Lesbian Novel: Another Kind of Love

January 9th, 2008

Last summer, I picked up a copy of Lesbian Pulp Fiction: The Sexually Intrepid World of Lesbian Paperback Novels 1950-1965, edited by Katherine V. Forrest, who herself is the author of many lesbian novels, notably the Kate Delafield detective series. (Looking back at a list of her works, I got a glimpse of my own youth during the years I read lesbian novels voraciously. It’s a bit cringe-making, really. Blessedly I have forgotten much of what I read. lol)

The book was a lot of fun, with excerpts from dozens of lesbian pulp fiction books. Forrest did a brilliant job of editing, so we could enjoy the “good bits” without the rest of the dreck.

BTW, “pulp” novels were so-called because of the cheap paper they were printed on. They were the mid 20th-century equivalent of turn of the century “penny dreadfuls” and anything printed by Ace in the late 60’s-70’s. ^_^ Because I don’t feel like going on at length about the history, here’s the wikipedia reference on Lesbian Pulp Fiction. I strongly recommend you read this entry. It says anything I might say better than I could say it.

After reading the above book of excerpts, I decided to buy a whole pile of pulp to take with me to Mexico. The trashier, the better. I wanted to be sitting on the beach drinking colorful drinks and reading mid-20th century smut, much of which has been reprinted by Kensington. These books were the voracious reading of the previous generation of lesbians. Reading these books allowed me to experience the fascinating feeling of reaching back in time to touch not only the lives of the women in the books, but also the women you know furtively bought and read these when they were young and trying to figure out who they were.

Another Kind of Love, is a collection of two novels by Paula Christian, Another Kind of Love and Love is Where You Find It.

There’s a fair amount of self-loathing and homosexuality bashing in pulp novels because of course being gay is unnatural and a disease. But despite the supposedly “moral” endings of pulp novels, there seemed to be a whole lot of hope for these women. At least one book ended with the girl getting another girl that did not suck at all. Oh, sure, they smile bitterly at one another and guess that they’ll be together for a while, then probably want to kill each other, or worse, share their unnatural lives together forever, but it’s all a matter of perspective. I can see Laura and Madeline growing old, watching the world change around them, until these days when they’re stepping out of their midtown apartment to walk down to a LGBTQ rights rally, holding hands, their gray-haired heads held high.

Paula Christian’s characters are often working women, in a world where it was still a little strange for women have a career. (These two novels were originally published in 1961.) Dee is a photographer, Laura a journalist. They work with men, and sometimes for them, but are not wrapped up in the world of men. Sure, both Dee and Laura have crappy taste in women, at least at first but, duh, who doesn’t? Girlfriends are like tattoos – you almost never like your first one. ^_^ (That doesn’t apply to you, honey.)

The one thing that really, truly impressed me about all of the novels by Christian was her use of “voice.” None of the protagonists sounded like one another from novel to novel, and the characters within any given novel all had unique voices. It’s my single favorite quality in a writer. Her characters have depth; they are not perfect – often they are really annoying, but they are always human and real. Laura is wishy-washy and becomes an alcoholic (but gets herself together before the end.) Dee starts off in an abusive situation, then hurts a nice kid out of self-protection and heads into the next relationship with a sense of futility. All the experiences Christian describes are entirely truthful, even if they are fiction. This is the kind of fiction that authors get letters about that read, “You must have lived through this, because no one who hasn’t could know how it feels.” Even when they haven’t.

Paula Christian is a good writer, and this is a fascinating piece of American lesbian history. If you’re looking for brainless reading that’s actually quite intelligent, this collection is a good choice.

Ratings – Another Kind of Love:

Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 10
Service (because pulp novels were ostensibly for the underground, the creeps and the like) – 8

Overall – 7

Ratings – Love is Where You Find It:

Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 10
Service – 7

Overall – 6

“Laura” was the “Natsuki” or “Yuriko” of its time. It seems that every third lesbian pulp protagonist was named Laura or Beth. (Or both, if you’ve read Ann Bannon’s stuff.)

Posted in LGBTQ, Novel, Queer Fiction | 2 Comments »


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,

Posted in English Anime, Gokujou Seitokai | 2 Comments »


Stroking My Ego, Among Other Things

January 8th, 2008

Quick semi-news post. If, like, me you enjoy the occasional bout of literary criticsm on comics and manga, I suggest you visit Newsarama’s blog for a list of their commentator’s top critical posts on manga and comics. I hope you’ll read all the way down the list, to where Mangablog‘s Brigid Alverson gives Okazu a shout-out. ;-) That was awfully nice of her. I can return the favor. She’s a great writer – go read her blog.

Also, Active Anime has resurrected the old AnimeFringe Top 25 anime/manga site poll. Way back when it was just a baby site, Yuricon was in the Top 25. I’d love to make it again – of course, it would be even *better* if I made it twice with Okazu on the list, too. Feel free to stuff the ballot box vote for your Top Anime Site. Don’t forget to make two of your three choices Yuricon and Okazu. LOL

Posted in Okazu News, Yuri Network News | No Comments »


The Last Uniform, Volume 2 (English)

January 7th, 2008

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is jet-lagged. Today’s review, which was sponsored by Daniel P., is going to be short.

The Last Uniform Volume 2, is a continuation of the love polygons that were set up in Volume 1. With pretty much no change from the first volume, Ai and Fuuko and Beniko and Tsumugi all court one another semi-secretly; their emotions are visible, but their intentions remain hidden. In an ironic twist, because of the various conflicts and complications, they become closer as friends, as roommates and as people – but not as lovers. Until the end.

It is, of all things, a boy that prompts the final conflict and the first “outing.” A guy, Arita, finds Fuuko’s student ID and brings it to her. They become friendly. Fuuko isn’t really looking at this from any deep perspective. He’s nice, she enjoys his company. Ai, on the other had, begins to boil over with a nice case of jealousy. When Arita asks a slightly overwhelmed Fuuko out, she says yes. Ai-chan appears – she’s overheard the whole thing. She confronts Fuuko about going out with Arita, and confesses that *she* is in love with Fuuko. Then she runs away. End of book. What will become of them? Will their love affair topple the whole precarious domino setup-up of love relationships at the school? We can only wait and see.

In other stories, Tsumugi is still the subject of akogare from Anzu’s direction and Asagi remains a pervert who pretty much ignores the girl at her elbow, while macking on an uninterested Beniko.

Once again, the translation is solid – the text is pretty basic, though, so Seven Seas don’t really get to show their mad skills here. For some reason, the tones in this volume reproduced strangely, so all the blacks and dark tones look spotty. Not the worst thing, but it made everything a bit hard to see. Since Hakamada Mera’s art is neither detailed nor deep there’s no real loss, except for the feeling that your glasses need to be cleaned.

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – 5
Characters – 7
Yuri – 7
Service – 3 (nude modeling, bathing and, of course, school uniforms)

Overall – 6

I’ll never really like The Last Uniform. But I don’t hate it, either. I just wish the characters were appealing to me in any way at all. And there’s only so much “overheating because the girl I like is close to me” that I can take before it gets wearing. Tsumugi exhausts me.

Posted in English Manga, Hakamada Mera | No Comments »


Tokyo Tales and Random Utterings on Comiket

January 7th, 2008

“Man hath better thing to do than to eat drink and be merry.”

This was the quote on the menu of the “Rose and Crown Victorian Pub” in Akihabara. Look at it carefully. Notice the small, two-letter word missing that *completely* changes the meaning? It was on the basis of this misquote that we decided to not eat at the pub, since we had better things to do than eat, drink and be merry. Ultimately, we ended up at a Mos Burger, because I hadn’t ever had a chance to eat at one before.

This was the second day we were in Tokyo. (“We” being myself, my beloved wife, our friend and one of my best lackeys, Bruce. and the wife’s friend Barbara and her mother Linda.)

The first day, as I reported, we spent the day looking for the Comike catalog, and diving into 105 yen doujinshi bins.

The second day, we went back to Akihabara to shop and to see if we could find Bruce a catalog. We failed at the latter (as I suspected) but we shopped until we were exhausted. This is easier than it sounds because they keep the stores at a toasty 78 degrees. It exhausts one quickly.

After our Mos Burgers (I had the amusingly named “Spicy Mos Burger” knowing full well it wouldn’t really be anything like spicy, since I had just been in Mexico and Japan really doesn’t know what “spicy” means) we crawled home, too tired to appreciate the maid costumes and Goth-Loli walking by.

I have to say. I’ve come to a new appreciation of Gothic Lolita. While it really isn’t my taste, all those frills and fripperies, I think the people who wear it are on to something. It’s *like* cosplay, but isn’t. They can walk around the streets in it, carefree in their sense of self-worth and be different, while managing to be fashionable and not freakish all at once. It’s pretty much the win look for the young Japanese rebel. You don’t even need a gang to make you look less dumb and anyone walking next to you gets powerup points off your charm. I approve.

Anyway, here are some pictures I took and some things I jotted down that pretty much have nothing to do with the pictures. By the way – click on the pictures for larger versions. These are really small and hard to see.

On New Year’s Day, the first shrine we went to was the Toyokawa Inari Shrine. This was the wife’s request. She has collected a nice skulk of kitsune which are arranged decoratively around the house. I have no objection to them, being a dog person myself, and since she includes Gyuubimon when she feeds them, I think it’s swell.

The first two days we were there, Beat Takeshi was not on TV and we started to worry, but then after that, he was on every night. It’s just not TV in Tokyo if Beat Takeshi is not on. BTW, he sponsored an arts show that came on right before or after the Nodame Cantabile special, about real young musicians.

At Toyokawa, I saw this statue and was just moved to take a picture. After I caught up with everyone, we walked back a bit to it, where the wife pointed and said “that was my offering.” It was kind of interesting that of all of them, that was the one I took a picture of. I also put a yen piece in between the ears of one earless kitsune, who I had the whimsical notion of stealing, taking home and feeding.

This is Bruce, drinking sweet sake because it’s traditional. (If he reads that, he’ll laugh.) Afterwards, we headed for the Tokyo Tower area, as I reported previously, so I could make my hatsumode and we could have yakisoba at the Zojouji. We’ve done that three times, now – it’s a tradition. :-) Also, at Tokyo Tower, we shopped for souvenirs, had a pee and decided to try the much-advertised-on-the-subway McPork sandwich, because we could not imagine it being good. It wasn’t. :-)

I know you all think you know what Comiket is like, but really…you don’t unless you’ve been there. The first day nearly killed the wife, Bruce and I. We were there for less than four hours and we felt like we had dug ditches for 36. It wasn’t just that we were carrying alot. I was, but that wasn’t it. It was just brutal. There are a lot of people and your brain just isn’t used to the navigation necessary. It’s hard to watch where you’re going, look for stuff that interests you and keep an eye out for a particular table you’ve marked down. I came with a list, and because we had the Catalog a couple days early, we were able to add a few things to look for, but the sheer numbers of things to look at and the distances one has to walk nearly broke us. We bought what we wanted and fled. Seriously.

The day after New Year, we went to Asakusa, so I could make my offering to Kannon. I have never seen the Sensouji this crowded. They had moved the bronze incense brazier from the middle of the path – it’s this enormous thing that I didn’t think could be moved. People were getting to the top of the stairs, looking back and saying “sugoi” then taking pictures. I said “wow” and took a picture. Here it is. The path is crowded with people for about another half mile back.

On the second day of Comiket, Bruce and I went one way, while the wife and her friends went another. They left about halfway through the day, Bruce and I plugged our way around lines and took a beating for the team. We held up a lot better, but I had bought so much that my bag weighted about 35-40 pounds.

I literally could feel the moment when my arches fell. lol It was in the middle of the Marimite section. After we stood on line for this bag from UGO (and the stuff inside, of course, but really all I wanted was the bag….)

After we had consumed, we met up with Rica Takashima and Ivy, who was stunning as one of our translators at Yuricon 2005 in Tokyo. We jabbered for a while, Ivy left us, and we collected the wife. Bruce, wifey, Rica and I went out to dinner where we had okinomiyaki and monja. My favorite was the mentaiko and cheese monja, with the tuna and cheese okonomiyaki coming in a close second. The beef and scallion monja and the pork okonomiyaki were both good too, but the mentaiko and cheese one was my fave.

We could see Fuji-san from our room. Here is a day view. It was really a lot clearer than this picture makes it look. But all but the first day or so, we had “Kyou no Fuji-san.”

The third day of Comiket, the line to get in the place was about an hour long. Then we headed right for Atelier Miyabi, Fujieda Miyabi’s circle, expecting another hour long line. But we got through in about 20 minutes. The line for Russian Blue later in the day was longer. We probably went to fewer circles on day three, but had to range more widely to find them, so we crossed all of the east halls, twice and went around the west halls as well. After we were done, we decided to go back to Atelier Miyabi again and get a few more copies of the calendar for gifts. Amazingly, they had some left. Oh, and Iono-sama was selling them! It was so awesome, she had on “Blue” and was flanked by two maids. lol I really wish I was good at stealth photography. Where’s Tsutako when you need her? :-)

I cannot even begin to tell you how crowded the third day was. There was one intersection that was just a solid logjam of people. Bruce and I kept looking at each other and laughing, because we were so jammed in, that the only thing that got us through was the pressure of people from behind. The guy next to me got his hand jammed up uncomfortably against the guy in front of him, but I shifted a bit so he could extract it. He was all right, but looked a little pale. Probably because a foreign female asked if he was okay.

Twice I was bumped so hard I lost my balance. Once, the guy who I slammed into and I turned and apologized seriously at one another, because we hit each other *hard.* The second time I completely lost my footing and started to fall backwards, but was laughing about it. Bruce went to catch me, but I regained my footing just then, so my pride remained intact. We were so battered that day, I was surprised we didn’t come home with bruises. Thank heavens for winter clothing. There is NO way I’m doing a summer Comiket.

Here’s a sunset view. The sun set right behind the mountain every night, which made for breathtaking scenes that photo’ed poorly. Everytime I took a crappy shot, I could feel Tsutako glaring at me in spirit – again. :-)

We had gotten the special Toranoana ceramic cup for buying the catalog there, but we learned Bruce has a thing for cups (he picked up an adorable sake cup at Comiket, as we slogged through the east halls 4-6) so we gave it to him. He and I shared a Big Sight canned coffee set that depicted two girls arriving at BS looking normal, then one going all weird and freaky over a catgirl cosplay while the other looks disconcerted. I liked how they depicted girls doing that, and not otaku. (The cans now live in my work cubicle where they can make me laugh.) Speaking of which, there were way more women at all three days of Comiket than there were five years ago when I first went. Sure, they tend to stay in the BL sections, but almost every line I was on, there were at least some women….except, oddly Russian Blue. You’d think that more women would be in line for Hibiki Reine’s work.

Here’s my random “subway advertisement” photo. It’s for a temp agency, but for some reason, they thought the best representation of the skilled employees they could provide was a cute flan with strawberry sauce, a cherry and whipped cream. I spent the entire trip trying to figure out what went through the ad agency’s mind when they came up with it. Sorry it’s blurry – the train was moving when I took it.

On the last day full day we had in town, Bruce, the wife and I hit up Shibuya for Animate and Mandarake, then went out to Nakano where we had kaitenzushi, which included the best crab legs I’d ever eaten ever, and of course, we bought stuff. :-)

The last day they were in Tokyo, we took Barbara and Linda out for ramen, because that was pretty much the only Japanese food they wanted to try. We ended up at a Korean place, for various reasons, that served delicious, but blisteringly hot, ramen. I liked it, but wow.

Oh, oh – so, *finally* I saw Ayumi Hamasaki perform. And by god, she was one of the worst singers I have ever heard. She didn’t hit a single note of what was a really awful song. I hope she was just having an off night, because she was truly terrible. Her nails had horns. …??

And the last note I have here is this: on the way home from Comiket on day 3, Bruce and I were sitting next to a girl who was crushing on her sempai hugely and obviously. Sempai was a punky little blond number with lots of facial piercings, sunglasses and art school cool. The girl looked at sempai with huge eyes that devoured her, and touched her or something on her belt, her phone, etc, anytime she could. I was trying to not laugh out loud, when sempai was showing her how rough a callous on her hand was, asked kouhai to touch it – and then as kouhai stroked it for about two solid minutes, commenting the entire time how…rough…yes…very…rough.. it was. For pity’s sake, sempai, I hope you sleep with the girl.

There’s my disjointed account of stuff and some pictures. Sorry my internet access was down, so no day-by-day, but you know, mostly we just shopped. ^_^

I’ll start up reviewing again tomorrow, unless work flattens me. :-)

Posted in Events, Tokyo Journal | 7 Comments »