million times explaining this, the characters all originated as character designs from the covers of Yuri Shimai, Volumes 1,2 and 3. The couples above are listed in order of their appearance. The character designs are by Hibiki Reine, the artist for the Maria-sama ga Miteru novels.

The stories of how Chika met Haruna and Akiho, and how Touko-sensei interfered with them and ultimately ended up with Akiho, are all told in the Koi Shimai Drama CDs, and the first bit will be Volume 1 of the upcoming Hatsukoi Shimai manga.

(I always feel a little breathless discussing this series, because of its fractured history.)

Miyu and Kirika, the third couple have only appeared on the cover of Yuri Shimai 3, and in the little story inside the cover. Until now.

So, here's the story of this CD:

Haruna and Chika are living in blissful oblivion. We get a whole scene of them enjoying cookies together. Whee! We also get a really nice scene between Akiho and Touko, where they meet at a cafe, ostensibly so Touko can check Akiho's English homework. Touko spends a little time flirting with the waitress, and getting Akiho jealous - and she is quite surprised when Akiho really *does* want her to check her homework!

Miyu asks Kirika to please, please come to her birthday party. Kirika agrees, but is mortified that she has no present for Miyu. Miyu insists that Kirika coming is all the present she wants.

One day, Chika, on her way to meet Haruna, accidentally runs into another student, who drops the doll she is holding. It's a glass (probably porcelain?) angel and it smashes as it hits the ground. The student, Kirika, tells Chika to fix it - to put it back the way it was. This is, of course, impossible. So Chika decides to make a beaded kimono as a replacement. Haruna helps her - more bliss. But Kirika rejects that as well - Chika was the one to break the doll, she has to replace it by herself. Kirika insists that Chika find an actual replacement - and do it herself. And as a penalty, she can't spend time with Haruna until she does.

After Chika says she'll do it and leaves, Haruna asks Kirika if the angel had been a present. Kirika says yes, for the person she loves. And she asks Haruna if she loves Chika. Haruna says she does, totally.

Miyu finds Chika and asks what's up. Chika has no clue who she is, but Miyu tells her about the birthday party, and how she and Kirika have been together forever - and she goes off more than a little annoyed at her lover's behavior.

Chika heads out to the shops, but has no luck - which is not surprising, since Kirika bought it from off the TV. As she wanders looking for the angel, Touko roars up on her bike and offers Chika a lift. Touko also says she has an idea where to find the angel.

Haruna comes home, depressed and missing Chika, and wanders into Akiho's room, where she finds her little sister online. Akiho has hunted down the glass angel and sent Touko off to find Chika and get her to it.

Chika and Haruna go off to locate Kirika to give her the angel, and find Miyu giving Kirika what for, because she (quite rightfully) feels that Kirika was a jackass about the whole thing. Chika is totally honest and tells her that Touko helped. Kirika accepts the doll - shocked that Chika was able to find it at all. Haruna prompts Kirika to give it to Miyu, who is quite overwhelmed. And to boot, Chika gives her the beaded thing she and Haruna made too.

Epilogue:

Haruna and Chika, are making beaded phone straps for each other. (Haruna, btw, is a total maroon about this, and keeps dropping beads). Little by little, Chika tells us, like beads being added on to the strap, she and Haruna grow closer.

Akiho is on the phone with Touko, who tells her several times how much she likes Akiho. Akiho plays, to my dismay, hard to get, but does ask if they can talk a little more.

And we all live happily ever after - until the next CD!

There is a bonus track, in which the seiyuu all discuss gift failures, which was funny, as was to be expected.

Along with the original voice cast and art by Hibiki Reine, the other thing that migrated whole from the original CDs is the musical theme. It's so silly a thing, but I was kind of glad when I turned on the new CD to hear the same piano theme in the background.

The cover of the CD is reversible - a new picture of Haruna and Chika, and the cover of Yuri Hime 2 with Chika and Miyu. And a postcard.

Ratings:

Story - 5
Characters - 7
Yuri - 8
Music - 7

Overall - 7

The *best* thing (other than Touko's sexy voice) was how NOT stick-up-the-butt Haruna is in this new incarnation. I totally approve, even if it has made my fanfic for the series obsolete. lol

Tags: Drama CD, Yuri,Hatsukoi Shimai, Haruna and Chika, Touko and Akiho, Miyu and Kirika

posted by Erica Friedman @ 2:21 PM 0 comments links to this post   

Yuricon News: Yuriko Interview, New Essays and more at Yuricon

Lots of updates at Yuricon!

For the first time in 5 years, out lesbian Japanese pop idol - and Yuricon mascot - Yuriko has agreed to do an interview! For a special treat for her birthday, she took questions from fans on the Yuricon Mailing List and here are her answers. A lot has changed in the five years sincer her last interview for us and for her. Learn her opinions on life, love, relationships, book, gay marriage and chocolate in her 2006 Interview with Yuriko!

Links to two new articles on the Japanese lesbian community have been added to the Essays page. Historian James Welker has kindly allowed two of his articles to be linked - truly wonderful information on the history of the Japanese lesbian community and a great interview with the editor of lesbian erotica magazine Carmilla. I can't recommend them enough.

I've added a bunch of new items to the Yuricon Shop. Look for the Mai Hime amd Mai Otome Drama CDs, and pre-orders for Shoujo Sect, Volume 2 and the first volume of the Hatsukoi Shimai manga - as well as Love Vibes, Aoi Hana and much too belatedly Himitsu no Anjerisu, a delightful Marimite/3 Musketeers crossover silly thing. lol

We have new News up, and the Events page is updated, as well!

Don't forget to check the Contests page for the winners of the 2006 Yuriko Fan Art Contest - and check the Gallery in the next week or so for *all* the entries.

And if you are an AMV maker - come back in early April to read the rules of the newest ALC contest. ;-)

And, of course, don't forget to join us on the Yuricon Mailing List for fun chat about yuri!

Tags: Yuri Anime, Yuri Manga, Yuricon,

posted by Erica Friedman @ 3:11 PM 0 comments links to this post   

Yuri Manga: Negima! Volume 9

I was so not going to publish an entry today, and then Sean Gaffney, god among men, sent me this! So here you go - a new review by our beloved semi-regular guest reviewer Sean.

Negima! 9, at first glance, appears to be a rather uneventful volume. We get introductions to four girls (well, three and a half), a couple of others are developed a bit, there's lots of wacky comedy of errors, gratuitous nudity, and people getting punched for being perverts. All very typical.

Of course, this is probably one of the most important volumes, for several reasons.

First of all, this volume sets up the School Festival. As of March 2006, Negima is about to finish Volume 14 in Japan, and we're still only in Day 2 of 3 of this Festival. It's a HUGE arc, and this volume starts it up.

Secondly, we meet Chao Lingshen, even if we don't find out much about her (she's the one-half). She's brilliant and mysterious, and also wanted by most of the school for various crimes. I suspect her plot will end up being one of the 'end games' in the entire manga. Plus, she's Chinese and wears her hair in odangos, but has a small bust and an IQ in the 200s, which makes a nice change from the Shampoo stereotype. :)

In terms of yuri, we continue to have some amusing bits with our favorite canonical half-couple, Konoka and Setsuna. Setsuna is blushing and stammering, Konoka is oblivious. Setsuna sees Konoka in underwear, she gets very embarrassed. We're
sort of in a comedy holding pattern here.

Of interest, though, is another 'non-canon' couple. We meet the class's resident ghost, Sayo, a cute yet klutzy girl who was murdered in the 1940s but who still haunts the classroom. After being 'outed' by the class, she finds that she can actually be seen by reporter girl Kazumi, possibly as they sit next to each other. The interaction between the two is cute, and naturally since Kazumi's the one who can see her, Sayo rarely leaves her side after this. Many fans like these two as a yuri couple, despite the obvious problems (such as one partner being non-corporeal), but it's pure fan speculation.

This is a good if not great volume of Negima, but it does set up the Festival, and there are some very good stories coming up in that. Recommended.

Thanks Sean! The way you describe this almost makes me want to read it - which is quite a feat, let me tell you! :-)

Tags: Manga, Not Really Yuri Manga, Konoka and Setsuna, Negima!, Mahou Sensei Negi, Magister negi Magi

posted by Erica Friedman @ 8:22 PM 1 comments links to this post   

Live Action: D.E.B.S.

D.E.B.S. is a really cute idea with one massively huge fatal flaw.

The movie, in case you don't know, is a longer version based on a short of the same name that made the rounds of G/L/B/T film fests a few years ago. The short got a lot of positive feedback, and the director, Angela Robinson, got funding for a longer movie-length version. The premise in both is the same - that there is an elite force of schoolgirls who fight evil and blah blah blah. Oh, and wear fetish versions of a Catholic school uniform. Of course.

Here is the official "Product Description" from the Amazon website, because frankly, it says it all, fairly coherently:

Sultry crime boss Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster, The Fast and the Furious) is back in the states (sic) and the D.E.B.S.- an elite team of paramilitary college co-ed superspies- are hot on her trail. But when their top agent, gorgeous Amy Bradshaw (Sara Foster, The Big Bounce), mysteriously disappears after coming face to face with the attractive young villainess, the D.E.B.S. begin a full-scale search for Lucy's secret lair, never suspecting that Amy may not want to be rescued after all, in this smart and sexy spy spoof about love at first gun sight.

Okay. That about covers the plot in PR-speak. Here's the good and bad.

Notably, the first time the DEBS are surveilling Lucy, they think she's meeting a top assasin to plot someting evil. In fact, she's on a blind date. I thought that was amusing.

And that's what this movie is - amusing. It's not really *good*, or well-acted or well-written or anything, but it is a nice hour+ worth of entertainment.

The attraction between Lucy and Amy is pretty solid. When they kiss it looks just like a kiss. They don't kiss *enough*, but we are led to believe that they do more than that, with the usual implied bed scene. (I notice that this movie is rated PG-13. For once, I actually agree that the rating is spot on.) So no heavy bed scenes, but you know, it wouldn't have made this movie better, and woud have just gotten tiresome, so it's no loss to overall enjoyment.

Now, here's the fatal flaw - the prologue of the movie tells us that buried within the SAT test is another test, the one the D.E.B.S. organization uses to recruit possible operatives. Amy, our lead, is supposed to have been the "perfect score." They beat this to DEATH in the movie, bludgeoning both Amy and the viewer with the concept repeatedly. In frustration, Amuy finally asks what the test tested.

This is a multi-part flaw.

1) They told us in the prologue what it tested. So, how bad is our short-term memory?

The test tested the ability to lie.

2) Why would "lying" be a good quality for a spy? I'd much prefer to have someone with superior tactical abilities than someone who could lie. Also someone who could shoot, stay up for days on end without sleep, and who had excellent hearing, eyesight and memory. But that's just me.

Now - these two complaints are just "hand-waves." WE know what the test tested - maybe the characters don't. And "lying" may just be the simplification for a complex set of skills. So these are not fatal flaws, just minor ones. HOWEVER...

3) Amy is the most miserable liar EVER, in all the history of girls sneaking out after curfew and lying about it. She's nervous, awkward, obvious, uncreative and guilty. Exactly the opposite of the "perfect" liar.

So...kaboom. Fatal flaw. Watching Amy screw up the biggest lie of her life, as she rejects Lucy publicly (in a stupid, overcomplex and drawn out end scene) was excruciating. If I had been writing it, she'd have lied like a champ, then swung off in Lucy's arms kissing her evil lover soundly in front of everyone. But that's me. Instead they went for the tired and true "hurting Lucy's feelings, but then repudiating the lie and going off with her"-type ending.

In any case, the girl got the girl. But the flaw really killed the end.

So, having said that, Lucy was as wondeful as Amy was awful. She made the movie watchable. And the silly love affair that crops up between Lucy's henchdude and Amy's co-D.E.B., was pointless and kinda cute.

I found the music video school uniforms very obnoxious, and the actresses were either hamming up everything, or just not very good at doing things like holding a gun steady, but as this was very clearly meant to be a completely over-the-top comedy parody, all those things are forgiven.

Ratings:

Story - 7
Characters (Good Guys) - 5
Characters (Bad Guys)- 7
Cinematography - 5
Yuri - 8

Overall - 7

D.E.B.S. would make a great comic book, or even novel, with the right writer. Stupid fun, no brain cells need apply. But just lovely for a rainy Sunday afternoon and a cuddle on the couch. It just BEGS for fanfic - I'm sure there's plenty, and I don't want to read any of it. LOL

Tags: DEBS, lesbian spies

posted by Erica Friedman @ 12:56 PM 6 comments links to this post   

Ichigo Mashimaro Manga Volume 4

What's left to say about Ichigo Mashimaro that I haven't said already? It's still loli, it's still funny, Miu is still psychotic, I still enjoy it. This volume is not overwhelmingly, or really even underwhelmingly, yuri, however.

Seeveral of the vignettes from this volume were in the anime, so I'll skip those. Of the ones that weren't, the first is by far and away the funniest. A salesman comes to Miu's door. She scams him and steals his goods, then complains that he's a pervert thief. He goes off to try another house and accidentally wanders over to Chika and Nobue's, where Miu has joined the Itou sisters. She tells them that he's a perv, they believe him. The gag goes on as he meets them again and again at Ana's house, and Matsuri's, the back at the Itou's. By the end, Nobue punches him up the conk and he's left a defeated, miserable and yes, hysterical, wreck.

Also notable in this volume is the episode where Nobue gets a love letter, ostensibly from a classmate. (Miu asks if the letter is from human.) The girls all take Nobue out shopping for a dress, then play act what she will say to and how she will act in front of her potential boyfriend. Matsuri takes the role of the boy, as unlikely as that sounds. Miu, dressed as a sleazeball guy, attempts to strongarm Matsuri away (having forgotten than she was playing a guy, but says she doesn't care if Matsuri is a guy, she swings both ways. Nobue reminds Matsuri that she is supposed to be the guy, so poor Matsuri attempts to punch Miu, which fails utterly. In the end, it was Miu who sent the letter in the first place. Hahaha.

In between chapters, there's a Q&A with the characters, which I found amusing, as I also do periodic Q&A's with Yuriko. (A new one went up on the Yuricon Mailing List on February 22. Feel free to read it from the list archives, or wait until it goes up onto the Yuricon website.) The question - and answer - I liked best was "If the world was about to be destroyed, what would you do?" Most of the girls answer sweetly that they'd want to be with their friends. Nobue would want one last smoke. Miu's answer? "It's okay, I'll be the only one rescued." And there you have it.

I thought about writing this review and decided that Miu is pretty much a politician or religious leader in training. I can see her running for student council president, on a platform of lies, then cheerfully denying all of it, and being popular *anyway*. LOL

Ratings:

Art - 7
Story - 7
Characters - 8
Yuri - 2
Loser FanBoy - 5

Overall - 7

Stupid, nose-snortin' fun.

Tags: Manga, Yuri Manga, Ichigo Mashimaro

posted by Erica Friedman @ 3:31 PM 0 comments links to this post   

Events: Yuri Lecture at University of Illinois

First let me thank the following people without whom I would have never been able to make this trip and presentation. The UIUC East Asian Language Center for sponsoring me, Karen Kelsky for her invitation, Bob Tierney for being a fantastic guide and all-around wonderful guy, Rick Partin for setting up all the arrangements and James Welker for being an unexpected gem.

Okay, so I left my house at about 1PM on Wednesday. My first flight was to Detroit where, in order to change to the terminal for my next flight I had to walk down the hall o'weird.
This hallway lay between Concourse C and A, and was filled with music. The walls changed color along with the music. Which all would have been lovely if the music hadn't been super bizarro-evil violin riffs which made the walls green and red and pulse-y and awful. I have a short video of a later moment of "art" that you can watch. My first thought upon entering the hallways was "OMG! I've entered a Kenneth Greenaway movie!" Which is only funny if you know what I mean - and if you do, you will totally understand what I mean. My next thought was that I was trapped in a piece of fiber optics fiber.

I arrived at Concourse A with no harm to body or mind, although my spirit was a bit bludgeoned by the horror-house violin riff. I wandered about a bit and saw this:

He is, of course, the "Spririt of Detroit" and I am sure he only coincidentally looks awfully Statue of Liberty-esque. He was also parked in fron of a food court, which I quite liked. I felt free to choose any of the fast food chains inside. I chose to eat at none of them.



I completely lack people in my pictures. That is simply because everytime I was with the people I will mention, they were so delightful and fun and engaging, I totally forgot to take their pictures. I'm totally serious. So I'll try and link a few pics from other places.

Bob Tierney picked me up at the airport and we laughed back to the hotel, where I laughed some more, because the place was eccentric in exactly the right kind of way.

Yes, I didn't bother flipping the picture for you. The Historic Lincoln Hotel is almost completely unlike the website makes it out to be. For one thing, it wasn't skanky at all. It had coffee service in the rooms and wireless in the common areas (and on the last night the wireless worked in my bedroom, so I got some good downloading done for the trip home. Heheh.) Bob provided me dinner company, good conversation, car rides and a host of above-and-beyond behaviors that I thank him for greatly from the bottom of my heart.

My bedroom had no less than three completely dissimilar, complex and colorful patterns on walls, floor and bedding. I loved it. The elevators had tapestry wallpaper. I didn't upload all the pictures I took, because if you weren't there, it wouldn't resolve itself into anything meaningful, I think.

The next morning I rose at an ungodly hour with one of the worst migraines of my entire life. I stumbled down to the "Library Room" for breakfast.
I shared my breakfast with these fine creatures, and promptly got very ill (only partially because of breakfast - the food was not to blame however. I had the best bacon I'd ever had at that meal.) I spent most of the morning asking the gods to kill me. Eventually I rousted myself up, grabbed my bag and caught a bus for the campus where I was to meet Dan Kim, and lecture to the Introduction to Japanese Culture class. I forgot to get a picture of the class, but there were probably 200 students or so out of 375. About 60 paid attention - of them, 15 were actually interested. There was one actual otaku in the group and a bunch of cute fanboys/girls, who did come down and ask questions. They almost all introduced themselves, which was a pleasant surprise. The one real otaku didn't come over or introduce himself. :-)

I went back to the hotel after the lecture, because I had about 90 minutes until the next thing, which was a meeting of the CQS Reading club - a g/l/b/t book club.

On the way back to campus I saw OMG! Banana! and Ape! They were stumping for a showing of King Kong that night. Earlier, there had been a protest or something of some kind. The chant was complex and the chanters kept screwing up, so I hope it wasn't anything important.


I met Bob at his office and we walked over to where the CQS reading club met. It was more than a little weird to think that at least some of these folks had read Shoujoai ni Bouken: The Adventures of Yuriko, with no real context for the idea of a con, a mascot for that con, or the usual gamut of a priori information most anime/manga fans have. However, one of the group members was an English professor who, while having none of the usual Japanese info, understood fan fiction, which was SO cool. And everyone had clearly at least attempted to read the story. The questions were fun, I felt very odd talking about *my* book. I had brought copies for everyone as gifts. (Honestly, I was torn between that seeming nice, or pompous. LOL Everyone seemed happy enough with them, so I guess "nice" won.)

Bob and I and James went out. I was going on and on about this great dissertation on Japanese lesbian history that I got from Rica Takshima that I used for historical info for Friday's lecture and James says, "I wrote that."
The funny thing, when he introduced himself, the name rang a bell, but I was too addled to put it together. So, James and I were like, "yappity yappity" the entire two days. LOL Because how many people follow this kind of thing? He was absolutely lovely, btw. He sent me some links to his writings online, which I will be adding to the Yuricon Essays page, so check back in a week or so for those. And I'll hope to be commenting on them sometime in the future, as well.

More than anything, James' kind words and generous gifts of information really made me feel as if I ought to really write some of this stuff down - something I've really never wanted to do before.

I crashed at about 10PM and don't you know it, was up at 5 *again*! I hate that, when I have all morning to sleep. I decided to take a long walk aroun downtown Urbana. I stopped at Schnucks, a supermarket not too far from the hotel where I encountered a sign that said that it was "Kosher Awareness Week". I did take a picture, but with my phone, so it's not here and I'm too lazy to send it to myself. It was just a sign - picture it. Anyway, I found that sign unexpected. But then, Schnucks sold soy protein drinks, so maybe not so much.

This time James offered me a ride, and we got to the Foreign Languages Building with time for me to find that of course, my computer did not work with their equipment, and to meet my host, Karen Keslky, department chair of the EALC.
Karen is exceptionally delightful and I'm still pleased to have made her acquaintance. She laughed at all the right jokes in my lecture, and had great questions. Some of the anime club kids came to the lecture as well, and they also had good, if awfully difficult questions. (I'm always asked questions I can't answer like, "What do the Japanese think of...?" As I am not Japanese I can only offer my analysis, which is based on experience, common sense, research and a host of questions I asked Rica Takashima before I left so I could answer! LOL) There was a gentleman in the front row with Karen who I later learned was a well-known historian, Ron Toby. I am so very glad I did not know who he was before the lecture, let me tell you. He was lovely and very complimentary, so between James and Karen saying "you should publish" and Ron saying that my lecture did not suck, my ego is quite replete for a little while. :-) There were about 15-20 people present for the formal lecture, in case you wondered.

Karen graciously took me to dinner with Bob, James and James' boyfriend and we had a great time. Wonderful conversation - and I have a host of copying and scanning to do for everyone. And reading to do for me.

The next morning Bob gave me a ride back to the airport. Here is a view from the waiting room window.


To be fair, this was also pretty much the view from the Detroit terminal (more planes) and Albany (mountains in the distance.) But as I'm used to an urban background, it freaked me out a bit. Usually, when I fly, the terrain seems like mystical letters or symbols that are trying to tell me something. In the air between Illinois and Detroit, everything just seemed flat.

Lastly, in the Albany terminal, I was buying an unhealthy coffee slushy-type drink when this fundraising cannister caught my eye. Note the art the local high school is using. I felt that, somehow, it capped off my trip. :-)And I think someone stole my character design for Yuriko there on the left. LOL

So, once again, my sincere gratitude to the folks at UIUC. I hope to visit one day again - sooner rather than later!

If you have a university with a gender studies/Japanese department that is looking for lecturers - I feel pretty confident about my stuff now, so I'm available for hire. LOL

posted by Erica Friedman @ 5:14 PM 3 comments links to this post   

Physics fun!

Yes indeed, do I have a lot of things to tell you about my stay here at the Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. But that's going to wait until I get home, because I want to show you some of the pictures I've taken along with the narrative. :-) In case you were worried, I've completed two of my three presentations, experienced one of the very bizarrest coincidences of my entire adult life, and suffered from a debilitating migraine my entire time here. BUT, the people are lovely and I've enjoyed myself immensely so far. One more lecture to go and I am free from being an "expert" for a while. (Can I express the irony with which I say this in text? I am surrounded by people who are genuine scholars while I am no more than an amateur. Everytime I speak here I am desperately hoping to not make a fool of myself. lol)

In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you the book I have been reading whilst I travel. My friend Jennifer Ouellette has been a physics writer for many years. She has recently published a book - Black Bodies and Quantum Cats - which discusses in completely understandable down-to-earth terms and concepts some of the most major breakthroughs in physics over the centuries. I cannot recommend this book enough - and not just 'cause Jen is one of the few people on this planet I am absolutely postive can snap me like a stick. lol (She and I met because we both do Martial Arts.)

The book draws on pop cultures references and examples to make plain many of the most important concepts of physics. Reading this book is very much like sitting with Jen and chatting in an amiable way about physics history. From thermodynamics to nanotechnology, from photographs to foam, and from the Addams Family to Reddi-Whip(TM), Jen's book is a genuinely delightful romp through the concepts that quite literally make up our existence.

The narrative is casual, and does not pretend to be more knoweldgable than thou. Jen does not hesitate to insert the occasional caustic opinion or wry comment, and I think that adds rather than detracts from the text. I enjoy a book in which I feel that the expert is talking to me, rather than lecturing. The people profiled in the book are, as to be expected a little heavy on the DWM (Dead White Males), but she does not forget non-European/American contributions, and she dedicates a chapter to several early female physics pioneers. Nor does she refrain from pointing out that those women's contributions and lives were adversely affected by many of the men around them being tedious. Why should she? The truth is, men worked REALLY hard to keep women out of the math/science loop, and it would be absurd to act like they didn't. (I'm a little vehement about this, because one review I read of the book - by a man, naturally - complained about this chapter, saying that it was tiresome of Jen to make such comments. So, we shouldn't be aware that some of the women had to overcome not just the usual sexism of the time, but also extra added adversities like being denied heat and light so they could not study and yest they found ways of reading anyway and excelleed in their field. That would be bad to know...why?)

I've always been fascinated by physics, (especially astronomy,) so I found this book to be pretty much just the ticket for me. Any lack of understanding I have about the concepts discussed are entirely my own - the fault definitely does not lie with the author. I am not a physicist for a reason. LOL

I was quite surprised to find that Jen mentions me in the endnote - I was genuinely touched at that. But don't think I'm just reviewing her book because of that. I am reviewing it, because it's a damn good book and if you have any curiousity at all about the world around you, you should read it.

Ratings:

Overall - 8

posted by Erica Friedman @ 9:36 AM 2 comments links to this post   

Event: Out of the Office, into Illinois

OMG! I am about to leave for the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign where I will be staying at the Historic Lincoln Hotel (and don't think I'm not scared...). I must remember to pack stamps, because the hotel postcard ought to be brilliant.:-)

Anyway, here's my schedule for the next couple of days for those who might be interested. Today I'm in transit.

March 2:

2-2:50PM Introduction to Japanese Culture (EALC 250, Prof. D. Kim)
Manga and Geek Culture

5:15-7:00PM CQS Reading Group (Moderator Cris Mayo)
Discussion of Shoujoai ni Bouken

March 3:

3PM EALC Queer Asia Lecture Series (Lucy Ellis, 1st Floor, Foreign Languages Building)
"A Flower of One's Own: Yuri Manga and Lesbian Japan"

I wonder if anyone will serve cookies and coffee....

I am not entirely sure I'll have good online access, so I don't know if I'll have a chance to report back. But I have my camera, and I promise to take pictures of the hotel's Camelot Dining Room and the heads of the English nobles strung there for decoration. LOL

One last personal note - this trip will add not one, but *two* new states to my "been there" list that we all carry around in our heads. I will be in Michigan at the Detroit airport for a layover. Whoo. I think that means I've now been in half the states in our fair union. I'll be adding Washington in at the end of the month. I wonder if I'll ever be able to say I've been in every state....

Anyway, read good yuri and watch good yuri and I'll be back next week!

posted by Erica Friedman @ 7:41 AM 2 comments links to this post