Archive for May, 2009


Hidamari Sketch Light Novel: Youkoso Hidamarisou e, Guest Review by George R.

May 20th, 2009

Thank you, thank you George R. for providing us with another guest review. My head is exploding and I’m running out of the house, and like magic, there in my inbox is a review. Phew. Anyway, once again, our applause and thanks to guest Reviewer here at Okazu, George!

After enjoying Memories Off 2nd ~ Precious Hearts, I decided to find more that Higurashi Chaboh had written. A novelization of Hidamari Sketch caught my eye. I enjoyed the manga (the first three volumes are out in English as Sunshine Sketch, Volume 1 and Volume 2 have been reviewed here on Okazu) and was curious to see how the transition from 4-koma comic to light novel would work, so into my amazon.co.jp cart went Hidamari Sketch: Youkoso Hidamarisou E (ひだまりスケッチノベル―ようこそひだまり荘へ.

The illustrations are spot on, though few, but that’s to be expected since Aoki Ume, the original manga-ka, did them. While they’re good pictures of the characters, they don’t illustrate events in the story.

I feel the strength of Hidamari Sketch lies in the characters and their interactions as they go about their daily lives. This holds true for the novel as well. If you’re looking for a deep, involved plot, this is not the place to find it. But I still find myself entranced by the residents of Hidamari-sou.

This novel also begins with Yuno getting ready to move in and start high school. This is her first time living on her own, and both she and her parents have to make an effort to let go. They do, and Yuno is able to have a fun and busy time in her new apartment.

We’re then introduced to the rest of the residents as we follow Miyako as she wanders around seeking fun and food. Miyako lets nothing get between her and food, going so far as to ask Yuno for hikkoshi-soba, the noodle dish that instead should be given _to_ Yuno on her moving in. While some readers enjoy Miyako, I find myself sympathizing with Sae’s irritation at her antics. She does keep things lively, though. Thankfully the other characters make up for her.

Sae and Hiro, the two upper-classmen living at Hidamari-sou, make a nice couple, though what form their feelings for each other take is never explicitly stated. In addition to being a schoolgirl, Sae is a published author. Thanks to Hiro’s care and feeding last year, she was able to finish her prize-winning story and turn pro. Since then Hiro has become an indispensable part of Sae’s personal life as well
as her literary creation.

In addition to caring for Sae, Hiro becomes the defacto “mother” of our little “family” at Hidamari-sou. Miyako even refers to her as Oku-sama (someone else’s wife or mother). This naturally leads to Sae being called Otou-san (dad), much to the embarrassment or annoyance of Hiro and Sae. If Sae and Hiro are the “parents,” then Yuno and Miyako fill the roll of “children,” with Miyako being an lively and sometimes irritating sibling to the cheerful but unsure Yuno.

I like the way Higurashi-sensei chooses to flesh out the characters by giving Yuno and Miyako the school assignment to draw portraits of people they care for or feel grateful to, and to put these feelings into their drawing.

We get to know Yoshinoya-sensei better when she comes over for a “home visit” to Yuno and Miyako. She seems completely focused on two things, cosplay and her students, almost to the exclusion of all else. She’s an interesting foil for the others, and is probably the most immature of the bunch. For example, she figures that an unoccupied room in Hidamari-sou that the landlady neglected to lock is free for her to store her various costumes in. If it weren’t for her genuine care for her students, I’d be have a much lower opinion of her.

The last adventure of the novel has Yuno taking care of Yuta-kun, the child of the landlady’s friend. Miyako stops by and drags them both through the fun of a game of hide-and-seek which ends up bringing in Hiro and Sae as it runs through their rooms. Everyone has a fun time, especially Yuta, and Yoshinoya-sensei even comes by and captures a group photo of them all as a memento for him.

Ratings:
Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 8
Yuri – 1
Service – 1

Overall – 7

I had a good time reading this novel, even though “nothing happens” in it. All the characters are firmly planted in my mind, and I’m looking forward to meeting them again in the second novel. Yes, I enjoyed this enough to buy the next one. I share Erica’s wish to see further Yuri adventures of Sae and Hiro, though I doubt these will appear in the second novel. I’d also like to share a meal with the girls,
talking about cooking with Hiro, writing with Sae (and also read her work, though it would embarrass her) and art in general with the others.





Manatsu Labyrinth Manga: Volume 1

May 18th, 2009

The earth is, to all intents and purposes, the buxom blue-eyed blonde, the Suzanne Somers if you will, of the universe. Alien races cannot stop themselves from harassing us, stealing clandestine gropes from our human inhabitants and raping our natural resources.

And, in Manatsu Labyrinth (まなつラビリンス) this lack of control will bring about just about the *stupidest* consequence ever since any episode of Charmed.

Manatsu is a totally average girls high school girl who, one day for no good reason, finds herself sexually attacking a classmate. Her behavior is not the strangest thing to happen that day, because as Manatsu and Ah-chan try to leave school, they find themselves – back at school. West, East gates, front door or back, as soon as they step out of the school grounds, they are right back in them.

Ultimately they find themselves joined by savvy Midoriko, creepy Kaouin and loli Riri in their imprisonment in the school. For whatever reason, none of them can leave. They have plenty of food and water and electricity, but no communications out or in.

Days pass and in between swimming in the pool and taking showers for our benefit, the girls recognize a basic fact – the day resets at about 3AM. Every day they have exactly the same amount of clean clothes and food they had the day before. Unbeknownst to the others, Manatsu has learned that this is all caused by the aliens. In fact, an alien helpfully plops down to talk to her – and only her, of course – during the waking hours and begs her – of course – to not mention its existence to anyone. The alien – of course – helpfully mentions that it is up to Manatsu to release this time loop, but less helpfully can’t tell her how to do so.

Manatsu is a little overwhelmed. On the one side, she’s having some seriously suggestive thoughts about Ah-chan (not helped by the tentacle-tongue alien thing that plays with her at night when she’s asleep) and being glomped in the most naked possible way by Riri who really, really likes her.

So yes, there is Yuri, of the servicey kind. It’s not stabby-making, just kind of meh. The kind of things that guys don’t understand why I don’t like, ’cause I’m gay and we both like women, right? Yeah – only, no.

I was not loving Manatasu Labyrinth and then I read Gokujouu and suddenly Manatsu Labyrinth was *so* much better, it was like magic. The moral of the story is – aliens want you to have their babies.

Ratings:

Art – 5 Very reminiscent of Real Drive
Story – 5
Characters – 6
Yuri – 3
Service – 7

Overall – 5





Yuri Anime: Maria Watches Over Us, Season 3, Volume 2

May 17th, 2009

I’m taking a risk here in calling Volume 2 of Maria Watches Over Us a “Yuri” anime, I know. Bear with me. (No pun intended.)

Once upon a time, I was at an event. We had a number of imaginary beasts at the event – there was a dragon carried by a half dozen people, and a hobby horse and a rag man. (Not to be confused with the comic hero The Ragman.) Rag men are ambiguous human figures, covered in rags, and, although historically they are some neighbor, the ancient tradition of guising means that once the costume is on, you have no idea who it is. Nor did I, as the costume was passed around to any number of people.

Then I looked across the field and I noticed that the ragman was my wife. I recognized her knees. From a distance. Despite the fact that she, like almost everyone there was wearing jeans, it was an immediate recognition.

And that, in a nutshell, is why I think that Episode 3, “A Cool, Refreshing Breeze” is the *most romantic* episode in the whole of the Maria Watches Over Us series. Because Sachiko did not lie when she said that she would recognize Yumi, even if she were wrapped up in bandages like a mummy.

It also happens to be a very, very funny episode – and extremely well-adapted from the novel. The looks on the girls’ faces as they enter the bizarro boy’s world of Hanadera, the reaction of the guys to the appearance of beautiful rich girls…and the shock as Yumi falls prey to a misguided and misbegotten plan.

Meanwhile, in Episode 4, I am moved not once, but twice, to tears by Yoshino, (who RULES this book, btw) and smile like a loon at Sachiko’s gakuran-wearing self.

Things that happen during the sports festival will be prime movers of later events, but for now, we are in ignorant bliss and able to just enjoy the story as it goes by – another important moment in Yumi’s time with Sachiko.

For my money, these two are probably the best episodes of the series. The funniest, the most touching, the cutest, the most meaningful. The first glimpse of Yumi’s ability to manage Sachiko, the very very first inkling of the Yamayurikai to come.

Rainy Blue happened just so we could see these two episodes. And thank the gods of anime that we did.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 4

Marimite Fan Service – 10000

Overall – 9

Did I mention ***squeee!!!*** Sachiko in a gakuran?





Yuri News This Week – May 16, 2009

May 16th, 2009

Get Okazu on your Kindle! It’s a super cheap monthly subscription and will be delivered directly to your reading device with every update. Okazu is already not the only anime/manga blog – you can also get Mangablog, Anime Almanac, Comics Worth Reading and more. If I do say so myself, Okazu looks pretty cool on Kindle. ;-)

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Yuri Anime

The website for the Lyrical Nanoha Ist movie is open – now with trailer. There was some outrage at the character designs (why fans get outraged so easily over every little thing still fascinates and bewilders me) but they appear to look pretty much on model to me. Better than the inconsistent designs of the first series, to me anyway. This movie is a “retelling” of Nanoha and Fate’s meeting, so I expect fans will be outraged at that, too. :-)

Anonymous wrote in to point out that the finale for Candy Boy aired last week, inciting as much controversy here on Okazu as it does anytime we talk about it. The ONA was extremely popular and undoubtedly a successful venture in Japan. I would be very very interested to know if that translated to good sales. Here’s a question for those of you who liked the series – would you buy the DVDs? My gut tells me that the audience here in the west is unlikely to covert to a market and thus, while the series is popular, it would not be financially successful, should it be released here.

Sean was immensely pleased to note that the Simoun box set shipped a full *month* early from Right Stuf. Sadly, the link above is to Amazon from which it has not yet shipped.

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Yuri Manga

Sevens Seas will be releasing a Kashimashi ~ Girl Meets Girl Omnibus, it looks like in two volumes. Release date is later in 2009.

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Yuri Live Action

Whenever I mention this series, controversy breaks out, because while those who think it is Yuri see it clearly, equally those who do not, have kittens. Nonetheless, a live-action version Bubblegim Crisis 2012 has been greenlighted. Since the plots of all previous series weren’t exactly examples of excellent writing, when it gets rendered down into the same one move all action movies are right now, it ought to be fine. :-) However, as it is live-action, expect no Yuri, except in your imagination.

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Did I mention you can get Okazu on your Kindle? Seriously, I’m totally stoked about that. lol

Anyway, this is a good place to stop for this week.

Just a quick reminder – do not write in to ask me *why* I haven’t written about something – write in to tell me about something you want me to write about! I can’t be everywhere, I don’t follow everything and your eyes and ears are absolutely crucial to letting me know. Be part of the Yuri News Report, drop me a line at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with Yuri news you want to share!





Lesbian Anthology: Sparkling Rain (English)

May 15th, 2009

Yuki pulled her face away. She couldn’t get used to the concept that anything that lesbians made was wonderful. She did want to support lesbian work even if she thought it was ugly, and she couldn’t stand heteros mouthing off at lesbian work. Watching this bad piece of porn, however, was tortuous. – From “Monalisa Night” by Izumo Marou

Well, you know, I am *so* right there with Yuki. I love to support lesbian work, truly, but so often wonder who the hell it’s for? Not me, certainly. And Japanese lesbian works equally, if not more so, sometimes.

And so I approached this anthology with a full measure of concern that I might find it teh suck. Instead, I have to say – with great pleasure – that Sparkling Rain: And Other Fiction from Japan of Women Who Love Women, edited by Barbara Summerhawk and Kimberly Hughes, is full of awesome and wonderful. With the exception of one story, every single story had at least a few magnificent gems. Not like diamonds in the rough at all, though – like a ring that particularly catches your attention in a jewelry store window.

The anthology begins with introductions by Sawabe Hitomi and Watanabe Mieko, two women who were heavily involved in the lesbian community in Japan. Their insight into the politics and social situations of the time fascinated me. Not terribly surprising, as I’ve been lurking on the edge of their world for so many years.

This is followed by two literary essays, one on Yoshiya Nobuko, the woman I consider to be the great-grandmother of Yuri. These are then followed by about a dozen pieces of fiction, including a story by Natsuko Mori that I had previously read in her Himeyuri-tachi no Houkago collection, and a few translated Plica-chan comic strips, with a breathtakingly honest introduction by translator and scholar Mizoguchi Akiko.

All excellent, but these were not even the best of the collection. “Monalisa Night” is a non-linear multi-perspective tale that follows a number of women in a cubist painting of a story. Uehara Chigusa’s slightly tortuous, but very real “Story of a First Love,” starts off with one of the most honest appraisals of the delusional relationships we create in our own mind. And the title story, Nakayama Kaho’s “Sparkling Rain” is incandescently beautiful, painful, realistic and highly fantastic all at once.

And still, these are not the only treasures in this book. Almost every story stopped me cold with at least one truly remarkable, memorable scene or line. Even as I write this review, I can call to mind a number of scenes that have burned themselves into my memory. These are all stories I will revisit one day soon.

Every story was surprising, every story was interesting and even the ones I did not like, I was glad to have read. This was not just a lesbian work, and so worthy of support – Sparkling Rain is an *excellent* lesbian work and so, worthy of praise and recommendation.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

Seriously, I hope you’ll buy this, because it was truly an extraordinary book.

I want to thank James Welker for making it possible for me to review this, and New Victoria for providing a review copy. If this had been what I expected I would be thanking them politely but, as this book was unexpectedly excellent, I thank them from the bottom of my heart for giving me this opportunity to tell you all about it.