Yuricon News: New Contest, SnR, Events and AMVs!
Once again, lots of things to see and do on the
Yuricon website!
The
Yuri Events Page has been updated. Join us for the Otakon Yuri panel on Friday, August 4 at 9PM in Panel Room 3! This is your big chance to meet most of the Yuricon organizing staff, to ask questions from some of the world's leading experts on yuri - and don't leave early. We have a big announcement at the end of the panel that you shouldn't miss!
Three new chapters of "Saiyuu no Ryouko: The Continuing Adventures of Yuriko" are now online! Visit the
SnB/SnR page for updates.
And for Yuriko fans everywhere - it's time for the 2006
Yuricon Fanfic Contest! This year's theme is an alternate-universe for Yuri and her friends. Yuriko the cowboy, the space alien, the fish, all's fair in fanfic. Submissions will be accepted from August 15, so get writing *your* version of Yuriko's hunky mascot! Check the contest rules.
Speaking of contests - the winners of the 2006 AMV contest - and all the rest of the wonderful contest submissions - are up on
Yuri Studios! Check out bakablonde's yurified version of Appleseed, and Kyanite's powerful Silent Mobius video - don’t forget to congratulate our winners. Our thanks to everyone who entered - this was a good year for Yuri!
Don't forget to drop by the
Yuricon Shop, where we've added new anime, new manga in English and Japanese, new Drama CDs and even a new T-shirt design! Celebrate your love of yuri in style with the spiffy new black "I Love Yuri" tee.
Yuricon - "For real women who like their women....animated"
Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime 5, Part 2
We pick up the thread of
Yuri Hime 5 with a short post-"Hatsukoi Shimai" story set-up for the two cover girls, Mihiru (left) and Nachiru (right). They are the very bestest of friends and treaure each other but for some reason Mihiru did not join the same club as Nachiru at Tsunojo High...! The reason why is still a mystery - assumably we get their story in a future issu or maybe future covers will have other Tsunojo students until, like Lillian, and Astoria and whatever the school is in the Morinaga Milk stories, we can add Tsunojo to the unwritten list of "lesbian high schools." :-)
Sigh..."Nanami to Misuzu" still presents me with unpenetrable, not terribly amusing shorts. This issue they center around summer activities and much cutesy pouting.
Our fractured fairy tale is, oddly, a repeat from
Yuri Hime 1. "Snow White" stays with her cute loli dwarves, and the Prince/ss is a failure.
This brings me to the biggest disappointment of this volume. The third chapter of "Simoun" is...the last. Without the least sign of the cool plot they could have built, or any hint of the actual war, the manga ends very lukewarmly. Not surprisingly, Neviriru and Aeru vow to fly together. Don't get me wrong - the story didn't end badly or anything, I was just hoping for *more* of it.
"Kawaii Anata" is yet another "school festival play at a girls' school" story, where the boyish girl is glad to play the prince to the beautiful girl, but is really, really hating being pinholed by the rest of the girls. The "twist" at the end was pretty obvious, but cute nonetheless.
The last piece is an interview with three of the voice actresses for the
Kotonoha Miko to Kotodama no Majou to Drama CD, which came with the manga of the same series. (A review of which will be forthcoming.) The three seiyuu are, not surprisingly, high on the "six degrees of yuri scale." Nota Mamiko, Nabatame Hitomi and Watenabe Akeno, discuss their characters and the story of the Drama CD. My favorite moment was when Watanabe (who uses "boku" to refer to herself) was discussing her character's (Isuzu) love for Nota's (who is called "Notachi" by both of the others) character (Tsumugi, the Miko). Watanabe starts to talk in first person - "I love" rather than "she loves". It was probably a calculated moment, but like the story above, sometimes you're willing to accept it at face value anyway. lol
And that's it for this volume....which brings me to the best thing about it.
Yuri Hime 5 comes with a delightful little omake volume of a new comic by Fujieda Miyabi (of "Kotonoha no Miko to..." and
Iono-sama Fanatics fame.) The new series is slated to begin next issue. This little story is called "Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan" which they translate as "Heartful-Talking in Ameiro-koucha Pavilion." I'd probably translate is "A Pleasant Chat at the Ameiro Cafe." In this story, we meet Seriho, the owner of Ameriro Cafe, her employee Sarasa (who has it really, really bad for Seriho) and two friends and customers, Haru and Hinoka. These characters, and the Ameiro Cafe were originally introduced in the anthology
[es]Eternal Sisters 2 which I reviewed back in
September 2005. (I knew I recognized the characters right away, it took me mere moments to locate the right anthology.) The story is, as with all Fujieda Miyabi stories, the kind of sweet, pleasant yuri that makes one smile and sometimes laugh out loud. This chapter revolved around a
Tanabata special that Seriho would like to do at the cafe. I look forward to future chapters. :-)
So there you have it - some good, some okay and some little disappointment, but overall as usual,
Yuri Hime 5 - a strong showing for good yuri. :-)
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Yuri Hime
Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime 5, Part 1
Yuri Hime Volume 5 has much that is good, some that is okay and one or two things that were disappointing.
Starting with the cover, as I always do, the characters are not Touko-sensei and Akiho, as I had hoped, but two entirely new characters who are nonetheless are from Tsunojo High School, the setting for
Hatsukoi Shimai. There is a short bio for each of the characters and a discussion of their relationship.
Starting with the less good, to get it out of the way:I have heard that this particular issue was plagued with some difficulties, including illness (Morinaga Milk is reported to have fallen ill...we wish a speedy recovery if its true), so there's a sort of tentative feel to the whole issue. There's nothing by Morinaga Milk, Fujieda Miyabi or Morishima Akiko in this volume. BUT, don't despair! We expect to have all three back next issue. Indeed, this issue includes a short bound volume as an extra containing an intro to Fujieda Miyabi's newest story. More on that later...and a little surpise relating to that, too, even later. :-)
On to the stories!
The volume begins with everyone's favorite yuri love comedy, "Strawberry Shake Sweet." At last, Ran and Julia are reunited - with some surprising outcomes. Sena confront the photographer that broke her heart, with some surprising outcomnes. And Saeki gets more exercise than she's used to.
"Mermaid Line" is a new series about a pair of mismatched friends - one who is beautiful, graceful, etc, etc and one who isn't, or so she feels. The beautiful girl, Megumi, jokes that she is really a mermaid, but seems to swim awfully badly for one. :-) When, after Karasuma buys Megumi a copy of a picture book of the mermaid fairy tale, she begins to fantasize, just a little, that she is the Prince. To Be Continued...
The essay on yuri history covers "Applause" - a title familar to those who like "classic shoujo" yuri manga.
Chi-Ran's story this issue, "Shoujo Bigaku" is a little departure from the norm. Beautiful Natsuki (BTW, clearly "Natsuki" has replaced "Yuri/ko" and "Kaoru" as the new "default yuri character name...) is completely in love with cute Kanae. In order to be able to go out with her, Natsuki has cut her hair and is masquerading as a boy. Their relationship progresses to the physical, but as much as she'd like to, Natsuki can't bring herself to confess the deception. One day Kanae ends up outside the school and is verbally assaulted by some of the students for being unworthy of Natsuki-onee-sama. Kanae is, quite sincerely, confused, but the light dawns when Natsuki arrives to disperse the crowd. Her secret is out. Kanae runs away. Natsuki skips school for three days, until Kanae arrives to apologize - and to admit that she was naturally surprised, but decided that she loves Natsuki, period. Happy end.
Taishi Zaou and Eiki Eiki present what appears to be "Little Red Riding Hood," a sequel to the earlier "Female Wolf." This story was pretty much a radical departure from their usual overwrought tone - and as a result, it was GREAT!. Fuyuka, having been given encouragement by the school doctore to pursue her feelings, decides that she's going after Natsuki (ahem) the school's female "wolf". She devises the usual "Come over to my house, no one else will be there" stratagem and awaits Natsuki's arrival with nervous anticipation. Natsuki arrives and the two proceed to eat dinner, dessert, play a video game and watch a movie. Natsuki thanks Fuyuka for a fun evening and takes her leave.... Leaving poor over-stimulated Fuyuka a complete mess. Was she wrong about Natsuki's feelings? She ponders the question at school, as Natsuki has a run-in with the school's "jaguar" to her "wolf", Haruka. Fuyuka bails only to slam into Haruka's pet girl, Akiho...who looks awfully like Fuyuka herself. It's a tag-team yuri something! Continued next issue - but who knows what will happen....
Oh my, how pervy "Tokimeki Mononoke Jogakuen" has turned out to be. I don't know why I was surprised, really. The original color splash for it was pretty suggestive and, as I pointed out, female demons are almost *always* portrayed as possessing unusual (for women, as assumed by men) sexual appetites. Arera is confronted with the fact that she will NOT be communitng to school, and then is forced to realize that despite her claim to be a rain fairy, there's incontravertable proof to the contrary - she's got a navel. Pero and Neko agree to hide the fact and encourage her to participate in normal student life. Arera agrees, until she's told that normal student life appears to include a lot of okazu...if you get my meaning. If not, check out the
very first post here ever.
Color pages of "midsummer love" follows, with random couples shown sexing it up. A few lines fill in details about each, as if anyone cares. :-)
And I'll finish this part off with the latest chapter of "Hatsukoi Shimai." Touko-sensei's arrival has the whole school in a tizzy - but none more so than Chika, Akiho and Haruna. Chika's greatful for Touko's ride home, but would rather have been with Haruna. In order to keep Touko away from Chika, Akiho is throwing herself at the teacher as a roadblock. She's not even sure why. In the meantime, Haruna is starting to have dreams about the stressful time when she confessed to her former sempai and was (it's implied) rejected - the thing that made her originally so cold to Chika. We learn that the dream had gone away since Chika came to the school.... As she feels Chika growing closer with the new teacher, Haruna withdraws, ultimately snapping at Chika in a very hurtful manner. Again, some of the stuff that's going on is new from the original
Drama CD, so I approve - especially the Haruna backstory, and Akiho's overreaction to Touko-sensei. :-)
I'll call it quits here and try to get Part 2 up soon!
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Yuri Hime
Yuri Manga: Sakura no Kiwa, Volume 2
I can tell that this is a really charming little series, because this *particular* volume includes a lot of situations that are really annoying...but I liked it anyway. :-)
Sakura no Kiwa, you may remember, from my review of
SnK Volume 1, is manga series about three girls and fourteen cats.
Sakura's parents have gone off to Brazil, leaving her with her dopey Aunt Tamako, who has fourteen cats. Two of the neighboring girls who go to the same school as Sakura, Iichiko and her sister Futako become friendly with Sakura. When we left them all, Tamako was away in Europe and Ii-chan and Fu-chan were living with Sakura.
Volume 2 begins with an embarrassing situation - someone notices that Sakura has what looks awfully like a hickey on her neck. She denies this, of course, assuming it was a scratch from one of the cats. Until Futako drops by and comments that, oh, by the way, it *is* a "kiss mark". Sakura's a little peeved, but doesn't manage to find a way to stop Futako from doing it.
Futako's main defense against Sakura, it seems, is to be oblivious, and just do what she wants. Sakura's too easy-going...as nearly EVERY SINGLE girl in the school points out. They follow it up by asking how she managed to tame Futako, who never showed any interest in anyone before Sakura showed up. Technically they ask her how she spoils Futako, and she answers cluelessly that she makes her pancakes...a comment which spawns multiple puzzling offers of pancackes when Futako shows up at school the next day.
Sakura stresses about "spoiling" Futako, but comes to the conclusion that she's pretty much exactly like one of the cats. Iichiko spends much of the rest of the book amusing herself by organizing the cats into mental categories, to one of which she assigns Futako every time.
One month comes with a crisis - they are significantly short on their monthly food allowance. Sakura panics, worrying that the cats, and they, will not have enough food...but more importantly, she worries where the money went. When it turns out that Aunt Tamako spent it on books and, oh, sorry, forgot to tell them, Sakura is justifiably upset. Luckily both she and Futako are popular. All their friends and admirirers offer supplements to their bare lunches and they make it through the month.
Back at school, one of the teachers asks Futako to run for student council president. She had been in middle school - and when high school started, everyone still called her President for some time. So it's no surprise that she wins easily. It's also no surprise that she's instantly even *more* popular at school. This begins to worry Sakura, who is lonely at the lack of Futako during summer vacation. But once school starts again, Futako seems to hang (quite literally) on Sakura even more closely than ever before.
Once the weather cools down, Tamako comes back from Europe, and obediently Futako and Iichiko move out. And instantly, Sakura becomes lonely. It takes her a while to admit it, but eventually she petitions her aunt to allow Futako to come back. Tamako is willing, and so, the book ends with Iichiko and Futako moving back into the house and we live happily ever after, with "To Be Continued in the Third Volume" kisses. :-)
Ratings:
Art - 7
Story - 7
Characters - 8
Yuri - 7
Loser FanBoy - 0
Overall - 7
Denial, passive-agressive behavior, lack of communication, way too many cats...yup, sounds like lesbians to me. And yet, I like it. Go figure.
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Sakura no Kiwa, Crazy Cat Lady
New Black "I Love Yuri" T-shirt on the Yuricon Shop
We're pleased to announce a brand new item on the
Yuricon Shop!
Get the all new Black "I love Yuri" T-shirt. It's 100% cotton and has the great Yuricon original "I Love Yuri" design by our own Kelli Nicely.
Now you can say "I Love Yuri" with a subtle look. Of course, take a look at all the other Yuricon and "I Love Yuri" items on the Shop. We have everything from hoodies to mugs to stamps. They make great gifts for you or your yuri-loving friends!
Yuri Webcomics addendum
I should have said this yesterday, but since I didn't think to, let me do so now.
Because I *don't* read too many webcomics regularly, let me open the floor to those who do. Please feel free to suggest webcomics that you enjoy in the comments section - don't forget to give the link so people can find it!
If you are 18 or over and interested in writing a guest review for a strongly yuri-themed webcomic, feel free to email one to me and I'll be glad to post it. (Especially glad as I'm short of time these days to post myself.) Be sure to run it through spellcheck and proofread it first so I don't spend too much time editing. :-) Include your name, so I can credit you.
I'm waiting on my copy of
Yuri Hime 5 and
Kotonoha no Miko to Kotdama no Mahou to, which should be here any day. Look forward to reviews of that and a few other fun items in the days to come. :-)
Yuri Comic: Girly, Volume 1
I love webcomics. Which is to say, I love the idea of webcomics.
When I was a little kid, every Sunday I'd go to the candy store with my father. (Swear to god, I'm not making this up.) He'd get the paper, I'd get 50 cents to buy whatever I wanted - I wanted comic books. I read mostly Marvel and over the years picked up some deeply weird and random books...most of which I still have. Like
Nova, which was a deservingly short-lived series about a kid who somehow got a super-powered suit and still managed to be a nebbish. As I got older, I got into comics collecting and met and became friends with some folks who worked for the big comic companies. (I tried to get a job with DC, but failed. lol) I even worked for a while at a comic book store. I knew, of course, about Indie comics, but was never interested much - mostly because what I perceived as "Indie" was usually bad art and nothing more than drugs and bad, boring or gross sex.
I was just leaving the world of American comics as small indie ventures such as a new, upstart company called Dark Horse was coming on the scene. I even worked with a guy who had a short-lived comic published by DH about a creature that came out of the toxic fields near Newark, NJ. I think it was called "Zone." But for all that, Indy comics never did it for me.
I was aware, as all comic readers were, of the dearth of really original, unique story telling and art in the widely available published comics industry. Some of that was due to the American comics nadir during the McCarthy era, and alot was due to market forces. I left comics when the best new ideas that DC and Marvel could come up with were "collector's edition" covers on popular series.
Fast forward 10 years and the Internet was born. Now, more than ten years after that, and publishing on the net has removed almost all the barriers for self-publishing that ever existed. Writers and artists of all ages and talent levels can slam something together and put it up and say that they are published. This is, quite obviously, wonderful - - and really scary. :-)
So, yes, I love the *idea* of webcomics - truly independent work by people from nearly everywhere almost instantly findable by almost anyone anywhere.
But in reality, I only like a few webcomics. Wait, no...one. There's a few I'll read when I'm really, really, REALLY bored, or haven't looked at them in forever, but there's only *one* I read regularly. And that's Josh Lesnick's
Girly. And I'm thrilled to say that Josh's first 100 or so strips have been collected into the
first volume of Girly, now available on Amazon.
I know
Girly is not for everyone. The art is inconsistent (which I quite like, especially as he started this particular comic trying a more button-down style and over time it's exploded into his usual wackiness) and the story is wildly random (which I also like.)
I was a fan of Josh's from
Wendy and through
Cute Wendy, the collected works of which we were able to give away as prizes at Yuricon in Tokyo, thanks to Josh's generosity. But as I sat here the other night reading
Girly, Volume 1, I remembered just why I liked it. It's got great characters. Otra and Winter have that thing I look for in yuri - that inexplicable electricity that make a couple work for me. Officer Policeguy, the woman with the cute baby...Chupacabre, they are all just plain fun. Even the vile and cheap repartee' between Captain Fist and Assmaster makes me laugh.
The book is really well put together - the strips are laid out vertically on a black background, two to a page for a feel similar to the website. The black makes for a cool all-around feel to the book, too. And if you're an anime fan, Josh lays on some not-at-all-subtle anime fandom in-jokes from time to time.
If you're not familiar with
Girly you're probably thinking, "But is it yuri?" Yep. It's about two women who fall in love and have adventures with rampaging elephants and marshmallow kitties and giant dildos. Among other things.
I pre-purchased my copy of
Girly directly from Josh's site, partially to support him and partially to nab myself a signed copy. When it arrived, it had a lovely drawn picture of Otra and Winter on the inside back cover and the header "Yuri Power!" :-) Thanks Josh - it really made my day. :-)
Ratings:
Art - 5
Story - 7
Characters - 8
Yuri - 8
Loser FanBoy - 2
Overall - 7
The story itself has gotten stronger as the comic has gone on, but Josh hasn't yet lost sight of the qualities that make the characters unique. I look forward to Volume 2. :-)
Oh, and I adore my t-shirt that says, "Everywhere I go, I'm shooting people into space." :-D
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Girly, Otra and Winter
Yuri Manga: Yuri Monogatari News
I wanted to share some very good things about the past and upcoming
Yuri Monogatari anthologies with you all.
As of this evening,
Yuri Monogatari 2 (seen here) is
sold out. The last 14 books will be shipped this week. Yay! Boo hoo.
I want to thank everyone who bought a copy, enjoyed it, suggested it to your friends, etc. We've come a LONG way in quality and value since then and your support was - and is - greatly appreciated. :-)
Moving forward, I wanted to give you a teensy clue as to some of the contents of the upcoming
Yuri Monogatari 4, which I'm working on right now.
ALC Publishing is pleased to announce not only the return of well-known mangaka Akiko Morishima (of "Yuri Life" in
Yuri Hime and the Girlish doujinshi circle) as well as brand new
Rica 'tte Kanji!? stories from Rica Takashima. Yay! Of course, we'll also have the great stories you've come to expect from Beth Malone, Kristina Kolhi and Althea Keaton, as well as some fun new first timers, including a new artist from Poland. :-) Also, a special comic drawn by our own Kelli Nicely and written by me as a tribute to Rica Takashima. :-)
So keep your ears up for news of YM4 in the autumn!
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Yuri Monogatari
Yuri Anime: Simoun mid-season review
Simoun first bleeped onto our yuri-dar as the manga series running in
Yuri Hime magazine, followed almost immediately by the anime which debuted in April 2006.
Now the
Simoun franchise includes a great
Original Soundtrack, an upcoming novel (link also upcoming when it becomes available), a PSP game and some news/rumor to the effect that
Megami magazine will begin running the manga. There is some confusion as to whether it will be the *same* manga that currently runs in
Yuri Hime or perhaps a manga created for the anime...or something else. Since the anime and the manga are telling related but not at all identical stories, and since the current crop of Japanese anime magazine overviews of
Simoun are full of fanservice-y swimsuit pictures of various characters draped over one another, it's apparent to me, at least, that they've discovered their LFB audience hook. I think it's a good bet that the manga to run in
Megami will be less character and more fanservice than the one in
YH - if it is not actually the same manga, simply moved to a new magazine.
But we are not here to discuss the manga...we are here to discuss the anime, which only recently passed the halfway point. For folks who are unfamiliar with
Simoun or who just need a refresher course, here is a link to my
original review of the Simoun anime.
Before the anime began, the conversations within yuri fandom were primarily, predictably, about the gender-choosing issue within the series, and how it might complicate any yuri pairings. I consider it a win for the story that this topic has long ago been dropped in favor of discussion of the workings of the helical motors, the fate of Chor Tempest, and the various internal and external struggles of the Sybilla, the Simoun pilots, themselves. In fact, I've been really impressed by the depth of thought that
Simoun fandom has displayed.
Simoun is not an easy watch. There is no doubt in my mind that if it and
Strawberry Panic were licensed and sold here at the same time, that
SP would be instantly popular, while
Simoun would lag behind. Lowest Common Denominator *does* make a difference, and the average anime fan does still has the attention span of a gnat. The
Simoun anime contains many technical terms, a large portion of which are drawn from Latin and French, and the world constructed within the series is multi-layered and not entirely filled in. The relationships between the characters are absolutely critical to the story, and complex enough that, at times, it's not all that easy to gain a grasp of what's going on the first time one watches an episode.
As I watch the raws, I find myself immensely grateful for the efforts of
Simoun Fans fansubbers, whose attention to detail is fascinating, even when I don't agree with their final interpretations. They very deeply consider all the possibilities inherent in a line, and are doing their best to tell a good story. What gets lost is the thing that *I* want most, which is a more literal rendition of the words, since I am attempting to learn the language. It's a lost cause, I know, so I just keep struggling along with the raws.... ;-) But this is a hard enough series for me to follow - and a subtle enough series - that I really, really appreciate their efforts to bring it to an English-speaking audience.
Simoun provokes many questions - a quality that *I* enjoy in an anime, but fans who want simpler entertainment might dislike. It's a series that takes work to follow - but IMHO is worth twice every second of effort. I look forward to every episode and I am quite looking forward to the next installment of the manga in the upcoming issue of
Yuri Hime.There's much here to admire - worldview, plot, character backstory and devlopment. There is pandering, yes, and fetish hooks and fanservice but, because the series as a whole strikes me as intelligent, I'm willing to see them more as smart ways to keep a wide viewing audience and less as cheesy LFB things. Call it a "handwave." I'll give the series the kisses and the ero-eyecatches, because it gives me more interesting things to think about.
Ratings:
Art - 7 (when its good, 9, when it's bad 5, so it averages out)
Story - 9 (bottomed out in Episode 4 and has built steadily since.)
Music - 8 (I'll be buying that soundtrack...)
Character - 8 (I can't think of anyone I don't like...seriously)
Yuri - 7 (I'm still ambivalent about this...which is good.)
Loser FanBoy - 5 (I mentioned the ero-eyecatches, but let's not forget the uniforms....)
Overall - I think I'm going to have to say 8. I know that every Monday evening, I start slavering for a fix, so, yeah. 8.
Tags: Anime, Yuri Anime, Simoun
Yuri Anime: Loveless, Volume 3
There's a couple of pieces of business I want to get out of the way before I commence with this review.
1) I am neck deep in the tedious grunt work stage of
Yuri Monogatari 4, the newest yuri manga anthology from
ALC Publishing. As a result, reviews *will* be more spaced out than usual. My arm is already falling off, and I'm just in the beginning stages. So please bear with my much slower-than-usual pace of reviewing.
2) I can tell that I am getting more popular - more of you are writing in to tell me how wrong I am. LOL I do read all your posts...not always all the way through, but I do give each the old college try. Don't feel bad if I don't respond. It just means I don't have time, don't have anything to say, don't feel that strongly about it, or think you're an idiot. You can decide which it is. :-)
3) Today's review is due entirely to the generosity of the folks at
Media Blasters, who are very, totally, supportive of Yuri in general and
Yuricon in particular. I am beginning with the third volume of
Loveless because that is the one I was given. Should I obtain the
second volume at some point in time, I will review it. If you would rather read a single cohesive review of the very yuri, very lovely yuri arc in
Loveless, then you will want to read my
initial review of this series.Since my opinion of the show as a whole hasn't changed, you'll probably want to read that anyway.
Volume 3 picks up after we have initially met Kouya and Yamato, and learned that they are a Sacrifice and Sentouki pair. They are also, we learn, Zeros. This appears to mean that they have been genetically created or altered (the anime is vagueish about this - the manga might shed more light on this, but please don't think my lack of information denotes interest) to be nothing more than puppets in this game.
Kouya's and Yamato's arc, while short, is actually quite good. It also looks to be just about identical to the manga arc, so that's something for yuri fans to look forward to in the translated manga. The bottom line is that they find hope and light in what is a palpably hopeless and dark life of doomed combat. In other words, we can believe that they actually do live happily ever after.
My personal favorite moment was about 2/3 way through the arc when Yamato is facing Ristuka, the protagonist. I had just been saying to myself that Ritsuka's deceased older brother must have been a total prick, when Yamato makes that exact comment. Love. <3
Just for kicks, I watched the two episodes after their arc. I spent most of the time cringing at the icky shota and utterly soppy, faggy gayness of all the male characters. Thank GOD Kouya and Yamato weren't treated with the same broad strokes, or they would have been wearing tool-belts and birkenstocks. I kept screaming at the TV "Not every gay guy dresses like that!" LOL
Because the DVD is a Media Blasters release, there is only a subtitled track , no American voice track. This is no loss for me, personally, but you might want to be aware before you buy. There's also at least one typo in the subtitles. lol Additionally, I found the subtitles to be plain wrong in places - in that way I always complain about, where the translator takes liberties with what they say to make it more casual language. Again, not a problem for most people.
HOWEVER, I will never, *ever* understand the thing anime companies do when the character screams one thing - almost always a person's name - and they substitute something else like the person's title. If Ritsuka screams "Sensei!", why on earth would you translate that as anything other than what it is? It happens several times where a person is called by one thing and the translators, for reasons of their own, have them say another thing. My final complaint about the DVD; the opening menu is nigh on impossible to read from 10 feet away - at least for my tired, old, eyes.
Ratings (for the yuri arc only)
Art - 5 (grainy and hard to see at times)
Story - 8
Character - 8
Music - ugh, don't get me started
Yuri - 8
Loser FanGirl - 20
Overall - 7
I seriously doubt that I'll ever be able to watch anything but the yuri arc in this series...it just has too many fetishes that are not only not mine, but make me actively cringe.
But the yuri arc, primo. Thumbs up. Excellent.
Tags: Anime, Yuri Anime, Loveless, Kouya and Yamato
Yuricon News: Big Update at Yuricon!
Lots of new stuff on the Yuricon Website!
Yuri Studios: Seven new yuri-themed AMVs - the runner up entries from the Anime Music Video Contest are now available for download from
Yuri Studios. Winning entries coming soon!
New Events on the Yuricon Event Page: More yuri panel listings from around the world - and two exciting ALC and Yuricon sponsored events. Check back regularly for updates on
Yuri Events.
New items on the Yuricon Shop:
Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD: Nakaniyono
Yokohama Shopping Log Drama CDs
Yuri Drama CDs.
Yuri Manga from Amazon Japan:
Aria 8Yuri Hime 5Yuri Manga from Amazon:
Strawberry Marshmallow 1New Anime:
Loveless, Volumes 2 and 3:
Zeromus One gives us three wonderful new images of Yuriko and her
friends from SnB and SnR on the
Gallery of Yuriko Fanart:
Enjoy!!
Yuricon - "For real women who like their women...animated."
Yuricon.org
Events: Yuri Panel at Connecticon (Saturday only)
If you're in the Hartford, CT area or you're already planning on attending
Connecticon this weekend, drop by "Con Row" to buy 100% yuri publications from ALC and great Yuricon items, like original Rica Takashima postcards and "I Love Yuri" pins and magnets on Saturday, July 8, 2006.
Sean Gaffney and I will be holding a Yuri Panel at (I think) 7:30 - check the program book for time and location.
We'll only be there for Saturday, so don't miss us! See you there!
Yuri Anime: Strawberry Panic mid-season review
It's halfway through it's run and I thought that the
Strawberry Panic! anime warranted a second look.
When I was in high school, I took a creative writing class. I have long ago forgotten the teacher's name, but I have retained two things from that class - the word "transmontaine" and an exercise that we were assigned. Our teacher told us to look through our record collections, take phrases from the songs and construct a poem. I remember this exercise very clearly, because in every case but one it was *instantly* apparent which song the writer had used. They hadn't taken phrases - they had taken whole lines. The one exception was mine. I was the only one in the class who had understood that one could take a *phrase* someone else had created and make something unique and original from it. This is very possibly the beginning of my "career" as a fanfic writer - but that isn't why I bring this up.
I bring this up, because in the course of writing my weekly snarky "stolen meme" report on the
Yuricon Mailing List, pointing out the exceedingly obvious - and not so obvious - symbols and concepts taken from popular yuri anime and manga series, it dawned on me that
Strawberry Panic is exactly the same thing as my now long-lost (and thank heavens for small favors for that!) poem.
Is
Strawberry Panic derivative? Yes.
Is it laughable? Absolutely.
Is it pandering? Indubitably.
But is it fun? *Now* I say yes.
At half-way, the characters have taken on decided characteristics of their own, the story pretty much fixed one of my major issues with
Kannazuki no Miko and with the exception of the lead, Nagisa, everyone has become sort of human. Sort of. I'm not saying this is high art, but as parody goes I'm beginning to like it.
I started liking this anime for something very stupid and small. When they changed to the summer uniforms, Shizuma took to wearing the single most unattractive cardigan EVER over her uniform (because heaven knows that it's too chilly inside that old wooden building in the blazing summer heat.) That stupid sweater - so ugly, so old-ladyish, made me really begin to like Shizuma. Think about it - this is the schools' star among stars. She is the height of cool and style...and here she is schlubbing around in a mucky gray cardigan with a yellow stripe. How...uncool. I love it.
Then, just as if the writers actully understood how to put a story together, they resolved one of the several love polygons in the series, smack dab at mid-way through. Just like you should. They ended it in a really funny and bizarre way, which has changed many geeks'appreciation of ineffective pickup lines forever.
And so, halfway through the season, I find myself in the camp of "It's utter trash - but it's *fun* utter trash." And for the first time in ages, I find myself laughing at a parody. Thank you, writers of
Strawberry Panic, thank you makers of ugly sweaters and thank you global warming. You've saved this anime for me.
Ratings:
Art - 7
Characters - 7
Story - 7 (the bits they didn't steal from other series, that is)
Music - 7
Yuri - 9
Loser FanBoy - 6
Overall - 7
Oh, but the new ending sequence! Truly WTF. I thought the first one was bad, but this one is positively nightmarish. Shudder.
Tags: Anime, Yuri Anime, Strawberry Panic
Yuri Anime: Madlax, Volume 7
Because I'm home for the holiday, I thought I'd try something new today - reviewing something as I watch it. So, I am watching
Madlax, Volume 7 as I write.
The first thing that struck me was the cover of this DVD. If you haven't yet gotten the connection between Madlax and Margaret, then you're clearly running behind. This picture ought to make the point quite clearly.
It's very hard to talk about this volume without massive spoilers, but I'm going to try to be vague and speculative about some key things. My apologies if I blow anything huge for you.
Right from the opening seconds there's a great tension in this volume that doesn't really dissipate until the end, where it's supposed to. How amazing is that?
Episode 24
In the first episode, we finally see Madlax as she truly is - a phantasm. There's a brilliant moment when a machine gun is shot at her and we can see the bullets ricochet against the rock behind her. Clearly, the shots passed right through her forehead. But there's no reaction from her and no sign of the bullets. The shadow Madlax taking all the hits while the absurd dress-wearing Madlax shoots the enemy, was quite brilliant.
Then Rimelda arrives. She's changed, one can see that immediately. There's something like acceptance, and a little relief in her expression. She and Madlax have a moment that changes everything between them.
Meanwhile, we get to see just how much Eleanor truly loves Margaret, and what Margaret really is to her.
Episode 24 makes a really good case for there being many different ways that love can manifest. In day-to-day things, (what my wife and I refer to as "playing house") and in remembering a person after they are gone.
We lose yet another friend and again, it's a GREAT scene. In a war story, losing someone isn't bizarre and can be used well. In anime, a main character remaining dead is almost unheard of. It makes the death more meaningful (in the sense of driving the story) when you know that they won't pop back in a giant reset that renders everything pointless. The losses we suffer here are handled well and are definitely not pointless.
Episode 25
Where Episode 24 is about an apparent reality, 25 is about the magic that has driven the series from the beginning - some of which has only been hinted at. It's a magic with no roots in our world, so we have to take everything we're given at face value, which I like quite a bit.
Things we thought were resolved pop back up, still present. People we thought gone come back, but not for the reasons we might think. And Margaret is not saved, as it appeared last episode.
We get to see Friday Monday's point of view on the events of twelve years ago, which adds the few last pieces to the puzzle - except why Friday Monday is such a crazy nerdbanger. That remains unexplained. Also I question the concept of the "Essence", since it seems to always make people turn murderously violent against the person they love the most. It seems an obviously flaw to the FM's insistence that that is the REAL truth, when it's the same exact reaction in everyone who encounters the words. It's like saying that datura is *really* an antacid, and the fact that people who take it die is sort of a side effect of the true disease within them. Except, as we see that FM is completely crazy, we can also see how, to him, this obviously evil magic spell is "The Truth (TM)". Nonetheless, we do see the truth, finally, of what happened to Margaret, and who Madlax is.
When the calvary thunders down the hill - to kick ass music, mind you - it was so wonderful, if just to SHUT Friday Monday UP. Geez, his laugh is enough to make *me* shoot him.
Episode 26 - Final.
What can I really say about this episode that won't be one great big spoiler? Let's just say this - the story actually ends. And, to the best of the writers' abilities, it makes sense. There are still tons of questions, but they are more about the hows than the whys or whats.
Watching Margaret making her decision this time, it all made more sense. Of course, if I tell you why, I'll ruin the whole thing, so you'll just have to watch it and get back to me on the
Yuricon Mailing List.
And I guess there's something to the bad guy who doesn't die, because this way you can just keep killing the freak again and again...
Oh, and how happy was I when Margaret tells Friday Monday exactly what I pointed out in my review of
Volume 6 - that there was no need to bring out the violence and hatred in people's hearts, because we're quite well aware that it exists, thanks awfully.
I still maintain that
Madlax is the best writing that Bee Train has done. It has the mystery of the
.hack series, without the endless meaningless chatter that goes nowhere, the yuri and violence of
Noir, the despair and love of
Avenger and a story that resolves, unlike all of them. :-)
Ratings:
Art - 8
Story - 8
Character - 9
Music - 8
Yuri - 3
Loser FanBoy - 3 (random breasts, pretty much)
Overall - 8
And what a great epilogue. I love that epilogue. Luv, luv. This series ends with an unexpected bang. Perfect for fanfic. (Which yes, I have written. It's up on
"Worldshaking" Fanfic. Enjoy!)
Tags: Anime, Yuri Anime, Madlax
