I will be presenting two panels at Derpycon in Morristown, NJ on Friday November 9 at the Hyatt Regency.
The Secret History of Yaoi and Yuri: 2:30pm-3:30pm, Panel 2
LGBTQ in Anime,Comics, Manga, Cartoons: Friday 5pm-6pm, Panel 1
See you there!
Archive for the Miscellaneous Category
Meet me at Derpycon on Friday, November 9, 2018
Think About Love – And Vote!
This is a message for my USA readers. To quote Steven Universe, “There’s an awful lot of awful things we could be thinking of, but for just one day let’s only think about love.” Let’s get out there and vote for love and empathy!
LGBTQ: Catcher in the Rhyme, Volume 2 (キャッチャー・イン・ザ・ライム)
In Volume 1 of Noboru Segawa’s series about a rap battle club at an all girl’s school, we focused solely on painfully shy Satsuki. In Catcher in the Rhyme, Volume 2 (キャッチャー・イン・ザ・ライム), we spend time with her fellow club members.
Rich girl Anzu and the girl who got her into trouble, Ren were enemies, until they were friends We meet Ren’s childhood friends, and learn her troubled background and the meaning rap brought into her life.
We spend a lot of time with Utsuki, our transgender club member, and help her learn to be better at being herself, even as she meets a former schoolmate whom she had a crush on. He turns out to be a really nice guy and we are able to forgive the fact that he has what seems to be a lovely girlfriend. We get to see him be very encouraging of Utsuki. Utsuki is allowed to be transgender and female freely in the context of the story, without either of those being awkward, although she has a couple of truly awkward scenes, In the end we watch her walk away with her pride intact.
And finally, we learn about Kaede and her history, and help her walk away from the family that is her club – and welcome her back when she’s free to do so.
Throughout the volume, we learn about bringing rap into normal everyday conversation – how the rhyme and rhythm of words exist with or without structure. Rap is poetry and poetry can be rap. From common phrases to Hyakunin Isshu verses – it’s all rap.
This was a lovely manga, much finer than I expected. Segawa-sensei does an exceptional job of uncovering the inner lives of young women without fetishizing them, always focused on the words; the feelings, the meter and sound and how rap allows them to express themselves when they have no idea what to say or how to say it.
Ratings:
Art – 6
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 2
Yuri – 0
LGBTQ – 8
Overall – 8
Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu Manga, Volume 4 ( 推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ )
Here we are at Hirao Auri’s latest attempt to drive me into an early grave. In Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 4 ( 推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ ) nothing happens. Nothing happens in the most dramatic and frustrating way possible, which I grudgingly admit is the creator’s style, after all. A style I named manga interruptus, in between fantasies of strangling the author while reading Manga No Tsukurikata.
On their way to Budokan (which is the end goal, as the title clearly states) the ladies of Cham Jam participate in other group idol festivals, including one in far-off Hiroshima. Tickets are hard to come by and super-fans’ lives are put on hold to make it possible for them to be there to root their special idols on.
Cham Jam runs into a former member who now has a new act, and we spend time with a few of the idols – Maki gets a lot of page count this time – getting a better idea of their internal lives, so the author can derail his own story and delay any conclusion. Manga interruptus indeed.
Superfan Eripyo and idol Maina are all pained, intense, needy looks from about 8 feet apart, but every time they are standing face-to-face, touching hands for the prescribed number of seconds allowed per purchase, they become tongue-tied and incoherent. That happens several times this volume, so it can be more and more fun as the story creeps along.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – Argh
Character – 8
Service – 1
Yuri – Argh
Overall – Argh
I never learn, do I?
Okazu Birthday Lucky Boxes – Japan Bonanza Edition! – All Claimed
It’s Okazu’s birthday month and we have a set of Lucky Boxes with Yuriten goods and other items I picked up in Japan special for you. So these boxes have Japanese goods and DVDs/Drama CDs and manga and doujinshi (and the good candy!) and items from the Yuriten, the Sailor Moon Store and other Tokyo shopping. You’re also getting some cool stuff from our friend Bruce’s collection, because he had a lot of stuff. ^_^;
Thanks to everyone who bought a Lucky Box today!Enjoy!
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This set we’ve got 3 Medium size boxes and one large Premium Box with extra cool stuff.
Premium Box – $60
Medium Box 1 – $35
Medium Box 2 – $35
Medium Box 3 – $35
These are listed out so I can cross them off as they go.
I can 100% guarantee these boxes are filled with absolute pure stuff, with no guarantees of any other kind.
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How to be eligible to buy a Lucky Box: Follow these instructions carefully. Please. Thank you. Failure to follow all these instructions will disqualify you. It’s not personal, they go fast 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 – sorry about that, really.
2 – You must be over 18, I am not policing which books you get and since these boxes have a ton of doujinshi, I really don’t know what you’re getting.
3 -Email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with the subject “Lucky Box”. Use an email you check regularly.
4. *****Please include your name, age, mailing address. ***** Tell me which box you want.
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. ^_^
Ready? Get your Lucky Boxes!
