Archive for the Now This Is Only My Opinion Category


A Uniquely Biased Review of JManga.com on Laptop and Tablet

March 21st, 2012

Disclaimer: As many of you know, ALC Publishing has been collaborating with JManga to provide localization for some of their manga. Therefore, it would be the height of absurdity for me to tell you that this is an unbiased review. I am human, and there will be bias. Duh. However, I am not approaching this review in the sense of “We’re great, everyone else sucks”, because aside from it not being true, that too would be absurd. So, I’ll do my best to be consistent, coherent and to make my biases as transparent as possible, so you know where I’m coming from.

In addition, I am not spending a single moment pointing out typos, “misspellings” (if that can indeed even be considered to be a thing in a transliteration) or choices in translation that would not be the choices I myself would make. Those are the kinds of things people do when they have no creative energy themselves and instead prefer to feel important about something by poking pedantic holes in a thing. For the sake of today’s discussion, let’s assume that every volume probably has a typo or two (and in a few days I will tell you *why.* It’s a completely different topic.) I will comment on lettering and font only to discuss issues with the legibility of a page and anything that impacts the reading experience in a way that takes one out of the moment. I’ll grade them A-F, Where A+ is outstanding and F is Fail, because I think numbers aren’t really applicable here.

Lastly, in the interest of complete transparency, I received a number of credits from JManga to supplement my subscription, not so that I would do this review, (in fact, they have no idea I’ve written it yet,) but because they are very nice people. Nonetheless, I pay for my own subscription plan out of my own pocket.

Having said all that, let’s begin. I will not discuss the registration process. It’s as straightforward as can be and there is nothing unusual or complex about it, if you have ever registered for anything, anywhere online.

Subscription

Negatives: I have previously mentioned that I am uncomfortable with the “subscription” model of JManga. In a nutshell, the “subscription” one buys is not a subscription. On Crunchyroll, one pays a monthly fee for all-you-can-watch access. That is a subscription. On JManga, one pays a monthly fee and receives that much in credits, their site currency, which one then cashes in for titles. This is akin to going to an arcade, putting $10.00 in the machine and getting $10 worth of tokens, which you can then only spend in that arcade. The subscription itself provides no value. The value of those tokens is the entertainment you can buy with them.

Positives: JManga has recently run a number of very interesting sales and promotions, and is constantly running additional sales on the price of the volumes of manga. So, during one of the recent promotions, they doubled the amount of credits you initially received with your $10 or $25. If you were to pay $10, you received 2000 credits and much of the manga was discounted to 499 credits. So, for that $10, you could “purchase” up to 4 manga. Basic math tells you that that is a great deal.

A big positive is that a subscription to JManga is not a commitment to JManga. According to their FAQ, you can downgrade your subscription at any time and still retain access to anything you have previously purchased. So you can buy your manga on sale, then downgrade back to free, until you have a few more bucks in the bank. I honestly like this. It makes the “subscription” model more tolerable than a commitment to a monthly purchase that I may or may not want to make. I buy my manga in bulk. With the variability of manga series’ lengths, and the lack of consistent timing on new material (by which I mean “new material I want”) being added to the site, there’s no guarantee that I’d spend that $10 every month….and while credits are rolled over from one month to the next, there is a sincerely held concern that there might be a time limit for rolled over credits or, let’s be real here, the longevity of Jmanga itself.

I will review the series I read on Story, Overall Presentation and Overall Translation, and at the end, discuss the viewing experience on two different tech systems, a laptop and a tablet.

I purchased a number of titles, both Yuri and non-Yuri, to get an overall feel of the quality of translation. A number of people have commented on the not-entirely-fluent feel of several series, but I find that more often than not, translations were perfectly fine. There’s a panel, or a page, here and there, were English grammar isn’t perfectly tight, but, like typos, there’s a reason for that, and I’ll cover it under a different essay.

First up, Ekiben Hitoritabi: I picked this manga first, because I had never read it, had no expectations and no a priori opinion.

Story: Both incredibly interesting…and sort of dull at the same time. ^_^ Food, train, view, food, train, view. I like all three and there is no doubt that if I had read this in Japanese, I would have missed most of the story. So it was really nice, but the density of detail was overwhelming at times.

Overall Presentation: Not all that good, actually. I frequently had to expand the page size to see side comments and notes. I don’t know for sure, but it appears that this was scanned in at a low DPI, which meant I frequently needed to zoom. I’ll get back to the zoom later in the tech section. There was a serious issue with the retouch. Digitally “whiting out” text is quite easy, because you just set the brush to the color of the background and whiteout the previous text. This manga has thick gray lines behind the text, where it looked as if someone actually used whiteout and scanned it in, but it’s probably more likely that the color of the brush was just off from the background color.

Overall Translation: Generally quite good. If there were places that didn’t seem perfect, my brain has washed them away and I’m left remembering a pleasant journey with two pleasant people.

Score: B

From there, I went to the Yuri page and downloaded all the Yuri they had. Obviously, these were of interest to me.

YNN Correspondent Chriz P, who is from the UK, has been keeping me abreast on what UK fans can access and not. According to Chriz, GIRL FRIENDS is now accessible in the UK. (I’m particularly vocal when the UK is left out – I have many friends there and of course they read English, so there is just no excuse for them to be embargoed.)

Story: I’ll keep it short here. Sweet, tortured, a little sexy, sometimes service-y, GIRL FRIENDS tells the story about two girls who fall in love.

Overall Presentation: Excellent. I don’t recall ever having to expand the picture to read the notes, except for once and the note was genuinely tiny. No weird whiteout marks (I was concerned that I’d run into that again, but I have not.) The lettering was easy to read overall.

Overall Translation: A little stiff in places, but acceptable. There’s a very unfortunate glitch in the language on the first page, and from time to time, there’s a spot that’s just not smooth or natural, but I wasn’t pulling my hair out or anything.

Score: B+

Third up, Love My Life. I had some serious trepidation about reading this, because I feared that the translator didn’t love it as we do and that might be reflected in the translation.

Story: Two girls in love, one learns her parents were gay/lesbian. She meets her late mother’s lover, her father’s current lover, deals with friends, school, her own love life and lives happily ever after.

Overall presentation: Solid. There were a few quirks/mistakes, but nothing made me cringe and die or anything. This one needed a little post-lettering editing. I loved the fonts they chose for this book.

Overall Translation: Same as above. There were a few moments when I thought, “that was awkward,” but I started reading it out loud and, y’know, it really wasn’t. What was awkward was just seeing it on the page. From time to time there was a genuinely awkward set of lines, see above about post-lettering editing.

Score: B+

Madame Joker was the greatest choice on JManga ever. I cannot express to you how wonderfully quirky this book was!

Story: Widow Ranko is a woman who lives by no one else’s expectations. She has two children, and a lover, and and in her spare time, she solves murder mysteries. From Jour magazine, (and clearly I need more Jour in my life!) the art style is old school, and the story has a pretty classic feel about it too. Sort of Victorian SCA meets “Murder, She Wrote.” No Yuri in this, that I know of, but I know some Yuri has run in Jour recently.

Overall Presentation: Pretty great. But to be fair, I’m utterly besotted by the art style and may be missing whopping big problems.

Overall Translation: The language is stilted and odd and I sincerely think that that’s partially that slight awkwardness of the translation and partially the fact that the two kids were raised by the Victorian SCA and so their Keigo is odd.

Score: A THIS was worth my $10, right there.

I had enjoyed Morita-san ha Mukuchi well enough when I read it in Japanese. I wasn’t expecting to be blown away. I was blown away.

Story: Morita Mayu doesn’t say much, but that doesn’t mean she’s not all in there. Mayu is popular and friendly, she’s just quieter than most people.

Overall Presentation: Perfectly fine. Better than fine, really, because of all the series these were the sharpest looking pages I read. Lettering was really nice.

Overall Translation: I randomly opened a chapter here and three pages in I snorted as I laughed out loud. Done deal. This was funnier in English than in Japanese, because I was missing less and the language was clear of awkward phrasing.

Score: A

Finally, I reached for Poor Poor Lips. Not to be critical, but to make sure it worked, since that was our first translation for JManga.

Story: Nako is very, very, very poor. She gets a job in a gem shop, but finds out the shop owner is a lesbian. Ren says Nako’s not her type, but….

Overall presentation: Oddly of all my choices this was the one I had the hardest time reading. I was not in love with the lettering, but once I switched to tablet over laptop, it was peachy.

Overall translation: I’m so proud of how this came out. Nothing awkward, great smooth language. Erin does spectacular work.

Score: Well, A, duh, I did say this would be a biased review. ^_^

I have one serious complaint: ALC specifically requested to have credits on the work, and those were not included. I’m a tad vexed about that, but it’s true sitewide. People who do work should be properly credited. I feel this way about all work, in every industry. Every single person who worked on Photoshop gets their name in the product – every translator, editor and letterer should have their name on JManga.

Update April 2012: Translator and editor are now credited. I still think everyone, retouch and letterer and anyone, who worked on it should be credited.

Notebook vs Tablet

For the purposes of this review, I am using a Dell Inspiron, 15″ screen with 1366 x 768 resolution (now that I notice that…what a weird resolution…), running Windows 7 and a Samsung Galaxy 10.1″ tablet with 1280 x 800 resolution,  running Android 4.0 Icecream Sandwich.  Obviously, with Windows 7 and Android, there was no issue at all about the Flash reader. (Another jab at the late Mr. Jobs who allowed his personal vendetta to get in the way of, oh, letting people watch and read stuff.)

I started the process on my desktop, but found the screen – wide as it is –  to be more of a burden than a blessing. With the two-page spread, the panels were just slightly too small to read comfortably with my computer on my lap (which is where I keep it most of the time.) Using the zoom was fine for a single spread, but when I “turned the page” the zoom would unset and I was back to having to zoom again. I avoided “Guided View” so I have no idea what it might have done.

Table of Contents was a bit vexing. Shortcuts to the chapters worked variably well.Sometimes it was easier just to start from the beginning.

The Language control is a nice little feature. Click the Globe and the Japanese script replaces the English script. Ideally one day there’ll be more options, too.

Then I moved to my tablet. Wow. This was absolutely the best way to read JManga, IMHO. I was able to switch to a single-page view with a click (all the commands live on the bottom right hand corner – they disappear when you don’t use them for a bit, just move your mouse/finger around the general area and the controls pop up.

On some of the series, the full page view was a tad wonky at first – the page would be half off the screen, or too high up. Once I pulled it into place, the next page would do the same. Suddenly, for no reason, the system grokked what I wanted of it, and the whole thing worked nicely. Next time, same weirdness, but I only had to reposition a page once. Third time, it was fine.

On the tablet, the pages were perfectly sized in the single page view. I quite often read manga with the spine bent back (it’s my manga, I can mangle it as I see fit) so this one page at a time was fine. A quick turn of the screen allowed me to enjoy a two-page spread. The text was clear (clearer in some series than others, depending on the fonts chosen, and no one was choosing for middle-aged eyes, if you take my meaning.) I only needed to zoom once, because a side comment was very small. This is acceptable – I have quite often pulled out the magnifying glass to read an aside in a print manga in Japanese.

Turning the pages on the tablet was not emotionally satisfying – poking the page, then waiting for the new page to load wasn’t as elegant as I’d hoped. I prefer the swiping motion, but the tap to turn was functional, so I’m not complaining.

On the whole, I’ll stick with reading my JManga on the tablet. As soon as they come up with an Android app to allow me access to my library when there’s no Wi-fi, I’ll be happy with the deal.

Negatives: Poking my screen makes me pokey; no technical credits on the stories; clunky ToC; variable fonts/quality.

Positives: Perfect for the tablet; simple controls, easy to figure out; wacky great stuff to read that we’d never encounter elsewhere.

Notebook: B
Tablet: A

Conclusion

Since JManga launched a mere 7 months ago, they’ve come a long way. They clearly listen to their market and they have really showed some stretch in content, format and presentation.

Of course there’s things that can be improved, but I have complete confidence that JManga is on the right track to being a powerful digital manga bookstore.





The Concept of Family in the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha-verse

March 11th, 2012

At the beginning of Volume 4 of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Vivid and the end of Mahou Senki Lyrical Nanoha Force, it’s hard to avoid the obvious – group shots of all the characters smiling happily, not in portrait fashion, but as if we, the readers, are allowed to see them in a candid, relaxed moment. And it’s hard to miss the subtext here – these people, people who were our enemy for reasons that were beyond their control – are now our friends, our family.

It’s not uncommon to see this absorption of enemy to friend, especially in shounen series where it has long been known as the Dragonball Phenomenon. Enemies that have been beaten by the hero become allies – it’s easy enough to recognize this pattern in One Piece, Yu Yu Hakusho and other Shounen Jump titles – it’s not too hard to see it in Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura, as well.  Because the hero/ine’s motives are pure, when the enemy is released from their bondage, of course they will become an ally.

But, as I read these two manga serially, I couldn’t help but notice that the Nanoha-verse takes this another step. These former enemies don’t just become friends – they become family. In fact, the concept of an alternative family structure is embedded deeply in Nanoha, far more deeply than just about any manga/anime mythos than I can think of.

It seems a bit ironic to start from the beginning and remember that in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Nanoha and her best friends on Earth all have traditional families, with two parents, siblings, pets. In the first series, Nanoha frees Fate from her ties to her manipulative and insane mother. This act of beating the hell out of the bad guys is affectionately known to fans of the series as “Befriending.” ^_^ At the end of that series, it’s pretty obvious that Fate and Nanoha consider themselves closely bound by friendship  – and many of us see their relationship as more. This is borne out in the second series, Nanoha As, where they now live together. Fate, freed now to create her life on her own, is adopted by a powerful and high-ranking member of the Time-Space Administration Bureau (TSAB). This gives her both status and protection when she is released from jail. More importantly, it gives her a family to turn to, something she has never had before. With Nanoha as her partner, Fate is now ready to live a fulfilling life with purpose, family and community.

In a parallel alternative family, Hayate is surrounded by loving, yet wholly unreal, avatars. Signum, Shahal and Vita make a great family for Hayate, but the four are also enthralled to an evil entity. Together Fate and Nanoha “Befriend” Hayate and her alternative family, freeing them from evil influence – allowing Hayate’s Knights to manifest fully as real humans and bringing them all into Fate and Nanoha’s “family.”

In StrikerS, we skip forward a few years. Fate and Nanoha are clearly partners both in life and work. Additionally, Fate has adopted two wards of her own – Caro and Erio, both of whom have experienced ostracization much like her own past. The kindness shown to her by Admiral Harlaown is now passed on and doubled. Added to this extended family are trainees Subaru and Teana, each of whom is taken under the wing on of one of the main characters. Proteges are naturally, “family” – the Japanese characters for “deshi” (pupil, protege) are 弟子, “younger brother” and “child.” Proteges are all but adopted children (and even today in Japan, some are actually adopted into the family.)

Complicating matters in StrikerS, it turns out that there are a host of enemies enslaved to an evil mind. When it becomes known that these enemies – the Numbers, as they are referred to by fans – are related to Subaru by genetic material, there is no question that they will be, as far as possible, “Befriended.” And so they are, as several of the Numbers are integrated into the Takamachi/Testarossa-Harlaown family. More critically, Nanoha adopts Vivio, and so now has a child of her own. She and Fate raise Vivio as their daughter, presenting the image of a happy nuclear family to the world.

This brings us to Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Vivid, and its expanded cast. The Numbers now live with Subaru and her sister Ginga or have become part of the Church, as the now suddenly huge Nakajima family. Nove, particularly, functions as Vivio’s big sister/mentor, training her in martial skills and the use of her Device. When Nanoha and Fate decide to send out invitations to a offsite training session, it becomes instantly apparent exactly how *large* this family has become. Hayate and her Knights, Caro, Erio, Letitia and her “mother” all join Fate, Nanoha, the remaining Numbers, Subaru, Teana, Alf and Zafira, Vivio, her friends Rio and Corona and…and here’s where it all sort of settles into place and you get that “ahah” moment – a character that *Vivio* “Befriended”, yet another reborn ancient king, like Vivio herself – Einhart Stratos. Along with family/friends from the TSAB.

But wait, we’re not done, because while Vivio strives to increase her combat and magical skills in Vivid, Fate and Nanoha are facing down a new enemy in Force. While the crew of the Huckbein are the “bad guys,” the tools they are using are a young man named Toma, the girl he rescues, Lily, and a traveling companion they meet, Isis. The three of them are drawn into a battle that they did not desire, for power they do not want. Once again, as the story draws to a close, we see Fate and Nanoha, Subaru and Teana, the TSAB members closest to them (including Hayate’s Knights) gathered around Toma, Lily and Isis. Clearly, they too have been drawn into this family circle.

In conclusion, more than any other story I have ever encountered, the Nanoha-verse is the story of creating one’s family for one’s self. This is a theme that strongly resonates with LGBTQ folks, as so many feel alienated from the communties they are born into. Like Caro and Erio, those communities simply may have no place for them, or are frightened of them. Like Subaru, the Numbers, Vivio and Einhart, they may feel as if they simply never belong, not because of what they have done, but simply because of who they are. The idea of gathering one’s family as one moves through life is something that is far less uncommon now than it was in the past, and to many of us who have existence on the fringes of society, it’s a dream that holds a lot of power.

In Vivid, Fate and Nanoha are presented, not as powerful mages, but as Vivio’s mothers. As children, we tend to not see our parents as individuals with their own lives, but as extensions of our lives. In Vivid, we see Fate and Nanoha less in their uniforms and barrier jackets and more in aprons, as they cook and clean for the family. In this way, Fate and Nanoha are not portrayed as lovers, but as loving, supportive parents to their daughter. It’s a take that adds a level of complexity and stability to their relationship. Again – it’s the idea of family that is pre-eminent.

The girl with a typical family and the girl with none. They gather around them friends, family, enemies and allies to make what is arguably the largest family unit in all of manga and anime.

Note: If anyone has a link to a picture of the entire family unit, please let me know. I’d love to add one here.





A Completely Different Kind of Graphic Novel

January 26th, 2012

Many years ago in the Song Dynasty in China, there was a painter we know as Zhang Zeduan. He painted a massive scroll that depicted the life of a town, the Qingming Shanghe Tu, (清明上河图) “Along the River During the Qing Ming Festival.” For all intents and purposes, this scroll, painted during the 12th century, is a graphic novel, done in pantomime. There are no word balloons, no action lines, but it clearly shows the life of a town during a busy day. The original is the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Last year during the Singapore Expo, a massive transmedia program was designed to bring this painting to life. It’s…extraordinary. The water flows around rocks in the ground, people wander through town, meet, speak and part…a child runs after a pig, a woman rocks her infant. The very famous camel caravan wanders through town, passing under a gate. As a work of art, this has always been a striking piece – animated, I fell for it all over again.

For your entertainment – and some perspective on the concept of a Graphic Novel – please enjoy Zhang Zeduan’s Qingming Shanghe Tu.





Top Ten Yuri List of 2011

December 31st, 2011

As always, this list is a conglomeration of people, things, companies and random items of note. This list is not subject to sense or sensibility, it’s just whatever pops into my head as being notable.

Honorable Mention) Princess Knight – This story isn’t Yuri, but it created the enduring and popular Girl Princess trope, and for that, we really need to thank Vertical for publishing it in English. Without Sapphire’s two hearts, we would not have had Haruka, or Utena, or Oscar or Erminia. Thanks Vertical for giving us a chance to read this manga classic!

10) MangaTime Kirara/Comic High/IKKI – Not Yuri magazines, but more and more supportive of Yuri (or Yuri-ish) narratives and sometimes, even a lesbian or two. To some extent, the popularity of Yuri is driven as much by these series, as by anything in one of the all-Yuri manga magazines, because these magazines may well reach a wider audience. In any case, without these, we would not have Poor Poor Lips, GIRL FRIENDS, Sasamekikoto and a host of other Yuri-friendly series.

9) Tsubomi/Pure Visual Anthology Hirari/Comic Yuri Hime While I do not love every story in every issue of these magazines, it’s hard to be grumpy about the fact there there are three Yuri-focused magazines out there that are financially successful enough to stay afloat for some years running. The size of the Yuri market is still small, but with more good titles and a few blockbuster titles, like Yuru Yuri, we’re sure to see it’s gradual growth – thanks to these magazines.

8) Rakuen Le Paradis – This magazine does not get enough love. It should get a LOT of love, for being the vehicle for Nishi UKO’s “Collector”s Series, Takemiya Jin’s “Omoi no Kakera” and not least, Hayashiya Shizuru’s re-etry into Yuri. It’s josei in the way that Comic Beam is seinen, which is to say, sort of, but really for anyone. It’s a great read and whatever the orientation of the story, it’s a great read.

7) Okazu Readers – Always, you make this list. Every time. Because every year, it’s you that makes writing this blog worthwhile. Your comments, your challenges, your support and your enthusiasm for Yuri is what keeps me going. And you are the market for all this new Yuri. Okazu readers buy what we want to read or watch and thus support the industry we love. Once more, I am honored and pleased to be able to thank you and let you all know that you are the greatest readers, Guest reviewers and Heros!

6) Nozomi/RightStuf – I think it’s important to take a moment and really, seriously thank Nozomi/RightStuf for once again investing money in Yuri fandom, when that’s still a leap of faith. A shout out here to Seven Seas and JManga for their investments as well. Hopefully we can make those investments worth it and support these companies that bring us books we want to read and anime we want to watch!

5) Minamoto Hisanori/Fujieda Miyabi – These two gentlemen write sweet, soft Yuri, with women who love each other and want to be together forever. They create atmospheres we want to be a part of and people we want to know. How many of us have thought how cool it would be to have a real Amber Teahouse? I know I have. For the many hours pleasantly passed with their characters, these men make number 5 on the list.

4) Hayashiya Shizuru – This is a woman who has been “in Yuri” for a very long time. She started in doujinshi, with the same brand of physical comedy and goofy romance that we’ve come to love in Hayate x Blade. I’m not entirely sure she could write a non-silly story. For all her efforts over the years and for her absolutely likable characters, Hayashiya-sensei and her work makes my Top Ten once again. May she never stop drawing.

3) Morishima Akiko/Nishi UKO/Morinaga Milk – Like Hayashiya-sensei, these three women have been “in Yuri” for many years and for all of those years, in three completely unique ways, they all have continually pushed the boundaries of what Yuri is. Yuru Yuri is popular now, but is the opposite of timeless, draped in current tropes as it is; what these women have wrought will be around for years.

2) Takemiya Jin – For bringing discussion of LGBT lives firmly into Yuri in a way that we have never before seen, and for creating young, openly out and confident characters, my second position of the year goes to *another* doujinshi artist turned pro.

If that doesn’t prove to you how important it is to just get out there and start creating, then nothing ever can. Seriously – the lesson here is – get your stories out there! Don’t wait for anyone to “discover you.” The Internet makes it easier than ever before, so what are you waiting for? Draw, write, something. Just do it already!

Which brings me to my Number 1 Yuri anything for 2011…

1) Nakamura Ching’s GUNJO


Here is the moral of the story, in a simple, easily digestible sentence – do it, and do it your way. Don’t worry that it’s not what’s popular, but just tell your story, tell it your way and don’t worry what the world thinks.

GUNJO is the most unique, most extraordinary manga I’ve ever read. It fits no categories, and will never be an anime (god, what a thought…).  And the reason I consider it number 1, again, for 2011 is exactly that – it’s unique and extraordinary.

Looking at this list, it’s easy to see that what moves me most is people with a vision of their own, who work hard to make those visions real. What I want to see now is more American Yuri artists bringing their own visions to life. What will push Yuri to the next level is not if more companies bring stories over, where they are read by a passive audience, but when that audience rolls up their sleeves and starts creating for themselves.

Here’s looking to an extraordinary 2012 for all of us in Yuri! Happy New Year!





Top Ten Yuri Manga of 2011

December 25th, 2011

In stark contrast to last week’s top ten anime list, I liked doing this one…and never before have I liked doing it as much as I have this year. The ONLY downside was having to whittle this list down to ten entries (and, as you’ll see, I didn’t really.) Of course as always, you may all feel free to add your additions or subtractions in the comments. ^_^

It is with great pleasure that I present Okazu’s Top Ten Yuri Manga of 2011…

Honorable Mention) Collectors  – Nishi UKO’s delightful series about Shinobu and Takako, two women who share passion for collecting completely different, mutually exclusive, things. This is the after happily-ever-after story I’m always looking for and I just adore it. Shinobu and Takako do not have a perfect relationship, but they have a good relationship. They and their friends are very real, and people I would totally have over for lunch.

When it gets collected into a volume, it’s Number 1. Right now, it’s just disparate chapters in Rakuen Le Paradis magazine. Nonetheless, because it really is exactly everything I keep asking for, I really wanted to give it a place at the table, so I squeezed a chair in for it.

10) Tsubomi/Pure Visual Anthology Hirari/Comic Yuri Hime/MangaTime Kirara/Comic High/ IKKI/Rakuen Le Paradis  – The magazines that are bringing us this good Yuri definitely deserve recognition. Without these magazines investing in Yuri comics, we’d be back in the days of a character here and one over there and thinking that, gee, wouldn’t it be great if only there was a whole series? Well, there are whole series…there are whole *magazines* of Yuri now. And, slowly, carefully, they are coming over here. Time and market size will make the difference. It’s worth thinking about what the Yuri market will look like in ten more years (then getting back to work making that future happen!)

9) Sasamekikoto/Octave/Girl Friends – These three series are entirely different, they have nothing at all in common, except that they are really decent stories about two females in love that didn’t spend too much time pandering, and spent alot of time inside the heads of women figuring it all out, with support from friends, but not from society. When I’m old, these kinds of stories will seem bizarre (what was the big deal?! kids will say,) but right now…they are critical. And they were all, in their own way, good stories.

8) Nobara no Mori no Otome-tachi – I cannot express how glad I was for this story. It ran in the queen of shoujo magazines, Nakayoshi. And it ended with the girl getting the girl! Blue Friend was fine, but Nobara no Mori no Otome-tachi was the perfect Yuri entry, with all of the most enduring and popular Yuri tropes.

I hope it inspires a lot of young women to create more Yuri. More specifically, I hope that one of the young women who read this series becomes the next Konno Oyuki.

7) Cardcaptor Sakura – This is not hardly a Yuri story, but it is a Yuri classic. Without Tomoyo, none of you would have had a Tamao. And heck, it got my nephew reading shoujo manga, so it goes on the list! It’s still a little bizarre that Dark Horse is the one rebooting this series, but good on them to bring it back. I’d forgotten how much fun it was, and I’m thrilled to read it all over again. Oh…and…Sonomi. Just sayin’.

6) Renai Joshika – Morishima Akiko continues to slide the bar slowly, steadily towards sensible discussions of relationships between women, all with moe art and hideous amounts of adorableness. Her work is the best of both worlds, something for every Yuri fan, femme or butch, man or woman, moe fan or not. Although I will never care about wedding dresses for myself, I love the unrepentant girlyness of this series. I forgot to mention this in my review of Volume 2, but inside the dust cover, Morishima-sensei wrote “I am happy to draw a Yuri series about adult women.” I am also happy that she drew one.  ^_^

 

5) Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan – There are no lesbians in this series, but there are women who are, magically, mystically “together.” Together for 50 years, by your side, they say, without actually saying they like one another or want to kiss or anything, but you know…I don’t care. Spending time at the Amber Teahouse is a gentle, calming experience, like a cup of Blue Sapphire Ceylon tea from Betty’s. Delicate, sweet, and gentle, this series lingers pleasantly on the palate and leaves a delightful memory behind. (I’m not being facetious here, either, this tea is exactly like this. If I could send Fujieda-sensei a message, I would send him this tea and say “Your story tastes like this.”) Both tea and story are perfect way to warm up on a cold day.

 

4) Fu~Fu – It’s true that there are no lesbians here, either, but there are couples that are long-term, living together. There are a wife and her wife. They do every day things, like eat together, shop together, spend days and nights together. Above all things, they love each other, and I gotta tell you, there is NOTHING more important to me in a Yuri series that that. For hours on end of domestic bliss, and a sense that someone out there “gets” the whole women in love thing, and isn’t afraid to tell the Yuri Danshi out there about it,  this series makes number four for this year. On any other year, it might well have been number one. In years past it might have been  my screamingly over-the-top zOMG! I can’t believe that this exists manga. It’s a testimony to how far we’ve come that this *only* makes Number 4 this year.

We’ve reached my top 3 Yuri manga for 2011. Looking back at the list, there are even more Yuri stories about adult women than ever before. I’m, as we say, kvelling. But what makes the top three so special is something we have never, ever had before on this list.  All of my top three manga have…lesbians.

 

3) GUNJO – This may seem like the series is slipping a bit in my esteem, but I assure you, it is not. GUNJO is not the third best thing I’ve read this year, it is the very best thing I have ever read. I dread it, I fear it, I am addicted to it. There are two chapters left; I cannot wait to know what will happen, but I don’t want it to end.

This series has a character who is a lesbian. She was in a lovely, supportive, long-term relationship, with a woman who wanted to marry her and live together until death do them part. She walked away from that, and then death parted them and she has no idea what awaits her, death, life, retribution, punishment. Whatever it is, the blonde is still a lesbian, and during the course of the story, she has discussions with her brother and his wife, and the brunette about just what that means to her – and to us.

 

2) Aoi Hana – Yes, Fumi is “that way.” What that might mean to her is as yet unknown. She’s young, with her whole life ahead of her. It’s hard to imagine that she and Akira are likely to be together five years, ten years, twenty years from now. But that’s not important to Fumi right now. Right now, she’s in love. With her best friend. And she knows this about herself, that she is gay and her love includes physical intimacy.

This story is not only beautifully drawn and beautifully told, but I completely believe that there is a 15 year old kid out there hanging on to this story, telling herself it’s okay. For that, for that kid, I love this story with all my heart. Because it is okay, and one day, that kid is going to change the world. so everyone else knows it’s okay too.

For once I can, with 100% assurance say…you never saw this coming….

 

1) Omoi no Kakera/Kila Kila/Seasons – In 2011, Takemiya Jin-sensei kicked all your asses and you never even noticed.

In all three of her volumes released this year, at least one of the characters was an out lesbian. In all three of her volumes, she used *gay words.* Not just “lesbian” but things like “tachi” and “neko” and even slangier versions of slang like “bari” (a reversed form of “riba,” which means reverse, a lesbian that switches neko/tachi roles.)

She talked about the fact that what women (or men, for that matter) do in bed has only some bearing in “being gay.” And she created Mika, a confident, likable, out high school student, who likes older women.

In her work, Takemiya-sensei is not afraid to confront stereotypes or tropes. Her work tends to stay in school settings, but within that oh-so-typical setting, she gets a lot of miles out of human relationships.

She mentioned lesbian sex and love hotels and emotional connections, and what it means to be gay or lesbian and, no seriously, what does that mean? I have loved her work for years and years and this year, if I could hug her, I would. My number one manga for the year 2011 are all Takemiya Jin creations.

I very much hope to read more and more of her work in the days to come.

And there you have it folks, my Top Ten Yuri Manga for 2011. I gotta tell you something, this was my favorite list to write, ever. I almost want to lay these books down and roll on them they all make me so damn happy.

One last list to go and it promises to be a low content, rabid pile of fangirlish squeeing. ^_^