Yuri Doujinshi Circle: Sakuraike

January 27th, 2005

I’ve been wanting to talk about some of my favorite doujinshi circles for a while and this seemed as good a time as any…

Sakuraike is right up there in my top ten of yuri doujinshi circles. My first introduction to them was throught their “Tact” series, which told the stories of Satsuki and Kana – two typical high school girls who fall in love, are thwarted from getting together…and finally, finally, manage to have sex in the school library. :-) The “Tact” books include a another series about boyish Mako and her best friend who’s name escapes me at the moment. Best friend has to pretty much beat it into Mako’s head that she really is attracted to her, because Mako is convinced that her boyishness is off-putting. Silly Mako.

Nothing Sakuraike does is deep or ground-breaking, but I really like the two different styles that their books always include and the characters, even when they angst, seem to get together (and have sex in the school library…), which always makes it a pleasure to read. :-)

The newest doujinshi by Sakuraike includes a story about a straight girl who is a yuri doujinshi artists, and her very gay, very besotted with her girlfriend partner. It’s a goofy meta-look at the world of a doujinshi artist, with some in-jokes and insanely cute yuri thrown. And the best part is…we’ll have a few copies to sell at Yuricon’s Yuri Revolution event in Tokyo! So if you’re planning on joining us in April, you too can enjoy all this yuri goofiness! If we have any copies left at the end of the event, I’ll bring them home and put them up for sale on the Yuricon Shop manga page and give the rest of you a chance at it. It’s a really fun little doujinshi.

In any case, visit the Sakuraike gallery for a few pictures of Satuski, Kana and all their other characters. Enjoy!

Posted in Yuri Doujinshi | 4 Comments »


Plastic Little Anime and Manga (English)

January 25th, 2005

Plastic Little, The Adventures of Captain Tita and her “friend” Elise is a great American comic book of a manga and a great Cartoon Network cartoon of an anime.

Tita is a scavenger, like her father before her. She scavenges the seas of her world in her ship with a loyal group of pirate-y types. Into this pleasantly amoral lifestyle pops Elise, an irrestibly adorable blonde, whose personal problems embroil Tita and her crew in a larger and more volatile political/legal situation. In other words, the bad guys begin shooting. This is not a bad thing, because it gives Tita a chance to look extrememly butchy as she rescues Elise over and over from various nefarious henchmen.

Because this is a Urushihara Satoshi story, all the women take their clothes off frequently, and show us their breasts constantly. For women on the run, they spend alot of time in the bathtub, but hey, whatever. And of course – everyone looks like their clothes and skin are made out of latex. ^_^

While this story has good action, and fun characters, I call it an “American comic” because it also lacks depth – and conviction. While Tita is cool as hell and has Elise hanging off her and cuddling up to her in many a popular screencap, and there’s an unmistakable “heroine and her rescuer fall in love” vibe about them, we never really learn anything about either of the characters beyond the superficial comic-book characteristics…and we never see that thing between them develop.

So, while Plastic Little is fun, and Yuri-implicit…it’s not really much more.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 7
Plot – 7
Music – 6
Yuri – 3

Overall – 7

What I would give for Elise to give Tita a big ole’ smack on the lips somewhere in this anime….sigh….

Posted in English Anime | No Comments »


Yuri:Anime ROD The TV, DVD Volume 4 (English)

January 25th, 2005

What can I say about ROD The TV, Volume 4 other than, “Omigodomigodomigodomigod!!”

Watching *this* volume of *this* anime is as close to having sex as you can get without doing anything even remotely like having sex.

Episode 13 of ROD the TV is quite possibly one of the best episodes of anime *ever.* Certainly right up in the top three for me. This whole volume had me on the edge of my seat, and I already know what’s going to happen – I mean really, how amazing is that? In fact, although I just watched these epsiodes, I kind of want to watch them all over again right now.

In the original TV broadcast, episodes 15 and 16 had serious art degradation, but Geneon announced that this would be corrected in the DVD release – and it was. The art seems a bit over-kill on the shading department now, but it is a big improvement over the original…and damn straight too, because this is THE volume, kids, THE one! Nenene’s big scene was, in the original version scarred by seriously crappy art. Scarred no more, we can sniffle along with Nenene, as she learns just exactly what’s been going on for the last five years. (And boy is this volume creepy as hell, as we realize just how nuts Joker and Wendy are.)

The translation seemed a little inconsistent, as the translators occasionally slip into telling us something like what the characters said, as opposed to what they actually said; but there are also a few spots where this translation was significantly better than the fansubbers’ – especially in Wendy’s exposition of what the real deal is. This mix of science, history, medicine and fantasy is not easy material to be translating. Clearly. And I, for one, applaud the translators for their fine effort.

Best scene ever in any anime ever, for my money, is when Nenene hauls off and belts Joker. I watched it three times, just because it feels so damn good. ^_^

The only downside to Volume 4? The pencil board. This one isn’t just yucky or offensive – it’s downright getting towards illegal. I was NOT happy with this pencil board. If I haven’t made it clear, then let me be plain. Lolicon grosses me out the door. And folks who find it sexy gross me out too. I’m sorry, but…you’re wrong in the head if you think kids are sex material. I include the folks who decided that this pencil board was a good idea. Hey guys – you were wrong. It wasn’t. This was in plain-old bad taste.

Ratings? 10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10 ad infinitum ad nauseum

Posted in English Anime, R.O.D., Read or Dream, Yuri Anime | 5 Comments »


Events: Yuricon and Shoujocon team up to present Onna!

January 22nd, 2005

Shoujo Arts Society, the organization that backs Shoujocon, and Yurikon LLC, the company that brings you Yuricon and ALC Publishing, have teamed up to create a brand-new, all-in-one festival of women’s roles in animation and comics, Onna!.

Onna! is about women in all aspects of animation and comics; from behind the scenes work in producing, directing, publishing and editing to the more visible writers, artists, voice actors – and even fans! We’ll be showing anime for, by and about women and Onna! is planning storng yuri, yaoi, josei tracks, along with shoujo and shounen fare – but don’t expect Onna! to be anything like “the usual.” Even the anime you already know and love has a lot to tell us, and we’ll be exploring all the aspects of anime, manga, western animation and their fandoms that are of interest to, and about women.

We’ve got some really great guests, fun games and great anime already lined up. So, block off Columbus Day weekend, October 8-10, 2005 on your calendar, and visit the Onna! website for more information about registration to this special event. :-)

Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »


Yuri Manga: Eve no Ringo/Eve’s Apple Manga, Volume 2

January 19th, 2005

Now *this* is good trash!

Eve no Ringo, (Eve’s Apple,) tells of the continuing misadventures of high schooler Kirika, an up-an-coming young manga artist, as she tries to break into the professional manga world. You may remember from Eve’s Apple, Volume 1, that she was hired by Blue Velvet, a S&M Ladies Comic.

In Volume 2, Kirika gets a brief chance to move into a much more popular shoujo manga magazine, but the Kind Editor’s offer is quashed by a self-proclaimed evil rival. Not content with simply trashing Kirika’s dreams, her rival, Mio, sends faxes to Kirika’s school, telling anyone who finds them what Kirika is doing in her spare time. Insane rival has fantasies of Kirika being gang-raped by drooling guys who assume that she’s a pervert. Instead, when she arrives, rival girl finds that mostly no one knows Kirika, except her small group of friend who think she’s plenty nice.

Why didn’t the faxes work? *Because*, they were faxed to the Doctor’s Office and the person who found them, the school doctor, LOVES Ladies Comics! She gets no less than 5 titles a month! She was so excited to meet Kirika, one of her favorite artists…and then she indulges in a spot of “seduce my favorite artist.” Apparently the school doctor is doing research on sex and what turns people on – and she gets Kirika right in the erogenous zone. But the doctor was only testing out her thesis, so poor Kirika is left gasping and moaning, but quite unfulfilled.

The crazy hardcore older mangaka Miyamae-sensei from Volume 1 seduces away Kirika’s best pal and “research” buddy Matsuda, which leads to a few moments of agonizing and confusion. And Evil Editor takes Kirika on a ride to explore the tawdry world of car sex. No, they don’t have car sex, you goofs. Although Kirika was worried there for a moment, too. ^_^

And, in the end, Kirika explores S&M with Yumiko, who doesn’t “get” it, but wants to make her boyfriend happy. Kirika ties Yumiko up, but she doesn’t enjoy that at all. However, when she’s got Kirika at her mercy – it all begins to make sense, now! And off Yumiko goes. So, once again, poor Kirika is left alone, gasping and moaning with nowhere to go.

Poor Kirika. That was the refrain all through this volume. This is, as I keep saying, utter, dire trash. But it’s funny and fun, and for crap, it’s pretty wonderful. :-)

I really hope Kirika gets some of her own in the next volume, I’m kind of feeling bad for her!

Posted in Hentai, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »