Yuri Network News – July 18, 2009

July 18th, 2009

Welcome to the relaunch of the News Report as Yuri Network News. YNN correspondents have reported in from around the world! I just whacked together this logo, so I’m officially announcing a YNN logo contest. Send in your YNN logo to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com and I’ll come up with something fun as a prize, along with sincere gratitude and the approbation of your peers.

Yuri Anime

darkchibi wants you all to know that the first episodes of El Cazador de la bruja are available for viewing on the Funimation Channel. We’re not sure if this is a reguarly placed series or a DVD teaser, but as soon as I know, I’ll let you know.

This hasn’t gotten too much mention anywhere, but Needless will have some Yuri. It’s not really a good series, unless you like magic fightin’ school-lolis. If that’s your schtick then you’ll *love* it. For anyone else, I want to warn you, I’ve been reading the manga in Ultra Jump magazine and while it has some good elements, I often feel like my brain needs a sandpaper shower afterwards. (As I expressed to the wife, it’s not that I *have* a soul anymore, its just that sometimes the hole where it used to be aches. lol)

I know no one but me cares, but Air Master is now on Crunchyroll. Let me be plain, this is mostly important because CR’s streaming sucks less than Funimation’s. I can’t stand streaming video myself. I hate sitting still that long and when I’m halfway along and lose the stream I want to KILL someone. Funi’s stream was loading extra super-duper slow for the wife and I and we got tired of waiting.

Which brings me to today’s random observation. What we need is a POD (Print on Demand) system for DVDs. Let’s say I watch Aoi Hana and would like to buy it. I might, eventually, be able to download it and burn it to my own DVDs. Or, the licensor could come up with a system by which I could download it for a fee (say $2/episode) *or* for extra $ download it to a system that will burn it to a DVD with a cute, branded design on the disk, and stick it in a jewel case with a cover. I would totally spend the extra $, but if you didn’t want to, you wouldn’t have to.

As I said, I don’t much care for streaming anything. I want to pause and walk away, Fast Forward!!!! and other things that streaming isn’t happy with. I would be very glad to pay per episode a fee to allow me to get a disk of Ep. 1-4 so I can watch it again not on my computer. POD is just getting running, really ,for print and e-books. What do you think about a POD for DVDs?

***

Yuri Manga

French correspondent Karin would like you and “especially our French readers to know that the French publisher Asuka is releasing the manga Aoi Hana. They’re releasing it under the name of Fleurs Bleues (Blue Flowers) and it seems that the first volume has already appeared on June 11. Futhermore, Asuka will be releasing Oniisama E under the name of Très Cher Frère (Very dear brother) in September. As far as I see it, they will publish all three volumes in one volume. Sounds like very good news for French and French knowing Yuri fans, doesn’t it?”

Yes, Karin, it does! France has always been josei-friendly in a way that the US has never really managed. I am very saddened that I don’t read French, because I would love to see these. Thank you so much for the exciting news. Ryoko Ikeda loves your country best. :-D

***

Snatches of Yuri

Katherine is excited about a new manga, Shitsurakuen. She describes is a kind of Utena clone, with girl Prince, who saves girl princesses, and Yuri.

About a million people have written in to suggest we all watch Taisho Yakyuu Musume, a story set at the end of the Taisho period, about 9 girls who will struggle against social and gender perceptions to create a baseball team. Any “Yuri” is probably going to be akogare and not much more, but it’s a cute sports story and refreshingly service-free.

Also, I have has a number of folks mention new season anime Umi Monogatari as having Yuri. I can only asume they think the opening credits mean something. I’m not that innocent. There is no “truth in advertising” in manga covers or anime Openings. Word of warning, some folks are calling this series a mahou shoujo series. It is not. It is a magical girl for guys series, like Nanoha, not an actual shoujo series. The amount of time we spend looking at their asses really ought to be an indicator, folks. It feels to me much like Kaleido Star, sort of for girls, but not really, so when I checked out the opening credits, it was no surprise to see Sato Junichi’s name there.

Lastly, another series that a number of folks suggested to me a while back that it just took me *forever* to make myself watch that you ought to know about is Live-Action series Mendol Ikemen. This low comedy about three girls that will do *anything* to become idols, even become boys, is not hardly high art. BUT, it’s got Yuri. I’ll probably do a review in detail on it later, but in short – the one girl who reads the most likely to ever even remotely be gay does in fact get the girl, among other suprisingly open-minded things. Otherwise, it’s a silly, slapstick comedy.

And for the crowd that thinks that moe is all about the adorable innocence, and wouldn’t it be even better if there was some nudity, we have Hana no Palette.

***

Other Yuri News

Right Stuf/Nozomi announces “The Art of ARIA Lithographs” series. They have created a Fan vote to determine which print will be produced first; Poll now open at aria.rightstuf.com. Get started on this process by which Right Stuf takes all our money today! ;-)

***

It’s been a crazy week, so I’ll wrap it up here. Thanks again to everyone who comprises our “Yuri Network!” Please feel free to be part of our Yuri Network and email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with any Yuri News you’d like to share!

21 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    “Shitsurakuen” isn’t an old manga; the one you’ve linked to on Amazon.jp looks like a different manga with the same title.

    The one Katherine told you about is currently being serialised in the Gangan Joker magazine, which only started publication this year. It doesn’t even have any volumes out yet, since there have only been two chapters so far.

  2. @Anonymous – Thanks for the correction, I’ll fix that right away.

  3. ajshepherd says:

    POD DVDs. I agree totally. My other thing about streaming (apart from buffering pauses, etc) is that I have a big TV and a comfy sofa, and I’d rather sit on my comfy sofa and watch my big TV than sit in front of my computer to watch something.
    If it’s been subtitled for streaming, I should be able to get it on DVD by return of post for an appropriate fee.
    I like to have stuff to keep, and watch when I like.

    Needless. What you get if you take a bunch of animators, and feed them ‘heroic doses’ of speed and testosterone…

  4. C. Banana says:

    Crunchyroll actually already does downloads for some of their older series. For instance, you can buy Kaleido Star for $2 US per episode.

  5. @C. Banana – Yes, I thought that was the point I made. We can already download, at least some series. But as ajsheperd says – I have a big comfy sofa and a big TV. I’d rather watch anime on my big TV and still have my computer free for playing on at the same time.

  6. C. Banana says:

    @Erica – There are a few technical ways to do that. The easiest is just to have a DVD player capable of reading video data files off a recordable DVD or CD.

  7. @C.Banana – You are completely missing my point. I know that that can be done. Stay with me here.

    CR *already* offers downloads for older anime and they can easily be burned to DVD or as data files.

    My DVD player plays all sorts of data files.

    That’s not at all what I am saying.

    I am saying that I am willing to pay an *extra* fee for a service that packages up my downloads into a legal, pleasantly decorated DVD and case.

    A Print-on-Demand version of anime DVDs.

    Legally licensed downloads on legally licensed disks with legally licensed art.

  8. C. Banana says:

    @ Erica – Sorry, I was just trying to respond to one of the points brought up not the total package.

  9. @C. Banana – No worries. I’m just trying to be clear. :-)

  10. BruceMcF says:

    Since its legal (at least in the US) to burn the CR downloads onto a DVD for your own use, the missing pieces are download (for fee) of Liughtscribe art for the DVD’s and of cover art for DVD covers. Then a stock of lightscribe DVD disks, thinpack DVD cases and paper for the DVD cover art, and its all set.

  11. ArcaJ says:

    Congrats on the Yuri Network News launch! On the subject of POD DVDs: Someone already attempted something like that. A year or so ago, ImaginAsian TV (cable channel) was airing a morning anime block with TMS programs. Cat’s Eye, Super Dimension Century Orguss, and Nobody’s Boy Remi.

    For the cost of one DVD. IATV would send you the first disc and a box to hold the rest. Subsequent discs were printed on demand and sent in sleeves.

    Unfortunately, something happened to their agreement and IATV is no longer doing this.

    I don’t know how helpful this is, but it hopefully, someone can make it work.

    ::HUGS::

    Arca Jeth

  12. @BruceMcF – And the rights from the Japanese company. Surely by now everyone realizes that licensing an anime for DVd doesn’t mean licensing for broadcast or streaming and licensing for streaming doesn’t automatically provide viewers with the right to download.

    So, in fact, what is needed is

    1) The licensing rights to provide a download.

    2) The licensing rights to any art used to produce POD-DVDs

    3) The agreement by the J-company, CR and the POD company to allow a third-party to product POD-DVD on behalf of them and CR.

    4) The materiel to press DVDs and the materials to package them.

    Yes, I know I could do it myself cheaply, if downloads ever become available for a series I care about. I don’t want to. I want to have my cake and eat it too. I want to be able to DL my anime legally and have someone else make me a pretty disk in a nice box with nice art.

    I’m also willing to pay a premium per item at Wal-mart, if they had a “get the hell out of here” line with their A-team and a guarantee that they’d get me the hell out of there.

  13. Ramiya says:

    Actually a little bit ago CR announced that they are discontinuing the purchased downloadable episode service…I was pretty ticked off as I was collecting Time of Eve this way, and sure enough, they stopped offering it on the second-to-last episode. :( I also dislike streaming and am willing to pay money for copies to own over a subscription fee to streams. I understand if the model wasn’t making enough for CR and their licensors, but I wish they’d at least see series through to the end.

  14. Anonymous says:

    “*Mahou Shoujo* Lyrical Nanoha” is not a mahou shoujo series? That reminds me of this post back when Nanoha first came out:

    http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?p=348980#post348980

    I know what you really meant, of course. But I can’t shake that it seems a bit of cognitive dissonance to say a series isn’t something which it specifically labels itself as in its own title. :) A series doesn’t have to be a “shoujo” series to be a “mahou shoujo” series–one refers to the audience, the other refers to the starring character.

  15. @Anonymous – Mahou shoujo is a specific subset of shoujo literature/anime/manga in Japan. A series is not mahou shoujo if it is not shoujo. in the same way that a seinen might potentially have a gay male character but that does not make it a BL series.

    Once more with feeling – in Japan targeted audience detemines genre, not anything else.

  16. As for Taisho Yakyuu Musume, it is very much akogare and sisterly affection and “friends forever” type stuff in the first few episodes. I don’t think there shall be any romance in this between two girls. Even if it is an anime about girls + baseball (which normally should spell lesbian, shouldn’t it?)

    I mean, it’s the Taisho era… even if any one of them DID have leanings, it will never go anywhere since I don’t suspect one could have lived openly gay in the 1920s in Japan, right?

    Given the source material of this anime, it reads very much like Marimite Yuri, except, you know, with absolutely no lesbians (Sei makes up the entire team!) instead.

    Hmmm, as unlikely as it was for Aoi Hana to even be made into an anime, I suppose I can cross fingers and hope it gets licensed as well. I mean, never in a million years would I have thought any company would ever produce an anime for that manga. Ever. And I was so happily proven wrong.

    It has been making (puddle) splashes among the slice of life/school drama fanbase more so than with Yuri/romance fans (the LFBs seem more excited about Kanamemo). In fact, a lot of my friends who are watching and enjoying it did not see Yuri as anything more than fodder for service. I’ve been getting a lot of, “Wow, this is my first shoujo-ai/Yuri anime! And it’s pretty good!” comments.

    I can only say thank God this got to them before something else.

  17. Cryssoberyl says:

    Aoi Hana screams for a Nozomi Entertainment liscense. It’s just the sort of thing they like to grab, and they’ve already set the stage for breaking into Yuri with Marimite. Let’s hope for it.

    As a fellow Air Master lover, I think it’s great that this now-fairly-old series is still kicking around. Sakiyama Kaori 4ever.

    I’m still going to hold out hope that something might happen in Umi no Monogatari and Taisho Yakyu Musume, not because I really believe it will, but because I enjoy being optimistic. More likely, it will end up as simply VSFF (Very Special Friends Forever), and that’s perfectly fine too.

  18. BruceMcF says:

    Erica Friedman said…
    @BruceMcF – And the rights from the Japanese company.

    Since AFAIU its the Japanese company that uploads to Crunchyroll, that would be the rights … but as Ramiya notes (and I hadn’t heard), CR is dropping downloading.

    OTOH, the ideal would be a system that could be used both by an individual and in a retail POD station.

    In any event, the lightscribe would be the technology for the POD DVD, combined with a color printer for the label for the case.

    And I have my fingers crossed it is not Wal-Mart that gets specialty DVD POD, but OTOH its probably not a great fit with their demographic.

  19. Motormind says:

    Umi Monogatari is very silly indeed. The Yuri is limted to moments when Marin mildly flirts with Kanon, by telling her she has nice eyes and so on, but that’s actually very sweet in its own right. I don’t dislike the series, although I find the magical girl bits tacked on.

    I also disagree with your assessement that Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is not a Mahou Shoujo show. The phrase “mahou shoujo” literally translates to “magical girl”, so in this case “shoujo” is not the targeted demographic. Mahou shoujo shows are indeed mostly shoujo, but there are exceptions and Nanoha is one of them.

  20. Anonymous says:

    Umi Monogatari really isn’t bad. You far get more (risque) “ass-shots” of a person during a hour at the beach.

    Not saying it’s Yuri yet, but gesh, I’ve seen shoujo with far worse fanservice. The anime is okay. Silly sure, but cute.

    Not-male fan here, by the way.

  21. Given someone mentioned those ImaginAsian discs, I only wish I could finish finding some of the ones for the Remi set that isn’t complete in my collection. Love it if someone could help me there!

Leave a Reply