Yuricon & ALC Publishing at MangaNEXT

October 5th, 2007

Yuricon & ALC Publishing, in the usual form of me and my minion(s), will be making an appearance tomorrow, Saturday October 6 at MangaNEXT in Secaucus, NJ.

I and brilliant fanfic writer Adam Jones will be discussing Fanfiction at the unholy hour of 10AM in the Fanfiction Panel.

After that, we will be relaxing in the Artist’s Alley, where will not only have Yuri Monogatari 5 for sale, but also a nice selection of original and parody doujinshi, including some very awesome work by UKOZ, Sakuraike and Office Mono, Tadeno Eriko’s circle. All five artists are featured in Yuri Monogatari 5 and all are genuinely exceptional. (Or I wouldn’t have their doujinshi for sale, would I? lol)

At 5PM, join us for the Yuri Panel, where we will be discussing some of the good, bad and ugly (but mostly the good) Yuri manga available in English and Japanese!

MangaNEXT is the only manga-focused event in the US and it’s run by a terrific group of folks, so drop by and support them (and us!) See you there!

Posted in ALC Publishing, Events, Yuricon | No Comments »


Best Student Council, Volume 4 (English)

October 4th, 2007

Best Student Council, Volume 4 is silly. I know that that will come as a shock to you. But it is. The volume is subtitled “The Secret Lives of Students,” which is pretty accurate for the first three episodes.

The first two episodes are a two-part look at two students with secrets – covert squad member Kutsugi Kotoha and Covert Squad VP Ginga Kuon. Because Kuon’s secret (which isn’t a secret to either Kanade or Nanaho) is shocking, Kotoha feels that Kuon is a huge threat – and that she will no longer take orders from Kuon. Of course, it all works out, because Kanade’s secret is also really obvious. (Sorry if that seems a bit obscure. I’m trying to not spoil too much.)

Episode three is both the funniest episode and the most painful of the entire series. Cyndi’s mother is due to arrive and we all learn that Cyndi has been telling her a pack of (not very intelligent) lies, which the entire Council spends a lot of time and money trying to make come true. The best scene of the episode has to be when several of the council members are forced to hula dance as Cyndi has dinner. The episode ends with a stunning confession by Cyndi about her true love, which happens to be the only male member of the cast. The only non-human, as well. I particularly liked Cyndi’s mother’s vile and crude Japanese language skills which frequently had her saying the exact opposite of what she meant – and usually very rudely, as well.

The final episode is an exploration of the fragility of women’s friendships. I’ve been a bit mean the last couple of weeks about Japanese men, so just assume the rant and let me explain a thing. In most cultures, when a woman got married, she was taken to her husband’s house and basically, never saw the light of day again. This relic still exists in anime/manga in the seemingly bizarre idea that after a women marries she will never again see friends or be able to work or anything. It seems bizarre to us that women would simply have to stop working, but lots of them do, still.

All of this is to explain why the fourth episode is supposed to be “funny.” In this episode, the two teachers deal with marriage meetings and their friendship. The moral of the story is the assumed “women’s friendships are weak, because as soon as a man comes into their lives, they stop being friends.” That this was mandated by culture and law never seems to sink into the superior male’s mind. (It’s not like they’d make a saying “Women’s friendships are weak, because after we’ve screwed ’em, we put them in a box and never let them out.”)

The bottom line – I hated this episode, and I hate all similar things, like Doki Doki School Hours‘s “Mika-sensei’s getting married we’ll never see her again,” episode. Welcome to the 12th century.

For the technicals, as usual, there’s no extras worth calling extras on the DVD and the case…well it has a case. ^_^

But aside from the irritating premise of the last episode this is another funny, silly disk of Best Student Council. With some serious Kuon time.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 6

Not a lot of Yuri, but some good Kuon service, which has to be worth *something*. ^_^

Posted in English Anime, Gokujou Seitokai | No Comments »


Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora Manga, Volume 1 (Japanese)

October 3rd, 2007

Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora is Kaishaku’s version of CLAMP’s Tsubasa Chronicles. In this story, many popular elements from past Kaishaku stories are gathered togther under the umbrella of a new alternate universe plotline, so we can enjoy them all over again for the first time. (That Kaishaku and CLAMP are in no way similar is a given – they just happened to use a similar story construction technique.)

I’m not an expert on Kaishaku continuity but, as I see it, this story is most likely a continuation of the Koutetsu Tenshi Kurumi (aka Steel Angel Kurumi) story, in which the “Angel” technology that was awakened in the Meiji period has been refined over time into the “Zettai Tenshi” or “Absolute Angels” of some possible, post-apocalyptic future.

In KtTnS, we are first introduced to Shiratori Kuu, an insipid blonde with a dream of a Prince who saves her from the obscurity she so richly deserves. When mysterious, princely, Ayanokouji Kyoushirou approaches her, it’s like a dream come true. Or a nightmare, as Kyou immediate rips her shirt to (assumably) look for some kind of mark. But since he doesn’t explain himself, it’s just plain old tedious sexual molestation. And, when Kyou reaches out a hand to take Kuu with him, it makes perfect sense that she’d go because his being cool and princely makes up for his being a molester. (This is meant to be read as irony. It annoys and bothers me quite a bit that the standard male fantasy in Japan is non-consensual. I worry that the women haven’t killed all the men, too. But then, the marriage and child-bearing rate is dropping at an alarming pace, so maybe they are. But I digress)

As in the anime, Kuu is immediately thrust into a world of service and violence, as the poor, insipid girl is kidnapped and rescued repeatedly for reasons that no one quite explains – although they obviously all know what’s going on. You’d think that Kyou could take five minutes and give it a shot. But, no. It’s more important to see Kuu bathe.

Volume 1 of the manga is a little light on the Yuri. We do get a short hiatus with EPL Ayanokouji Mika, who does loves her some girl toys. And we get the briefest glimpse at Kaon and Himiko, this story’s reincarnation of Chikane and Himeko from Kannazuki no Miko. But the Yuri is painted with a light brush, because there’s a bunch of fetishes they have to cram into this series and Yuri’s just one on the list.

I quite liked the Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora anime. It made some sense, Kyoushirou’s brother was so far over the top that he came back around the bottom again, Kaon and Himiko were an obvious couple and had a nice ending to their story. I expect the manga will turn out to be much of a muchness. It’s not like I have high expectations for this, or anything. ^_^

If you like Kaishaku enough to enjoy the recycling of characters, then you should get your 600 yen’s worth. If you’re an OCD Yuri fan, you might want to wait ’til Volume 2, which ought to have more Kaon and Himiko.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 3
Characters – 5
Yuri – 2
Service – 8

Overall – 6

ADV has licensed the anime for this series, so you’ll get to see the Kaon and Himiko-themed specials on the DVDs. Honestly, I think they managed more Yuri in the anime than in the manga, where Kuu’s roommate also managed to be tainted with the same brush as Mika, her love slaves, Kaon and Himiko. But we’ll see if the manga can achieve parity.

Posted in Kannazuki no Miko | 3 Comments »


Events: Yurisai Report

October 1st, 2007

Before I finish up Ciao Sorella today, I want to get a quick Yurisai report up for everyone.

It was really fun. That was what I kept hearing from everyone – attendees, vendors, staff, guests. Everyone had a relaxing, fun day, full of good conversation and good Yuri.

I was particularly pleased when one of the Media Blaster guys expressed the belief that thei was the best crowd he’d ever seen for behavior – people were nice, they were not belligerent, everyone did their best to be friendly, etc. etc. I appreciate that more than you can possibly believe.

My staff was awesome. Everyone, you were so terriffic that I can’t possibly thank a few of you because it wouldn’t be fair to everyone else. But, I really do have to thank Sean and Serge, because they did so much, so well – they shouldered the burden of the programming, which is the backbone of a con. I also have to note that a *lot* of the attendees ended up volunteering, which I thought was kind of fun – a few had no choice (friends, what would we do without them?) but a bunch more sure did, and joined us anyway.

The Library looked completely cool all set up, I think. All that Yuri. :-) It’s going to take me days to get it back on the shelves here.

And the Stamp Rally kept people involved in the panels, workshops and video, which was great. I thought that was a cool idea and it seemed to work.

Here’s the one thing I want to say. I think I’m the luckiest con chair in the world -because when I look around at my staff what I see are people who are my dear friends, people I consider family. And that is an amazing feeling. My thanks to every single of you for all your hard work!

Also, thanks to Rica and Althea for being fabulous, each in their own way.

Otsukaresama!

Posted in Events | 6 Comments »


Events:Yurisai Schedule Online

September 25th, 2007

Thanks to Eric’s timely reminder (thank you!) the Yurisai Schedule is now available online. There’s no link to it yet from the Yuricon website – but you can access the Yurisai Schedule directly. Links to it from several pages on the site will go up when I get home.

You may notice that the panels are rather longer than usual – this is not meant to imply that the panels will be longer than usual. LOL

What we’ve done is built in some ease-in and ease-out time for the panels, time for more informal, unstructured discussion to happen, as it always does. Basically, we ddn’t want us all to have to be frenetic about panels starting on time. ~_-

And while we will absolutely be encouraging folks to participate fully in all the kinds of activities we have, (with prizes at the end of the day for people who have managed to – literally – fill their dance card,) we really hope that everyone just has a chance to do a little of everything. Mostly, we hope that everyone has a chance to kick back and chat with other folks who are fans, too. :-)

The goal at Yurisai is to have a relaxing, fun day, with lots of Yuri to enjoy.

So, enjoy!

Posted in Events, Yuricon | No Comments »