Yuri Events
Please join me in Atlantic City on June 8th at AnimeNEXT for a 100 Years of Yuri presentation! There will be prizes for good questions!
The deadline for signing up for the 100 Years of Yuri Tour in Japan is July 9th. We need 4 more people to join our tour to make it a reality. I hope you’ll be part of this historical event! The tour itself is scheduled for September so we can finish off with the Girls Love Festival Yuri doujinshi event. ^_^
Yuri Manga
We have a release date for the sixth volume of the Kase-san series in Japan, Yamada to Kase-san (山田と加瀬さん。) This book will be hitting Japanese bookshelves in late July. We don’t yet have a date for the English edition, but I’d expect an early 2020 release.
Okujou PikaPika Romance Complete Edition (屋上ぴかぴかロマンス 完全版) a re-issued collection of Ohsawa Yayoi’s early shorts for Comic Yuri Hime, was released this month.
In celebration of the opening of Pride Month, Anime Feminist is giving us a three-pack of Yuri articles, the first of which is the honorable Vrai Kaiser’s The Beginner’s Guide to Yuri Manga. I hope you’ll pop in and give thanks and praise (and your own 2 cents, because obviously, you will, ^_^) in the comments. Please remember to be respectful, you are representing Yuri fandom and everyone’s opinions are correct for them. One of the upcoming articles is by me, but I have no idea what the third is, so I’m looking forward to reading it along with you!
LGBTQ Comics
In my discussion with Emily Carrol, creator of When I Arrived at the Castle, I commented that we’re not yet seeing a renaissance of queer horror. I wasn’t faking my prescience with that – I’ve been feeling it coming for a while. Black Horror has been on the rise, which is awesome, so I honestly expected Queer Horror to be next. And here it is! Northwest Press’s collection Theater of Terror: Revenge of the Queers is a Kickstarter I’ve backed. I cannot wait.
The Nib offer’s this important LGBTQ history lesson with Dorian Alexander and Kazimir Lee’s comic, The Homophobic Hysteria of the Lavender Scare.
Yuri Literature
Science Fiction publisher Hayakawa (whose Yuri issue of SF Magazine I reviewed last winter) found that it was a pretty popular issue – it sold out quickly and had to be reprinted. Now they’ve decided to do a Scifi Yuri Anthology, Asterism ni Hanataba wo (アステリズムに花束を), which will be released late this month. The worlds of queer scifi and queer horror are ready for their closeup now.
This is not a drill. We are getting a 3rd volume of Yagate Kimi ni Naru: Saeki Sayaka ni Tsuite! No link yet, but check out the ad in the back of Volume 2. This will take us and Sayaka into her life after graduation from high school. I am all a-flutter with anticipation.
LGBTQ Media
Yuritribe Lesbian Media Project is looking for folks who want to be a concrete part of their work. If you’re fluent in Japanese and want to or have worked in media creation, take a look at their recruitment form.
Get a dose of happy feels by watching And Then She Kissed Me!, a short animated film by Alexia Khodanian.
Got family or friends looking for queer family friendly reading? The Toronto Public Library offer Reading With Pride, a curated collection for “LGBTQ2S Families.”
Other News
Viz Media’s Urian Brown walks us through a private video tour of the British Museum’s Manga exhibit.
This week, I took the first concrete steps to developing an online course on Steven Universe! I plan on running it in the late autumn. It’ll be 4 weeks, 2 classes a week, with assigned pre-reading, a lecture, class discussion and a Google Docs workspace for writing assignments. Keep your eyes open for the announcement. ^_^
Do you have questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast, Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news with your name and an email I can reply to!
Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-06-01/sound-euphonium-gets-new-anime-project-centering-on-kumiko-3rd-year-in-high-school/.147379 Of course, KumiRei has officially sank, but for those who are still following the other ships in Eupho, I would like to remind people that adaptation has finally entered the final stage and KyoAni announced the intended third season.
“(and your own 2 cents, because obviously, you will, ^_^)”
Oh Yeah, I can say a lot about the statement that all-lesbian yuri is a “rare” subgenre or about their rude comment about male characters in all-female works, but in general the material is normal, so I will say nothing.
I haven’t covered much of this series here because as far as I can tell, almost all of any Yuri seen in it is fanon and not at all overt text. In 2007 I might have given it time, in 2019, I welcome other people to enjoy it, but it not worth covering here. I was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed Liz and the Blue Bird, however. KyoAni’s current spastic style of camera work makes me physically dizzy, I can’t bring myself to watch much of their work these days.
Yes, technically most of the yuri in this franchise is a fanon, but as far as I understand, at least NozoMizo is promoted as “friends/lovers depending on the will of the viewer”. Yamada-sensei herself seems to ship them, but I don’t speak Japanese, so I am afraid to say something confidently.
Eleven Arts is bringing “Liz and the Blue Bird” back to Anime Expo in 2019 – for the second year in a row after last year’s U.S. premiere there.
Liz is also still playing in a few cinemas scattered around France. The German premiere was in Frankfurt am Main last weekend. Localised disks will follow later this year – hopefully in other regions too.
“Chikai no Finale” has a few Japanese cinemas left and a few new ones have been added to the list. Eleven Arts will release this latest film in the United States on July 11 (English Subtitles) and July 15 [Dub].
Kyoto Animation’s Hibike! Euphonium remains a problematic favourite for me. In all the different animated adaptations by various screenwriters and directors there has been enough to enjoy and question to say that I’m probably in for the duration.
What is perhaps going to be Ayano Takeda’s final novel for her series is scheduled for release on June 22 in Japan. I hope she can deliver a conclusion worthy of the month of June in 2019. I keep returning to this -unadapted- passage. A passage serving as the reader’s introduction to her concert band universe.
“Concert bands were a special place. The ratio of girls to boys was usually around nine to one, but strictly speaking, it was often more lopsided than that. So it was not uncommon for girls to end up idolizing someone of their own gender. The objects of such infatuated gazesーgazes that were much to fervid to be interpreted as simply envyーtended to either radiate pure femininity or possess a boyish stylishness. Unfortunately the boys in concert bands were rarely seen as actual boys and so were never the object of such idolization. Kumiko had decided that this was why boys in the band never seemed to have girlfriends, despite being surrounded by girls.”
– From: “Sound! Euphonium: Welcome to the Kitauji High School Concert Band”, Paul Starr’s English translation of Ayano Takeda’s first Hibike! Euphonium novel (2013).
Perhaps this is already mentioning too much here but I won’t mention anything beyond these early pages here. “For whom do we write “our” reassurances?”. That has been a question on my mind whenever I read -or engaged in- one of the many spoiler filled conversations about Hibike! Euphonium. Personally, I think this remains an interesting question.
In the brief excerpt quoted above -from what I consider a crucial passage- Takeda mentioned a ratio. Statistically speaking, it would be a little odd if there weren’t a single lesbian in a concert band that size over a three year period. Personally, I think Kumiko is as straight as a rainbow. Curious to see what kind of future the original writer and those who adapt her work have in store for her, and us. Not having to rely on the opinions expressed by people whose judgement you don’t trust is nice but not everyone has that luxury.
Interesting. My own experience with concert bands in school is that they were about 50/50 and there was a *lot* of dating going on within them.
Although, ultimately my wife and I did turn out to be lesbian, so perhaps you are correct about that. She was my band sempai. ^_^
Yep, this quote is one of the reasons because in recent years I often like to compare Eupho and MariMite. With regard to sexuality, I do not want to speak for other girls, but it is noteworthy that Yamada compares their friendship with Reina with the “first love of a young boy”, understand it as you like, lol.
In any case, Mizore and Nozomi don’t have any male love interest, so I think you can easily interpret them as lovers, if you like.
Coverage with illustration, from the publisher’s twitter account: https://twitter.com/eupho_tkj/status/1138666941051092993
『響け！ユーフォニアム 北宇治高校吹奏楽部、決意の最終楽章 後編』
Wide eyed Kumiko has the cover to herself this time. Pictured holding a baton and a notebook. [Ten days. June 22]
Canada. Eleven Arts lists fifteen venues, two dates, for “Sound! Euphonium The Movie Our Promise: A Brand New Day”.
July 16 and July 18. Check -local- listings for variations in the division of [Sub] and [Dub] days.
Reading this thread once I again I feel I must note that the excerpted texts linked neither corroborate nor refute one important element from the way the Hibike! Euphonium conversation was framed here this time around.
Among the reasons why I went to the cinema for ～誓いのフィナーレ～ was to find out how events leading up to and including a moment from 嘘つきアッチェレランド -depicted on the pair ticket clear file- would play out in adaptation. For me, finding out for myself was worth the price of admission.
Cheers
One of the many complicating factors when considering whether or not to recommend “Chikai no Finale” to anyone here is that very narrow window of opportunity to experience this animated film in United States cinemas. Not counting incidental screenings at conventions or festivals there will be just one day each for the English subbed and for the English dubbed version. Only one screening each day, just four days apart. Hardly any opportunity for word of mouth to reach those who are still on the fence, in other words.
Haven’t seen any news about a possible theatrical run in other parts of the world.
Spoiler ahead – – Tweeted promotional blurb with image attached.
Eleven Arts via Twitter:
“Kumiko and Reina are shining brighter than ever in Sound! Euphonium: The Movie”
https://twitter.com/ELEVEN_ARTS/status/1141492138011779072
Personally, I think the relationship of Kumiko with Reina is still among the more interesting aspects of the Hibike! Euphonium stories in various media.
Oh! I am so glad to see Sayaka getting her own story. I liked her way more than the main characters.
Me too. ^_^ I’m really excited that she’ll get a story beyond high school.
So, this novel can be considered as a technical “where are they now” to Yagatte Kimi ni Naru?
We don’t yet know what it will be. But it says that it will be after high school graduation and it will follow Sayaka.
An online Steven Universe course? Will this be on Okazu or do we need to look out for it elsewhere?
As I said, look for announcements later this year. I’ll have figured out all the logistics by then.
“Although, ultimately my wife and I did turn out to be lesbian, so perhaps you are correct about that. She was my band sempai. ^_^”
I think in this case you should like the second season or the second film. Of course, Kumiko is not a couple with Asuka as her sempai or Kaede as her kohai, but Takeda-Sensei definitely enjoys depicting these sempai-kohai relationship as a something like a concert variation of S relationships.
The pervasiveness of sempai / kouhai dynamics in virtually all aspects of Japanese society is among the reasons why it is so interesting and important to see the way issues of seniority vs meritocracy keep recurring and are dealt with repeatedly in all versions of Hibike! Euphonium. It is one of the reasons why I consider novel Kumiko a fundamentally different person than the Kumiko of the first season of the animated TV series. Votes to determine the concert band’s goals. Auditions for chairs and solos….
Tentatively submitting this reply here, although I’m appending it as an elaboration in response to what Super says:
“[…] but how important are sempai – kohai in the lives of ordinary Japanese teenagers? As I understand it from various animes, such relationships are not very different from Western ones, with the exception of adding separate words to them.”
here: http://okazu.yuricon.com/2019/06/23/yuri-light-novel-yagate-kimi-ni-naru-saeki-sayaka-ni-tsuite-volume-2-やがて君になる-佐伯沙弥香につ/#comments
Your personal experience kinda speaks for itself as a reassurance for a questioning high schooler in concert band somewhere so I’m not sure if this is necessary but I keep coming back to this and felt like at least noting a few Japanese publications from which a few lines appear to have been paraphrased in Super’s comments here.
山田 […] 私自身は2人に「添い遂げてほしい」派なんですよ。
だけど原作を読んでいると、つくり手としての自分が2人の関係性をいじってしまうことが一番不幸なことだと思ったんです。
小説で描かれていたことを自分の解釈でねじまげないことが、監督である私の責任だと思いました。
https://kai-you.net/article/52799
山田 […] 山のシーンでは久美子がだんだん少年に見えてきたんです。ひと夏の恋をする少年という感じに見えるといいな あと思って。久美子にとっての「初めて」[…]
http://animestyle.jp/shop/archives/853
「ごめん、待たせて」
声をかけられ、久美子は振り返る。ワンピース姿の麗奈が、こちらにひらひらと手を振っていた。女の子らしい、白いワンピース。自分が男だったら彼女に着てほしい洋服ナンバーワンだ (p.192)
https://tkj.jp/book/?cd=72174701
That last excerpt, from Ayano Takeda’s first Hibike! novel, is available in English translation from Yen Press:
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Kumiko turned at the voice that addressed her. There was Reina, wearing a youthfully feminine white dress. If Kumiko had been a boy, it was the kind of dress that would be at the top of the list of things she’d like her girlfriend to wear. (Sound! Euphonium. Transl. Paul Starr. (iBooks))
https://yenpress.com/9780316559805/sound-euphonium-light-novel/
LOL I hadn’t considered that. Thanks for the links and quotes. It appears, maybe, that I’d like the LNs more than the anime with its spastic “searching for a fetish to stop on” quality.
I honestly tried to watch the anime, but hated the first episode’s obsessive skirt-hem watching intolerable.
That all said, I probably won’t read the LNs, either. ^_^
More. Recycling. Rephrased slightly. Hibike! Euphonium remains a problematic favourite for me.
Yuri is not my default expectation. I started watching this series because of the musical instruments in the promotional images, completely unaware of Takeda’s novels as source material. My first thoughts about potential romantic relationships came in the first episode when Shuuichi appears on screen, casting his shadow over Kumiko as he looms over her from behind when she sits by herself on the now famous bench by the river in Uji. More specifically when I saw Kumiko’s reaction to his appearance. At that time my thoughts were something along these lines: “I hope this girl can reject this guy and is allowed to have meant it by the end of the series”.
Thoughts of a potential yuri couple didn’t come for me until quite a bit later. Not until episode three of the first season but not earlier than that. At some point I started looking to spoil myself, to confirm that what I thought I was seeing was what was meant to be depicted. At the time I had not read the novels, only forum comments and translated excerpts, but I was thoroughly spoiled on that aspect of the series during that first season.
In my opinion it would be refreshing if a young woman could reject a guy who says she is ugly. It would be refreshing if she could tell the young man to be more careful in his choice of words the next time he has a crush on someone else. That this rejection could be a learning experience for him – on how not to interact with women. That is not what happens in Hibike! Euphonium, however. He likes her therefore she must reciprocate at some point – that is among the impressions I get from this story. My impression is that she is expected “to learn” to settle for his petty little remarks about her appearance. My impression is that she “must” accept that whenever he is within proximity he must be given her attention. I find these aspects of the story as I see them troubling – irrespective of any yuri. I am one of those people who dislikes Shuuichi for his role as well as for his personality and that dislike for him predates any thoughts about the relationship with Reina (Reina a character Takeda dressed in white as well as in black and therefore perhaps the singular personification of both Odette and Odile.)
I particularly dislike Shuuichi because Kumiko is depicted very early on as someone who has body insecurities and I’ve always had the strong feeling that Shuuichi is in no small part responsible for Kumiko’s insecurities – because of his petty little remarks about her appearance.
Spoilers about the latest film and third year novels are starting to appear in more places. There will be at least one more volume of short stories.
A lot more observations about skirt-hems can be posted here as well…
If no had been allowed to have meant no. In other words.
Rephrased recycling continued….
One of the other problematic elements of Hibike! Euphonium, for me, is the role of Taki Noboru. The young widower who becomes the advisor and conductor of the Kitauji concert band for most of the story. In the novels he gets his position as a replacement for Rikako-sensei who goes on maternity leave and all but disappears from the story thereafter. Rikako-sensei was written out of the story as adapted.
It is stated that in the past Kitauji had been successful under the guidance of Taki’s father, Tōru. Stated in not so many words that, in the interim, between the father’s departure and the son’s arrival, the concert band program deteriorated. The year prior to Taki’s arrival the band descended into chaos with two female advisors in charge. Throughout the first season, Kumiko’s first years at Kitauji, Taki is shown teaching band members of all years the absolute basics because apparently they received inadequate instruction on even the most elementary aspects of their respective instruments that previous year.
In the Epilogue of the most recent Eupho novel we get to see Kumiko return to the school as faculty. On the final page she is shown introducing herself as assistant-advisor to the assembled concert band. I’m hopeful one of the upcoming short stories will show her as a successful advisor and conductor of the program in her own right.
Young adult Kumiko’s return to the school and her appointment to this position does somewhat address some of my concerns regarding female role models in the story but I would have liked it better if the storytellers had remedied some of the issues I have with the scenarios as depicted by appointing Taki Chihiro as Taki Tōru’s successor. If the storytellers had appointed the daughter-in-law as the successor for the old man and -temporary- replacement for the pregnant teacher. I would have liked it better if the writer(s) had instituted a gender change one generation earlier, in other words. With the widow of the son taking over from his father rather than the male heir to his legacy. Would have liked it better if the female music teacher had not been implied to be incompetent for doing that job. Especially because of the way the story was apparently constructed with initially just the single novel in mind.
Now she is called Chihiro but for most of the early part of the story, Taki’s tragically young, deceased wife does not have a given name and his role can be interpreted as him living out her life – fulfilling her wish to become a music teacher. In university Chihiro and Taki Noboru were friends with Niiyama Satomi and Hashimoto Masahiro, the professional musicians we see coming to Kitauji to assist Taki in Liz and the Blue Bird as well. They have their own connections with the school. In the story as told through Takeda’s books it is heavily implied that the now married Satomi was once in love with Chihiro, before they both married men.
Niiyama Satomi who is arguably one of the few professional women with a successful career in music who could function as an adult female role model in the various iterations of Hibike! Euphonium.
“In the Epilogue of the most recent Eupho novel we get to see Kumiko return to the school as faculty. On that final page she is shown introducing herself as assistant-advisor to the assembled concert band.”
She does so, as follows, in 響け! ユーフォニアム 北宇治高校吹奏楽部、決意の最終楽章 後編 (p.376), quote:
「北宇治高校吹奏楽部の副顧問をしています、黄前久美子です」
爪先を前に向け、息を吸い込む。顧問の姿を真似るように、私は大きく腕を広げた。
「皆さん、北宇治高校吹奏楽部へようこそ!」
This bookend introduction takes place at the end of a significant time skip but in her self-introduction her familiar family name, 黄前 [Oumae], is still used. Could be a number of explanations for her continued use of this surname but the implications aren’t made clear in this novel. Those are, to date, the final words in the series.
Ayano Takeda mentioned Kumiko’s colourful last name in her “Afterword” as printed on the bonus leaflet too, alongside the aforementioned brief explanation for another character’s name. Throughout her novels Takeda has made it clear that names matter to her.
It is perhaps also interesting to note here that the issue of naming conventions in Japan was recently highlighted through a [Links] article on Anime Feminist.
https://www.animefeminist.com/links-10-16-july-2019-history-of-child-welfare-laws-the-cost-of-manga-and-praise-for-casey-mongillo/
https://unseenjapan.com/different-surnames-battle-japan.html
Takeda writes fiction for young adults. Writing in a way that might be considered a throw back to a conversation which many of your readers have fortunately left behind. I don’t know how many people still come to Okazu to search for information about Hibike! Euphonium in various media.
Both the Japanese and English publishers provide previews but I’m honestly not sure you’d like the novels any better than the animated adaptations. Based on the issue you identified it is quite possible you would not get past the first page of the first chapter -Page 10, right after the Prologue- if you sampled another bit of the text.
The announcement from ANN for an adaptation covering Kumiko’s third year -which Super linked earlier- includes an explicit spoiler. Information from Kumiko’s second year in high school which some of your readers on Okazu might prefer to know ahead of time. Information with which Kim Morrisey in the ANN Review, of the latest second year film is a little more circumspect.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/sound-euphonium/chikai-no-finale/.147531
As before certain circumstances and events are presented in a slightly different manner when comparing Takeda’s novels with the animated adaptation by various directors at Kyoto Animation too. I think the differences matter. I think word choice matters.
The importance of role models has come up so many times here and I think it might always be good to remind an eupho out there somewhere that there is nothing wrong with her shorts and t-shirt. Remind her that she doesn’t have to settle for a trombone too big for his britches. Remind her especially after she has fallen in love with a trumpet in a white dress.
That has been my primary perspective on that aspect of the series from the start. Especially ever since episode eight of the animated TV series aired. An episode which I think can be watched in isolation, too. Stripped of some of the context. To get some idea why Hibike! remains on the radar for quite a few people. That episode sits more clearly inside a series than Liz and the Blue Bird -in some regards- but S1, E8 too can, in some regards, be approached as a self contained vignette. In medias res.
There are so many other things you could be doing with your time and space instead though and that goes for digesting these lengthy, somewhat tangential, comments too. Reading and covering LGBTQ Comic: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me (English), for example. In some regards covering Takeda’s Eupho novels and the other Kyoani adaptations too might be an invitation for a defence of Rumble Fish, in more than one regard.
LOL It’s never a hardship reading comments, although I am still pretty comfortable not reading any of the Sound, Euphonium series, simply for the horrible translation of the title. It should have been Resound, Euphonium. And it bothers me that it isn’t and every says “sound euphonium” as if it’s a two-word phrase. It is not. It is a command verb and noun. I have m line in the sand about this and this is that line. ^_^
Takarajimasha just announced that in Japanese Takeda’s “Eupho” novels will also become available as eBooks.
Taking the opportunity to expand on that reverberating note. Resound! would have settled ambiguity even though Sound! with exclamation mark carries that meaning too. There are quite a few aspects which bother me about the series and the various adaptations. Ambiguity can be a conversation starter but also the basis of annoying misunderstandings.
So far, Yen Press has only published Ayano Takeda’s first Eupho novel in English translation. The Japanese text is authoritative when in doubt about the English translation of her book. Her novel in any language is not necessarily authoritative when watching and interpreting any of Kyoto Animation’s adaptations.
Recycling here too [slightly rephrased – links omitted]. In later print runs of the Japanese book the rectification of a possible error Kamieichi brought to Ayano Takeda’s attention via Twitter has been incorporated in her novel. As she acknowledged when asked, Takeda had initially, accidentally, replaced 小笠原 (Ogasawara) with あすか (Asuka) in the text as printed, on page 163. This was rectified sometime after the seventh print run from July 1, 2015 (Local library) but before the 15th “edition” from March 21, 2018 (Currently in stores).
Suggestions were also submitted to Yen Press but I don’t know if there have been later print runs of the English edition in which the suggested correction could have been included. In the passage in question in the iBooks version, Asuka is still mentioned in stead of Haruka to this day.
These scenes didn’t play out quite the same way when they were animated for the seventh episode of the TV series’ first season. Presented in a slightly different setting, the dialogue as well as inner monologues were re-written for KyoAni’s adaptation of those moments.
In some other scenes, words spoken or thought by one character were assigned to a different character in the animated TV series and in the various films created for theatrical runs too. I find the differences significant. Changes personalities and relationship dynamics. The unadapted passage from which a selective excerpt was posted above matters to me too. Not sure which version of the story you’d like better or if you’d like any of them at all. There is the matter of promotional materials and cinema gift items too. I’ve not reached final conclusions.
The latest film, Chikai no Finale, is also coming to Anime Expo 2019. Premiered by Eleven Arts, with the English title: Sound! Euphonium The Movie Our Promise: A Brand New Day. (On the sixth of July, a different day than Liz (returning there on the 4th)).
“[…] そして小笠原を迎えに来たときの、あの目。”
From: 響け！ ユーフォニアム 北宇治高校吹奏楽部へようこそ, 15th print run, page 163.
“Takarajimasha just announced that in Japanese Takeda’s “Eupho” novels will also become available as eBooks.”
It will be interesting to see if the leaflet with Takeda’s and Asada’s “afterword” inserted in some -but not all- print copies of her latest Eupho novel will be included in the digital edition when the eBook version is released on June 28.
With a heads up that books with the double message sheet may still be available for order even in bookstores where the book is sold off the shelf without it. Although copies of the final book in the series are offered without the little paper insert, helpful staff at Junkudō were able to secure a copy for us yesterday by placing some phone calls. I really wanted one because of a line Takeda wrote about her inspiration for choosing Mayu Kuroe’s name in particular. Doesn’t hurt to ask…
With an exclamation point!
[… and a stray e in Kim Morrissy]