Archive for the Now This Is Only My Opinion Category


It’s Utter Nonsense 2015!

February 21st, 2015

No YNN Report today. It’s been a while since I’ve declared it to be ‘Utter Nonsense’ time here on Okazu. Two years in fact. So…it’s “Utter Nonsense’ time once again on Okazu!

What is “Utter Nonsense’ time, you ask? Well, it’s when you ask me questions about…life, love, blogging, anime, manga, Yuri, whatever. And I do my very best to answer you without lifting a finger to do any research. ^_^ For previous Q&As, check out the Now This is Only My Opinion Category here on Okazu,. and take a look at the kinds of things people have asked previously.

Back in 2012, we did a Livestream Yuri Panel and it went really well. I was thinking of doing something similar this time this spring. Send me amazing questions and I’ll answer them live  – and we can take questions from folks “attending” live!

There are a few rules for sending in questions:

1) I will not answer questions about “what is your favorite….” I find them difficult to answer, as I really don’t have favorites. And generally, people are looking for external validation anyway and when my favorite does not sync with theirs, they get annoyed. So, let’s not. ^_^

2) No A/B choice questions like “ham or cheese” or “Coke or Pepsi” questions, please.  They aren’t all that interesting for any of us and I can tell you honestly, the answer is almost always “neither of the two.”

3) If you want to ask me what I see as the future of Yuri or why I like Yuri, I beg you to read all the previous iterations of my answers to these questions. If you have a question about Yuri that I have not previously addressed, bring it on!

4) No questions that can be answered by 30 seconds of actually READING one of my reviews here. Also, asking me “what do you think of so-and-so anime/fandom” is not going to give you the external validation you crave, nor will I rise to the bait of using it as a springboard to rant about a fandom, either. Don’t know if I’ve reviewed a thing you want to know about? Look to the right—->

See that empty box on the sidebar that says “Search Okazu“? Try that first.  ^_^

5) Lastly, no “define the term” questions. The answers have been posted here:  https://okazu.yuricon.com/glossary/.

Now, I realize that this makes it harder to ask me questions. But the harder you work at the questions, the harder I have to work at the answering, so it’s a fair deal. The funnier the question, the better chance of an amusing answer. ^_^

Please post your questions in the comments here and I’ll figure out a date for a Livestream Yuri Panel for all of us.

I’m looking forward to your questions!





Supporting Your Comics Ecosystem in 2015

January 1st, 2015

Happy New Year!

We’re starting off with something a little different this year. Usually I end the year with the best and start the next year with something dreadful. Instead of just excoriating an awful manga, I wanted to talk with you something very important – your own comics/animation ecosystem. The beginning of the year seems like the best time to think a little bigger and a little better about the space we inhabit in our own world.

Most fans understand (at least theoretically ^_^) that without comics creators or animators, they would not have anything to read or watch. Most fans also sort of vaguely presume that someone else ought to be responsible for the care and feeding of artists, you know, the company they do work for, or a rich patron or a day job or something.

As we actually know if we read a bit about it, comics, animation, songwriting, and pretty much every other creative endeavor pays peanuts, if at all. And the Internet gives everybody a chance to put their (or someone else’s) work out there, with the end result that the work itself has been almost wholly devalued. Which is what Scott Adams said back in 2010. But, like  he said at the time – maybe it’s okay.

Right now is a terrific time to look at the full ecosystem in which we exist and start planning for a sustainable and thriving future. Obviously, this is true for the actual ecosystem you inhabit. But I’m not a life guru, today we’re just going to look at our nerdly world.

You probably have a job. A lot of us have jobs that are regularly demeaned and dismissed by people who don’t get the amount of effort that our work takes. Even ridiculously hard jobs like being a doctor – people bitch about how much money they make, not realizing that your doctor’s visit fee covers the salaries of a half-dozen people, the office space, equipment, and yes, the insurance and things you don’t feel like you ought to have to pay for.

Entertainment is created by artists, but also by their assistants, their editors, the art directors, the layout people, the printers, and web developers, sales people, delivery people, all the way down to the part-time bookstore employees who shelve stuff and the post office who delivers it. I know you know this, but I want to say it:  If you have ever once thought “hey. I want to work in comics” you might also want to think about this –  if everyone makes comics, but no one buys them – where does the money come from? When you buy something, you are contributing to a larger economic system that sustains those jobs and the people who work them.

So, let’s start with artist and writers – the folks who create the work we enjoy. This is the one piece of our fan ecosystem we might acknowledge. It seems like there are a lot of artistic grants, but very few people get the money they need to live and work on a daily basis. A creator can apply for dozens of grants – all of which take inordinate hours of work – and get nothing. Just as a creator can create a beautiful work and have no one want to buy it. But creating is their work. And we, as fans, can help. We can make sure we buy their work that is available, thus indicating to publishers and distributors and galleries and merchandisers that there is an audience who will pay money for this person’s work. This is the number one thing we can do to support creators. They get to hire another assistant, so they can put out more and better work, which means that they can get more pages done, for more magazines. They buy better tools, they buy food and heat and other commodities. No matter how much we love someone, we’re not helping if we ignore their financial needs.  You can also support creators through their fundraising efforts, crowdfunding initiatives and buying creator-owned series. Every time you support a creator’s work, you are contributing to the greater ecosystem.

Another part of the ecosystem is what companies and stores we buy from and how we buy. It’s harder these days to support a local book or anime or comics store, there are so few  these days – and, realistically, some of them go out of their way to discourage manga business. But there are still some good local stores and even a few online places that are a person and their employees. If you’re lucky enough to be near one, I encourage you to support local businesses. It’s good for your town, as well. There’s nothing at all wrong with using a conglomerate, but when you can walk into a store and get a smile and recognition for your purchases, it feels good – and it supports the local economy with taxes and jobs (and the taxes and spending that comes from those.) I’ve mentioned them before, but the Local Comic Shop I use is Comic Fusion. A friend of mine is a co-owner and they are pretty darn friendly. Online orders are welcome and you can call them and ask them to order anything. I get some of my manga and some comics through them. ^_^

Another part of our ecosystem to consider is the folks who write about comics – call ’em pundits, bloggers, journalists, opinion-makers, reporters, what have you. If you’re a regular here at Okazu, you’ve probably spent hours reading content created by myself and others. Hours of entertainment, rage, joy and infomercials. ^_^ The equivalent of time on TV would have a budget of millions. But folks who write about comics online fly under the radar. Everyone reads them, shares their news and content, but no one’s giving them a paycheck. They have to fly themselves to the events they cover, unless they’ve got gig with Publisher’s Weekly or CBR or other “large” site. These folks often take donations. Here’s my rule of thumb for this kind of thing: If you’ve used a source/read stuff on a site for more than 10 hours in the last month, consider throwing  a few bucks their way. Back in the day, we all subscribed to magazines like Animerica and Comics Journal. Now, there are fewer magazines but a *lot* more (and often better quality) sources. For 2015 – if you can afford it – pick one site you use a lot, and consider giving them the cost of one lunch per month. McDonald’s tells me that a cheeseburger Happy Meal costs $4.89 in the US. (Why would anyone get anything other than a Happy Meal, duh~ Toys!). Let’s say $5/month to one slave to the computer keyboard of your choice. That few dollars will allow that journalist to get to more events, do more interviews and give you even more info.

I am not the kind of person who asks people to do what I will not. So to give you some ideas and let you know what *I’m* supporting in 2015, here’s a short list of the folks whose ongoing work I will be supporting through Patreon or other donation platforms. This does not include any crowdfunding projects I give to. In 2014, I gave to about half a dozen crowdfunded projects. I hope to do the same this year.

KleefeldOnComicsHeaderSean Kleefeld’s Fanthropology – Sean has been writing about comics a long time, Like me, he’s neck deep in the creation and fandom of the things. He writes a balanced and empathetic blog on the fraught world of comics fandom and creators and all the many places they intersect. Sean is officially launching his Patreon campaign today and I have already pledged my Happy Meal a month to support his work. ^_^

 

beatThe Comics Beat by Heidi Macdonald has been one of my go-to sources for (mostly Big 2) comics news for years.  Heidi herself is a pleasure to speak with and her coverage is honest and timely, without the drooling sycophancy of many “comics” sites. (You know, now that I think about it, not one has ever accused comics/manga journalism of a lack of ethics. You want to know why? We’d all die laughing if anyone ever said that. The first person to recover their breath would order another round of cocktails and it would blow over in a second.)  Anyway, Heidi’s been getting a Happy Meal’s worth of love from me a month for a while. Totally worth it too.

 

Aliensin NYRica Takashima’s Aliens in NY Art Project – I believe in this art project with all my heart. New York is a city full of aliens and Rica is telling each story, one at a time, with peekaboo boards, and comics and interactive art at events. Her project is taking donations through the New York Foundation for the Arts, and if you pledge any amount over $2 to her, at the end of the year you get her annual report. The first annual report was so good, the NYFA featured it in their annual report! This year’s report continued the story and made for some compelling, amusing reading. You’ll never look at the Statue of Liberty the same again, I promise. Read this again – Rica is drawing her annual report as a serial comic and it’s amazing. Even if you don’t get to one of her events, this is worth the price of a Happy Meal/month. You can see some of the pages and follow the project on the Aliens in New York Facebook page, as well.

One last note. When you’re done with your manga, graphic novels, anime and the like, don’t just throw them out. You local library might be able to use them – or sell them through their “Friends of the Library” foundations to support core services. (Remember in the beginning when I spoke about jobs that are regularly dismissed? Your local library has to fight like a banshee for the maybe 60 cents per person they get in local taxes. Not per person/per month – 60 cents per person/per year. Your local taxes do support the library, but very very little of it.)  Most libraries love donations – if they can’t use it, they’ll sell it or just plain give it away. Do be smart – call them first and ask if they take donations –  and give them stuff they can actually use. Your old hentai probably can’t go on the shelves. I stick to giving them YA manga. Sometimes I buy a comic with the specific thought that they’ll get it when I’m done with it. While you’re at it, if you want to give your library a small donation, you can ask them to put it towards a specific collection, although they can’t always guarantee that’s where it’ll go.

Of course, I will continue to support crowdfunded projects, buy as much anime and manga, live-action and novels and attend as many events as I can in the upcoming year as well. Because I want to support my comic ecosystem too!

If we each pledge one Happy Meal a month to supporting part of our ecosystem, comics, manga and anime will have a chance to survive and thrive. I believe 2015 is the year when we find that, when everyone pulls together, even the impossible comics economy is sustainable.





Proto-Yuri Novel: Otome no Minato (乙女の港) – Part 2, Group Discussion

March 2nd, 2014

onmcoverIn Part 1, I introduced a key ‘S’ relationship novel, Otome no Minato (乙女の港) as part of the History of Yuri.

This novel serves as a bridge for concepts established in earlier girls’ literature, such as Yaneura no Nishojo through to manga that functions in a proto-Yuri space, like Sakura Namiki.

To discuss these connections, I invited fellow Yuri enthusiasts Katherine Hanson of Yuri no Boke and Erin Subramanian of Yurizuki to as Guests to discuss Otome no Minato with me.

I’d like to thank James Welker for his kind sponsorship of today’s discussion.

This discussion was held by Google chat, on February 22, 2014.

elfErica
Okey dokey. Let’s get started. First of all, thank you so much for joining me in this adventure.

esErin
Thank you for inviting us to join you! On this strange, rather flowery trip.

 

khKatherine
Yes, I’m glad I got around to reading this

 

Erica
Haha, yes, indeed. I’m going to ask you each to introduce yourselves. Erin, why don’t we begin with you?

Erin
I’m a J->E translator with a particular fondness for Yuri works.

Katherine
I obsessively read and watch Yuri, and also blog about it online!

Erica
Excellent.
So, let’s begin.
Before we get into specifics, let’s have your general thoughts about the book. Katherine first, then Erin.

Katherine
It was like reading the Strawberry Panic novels, but with a sincerely written story and an actual frou frou historical setting instead of a wannabe frou frou historical setting. I feel like I should compare it more to Maria-sama ga Miteru (especially given Youko’s background and Tsuneko’s role relative to Michiko), but Marmite is better than both of them. I am glad I read this to complete the old Japanese lesbian/Yuri works catalogue in my head.

Erin
I thought it was sweet but rather condensed (jumping forward too quickly) in parts while dragging in others. I associated it with Marimite as well. I haven’t read any Yoshiya Nobuko works for comparison, but it seemed like what I would imagine her works to be like.

Erica
It was definitely a source for Marimite, but like Katherine, I prefer the more modern novels. This book takes its time. Novels  – especially western ones – start with something happening. Here, we meet Michiko, her friend Tsuneko and Ms. Murfree and the most exciting thing happening is that it is raining.

Erin
Yes, it seemed to go into detail on random topics and then never pick them up again.

The main character’s brothers, for instance, or her teachers at school.
I did like the introduction with the older students being interested in the new students.

Erica
You know what I first noticed – the use of katakana was so very different than it is now. There’s much less of it, it’s rendered differently and many pages went by, before we saw a foreign word other than a teacher’s name.

Oh, yes the teacher…such weird amounts of detail…then nothing…then BAM!

Erin
Yes, foreigners were frequently mentioned, but foreign words were rare.

Katherine
Yup – that was an interesting contrast, and I think ties into the setting being in Yokohama
Not just a missionary school set in, say Tokyo.

Erica
I agree. Foreigners play such a huge role, in some ways.

Erin
Yes, the harbor was certainly an important aspect.

Erica
The language is not Keigo, but it is not modern Japanese. That really struck me.

Erin
Yes.

Katherine
That did take some getting used to.

Erin
I think most of the flower metaphors were lost on me.
There were so very many of them.

Katherine
It also had less furigana than I expected, given its running in Shoujo no Tomo.

Erin
Yes!

Katherine
And I agree about the flower metaphors. lol Those were definitely harder to make sense of than most of the book.

Erica
Definitely.
“Language of Flowers” fill pretty much every girls’ book in the early twentieth century in any language. It’s a useful thing to keep bookmarked.
But the endnotes. How fascinating were they?

Erin
I found them very informative.

Katherine
I did really like them.
This book was really well packaged, as far as that and other extras.

Erin
Yes, the end notes were helpful.
And those illustrations!

Erica
Agreed. And so detailed. I ended up learning about the entire history of ‘Color War’ while reading this book.
Nakahara Junichi’s illustrations really make the book, in some ways.

Katherine
Yeah, the written historical context provided and illustrations (and photos!) were great.
The illustrations are beautiful, I agree.
They help set the tone a lot.

Erin
Yes, the illustrations were a highlight of the book.

Erica
Okay, so what was your favorite scene?

Erin
Mine would probably have to be the phone call (and then physical reunion) after Michiko comes back from Karuizawa.

Katherine
That is sweet!

Erin
I am a big sap. What can I say?

Erica
The Christmas present was special too.

Erin
Yes, though Youko’s present to Michiko came off as a little preachy in parts.
I joked to Katherine that she was giving her The Spirit of Christmas, from every mediocre Christmas movie.

Erica
A “little”? It was a big ball of preachy!!

Erin
I was trying not to be insulting!

Katherine
But Erin! Erica! A proper Oneesama must impart the true meaning of Christmas.

Erica
Hahaha, exactly

Erin
The locket was great, because of COURSE she gave her a locket.
Okay, I can’t argue with that, Katherine.
So, Katherine, what was your favorite?

Katherine
Hmm.
My choice is kind of horrible. lol
Ah, my favorite was Michiko calling out Youko’s name when she was sick. That (and its aftereffects) was so melodramatic and cheesy and almost gothic.

Erin
Oh, a gothic moment, of course! I should have guessed.

Erica
I liked the first truly moe scene, about 1/3 in – Youko envisioning Michiko as May Queen – her queen, and her feelings get “warm” at the thought. I love that the utterly pagan May Queen tradition is so Catholic and was imported into the animist Japan. Multiple religion exchange ftw. That was one of my favorite scenes, but not my number one favorite.

Erin
Haha, yes, that was a great one too.

Katherine
That was pretty great, I agree

Erin
I was also amused by Michiko wanting to “be friends with” all the pretty older girls.

Katherine
Yup, Michiko’s innocence about that was kind of amusing.

Erica
Awww, you are a softie.
How annoying is Michiko at the beginning? Vain, selfish. But she changes a lot as the book goes on

Erin
I… didn’t really notice.
I think I was seeing her as a Generic Protagonist for reader projection.
Oh, my other favorite scene was them wanting to be mommies to the calves together, by the way.

So sweet.

Erica
I saw her as still dreaming of herself as princess. That was another of my fave scenes. Katsuko holds out a fantasy of horseriding, while “Youko” represents a reality of cows and sheep.

Katherine
My perspective on this is closer to Erin’s. I thought she was childish, but didn’t think she was any worse than the usual for this kind of story’s protagonist.

Erin
Yeah, she is supposed to be 13.
Or somewhere around that age.
I suppose we’re just used to Nagisa/Yumi/etc.-esque protagonists at this point.
And yes, her fairy tale daydreams were interesting.

Katherine
Yup, our standards are kind of weirdly configured. lol

Erica
I’m not comparing her to other protagonists. Just looking at her mirror-staring in the beginning, compared to her looking outward at the end.

Katherine
Ah, that is true.
I did think the fairytale bit was cute also, though.

Erin
Ah, good point.

Erica
So what do you think the most important scene in the book was?

Katherine
Maybe when Youko helps Katsuko?

Erin
Yes, I think that was a big moment.

Erica
That was pretty significant. For me, the most important scene was Katsuko taking Michiko to the pool to watch a swim meet. I suddenly realized that this was a classic love triangle. Youko represents the down-home farmgirl, Katsuko, the city slicker. Karuizawa is hardly the “big city”, but Katsuko gives Michiko bicycle lessons, introduces her to foreigners in language lessons. She is the big sparkly.

Erin
Yes, definitely.
Michiko lying to Youko for the first time also seemed like a turning point to me.

Erica
Yes, that was huge. I wonder if that wasn’t the first moment she stops looking solely at herself.

Katherine
Good point! Those are both great examples of turning points also.

Erin
Hmm, yes, that could be.

Katherine
I chose mine because the love triangle couldn’t really die until Katsuko grew up and recognized that she should leave Michiko and Youko alone.

Erica
Good point.

Erin
Katherine: That also seemed like a growing moment for Youko.
Where she admitted to herself that she had been jealous/worried, but was able to be a bigger person now.

Katherine
That is true! They both grew when they settled their rivalry.

Erica
We haven’t really talked about Katsuko yet. What were your impressions of her?

Erin
Well, as we discussed before, I see her as coded as masculine in some ways.
She’s also rather a jerk.

Katherine
She was my least favorite.
I didn’t like her method of trying to win over Michiko.

Erin
Hmm, in my notes about her, I wrote: “Katsuko is the athletic, boyish, argumentative/aggressive/cruel one; she wants to change Michiko, and Michiko can’t help but play right into her hands (though she does realize it sometimes) and keep spending time with her even when she makes her feel bad”

Katherine
Yeah, she’s kind of manipulative.

Erica
She’s definitely aggressive.

Erin
She’s definitely portrayed as less likable than Youko, though I didn’t dislike her as much by the end.

Erica
We were talking about her use of body proximity, indicating her “masculinity” in some sense. Even in the pictures, she leans too close, always has her hand possessively around Michiko’s shoulders.

Erin
She’s kind of a Rainbow Dash type personality, if you’ll pardon the MLP comparison.
Yes, absolutely.

Erica
I can see that.

Erin
More of a boundary-violator.

Katherine
That’s an amazing connection to make.

Erin
Like how she wrote on Michiko’s letter to Youko.

Erica
Right. “My needs supercede anyone else’s”

Erin
Exactly!

Katherine
And trying to make Michiko wear a flower on her lapel after she gets sick.
Yup.

Erin
She kept going after Michiko even when her attentions were unwelcome.

Erica
That was just plain jerky.

Erin
Yes, that was really a summation of her personality.

Katherine
Yeah, basically, ignoring Michiko’s boundaries until towards the end.

Erin
The flower idea would have been flashy, but would have meant two flowers would die every day as a symbol of their friendship.
I couldn’t imagine Youko proposing something like that.

Erica
Haha, Erin.
That was what I liked so much when Katsuko lost the war, as it were. Trying too hard, she gets injured during the sports festival, Youko steps up to help her, gracious and polite. Katsuko needs help, guidance, comfort. She cannot provide it. Even Michiko understands that Youko has “won.” Katsuko acknowledges defeat, at which point Michiko refers to Youko as “onee-sama”, Katsuko acknowledges that, as well, and admits she wants to reconcile with Youko (owabi shitai.)

Erin
But she gets to enjoy a year with Michiko despite her “defeat.” So it all works out in the end for her.

Erica
Well, yes, because she accepted her place as loser.

Katherine
Yup.

Erin
If she hadn’t aggressively pursued Michiko this first year, do you think they would have become close after Youko had graduated?

Erica
Probably, don’t you?

Katherine
I think so.

Erin
Well, I suppose it would depend on whether she was trying to take Youko’s place.

Katherine
Ah, well, I don’t think she could completely take Youko’s place.

Erica
If she was, it would be impossible, Youko would be gone, and so, inviolate and perfect as a memory. Youko’s too perfect. Even her flawed background is perfect.

Katherine
That’s a great point, Erica.
For one, even if Michiko were to allow it (which I don’t think she would), the other students wouldn’t allow it. lol

Erin
Yes. Though I think the sense of distance in Youko’s letters was part of what allowed Katsuko to move in on Michiko in Karuizawa.

Erica
Absolutely

Erin
Not only was Youko not physically present, Michiko didn’t feel as emotionally close to her because her letters were withdrawn.
Katherine: They sure are big on enforcing the “one esu per person” thing, aren’t they

Katherine
They sure are!

Erica
They sure were!

Erin
Mandatory monogamy.
Unless you didn’t have an esu, in which case you could play the field, sort of.

Katherine
And your point about Youko is true. But given the greater emotional intimacy she and Michiko achieve by the end…
lol “play the field”
Michiko could become Shizuma (from Strawberry Panic!).

Erica
Which sort of begets a Sei character in Marimite. So Top Stars are given leeway to not commit. That’s really interesting. It explains why Shizuma committing twice is seen as worse than never committing.

Katherine
That too!

Erin
Yes!
I definitely saw some Sachiko and Yumi in the Youko-Michiko relationship.
Speaking of Top Stars, I was amused by the obligatory Takarazuka reference.

Erica
Haha, me too!

Katherine
That was definitely a “Some things never change” moment

Erin
Yup.

Erica
I want to make another point about the language. As flowery as it was, it was *way* easier to read than Yaneura no Nishoujo. Nearly 20 years had gone by and the language had loosened up considerably.

Erin
Oh, that’s good to know.

Katherine
I actually still need to properly read YnN.

Erin
Me, too.

Erica
It was not an easy read, I’ll be honest.

Erin
Yes, I was about to note the time difference.
This one was… 1939?

Katherine
1938

Erica
1938, yeah. It was serialized in 1937.

Erica
Any last thoughts about the book, something we haven’t covered?

Erin
Hmm, let me check my notes.

Erica
I have this note that I must share: “When confronted with news of Michiko’s perfidy, Youko remains unflappable. When Michiko confesses, even she thinks Youko is being unreasonably calm.” LOL

Erin
Hahaha.

Katherine
lol

Erin
Hmm, I wrote something here about the red yashiki.
Wondering to myself if it was an inspiration for the Bara no Yakata in Marimite.

Erica
Oh yes, please do talk about the Red yashiki! (The red houses were “foreigners” house in Yokohama, that Youko had to pass on the way to school.)

Erin
My notes say “Part of the shoujo shousetsu aesthetic of the 20th century?” but I don’t remember what I was thinking.

Erica
I had a similar thought. We’re all such Marimite fangirls. I loved how they were houses of ill repute and fantasy castles all at once.

Erin
Yes!
This one was a foreign mistress’s house.
Also, the scene with Youko vowing to search for Michiko made me think of the panda scene in Marimite, of course.

Katherine
Yes!

Erin
“Michiko likes rainy days now because of that afternoon in the rain with Youko that first day” I see I wrote down the important things. lol

Erica
That’s as important as cow babies being cute, which is a note that I added, as well.

Erin
Yes!
Also, were either of you amused by the shopping race? (One of the events in the sports festival.)
I thought it was so interesting I described it to my wife, but she thought it sounded boring to watch.

Erica
That was hilarious.

Katherine
That was funny.

Erin
I know! THANK YOU!

Katherine
This is horrible of me to say, but I appreciated it as an intentionally funny bit.

Erica
That was when I went on a tear about “Color War” and when they started and if the British had brought them to Japan (probably, with the Boy Scouts and the Navy) and I was having a crazy conversation on Twitter with some Japanese folks about Sport festivals and color wars.

Erin
Wait, when Katsuko fell?
Oh, do share!
I see them pop up in manga from time to time but don’t know much about them.

Katherine
I want to hear about this, too.

Erica
In my part of the USA, we call that splitting up into colors for a sports festival “Color War” and it often includes skits (about which I still have intense trauma issues) and songs, art as well as races and silly contests, like scavenger hunts.

Erin
Yikes.

Erica
The term “color war” comes from a Jewish Boys’ camp in the Poconos, but the idea comes from Britain and was imported with the Boy Scouts.

Erin
It did sound rather Hogwarts.

Katherine
Interesting!

Erica
The British navy brought the idea to Japan, and it was incorporated into schools.
So…that’s why Japanese schools have Sports Festivals that sound exactly like the kind of thing I did in camp. Stupid races and all.

Erin
Ahh.

Erica
Random bit of late-night twittering.

Katherine
That is pretty fascinating.

Erin
It is!

Erica
We haven’t talked about…Miss Wright. The teacher who died right before the Sports Festival.

Erin
Yes, that was rather random.

Erica
I noticed that Miss Wright’s death strikes the youngest girls hardest. They barely knew her, but went full on with mourning and let’s do it for Miss Wright! during the Festival.

Erin
Oh, good point.

Katherine
I guess it’s meant to highlight how ingenuous they are. Or…I’m struggling to think of just the right way to phrase it.

Erica
It reminded me of a fellow schoolmate when John Lennon died.
She came to school and mourned publicly for him. She didn’t know him, just liked his music.

Erin
Yes, Miss Wright could be an example of grief for celebrity deaths.
(Speaking of grief, that seemed like another connecting point between Michiko and Youko.)

Erica
It seemed a bit like a rebuke to girl’s following fads, and bit of self-recognition that they do.

Erin
That makes sense.

Katherine
That is true.

Erica
It totally deepened Michiko and Youko’s bond.

Katherine
The story did emphasize how much the students go with the flow, including Michiko.
Yup

Erin
Good point.

Erin
I do wish we had gotten to see Youko visit her mother, but that was outside the scope of the story.

Erica
Agreed.

Katherine
Mm, it would have made her background feel like more than a kind of manipulative device to make her sympathetic.

Erin
Katherine: Yes, it did seem to function that way.
And then with her grandmother’s death, and the closed gate, and all that.

Erica
That’s valid too. But I kind of thought her (Youko’s) background was manipulative.

Katherine
Erica: It was kind of inherently manipulative, but I guess I thought it could have been less manipulative if the story had dealt a bit more directly with the messiness of it, if that makes sense. But I guess it couldn’t have been the kind of novel it was and done that.

Erin
Katherine: Yes, it could have been a sensitive look at her situation, but just chose to use it as backstory instead.
Oh, before we finish, one thing I meant to bring up is that Youko deliberately chooses Michiko out of the other first-years, rather than stumbling across her.
So she’s portrayed more as a desirable esu than an everygirl who happened to be in the right place at the right time (like Yumi).

Erica
Yes, great point.

Erin
I’m trying to think of other modern Yuri light novels or manga that portray their protagonists in that light.Usually it’s all about how desirable the sempai is and how everyone wants her.

Erica
And the kouhai is a moron. Drives me crazy that anyone wanted Nagisa.

Erica
Last question. Did you like the book? Why or why not?

Erin
As for liking the book, I’d say I have moderately positive feelings about it.
I’m glad I read it, but I don’t think I would read it again.

Erica
Fair enough.
I’m rather glad I read this book. It was much less difficult a read than Yaneura no Nishojo and had as much source material for Marimite (and all the many moe-clones that have come since,) Where Yaneura no Nishojo had the piano duet and the room in the tower, this was so deeply embedded in the ‘S’ relationship that would become soeur.

Erin
Yes, gotta have that piano duet.

Erica
I blame Cream Lemon for the ubiquity of the piano duet.

Katherine
I’m still scared of YnN.
Even though it’s a must-read.
Especially since this wasn’t a walk in the park to read.

Erin
Katherine: Were you going to list some series?

Katherine
Ah, yes!
I guess Komari from Gokujou Drops, and… hmm, it is harder to come up with protagonists who are more Nagisa/Michiko than Yumi. I guess Marimite helped cause that?
Oh god, Cream Lemon
I also am glad I read this book for its historical value, but would not read it again.

Erica
Any final thoughts?

Erin
Hmm, the “eternal female friendship” bit at the very end was nice.

Katherine
Ah, the promise at the end.

Erin
Made me think about all the other works I’ve read that focused on female friendship over long years. I hope Youko and Michiko continued to exchange letters into their elderly years.

Katherine
Me, too.

Erin
Was there a pair in Marimite that did that?

Katherine
Sachiko’s grandma and someone else I think?

Erin
Yes!

Erica
No, Sachiko’s grandmother and Yumiko *didn’t* keep in touch. That was the point of that story.
So they reconciled on her deathbed. (From Maria-sama ga Miteru: Parasol o Sashite)

Katherine
Ssshhh, Erica, don’t ruin our fanfic.

Erin
Katherine, I think our brains rewrote that to make it happier.

Erica
Here’s my final thought, which once again was about Marimite. In most of the moe-clone ‘S’ relationship stories, the girls are still presumed to be going off the get married…and that they *will never see or speak to each other again*. Why? Because 100 years ago that might have been true. In 1938, Youko and Michiko have every intention of staying in touch.

Erin
Oh, good point.

Katherine
True.

Erica
In the 21st century Mizuno Youko is required to go to *law school*. She’d like to go to a liberal arts school, but goes where she’s expected to. Not get married…law school. Think of the gap, the century in between. Yet, there are the moe clones, still marrying the girls off.

Katherine
I thought she chose law school?
I guess I missed that detail.
Ooohh.

Erin
Oh, yes.
Though there was an interesting part in Otome no Minato.
Where they’re talking about how many of the girls at school are planning to become working women, but don’t talk about how they want to work.

Kathrine
Yes…that struck me too.

Erin
I’m sure their class status played a part.

Katherine
True!
If you’re too high class, more pressure to marry.

Erin
And less pressure to bring in a second income, yup.

Erica
Exactly so. And yet, they can still stay in touch.
Okay, anyone has any closing thoughts?

Katherine
I guess we should mention Michiko learning to ride a bike away from Yokohama, in Karuizawa, as another turning point.
And…represents independence

Erin
Right, absolutely.
Ties into that Twitter conversation we had about how it would totally be a car or scooter today.

Erica
Oh yes, a huge turning point. I commented to my wife at the time, that a modern remake would have had Katsuko teaching Michiko to drive.

Katherine
Yes!
I also thought Michiko’s mother commenting on her crush was interesting, even though I know Mom didn’t see it as real.

Erin
Oh, that is interesting.

Erica
Moms are eternal.

Erin
Katherine: Shades of Aoi Hana there?
(Yasuko’s mom)

Katherine
They see all, yes.
Otherwise…that is it for me.
You guys?

Erica
That makes sense. It (Aoi Hana) also has strong ‘S’ ties

Erin
Yes, and Katsuko reminds me a bit of Yasuko.

Erica
That makes sense.

Katherine
They are similar!

Erica
Let’s call this a wrap. Thank you both again.

Erin
Okay! Thanks again for including us in this.
It was fun.

Katherine
Yes! Thank you for inviting us to this.





Passionate Friendship: The Aesthetics of Girls’ Culture in Japan

February 6th, 2014

passionateDeborah Shamoon’s Passionate Friendship: The Aesthetics of Girls’ Culture in Japan traces the development of girls’ literature and, eventually, Shoujo manga from the end of the 19th century through the 1970’s, with particular attention to the girls’ magazines of the 1930’s, the Magnificent 49-ers and the birth of Shoujo, Josei and BL manga. Shamoon addresses Yoshiya Nobuko’s writing, but does not talk about “Yuri” as a genre. Nonetheless, anyone interested in the formative years of Yuri and its literary precedents may want to read this book. There is some definite value in here, and I promise to spend time on the good points, but before we get there, there are several major negatives with this text that I want to address, in ascending order of importance.

The first serious problem I encountered with Shamoon’s work is her tendency to dismiss all theories but her own, particularly if she can hold up a shield of a Japanese scholar’s work to support her theories. You might not see this as a problem, unless, like me, you have an issue with absoluteist thought.

At no point in time does Shamoon ever imagine that another interpretation – especially that of the audience which reads the work –  might be as valid as her own. Any suggestion, any filter other than her own is immediately dismissed, something that strikes me as…kind of ridiculous. When I am repeatedly cautioned to stop interpreting what I read through the filters that make up my life experience well, there’s really no polite response for that. Instead of acknowledging that other scholars have other interpretations, she brings them up only to wholly, completely, utterly dismiss them.

Whether I actually agree that girls’ literature revolves around a “culture of sameness” as Shamoon does, I would not here suggest that this is a terrible idea. Tween and teen girls culture is, largely, defined by the pressure to fit in. In that sense, I agree with her, but in the sense that Shamoon proposes her theory to define the illustrative style for early 20th century Japanese girls’ lit, I would say that she’s missing a major factor here. Which brings me to my second point.

It’s not until well past the first half of the book, into the chapter about Takahashi Makoto’s (Sakura Namiki) influence on Shoujo manga, that Shamoon acknowledges the literary and artistic constraint of commercial art. As a friend so succinctly put it, “Commercial art must sell.” Well yes, and Shamoon acknowledges this has an effect on Takahashi’s art. But she completely fails to acknowledge what every commercial artist knows…deadlines are brutal. There is not enough time in the world to get things done, so we create macros, templates, stencils, tones and other shortcuts. Some of the illustrations she chooses to make her “culture of sameness”  point could far more simply be explained as artistic stylings made sensible by deadlines. Anyone who reads manga knows that manga artists often begin with the same face or one of a few body types, then elaborates on instantly identifiable characteristics. Change hair and skin tone slightly and you have a new character (or the same character pretending to be differrent, as Sailor Moon fans all know.)

Which brings me to my third and most important point.

This is what my copy of the book looks like:

Thoughts

What you can’t really see is that I began making notes on these cute little sticky strips, then graduated to the small sticky pads, then the 3″x4″ size, then, in a moment of crisis switched to a 7″ note pad, entire pages of which were filled. I eventually moved back to the small stickies, but *a lot* of them.  And here’s why:

In Shamoon’s chapter on Yoshiya Nobuko’s work, she begins by “cautioning” us to not use the obvious filter of reality and allow Yoshiya’s actual life with an actual female partner to cause us to mistakenly interpret her work as in any way lesbian.  She then follows that eye-roller up with the conclusion that because Yoshiya does not write about a separatist vision of society, or exhort her readers (tween Japanese girls of the 1920s and 30’s,) to adopt a separatist vision of society, her works cannot be seen as feminist.

Let me refer back to my second point – commercial art must sell. Yoshiya was a female writer, living on her writing, in early 20th century Japan. Her work was subject to male editorial supervision and had to be approved by government censors. And even within the restrictions of writing stories that would sell to their target audience, on deadline, that would be approved of by male censors and editors, she wrote a novel in which two women chose to step away from society and make a life together (Yaneura no Nishojo), one in which a woman creates an alternative adoptive family for herself, after redeeming her reputation which has been smeared (Ban-sensei) and told tale after tale of young women growing up, some marrying, some not, but all finding their way into adult life (Hana Monogatari Volume 1, Volume 2.) Creating one’s own family outside the constraints of society is, IMHO, the very essence of feminism…the right for every woman to choose for herself what her love, her family…her life….will be. If we take off the incredibly narrow blinders Shamoon would have us wear, Yoshiya’s work is unremittingly feminist in nature.

I did say that there was value in this book. And there is. Shamoon’s more factual passages, historical discussions of girls’ literature, magazines and manga are exceptionally useful to a student of Yuri or BL. As a result of reading this book, I have recently concluded reading Otome no Minato, by Yasunari Kawabata (for which I have a posted a 2-part special review.) And I’ve added Ban-sensei to my to-read pile, because I can already see some great analogies with manga and anime series you’ll know in what appears to be a very Dickensian tale. So, yes, definitely worth the time it took me to read it. But I would have loved it, had Shammoon not been so intent on refuting all other scholars and insisting that Yoshiya could not be read as feminist (much less lesbian) because none of her books follow Straw Feminist doctrine.

Ratings:

Value as a Chronology – 8

Overall – 6





2014 Okazu Guide to Buying Anime and Manga from Japan

January 5th, 2014

glsign-aniA number of folks are asking about buying from Japan, or buying Yuri in Japan. I’ve written about this a number of times but sites close down and stores go out of business, so I’m going to do an updated guide. This is not meant to be comprehensive – any attempt at comprehensive in a rapidly changing world is doomed to fail. ^_^

I want to clearly note that this is not a definitive Guide to Shopping for Yuri. It is a guide to shopping for Japanese items; manga, anime, etc. There re no all-Yuri on one place stores in Japan, The lack of all-something-everywhere is true for any genre. There is no store in Japan that sells every BL comic, or Seinen comic ever published, either. Manga stores in Japan give store space to the new and the best sellers, just like American bookstores. (The new Yuricon store is getting closer to being just that all-Yuri-in-one-place store online! We have all the English-language Yuri anime and Yuri manga and a lot of the Japanese Yuri manga , digital manga, literature, Drama CDs, and even light novels…and we’re adding new items every day. Check out the Yuricon Store and see for yourself!)

I’ll be using Manga as the default example, so unless otherwise noted, the item in question is a book. And in Japanese. ^_^ It might be a Drama CD or an artbook or a Japanese DVD set, but it’s all the same for our purposes.

Also, this is not a guide to buying Yuri anime or manga you can get from western companies. RightStuf, Funimation, Sentai Filmworks and Seven Seas, are all available on the Yuricon Store. I trust you to be able to look those up for yourselves on the site search, or use links provided here on Okazu. You should also be able to place manga orders with your local comic book stores or chain stores, and there are any number of  respectable online websites like Anime Castle and Robert’s Anime Corner that stock all sorts of toys, anime and manga.

Before I get to the meat of this post, let me remind you of two things:

1) This is an Okazu Guide. It comes imbued with common sense and a dose of harsh reality. ^_^ Manga, Anime, Figurines and Games are Luxury Items. You do not need them. You want them. The presumption of all market forces is if you want a thing, you have to be able to afford it.

2) You can get things you want but one way or another you will pay for them. When I buy Japanese manga, one of us, the manga or I, has to travel 6500 miles to get it. Either way, it costs money. ^_^

That having been said, here we go!

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Part 0. Know What You Are Buying

Before you start shopping, I strongly recommend you learn at least a few things:

1. The actual Title of the Manga in Japanese.

It’s all well and fine to say you like “Chatting at the Amber Teahouse” but there is no manga with that name. There is only an illicit scan. No bookstore, no website can help you find that. The title of Fujieda-sensei’s manga about two women and a tea shop is 飴色紅茶館歓談. That is what you will need to have with you when you search.

2. The Author’s name in Japanese. Wikipedia, AnimeNewsNetwork and other encyclopedias are a huge help to identify this sort of thing. Put an author’s name in a search engine and you will find that Fujieda Miyabi is written 藤枝雅. For Part 2, Shopping in Japan below, you might want to print out the title, publisher and author’s names for yourself. For Part 1, Shopping Online, cut and paste will do.

3. When you plan on shopping in person, it also very much helps to know what demographic audience the book is for. This is indicated by the Publisher and Imprint. We’ll get more deeply into that in Part 2.

 

Part 1. Shopping Online

2015 Update:  We’ve made amazing progress on the new Yuricon Store. Check out the listings there first.

Untitled-1

We have links to major retailers (Amazon, Amazon JP and RightStuf), descriptions, links to reviews, and you can search in English or Japanese, for author, title, or publishing company. And series have been tagged by subject, so you can look at title that are about adult life or magical girl with ease.

For instance, you can search for Aoi Hana or 青い花, both of which will bring up all the English and Japanese listings – anime, digital manga, and Japanese manga. If you search Sweet Blue Flowers, you’ll only pull up the English-language anime and the English-language digital manga.

***

Amazon Japan is my default for purchasing Japanese items. I choose them because 1) their selection is very good (often better than shopping in stores in Japan); 2) I am an affiliate, so every time you buy through a Yuricon Shop or Okazu link, I get a few yen to support my own habit and;  3) It is very easy to use.

Let’s say you click through an Okazu link for Aoi Hana, Volume 8. Here’s what you see:

AJP1

 

Everything is in Japanese, except one thing. Notice the red arrow on the right? It points to a sentence that reads “Would you like to see this page in English? Click here.”  If you click the link, the page looks like this:

AJP2

Things like this book is “In Stock” and the “Add to Shopping Cart” button turn into English. The title, the author, the publishing company do not. They don’t, because the title of the book is still 「青い花」 and the author’s name is still 志村貴子.

What that English link does do is make checking out much faster. ^_^ If you’ve ever used Amazon, you probably don’t even need to bother turning the page to English, the checkout is the same, all the buttons shapes and sizes are the same. But if you want to lessen the friction, just click that English button and it’s all words you know.

Shipping: Amazon only ships by air. You can choose that you want the items grouped or separate, but no other shipping options exist. My advice is to order about 20 items at a time, grouped into one order. That brings the shipping cost-per-item down to $4, which is totally palatable. Exchange rates will make a difference too. Shipping that might cost $100 when the exchange rate is good could be a lot more when it’s poor. If you choose “group them together” and something hasn’t been released yet, sometimes Amazon JP send it separately when it gets in stock and sometimes they hold the whole order and I have not been able to figure out what the triggers are. It’s often haphazard.

There is no Yuri category on Amazon JP. Yuri books are listed under the BL category. Book>. Comic/Light Novels/BL> Comic:  本 > コミック・ラノベ・BL > コミック You need to know your title, or your author’s name in Japanese.

Amazon JP often will not ship figurines, but to be honest, I do better in cost these days buying figurines on Amazon.com. Last year, I would have paid $45 or so for a Saber figurine in Japan, then would have had to get it home on my own. I found the same figurine for $36 with free Prime shipping on Amazon.com.

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YesAsia is a popular choice for buying Asian goods. I have not used them in probably a decade, so I have no idea how good their service is. They do offer shipping discounts for orders over a certain amount.  If you want Japanese manga, but do not know any Japanese at all, they seem like a decent choice.

yesa

 

The site is in English, the dollar amounts are in USD and it looks like they still offer various shipping options, like standard mail and express. Their stock is not bad, you can search for authors and titles in romaji (English characters used for Japanese words, like “ameiro kouchkan kandan”).  The cost of the books is higher than on Amazon JP because YesAsia includes the cost of shipping to them in the cost of the item. Some books, especially newer books, might more expensive as a result. Thanks to Greg for the testimonial on them and  Laura for letting us know that YesAsia ships worldwide.

There is no Yuri category on YesAsia. You need to know your title and/or author’s name transliterated name in English.

Rinkya is a buying and bidding service. They’ve been around more than a decade. I have never used them (for entirely personal reasons that are irrelevant here.) If you are bidding on an item on Yahoo JP auctions and want a buyer to bid for you, arrange the shipping and payment (since most Japanese auctions won’t ship internationally) they can do that. Sometimes they sell stock that people never claimed from their warehouse. They do offer slow boat options for shipping. Yahoo JP auctions are like the Mandarake of online shopping. People get rid of collections, old toys, rare items. It might not be cheap, but back in the day when I shopped the auctions, I got some amazing stuff.

BK1 used to be a popular book selling alternative, but they have become honto. AudioErotica has graciously jumped in to tell us that they still do ship internationally and yes, they have slower/cheaper shipping methods available.

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Part 2. Shopping in Japan

In November 2012, I wrote a guide to Shopping for Yuri in Japan. By October 2013, some of the store-specific information was already obsolete.

But this is where the info I mentioned in Part 0 really comes in handy. I have said this with every single buying guide I’ve written:

To effectively shop for manga in Japan, you need to know three things. Books are not generally shelved by genre, but by imprint. So first you need to know what age/gender demographic you’re looking at, then publisher/imprint, then author. And once you have found one publisher’s Yuri manga, don’t think you’ve found it all. The sign above might say “Yuri”, but there could be more under a different publisher’s imprint elsewhere.

Know if the book you’re looking for is for girls (少女), boys (少年),for women (女性), for men (男子) – these  are not necessarily listed as sections in the bookstore, you just need to know who the title you’re looking for is targeted to. Then look for the publisher, (Hobunsha 芳文社, Ichijinsha 一迅社, Futabasha 双葉社) then look for the imprint (YH Comics, Tsubomi Comics, Mangatime KR Comics) then look for the author. If you are new to this, and don’t read Japanese, take a printout of the cover you’re looking for. And take a look at the spine of the books you do have and memorize the characters. The publisher is listed at the bottom of the spine, the imprint along the top. Get to know your books!

The main areas of Tokyo for manga shopping are:

Akihabara for guy-focused stuff (which includes Yuri)

Ikebukuro for girl-focused stuff (which includes BL, but you can find some Yuri)

Nakano Sun Mall for older stuff, like classic Yuri.

Shibuya for another Animate and Mandarake.

Stores change their location, stock, layout and focus all the time, so check out other resources for what is open and what isn’t. Every large city in Japan has its own geeky area. Check current travel guides or look for Animate store locations as a orienteering hint.

There are, as of October 2013 no Yuri-only stores anywhere in the world. You’re going to have to shop the old fashioned way.

**New as of October 2014** – Toranoana in Akihabara has a multipublisher Yuri section. So does Comic Zin in Akihabara, although it’s fairly small. This is a major, massive change. Never before has there been a section that was really “Yuri”. It was amazing to see different publishers side by side.

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Part 3. Shopping at Conventions and Bookstores

If you live near or within travel distance of a large city, you probably have two possible old-fashioned fan choices to shop in, that you’re not using.

Anime Conventions used to be the ONLY place a fan could go to get toys, anime and manga. Because it is so much easier to shop online, a lot of fans forget that cons are still a good place to go to find stuff. But they are. ^_^ What cons aren’t any more is…rare. So the old wheeze that if you shop on Sunday as people are packing up, they’ll give you a good deal doesn’t apply much. What the dealer doesn’t sell this weekend goes with them to the next con and the next, and the next. If you have a local con and you haven’t been in a while, drop by…you never know what you’ll find. But…fashion and media still go hand in hand. If you’re looking for old school items, don’t be surprised when all the vendors are carrying the new, the hot, the hip. They want to sell stuff. Carrying that girl-type Ranma 1/2 figure around for a decade until you decide you’re ready to buy it isn’t really cost efficient, when they can sell 1500 Attack on Titan things instead. ^_^

Japanese bookstores. Kinokuniya and Sanseido are two large Japanese bookstore chains that have US locations. They will order books and magazines for you, but you still need to know the publisher and title. (Bring along a print copy of, say,  コミック百合姫、一迅社, to let them know you want Comic Yuri Hime put out by Ichijinsha.) If you’re in a location near or within travel distance of either store, it’s worth a visit, so you can see how the manga are arranged by demographic/publisher/imprint/title. (English manga is arranged alphabetically by title, and who can blame them?)

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Conclusion

Shopping for Yuri is still challenging, but do not despair! The hunt is part of the fun.  Take this opportunity to learn a bit of Japanese, and you’ll find that you’ll be able to understand more of what you’re buying, as well.  ^_^