Archive for 2011


Revolutionary Girl Utena Anime Box Set – Volume 1 Disk 1 (English)

May 31st, 2011

Slightly more than 10 years ago, anime had already taken over my life. The predominant anime/manga magazine at the time was Animerica which covered what was hot in Japan, and what was starting to trickle over here to the US. At that time, what was hot was a series called Shoujo Kakumei Utena, which was licensed by Central Park Media as Revolutionary Girl Utena. I have great emotional attachment to this series for many reasons. I met some of my best friends in this fandom, CPM was the first company to take Yuricon seriously and was very supportive of us…and it was Utena that I presented at several film festivals, which can arguably be called the beginning of my “career” in Yuri.

When the re-mastered anniversary set of Utena was released in Japan, I expressed skepticism that we’d ever see it, much less at a reasonable price. Thankfully for all of us, I was horribly wrong about that. ^_^ And so here we are, with the remastered Utena, Student Council Arc, in a reasonably priced box set with lovely box design and the extras, both physical and video, from the anniversary set.

Because this series has meant so much to me over the years, I’m fairly sure that nothing I say could even remotely be approached as anything but massively emotional and entirely subjective and I won’t pretend it’s anything else.

If you have never seen the series, you should. If only because it was one of the most unique, genuinely surreal takes on typical magical girl tropes ever. This isn’t deconstruction of the magical girl genre – it represents a wholesale embracing of the most typical elements, with broad nods to its roots in earlier shoujo series. Everything from art to character design can be traced back to something else, but the internal symbolism sets it apart from its predecessors. Just to remind you – the wacky symbolism has no predetermined meaning, is what Ikuhara said to me in an interview. What you think it means, is what it means.

The story, very roughly, is presented as a fairytale. A young girl who was grieving the loss of her parents is “saved” by a Prince and given a token – a ring – that would bring them together once again. So moved by the Prince’s princeliness, the girl was motivated to become a Prince herself. But was that such a good idea? The Shadow Girls (the series’ Greek chorus) ask us.

And we are challenged to answer this question for the entire series. Was it, honestly, a good idea? But we don’t have time to think about it deeply at first, because that girl, Utena, Prince that she is, saves a damsel in distress, ends up having to fight a duel for another damsel, and is drawn into an increasingly bizarre story. As are we.

The duel music is a special thing of its own. When the first notes of “Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku,” the song that accompanies Utena’s transformation scene, started up, I got shivers. I’d forgotten how powerful the music here is. Duel music is an experience, let me tell you. A friend once described the lyrics as a “magical cookbook on acid” and I have to say that I think that sums the lyrics up nicely. Watching this series for the first time in ages, I was instantly sick to death of “The Sunlit Garden” theme all over again, as we all were a decade ago. ^_^

The animation is fantastic – and I notice it has many of the qualities I liked so much in Simoun, with that watercolor look about the backgrounds. The voice cast was top-notch at the time and it stands the test of time – they all still nail their roles.

Which brings me to the…

Scandalous Artbook!

The book included with the box set includes key art designs, essays by the director and other key staff members and…an unattributed essay on shoujo anime and Utena. Within this essay is the unfortunate line “…anomalous breeds of relationships such as homosexuality and incest…” Even as I announced the Yuricon and RightStuf contest to win a copy of the Boxset, someone on Twitter expressed displeasure that RightStuf did not rewrite that line – or at least disclaimer it. In a heated discussion, that person later asked me if I considered it censorship to have changed what they considered to be hate speech.

I thought this conversation important enough to mention here. As you know, freedom of expression is much on mind these days – indeed, every day. So I wanted to make a few points about this essay – and about RightStuf’s rights and responsibilities in relation to it.

Let me first thank the folks at RightStuf, because their reaction was to plainly state they thought that line was ass and that they didn’t agree with it at all.

It’s been many years since we’ve started localizing anime for a western audience and almost universally, fans want the least amount of change possible. TRSI is very good at changing things as little as possible. For the record, yes, if TRSI had rewritten or bowlderized this passage, I would consider it censorship – and I reject utterly the idea that TRSI has the responsibility to change or disclaimer it. They have no responsibility to protect you from having to read an opinion that disagrees with your own.

Now, on to the opinion itself – it may not be your opinion that incest and homosexuality are anomalous forms of relationships, but I think the anime itself presents that opinion. Whether we like it or not, both homosexuality and incest are presented as anomalous concepts – forms of “immature” sexualities. Even the movie, with naked Anthy and Utena street luging down the road kissing, is summarily dismissed by Japanese creators and viewers as not being lesbian – and our insistence that it is lesbian puzzles them. A Japanese viewer at the Tampa LGBT Film Fest said, flat out, that it did not seem lesbian to her, to which I replied that to her it was clearly, obviously, akogare, in which Anthy felt gratefulness and deep admiration for Utena. She nodded strongly at that. I then explained that we don’t *have* an analogous concept to akogare, so it reads lesbian to us.

Aside from whether I agree with that opinion, I think it fair to say that I try not to judge incest as being lesser than any other form of attraction. The commenter who protested was enraged that homosexuality was presented as equivalent to incest. I am not without my specific prejudices, so I won’t blame them for feeling that way, but I don’t agree that they are not, in the context of the anime, anomalous.

Finally, there is the issue of referring to that line as “hate speech.” I’m about to take a plunge that will no doubt come back to bite me in the ass. ^_^ In MY opinion, hate speech is about intent – speech used specifically to insult, intimidate or incite. Calling me a dyke is an insult. Commenting that I’m fucking dyke and should be raped is hate speech, Saying all dykes should die is hate speech. Saying that dykes just need a good man is an (incorrect) opinion. See the difference? The first is meant to offend me. The last is meant to express knowledge and is pretty arguably incorrect, based on personal experience, research and, one hopes, common sense. The middle two are threats and intimidation and are, pretty clearly hate speech. The essay in the artbook is not hate speech. It’s an opinion that can be disagreed with, but it does not intend offense, insult, intimidation or threat. Therefore, I argue that it is not hate speech – it’s just a potentially disagreeable opinion.

In any case, I don’t think TRSI has any responsibility to change that opinion. I did ask them if we knew who had written it. They confirm that the text was presented exactly as it appeared in the Japanese edition and it had no attribution in the original. In other words, it’s it *someone’s* opinion. You are free to disagree with it, of course – certainly I do. However, blaming TRSI for it seems unfair in the extreme. They were doing what we ask them to do – translating things without interfering too much.

Which brings me to the very last issue- there are no honorifics. Other than that, I thought the translation fine and dandy. And, for some reason unknown to myself, the lack of honorifics didn’t bother me this time. No idea why.

As mostly always, I didn’t watch the dub, so if anyone out there wants to review the dub – send it along! We can’t have too many Utena reviews here. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 4 Utena is Wakaba’s Prince, then Anthy’s
Service – If violence against girls is a hot point for you, then 7. Otherwise, 1

Overall – 8

This was a gateway series for a lot of Yuri fans. It’s weird, it’s distressing, it’s magnificent, it’s wtf. It revolutionized the world. It is definitely worth watching.





Yuri Network News Addendum

May 28th, 2011

Some late-breaking news came in this afternoon, that I want to let you all know about right away!

Yuri Manga

From Twitter, Tanbishugi (who does a fantastic list of manga artists and industry sources on Twitter, among other great info) let me know that Tokyopop Germany, not having been fettered by a lack of interest in manga, is going to be publishing Eban Fumi’s Blue Friend in German. Both volumes are slated for a February 2012 release. Good news for the German-reading audience!

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Yuri Event

Rica Takashima informs me that she will be lecturing at the Mulberry Street Branch  of the New York Public Library at 10 Jersey st., New York, NY on Monday, June 20, at 4:30PM on “Queering Fiction: LGBTQ in YA Literature.” I can’t think of a more relevant topic to us these days, as YA literature sets the tone for literary interests for ages to come. If you’re local, I hope you’ll drop by and show her some support!

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Yuri Network News – May 28, 2011

May 28th, 2011

Yuri Manga

The third volume of the Black Cat Mansion series, Shoujo Hakumei, (少女薄命~猫目堂ココロ譚~ ) hit the market this month.

Here’s a name you may remember – Mucchiri Muuni has a new, supposedly Yuri, manga collection, Junketsu Romance hitting Japanese shelves later this month.
Another name that’s been kicking around for years – Mizue Kaori, has a new Yuri Collection – Kusou Garou. You may remember Mizue-sensei’s work from the Yuri Tengoku anthologies. Or not….

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Snatches of Yuri

For fans of Rakka Ryuusui, Volume 5 is available as of today.

And if you’re a Fujieda Miyabi fan, you’ll be glad to know that he announced a fourth volume of Twinkle Saber Nova is forthcoming.

For those of you who like your military fetishism with a light Yuri seasoning, the second volume of Kurogane Pukapuka-tai is heading your way in June.
Yamanko is a high school manga, and Volume 2 is Yuri, which is obvious because the girls touch. They even look like they like each other.

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Maria-sama ga Miteru News

We have movie-sign! Here are links for the DVD & Blu-Ray set (with animated spots that ran before the movie, illustrations by Hibiki Reine, making of, cast comments and other extras); just the Blu-Ray and just the DVD.

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Yuri Visual Novel

The folks who created Soulfege are now bringing you Hakuisei Renai Shoukogun, a tale of love and blinking among student nurses at a hospital. You can watch the trailer on Youtube. It seems like a sweet story.

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Other News

You know we’re in constant recruitment-mode for our Yuri army, right?Most importantly, we’re always looking for military materiel. After the helicopters of Strawberry Panic!,  something in my brain snapped and ever since then, we’ve been collecting awesome armaments for our eventual Yuri takeover. We’ve added fighter jets, and of course any number of handguns and sword, but what we were really missing was a tank. I just wasn’t going to be happy until we had some ground support. Well, today, we got it. Ana M. sent us this picture of the official Pixel Maritan tank. It’s perfect, isn’t it? I covet it, with its pink camouflage pattern. And Maritan’s cheerful “Fuck you!” over the gun. OMG, it’s just perfect. Thanks Ana! Now we need an Aircraft Carrier. ^_^

A number of manga artists, including Morinaga Milk are contributing to a Earthquake Relief fund charity doujinshi movement. You can find the website here. It is in Japanese, so don’t be surprised.

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That’s a wrap for this week.

Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!





Light Novel: R.O.D., Volume 6

May 26th, 2011

Yomiko and Nancy team up against the powerful Dokusensha! Finally! As you’d expect sparks fly, walls are phased through, paper is flung…and it’s not quite as excellent in book form as it would be animated.

Yomiko, if you recall from Book 5, has inadvertently handed the Guttenberg paper over to Dokusensha’s paper user, Ou-en. To correct this mistake, she has taken on the task of traveling to China to retrieve the item. In China, she almost immediately runs into British Library agent Nancy Makuhari.

As R.O.D. Volume 6 opens, the two of them sit down to enjoy excellent tea and pastries and be held at gunpoint by a disgruntled client of Nancy’s. When Yomiko shows off her skills, Nancy, who had had a hard time seeing past the goofy, book-obsessed facade, is very impressed. But that quickly turns to surprise and maybe a little fear as Yomiko’s bibliomania exerts its influence over her character and Nancy gets a quick glimpse into what madness looks like. Nancy’s no fool, she knows what she’s looking at, and backs off quickly.

And then, they run. They run in and around Shanghai, through stores and underground tunnels and buildings. And eventually, the come face to face with Dokusensha’s agents.As Yomiko’s skills with paper are mirrored by Ou-en, Nancy’s abilities to change the density of her body and things she touches are mirrored by a Dokusensha agent who can do that too. Which, although the bulk of the book is super-charged action scenes, ultimately was not great reading. There are a few reason why that may be:

First and foremost, I am a character person. The parts of these novels I like best are the characters interacting with one another. The quiet moment at the beginning, where Yomiko and Nancy size each other up over tea was more “fun” for me than the later action scenes.

Secondly, the writer, while usually quite competent, just wasn’t getting me really hooked into the action. I don’t know if he had a hard time writing protracted action scenes (which is totally understandable, as writing action is much harder than showing it) or whether he was rushed and just didn’t have energy to manage it.

Thirdly, having mirror-matched enemies was kind of…boring. We don’t get to see Nancy shine because, in the way of all good sci-fi novels, the bad guy is actually slightly better/more powerful than we are, and ahead of us in the game. You know how it goes. So we barely get to see Nancy kick ass, because she’s being thwarted at every turn. Bleah. What we like in our action is Yomiko and Nancy blowing the bad guys away, not running in second place. This sort of sucked the fun from the action for me.

Fourthly, I have come to realize that I like Yomiko best when she is with Nenene. For the duration of this book, they are apart. Nenene does have some quality time with Wendy, though. When Wendy prepares an excellent lunch for them, Nenene comments that, if she were a boy, she’d take Wendy as a lover, to which Wendy replies, “But, if you were a boy, wouldn’t you already have taken Yomiko as a lover?” Nenene flips out at the insinuation, but Wendy is firm in calling it like she sees it.

The other stand-out scene for me was when Yomiko saves Nancy and, when Nancy (who is clearly not used to be valued by anyone) asks why, Yomiko replies simply, “Because I like you.” These words repeat in Nancy’s brain through the remainder of the book, like a refrain. I felt the cloister bell of future anime series ringing in this scene.

The upshot of the action is that Nancy escapes, but Yomiko is captured by Dokusensha. In the final scene, the traitor Faust appears and gives Yomiko a devil’s bargain – either she must marry Faust, or be killed. Dum~dum~dummm~

Ratings:

Art- Typically ugh – 5
Story – Atypcially ugh – 5
Characters – The saving grace here – 7
Yuri – 2
Service – 7 for Nancy’s leather suit alone

Overall – 5

Tune in next time to find out when/how/if Yomiko escapes a fate worse than fate!





Novel: Wasurenagusa (わすれなぐさ) Guest Review by Hafl

May 25th, 2011

It’s Guest Review Wednesday, thank heavens. Today, returning Guest Reviewer Hafl is going to talk about another of Yoshiya Nobuko’s novels. As you may remember, I consider Yoshiya to be the Grandmother of Yuri and certainly one of the driving forces in the creation of Japanese popular literature for girls, what we think of as the shoujo genre. Any chance to talk about her work – which is relatively unknown in the west – is a good thing. Take it away, Hafl!

On the first glance, Yoshiya Nobuko’s Wasurenagusa (わすれなぐさ) is a tale of three schoolgirls, who become friends and learn to deal with their family situations. On second glance, it is entirely possible to read it as a story of a love triangle, and it does not even require that much effort on part of the reader.

The three main characters are Makiko, who is the ordinary girl, Kazue, who is the quiet and responsible girl, and Youko, who is the spoiled rich girl. Each of them also has family issues they must resolve before the book ends. Youko does not see the value of having a full family. Kazue is the eldest child in a fatherless household and is overly self-sacrificing. Makiko has a terminally ill mother and an authoritarian father, who wants her to completely sacrifice herself for family’s sake and wants her brother to become a scientist like him, despite the boy’s apparent distaste.

In the beginning, Makiko borrows school notes from Kazue, an act which is witnessed by Youko, who immediately starts suffering from jealousy and decides to get Makiko as her special friend. To that end, she employs such various methods as forcing Makiko to crossdress, gift swapping, summer camps, tailor-made dresses and distracting her with many different amusements. However, in the end, her spell over Makiko is broken and Makiko becomes friends with Kazue, who also helps Makiko’s father see that he cannot rule his children with an iron hand.

These are only the bare bones of the plot, which can be read in several different ways. It can be read as a simple tale of three girls becoming friends. It can be read as a veiled attack against Western decadence (It must be significant that Youko, always associated with Western clothing, wears kimono in the last scene of the book). And finally, it can be also read as a story of girl used to always getting her way, who decided to claim one girl for herself – that is the way I chose to read the book, since for me, it is the most fun way.

Wasurenagusa was written in the thirties, some ten years after Hana Monogatari and Yaneura no Nishojo and it shows. The prose style is much easier to read and there are mentions of things that would be simply unacceptable before, like Kazue ‘s father being a soldier who died in China. Even though the book is mostly told from the point of view of the main characters, there is an interruption from Makiko’s brother’s point of view and it shows that if one were to read the book “properly,” the main theme is not the relationship between the girls, but in relationships in family…and that the book’s more or less explicitly told stance on those relationships is that children must be allowed to find their own way in the world without their parents’ interference.

I tried to not spoil much of the plot, since Wasurenagusa is definitely worth reading. Personally, I would rate it to be about as difficult to read as the Maria-sama ga Miteru novels, so it is not as hard as Yaneura no Nishojo or Hana Monogatari. Or, perhaps, I have just became used to Yoshiya’s style, so I can read it more easily.

Story – 7, It is simple and without many surprise, but nicely told.
Characters – 7, Nothing special, but likable.
Yuri – Between 0 and 6, depending on how you decide to read the book.

Overall – 7, Not a must read, but still recommended.

However, this Wasurenagusa is not the only story titled Wasurenagusa that Yoshiya wrote. There is also an early story of the same name in Hana Monogatari, with the only difference being that the novel’s title is all in hiragana, while the story’s title uses kanji. Let’s take a short look at it:

Toyoko, a new girl at school, feels deeps admiration for an upperclassman, Mizushima-san, but she is unable to confess her feelings. In the end, she just leaves some forget-me-not flowers (wasurenagusa in Japanese) on Mizushima-san’s desk on her graduation day. While nobody dies of a flu epidemic out of nowhere or develops romantic tuberculosis, everybody is still sad. It is a pretty typical story in Hana Monogatari, where two girls separate without even having a proper chance to interact with each other.

Story – 6
Characters – 5
Yuri – About 3

Overall – 6

Thank you Hafl for your perspective – and for your prompt to remind me to read more of Yoshiya’s work.