Archive for September, 2006


Yuri Monogatari artist Althea Keaton to appear at MangaNEXT

September 16th, 2006

ALC Publishing, publisher of 100% Yuri,is pleased to announce the appearance of four-time “Yuri Monogatari” contributor Althea Keaton at MangaNEXT 2006, the first celebration of American “manga culture.”

Althea Keaton will be available for book signing, panels and will be conducting a workshop on drawing yuri for artists 18 and over.

MangaNEXT will be held October 6-8, 2006 in Secaucus, NJ. For more information on MangaNEXT, please visit their website.

ALC Publishing was founded in 2003 as the publishing arm of Yuricon, with a mission to bring high quality Yuri publications to the worldwide English speaking audience.





Yuri Manga: Voiceful

September 13th, 2006

I really, really like Voiceful by nawoko.

This was not originally so, when the first nawoko stories ran in the then Yuri Shimai magazine. I found them a little too vaguely Yuri-ish, and had to turn the Yuri googles up and stare hard to really get any vibe from them. I didn’t object to the art – or the stories, really – but the fact that they fed in, IMHO, to the idea that any story with two women standing next to one another must therefore be Yuri.

But my opinion changed when nawoko’s story “Voice” ran in Yuri Hime. When it became a series, “Voiceful”, I liked it even better. And now, I’m thrilled to have it, and the other nawoko stories as a collected volume. Together, they all work much better than they do as stand-alones.

One of the common threads in nawoko’s work is music. It is music that ties these stories together, even more than intense emotional connections between women – which also stand out more in the collected volume, than they did as separate pieces.

“Voiceful,” the title series, is the story of shut-in Kanae (right on the cover above) and her transformation as she accidentally runs into, and subsequently befriends, her “goddess,” an independent singer who releases her music on the internet, Hina (left on the cover above). This story of two emotionally damaged women who find strength to make each other strong – and thus become strong for themseleves – is really, really nice.

The other stories in the collection also show people from the point of view of their weaknesses, but not in any gruesomely obnoxious way. Most of the stories are quiet, little slice-of-life pieces in which fear and hope and music intertwine to make a melody of life…and sometimes love.

Ratings:

Art – a loose, scratchy sort of nice – 6
Story – stronger as a sum of their parts, but nothing objectionable in any case – 7
Characters – ranging from an annoying 4 to a lovely 8 depending
Yuri – 6
Service – an underwear shot for the very, VERY desperate – 2

Overall – a pleasant, not earthshaking 6

Another solidly put together volume from Ichijinsha, with extra color page not included with any of the original stories.





Yuri Manga:Ameriro Koucha Kandan stories

September 5th, 2006

I’m cheating today. This is not a collection of manga I’m writing about, it’s two different stories in four different places, and two are cameos, which all happen to star the same characters. Because it *will* be a new series starting in the next Comic Yuri Hime magazine  I thought it would be fun to tell you the story as it exists currently.

The story in question tells of the women of the Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan (飴色紅茶館歓談). It begins in the book pictured above, [es] Eternal Sisters 2 anthology. On the cover are the two principles of the story, Seriho (left) and Sarasa (right.) In the ES collection, we meet Seriho who is the owner of the Ameiro Kouchakan, (loosely, the Amber Tea Pavilion.) Sarasa is a local high school student who spends an inordinate amount of time at the cafe, and asks, quite cutely if she can just work there. But Sarasa’s motive is not money – she’s in love with Seriho. Seriho reciprocates the emotion, and Sarasa comes to work at the cafe. In this story we also meet regular customers Haru – who runs some kind of freaky fortune website, and her friend/partner in mischief Hinoko. Hinoko is the obligatory goth-loli girl that one always finds in Fujieda Miyabi’s work.

The second “chapter” of this story takes was published in the extra comic inserted in the August 2006 volume of Yuri Hime. In this little omake, we are given character profiles in which we learn that Seriho, despite her youthful looks is 25, and Sarasa is 17. Huh. How ’bout that.

Tanabata is fast approaching and Seriho wants to something extra special for the cafe. They come up with a special blend of tea that they pour in a long stream (evocative of the milky way, which features in the Tanabata story.) Haru and Hinoko join the staff for the day and the four women have a successful and lively day full of customers. To thank them for their assistance Seriho offer to treate everyone for dinner. Haru and Hinoko leave first, while the others remain. Seriho tells Sarasa that, long before today, she had planned to close the cafe. Sarasa reacts strongly, protesting that people – she – loves the cafe. Seriho and Sarasa have an emotional scene, but Sarasa is successful and the cafe remains open. Phew.

The third appearance of the ladies of the Ameiro Kouchakan is Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodma no Majyo to manga. In this volume, Letty, having newly freed Tsumugi from her confinement in the shrine, takes the miko to her favorite watering hole. The big scandal here was when Tsumugi – assumably unfamiliar with ways of the outside world – expresses her love for Letty firmly and loudly. Poor Seriho almost dies of embarrassment…

And the fourth, but not at all final, appearance of the Ameriro Kouchakan is the MikoMajyo Drama CD (the one packaged with the manga in the deluxe set), in which Letty and Tsumugi once again visit, this time accompanied by the errant mountain god who has run away. Shrine guardian Isuzu is forced to drag the wayward deity back to her shrine bodily. Tsumugi’s request for Letty to open up and say “ahhh” forces Letty to confront her inner femme, and inspires Hinoko to fluster cool Haru by doing the same.

Now, to be honest – these four appearances are the ones I have, or have noticed. I have no doubt that somewhere along the line there’s some crossover with Fujieda’s other series, especially the ones I’m less familar with.

But what does exist is cute enough that I though it warranted a mention. And I bet that, once the story begins running in Yuri Hime we’ll get a collection that includes both of the first two chapters.

Here’s hoping, anyway.

No ratings, since it’s not *yet* a collection, but overall – even more adorable Yuri from Fujieda Miyabi!

BTW – Happy Birthday me. Older, as my mother says, but not at all wiser. If you’re moved to send a present, buy a book from ALC Publishing or t-shirt or mug or something from the Yuricon Shop. That’s all the present I need. ^_^





ALC Publishing is Recruiting for 5th Annual Yuri Manga Project

September 1st, 2006

ALC Publishing, the only all-Yuri publisher in North America, is recruiting writers and artists for their 2007 Yuri English-language anthology, Yuri Monogatari 5.

Writers and artists who wish to be considered for the new anthology should read the submission rules carefully before sending any materials. Recruitment will be held through October 1, 2006. Due to the time constraints of the project no applications can be accepted after this time however, completed comics can be accepted at any time. Acceptance into the project is not a gurantee of publication. See the above page for details.

Yuri Monogatari 5 is the fifth annual English-language original Yuri anthology by ALC Publishing, building on the success of ALC’s previous four Yuri Monogatari anthologies, which are now distributed world-wide. The previous anthologies feature the works of popular yuri artists Rica Takashima, Akiko Morishima, Althea Keaton, Kristina Kolhi, Beth Malone and many more!

ALC Publishing, North America’s only all-Yuri publisher was founded in 2003 as the publishing arm of Yuricon, with a mission to bring high quality Yuri publications to the worldwide English speaking audience.