Yuri Manga: Tori Koro, Volume 1
Tori Koro, by hai ran, is another one of those series that rattled around forever on Japanese yuri lists and sites, but I had never had a chance to look into it. Conveniently for me, DrMaster picked up the license to it and last year released volumes one and two.
Tori Koro, according to the comic itself, stands for "Tricolor." The cover states, "tricolor-sisters +1 girl / nanase family's 4-panel comics" Not very helpful I know, but it will make more sense in a second. :-)
Tori Koro is yet another
Dengeki Daioh series and one that I read monthly in that magazine. But...there's a catch. I'll get to that later.
First, the plot is a simple one. Nanase Yae, high school 1st-year, is informed rather suddenly by her mother, that two daughters of friends are coming to live with them. Sachie (Mom) wants the house to be lively again, as it was when Yae was younger and her husband was alive. Yae naturally is shocked - she hardly has time to get used to the idea before the two girls, Makishi (from Osaka) and Tatami (from Hiroshima) arrive. They immediately look at her cute, little body and think "yay, little sister" only to be amazed that Yae's the same age they are.
The entire comic is slice of life "4-panel" strips, so there isn't really a plot. The gags are mild, light-hearted and slightly goofy. They are also often based on cultural differences between regions of Japan. For instance, Makishi arrives with a takoyaki plate and Tatami brings a hot plate, to represent their local stereotypical cuisine. (Like, oh, someone from the South of the US bringing a deep fryer when they move.) Other gags are personality clashes and bad puns and some general stupidity. lol (For example, when the postman arrives to deliver a package, he comments that he thought Mrs. Nanase only had one daughter. Sachie says that recently, she was reunited with her late husband's two illegitimate daughters. Yae flips out at such an inappropriate joke. Of course, she also got burned by being put last on the family register at the front door, even though she's the oldest of the three - and the only natural daughter....)
And there is the catch. Between Makishi's and Tatami's accents and the silly gags, I find it nigh on impossible to comfortably read this comic in Japanese. Sometimes I can make the gag out, but often I really can't without alot more work that I currently have time for. So I was *very* glad to see it in English.
Tori Koro is not laugh-out-loud, gut-grabbing hysterical, but it's cute and good for a smile. I haven't seen any sign of Volume three from DRMaster, but if sales are good, then they may go ahead and put it out. So follow the links above and buy copies. Buy several. I want Volume 3+. :-)
Okay, so. The question you probably have is - where's the yuri? And indeed, when I began to read this, I also had this question. I kind of assumed it would be fanservice yuri - misunderstandings between the new "sisters", etc. Right at the beginning Makishi is talking to the person giving her a ride to the Nanase's and she mentions that there's a daughter and how she hopes she'll get along with her. The driver comments that in cases like this, sometimes marriages come out of the situation...Makishi responds, "I said it was a girl!" and I thought, okay, that's the kind of yuri we're likely to get. Fine.
Well, no. Wrong again, Erica. :-) I'm glad to report that, in this case, I just hadn't been patient enough.
A few chapters in, a new character is introduced. Niwatazumi Keiko ("Niwa-chan") sits in front of Yae, is very cool and very intimidating. And, it turns out, has a raging huge crush on Yae. A crush which she does not much to hide and everything to promote.
As far as technical issues go, the book has some good and some bad. Reproduced color pages look very spiffy. Sound effects are written in next to Japanese, which doesn't bother me, although "bill and coo" for "betabeta" was just a weird choice. Using a 1930 dictionary are we? LOL. It does look a little strange, especially when the S/fx could have been cleaned up. There's consistency issues - in some case the page was retouched, in some cases not, Tatami's name completely miswritten in an intro panel and honorifics are left intact in some cases but translated in others, which is very disconcerting. Even with editors and proofreaders, things slip through the cracks. But they probably should have stuck with either American or Japanese honorifics, not flip-flopped between them...in the same panel....
Ultimately, none of these issues make it difficult to enjoy the comics. Niwa's crush is cute, Tatami and Makishi's treatment of Yae is always good for a laugh, Sachie's a nutball and as "wackiness ensues" type stories, this one is not at all taxing on mind or spirit. :-)
Ratings:
Art - 4
Story - 6
Character - 7
Yuri - 5
Loser FanBoy - 1
Overall - 6
Tori Koro is perfect for an enjoyable rainy afternoon reading. :-)
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Tori Koro
Feminist Press Looking for Manga Artists and Writers
Call for proposals
Girls and ScienceThe Feminist Press, in collaboration with The National Science Foundation, is exploring new ways to get girls and young women interested in science. While there are many library resources featuring biographies of women scientists that are suitable for school reports, these are rarely the books that girls seek out themselves to read for pleasure. What would a book, or series of books, about science that girls really want to read look like? That is the question we want to answer.
You’ll find several requests for specific proposals at our
website. One calls for scientific detective stories based on the life, research, and discoveries of real women scientists. Another calls for stories featuring real young women—aspiring gymnasts, ice skaters, actors, dancers--using a knowledge of science to help them become really good at what they do. A third recognizes how popular Manga and graphic novels are with girls, and asks for imaginative new collaborations between Manga writers and artists to create adventures about girls who use real science to accomplish their goals. If any of these three book ideas interest you, please check out our website (www.feministpress.org) for more information about deadline and how to submit proposals.
But we do not want to limit our exploration. If you are a writer and have an idea for a book or series of books that is guaranteed to get girls excited about science, we want to hear from you. You may want to create a girl detective series featuring a set of friends—from geeks to sports nuts to mechanical geniuses--each with a knowledge of science that helps in solving crimes. You may want to create a story about a shy girl who goes on field trips with her favorite aunt, a forensic anthropologist, and helps to solve problems as she learns to think like a Dr. Bones. You may want to tell the story of a young science fiction writer who needs to study different fields of science in order to create her adventures. Whatever your vision, if you can write like a dream and can create works that are guaranteed to instill a curiosity about science in girls and young women, send us your proposals. We want to hear from you.
All proposals will be reviewed. Several proposals will be offered standard contracts.
Publisher: The Feminist Press at City University of New York as part of a National Science Foundation grant. (see
feministpress.org)
Deadline: October 31, 2006
Format: Proposals should describe the project, the plot, characters, and length. No more than ten pages please.
How to submit: Electronic submission (word doc) to
fhowe@gc.cuny.edu with the subject line "Girls and Science." Please include in the body of your email your address, phone number, email address and a short bio. Please also attach a brief sample of your writing (about five pages), and a resume that includes information about publications.
Yaoi Manga: Lover's Kiss
I've been holding on to the classic manga,
Lover's Kiss, for a while, meaning to review it eventually. After reviewing
Audition, I thought it might fit in nicely this week. :-)
Written by Yoshida Akimi in 1999,
Lover's Kiss is best known as a Boys Love high school drama. (Yoshida is probably best known here in the west for
Banana Fish.) But towards the end of the story is a yuri narrative that is not without interest.
The narrative as a whole involves six students at one high school in a complex love polygon, which I will attempt to summarize. (I do so under protest...I tried to find a good synopsis to
steal quote, but no one has written one that I could find in 45 seconds of searching. So here we go:
In a seaside town, Rikako (female) has fallen in love with Tomoaki (male). Tomoaki is also the object of desire for Sagizawa (male), who is the object of Oosaka's (male) desire. Oosaka is best friends with Eriko (female) who is in love with her sister Rikako's best friend Miki (female)...who is in love with Rikako. You got all that? That's only the "love" part of the equation - the "hate" part just complicates things. :-)
One of my favorite moments in the manga is when Eriko draws a little mental relationship chart in her head and wonders "What's *with* this school?" lol
Just over half the story focuses on the awkard relationships between the guys in segments refered to as "Boy Meets Boy" and just under a half covers Eriko's story in "Girl Meets Girl."
In order to do this review I sat down yesterday and re-read chunks of the manga and you know, it's pretty damn good. There's just about no histrionics or hysterical denials in the BL arc - very unlike the typical BL story, from my perspective. The art lacks many of the more annoying qualities of yaoi manga, as well. It's much more just guys trying to deal with various difficult relationships, while still functioning in their school and in society. The yuri arc reads much the same - a perfectly natural set of crushes and unrequited loves that don't come with more shrieking than necessary.
Eriko's love for Miki becomes painful when she realizes that Miki is in love with her older sister, a sister that she herself cannot stand. Eriko's confession, rejection and ultimate understanding of both Miki and Rikako make good drama - while almost completely lacking in melodrama. In other words - it's a damn good story.
Ratings:
Art - Classic, but you know, I don't really like it - 5
Story - Realistic, tense without being annoying - 7
Characters - Soap opera-esque interconnections, but that's the handwave - 7
Yuri - None of the girls get the girl, but I don't think any of the boys get the boy, either. And the one girl doesn't get the guy, so it's evenly distributed misery. :-) - 6
LFB (or G) - None. Nada. The kisses are staid and age-appropriate. 0
Overall - 7
In 2003 a
live-action film version was made of
Lover's Kiss. It apparently keeps to the manga pretty closely, with a slight emphasis on Eriko's story over the boys' (Because it's easier to sell movies where girls kiss than boys?) I have not had a chance to watch it, but you can be sure that if I do, I will report back.
Tags: Yaoi, Yaoi Manga, Yaoi Manga with Yuri, Lover's Kiss
Yaoi Manhwa: Audition, Vol. 1
No, you did not read the title incorrectly. Today I am hitting *two* firsts for Okazu - reviewing a
yaoi narrative and a manhwa, a Korean comic. :-)
Trust me, okay?
Here is the incredibly succint synopsis that I found on
buyDVD.com for
Audition, Vol. 1, by Kye Young Chon:
Buok Pak runs her own detective agency, but she's without a case. Business is slow and she needs to make rent. As luck would have it, she gets a visit from her first potential client. Too bad it's none other than her old high-school rival, the beautiful and spoiled Myung-ja Song.
It turns out that Myung-ja's father, head of Song-Song Records, has just passed away. An eccentric man, he had put a crazy stipulation in his will that keeps Myung-ja from inheriting the company outright! In order to claim her inheritance, she has to find four genius boys that he met in the past and bring them together to form Korea's greatest boy band!
The four "geniuses" have grown up into talented young men - but their personalities are not exactly "star" quality. Can Buok and Myung-ja find them in time to sign up for Song-Song's Audition?Okay, read the first two paragraphs again. Notice the lead characters. They are, in fact, the typical love-hate yuri rivalry couple. The boys are, at least for Volume 1, nothing more than background scenery in front of which the two women become reluctant partners, roommates, boss and employee, and mistress and servant. Seriously.
See - you can trust me. Even in yaoi, I can find yuri. :-) I am not alone in this, by the way. My beloved wife, who is not a yuri fan, nor does she go around burdened with a set of yuri goggles, saw a yuri vibe immediately between Buok and Myung-ja.
Audition marks the first time I've been able to review a book by my good friends at
Drama Queen, one of the coolest group of yaoi fans I know. Drama Queen is seeking to do for yaoi what
ALC Publishing is doing for yuri - find and promote good stories and great artists. Their books are always sleek and clean, with solid translations and a good look. Obviously, because of the focus on yaoi, I'm not likely to read too many of their series, but the owner of DQ, my friend Tran, is always shooting me off a few copies of stuff she thinks I'll enjoy. In this case - she hit it head on. Both of the readers in my house finished this volume with "I'll definitely read the next volume." And when you're talking about two people with a gazillion series they're following between them, you *know* you've made an impression.
The one down side of this series is, I'm sorry to say - the art. I am not a fan of the typical tropes of yaoi art, the long-limbed, sunken-chested lads with girlish faces and behaviors. As you can clearly see from the cover above, this particular artist has issues, as well, with proportion. If *I* can see that the head is too small for the body, it's obvious. The story is rife with handwaves but, like,
Simoun isn't? :-) I don't see anything actually happening with Buok and Myung-ja, but that's what fanfic's for, isn't it? LOL
Ratings:
Art - 4
Story - 7
Characters - 7
Yuri - 2 (doesn't need yuri goggles to see, but they help)
LFG - 2 (the pretty boy stereotypes, sure to become annoying in later volumes, are barely distracting in this one)
Overall - 7
Character trumps art in this case and
Audition, Volume 1, remains enjoyable for yuri and yaoi fans alike.
Tags: Yaoi, Yaoi Manga, Yaoi Manga with Yuri, Audition
Yuri Anime: Stellvia, Volume 8
Twice, I thought over how I would approach reviewing this, the
final volume of Stellvia. Twice I thought about the plot, the characters, the yuri, and twice I had the same thought:
Battle Atheletes.
These two series have quite a lot in common. Both are series that ran in
Dengeki Daioh magazine, both have lead females whose extraordinary talents save the world, and both have a cast of supporting characters that are more interesting than the lead herself.
So let's do a compare/contrast for fun. To start let's compare the yuri:
Battle Athletes clearly wins here. There are so many potential couples - many of whom make *sense* and are not just random pairings of two women who stand next to each other on the screen. And there are at minimum, two canon couples - especially if we count the manga. Mylandah and Lahrri and Kris and Akari are couples. No ifs, and or buts. In contrast
Stellvia has only one yuri couple, but a very decent one it is. I once again enjoyed the heck out of Yayoi's and Ayaka's public acknowledgment of their feelings. Not as good as Kris' and Akari's manga kiss, but just as public. :-)
Comparing them as space stories:
Stellvia wins, no question. While both series have invading aliens, threats to the planet and the like, the
Battle Athletes anime has so many other, incredibly stupid add-ons to the basic formula that even thinking about it makes me squirm.
Stellvia sticks with bug-eyed monsters and a gigantic threatening alien energy menace. Woooohhhh.... I think, perhaps, the aliens in
BA might have not been so bad if they hadn't chosen the stupidest plot complication EVER as their means of attack.
But, as I thought it over, the real point of comparison has to be their lead characters. And this is why, both times, my mind connected the two. Because once again,
Stellvia is vastly superior. Akari from Battle Athletes is the typical idiot savant character. She can do NOTHING right, ever, no matter how hard she tries. But she never really tries, until a crisis occurs and her innate skills mystically pop into overdrive. (This is far more prominent a theme in the anime than the manga, which was mostly free of this.) At every step up the ladder Akari starts back at the lowest level until a miracle catapults her to the top.
This happens to be something that bugs me about anime - one of the main themes of nearly every anime is "hard work" - and especially "teamwork" - will get us to the top. There's a lot of cultural reasons why this is so that I won't get into but what bugs me is that, in anime it is so rarely either that really gets anyone to the top. Sailor Moon never really works hard at anything, she just *is*. The same is true for most heroes and heroines of manga and anime. Of course fighting series are full of work, but the heroes follow a similar pattern - they are defeated, then come back and defeat the person who just beat them - usually by having miraculously, sometimes magically, sometimes just from sheer "guts", powered up a gazillion orders of skill/power.
In stark contrast, Shima works her ass off through the whole series. Volume 8 of
Stellvia has scene after scene of her working hard enough to make herself puke. There is the teeniest
deus ex machina at the end of the series, at zero hour, when the clock has counted down to one second, etc, etc; but as Shima has spent the entire series actually striving to do this *one* thing, I can forgive it without prejudice.
And her moment of lucidity arrives just as infuriatingly cool - or is that, clueless - Kouta melts down completely. That was worth watching the volume for because that boy was annoying the living daylights out of me.
So, yes,
Battle Atheletes has more yuri, but I genuinely think that
Stellvia is the better series. It makes sense. No cows. No transgendered psychotic murderous twins, no ressurected dead parents. Just one teeny little handwave and a lot of good solid human moments.
Ratings:
Art - 7 Consistent, mostly, throughout, but never great. The CGI stuff is quite good.
Story - 9 I kept nodding over and over as key "space opera" points were handled, competentely
Characters - 9
Yuri - 7
LFB - 3 The uniforms, so sad...
Overall - 8.5
Stellvia was one of my best anime of 2004. Over here in 2006, it's still in my top twenty of things I'll reach for to rewatch. My only regret was that the sequel was never, and will likely never, be made.
Tags: Anime, Yuri Anime, Stellvia
Yuri Artbook: Urushihara Satoshi Illustrations "Sigma"
It may not be a great luxury in your life, and yet takings surrounded by our "Golusia" means a comfortable daily life." This bit of wisdom was brought to you by my "Golusia" cookies. I don't know if my daily life is comfortable, but the cookies were good.
I gave blood today - for the first time in my life. (Too sick to give for most of that, bad timing for the last few years.) As a result I'm way too stupid tonight to review anything complex. An artbook full of shiny, mostly naked women is about all I can handle.
Sigma, Urushihara Satoshi's most recent artbook, is definitely full of shiny women. As usual with Urushihara, his characters look like they've chosen the "deluxe wax" service at the car wash, with full detailing.
There's the usual fetishes: maids, creepy positions, weapons, nuns, nurses and a couple of spiffy, shiny-but-fully-clothed yaoi pics. And there's some fun moments of "oh, look!" art from his own series like
Plastic Little and
Ragnarock. Surprisingly (to me, at least, as I do not stay up on such things) there's also some very decent fan art of other creators' series, including a really decent (clothed) picture of Mashiro, Mai and Arika from
Mai Otome.
Following all this shininess is a short comic called "RC Twins" which has elements of
Chirality and elements of
Dirty Pair.
And an added bonus, the book comes with a gigantic full-color poster of a naked woman, with a picture of two naked women on the back. (The wife says, "I see your naked woman and raise you TWO naked women!") I think it's safe to say that if you hang this baby up you are *definitely* an LFB. :-) Also included is a card that changes when you shift the position - you know the kind I mean. It has two women who are either in bikinis or naked depending. Hours of fun....
Ratings:
Art - 7
Story for the manga - 4
LFB - 10
Yuri - 6
Overall - 7 (As long as you don't mind shiny, naked women)
Now I'm singing that song by REM... "Shiny, naked women holding hands..." I know, I know... I think I saw some art for
Chirality and
Front Innocent, too. I wonder how many other series of his I'm not seeing.
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Urushihara Satoshi
Book Meme
As you must have realized by now, I am only partially in favor of blogs being a two-way flow of information exchange. That is, I'm thrilled when people comment on my posts and am mostly willing to read and comment back, but this particular blog is focused on one thing – getting yuri manga and anime fans to buy anime and manga through the
Yuricon Shop, or getting you onto the
Yuricon Mailing List by sharing with you all the great yuri I can. (I think it's fairly obvious, but my apologies if you thought I had some noble intent. I'm just trying to make enough to support me being able to put out more yuri manga through ALC Publishing. Your purchases through the Shop, especially of
ALC publications, go a long way to achieving that goal.)
So you may have noticed that all the links on the sidebar are focused on, well, me.
Yuricon, the Shop, my fanfic page, my fan club. I have no links out to non-me related sites, except where it still focuses your interest back into "me" spaces, like the tags, or syndicating Okazu. This is all highly ironic to me since, of all the things that are important about Yuricon, "me" isn't really one of them – but if it keeps you all funneled into the "yuri" channel, I'm not above it. I have very little pride. :-)
What, exactly, is the point of this self-obsessed rubbish? you are probably asking. Nothing, except that I've been tagged by my friend Lee Kottner, whose
Blogorrhea Junior is something that I read - because it's interesting. So for a moment, I'm breaking form and perpetuating a book meme originated elsewhere, for no other reason than because I was tagged and am now "it".
That, for those of you expecting a point, was it. :-)
Please read Lee's comments about the limitations of this meme, because all I have to say about those comments is "word."
1. One book that changed your life? Like most readers, especially young readers, my life is filled with books that were life-changing. And is there anything more scrunchy-face-making in the whole world than other people's seminal books? LOL
Just one book? Just *one*?
How do I render my life into one single moment, when everything went "pop"? My shelves are full of my seminal books. The books that set off lights and bells and whistles in my brain – that STILL do.
But because it doesn't fit into any other category in this meme, I will choose
The White Goddess by Robert Graves. This "historical grammar of poetic myth" is brain-bustingly insane - and quite briliant. Most people hate it, but I thought – and still think – I understand what Graves was doing, by taking mythic images and qabalistically reinterpreting them. It's not history – it's not literature – it's mythopoeisis. And it's amazing. Reading this book was the first time in my life that I felt that several of my areas of interest were colliding for a reason – and that there was both rhyme and rhythm to my life. I had never considered that before that moment - and I've never doubted it since.
2. One book you have read more than once?Hah. Which ones haven't I read more than once? To be read many times is practically the definition of being a book on my book shelves.
Like Lee, I used to (with almost religious fervor) read
The Lord of the Rings annually, but for me it was always in the autumn, to be begun around Frodo and Bilbo's birthdays. Geeky? Yes. I have no regrets. Another seminal book for me.
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence, which oddly, reappeared in my life *this very week* in an article from a military history magazine, and which I will no doubt take off the shelf to re-read again soon.
3. One book you would want on a desert island?The above-mentioned
Seven Pillars, definitely. Of course I'll need to bring along all the source material too, so it'll have to be a big case and include all the Greek and Latin classics in the original. I figure I'll have plenty of time to learn the languages.
Also
Foucault's Pendulum, by Umberto Eco. I love this book, not least because I know people in every single weird occult group he mentions. :-)
4. One book that made you laugh? This one has me stumped. I can't think of too many books that make me laugh out loud.
Focault's definitely made me laugh, especially in the bit about numerology, which was brilliance.
My own
Shoujoai ni Bouken has made me laugh, honestly. That's why I figure it doesn't suck too bad. :-)
Of the books that live on my shelves, I guess I'm going to have to go with
Flaming Iguanas by Erika Lopez .
5. One book that made you cry.You mean, other than the fact that I get choked up every time when I read the bit in LotR where Rohan comes riding down out of the mountains to the war in Gondor?
The one book that really made me all out cry – and frankly I've never forgiven her for it - was
The Color Purple by Alice Walker. I don't really like crying - and I do NOT believe in "a good cry." Nonetheless, this book was amazingly well-written and worth reading.
6. One book you wish had been written? Just about everything I've ever written was because no one else was writing it.... ;-)
So, I guess I'll say the
Girl's History of Yuri, in which I figure as a foremother of the enduring popular genre. LOL
6a. (Lee added this one for aspiring authors) One book by someone else you wish you had written.Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto. For years that was my default "Oh my god, now *this* is good writing" example.
7. One book you wish had never been written? Adam Smith's
The Wealth of Nations. It's a long story, but suffice to say that I deeply and personally loathe that book.
8. One book you are currently reading? Maria-sama ga Miteru: Ready, Go! by Konno Oyuki in the original Japanese. I toyed with saying that I wish I had written the Marimite series,, but I think I'm happier being able to read them. The more I read these books, the more I honestly believe that Konno is an absolutely brilliant writer. The novel may be light reading, but the author is no lightweight.
9. One book you have been meaning to read? You know, I don't have that pile anymore. I used to have a zillion books I was "meaning to get to" but now I either read a book or I don't.
Okay, that's not true -I have a whole pile of
Maria-sama ga Miteru novels to read yet, and then the
R.O.D novels, then
Bakuretsu Tenshi, but that's not me meaning to read them, so much as, I'll get there when I get there. :-)
10. Now tag five people. Sean, Alan (who is one of the very few people on this planet who can recommend books to me), Ed, Meryl (neither of whom read Okazu) and Pattie. Other than Sean, I don't expect anyone will ever see this post, so "you're it" probably won't work. :-) Nonetheless, I'll email them and invite them - and you, dear reader - to reply with YOUR responses here in the comments section.
Drama CD: Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to
When you purchase the deluxe edition of Fujieda Miyabi's
Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to, it comes with a Drama CD. As I promised in my
review of the MikoMajyo manga, today I will be reviewing the Drama CD. Let me begin by summing up with "Squeeee!" :-)
The CD begins with Letty the witch (Nabatame Hitomi/ Hanazono Shizuma from
Strawberry Panic) and Tsumugi the miko (Nota Mamiko/Toudo Shimako from
Maria-sama ga Miteru) walking along. Tsumugi's outside world skills are still a little rough, so when Letty asks her to stay put for a second, Tsumugi finds herself swept up in the waves of people walking by, becoming separated from Letty. Letty comes running to the rescue, thanks to their red string of fate. Tsumugi asks to get a drink of something, so Letty gives her some money and *she* promises to stay put until Tsumugi comes back.
Unbeknowst to her, Letty is being watched...this time the mysterious watcher is not Isuzu, as in the manga, but the god of the shrine herself! And she's still wearing Tsumugi's body and voice. (Since now Isuzu is her main squeeze, everyone's happy with the choice. Except Letty...). Kami-sama jumps Letty and pretends to be a *very* daring Tsumugi when she openly propositions her to spend some time getting to know each other better - at a hotel. Letty's about to cave when the real Tsumugi returns. She's pleased as punch to see the god she served for so long, and naive - or confident- enouigh to not be bothered by the fact that she and Letty seem to be awfully close. Kami-sama takes being busted with good grace and decides to accompany her former miko and her girlfriend for some refreshments.
Which takes them to the Ameiro Koucha Kandan...again. (I *told* you that you'd be hearing alot about this place!) The god introduces herself as Tsumugi's twin older sister, Kinu. Letty splutters adorably through this brazen lie. The proprietor of the the cafe, Seriho (Nogami Yukana/Yukishiro Honoko from
Futari ha PreCure, Nakanotani Mina from
Air Master) and her employee Sarasa (Mizuki Nana/ Fate Testarossa from
Lyrical Nanoha, Shinobu from
Shinobuden/Ninja Nonsense) are immediately charmed by Kinu-oneesama, while Letty is clearly trying to keep herself from leaping across the table and strangling the mountain god. Just as their cake arrives, however, Isuzu (Watanabe Akeno/Fuho from
I Me My Strawberry Egg) crashes in and drags the god back to the shrine.
This leaves Letty and Tsumugi with an extra piece of cake to share. Letty tells Tsumugi to say "ah" and feeds her. When Tsumugi attempts to return the favor, Letty falls apart. She explains that it's not really her nature to be the one fed - or pursued - and um, she tends to do the feeding, and the pursuing, you know. Tsumugi thinks that Letty's butchiness is adorable, but proceeds to feed her anyway. :-) Isuzu pops back in to remind Letty to take care of Tsumugi, then runs off after her own, infinitely more difficult, girl.
Impressed by Tsumugi and Letty feeding each other, the two friends and regular customers of the Ameiro Koucha, computer whiz Haru (Asakawa Yuu/Sakaki-san from
Azumanga Daioh) and goth-loli loli Hinoka (Koyama Kimiko) decide to feed each other too, thuse giving the cafe that special yuri love-love feeling all-around. (Wait until I get a chance to discuss the women of the Ameiro Koucha Kandan in detail....)
The last track is once again Letty and Tsumugi walking together. Tsumugi is, as always, glad to be with Letty anywhere, doing anything. Letty manages to pull her butchy self together, mentioning that the god, that is, Kinu, had sort of propositioned her...and wouldn't it be nice, really, if the two of them went somewhere to become a little closer. Tsumugi agrees happily. The conversation devloves into excruciatingly sweet nothings, and Letty ends it all by saying that she is looking forward to being together with Tsumugi, wherever, forever.
Ratings:
Story - 7
Characters - 8
Voice Acting - 7
Yuri - 8
Loser FanBoy - 2 (again, only because there are LFBs for whom the cute and cuddly are a turn-on)
This is yet another goofy grin-inducing thing from Fujieda Miyabi. Totally worth getting the deluxe version on
MikoMajyo for...and yet another terrific way to practice those Japanese listening skills!
I'm told the bundled manga and Drama CD are sold out. BUT, when I've had that happen, I just keep the order around in my Amazon JP inbox, because it often comes back in a second shipment. Don't give up, just yet. :-)
It looks like there'll be an upcoming full-length Drama CD for this series. Here's a link to buy the CD "Magrigal Halloween":
MikoMajyo Drama CD You can be sure that I'll be getting it (and it'll go up on the
Yuricon Shop shortly!
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to
Yuri Manga: Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to
From the creator of
Iono-sama Fanatics, comes an equally adorable, equally yuri-riffic series,
Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to, by Fujieda Miyabi. (Transliteration supplied on the book itself.)
MikoMajyo, as Fujieda refers to it in her afterword, ran in
Yuri Shimai, then
Yuri Hime magazines, and has now been collected into a single volume. There are two versions - the
manga only and the
deluxe version which comes with a Drama CD. If you know anything about me, you'll be able to guess that I bought the deluxe version. A review of the Drama CD will be forthcoming. :-)
As with the other Yuri Hime Comics volumes, I'm going to review this story as if we have never read it before. Some of you may have not...although you absolutely should.
The story begins with English witch Letty, complete with broom and big pointy hat, arriving at a small shrine in Japan that is hidden away by a magic barrier. Letty penetrates the barrier without difficulty and finds that a lone priestess, Tsumugi, tends the shrine. Something about Tsumugi's plight moves Letty and she takes it upon herself to free the miko from the magical ties that bind her to the shrine. Tsumugi finds herself immediately attracted to Letty and tells her so unhesitatingly. Letty is loathe to free the miko and leave her without normal life skills, so she agrees to take Tsumugi with her. To save Tsumugi from getting lost, Letty conjures up a magical string to connect them. Tsumugi says her favorite color is red, so they are bound by a red thread of fate...and how embarrassed is Letty to find out what that means in Japan! But Tsumugi isn't fazed - she feels an instant connection with Letty, Letty's pronouncement that the kiss they shared was just so the magic could work notwithstanding.
The first order of the day is to get refreshments. They just happen to stop at a cafe which you will hear alot more about in the upcoming days - the Ameiro Koucha Pavilion. (The characters from this story were originated for
[es]Eternal Sisters 2 and will be the main focus of the new series from Fujieda-sensei for upcoming
Yuri Hime issues.) Tsumugi embarrasses the bejeebus out of Letty by happily, loudly and publicly saying that she likes the witch. Letty rationalizes it as a comment from a child, since Tsumugi is essentially a babe in the woods when it comes to personal interaction.
Miko and witch head over to what I can only guess must be a cross-over with another Fujieda series. At a stab, I bet it's the crowd from
Twinkle Cyber Nova, Fujieda's other ongoing manga series. I haven't read it, yet. (9/5/06 note: Wrong. The designers are all from
Alice Quartet, yet *another* series Fujied does. It dawned on me when I wasgoing through my drama Cds and found the first
Alice Quartet volume. I had forgotten about this series entirely... it's about five - yes, I know - clothing designers. hence Letty and Tsumugi coming to their shop.) In any case, Letty and Tsumugi trade in witch and miko costumes for regular street clothes and proceed to go out for a walk. Despite Letty's reticence, Tsumugi continues to press her case for liking Letty, until Letty is forced to admit that maybe her feelings are not like a child's. Tsumugi confides she has very little memory of her past. We see that they are being followed by a mysterious someone, even as they are growing closer.
While they are out in a boat on a lake a mysterious wave soaks them. The mysterious someone mysteriously communicates that she's found Tsumugi and will watch her until she can get her back to the shrine. Mysteriously.
The two women find themselves in a hotel, where Tsumugi once again makes a strong case for her feelings. Letty thaws enough to allow them to share a bed platonically, even giving Tsumugi a good night kiss. (From my perspective, at this point, Letty's just playing hard to get - I've never in my entire life rolled over on someone like that to give them an innocent, chaste goodnight kiss. But...more on that later in the Drama CD review. lol)
The next morning Tsumugi seems to have developed a nagging cough. Throughout the day, her condition worsens, until the mysterious someone arrives and blames it on Letty! Turns out that the mysterious someone is a servant of the shrine, Suzushiro Isuzu. Isuzu tells Letty that Tsumugi's well-being requires her being at the shrine, and Letty having released her is what is killing her. Tsumugi regains consciousness and tells Letty her unhappy story - in order to save her life, her mother gave her to the god of the shrine as a servant. While she eventually got used to it, as a child the abandonment weighed heavily on her.
Letty is determined to save Tsumugi from this fate, and decides to have it out with the shrine's god. In a magical handwave, she is once again the witch and hops on her broom to save the woman she loves. Tsumugi comments that she never expected her knight on a horse to be a witch on a broom. Isuzu is shocked, but a little impressed with Letty's skills.
I won't give away the ending, which you already know if you've read my reviews of
Yuri Hime anyway, but trust me - the girl gets the girl. :-) And she does it with some style, too!
Ratings:
Art - 8
Story - 8
Characters - 8
Yuri - 8
Loser FanBoy - 2 (But not really. I'm just assuming that *someone* is getting off on the fact that they are a miko and witch.)
Overall - 8
Once again, Fujieda Miyabi-sensei comes through with an original work that doesn't at all read like every other yuri manga ever. It is unrelentingly cute without ever getting cloying. The ending is solid - and cute - with a great lead-in to the Drama CD!
A definite must-have for yuri manga fans.
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to
Yuricon announces our 2007 Yurisai Event!
For those of you who missed the one-day Yuricon 2005 in Tokyo, we are now *officially* recreating that intimate atmosphere of friends and fun and plenty of yuri at our 2007
Yurisai!
Yuricon's
Yurisai Event will be held
September, 29, 2007, in Newark, NJ at the Gateway Hilton.
Details will be forthcoming, check the
Yuricon Events Page as we add information!
Back from Otakon
So tired... ;-)
Thanks to everyone who helped staff the Yuricon/ALC Publishing booth (especially Ashara and An, who came out of nowhere with mad yuri retail skills). My undying devotion to all my minions and sycophants, who made the weekend loads o' fun and very successful. Bruce, Serge, Sean, Katie - thanks for a *great* yuri panel. And many thanks to all the folks who stopped by and supported our yuri work!
Boo to people who bought yuri paddles (which are like giant signs that say "I'm a jerk") but did NOT bother to pick up a book (or anything else) from the ONLY publisher of 100% yuri in the world. And, hello - there are really spiffy not generic "I Love Yuri" t-shirts on the
Yuricon Shop. Get 'em there, instead of places that couldn't care less about yuri, 'kay? Thanks.
I've got important news and lots of good reviews coming, so tune back in tomorrow!
Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD 9: Itsushika Toshi Mo
For my last review before
Otakon (Yuri Panel on Friday, Aug.4, 9PM, Panel Room 3 - don't miss it!) I decided to write about something that I've been saving for a special occasion.
Itsushika Toshi Mo, the ninth
Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD, fits the bill nicely.
This drama CD covers the events of the 8th novel,
Itoshiki Toshitsuki, often translated as
The Loving Times. This is the story of Graduation Day at Lillian Academy, from the varying points of view of Youko, Sei and Eriko, the now-former Rosas Chinensis, Gigantea and Foetida.
We get to listen in as they reminisce on how they met, how they formed their friendships - and rivalries. How Youko is perfectly aware that she can't stop herself from meddling and how much Sei really has changed over the last year, to Eriko's fretting about whether Yamanobe is man enough to show up at her request.
Following these reminiscences is the emotionally brutal scene where we listen to Youko's thoughts as Sachiko, her beloved little sister, breaks down completely on the podium, causing a wave of sobbing throughout the audience and almost making Youko break down.
And, at last, we say good-bye to the three, with pictures, tears, smiles and fond farewells.
This is good shoujo. Really. Emotional without being maudlin, girly without being caricature, and solid, solid voice acting.
Shinohara Emi is universally adored by every group she's ever worked with - this Drama CD allows her to show some range. Maybe not as much as "Rosa Chinensis' Greatest Day", but still. Youko as an eager, energetic middle schooler, Youko as a tired, relieved and slightly stressed high school student, Youko the ever-competent honor student.
Toyoguchi Megumi also has a chance to show some mad voice acting skills. We get a real earful of Sei bored, cold and aloof, compared and contrasting nicely with Sei alive and warm. Of course we also get to enjoy Sei the angry child as well, an added bonus.
Nabatame Hitomi spends most of her time in Eriko's usual flaky tone, but we get a brief, amusing glimpse of her as Sei's childhood nemesis, and also a flash of an angry Eriko, something scarier than you'd imagine. :-)
Thumbs up for the drama, and for lack of melodrama. Just grab some tissues when that Sachiko scene happens....
Ratings:
Story - 8
Character - 9
Voice Acting - 9
Yuri: - 1
Loser Fan Boy - 0
Overall - 8
As I frequently do with
Marimite Drama CDs, I find myself listening to this CD with a big, stupid grin on my face. It's just that wonderful. Another great way to spend a few more moments in the company of truly great characters. And, as I always say, a really fun way to practice your Japanese language listening skills.
Tags: Yuri Drama CD, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD
