Yuri News This Week – April 4, 2009

April 4th, 2009

Before we start today’s News Report, I just want to thank a few people. The Yuricon site went down last week, due to the sudden disappearance of the server owner. In mere *moments* of my asking for a new temporary space, I had several responses. I was quite overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity. Thank you all.

I also want to thank the past and current owners of Shoujo-ai Archive who have been hosting the Yuricon.org site since 2002. We have now parted ways as far as our sites go, but in every way, I wish them (and they me) the very best of luck. They are very good people, for whom I have nothing but respect and good wishes.

The Yuricon site is, with luck, going to be getting a facelift this year. When it does, I’ll be looking for a new, permanent home. But in the meantime, I want to thank a few folks who are (and have been) tremndous Yuricon heroes.

Thanks to Nora for offering hosting space as a temporary haven, so we can stay up and running!

Thanks to Zyl, Marie, Bruce P and many more of you who have donated to Yuricon. Yuricon has always been a labor of love. Your support is very greatly appreciated.

And thanks to everyone who supports Okazu. I absolutely could not do it without you. You are all my Heroes!

***

And now, turning to today’s news….

It’s 2003 all over again. -_-;

Yuri Anime

Funimation has announced that they are picking up some of Toei’s titles, including one of my very favorite crappy anime ever, Air Master, Digimon Adventure 02 and Pretty Cure as well, for release here on the Funimation digital channel and also, hopefully, on DVD. If you were a Yuri fan about 5 years ago, you remember when Toei decided to enter the American anime DVD market, then proceeded to ignore everyone’s advice. Click the “Air Master” right-hand sidebar for the reviews of those misbegotten DVDs. I know it’s a piece of shit, but I adore Air Master and think that the OP is the single best anime theme ever. (I also am keeping my fingers crossed for Funi getting the third season of Digimon because that rocked the house. And my wife wants to mention that she *also* liked Air Master and, as we so rarely agree about anime, this is quite notable! lol)

The Queen’s Blade anime began this week, and I was amazed at how much more horrible it was than the manga. The manga is fetishy, low and crass. The anime is filth. Once again, Japanese otaku culture provides us with only the best in women’s crotch views. The Yuri is of the unrequited sister love variety, so I’ll see how far I get before giving in altogether.

senbei is pleased to report that the Season 4 DVDs for Marimite have “Maria-sama ni ha Naisho” extras, as did the previous three seasons.

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Yuri Manga

Yen Plus has divulged that they have picked up the Azumanga Daioh manga and are going to do it right this time. Azumanga was one of ADVs first forays into manga and while their intentions were good, it was at the very cusp of the days when names were changed and “localization” meant pretending the characters weren’t Japanese at all. I had skimmed Volume 1 in the bookstore, and never even looked at the rest, although I have been repeatedly assured that the manga treatment got better, if not actually good. It’ll be great to see it done by Yen.

Yuri Monogatari 6 hits the shelves this week! Look at all the news here today and think about this – hideously gigantic breasts, women who walk into the room crotch first, schoolgirls, sisters in love. Is *this* really what you want from your Yuri? It is not what I want. YM6 is the only Yuri publication out there that protrays women in love with woman, actual stories of lesbian life and love. Fight back against the fetishism, the plain old…yuck…of it all and get YM6 today!

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Snatches of Yuri

Okazu Superhero Dan P. cheerfully pointed out Ghost Talker’s Daydream 3 as a series with a “ill-fated” lesbian love triangle, and a plot that will make me cry. It appears to be an “sexy” version of TV’s Ghost Whisperer…or something. Sounds dreadful. We’ll see how it goes. lol

Several people have noted that the advent of Candy Boy has catapulted sister love back into the height of popularity. Bearing in mind that it also presents the least threat to men, because of course, a girl can love her sister forever, but she’ll still have to get married and have babies, because that is what one does – plus there’s always the chance that the guy reading this will get to do those hot bottle-blonde, siliconed twins, you know, as long as his credit card is good, making it an appealing fantasy space for “Yuri.” (Which is exactly why it does not appeal at all to me.) In honor of this trend, which I hope soon will move on and go about it’s business, the rest of today’s “Snatches” are Yuri-cest. Skip them if that kink does not appeal.

I will not be getting any of these, but if *you* are, please feel free to send us a review. I am actually ready, willing and able to post reviews of things I might not personally like – especially if you *do* like them. I am not looking for reviews of scanlations. Please only contact me if you are reviewing a manga you have purchased.

A series that I will likely not be trying, but hope one of you will is Chiisana Wakusei Chiisana Hanashi. It’s very love-love sisters. Fans of Kokoro Library will probably like it lots.

Eru Eru Sister is another series getting rave reviews from the Yuricest crowd.

And, another for the same crowd is Smile Sweet.

And another. Be- Twins. Because too much of a thing is never enough.

Again, if you read any of these, please feel free to review them for us. You do not have to “defend” your like of them – just provide an honest review. Email me for details on my preferred formats.

***

And there is your week in Yuri for April 4, 2003.

23 Responses

  1. Katherine says:

    Nice commentary explaining why people like Yuricest- I always thought Candy Boy and its ilk are trash and could never fathom the appeal. I’m looking forward to YM6 though!

  2. Queen’s Blade: “The anime is filth.”

    But it’s A-LIST filth! We got Atsuko Tanaka who did Major Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell, Ayako Kawasumi and Mamiko Noto who did voice work in Straberry Marshmallow and Yuko Kaida of Strawberry Panic fame doing the voice for the pink jello T-1000 with the “melts everything but skin” acid from her you know what.

    And it’s from Kinji Yoshimoto, the director of Nightshift Nurses: Experiment OAV. What could possibly go wrong?

  3. @Katherine – The explanation was quite unintentional. I was just venting. lol

    @Ted – I KNOW. It was super bizarre to hear so many decent VAs stuck in this “Caligula” of an anime.

  4. darkchibi07 says:

    Two words for Queen Blade:

    acid-shooting boobies

  5. Anonymous says:

    “It was super bizarre to hear so many decent VAs stuck in this “Caligula” of an anime.”

    OMG that’s what it kept reminding me of but I just couldn’t figure it out. It also explains why the voices sounded familiar.

  6. Oh, wait. That’s Rie Kugimiya who does the voice of the Pink T-1000. Also known for her portrayal of …… Alphonse Elric from FullMetal Alchemist?! This is getting better by the minute.

    @Erica Friedman – I think that unlike Caligula, the voice actors for Queen’s Blade knew EXACTLY what they were getting into.

  7. Well, Funimation seems to have the biggest foot in the anime door so I hope they do eventually release Air Master on DVD. I can’t stand this digital channel/download stuff. The amount of stuff they put on those files prohibits me from doing things that would totally fall under fair use.

    I’m still going to keep the original DVDs so I can make a comparison on how Funimation did a better job (hopefully) at releasing Air Master compared to what Toei did.

  8. CBanana says:

    Theoretically your argument against Yuri incest could be applied to any Yuri not just the incestuous variety. Just replace “sister” with “girlfriend”, and twins with “girls”.

  9. @CBanana – Not true. Two non-related women have some chance of building a relationship together as “lesbians” (which means they do not need men.) It’s a small likelihood, but it exists, which nags. “Spinster” sisters is an even smaller likelihood, but since most men simply don’t acknowledge the indipendent sex lives of women outside heterosexual obligations, it poses no threat, because it is not seen as a sexual relationship.

  10. Shaya says:

    Girl, I love the OP of Air Master, geez, you read my mind.

  11. CBanana says:

    @ Erica – I see. Thank you for clarifying. Unfortunately that is a problem with all schoolgirl Yuri that’s only exacerbated by the incest angle.

    Still, I try not to think about that too much otherwise I just tend to ruin my enjoyment of the medium.

  12. moritheil says:

    She’ll still have to get married and have babies, because that is what one does.

    I think that functions very well as a commentary on the typical assumptions of the consumer you seek to portray. Of course, one has only to look at real life in Japan to realize how monumentally wrong that is – thousands of women are choosing to remain single into their thirties and forties rather than get married to men who do not appeal to them. It is no longer the 1950s and that sort of fantasy is far removed from reality.

    I wonder why more manga do not depict this, but then, many artists are in the business of selling to that fantasy.

    Re: Queen’s Blade, I think this is an expensive demonstration that not even A-list talent can save a terrible premise.

  13. Jo says:

    About the Ghost Talker’s Daydream 3 snatch. If one is not acquainted with the storyline the chapter will appear as just bizarre and weird but since I am a fan of the series I actually found it sad. It was most definitely Yuri though. It evolves around one of the side characters of the main story, that is a known lesbian, and I found it rather sweet.

    Pardon the crappy English. It is not my first language.

  14. o.o! You’re a digimon fan too?

    I loved the third season! I thought it was the best out of them all ^.^

    Guilmon <3

  15. Anonymous says:

    @moritheil said… “thousands of women are choosing to remain single into their thirties and forties rather than get married to men who do not appeal to them. It is no longer the 1950s and that sort of fantasy is far removed from reality.”

    But that’s one of the reason these fantasies are so popular. Japanese men just can’t cope with the fact that women are socially evolving out of the roles men have constructed for them. As a result they seek fantasy to compensate.

    The publishers, which are in no way stupid, know this and cater to that “need”.

  16. Mara says:

    I must agree with Jo as to ‘Ghost Talkers Daydream’ and its relative effectiveness.

    Although I would never say the series is Yuri the minor character that stars in that chapter had appeared before and was characterized as a pretty cool editor of an erotic magazine so it was nice to see her in a horror segment as well.

    There was an OVA that was released in the US way before the manga was licensed and only had to first two volumes to work with. Odd that so few people had heard of this.

  17. BruceMcF says:

    moritheil said… “thousands of women are choosing to remain single into their thirties and forties rather than get married to men who do not appeal to them. It is no longer the 1950s and that sort of fantasy is far removed from reality.

    I wonder why more manga do not depict this, but then, many artists are in the business of selling to that fantasy.

    You’d think there would be a market of some kind for stories about women relying on networks of female friends, with men out of sight or hovering somewhere off in the background, the stories focusing on women forming, and then developing, the kind of relationships that can last for their entire lives.

    Odd that nobody writes stories like that. It would make a pleasant change of pace.

    Sadly, in today’s economy, they’d probably have to pander to some kind of otaku cosplay fetish even for a series like that. Still and all, if done well, it could prove well worth it.

    Heck, I’d even pre-order a box set or two, to get trinkets.

  18. Jo says:

    @Mara: Despite the fact that Shizue’s character is a permanent and consistent recurrence in the manga I would never expect people to mention Ghost Talkers Daydream as a story line with a minor Yuri character.

    Sure, Shizue is out, she goes to bars and picks up girls. She also seems to have some kind of conscience when it comes to the people that she sleeps with.

    But, come on. How many people do you expect, out of the many that read this manga, to be Yuri readers and take the time to go to wiki, or here, or anywhere, just to inform readers about Shizue?

    Besides, if you read the manga, you might remember that this is not Shizue’s first appearance. She was a co-protagonist in a chapter in Vol. 2 too, that was issued about two months ago if my memory serves me right, but the manga only gets to be mentioned now. I wonder why? :)

  19. @Jo – Because I am not omniscient. I only ever heard of it when Dan told me. This is precisely why I ask people to email me when they hear of a series, so I can tell people about it. You and I talk constantly, but I don’t recall you ever telling me about this series.

    I can only know so much. I rely on all of Yuri fandom to help me out here. :)

    @Bruce McF – There are many, many series about womens friendships. In novels and movies – all of which *are* targeted to adult women.

    The Japaese otaku audience, which is primarily male and is still, mostly, socially and sexually immature, is not interested in stories of adult women bonding as friends. When was the last time you went to a “chick flick” in the movie theater? :-)

  20. Jo says:

    @Erica: First, I do frequent on the site for about a year but this (yes this one) is probably my 6th post here so there might be another Jo out there, wanting my head on a plate at the moment because I abuse his/her nickname so, no, we aren’t talking much. :)

    Second, indeed you are not omniscient, but there is a small factor here with this particular story that as with me it may be the same with other people. Even I can’t understand why I read and buy Daydream like a maniac and I’ll go telling people? I fell in love with Simoun and Kurau and then I go buy a manga and watch an anime about an albino virgin dominatrix that is exorcising ghosts for some extra cash? I’d feel less ashamed if I used my credit card to buy the Shoujo Sect OVA o_o

    I do promise to be more diligent in the future though :)

  21. @Jo – My apologies. I did mistake you for another Jo.

    I completely understand that we often find ourselfves buying utter crap. lol Don’t be ashamed and always feel free to email me and tell me you found something of Yuri interest!

  22. Donald says:

    The third season of Digimon was the freaking War and Peace of the fighting-cute-creature shows.

    It’s director was the same guy who mane Serial Experiments Lain, which I think explains a lot.

  23. BruceMcF says:

    @ Erica “There are many, many series about womens friendships. In novels and movies – all of which *are* targeted to adult women.

    As may be, but I was talking about a favorite one in particular, with the “forming relationships for life” subplots from season one coming roaring back in the form of a picture in the finale of season four.

    When was the last time you went to a “chick flick” in the movie theater? :-)

    Never, certainly. Watching such movies are why they invented Netflix. Or, if its a particularly good anime series, online mail order.

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