Author Archive


Welcome to Hereville – Keep your wits about you (English)

April 7th, 2013

mswordIn 2010, I introduced you to the absolutely fabulous Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch. This is what I said about it:

When I was growing up, I consumed a lot of Jewish folk stories. Actually, I read a lot of folklore and myths, full stop. But Jewish stories always fascinated me because the heroes were rarely strong, but they were always smart. Didn’t matter if they were men or women, wit almost always won the day. Not being strong, but being endowed with a full measure of sarcasm and wit as a kid, I could totally get behind that. Hereville is set in a fantasy Orthodox Jewish village in Somewhere, Anywhere.

Mirka is one of a number of daughters, who wants more out of life than knitting and cooking. She’s smart, but not stupendously so, and has a terrificly snarky step-mother. Mirka gets involved with a magical pig, a witch and a troll, providing her all the adventure she ever wanted and more.

Hereville captures the feeling that I got as a kid reading stories of the Golem of Prague or of the townspeople of Chelm. That Olde Worlde Europe Jewish life that I was glad to have stories of, but was even gladder that I didn’t have to live.

I can’t think of a better book for a young me. 11-year old Mirka would have been a fine companion in my desire for adventure and magic and a chance to use my wit against the odds. If you know a young girl with an open mind, and interest in folk tales and a desire for a sword, Hereville would make a terrific, totally-not-what-they-expected, gift.

mmeteoriteNow I want to call your attention to the absolutely fabulous sequel,  Hereville: How Mirka Met A Meteorite, which was just as  enjoyable, with a full measure of sarcastic-smart stepmother and a deeply Chelmite punchline. (‘Chelm’ is a fictitious town in Poland peopled by the stupidest humans on the planet, with names like Schlemiel and Mensch. They did things like buy a bag of bagel holes and capture the moon…in a pond.)

As tween sequential art literature goes, this series is top-notch. But not because Mirka is a “strong female protagonist.” If anything, it is so incredibly good because, she isn’t.

Just so we’re talking about the same things, on Quora I defined a “strong woman” as Women in control of their circumstances rather than just bearing up well in bad circumstances. Anyone might find themselves able to fight to the last breath in desperation, but the best make sure they never have to.

Here on Okazu, I have elaborated, Women who are perfectly capable living in a world populated by men and women; women who can take command of both men and women and be respected as leaders – and who are not judged by a set of standards that are skewed so they can only ever fail. Women who can find their own solutions to issues, not to have to excel at men’s thinking or men’s skills to be considered a success.

My Friedman Addendum to the Bechdel Test helps us identify if the female lead is more properly seen as a female-shaped male hero.

But let’s take a step back here. While other tween heroes may have been imbued with amazing magical skills, Mirka is a mere mortal. She is not a born leader (although if given the opportunity to learn to how, she might become one one day), not tall, not strong or especially skilled. And yet, she wins.  It’s nice to see the average kid win sometimes – it gives one hope. No, we are not all talented, strong, magical, but we can all win the day, sometimes. Especially when our siblings are sharp.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Character – 8
Story – 8

Overall – 8

In the middle of the Sachikos, the Hermiones, the Korras and the Bandettes, we need to have Yumis and Mirkas, too. Every girl deserves her day of triumph. ^_^

 





Gone Comicin’ – See You at MoCCA!

April 6th, 2013

No YNN today. I’m out having fun at the first of a number of comic-related events I’ll be hitting up this spring. Today you might find me at Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art’s annual event, the MoCCA Arts Festival at 68 Lexington Ave in Manhattan. If you do see me, please come over and say hi, I’ll have a few postcards to give away. ^_^





Yuri Game: Heileen 3 – Sea Maidens, Guest Review by C. Banana

April 5th, 2013

heileen headerToday we have a special treat. Long-time commenter C. Banana has joined the Borg taken up the pen and become an Okazu Guest Reviewer! How excited am I? Very, I assure you. As you know, I do not game, so I am thrilled to be able to let C. tell us all about a Yuri game. Take it away C!

I’m here to talk about an indie dating sim/visual novel in the form of Heileen 3: Sea Maidens from Winter Wolves. For those who don’t know, Sea Maidens is the standalone expansion to the otome game Heileen 3: New Horizons offering four potential Yuri romances. It does help to play the first two Heileen games but it’s not necessary as the third game explains enough that newcomers won’t be lost. If you’re considering buying the first two games, keep in mind that some Yuri fans may not like them, as they’re more Yuri-lite than the third game expansion gets. That said, if you own an Android tablet, Heileen 1 & 2 can be found cheaper on Google Play.

The setting for the Heileen series is during colonial times on an expedition to the New World. The game series puts the player in the shoes of the titular Heileen, a very young noblewoman, who starts out the series very spoiled and immature -although she does get better over time. The events of the first two games involve the initial expedition crashing, resulting in Heileen and friends being stranded on a tropical island. At the end of the second game, Heileen is rescued by relatively friendly pirates which starts off the events of the current game.

Before delving into the romance part, the simulation part of the game should be get a comment. Basically, you train Heileen’s stats and skills to possibly get a possible non-romantic profession ending for Heileen. Usually in simulation games, the first part of the fun comes from the discovery of all the mechanics. The next part of the fun comes from using knowledge of the mechanics to figure out the puzzle of how to use them to achieve your goals. Unfortunately, the simulation side of Heileen 3 is way too simple to find any of this kind of enjoyment from the game and it doesn’t affect the romance scenes at all, anyway.  It’s lucky for the game that the simulation and profession bits are not the main draw – but it does seem like a missed opportunity as it could have added to the game’s enjoyment.

As for the romances, they’re set up in the usual visual novel way, where the choices you make direct who Heileen ends up with (if anyone at all).  For Sea Maidens, the romantic choices are a childhood commoner friend (Mary), a vivacious women in her early forties (Lora), an ex-slave African woman (Ebele), and an irascible pirate lady (Juliet).  As this game was built off the original otome game, the early parts of the game do involve Heileen heavily crushing on guys. If you  only own Sea Maidens, the guys become  impossible to romance.  All of the romances are reasonably long as each playthrough should last multiple hours unless a player is skipping text like crazy.

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As for my comments on the romance paths…

Heileen/Mary – One thing that really surprised me about this route is how high the drama was during this romance, especially for a childhood friend option.  Luckily though the drama didn’t overstay its welcome for me and I ended up enjoying this route quite a bit.  As someone who’s played the first Heileen, it was nice touch that there was quite a bit of contrast to the Mary route in the first game as Heileen shows herself as much more mature and competent during the third game’s Mary route.

Heileen/Lora – A confession I’ll make is that I liked the Heileen/Lora route in the first Heileen game.  That said, playing this route in Heileen 3 actually creeped me out a little as the mother/daughter vibe of their relationship is played up at the same time during this route.  I’m pretty sure people who can get past that would enjoy the route a lot more than I did.

Heileen/Ebele – This romance certainly plays out significantly nicer than the others as, during this route, conflict between Heileen and Ebele is kept to a minimum.  I liked this route in a mild way but unfortunately that doesn’t give me a lot to say about it.

Heileen/Juliet – I romanced Juliet the first time through and on subsequent playthroughs, I kept being tempted to play through her route again.  One really positive thing about this route is that both Heileen and Juliet go through a fair amount of character development during this route.  The ending CG is without a doubt my favourite of the bunch.  Also, in what universe is a kickass pirate lady not considered a plus?

heileen-juilet ending cg

 

All in all, the potential romances offered are different enough that most people should find one route that they particularly like.

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 5 to 9
Service – 5

Overall – 8

Erica here. Thank you so much for this review and the lovely picture which we all can enjoy. ^_^ Sincerely, I can’t thank you enough. 

As always, if any of you, my dear readers, would like to offer a Guest Review, please take a look at these guidelines. I’m always on the lookout for points of view that are not my own and reviews of things I can’t or won’t review. Thanks again C. and here’s to more great Guest Reviews!

 





Yuri Manga: Gakuen Polizi (歩朒ポăƒȘăƒŒăƒă‚§)

April 4th, 2013

Gakuen Polizi (歩朒ポăƒȘăƒŒăƒă‚§) is Morinaga Milk’s newest series…and I think I like it. A lot. The more I think about it, the more I’m pretty sure she’s using her magic powers for good.

Aoba has always wanted to be an ally of Justice and now, as she tranfsers into Hanagaki Girl’s School, she has her chance – she is an official unofficial School Policewoman in training. She’s going to bring justice to this unruly school! Unfortunately for her, the school’s denizens are rather nice young girls and not prone to getting into trouble, but that’s not going to stop Aoba from making a difference.

When a classmate recruits her to investigate the school’s seven mysteries, the girls discover someone lurking in the library – is it a criminal?!? – Aoba pounces, only to discover a classmate, quiet, unobtrusive Midori. To Aoba’s shock she learns that Midori is also assigned to this school as police. Midori admits her father, Chief of Police, has buried her here in this quiet, peaceful school.

Undeterred, Aoba drags Midori into a multitude of small disagreements and personal issues. Midori, who also draws manga, cannot understand Aoba’s enthsiasm and insists she wants to be left alone.  When a dog attacks Midori, Aoba shouts at the animal, insisting Midori is her “Important Partner!” Since no one is supposed to know they are police, the school paper presumes that means they are “Yuri.”

After all this silliness is laid out, somewhat surprisingly, a real story begins. The girls catch a groper on the morning train and in an emotional episode, track down a guy that was stalking a classmate’s sister. In this chapter we are plainly told that the police basically didn’t give a crap about the girl and let the guy off with a fine, but the sister is still terrified of leaving the house. Which is just about when I thought…holy crow, I think I know what Morinaga-sensei is doing here….

Remember that this series is running in Comic High, so the audience is pretty typical otaku guys. The kind of guys who might think staring a a girl’s chest is a compliment or who think girls wearing skirts is an implicit permission for them to take upskirt pictures. (You know, pretty much any guy who doesn’t hold himself to a standard of not being an animal.)

These crimes are real crimes that happen to real girls and women every day. And, every day, the police are not helpful – and often extremely dismissive – of these kinds of complaints. As I read the chapter about the stalker, I remembered a number of news stories from Japan, in which the police have actually been perfectly horrible to the women who came to them for help. Here’s what I think. I think  Morinaga-sensei is doing political and social commentary, in a moe Yuri manga, without shaming, blaming or pointing fingers. The more I read this volume, the more convinced I was that she’s using her magic powers for good. I approve.

The art is exactly what one expects from Morinaga-sensei, with slightly more serious faces than usual. Aoba is a happy, energetic, extrovert type and Midori – who has a former partner and a backstory that will, I’m sure make up the bulk of Volume 2 – is quiet, serious and introverted. Because there was actual story in Volume 1, rather than the more usual character development, we have yet to see Aoba’s backstory, but you know – that’s okay by me.

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Volume 1 is an intriguing open to a new student police saga, wholly unlike Sukeban Deka or YajiKita Gakuen Douchuuki. There might no be drug lords in Aoba’s future, but the bullies,  the mean girls, the nasty teachers and all the other rotten, horrible people that make high school life such a chore, should watch out – this school’s protected by the police.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – hints, teases and misunderstandings. “Important partner” and Midori’s backstory
Service – Not as much as you might expect, but still – 3

Overall – 8

The synopsis says this is a Yuri love comedy. I’m willing to wait. ^_^

Oh, btw. The title should be “Gakuen Police” but the Japanese transliterates to gakuen polichi and I chose “polizi” over “polici” for no reason at all, except I thought it looked more stylish.





Bodacious Space Pirates 2 Anime, Disk 1 (English)

April 2nd, 2013

BDSP2BDAs the first disk of the second Bodacious Space Pirates collection opens (available on Blu-Ray and DVD), Marika and the girls of the Hakuoh Academy Yacht Club are thrust into a complex and dangerous situation! Oh no!

With the crew of the Bentenmaru quarantined, Marika recruits the Yacht Club members to do some piracy, so the Bentenmaru can maintain its Letter of Marque. Of course the girls are more than up for it and, after a typical piracy gig, they take on an ad hoc project – one that is genuinely dangerous. Jenny Dolittle, former club president, is facing an unwanted marriage as a part of her uncle’s business strategy. Lynn asks Marika if they can ‘kidnap’ her – or, really, prevent her from being kidnapped by her uncle.

This arc rocks in a number of ways and sucks in only one.

Let’s revisit my interpretation of the phrase a “strong female” character. I believe that a “strong” character is a character who takes control of their circumstances, a character that leads, not follows. In this arc Marika, Jenny and Lynn show themselves to be “strong” by my definition. Rather than allowing circumstances to  overwhelm them, they fight back with their brains, their power and their network of allies. A perfect example, IMHO, of female leaders leading.  As a bonus, we are given  a perfect Yuri couple, with *my* kind of service. Jenny makes a lovely princess to Lynn’s prince. ^_^

The only real negative in this arc is the animation. It completely falls to shit just when we might have wanted it to be at its most glorious. To be fair, the CGI is going to go through the roof in upcoming arcs, but darnit, it would have been nice of them to do some touch-up when Jenny and Lynn reunite. :-(

In the following arc, we again see something unusual – a minor character given a chance to shine. Once more we get a female character who is not overwhelmed by her circumstances. Ai shows us that she works hard and is able to retain control through good decision-making skills. A totally worthy conclusion to what is otherwise a silly arc.

There is some fanservice during the Nebula cup arc that may or may not annoy you. To give the creators credit, they”serve” up beefcake as well as more typical moe tropes.

As far as I’m concerned, this disk wins the universe. It has everything I’ve ever wanted in a series all at once. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7, but drops to like 3 just when I want it to be a 9. Sigh
Character – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 6

Overall – 9

Multiple named female characters that speak with each other about lots of things other than a man. Female characters with agency, with society, with smarts and friends and awesome personalities, allowed to shine. Bechdel Test and Friedman Addendum (as proposed here)  passed with flying colors. This series *still* makes my Top List this year.