Archive for 2023


Movies On A Plane (Like ‘Snakes On A Plane,’ But It Doesn’t Really Work)

December 17th, 2023

Even before the pandemic, I rarely went to the theater to see movies. I know many people feel it is the only way to truly enjoy a movie. For me – a person who does not love movies all that much in the first place – it is an inconvenient way to not enjoy a movie. Theaters are too cold, the seat are always uncomfortable  (more so now that we are paying more to sit in worn, broken recliners all the time) the movies are, without exception too loud for the space and nothing on the screen needs to be that big, as directors keep choosing to get so close up that I can see nose hairs.

Streaming is fine for me, but again, I don’t really remember to watch movies for months and months, so the one time I catch up on all my movie watching is when I am on a plane. Sure I could read. But watching a movie on a teeny, poor quality screen, often without sound because I don’t bother plugging in my headphones, stuck in a metal shell flying above the earth, is about how I like watching movies. ^_^

I watched 4 movies on the way to Japan. Links to Amazon Prime, but they do stream elsewhere.

Barbie – I loved it. I loved that it was so nuanced and thoughtful. I cried a few times – not just when America Ferrera deprogrammed Barbies with the reality of being a woman. Will Farrell being a send-up of the kind of role he takes so often – the hyper enthusiastic bad guy who just wants to destroy fun things – was outstanding and Ryan Gosling as Ken was, honestly, perfect. But Margot Robbie. Holy shit. She was Barbie. Yes, Barbie was a terrific feminist movie, with some great things layered in. Sasha’s disdain for Barbie felt really real, mirroring the disappointment I have always felt about Barbie during my lifetime. Dream House, Party Van…but she hates math, tee. fucking. hee. (Yes, she’s been updated many times, but that one stung.) Now she’s a fashion icon into which Frida Kahlo has been made and all I can say to that is…Sappho on a radical cracker…no.

So Sasha spoke for me. I’ll never buy a Barbie, but Greta Gerwig took the story to some amazing places. Rhea Perlman as Ruth Handler was what had me in tears.  And her final note that Kens really need to work on their own insecurities was, I thought, spot on.

10/10

Blue Beetle – It was a decent superhero movie. Xolo Maridueña, whom I know only from Cobra Kai, was great as Jaime Reyes. The story was a great underdog hero tale, the love interest was a boring handwave that had to happen to make things work. The underlying systemic racism and oppression was softened a lot so that if you were exceptionally clueless you could mostly ignore it, something all mainstream movies and TV do which actually annoys me. What’s left hurts people who have lived through it, and is barely noticeable by those who haven’t.

I never watched the cartoon – it hit just when I didn’t have access to broadcast media. So this was my first experience with the character. He seemed like a DC attempt at a Spiderman. It was a fun movie, needed some popcorn and comfier chair.

8/10

 

A Haunting in Venice – I am a huge Hercule Poirot fan and, for so many Poirot fans, the problem with anyone attempting playing Poirot is that David Suchet WAS Poirot and everyone else fails. Kenneth Branagh has a tendency to play Kenneth Branagh, so this movie was definitely Kenneth Branagh playing Poirot. It was atmospheric – the atmosphere was literally a character in the story. Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver was outstanding – I know that because, until just a moment ago, I had no idea Tina Fey played Ariadne Oliver. She just *was* Ariadne Oliver in much the way Zoë Wanamaker was in Suchet’s version.  And Michelle Yeoh took what was a microscopic role and did amazing things with it. It was just her acting and boy howdy, did she act.

The mystery felt cobbled together, but was a solid bit of acting by all involved. I would probably watch this again if it were on and I wasn’t watching anything else.

7/10

 

Encanto – I have, for a number of reasons, watched Disney’s Coco like 4 times and I still don’t hate it, which is remarkable, because I definitely do not like Disney. A friend of mine loves Disney and musicals and absolutely raved about Encanto, so I thought, sure, why not? Well, it does a way better job of dealing with generational trauma than Blue Beetle, but in a lot of ways is kind of the same movie, from a different angle.

The animation was excellent. So good, I have to warn you all – the facial expressions are starting to look very real and when Disney starts making deepfakes for law enforcement, we are fucked. No joke, that they choose to make doll-faces on their characters is a relief, because if they went for human looking faces, there’d be almost no uncanny alley.

The music was sticky and fine. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is definitely the showstopper, but Isabela’s empowering herself was my favorite scene. Luisa’s crisis was powerful, as well. Two excellent scenes that don’t get the attention they deserve. But…there is a flaw in the story that I cannot forgive. Dolores. She has super-hearing and is described as being able to hear pins drop a mile away….but she cannot hear something (giant spoiler) vastly louder (giant spoiler) close by (giant spoiler)? This is a huge, unforgivable plot hole. Her character is also a tattle-tale. For a woman who hears secrets she has to know aren’t hers to share, she sure is a blabbermouth. Also, how does she not know the other main secret, since Abuela talks to herself, the house and her late husband out loud all the time. Sigh.

7/10

On the way home I watched two movies. I should have opted for a third but these were not good and wore me out.

Aquaman – Jason Momoa is lovely. Everything else about that movie was a comic book done by someone who knows what comic books are, but not how to write them. I kept falling asleep watching this. It’s pretty, but meaningless. Nice to see Nicole Kidman in it though. Patrick Wilson as King Orm kept making me think of Judson Scott.  Watch cool clips on Youtube, skip the movie.

4/10

Knights Of The Zodiac – While in Tokyo, the wife and I visited the Tamashii Nations store in Akihabara where the AKB48 cafe and the Gundam Cafe used to be. It was there, we were there, why not.  They had a huge exhibit of Saint Seiya figurines which was impressive. No pics allowed, but the wife got me and Athena.

I have never seen any Saint Seiya, except for one music video back in 2002 or so, set to the Apotheosis remix of Carl Orff’s O Fortuna that has lived rent free in my head since. ^_^ (This may well be my favorite sentence I have ever written.)

So I decided to give Knights of the Zodiac a try.  It was…okay. Less bad than Aquaman, and, as I read the Wikipedia of the series, slightly less incoherent than the actual manga. Also Sean Bean. So that was nice. Mackenyu, who also played Zorro in the wonderful One Piece live-action series (seriously, speaking as a longtime One Piece fan, it was fantastic. Highly recommended.) played Seiya. He brought an intensity to the role that (having read the synoposis, so now I am an expert) suits it well.

I thought the story as presented was silly. Sadly everything is not ending, so telling me that x person will destroy everything, lowers the stakes considerably for me as a viewer. Personal loss is much more powerful than “the earth will be destroyed!” I was deeply disappointed that we did not see many other Knights. I was kind of hoping that we’d get a group armor shot. Oh well. I don’t know if a fan should watch this, because it definitely has nothing to do with the actual manga story, but let me know if you are and how you felt about it.

5/10

I’m mostly caught up now on movies. Guess it’s time to actually look to see what’s on Netflix. ^_^

 





Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – December 16, 2023

December 16th, 2023

In black block letters, YNN Yuri Network News. On the left, in black silhouette, a woman with a broad brim hat and dress stands, a woman in a tight outfit sits against the Y.

Welcome back to the middle of “holy crow, jet lag is a thing” week. I had planned on writing up a bunch of stuff, but crashing to the floor mid-day puts the cabosh on that.  Regularly scheduled nonsense will resume when I have completed a passage around the clock the long way to get back to my usual appalling sleep schedule. ^_^;

 

Yuri Manga

Next month will see Volume 4 of The Summer You Were There, by Yuama. The story heads to a climax, but isn’t ending just yet! There’s still time to pull out a surprise ending.

Shio Usui’s I Married My Female Friend has debuted in English and is now available from Seven Seas! Kurumi and Ruriko give marriage a try. And, for those of you following it in Japanese, Onna Tomodachi to Kekkonshitemita, Volume 4 (女ともだちと結婚してみた。) has wrapped up with a not-at-all surprise ending. After Doughnuts Under A Crescent Moon, this feels a bit less nuanced, but it’s still quite satisfying. I’m very interested to see what Usui-sensei does next.

Seven Seas has licensed a shoujo manga about friendship, romance and intimacy that is not Yuri, but may be of interest. I know I was looking at it in the bookstore, thinking about getting it… The Secret of Friendship by Kazune Kawahara & Aiji Yamakawa.

We’ve added Shino to Ren (志乃と恋) on the Yuricon Store. This looks like a school life story about two girls who are already lovers. It’s from MFC, so could be a bit racy.

Meian Editions in France have announced a few manga licenses of note: Tadokoro-san and The Moon On A Rainy Night. YNN Correspondent Laurent Lignonbalso notes that Meian has announced Anemone wa Netsu o Obiru as Anémone Flamboyante. Click that link to check out the trailer on Facebook.

Laurent also wants you to know that Akata Editions also had some announcements for French-language Yuri, at Y/Con 2023. (We’ll be getting an event report about that shortly!)  They’ll be releasing Tsukuritai Onna To Tabetai Onna, Meijirobana no Saku, La Belle & La Racaille in 2024.

 

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inori-sensei has announced her involvement with a new Line comic!  Gal Dakedo, Cool-na Anata o Warawasetai!  (ギャルだけど、クールな貴女を笑わせたい！) is not available outside Japan, but a VPN made it perfectly accessible. (Here comes the advert…. If you are looking for a VPN, I use and recommend NORD, which makes streaming from other countries pretty easy. I use it to watch the BBC and NHK. If you sign up using my code, both you and I will benefit, so feel free to use it and share.) You can also find this on ebookjapan.com with chapters opening up for free for a limited time.

In the wake of being number 2 on this year’s Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list, Arai Sumiko has announced Volume 2 of her manga, Ki Ni Natteru Hito ga Otoko Janaktta (気になってる人が男じゃなかった). Read all the rankings on ANN, where Rafael Antonio Pineda & Joanna Cayanan have the details.

Ichijinsha’s Tonari no Seki ga Sukina Hito Datta Gakusei Yuri Anthology (隣の席が好きな人だった　学生百合アンソロジー) is up on the Yuricon Store, for lovers of tales of love at school.

 

Yuri Live Action

YNN Correspondent tazimonfire wants you to know that Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna live action, Season 1 is coming out on DVD from NHK, just in time to get you ready for the second season which will be twice as long at 20 episodes starting in January 2024!

I learned that 2 parts of a Yuri short movie, Kanojo no Kuchizuke Kansensuru Libido  (彼女のくちづけ感染するリビドー), based on a manga by Yorita Miyuki are already on Youtube and they are working on part 3 they say on their official Twitter account.

 

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 Yuri Anime

If you’ve been enjoying the I’m In Love With The Villainess anime, Ichijinsha has provided you with a little virtual set of Rae and Claire characters who will join your photo, when you click on this QR code. Don’t forget to drop Ichijinsha a line and tell them that you’d like to see a second season, as well. The official Wataoshi Twitter account just celebrated 40K followers with a cute Claire and Rae picture!

And there will be a Wataoshi cafe popping up in Tokyo in January at Cure Maid Cafe. Let us know if you get to visit! If you can’t Curtain Damashii is doing an online shop for the series and so is Medicos, which previously ran a physical pop-up. If you missed that, check out the Medicos page for their ILTV goods.

 

Yuri Light Novels

While we are (again) on the topic of inori.-sensei, Dengeki Bunko is doing a contest for folks who read Yuusha ni Naritai Shoujo To, Yuusha Narubeki Kanojo, her newest light novel. Follow the official account on  Twitter, give your review of the book and be entered to win a tapestry!

 
Yuri Visual Novels

YNN Correspondent Patricia B. wants you to know that Wanting Wings is 15% off on Steam. “At Seiyou Girls’ academy, there are rumors of an angel. Roommates Hina, Rin, and Fumi all have completely different personalities, but they all experienced 1 strange event: They all once saw an angel in their youth. They gradually begin to suspect that one of their roommates might be that angel. “

Also from Patricia, Love Lab Japan announced on Twitter that they “will be translating Liar-soft’s Ever Maiden (PC version) for release in 2024! This adult yuri game is set in a mysterious school where otherworldly events are occurring…”

 

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The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This, Volume 4 Guest Review by Patricia Baxter

December 13th, 2023
Two women lean on a fence, looking at each other, entwining fingers. One woman has medium-length brown hair, wearing a red blouse and cargo khaki capris. The other has long blonde hair pulled into a severe ponytail, wearing a lavender long shirt and a white skirt.My name is Patricia Baxter (she/her). I am a bisexual autistic writer who has previously written articles concerning how media represents different marginalized communities. You can find more of my work through my personal website “Autistic Observations”.
 
The fourth, and final, volume of The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This is, in a word, delightful.  Not that this manga series hasn’t been an absolute delight for me to read these past two years, because it has been, but this volume in particular emphasizes just how special the series was to read.  In essence, this series’ greatest success is the same reason why I also love She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat and If We Leave on the Dot so much; they are manga series centred on the lives of sapphic women who are living happily and without shame for who they are, who they love, and what they do with their lives.  It sounds like a simple thing to take joy from, but in a media landscape so entrenched in heteronormativity it is still challenging to find narratives that even cover a fraction of what members of the LGBTQ+ community experience, or wish to experience, for themselves.  Therefore, instances where we can read a series where the characters who, even if they are not exactly like you, foster a sense of familiarity and empathy to you, are all the more special.
 

Ellie and “Wanko” continue to be a delight to read, as their day-to-day routines and shenanigans do not fail to amuse and warm the heart and they feel like actual people who exist in our reality.  The emphasis on the couple moving forward to the next stage of their relationship, discussing their future in terms of marriage and their respective career paths, adds a new layer to their established dynamics.  This may sound mundane on paper, but it’s enriching for those of us who need to see these ordinary life events occur to imagine our futures for ourselves.There is one element of the book that, while overall handled very well, deserves some criticism.  This volume introduces a new character to the series, a high school student named Kita, who is revealed to be a transfeminine youth.*  They initially assumed that Ellie was a trans woman, and asked her for advice on how to become a woman.  While Ellie cannot be the guide Kita needs to traverse through a gender transition, she is still more than willing to lend an ear and offer positive reinforcement to think about their future.  The main sticking point in this volume is the pronouns used to address Kita are exclusively masculine ones, which is a choice I felt frustrated by.  I’m uncertain if this is meant to reflect how they were addressed in the original Japanese edition, or if it was an intentional request by Takashi Ikeda for the English translation, but having a transgender character only addressed by the pronouns associated with the gender they’ve been assigned with at birth is something many people will find discomforting, as it did for me.  This slight hiccup is unfortunate, as this volume has several instances of queer positivity, but overall I am happy for Kita’s inclusion in the narrative and that their story was treated with empathy and kindness by the author.

In the end, the final volume of The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This emphasized just how much I love these characters and taking the time to experience their lives.  I didn’t want the book to end, but I am glad that we were able to catch a glimpse of these characters’ journeys for a little while.

* I chose to use they/them pronouns for Kita in my review because Kita is a transfeminine character, and it is important to address the possibility that they may be non-binary as they are still considering their gender identity for themselves

Art: 8
Story: 9
Characters: 10
Service: 2 (some nudity, references to Ellie and Wanko still having very enthusiastic sex together, but nothing egregious)
Yuri: 10
LGBTQ+: YMMV, 5 – 7 depending on how you view Kita’s treatment in the book
Overall: 9.5





Cheerful Amnesia, Volume 1

December 11th, 2023

It’s a stock romance trope – one partner loses their memory of the other and ends up falling in love all over again. It’s a great trope, because when done well, a character in a stable, loving relationship gets to feel the thrill of a new love and the other partner gets to woo their lover all over again. Cheerful Amnesia, Volume 1 by Tamamushi Oku (creator of Yuri harem romp I Don’t Know Which Is Love, reviewed on Okazu by Luce), somehow manages to create a story that sacrifices all the wonderful bits of the memory loss trope for not-terribly-funny gags about underwear and having sex.

Our late friend Bruce’s last review here on Okazu was of the Japanese edition of this manga. I’m sorry to say, I agree with his summary, “Arisa and Mari have been living together for some years. But as the story begins Arisa is lying comatose in the hospital, suffering from a severe case of plot device. When she awakens, she has no memory of Mari or their life together. Mouth wide open she wonders who this lovely, unfamiliar, unsmiling woman is sitting by the bed. When Mari informs her she’s her lover, Arisa’s little brain short-circuits. She blushes, shrieks, squirms, squees, wriggles, and generally provides evidence as to why Mari never once smiles through the rest of the Manga.”

In a nutshell, this is the main problem with this manga. At no point do Arisa and Mari have a single important conversation about…anything. Was Arisa’s amnesia from accident or disease? No idea. How does Mari like her coffee? No idea. What did they do for fun? No idea. What was Arisa like before her coma? No idea, except that she initiated sex. Instead of asking Mari any one of a thousand questions about their lives together, Arisa obsesses about the idea that their bras are in the same drawer. Instead of learning how to foster a new intimacy, Arisa freaks out over and over at the idea that she has had sex with her lover.

It feels very much like Arisa has returned to her life as a 14 year old. And maybe, if that had been said, it would have worked. Instead she’s an adult person completely- repeatedly –  befuddled by the idea that she had a life with a woman with whom she lived.  As Bruce said,  “From this point on Arisa has to get reacquainted with the intimacies that go with living as a couple. She doesn’t manage it well. She actually doesn’t manage it at all. She’s just so embarrassed and excited and squirmy to know that her lover is this lovely, unfamiliar, unsmiling woman (wait, wasn’t that page 1? Yes, and many, many pages beyond). It’s heavy going for Mari as they work their way from holding hands to soapy bath-times to the frilly underwear. It’s heavy going for us all.”  Oh Bruce, how I miss you. ^_^;

I can totally see how this series could read like a very fun, goofy 4-koma, if one read a page or two at a time. As a volume, I felt so desperately sad for Mari who has the body of her lover back, with the soul of a gaping child inhabiting it. I also know a LOT of people really love this series and were looking forward to it being out in English. I am very happy for them! I’d recommend reading this series first, then taking a look at I Don’t Know Which Is Love, to see how the creator’s work has and (has not) changed.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – It could have been amazing
Characters – My sympathy to Mari in these trying times
Service – Mari injures her hands so Arisa has to gasp! wash her
Yuri – 9

Overall – 6

The team at Yen Press did a great job with this volume.  I honestly wish it were worth it. If you are interested in Tamamushi Oku’s work, I highly recommend the interview on Yuri Times. Part 1 and Part 2 have been translated into English, thank you Ayumi-san!





Running Around Tokyo, December 2023

December 10th, 2023

We did a lot in a week, let me just say that.

When we arrived in Tokyo, my wife and I met up with Sonomi-san, who was my interpreter for the lecture at Keio University later in the week. I randomly decided that, rather than go to a cafe, we’d meet at an Alice in Wonderland-inspired restaurant called Alice in A Old Castle. We figured it would be goofy, with the kind of microwaved food one got in a themed cafe. Boy were we wrong! First of all, when we arrived, there was no door. Just a story about Alice and the Little Mermaid on a wall. Then the wall opened…..

Photo by Erica Friedman, Dec 2023.

The food was amazing. All I can say is, if you can go, do. It was darling.

We finally managed to see the building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the neighborhood, Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan.

One of my very real pleasures while I was in Tokyo this time, was to finally meet Dr. Thomas Baudinette in person. Tom has been feeding me Thai GL news, and was part of our Thai GL panel at Yuricon 2023. He, my wife and I ate okonomiyaki together. It was a lovely time, during which we talked about our various fandom studies.

 

The wife and I ran hither, thither and yon around Tokyo, looking for random things. We *did* find the Hello x Kitty / RRR collab in Tokyo station as well as a PreCure Store celebrating a 20th anniversary with keychains of every Cure ever.

Animate had some art from Nakatani Nio and Canno celebrating the new HQ opening.

And Gamers in Akihabara had a little celebratory Ralaire balloon in their Yuri section.

Which brings me to “shopping for Yuri in Tokyo” 2023 edition. Every store has a Yuri section, but only Shosen Book Tower still has the Yuribu concept. Comic Zin still has Yuri doujinshi visible and marked. The new Melonbooks in Ikebukuro it was probably more prominent than it was in Akihabara for Yuri doujinshi. In every other store, it wasn’t hard to find the Yuri section.  Every Animate we went to had a section of Yuri and so did Gamers. No banners or signs so if you don’t have an idea at all of what you *might* be looking for, it could be challenging. If you have any idea of the titles you’re looking for, or just look for Yuri Hime comics, it was actually very easy to find. So, not huge whopping Yuri sections the size of BL sections, but a slightly larger chunk of shelving every time.  I picked up a few manga I had not heard of and took some photos of covers for later.

Also of note – Melonbooks and Gamers make it very tempting to not go with Amazon or Animate. Both Gamers and Melonbooks are doing a lot of extras. Acrylic standees, extra art, signed books…most of what I picked up was because of the extras. I even got Volume 1 and 2 of a series wholly new to me because V2 was signed by the creator. ^_^

On Wednesday, it was my very sincere honor to be able to present a lecture at Keio University. After class, some of the students joined Professor Nakamura Kasumi-sensei, our interpreter Sonomi-san and myself and the wife for lunch. We had a fantastic time. The students are doing incredible work. I hope to be able to read their research one day soon. Thanks so much to everyone for an amazing day!

 

The last full day my wife and I criss-crossed the city hitting up places we wanted to not miss or revisit. We discovered a Starlight Revue pop-up shop! (Which was good, because I managed to miss every single pop-up that I had wanted to get to otherwise.)

We stopped at Gee! Shop in Akihabara, where Cospa stuff goes to be sold, and random stuff after pop ups. They no longer had any I’m In Love With The Villainess stuff, but they did have a little Yuri corner!

I bought myself this t-shirt in a size too big, but I really liked the design and color.

We ended up our trip at Yuri Cafe Anchor and let me tell you…it was so charming and lovely. It’s a little place, but crammed full of Yuri manga, doujinshi and books you can read. The Asagao to Kase-san movie was playing on screens, and Yuri anime music over the speakers. The staff could not have been sweeter. The food was not fancy, but it was very enjoyable. I recommend the apple and Camembert cheese. It was just right. They had some books in English and Thai, as well. Now they have a copy of By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga as part of the collection! If they are still around when I need to downsize, they’ll be getting a bunch of stuff from me. ^_^

This book had a reverse image on the back, as if we were looking at the characters from behind. Very clever!

 

Shelves and shelves of Yuri. It was so fun to look for titles I did not know!

 

Their shelves also have all sorts of gew-gaws, pins and whatnot. ^_^

 

We absolutely thought it a terrific, warm, friendly place that any Yuri fan should visit if you’re in Tokyo.

 

I bought shockingly little for myself this time – a few books, some doujinshi and a bunch of pointless crap, as one does. I did get a lot of Lucky Boxes, though. Of all the crap I got, this little gashapon toy might be my fave – Badtz Maru….on a Super Cub. ^_^

 

 

My thanks to James Welker and his students, Nakamura Kasumi-sensei and her students, Sonomi-san, Tom Baudinette, Mutsumi Natsuo-sensei, Ayumi-san from Yuri Times, the staff at Yuri Cafe Anchor and my wife for a wonderful trip!

Here’s to more adventures in 2024.