I am indeed back from The Netherlands and Yaoi and Yuri Con there, but have managed to rather severely injure my cornea in the process. There will be no new posts until I can see again. Please feel free to read old posts to console yourself while I am out of service. ^_^
Archive for the Miscellaneous Category
Houkago Kanon Contest Winners!
Back at the end of January, I announced a contest in conjunction with my review of Houkago Kanon and yes, I am *finally* getting around to announcing winners. (It’s only been about 6 weeks, so not the worst delay ever.)
Here were the rules of the contest:
The name of this book is Afterschool Kanon, where Kanon is the name of a Japanese deity.
Using this same formula, come up with the title and a *one-line* description of a Yuri story. For example, “Bathtime Hecate: Keiko discovers a Greek deity living in the medicine cabinet in her bathroom, how will she keep the goddess of witches from ruining her new life at the sorority house?” Yes, that’s awful. That’s the *point*. Make me groan with awfulness.
Well, damn, a few of you blew me away, both good and bad.
I have a pile of books here, from which I will pick utterly random things to send to winners and as usual, I make no promises or guarantees that it’s a good book. (In fact, the point of this contest is to get rid of a few crappy books, so…erm, yeah.) Winners, if you’d kindly email me at anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com, I will get your prizes out to you asap!
The grand prize winner is Jennifer Linksy with a genuinely faboulous pitch:
Gloaming Eos: When Sakura arrives to take up her new position as activities director at a retirement community, she finds herself surprised by how energetic… and surprisingly beautiful… one of the residents is.
Not only did Jenny have a fun pitch, but went so far as to actually write it up!
Winner Stephen mixes and matches Greek mythology and Shakespearean drama in classic style:
A Midsummer Night’s Hera: Tired of Zeus’ infidelity Hera decides to turn the tables by seducing all the women of Athens but soon finds herself unable to stop there and plots to re-make the world as one filled only with women… women completely devoted to Hera.
Winner Atarun made me laugh out loud with this entry:
Dear Shub-Niggurath: cute, ditzy Hikaru unknowingly enters a hellish high school where all men are cultists and she gets chosen to be sacrificed to tentacle-adorned Cthulhu – her only hope for survival is to surrender to the calling of unpredictable, dark, showy Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, all-powerful goddess of fertility.
And Natalie sent in this romantic comedy idea:
Midnight Eros: Shy, lonely Miyu had given up trying to get the attention of the girl of her dreams – until one night she discovered the Greek god of love and passion living under her bed! Can Eros help Miyu finally find love?
Thank you for all the entries, which were funny, wonderful and painful…sometimes all at the same time. ^_^
I love the stuff you guys come up with. You’re all so darn smart and creative!
Black Rock Shooter Anime ( ブラック★ロックシューター )
You know what you probably shouldn’t do? Watch 3 episodes of the Black Rock Shooter ( ブラック★ロックシューター ) anime in a row. Phew, that was depressing!
The short description of the Black Rock Shooter anime is that it is an extended version of the Black Rock Shooter OVA, with extended cast, as well.
Middle schooler Mato befriends the slightly aloof and obviously alienated Yomi, only to learn that Yomi is bound by guilt and manipulation to another girl, Kagari. Mato refuses to take no for an answer, and is able to befriend Yomi, despite all attempts to keep them apart.
In the game world that reflects their inner lives, Black Rock Shooter (Mato’s avatar) is able to free Dead Master (Yomi) by defeating Chariot (Kagari.) But their happiness is short-lived. Saya, an adult who is meant to be counseling the students in their school, is not-at-all-subtly manipulating them….and causing a great deal of emotional damage as she does. We don’t yet know why, but we can see that she knows perfectly well what she is doing.
The game world reflects the real world in that Black Rock Shooter continues to attempt to free Dead Master from her chains and her misery. Now that Chariot is gone, although Kagari is not, it appears that Black Gold Saw (who is clearly going to be Kohata, Mato’s sempai on the basketball team) and Strength (Mato’s childhood friend Yu, because duh~) will continue to oppose Black Rock Shooter in the game world.
Update: March 4, after watching episode 5. Kohata was no more than a minion. So, I agree that Saya is BGS, but I’m still holding on to Yu for Strength.
If you liked Madoka‘s “real” world/alternate world concept, you’ll find Black Rock Shooter a comfortable fit. The game world is an almost Jungian shared consciousness, where the rules are known, but not inviolable. The problem here of course is Saya. She’s pulling the strings for maximum angst and, as of yet, we don’t know why.
If I were to find a single complaint, it’s that the animation of the both “real” world and game world are not as high quality as I hoped, but I’m inclined to think that that is Nico Nico Douga’s fault, not the anime and that in Blu-Ray, the game scenes would be nausea-inducingly crisp. The subtitles are fine enough that if there are issues, I can’t think of any right now, so I’m inclined to say they are fine.
In the fine tradition of Nadesico characters from Shiroi Heya no Futari‘s Simone on, Yomi/Dead Master desperately needs rescuing – from herself, mostly. I’m content to wait it out and see if Mato/Black Rock Shooter can do it…and how.
Ratings:
Art – 6, but I bet when I see it in high def, that bumps up
Story – 7 ARRRGGGGGHHHHHHH, so annoying……
Characters – 7
Yuri – 2, but all Yuri Goggles at the moment
Service – You know, it worries me that there’s someone out there who actually enjoys the idea of the emotional torture of 2-dimensional characters for itself
Overall – 7
Good, but oh god, Episode 4 was depressing…..
Ohana Holoholo Manga, Volume 3 (オハナホロホロ)
Everyone is having issues in Volume 3 of Ohana Holoholo.
Michiru has successfully been moved up to a supervisor position, but is finding it to be even longer hours and more stress. And, for reasons she really doesn’t know, the sight of Hidesuke’s sweater hanging up with their laundry, where Maya has put it, upsets her no end. When she overhears two employees trashing her managerial style, the stomach pains she’s begun to have become intolerable. To add to her misery, she’s seen and rescued by Mochizuki-sensei, Yuuta’s day care teacher. Mochi-sensei is incredibly kind to her, despite her snarling. When she asks him sarcastically, if he likes her or something, he admits that he might.
Mochizuki takes her to his apartment and has his landlady give Michiru medicine and a place to sleep. Belatedly, but feeling much better, Michiru returns home, only to realize that she and Mochizuki-sensei may now have something they’ll have to work out.
Yuuta is also having some problems. A girl in day care, Hiyori, is being absolutely foul to him. Kicking his sandcastles over, blaming him for things she’s done. The children around them tell the truth, but Yuuta’s being hurt and he has no idea why! We can see that Hiyori’s mother talks trash about Yuuta’s family all the time, but he doesn’t know that. Finally, he reaches breaking point, when she tells him that his family is strange, Yuuta pushes her away. Typical bully, she starts screaming bloody murder, but it quickly comes out that she’s the one to blame. Nonetheless Yuuta, little gentleman that he is, apologizes for pushing her. And he forgives her when she’s made to apologize to him. There is just no way to dislike this child.
In the meantime, Maya has abandoned any pretense and is clearly going out with Hidesuke. Only, we see her true feelings, when she comes across Michiru asleep at the kitchen table. She kisses the other woman gently on the neck and covers her with a blanket. It’s a short-lived victory, because Hidesuke steps up his courtship. He’s already proposed…now Maya accepts. And as the book comes to a close, he kisses her.
This book was excellent – in large part because I spent most of it annoyed. Annoyed that Michiru was jealous, when she herself had left Maya in the first place. Annoyed because Hiyori was being a bully – at least there we had resolution and justice – and annoyed because Hidesuke’s a really nice guy and I don’t want Maya to end up with him. Grrr. Oh, and then Michiru is so annoying and Maya really would be better off with Hidesuke and just to top it all off Mochizuki-sensei is a REALLY nice guy too and he’d be a great father to Yuuta. Shimano-sensei cut me a break here, will ya? Argh!
Okay, bottom line, Maya might like Hidesuke (and who could blame her?) but she still has feelings for Michiru. And now that Michiru is finally maturing, she’s starting to get touchy about losing Maya, not for Yuuta, but for herself.
Because this story is about an alternate family, (Nico is still a doofus and a great “uncle” to Yuuta) I’m almost hoping we make it work as an extended alternate family. I kind of am rooting for Maya and Michiru to get back together… and kind of not.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – I’m bumping it up to 5 for this volume
Service – Still a resounding 0
Overall – 9
I read this manga as it comes out in Feel Young and I know what comes next, so my annoyance is slightly mitigated. But only slightly. I may have missed the last chapter, too, so I’m back to being annoyed. ^_^;
For Valentine’s Day…
I was going to write a review, picked up the book and realized I had no clue what happened in it. Woops. Time to re-read. But…since today is the Eve of Valentine’s Day here in the Americas and already Valentine’s Day elsewhere, I thought we could just chat a bit.
What was the most romantic thing you ever got from or for your girl or guy?
I walked into the kitchen to ask my wife what the most romantic thing I’ve ever gotten her, and then said along with her, “Everything you have ever gotten me is romantic.” ^_^
So we thought about it and decided that our 15th anniversary trip on the Orient Express was the most romantic thing we’ve ever gotten each other.
So…what was your most romantic thing ever?
