Archive for the Iono-sama Fanatics Category


The Softest, Fluffiest Yuri Contest EVER!

May 2nd, 2013

This past winter, Okazu Superhero Ana M braved the hordes of Winter Comiket, hunting and gathering for me like a champ. Among the many trophies she successfully acquired was this load of goods from one of our favorite Yuri mangaka, Fujieda Miyabi, creator of Iono-sama Fanatics and Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan.

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Lilyca is Fujieda-sensei’s original doujinshi – as you can see, Sarasa and Seriho’s story is not over, just because Yuri Hime is not publishing any more Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan. This year’s bag and the clear file include original bunny-eared characters from a series he calls 黒綾白和.  And, the fourth item is a soft, fluffy blanket with the same characters.

I have no energy to judge complex things for this contest, so just enter by putting your name, age and the country you live in in the comments and we’ll go from there. I have some doujinshi to give away, too, so there may be more than one winner, wink wink nudge nudge. ^_^

Contest will wrap up when I remember to wrap it up – let’s say May 20th or so. Get your name in early!

 





Yuri Artbook: Miyabi Fujieda’s Color Illustration Collection 2000-2006

June 8th, 2012

In 2010, you may remember that Kazami Akira-san was very kind to let me know of an art show in Akihabara, featuring the work of one of my favorite artists, Fujieda Miyabi (who sketches live sometimes on his Ustream channel.) We happened to be free that day, and were delighted to be able to see the art we love so much live and in person.

That day I picked up a copy of Fujieda-sensei’s first color artbook collection, 千紅万紫, which would probably translate to A Thousand Reds, Ten Thousand Purples, but it beats me how it might be transliterated, Senbeni Manmurasaki? I have no idea. The title is not the point, so I won’t belabor it.

The book is page after page of delight for the eyes and, to some extent, it’s my own history in Yuri, illustrated. From the covers of ES~Eternal Sisters, the second one of which featured Sarasa and Seriho,  to his costume designs for Himitsu no Angelis, an Iono-sama picture, art for Twinkle Saber Nova and a ton of derivative work from series like Fate/Stay Night, Mai Otome and pages of Maria-sama ga Miteru among others. Not every picture is Yuri, of course, but there’s quite a few that are and others that are simply a delight to see.

Unfortunately, I do not see any legitimate ways of purchasing this artbook outside of Japan, and I’m not going to scan it in, but of all my Yuri artbooks, this one is the top contender for first place. It never fails to make me smile.

Overall – 10

 





Interview with Yuri Manga Artist Fujieda Miyabi

May 16th, 2010

There’s not too much to say as an introduction. I have been enjoying Fujieda-sensei’s work since 2004 when I encountered it in Yuri Shimai. That story would eventually be published as Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to. I liked how cute his stories were and was charmed by the goofy humor of Iono-sama Fantics and the gentle calm of Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan.

I also believe that Fujieda-sensei has the best costume design sense in the entire manga industry. So, when he agreed to answer a few questions, you can imagine how thrilled I was. ^_^

Continuing my series of interviews with Yuri Artists, it is my unbelievable pleasure to present a short interview with Fujieda Miyabi-sensei.

***

Q1: Please tell us about yourself.

A: My name is Fujieda Miyabi.

Even though I draw mostly to make myself happy, I am glad that there are overseas fans who can enjoy my clumsy work.

Q2: How did you become a mangaka? Did you want to be one when you were a child?

A: When I was publishing original doujinshi (self-published works) I was scouted by an editor and became a pro. That original work was Twinkle Saber Nova. It’s not a Yuri work.

Q3: Which artists inspire you?

Although I am ignorant about Fine Art, the manga art that most inspires me is Nagano Mamoru’s Five Star Stories. After that, the CLAMP-sensei, Kouga Yun-sensei and others whose work I admired in my youth.

Q4: If you weren’t a mangaka, what would you be doing?

A: Before I set my sight on being a mangaka, I thought I might become a chef.
Even now, I like to keep my hand in and do design work.

Q5: What was your motivation to start creating Yuri Manga?

A: When two women are happy together as a couple, I can say that that is the time I am at my happiest. In my middle school years, I became acquainted with the idea of drawing same-sex couples through CLAMP-sensei’s and Kouga Yun-sensei’s work, and I began to think about doing stories with female couples. Once I passed through technical school for drawing manga, I began to draw Yuri manga.

Q6: Can you tell us a little bit about your process?

On average I draw about 16 pages every two weeks, but my production schedule is pretty unsteady. Faster if I’m running out of time.

Q7: How were Iono-sama Fanatics and Ame-iro Kouchkan Kandan received by the Japanese audience?

A: Iono-sama Fanatics was not a romantic love story between two women, but was drawn to be a story about a loving Queen with a harem. Those people who prefer mainly comical series seemed to like it. Ame-iro is about only two women, the ones who like it are those who take time and read it slowly and gently.

As an author, these both make me happy. I think Ame-iro is more popular and has gained more readers, though.

Q8: It is not unusual for a man to draw Yuri however, your work has a gentle, feminine atmosphere. What are your thoughts on drawing women’s emotions and thoughts?

Of course, because I am a man, women’s feelings are difficult.

But, I think it’s the same as when it’s a woman and a man, that sense of wanting to be kind to one another. That’s my first thought. How much of that emotion, of feelings of kindness or happiness is just in my imagination depending on the scene that I’m drawing.

Q9:　Is there something you’d like to ask your overseas fans?

A: To the fans who anticipate my next work, what kind of story would you like to see?
I’d like to hear from you.

(This is Erica: You can visit his website, Moonphase or follow him on Twitter and contact him directly!)

Q10:　Do you have a message for your overseas fans?

A: I am still inexperienced, but from here on, I will to the best of my abilities, continue to work as a Yuri manga artist. From far away, I will work hard to confer upon you happy hours.
Should you encounter my next work, I will be happy.

See you again.

***

Thank you Fujieda-sensei for taking time from your busy schedule and answering our questions – and thank you everyone for reading this interview.





Yuri Manga: Iono-sama Fanatics (English)

May 25th, 2007

Today’s review was brought to you by Infinity Studios, the publisher of the English-language adaptation of Iono-sama Fanatics.

I reviewed this book originally on November 11, 2005. For a discussion of the plot and characters, please read my original review. For today’s review I am going to focus solely on the adaptation to English.

Unusually for me, I’d like to start with some of the good things. I am exceptionally pleased with the general level of reproduction (although my review copy was a PDF and not an actual book, so I can’t tell you how it will look on paper.) Color pages have been retained, which pleases me no end. The notes for the story are mostly very decent. I particularly liked the glosses on the notes about the characters and the roles from Mito Koumon upon which they they were loosely based. That worked for me and I felt that the translators were doing a decent job of keeping us readers included in the in-jokes within the book.

On the other hand…other than the “-sama” for “Iono-sama” they left out honorifics (and we all know how I feel about that.) If you could leave in one honorific, I am at a loss as to why you wouldn’t just leave in the others? The names of the characters are transliterated, which works fine for me (except that Aruje will inevitably be pronounced ah-rooj instead of ar-gee, but oh well…) and I admited a certain amount of uncertainty about some of the names myself when I reviewed it originally. But…Frechet (name transliteration taken from the 2007 Fujieda Miyabi Calendar I got at Comike, so the author’s own choice) is transliterated to “Fletch.” That’s just…I dunno…yucky. Frechet-san just seems tons cooler than Ms. Fletch, doesn’t it?

2015 Update: I was wrong here, but so was Infinity, IMHO. Flèche is her name, and while “Fletch” is the English translation…we don’t usually translate names. Argent was not “Silver.” And we’re past that Victorian “Princess Jade Perfume” bullshittery.

In general, the translation is decent, but the one or two times it isn’t, it’s horribly, disturbingly jarring. The first time it is not the translator’s fault.

There is a scene, late in the book, when Frechet (yes, I am going to continue to use the author’s version of the name) and Arata are making googly eyes at one another – obviously enough that everyone else can see it. Iono-sama jarringly asks if they are on the “L Word” together. I took a look back at the original Japanese and honestly, that particular passage would have been a bear to translate without being, well, crude. The points I take away for mentioning a current (and copyrighted…what’s the chances that they got permission?) TV show I give back because the actual sentence…ugh.

The second horribly egregious translation will not go unnoticed, however. Inexplicably, in the author’s note comic in the back of the book, where the word “moe” was used, it was left untranslated, but the word “Yuri” was translated – as “girl on girl.” Thank you, Infinity, for rendering the genre I live and love into a porn term. I wrote them and let them know that it offended.

It’s always nice to *politely* let companies know that the word “Yuri” can remain untranslated as well as “moe” can or, if they insist on translating it, to please use something less connotative of a porn movie, perhaps something like “lesbian stories” or “girls in love”.

Begin digression/

And while we’re on the topic, let ADV Films know that it annoys you when THEY did that very same thing in Best Student Council, Volume 1. You can reach them here: http://www.advfilms.com/FILMScontact.asp

I encourage you all to explain – politely, please – that Yuri fandom is well established enough that there’s no need to be so crude.

I have already contacted both companies, of course, and asked folks on the Yuricon Mailing List to do so as well. ADV sent me an apology for having offended and said that they’d send my message along to the translators.

In both cases I have no doubt that they did not *mean* to offend, but seriously – Yuri fans are the main audience for Iono-sama. It was, as Fujieda says in his comic, originally created as a Yuri story. (Not surprising, as he does quite a lot of Yuri – click his name in the category sidebar to see some of the others. A fact that, apparently, most other reviewers somehow missed.) I just feel that the companies would never have translated “Yaoi” as “gayboy sex” or “gay porn” and realistically, “girl on girl” is a porn term, not a reasonable way to describe Yuri.

\End digression.

One last bad thing about the translated Iono-sama is that there was a rather large typo on one of the character bios. Not a book killer, but I was kind of surprised it got past the editors, since it was really obvious. And yes, I emailed them about that, as well.

So. What do I think of the English adaptation of Iono-sama? I think it’s a nice attempt, but it falls flat in some key places. I would still recommend the book to Yuri fans, because the characters and story shine through the roughness of the adaptation on their sheer force of wonderfulness. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 10
Sevirce – 2 (it is, indeed, moe))
English Adaptation – 6 (without the Yuri issue, it would have definitely been higher.)

Overall – 9

Dear English manga companies – Yuri fans really don’t like being condescended to. Please treat us with respect. This may mean that you have to police the FanBoyness of your own staff. “Yuri” means lesbian images and narratives – not just girl on girl action (which if it were a porn anime, would be completely understandable!) We’re not prudes, we’re just certain that Yuri is more than hot lesbo sex. Thanks, Erica

For a Yuri manga that treats Yuri fans with respect, try one of our 100% Yuri manga from ALC Publishing! All honorifics intact and no insults to your intelligence! Yuri Monogatari 4, 5 and 6 – on sale now!





Yuri Manga: Iono The Fanatics, Manga, Vol. 1

November 11th, 2005

To put it simply, Iono the Fanatics, aka Iono-sama Fanatics is an excellent yuri manga and everyone who enjoys Yuri really needs to run out and buy it now.

To start with, the artist is Fujieda Miyabi of Miyabi’s Moonphase, the same artist who does Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to, the cute miko/witch story for Yuri Hime. And a bunch of other stuff you may recognize if you are in the habit of trawling the Japanese Yuri blogs and boards.

The story is, simply, a love comedy starring Iono-sama, the queen of a small country, who happens to love women with long, black hair. She comes to Japan to hit on girls and try to convince them to join her as a sobame, a lady-in-waiting.

Iono is rejected by one girl – and this same girl keeps coming back like a bad penny as a running gag – and runs into our heroine, Eto. Eto agrees to be a sobame, but insists she’s only joking, when a crazy woman attacks her and the Queen. The Queen takes off, carrying Eto with her. They end up at an onsen, where the Queen convinces Eto to join her and, incidentally mentions that the crazy lady who attacked is one of her staff. ^_^

We learn that Eto was, in fact, in love with her kouhai in high school, but the younger girl left her for someone else. Now she’s in college, but she thought she was past this kind of thing – but Iono is *very* convincing. Iono goes super cool and hits Eto with her magical lesbian powers and classy style and Eto falls into her arms, happily.

Iono is very, deeply and personally, in love with all her sobame. There’s Cass, the blonde crazy who attacked them earlier. She’s Iono-sama’s personal secretary and insanely jealous. She wants Iono to love her exclusively. Which Iono does, when it’s Cass’ turn. ^_^

Aida Bloomer is the Queen’s costumer. She seems to understand the Queen – and Cass – way better than they do themselves. I’d say Aida has a thing for Cass, but as Cass is obsessed, Aida just plays with it a bit and doesn’t stress.

Freshi is the Queen’s security chief and her daughter Argent acts as the Queen’s security force. Freshi is the black-suited G-man type, while Argent, who everyone calls Arugi or Aru, is a little goth-loli girl. With a sword.

Eto is a little depressed when she meets the other sobame, because they all have specific roles, while she’s sort of a free agent. The Queen convinces her that her role is to “be there” and that’s enough and invites her to debate various topics with her in the evenings (to which Aru comments that Iono probably means ero-topics…). But Aida helps Eto decide on the role of Tour Guide (complete with cute costume) to Japan, in order for Iono-sama to find more cute girls. Eto gets to show Iono-sama her favorite place in the world. Iono comments that this is no longer her job – this is now a date, and they spend quality time together.

Iono determines to hold auditions for more sobame, which drives Cass crazy – and into disguise. But Iono-sama knows all the women she loves, in disguise or out and Cass is found out. Cass gets some quality Iono-sama time, this chapter.

My personal favorite is the last round of auditions. One of the candidates, an adorable girl named Arata, misunderstands “sobame” to mean a woman who makes soba noodles. :-) Arata is initially unsure whther she can do the job, but she decides to go for it, after Freshi meets her in the hall and gives her encouragement. Arata does make delicious noodles. After an attempt on the Queen’s life, leaves Freshi wounded, when Arata and Freshi are staring deeply into each other’s eyes, Argent just gives her mother the old “Gambatte, Mom” and Iono-sama gives her blessing to them. They are impossibly cute together, especially as Freshi is a tough as nails, black glasses, gun slinging kind of gal, and Arata is a little soba maker. All I can say is “squee!”. ^_^

I recommend “Iono-sama Fanatics” highly for Yuri that makes you smile. For Yuri that is sexy without explicit sex, and funny and cute – this is an excellent example of the breed. I know that I personally am looking forward to more.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

2005 has been abysmal for yuri anime, but the manga has been exceptional. Let’s all support Iono, Yuri Hime, Hayate Cross Blade, and of course all the 100% yuri from ALC Publishing! If we buy good Yuri manga, they’ll make *more* good Yuri manga…