Archive for the LGBTQ Category


Lesbian Live Action: Transit Girls (トランジットガールズ )

January 25th, 2016

story03_ph01Back in October 2015, we reported news that Fuji TV was airing the first-ever “lesbian” drama on Japanese television. The storyline received negative press before it even aired, with the Japanese LGBTQ community calling the plot “out of date.”  And I had many reservations, as well.

Transit Girls (トランジットガールズ ) follows the lives of Yui, a young professional photographer and Sayuri, a high school student, as they meet when their parents move in together and subsequently fall in love. The plot sounds pretty eye-rollingly shoujo manga, and to be honest, it was.

As the story opens, we see Yui taking photos of a young woman praying at a local shrine. We’re supposed to see that she’s instantly charmed, because she’s giving the girl long meaningful looks from a distance. The young woman is Saiyuri. Saiyuri and her father, Keigo, live alone together; her mother’s been dead for some years.  Dad tells Saiyuri that he’s met someone and she is moving in with her daughter, Yui.

Madoka, Yui’s mother, is very nice but Yui reacts weirdly, as we know this is the girl she was photographing, zOMG. Unsurprisingly, Saiyuri is ignoring the both of them, and Dad is quietly suffering. Yui tries to talk to Saiyuri and ends up kissing her. Saiyuri pushes her out of the room violently. End of episode 1.

The eight episodes of this series were all a half hour or so, so the story moves very quickly. And this, in a nutshell, is why we’re supposed to understand that Yui isn’t just a random predatory lesbian, she’s supposed to have been secretly charmed by Saiyuri all along.

The story moves briskly as Saiyuri begins to question her own feelings for Yui. They both agree that “sister” is not a relationship they want. The story becomes slightly more complicated when we meet Nao, Saiyuri’s childhood friend. He (obviously to us) has feelings for Saiyuri, even as she’s finding herself becoming more attracted to Yui. Another friend, Mirai, is in love with Nao.

Yui and Saiyuri are already falling in love, when Mirai confesses to Nao, who apologizes and says he has someone he likes. “You’re not supposed to say ‘Sorry’!” Saiyuri rebukes him. “You’re supposed to say ‘Thank you.'”

Saiyuri and Yui spend a night together, but are seen in bed by Madoka, who confronts Yui. Yui leaves home immediately, leaving a note for Saiyuri.  Madoka tells Saiyuri that Yui’s always been this way. Although she learns where Yui is staying, Saiyuri can’t bring herself to go through with contacting her. Saiyuri speaks briefly with Yui’s business partner, a nice guy who likes Yui himself.

Madoka, too embarrassed to face this situation her daughter created, also leaves home, leaving Dad and Saiyuri alone again..and, for the first time in many years, both of them feeling lonely.

While studying together, Nao confesses to Saiyuri, who then has to tell him that she’s in love with someone else. She admits that it’s Yui and Nao says he’s not really surprised. He’s always thought she wasn’t really into guys. She’s kind of surprised at this.  It’s worth noting that Nao is an awesome character and without him this story would have been pretty grim. He provides most of the laughs and a much-needed relieved sigh when he doesn’t get all weirded out at Saiyuri.

Saiyuri decides that to be fair to her friend Mirai, who can’t not be resentful at her and Nao’s relationship – and who naturally presumes that Saiyuri and Nao are an item. So Saiyuri tells Mirai the truth, that she’s in a relationship with her “onee-san”. Mirai laughs and says, “It’s like being in a shoujo manga.” Saiyuri agrees. Mirai is also not particularly weirded out and just accepts Saiyuri’s relationship at face value.

Christmas is coming. Yui’s father left them at Christmas, and so Saiyuri had promised to spend it with her to reverse her negative feelings about the holiday, but now that isn’t possible.

Dad goes to see Yui, ostensibly to ask her what to get Saiyuri. Remembering the ema the girl had written at the shrine, Yui suggests a Tiffany double-heart necklace. Then Dad asks what Yui would like, indicating that he’s still willing to be a “Dad” if she’ll let him.

Madoka and Keigo meet for dinner, and Madoka apologizes profusely. Dad makes a startling confession. Since his wife died, Saiyuri has been very removed from human relationships. She’s just not really noticed other people. Yui is the first person she’s taken any notice of in years. Madoka and Keigo decide that they will root for the two women and support them whatever happens. Then he asks Madoka to return home.

Dad gives Saiyuri the necklace and tells her that he knew what she wanted because Yui told him. He tells her to go see Yui. Saiyuri runs to the shrine and finds Yui there, then runs into her arms. They kiss and hug and kiss again as the end credits roll.

Very shoujo manga. And really fast-paced, sometimes really stretching the ability to accept that all this happens so quickly….but it doesn’t. The seasons change while the story takes place, but the episodes are so short, you kind of have to remind yourself this doesn’t take place over a week. ^_^;

On the negative side there is one almost insurmountable obstacle. The kissing. Sorry J-Dramas, you just have the worst kissing in the world. So terrible. My wife and I tried to kiss that badly, touching lips without moving or even a pucker, nothing, just dryly placing lips against each other, but we kept cracking up and couldn’t do it. It was particularly distracting/laughable in the final scene as they kiss. It looked kind of like if you asked two children to watch grown ups kiss, then kiss like them. They move back and forth, but the lips stay dry, pressed emotionlessly against each other. Totally put a harsh on what would have been a great moment otherwise.

The only other negative was the plot. You know how I feel about stories where people fall in love with the only other person in the house near their age – it’s lazy writing and a tiresome plot.

Other than these two rather amazing high hurdles, the story wasn’t bad. ^_^

On the positive side, Itou Sairi, who played Saiyuri, was excellent. Honestly, she carried the show all by herself. Her voice is an interestingly deep, burry one, that I found rather attractive, but her acting really made Saiyuri come alive. The rest of the cast was absolutely fine, but Itou was stellar.

The most – surprisingly – positive quality of the story was everyone’s reactions to the relationship. It was made plain that Yui is a lesbian, (and I think she was meant to look a little butchy, with short hair) although that word is never used.  Yui and Sayuri discuss “onna-doushi” and Saiyuri admits to being a little frightened of her feelings and this whole can of worms. But when she talks about the relationship to other people, they just…support her. No histrionics, no shouting. Keigo admits to being confused at first, even as Yui is insisting her feelings are for real. And that’s about it. After that, there’s no conflict except getting them back together. For the complete lack of homophobia, I’ll give props to Fuji TV.

And the final positive note is that both Keigo and Nao are totally not weird about it. A real shoujo manga probably world have had Nao (or Mirai) out Saiyuri to the whole school or try to sabotage the relationship. Instead they were like, “it’s cool” and we all moved on. That’s a handwave I can definitely live with.

I’m not sure I’d say this was a great series, but it was more good than bad and a positive, if ridiculous, beginning for lesbian stories on Japanese television.

Ratings:

Story – 4 at the beginning, going up to 6 by the end
Characters – start at 6, 8 by the end
Service – 5 a number of bath scenes and a bed scene, no full nudity, just implication
Yuri – 9

Overall – I think 7 is a fair score.

One last thing of note and it’s utterly dorkstastic – the bus station Saiyuri and Nao get on the bus at is Yuriyamakoen, so Lily Mountain park. So clever those production folks. Hah.

 





LGBTQ: Okaasan Futari Itemo Iikana!? (お母さん二人いてもいいかな!?)

January 18th, 2016

2momsIf you read a lot of manga, especially shoujo and shounen manga, you’ll have encountered author’s notes and quite possibly you’ll have thought something like, “Really? You’re writing a note to millions of fans and all you have to say is that you like jelly?” But, when you think about it, we all know manga creators are put through a grinder of deadlines and appearances and it’s probably not all that surprising that they have relatively bland personal lives. If you’re out partying, you’re not at the drawing board, so…. But yeah, it would be nice sometimes to know a little more about the manga artists we love. Maybe the name of their lover, or about a hobby besides drawing manga.

In Okaasan Futari Itemo Iikana!? (お母さん二人いてもいいかな!?), Nakamura Ching-sensei, writing here under her real name, Nakamura Kiyo, gives us an  unprecedented honest and intimate look at her personal life. She lives with her wife (in name only, as Japan does not legally recognize same-sex marriage), Satsuki, and is stepmother to Satsuki’s three sons.

The book takes a good hard look at Kiyo’s and Satsuki’s relationship, opening up a few cans of worms along the way. We learn of Kishie-san, Nakamura-sensei’s deceased first wife, and about abuse in Satsuki’s  and Kiyo’s past (Of which we knew some from Dare mo Korinai.) This books includes thoughts about the tentative legal standing their relationship has and the importance of acceptance by the people around them.

But mostly, this is a book about life with a wife and three sons. An intimate, sometimes touching, look at the personal life of a lesbian couple in Japan today, and an extraordinary look into the life of a favorite manga creator.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

In places this volume is very difficult, in others triumphant…just like life.





Western Comics: Valor Anthology (English)

November 11th, 2015

ValorWhether they begin “Once upon a time…” or “Mukashi, mukashi…,” fairy tales all begin some time a long time ago, quite often in places without real names. The kingdoms are feudal, evil mostly comes in the form of magic and/or giant beasts that must be defeated and slayed. And, as so many people have commented so many times, they usually star a young man who achieves greatness…and gets the girl as a reward. If you’re an active, self-willed young lady, this can become irritating over time. You start looking around and you find the story of Vasalisa, who uses wits and luck to overcome the witch Baba Yaga, read Barbara Walker’s Feminist Fairy Tales or more contemporary stories like Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch. In fact, it’s hard to not roll one’s eyes at the idea of reworking fairy tales as, by now, it seems to have been done to death. If you’re a gay girl, there’s even Melinda Lo’s Ash, to give Cinderella a much cooler lover than a prince with a shoe fetish.

In Valor, a Kickstarter funded anthology, 24 creators take a look at stories that we know, unravel them, rethink them, revamp them, reweave them and sometimes just create something wholly new and amazing. The collection spans multiple cultures, with both prose and graphic stories.

Some of the stories are merely riffs on well-known tales, such as the above-mentioned story of “Vasalisa,” retold by Kadi Fedoruk or the “Crane Wife,” rendered here by Alex Singer and Jayd Ait-Kaci, and some are wholly original tales, such as the prose “Finette” by Megan Lavey-Heaton and Ran Brown or the gorgeous no-text graphic “Nautilus” by Ash Barnes and Elena “Yamino” Babarich.

Several stories are reworkings of timeless and well-known stories. Of these, my two favorites were “The Steadfast Automaton” again by Alex Singer and Jayd Ait-Kaci, which was a steampunk/scifi version of the Constant Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Anderson with heavy shades of Offenbach’s opera, Tales of Hoffman…and “Goldie Locks,” by Joanne Webster and Isabelle Melançon, a clever and fun riff on the classic tale of breaking and entering.

So, while it may seem that this anthology has “been done,” I’d argue that there can never, ever be enough versions of timeless tales. Heck, I wrote a series of  Sailor Moon/Arthurian Legend mashups. How can there *ever* be too many reworkings of archetypes?! And in the case of Valor, we have certainly not seen this version of these fairytales done this way before.

There is a nice selection of sexualities in the collection, as well. Some of the heroines get a prince, others get a princess and all get themselves which, in many ways, is the best ending of all.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

You can buy Valor online, and frankly, I think you should. It’s an entertaining collection full of things you’ve never read before – even if you have read them before. ^_^





LGBTQ Manga: Otouto no Otto (弟の夫)

November 8th, 2015

OnO1If there is, in 2015, a single series I would call “most-anticipated,” Tagame Gengoroh’s Otouto no Otto (弟の夫) is that series.

Tagame-sensei is best known in North America for his overtly sexual comics by about and for gay men, with an emphasis on large, hairy men (what are called “bears” in western gay vernacular). The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame and Massive, an adult anthology, are available in English.

In an interview on Tokyo Underground, Tagame-sensei  talks about drawing comics for gay men’s magazines and BL magazines. This series is his first gay series for a more mainstream men’s manga magazine, Monthly Action. This magazine is notably published by Futabasha, which also published Morinaga Milk’s GIRL FRIENDS. Clearly, there are some allies on the Futabasha staff.

The protagonist of Otouto no Otto (弟の夫) , My Brother’s Husband, is Yaichi, a single father, who has been estranged from his now late twin brother for many years. The volume begins on the day his brother’s widower, Mike Flanagan, arrives at Yaichi’s home. Yaichi is not at all comfortable with Mike, or the fact that his brother was gay, or married, but Kana, his daughter, can’t see the problem. The only problem she sees is that she had no idea she had an uncle at all! So when she invites Mike to stay, Yaichi can’t really say no.

The story is both realistic and very poignant, as Mike tries to stay close to his husband by visiting places from his past…and as Yaichi has to deal with the fact that he never really accepted his brother for who he was. Kana is terribly excited to share her newfound uncle with friends, and the only disapproval she expresses is when she learns that in Canada men can marry men, and women can marry women, but not in Japan. “That’s weird,” she says to which Yaichi responds “Right?” She explains patiently, “Its weird that they can’t marry each other here.”

Mike is instantly likable and his emotional range is refreshing and unusual in a manga. Yaichi is the more stereotypical manga male, his emotions left unexpressed and unresolved, while Mike, who is trying so hard to not offend, breaks down in open grief when given his husband’s boyhood bedroom to sleep in.

Overall, one of the most real comics I’ve ever read. Everyone is utterly believable, from Yaichi’s, quiet, non-violent, but omnipresent homophobia, to Kana and her friends’ curiosity about this completely new concept.

The manga ends with Kana’s mother coming over, which will throw another level of complexity into the mix. We do not yet know what her and Yaichi’s relationship is. How will she react to Mike? It’s an interesting cliffhanger for this family drama. Having said that, you know, this would make an excellent live-action TV drama.

Tagame’s art is lovely, favoring simple, realistic backgrounds and some great body language. And there’s a fair dollop of service for people who find the male body appealing. No willowy, long-haired bishounen, these are men with body hair and male genitalia.

I strongly recommend this series, but even more, I strongly hope that you’ll buy the book itself, even if you read it in scans. Your money will support the author and the magazine that threw itself into the ring for work like this. More realistic LGBTQ work in mainstream manga magazine is a very good thing. Think about it – this is a comic about gay men, running in a men’s manga magazine. Not an audience you’d think that would be terribly receptive to a comic about a big, muscular man grieving over the loss of his husband. And yet, so far the feedback seems to be positive.

I know what you’re all thinking right now …”Will it come out in English?” As of 2017, the answer is, yes! Pantheon Books has released it in a gorgeous English-language (what will be 2 volume) edition. My Brother’s Husband, Volume 1 has launched!

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 10
LGBTQ – 10
Service – 4

Overall – 10

For a hotly anticipated series, I have to say, Otouto no Otto actually  manages to exceed expectations. And now I will anticipate Volume 2, when it becomes available.





LGBTQ: Beyond, Queer Science Fiction Anthology

October 28th, 2015

tumblr_nvv9q2vRmy1sihh1fo1_r1_500As long-time readers know, I consider it both a pleasure and a responsibility to support crowdfunding efforts. It’s always a pleasure to receive a hard-copy or PDF of a book that I very much wanted to see come to fruition that might, in the past, have never had a chance to be born. When I saw the Kickstarter for Beyond, a queer sci-fi/fantasy comics anthology, well obviously, I knew I was going to support it.

Right off the bat, the strength of Beyond is that being gay, coming out or falling in love with a being of the same sex is not the plot of many of the stories. Same-sex relationships are dealt with as matter of course, or a matter of interest, but not a matter of crisis for a number of the stories. So the anthology follows the old adage “assume the technology, then write the story,” for both technology and sexuality. That that remains refreshing just indicates that we have not quite yet gotten past queer-ness as a narrative…and to be honest, I don’t know if we ever will. “Other” always has appeal and causes discomfort. So far, at least, we have not yet managed a generation that doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel in that regard.

Another positive was the diversity of character, story, place and time, sexuality, gender and even human/non-human relationships. For a queer sci-fi comic, I had pretty high expectations of diversity, but I’ve been disappointed before, so it was critical to me that Beyond went, well, beyond the minimum.

I am very pleased to say that Beyond is available though Gumroad as a hardcopy preorder and a digital PDF. Kudos to the creators for having a post-crowdfunding effort distribution stream.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

Beyond is a thoughtful look at graphical story-telling in sci-fi settings, with conscious awareness of the need for representation, and a good wallow in tropes of the genre. A fun read and a worthy one. Exactly what crowdfunding is best for.