Author Archive


Yuri Network News – March 16, 2013

March 16th, 2013

YNN_LissaYuri Manga

The May issue of Comic Yuri Hime‘s (コミック百合姫) cover is festive, flowerful and has a kitten, to cover all bases.

The second volume of Amano-sensei’s Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na Nanika (私の世界を構成する塵のような何か) with more compelling stories of real lesbian relationships hit shelves  mid-April.

Also streeting in April are the second and final volume of Fu~Fu (ふ~ふ) with an utterly goofy-grin making ending,  Kazuma Kowo’s Namae ha Mada nai (名前はまだない) and the second volume of Kimono Nadesico (きものなでしこ).

From Tsubomi Comics, April sees the second volume of Kami-sama bakari Koi o suru (神さまばかり恋をする)

And from Hirari magazine, April sees the debut of Koubai no Procyon (購買のプロキオン).

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Other News

Kodansha USA has donated books to libraries trying to rebuild in the Far Rockaways in New York. I’d love to see more publishers based in New York follow suit.

Shimua Takako’s masterwork, Wandering Son, Volume 5 is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Bodacious Space Pirate film project now has a February release date and some spiffy new designs. Check out ANN’s article for both.

Last up, we have a very exciting and challenging contest coming up tomorrow, so tune back in!

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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!





JManga Shutting Down

March 14th, 2013

日本語で

What a way to start a morning. I woke up to this announcement: JManga.com Retail/Viewing Service Termination and Refund Notice

This is not a hack, I have received an email from JManga expressing their regret. I have no more details about this matter than is stated on the website, so I strongly urge you to read the message for those details.

We do not know why they are shutting down. I had every expectation of continuing to do business with them this year, this was very sudden. You cannot extrapolate from nothing the “why.” Business is a series of risks, and the risk goes beyond just sales – there are so many variables here, it’s impossible to know which – if indeed any – of the risk factors were involved in this.

There will be some people who will point fingers and gloat about having not purchased any manga with JManga. To me, it’s about the equivalent of seeing a movie in the theater. I paid a price and enjoyed the media. In fact, reading a manga on JManga was less than half the cost of seeing a movie. I hope that the readers of Okazu are not the kind of people to gloat when a movie theater dies, because you still have Netflix.

I want to say that it was my sincerest pleasure to work with Robert Newman and Sahashi Yae-san at JManga, with Erin Subramanian, Elina Ishikawa, Simona Stanzani, Mari Morimoto and William Flanagan at ALC Publishing and Carl Vanderhout and Sam Pinasnski, who handled lettering . I sincerely hope to work together again one day soon.

To all the folks that made JManga happen – thank you. It was a lot of fun.

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なんて朝の始まり方でしょうか。私が目覚めて気づいたのが、JManga.comによる販売・購読サービス終了と払い戻しについての告知でした。

これは悪戯などではありません。私にはJMangaから、彼らの遺憾の意を伝えるメールも届いていたのです。この件について、サイトで示されている以上の詳しいことは、私にも情報がありません。なので、詳細についてはそのメッセージを直接確認することを、強くお勧めします。

私達にも、閉鎖の理由はわかりません。私自身も今年中はずっと彼らとビジネスを続けていく予定でしたから、本当に突然のことでした。情報がない以上、理由を推測することは出来ません。ビジネスにはたくさんのリスクが付き物ですし、単純な売り上げ以外のリスクというものも存在します。そこにはたくさんの変わっていく状況がありますし、もし実際にあったとしても、どんなリスク要素が今回の件に関わっているのか、知るのは不可能だと思います。

JMangaでどの漫画も購入しなかったことについて非難し、悦に入る人達もいるでしょう。私にとって、それは映画館で映画を観るのと同じことです。料金を払ってメディアを楽しむということでした。実際のところ、JMangaで漫画を読むのは、映画料金の半分よりも少ないくらいです。Okazuの読者達は、映画館が潰れた時に、まだオンラインレンタルサービスのネットフリックスがあるからと、悦に入るような種類の人達ではないと思いたいです。

JMangaのロバート・ニューマンと佐橋八衣さん、私のALC Publishingを通してエリン・サブラマニアン、エリーナ・イシカワ、シモーナ・スタンザーニ、マリ・モリモト、そしてウイリアム・フラナガン, またレタリングのカールヴァーでハウトそしてサムピナンスキといった方達と共に仕事が出来たことに、心から感謝を伝えたいと思います。いつかすぐまた、共に働けることを心から願っていますね。

JMangaを実現させてくれた全ての方々に – ありがとう。本当に楽しかったです。

(小松さんによる翻訳 Many thanks to Komatsu-san for the translation)





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

March 13th, 2013

Comic Yuri Hime, March 2013 (コミック百合姫) has so much going on that upon first glance, my thought was, “The most recent issue of Comic Yuri Hime feels like the end times. There’s a wedding, gay pride and an older couple. Whoah.”

Well, upon reading it all the way through, I would like to revise that to “The most recent issue of Comic Yuri Hime feels like the end times. There’s a wedding, gay pride, an older couple and a HELICOPTER! Whoah!”

But I get ahead of myself. ^_^

There is a wedding. Minamoto Hisanari’s “Fu~Fu” comes to a close in the goopiest, most smile-making way possible, as Kina and Sumi make vows that have meaning to them.

There is gay pride, as Takemiya Jin’s story of Satomi’s discovery of herself as a young lesbian comes to an end with Satomi telling Asuna off for her LGBTQ-loathing vision of what life should be like and standing up for her own normal. The end of this series echoes what I have so often longed for in others – take the lesbian out of the dysfunctional relationship and plop her down in a functional one.

There are older characters. I’m afraid I’ll never like Takahashi Mako’s idea of “romantic” but they do indeed grow old together in “Yuki Bara, Akai Bara.”

There is a breakup in “Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na Nanika” that looks like a real breakup. The first that I have ever seen in manga. No histrionics, just two people who have irreconcilable differences. Darn you, Amano-sensei. I really wanted them to work it out.

There is good and bad and schoolgirls and adults in this issue of Comic Yuri Hime.

But more importantly than all of this.

There is a helicopter. ^_^ (As Mathilde says, “Let’s face it: it wouldn’t be proper Yuri without the helicopters.”)

In “Love Gene Double XX.” But  I’m not going to tell you why. In any case, it’s utterly beside the point. The point is, despite all logic, the newest, strangest, most delightful Yuri trope – forget butches on motorcycles – is helicopters. Hee hee hee! ^_^

 

Ratings:

Overall – 9

Not just because of the helicopter, but it helped. ^_^ Do you think I ought to add “Helicopter” as a Category, I wonder?

 





Okazu News: Okazu Post in Academic Online Journal

March 12th, 2013

Last year I wrote a blog post on Okazu about Maria-sama ga Miteru, Bodacious Space Pirates, The Bechdel Test and portrayals of women in anime that were genuinely strong (as opposed to the “strong woman” trope of body-suited chick with big gun). The article has now been published in an academic online journal on feminist studies, labrys. It’s been cleaned up so there is less presumption of knowledge of the series discussed for non-fan readers, so please feel free to share the link with media and feminist studies folks.

It’s a Woman’s World: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Bodacious Space Pirates, “strong women” and the Bechdel Test

It’s also been added to the Yuricon Essays page. If you’ve written something that belongs there, please let me know, we’re always looking for Yuri scholarship to add!

 

 

 

 





Yuri Manga: GIRL FRIENDS, The Complete Collection Volume 2 (English)

March 10th, 2013

Morinaga Milk’s GIRL FRIENDS, The Complete Collection, Volume 2, begins with an ending which segues into a new beginning for both Mari and Akiko.

As I noted in my review of the original volumes, after we’ve fully tasted the situation from Mari’s side – which is to say, plumbed the confusion, mortification, attraction and tension from the perspective of an introvert – we turn to Akiko the extrovert, who is no less confused, ecstatic, hurt, and out of her mind.

After plot complications that are realistic and some that are not so, the two find a moment to air out their mutual issues and, for a moment, are as one.

In re-reading this book I am once again reminded that, for all the manga tropes and plot complications, this is a fairly realistic story. Happily-ever-after does not begin with the moment of mutual confession. Life can never be that simple – and indeed it is not, even at the end of the series. But we can know, with every fiber of our being that Akiko and Mari have an excellent shot at building a life together because, as Mari says, “Regardless of what may lie ahead, I will never give up on you.”

Seven Seas’ volume was once again very decent. (There was one repeated typographical error -the music notes in reverse color – that should be fixed for any second printings, as it is actively distracting.) I notice that Macmillian is distributing the books, so I guess they managed to shift their contract from Tor into the larger group – for which I’m glad, that was never a great fit, and it allows them the distribution that direct sales and Amazon cannot provide. It also explains why GIRL FRIENDS is able to make the NY Times best-seller list. I’m pleased for Seven Seas and Morinaga-sensei all around.

Ratings:

Art – 9 (The art definitely improved over the course of this series)
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 10
Service – 6

Overall – 9

For those readers who worried that the first volume ended in a bad place – have patience and read the whole story. ^_^

CONTEST RESULTS:

I would like to thank everyone who entered in the Complete Collection Give-a-Way. We have a winner!

Kathryn (who writes the Contemporary Japanese Literature blog, which is absolutely worth your time) your message inspired me and, I hope, many others! You are the winner of this contest. Please email me at yuricon at gmail dot com with your address and a complete set of Morinaga Milk’s GIRL FRIENDS will be on its way to you!

I want to thank all of you who entered with your messages of love and acceptance. And I especially want to thank Ana Moreno, translator of GIRL FRIENDS, the Complete Collection, for her generous provision of books for this contest!  Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

AND I want to thank Okazu Superhero Amanda M. for her sponsorship of today’s review! I could not do it without you!

We’ve got a pile of new contests coming up here, so keep your antenna tuned to Okazu in days ahead. (So many things to give away…) ^_^