Archive for the LGBTQ Category


Yuri Manga: GUNJO (羣青), continued

October 24th, 2011

It’s been a while since I talked about GUNJO (羣青), hasn’t it? The first volume was brutal and awful and wonderful and the second volume was, as I keep saying, like eating the most delicious razor blades ever.

And now, as the story approaches an end, I want to talk about it once more. Now, while it’s still in that Schroedinger’s Cat phase of not being over, but already ended. (It has to be ended, or nearly so, just because of the publishing schedule of magazines.)

As I read each new chapter, I find myself scanning the faces of the woman who was abused and despised by everyone ever who was supposed to have loved and cared for her and the only person who ever actually did,  wondering how this series could end without them both dead, wondering if they will ever be free, wondering if they will ever smile again, wondering if I’m as or more pathetic than they to even think that they might.

Look at the scan above. (I left in all the ghost images from the pages in front and behind this tableau, because this is what the pages look like when I read the chapters in the magazine.)

“Hey!” says the brunette, who Japanese fans call Megane-san because she wore glasses.

“…Mm?” says the blonde, called “Sensei” by Japanese fans because she was a vet, before she became a criminal.

There they are, facing each other down, having survived so much together and yet not together at all. The brunette gets angriest when the blonde shows her any kindness, the blonde gets angriest when the brunette becomes self-deprecating. Neither can let each other go….neither wants to be left alone….neither wants to be with the other. They are suspended in a relationship so intimate that they loathe each other for it, but when they think about it a little, they don’t dislike each other at all.

Where can this series go? I have absolutely no idea. I sit around sometimes and try to predict the end. Will Megane-san give herself up, and let Sensei return to what’s left of her life? Or maybe they will die in a freak accident, solving the entire problem? Or maybe they will be free, after all, the police haven’t caught up to them yet….maybe they can escape…and then I slap myself for being a fool.

You don’t know what the brunette says next. I don’t know what will happen next. Like every chapter of GUNJO, this one keeps us suspended on a knife bridge, spikes on one side, swords on the other. This moment is not a breath of fresh air – it’s the moment before the breath is punched out of us.

GUNJO has been the hardest thing I have ever read in my life. I love it to the point of incoherence.  It’s long moved past being about a lesbian, and I don’t even know what it’s about anymore…other than life and death.

However it ends, no matter how much it hurts (and it will, of that I have no doubt,) I’ll still consider this one of the greatest stories I have ever read in any language. Thank you Nakamura-sensei. Thank you for GUNJO.

要約:これまで読んできたあらゆる言語の作品の中で、最も優れた物語のひとつ (要約/翻訳 |小松さん)





NYCC Panels: From the Other Side of the Table, Part 1 XX: The Women of Queer Comics

October 17th, 2011

This weekend, over 100,000 people attended New York Comic Con, mostly to get free stuff. But some of those people attended panels where free stuff wasn’t the draw and of those panels, I was privileged and honored to participate on two.

XX: Women of Queer Comics took place on Friday night. Sponsored by Prism Comics, the moderator was author, artist and singer (and Yuri Monogatari contributor) JD Glass. The panel consisted of:

Joan Hilty – Former DC editor and creator of Bitter Girl

Kris Dresden – Creator of these things matter, hush and other comics

Jennifer Camper – Creator of Rude Girls and Dangerous Women and editor of the Juicy Mother anthologies.

Paige Braddock – Creator of Jane’s World
 
Abby Denson – Creator of Dolltopia and Tough Love: High School Confidential
 
Rica Takashima – Creator of Tokyo Love ~ Rica ‘tte Kanji!? and Aozora Art

and, erm, me. (I love the picture above, because I was leaning back as I listened, so I’m not visible. ^_^;; I’m behind Abby.)

To say that I was feeling a bit like a pretender is an understatement. I was *the* only non-artist on the panel.

Anyway, the room was full, the panel was funny, the crowd was great and we had a teriffic time. I loved hearing the other panelists’ stories about how they got started doing comics and what motivated them now.

JD’s questions covered how everyone got started (short version: no one else was doing it and it seemed the right or only thing to do,) what keeps them going (short version: same as last answer and it’s who we are) and what positive changes we’ve seen (short version: more queer characters in all levels of comics, creators, editorial, staff, characters, etc.) This last led to the best line of the panel, IMHO.

I began talking about how, when I started, Yuri was just porn for creepy guys and Camper leans forward and says, “And now it’s porn for creepy dykes.” I’m still laughing at that.

Everyone was witty and grounded and real and I do not believe I have ever been so honored in my life as I was to sit up there with such amazing women.

The grand takeaway from this panel was: What are you waiting for? Do it – draw/write/publish – do it already and do it yourself.

Thanks JD for the chance to be on that panel – and thanks to everyone who came and asked such great questions!

PS – I gave out prizes to people who asked questions, so they got free stuff anyway. ^_^





Yuri Manga: Omoi no Kakera (想いの欠片)

September 19th, 2011

In Takemiya Jin’s Omoi no Kakera (想いの欠片) Mika is that rarest of all manga characters, a confident, out (to herself and a few important people in her life, at least) and together young lesbian. There’s a cafe in town that she likes to frequent, because she’s interested in the owner – she likes the oneesama type. Mika doesn’t like bullies, though, so the day she sees an attractive older woman being emotionally proked and prodded into tears by two aunty-types, she pours water over their heads, tells them off and ends up involved with the other woman’s life.

Mika must be a drama magnet, because she’s leaving the lesbian bar she frequents and runs into a lover’s quarrel in the hallway. This is merely annoying because they are blocking her egress, but it becomes downright weird when it turns out that a schoolmate of hers, Harada, is one of the participants. Mutually outed, they become friends, until that creates *more drama* when Harada’s little sister tries to warn Mika off her brother. After some random accusations and drama, Mika finally has a chance to put things straight between her and Mayu, that she’s got no interest – no, really, none – in her brother except as a friend. Things might have calmed down, except that Mayu finds herself interested in Mika. She doesn’t quite admit to it, but Mika’s no one’s fool.

In her downtime, Mika learns more about the cafe owner’s life and her relationship with her roommate, a story so complicated that Mika sums up with “I don’t get adults!”

Throughout Mika is a fun, smart, self-assured young woman, who I would be honored to have over for lunch.

This series has been running in Hakusensha’s Rakuen Le Paradis, and it has been one of my favorite series since the very first chapter. It’s ongoing, so hopefully we’ll have much more of Mika and her friends. If you’re looking for a character who isn’t coming out, isn’t falling in love and going all gooey, but is participating in life fully as a lesbian, with some meaningful discussion of gay and lesbian life thrown in for good measure, this is an absolute must-get.  In this collection, Takemiya Jin-sensei pushes the boundaries of “Yuri” right dead into “lesbian,” and makes it smart, funny, well-constructed with characters you care about. You know, the kind of Yuri we actually want to read.

Ratings:

Art – 9 I’m a total fangirl for Takemiya-sensei’s art
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Yuri – 9
Service – 1

Overall – 9

If I awarded awards for Yuri, Omoi no Kakera would be a shoo-in. I can definitely call this a Top Ten for the year.





Yuri Manga: Aoi Hana (青い花), Volume 6

August 25th, 2011

In Volume 5 of Aoi Hana (青い花), I commented that Fumi had made it past the third stage of coming out, saying something to a complete stranger. In Volume 6, she makes it to 3.5, telling close friends.

During summer vacation, the girls all head to a hot spring, accompanied by freshman Haru and, more notably, the teacher that Haru says is her sister’s lover. Fumi overstays her time in the outside onsen because she’s embarrassed and subsequently passes out. When she wakes in her room, the teacher comes in to see if she’s okay, and Fumi ends up asking her a question about liking another woman. This is not unconnected, as Fumi’s embarrassment is, in part, at catching herself looking at Akira’s naked body in the bath.

Later that night, Fumi also inadvertently says out loud that she’s in love with A-chan, and Akira says, also out loud, that she knows. There is a tension now between Fumi and Akira; but whether it’s anticipatory or not, they aren’t quite sure and neither are we.

Once home, Akira visits Fumi and asks if maybe they should just try dating and see how that works out. Body and mind exploding with fear/joy/freaking right out, Fumi has completely lost whatever cool she usually has. But, at some point, Fumi pulls herself together and, when they are out on their first date, she kisses Akira with no second thoughts.

Fumi is speaking with her friends, Pon-chan and Mugi, when Pon-chan asks if Fumi is “that way,” (and Mugi flips out at Pon-chan because you don’t *ask* that kind of thing!) we see that Fumi has once again adapted to her new, stronger self and replies quite calmly and honestly that yes, she is “that way,” then lets her friends work it out for themselves. Which they do, very quickly, because after all Fumi is their friend and they love her. (In a nutshell, the number one reason for coming out, IMHO.)

But, wait, there’s more! Fumi’s parents leave on a romantic trip over Christmas, leaving Fumi and Akira to stay home. They buy cake, crack open the bottle of champagne Fumi’s Dad had received and Fumi proceeds to get just tipsy enough to say things she wants to say to A-chan. And so she does. About how she wants to have physical intimacy with her friend. Knowing that the excuse of the alcohol is the best lead-in she’s ever going to get, Fumi drags Akira about three steps forward in the relationship, the same ways she has since the very beginning – by being honest.

Fumi ends by saying that it’s really probable that A-chan’s “like” and her “like” are different, but she really likes A-chan…who responds by embracing her.

And I smiled. I smiled through just about every single page of this book. My god what I would have given for Fumi to have existed when I was 15.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Yuri – 10
Service – 1

Overall – 10

If this book is ever translated into English, I will endeavor to make this story the light at the end of the tunnel for every gay teen in America. There are a lot of young women out there who need Fumi in their life.





Wandering Son Manga, Volume 1 (English)

July 17th, 2011

Wandering Son, Volume 1 is my vote for manga most likely to cause a quiet revolution without becoming a best seller.

As you know, if you pay attention to any manga news at all, Wandering Son  by Shimura Takako, is the story of two young people as they realize and deal with the fact that their gender does not match their bodies. In Volume One, we are introduced to the cast, and to the general situation in which Shuuichi and his classmate Yoshino start to deal with puberty and the disconnect they feel about their selves and the bodies in which those selves reside.

This past week I was pleased to be part of a discussion of this book at the Manga Out Loud podcast. I hope you’ll listen to it, as we discuss both the book and the anime in some detail.

The story itself is gentle…as I say in the podcast, almost tentative. This territory is difficult for many people to accept and the manga audience is not, for all that it enjoys stories of gender switching as comedy, as socially liberal as many might think. Shimura takes her time…and ours…to introduce the idea that a body may not be the right one to be in.

As a result, Volume 1 might feel a bit timid to those readers who are more used to Aoi Hana. Having just come off reading Volume 6 of Aoi Hana, I found myself a little surprised at the tentativeness of these first chapters…and then suddenly I realized that this manga is nearly ten years old. The strength Fumi shows was not born overnight and Shuuichi and Yoshino are younger than she is. After talking with the folks on the podcast, I realized what a profound revelation this series will be to people for whom this is an entirely alien discussion. And I’m utterly blown away by how deft and masterful Shimura has become in the last decade.

In conclusion, I’m going to cheat and quote Ed Sizemore from Twitter, when he said, “Wandering Son doesn’t just open up doors of perception for me, but makes me want to learn more about the real life experience of transgender people. To see world through their eyes so I can relate to them better.”

There will be no Wandering Son cosplayers, you won’t find Wandering Son figurines or headbands at conventions. But in these pages, Shimura can bring the thoughts and experiences of the transgender community to people who have never before thought about life from Shuuichi’s or Yoshino’s perspective. That is the revolution contained in the pages of Wandering Son.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 0

Overall – 8

I hope you will all consider buying a copy of the manga for your library (or request that it buy a copy, if it still has the budget to do so.) Let’s change the world, one manga at a time – starting with this one. I’ve already got a copy for my Libary. ^_^