Yuri Anime
The big news from Anime Expo this week is Nozomi/RightStuf’s announcement of the Aoi Hana anime.
A number of people commented that TRSI also took a moment to announce a new imprint of simple, budget packaging, “Lucky Penny.” Some of you have put those two facts together and come up with a conclusion that is not far off the mark. The Japanese release of Aoi Hana was…basic. There was no boxed set, just individual, highly priced disks. There were never any physical extras, and I know that TRSI was concerned about charging artbox set prices for no-artbox sets. So, we aren’t missing anything…there wasn’t anything to get in the first place. Congrats to TRSI for this exciting license and a great way for us to feel good about buying it.^_^
Feel old – the Sailor Moon 20th anniversary event will be held on July 6, with Mitsuishi Kotono and Furuya Tohru (Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask.) The event will stream live on Nico Nico Douga.
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Yuri Manga
Mariko and Jillian Tamaki’s Skim, is now out in Japan as Girl (ガール).
Utena co-creator Saito Chiho plans to draw a manga adaptation of the Torikaebaya in Flowers magazine. (You might remember the Torikaebaya from Mari-sama ga Miteru, where Yumi and Yuki played the the twin siblings who switch court roles in Heian Japan.)
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Other News
New interview with Rica Takashima! More insight into her work ethic and what she’d like to accomplish..
RightStuf is holding a 25th anniversary contest. People at Anime Expo this weekend can drop by their booth for a postcard on which is a code, which may lead to fabulous prizes. Or, if you’ve got an order coming in from TRSI, you’ll get a postcard with your order. For those of us neither at AX, nor with an outstanding order, you can use the entirely old-fashioned method of sending an S.A.S.E, a Self-addressed Stamped Envelope (do folks under 30 even know what those are?), the standard of all contests of my youth, and they will snail mail you a postcard at letter rate…wait for it…so you can scan in the QR code or enter the numbers in their website! This is a level of pointless complexity that I haven’t seen since the 1980s, when I had to cut out a piece of paper to certain dimensions and write my name and address in block letters of a certain height in order to win a piece of glass that was roughly diamond-shaped. Anyway, while I applaud TRSI for coming up with a contest that rewards fans, I’m enthralled by the execution, which tries and fails to mesh 20th century policies with 21st century technology. I’ve sent my S.A.S.E. and expect to receive a piece of glass roughly shaped like a diamond in the mail. ^_^
Here’s a link that’s worth reading, even if maybe you don’t agree with all the entries. It’s focused on western comics, so we can all feel a bit bad for them, since we’ve had Haruka and Michiru for 20 years! Comics Pride: 50 Comics and Characters That Resonate with LGBT Readers
Anime Expo is happening this weekend, and SDCC next, so I’ll just post news as it lands, if anything new and exciting comes up.
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That’s a wrap for this week.
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Aw, I was looking forward to all kinds of artbook goodies with Aoi Hana, although if they don’t exist that would be rather hard to pull off.
Pretty sure the Tamaki book *is* Skim, judging from the Amazon preview. Not sure why the title changed to GIRL.
@Niki – You’re quite correct, I’ve edited the entry. Thanks for the catch!
@Helen There’s the Aoi Hana anime making-of book (青い花公式読本), but that was always a separate purchase as far as I know. 150 pages of character and location sketches and cast/staff interviews plus a short bonus manga.
The original Torikaebaya monogatari is a pretty fun read actually, but then Japanese early medieval literature was generally ahead of the Europeans in entertainment value in my opinion. Willig’s English translation (as The Changelings) was decent, though I haven’t read any Japanese version.
Reading it may be informative regarding the upcoming manga and generally as perspective on the common gender switch ploys in anime. It’s not particularly long, though it may be useful to read Genji first to get a baseline of Heian court literature.
I also applaud TRSI for Aoi Hana, and agree a “no frills” approach makes sense here. The Japanese disks did come with a few postcards each (of manga and anime artwork plus some real world photos), but no “liner notes booklet.” I’d call that pretty minimal.
Slightly late news, but Mouretsu Pirates is going to get some form of film project.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-06-30/bodacious-space-pirates-gets-film
“The original Torikaebaya monogatari is a pretty fun read actually, but then Japanese early medieval literature was generally ahead of the Europeans in entertainment value in my opinion. Willig’s English translation (as The Changelings) was decent, though I haven’t read any Japanese version.”
…yeah, that’s how I remember it too! I checked it out of my local library and read it before I ever heard of Marimite…