Archive for the Guest Review Category


Kakegurui Season 2 Anime (English) Guest Review by Mariko S.

July 3rd, 2019

It’s Guest Review Wednesday here on Okazu and today I a very pleased to once again welcome back Mariko S with another terrific review. I hope you’ll all setting for a treat and let Mariko wisk us away to a world of unhealthy obsession. Take it away Mariko!

You may recall that I previously gave a qualified enthusiastic review of this little “high stakes high school gambling addict” sports anime’s first season. Well, it seems its bombastic debut was popular enough to bankroll a second season, so what do Yumeko and the gang have in store for us this year?

To recap, in an elite private school where the children of Japan’s upper crust seemingly don’t study at all, but do spend all day gambling the GDP of small countries on increasingly elaborate contests, wildcard transfer student Jabami Yumeko arrived to shake up the status quo. She took down (and subsequently befriended) an escalating series of insurmountable opponents from the all-powerful Student Council in search of the pure essence of gambling and the chance to compete against the Yin to her Yang, President Momobami Kirari. Having miraculously won the right to stay in her gambling paradise, the season closed with a tease showing a hospitalized woman who looked like Yumeko folding paper cranes…

Kakegurui, Season 2 opens in media res on Yumeko gambling for some painful stakes with old frenemy Midari and a new goth loli girl. The next episode rewinds to tell us why: for some reason, Kirari has decided to step down from her position at the head of the school and offer it up to a school-wide election to be determined by – what else? Gambling. Since the position of Hyakkaou Gakuen student council president is apparently something akin to both Don of a mafia family and maybe head of a shadow government, the election has drawn the interest of a motley crew of teens from the other branches of the Momobami group, determined to take power for themselves. Every student in school is granted 1 chip, and whoever has the most chips at the end of the election period is the new president. May the games begin.

Let’s just get this out of the way – this season was a massive disappointment to me. We can start with its fatal case of “sequelitis.” Basically, the creators decided to repeat everything from the first season, but MORE. The absurd gambling games are even more far-fetched and less-related to anything resembling actual gambling. The grotesque faces that accented the escalating stakes last season, that were so unique and added such strong emotional visualization, are now omnipresent and ratcheted up to 10. Instead of the contests being a battle of wits and wills between Yumeko and a clearly defined opponent, the games this time are gimmicky and involve bloated groups of 3 or more gamblers. In fact, Yumeko regresses completely as a character this time out – you can barely call her the protagonist, as she functions almost entirely as a pure gambling id to catalyze the people around her. We learn nothing new about her, she does nothing to deepen her personality, and in fact in some of the episodes she is literally sidelined as the other characters work out their issues. She does and says things that directly counteract her previously demonstrated core values, and even the things she directly said moments ago. The first season supported Yumeko as both a force of nature and a complex person, and one who would show her gradually escalating excitement at the art and science of each gambling moment in lunatic ways. This time, she’s basically a service delivery device where the slightest hint of any opportunity to gamble making her come is her entire character.

Speaking of the visuals, they take a step back across the board. Gone is the surreal artistic masterpiece opening that Yamamoto Sayo put together for the first season, replaced by a workmanlike sequence that just displays the characters as cards, with lots of shots of Yumeko’s bouncing chest. The ending is basically the animators deciding to “yes, and” Yumeko’s rain walk from last season, as this time she turns into some kind of naked busty blue fairy surrounded by rainbows doing the same walk, just more cheaply animated. I lost count of the number of times someone’s chest was groped or faceplanted into. I already mentioned the overuse of the funhouse faces, but, at the same time, overall things felt more static and less inventive. The Momobami clan gives us a ton of unnecessary new characters, each with a distinctive visual design but little run-time to allow them anything but the shortest backstory and motivation. In fact, you could basically say this season was about healing the defeated opponents from last season more than anything else, as one-by-one the contest they take part in allows Yumeko to play Manic Pixie Dream Gambler and show them the heart, the courage, or the brain they always had inside them. And finally, the season ends on a complete “Huh?” Setting aside the resolution to the final gamble, I don’t think it’s a spoiler to tell you that the election isn’t even decided. Things just… end.

Can I say anything positive about this season? I guess one of the things that was interesting was how clear the show tried to make it that Kirari and Yumeko are two sides of the same coin. Kirari is a crazy sadist who sees the school as her personal aquarium and the students as the fish to be used, observed, experimented on, or discarded at whim. Yumeko also kind of sees people as a commodity, in her case, gambling fodder. She is kinder, yes, and almost accidentally more helpful, but is more of a masochist who likes the helpless feeling of chance. Her philosophy seems to boil down to, “if we have a good gamble, whatever happens was meant to be, so everyone should enjoy the outcome,” even if it’s utter devastation. Similarly, Kirari, though powerful, isn’t power-hungry – she just wants to be entertained as well. In her case that doesn’t always mean gambling, as long as she gets to watch someone squirm under her microscope.

On the Yuri front, this season is a step up, at least in quantity. Student Council secretary Sayaka, who is infatuated with Kirari, is given her own episode replete with lily imagery and, I suppose, as happy an ending as could be possible for someone in love with a misanthropic sadist. Midari is around for several episodes, displaying her usual over-the-top lust for stimulation by an alpha dog like Yumeko or Kirari. And one of the new characters, Batsubami Rei, though a kind of butler to the rest of the -bami tribe, is given a tall, handsome, princely aesthetic that charms the many girls around the school that she interacts with. However, the resolution to her story is, in my opinion, problematic. (Can’t say more without spoilers.)

Bottom line, if you liked the first season mainly for the kooky gambling antics, you’ll find more of that here to enjoy. If you were hoping to learn more about Yumeko’s past and see a character drama of ratcheting intensity, or even a magnetic attraction between two the-same-yet-opposite supernovas, you’ll be disappointed. Here’s hoping that if they gamble on season 3, Kakegurui can roll a 7 next time.

Ratings:

Art – 5 A dramatic decrease in quality from last season.
Story – 4 The election framing device was decent enough, but there was not much beyond it except at a superficial individual level.
Characters – 4 The gutting of Yumeko, the glut of little-more-than-sketches new characters, and the near omnipresence of the animal-hoodied loli and her minions as the “election monitors” send this one plummeting.
Yuri – 5 As described above.
Service – 10 Still a 10, but a different sort of 10 this time around. I didn’t care for it.

Overall – 4

Technical Note: Netflix continues to struggle with translations, but one of its mistakes is pretty funny on a meta level. Irrelevant-self-insert-male-narrator Suzui Ryouta’s name is sometimes miswritten as “Suzuki,” which is perfect for his interchangeable blandness.

Erica here: “as happy an ending as could be possible for someone in love with a misanthropic sadist.” is such a great line, I wanted to cut and paste it just to enjoy it all over again. I watched all of Season 1 and wished I had liked it more than I did. I’m sorry for you this wasn’t as solid but am regardless very happy you stopped by to let us know! Since I watched that first season, Netflix suggests this to me constantly – and you know how their ads autostart.. Watching a popular baking show?  Try Kakegurui.

Oh, you like My Little Pony? HAVE YOU LOOKED AT KAKEGURUI? 

Hey, we see you watched these murder mystery shows…. MAYBE SOME KAKEGURUI NOW?

Look, you watched Into the Spiderverse…

 

It’s actually pretty funny, unless I have guests over. ^_^;





Yuriten 2019 in Fukuoka Guest Report by Jenn O.

June 5th, 2019

Hello everyone and welcome to Guest Report Wednesday on Okazu. Today we’d like to welcome translator Jenn O with this terrific report of the Yuriten final location in Fukuoka. You can find her on j-entranslations.com or Twitter.  As always I hope you’ll give her a warm welcome and positive comments. Take it away Jenn!

I’m Jennifer, a game localizer and nerd who loves exciting adventure as well as cute LGBT romances. Currently residing in Japan and buying more manga and books than my apartment can hold. I had no idea the Yuri fair Yuriten was even a thing until it popped up as a retweet on Fukuoka city’s Twitter. But I was pleasantly surprised when it did! A ten-day long pop-up shop and exhibition dedicated to all things Yuri? Sign me up!

Fukuoka is a reasonably small city (compared to Tokyo and Osaka at least), so Yuriten was not hard to find. It was on the second floor of the Tenjin Core building. The moment I went in, there were posters and a small display directing people to the second floor. So that even people who had no idea it was there would have their curiosity sparked.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I went but was taken aback by three things in particular; the size, the content, and the people.

Yuriten Fukuoka was surprisingly small, certainly smaller in comparison to past Yuriten reviewed on Okazu, tucked away in the corner of this mall. Half of it was an exhibition of art and photography from Yuri manga, games, and photo books. Because the space was so small the exhibition consisted of a small corridor that winded in on itself, with the pictures lining the white walls.

It was interesting to see the variety of approaches to Yuri narratives. Some were clearly aimed more for male audiences while others were more vanilla. Most were titles I’d read or heard of, but it was a nice surprise to see a few I hadn’t. Seeing the large prints of the various art styles also made it easier to pick out some new titles.

There were a few artistic photographs that I didn’t feel comfortable with. Or perhaps didn’t know how to feel about? There a few that were photos of schoolgirls thighs, and one that was borderline sexual between two girls in sexy costumes. It felt like there were a few that were aimed at men, rather than celebrating Yuri-ness. These mostly consisted of photos or manga that had young attractive girls who were constantly kissing. Whereas I was drawn more to the cute daily life style images between women.

The corridor ended back out into the second half of Yuriten, which was a shop with mostly manga as well as some other goods. All the manga and games featured in the art exhibition were waiting at the end, ready for you to buy! Including some more unexpected surprised. Such as Stjepan Sejic’s lesbian BDSM comic Sunstone!

Sunstone is a particular favorite of mine and if you’re a fan of fun, witty, sexy stories with amazing art, then I highly recommend it! I knew the first volume at least had been translated into Japanese (because I picked it up at Village Vanguard) but was thrilled to see they had volumes 1-6 available at Yuriten in Japanese!

Anyway, there was a lot of Yuri. But more than that, you could actually get signed copies! Specifically you had to go at the start of the day of the last Saturday or Sunday and get a lottery ticket due to limited signed copies. Yuriten listed on their Twitter which days had which manga, and the details for entering. I decided not to go get something signed in the end but I kind of wish I had.

Which brings me onto my third surprise: the people. I think I was expecting to see a lot of men but was pleasantly surprised to see a number of women too! I would say about half were men, and half were women. They were by themselves or in pairs.

I overheard a few of the girls talking about their preferences for stories and images. (Wish I had eavesdropped a little more.) It was also great to see people’s excitement and the massive wall of manga.

Around the corner between the manga and the entrance to the exhibition was a little display of artwork made specially for Yuriten, and a massive wall of post-it-notes. People wrote out little messages, or art, or just expressed their joy for Yuri. And it was massive. Yuriten tweeted the wall at the end of the 10 days and it was completely full.

People clearly enjoyed themselves.

Yuriten is nothing big or fancy, but I do think it was special. It was the highlight of my day at least. It’s a celebration of Yuri for all genders. Even if you don’t know Japanese, if you love Yuri it’s worth tracking down what city they’re going to next and checking it out if you’re in the area.

Erica here: Thank you so much Jenn for this report! We had three of 5 events covered this year, and each time it just seems that people were really loving it. I love the idea of a traveling Yuri exhibit and pop-up shop. And I’m pretty stoked to see Sunstone in the mix. Thanks again for letting us walk around with you.





Yuri Manga: Kiss & White Lily For My Dearest Girl, Volume 9 (English) Guest Review by Christian LeBlanc

May 29th, 2019

Hello and welcome to Guest Review….Thursday. Yeah, I dropped the ball yesterday and simply forgot to post this. But I didn’t want you to miss this terrific review by Senior Kiss & White Lily Correspondent, Christian LeBlanc of 3DComics! So please welcome Chris back and give him your kind attention as he breaks it all down once again for us.

Let’s cut right to the chase: this penultimate Volume 9 of Canno’s high school “Yuritopia” Kiss & White Lily For My Dearest Girl (translation by Leighann Harvey, lettering by Alexis Eckerman) is a better end to the series than Volume 10, and if you enjoy these books well enough but happen to only own a few volumes, you owe it to yourself to add this one to your collection, because s*** gets real.

How real? Well, one girl forgets her toothbrush after sleeping over at her girlfriend’s house, someone else gets so angry at the world that they turn to cosplay to cope with it all, and in the climax of the series, another girl tells off their mom and then makes out with the girl she likes! (Suggested listening for this scene: your favourite pump-up music, be it something from Sailor Moon, Kill La Kill, or, if you want to get real campy, the opening 27 seconds of “Everything Louder Than Everything Else” by Meat Loaf.)<

With that out of the way, let’s back up a little and talk about our final new pair of characters. Asuka Sakurada finds herself repeating her final year of high school due to a basketball injury that made her miss too many days (it must have been a concussion or something, because she’s only shown with a broken leg in flashbacks, and I assume the poor girl would have had access to crutches). As a senpai forced to join her kōhai, she gets a *huge* chip on her shoulder about it, attending only the bare minimum of classes, refusing to integrate or socialize with anyone, etc. Her self-destructive attitude becomes extreme enough that she turns to that most delinquent form of rebellion, cosplay, which is how she meets Mikaze Hagimoto. Asuka cosplays a character who has a lot in common with Mikaze and vice-versa, the two hit it off, and we quickly see them making out on school benches, fashion wigs and all.

All of this is framed as a tragic romance, by the way – the first two words in the book are “It’s over.” If you’re like me and have a predilection for the melancholy, it means good times all around: put on your favourite gloomy Cure record and enjoy the tearful scenes that are to come. (I joke slightly, but it does get dark for poor Mikaze, who takes the break-up very hard indeed: the color has gone out of her world, she can’t concentrate in school, she starts skipping classes…we see later on in flashbacks that she spent at least one night alone with Asuka, which perhaps sheds light on why she’s having such a tough time, if things had gotten that intense between them.)

I think a much stronger ending would have seen these two making peace with each other as friends, but, you’ve already seen the cover, and you’ve probably read at least a few volumes of this series before, so you’ll just have to put on a different Cure record, I guess (one of their happy ones, that make you want to live). This is why Volume 2 will always be my favorite, by the way – Chiharu is rejected, but we get to see her *move on*, and she gets the entire volume in which to do so. Here, it feels like Canno wanted to explore a good break-up story, but had to wrap things up in order to get her characters posed happily for the cover shot; Asuka’s sudden change of heart even feels more like a plot requirement than anything sincere.

As for flagship characters Ayaka and Yurine, both characters get the plot resolution that the entire series has been building towards. Both of their chapters start with the same event (viewing exam results, the only thing that makes Ayaka feel alive…I worry about how she’s going to cope after high school, actually), and then follows either Ayaka or Yurine for the rest of their respective chapters as they resolve their plots in a neat bit of parallel story-telling. Yurine even gets a call-back to the very first chapter of the series, which makes it feel like a better ending than Vol.10, even without things “officially” wrapping up.

For analysis, let’s back things up again a bit. Ok, a lot: having lived and died centuries before Yuri began 100 years ago, René Descartes likely did not anticipate getting the opening quotation, “Conquer yourself rather than the world!” In this book, this means bringing about change through internal, rather than external, factors. Ayaka can’t change how her mom feels, but she can change how she accepts and internalizes the support she gets from others. Yurine doesn’t stop feeling alienated because of how she performed on any external exams, but by realizing she’s been gradually becoming a “normal girl” with her own community of friends all along. Mikaze tries to become someone “special” enough to win back her ex-girlfriend, but realizes it’s much healthier to try and accept the break-up, who she is, and that neither partner should have to change to suit the other. And Asuka stops cutting herself off from everything, after realizing she’s gone too far in cutting Mikaze out of her life. To drive the point home, Asuka’s pocket mirror keeps getting passed back and forth between her and Mikaze, further reflecting (sorry) this focus on the self and internal change.

In all, it’s a wonderful volume of Kiss & White Lily – we get closure for plots that have been in motion since the very first chapter (along with some related tender scenes), Ai Uehara and Kaoru Machida each get some good scenes to help lighten the mood (Ai could be one of Yuri’s best supporting characters ever, if we only got to see her more often), Asuka and Mikaze bring some enjoyably melancholy drama, characters in Kiss Theater flit in and out of cameos as always, and anyone who’s ever been on a cover of K&WL appears in at least one panel.

Canno’s Continuity Corner: there’s an incidental panel of Ayaka and Yurine starting Year 2 from Volume 3 (this time drawn as background characters); Lyrical Seira, which Asuka and Mikaze are cosplaying as, is the anime from their childhood that Sawa and Itsuki went on a movie date to see in Volume 5; there’s some bonus Valentine’s Day vignettes at the end featuring our cover-stars from Volumes 5, 6 and 7; we briefly see Yurine’s little sister again (poor Sumire – this marks her last appearance in the series, and she only gets the one panel, just like in Vol.7). In one of my favourite tiny details, the exam results show Nagisa and Hikari from last volume placing in the top 10, consistent with their characterization as high achievers – not only that, but Nagisa is even 4 places higher, which fits with how she had complained “Why does everyone always put Hikari and me on the same level? I have better grades!” while a visual of their test results shows her getting 98 vs Hikari’s 97.

Ratings:

Art – 9 The thicker blacks compared to the Japanese edition aren’t as destructive this time around; I looked, but couldn’t find any tell-tale moiré patterns. A point is still taken away for how much art gets trimmed off the edges, though. Canno’s art is gorgeous, expressions are delightful, and backgrounds really contribute to the atmosphere in a few key scenes.
Story – 9 Plot resolution, dramatic tension, sweetness, cosplay…this one has a lot going for it.
Characters – 10 Ayaka and Yurine have grown a lot as characters, and their relationship has evolved over time to reflect that. Asuka and Mikaze with their cosplay were a fun change of pace as well.
Yuri – 8
Service – 3 As Erica said in her review of the Japanese edition: “I’m not gonna lie, that kiss was pretty hot”

Overall – 10

I still remember back in April 2018, how excited I was when the 2-page colour illustration from the opening was teased on Twitter, showing Ayaka and Yurine holding hands while they emerge from a cold, snowy winter and walk off into the warm spring-like foreground together; I immediately retweeted it stating “THEY ARE HOLDINGS HANDS THIS IS HUGE THIS IS NOT A TEST” in all caps. It’s still one of my favorite illustrations from the series.

And, you don’t have to be a genius like Yurine to know how things will end up, but you’ll still want to see how it all happens in the final Volume 10, which is set to come out on October 29, 2019 from Yen Press.

Erica here: “anyone who’s ever been on a a cover of K&WL appears in at least one panel.” Foreshadowing the entirety of Volume 10, frankly.
Christian, you deserve an award for this review. It was absolutely brilliant and got both laughs and thumbs up from both members of the household here at Okazu Central. Well done.





Maiden Railways Manga (English)

April 21st, 2019

It’s always a pleasure to welcome a new publisher to the stage and today we have that pleasure. At AnimeNYC 2018, Denpa Books announced a series of very interesting licenses, including panpanya’s Invitation from a Crab (which I included on my Best Manga of 2018 list for The Comics Beat and The Comics Journal)  and Nakamura Asumiko’s Maiden Railways, both collected from comics serialized in Rakuen le Paradis magazine. Each story is connected by the theme of trains – specifically the Odakyu-Odawara Line – and young women. (The original title for this is Testsudou Shojo, i.e., Train Girls.)

I very much enjoyed the individual chapters that made up this volume when they ran in the magazine and am now equally as pleased to review Maiden Railways, as a collected work. That is to say, this is a review that I am both very pleased to be able to write and deeply unhappy that I must write. I should not be reviewing this book for Okazu. That honor ought to have gone to our late friend Bruce P, train enthusiast, Yuri enthusiast and guest reviewer of the original volume in Japanese.

Every story in this volume is…intense. There’s a lot of heightened emotions, often not spoken of. There’s suspicion and tension, and betrayal, but all told from a slightly aloof perspective, as the protagonist is sucked into someone else’s problems and can’t quite extricate themselves without being changed by it. If there is a single overarching emotion that describes the characters in these stories it would have to be nonplussed. As a result, it frequently appears that the characters are creepy, or strange, until you realize they were simply stunned. ^_^ This is very common for Nakamura-sensei’s work and it helps to remember that as you read anything she’s done.  Once you stop waiting for the boot to drop, some of these stories are surprisingly touching.

In Yuri story “Overpass Crossing” our nonplussed character encounters and has her life changed by another woman. And we’re given two color pages to show that it is a change for the better for both of them.

I am also inordinately fond of “Savarin Thursdays” in which a married man has his life changed for the better, as well. I also very much liked “Night After Night”. All the stories do something unexpected, they all involve a young woman, the obvious love Nakamura-sensei has for the Odakyu Line…and then they turn out to be tied up in a neat bow after all.

Denpa Books did a lovely job on this lovely manga. I recommend it for some unusual and fun reading.

Ratings

Art – 8 YMMV, but I like her art
Story – 9 All of them are enjoyable
Characters – Same
Service – 0
Yuri – 8

Overall – 9

“The Odakyu Odawara Line (小田急小田原線 Odakyū-Odawara-sen) is the main line of Japanese private railway operator Odakyu Electric Railway. It extends 82.5 km from Shinjuku in central Tokyo through the southwest suburbs to the city of Odawara, the gateway to Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture. It is a busy commuter line and is also known for its “Romancecar” limited express services. From Yoyogi-Uehara Station some trains continue onto the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line and beyond to the East Japan Railway Company Joban Line.”

 





Yuriten 2019 in Sendai Guest Report by Meru C

April 19th, 2019

This is an unprecedented event in Okazu history. Not only do we have a second Yuriten Report, this time on the Sendai exhibition, this is a second week with two guest posts and we welcome a new guest writer! I am exceedingly pleased to welcome Meru C to the Okazu family and I hope you will offer the warm welcome (and kind responses in comments) that I’ve come to expect from you all. ^_^ Meru, take it away!

Let me start off by saying that this was Sendai’s first Yuriten event: they were added to the expanded, five-city roster this year, and hopefully, will get a return show next year.

For me, this was a great boon: it often feels like Tohoku gets left out of events like this unless they’re linked to Animate directly, or they’re larger campaigns. I’m glad to say that via Village Vanguard, more Yuri fans in Tohoku will be able to experience this wonderful event from April 13 to April 21. I attended on Day 1, April 13, to see the first opening.

The event was held on the top floor of Sendai Forus, a multi-story shopping mall that can easily be accessed using the Tozai Subway line at Sendai Station, which has elevators and escalators, or by walking for about 15-minutes from Sendai Station through the Ichibancho Shopping Arcade area. It was easily accessible and had ample seating outside the event area for weary fans to rest before or after their Yuriten experience. Additionally, the exhibition offered ample space for different abled individuals to move through, which I appreciated as a person of size. However, it should also be noted that there’s no seating within the actual exhibition area.

 

I was actually the first to queue up before the shopping mall opened, and one of the first to enter specifically for the event, which was a bit shocking: I had expected a bit of line, to be honest. Inside the actual shopping mall, there wasn’t any signage or direction to the top floor but I knew where to go due to the listing on the Yuriten site, which was easy enough to use without without Japanese language skills.

Village Vanguard staff was present in the exhibition area, there wasn’t anyone specifically designated to monitor how many people were in the actual exhibition space, or to limit entry. In fact, I was able to explore at my own pace, first eyeing all of the goods I wanted (note: I had a list, and the Yuriten website shows all the items potentially available) and then entering the exhibition itself. I found this open format was good for people who wanted to shop first, then look, or vice versa.

The lighting was decidedly moody once inside the exhibition itself, which made it feel like I was entering a really special place and lent to a kind of magical, soft feeling. Though perhaps unintentional, it made the exhibition a bit more special, accenting the cute rose garland strung over the exhibition and about the space there were plenty of spotlights. I found glare minimal, and was largely able to take clear pictures: the simple white walls -which doubled to form the path- made everything easy to see.

 

 

Each artist showcased in this exhibition had their own wall space, with their work grouped together by series: the same went for photography work, which there was ample amounts of. It was lovely to see manga panels from some of my favorite series blown up to A3 size: better, being able to take as many pictures as I wanted meant I could really take my time and geek out about all of the new titles I found to read. I also found some new photographers to keep up with: sadly, there were no business cards visibly displayed, so I had to make sure to write down their names or find them online right then and there. Thankfully, because there wasn’t a crowd, I could also take my time. I think I probably spent about 40 minutes in the exhibition, and was able to really take in all of the images.

 

 

 

 

Additionally, each artist had an A4 sized panel with their name and a prominent work, and below, a small Village Vanguard panel with art and their personal signatures. Though I won’t be present for any additional book signings, it still felt really cool to see their messages and their handwriting up close. Next year -and I do plan on going next year, should Sendai be on the roster again- I’ll be sure to check which days signings are available so I can offer a bit of insight into those too.

 

 

After winding through the space, I exited into shop again, and actually wandered around with the intent to make a few purchases. I’m glad to say that there was lots of merchandise, ranging from acrylic stands to button packs to clear files and a sizable assortment of t-shirts. Every series on display in the exhibition had something you could buy, whether a button pack, a manga, or a tapestry, all of which were lovely and of solid quality.

 

Naturally, the shirts have a smaller range, so I unfortunately couldn’t indulge: however, that didn’t stop me from spending a good amount of money. I largely picked up clear files and event specific merch, such as the Yuriten Tote Bag at ￥500, bearing the event logo on the bottom right corner. It’s admittedly not a sturdy bag: I wouldn’t put anything heavier than a thick paperback in it, or maybe a tablet. However, I got it with the intent to embroidery lilies and roses on and use it for lighter purposes, so it suited me well.

I’ll admit I had trouble finding some of the items I wanted: they either weren’t displayed or just weren’t available at all, which meant I left without the super cute Kase-san Series glass cup. But on the other hand, I also found other items I didn’t expect to see, the best being merchandise for the manga After Hours by Yuhta Nishio. I picked up a two-button set for ￥600 and a large black and white tote bag for about ￥2400. As a note, prices are not listed with tax included, so plan ahead to save on any cash register woes should you be a big shopper like me.

 

Check-out was easy: though there was only one register at Sendai’s event, I didn’t have to wait but a few seconds to pay for my goods. I ended up spending a hearty amount of money, largely because the quality of the items felt on part with Animate and other big-name shops, and because the environment encouraged you to get at least one thing. I will say that there’s a noticeable mark-up: clear files that would normally run about ￥250 or ￥300  at an Animate were ￥500, but honestly, I felt it was worth it as these may be limited items, or at least, hard to get, post-Yuriten. I also didn’t buy any manga though there was full stock for all the series featured in the exhibition: I prefer to buy older titles second-hand, and new, current titles Animate so I can collect points.

I’d also like to mention the crowds: I saw a good mix of genders, with the largest groups being young women and non-binary presenting folks. There were a few groups of college aged male folks, and a lot of couples shopping together. Most surprising were the few mothers and high school aged child (primarily female presenting) pairs I saw, which absolutely warmed my heart: as a queer high school teacher, I regularly interface with students who aren’t in a place to engage with their identities alongside their parents, and so it was nice to see multiple mothers enthusiastically supporting their children regardless. This exhibition definitely was family friendly, though some of the photography could be considered sensual, though I found little that parents would have genuine concern over. It felt, overall, incredibly welcoming and accessible regardless of knowledge or identity.

Overall, I have to say that this really was a lovely event to go to. Its simplicity really reminded me just how much I love Yuri. Though I went alone, I would easily suggest taking any curious friends or partners to this exhibition, especially since it’s free. There’s a lot of really good gateway titles with concurrent publishing in English, and a lot of new titles for older fans too. The photography was really my favorite part: it gave me a good bit of nostalgia about being a young, queer person falling in love with a woman for the first time, and how tender it can be.

I’m really glad I came upon this event both on Twitter and through previous reviews and I’m even more glad that I had time to go and really engage with the lovely pieces. This is definitely on schedule for next year: I can’t wait to see the creators they’ll feature in 2020!

 

Erica here: Thank you Meru! It is so delightful to have been able to walk through the Yuriten with you! I, too, will hope that Sendai is included in more events. There is a Sendai Comiket, but I take your meaning – Tohoku is not often thought of as comics stronghold, as Nagoya and Sapporo are.

Speaking of Nagoya…do we have any fans in the Nagoya area willing to report back on the Nagoya Yuriten event? ^_^