Yuri Events
Yuricon and ALC Publishing is, even as you read this, selling Grab Bags and Yuri Manga in Con Row at AnimeNEXT! Drop by tonight for the Yuri Panel at 6PM, in which we will talk about many things – almost all good. :-)
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Yuri Anime
Katherine was pleased as punch to be able to share the news with the Yuricon Mailing List that “Aoi Hana is premiering [in Japan] on July 1, according to the website which has been newly revamped, complete with new anime art, a wallpaper section (an adorable relationship chart, and a ton of other material.”
Yuri Light Novel
And again, top Yuri reporter Katherine would like you to know that Tiara Bunko has released a Yuri Light Novel, complete with illustrations by Chi-Ran called Ai Yuri Gakuin Youkoso E. The plot seems more of the same, but, hey, *more* of the same!
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Yuri Manga
The second volume of Creo the Crimson Crisis arriving on shelves next week is excellent testimony to the fact that my opinion is hardly the only one. :-)
And don’t forget your copy of Yuri Hime S, also on sale on the 18th.
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Other Yuri-ish News
Eric P. wants you to know that he found that “someone named Daniel Cronquist wrote a book called Set Apart that came out back in February. It’s a book that offers the Christian interpretation of all the religious themes and story elements in the Haibane Renmei series, while admitting the series isn’t directly a Christian story.” Apparently he interprates the characters as representations of the Seven Deadly Sins. I don’t think this is as crazy as it sounds – I saw Haibane Renmei as taking place in a kind of Purgatory, and I’m coming from a decidedly non-Christian point of view.
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Snatches of Yuri
Ashita Hareru Ya! is about 4-koma hijinks and Yuri sempai love at a nursing school. Volume 2 seems to be more Yuri than Volume 1.
For more girls’ school roomate love, check out Butterfly Kiss which does indeed look very Yuri love-love.
And one more for the fans of series that contain references about fandom, Transistor Tea Set~ Denkigai Chizu is another Mangatime KR 4-koma, with a Yuri character. This time, the series is set in and about the inhabitants of Electric Town, Akihabara, the otaku center of Tokyo.
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As always, email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with any Yuri news you’d like to share!
I wonder if this Eric person recognizes that Haibane Renmei is a concept of Yoshitoshi Abe, inspired by the Murakami Haruki novel 世界の終わりとハードボイルドワンダーランド. The last time I read it, I personally didn’t see, well… any Judeo-Christian mythos. It’s a William Gibson-esque cyberpunk dystopia meets high fantasy. I recognize the validity of applying a Christian crit take on the anime itself, but maybe this guy should watch the Abe interview on the last disk? Or for that matter SE Lain and Texhnolyze. Or any of Abe’s published works.
Out of perverse interest, i went back and wrote down exactly what ABe says in the interview.
“Because it so happens that angel like creatures are the motif, this story has a strong religious feel to it. Still, it is not a story about any specific religion… but it’s nontheless a religious story, I think. It probably reflects my ideas about an entity called god (he says Kami-sama) and something called life (he says inochi). Not everything is expressed by it, but I think it’s a sort of answer to what I’d been thinking. I hope the story is successful in conveying that.”
It didn’t do a very good job of conveying that to me. ^^;;
It still boggles my mind that Aoi Hana is being made into an anime. I recall reading the first few chapters of the manga a long, long time ago and thinking, “Well, here’s another nice Yuri manga that will never see colour and animation for as long as it exists.”
How wonderfully wrong I was.
It makes me think two things:
1. Studios and production companies are becoming wiser.
or
2. Armageddon anyone?
Just got back from VK:
Senbei-
I’ve never heard of this Murakami Haruki novel, but being a major ABe fan I have indeed the Haibane, Lain and Texhnolyze sets (look forward to hearing more of the upcoming Despera series), and I have watched the interview on the final disc like 3 times. While I recognized the story had some Christian-like imagery and agree with Erica’s Pergatory take on it, I for one never thought of it as a specifically Christian story, as that wasn’t Abe’s intent. This book was something I just found out about and just ordered.
@Senbei @Eric P. My apologies, I accendentally rejected a clarification from Senbei, in which he clarified that his rcomment was directed towards Daniel Cronquist – NOT towards Eric. Sorry for the confusion!!
Just a note: Transistor Tea Set is not a 4koma.
@J Thanks for the clarification. I just assumed, since it’s Mangatime KR. :-)