Archive for the Miscellaneous Category


Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 7 (推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ )

August 9th, 2021

Until late last night, this review was going to be completely different. I had a whole review planned out and was all ready to joke about Path #4 on my Choose Your Own Adventure and then mere pages from the end of the volume, it went to hell in the form of a “joke” so excruciating, so forced, so stupid, I just stared, aghast.

So instead of the review I was going to write about how, Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 7 (推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ ) was maybe not so bad, maybe it had gotten past it’s awful, terrible, unfunny plot complication that Maina and Eri can’t communicate well, or at all, it fucking SLAMMED down a joke, so bad that I hate the creator twice – once for making me think they can write a story, maybe, and once for not being able to write a goddamned story.

I know, I know. I KNOW. I do this every time with Hirao Auri. At this point we all just have to admit it’s a form of flagellation. Leave me to my hair shirt and flail.

You want to know the worst part? For 6 chapters this volume was GOOD. It really was! Maina and Eri could get whole sentences out and the absurd thing that happened actually made things better and the back stories of all the other ChamJam members had depth and the struggle with using their real names was interesting and it was a solid volume! And then in the fucking omake chapter….it goes to hell. For a stuuuuuupid, unfunny joke.

Yes, we get it. Eri is not screwed together tightly we get it. But no, that..no. My fucking god, how does the editor not jump over the table, screaming. This is why I am not a editor for a living, kids. I would be behind bars, ranting about excruciating characters and terribly, awful unfunny jokes that ruined acceptably interesting volumes.

Ratings:

Seriously? This manga is fucking enraging.

ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH

To express my feelings properly, I would like to share this image that was created by my friend Erin Finnegan as part of a comic she drew to fully illustrate her feelings on the end of the KareKano manga.

This panel lives rent free in my head. Especially when I am reading something by Hirao Auri.


One last note….Aya’s kimono, was genuinely, perfect. That joke worked.





No Yuri Network News Today

July 24th, 2021

Beautiful summer day, I’m taking off. Be back in the office later tomorrow. ^_^

 





Jessica Bannister and the Midnight Seance

July 11th, 2021

Jessica Bannister is a young woman who wants to be a journalist. We meet her as she’s heading into the London City Observer for a job interview. She manages to get the job, provisionally, if she can get an interview with a reclusive author. She does, setting Jessica and Observer photographer Jim Brodie on a series of mysterious and supernatural events in this first of the J-Novel Club Pulp line of novels.

Jessica Bannister and the Midnight Seance is a collection of four short stories about Jessica, a go-getting young woman with apparent precognitive powers and the apparent supernatural events that surround her and her assignments. From the titular midnight seance to a menacing crows in the Rockies, to wild wolves in Wales, Jessica and Jim encounter mystery and murder.

There’s no Yuri here, although I certainly would have loved one of of the stories to head in that direction  – and while Jessica does fall for one of the men in the first story, he is conveniently whisked away to America and pulled out of contention. She’s not made to bounce between one guy and another and, very pleasantly, her relationship with Jim is always as a friend and peer.

My one significant complaint is, as pulp stories go, these were nowhere lurid enough. Atmospheric, yes, goofy as heck, full of psychic warnings and scary moments and even several running through the forest in a sheer nightie (I mean, what would you pack for a professional trip to interview the son of a man murdered by wolves in the forests of Wales?) kind of thing. But everything – except for Jessica’s precognition – is given a reason, which I kind of found a little sad. And also, the Wye Valley? I’ve been there, it’s like farmland and trees and picturesque towns. Should have put it in Gwynedd, Janet. Pleasantly, it’s almost impossible to tell when this series is set. They have cars and cell phones, but not like, people just carrying cell phones all the time, everywhere and satellite phones for the high mountain ranges, because duh.

The paper Jessica is working for is a hoot, too. Interviews with reclusive, famous performers, but not news about the murder case…and no one seems to notice Jessica solves all the cases. ^_^

It’s a bit like Scooby-Doo, if Daphne were the star. Fun, but I’d give serious money if it starred Velma, instead. Give me lesbian occult pulp, J-Novel Club and I’ll be your best friend. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – Great cover design by ttl
Story – Not bad, just slightly not lurid enough
Characters – Decent. Jessica and Jim are a good team.
Service – The aforementioned nightie
Romance – Only once, then set aside for other matters. Nothing Yuri, unless you want to re-write the stories in your head.

Overall – Solid 7.

Thank you so much to J-Novel Club for the review copy! It was a good, chunky book  and you can read a preview of this book on J-Novel Club’s site and decide for yourself!





Sex Education 120%, Volume 1

July 7th, 2021

Sex Education 120%, by Kikiki Tataki, with art by Hotomura was a very good book. I’m saying that right up front.

I won’t belabor us all with the details of how execrable “health” education is in school. We all have our own excruciating tales of teachers unwilling or unable to talk plainly or parents bent out of shape at even basics. I probably am old enough that my sex education, despite it’s heterocentrism, was at least still accurate…if not wholly adequate. And since then, it’s pretty obvious that the adequacy has dropped even further, which is why I think I would definitely give this book to a tween if I knew one to give it to.

The story is straightforward, Tsuji is the health teacher in a Japanese high school who is teaching the kids actual sex education, despite the constant push-back from her colleagues and administration. But that’s only half the story. Yes, the sex education as far as it goes (and it goes relatively far) is both accurate and adequate, but the story is about a lot more than just sex. 

There’s a chapter on coming out, as two of the girls admit to being in a relationship – and we get a discussion of dental dams and how they work. Same sex couples are given some quality time. A goofy chapter ends up educationg readers on the fact that love hotels are not allowed to discriminate against same-sex couple. There is a chapter about masturbation. There’s also a lot of (mostly useless and goofy, ala Heaven’s Design Team)  tidbits about animal behavior, and a nod to omegaverse and BL. We learn enough about Tsuji to root for her and enough about sex to pass part of an exam…there are notable bits about heterosexual stuff left out, presumably either to appear in later volumes.

The characters were likable, the lesbian couple is cute and Tsuji’s enthusiasm is just exactly ridiculous enough to keep you rooting for her and this was an incredibly fast and fun read. Thanks to CW for letting us know about it just before it was licensed by Yen Press.  On the sensible premise that the sex education most people get is limited and barely adequate, I highly recommend this series.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 10
Service – Not really, except to make a point about salaciousness.
Queer – 10 the lesbian couple is out by the end of this volume

Overall – 9

I picked this book up on Global Bookwalker with some extra coins I got from Yuri Day specials and was very pleased with my purchase. ^_^ It’s also available on Amazon, RightStuf and a manga seller near you! Volume 2 will ship in October.

 





It’s a Lucky Box Summer on Okazu! All Claimed

June 20th, 2021

Doing a seasonal clean up of stuff that has accumulated, breaking down some of Bruce’s collection (we’re about half way through the boxes!) and goods from Yuri exhibits and this spring’s Yuriten means…it’s Lucky Box time!

Our summer crop of Lucky boxes for the year are full of comics and manga and poetry and artbooks and toys, candy  and other random things to marvel at. The Premium boxes include other flat fun things like stickers, bookmarks, maybe comix, or postcards.

This time we have 3 Large Premium boxes and 1 Large Premium Plus box that also includes a DVD that my wife asked me to find a home for. Every box includes at least one item from this year’s virtual Yuriten; a clear file or a pin set or mirror.

As always, I assure you that this is all 100%, unadulterated stuff. Lucky Boxes are created by me shoving a bunch of things in boxes. I don’t  remember what went in, so no..I can’t tell you what is in each box. I do try to put random things in there to make the unpacking process an adventure. ^_^

When you email me, please refer to the box you want by the title and #1. First come, first served and these always go fast! These are listed out so I can cross them off as they go. I won’t be able to make an extra box this time, as this is it for the Yuriten items. So when these are gone, that’s it.

Large Premium Box 1 – Claimed

Large Premium Box 2 – Claimed

Large Premium Box 3 – $40

Large Premium Box Plus – Claimed

***

To be eligible to buy a Lucky Box, follow these instructions carefully. Please. Thank you. Failure to follow all of these instructions will disqualify you. It’s not personal, they are all claimed pretty quickly and I don’t have time to track you down for a piece of information.

1 – You must live in the Continental USA (contiguous 48) only, no APO/FPOs. This is disappointing for me too, so I apologize.

2 – You must be over 18, I am not policing books or recipients.

3 – Email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with the subject “Lucky Box”. Use an email you check regularly. Because I will reply asap. The first person who responds to my email gets the box.

4. *****Please include your name, age, mailing address. ***** Tell me which box you want. Even if you’ve given me your address previously, please include it, I am very lazy.

5- I will contact you at that point and give you details about payment by Paypal. Please be prepared to check your email and get payment out so this post doesn’t linger. Thanks in advance.

This whole process will be handled with utmost capriciousness, as usual. ^_^

Ready? Get your Lucky Boxes!