Yuri Network News – April 10, 2010

April 10th, 2010

More Maria-sama ga Miteru Movie News

Courtesy of YNN correspondent senbei, here is more information on the Live-Action Maria-sama ga Miteru Movie:

From Eiga.com News

Work has begun on a live action film version of Konno Oyuki’s popular teen novel series Maria-sama ga Miteru. Starring Miki Honoka (未来穂香 [born March 7th 1997, a resident of Chiba]), a model attached to the fashion magazine Love Berry; and Haru (波瑠 [born June 17th 1991, a resident of Tokyo]), a model attached to the fashion magazine Seventeen.

Based on the original light novel work (boasting sales of 5.4 million copies), the series was made into a much-discussed anime by TV Tokyo. Terauchi Koutarou (director of the recent films Karasuko Raida and Ikemen Bank: The Movie [as well as the 2006 film, Boys Love]) , takes the megaphone again as director of this film. Ostensibly, the content of the movie is based on the thirty-seven published volumes as well one volume [series?] of manga.

The stage is set at Lillian Girl’s School—a preeminent Catholic women’s school in Japan. Here there exists a system of bonding between upper classmen and underclassmen known as the soeur system. The story centers on the Yamayurikai: the student council organization of youth on campus. As the film opens, Fukuzawa Yumi (played by Miki), an ordinary female high school student, is called to stop by her upper classmen, Ogasawara Sachiko (played by Haru). Here in depicts a complete change in her daily life at the academy.

Miki, the chosen lead, innocently comments, “I am very very happy. Thinking back, I had said, ‘I want to work as an actress my whole life.’ I think it’s fate that I got this performance.” With considerable enthusiasm she went on, “Maria-sama ga Miteru is my fated film [debut]. With no less than all the energy I can muster, I will strive to tackle this role. I want this to be a good performance,” she added.

Regarding Miki’s costar, Haru, she told us that, “While on the one hand I’m happy, I’m also surprised to find myself asking, ‘Am I good enough?’ Even just in the role of “Oneesama,” one gets the sense of being a lean, well-bred woman. So as not to disappoint fans of the original work, I want to bring that visual Sachiko and my internalized Sachiko as close together as possible.”

Maria-sama ga Miteru will be distributed by Jolly Roger and open in theaters [in Japan] this autumn.

Thank you so much for this translation, senbei – we’re all very appreciative of your efforts on our behalf! :-)

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Yuri Anime

On the Yuricon Mailing List, YNN correspondent Nick P pointed out that Blue Drop is going to get an English-language dub courtesy of an “upgrade” program from Sentai Filmworks.

Crunchyroll has announced that they’ve licensed Shin Koihime Musou 2nd. Here’s hoping for more cringe-making Yuri-service. :-)

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Yuri Manga

Okazu Superhero and YNN Correspondent Eric P. calls our attention to news that Seven Seas has announced omnibus collections for Hayate x Blade and Strawberry Panic!, and has rescued some other Dengeki Daioh titles that had lapsed licenses.

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Other Yuri News

YNN Correspondent Erin S. gladly shares a link to the Toranoana website with a description and pictures of the Fujieda Miyabi art exhibit that I was able to attend while in Tokyo. Although the exhibit is over, the pictures give you at least an idea of what it looked like.

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Other News

Neither of these are related to Yuri in any way, but I thought them of interest – in Japan, a mangaka named Shuho Satou who has had issues with several of the larger publishing companies, started publishing his work online directly with a fair amount of success. Now he has launched MangaWebOnline.com, a site for other manga creators who want to take their work directly to their audience.

And in North America, several former Tokyopop OEL creators have teamed up to do exactly the same thing with Bento Comics.

In both cases, while right now these can be seen as the online equivalent of an artists’ cooperative, if successful will find themselves in the position of becoming a publishing entity. I think it’s worth keeping your eyes on both these efforts to see where the future of manga may very well lie. There’s a real possibility that webcomics and manga are about to give birth to some really interesting kids.

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That’s a wrap for this week.

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4 Responses

  1. darkchibi07 says:

    Uhhh, Blue Drop has always been Sentai Filmworks’ property since the beginning. I’m guessing the reason they’re dubbing it is the same reason they’re dubbing Clannad which is the sub-only DVDs sold really above their expectations.

  2. @darkchibi07 – Thank you for the correction. I will fix that. Much obliged.

  3. Anonymous says:

    As a longtime lurker, I just want to say thanks for doing this every week. I really enjoy reading YNN and look forward to each new update. :)

  4. @Anonymous – Thank you for reading the YNN report every week. As long as there are people out there who find it worth their time, it is totally worth mine. :-)

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