I mentioned this book last week in the Yuri Network News report, but I really wanted to highlight it for you.

Kumiko Kayukawa’s art hits a number of my buttons, with attractive female (often with weapon) surrounded by animals (often of the cute, fluffy variety,) obake and youkai, all with a Princess Mononoke feel.

There is sense of violence in her art, but the female is not passive, nor is she rampaging. It often feels like she’s protecting, playing, even relaxing with the creatures around her. It’s poster art enough to be instantly appealing to pop culture fans, but has some Ukiyo-e roots showing.

The book is available from ZERO+Publishing by direct purchase. If you’re looking for a unique gift for the female-focused Japanese culture fan in your life, this will probably make a splash.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

Chick with weapon, cute animals, pop art and echoes of Ukiyo-e. I like it lots. ^_^

I am not a Brony. Not even a Lesbrony. I’m not saying I’m above slashing children’s cartoon characters, because clearly I am not. (I vaguely regret not writing that Dark Cure x Cure Moonlight x Momoka  fanfic that flitted through my mind from time to time while I had the energy.)

Even so, I usually draw the line at ponies, puppies and other non-humanoid characters. Not for any moral high ground, it just doesn’t strike me as productive line of thought. And I have other utterly pointless pursuits to take up my time. ^_^

But after watching My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, Season 1, Disk 2, I tweeted this:

I’m sure you can guess what happened. Pandemonium on Twitter. ^_^

No I am not “Team Appledash.” No, I do not want to look at pictures of the two of them. No, thank you, very much, but no. ^_^;

In any case, Disk 2 is great. Pinky Pie being the most completely out of the box thinker ever in a cartoon, the ear-worm of “Winter Wrap-up,” RD and AJ being complete asshats to one another and bonding over it. And Tribbles, MLP-style.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I laugh out loud way more than I expect to.

Last month, I’m in Japan, trawling manga store shelves and I keep seeing this series that reminds me of…something. The covers art is like a demented Marimite, almost Parian no Sono-esque. Something about it just hit me on my funnybone. So I bought all three volumes.

Fuurai Shimai (ふうらい姉妹 Les souers excentriques) by Lychee Nagasaki is…bonkers. It just is. There’s nothing sensible about it. “Eccentric” barely covers it.

Yamamoto Shiori lives with her older sister Reiko. It appears that they have enough money to live comfortably which is good, because they are both quite…odd. They both have a creative and unique understanding of the world – an understanding that is vastly at odds with what most of us consider “reality.”

Here’s a representative 4-koma. They go to a book store and ask if they can order a book. The bookstore employee says, “Of course, just tell me the title.” Reiko says, “I have it written on a memo here,” and reaches into her purse. She pulls out a memo and reads, “Which is stronger, a boar or a lion?” then says, “Oh, sorry, that’s the wrong memo.” The bookseller thinks – as do we – “What kind of memo was that?”

Shiori tells a teacher he’s “alkaline,” so all the kids in class laugh at her but she’s okay with that, as the boy she likes is one of them and being laughed at and with are the same in her head. The teacher laughs at the description, asking his coworkers isn’t it silly – only to find that they agree with the description.

And that’s how it goes. People, animals and every so often, inanimate objects, are confused by them.

Their cares and worries are not worldly, in any case. They might worry about a character in a dream, or a rock that looks unhappy, though. They are eccentric, but happy.

Ratings:

Art – Um…
Story – Ah…yeah
Characters – /giggle/
Yuri – Nope, none of that
Service – Ewww! What are you even thinking, gross!

Overall – W.T.F.

My initial thought on Comic Yuri Hime, November 2013 (コミック百合姫) is that it was “pretty good.” Let’s see if my memory is correct. ^_^

The volume opens up with “Yuri Danshi” which I have stopped reading altogether. I think one of the actual Yuri couples has drama, but watching it through the filter of a Yuri Fanboy has just lost me completely.

“Citrus” isn’t a terrible, awful story, but again, the forced filter of Yuricest – a plot complication that has no real place in the story but is simply there to interest the fandom that is interested in that  – just isn’t working for me. It’s the “one too many” problem. Each trope added to the checklist means one less actual bit of character development the author will take the time to work on. Since my idea of fandom is not checklisting a story, but looking for original and well-developed elements, I’m just not compelled by this story.

“Hitorijime My Fair Lady” starts off messy, but shows some spirit. A student who is into the finer things in life, falls for a stylish woman on the street.

“Tsuki to Sekai to Etoile” continues as the politics and secrets in the school grow darker and deeper.

The gag comic strips, “Nekoyama-sama to Inugami-san” and “Kimono Nadesico” are, as they always are, gag comic strips.

Kurokiri Misao’s “Prism Emotional” is a Yuri pop idol series and Morishima Akiko’s “Yurippu chu” is also a Yuri pop idol series. Synchronicity strikes again. Both are totally different in tone and story line and both have some interesting characters. Of the two, Morishima’s feels more bitter, with a musician who is signed by a company, only to be turned into an idol, something that upsets her greatly.

Minamoto Hisanari has a story that I am sure some people will find adorable, but that just creeps me out and no matter how many people think it’s terribly clever to write “brought a cat home” story using a cute girl instead of the cat, I’m never ever going to like it.

“Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na Nanika” has arrived at the moment where Ruki is going to *have* to confront her feelings about Sa-chan. She and Sa-chan have the long talk they really needed to have before anything could go anywhere…and it looks like it might go there after all. ^_^ This was a spectacular chapter of Amano Syuninta’s so-far excellent manga and I could feel my mood-o-meter immediately shifting towards the positive side.

So by the time I arrived at Takemiya Jin’s “Game” I was in a good mood and the secret doujinshi writer plot felt comfortable, rather than worn.

“BGMRSP” is still a gag school life comic with more oomph than it’s mirror comic, “Yuru Yuri.” The elections are over, but the school couple contest is ahead and our protagonists are being paired up, regardless of what they want.

The book ends up with Ohsawa Yayoi’s “In Secret” as a student sees through a teacher’s image and is awed by the reality.

So…yes, pretty good. Not great, but enough to keep me coming back for more. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 7

While I was in Japan last month, reporter Shiina Yukari-san from Animeanime (like an ANN of Japan) and her editor Sudo-san sat down with me for a few hours over ice cream and macaroons and we discussed, oh, everything about manga and Yuri and the sea changes we’ve seen in the past decade…and where we’re heading.

The interview is now up. It’s in 3 parts and it’s in Japanese, but here it is for your reading pleasure:

「アメリカでYURIマンガ専門出版社を立ち上げたエリカ・フリードマン氏インタビュー」

Part 1: 前編

Part 2: 中編

Part 3: 後編