Archive for the Air Master Category


Yuri News This Week – May 30, 2009

May 30th, 2009

Once again, we are off in a blaze of Yuri!

Yuri Manga

From a conversation on the #lililicious channel on IRC, Erin S is pleased to report two new Yamaji Ebine books, Aoaza Shimi and Ai no Jikan. Be warned however that the second is not Yuri in any way – it’s about a possibly gay girl who falls in love with a definitely gay man after he saves her from being stabbed by a rapist. (It was a really depressing story, I read it for many chapters in Feel Comic.) The first title looks more promising.

Anonymous says that Gunsmith Cats Burst Volume 4 in English is tentatively due out in Autumn 2009 , while Volume 5 is planned for Spring 2010. (Yay!!!!!)

Coming next month from Ichijinsha is Butterfly 69, the collection from Natsuneko. Woot.

And double woot for Hayate x Blade 10 also hitting the shelves next month. The current arc is amazing, btw. :-D

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Yuri Anime

Sean reports back from the Funimation panel at Anime North, where he dutifully asked them about things that I care about. Sadly, they have said that sales for Lyrical Nanoha and Nanoha As have not been very good and so at this time there is no plan for a release of StrikerS. Which makes me wonder, yet again, why the lolicon of Japan are so willing to shell out money and the lolicon of the west so very not. I am not the only person in the industry who is of the opinion that most of the people who screamed bloody murder at the pulling of the Kodomo no Jikan license had no intention of ever buying it. I was discussing why this is with another industry professional at lunch yesterday. I joked that the lolicon here are too busy with their hands down their pants, they didn’t have time to put them in their pockets, but that was only to watch him snort milk. The truth is more complex. The audience in Japan for lolicon is older than it is here, it is less entitled, having not grown up with free downloadable illegal media, but that still isn’t the crux of the issue. In Japan, fans buy to show their love and support for a series and to gain status. They buy official goods and media to be part of the “real fan” club – to show that they are part of the team. In America, fans are mostly just consumers and don’t have any connection with showing loyalty by buying. A hand-made artist’s alley item that clearly is violating IP is *better* than the official item, because it leaves them with more money to buy more and it “supports” fan work – which to western fans is more crucial than supporting companies that make the original.

I can’t answer this, but I wonder if fans here would feel differently if the work was native. If they knew the artists who did the animation, the voices, the production and it was a western company that *made* the work, would they feel more likely to buy official, more expensive goods to support the company? I don’t know. I do know that lolicon here are exactly the demographic least likely to buy anything, media, goods, games, etc – college-ages males.

On to other marginally disappointing news, Funi also says that their agreement with Toei only covers online distribution, so there are no plans for a DVD release of Air Master. However, they said that if online views were really good, it might be considered. So, watch Air Master online. There’s, that’s easy.

Right Stuf announces a Gakuen Alice website launch.

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Yuri Drama CDs

sarcastic weasel wants you to know that the next Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD is slated to come out this July. Tears of the Rosary/ Yellow Rose Storm Warning has been added to the Yuricon Shop Drama CD Page along with all the Special CDs and many other great Yuri-themed DCDs.

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Snatches of Yuri

Dan wants to report a blink ‘I think that was Yuri’ moment in Zero no Tsukaima. He says: ‘Main character is Louise, a teenage student witch. A minor character is Agnes who is the captain of the all female guard for the princess. Well, the two are following a possible spy for another country when the spy hears a noise and back tracks. With no where to run, Agnes pulls Louise into a lip to lip kiss. The spy sees them and grins but leaves. Agnes remains all business tracking the spy but Louise blushes. Later, another character mentions that Agnes is scary and likes girls. Louise blushes more. That’s it. Nothing more. During the entire season, Louise is clearly in love with the other main character, Saito. If it had only been the kiss without the later comment, I would not have mentioned it. However, the random, not needed for the plot and not expanded comment about Agnes sounds to me (a huge Fanboy) like an attempt to keep GL fans interested. There is a third season but I would be surprised if the Agnes likes girls idea is explored. The plot would be greatly improved if the Agnes line was explored.”

Back closer to my world, Kanojo ha Megane-HOLIC brings together an agent, a high school, two girls and eyeglasses. It’s Light Novel that I’m tempted to read, just because it sounds absolutely idiotic. lol

Ame no Tou is a classic girl’s shousetsu about four girls and the love, hate and jealousy between them.

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Other Yuri News

In other Yuri News, there still no second season of Strawberry Panic planned and the live-action movie you thought you heard about is still actually Yoshida Akimi’s The Cherry Orchard.

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Which brings me to the end of another Yuri News Report.

I want to thank George for his lovely comment yesterday, about this being a real life version of Manako’s “Yuri Network.” That was quite touching. In reality, you wonderful people are the network – I’m just reporting the pieces. So, please write in with any tidbits of Yuri you would like people to know! It’s my pleasure to tell the world.

Have a great week next week – and here’s to even more fabulous Yuri news!

 





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!

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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.

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





Yuri Manga: Air Master, Volume 26

January 13th, 2006

Sorry about being away so long, but I needed a break from doing mostly everything – and a long holiday weekend celebrating the accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King and the people who believed in his dreams and made them real, was a perfect fit for my much-needed R&R.

So, well-rested and relaxed I come back to the topic of Yuri. I haven’t mentioned Air Master in a very long time. The manga and anime both have Yuri in the form of Mina and her overt love and desire for our heroine, streetfighter Maki. I suppose some people could argue that Maki doesn’t return the feeling, but I really would have to disagree – there are several scenes in the manga, especially, which convince me that she does. She’s just a doofus and not the kind of person to even admit it to herself. I trust Mina to wear that down eventually.

In any case, the anime ended some time ago, and while it was licensed, will not be released here in the US past Volume 3. Geneon is not shipping Volume 4…although I am not sure they have officially announced that. I know through back channels.

It may surprise some of you to know that long after the anime finished, the “Fukamichi Ranking” arc of the manga is not *yet* complete. In fact, Maki, who lost her battle with the ranking number one fighter, Byoubou, has been all but absent from the manga for the last several volumes. Sometimes we would see her nearly unconscious body in the distance. Last volume she moaned. In this one, she manages to ask Miori to massage her limbs so she can try to move again. In the meantime, we are focusing on one of the most agonizingly dull fights ever – five of the fighters trying to take down Byoubou. Of them, only Kai is marginally interesting to me.

I guess I’m not the only person who complained that the manga is called Air Master and why are we watching five fighters who are not Maki endlessly?, because in Volume 26, we are given an omake story with not only Maki, but her four goofball school friends. In a game of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” not too many of them have a clue what they could actually become. Maki is at a complete loss beyond her immediate occupation. But Mina joyfully proclaims that she wants to be Maki’s wife, complete with fantasy image of blushing Maki in tux and Mina in bridal dress. Michiru and Yuu both proclaim that impossible and they move on.

There you go – the longest time we’ve spent with Maki in oh, about three/four volumes has a nice little Yuri moment inside Mina’s head. :-)

Ratings:
Art – 3 (I think it’s getting worse, if that’s possible)
Story – 2
Characters – Omake only? 8, Rest of volume 4)
Yuri – (Omake only 8, rest 0)
Service – 8

Overall – 5

I’m totally ready for Byobou to go away now….





Yuri Anime: Air Master, Volume 1

June 30th, 2005

I managed to get a copy of Volume 1 of Air Master at last. This series has become a “comfort” series for me – I stick it on the TV when there’s nothing else on and I don’t want to have to pay *too* much attention. But, then I end up watching it anyway and not doing whatever it was that I was slacking off doing in the first place.

I won’t beat the plot, character of yuri components of this volume to death – I have repeatedly ranted about how wonderful this anime is in several of my previous posts: From the first recommendation back in August 2003 to Feb. 26, 2004, May 21, 2005, and May 23, 2005. And that doesn’t include all the rants about the manga, either.

So, yeah, I like this anime – a lot.

And I’ve already discussed the problems with the DVD release, some of which have been addressed in the second half of the thrid volume.

What did shock me about this first volume was how utterly, horribly *BAD* the translation was. Again, I felt like I was watching a bootlegged copy. Whole sentences were completely, totally, changed from what the characters were saying, as if the translators kept assuming what they “really” meant was….I imagine that this was a dubtitle issue, but even so, there were entire sentences that were just plain *wrong.*

Oddly, the language in the first volume subtitles is much ruder than in the second, and in that way, fits the story better.

But I’ll admit, if I had bought this volume first, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have bought 2 or 3. So I’m a little glad I bought them first.

Story-wise, Volume 1 is not particularly strong, either – again, by going backwards I can see how much more three-dimensional the characters are only a few episodes later.

I think it really sucks that this release was so bad – there are plenty of folks that might enjoy Air Master, but who, if not already turned off by the ugly art, will just give up in frustration with the unbelievably poor quality of this DVD.

What makes even this volume worth watching is, of course, the characters and the fighting.

And Sakiyama Kaori.

Ratings:
Art – 5
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 6
Technical Details – 3

Despite the crappiness of this particular Volume, I recommend the series. If you’re going to buy it from Amazon, look for a used copy or a cheaper copy on the Amazon marketplace. This way you won’t feel quite so ripped. Also – do not be afraid to write the distributor and express your dissatisfaction – if you don’t tell them, they can’t know.





Air Master Anime, Volume 3

May 23rd, 2005

We did a mini-marathon last night and watched all the Air Master we had on DVD. Why? Because it’s a *great* series!

Last entry I pointed out some of the issues I had with the DVD release. Well, good news, kids, by Volume 3 some of the most egregious problems have been fixed. And as the plot (well…let’s call it that for argument’s sake…) just gets better and better, by Vol. 3 this series has kicked into high gear.

Let’s start with the thing that everyone complains about most – the art. Yup, its ugly. That’s not going to change. Move past it.

Next, what passes for a plot. In Vol. 3, in between big air and bloody, brutal fights, we actually learn quite a bit about Maki, and we even get a glimpse into the great Sakiyama Kaori’s past. But really, the fights are the point, and in this volume we get lots of Maki flying – my wife’s favorite part.

Yuri-wise, we get a nice handful of yuri to hold onto. Mina completely gives up on pretense and falls for Maki wholeheartedly, even going so far as to say that she will confess her love – and then does so (while asleep, mind you, but…). Maki, after fighting to the point of collapse, does collapse – in Mina’s arms. Sadly, we don’t get the followup scene from the manga where, as the Black Union grieves over Kinjiro, Mina takes Maki to a love hotel… Man, I would have LOVED that scene to be animated. ^_^

Many of the problems with the first two volumes – the closed captioning subtitles and really lousy translation simply disappears halfway through this volume. The translation, while loose, is *much* more casual and slang-filled, which gives the series the voice it needs. Lucha Master remains Roo-cha and the honorifics are still gone, but everything else improves significantly.

But what makes this volume so great is Sakiyama Kaori. My wife, who has completely disparate tastes in anime from myself, is equally as enamored of Sakiyama Kaori as I am. Because she is the GREATEST CHARACTER EVER. ^_^ Not only is she utterly, totally psychotic, violent and strange, but she is lovable and admirable all at the same time.

Volume 3 sees the beginning of the “Fami-wrestler” arc, in which Sakiyama Kaori and Maki become professional female tag team wrestlers. It’s my favorite arc, without question. The fights are brilliant, and Sakiyama Kaori simply shines as unrepressably insane and funny.

Yes, the art sucks. Yes there’s fan service out the wazoo, but come *on* – the fight scenes are brilliant. You can see exactly what technique everone is using – even if a move is unlikely, improbable or impossible its still cool that you can follow the fighting. Watching these fights makes me want to be a streetfighter. Really. And Sakiyama Kaori is my idol.

One last thing – it’s not the first thing that comes to mind but, the music for this series is top-notch. The opening and closing themes are brilliant, and the BGM is really, really well-done, and surprisingly subtle.

Ratings:
Art – 3, and I’m being generous
Characters – 10
Story – 8
Music – 9
Yuri – 8

Overall – 9

God, I love this anime!  ^_^