Author Archive


Aoi Hana to End in July

May 8th, 2013

Aoi_Hana1ANN is reporting that Shimura Takako’s Yuri manga, Aoi Hana  will be coming to an end in the July issue of Manga Erotics F.

The Aoi Hana manga was picked up for translation by JManga in 2012 and the Sweet Blue Flowers anime was recently released by Nozomi/RightStuf.

8 volumes is a good solid run, so there’ll be no complaints from me. Thank you Shimura-sensei for such a wonderful series!

Thanks also to YNN Correspondent Orange Pekoe who wrote in to let us know the news.





New Blog – Utter Crap I’m Listening to Right Now

May 7th, 2013

I’m very active on a Q&A website called Quora. Quora has private board/blog things (affectionately known as bloargs) and you know, I needed *another* timesink and place to write about random anime-related crap, so I created a bloarg entitled Utter Crap I’m Listening to Right Now there, just because I found it amusing to do so.

I post the (mostly) anime music I’m listening to and the stories behind the series and what makes it meaningful to me. This will have a fair amount of Yuri-related stuff on it, because that’s the way I roll. Drop by if you want to know what crap I’m listening to right now! (Or if you are massively bored and want to read any of the 2500+ answers I’ve posted there.)

Quora is a closed community, but with the link above you *ought* to be able to see the bloarg without difficulty. Enjoy the stories, the videos and the Utter Crap I’m Listening to.  If you decide to register on Quora, you can Follow the bloarg and never miss a single piece of crappy music. ^_^





Yuri Anime: Sweet Blue Flowers / Aoi Hana Disk 1 (English)

May 6th, 2013

swbWhen Manjoume Fumi returns home to Kamakura to go to high school, she’s pretty much forgotten her childhood best friend, Okudaira Akira. But circumstance has brought the two together again in what, for many Yuri fans, is the most-anticipated anime release of 2013.

Fumi is a Nadesico beauty, tall, with long black hair. She was – and still is – a crybaby, who as child often turned to energetic, assertive Akira, A-chan, for help. Their meeting is accidental, but they fall back into their old pattern without even realizing it. And, in a moment, the two of them are best friends once again, even though they go to different schools.

Fumi is caught up in cross-school event, the Drama Club’s play for the school festival – and even more caught up by the lead actress, Sugimoto Yasuko. Somewhat to her surprise, Fumi finds herself dating Sugimoto-sempai and liking it, despite having recently ended a disappointing affair with her cousin.

Everything in this series is classic Yuri, redolent with the smell of old school hallways and libraries filled with old books, until Fumi confesses to her new-old best friend that she’s in love with and dating another girl. A-chan does her best to support Fumi. When Fumi tells Sugimoto, she realizes instantly that Fumi is exceedingly strong. She’s right, but she doesn’t yet know how strong Fumi is. Aoi Hana may feel like it’s set in the Showa period, but Fumi is a Heisei girl – a contrast we’ll see again and again in this story.

However. It wasn’t Fumi’s achingly adorable personality that brought a tear to my increasingly sentimental eye this time. It was the title of the first episode. As the words Hana Monogatari (花物語り) appeared on the screen, I got something in my eye, or maybe it was my allergies. (;_;) Or, maybe, it was the reminder that I’m not the only person to think of Yoshiya Nobuko as a beloved ancestor to this genre.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Yuri – 9
Service – 2

Overall – 9

Disk 1 of Sweet Blue Flowers was incredibly beautiful, with the hyper-realistic backgrounds that are so popular in anime right now and the source of so much destination tourism for fans in Japan. Despite it being a “Lucky Penny” discount release, the DVD set comes with a booklet of promotional art, so we get a great extra even with the lower price.

You know how Fumi feels about the halls of Fujigaya? I feel that way about this anime. It’s recent chronologically, but it is a Yuri classic, nonetheless. I am so thankful to Shimura-sensei for writing this manga, and for JC Staff for animating it. And I am very, very thankful to Nozomi/RightStuf for releasing it in English!





Ichigo Mashimaro Manga, Volume 7(苺ましまろ)

May 5th, 2013

It’s been a long time since I’ve typed these words, (4 years, in fact)  but here we are, reading Ichigo Mashimaro, Volume 7 (苺ましまろ).

In those four years, two things have changed for Chika and her friends: One – Chika’s become a pretty damn good comedian in her own right and; Two – Miu’s skills using everyone and everything around her as a prop has soared to transcendent heights.

Volume 7 features, almost exclusively, the two of them committing sublime acts of comedy.  Anna functions mostly as Matsuri’s keeper and occasional kuroko. Nobue plays the same role for Chika. This volume is the Chi & Mi Comedy Hour…and don’t you forget it.

The first chapters are pure manzai in a time warp. The teacher yells at Miu for something, Miu responds with boke precision and Chika supplies alternative punchlines.  Same gag over and over, different punchlines. For *pages.*

Several chapters are retellings of well-known stories, Mashimaro style. Momotarou never looked so petulant, and Mario has never been so cruel to Princess Peach. And there are several classic ensemble-style chapters, including a precious one where the Chika and Miu pair are held up as foils to the Anna and Matsuri pair. Who reigns supreme at the end of the chapter depends on how boring you are – or not. ^_^

The  chapter where Miu is drawing special and sound effects on transparencies then holding them up, so we can “see” the effects is laugh out loud hilarious.

It’s all fun and games, but the highlight for me was a short gag in when we see exactly who Chika has become. Drunk Nobue comes home and is drunk. Chika stands up, and offers her a seat in the VIP section. Nobue staggers in. Chika closes the closet door on her and returns to watching TV with Miu. It’s only a few pages, but it’s an epiphany.

Ratings:

Art – 8 For the visual gag chapter alone
Story – 6
Characters –  Miu and Chika steal this volume – 9 for them, 5 for everyone else
Yuri –  2
Service – 7 (Same old underwear gags and lots of dress up and strange poses)

Overall – 8 When it’s funny, it’s really funny.

Miu ‘s dying words as a crossword puzzle for the win.





Yuri Network News – May 4, 2013

May 4th, 2013

YNN_LissaYuri Manga

Comic Yuri Hime, July issue is up for pre-order. Iimura Ei’s Tsumikizm (ツミキズム) joins the other books that’ll street next month along with it.

From Rakuen Le Paradis, the end of this month will see Volume 2 of Takemiya Jin’s Omoi no Kakera (想いの欠片). Whee! More Mika!

And Kuzushiro’s Kimi no Tamenara Shineru (姫のためなら死ねる) continues with Volume 3. It seems like just yesterday we were torturing ourselves translating Volume 2 for JManga. ^_^

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Random Highly Entertaining News

Wedding Peach creator Nao Yazawa is giving her comic strip manga Go Go Nao-pi!  away in Kindle edition for free – in English! If you want to understand a manga artist’s life, here’s a great chance to gain some insight straight from the artist herself. Offer is good until May 5th, but the book is only $2.99 after, so if you miss this chance, it’s still a good deal. The manga has been translated and lettered in English by Yazawa-sensei herself, so be very impressed. ^_^

A talented and enterprising Sailor Moon fan has designed beautiful engagement rings based on the the names of the Senshi attacks. You can find the designs on her Tumblr: Inner Senshi and Outer Senshi. I quite like these. Especially Mercury’s and Neptune’s, which are very elegant. Venus’s Love Chain Encircle seems exceedingly suited to the form and World Shaking made my heart skip a beat. ^_^ Thanks to Alison R. for bringing these to our attention!

I am running the softest, cutest, fluffiest Yuri contest ever…also the contest with the lowest entry bar ever. I’ll be giving away a pile of other crap good stuff as well as the grand prize, so enter for a chance to get…stuff!

From the wilds of the Internet, the utterly amazing “Billy Ireland Cartoon Library is home to one of the largest Japanese-language manga collections outside of Japan, amounting to over 18,000 manga items. This includes an incredible 500+ issue run of Jiji Manga, a weekly supplement that was added to the Jiji-Shinpo newspapers in 1900. This would be the first time that the word manga appeared in the title of a publication, inaugurating it’s popular use.

The image [on this page] is from the front cover of the February 11th, 1921 issue of Jiji Manga, a beautifully designed cartoon piece on Japanese women’s liberation.”

Not to get us too excited or anything, but the new Sailor Moon action figure has a commercial…and is voiced by Mitsuishi Kotono. There have been no announcements about seiyuu as of yet, so don’t presume. Nonetheless, it’s nice to hear Usagi again. ^_^

Shueisha is shutting down Super Dash & Go magazine.  They are going to continue some of the manga on the magazine website, I don’t know if that will include R.O.D. Rehabilitation, or not.

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Events

The 9th Girls Love Fest, all-Yuri doujinshi market will be held on May 26th just south of Tokyo. (If I recall, it was pretty easily accessible on a JR line.)

If you’re going to be at Toronto Comics Arts Festival on May 11-12, there’s going to be a Queer Mixer on Saturday night. I’m planning on attending, so do come over and say hi. I’d love to meet more of my Toronto area readers!

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Anime News

In double (O_o) news, Media Blasters has licensed the Rio Rainbow Gate anime. I bet that’ll be a big seller… I know I watched it, but I’ll be damned if I can remember any of it, which is usually a sign that my brain is protecting me. ^_^ There was Yuri-goggle Yuri if you’re desperate enough.

Last up for today, according to Bandai, the Blu-Ray for Ghost in the Shell: Arise will contain English subtitles.

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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!