Sailor Moon is all the rage again. I ain’t complaining.
The news on the grapevine is that Toei is gearing up for a Sailor Moon re-release in Italy, after some sporadic releases in Japan. Simon Jones of Icarus calmly points out that, hey, Kodansha, that would be a pretty good core release here in North America, hint, hint. Since Kodansha USA’s intentions here are obscure at best, we may or may not ever get any kind of response from them. He very sensibly points out that a reboot of the anime which was only ever brought over in bowdlerized form and the issuance of the new anniversary edition of the manga might be cool for those of us who obsess about Senshi – among which I count myself. Would I buy an anniversary reissue of the manga (which I already own all of, in two languages) translated by someone with a clue or a reboot of the anime with, say, not a third-generation Japanese sound track? Yes. Yes I would. I have fought with myself multiple times about getting the anniversary edition of the manga in Japanese, despite the fact that I have it all in Japanese already. Sometimes I pick up Volume 8 and stare at it longingly, then think, well, I can’t *just* get Uranus, I need Neptune too, then think, heck I’ll jut get all the Outers, then start thinking about buying all of the volumes and then I put Volume 8 down again and walk away. It’s really quite sad. lol
Nonetheless, I support and pray for a re-release of the manga and the anime and will be very glad to introduce a whole new generation of potential Yuri fans to the wonderfulness that is Tenoh Haruka and Kaiou Michiru.
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Snatches of Yuri
A while back, I noted that Kishi Torajiro had a new, potentially Yuri, story called i.d.. I want you to know that I have read it, and will not be reviewing it because it was vile. It’s one of those series that shows repeated extreme violence against helpless women under the guise of watching them endure and triumph, but the focus is actually on the repeated humiliation, abuse, gang rape and defeat of their spirit. It was revolting to me in every conceivable way. I will not judge you if you purchase this manga, but I wanted to let you know what it was like, before you did.
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Yuri Games
It’s pretty common knowledge that Final Fantasy XIII (link to PS3 version) has a Yuri couple, so here’s a request for a review by someone who has played it and is interested in letting us know about them. In case you didn’t know, FFXIII has two female characters that are meant to be perceived as a couple.
This spring, you can look for salacious screencaps from a new adult Yuri game, Subarashiki Hibi. To me, it looks like all the others; characters drawn to look unappealingly young, ridiculously heavy shading in the art, storyline that is laughably thin. I’m sure people will love it and will clamor for an anime. :-)
Speaking of which – here’s an anime series I’m looking for a reviewer for – So-Ra-No-Wo-To. Any takers?
By the author of the EbiMayo series in Tsubomi, comes a mostly Yuri collection, Sex Nanka Kyomi nai. This is another Ikki comic, so who knows, maybe one day you’ll see it in SigIkki. Hah.
And one more review request for good measure. If you are buying and reading Eru Eru Sisters, (not just reading scans), I’d love for your to review the series for us. I have no intention of reading it no matter how many Yuri lists it’s on. :-)
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Yuri Manga
YNN Correspondent, Okazu Hero and beloved Yuricon staffer Bruce P mentioned that the story in Yuri Hime S that I liked so much, “Fufu,” was in fact written by an assistant of Fujieda Miyabi’s, which explains why I liked everything about it. :)
Tanaka Rin-sensei who apparently does a lot of shoujo and josei romance is going to included in the next Yuri Hime Wildrose, which is out this month. She has done some Yuri parody work, but I’m most interested because she seems to have primarily drawn romance for a female audience as a professional. I wonder if she’ll bring a different feel to the book. I wasn’t going to buy Volume 5 of Wildrose, but now I will.
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Yuri Drama CD
There are plans for a Drama CD for Morinaga Milk’s Girl Friends. No date as of yet, but I’m actually holding out hope for an anime for this series. It’s got all the elements to make it successuful, since it’s a “shoujo for guys” kind of story.
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That’s a wrap for this week.
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So Ra No Wo To has turned out to be my favorite show of this season. What draws me in? I love the music, the characters, and the hinted-at background history, plus there’s excellent scenery porn. As I see more episodes, it really seems like the squad is acting like a family, with Filicia and Rio the parents (a nice pair of mothers, too) and Noel, Kanata and Kureha as their daughters. There has been no explicit Yuri in the show, though goggles can certainly show something between Rio and Filicia: after all, the lead image on the official site shows them holding hands.
I’ll see what I can get together for you.
You got the job, George. :-)
Your news is all of gladness.
Sailor Moon was, for me (like so many others), the Fateful First Encounter. It was what introduced me to anime, and getting up early on school mornings to watch it at 7am is a childhood memory that’s very important to me.
Sadly though, I’ve never seen any further than some point in Sailor Moon R (dubbed, too). It’s my great wish to one day view it all, so I’d pay a great deal for a re-release, and the manga as well, needless to say.
I wrote too much there, so for the rest:
Yay, Final Fantasy XIII!
Yay, Girl Friends!
http://www.sailormoonworld.it/ is doing a stellar job of reporting on everything about the SM re-release over there- there will be new promo art and a line of toys. Sadly, Haurka and Michiru are two seasons away, so…
…and the anniversary DVD re release in Japan is coming along too. I wanna steal the promo posters from the Akiba shops mmmmmmm… Lots of programming going on surrounding the anniversary stuff, so we’re hoping for new art and goodies. Takeuchi is heavily involved in both.
…and heavens knows the SM community would TOTALLY buy new US DVDs and Manga. Its near impossible to get english manga for a decent price anymore on ebays and sellsites.
I want to know who I can tell that we will SPEND MONEY on rereleased english SM products (with better translations). Because oh man will we. We’re getting in to in our mid-late twenties now- we have our own money to spend. I still havn’t read it all. =(
My gut just tells me they aren’t going to make that leap in the US. Even after all the revamping DBZ is getting! Sigh!
Final Fantasy Xiii is one of the best games ever in the Final Fantasy series (in my own opinion ’cause it’s the only one I’ve ever bothered to pay any attention to). I haven’t played it yet, but I know most of the main story line.
Spoilers!!
Basically, Lighting (main character) has – one hell of a sister complex that it could be counted as Yuri if you turn on your Yuri googles up a notch – to rescue her little sister, Serah who has been turned into a I’Cie (enemies of their world, namely Cocoon). Every I’Cie is given a focus but if an I’Cie doesn’t complete their focus they turn into some blue, 8 feet tall corpse. However if they do complete their focus, they get turned into Crystals and live for eternity crystalized.
This is where the Yuri couple in the game comes in. Fang and Vanille are childhood friends (possibly more than that – evidence is all over the freaking game!) that became I’Cie together to save their village from some disaster. Both eventually completes their focus turing into crystals 500-600 years ago before the main story line.
When they rewaken, they find themselves in some strange new world known as Cocoon. Oreba, the village Fang and Vanille were trying to save, is now but a residence for the fal’Cie (the real enemies – some machine looking thing). They were separated when PSICOM (strongest military force in Cocoon) came after them knowing they were I’Cie. In a fan-girly squeal moment, Fang tells Vanille to run away while she holds them off (by literally shoving Vanille into an elevator and cracking the buttons after choosing which floor to go to).
When they reunite, there’s this one hell of a Yuri (booby grabbing) moment that you don’t even need your Yuri goggles to know that there’s something going on between them.
Later on, we find out that it was because of Fang and Vanille, that all the other group members were turned into I’Cie. But eventually they get over that fact and says that it’s not their fault and that their friends in a subtle way.
Moving on from my long arse spoiler of the plot, Fang and Vanille are just to die for. Apparently, those two met at an orphanage when they were really young and promised (proposed) each other that they will stay together forever (that line’s actually cannon in the web novel).
If you turn up your Yuri goggle lenses a bit more, you can find a bit of Yaoi in this game as well (that’s one hell of a shock, huh? Especially for a Square Enix game. ;3).
This is a bit of the whole game, so I’ll see what else I can get as there’s a bit more about Fang and Vanille that I’m not remember ’cause it’s hella late.
“Sometimes I pick up Volume 8 and stare at it longingly, then think, well, I can’t *just* get Uranus, I need Neptune too, then think, heck I’ll jut get all the Outers, then start thinking about buying all of the volumes and then I put Volume 8 down again and walk away. It’s really quite sad. lol”
Ain’t that the truth. Maybe starting small would help, like Sailor V.
Although I’m not sure Kodansha USA is at fault here. I was wondering why they don’t re-release the manga here too, in a proper version that’s not mirrored and translated from the Japanese instead of Italian or French or what the heck they used. Anyway I was told Takeuchi herself is holding back the new license, so that’s our problem but I don’t know if Kodansha USA even needs to get a license. I didn’t even know there was a Kodansha USA ^^
Anonymous – for some reason this didn’t post properly;
> I think this is volume 11, not volume 10.
. I know you don’t pay much attention to it, but this issue’s Nanami to Misuzu entertained me when Misuzu said she only reads regular Yurihime because S is full of moe stuff she doesn’t like.
It’s 10, I just counted. :-)
And that is ironic. Thanks for the heads up.