Archive for the Series Category


Loveless Manga, Volumes 3 & 4 (English)

January 18th, 2008

Heartfelt thanks go out today to Zyl and Kabitzin for their sponsorship of today’s review!

I’m only reviewing the Yuri arc in this series since, for Yuri fans, Kouya and Yamato are the main attraction – although there are plenty of other intriguing relationships in the story.

We pick up Volume 3 as our young protagonist Ritsuka grapples with his relationship with Soubi and with what it means to be a Sacrifice, as well as with the residual mystery of what exactly happened to his brother. It seems apparent that Ritsuka is torn between really wanting to know the answer to all these things, and really not.

Soubi is attacked by a pair of Zeros, Fighter and Sacrifice who have been engineered to feel no pain, but manages to defeat them by using the time-honored method of age defeating youth by using brains instead of brawn. He takes in the defeated and abandoned Zeros, primarily, I think, to provide the recommended daily dose of bratty catboy and to provide much-needed exposition for Ritsuka later. Because, let’s face it, by making Soubi so reticent, the author had kind of tied the plot into a Gordian knot that *someone* had to cut. ^_^

At the very end of the volume, we encounter two high school girls who act as if they barely know one another, but then are later seen to be very close. Kouya and Yamato have arrived. Yay!

In Volume 4, Ritsuka gets his clue handed to him on a plate, while we learn about the creation of the second Zero pair. As Ritsuka comes to grips with his pairing with Soubi, Kouya and Yamato fight to stay together. This time, it’s Ritsuka’s insight that allows him and Soubi to win the battle.

In a lynchpin moment, Kouya and Yamato resolve to die to remain together – they do so by rejecting their former lives and their bondage to being “Zeros.” They leave the field of battle, dead as Sacrifice and Fighter, but reborn as two girls with the even stronger bond of love between them. A really terrific end to what might easily have been a tragic story.

The end of the volume includes a nice (and nicely placed) side story about Ritsuka, as seen through the eyes of current school friend Yuiko and an old school friend, Osamu. The comments at the end of the book by editor Lillian Diaz-Pryzbyl did an exceptional job of tying it all up neatly. In fact, her insights probably contributed strongly to my ability to engage with the story.

I was surprised that I enjoyed the manga as much as I did. I wasn’t a huge fan of the anime, but there’s more layers here. I’m not able to put my finger on it exactly, maybe something about there being so many *different* ways of relating to other people illuminated by the manga characters. It might have just been because of the volumes I chose to read, or it may well be because the creator is a better writer than I inititially credited. Or I’m in a different mood, or something else. Who knows. Whatever it is, I saw more depth, more complexity, in the many relationships in this story, and less oppressiveness about the primary couple, than when I watched the anime. Maybe it was just because of that little story at the end of Volume 4, and the idea that Ritsuka is just a kid sometimes made me feel a bit better about everyone in the book. Plus, you just know that Kouya and Yamato are out there somewhere riding the train, holding hands and just being together. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 8
Service – 6

Overall – 7

I think I’d characterize the main emotion of the Loveless manga as Ero-emo. All the angsting is so erotically charged, even though Ritsuka can only pick up on some of the current himself (as Lillian cogently points out.) Since Kouya and Yamato are a little older, *they* understand. And Soubi is practically the epitome of ero-emo. ^_^





Yuri Drama CD: El Cazador de La Bruja

January 17th, 2008

Had a *brilliant* time at the signing last night, I’ll post pics and comments this weekend. In the mean time, a review of an actual anime-related thing! Can you believe it?

It’s not too often I can call a Drama CD just about perfect. Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to: Madrigal Halloween is pretty much the only one I’d give that title to so far. But El Cazador de la Bruja: El Bosque del Eco must certainly share the title. It has everything an El Cazador fan could possibly want. Ellis teasing Nadie slightly inappropriately, Nadie saying, “Yuigon attara, dozo” in that way she does, with the smile obvious in her tone, Ellis brightly saying “Yes sir!” when she gets her own way, Ricardo saving the day, Lilio not speaking until she does and then creeping us all out, Blue Eyes sardonically narrating, and sharing a moment or two with one of her unnamed henchchicks. Unfortunately, Rosenberg pretending to be a decent guy to Melissa, who is desperately trying to trust him. And, of course…LA being a freakazoid.

And magic, and violence and miracles and action and great music.

Perfect.

For fans of the series, this was an episode that fits in the final third of the series – after Ellis has realized that she’s in love with Nadie, but not vice versa yet.

The story begins with our heroines arriving at a town with no money, and no prospects – there’s not even an Amigos Tacos in the place. A pervy old guy approaches them with a request to pose for inappropriate pictures, which is negotiated down a bit, until they are sidetracked by finding an emerald necklace. Oh, the pervy old dude says – that belongs to the Professor, it’s part of a treasure from the mythical Ringing Forest. So off Ellis and Nadie go to return the necklace and make the world right.

Only, they encounter the Professor’s wife dying from a gunshot wound, and who gives them a casket. They try to return all of this to the Professor who turns out to be a fake, in it for the money – and his partner, the pervy old guy. Nadie and Ellis fall for the oldest trick in the book and are drugged. Ricardo wakes them up, then watches hopelessly as they drive off to get their revenge – well, they don’t actually say that, but let’s be real.

LA delays the creepy guys, Ricardo saves their lives, LA eventually kills them anyway and in the end, Ellis and Nadie learn that the casket actually holds a skeleton, the spirit of which possesses Lilio and says that it has come home, followed by the manifestation of the El Bosque del Eco, the Ringing Forest. And all is well again. In the epilogue, Ellis tries to get Nadie into a daring bathing suit, if not for the pictures, then just to enjoy her in same. (She obfuscated a situation a bit earlier in the story, too, in order to undress Nadie – when confronted about it, all Ellis would say was that Nadie was sexy that way.)

In the beginning and middle of the story, Rosenberg lies beautifully to Melissa a bit, too.

This DCD comes with the extra of a postcard of the cover art of Nadie and Ellis looking happily at one another. And the cast and crew credits come in English and Japanese, something I thought was kinda cool.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 5
Service – 6

Overall – 8

Unless I’m hallucinating, Jody “Blue Eyes” Hayward’s henchchicks never get any voice credit – or, indeed, names. Anyone know who they are and why that is?





Light Novel: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Kira Kira Mawaru

January 14th, 2008

On my first day in Tokyo, I went to the Manga no Mori in Ikebukuro, walked into the store and was confronted by dozens of Yumi faces, all laid out dozens deep. The newest Marimite novel was on sale. ^_^ I’m only sorry that I couldn’t get a picture for you, because there were *a lot* of books in those piles. And I saw those piles in every manga store I went in to. It made me smile every time.

Of course I nabbed a copy – and decided to read it without dictionary or anything. Just read it, like a book.

Sure, I missed stuff, and some conversations were kind of hard to follow. But you know it felt so good to just pick it up and start reading and be able to follow enough of the story that I can report back to you.

Kira Kira Mawaru comes after a massively climactic novel in which many important spoilers occur, so it’s pretty fluffy bunny light. And, as a result, I almost stopped reading it as soon as I began. Because you see, I have a written statement in my house in which I posited the premise of the final book of the series – and this was it. So I opened the book, read the first line, and closed it in panic. ^_^

This definitely *could* be the last book in the series. It ends in a way that if Konno never wrote another word, the series could end handily right there. Which depressed me no end. I won’t be happy until the next book comes out, proving that there is a next book. ^_^

In any case, Kira Kira is about a day at the amusement park. Yumi and Sachiko are joined on their date by Yuuki and Kashiwagi, Rei and Yoshino, Noriko and Shimako, Tsutako and Shouko and eventually Touko and Kanako. The main plot of the book is that everyone (except for Touko and Kanako, but that’s a different story) arrives late for various reasons and in a bad mood. The reasons why they are late and why they are all out of sorts is pretty much the plot. And in every case, it’s pretty minor. Except…

Shimako and Noriko’s reason for being out of sorts is a massive spoiler which I will not share. I will tell you this – it changes nothing. It’s just a fact. But it is a massively spoilery fact. (If you *do* know what it is, kindly keep your mouth shut. Thanks.)

On the other hand, I will share with you Yumi, Sachiko, Kashiwagi and Yuuki’s reason for being late. You know that red sports car Kashiwagi drives? It’s not really his, it’s his grandfather’s. (That’s not the reason. Wait for it…) So Kashiwagi and Sachiko arrive at the Fukuzawa house and when Yumi and Yuuki get in the back seat, Sachiko complains that all the streets in the area are narrow, which struck both Yumi and myself as a really odd thing to complain about. After driving for some time, they stop at a gas station and after some back and forthing, the seating arrangements are changed – Sachiko will be driving. In fact, the sexy red sports car they are in is hers. Her grandfather bought it for *Sachiko.* O_O ORLY? Yumi immediately begins to fantasize about sitting in the front seat next to Sachiko driving, only to be harshly yanked back to reality when she realizes that Sachiko is a petulant driver and Kashiwagi is “helping”. Yumi is glad that she’s in the back – she and Yuuki stay very, very quiet for the rest of the ride. ^_^

Give Sachiko some time, Yumi – she’ll grow into the car and fulfill your dreams of sexy red sports car potential. I’m sure of it.

In terms of Yuri, Yumi and Sachiko are hand-holding fools the whole day. At one point as they get onto the Haunted House ride, Yumi holds Sachiko’s hand, enjoying the romance of it and briefly wondering if the boys are behind them also holding hands. Then she white-noises her brain so she won’t think about that ever again.

Noriko and Shimako are practically joined at the hip. I don’t think they let each other’s hands go from the moment they arrive. While waiting on line for the ferris wheel, a couple in front of them kiss and a pack of young boys behind them start jabbering about it. Noriko wonders how they are seen as they stand there and hold hands. As sisters Friends? Something more? (The concept she uses is as close to “friends with benefits” as I’ve ever seen used in Japanese.) She really doesn’t care, and continues to hold Shimako’s hand.

Yoshino and Rei arrive at the place not speaking to one another. But when Yoshino gets sick from overdoing it on the tea cup ride – a pretty painful scene, actually. I was totally ready to slap Yoshino to the moon – Rei rescues her in the most gallant and magnificent way. Rei 10, Yoshino, 0. They make up, of course, before the end of the book.

And Shouko is the winnah on Yuri longing. She doesn’t just watch Tsutako – she *watches* her. She is so overtly gaga over Tsu that it’s a bit embarrassing. But she gets some really good quality Tsu time – even a few personal insights. If there was a couple in this book where I wanted to see one turn and kiss the other, it would be them. Tsu, you dolt. Kiss the girl already. (The wife suggests a great AMV idea – “Kiss the Girl” from Little Mermaid, and all the moments in Marimite where they *should* *just* *kiss* already. Feel free to make this AMV and send it into Yuri Studios.)

By the time they find Touko and Kanako, and are all are together to watch the fireworks, Yumi is surrounded by shiny happiness. The lights around her are sparkling – kira kira mawaru. And definitely, positively, there will be many more days of happiness like this.

The author’s afterword was very intriguiging. She comments how this series has been called many things – among them “soft Yuri” – but what she sees it as is “fantasy.” Not sword and dragon fantasy, but “girls private school” fantasy. These novels are contemporary, but Konno specifically mentions the lack of cell phones in the book as one of the fantasy elements. She points out (as have we all,) that perhaps the school does not allow keitai on the grounds, but that doesn’t explain why they don’t have and use them away from school. She’s very funny about that – for one thing, she says that this is one of the “fantasy” elements in the story, you just have to take it for granted that they do not have cell phones. It’s a handwave you must accept. Secondly, she comments that, you know, when she was in school there *were* no cell phones and somehow she survived. I hear ya, sister. ^_^ The point of all this is – 1) no, they don’t have cell phones and 2) she knows the series is seen as Yuri. That is all.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8, except for Yoshino who was a 5 and Shouko who was a 9
Yuri – 5
Service – 3

Overall – 8

Even the wife wonders about my scoring – no, the overall score is not an average of the scores above it. Each score is taken on it’s own on a scale from one to ten. So, a story could, potentially,be high on everything, but if I simply hate it, get a low overall, and vice versa. In case you wondered.

 





Best Student Council Anime, Volume 6 (English)

January 8th, 2008

Best Student Council, aka Gokujou Seitokai, was never a Yuri series. It is, however, a series about love. And much love to Ted, the sponsor or today’s review! (And thanks, too, for Volume 5, which I did not review here, because there really was just nothing relevant to our interests…)

One of the things we’ve talked about on and off, here and on the Yuricon Mailing List, is the obsessive propensity for Fans of both genders to eroticize practically every relationship they see. The commonly held assumption is that this is because Fans tend not to have erotic entanglements of their own, even though that is not true. So why do we insist on seeing couples every where we look? I’ll leave the answer to the philosophers and psychologists among you. I just wanted to note that there really aren’t any couples in this anime. Just in our imagination.

Volume 6, the last of the series, is more about love than any of it’s predecessors. But the love here is the love of family, of friends, and the family you make with your friends – something that I’m sure a lot of GLBT people can relate to.

In Volume 6, we finally hit the wall we always knew was coming – Kanade is required to leave school and become the new Jinguji clan leader. This is apparently paramount to becoming Emperor, so that in order to function as leader, she needs to be locked in a box and “protected” by scads of black suits from ever leaving. Of course, the girls of the Gokujou Seitokai reject this idea. Individually, they leave the school to see Kanade, discover that they all had the same idea, and finally band together. They aren’t trying to rescue her – they just want to see her, they rationalize. Rino is, of course, the most vociferous in her wish to do so. But all the others, drawn by the common love of their leader, are glad to join her in her quest.

Because this is an incredibly silly comedy anime, need I say that their quest is successful? Probably not, but I do want to mention that in order to succeed every single loose end and tertiary character that ever appeared in the anime, reappears to help the Seitokai gain access to the Jinguji enclave. So Rein meets her father at last, and Sayuri’s rival appears randomly to help her fight, etc, etc.

Ultimately, it’s Rino who makes the difference, as her Jinguji power – the ability to transmit her voice and feelings vocally and telepathically – manifests fully. Thus dooming her to life as a member of this ridiculously elite family against her mother’s wishes. Pfft. And of course, because this series is what it is, they all get to bask in Kanade’s wonderfulness again.

The epilogue to the story is well summed up, by someone, Ayu, Rino, Puu-chan, I don’t remember. As Kanade “graduates,” then immediately installs herself as the chairman of the school, and Nanaho becomes the new Seitokaichou, and Rei and Sayuri run in screaming about an emergency, someone comments that it all looks exactly the same as before. Bwah bwah bwaaaah~ It’s meant to be funny, but I bet every viewer was vaguely relieved, because we don’t *want* anything to change. Then it wouldn’t be funny anymore.

This series showed wonderful examples of filial affection, maternal affection, family bonds, best friends to the point of being sisters, rivals who respect one another, sisterly devotion, peers who work together, adult female relationships, and respect and admiration for a beloved leader. And other than Kaori’s thing for Kanade, why do we insist that they are all couples?  Haha at us.

Ratings:
Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 2
Service – 4

Overall – 7

Two final notes. Despite all the above, I still see Nanaho and Kuon as a couple. Just wanted to say that. Secondly, I forgot to add Kanade to the list of Nabatome Hitomi characters that all hang out in the “fun idea, but actually a bad story” thing from a few days ago – so, Eriko, Nobue, Shizuma, Letti and Kanade,





Yuri News This Week – November 1, 2008

January 1st, 2008

Yuri Events

As you read this, I am at MangaNEXT along with a bunch of the Yuricon staff, Rica Takashima and a host of awesome con guests!

Here is my Panel schedule for MangaNEXT:

Friday – 7PM – Writing for Manga

Saturday – 2PM – Yuri Panel
6PM – 10 Steps to Impressing a Publisher

There’s loads of other great stuff, too. Mari Morimoto will be discussing Gay Manga 101 on Friday, and the Manga Library will be hosting a Book Club discussion of Rica’s works on Sunday. In between there’s tons of stuff for fans of every genre, so I really hope you’ll pop by to say hi and stay for the great panels and people.

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Yuri Manga

Okay, the news is out, at last. Sometime last spring I learned that Tokyopop licensed Yamaji Ebine’s Love My Life, but was asked to not say anything. Well thanks to Amazon’s advance listings, I no longer have to take the rap for being the leak. Hah.

Probably no one cares about this but Amuria in Star Ocean, which had tons of almost-but-not-really-Yuri ends its run in the December issue of Dengeki Daioh.

Nakamura Ching, creator of Gunjou, wrote me to say that she’s getting a lot of overseas requests on how to purchase copies of Morning 2 magazine. Because she’s a really lovely person, she’s gone and created a guide to purchasing back issues from Kodansha’s website. It’s a step-by-step process, with key things translated into English for your benefit! She’s asked me to pass on the information that back issues that contain chapters 1-3 of Gunjou are no longer available, but chapter 4~ are. I seriously think we need to thank her for that effort – it’s completely above and beyond the call of duty, don’t you?

Sean writes in to tell us that Gunsmith Cats Burst is coming to an end in Japan. And the most recent chapter includes a kiss between Misty and Rally. A kiss that is lovingly detailed over *3* pages. It’s a damn good kiss, I have to say. lol Sadly for Misty x Rally fans, it’s a good-bye kiss. But all I have to say is “I knew it!” (That’s sort of a joke, based off my recent GSC fanfic. Just saying. lol)

For Aria and Aqua fans, Amano Kozue has announced a new manga series to begin in March, called Amanchu. The art has two girls, so undoubtedly there will be fans who see it as Yuri. :-)

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Yuri Anime

Once more Crunchyroll offer free, legal streaming Yuri-ish suff. This time Toei announces, among other things, streaming piles of PreCure. :-)

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Other News

I just wanted to take a moment to thank three gentlemen for their kindness and friendship. 828-san, Yuki-san and Komatsu-san. Komatsu-san, particularly, sent me a huge pile of books, all of which I will review here (including the surprisingly Yuri PreCure manga.)

All three have sent me beautful art and/or books and all three offer support to both myself and to Yuri-dom at large. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.

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Another Yuri-ful week. How cool is that?