Had a few things I wanted to share from yesterday.

The Fanfic Workshop…. Apparently there was a glitch and the Fanfic Writing Workshop never made it onto the paper schedule, only the Fanfic Panel. So we arrived there, only to find another group there already. That was fine with us, so we left them to it. We were told there was a glitch, no one saw a FF workshop on the schedule so we left and went to dinner. While at dinner, we got a call that the Workshop was listed on the room schedule and on some TV schedule we never saw, but we were already eating, so we passed. So, long story short, no workshop. My apologies to anyone who planned to come see us. It was simply some human errors and nothing personal. If it helps, our dinner was excellent. :)

And other than these teeny little things, everything here has been lovely. The folks at Anime Boston have been incredibly accommodating, pleasant and really helpful.

Secondly, here’s two amusing stories. One, a girl came up to the table to say that four years ago, she did an 11th grade book report using Shoujoai ni Bouken as the subject – despite it not actually being a book then. Lol I thought that was great. She was ecstatic to get it as an actual book.

Secondly, six years ago, I was having a conversation with a young artist in Toronto at Anime North, about American politics. We made a bet for $5CDN. I won the bet. But by that time a few years had passed, and we hadn’t run in to one another again since. In the intervening six years that artist, Svetlana Chakmova, creator of Dramacon and the upcoming Night School, has gained some fame ’round these parts. Every time a con chair mentioned that she was a guest, I always laughed and said, “Tell her she owes me $5CDN.” I’m sure they thought I was nuts.

Well, today, there in front of my table was Svetlana! She said that I probably didn’t remember her and of course, the first thing I said was, “You owe me $5!” She pulls out her wallet and says that she totally remembered, so when she saw I was going to be here, she made sure she had a Canadian fiver. LOL We both even remembered what it was that we made the bet over. LOL This just completely cracks me up. I am so framing that five dollars.

Otherwise, a very decent day, with lots of good people, and some not so good people and the usual crop of weird, belligerent or clueless people. Today’s going to be crazy. Yuri Panel at 3 – we *promise* to be there! :-) (Even though we’re all going to be named Bruce Pregger, because for some reason he’s listed as the only Panelist. Just another glitch. lol)

Hakodate, 1878. Perry’s Black Ships have forced Japan to enter the world stage. European and American powers struggle for pieces of the pie, while Japanese law enforcement fights a battle against foreigners who have created a lawless “Wild West” space in this small port.

And one young girl is burdened with a fate that forces her to fight the other “foreign” inhabitants of the town – the Youjin. (Think dark elves or bogeymen-type humanoid nasties.)

Hyou, the heroine of Hakodate Youjin Buraijou Himegami has mean fightin’ skills in this lawless town, which she uses to fight off a couple of low-lifes from beating on a scruffy kid in a ragged cloak. When she gets home – the Butterfly Cabaret – she finds, to her not at all pleasant surprise, that the scruffy kid is really a buxom new dancer, Himeka. For a girl who lives at a cabaret/whorehouse, Hyou’s got some serious issues with nudity, so of course Himeka throws herself at Hyou at practically every possible opportunity, naked if at all possible. Himeka has no issues at all with nudity.

We see the foreign forces gathering: gunmen from America, banditos from Mexico, mafioso from Italy, Orthodox priests from Russia, gray suited guys from England and nattily dressed women from France (led by a nattily dressed-in-a-suit woman passing for a guy) who all align themselves with the dark forces to call the Youjin, in order to take over that town, (and, presumably, then Japan and the world, bwahahahahah!)

Hyou finds herself overwhelmed by a gathering of Youjin, but at the critical moment is saved by woman dressed in a sort of fox-ninja getup, Himegami. She takes care of Hyou when the girl collapses in her arms. Turns out Hyou bears a spell from her infamous father – when Youjin are born, a tattoo of a leaf appears on Hyou’s back – when they die, the leaf disappears. Both processes are very painful to the girl.

Himegami (who is *obviously* Himeka,) brings Hyou back to the cabaret, where she sleeps with the girl (naked of course) until she recovers.

Service here is mostly large breasts and big butts. Not just big – well-developed, muscular haunches. It’s kind of amusingly impressive. ^_^

Yuri in this volume is slight; Himeka’s affection for Hyou – and her tender loving care – are very suggestive. If Hyou wasn’t so passive-aggressive, I think Himeka would be glad to do more than share a bed with Hyou. On the other hand, Hyou is fascinated, full of admiration and more than half crushing on Himegami. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that Himeka presses the issue, because as Himegami she has a chance.

Ratings:

Art – Interesting
Story – Amusing
Characters – Intriguing
Yuri – Engaging
Service – Impressive

Overall – 7

Guillion, the French leader, is definitely gunning for suit-wearing EPL status. Woot.

There was no way we were gonna beat last week, was there? :-) It was pretty quiet this week, in fact.

The Yuricon translation project proceeds steadily. We now have a Japanese-language Site Map to add to our Index and Links pages, with more to come!

Yuri Hime S Volume 4 is out this week on March 18, so get those orders in for more Yuri goodness!

And to wrap up this week, Yuricon and ALC will be at Table 419 in the Dealer’s Room at Anime Boston next weekend. We’ve got a Yuri Panel at 3PM on Saturday, March 22 – all ages welcome – and Sean Gaffney and I will be doing a Fanfiction Writing Workshop on Friday, March 21 at 9PM. (Which ought to be fun, since Sean and I write completely differently in nearly every way. Fight to the death? Probably not – I think he breaks too easily. LOL) We’ll have a bunch of Yuri manga and Yuri related goods for sale…and I even have a few giveaways for the Yuri Panel. See you all there!

Last month, in order to assist you with the difficult task of Valentine’s Day gift-giving, I offered up a few ideas for your gift-giving pleasure.

Well…White Day is around the corner, so if you received something from the person you like, now is the time to show your appreciation. Here are a few thoughts for gifts to say “thanks.”

You don’t have time to spend handmaking truffles, but Lindt has done it for you! Here’s a bag of 20 White Chocolate Truffles from Lindor – perfect for you and your honey to share:

Want something completely different, here’s white chocolate covered coffee beans.

Back to the classics: Say “I Love You” with white chocolate roses!

And for folks that can’t or won’t eat white chocolate and are looking for a fun and unusual way to express your feelings, I strongly suggest the amusing, and highly addictive Bella Sara Fantasy Horse Card Game Collector’s Tin:

(I bought the wife a pack on these Friday – she went out Saturday morning and bought more, and is now bidding on eBay for the ones she wants. *Very* addictive and very girly. lol)

Happy White Day from Okazu!

There’s a lot to talk about this week, so let’s jump right in!

The top story this week has got to be that Maria-sama ga Miteru was licensed for release in Region 1. We’ve been squealing about that for a few days, so other than more squealing there’s not much more to say. I did write Right Stuf to ask what their pre-orders looked like in the first 24 hours. I don’t expect to get a reply. :-)

Before there was Utena, before Rose of Versailles, Osamu Tezuka created the first manga girl prince Sapphire, the Ribon no Kishi. And this year writer Takahashi Natsuko and artist Hanamori Pink will be reviving the series in Nakayoshi magazine. The art is way too moe for me, and the story already appears to be very girly and heterosexual, but of course I’ll take a look.

Yuri fan kyouka tells us that there will be a special section of 100 Yuri doujinshi artists at Comitia 84, the Yuribu. If you’re in Tokyo on May 5, get thee over to Big Sight! (And if you *are* going, drop me a line – I’d love to have someone buy for me. lol)

Here’s an important thing! Yuri Monogatari 5 contributor Niki Smith (“Your Hair”) is up for voting on this year’s Tokyopop’s Rising Stars of Manga! Her story “Crabapple Crush” is a Yuri story, so get over there and vote in the People’s Choice vote! Good luck Niki!

And once again, we’ve got some updates on Yuricon:

New Japanese-language Links Page!

On the Yuricon Shop:

Ragnarock City

Finally, Aoi Hana 3

and the newest from the creator of Maka-Maka, Mars no Kiss.

Also, new Yuriko Fanart from JanaP!

And don’t forget our 2008 Poster Contest!

Last up, don’t forget that there are two new contests here at Okazu!

So you have three ways to win prizes. :-)

That’s it for this week’s report, but I don’t doubt that there’ll be plenty more next week!