It’s time for Utter Nonense! Again!

March 30th, 2011

When spring rolls around (or, when in theory it should be rolling around again, but instead the weather steadfastly lingers at near-freezing and it pisses us all off…) I get the urge to answer questions. Why? I don’t know! But I do.

So, once again, I am taking questions from you, my dear readers about life, love, Yuri, whatever. As always, there are a few ground rules:

1) I will not answer questions about “what is your favorite….” I find them difficult to answer, as I really don’t have favorites.

2) No “ham or cheese” or “Coke or Pepsi” questions, please.  They aren’t all that interesting for any of us and I can tell you honestly, the answer is almost always “neither of the two.”

3) If you want to ask me what I see as the future of Yuri or why I like Yuri, I beg you to read all the previous iterations of my answers to these questions. If you have a real question about Yuri that I have not previously addressed, bring it on!

4) Please, please, no questions that can be answered by 30 seconds of actually READING one of my reviews here. Also, asking me “what do you think of so-and-so anime/fandom” is not going to give you the external validation you crave nor will I rise to the bait of using it as a springboard to rant about a fandom, either.

5) Lastly no “define the term” questions. The answers have been posted here: http://okazu.blogspot.com/2008/03/okazu-glossary-of-terms.html.

Now, I realize that this makes it harder to ask me questions. But the harder you work at the questions, the harder I have to work at the answering, so it’s a fair deal. The funnier the question, the better chance of an amusing answer. ^_^

I will also be cheating this time and perhaps using more of the questions I got for the UBC lecture, but didn’t have time to answer. ^_^

I don’t promise definitive answers, just the best I can come up with without moving an inch from my sofa.

Feel free to post your questions here in the comments! I very much look forward to them.

15 Responses

  1. Placeholder: How are minority characters treated in Yuri?

  2. JRB says:

    Random question from a lurker: I don’t read much Yuri, and in part it’s because of my impression that Yuri characters tend, overall, to be very stereotypically feminine. By contrast, BL is, as a genre, highly invested in gender nonconformity, and even general shoujo has a fair amount of genderbending. Do you agree that Yuri characters are more hyperfeminine, and if so, do you think it’s because of the influence of male readers/writers?

  3. Mara says:

    At the risk of sounding like an ignorant fool: Why do you occasionally use the word ‘space’ so much; and in odd (but not incorrect) places?

    Examples include:
    “France continues to be a very girl-friendly space for manga.”
    “”Yr Yr” covers that awkward space between a confession and a response.”
    “The Yuri Gap is that space after “zOMG! We’re in love!”…”
    “This space when two women are past building a physical relationship out of an emotional one and trying to translate that into real life.”

    If this is 100% just a habit then sorry for wasting your time.

  4. George R. says:

    Here’s a question in a less serious mood than the previous (though the back of my head whispers, “but if…”). Let me start with a story.

    While I was in one of my dictionaries yesterday, I happened by the page listing Japanese government bureaus. I returned there for a second look, because I was sure my glance had misread one of them. Sure enough, I was wrong, there is no “Cabinet Lesbian Bureau.” It is the much more prosaic and boring “Cabinet Legislation Bureau.” It did give me a laugh and make me wonder if my Freudian slip is showing.

    So, my question for you: if Japan were to have a cabinet level “Lesbian Bureau,” what should it’s charter be and who would you wish its members were (real or fictional)?

    George R.

  5. deathcurse says:

    1. What is the best way to spread Yuri-love (more precisely, love of reading Yuri works) to straight friends?

    2. Could you go through all the components of the Six Degrees of Yuri? I’ve read it somewhere before, but have been unable to find it again for precise quoting when telling people about it =D.

    3. What is the best present for one lesbian to give to another?

    4. What’s one interesting item you have on your Bucket List?

  6. IolantaStar says:

    Short of actually going to Japan, what do you think is the best way to learn Japanese both in terms of effectiveness and cost considerations?

  7. BruceMcF says:

    How are minority characters treated in Yuri ~ AFAICR, they have swords pulled out of their insides so people can fight over who gets to boss them around.

    Oh, wait, now that I think about it, sometimes not so great.

  8. Felix says:

    I have been wondering: Is Japan the only country in Asia where domestic authors of lesbian themed works are regularly published? Is there anything like Yuri manga and anime in South Korea, China, etc.?

  9. Anthy says:

    Are you going to be at Anime Boston (with or without a Yuri panel)?

  10. @Anthy – Sorry, not this year. Just too much to do…

  11. Anonymous says:

    What are your ground rules for having a public blog and protecting your privacy?

  12. Anonymous says:

    How would you start an anime/manga club specifically for adults, not just the typical high school and college age fans? How would you go about advertising it, what kind of venue should it be held at, should it be more of a discussion group vs marathon viewing, and what steps would you use to go about keeping the group going and growing?

  13. Ok, just a question, since it has been a topic of conversations, albeit not so much a heated debate as an occasional statement by given sides, what is your opinion of “futanari” is it/are they in your eyes Yuri, Yaoi, Str8, or something else…?

  14. Anonymous says:

    Do you have a lot of gadget?
    what gadget you can’t live without?

  15. Kayden says:

    This is kind of similar to what IolantaStar asked, but are there any particular titles/grammar series that you’d recommend to people who’d like to learn Japanese?

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