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Seitokaichou ga Yuri Suki demo Mondai nashi!? Manga (生徒会長が百合好きでも問題ナシ! ?)

August 22nd, 2013

Seitokaichou ga Yuri Suki demo Mondai nashi!? (生徒会長が百合好きでも問題ナシ! ?) is a 4-panel gag comic by Uona Terepin for Kadokawa Comics. It is, marginally, Yuri.

Hanayashiki Kanon is the Student Council President; she’s smart, pretty, wears power well and has a Yuri fetish which she hides from everyone except her maid. Kurumi, her maid, likes Kanon and probably would “like” her if asked. Kanon is interested in Kurumi, but is hiding that from everyone, too, including Kurumi. By “hiding” I of course mean, being incredibly obvious in an awkward and pointless way.

Also on the Council is Nanami and her maid Rena (who is a ninja) and Aoi who sees right through Kanon and instigates as often as she can. Not on the council is Kanon’s self-styled rival Ami – her maid Riko only works for the money.

So, I started reading this manga resigned to one joke per character, which I got, but I didn’t expect to actually laugh out loud. The beginning is so outlandish and over the top, at some point you just either laugh…or throw the book out.

Kanon and Kurumi could be an item. There’s no reason why they aren’t, except that the only vestige of a plot is that Kanon like Yuri and maybe, sort of, possibly, likes Kurumi). Therefore we can expect nothing will happen and all the characters will have one joke each. I read one chapter each night so I didn’t throw the book out. I laughed out loud about once every other chapter. Not too bad for a gag manga.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – There is none, just typical school-life tropes
Character – 7 Better than I expected
Yuri – 2 One-sided, for no reason
Service – 7 The usual; bathing, swimsuits, Holiday/event dress up, random cosplay, random service.

Overall – 7

This book isn’t going to be on my Top Ten, but I haven’t thrown it out yet. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Steps

August 19th, 2013

A-chan and Riyoko are neighbors, Riyoko has always had a crush on A-chan, from the time she was a small girl. Now, as a high school student, her feelings are much more than a mere crush. But what about A-chan? How does she feel? Well..she feels the same, but she’s a teacher in Riyoko’s school and it’s just kind of complicated.

In “Step Forward” and “Step Up”, the first two stories of Takemiya Jin‘s collected Steps, we follow A-chan, as she learns to take Riyoko and her own feelings seriously and how to deal with it not all being a secret. Riyoko learns that true love doesn’t have to be said – but it’s awfully nice when it is. More importantly she learns that her friend Kimura has a girlfriend of her own.

In “Leave hickey?” we take a look at Kimu and her girlfriend, who is the art teacher at school. Kimu wants to mark up – or be marked by – a hickey, but Miyano doesn’t like the idea of a bruise as a mark of possession, and they opt for a small work of art on Kimu’s inner thigh.

In “step by step” A-chan and Miyano team up for a very gay wedding dress shoot, and A-chan struggles with the idea of coming out. Riyoko helps by kissing her soundly in public.

The next two chapters “Mekakushi no Koi” are, quite possibly, my favorite Takemiya Jin story. Satomi looks down at her phone at a picture of her kissing another girl. When she was in school, Satomi wasn’t able to hang around with the other girls – she had an avocation as a novelist. So she wasn’t really able to make too many friends, nor find a lover. So when Ayuna says that’s she’s bi and interested, then kisses Satomi, poor Satomi falls hard. But. Ayuna is not a kind person. She’s willing to have sex, but has no respect for gay people, finding them pathetic, since they’ll have to give up marriage and children. Satomi is not satisfied. She asks her editor, Moriyama, what to do. Ultimately, Satomi finds the relationship untenable and tells Ayuna off. Ayuna does not take it well and confirms Satomi’s suspicions that she is really not a nice person. Satomi walks away. Moriyama congratulates Satomi for taking control of her life…and assures her that Ayuna was a bad example of a bisexual. We circle around to the beginning of the story to see Satomi meet up with Nana, her current girlfriend. (In fact, their story continues in Comic Yuri Hime.) I loved the takedown of the whole “gays can never have a family BS” which is the standard Japanese trope for not coming out as gay. Even more, if Takemiya-sensei had left it with Ayuna just being bi, it would have left a bad taste in my mouth. As it was, Moriyama-sempai gets to explain to Satomi that “bi” doesn’t mean selfish and manipulative and that Ayuna was mostly just a jerk.

In “Secret Love” the entire story ties up. We learn that Satomi is now a successful novelist who writes under the name “Hime Yuri,” Moriyama’s girlfriend is Youko. Youko and Nana’s story was told in Takemiya’s Kila Kila. It’s Youko that realizes that the two circles are intertwined as they talk about going out to get drinks together. “Sensei’s girlfriend is my ex!” Woops. Well, that’s pretty realistic, isn’t it?

I turned the last page and there in the afterword, Takemiya-sensei places a helpful relationship chart. I think we’re in for another “The ‘L’ Word, manga style. Cool.

At which Takemiya Jin becomes the first lesbian manga artist to do a Yuri manga with all-lesbian content. Bam. We have a winner.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8-10
Characters – 9
Yuri – 10
Service – 3

Overall – 10

Folks, the game has officially changed.





Yuri Network News (百合ネットワークニュース) – August 17, 2013

August 17th, 2013

YNN_Lissa

Yuri Live-Action Movie

This weekend is the premiere of Yuri Live-Action movie, Schoolgirl Complex in Japan. If any of our Japanese friends want to report on it, please let me know!

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Yuri Manga

YNN Correspondent Grisznak  shared this great news with us: “At the first months of 2014 we’re gonna have Oniisama E… published in Poland, thanks to the JPF company. They’re also going to publish other Ikeda works, like… Lady Oscar (in 2015 perhaps). Oniisama E… will be published in one volume and in big format.”

Comic Natalie tells me that the September issue of Feel Young, will contain the final chapter of Ohana Holoholo. I’m a little relieved, because after the fabulous Volume 5, the story kind of jumped the shark. :-(

For Hakusensha’s 40th anniversary they are re-issuing a 1980’s title,Narita Minako’s CIPHER in a collector’s edition. The new two-volume release (Volume 1) collects this tale of a painter and her painting of her twin brother. The art is very 80s, but it’s totally my style. ^_^

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Yuri Anime

ANN reports that, at Otakon last week, Funimation announced that they’ve licensed a pile of series previous put out by Bandai , including the entire Mai Hime franchise, Mai Hime, Mai Otome, Mai Otome ~S.ifr~ and My Otome Zwei. Funi’s modus operandi right now seems to be to stream titles and then release them on DVD, so expect Shizuru, Natsuki and the gang  in 2014. For reviews of all of these, check out the Mai Hime and Mai Otome categories here on Okazu.

Classic Yuri fans unite! AnimeSols is streaming and crowdfunding the DVD set of Dear Brother. My gods, Saint-Juste on DVD, it’s hardly conceivable. /shiver/

Last report I shared that the new Sailor Moon anime would be streaming on Nico Nico Douga. Well way more importantly, Comic Natalie reports so will the new Sailor Moon Musical. If you’ve never seen a SerauMyu, you’re in for a bit of a “holy crap, this is cheesy…but I think I like it” moment. One of my favorite memories on my first trip to Tokyo was the unexpectedly fabulous SeraMyu I attended.

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Yaoi Manga

Say what? Yes, there is news of a BL Manga you should read. (This is hardly the first mention of BL here, check the category sidebar, you’ll see a Yaoi Category, as well as the LGBTQ category) This is not just any old BL manga, though. ANN reports a new Vertical license – something that has been on my to-read list for a few years. Kinou Nani Tabeta? / What Did You Eat Yesterday? by Yoshinaga Fumi, is a story of a gay couple and their daily life…and the food they eat. I’ve written about Yoshinaga’s love for food and about my love of her love of food. I adore her foodiness. And this is not a typical BL, it’s a story of a real couple. A BL version of Collectors, if you will. I’m really looking forward to this manga. ^_^

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Other News

The pair who goes by the name Himekawa Akira (co-creators for The Gold Ring, the first Arabic-language manga and who did the Legend of Zelda manga, have been chosen to work on the My Little Pony manga. This is all kinds of fabulous – they are really nice ladies, and friends of a friend of mine, and they are a terrific team.  And..My Little Pony **manga!**  I’m already squeeing. ^_^

Via Ben A. on Twitter –  watch this super-swell video. Mid-century art stylings, romantic ballad, space pirates and the girl gets the girl. Whee!

Rose of Versailles-themed shoes! Comic Natalie finds the best stuff.

To cap this week, we’ll take a look back at last week, when Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s Charles Brownstein addressed a standing-room only crowd at Summer Comiket on Manga Freedom. Read the full text of his speech. It’s good stuff.

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That’s a wrap for this week! Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find.

Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!





Summer Reading Lesbian Novel: Maxie Mainwaring, Lesbian Dilettante

August 16th, 2013

MaxieMFrom Monica Nolan, the woman who brought you Bobbie Blanchard, Lesbian Gym Teacher and Lois Lenz, Lesbian Secretary, comes the eagerly-awaited Maxie Mainwaring, Lesbian Dilettante.

While I had visions of a spoof of The Fourth Sex in my head, Nolan has put together a fairly taught mystery novel which is wholly unfair of her. I didn’t expect to have to pay attention! But about the point where we learn that the Swedish Mafia runs the gay bars in the town and the milk trade, I finally caught up with the idea that I was actually going to have to be a little more invested in this story than I originally expected. ^_^

Maxie Mainwaring, debutante and playgirl in Bay City, daughter of the dairy company Mainwarings, is cut off by her mother after a…small indiscretion at a meeting of the Daughter of the American Pioneers Luncheon and for the first time in her life, has to actual work. In between her not-terribly-successful attempts at budgeting and finding a job, Maxie finds herself following mysterious women, falling for a gangster, dealing with police raids at the local gay watering hole and learning who was responsible for stealing the children’s milk at the local youth center. And if all this wasn’t enough, Maxie finds herself at odds with her on-again off-again girlfriend, Pamela, and the drama of her fellow residents of the Magdalena Arms.

If this sounds like at lot for one book – it was. And most of it ties in pretty neatly at the end. There were a few zingers though, which I won’t spoil.

Unlike Bobbie and Lois, Maxie isn’t naive about love, or lesbian life. Her naivete was firmly about the “get a job  to pay the bills” life most people have, and this is strung out pretty far, as Lois’ and Bobby’s naivete were. They don’t grow ’em very sharp in Bay City, apparently. ^_^ But for a summer read with action, adventure, thrills and a lot of girls kissing and having pulp-y sex, this was a really fun book. The book equivalent of a County Fair, with lots of colors, sound, flavors and fireworks at the end, ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I’ve already asked Ms. Nolan about the possibility of a (vaguely alluded to) military story, but she commented that the next one in the series is probably going to be the secret life of the Bay City lesbian bartender. I can wait. These books are a blast.  And perfect for summer reading. ^_^

 





Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime Wildrose, Volume 7 (百合姫 Wildrose)

August 15th, 2013

Does 2010 count as a “the past” yet? If so, Yuri Hime Wildrose, Volume 7 (百合姫 Wildrose) anthology is a blast from the past. The last original volume, Yuri Hime Wildrose 6, was released back in 2010,  and there was a selected re-release  of curated stories in 2011, Wildrose Re:Mix disk a and disk b. And, I thought, that was the last we’d hear of the Wildrose series. But…no.

Yuri Hime Wildrose, Volume 7 picks right up where 6 left off, with a stable of new creators, working on doujinshi-length “Plot, What Plot-style?” stories, where the setup exists merely to frame the sex. In most cases, the sex is accompanied by sincere affection, sometimes even love, which tempers the feeling one inevitably gets as one reads, of being cast by the story as “horny voyeur”.

Saburo Uta’s opening bid, “Partner” is a nice enough place to begin. Kusabe and Ogihara are paired in everything from tennis to academics, but it turns out that they actually like each other, as well. ^_^

“Encore!!!!” by Amano Syuninta was, by far, my favorite story as her art and storytelling hit all my sweet spots and avoided most of the sour ones. This cheerful tale of two pop idols in a girl group was silly and weird, with moments of sexy thrown in.

And Nanzaki Iku submits a new chapter of one of her Shizuru x Natsuki clone pairs in a story that wasn’t thrilling, but was ultimately – as her’s so often are – sweet.

If this is the kind of story that gets your heart pounding – and might just get you practicing your Japanese –  it’s a good bet you’ll enjoy this volume.

Ratings:

Variable – 6

A couple of the artists are just doing art that I can’t really enjoy, but I’m not running this through the shredder or anything. It’ll probably be part of my next Lucky Bag giveaway, though.  ^_^