Archive for the Miscellaneous Category


Ribon no Kishi/Princess Knight

September 15th, 2004

Ribon no Kishi or, Princess Knight as it is known in English, is something I have wanted to write about for a very, very long time. I just kept getting distracted by something shiny.

Ribon no Kishi is not a Yuri manga. It is, however, the first instance of a cross-dressing girl-prince ever, in manga and, ultimately, anime. Long before Utena, Lady Oscar and Erminia, the “God of Manga” Osamu Tezuka, gave us Safire, the heroine of Ribon no Kishi.

Think Snow White with a sword and an attitude. ^_^

Safire’s character design is a direct nod (a polite way of saying it was ripped off) to Disney’s Snow White. Only Safire isn’t mooning around – she’s been raised to be a Prince for political reasons, and as a result, she takes great pleasure in riding out on her white charger to rescue damsels in distress.

Safire’s true desire is to be herself, but that includes both wearing a froofy dress to a ball and riding out with sword, so she’s not a total bore. She fights off evil Dukes and witches and rescues a handsome Prince, with whom she falls in love and of course, ultimately, lives happily ever after. It’s all too cute and fuzzy for words.

The art is *very* early Disney, the story too, even the cute little critters look right out of a Disney movie. Remember, this man *created* all the conventions of manga you’re used to seeing – big eyes, western faces and talking animal sidekicks – all Osamu Tezuka’s fault. But he was just using Disney conventions. So, the next time someone asks you “Why do anime characters have such big eyes?” the short answer is, “Because Disney drew them that way.”

But, let us not forget the Japanese tradition of Takarazuka, the all-female musical review that regularly has women acting the roles of Princes and Knights and rescuing damsels…Osamu Tezuka was drawing on that as well, for his Safire. She may be tough on the outside, but she’s all girl underneath – just like the otokoyaku of the Takarazuka.

While it is true that Ribon no Kishi has *zero* yuri, except in the briefest and most superficial moments, as rescued damsels are momentarily fluttery and one evil sorceress seems a teeny little possesive, it’s still totally worth taking a look at, just for the sheer history of the thing. And the story, and Safire herself, are so damn *cute.*

Ratings:

Art – 6. Primitive by our standards
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – 1
Music (for the anime) – 2. It’s plinky and saccharine.

Overall – 6. Not brilliant Yuri must have, but if you care at *all* about the history of manga, you’ll want to take a look at it.

Now – here’s the hard part. I know for a fact that I’ve seen it in an English translation as Princess Knight. A quick run through most of the big manga sellers shows nothing with that title. I did find this bilingual version for sale online. And the original format has been re-released in Japanese. Not surprisingly, I totally recommend getting it that way. As for the anime, a very long time ago, I found the first three episodes raw, but have never found more.

In any case, it’s worth a look.





Yuri Kokoro Weblog

August 30th, 2004

I’ve been meaning to write this review for almost a year now…I guess it’s well past time to let you all in on one of my little Yuri secrets.

There is no way on earth any one person has time to find all the yuri manga and anime out there, even if you comb news sites, mailing lists, etc, 24/7. And I miss stuff from time to time, like anyone else. But to try and keep on top of titles of potential interest, I often trawl Japanese Yuri-related weblogs and fan sites.

Before Yuricon 2003, I used to hit about three weblogs on a regular basis, including one cleverly titled Yomiyuri Shimbun ( a pun on the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun,) quite a bit. Sadly, it went out of production. Now my first choice for yuri news and reviews is a web blog called Yuri Kokoro. Yuri Kokoro has been around since December 2003, and I read it almost daily, just to see what the author has found of interest to Yuri fans.

Last week, Yuri Kokoro ran a short review of Okazu, and apparently, I’ve been writing the oldest yuri web log in existence. Neat, huh? In return, I thought I’d be fair and review Yuri Kokoro.

Let me begin by stating the obvious – Yuri Kokoro is written in Japanese only.

The author, much like myself, purchases many items of interest, manga, anime, toys, magazines, etc, and reviews them based on his own criteria, pretty much the same as I do. ^_^ I tend to agree with the author quite often, so I try to keep an eye out for the things he’s liked.

On the Yuri Kokoro site, you can also find links to other yuri websites and blogs, which are useful for keeping up on new stuff coming out. On the whole, though, I find Yuri Kokoro the easiest to read, the most interesting and the easiest to comment on. (I have sent in comments a few times and the author always responds…something I appreciate.) All in all, I think Yuri Kokoro to be one of the most useful sites I’ve found.

If you can read any Japanese at all – even if you can’t, because there are several excellent translation programs online which will help you get the gist, I recommend a visit to Yuri Kokoro.

 





Home sick

August 17th, 2004

Sorry folks, I’m home sick. I’ll update when I get a chance. In the meantime, please feel free to read the archives and comment. Enjoy!





Yuri Manga: Love Yuri-Gumi

August 10th, 2004

Along with yesterday’s winner, I picked up Love Yuri-gumi (gumi means gang, or group), another yuri anthology. What this anthology lacked in dickchicks and bodily fluids, it made up for in seriously ugly art.

This was kind of annoying, because on the whole, the stories are pretty straightforward – girl and girl have meaningless, empty sex, accompanied by meaningless, empty conversation. Okay, that’s not fair – the conversations may be riveting, but I’m never going to know, because the art is SO unattractive in nearly every story, that I can barely stand to look at the thing. Only one story was bearable art-wise, and it was a typical school-girl thing. There’s a few loli stories – one with girls so young and bug-eyed that they look like premies and another with kids that look like, oh, I don’t know, chubby Japanese dolls, I guess. But in general, even if the stories themselves were much less yucky than the Premium anthology, they were so *ugly* that I just didn’t want to look.

This anthology is, perhaps, the least good yuri anything I’ve encountered since Susaku Replay, which is so utterly repulsive and without merit that it stands in a class by itself.

Ratings: Art – 1. Story – who can tell? Characters – Horrible, simply horrible. Yuri – 10, but it’s just not worth it.

Despite the wonderful title, and the cover that says, “Even Women Want To Fall In Love With Each Other” Love Yuri-gumi is a big zero.





Totally, wildly, completely off-topic

July 5th, 2004

Today is the day when Americans celebrate their independence from the British Empire – and by extension, their general sense of freedom.

I personally tend to not be the most patriotic, in the sense of being an aphorism-spewing, flag-waving, love it or leave it kind of person, but I am very grateful to be living in the US, if not in agreement with all of my government’s policies and actions. One of the best things about being American is that you *can* call the current President an insult to orangutans everywhere and not get disappeared overnight…so far.

However, I do love celebrating Independence Day with an intense bout of wachting fireworks and being nine years old. Tonight, I walked down the road to watch a local fireworks display from up the street. I could see all the explosions that went high enough to clear the trees, which was about 1/2 of the display. What I saw made me very happy and I stood, by myself, in the street clapping and saying, “oooh” like a kid.

And then the finale began. Most of the fireworks didn’t clear the treeline, so all I saw was a series of flashes and loud booms, and my blood ran cold, because, but for the grace of many gods, I might have been standing there watching Cedar Knolls being blown to hell. It was a very sobering thought…and one that made me really thankful to be where I am, to have what I have. And tonight, my prayers will definitely be with anyone, anywhere, who aren’t watching fireworks when the booms and flashes come.

Happy 4th of July