The only reason I haven’t posted a review the last few days, was that I was feeling lazy. To make it up to you, I thought I’d post a list of the blogs *I* read regularly. These are in no particular order. You may wonder why I don’t just include them on the side bar as links. Don’t apply for a mangerial position anywhere until you *do* understand why. :-) If you understand why, then you know what I mean. LOL

The Dilbert Blog – I read Scott Adam’s blog regularly not because I think he’s smarter or funnier than I am, but because his comments about the kinds of things he deals with from his “fans” so eerily parallel my own experiences and ideas that I find it relaxing to read his expressions of the kinds of things I think and say all the time myself.

Aozora Art – This is Rica Takashima’s (yuri manga artist extraordinaire and author of Rica ‘tte Kanji!”,) blog (in Japanese.) We pretty much keep in touch all the time anyway, but I enjoy reading her thoughts about her art projects and even her day-to-day minutiae.

Cocktail Party Physics is not only fun, intelligent, fascinating and noteworthy, but also written by a good friend of mine. I like reading CPP if only to remind myself that once upon a time I considered becoming a physicist. :-) Jen’s writing is sharp and fun. And the cocktail recipes in the sidebar are a scream.

Zyl has become a good friend of Yuricon, and I find myself reading Hontou ni so omou? more and more often. I don’t watch every anime he’s watching, or agree with all of his opinions, but he’s funny, he plugs Yuricon and Okazu all the time and I find myself wanting to know what he thinks – especially when we don’t agree.

Blogorrhea is a blog I have only recently started following. Lee Kottner is a fellow fanfic and professional author and all around creative type. Last time we spent time together, we decided that, despite the several years difference in our ages, we must have been separated at birth…it was getting a little creepy, in fact. :-)

Yuri Kokoro is a Japanese yuri blog I’ve mentioned on Okazu before. I admit I haven’t been checking it with the same frequency I used to, for various reasons. I’m going to get back in the habit.

I scan a bunch of other blogs too, for personal and professional interest: Slashdot, PC World, Researchbuzz, Dialog Updated Bluesheets, Yuri News. I also check the Anime News Network, Anime Nation news, and ICV2 from time to time.

And lastly, I read a bunch of Japanese yuri artist’s websites, whenever I have a free moment. But I’ll save that for a future post.

I’m spending the weekend doing some reading – the 14th Marimite novel, Suzukaze Satsusatsu, and the original Hana no Asuka-gumi supplementary stories, and I hope to get some writing for Saiyuu no Ryouko in. I’ll be back with reviews next week!

Last week, I offered to wax opinionated on anything you asked, so here we are. A lot of the questions are Marimite related, so take all answers with the requisite grain of salt.

Q: I might as well ask the most obvious question (to me): Which Lillian schoolgirl would you want to be?

This is the “most obvious” question? It wouldn’t be to me, but okay… I’m not in the habit of wanting to be fictitious characters. And to be very, very honest, the idea of going to a Catholic school does not appeal to ex-Jew, currently pagan me. BUT, if I absolutely HAD to be someone at Lillian, well then there’s no choice at all. Lesbian, comparative literature major and dirty-old-man at 18, I’d have to go with Sei. And the sky is blue. ^_^

Q:I STILL want to know if you think Rei and Yoshino are sleeping together. And hey, I can’t seem to remember any evidence besides their word that they really are cousins…

Other proof? You mean other than the fact that the author says as much? Authors, despite fan’s hopes and dreams *do* have final say. Rei and Yoshino ARE cousins. Their fathers are brothers and their mothers were soeur at Lillian. I do not think they are sleeping together, no.

Q: Not sure if you are familiar with the fanfiction of Paul Corrigan, (and I don’t mean to plug someone else’s work on your site, nor am I affiliated with Paul Corrigan in any way) – but after your reading of the Marimite novels and such, what do you think of his characterization of Yumi and Sachiko in fanfics like this one? http://tinyurl.com/hdvup – Just curious on your take on it.

I am familiar with Paul and his curious brand of Canada-insert fanfic. I was not familiar with this story, because I mostly do not read fanfic other than those written by the members of the Fanfic Revolution. However, in the spirit of trying to be as fair in answering as I could, I went to the link and tried to read it. Again, to be perfectly honest, I was unable to get past the poor formatting and swiftly and randomly changing tenses and points of view to encounter the characterization that you spoke of. It seemed to me that story was that Sachiko had propositioned Yumi, but due to Sei and Youko’s unintended interference they got nowhere and everyone ends frustrated. I did not care for it. At the risk of sounding abominably pompous, I did it better in Distance.

Q: Any opinions on Shizuru and Natsuki of Mai Hime/Otome fame? (or any of the other couplings in that universe)

Nope. None at all.

Q: And while I’m at it, what DO you think of Kannazuki no Miko?

It was a funny, train-wreck of an insensible anime, and a slightly more heinous manga, clearly written by and for people who haven’t the least little idea what rape does to a person. But the multitudes of children who think it was beautiful and fantastic and sexy HAWT yuri make me want to cry.

It was fun. But it was NOT good.

Q: Who is the greatest anime villain of them all?

What a great question! I have no idea…there are so many.

Desslock from Starblazers was my first; with his beautiful blue skin and stylin’ orange hair, but no one gives him any respect these days.

(I’m doing a little review of my entries in the November ’03 issue of Animerica, in which I contributed to a “Rogues’ Gallery” of evil, and wrote a short piece on the “Badass-ness of Being Bad” to assist my memory.)

Gestapoko from the Kekkou Kamen anime is offensive in every possible way, so she’s on the list, absolutely. A Nazi-regalia-clad S&M “queen” with the look of a street hooker from “Hunter” Gestapoko made Alan Harnum collapse in horror once – that’s got to count for something!

Because of the recent Live-Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon I have to put Queen Beryl on my list. She was just another red-headed baddie until she was brought to life in the newest incarnation. And woo-hee, she was GREAT! The nails, the breasts, the *dress*! Beryl’s da bomb in every way.

Goldie Musou from Gunsmith Cats has always been one of my favorite Evil, Psychotic Lesbians (TM), for her driven insanity and desire to make a sex toy out of Rally. I respect that kind of vision in a woman.

But I have to say that my *personal* number one favorite villain ever is… Eudial of the Witches Five from the Sailor Moon anime. Doorknobder is the most pathetic miserable wretch of a Monster of the Day, Eudial is so hopeless, and so funny and so cracked, that I’ve loved her from first sight. I mean – she collects the parking and driving tickets she gets! Eudial can have my heart any day – pure or not.

Q: Do you know if anything ever happens between Sachiko and Yumi?

Um, do you folks realize that Maria-sama ga Miteru is for young teens, right? No one is going to have sex in this series. Move on already! I am prepared to bet money that none of the soeur couples will ever be seen having sex in the books proper. Ever.

Q: I’ve been wondering for a while, what exactly are your feelings about the ‘onee-sama complex’ in Yuri?

It’s a perfectly natural extension of the usual sempai-kouhai relationships all Japanese form throughout their lives, and has roots of tradition that date back to pre-literary times. It’s just a thing.

Q: Flat tax. Yes or No?

Doesn’t Matter. It’s not the tax system that is flawed (although it is, of course) but that *any* system of government or taxation is inherently flawed because people are inherently monstrously selfish. And regardless of the system of taxation, rich people will be able to hire professionals to wangle out of it, governments will always count on the middle class (a part of which I proudly account myself) to bear the burden of the lowest class, who are the unlikeliest to seek the correct kinds of help to lessen their loads for many and various reasons.

Q: Aside from the ones you’ve mentioned here on Okazu (or maybe even including them, for those who haven’t read all the archives), what original Yuri doujinshi circles do you read?

My top Circles currently are, off the top of my head: Jesus Drug, Sakuraike, NWXP, Office Mono, Girlish, Pen-Pen Gusa Club. Some of these do original, some not. I’m on a Jesus Drug kick at the moment, as I’ve become a huge Hayashiya Shizuru fangirl.

This is not really today’s post.

I’m not sure there *will* be a post today, as I’m back at work with a bad something-or-other – you know, the kind of cold they always get in anime, where they have fevers and hallucinations and you wonder, “Who on earth gets a cold like that?” Well, that’s what I have today. And boy you should have seen me in my morning training session…it was special, I can tell you.)

In any case, I wanted to once again say “you’re welcome” to all the many, many people who wrote in to thank me for the notes on the Maria-sama ga Miteru novels. I cannot tell you how good it makes me feel to know that you all enjoy reading them. They will be coming a bit slower from now on, as I have to summarize the whole book, rather than just note differences between novel and anime. But they will keep coming, I promise. :-)

Also, I thought it might be fun to do a Q&A entry one day soon, so I am offering up this idea to you:

Send me a question – any question, about anything, whether anime, manga, life, whatever, yuri-related or not – and I will give you my honest (at least at that moment) opinion on it. Want to know what I REALLY think of Kannazuki no Miko, or gay marriage or The Planets (Gustave Holst’s or Dava Sobel’s, your choice) or anything else? Send in questions to the comments section of this entry, or email me at [email protected], and I will, in a future post, give you my honest, sincere and completely biased opinions.

Why do I think you care about my opinions? Well, I have several reasons. In every panel or lecture I ever do, a largish bulk of the questions start with “What do you think about…?” I’ve been asked my opinion of gay life, Dragonball Z, the manga industry in Japan and America, the definition of a multitude of Japanese words and concepts, and my understanding of just about every possible anime or manga that ever might be considered to have even some yuri content. Not to mention various formats for writing, creating characters, how to handle negative email, open admiration from fans, and derision.

And lastly, you’re reading this web log, which makes me believe that you care about my opinion – even if it is only to scoff at it.

In other words, for good or bad, people seem to care about my opinion.

So, feel free to send me a question and sometime in the next week or so, I’ll answer it here. All questions welcome, although I may combine questions for neatness or ignore incredibly rude and stupid ones. Or maybe not. :-) I guess we’ll see, won’t we? lol

You may have noticed that I’ve added a profile to this blog. I never really wanted to do that because I’m not particularly photogenic, and I thought that certain things would be obvious…

1) I am a woman. I thought that that was always fairly obvious, as my name – Erica – ends with a final “a”, which usually denotes a female version of a male name. I.e., Patricia, to Patrick, Edwina to Edwin…Erica to Eric. For some reason, my obviously female name does not indicate *enough* that I am not a man. Nor do my comments in this blog that mention that I am a lesbian. Therefore, to make it easy, let me be blunt. I am a woman and a lesbian. Not a guy. No matter HOW many action/porn/shounen things I review, I am still not a guy.

2) I have NOT, in any way shape or form, mastered Japanese. I am not fluent. I am not incorruptibly, unequivocally correct in my translations. I’m barely limping along, ekeing meaning out of this wonderful language with hours of effort a day. I am always glad to be told when I got something wrong by someone who is fluent.

3) I have taught myself Japanese. I have not taken any classes (unless you count the year I did my wife’s Japanese class homework along with her, because I thought it would be fun. And I sucked as badly as anyone else in the class. LOL But it was fun.) I am still teaching myself Japanese, which is probably a bad idea, but all I have time for. As a result my reading skills are fair, my listening skills are uneven and erratic, my writing skills are poor and my speaking skills are appalling.

So, frankly, when people write me and whine that they cannot read Japanese, I don’t really think that’s a valid complaint, because it takes no more than desire and time to learn. It’s not a particularly difficult language, especially as compared with English. It IS difficult to master, like any language. If you want to learn – shut up and learn. There is no Matrix chip. Just time and effort. I’ve given myself a timeline of about 20 years before I expect to be reasonably fluent, at least in reading. Get back to me in 15 years and I’ll let you know how it’s going. (Think about it – when you are born, you’re practicing you language skills EVERY WAKING MINUTE. And it still takes you 7 years to be able to speak with any skill – 14 to write with any and 20 for you to have anything interesting to say. So get a real timeline – not two classes. Not two years. 20 years.)

4) I do not take any of my opinions seriously. If I offend you, it’s you. (Read my rules of life in my profile for clarification.)

5) I buy my manga and anime in a variety of places. I am asked often where I get things. Here’s the list of places I use to get anime and manga:

Anime: Amazon (clicking through the Yuricon Shop, if it’s not listed)

Manga: Amazon; Amazon JP, Sanseido Bookstore; more rarely Kinokuniya or Asahiya for Japanese-language.

I am VERY lucky to have a Sanseido not 40 minutes from my house, and a Kinokuniya and Asahiya in NYC which is just over an hour away. But if I’m in a rush, or it’s not a generally popular title – or is a novel, like all the new Marimite novels, I get them from Amazon JP.

6) I am old and curmudgeonly. I get alot of puppies emailing me, using “u r” for “you are” and it irritates me. If you’d like to email me with a question, I would be much less rude if you used common, casual language. I just want you to be coherent, avoid stage directions like “tilts head” and “bounces up and down” or stuttering in text, “so, like, uh, yeah,”. I’m not asking you to be over formal, either. Just be normal, please. If you are not a native English-speaker, you absolved from having to write normally, but frankly, most of the non-native English speakers who write me have excellent grammar comparitively. I am not 20ish – it was a long time ago that I was. If you are asking me how old I am, I am old enough to be your mother – in many cases your grandmother. How do I know this? Because only people under 20 or so ever ask my age. So write to me as if you are addressing an elder. Which you are. ^_^

7) Last but not least – I am not Japanese.  Friedman is a German word that means “Free man” and was taken by many serfs and slaves when they were able to purchase their freedom. I am not German, but for some reason, my family has a German name. I imagine there was some German influence waaaaaaay back. My first name is Old Norse and means “leader” if you care. I am not Norwegian either. Neither am I Japanese. For the record.

Actually, this is the last thing – remember, you can be mean back to me, but you have to be FUNNY too. If you’re already a friend of mine, I know you are mean and funny. The rest of you can feel to practice in the comments section. Being mean and unfunny is just dull and stupid-sounding. Don’t try to be clever when you reply to this entry…you’ll sound like you’re trying too hard and we’ll all be embarrassed. ^_^

This is an adaptation of an article I wrote on July 31, 2000 for a website that no longer exists. I was a site administrator at the time, and one of the conditions of my position was to write…publish or perish, in fact. I was cranking out quite a few anime and manga reviews…and no one had a clue what I was writing about. So I received many questions about this “anime” stuff. :-) I thought it was funny to see how little my opinions have changed in 5 years…and I wanted to share with you all. :-)

Here’s my response to the most common question I received, in essay form:

Of course, as I rant and rave about all the anime and manga I consume, I’m eventually asked, “what *is* it about this stuff that you like so much?”

I love that question. :-)

For one thing, if there is a single quality that exists in anime that nearly completely lacks in Western animation, it has to be character development. How many times can we see the gang in Scooby-Doo find that the bad guys wears a mask and was really the old caretaker, before we start to crave something more?

Over the course of a 26-episode series, or a 10-volume comic, the one thing I can practically count on is the emotional growth and complexity of all the characters – not just the hero/ine, but also the bad guy/girl, all the secondary characters and frequently tertiary characters as well.

But that’s not what this article is about. ;-) This article is about all the *other* things I love so much in anime and manga – the qualities that make it so popular, and why it was inevitable that anime and manga be created specifically in a culture where there is a tremendous social pressure to conform.

1) Anime/manga heroes are usually “different.”

It is an axiom here in the west that we are all unique. Not so in Japan, where those who stand out are frequently pressured to conform by schoolmates, coworkers and family. “Pounding in the nail” is the phrase that is used to express the collective desire to keep everyone at the same level. Very often the hero/ine of an anime or manga series is different – too tall, too short, bad at schoolwork, a complete brain. It doesn’t matter much – as long as the character stands out. Conversely, (and somewhat perversely) the character is occasionally average, but the circumstances of the series make them unusual – these series usually are filled with gags as the unwitting hero/ine attempts to seem “normal” as things around them fall apart. And, of course, many series portray a perfectly average hero/ine surrounded by many people of extraordinary looks and/or powers…frequently of the opposite sex.

2) Taboos are not.

Many people assume that anime/manga series are all pornographic. That is not at all the case. While Americans are obsessed with violence, but complete hypocrites when it comes to sex, the opposite is the rule in Japan – they tend to be more sqeuamish about violence than sex. Many of those things that we consider taboo are dealt with in a less Victorian manner in anime/manga.

Up until recent social pressures began to affect the laws of Japan, teenagers in Japan were assumed to be (or about to be) sexually active, and thus series’ directed at them often deal with sex and love in a reasonably direct way. Mind you – this doesn’t mean it’s realistic! From what I’ve seen it pretty much ends up doing what western series do, portraying it as all violins, flowers floating by and hazy lighting, OR nasty dirty demonic sex. There rarely seems to be a happy medium.

Anime and manga often have gender-bending characters. Cross-dressers, gays or lesbians – some of the coolest characters in anime and manga are the bent ones. This does not mean that Japan is more accepting of these qualities in real life – just that it’s less threatening in *theory.* Plus, let’s face it – women look good in ties. ;-) Also, strong emotional, even sexual relationships are considered normal for Japanese kids – relationships that are left behind as part of their childhood when they get older and get married. It goes back to the sex thing – it just isn’t a scary concept.

3) Magic and the occult are everywhere.

Another sticking point for many Westeners – Japan is not a Christian country. Their religion is primarily a shamanic one, centered around fertility and harvest festivals. Does this mean that the average Japanese salaryman believes in magic? No. No more than the average American office worker. But they like to see it in their anime! And so do I.

***

To sum up, from my years watching anime and reading manga, I’ve noticed that many of the themes dealt with in these media are *not* what the average Japanese person wants to cope with. The pressures of remaining in conformation with societal norms are rather enormous. I believe that many of the things that make anime and manga so popular are those very things that make life difficult in Japan. In effect, anime and manga are a giant cultural “acting out” of things that can’t be dealt with easily in real life.

For me, these qualities are some of the most attractive things about this
particular form of entertainment.

***

And there you have it – I’m pretty much *still* watching and reading anime and manga for exactly the above reasons. :-)

And I promise – more reviews coming soon!