Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime 6, Part 1
It's autumn once again. And with autumn comes many things - school festivals, leaf-watching and
Yuri Hime. :-) Yes,
Yuri Hime 6 is in, and once again it's full of yuri variety.
The cover depicts Akiho, right and her beloved older sister ("Sis-con?" asks Touko-sensei sarcastically...) Haruna from
Hatuskoi Shimai in seasonally appropriate fashion. It's nice to see them both happy.
Now put Touko-sensei and Akiho back on the cover, dammit.
This issue begins with a new story from Fujieda Miyabi, creator of
Iono-sama Fanatics and
Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to, both of which rank high on my personal yuri-o-meter.
The new story,
Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan, was introduced to us in the little extra comic that came with
Yuri Hime 5. To get you up to speed on the who and what, I did a review last month on the
Ameiro series to date. This new chapter finds Seriho and Sarasa in a quiet moment as the cafe opens after the near-miss closing in last issue's omake. (Seriously, if you haven't already, go read the "series to date" post, because the story picks up at the end of that.) Seriho makes Sarasa overheat by: 1) laying her head against her and 2) telling Sarasa that she is like a tea cozy to Seriho's pot, keeping her warm and alive. When customers come, it's Haru, Hinoko and the usual gang - Sarasa gets even with them by making them the most expensive tea on the menu. :-)
Tokimeki Mononoke Gakuen continues to be incredibly silly. Teacher Rokurokubi (a long-necked female demon) has got a bad neck sprain today and is in no shape to teach. She leaves for the infirmary with an admonition to practice beautifying. Arera is stoked - she's got makeup down pat. She spends the day slapping huge amounts of makeup on the various "girls" in her class, for hilarious (ahem) results. In the end, she has no lipstick left for hereself, so when the kids all hike off to terrify Teach, Kiri kisses Arera to give her some lip color too. A surprisingly sweet kiss, I might add.
The next story is a one-shot,
Hoshizora Cycling. Mako meets Momoka on her first day after transfering to Mako's school. She can't cycle, because she's weak. Mako offers to give her a lift. Momoka and Mako continue this shared commute, drawing closer and closer. One night they join the others in their school on the roof to watch a meteor shower. Afterwards, Momoka won't tell what she wished, but Mako breaks down and admits that she wished for Momoka to like her. Momo-chan fwaps Mako solidly on the head because, duh, she's liked her all along, dimwit.
Apple Day Dream is a series of 4-panel comics about dress shop "Apple Day Dream". Yuma and Kaoru are two employees of this purveryor of fine women's apparel. Yuma has large breasts and Kaoru likes large breasts. Clothing and breast related humor ensues.
Taishi Zaou and Eiki Eiki's
Little Red Riding Hood continues with Fuyuka's encounter with Akiho. (We met Akiho way back in
Yuri Shimai 2, in "Expressions of Love," where we learned that her friend, Haruka, loves to grab girls' breasts. They resolve everything by agreeing that Haruka will not grab *other* girls' breasts, only Akiho's.) Akiho recognizes Fuyuka as a person in the same situation as she. Fuyuka is thrilled to have someone to talk to about the whole thing and the two rapidly become friends. Fuyuka admits that she's concerned that Natsuki *doesn't* feel the same as she does, and Akiho, clearly, get a bright idea. One day when both Haruka and Natsuki confront their pets, Akiho says that she no longer likes Haruka, but has fallen for...gasp!...Fuyuka! The chapter cuts out as she moves in for a public kiss.
Initially, I found this whole series a string of tired cliches, but recently, I admit to really liking the way Taishi and Eiki are tying all their elements together. The whole is significantly better than the sum of its parts.
Color pages with reviews of the
Simoun and
Strawberry Panic games. Not being a gamer, they are just pretty pictures to me.
And Chi-Ran finds yet another way to tell a girl meets girl story in
Yuri Kago (Yuri Basket.) Maori makes her stick-in-the-mud, curmudgeonly way through life, skeptical of all relationships - and especially of the fortuneteller's "basket of yuri" in the form of a decorative ball in which, Maori is told, she will find her lover. When the ball splits open and out pops a hideously adorable little doll girl, Maori is not amused. But over time, because of the doll's sheer wonderful, sweet cuteness, Maori's hard-assness melts. She finally admits to loving the doll, who promptly collapses, lifeless. One day, Maori is sitting on a bench when she is approached by someone who looks suspiciously like the doll. Could it be? Of course it could. :-)
Which takes us to about halfway and the essays on classic yuri manga by Miura Shion, this time
Rose of Versailles and
Paros no Ken (both of which have been review on Okazu, but I'm too grumpy to find the links at the moment.) Both are spiffy classic gender-bendy series, great for the little girl prince in your life. :-)
I'll stop here and finish up later - make sure you come back, because there's good yuri stuff to come!
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Yuri Hime
Seven Seas Responds to ALC Publishing on Yuri Manga
In my heart, I had a vision of the ideal response from Seven Seas. It would be respectful and friendly. It's my pleasure to share with you that Seven Seas actually *bettered* my ideal response. :-)
They were sincere, respectful and friendly - and just plain nice about it all.
In turn, I responded by inviting Seven Seas to attend Yuricon 2007 and was told that if they can, they will come.
So, as I predicted, there will be no turf wars here in the yuri manga world - just an even larger body of folks committed to bringing great yuri manga to fans everywhere. And that can only be a good thing in my opinion. :-)
Incidentally, the thing that made me happiest was the fact that SS commented, quite specifically, on how polite and gentle the emails noting the mistake were. This makes me feel so good. I am, and have always been, convinced that histrionics and paranoia have no place in the fan community and can, and should, be replaced with passion, enthusiasm and mature dialogue.
I want to thank all of you who sent emails to Seven Seas, for your support - and for being so polite and reasonable about it. That says something about the folks who support us at Yuricon and ALC...something I feel quite proud of.
As I told Seven Seas, I look forward to both companies working together to promote yuri and I hope you will too! :-)
New Yuri Manga Kid on the Block - will it mean turf wars?
Hi all - I've been debating how to address this here on Okazu, hence the delay in my response. And the short answer to the question above is, obviously, "no." No turf wars here. :-)
Y'all probably know that this week
Seven Seas announced their new yuri imprint, "Strawberry." They'll be putting out titles like
Strawberry Panic and
Saigo no Seifuku under this line, although their previously announced license for
Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl will not be.
As you can imagine, as a yuri fan, I'm thrilled. Seven Seas is going for the titles that are, in Japan, marketed primarily to guys, and several of which are attached to popular anime series, so have high recognition value. I'm all for it and I'll be among the many purchasing their titles, and hoping for them to go after
Hayate x Blade as well, since it's another Mediaworks title.
However.
In their press release, Seven Seas claims to be launching the first-ever line of yuri in the US. This is patently not true.
ALC Publishing has been releasing yuri titles in the US since 2003. That's "first" by my book. :-)
I, and many other people, have emailed Seven Seas to politely point out the mistake. I was really, honestly, hoping that they'd retract the statement, or at least issue a vague correction...or something. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten any response at all. I'm not taking it personally, I know that businesses are often much more complex than the sum of their parts, but I want to make my position clear.
Here is the email I sent to the major anime news services, and to Seven Seas:
To Whom it May Concern -
My name is Erica Friedman, President of ALC Publishing, the world's only all-Yuri publishing company. I would like to correct a mistake in the Seven Seas press release about their Yuri imprint "Strawberry". Seven Seas mistakenly refers to their imprint as the "first-ever" line of Yuri manga to be released in America.
ALC Publishing has been putting out 100% Yuri publications since 2003, including translations from Japanese yuri manga artists such as Rica Takashima, Eriko Tadeno, Akiko Morishima and, looking forward into 2007, doujinshi circles Sakuraike and UKOZ. Our translations, light novel series and Yuri manga anthologies are available in comic book, G/L/B/T and chain bookstores.
All of us at ALC are *very* excited and pleased to see more Yuri entering the American manga market, but we would like it to be known, on behalf of the artists, writers, and all the folks that work on our books that Seven Seas is not the first. And hopefully, they will not be the last - there are many wonderful yuri titles which we at ALC would love to see on American shelves.
All of us at ALC, the oldest publisher of Yuri in America, wish Seven Seas the greatest success!Now it is obvious to me that Seven Seas and ALC are NOT in direct competition. ALC focuses on stories by primarily, although not exclusively, women who identify as lesbian, for an audience of adult women (and men, of course.) Our primary focus is on the many folks whose work is not attached to an anime, and will not otherwise be seen by people in English-speaking countries - I'm speaking of course, of the lovely people who draw yuri doujinshi.
ALC is dedicated to bring high-quality yuri, what I like to call 100% yuri, by women, about and for women (and anyone else who wants to read it.) We're not seeking to license yuri done for a broader audience. As a result, we are doomed to always be small potatoes, even in the genre we pioneered here in America. :-)
That's okay. We love what we're doing. We love the people doing it with us.
And we are, as I said, thrilled to see more yuri come on the market...but the operative word is "more."
If you have a moment and want to add your voice to those who have pointed out the mistake in the Seven Seas release, feel free - but please be polite. Seven Seas may be the new kid on the block, but we want to be able to play nice. :-)
If you've ever bought a copy of
Rica 'tte Kanji!?,
WORKS,
Shoujoai ni Bouken or any of our
Yuri Monogatari anthologies, on behalf of everyone at ALC, thank you for your support!
Coyote Ragtime Show, Manga and Anime
I liked the anime for
Coyote Ragtime Show immediately. Right from the first moments...the energy, the devil-may-care pirates in space, the absurd levels of violence, and Angelica's obsession with eating, totally did it for me.
If only, I thought, there was an evil, psychotic older woman with a uniform fixation and twelve goth-loli assassin android "daughters." LOL
(Seriously, I was watching an episode with some Yuricon staffers and my only comment was, "I like this series quite a bit. When you see Madame Marciano, you'll instantly know why." And so they did.)
Let's back up.
CRS was a short 12-episode series about space pirates, aka "coyotes." Coyotes are assumed to have a serious code of honor and an inner nobility, which puts this story strongly in the realm of fiction. :-) Our pirate ships are spaceships; Han Solo would be impressed with the mean piloting skills we see. And the government is, if not entirely corrupt, then just plain dumb. Typical SF space pirate fare.
Our main players are:
Angelica - good, smart, attractive female cop who has a crush on
Mister - smart, noble, attractive older guy coyote
Madame Marciano - smart, evil, psychotic underworld leader who's in it for the violence, power and money
The rest of the cast are the people arrayed around these three. Mister is the protagonist, so in a sense everyone is arrayed around him, but these three represent the three warring forces of the series - the coyotes, the authorities, the criminals (who are different from coyotes in that they appear to have become *successful* at crime and are living lives of luxury, instead of living hand to mouth in filth and poverty.)
The main plot is full of action and fun and goofy - all very enjoyable. I particularly enjoyed when Madame Marciano and her 12 assassin android daughters (each named after a month of the year) destroyed the Guild of Underworld Baddies, because they weren't being evil enough. I think I fell in love with her right then.
But the one thing that was lacking from the anime (which has been licensed for US release, I"m glad to say) was the "L" part of Madame Marciano's EPL(TM)
* character - in other words, there was not too much yuri in the anime.
There was a "thing" building between May's disembodied android head and Angelica, which many Japanese fans saw as yuri. I think it was probably just respect, but there's a definite vibe, yes, on May's part which can be read as pinging the old yuri-dar. Even if she does spend a large portion of the series as a disembodied head...
But more importantly for us, in the manga we get a glimpse of Madame's other use for her beloved androids...other than slaughtering people violently, that is. Clearly Madame favors the Goth-Loli look...and she likes her women as violent as I do. April, the leader of the 12 "sisters", is also Mommy's personal favorite, if you get my drift. (It's the manga to which I've linked the picture and title above for that reason. When the licensed version of the anime is available in the US, you can be sure I'll link to that as well.)
Is it meaningful that it's April and May who are the yuriest? I have no idea. All I know is that just about the time I was whining that Madame Marciano would be my perfect women if only she had a taste for women, I learned that she does.
Madame Marciano is my perfect woman. :-)
And Coyote Ragtime Show is a great, goofy comic book of an anime, fun for the whole family...assuming your family is like mine. LOL (You know, thinking about it, my Dad would love this show...)
Ratings:
Art - 7
Story - 8
Character - 9
Yuri - 2 anime, 4 manga
Loser FanBoy - Considering the possibilities, the LFB rating is a surprisingly low 2.
Loser Erica - 9 - Madame hits just about every major fetish I have, except one.
Overall - 8
It's got all the qualities of a classic adventure series. Unless you're a strictly shoujo fan, definitely worth a look!
Tags: Anime, Manga, Coyote Ragtime Show* Evil
Psychotic
Lesbian
Yuri Fanfic: New Look For the "Fanfic Revolution"!
The
Fanfic Revolution is the writer's circle of which I have been a proud member for many, many, MANY years. I created the FR a zillion years ago for anime fanfic writers who did "adult" stories that were, oh, anatomically credible. LOL We began life as the Hentai Author's Mailing List, then became the Fanfic Revolution when I had another one of my 2AM inspirations. :-) We expanded our mission to include non-hentai, and non-anime as time went on. Now I just call the folks at the FR my editors - and my friends. I consider their scraps and dribbles of writing to be far superior to most people's - even to most published authors' works.
Last week, quite spontaneously, Adam Jones decided that our old
Fanfic Revolution site needed a new look. We'd been rather slow on updating the old site, and a new blog-like format would allow people a chance to provide feedback, we could have tagging and categories - and the ability for readers to get it an RSS feed of our updates. After extensive research of about 30 minutes or so, we decided to go with Blogger's new system, because.
So, I am pleased to announce the brand, new, shiny
Fanfic Revolution website is open for business!
We're (re)posting stories as we get around to it, which means if you get the updates as RSS, you'll be seeing alot of our early stories popping up, and some new ones here and there as well. It's been a lot of fun re-reading works I haven't looked at in forever, both by myself and by the other folks of the FR.
I'm going to try and re-post there on the order of about one story a week, since I have alot of other claims on my time. It should take me about 3 1/2 years to catch up with myself at that rate. :-) So for current stuff, stick with
"World Shaking" Fanfic, where I upload a new story about once a month or so.
So if you're in the mood to read some fantastic yuri (and non-yuri) anime and manga fanfiction, visit the New Fanfic Revolution. And do let us know what you think!
Yuri Anime: Kaleido Star Good dayo! Gooood!
They are few, brief and far between, but those moments of Sora x Layla love in
Kaleido Star make watching this often indifferent, frequently irritating anime worthwhile.
This OVA...well, frankly I have no idea who this OVA was targeted to or what they were thinking when they made it. It's done entirely in CG, with super-deformed art that makes all the characters look like DDR icons or something. It's 2 parts disturbing to 1 part cute. (On second thought, what "they" were thinking was probably "How can we do a
KS brand extension without spending too much money?")
In any case, this OVA is split into three parts. The first is a "cooking lesson" by May with students Layla and Sora. The second part is Ken being a nebbish as he tries to learn the Diablo from Rosa and the third is an absolutely excruciating gag as Marion and Jonathan the Seal attemtpt to teach Sora to speak seal.
Only the first of these is of interest to yuri fans.
To be more precise, only the first of these was of interest to *this* yuri fan.
There are several cute moments as May teaches enthusiastic Sora and pampered Layla how to cook a particularly spicy tofu dish. I actually took a screencap of the lava-like end product, because it was a particularly amusing bit of animation.
But much more importantly, Sora and Layla have a brief moment of yuri wooja-wooja which, if May hadn't interrupted it...
Anyway, the OVA as a whole was okay, but the first segment was amusing. Not the logical sequel to the magnificent
Legend of Phoenix: Layla Hamilton Monogatari OVA, but if you're already a fan of the series, its not the worst waste of your time. Not like, say, episodes 27-40 or so.
One thing I did very much like, the OP is the original theme from the first season of the TV series, sung by the voice actresses as their characters. And, although they have pretty much no lines in the OVA itself, that included Anna and Mia.
Ratings:
Art - CG/SD. Meh. 4
Characters - 6
Story - 6/4/2 for each section respectively
Yuri - for one brief flash, 7.
Loser FanBoy - surprisingly for this series, no Fool, and no noticable service. 1, on principal.
Overall - The first segment 6, the second a 4, and the third a 2, for an average of 4.
Tags: Anime, Yuri Anime, Kaleido Star Good Dayo! Gooood!, Kaleido OVA
Yuri Fanfic: New Look for "World Shaking" Fanfic!
"World Shaking" Fanfic is pleased and thrilled to announce a nice spiffy new look, courtesy of Kyanite!
The header pages have all been changed over and seem to be working fine on every browser we have around the house...so no Safari, but the rest of the lot seem to be looking good (thanks to a fix by several loyal and terrific readers!)
So take a moment and check out the shiny new image for WSF - and enjoy a new
Maria-sama ga Miteru fanfic,
Until We Meet Again:1. The new story is based on a scene from
Parasol o Sashite, and is the first in a short series.
Enjoy the new story and the new look and my thanks to Kyanite!
Yuri Manga: Blue Drop
As soon as I saw the cover of
Blue Drop, I felt a little happy. Because ever since I reviewed
Ray, I have been looking forward to a Yoshitomi Akihito series with some actual yuri content. From some of the situations and supporting characters in
Ray, I knew he had it in him. :-) Since his forte appears to be bad science coupled with gouts of violence, (I base this assumption on all two of the series I've seen, so you *know* you can trust me on this) I was especially looking forward to reading
Blue Drop. I quite enjoy a little bad science coupled with violence from time to time, and as
Kaguyahime has finished, I'm in need of fix.
In any case,
Blue Drop is a loose collection of stories set appropriately in a post-apocalyptic world where aliens basically landed on Earth and after a war, won. They are using humans, most especially human kids to something something, and the kids are shunned because they are something something, but mostly because they have white hair while they are infected.
The "resistance" has decided that, since they can't fight the aliens, they'll kill the kids. I did like the fact that the resistance for once wasn't a noble cause, but a bunch of angry obsessives, who have obviously lost sight of the objective.
The first story is about a boy who is carrying the whateveritis, and the girl that likes him. She sleeps with him, watches him die and a year later has a baby to remember him by and forget any of the crappy stuff that went on.
Then we meet Yui. She's got some mean fightin' skills and proceeds to save infected Ami from the mean old resistance. There's plenty of tension between the two of them, and Ami even offers to sleep with Yui, but Yui gets all noble and leaves. Yui takes on the resistance and appears to die. Time passes, we see Ami has recovered and Yui, somberly reflects from a distance that it's better that way for everyone. Ami can be normal again.
Kyomi and Rumi are the same age - Rumi's like a sister to Kyomi. Until they both turn 13 and somehow, Kyomi realizes that Rumi's taken everything that was dear to her - her friends and even more importantly, the guy she likes. They argue, until Kyomi gets hurt and Rumi learns that the person Kyomi likes...is her. too late, she runs off, in time to find that Kyomi has been infected by the alien and to see her become one with them. Another opportunity lost.
We see Shouko in the doctor's office at school, where she asks the school's female doctor out. Misato-sensei begs off politely, but Shouko's friends have at her unmercilessly, in the way that only really good friends will. Shouko goes home to work in her family's inn. Her mother tells her to take some beer to a room where a guest is staying. Shouko comes in to the room and sees Yui stripping another female employee, exhorting her to not worry, etc, etc. Yui and Shouko are excited to see one another - Yui shows her affection by pulling Shouko's kimono down and snuggling her breasts, until Shouko punches her across the room. Shouko tells Yui about her feelings for the teacher, but Yui warns her off.
Yui and Misato discuss Shouko, and Yui's existence, as well. Misato tries to convince Yui that she is a human, but Yui does not accept that. (We've learned previously that she's half human half alien). The resistance grabs Shouko to get to Yui, and Misato turns out to be part of the resistance. Yui kisses Misato and apologizes, saying that she wants to protect Shouko more than keep the promise that they have between them. Yui gives Misato a handkerchief to wipe her face as she and Shouko run off. Misato promises to give it back one day - a promise that Yui accepts.
Yui and Shouko are watching the news, (in between a little light sexual harrassment by Yui) when Yui gets a call. They go out to find Misato-sensei on the ground - clearly after a rape and assault. She apologize to Yui, saying that she got her handkerchief dirty again. The hostile crowd demands Misato's death on account of the fact that she's been given the alien vaccine to kids.
They go back to Yui's place where Misato cleans up and we get lots of expository discusssion. Just as we're all relaxed, the resistance shows up to kill Misato. Shouko is dragged off to safety, but Yui obviously and visibly draws a gun on Misato. The room explodes.
The last scene shows us Yui talking to Misato, whom she has saved, about Ami from the earlier chapter. Misato correctly identifies Ami as Yui's "type." Yui leaves with a jaunty "I'll be back!" to which Misato responds "I'll see you!".
The volume ends, but assumably, the adventure goes on in that space where stories we have created live.
Blue Drop is hardly great literature, but as violent lesbian leads go, Yui shows compassion, nobility, and mostly healthy sexual behavior...and has a sense of humor about it, which make it all readable.
Ratings:
Art - 8 (I especially like the immense frozen tortured faces that dot the landscape)
Story - 7
Characters - 5
Yuri - 6
Loser FanBoy - 5
Overall - 6
Lililicious is doing a scanlation of all the chapters except the first - but remember, downloading scans doesn't pay the artist's rent. If you enjoy the scanlation, think about picking up a copy of the real thing. You can click the picture above for the link to it on Amazon JP.
And I haven't plugged this in a long time, so, once you've read
Blue Drop feel free to drop by the
Yuricon Mailing List for a good long chat about Yui's taste in women. :-)
Tags: Yuri Manga, Blue Drop
Yuri Manga: Yuri Monogatari 4 Available for Pre-Order (and some sneek peaks!)
At last! The newest 100% Yuri manga anthology from ALC Publishing,
Yuri Monogatari 4, is available for
pre-order on the
Yuricon Shop!
I cannot begin to tell you how great this book is, really. And I am *not* just saying that because of the time and effort I put into it.
To begin, we have three artists returning for the fourth time, so you can expect great art and stories from Althea Keaton and Kristina Kolhi, and a really hysterical look at lesbian pulp novel tropes by Beth Malone in "Tales of Destruction.".
Althea's story "Cog" takes a look at a possible future, while Kristina's "Happiness" (a page of which is is on the left) is another fantastic slice-of-life piece with a twist.
We've got a bunch of exciting stories by newcomers to our anthology as well. Lilyshield may be a first-time contributor, but after enjoying the art in "Model" I think you'll agree that we'd like to see more of her work. And new for us, but a veteran in the Polish yuri community, Agatha Laguniak's "Bittersweet Melody" is our very first gothic horror story in the collection.
We have three Japanese artists who have contributed to the collection - each one more fablous than the last. Tomomi Nakazora's "Kissing the Petals" is a sharp look at modern life in Tokyo, while Akiko Morishima's "Ichigo-Hime" (left) is a legend of old Edo - the contrast between the story and the art of these two talented women couldn't be better, and we're thrilled to have them both.
I'm thrilled to be able to have contributed a story myself, one that is near and dear to my heart - a story I wrote specifically to dedicate to Rica Takashima. "Playing House" is delightfully drawn by Kelli Nicely, who has also supplied cover art and some lovely incidental pieces throughout.
But most of all, beyond all of these great stories - and really, I'm not lying, they are great - I am pleased to announce the return of Rica Takashima's Rica and Miho in "More Rica 'tte Kanji!?" These four-panel comic strips were created by Rica for the Bilingual edition of
Rica 'tte Kanji!? (which is *still* one of our best selling books at ALC!) and we are absolutely thrilled to be able to include them in
YM4. Get to spend some more time in the company of Rica and Miho after they move in together - and also et a glimpse of their life before they met. As always with Rica Takashima's work, its fun and sweet and heartwarmingly realistic all at once.
I sincerely hope yuri fans all over the world will get to read
YM4, and to make it a little easier (and cheaper!) to do so ALC Publishing is offering a
discounted pre-order for this anthology. Get 176 pages of 100% yuri by artists and writers from Japan, Europe and the US, support yuri manga, (and yuri manga artists!) all for the special low price of $13. While you're placing your pre-order, don't forget that the holidays are coming up and this is a great time to give the yuri fans in your life a copy of one of our 100% yuri publications from ALC Publishing!
Tags: Manga, Yuri Manga, Yuri Monogatari, ALC Publishing
Yuri Manga: Aria , Volume 9
Aria is one of those series that, despite logic and the evidence of our eyes, there's a general sense of "yuri" about it. Of course the fact that the main characters are all women helps, and the fact that yuri fans often wear finely honed yuri goggles set on high adds something to the mix. The inability of the average LFB to see two or more women together and not assume a lesbian pile-up pretty much guarantees this series is a fixture on yuri lists...even when there's no actual "proof." (By which I mean Alicia never reaches over and say, kisses Akira, much as I'd like to see that.)
Nevertheless, I, like so many other loser fans, read this series as totally yuri. :-) Volume 9 kicks that teeny little niggling sense of yuri-ness into what, for this series, is high gear.
For readers unfamiliar with
Aria, the story follows three gondoliers-in-training on a terraformed Mars, now known as Aqua, in a recreated New Venice. (Unlike the real Venice in which only men can become gondoliers, in this Neo Venezia, the large majority are women.)
Aria follows, in particular, Mizunashi Akari who is an immigrant from Earth, as she trains to become a skilled "undine." If you dig around here on Okazu, you'll turn up reviews of both seasons of the
Aria anime, and several reviews of earlier volumes of the manga.
Volume 9 has had several chapters turned into anime for the second series,
Aria the Natural. They are as cute, delightful, fun, etc, etc, as the manga, only I always prefer the manga. Why is that, I wonder?
Because the chapters in Volume 9 are one-shot stories, not part of a continuous narrative, I'll focus on the two that are more yuri.
The second chapter features popular couple Alice and her doofy sempai Athena (Pronounced Ah-teh-na). Alice, who is still in middle school and therefore quite young to be a undine-in-training, is walking home from school in a manner popular with children throughout history- she's keeping to shadows only. :-) She almost blows it, only to be saved timely from falling out of the safety of a shadow by Athena-sempai. Alice reacts with her natural cute grumpiness, but when faced with an extremely long stretch of sun, gives in and uses Athena's shadow to continue the game. This brings their faces very close. Alice reacts to this, and Athena's affirmation that she is Alice's ally with embarassment.
Now, this may not seem like much, but the desperate Alice x Athena fans will point to this scene and with shrill voice say, "See? See?" Others, less obsessed with the need to pair them up will simply shrug and say "cute." You decide which it is for yourself.
More interesting to me was the revelation that Akira *does* have an inner butch, something we yuri fans (particularly those of us who are butches) knew right off. In the very next chapter we (and Akari) learn that Akira, Alicia, Al, Akatsuki and Woody have known each other since childhood. In the course of a flashback that shows us that none of them have changed much at all since then, we get to see little Akira in shorts, boy's shirt and the obligatory sideways baseball cap, accompanied by uber-femme Alicia. Encouraged by Alicia, Akira out-boys the boys, but is a gracious victor. Do they look like a typical little kid babydyke couple? Yes, yes they do. And we know that Akira's still a favorite with the ladies, so apparently, you can't take the butch out of the girl, no matter how long she grows her hair.
While we're dealing with sempai/kouhai relationships, there's also a really nice chapter where Aika has to deal with the fact that someone in their company is trash-talking about Akira. As one of the three most popular and famous undine, Akira explains, it's something that she just has to deal with. But it was awfully sweet of Aika to get so upset - and a nice view of Aika and Akari's relationship when they aren't banging heads.
Also notable, although not at all yuri, we learn how Alicia met the cat that became Aria-shachou and how she joined Aria.
As is usual in
Aria, the stories are slice-of-life moments, no earth-shatteirng drama, but quiet sweet moments to be savored slowly and in a relaxed manner...much like the espresso on San Marco plaza. :-)
Ratings:
Art - 8
Character - 8
Story - 8
Yuri - 4
Loser FanBoy - 1
Overall - 8
Despite the fact that Alicia will never lean over and kiss Akira,
Aria remains a genuine pleasure. :-)
Tags: Yuri Manga, Aria
Events: MangaNEXT Report
Hello! I am returned from
MangaNEXT, the only convention in American focusing on American "manga culture".
MangaNEXT marked the first convention where
ALC Publishing had both a table and an industry presence, but I was not actually in attendance at the table, on account of being on con staff. So first off, my sincere thanks to Donna, Serge, Bruce who were not only there at the table but in charge of our guest, four-time
Yuri Monogatari artist, Althea Keaton. And thanks to Althea too. She was a delight to be around.
Also, my thanks to Sean Gaffney who assisted me as MangaNEXT staff all weekend long. I absolutely could not have done anything without you Sean. Thank you for all your hard work.
My thanks, too, to my staff who did everything and anything I asked with a smile: Tania, Leaa and Paulette, and to Casey, Mandisa and Mari who were not my staff specifically, but who stepped up to do a lot of at-con work. All of you were fabulous. I mean that. You all were so *cheerful* I wasn't even able to get grumpy, much less maintain it. :-)
Of course, Panels and Workshops can't happen without a bunch of other things like Registration, Tech, Con Safety, etc, etc. Everyone on staff did a great job - no kidding. One of the best comments I received was an email noting how pleasant and good-natured everyone was all weekend - no mean feat at any event.
Personally, I had a great time. My two favorite panels were Manga for Parents, at which I had the pleasure of co-panelling with
Manga4Kids blogger Brigid Alverson, and the Light Novels Panel, which I thought would be Sean and I chatting over coffee, but which turned out to be a lively discussion of both Japanese light novels and American translations thereof with a small, but intelligent and knowledgable crowd.
For the ALC Industry panel we had a teeny turnout, but I can't thank the folks who came enough. They weren't at all awful, lol, and had some good comments. We talked with our two
Yuri Monogatari artists, Althea and Sergio, discussing the nature of the
Yuri Monogatari Project, our annual recruitment of up and coming yuri manga artists from around the world and the Project that guides them through the process of making a comic that is publishable. Serge was asked a few questions by the press about being a guy who draws yuri for
YM. (It doesn't sound it, but the whole conversation above was hysterical, as we kept generating fake headlines for the article like "ALC Publishers doesn't like what she publishes" and other silly parodies of our conversations.
We also announced the licensing of several stories from Japan for next year's
Yuri Monogatari 5!
Way back, ALC Publishing was created because we wanted to bring high quality yuri manga over from Japan. In the last few years, we've been playing catch up with our own success. This year we decided to return to our roots and talk to some popular and very excellent yuri manga doujinshi circles, who have graciously agreed to be part of
Yuri Monogatari. We welcome back Tadeno Eriko-san, whose collected volume
WORKS is on sale now on the
Yuricon Shop and through chain bookstores near you! Tadeno-san's story will be a delight to read, trust me. We've also gotten two of my very favorite doujinshi circles UKOZ and Sakuraike to contribute stories that are absolutely fantastic. These stories will be out in our 2007 volume, in time for
Yuricon 2007.
As you can imagine, we're very, very excited about next year's anthology already. :-)
(And then there's this year's anthology -
Yuri Monogatari 4, which is up for pre-order on the Yuricon Shop, even as we speak! Support ALC, save some money and get some great yuri all at the same time!
YM4 should be out in Early November. We'll be putting out a press release about it soon.)
One thing that I have to comment on, because it was extraordinary, was the social dysfunction we encountered at MangaNEXT. Very low in quantity, but exceptionally high in quality. I won't make any specific references, except to say that a young man who attended Althea's "Drawing Yuri" workshop had a unnatural obsession with
ROD the TV and wouldn't let it go no matter how many times we told him that this was an original art workshop. It was the kind of surreal I expect when encountering fandumb in person.
Overall, MangaNEXT was a very worthy event. Should there be another next year, I strongly recommend that you all attend. Its manga culture focus was unique in America, and the opportunity to talk with artists, publishers, translators, writers other folks in the industry and press was not to be missed!
I will soon return to actually reviewing things. I have a huge backlog, which is good, because frankly, this season's anime is teh suck for yuri fans. But worry not, soon the Marimite OVAs will be here and there's much, much more in manga and Drama CD world for us to talk about!
Events: ALC Publishing at MangaNEXT
ALC Publishing, the only all-Yuri publisher in North America, is proud to be a participant in this weekend's first ever celebration of American "manga culture",
MangaNEXT, in Secaucus, NJ.
ALC will have a booth in the Dealer's Room, where you can get your copy of our 100% yuri anthology
Yuri Monogatari signed by artists Althea Keaton and Sergio Aviles, or a copy of
Shoujoai ni Bouken: The Adventures of Yuriko autographed by yours truly!
Here is the panel/ workshop schedule where ALC staff and guests can be found:
Friday4PM - Sailor Moon (Erica) We'll gab about whatever strikes our fancy, like, oh, who our favorite Senshi is... ;-)
10PM - Yuri (Erica, Bruce, Sean and whoever else joins us) We're going down memeory lane as we talk about our first yuri loves - manga series, that is.
Saturday4PM - ALC Publishing (Erica, Sergio, Althea) Win prizes with our ALC trivia contest and be there for our special announcement! :-)
10PM - Drawing Yuri Workshop (Althea) Get great tips on "drawing lesbians" from a four-time contributor to
Yuri Monogatari.
Sunday10 AM - Light Novels (Erica, Sean) At last! A place to talk about the
Marimite Novels, as well as the
Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, and many more popular light novel series.
2 PM - Dengeki Daioh (Erica) I'll lead a discussion about the magazine that launched a zillion yuri series...and a whole lot of non-yuri ones too. :-)
Also of interest:
Sin Comix - a circle of women who draw hentai, because they feel like it. Includes a gal who does yuri. (Friday)
Sean Gaffney will be facilitating the general Hentai discussion (Saturday)
and loads and loads of how-to workshops and in depth discussions on everything about manga from specific genres to the difference between American and Japanese narrative.
Industry: Marvel, ALC, Dark Horse, Media Blasters, Drama Queen, Vertical and more!
Don't miss a chance to take part in this exciting next generation of event!
Yuri Manga: Hayate x Blade, Volume 5
For those readers with short attention spans, or whose reading comprehension has been affected by too many hours on irc here is a short review of
Hayate x Blade (aka
Hayate Cross Blade) Volume 5:
Hitsugi x Shizuku = win.
Now, for the rest of you, here's the long version. ;-)
We left off in Volume 4 just at the beginning of the ultimate
hoshitori battle - Student Council members Minori and Kureha have challenged School Chairman Hitsugi and her partner Shizuku. The winners to become (or remain) the President of the Student Council and the losers to drop an entire rank and lose their place on the council altogether. Minori and Kureha have been working on what they believe are the keys to defeating Hitsugi.
What they don't count on is that for every measure of insane cool Hitsugi brings to any situation, she brings three measures of cheesy and effed up. Shizuku and Hitsugi stolidly defend against the oncoming attacks until they have the measure of their opponents, and Hitsugi cues up some cheeseball BGM - and they're off! Hitsugi dances with her opponent; not because she can't defeat her instantly, but because she's a FREAK and wants to wait to the climax of the music. LOL At the right moment, Hitsugi and Shizuku make their moves.
Kureha and Minori are surprised to note that their stars didn't make any noise when hit, and are even more surprised to find that their white uniforms have now turned black, signalling their defeat and loss of rank. (Hitsugi fan and hanger-on Tatewaki explains that material in their uniforms were made by the Amachi Corp., Histugi's family's company. They are made with built-in nanotechnology that responds to the loss with this significant and symbolic change of color.)
They take their loss gracefully, but not so the penalty game Hitsugi enforces - running 30 laps of a four kilometer course. Kureha, as the challenger, is ready to do it alone, but Minori insists on sharing the pain. As
shinyuu they draw closer together, everyone says "awwww", but they still have to finish the laps. lol
Meanwhile Hayate continues to train extra hard so as to be able to rank up with Ayana. They discuss how, eventually, they're going to have to fight Yukari, Ayana's former
shinyuu. In a rare moment of emotional vulnerability, Ayana confesses that she feels alot of guilt about that relationship. In her last fight with Yukari as her partner, she went berserk. Although she doesn't remember doing it, she injured Yukari quite badly. The reason, we learn, that Yukari wears her hair over her left eye is to conceal a scar that runs down from the forehead to cheek, assumably caused by Ayana's sword. Hayate tells Ayana that she doesn't want to know about the things that make Ayana sad - she wants to know about the things that makes Ayana happy.
The school festival approaches, Hitsugi tells the student body - although she herself had forgotten until just yesterday. She arbitrarily decides that all events must be done in maid costumes. Jun has been tasked with making the costumes for her class, so you can bet that Ayana's costume is wildly inappropriate for anyone to wear in public. :-) Jun gets a lot of milaeage and physical abuse this volume, because the whole maid costume thing is entirely too appealing for her to behave.
The book ends with two omake stories - one, the backstory for the
Hayate x Blade Drama CD. That is, Hitsugi was bored one day and came up with the idea. Wackiness ensues as Jun tries her best to encourage Ayana's innate sexiness with wildly inappropriate script suggestions.
...thinking about it, Jun loses a lot of blood this volume. LOL
The second backstory is a gag about the school suggestion box. Since so many of the complaints are regarding Jun's perviness, Ayana's loud and violent expressions of anger and Hayate's habit of talking while she eats and spewing food around, the next day finds *four* suggestion boxes, one each labeled "Kuga" (Jun), "Mudou" (Ayana) and "Kurogane eating" (Hayate.)
Next volume the school festival begins and chaos ensues!! With maid costumes!
Ratings:
Art - 9
Story - 9
Characters - 9
Yuri - 7 (Jun's a lousy role model, but undeniably lesbian. Hitsugi x Shizuku as I said, equals win. They get winner with each volume.)
Loser FanBoy - 3
Overall - 9
Tags: Manga, Yuri Manga, Hayashiya Shizuru, Chicks with Swords, Hayate Cross Blade, Hayate x Blade
