Archive for 2023


Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. (- 私の推しは悪役令嬢。) レイジョアハンズ!!～Raise Y/Our Hands!!/O.C.～Optimum Combination～

December 24th, 2023

A woman with brown hair pulled into a short ponytail in a white and blue tuxedo, dips a woman with golden curls, in an orange evening dress, as they dance at a formal dance.While in Japan, I had a very short list of things that I wanted to pick up. Usually I come with a long list, but this time, I had already decided that I wouldn’t be buying much media, only things I didn’t know – and goods. Media is the easiest thing to get shipped. That said, there was one manga series I was looking for, that sadly I did not find and one CD, which I did!

Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou.  私の推しは悪役令嬢。) レイジョアハンズ!!～Raise Y/Our Hands!!/O.C.～Optimum Combination～ is the CD of the opening and closing themes of the I’m in Love With The Villainess anime. It was apparent to me from the credits that some interesting manipulation of the lyrics was going on, so I really wanted the whole CD to get the lyrics.

Well…I’m blown away. Absolutely gobsmacked at the effort put in by everyone involved. From the awesome cover image, you know you’re not getting something generic. I’m not saying I’m burned by the G-Witch drama or anything, because that was merely annoying and somewhat silly, but it still feels real and important to have something like this image being a genuine reflection of the contents of the music.

The music is suitably sticky and I will now sing the choruses to Raise Y/Our Hands!!  and O.C. ~ Optimum Combination~ over and over for the next week undoubtedly. But as I sat with the lyrics and listened to the music, I was quite overcome with the sense that the writers really understood the story. I wondered if inori.-sensei had been the writer, but to my surprise lyric, composition and arrangement were credited to TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND. I’m going to give those guys serious praise for the music, but even more for the lyrics.

Most of the OP/ED CDs I bought back in the day had 4 tracks. One each of the OP/ED sung and one each of a karaoke track. This CD has five tracks. The OP, of course and 4 different iterations of the end theme, as we saw on the anime. Both Rae and Claire have their own individual tracks. But as the text bubbles of the ED animation make clear, this is meant to be a dialogue. The first track is O.C. ~ Optimum Combination~ -Side by Side- which remixes Rae and Claire’s verses to respond to one another. The final track O.C. ~ Optimum Combination~ -Side by Side-/reverse (which surely has to be the most punctuation ever used in a title) which remixes the verses *again* for another take on that conversation.

The more I listened to these…the more I liked them.

Serizawa Yuu acquits herself very well, while singing in Rae’s silly voice, with occasional flashes of her real voice, but Nanami Karen is the star here, bringing a lot of varying emotion into very quickly sung lyrics.

So for a series that put lesbians in the top ten rankings for weeks, is still out there giving us a ton of queer rep (I just finished Volume 2 of the audiobook yesterday), even the animation opening and closing themes are worth your time and money!

Ratings:

Music – 9
Lyrics – 10
Art – 10

Overall  – 10





Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – December 25, 2023

December 23rd, 2023

In blue silhouette, two women face each other. One wears a fedora and male-styled attire, one is in a dress and heels. Their body language is obscure - they may be dancing, or laughing or fighting.

Yuri Manga

School Zone Girls, Volume 4 is up on the Yuricon Store. This series will wrap up with Volume 5.

I reviewed Volume 1, and now Koi To Yobu Ni Wa Ao Sugiru, Volume 2 (恋と呼ぶには青すぎる) is up on the Yuricon Store.

Via Comic Natalie, the sci-fi Yuri Light Novel about an alternate Russian history, Chou to Teikoku (蝶と帝国) has been “comicalized” as a manga and Volume 1 has been released by MFC comics.

Iwashita Tsugu’s Shigoto no Ato ha Dakishimete (仕事の後は抱きしめて) tells the story of chef-in-training Aota Yui, who finds herself when she meets “madonna-like” Hojo Eriko.

Futsuu no Koi’tte Nani?, Part 1, is a school love story from the perspective of all three of the girls involved.

 

Yuri Webnovels

I believe I have mentioned this previously, but Webnovel.com has a Yuri category and there are a surprising number of choices to read! I’m working on an affiliate account there, and look at some specific titles. If you pick something up, let us know!

 

Yuri Games

LezLiz is proud to debut The Girl, The Fairy and The Phoenix Flower, “A short winter holigays themed platformer where you just enjoy the atmosphere and the scenery.”

 

Queer Comics

YNN Correspondent Matt Marcus wants you to know that Kiss It Goodbye Complete Edition, “about Aruka and Yukimi, childhood friends living in Kyoto, Japan. The two of them, now adults in a long-term relationship, recount the story of how they became distant friends to lovers. As their teen selves grow up and come to terms with their sexuality and their feelings for each other, the budding couple faces external and internal challenges.”

 

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Yuri Drama CD

Well, I never expected to be reporting about a new Drama CD, but our friends at Frontierworks, who did all the Hayate x Blade Drama CDs   back in the day have announced a Voice Drama for Arai Sumiko’s Ki ni Natteru Hito ga Otoko Janakatta (気になってる人が男じゃなかった). I’m super excited about this! They will have a hard time with the music, I’m afraid, but if they are smart, they’ll just add a playlist to the credits. This is slated for a March release, and features Ise Mariya as Koga Mitsuki and Kito Akari as Osawa Aya. Hat tip to YNN Correspondent Patricia Baxter for this news!

 

Yuri Videos

YNN Correspondent Patricia B. wants you to know that animator Resh has posted the first 2 minutes of their video Reveries Apart on Youtube.

El Koki Otaku took some time to speak with voice actress for Rae Taylor, Hannah Alyea and Claire Francois, Lindsey Sheppard, about these roles, among others in two YT videos.

 

Yuri Anime

Buckle in because today’s news is a lot.

The final BD for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury is out in Japan…. and the director and animators have some stuff they wanted to say. First of all, the animators made damn well sure you know that Miorine is wearing a wedding ring for the BD. Marchhare on Twitter has the compare and contrast images.

FiletKnife on Twitter has a translation of the director’s comments for the booklet with the BD, which says that the team knew from the beginning that Suletta and Miorine were going to be married partners at the end.

So, there you go. Bandai and Kadokawa’s issues aside, there is no interpretation other than the obvious one.

 

I’m In Love With The Villainess anime is over, I think Nicholas Dupree’s review of the final episode on ANN is worth reading. For those of us who know what happens in the story, this was probably the best possible place to end the season. It ends on a positive note before a lot of shit goes down. I will do my very best to get a end of season review up, but there is a lot on the calendar at this time of year, so no promises. With Whispering You A Love Song pushed out until spring, we’ll all have to make do with what we can until then.

In the meantime, for folks in Tokyo, there is a WataOshi maid cafe coming to Akihabara in January – Cospa has some goods lined up already.  YNN correspondent Pan has visited the Ikebukuro Animate WataOshi christmas tree and can confirm it exists!

 

 

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Other News

…speaking of Yuri holidays, let’s give Twitter user May a standing ovation for this Merry Yaoimas and a Happy New Yuri bookstore display!

Still speaking of Yuri holidays, I have a metric ton of gew-gaws and gidgets I picked up in Japan for Lucky Boxes, so I’ll be starting to build some this coming week. I have so much plastic and acrylic in this house that *has to go,* along with books and the usual array of crap. ^_^ Coming soon!

 

Yuri Events

Ichijinsha has announced on Twitter that Takeshima Eku will be attending and doing a signing at Taipei International Animation Festival in Taiwan in February 2024! Here is the event announcement in Chinese from Ching-Win publishing.

I’m not sure I can get my shit together to participate in this, although I really think my next research project would be spot on. In any case, Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures, to be held online in April 2024. Now I really want to do this…

 

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Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou. Volume 7 ( 私の推しは悪役令嬢。)

December 21st, 2023

A nun with silver hair and red eyes stands in the center of the cover, flanked by Rae and Claire. Lilies bloom and ice shards fly around her.In Watashi no Oshi ha Akuyaku Reijou., Volume 7 ( 私の推しは悪役令嬢。) a new characters is introduced that will (arguably, has) changed the course of the narrative. Cardinal Lily Lilium, daughter of Prime Minister Sala Lilium enters the story proper and chaos ensues.

Claire has been brought face to face with the plight of poverty and Rae has incited her to learn more and find solutions to the issue of poverty in Bauer. At Prince Yu’s suggestion, Claire and Rae head to the Spiritual Church, a Catholic-ish organization that runs the hospitals and orphanages, feeds the poor, and tends to the spiritual needs of the populace.

Right away, Lily is a strange character. Stuttering and shy, she blurts out rude comments from time to time. Her own nuns do not respect her and although she seems sincere, there’s something off about her.  She takes a liking to Rae, when Rae defends homosexuality and becomes a cast regular almost immediately. Claire and Lily push Rae into a story about her first love, from her previous life. This segment is both frustrating and poignant as a character who we later learn was struggling take their misery out on other people. I cannot accept that, even if we are told that everyone made up later. 

Then Lily drives us full-tilt into the next arc which will refer back to Rae’s story…

…but first! A game of dodgeball.

As one does.

This becomes a bridge to the next major arc, which will again, throw things into chaos. In a huge way. In fact, as I look over my reviews for the novels, “chaos” seems to be the defining characteristic. Reading reviews of the anime, again chaos seems to be the main takeaway, as most of the things seeded by the time the anime ends, won’t become apparent until a second anime season. In the meantime, we have the manga with Aonoshimo’s amazing drawings to fill in those gaps.

I’ve said it before but, really, the manga in many ways improves upon the Light Novels, as Aonoshimo’s art is so very good and doesn’t have the LN habit of being mere portraiture. And the anime, while being absolutely excellent in terms of characterization, did have pretty basic animation. For folks looking for a satisfying visual version of this story, the manga is highly recommended. Volume 5 is out now, in English, which takes you to the same point the anime ended.

Ironically, I was listening to Volume 2 of the Audiobook this week and ended up on the same exact place that Volume 7 ends. So now I’m primed to move forward into the last major arc before the chaos becomes a revolution.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8, although I find Rae’s backstory tough going
Characters  – 8 Lily is not my favorite character, but she is crucial from here on
Service – Not much, maybe a panel here or there
Yuri – 8
LGBTQ+ – 9

Overall – 9

I had purchased this volume at Kinokuniya here in the US, but it came with no extras, so while in Tokyo, I bought a second copy to get the extra “Claire in Wonderland” comic from Gamers. It’s a cute little “weird dream” comic that includes series characters dressing up as western and eastern iconic fictitious characters exactly as one might expect. Very cute!





Does It Count If You Lose Your Virginity To An Android, Volume 1 Guest Review by Matt Marcus

December 20th, 2023

A gynoid with purple hair undressed her nonplussed mistress on the cover of Does It Count If You Lose Your Virginity To An Android, Volume 1 Matt Marcus is a cohost of various projects on the Pitch Drop Podcast Network. He is still on the hook for a Xenosaga KOS-MOS x Shion fanfic for their next Patreon goal.

Sometimes, you come across a piece of media that really strikes at the heart of humanity. What does it even mean to be human? To have emotions? What if there were beings that look like us, feel like us, act like us, but are wholly man-made? Is synthetic love still…love?

If you are looking to explore these heady ideas, then may I suggest Pluto by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka, now with a fantastic anime adaptation on Netflix (who did not sponsor this post).

However, if you are looking for something less Philip K. Dick and more, say, Philine K. Shlick, you could pick up volume 1 of Does It Count If You Lose Your Virginity To An Android? by Yakinikuteishoku. Now, I hear you saying, “But Matt, shouldn’t the title say ‘gynoid’?” Well observed, dear reader! In fact, the referenced lovebot uses the term herself, but alas, it seems that it failed in focus testing, much like my alternate title Is It OK To Objectify A Sapient Sex Toy?

Here’s the rundown: in a near future where AI isn’t about art theft and Google Glass manages to succeed, Tsuda Akane is an office worker in her late twenties who is very reliable and professional on the clock, but outside of work she’s a complete slob who drinks heavily every night and has no real romantic experience to boot. During a drunken stupor, she places an order for a cleaning robot but what arrives the next day is a super advanced—and very illegal—sex gynoid named Nadeshiko. Akane spends the volume constantly at her wits’ end trying to keep herself out of jail and her incorrigibly horny new companion in check, however much to her chagrin she is very much putty in Nadeshiko’s skillful hands.

I expected this manga to be hornier than a buck hunter’s trophy wall and, sure enough, page one opens mid-coitus. Hell, the central point of conflict is Akane’s refusal to register herself as Nadeshiko’s owner via a fingerprint scan, and I’m sure you can infer what that entails. The premise is so nakedly (ha) transparent in its aims that even when a gag is eye-rollingly contrived (of course that’s where the power switch is! Of course!) I find myself unable to find it distasteful. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pandering as all get-out, but it doesn’t rise to a significant level of grossness unless you give any thought to how rank that apartment must smell.

What really made this volume stand out as more than just I, Robot After Dark is the snappy writing. Huge credit to the localizer Casper Kazor, who really punched up the dialogue to great effect. There are a lot of really fun little turns of phrase that got me chortling, none of which I will deign to spoil. This is one to pick up for tits and giggles.

So, back to the titular question: does it indeed count?

رارا I Evess

(all apologies to KC Green)

Thank you to Seven Seas, who also did not sponsor this post, but did provide a review copy.

Art – 8 All the character designs are cute but the fluids are a touch excessive
Story – 7 It’s a gag comic were sex is The Joke, but the flourishes in the writing elevate it
Characters – 6 This ain’t Bladerunner 2049, but I’m sure no one needs it to be either
Service – 9 Docking it one point for the few services that Nadeshiko will not provide
Yuri – 7 / LGBTQ – 7 Akane seems to be a clueless ladykiller with a cadre of admirers at the office 

Overall – 8 

You cannot fathom how disappointed I was that Seven Seas beat me to the Electric Sheep reference–and on the back cover, no less. So many jokes lost to time, like tears in the rain.





The Witches Marriage, Volume 1

December 18th, 2023

A tall girl with long dark hair, wearing a witch's hat hold hand with a younger girl with red hair who points to the distance. A magical door floats behind them mid-air.Melissa is a witch driven to excel. Her partner Tanya is a hard worker, but, for some reason, her skills simply won’t increase, which frustrates Melissa beyond her tolerance. Together the two of them are determined to form a bond known as The Witches’ Marriage, which will allow them to attain greater abilities. But first, they must deepen their bonds.

For Tanya, this is easy enough, as Melissa is her idol. But for Melissa who is not open or forthcoming at all, and is hiding a great deal from Tanya, as well as just being irritable and hard to please, the effort will come at a greater cost. Can they attain truer intimacy and unlock their skills? Well…obviously, yes.

This is not generally my kind of story. I found Melissa’s treatment of Tanya intolerable. I also found the ane-loli art style objectionable. Nonetheless, but the end of the volume I, like Melissa, had come around to it. Even though it felt mostly undeserved, the end of the volume was surprisingly satisfying. If my objections are not yours, you will probably like this story even more than I did. ^_^

Yen’s team does a very fine job here managing to create the right tone for each of the characters.

A very interesting note – this manga is not credited to an artist or two, but to a team of around 30 artists who work together under the name Studio Headline. They all work together on multiple projects, which sounds hectic, but fun.

Ratings:

Art – Exuberant and messy
Story – Tsun vs dere
Characters – Competence does not have to come with cruelty
Service – No one wear clothes like that with that big a chest
Yuri – Definitely

Overall – 7

Thanks to Yen Press for the review copy. I look forward to Volume 2 which just hit shelves in English this month!