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Light Novel: Oshaka-sama mo Miteru ~ Kyoki Ippou (お釈迦様もみてる 潔き一票)

June 9th, 2013

It’s been pretty obvious that the Oshaka-sama  series has been echoing the Maria-sama series. Every glimpse we had of Yuuki in Marimite has been explicated through the shadow series. It was, therefore, quite obvious to me at the end of the last novel in the series, what the next novel would entail. In Maria-sama ga Miteru ~Manatsu no Ichi Page (マリア様がみてる 真夏の一ページ) Yumi learned  – to her shock – that Yuuki is the Hanadera Student Council President.* He says, rather deprecatingly, that Kashiwagi was playing a joke on him when he nominated him. In Oshaka-sama mo Miteru ~ Kyoki Ippou  (お釈迦様もみてる 潔き一票), we learn the truth.

We learn a number of truths, in fact.

Elections are on everyone’s mind – except for Yuuki’s. Since Kashiwagi is graduating, he’s really not thinking about next year at all. But when two of his classmates corner him and make some demands he not run with their fists, his reaction is not what they expect.  He runs into Kashiwagi who apologizes to him, then kisses him – Yuuki is not pleased, but he can’t get back what’s been taken. The next day, vexed and confused, he learns he’s been nominated by Kashiwagi for the position of President. Yuuki is deeply concerned about his friends’ reactions, but can’t yet bring it up to them.

At this point, we get a turn with each of Yuuki’s friends on the council. Andre-sempai and Rampo-sempai have no interest in running – they were there for Kashiwagi. Rampo tells Tetsu (Takada) to run, Of course the Yakushiji twins insist Arisu run – they adore their underclassman and want Arisu to shine. But the chapter that really, honestly, blew me away was Kobayashi’s.

Kobayashi Masamune, known to his friends as “Shounen”. He sees Kashiwagi alone and asks him if he can have a word. Alone on the grounds with Kashiwagi, Kobayashi asks a question that has been bothering him for ages… “Why not me?” Kobayashi points out that he had passed through the gates moments before Yuuki, was also undeclared as Heishi or Genji. So…why not him?

What passes is not possible to synopsize. Kashiwagi’s answer is gentle, apologetic, cold, a little cruel and when they are done speaking, Kobayashi feels that he has seen a little glimpse of Kashiwagi’s true nature…and he’s terrified at what he’s seen. The word “monster” comes to mind.

The four first-years finally speak of their desire to run for Student Council together, support Yuuki as President and they’ll be like the 3, erm, 4 Musketeers (Arisu assures them that 4 is acceptable.)

And so, when they run, there is one candidate each for each of the positions: President – Fukuzawa Yuuki, Vice President – Takada Magane, Treasurer – Kobayashi Masamune, Secretary- Arisugawa Kintarou.

Yuuki wins unanimously.

We learn that it might have been a prank on Kashiwagi’s part, but a well-played one. We learn that the Council next year is going to be load of fun (as we knew). We learn that Yuuki is incredibly well-respected by nearly all the other students, including many of the upper classmen and we learn, at last, the answer to the question “is Kashiwagi gay?” He may be bisexual, but he’s definitely “interested” in Yuuki.

Since elections are over, I’ll presume the next book is graduation and one last fresh hell for Yuuki and the gang before Kashiwagi takes himself offstage for a bit. Andre-sempai will be gone, as well. Yuuki will no doubt be relieved – and I admit, so will I.  I hope we can quickly move to the late summer when Yuuki and Yumi team up to trick Sachiko. Operation OK ahoy!

Ratings:

Overall – 7

* I don’t have a review of the Marimite novels from 12-21, because originally I was translating them. When I changed my stance on fan-produced translations, I pulled these from Okazu. I apologize for the inconvenience. I did review the story for my look at Maria-sama ga Miteru Anime Season 3, Disk 1.





Yuri Network News (百合ネットワークニュース) – June 8, 2013

June 8th, 2013

YNN_LissaMany, many thanks to the crowd at lat night’s AnimeNEXT Yuri Panel! Those were some of the best questions ever.

***

Other News

Let’s start the day off with the important stuff. After a ten year absence, a new Sailor Moon musical (Sera Myu) has been announced, with extra geeky things all around, in and underneath the news! Takeuchi-sensei is reported to participated in the auditions herself. And the role of Tuxedo Kamen went to former Takarazuka actress Yamato Yuuga. I am *so* down with this. Yamato was stellar in “Singing in the Rain.” I think I’m going to have to own this DVD not matter how excruciatingly expensive it is. I expect it to be ridiculously expensive. ^_^ The show will run in the middle of September, 2013.

Cutey Honey Curry is a thing that exists. ^_^

It’s definitely a mix-and-match your geekiness kind of day. The cast of the Yuru Yuri anime will sing the second My Little Pony opening theme.

And my hero, Go Nagai had a tribute show in LA. “Devils & Robots” (gawd what a clever title, that) featured 5 of his own paintings and tribute from over 60 other artists. Last week saw the introduction of what I can only imagine must be the greatest manga ever, Cutey Honey vs Devilman Lady, which is running in Champion RED, so you know it’s classy. (That was sarcasm. But I still want to see it!)

Last week I added a new feature here, where we’ll discuss apps and tools to help you get started in Japanese. To start with basics I suggested RealKana, and rdm00 suggested iOS app Japanese Flip.

Well, I’d like to make this a regular feature, so if you are using any apps, tools or sites to help you learn Japanese, let us know! The more tools on our toolbelt, the better. To send in a recommendation, give us the name of the app/tool/site/program, a link if there is one and why you like it in the comments.  Although I personally have never used any of these, I found an article on Top 10 Kanji Recognition Apps, if you’re a bit more advanced in your learning.

Today I’m going to feature this app, suggested by Kit. She says, “For beginners, Human Japanese is good; it provides context for lessons, and not just in the “here are some words” way.” Thanks, Kit! Context is everything to me. If you learn a few words at a time, it becomes easier to fill in the rest of the sentence. ^_^

***

Yuri Manga

Morinaga Milk’s Kisses, Sighs and Cherry Blossoms Pink: The Complete Collection  hit the street this week. I’ve lined up a Guest Reviewer for it, since I’ve reviewed it 3 times already, when it first came out from Yuri Hime and Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the new edition when Futabasha put them out. It’s someone else’s turn. ^_^

Ran across this one quite randomly while searching Amazon JP. Seitokaichou ga Yuri suki demo Mondai nashi!? (生徒会長が百合好きでも問題ナシ! ?) Um, I really don’t know what to say about a story in which the only “conflict” is that the perfect, smart, rich Student Council President likes Yuri. Duh? ^_^

***

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: The Big Feminist But and Drama

June 7th, 2013

Today’s summer reading is different ways to look at being a girl and being a woman, drawn by a whole lot of talented artists.

The Big Feminist But, edited by Shannon O’Leary and Joan Reilly, should be required reading for any and all people who ask questions that begin, “Why do feminists…” or “What do Feminists think about…”

As anyone who is a self-identified feminist knows, feminism is “a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women. Other than this, there is no over-arching philosophy attached to the word, despite what some people believe.

On the other side of the issue, those women who are aware that women ought to be given equal opportunities often have to face “The Big Feminist But” from younger women who have not had to fight for the opportunities they currently have. “I’m all for equal pay for equal work,” they say,” BUT I’m not a feminist.” What they mean, of course is they aren’t the media-manufactured man-hating, bra-burning Straw Feminist that we all know exists. (Kate Beaton has the Final Word on this with her comic, Straw Feminists in the Closet.) While we all “know they exist,” we rarely actually know one, because they hardly exist except as an object lesson. Yes, in the 70s (40 years ago now) some women burned their bras. Is it important? I’m a self-identified butch lesbian and I shave my legs. Gasp!?  The bottom line is,  if you’re for equal pay for equal work, you are a feminist, even if you don’t realize it.

In The Big Feminist But, in more than 30 stories, male and female comic artists explore the questions posed by life as a woman, as a man in a relationship with a woman, a woman in a relationship with a woman, and all sorts of questions about gender, sex, appearance, achievement, employment, motherhood and anything else that has to do with “Being a woman.” The Big Feminist But began life as a successful Kickstarter and is now available for purchase on Amazon. The list of contributors is too large to list here, but you can see them all on the Kickstarter home page

The main thing I am left with after reading this book is the fact that that there are no answers of any kind to “what do feminists think/do/feel/etc?” Just more questions. This book would be a terrific conversation starter for a woman in your life who was at a crossroads and was feeling perplexed about what she wanted out of life. It might not give her answers, but she’ll know she isn’t alone – and there is power in that.

***

Raina Telgemeier is, like so many comic artists I have had the pleasure to meet, incredibly nice. And her comics, which reach that practically invisible space of “good stuff for early teens” is approachable and absolutely un-cringe-making in the way so much for tweens unfortunately is.

In Drama, we meet Callie, a middle-school student who is passionate about theater set design, and is a kid I’d have over for lunch any day. Callie’s pursuing her interest with vigor and doing a good job of it and she is determined to make it even better. With the backdrop of the play, she deals with a relationship that isn’t going where she’d like to, followed quickly by another disappointment. As with all school plays, there is more drama behind the scenes than in front of them and not all of it is Callie’s. ^_^

Callie becomes good friends with twin brothers Jesse and Justin. While Justin is comfortably out to himself and to his friends, Jesse is bottling a lot of stuff up inside.  While Callie struggles with getting a special effect for the play to work, she also finds herself falling for Jesse. Until Jesse realizes that he can’t hide who he is, either. Callie suffers another disappointment in love, but is voted in as Stage Director at the end of the year.

What makes Drama so good is that it’s real without being harsh. Callie and her friends say, do and feel what anyone her age might do, say or feel, without any voyeurism, out of place nostalgia or dark grittiness that often takes the place of character development in western comics. What you do get is an – ultimately – pleasant look at middle-school drama. ^_^

If you know a tween girl who likes comic that don’t preach, or condescend, (and who doesn’t want that?) give them Drama and let Raina work her magic. ^_^





Yuri Anime: Sweet Blue Flowers / Aoi Hana Disk 3 (English)

June 6th, 2013

swbDisk 1  is about beginnings and Disk 2 is about endings.  I’d sum up Disk 3 of Sweet Blue Flowers as somewhere between “what does not kill us makes us stronger” and “time heals all wounds.” Disk 3, is, in fact, about growing up and moving on.

Sugimoto’s sister’s wedding has arrived and with it, the house of cards that Yasuko has built must begin to crumble. When she tries to have it all work one last time, Fumi does something that won my wholehearted admiration when I read it the first time – she tells her to get lost. Not like that, of course, Fumi is kind, but firm, telling Sempai to learn to move on gracefully. Which is what Fumi then does.

To move forward, Fumi turns her thoughts backwards, setting in motion the remaining volumes of the manga. Knowing that very shortly the series will come to an end, I wonder if Fumi and Akira can both move on gracefully – and I absolutely hope they will. The end of the anime reminds me that the friendship between them is a good one. I’d hate to see it end.

I do have one complaint. The translation for Fumi’s lines in this last disk lost her “voice” entirely. She sounded exactly like Akira who sounded like Shinobu. In other words, everyone sounded like a 20 year-old guy. Fumi’s language is very pretty – she’s soft-spoken in voice and words. Akira sounding like Shinobu is one thing – she’s kind of mean to him, but Fumi? It could have been worse, but it could have been better.

This anime  is beautifully animated, well-acted by some newcomers to the voice acting world. It was strongly written and has pretty much set a standard for Yuri anime for many that is going to be very, very hard to beat.

I’m once again thankful to Nozomi/Rightstuf for bringing it over and to all of you for supporting them and buying the series. Now we need anime to roll around through the current non-Yuri phase and pick up something of interest to us once again. ^_^

Ratings:

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

Overall – 10

Whether we want to move forward or not, this disk reminds us, the rest of the world will not stop for us. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime, May 2013 (コミック百合姫)

June 4th, 2013

The cover of the May 2013 Issue of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) shows us a springy scene with what I imagine some people will see as a cute girl carrying boxes outside a door and what I imagine that some people will see as cute cats. Inside the cover, she comes into a comfy space with another girl, with hearts and cats all around. The cover can be cut to create a door to be opened, which will give the scene a sense of motion. This “Spring of Life” is as good a beginning as any, although I kind of miss the crazy violence of Kazuaki’s work. ^_^

I’m going to say this straight up – I liked Takahashi Mako’s story this time. Well, I liked the idea of an imouto-bot who says all the stock things one expects from a “little sister,” Yuri-style. Someone will make a lot of money off this idea someday. I hope it’s Takahashi-sensei.

Takemiya-sensei’s “Nakushimono Okurimono” returns us to Satomi  and Nana and the uncomfortable sense Satomi has that Nana still has feelings for Youko. (All of which is dealt with in Kila Kila.) Satomi comes up with a cute and creative way to resolve the issue.

Sa-chan and Ruki are on an inevitable course now, in ““Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na Nanika” but it’s Remi who awakens Saki to the idea of being with a woman.

Of all the stories in this issue, the one that’s sticking with me is Osawa Yayoi’s, “Strange Babies”, the continuation of Black Yagi to Gekiyaku Madeline. Yagi, having never truly been socialized, is trying hard to be normal, while Madoka find herself cut off by Kokoto’s dominance of Yagi’s time and attention. Kokoto’s obsession is uncomfortable-making, a fair echo of fans who want more from idols than they can reasonably give. It’s very hard to know if Kokoto wants to be with Yagi, be Yagi’s lover, or just *be* Yagi. She may not know herself. All the while, Madoka finds herself pushed aside but incapable of saying anything. It’s also difficult to know if Yagi understands what is going on. It’s my guess that she really does not. ARGH. Frustrating story, but I’m emotionally engaged with it, so good. But ARGH. ^_^

For me, this was not a strong volume. The first half of the magazine this issue had too many physically and emotionally abused, neglected, broken and unhappy girls and way too much emphasis on love saving the day. It’s not cool, editors, not cool at all, to put love or having a lover in the position of “thing that will save you.” It doesn’t work like that and you know it.

Ratings:

Overall – 5

I will never ever enjoy a story where, to save the day, someone has to hit someone else over the head with a rock. If that’s your punchline, you’re on the wrong track for writing a good story.