Author Archive


I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 2

January 12th, 2024

A girl with collar-length brown hair wearing a fanciful red school uniform grips the shoulders of a blonde girl in the same uniform as she kisses her. Pink flower petals fly around them.Rae and Claire are about to face their reckoning, once again, in I’m in Love with the Villainess Audiobook, Volume 2.  The revolution is upon them, the various forces are arrayed against them and their allies are dispersed. Will Rae Taylor, reborn into this world, be able to save her Villainess love?

This second volume is even better than the first in terms of story. Everything between Rae and Claire moves more quickly, as the forces pushing the revolution increase the pressure. The wave of change catches the two of them up and some significant things are done and said. Narrrator Courtney Shaw is absolutely brilliant, especially as Claire at the climax of the narrative. Equally, she’s delivers devastating pathos in the final chapters of the book. Those of you who have read it know why. Those who have not, may wish to have a tissue or hanky at the ready. The only complaint I have is the continued (and in this volume, expanded) odd choices for pronunciation of a few names, but it’s not worth getting upset over. It’s just a small minor objection to what is otherwise a fantastic narration.

If you reading the light novel did not appeal to you, or you’d just like to know what happens after the anime ended, this audiobook version is highly recommended. If you are already a fan of the series, I’d say this a really terrific way to experience the feels all over again. Shaw does a very good job giving Claire and Rae personality and charm. She makes Rod slightly unpalatable, Yuu fragile, and Thane impenetrable…until we understand him better.

And for those of you already enjoying this audiobook series, Volume 3 was released this week and is up on the Yuricon Store, with a number of purchase or streaming options. Book 4 is coming in February, you can pre-order it now on B&N and Bookwalker Global. It is clear that Seven Seas Siren is getting these out with alacrity, while the series is popular. I have a fannish hope we’ll hear some news about a second anime season before these are completed in March. ^_^

Ratings (for the adaptation only):

Overall – 9





Private ha Honnin-tachi ni Makasete Orimasu (γƒ—γƒ©γ‚€γƒ™γƒΌγƒˆγ―ζœ¬δΊΊγŸγ‘γ«δ»»γ›γ¦γŠγ‚ŠγΎγ™)

January 11th, 2024

A pop idol with flowing blonde hair and a pink frilly costume embraces a girl in black, with dark hair and glasses. The air around them shimmers with sparkles and confetti.I picked up a copy of Private Ha Honnin-tachi Ni Makasete Orimasu (γƒ—γƒ©γ‚€γƒ™γƒΌγƒˆγ―ζœ¬δΊΊγŸγ‘γ«δ»»γ›γ¦γŠγ‚ŠγΎγ™) (translated in English on the frontispiece as Private Life Is Left To Them, Yuri Talext x Yuri Anthology) on a whim while at Gamers, I think, in Tokyo.

Once more, there are shelves and shelves of Yuri anthologies, many of them generated by publishing companies like Kadokawa and Ichijinsha to harness the creators who contribute to contests, or are recruited at events, or send in work for publication, much like a farm league for manga. Many manga publishers are now also having editors for web editions and anthology collections appear at events like Comitia for portfolio review. Of course, sometimes one still comes across a smaller publisher or circle creating an anthology. Galette magazine, for instance, is still out there doing a fantastic quarterly Yuri manga magazine that I am horribly behind on reviewing.

As I have said, I didn’t go to Japan with a long list of books to get this last time. It’s much easier to get books shipped or digitally distributed nowadays. So I only picked up things I hadn’t seen before or that looked really interesting. This book falls into the former category. Pop idols who are queer does interest me, as I have a 2 (soon to be the 3) novella series on the topic. This collection includes stories by creators Kashikaze (I Can’t Say No To The Lonely Girl, coming in April from Seven Seas), Yukiko (Cats and Sugar Bowls, also from Seven Seas)and Mikanuji (Assorted Entanglements and other works, out from Yen Press.)

As with most manga anthologies, the contributions here are more extended scenarios, rather than complete stories. These scenarios focus on the private lives of queer pop idols. Whether their admirers or partners are a staff member, or fan or member of the same group, these stories are all designed to end with the two partners happy in each others’ company.

The first story does have some problematic content, so be warned about creepy, stalkery behavior from a person who ins position of power who abuse that powers in a way that didn’t sit right with me. But most of the stories are harmless to cute.

Now that there is some distance between when I read it and reviewing it now, the one story that stood out the most was by Kaibashira, about a pair of idols who are at odds in all their media appearances. One is, apparently a doofus, the other absolutely disgusted with her easy-going partner. They are constantly bickering on-camera. In real life, they are actually deeply in love and still basically a doofus and a bitch.  On a day off, they are mobbed by fans. The bitch character puts the fans off by saying there’s no way they could possibly be friends. But when alone again, she breaks down, upset that she denied their relationship. So the next time it happens, the doofus says proudly that they are dating! And they live happily ever after, one supposes.

A lot of the endings are “one supposes.” We’re not getting epilogues here, so we might as well suppose. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 7

As a fun and harmless exploration of how things might be being a queer idol, this is an interesting prompt for an anthology.





Just Friends by Ana Oncina, Guest Review by Em Evergreeen

January 10th, 2024

Two women hold hands by a vast, purple sea under a yellow sky. One has long curly red hair, wears a hat and and a yellow denim skirt. The other has short black hair, wears a pink shirt with long black sleeves, a backpack and shorts. A large white cloud in the distance billows up from the horizon.Em Evergreen is a lonely lesbian with a manga addiction. Find her at linktr.ee/em.evergreen.Just Friends is a one volume Yuri manga by Spanish mangaka Ana Oncina. Originally published by Planeta CΓ³mic in Spain in 2021, the English edition comes to us courtesy of Tokyopop, with translations by Nanette Cooper-McGuinness. Just Friends was awarded a silver medal at the Japanese Ministry of the Exterior’s International Manga Awards in 2023.Just Friends has the form of a manga, with right-to-left paneling and Japanese-language sound effects, but the lower-line-count art style hints at its overseas origin. It’s an opportunity to read a different type of Yuri, one that plays with the tropes of a culturally distinct adolescence – no sailor uniforms, student council officers, or onigiri are in evidence. Instead our story is set at sleep-away camp, where our teenage characters wear graphic tees and eat pizza and baloney sandwiches.Our protagonist, the introverted Erika, is reluctantly packed off to said camp without any close friends. On the bus there, she meets her polar opposite Emi, who takes an immediate interest in Erika and declares them β€œinseparable” before they even arrive. The story of their whirlwind relationship that summer is framed by more brief flash-forwards into their future, where we see them meet again as thirty-somethings. As with any good real-life sleep-away camp, the setting gives Erika the chance to step outside her comfort zone, figure out some things about herself, and perhaps explore that most new and exciting phenomenon to a teen – romance.To some young adult readers, especially queer ones raised in a similar context, the story will at times be almost painfully relatable. The realistic depictions of social anxiety, bullying, awkwardness, and underage-drinking-fueled misadventures might resonate a bit too strongly for comfort, but you’ll likely chuckle more than cry. Erika and her peers don’t have the communication or conflict resolution skills of adults, but their conflicts aren’t the focus. This is a romance at its core, with a side of navigating heteronormative expectations while figuring out who you are.Just Friends is very much not a Yuri without lesbians. Its mix of LGBTQ issues and romance is distinguished from recent standouts like Shio Usui’s Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon or Sakaomi Yuzaki’s She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat by its strong focus on the drama of adolescence. In that respect, it calls to mind Yuhki Kamatani’s Our Dreams at Dusk, though it’s lighter in tone and less ambitious in scope. Just don’t go into Just Friends expecting a neat and tidy ending, or a sweet story of first love. It’s too grounded in the complexities of real-world romantic relationships, teenage and adult, to give us that. Like all good one volume manga, it leaves you wanting more.Art – 5, effective if not awe-inspiringStory – 8, a nostalgic, bittersweet romanceCharacters – 6, more realistic than memorableService – 3, sex isn’t ignored, but the teens aren’t leered at or sexualizedYuri – 10, Houston, we have lesbians (and/or bisexuals)Overall – 7

 





Anchor Yuri Senryu (γ‚γ‚“γ‹γƒΌη™Ύεˆε·ζŸ³)

January 8th, 2024

Yuri Anchor Senryu 2023, from Yuri Anchor Cafe. Four images show different Yuri scenarios: school age, adult, age gap and sci-fi fantasy.Today we are going to discuss exactly why I love the idea of doujinshi so much.

Think about some schmaltzy mid-20th century American movie in which, oh, I don’t know, Rosemary Clooney or Donald O’Connor says, “Hey kids, let’s put on a show!” The appeal of that idea is the youthful energy of a bunch of enthusiasts who get together and make a thing. Well…in many ways, doujinshi is a different example of that ideal. Yes, we’ve all seen the many iterations of the creators busting their humps to get their work to the printer on time and yes, it is crushingly exhausting to sit there all day and hope folks will buy your books  AND also crushingly exhausting when they *do* buy your books! ^_^ But it is also exhilarating to know that something you brought into existence is out there and people like it.

Additionally, when the work is a group effort, you have the feeling of fellowship – that it wasn’t just you, alone, but a group of comrades that pulled together to make the thing happen.  In this case, the very idea of the book is a group effort. That brings even more people into the circle. I can’t think of a better example of this kind of group creativity than today’s review.

I told you how much I enjoyed Yuri Cafe Anchor, when I visited last month. Well, even before I visited, I encountered them at Comitia, where they were selling both 2022 and 2023 editions of their doujinshi Anchor Yuri Senryu (γ‚γ‚“γ‹γƒΌη™Ύεˆε·ζŸ³). Simplistically, a senruu is a poem composed in the same syllabic style as a haiku, but is about people and their foibles, rather than nature. Much like western limericks, senryuu are often meant to be comedic or satirical.

Yuri Anchor Senryu 2022, from Yuri Anchor Cafe. Three bubbles show different Yuri scenarios: school age, adult and age gap.In 2022, folks at Anchor Cafe wrote senryuu about Yuri situations…and then with the help of Yuri artists and writer, turned those poems into scenarios. They did the same thing again in 2023. I cannot express to you how wonderful these books are. What a terrific idea.  Both books are broken down into Yuri subject themes – school age, adult, age gap and, for 2023, science fiction/fantasy. Each scenario is short – the originating senryuu is printed down one side of the page, a short story, illustration or manga follows.

If the idea itself is not enough to thrill you, as it did me, then the names of Yuri creators we know, might.  The collection includes folks like Morita Miyuki, Hanakage Aruto, Oku Tamamushi, Inui Ayu, Mikan Teren, inori., Hirao Auri and Ohsawa Yayoi, among contributors. It’s an all-star collection. And, now I have some new names to look for, like Sato, Kirishima Ao, Kariya Yukine, Seiniku, Nomiya Rion and Haru Shion.

This doujinshi is a such a clever idea: Bringing a community together at a Yuri-focused cafe to create a work that celebrates classical Japanese poetry, Yuri, manga, and writing…. It’s just too fabulous. I love it.

Ratings:

Everything about them are a 10

Anchor Yuri Senryu 2022 is still available on Anchor’s Booth site in print or digital format. Grab a copy today (and maybe a mug or two) and help support Yuri Cafe Anchor!

 





New Year’s Lucky Boxes – All Claimed

January 7th, 2024

Last month I managed to visit Japan for the first time in almost 5 years. You bet I bought stuff for Lucky Boxes. These could be a blind box/bag, or a clip or folder, or pencil board or pin or who knows what else. I say “who knows,” because I put everything in bags and draw them out quite randomly mainly based on whether they look like they’ll fit the space I have available.

This time we have 6 Lucky boxes – all are premium boxes with media, manga (I’m still cleaning out Bruce’s collection,) candy and toys. They also include other flat fun things like stickers, bookmarks or postcards which are equally random and frequently bizarre (and often not at all Yuri.) As always, there are random pieces of paper like memo pad sheets and individual flake stickers.

My promise to you is that you’ll get random things, sometimes in other in random things. ^_^ I assure you that this is all 100%, unadulterated stuff.

This round we have:
4 Large USPS Flat Rate and 2 Medium USPS flat rate boxes.

Large Box 1 – $60 – Claimed!
Large Box 2 – $60 – Claimed!
Large Box 3 – $60  – Claimed
Medium Box 1 – $30 Claimed!
Medium Box 2 – $30 Claimed!

***

To be eligible to buy a Lucky Box, follow these instructions carefully. Please. Thank you. Failure to follow all of these instructions will disqualify you. It’s not personal, they are all claimed pretty quickly and I don’t have time to track you down for a piece of information.

1. You must live in the Continental USA (contiguous 48) only, no APO/FPOs. This is disappointing for me too, so I apologize.

2. You must be over 18, I am not policing books or recipients.

3. Email me with the Yuricon Contact Form with the subject β€œLucky Box.” Use an email you check regularly, because I will reply asap. The first person who responds to my email gets the box.

4. *****Please include your name, age, mailing address. ***** Tell me which box you want. Even if you’ve given me your address previously, please include it, I am very lazy.

5. I will contact you at that point and give you details about payment by Paypal. Please be prepared to check your email and get payment out so this post doesn’t linger. Thanks in advance. These will be shipped out asap, as well; the whole point of this is to get these out of my house. ^_^

Thank you and enjoy!