Archive for the LGBTQ Category


Lesbian Animation: Strange Frame – Love and Sax

February 11th, 2013

starngeframeI was going to review a manga today. I have it sitting right here. But like the magpie I am, when I see something shiny, I just have to go haring off after it. And so, today’s shiny thing is a movie-length sci-fi animation starring a mixed-race female lead and her DNA-modded female lover, Strange Frame – Love and Sax, by Shelley Doty and G.B. Hajim. (Apparently this animation was shown at DragonCon last year to some acclaim.)

Let me get the single major criticism I have for this movie out of the way – there is not one unique or fresh idea in the whole thing. In fact, about a third of the way through the movie, I hit a moment  when the Huggy Bear pimp cool voice that all the characters were using started to wear on me. That having been said, the story was very comfortable as a result. It was easy to slip into it and easy to get caught up in it. The pull quote on the website says, “A punk version of Blade Runner” but I think that is slightly off the mark. Not far off the mark, though. It’s more like a jazz version of a slightly gritty Fifth Element.

The animation is quite good. It had Eastern European animation vibes, with that smooth oil-painting feel one encounters in European animation of the last decade, with a sensibility that would be right at home in the pages of Heavy Metal magazine. (You know what I mean, right? All the dancing is hedonistic hip-churning, there’s “futuristic” nudity and the drugs are all post-Op Art black light psychedelic posters.)

The voice cast is a delightful mix of  cults, Star Trek (Michael Dorn, George Takei), Farscape (Claudia Black), My Little Pony – Friendship is Magic and a million other cartoons (Tara Strong), Barney Miller (Ron Glass) and Tim Curry who of course has been in everything ever. (And there’s a few other easter-egg voice actors as well.) The cast handles the script deftly. So while every scene is something you’ve seen before, and much of the dialogue is something you’ve heard before (and in a few cases, the writers damn well know it, and are very, very openly stealing from dialogue that has come before) it never feels eye-rollingly done.

The lead, Parker, has a comfy sort of ex-something feel, and her lover Naia is any pop idol ever. As I said, the plot is well-worn and no new ground is uncovered here, but if you’re like me, you eagerly await the day when this story is made as a live action and Parker and Naia are just the leads, not  zOMG a lesbian couple!

You can rent the movie on Vimeo or order the DVD.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Lesbian – 9

Overall – 8

I hope you’ll give the movie your support – the more of this kind of animation we get, the more we get, y’know? ^_^




ALC Publishing and JManga Present Yuri Manga Sweet Blue Flowers (Aoi Hana)

November 29th, 2012

ALC Publishing and JManga announce the addition of Takako Shimura’s Sweet Blue Flowers(Aoi Hana) manga today on JManga and JManga 7!

In celebration of the release, JManga will be holding a special contest from November 29th to December 5th (PST).

Anyone who purchases the first volume of Sweet Blue Flowers during the contest period will automatically be entered to have their chance at winning an amazing gift pack of rare Sweet Blue Flowers merchandise straight from Japan!

Prizes include pins, postcards, clearfiles, even a special Sweet Blue Flowers Tote bag.

Here’s a peek at some of the goods JManga is giving away (click on image for larger picture):

In addition,any JManga7 Member (Free or Premium) who reads the preview chapter will receive a limited edition Sweet Blue Flowers digital collector’s card!

More great Yuri from JManga – we’re very proud that ALC is part of this project. ^_^





Lesbian Novel: Bobby Blanchard, Lesbian Gym Teacher (English)

September 24th, 2012

Some years ago, I had the very real pleasure of reading The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories. The basic premise was a parody of lesbian novel tropes, each individually wrapped with a love affair and…a horse. (The horse was not part of the love affair, it was just somewhere in the story.) It was an awesome beach read.

So, not surprisingly, I was thrilled to find that one of the authors of that book, Monica Nolan, had also written a few standalone lesbian pulp-style novels.

If you’re a regular reader here, you already know that I like lesbian pulp novels. Everything from the classic Women’s Barracks by Tereska Torres, through Ann Bannon’s ground-breaking Beebo Brinker series, right through modern parodies like Mabel Maney’s Kiss the Girls and Make Them Spy. In fact, it’s safe to say that I prefer original lesbian pulp and lesbian pulp parodies far more than I do high culture efforts at modern lesbian literature. (With, perhaps, the exception of Madelyn Arnold’s Year of Full Moons, which was flat-out excellent.)

The difference between Monica Nolan’s parodies of lesbian pulp and Mabel Maney’s is a matter of degree; Maney grabs on to an idea and runs as fast and as far as she can with it, making silly noises and flailing her hands all the while, while Nolan approaches her stories with appreciation for the past, and creates something sweet, sincere and slightly goofy. Which brings me to Bobby Blanchard, Lesbian Gym Teacher.

Roberta, aka “Bobby”, Blanchard is a former semi-pro athlete who, after suffering a traumatic injury, takes a position as a gym teacher at an all-girl academy in the forested “north” of some state or other. Bobby has to deal with sexually inquisitive students, teachers, and her own desires. All this while figuring out what lies behind the headmistress’s increasingly erratic behavior and why, exactly, the new math teacher seems to have it in for her.

In the end, you’ll be glad to know, everyone lives happily ever after and, more importantly, the right girls get the right girls.(Girls, yes, you read that correctly. Everyone at Metamora Academy is gay. By which I mean…no, really, everyone. ^_^ Some are gayer than others, but they are all gay.)

Ratings:

Overall – 8

At the end of this book, I had come to a new appreciation of the girls’ school tropes of this genre, a renewed love of lesbian pulp and a desire to watch some field hockey.

You’ll also be pleased to know that Nolan, having beaten the girls’ school story into submission,  has also written an Office Lady-type adventure, Lois Lenz, Lesbian Secretary. I’ll be getting that one for sure. ^_^

P.S. – I’m at the bottom of my reading pile, so it’s mostly novels from here on in. I’m not ignoring you, I just don’t read Japanese that fast. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Aoi Hana, Volume 7 (青い花)

August 29th, 2012

There is a girl, she is in love with another girl. The other girl loves her back. They love each other. The end.

It’s that simple, right? The story ends with “Happily Ever After” and we move on to the next story, and never think about the characters after that moment.

This is the essence of “Story A” – the girl and the girl ride off into the sunset and nothing bad ever happens to them.

However.

Humans are not like that, Love is not like that. Friendship is not like that. Life is not like that.

If you have ever fallen in love with someone you know what I’m saying. ^_^; “Love hurts” isn’t a joke, it’s a reality.

In Aoi Hana, Volume 7, love hurts. Even as these girls we’ve come to care about move into their final year of high school, right on the edge of being adults, they are facing some issues they have to deal with. These issues are things that, one way or the other, will bring them that much closer to maturity. Sex is part of this, but it’s just part. Communication is a larger, much more intangible and difficult to grasp, part.

Kyouko needs to find her way with her fiance’, Kou. Their relationship is complicated by their betrothal, their actual feelings for one another and, most impenetrably, Kyouko’s mother.

Mogi’s relationship with Shinobu takes a shocking turn. Will they be split apart by their own lack of confidence or will they find their way?

At the very beginning of the volume, Haru mentions that her sister and teacher have “gotten married” – although it was not a legally binding ceremony, it was meaningful for them…and she lets us know how her parents coped (or didn’t.) Same-sex marriage in manga. I want to hug Shimura-sensei and Morishima-sensei and any other mangaka who surfaces this issue in a manga.

Most important for us, there’s Akira and Fumi. Fumi is in love with Akira, but she is convinced that Akira does not feel the same way about her. Akira can see Fumi is in love with her – and she does not want to stand in the way of Fumi’s happiness, but she has no idea at all what would make *herself* happy.

Fumi thought she got what she wanted, but Akira’s lack of honesty is subtle poison. Fumi’s not as happy as Akira thought she should be after having given herself entirely to her dearest friend. Although physically they’ve been as close as possible, emotionally, they are more distant than ever before.

Many fans have wanted this relationship since the beginning. This volume is very likely to make those fans profoundly unhappy. I have never numbered myself among those who wanted Fumi and Akira as a couple. This relationship is a perfect example of what happens when you get what you want, but not what you need. IMHO, the best of all possible results is that they end the relationship quickly, with no regrets and as few tears as possible, then patch together what remains of their friendship before that too dissolves. This was not the path that leads to a happy ending, they need to return to the fork in the road and choose another.

Against a backdrop of writing, creating and performing the Three Musketeers for the drama competition, this series eschews conventions of manga for realism. Thank heavens.

Ratings:

Story – 10
Characters – 10
Art – 10
Lesbian Life – 10
Service – 3

Overall – 10

There is a girl, she loves another girl. That girl is not sure she loves her back. The end?





LGBTQ: Tokyo Bois!

July 3rd, 2012

Tokyo Wrestling is a LGBTQ bilingual web magazine run by Yuki Keiser, with a strong focus on Japanese lesbian life, events, fashion, etc and genderqueer identity. Tokyo Wrestling’s been a strong media voice for lesbian women in Japan, involving themselves in events, and giving voice and vision to artists, writers, and other women whose stories should be heard. You can find Tokyo Wrestling on Facebook and Twitter, as well. (No worries about language, Yuki speaks English.)

Last year Yuki published a book of photography by Tosaki Miwa called Tokyo Bois, pictures of androgynous, boi-ish and genderqueer lesbian woman in and around Tokyo. It took me a long time to finally order the book, and for that I’m very sorry, it’s really a delightful book.

There is some English translation in the book, excerpts from interviews have been translated, and the full text is also available in Japanese. But the real draw of this book is in the photos themselves. Here are the bois of the Japanese lesbian scene hanging out, dancing, partying and – most importantly for me – enjoying the company of their girlfriends. Of all the pictures, those in which two women are seen having fun being together are my favorites. ^_^

In fact, my very favorite picture of the book is Yuki herself with Syd Blakovich, defying every “known” about Japanese couples – they are touching, they are smiling, there is no doubt we are seeing a public display of affection here. (For the record, anime and manga is largely WAY behind the times on this, Only otaku have so much emotion invested in the simple holding of a hand, non-otaku folk do it all the time. I’ve seen many young couples on the streets of Tokyo…gasp!…touching.  Remember, anime/manga fans = largely conservative, often socially backward. Don’t think anime/manga is an accurate representation of life. It’s always life as seen through a distorted lens.)

If you’re sitting around thinking that every Japanese lesbian is a lipstick lesbian, or that Japanese lesbians are always hiding from the world behind other relationships, let Tokyo Bois remove that old-fashioned idea from your mind. This book is about youth, about freedom, and about the desire to live with honesty. This book is a sign that the future will look different than the past – and thank heaven for that.

It’s a fantastic book and has made me very, very happy.

Ratings:

Overall – 10