Yuri Network News – March 3, 2012

March 3rd, 2012

Happy Hinamatsuri!

Snatches of Yuri

The second Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha movie trailer is streaming for your squeeing. I cannot express how much I am looking forward to Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s 2nd. On the topic of Nanoha, if I had $300 I could afford to throw away, I would so buy this.

Queen’s Blade is streaming special introductions to the new characters on their Queen’s Blade Rebellion website.

You probably all saw this while I was at MangaNEXT, but a completely new R.O.D. series, Read or Die Rehabilitation is in the works. This is not an alternate universe, it’s a completely different story, that promises to be darker than the original. As the original manga and novels were quite dark, I’m concerned that this may be “torture the characters instead of have a plot” territory. Of all the R.O.D. properties, the original manga was probably the weakest. On the other hand, Read or Dream turned out pretty decent, so I’ll keep expectations at a minimum and judge it when I see it. ^_^

Shinyuu to Watashi no Sukina Hito (心友と私のスキな人) sounds like a somewhat frustrating relationship between two girls who are super close until one falls for a guy. I’m told that the end is a happy one (for us.) It ran in Sho-Comi magazine, so anything is possible.

Centaur no Ayami (セントールの悩み) Volume 2, goes off the charts with Centaur Yuri. I just don’t know if I can bring myself to read this. I much prefer to to not ever think of centaurs in middle school, much less having sexual relations.

Hinata Cafe Youkoso (ひなたCafeへようこそ) is getting high Yuri scores from blogs I disagree with. I’m not seeing pandering dressing-undressing scenes as “Yuri” but perhaps it’s another girl leering or something. Whatever.

Continuing whatever Paperweight Ai 1 started, Paperweight Ai 2 (ペーパーウエイト アイ 2) continues. At least one story is by Sakamoto Mono, a Comic Yuri Hime contributor.

Yuri Manga artist Tanaka Rin has another Yuri comic running in fashion magazine commons&sense ISSUE42 GENTLE

And good news for me at least, Kimi no Tamenara Shineru (姫のためなら死ねる), Volume 2 will be hitting the shelves in April. I’ll get you a link as soon as possible, so you can not miss the wacky adventures of slacker Sei Shonagon and Murasaki Shikibu.

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That wraps it up for this week.

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11 Responses

  1. Felix says:

    @Erica – Feel the exactly the same way as you do about Nanoha A’s the Movie 2nd. I own a copy of the first movie and I can honestly say its one of the most important parts of my anime/manga collection. I really, really hope that the second movie will have English subtitles, and a reasonable price.

    Strangely enough I really thought you would have a much, much more negative reaction to Read or Die Rehabilitation. Even though my feelings are not quite as negative since its looks like the new Yomiko is not the original Yomiko from the rest of the series, I really don’t see how it will be good. I will admit, I’ve only seen the OVA version of R.O.D, and the Read or Dream TV series, and I have never read any of the manga.

    One thing I wonder and maybe you have some input. Now that Kadokawa Shoten has joined forces with Amazon JP to put their titles on the Kindle, what does it mean for the industry, and more importantly for fans outside Japan?

  2. @Felix – I try to stay out of the business of predicting, and instead stay in the confines of commenting on what is actually happening. ^_^ we won’t know whether it will mean anything at all for anyone, much less foreign fans, until we see it in action.

  3. Obake says:

    @ Erika – Have you any knowledge of whether Hideyuki Kurata is ever going to finish the light novel series?

    It seems to have been stuck at vol. 11 since 2006 and a note from the publisher stated the series would end with volume 12. In 2007 the author apologized saying he was trying to find a way to finish the series. Since then there has been silence.

    Since you frequently travel to Japan have you come across any recent information on this wonderful series or the author?

  4. @Obake – You know, I have never once really wondered about it. This kind of thing happens all the time and I write it off as a time/place issue. No one I know in Japan concerns themselves with dead series, and will only talk about it if news of its revival shows up.

  5. Anonymous says:

    “I much prefer to to not ever think of centaurs in middle school”

    So you’re not gonna read it and let idly wondering readers know if the centaurs in the middle school face STAAAAAAAAAIRS. That’s OK, you got better things to do with your time. :)

  6. @Anonymous – This was asked before when I mentioned the first book too. Of all the issues I can imagine with this series, that really isn’t one of them. ^_^ I’ve seen horses walk stairs. It’s not simple, but it’s doable.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Huh, I wonder if I would have liked Read or Dream more if I hadn’t seen the much more lighthearted OVA first. As it was, the tonal shift from “fun James Bond-ish spy adventure” to “fairly depressing, oh and all those characters you really liked from the OVA are either evil or missing” really threw me off.

  8. Anonymous says:

    Well. I guess I have to cross “centaur Yuri” off the list of word combinations I never expected to see.

  9. @Anonymous – I never expected to write it, either. ^_^

  10. BruceMcF says:

    Of course, if the Centaurs were in the US, I’m sure they could demand ramps or elevators in a multi-story middle school, though if the stairs were deeper than normal with a lower riser height, that would probably be an adequate accomodation for the differently abled.

    In some sprawly suburban “campus” style middle schools, it would be a positive advantage to cover more ground per step.

    But it seems all the Centaur Yuri stories are set in high school or middle school ~ I’d rather Centaur Yuri set in outer space, or in a fantasy quest, or a young Centaur physician struggling to establish her practice, or something like that.

  11. Anonymous says:

    Yo Bruce

    “Of course, if the Centaurs were in the US, I’m sure they could demand ramps or elevators in a multi-story middle school, though if the stairs were deeper than normal with a lower riser height, that would probably be an adequate accomodation for the differently abled.”

    Sounds like my middle school IRL!

    It already had accomodation for the differently abled IRL (students, teachers, staff, parents on those parent-teacher conference days, etc.), including curb cut ramps and elevators for people who couldn’t use any stairs when they used wheelchairs or were pushing multimedia projector carts.

    The elevators were locked most of the time since otherwise the lines of kids who just didn’t feel like taking the stairs between classes would be too long and anyway if there’s a fire you’re not supposed to rely on the elevator. Any student who was permanently or temporarily on wheels or crutches got a key to the elevators and a bunch of hangers-on who wanted to share the ‘vator between classes.

    Thing is, these were much narrower and shallower than those “freight elevators” some office complexes have for moving desks up and down. Presumably a character with the bulk of a horse below the waist would be more comfortable in one of *those* between classes.

    “In some sprawly suburban “campus” style middle schools, it would be a positive advantage to cover more ground per step.”

    Sounds like my high school IRL! Durn thing was shaped like a crepe!

    “But it seems all the Centaur Yuri stories are set in high school or middle school ~ I’d rather Centaur Yuri set in outer space, or in a fantasy quest, or a young Centaur physician struggling to establish her practice, or something like that.”

    Word.

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