Archive for the Magazines Category


Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime, Volume 14, Part 1

December 16th, 2008

Comic Yuri Hime, Volume 14 starts right off with “Creo, the Crimson Crisis.” Color pages, adverts for things like the Yuri Hime calendar, Soulphage and YH collections are followed by a chapter in which Suoh remains a wet rag and her sister’s illness appears to be an advanced form of Vampirism. Important things are afoot, so Suoh is packed off to a friend’s house, where friend’s creepily friendly mother is much too nice to be trusted. Meanwhile, In Creo’s homeworld, another powerful pointy-eared warrior woman decides to become a plot complication.

New series “Girls’ Life” begins with some generic school bullying, but the victim has no intention of rolling over for the mean girls. She continues to apprach Otsu-sempai, even though the evil henchchicks disapprove. Otsu, one of the four protagonists, seems to barely notice anyone’s existance outside her own group, which includes her favorite lap pillow, Nao. When the victim du jour tells off the evil leader, Otsu, Nao and their friends are watching. Otsu offers encouragement, in a lopsidely funny way, the jealous, mean girl goes off in tears and the uncrushed victim heads off, stronger for it all. But the mean chick is determined to continue to love Otsu-sempai and runs off with ideas of shortening her skirt and not learning any lessons from her ordeal. I’m sure we’ll meet the rest of the “Girls’ Life” gang in the next chapters.

Tsukiko-chan is in love with You-chan. Another girl has noticed, but she’s in love with Tsukiko. They end up in bed together, but Tsukiko’s heart is with You-chan. The other girl offers to be a stand-in in this Hakamada Mera story, “Kono Onegai ga Kanau nara” (If this wish were fulfilled.)

And finally, we reach the end of the beloved “Strawberry Shake Sweet.” It begins a year after Ran has disappeared. Julia is almost 18, she’s cut her hair short and she continues to be a successful talent. But she has never once let go of the idea of finding Ran (to Saeki’s eternal irritation. lol) Julia tracks down Ran’s Mom, the Yuriko-lookalike whose phone call was the source of Ran’s dissapearance. Turns out she’s a famous model/actress and she did NOT want Ran in that crazy life, so she’s sent her daughter off to live with her father in the US. Julia pleads with Ran’s mother to “give Ran back!’ going so far as to say that she couldn’t care less if Ran never acted or modelled again – she wants her back in her life. Ran’s mother blows her off. But, one day she learns that Ran is back in Japan and runs off to see her. When she does, Julia threatens to kill her if she doesn’t touch her right NOW. The manga comes to an end with the two of them embracing, and a pithy little comment from Zlay’s ever-present lead singer. I’ve heard some people say that they were dissapointed by this chapter. I thought it was quite good, myself. And to be honest, I anticpate a goofy second epilogue from the collection. This is good love-comedy, with a happily-ever-after and lots of face faults. ^_^

Fujieda Miyabi’s “Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan” follows Haru and Hinoka, as they leave Sarasa and Seriho behind for their intimate chat. They talk about Sarasa’s feelings for Seriho, which prompts Hinoka to ask flat out what Haru thinks of her. Haru says she doesn’t have that kind of interest, but looks mightily put out when Hinoka says that Haru’s not her type – and then gets annoyed that she felt that way. lol

In “Yuri-Yugi” by Chi-Ran, rumor has it that the new transfer student Kotone (who came from a girls school) is weird. The protagonist watches as one of the beautiful guys in school hits on Kotone and is rebuffed. When he and the girls around him accuse her of being a “rezu” she replies by saying yes, she is a lesbian and how dare they be such utter jerks, presuming that they can just have their way with people because they think they can do anything. After telling them off, Kotone takes her leave and the protagonist follows, ultimately taking hold of Kotone’s wrist to stop her from walking away. Timdly she asks if it was all true. It was, Kotone says and yes, she has a lover, she responds when asked. The protagonist can’t figure out why her heart is pounding or why she followed Kotone, but the other girl tells her why – because she has those kinds of feelings too, doesn’t she? In any case, they can becomes friends. And thus the protagonist’s life is changed.

Which brings us to the climactic chapter of “Tokimeki Mononoke Gakuen,” in which Arare has to choose whether her desire for Kiri or her desire to remain human is more important. Arare says that she doesn’t care at all about being a human, or going home ever again, she wants Kiri, dammit. But when they touch each other and it starts to get heavy, Arare tearfully pushes Kiri away and runs off. Kiri says that she probably went too far, apologizing to the absent Arare as it begins to rain….

That takes us the second set of color pages, which give blurbs of anime popular with the Yuri crowd and to about the halfway mark! We’ll stop here, and finish it up tomorrow. ^_^





This Week in Yuri – November 29, 2008

November 29th, 2008

This week is a veritable cornucopia of Yuri news!

Yuri Live-Action

There’s little more than a promotional image and a bundle of hope, but AIC has announced that a live-action Bugglegum Crisis is not entirely fantasy. Will we finally get the totally dyke-y Priss we want and deserve? Probably not. lol But we can hope, can’t we?

Fans of Yuricest will want to keep an eye out for Brulee, a movie that stars twin sisters, playing twin sisters that are separated and, upon reunion, fall in love with one another. Expect dry, unromantic Japanese kiss scenes. :-)

***

Yuri Anime

With the US release of the second season of Maria Watches Over Us just around the corner, and the fourth season of Maria-sama ga Miteru coming this January, we’re all aquiver for Marimite news around here. And boy do we have it! To celebrate the fourth season, a New Year’s Eve event has been announced in Japan. Not only will it feature sneak peeks at the fourth season – it will also feature a 3-dimensional “story so far.” LOL How’s that for an exciting use of CG, huh? Long lingering shots of the 3-D Rose Mansion, the table in the council room, Catholic schoolgirls standing around talking…. (I’m guessing that it’s based on designs created for the Bara no Yakata in Second Life and expanded from there.) I’m sure it will be cool, if a little weird.

And exciting news for the three or so of you who enjoyed it, Project ICE is being made into a movie for the theaters. Two streaming trailers are available online now.

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Snatches of Yuri

It’s almost December, and therefore the publishers of Yuri Hime, Ichijinsha, are gearing up for their winter releases. The 18th of the month will see the next Yuri Hime S magazine, and several collections from same.

Keep your eyes open for links to order the first collected volumes of Flower Flower, Honey Crush and Cassiopeia Dolce. Also Otome Kikan Gretel which will be the only one I’m planning on getting for myself.

Also coming out this month (pun intended, yes) is the second and final volume of Strawberry Shake Sweet. And a second volume of the light novel Wild Bouquet, this one subtitled “The Flower Whose Name Means Desire.” Sounds spicy, but I’m not holding my breath. (Review of the first volume of Wild Bouquet to come soon, btw.)

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Yuri Games

No specifically Yuri, but the game Fable II for the Xbox is being given same-sex options on partnering, with dialogue that is supposed to be more representative of those relationships. Since one of the creators is gay, the dialogue will at least be more representative of a gay male relationship. The only lesbian option mentioned in the article I read was a cross-dressing pregnant lesbian, which didn’t really make me sit up and go “yay” or anything. lol (The wife says “God, you’re never satisfied, are you?” lol)

***

One last thing – this a personal request. If you are considering purchasing *anything* from Amazon or Amazon Japan this holiday season, please consider doing so through the Yuricon Shop. Just click through any item at all and then go ahead and shop as usual. It won’t cost you anything extra and it will give me referrer fees that are, at the moment, much needed. Many thanks in advance.

And that wraps it up for now – happy Yuri hunting until next week!





Yuri Manga: Hanjuku Joshi, Volume 1

November 26th, 2008

Hanjuku Joshi (Half-baked Woman) is one of two collections of stories that were distributed by Yuri Hime magazine, as part of their cell phone service in Japan. Kinda neat, huh?

You know how it is. Whatever kind of body/hair/face you have, you want something else. And Yae is no different. She’s got a cute, curvaceous, feminine body, and soft, fluffy hair. She likes sewing. She’s as girly as a girl could be – and she hates it. Which is why its so vexing to be told how feminine she is all time. And even more so when tall, athletic, Chitose – who is everything Yae wishes she was, including not at all self-conscious about her body – tells her so.

Yae is still reeling from the difference from her previous co-ed schools in regards to relations between students, so she’s not really ready for the feelings she’s having for Chitose. And she’s totally not ready for Chitose to return them. And, just to make it all that much more awkward and painful, she’s not definitely not up to being teased by Hanashima Mari, the cool, beautiful upperclassman who mocks Yae and Chitose for “playing” at love, calling them “half-baked women”, right before she skips class to hit a hotel with her current beau. When, later that day, they stumble across Mari and their female homeroom teacher in a compromising position in the library, everything gets even more complicated than before.

In the end, the story is about not one, but two love relationships, about healing old wounds and finding one’s self.

On the Yuricon Mailing List, I stated that I thought that this book might well be the most perfect “Yuri” manga I’d ever seen. It’s not really a story of anyone coming out – there is some sense of identity, but not so much that it changes the story to a lesbian one. No, the focus here is on “Yuri,” in the sense of lesbian content, not lesbian identity, a classic school setting and first love…and all that “pure” and “innocent” love stuff that fanboys love so much. (Although, for people who like their Yuri “pure” and “innocent” no one ever seems to object when they end up sleeping together.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 6

Overall – 9

Hanjuku Joshi was not my absolute favorite collection from this last batch of Yuri Hime manga, but it was very enjoyable. I always enjoy Morishima’s work, and always look forward to the next one.





Yuri Light Novel: .(period)

November 14th, 2008

This past summer, Ichijinsha, publisher of Yuri Hime, launched a new line of light novels under the imprint “Iris.” Ostensibly written for women, this imprint included two “Yuri” novels. In the enclosed catalog flyer, .(period), written by Hozuki Luli and illustrated by Kurogane Kenn, is described as “Yuri and gun-action.” I’m glad they labeled it as Yuri, because without that hint, you might not notice.

In fact, the entire book reads *exactly* like a fanfic. Enough detail to get away with the plot, predictable and not very memorable. There’s not much service and it definitely doesn’t have the level of gun obsession that filled the pages of Vanilla. The details on the Italian police system and Mafia were wafer thin, and I don’t know if using “cute” Glocks is really a girl thing, but maybe that’s just me. ^_^;

The story follows the adventures of police investigator Bianca Stradella and gun for hire Nicola (can’t remember her family name at the moment…) as they try to take out the Brancatti family. The Mafia, we learn, killed Bianca’s parents, so she has a life-long grudge, while Nicola, it turns out, is the daughter of a mafia princess. Just like oil and water, fire and ice, Ernie and Bert, the two set out to defeat the bad guys. To make sure we really *hate* the bad guys, they “adopt” a bunch of ten year old girls to use in snuff films and other horrors, so we can feel righteously indignant and satisfied when we kill them.

As investigators, Bianca and Nicola leave something to be desired. In one scene they are literally walking around a town asking for “a guy named Antonio, who knows a priest in Rome named Father Bernino.” /snort/

The chemistry between Bianca and Nicola is entirely manufactured through the most trite of means. They share a bed because it’s cold, they live through gunfights and motorcycle chases and, so, they grow closer, but not really. When they have the required downtime scene in which “affectionate moment D” is called for, it is duly supplied.

The end of the book contains so many clichés that, even when I could not actually read every single kanji, I knew *exactly* what was happening and what was being said. ^_^ It was satisfyingly like every movie/NCIS episode/book/anime ever.  It got to the point towards the end that I started playing a “predict the next scene” game with myself. “Now, we’ll have the “final betrayal” scene in which Bianca learns the unpalatable truth about Nicola. Then we’ll have the scene where she learns that the police were in the Mafia’s pockets all along.” ^_^

Everything played out as neatly as in a Michael Douglas movie, with no deviations from script. And then the end came. And I started to laugh. Having sold her soul and her ideals to regain Nicola, we turn to a lonely room where we watch Nicola sit alone with her memories of Bianca. There is a knock on the door, and these guys from a furniture moving company start bringing a huge red sofa into the room. “I didn’t order this!” Nicola protests, but joke’s on her, it’s just Bianca. Wow, they didn’t even go on two dates – just one mission to defeat the Mafia – and Bianca’s moving all her shit in. ^_^

In terms of Yuri, there is some service of the mild kind – the aforementioned sharing a bed, and “gee, you smell nice” kind of stuff. A few touches and one sort-of sexually tense scene that is aborted before we get more than a quick peck on the cheek. But before the end, Nicola confesses that she loves Bianca to her on tape and seperately, Bianca coming to the realization that she loves Nicola.

That’s it.

The only lesbian thing about the book is the move-in scene at the end. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 4 They could not have picked a less appropriate artist for this book. I like Kurogane’s stuff just fine but, Bianca’s supposed to be 25, not 12.
Story – 6 It wasn’t terrible and it wasn’t good. It *was* too long.
Characters – 6 There wasn’t a single original thing about them, but that’s okay.
Yuri – 5 Like I said, I’m glad they told us that it was a Yuri novel.
Service – 3 For all that there’s a shared bed and maid outfits, there’s not much service.

Overall – 6 (but this, like all my reviews, is only my opinion – the review on Amazon JP gives it a 5 out of 5 stars, so there you go. The art is so *beautiful* and the writing is so *wonderful.* The reviewer was positively gushing. ^_^; I found it to be predictable, but entertaining.)

Do you that everyone in Italy eats nothing but pizza and pannini and drinks nothing but cappuccino?





Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime S, Volume 6 Part 2

October 6th, 2008

We left Yuri Hime S, Volume 6 midway yesterday. We pick it up at at a recap of the winning entries in Ichijinsha’s most recent manga contest. Each magazine has a few winners, and we get to see all of the recent crop.

Speaking of new artists, the next story is a violent and vaguely disturbing piece by newcomer Marimo Naoe called “The Nightmare After School,” (which is not related to The Afterschool Nightmare, a different manga series that has some Yuri characters.) Akira is having some seriously violent nightmares. Like – beheading someone and having their decapitated body come after her. She relies on her sister for emotional support and for protection at school. When she sees Suzuki-sempai macking on her sister, it doesn’t make her at all happy. But Suzuki gets all the girls, as we see her receive yet another love letter. Akira’s jealousy doesn’t make her nightmares any less horrible – if anything they are getting worse. Akira and her sister are caught up in a waking nightmare when their friend Rika is possessed, but it’s Suzuki-sempai who rescues them – and talls Akira that she’ll be Suzuki’s apprentice for now, since her powers are obeious, but need to be trained. I’m interested to see where this story goes, defintely.

“Yuru Yuri” follows, with three chapters that I feel no compunction about skipping.

The summer event for dollmakers has arrived and the staff of “Cassiopeia Dolce” are gearing up for the half-networking, half-cosplay event. Most of the story is taken up with cosplay bishoujo-style non-situations (gotta love Takagi, he’s very consistent) and random kissing. Olga names Anna her apprentice in public (shock and jealousy follows) and Anna finally gets a really good kiss with Olga in at the afterparty. In the way of all things, Olga was so drunk the entire night is a blank and Anna (ah ha ha ha) has to start from scratch next chapter. hah.

Kuromasa Shisei turns our eye to yet another Shinigami and human pairing in “Kanojou to Shinigami.”

In “Honey Crush” Madoka rethinks her position on liking girls, and Kyouko and the ghost are all fired up all over again. Kyouko intervenes for the ghost and let’s Madoka know she cares so much she stalked her and died for her efforts. Ghostgirl confesses. Madoka admits to finding the idea of loving someone she really can’t see problematic. (My wife says, “Wimp.” ^_^)

“Nanami to Misuzu” is followed by “Kanojou ha Imouto” in which two girls who had decided that they would go out, are now catapulted through marriage into being sisters. The younger sister has no trouble with it…the older does. Despite this being a lot of things I don’t care much for, it wasn’t heinous.

The end.

The advertisement for the upcoming issue of Yuri Hime looks interesting. Since “Strawberry Shake Sweet” will be ending, I’m betting we’ll see some contenders for strong story leaders this month. Looks like it’s gonna be good!

So, okay. Sisters, and the peeing fetish do not appeal to me. I like the attempt at a non-kiddie story and don’t mind the horror stuff, as long as it’s not just fake-Yuri. So two fetishes I don’t like, two I do and I can tolerate the moe if it’s not tedious.

Overall – 7

As a kid brother, Yuri Hime S is kind of cute and kind of annoying, with one friend I kinda like. ^_^