Archive for September, 2009


Event: New York Anime Festival (and why I will be AWOL for two days)

September 25th, 2009

I’m spending the next two days in NYC with friends and colleagues at New York Anime Festival. I’m not live-blogging or Twittering, because 14 million other people will be doing that and I want to enjoy the event. 

So, I am delaying the Yuri Network News Report until Sunday, when I am not walking around Javits center. (Yes, I could be writing it *right now* and scheduling it to post tomorrow, but I don’t *feel* like it. I have a total of 3 more hours to relax today and I want another cup of coffee and some free time.) I may type up a summary of today for tomorrow morning, I may not. No promises.
Feel free to read one of the other 1455 posts here to amuse yourself while I am out of the office. :-)
And, if you’re going to be at NYAF tomorrow, here’s a repost of the “Where’s Erica?” contest:
On Saturday, September 26, from about noon until I leave, if you see me in this snazzy black “I Love Yuri” T-shirt  (this an other styles and colors and goods, available on the Yuricon Shop!), come up, say hi to me, tell me you read Okazu or are a Yuricon Mailing List member, like Yuri, whatever opening gambit you’d like to use and I’ll give you a free Yuri-themed postcard with art by Rica Takashima!
There’s no trick. No conditions either, although I’d like it better if you practiced your best social skills and said, “Hello, my name is…” instead of screaming “YURI!!!!” across the room. :-) I’ll be wandering the Vendor’s Room and maybe hitting up a few panels, so keep your eye out for me. I look just like my picture up there in the right hand corner, with more gray hair these days. lol Think of it like a “Where’s Waldo” sort of thing, only it’s “Where’s Erica?” and you get a postcard as a prize for finding me! :-)
See you at Javits!




Zombie-Loan Manga, Volumes 4, 5 6 (English)

September 24th, 2009

In Zombie-Loan, Volume 4, Volume 5 and Volume 6, zombies are bound to die.

Zombies, of course, are the perfect displacement for wanting to kill another human. They are persistent, repulsive, annoying, dangerous and most of all, they are already dead, so you don’t have to feel guilty about snuffing out a life. The folks working for Z-Loan, kill people-shaped “things” for money, not people.

In a nutshell, Volume 4 ends the illegal zombie/golem-making mad scientist arc, and politics breaks out among the rulers of the not-quite-otherworld. Shito is captured and rescued and his back story, which had been previously established, turns out to be a huge lie so the artist can introduce a new bishie or three. Chika goes through about three crises of conscience and identity and in the end Shito, Chika and Michiru sort of all pull together as a team. Kinda.

 

zl5In Volume 5 the politics take precedence and the dialogue – which was never award winning – descends into near incomprehensible pseudo-spiritualist babble. Thank heavens I’m not really trying to follow anything here – mostly all the pretty boys look the same to me and if Chika and Shito didn’t keep screaming each other’s names, I’d probably forget which was which.

 

 

In Volume 6 a rival zombie-hunting company, cleverly called “A-Loan,” opens up across the street and, as with all good rivalries, the new team is one-upping us all over the place. But something or someone else is catching all the good zombies and both teams are in danger of dying, oh noes!

 

 

Amid all the screaming and running, it would be nice to have a little bastion of comfort and quiet, such as a home usually provides, but alas, no rest for the weary almost-dead. Even during those would-be quite times, Koyomi’s unquiet personality makes it hard for Michiru to relax.
The Yuri in these volumes is most notable for its absence. In Volume 3, Michiru rejected Yomi’s confession that her feelings for Michiru were real. Since then, Yomi has not made an appearance. In fact, it is Michiru who calls the situation to our attention the first time – and it’s Michiru who keeps bringing it back up. Additionally, when it appears that Koyomi likes Soutestu, Michiru’s reaction is obvious even to herself. She’s feeling jealous. It is perhaps understandable that Michiru is led to believe that her interest must surely be in Soutestu, rather than Yomi, but it’s is still deeply annoying. It’s also unconvincing, as Michiru quietly calls Yomi’s name when in the bath with Koyomi.

I know that there’s no hope for them. It’s not really part of the story and should Yomi come back, I have no doubt that she will have subsumed her genuine interest in Michiru into being satisfied by service – because that is what is done in manga and I do not expect this to be something other than it is. Regardless of the reality, I believe that Michiru is feeling more than normally sentimental about Yomi and if they were left alone to it, they might come to like one another. Equally, they might grow to loathe one another, but we’ll never know…will we?

All the screaming and bickering has gotten on my last nerve. It was a trial to read Volume 6. Compared with something like Black Lagoon, or Dogs, Bullets and Carnage – both of which are equally filled with screaming and vast amounts of violence against both living and dead humans and both of which are significantly superior to this series (and gosh how I wish they would have the smallest smidgen of Yuri for me to make a review viable,) Zombie-Loan just doesn’t walk the walk.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6, dropping to 5
Characters – 7
Yuri – 2
Service – 3

Overall – 6

Today triple thanks are due to Okazu Superhero Eric P for nabbing all three of these volumes and allowing me to sum up a number of evening’s reading at once!





Fleurs Bleues, Volume 1 (French)

September 23rd, 2009

Why yes, it is Wednesday.

It is my very great pleasure to introduce our newest Okazu Guest Reviewer, Marc. Marc emailed to say that he had just gotten a copy of the French language edition of Aoi Hana, sensibly titled Fleurs Bleues. Of course I was thrilled to have both a new guest reviewer and a look at a French-language Yuri title. So, please welcome Marc and enjoy his review!

The first thing I thought when I picked up my copy of Fleurs Bleues was, “Man, it’s tiny!”, but more on that later.

Editions Asuka has put out the first volume of Aoi Hana (Sweet Blue Flowers) in French as Fleurs Bleues. It compromises the first seven chapters of the story and the author’s comments.

For those of you who aren’t aware of this manga (where have you been?), it’s the story of Fumi Manjome who returns to her hometown after ten years away. Fumi was a bit of a crybaby in her youth and still hasn’t really grown out of it. Due to the kind of coincidences that seem to happen a lot in manga, she meets up with her childhood friend Akira Okudaira, who also hasn’t changed much over the ten years. She’s still as feisty as ever, and is entering high school at the prestigious all-girl Lycée Fujigaya. Fumi is attending the less prestigious all-girl Lycée Matsuoka. In their respective schools the girls each make friends and involve themselves in school activities. Akira becomes fast friends with Kyoko Ikumi, and they join the drama club. Fumi has just ended a relationship with her female cousin, and being in a somewhat vulnerable state, meets and forms a relationship with upperclassman Yasuko Sugimoto. The manga deals with the ups and downs of these relationships as well as with Fumi coming out to Akira.

I love these types of manga. No big explosions, no giant robots or girls, or giant robot girls (if you’re into that sort of thing). This is a story about relationships and their development. Fumi’s insecurities, Akira’s wanting to protect and support her friend despite not having seen her in ten years, Kyoko’s unrequited love, and Yasuko’s teasing make them feel real.

The art is simple but beautifully drawn, which is exactly what you need when you want to focus on the story. The characters are engaging and not too stereotypical for this type of manga. (Though I must say, Akira’s brother’s sister complex creeps me out.)

The translation is well done. It is in very proper French, which lends itself well to the characters and story. It gives it a sort of poetic feel, which I feel enhances the drama. Like Erica, one of my pet peeves is when sound effects or background dialogue is not translated. Thankfully, Asuka did translate all these little bits.

But that isn’t to say there aren’t any problems.

When it comes to the suffixes (-san, -chan, -kun), my philosophy is either don’t use them at all, or use them all the time. For reasons I can’t explain, the translators removed all the suffixes except for two. Yasuko is still called Sugimoto-sempai, and Akira’s original Japanese nickname of Ah-chan was changed to Aki-chan. Go figure. I think I’d have preferred if they’d dropped them all. (Not that I’m suggesting you shouldn’t buy the book because of that. How big a Fanboy do you think I am?)

Then there’s the size. As I said at the beginning, it’s smaller than the manga I tend to see published in book form. At 6.5 x 4.5 inches, it is much smaller than the average 7.5 x 5 inch English ones. It literally is a pocket book (it fit in my jeans pocket just fine). It is considerably smaller than the Japanese version (8 x 6 inches), and it sort of reminded me of a Harlequin romance paperback. I don’t think that was unintentional. However, the small size was a little off-putting for me but didn’t impact my reading enjoyment.

The Japanese cover was lovingly recreated in beautiful pastels and the left to right reading was kept in place. The reproduction of the content was crisp and clear, and the font choice made reading (even for a bifocal-wearing old man like me) easy. Nothing mimeographed here.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 1 (mostly the creepy brother)

Overall – 9

Reproduction – 9

All in all, this is a great read for yuri fans. I found myself smiling a lot while reading it. If you can read French I suggest you pick this up for your collection. I can’t wait for the next one.

Thank you so much Marc for a terrific look at another edition of this fabulous manga. I hope one day to be able to include an English-language review on the list. And please take note European Yuri fans – if you have an edition of any Yuri series in a language other than English or Japanese, please do email me – we’d love to have a review!





New York Anime Festival Contest – Where’s Erica?

September 22nd, 2009

So, I’ll be at New York Anime Festival this weekend. Not for any reason, just to hang with my friends and colleagues in the anime and manga industry…and to meet you.

Me being me, I like finding a way to meet new people and encourage you to say hello if you’re going to be there too, so….

On Saturday, September 26, from about noon until I leave, if you see me in this snazzy black “I Love Yuri” T-shirt  (this an other styles and colors and goods, available on the Yuricon Shop!), come up, say hi to me, tell me you read Okazu or are a Yuricon Mailing List member, like Yuri, whatever opening gambit you’d like to use and I’ll give you a free Yuri-themed postcard with art by Rica Takashima!

There’s no trick. No conditions either, although I’d like it better if you practiced your best social skills and said, “Hello, my name is…” instead of screaming “YURI!!!!” across the room. :-) I’ll be wandering the Vendor’s Room and maybe hitting up a few panels, so keep your eye out for me. I look just like my picture up there in the right hand corner, with more gray hair these days. lol Think of it like a “Where’s Waldo” sort of thing, only it’s “Where’s Erica?” and you get a postcard as a prize for finding me! :-)

In any case, I’ll see you this weekend at NYAF!





Yuri Anime: Saki, Mid-season review

September 21st, 2009

Saki, we need to talk.

It’s nothing bad, really, it’s just …

I’ll be honest. I wasn’t sure that we’d get along at first. You seemed to be too fake-cutesy, with those ridiculous ever-blushing cheeks, but always flashing your legs at me. It was a creepy mixed signal thing that got on my nerves. And Nodoka, always bouncing her big chest like that….I thought, can you both really be so innocent as you’re gazing into each other’s eyes longingly? But fine, I set that aside.

Then you really started taking off. You let your innate abilities show, like you were finally free to be yourself. Sure, I noticed a few things, like the way you suddenly throw your ass into my face, dress up to please the guys in bathing suits, yukata and maid costumes all while you’re looking at Nodoka so intensely. It kind of freaks me out. Like, pick one, okay? Can you not be the G-rated version of Girls Gone Wild? But I know that’s not really your fault. You just want to get ahead in the world and the best way to do that is to have the fanboys on your side. If they love you, I know, I know…

Despite all that, I’ve really come to enjoy our time together.

And when you introduced the whole new cast, I thought, good heavens, this is overkill, but now…I find myself really happy that you have all these new friends. I want to watch you having fun playing Mahjong with them. (And I’m even collecting those Mahjong tiles Crunchyroll gives me when I watch you playing. How silly is that, huh?)

I admit, I really like those two from Tsuruga, but you’d guess that, wouldn’t you? Yumi and Momo remind me of you and Nodoka, only without that other stuff. They don’t even seem to notice anyone else but each other. I think they make a great couple. And Kana and Fujiko from Kazekoshi too.

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I’m really proud of you and I think you’re a good anime. I just wish you could shed the service and be a great anime. I know you have it in you.

Thanks for listening.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters: 9
Yuri – 5
Service – 5

Overall – 7

In my first review of this series, I said this was a predictable anime – and I wasn’t wrong, but it really has exceptionally likable characters and has upped the Yuri, so there will be no complaints from me.