Archive for September, 2015


Kadokawa Launching English Version of Bookwalker

September 24th, 2015

KGBW

Official Press Release:

Debuting at NY Comic-Con 2015: BOOK☆WALKER KADOKAWA’s Online Store for Manga & Light Novels direct from Japan SEPTEMBER 24, 2015 – Kadokawa, one of Japan’s largest media, entertainment, and publishing companies is launching an English language version of BookWalker, their eBook online store in Fall 2015. Promotions will kick off at New York Comic-Con 2015, along with the addition of over 700 comic and prose titles in English – many exclusive to BookWalker. Starting on October 8, 2015, readers around the world can check out the redesigned BookWalker website at http://global.bookwalker.jp/ and download updated versions of the BookWalker apps for iOS and Android mobile devices on the Apple App store and Google Play.

BOOK☆WALKER AT NEW YORK COMIC-CON: New York Comic-Con attendees will be able to take BookWalker for a test drive at the BookWalker booth at NYCC (#854), or try it out on their smartphones, tablets or personal computers. Visitors to the BookWalker booth at NYCC who show the signed in BookWalker account on their phones or tablets will get a chance to win prizes.  Everyone will receive an $8 BookWalker gift card, which can be used to buy almost any manga or light novel on BookWalker.

***

So, will this be a big deal? I don’t know…yet.  Here’s the part that is of most interest to me:

BookWalker [is] gearing up to be the premier destination for manga, novels, books and magazines in both English and Japanese from Japanese and American publishers, including VIZ Media, Dark Horse Comics, Digital Manga, Creek & River, Cork, Futabasha, and Harlequin, with more to be added soon

Reading into press releases is a sucker’s game, but there are couple of things of note here:

The platform will be in English. I have used ComicWalker, but only in Japanese. And I’ve only read samples, not purchased anything. It works. I’m not blown away, but it works and the built-in reader is does not require a download and is pretty easy to figure out. Obviously, as soon as I can I will try it out and report back.

Offerings are from multiple publishers. This is good, and it is problematic. There is a war on for your digital manga dollars right now – Amazon recently sucked up Comixology to make sure they win it. Crunchyroll is still hanging on to a small corner, but will a Japanese publisher have an edge by offering a selection you can’t get anywhere else? This remains to be seen. It appears that they will have the same publishers already accessible on Comixology. So, you get to give your money to an American conglomerate or a Japanese one, for access to the same content. Neither site charges for access, just for purchase, so it’s a coin toss on the money side.

One the Japanese content side, Kadokawa is the winner hands-down of marketing the living daylights out of their IP, and they own many or are part of a joint venture with many of the most popular anime franchises. They do a lot of anime based on Light Novels, (like the Suzumiya Haruhi and Sword Art Online franchises) so there will definitely be a lot of popular content on the site. Their inital JP additional publisher, Futabasha has a metric ton of stuff licensed here by a bunch of distributors, they seem to be the only other publisher not afraid to spread their IP around. And they have some of the artists you like.

This could be a very good thing for Yuri fans, if the Global site is tied in with existing Japanese content. Ichijinsha is already offering a number of their Comic Yuri manga in digital format, even older, out-of-print titles. And Shinsokan has at least some of their their Hirari books. The problem is that Global Walker was historically not tied in to their Japanese site and only had Japanese content that had been licensed out. I don’t know if this is going to work for us, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed and have asked Kadokawa for some of their time at NYCC. We’ll see how it goes. Keep an eye on this space for follow-ups!





Yuri Manga: Iono The Fanatics, Special Edition Volume 2 (新装版 いおの様ファナティクス 特装版 2)

September 21st, 2015

specialiono2-e1435708747225In Volume 1, we met Iono Mito Arceline, the charming Queen of a small western country, and her close attendants as she spends time in Japan looking for women with black hair to recruit as ladies-in-waiting. Iono-sama meets and woos a nice young woman by the name of Hachibe Eto to join her clan. Adventures, romance and comedy ensue.

In Iono The Fanatics, Special Edition Volume 2 (新装版 いおの様ファナティクス 特装版 2), the take begins with a quick visit to an old gag. Oue Ruiko (affectionately known as OL-chan) is once again made late by Iono-sama, but learns just who this weirdo is and, in a moment of honesty, explains why she cannot join Iono-sama – she wants a quiet, peaceful, average life. The Queen gives her her blessing and they part.

We return to the gathered staff and find that Argent is suffering a crisis after having lost to Klausoraus, forcing Iono-sama to fight the assassin herself. Iono-sama takes Arge out on a date and buys her some new clothes, allowing us a quick visit with characters from Fujieda-sensei’s independent Alice Quartet series.

Eto gets some insight on the workings of the Queendom, when she meets Aida’s lover Shinon and, in an extremely awkward moment, Shinon’s mother, the chief of all the sobame, Weisen Bellecoeur. It seems that the sobame back home, missing their Queen, have taken to forming factions and fighting. Iono-sama decides to go home. But, will Eto come with her? She asks this while seducing Eto, whose response is to give in, rather than to join in.

Then crisis erupts with the re-appearance of Klausoraus the assassin! Eto is kidnapped, forcing Iono-sama and the gang to rescue her, and the appearance of yet another besotted youngster, a Princess of the country next door to Iono-sama’s. Eto makes her decision as Iono-sama sweeps her off her feet, literally.

The epilogue of the book picks up 5 years later, when the gang returns to Japan. Old gags reappear and are just as silly, Flèche and Arata have a baby now, Argent and Princess Yama seem to be an item, and, as the book comes to an end, Iono-sama heads off to find more women. ^_^

It was both delightful and maddening to read this book. I find myself obsessed with the concept of the harem Queen. Is Iono-sama having 1000 ladies-in-waiting who are in love with her cute or irksome? Is her love worth fighting over? If this were a King would I be rolling my eyes?

I’m also (and I repeatedly state) obsessed with the names of the characters. Names are sort of Frenchish-ish, with some hint of German. So is Aida “Aida Bloomer,” or “Aida Bleumare”? I’m sort of leaning to the latter now, given the breakthrough I had with Weisen’s name.

And last, but in no way least, I’m surprisingly uncomfortable with Eto as uke. I mean, not as such, because it’s obvious the Queen is the aggressor, but because she’s so passive. Creepy, maguro-passive. A dead fish in bed. With a book so filled with competent, powerful woman, it seems weird that Iono-sama would be so charmed by a nothing like Eto. But, then maybe it’s because everyone else close to her is so strong, the Queen was looking for someone less forceful. But I can’t help but think that it’s not cool to see the “Japanese women are passive in bed” trope in a romance, not even (maybe not especially?) from a Japanese man. Overthinking things again, I know, but that’s what you pay me for. ^_^

Ultimately, this series aged a little better than Strawberry Shake, and was just as much fun to revisit. And I’m looking forward to new adventures and another new Drama CD (which at a glance appears to be at least a bit about Argent and Princess Yama. A good match, as Arge has no patience for Yama’s passive-aggressive ways. I will, of course, report back.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

As I said in my original review of the series in 2005: I recommend “Iono-sama Fanatics” highly for Yuri that makes you smile. For Yuri that is sexy without explicit sex, and funny and cute – this is an excellent example of the breed.

And so it is. ^_^





New Thesis on Yuri by Verena Maser on Yuri Essays Page

September 20th, 2015

ILYiconNew on the Yuricon Essays page, we have Beautiful and Innocent: Female Same-Sex Intimacy in the Japanese Yuri Genre, a PhD thesis by Verena Maser, examining the relationship between media content, its production, and its reception in Japanese popular culture in regards to Yuri. (Full text article available at linked page.)

Yuri scholarship is really starting to build up. If you know of or have written an article on Yuri, Yuri fandom or anything to do with Yuri, let us know, we’d love to link to your work!





Rose of Versailles Manga, Volume 11 (ベルサイユのばら)

September 17th, 2015

RoV11When I was in Japan last, you may remember I had a chance to see the anniversary event for Margaret magazine. One of the best-known titles that has ever run in Margaret is Rose of Versailles (ベルサイユのばら) by Riyoko Ikeda.  Ikeda-sensei was asked to write something about her masterpiece for the event and, as she says in the author’s note in this volume, that’s when she had the idea of writing new stories to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the work., many years after the first ten volumes had been completed. This is the first volume of her new ideas.

My question, of course, is where does one go to write new stories about a series that ended with such finality? Before, after or in between the cracks? The answer, contained in the pages of Volume 11 of Berusaiyu no Bara, (ベルサイユのばら) is…all of the above. And it was sublime.

Each chapter follows a single character from the original story. We sometimes get a  glimpse of their early life, as in the chapters that focus on Andre or Girodel, or an episode post-revolution as we do get Fersen and Allan.

The chapters are broken up by “Fan Room” pages, in which Ikeda-sensei asnwers frequently asked questions about Oscar and the featured characters. As she did, so shall I, by reminding you of who everyone is.

It’s a fair bet you’ll remember Andre, the servant and eventually lover of the story’s hero, Oscar Francois de Jarjeye. Girodel is the young man she beat out for the position of the Captain of the Queen’s guards and who remained Oscar’s good friend right to the end. Allan was the sergeant of the French Guards, when Oscar took a demotion to fight with commoners. He opposed her at first, but eventually came around to admire Oscar…and to love her. Hans Axel von Fersen was a Swedish noble at the French Court who, you may remember, became Marie Antoinette’s lover and with whom Oscar fell in love.

In the course of the story we get cameos from Oscar’s father, Andre’s grandmother and Allan’s dead sister, corpse in situ, Rosalie and Bernard and others.

We also meet some characters less well-known in this volume. (We know they are less well-known, because they all are given a “who are they?” panel in the Fan Room.) Oscar’s niece Lulu, Marie Terese, Antoinette and Louis’ eldest child who escaped the guillotine, but was forcibly deported to (or perhaps negotiated for by) Austria and a childhood friend of Andre’s who has become the Duke Orleans’ mistress.

All the chapters were exactly what you expect from Rose of Versailles. Tons of melodrama and so many tears! People cried over Andre’s death, Oscar’s death, Antoinette’s death, the revolution, France…it was all a lot of fun. ^_^;

Of interest to us here on Okazu was this spread: We Love Oscar-samaOscarlove

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These pages detail all the people who were “in love” with Oscar. Andre, of course and Rosalie, of course, Allan, Louis Joseph (one of the Bourbon children)  and “Other Ladies of the Court.” This last can be seen in the bottom left, in a picture one can only describe as Oscar macking on the lady.^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – Did I mention the crying? 8
Characters – 9
Service – 1 on principle
Yuri – 2 ’cause of the spread

Overall – 8

I have to say, I really enjoyed this volume. Finished it, tears and all, with a huge grin. I had no idea that I’d be so glad to see these characters again! Now I’m dying to read Volume 12!

Who can tell me the name of Oscar’s sister? Answer in the comments. A prize may be forthcoming. (Don’t cheat and look it up, that’s no fun.)





2DK, G Pen, Mezamashidokei Manga, Volume 1 (2DK、Gペン、目覚まし時計。)

September 14th, 2015

2dkgpen-e1435708971188Ohsawa Yayoi’s 2DK, G Pen, Mezamashidokei (2DK、Gペン、目覚まし時計。) is a sweetly cheerful version of the worst story ever written.

Here is the summary of the worst story: A woman who is smart, attractive and has dreams for her life, finds herself involved with a lazy, sloppy artist who is bad with money, and ends up becoming their live in house-keeper/girlfriend, while her dreams die.

Doesn’t it sound dire? Every single version of this story ever has been sold as a romance and every single version of this story I have read makes me want to go out and stab something. This is not love, it’s Stockholm syndrome.

Nanami is engaged to Yuuji, and is sharing an apartment with Kaede, an aspiring manga artist. I will give her this – Kaede works very, very hard at her manga. And, she is cute and appreciative, not at all like Kimi Koi Limit‘s Sono. So you can’t really hate her. Nanami is tightly wound, a weird, uncomfortable balance between over- and under-achieving. No one asked her to cook dinner, but it’s nice that she does, and any sense of obligation she feels is hers alone, but you can see that if she didn’t, they’d be eating combini food every night. So, yeah, you get her sense of frustration.

In the first chapter Yuuji breaks up with Nanami, after she’s ranted one more time (we can guess) about Kaede’s lack of responsibility. He uses that as an excuse, accusing Nanami of being a lesbian (or so he has heard from an old sempai of hers), but we later learn that he has another girlfriend.  But none of that is the point of that whole conversation. The point is to get Nanami to think about how she thinks about Kaede. And so, now we have been seeded to see interest where initially there was only irritation. I object strenuously to this manipulation.

And I’m gonna say this flat out – I think Ohsawa-sensei has written herself into a corner here. This has to be a Yuri manga, but it ought to be a story about self-realization and owning one’s own life. Bridget Jones’s Diary, not Pride and Prejudice. Kaede is cute and sweet, but Nanami could surely do wayyyyyyy better than the slob who shares an apartment with her. What kind of message does that send? “Ladies, just give up. If you can’t find a nice person almost immediately, just fall in love with your sibling or roommate and that’ll work out fine.” Blecch.

As of the end of Volume 1, there has been no Yuri and no love, and no lesbian content, but there’s been an insidious disintegration of Nanami’s goals and dreams. Hell, she’ll probably be 25 any day, life is practically over, she’d better hop in bed with Kaede.

Far more interestingly, a rival type girl was inflated for Kaede, and suddenly she developed gumption as a manga artist. Maybe she’ll take over the protagonist role, too.

I generally love Ohsawa-sensei’s work, so I really hope she injects some oomph into this story. I want to want to root for Kaede and Nanami.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 5
Characters – 6
Yuri – 1ish in a “flailing to make it fit way”
Service – 1

Overall – 6

Here’s hoping this thing gels a bit.