Author Archive


Psycho-Pass Anime (English)

January 27th, 2013

A few months ago, I was wandering around anime/manga goods stores in Tokyo and, I could hardly help noticing the pony-tailed woman in a black suit with the intense gaze in the sections of Psycho-Pass goods. I have excellent gaydar, even for anime and manga, and I instantly got the vibe with her. I looked up the series and found myself confronted with a number of incredibly bad synopses to chose from, none of which explain anything at all about the story. (I understand that the Japanese companies send terrible copy over, but dear ANN and Crunchyroll, get someone who can write a friggin’ coherent synopsis, please. Synopses, at barest minimum should look like this:

In a setting, a protagonist finds him/herself in a situation cause effect. An adjective genre media by director/writer/famous name associated with the series.

Just like a Mad Lib, replace the italics above with the specifics and viola! coherent synopsis.

In a future where a global computer system determines a person’s fate – even so far as their capacity for crime – using their “Psycho-Pass”- new Inspector in the Public Safety Bureau, Tsunemori Akane finds herself  tracking down a serial killer whose “Psycho-Pass” remains unstained with criminal intent. A thrilling new suspense anime written by Urobuchi Gen and novelist Fukami Makoto.

See, it’s not that hard!*

Anyway, so I get home from Japan and Katherine H of Yuri no Boke tells me I really should watch it, Yayoi is awesome. But the synopses I read made the story sound so meh, I resisted. (Sorry, Katherine, I should have listened to you.)

Why the heck didn’t anyone tell me it was also written by Fukami Makoto? Sheesh, people, if you had just told me that, I would have watched it right away. I don’t give a hoot about Urobuchi Gen, but Fukami wrote Vertigo. Anything Fukami is involved in is sure to have lesbians who don’t suck.

Anyway, once I realized Fukami was involved, I started watching Psycho-Pass, which is streaming for free with registration on Funimation’s website. (Region blocking will apply.)

And it was really very good. It is indeed a “suspense” genre with a serial killer, so if you hate that crap (and who could blame you?) avoid it. They never go explicitly gross, like Suicide Club or anything. It’s suspense, not horror, but the implications can get really grim.

Yes, there’s Yuri. In the first half of the series, one of the characters involved in an arc set in a elite girl’s school is not above seducing underclassmen for a little sex and gruesome murder.

But the reason one might watch the series is the aforementioned black-suited “Enforcer,” Yayoi. When we first see her, she has just finished a light snack of Karanomori Shion, an analyst for the PSB. In addition, a full episode is dedicated to Yayoi’s backstory that does not shy from her orientation. If anything it gives a wholly functional look to the slightly ruined  life of a woman who loves women. (Something Fukami is good at.)

Yayoi makes a very decent series excellent. ^_^

There’s one other really excellent thing about the series – the character designs are totally atypical for a Fukami project, so none of the women have absurdly large breasts as they did in Vertigo. And Akane, who clearly would have been moe in any other anime series is shockingly not, here. If anything, her design looks a little droopy-eyed, rather than childish. I really like the character designs, they say “We want to become a live-action movie one day”. ^_^

A good watch, I look forward to the second half. My only complaint is the bad guy. I hate the handwave of the psycho killer who law enforcement canNOT track/find/identify for blah blah reason. Other than that handwave, it’s quite excellent.

Ratings:

Art – YMMV, but I say 8
Character – 9
Story – 9 It’s all shark jumping, all the time
Yuri – 8
Service – 7 Fans of creepy horror violence against women are creepy

Overall – 8

I like the fact that “Psycho-Pass” is a homophone for “psychopath” when said by a Japanese speaker.

*Actually, writing synopses must be hard, Funimation doesn’t even bother on their website for the series.





Yuri Network News – January 25, 2013

January 26th, 2013

Yuri Anime

Nozomi/RightStuf announces the Limited Edition DVD release of the first half of Riyoko Ikeda’s timeless classic of the French Revolution, Rose of Versailles. Check out their RoV page rov.rightstuf.com for a series preview and ordering information!

And, don’t forget while you’re there to pre-order your copy of Aoi Hana/Sweet Blue Flowers.

A little disappointed with the current season of anime? A Certain Scientific Railgun continues this April in A Certain Scientific Railgun S. (Also, you should watch Psycho Pass, but that’s another thing.)

The Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha As The Second movie is due out on March 22 and DVD and Blu-ray will once again include English subtitles. (There are multiple choices for various Special Editions, so I’ll just link you to the regular “Special Edition” and not the super special or regular editions. Feel free to figure it out on your own. ^_^; (Yes, that is the sound of me giving up, funny you should mention it.)

Sentai Filmworks has licensed the K-ON! movie. (There is absolutely no Yuri in it, not even vague service, FYI, but it was fun.)

Hahahaha! Sentai also licensed Kämpfer. Gosh I know we were all waiting for that one. Here’s my take on that series from when it showed originally. The Entrails animals were seriously great, but it’s up to you whether they were great enough to make watching the series worthwhile.

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Yuri Manga

YNN Correspondent from France, vero, reports two new Yuri manga licenses from Taifu – Nanzaki Iku’s Sweet Little Devil and Morinaga Milk’s Kushibiru Tameiki Sakurairo, which will be known as Secret Girlfriends.

As a number of folks have noted that the Girlfriends Collection, Volume 2 by Morinaga Milk is at #5 on the New York Times Manga best seller list. ^_^

ANN reports that Kodansha has listed the first volume of the Sailor Moon short story collections for September, after the main series is complete. The second volume is slated for November.

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Random

A fan of Yuru Yuri has created a 3-D replica of the Amusement Club’s  clubroom as a dollhouse.

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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!

 





What "Following Your Bliss" Looks Like

January 25th, 2013

I came across my answer to this question: What has happened to you when you’ve followed your bliss? on Quora. Since it is absolutely related to Okazu, I wanted to share my answer with you:

Campbell talked about this line at length. “Follow Your Bliss”  wasn’t ever meant to be a bumper sticker, but a compulsion, something that the Hero HAS to do. It’s not easy, cute, fluffy-bunny stuff. It’s hard work, thankless and you can never go home again.

Yes, I’ve followed my bliss. It’s hard work, thankless and the new home I have made is full of amazing people. But it’s still work, every day. And when I die, no one will remember or care. I will be a footnote in a book, a sidebar discussion in a discussion and that’ll be my entire legacy. 3 paragraphs in a text no one will read.

***
I wanted you to know that, yes, I consider this endless promotion of a genre to fans who would suffocate it to death with their love a compulsion.

I cannot stop exhorting you to support the creators with money, to appreciate the riches you have now, when a decade ago you had so much less.

I will not stop writing reviews in hopes that you will buy or license to consume the content on a particular platform no matter how many excuses you have to justify not doing so.

I will continue to tell companies like Sentai to cease translating the word “Yuri” if they cannot find a less skeevey phrase than “girl on girl”. I will continue to rag at Seven Seas for never thinking to send me a review copy of their books – even the ones I worked on.

I will continue to comment on fanboys’ absurdly simplistic understanding of women.  I will be too opinionated and too rude for these poor, sensitive fanboys who are remarkably fragile for people who threaten to rape and kill me all the time.

I will continue to support the industry with loads of my money, because I fucking love Yuri. And if you love it, you’ll do the same thing. (And I’ll keep saying that.)

I will continue to spend 40 or more hours a week on reading, writing, researching, answering questions, working websites, projects and promotion.

When I die, no one will remember me or Okazu, because I will have not been the person who made any money on this, gained any recognition or lifetime achievement awards. It’ll probably kill me in the end.

But I have to do it, because that is what I have to do. Because I love it with a burning flame of passion that can’t be quenched.

This is what “Following Your Bliss” looks like.





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

January 24th, 2013

Once again, the cover of Comic Yuri Hime (コミック百合姫) tells a story. The January issue’s story, which is helpfully titled “Love Story”, provides flashbacks to Mad magazines of old, as the cover and inside cover offer *4* pages of story with the fold.

This issue was primarily interesting for the various ways in which so many of the stories explored the typical tropes of schoolgirl Yuri with abandon. And I mean that – artists are really just going nuts within the same few basic ideas. Girls are still transferring into elite schools, where they encounter the star of the school…but none of the typical things one might expect are happening. The star of the school is not who she seems, murders occur, things are being smashed and thrown and kisses are hard, sometimes, and gentle sometimes. Characters are enigmatic, cheerful, angry, polite and crazy. This issue is not, really, in any way a great reflection of life, but that isn’t my point. My point is…wow there’s a lot of *stuff* going on in this magazine!

And once again “Fu~Fu~” wins the universe as Sumi decides that she and Kina ought to, y’know, have matching rings. Oh god this series is so cute! Kinana agrees that matching rings would suit them well…and she suggests that the next thing on the menu ought to be a wedding ceremony. ^_^ Squee!

This issue was a really nice selection of stories of girls and women in a variety of relationship from utterly dysfunctional to happily ever after. Exactly what I want in an anthology. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8





Yuri Manga: prism

January 23rd, 2013

Show Higashiyama’s prism was a perfect example,  I thought, of a manga series about which my opinion changed over time. A re-read of Volume 1 helped me realize that my opinion changed because the story itself changed.

I remember reading the first chapter in Tsubomi and being wholly unimpressed. Megumi’s first love was with a boy she met one summer when she was young. She and Hikaru shared their first kiss. Now she’s met him again for the first time in years and it turns out that he’s a she. Hikaru is still in love with Megumi. After a while, Megumi gets over her reluctance for being in love with another girl.

Their relationship consists of stolen kisses and increasing intimacy, which would all be very realistic, if Higashiyama wasn’t portraying everything like he was drawing a porn doujinshi. As I read this volume, I remembered why I had been reluctant to say I liked this series for so long. It’s not until it gets into later chapters that it becomes less creepy and more honestly uncomfortable-making.

However, this may be moot, as Volume 2 may or may not ever be forthcoming. This series was put on hiatus and this volume pulled from stores after a plagiarizing scandal. (In which I unusually find myself on the side of the artist.) This is a damn shame as it was later chapters in which this story started to be really worth following. And now that Tsubomi has gone to digital, (updating mostly manga we never cared about) we may never see any more of it. So, unless you were collecting Tsubomi and unless they bring back prism, your best bet is used manga bookstores, or 3rd party sellers.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – Starts at 6, but climbs steadily
Characters – 7, they get better in later chapters
Yuri – 10
Service – 7

Overall – 8

I’ll hope that in some future date we’ll  get the gay-bashing chapter in a collection because that was when this series went from “okay” to “absolutely worth following.”