Author Archive


Rose of Versailles Anime, Part 1, Disk 2 (English)

June 30th, 2013

The second disk of part 1 of Ryoko Ikeda’s Rose of Versailles, is chock full of court intrigue and setting up the story by introducing many of the players in upcoming episodes. Oscar is now captain of the guard to the impulsive, vain and child-like Marie Antoinette. While she admires her Queen’s faithfulness to her emotions, Oscar is very well aware of the fact that those emotions unchecked will lead the people around her to disaster.

Madame DuBarry might have won the battle, but she loses the war. When the King dies she has no allies, no resources and nowhere to turn. By the time she leaves Versailles, she’s already an afterthought. Kids, this is why when you sign on to a start-up, make sure your exit strategy is in the contract.

Almost immediately we move on – two skeins will combine to create one tragedy. A poor family; a good daughter and an evil daughter, and a doomed love affair will set the scene for the next disk. France, as the narrator keeps pointing out, is heading towards a crisis.
Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters 9
Yuri – 0 (So far. Wait for it.)
Service – 5 Oscar swearing to die for Andre and Marie was pretty service-y

Overall – 8

In my 21st century reboot of this story, Rosalie is a hard-working college student and Jeanne is sleeping her way up a corporate ladder. ^_^ I’m taking bids, cable TV networks. This will be a hit!





Yuri Network News (百合ネットワークニュース) – June 29, 2013

June 29th, 2013

YNN_MariKShort one this week, I’m up to my eyeballs in work.

Yuri Manga

Kanojo to Camera to Kanojo no Kisetsu,Volume 3 (彼女とカメラと彼女の季節) will hit shelves in Japan at the end of July.

And, from Hirari magazine, we’ll see Saraba Tomo Yo (さらば友よ) and Laika Pavlov Pochi Hachiko (ライカ、パブロフ、ポチハチ公) also at the end of July.

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, in conjunction with Dark Horse has created an authoritative manga guide for librarians and educators, called CBLDF Presents Manga: Introduction, Challenges, and Best Practices. It was my very sincere pleasure to represent for Yuri, which has a chapter of its own – and I contributed the chapter on Doujinshi, as well. Also contributing to the Guide was Manga Bookshelf columnist Sean Gaffney, Ed Chavez of Vertical Publishing, Shaenon Garrity of Viz Media and Otaku USA, and Robin Brenner and Katherine Dacey of School Library Journal. Fantastic writers and terrific people, all.  ^_^

The Guide was edited by Manga Bookshelf editor in chief, blogger and all around fantastic person, Melinda Beasi. It was a blast – and an honor – to be  part of this project. If your school or library is interested in manga and would like more info on how to approach it, get them a copy of this Guide!

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Yuri Anime

From YNN Correspondent Jin H., news that vaguely Yurish – but female-focused and pleasant anime Tamayura  second season should be starting in July.

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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!





How I Kill Time on Summer Afternoons or, Contemplating the Defeat of DOMA

June 27th, 2013

Erica's lily. Picture by Erica on Erica's patio.Obviously, what I do to kill time on summer afternoons is write Okazu posts. Duh~  And play Fruit Ninja.

I’m at that point in my pile where I have nothing left but Novels and Anime, so for the moment, reviews will slow down as I make my way through longer stories. I think it’ll be like this for a bit, as I have an enormous backlog of both and I’m reading and watching as fast as I can in between games of Fruit Ninja. ^_^

So, yesterday, you may have heard that the Supreme Court of the US, wildly inconsistent and intermittently inexplicable as they are, ruled the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. That actually doesn’t change anything for me at the moment. Let me explain – especially for European readers who tend to think of “America” in a same way they think of “Russia” – a large country with central leadership. The USA is really much more like the EU. Yes, there is a central bureaucracy and yes, that central bureaucracy can pass laws and make decisions that apply to all 50 states (countries) in the union but, in the absence of centrally passed laws, each state (country) can pretty much make its own decisions.

States that have legal same-sex marriage (SSM) also agree to recognize SSM from other states that have it. In addition, some – but not all – states with other state-level recognized agreements (Civil Unions, Domestic Partnerships) recognize legal SSM as *marriage,* full stop. But 37 states do not have legal SSM and of those, around 30 have laws that specifically ban same-sex marriage.

So, I live in the country of NJ. In this country, we have Civil Unions. These are meaningless outside our state.  NJ recognizes marriages from New York, but New York does not recognize Civil Unions as anything. Nor does the Federal Government.

Florida does not recognize NJ Civil Unions nor does it recognize marriages from NY. If I fall sick in Florida, my wife can be legally kept out of my room (except that we have medical power of attorney – and they can contest that too.)

What does yesterday’s ruling mean for me? Nothing. I get no new benefits, no recognition, nothing. Unless I get married in a state that recognizes legal SSM. Because yesterday’s ruling changes nothing on the state level. It only changes how the Federal government deals with people who have been legally married in a state that allows it.

For European friends, it’s like getting married in France, then traveling to Italy, and not having any legal relationship at all.

So if you’re not in the US and you don’t really get what’s happening, it’s like this: Things the Federal Government controls, like the military and federal employees, now get benefits, no matter who they are married to – as long as they are legally married in one of the states that has legal SSM. This is very good. In fact, the Department of Defense stated that they would start providing benefits to LGB soldiers who are legally married immediately. (Transgender soldier are still technically banned…a future fight that will be fought and won.) This does not apply to coupleswho have civil unions or domestic partnerships, only marriages.

States (countries) that ban SSM still ban it. They don’t recognize it, either. But even in states that ban it, if a person has a legal marriage from another state, they can apply for benefits provided by the Federal government (like getting a deceased spouse’s Social Security benefit.) Immigration will also change. SS partners ought to find themselves treated like opposite sex partners now. In fact, a judge stopped a deportation proceeding against a man’s Colombian partner immediately after the decision. That is also an objectively good thing.

I just wanted to take a moment and unpack the decision, so non-US folks understand why I and many others are still not satisfied. Not until there is Federal level decision that requires all 50 countries to recognize my relationship. ^_^ Expect to see a lot more weddings in states that have legalized them this summer – people need to do what they can to protect themselves and their families. This is merely a step forward. There’s a lot more to do. More than half of the states prefer to treat LGBTQ folks as second-class citizens…for the moment.

So there you have it. My thoughts on this summer afternoon. And no review. I promise to get back to watching stuff shortly. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Futari (ふたり)

June 25th, 2013

In my reviews of  Otomo Megane’s previous books, Himitsu and Green, I focused on the problematic limitation of character types in his work. In Futari, this is somewhat less of an issue.

In the first half of the book, “Futari” (ふたり) we’re thrown into a conversation between a bunch of girls at lunchtime about rumors that two of the girls in another class are dating. What their friends don’t realize is that Kazumi and Motoko are a couple. Misa and Akari are also a couple, as are Mine and Aya. The 6 of them inhabit the same physical spaces and an encounter at the end of their story brings them all into the same emotional space, as well.

The second half of the book, “Sakura-iro Complex,” we watch a triangle consisting of  the least tough delinquent ever, “Yanki” Kisaragi, Student Council president Sanda and her friend, Saegusa.

The characters in the first half have little time to develop, but as a series of one-shots, it’s less hard to follow that some of the previous books. And pulling the first story together was more satisfying than leaving them all in a well. The second story is left unresolved, as it should be. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8  Same simple style, but it’s easier to tell who’s who
Story – 8 Credit for the first scenarios being beyond “Story A”
Characters – 6 No real time to develop and they are teens, so not much to develop
Yuri – 8
Service – 5

Overall – 8

While reading it, it wasn’t giving me warm fuzzies, but in retrospect it’s not bad.





Yuri Manga: Shishunki Seimeitai Vega, (思春期生命体ベガ)

June 24th, 2013

Special Edition With Drama CDFrom beginning to end, there’s a lot to like about Hayashiya Shizuru-sensei’s Shishunki Seimeitai  Vega, (思春期生命体ベガ).

First off, there are two editions available, a special edition with a Drama CD and a manga-only edition. They have different covers, both of which are pretty nice, so good luck choosing. ^_^

Secondly, Hayashiya-sensei does something that I’ve seen rarely, but that I really like. Way back, when Rakuen Le Paradis had her in for a test run, she did a one-shot Yuri manga about two women who are reunited as adults on a celebrity cooking show. While they discover that they were mutually interested in one another in school (which they attended together when they were young) the other host is forced to frenetically cook today’s dish, all the while rooting the two women on in her head. It’s zany and romantic and silly as hell.

In another issue, Hayashiya-sensei drew a really nice color picture of a female bodyguard and her charge. On Twitter she and I talked about how we’d both like to see her draw the story behind that picture. ^_^

And then she began Shishunki Seimeitai Vega, a story about an alien and the Earthling she loves – with all the slapstick wackiness ensues, drama and bloody noses one expects from her work. And here it is, collected into a single volume, in which she’s included – and integrated – the two one-shots in a way that is both highly amusing and gratifying.

The cooking show becomes the first chapter, which turns out to be something Arisa is watching on TV. Arisa heads to school and is met by her kouhai, Vegako – Vega, for short.Vega is an alien who protects this little seaside town from encroaching giant monsters. Her power recharges when Arisa kisses her. Unfortunately for Vega, Arisa doesn’t like to be asked to kiss her. Vega starves herself for power, trying to avoid annoying “sempai” until her lack of power threatens the town and herself. While Arisa runs to recharge Vega, she finds the girl being soundly kissed by an older woman. So soundly, in fact, that Vega transforms into her original giant alien form, one that Arisa and the town people haven’t seen in years.

The older woman is Ariide Swan, a Hollywood celebrity, who has come to town for the Japanese premiere her sci-fi movie “Deneb.” Ariide clearly knows Vega – and claims to possess her. Arisa instantly becomes jealous, but has no idea how to express it. After denying Vega kisses for so long, she just starts avoiding Vega who, predictably, feels rejected.

Their inability to discuss the issues and Ariide’s possessiveness has them all in a tizzy until a monster targets Arisa, specifically. Vega remembers how sempai glowed when they first met and Arisa realizes that Vega will glad sacrifice herself to save her…and they kiss. Vega blasts the giant monster to kingdom come, while Ariide (and poor Tanabe – a club member with Arisa and Vega –  who wonders, not for the first time,  why she’s  suddenly hanging out with a famous Hollywood actress?) watches.

In the epilogue, Ariide is telling Arisa about her reasons for running from Hollywood, when Reason #1 shows up at the door. Abby Albireo is another actress, much younger than Ariide, with whom she fell in lust, while working on “The Bodyguard 2029.” (Hence the smexy picture of her as a bodyguard…)  The epilogue ends with typical Hayashiya-style – comedy, i.e., punches and bloody noses all around.

The extras are a comic about the characters reacting to the news of a Drama CD (with more blood) and and an interview with the actresses for the Drama CD, which I haven’t had a chance to read. ^_^

The final nice touch on this book is that it has silver edging for a really sharp look. (No pun intended.)  The book is complete experience –  visually, emotionally and professionally.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Characters – 8
Story – 9
Yuri – 8
Service – 3 (+1 for Ariide being my “type.” ^_^)

Overall – 9

Reading Seijukuki Jinmei Vega was the manga equivalent of a really excellent meal. With dessert.

BTW, Vega is a star in Lyra, Ariide is (I’m guessing) short for Aldeberan, a star in Taurus, “Deneb” is a star in Cygnus, the Swan, hence Ariide’s family name. And Abby’s family name Albireo is also a star in Cygnus. Just a bit of star-spotting in the pages of what was in every way a great read. ^_^