Yuri Manga: [es] ~ Eternal Sisters, Volume 2

September 1st, 2005

Anyone notice the advertisement in the Google Ad block on the right of Okazu this week? “Kissing Techniques” – assumably because of the post on Transistor ni Venus :-) You gotta read the site – it’s a *scream*. And I’m not just saying that to make you click the ad – it’s really, unintentionally, funny in its sexism.

So, here’s a little known fact about [es]. It was bought by Ichijinsha, the same folks that bring you Yuri Hime. I assume it was an independent yuri anthology before that.

I wasn’t blown away by the first volume of [es], but I didn’t hate it. This, the second volume, is pretty much more of the same, but slightly blander.

I’m sitting here going over the stories and there’s barely anything to hang on to. Some marginal confessions, a little embracing, lots of the usual high school tropes and fetishes. Sweet, cute, etc, etc.

There is one interesting point – the story “Pops” which ran for two parts in Yuri Shimai is continued here as “Someday the Sun Shines”.

But otherwise, like the first collection, this volume of [es] is the same harmless, sweet, stereotypical stories over and over. There’s the clingy younger girl, or the admired/desired older girl, the sick best friend, the slacker best friend, the genki best friend, the bathing suits and uniforms and lunchtimes and gym clothes. Nothing we haven’t seen a thousand times by now.

Perfect for moe-Yuri fanboys and those who hate the thought of adult women in love. Also not a bad birthday present for your favorite babydyke otaku-in-training. ^_^

Posted in Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »


Jyoshi Kousei – High School Girls Manga

August 30th, 2005


Jyoshi Kousei, aka High School Girls, is billed as a realistic depiction of life in an all-girl’s school in Japan. The author makes a point of commenting when things that seem especially bizarre actually happened to her. All I can say is, thank heaven I was a coed public school student. (Actually, I think that quite often. I lived between two private schools, one all-boys, one all-girls, for 15 years. In that time I learned one thing – private schools are good for boys…but so very not good for girls.)

I originally began following this series in Japanese, but it’s out in English now and since I could, I picked up the first three volumes. The first two volumes were put out by Comics One and the third by DR Master, with the added bonus of interesting typos and lack of cultural understanding. I recommend getting all three, so you can enjoy how bad Volume 3 is in comparison. :-)

Just because I’m feeling helpful: Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3

So, High School Girls, as I mentioned, tell the semi-autobiographical adventures of three girls who transfer into an all-girl high end high school. They expect to find a Maria-sama ga Miteru atmosphere of refined culture and instead find a cesspool. And it goes on from there. The clubs are creepy, the talk is filthy and there are many, many references to menstruation. LOL

Of course the girls, who are apparently all straight, obssess about guys in the way straight high school girls do. All the yuri is played entirely as fanservice and laughs – no one with a brain cell would ever think anything of it. Except….

Eriko, Yuma and Ayano have been friends since youth. Ayano (who nabs herself a boyfriend early on, but more than six months later has yet to kiss him) and Yuma are especially close. So close that several characters, including Ayano’s boyfriend and her mother, assume that the two of them are an item.

More subtle, but to me more interesting, is the relationship between “insider” Kouda Akari and Eriko. It wasn’t until I had read all three volumes at a go that I saw it, but I have absolutely no doubt at all that Kouda has a thing for Eriko. They pair up all the time, including for “special” moments like hair removal, and pretend dating. In one scene Kouda play acts the boy and tries to molest Eriko to “help” Ayano along with her boyfriend. In another, Kouda is the girl to Eriko’s impatient boy, as part of “acting training.” When asked what she wants to do for her date, Kouda happily suggests a love hotel.

By the time Ayano’s mother asked her if she and Yuma were an item, I was all for watching Kouda’s clumsy, (but somehow charming, because she probably doesn’t even realize she’s trying) attempts at nabbing Eriko.

So, no, no real yuri, but some amusing fanservice (like the time they all pretend to have sex to lose weight…for which they all remove their shirts, for some reason) and an interesting dynamic between the two couples. It won’t go anywhere, but it won’t kill you to follow it, either. :-)

Ratings:
Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 5

Overall – 7 for fun.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Cutey Honey 1984

August 29th, 2005

I really wasn’t kidding when I said that the new shelves have allowed me to find stuff I haven’t seen in forever.

A few years ago Rica Takashima, the magnificent author of Rica ‘tte Kanji!?, was cleaning out her apartment and she gave me a bunch of cool early yuri magazines and manga. Her foundational works. One of these was a collected volume of the original Cutey Honey manga, by Go Nagai. When she gave me the book, she commented that, as a little lesbian, she was really into Honey, who was the first heroine who really didn’t need a man around at all. I never had a chance to read it thoroughly and then, as my manga collection grew out of control, I wasn’t able to find it. I knew it had to be *somewhere*, but couldn’t pin it down, until I got these new shelves. ^_^

Anyway, last night I sat down and really read the story and wow! was this one of the grimmest, most violent and depressing stories I’ve ever read! It was quite amazing.

The spoilage on this story is so huge that I won’t put it in the main review – I’ll add it in as the first comment, so no one who doesn’t really want to know has to suffer.

In any case, like the first iteration of Cutey Honey in anime, Kisaragi Honey is awakened as an android, the Black Claw attacks her father, she swears revenge. She attends a girl’s school and befriends Na-chan, who immediately falls for her more than a little. The two main teachers are, as in the anime, the openly lesbian and thoroughly repulsive Alphonse-sensei and the pinchy-faced and sadistic sensei who the girls all call “Histler.” (This is not a typo. Histler, *not* Hitler, nuh-uh.) The Prinicpal of the school is a no-name doughball who, before the final traumatic ending finds love (and hot, yet horrible to contemplate, lesbo sex) with Alphonse-sensei.

Honey sneaks off every night, naked transformation scenes abound and she always beats the Claw henchmen. Lalalala.

Oh, and btw, Seiji in the original manga is a total doofus. He mostly gets captured and tortured and Honey has to rescue him. I think Nagai-sensei really let his character get out of control and become too important in subsequent versions. Bad insane genius, bad!

Because this is Go Nagai, there is a ton of nakedness, male and female, lots of torture, some seriously hideous lesbians, and general horribleness of all kinds, including a topless gang leader with exceptionally hairy…erm, everything. Shudder. She was horrible.

The end of the main part of the story is violent with a capital “Oh my god!” Which was made truly appalling by the light-hearted romp that was the final chapter in which Honey destroys Sister Jill and sings her own musical theme.

Ratings:

Art – 6 (Early Go Nagai….bad anatomy….)
Characters – 3 (each more horrible than the last)
Story – 5 (c’mon! she has a CLAW coming out of her head!)
Yuri – 8

Overall – 5 for normal people.

On the whole, I really liked it, except when…oh, hell, I’ll admit it. I thought it was brilliant. Brilliant, disturbing, weirder than anything I could come up with on acid, Cutey Honey was, and is, a lesbian manga icon.

Posted in Cutie Honey, Yuri Manga | 5 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Transistor Ni Venus, Volume 5

August 27th, 2005

Transistor ni Venus 5I know you were all wondering, as was I, where agent April Enus gained her obvious skill in kissing, as chronicled in Transistor Ni Venus. Well, your wait is ovah! In Volume 5 of this delightful action/pin-up fusion we, at long last, learn Enus’ secret.

We could have never guessed the truth in a million years.

The year is 2264, April Enus is only 16, a young, but highly promising agent-in-training for whatever planet she agents for. (I haven’t really bothered to translate the name, because, really, who cares? Call it the People’s Republic of Zod, or whatever you wish.)

Her skills are rapidly increasing…but, to her shame, she’s a loser at kissing. All the other agents say so, and one by one, all the pretty girls leave her and kiss other agents, ’cause she sucks at it.

Luckily for Enus, she is given the task of minding a powerful seer, Atakui. Atakui steals a bit from one of my friend Sparkle’s Sailor Moon fanfics, and gets a jolt upon meeting Enus. I’m sure you can see what’s coming a mile away. Atakui certainly could.

There’s some adventure and spies and attacks and stuff, but really, we all want to know what’s going to happen with Enus’ sucky kissing, right? Which is good, because that’s really the plot. Oh, and Enus gets blown up a few times, too. But really, the important bit is when she begs Atakui to help her become a better kisser. Which the seer does. The two women hold a ritual to ask the Goddess for her blessing. (Don’t be a dork and ask which goddess, okay? Venus, obviously….) And lo and behold! The Goddess bestows this precious blessing on Enus! Yay! Now she is not only a good kisser – she is the BEST kisser in the universe!

There was some spy stuff happening too, but no one was paying attention. ;-)

Ratings:
Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 8
Yuri – 9

Overall – 9

Transistor ni Venus is a ridiculous, silly piece of fluff, but it never fails to make me smile.

Posted in Transistor ni Venus, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Events: A mostly complete Otakon report

August 25th, 2005

[Once again, I am simply cutting and pasting from my Yuricon Mailing List entry for lack of time]

I’m afraid that this will never really capture all the fun we had this weekend, but I am, at last, energetic enough to try.

Thursday:

My day began very early with the sickening thought that I had forgotten to replace a front tire on my car which had been developing cracks. With the car overloaded as it was with books and whatnot, I awoke in a panic, sure that my day would be spent by the side of the road on the NJ Turpike. Thankfully, a local tire place I like opens earlier than anyone should and by the time I was done with breakfast, my problem was solved.

The trip to Baltimore took me, in toto, 3 hour 15 minutes. This is what it is *supposed* to take, but as time goes on, it’s been getting longer and longer. The year before last it was closer to 5. I had checked in and picked up my Dealer’s Badge before 12:30 and was checked in as Staff by 1:00PM. All very efficient and freaky. I was pretty sure by then that it was all a good sign, and with great enthusiasm set off for the last of my check-ins.

Panels.

An hour and a half later, I FINALLY had checked in (and refused a third badge, because that’s just silly.) My only complaint of the weekend of the panels person was disorganized in the extreme and there were major communications problems regarding the associates badges. (Which didn’t really affect me and wasn’t entirely the Panels person’s fault….)

But by 5 or so, I was in the hotel pool, (by myself !) doing laps, something which makes me just about the happiest person in the world. I am never unhappy or dissatisfied when doing laps – it is even better than ice cream for my general emotional well-being. I spent some time helping at Staff check-in and assisting the Anime Next guys to find their Dealer’s badges.

By 8ish or so, my team of fighters for love and justice had arrived. Kun, Serge, Donna and I went to have some food, but ended up at Spec. Ops. We checked in, got our Spec. Ops paraphernalia and hung around to listen to a really rambling presentation on our duties in return for food.

Assumably, we went to bed eventually.

Friday:

I knew Friday was going to be a loooong day, because the Yuri Panel was scheduled at 11:30 PM. I am almost always up at 11:30 PM, but normally I am not on my feet selling like a maniac all day previously. At cons by 11:30, I’m usually settled in a room gabbing about…(shock!) anime…with friends. So I was pretty sure it was going to be a day.

The DR opened at noon. We were instantly inundated with people who wanted to buy things. This continued to closing. So the entire day passed in a blur of selling and talking. We actually did more in sales that one day that I had even done in an entire weekend before. Yuri has arrived, my friends.

Kun was a wasted mess all day, and bizarrely, was better at sales in her near comatose state than she is when she’s on. She kicked butt all weekend, absolutely. She also signed copies of SnB like a champ, with only a teeny bit of whining here and there.

If you got a copy of the book and like the illustrations, do tell her. One NEVER gets tired of hearing how much someone likes one’s work. Seriously.  I think her pictures are quite excellent and really make the book come alive.

We had visits from many old and new friends, which made the day speed along.

If I try and list everyone we saw, I am sure to forget some, so I apologize if I miss you. There were hundreds of people who stopped by, maybe thousands, I don’t know. But I do want to especially thank An, for hanging out and helping at the panel and table; Katie, BJ and Sean for making the panel rock; Serge for listening to the opening theme of “Kyou Kara Mao” 7459060 times with me; bakablonde for being a hoot; and Jen and Lianne because I just love you two. :-)

And, of course, Kun, who, when she kicks ass, kicks ass royally. Being my whipping girl and assistant ain’t easy and she does it damn well (when she’s not completely pissing me off.)

We were also joined for the weekend by Becca Norman, the former con chair of Nan Desu Kan in Colorado, who was da bomb. No kidding – she was so amazingly cool, I will NEVER be able to describe how much fun she was to have around. And she had two of the funniest lines all weekend. I swear I’m stealing her from NDK forever. Mineminemine.

Also, kudos to the guys of Section 9, who were a total blast to work with. Donna and Serge rocked S9 all weekend long.

Dinner was a small, but tasty affair in a local pub which should have sucked. It was a tourist spot and by all accounts should have been the WORST meal ever. But the food was good, and not too expensive, the atmosphere was nice and our waitress was the best I have ever had, ever.

At last it was time to think about the Yuri panel. Serge and I got to the room early and, as I’ve mentioned had to sit through karaoke of the OP to “Kyou Kara Mao” about 5000 times too many. I cannot begin to describe the horror. Serge and I get credit in the afterlife, I swear.

The panel had, as I’ve already gone on about, 200 people with all the folks who wandered in and out. The room holds 200, and was mostly full when we started. Folks left and folks came, so I think it’s a fair number. At midnight, that’s not bad. I admit, I found it amusing that folks were taking pictures of my desktop… An and Serge handed out fliers, which saved me from having to remember to ask people to take them.

We started off with a few problems – they had to clear the room to ID check and then there were a few guys who were loud and visibly inebriated who wouldn’t shut up, so I had to toss them. But after that, I think the panel was lovely. I was gratified at the applause I received when I announced that I was cosplaying myself from the Yuricon report manga in Yuri Hime. LOL Nothing like a little self-indulgence!

Got back to the room late, collapsed, but did not sleep, of course.

Saturday: Began early

As part of Spec Ops, Kelli, Serge, Donna and I were able to nab breakfast every AM in the staff suite. Thank you to Peter and the rest of the food chain!!!!! It was so wonderful to grab brekkie, then a nice bag lunch and not have to worry that we were chained to the DR all day.

My Saturday morning was completely filled with interviews. Friends, fans, folks who had been at the panel, websites, distributors and magazines all came by to chat. No kidding. By the end of that day, Becca was supplying key nouns to finish my sentences, because I was *fried*. But it was cooler than cool. Kelli and I signed a lot of books, which was fun. (And one guy emailed me Sunday to say that he had stayed up Saturday because he couldn’t put it down, which I thought was sweet. Patrick – I tried to email you back, but the email kept bouncing, so if you’re reading this…thank you for the kind words!) And thanks to the other folks who emailed me and said they enjoyed it.

Saturday evening Becca, Kelli and I attended the Anime Cons Mailing List con-chair dinner. The restaurant sucked so bad, it was unspeakable and our waiter was EVIL. But we had a great time. And it looks a lot like I’ll be at Sakuracon in 2006. (They offered women…how could I refuse?) I’m the person who attended the most of these con chair dinners and all I can say is that I’m honored and pleased to consider these people my peers and friends. Con chair gossip is *awesome.* LOL

We then hung out in our room, for a while, with Jen, Derek, Lianne, until about midnight-ish.

Sunday:

Everyone on staff was ready for Sunday, let me tell you. In the DR, it’s the shortest day. We were doing a $5 book sale at the YC table, getting rid of some of the printer snafus. I FINALLY took a moment to shop and came back with nearly nothing. A few manga. I did have fun with the Sasuga Books guy, having him check the Comiket 68 catalog for our Yuricon entry, which he thought was cool (so did I, but I was too tired to jump up and down. lol)

I spend a lot of the day schmoozing dealer’s for Onna!. All in all successful.

I want to mention one thing I’m still a bit puzzled by. Sunday, a young lady came by to tell me that she had read SnB; she thought it was okay. She then proceeded to ask me why Yuriko was blonde and blue-eyed. I told her that I prefer blondes – which is my usual answer and has always seemed pretty satisfactory. But she insisted then, that she couldn’t be Japanese, which I insisted she is. For the next several minutes, I tried to explain that SnB is a fiction – that it doesn’t have to make sense, that it is, in any case, meant to be read as a manga, so just like manga and anime, some of the characters can have non-realistic features or coloring.

If you were that person, I apologize, but really – there isn’t any other answer. Yuriko IS Japanese, not half or anything. And she does not dye her hair or wear contacts. It’s just a story, and that’s the way it is. There aren’t any out lesbian pop idols, either. You just have to accept the hand wave and move on. ^_^

We packed up, and handed in our equipment, checked out and dumped everything in my car. We then met Sean and his friends for dinner, which added a few more really funny lines to my weekend memories. And it was another good meal, although the wine was kinda tannin-y.

After we left dinner, Serge, Donna, Kelli and I were heading over to the Dead Dog party. We snuck Becca in on account of we didn’t want to let go of her and because as another con chair, she was cool enough to get in as a guest. ^_^ We then spent the night drinking with Section 9 and I completely and totally lost my voice. But oh my god, we had fun.

I seriously recommend that everyone be part of staff at a con at least once. It’s really so much more fun than anything else – certainly more fun than merely attending.

Sunday ended eventually.

Monday

I made it home in one piece.

I have still to unpack the car. ^_^;

That’s about it – again, my thanks to everyone who came by to chat, to buy books to the panel and to hang!

One last actually Yuri-related note: I spoke to the folks at the Geneon booth about licensing Maria-sama ga Miteru. They were very receptive. I strongly believe that I will begin a letter campaign to them to encourage them licensing the anime. I’d like all of your support. Keep your eyes peeled here and on the Yuricon Mailing List for details…

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