Author Archive


Yuri Manga Whispered Words (Sasamekikoto) is On Sale Now in English

May 16th, 2014

Sumi is in love with her best friend, Ushio. Ushio likes girls but has publicly declared her interest is in “cute girls”. Unfortunately for Sumi, she’s not small and cute – she’s tall, athletic, and forthright by nature.  In Whispered Words, all the tropes of Yuri gather together in a solid dramedy that provides readers  the darkest depths and the highest heights of each trop possible

Whispered Words  is the English language release of popular Yuri manga series Sasamekikoto, by Takashi Ikeda, put out by One Peace Books.  Volume 1 contains the first three volumes of the Japanese series and will be followed by Volume 2 (JP volumes 4-6, which is now up for pre-order) in Autumn 2014 and Volume 3 (JP Volume 7-9). Here is the link on RightStuf.

We’ll be doing a full review here – and we’ll have a contest giveaway in a bit, but for all you Yuri manga fans who have said many time that if something good got licensed you’d buy it – here’s you big chance to step up.  Scanlations may have left you frustrated, but I guarantee that if you get all 3 volumes of Whispered Words, you will not be disappointed. The story is solid. ^_^

For my reviews of this story in Japanese, check out Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3.

Fly Yuri fans and support good Yuri in English! ^_^





Marine Corps Yumi Manga (まりんこゆみ) Official English Website Relaunch

May 14th, 2014

mcyumiYumi Nagumo is an energetic, unfocused Nipponian high school graduate. With no real plan for the future, she decides she’ll become the President of the United States of Amerigo. Convinced by a bunch of veterans that the best path to citizenship and the Presidency is becoming a Marine, Yumi enlists in the Marine Corps. Welcome to Marine Corps Yumi, written by Anastasia Moreno with art by Takeshi Nogami.

Moreno-sensei explains the comic,”This comic is a fictional comedy about female Marines and what they experience before, during and after service. Although there is an abundance of books, movies and comics about and/or for the male Marine audience, there wasn’t much about or for the female Marine audience. We hope to fill that gap a little and provide some lighthearted entertainment to my fellow sister Marines.

“The Japanese version of this webcomic began back in September 2012 and new episodes were posted every Monday. We did a trial run of the English version on the same website, but we realized that the page navigation and other factors made the website not as user-friendly to English readers as we had hoped. After posting the first 30 English episodes, we decided to regroup and come up with a better game plan so English readers can access our comic better. That was last December.

“After a few months of butting our heads against the wall, the editors and creator team agreed to set up a new satellite site dedicated to English readers. We have also launched an official tumblr site and Facebook fan page, and will tweet the heck out this series on Twitter as well. We hope that these new endeavors will enable us to reach out to English readers like you.

From there, we will be posting a new English episode up twice a week — Wednesdays and Fridays (Thu and Sat for those in Japan) — until we catch up to the Japanese version. Once we catch up, we will post new English episodes on Wednesdays.”

AND…A CONTEST!

I’ve reviewed Volume 1 in Japanese here on Okazu, and  thanks to Moreno-sensei, we have 2 copies of Volume 2 in Japanese to give away! We’re going to make you work a little bit at this contest, because we really want to get the news out. Share this post on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, a mailing list or forum and let me know with an email to me at yuricon at gmail, subject “MC Yumi”. (I trust you, you can just tell me you shared it, no link needed. Just write something like “I shared it on Twitter” with your name and an email I can reach you at. You have to be over 18 to enter. Thanks for your shares, likes, RTs and posts in advance. ^_^

The site launches today in Japan. Stand up straight, eyes front and give your atten-tion to Marine Corps Yumi.





Yuri Anime: Sakura Trick End of Season Review (English) Guest Review by Jennifer L.

May 14th, 2014

sakura trickOnce again it is Guest Review Wednesday and I am so excited to be able to welcome Jennifer L. back to Okazu to give us a final end of season review about Sakura Trick with a decidedly different take on this popular Yuri anime (that can still be streamed at Crunchyroll and Hulu with some regional restrictions.) Take it away Jennifer!

I am delighted to be invited back to Okazu to do a post-season review of Sakura Trick. Jocilyn did a good job of introducing it at the beginning of the season, but now, the twelve-episode run is concluded, and I asked Erica if I could say a few things about it.

Sakura Trick is an open and unabashed Yuri anime. It is all about girls, and their relationships with each other. And yet, I understand completely why Erica declined to watch it. Like Vividred Operation, though to a lesser extent, it suffers from “perverted camera operator” syndrome. There are many almost-upskirts, fig-leafed only by the girls’ own calves. And
there’s a great deal of bouncing boobage under school uniforms.

But… I love this series, anyway. It’s set in the first year of High School, though in many ways, it feels like it should be about junior high school, a time when girls start to become aware of our bodies, and of the desires of the body. When we want that special person to kiss us. And in this category, showing the awakening of love and physical desire, the show excels, while still remaining essentially innocent.

The show centers around Haruka and her best friend, Yu. On their first day of middle school, they cement their status as best friends by kissing in a deserted classroom. At first, it seems that Haruka is the driving force of the kissing hijinks, but as the school year goes on, and episodes roll by, Yu makes it clear that she is in no way being taken advantage of. She’s a partner in the business, and she wants the kisses, and Haruka, as much as Haruka wants her… and that this is more than just a pairing of best friends.

The hijinks, and the plans for the future that the two girls make, are absolutely on the level of junior high school girls. There’s silly “how can I get her to kiss me?” games, and “really, I just want to  make with the kisses all the time” games. There are “if you do this for me, I’ll reward you with a kiss!” games. I was not fortunate enough to have that first love experience until college, but all of the games that Yu and Haruka play together ring true to me. The insecurities that they face about their meaning to each other rings true to me as well.

Throughout the entire series, the only aspect of Haruka and Yu’s story that didn’t ring true to me was Yu’s instant acceptance of the idea that she and Haruka were going to get married… and even that is only a mild botheration, and the situation is only an exaggeration of the kind of plans that girls make when we’re young, and in love, and believe that we’re going to be with that special person forever.

And as for the bouncing boobage… well, I remember that from High School, as well. My body suddenly started changing, and for a couple of years, I, too, was constantly noticing the bodies of other young women; I was obsessed with boobies. From that standpoint, I can almost forgive the perverted camera operator.

Art – 5 Nothing outstanding, but better than Dragon Ball Z.
Characters – 8 Each of the girls in the series was someone I wished had been in my Junior High classes.
Story – 6 Stirred up memories for me of my awakening as a romantic being.
Yuri – 10 These are girls in love; it’s made clear that it’s love, not just lust, and that it’s not a passing phase.
Service – 8 A lamentable aspect that will keep many people from watching this fun series.

Overall – 8… 8.5. I loved the story, I loved the characters, I loved the way it made me remember my own first love.

Jennifer Linsky is a nurse in the American South. More of her writing, including fiction and occasional thoughts on real life, can be found at her sporadically updated blog.

Erica here: Fantastic perspective Jennifer! This is pretty much why I can read the manga, but not watch the anime. I’m not a oogling sort, but the innocent first love is nice and with the manga I can cut the time and attention spent on service to a bare minimum, while enjoying the parts of the story that work for me. Thank you again for a great post. 





est em Panel at TCAF

May 13th, 2014

It was my honor to moderate the panel for Featured Guest est em (えすと えむ) at Toronto Comics Art Festival .

I haven’t seen any other coverage of the panel so far and while it may be unusual to do this, I thought the conversation we had really interesting and want to share.

est em, translator Jocelyne Allen, who was fantastic, and I had a terrific discussion about her work. She ‘s best known for her BL works, and debuted professionally in 2006 with what was licensed in English as Seduce Me After The Show (which is one of the several things I read in preparation for the panel.)

est em started off in doujinshi and I asked her how she transitioned to professional. She said that she was scouted by a publisher who asked her if she’d be interested in drawing BL and she replied, “Yeah, sure.” She hadn’t really read any before that, so she did some research and started drawing. Later on, I asked her about the quirky content of her stories; they have elements like bullfighting, bespoke shoe making, centaurs… and she said one of the nice things about BL is that she doesn’t have to go into a lot of details, as long as the content is BL, she can just draw whatever interests her. Also because they tend to be short vignettes she doesn’t have to really explain anything about, say bullfighting, it’s more or less “this guy is a bullfighter”, whereas in something long-form like Golondrina, she needs to add in the jargon, the details of the culture and the techniques.

I asked her about her attention to movement and line, and how she expresses such things through depictions of Flamenco and bullfighting and she mentioned that the flow of line extends to her drawing of bespoke shoes and how really good shoes look beautiful. She talked about her time in Spain doing research – although she didn’t think she had any Spanish fans. (An audience member later said that she had a friend in Spain who is a fan, so she’s got at least one!)

The questions from the audience were great! Nathan, a TCAF staffer, asked her opinion of Hemingway, who is of course well-known for his writing on bullfighting and Spanish life. est em-sensei replied that she had read Hemingway, but thought he was “too macho.” She said she felt he wrote as if he was looking down from heaven on bullfighting, as well.

Another great question asked about the response she’s received from the gay community in Japan, what they think of her work. She said she hadn’t really gotten any negative comments, and wasn’t sure if there was a dichotomy between fans of BL and the gay community, which prompted me to note that her work was mostly unlike other BL, by having characters who are adults and have relationships without coercion, denial, non-con or incest. She joked that by drawing such unconventional BL, maybe that was why her books didn’t sell as well as others!

Another audience member asked whether she’s planning on doing more doujinshi, and she said it always comes down to time, she has to produce 60-70 pages a month and when she does doujinshi, it’s always in, like, the last 2 days. But the fan had specifically asked about a piece of Attack on Titan fanart, and est em-sensei said she wouldn’t be doing derivative work.

Another question asked her opinion of scanlations. She was really honest and said she thinks they are okay as a starting off point for fans, but really, in order to be okay, at some point they have to transition to actually buying the book in some language otherwise, she won’t be able to continue drawing.

I had asked her at the very beginning to ask the audience a question and so, she asked them this: she feels it’s weird sometimes to see Japanese culture as written by foreigners, so did they think it was weird to see a Japanese person writing overseas culture? The audience said, nah, it was cool and I added that it gives us another viewpoint of ourselves, through a slightly distorted lens. It’s good for us to see that image and know what people think of us.

And with that, we wrapped up a great hour, with a terrific manga artist, est em. Several of her other BL books have been translated into English by DMP, Deux, Netcomics and now Viz’s SuBLime has just published her newest book, Tableau No. 20. If you’re ever looking for non-trope-y BL with mature themes, but also mature characters, I strongly recommend her work. In Japanese her current series are Golondrina (which I am reviewing here, as the main character is a lesbian), and IPPO. If you’ve read any of her work in scanlation form, buying her work that is available in English is a great way to say thanks.)

On a personal note, I asked her to add in a few fangirls for Chika when she next bullfights in Golondrina. Jocelyne and I joked that if she just explained to her editor a promise made in Canada is like a contract, she should be okay. ^_^

Thanks to est em-sensei, Jocelyne and the great audience for a really fantastic panel!





Yuri Manga: Love Gene Double X, Volume 2 (恋愛遺伝子XX )

May 9th, 2014

Years after all the men on Earth died suddenly, women developed a method of reproducing without them and then, inexplicably, enforced a 2-“gender” society on themselves. Survivors are split into Adams and Eves, and Eves are, predictably, given lesser status. Oh yes, let’s please bake internalized misogyny into this man-less world, that’s a great idea. Grrrr.

In Volume 1, Koshiro Aoi has come to the toppest of all the top schools to take her revenge on the Kokonoe family for the insult done to her mother, but instead falls in love with a scion of the Kokonoe family, Sakura. Both Aoi and Sakura are Adams so their love is forbidden. Grrrr. What will happen, since the two of them are ridiculously obvious? Well, in Volume 2 of Love Gene Double X (恋愛遺伝子XX ) , they continue to be ridiculously obvious to pretty much everyone. Erika-sama, the Top Eve at school hatches a plan to separate them permanently, but the plot fails and instead they are discovered together after having been intimate. Erika-sama becomes sympathetic to us when we learn she became an Eve for Sakura (she had been an Adam to that point) and she ultimately is nice to her pawn, Momiji.

The Toppest Top Star evar, Sakura’s sister shows up (in a Helicopter!!!), whisks them away, provides helpful expository about the grievous insult done to Aoi’s mother (she lost her rank as Adam to be with a Kokonoe, who left her for another dve…which really is a shitty thing to have happen,) why there’s an Adam and Eve system at all (when the men died, there weren’t many lesbians and the survivors were assholes about it,) and how she has every intention of changing society when she’s in charge.

Any lingering positive feeling about the ending is crushed in an epilogue that made me want to spit. Erika returns to being an Adam and gets Momiji, Sakura becomes an Eve so she and Aoi can be together and the general frisson of heteronormativity just exhausted me.

The only positive moment is when Sumire basically points out the utter stupidity of heteronormative laws, both now and in her time. Other than that, the story was a rubber band ball of disappointment. Every layer of disappointment one peeled away left one disappointed all over again in a brand new way.

Everything about this manga has rubbed me the wrong way since I read the very first chapter. Now that it’s over I cannot honestly say I hated it, nor can I say I liked it. My first and most consistent reaction to it is to bare my teeth and growl. Grrrr. It could have been a terrific Yuri fantasy story. Instead it started off as fake BL, then shifted towards what looked like it might actually address an issue, then veered away into sex scenes (both “bent” by the rules of this world, as one is two Eves and the other two Adams) then sort of nodded in the direction of dealing with the problem, then threw that out with the bathwater. The end.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 5 I think about it, and sigh heavily
Characters – The characters are still the best part. By the end I actually almost liked a few of them
Yuri – 9
Service – 5 Mostly breasts, some full, generic nudity

Overall – 6

In a perfect world, I would have been the editor for this series and it would have been a grillion times better. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.