Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (Yokohama Shopping Log) Volume 12

December 20th, 2004

Reading a volume of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is like watching a breathtakingly beautiful sunset – gorgeous, and unsharable with anyone who wasn’t there.

I previously did an overview of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, aka Yokohama Shopping Log. In it, I sang paeans of praise about the breathless beauty and quiet pleasure of this series, and I hoped fervently that it might continue.

Well, it has.

Volume 12 takes place a few years after the first 11 volumes. Time has passed, Takahiro is grown and moved away to find work, and little Makki is now 15 or so. In this volume, as is all the others, nothing happens. We simply see snippets of life in Alpha’s corner of the world.

Oji-san talks with his old sempai, the doctor, and they sit in quiet companionship. (Although for those of us who like to pair people up might just see something happening betwqeen these two. They have a prolonged conversation about living alone and how it’s kind of nice to have someone else around.) I adore stories that have late-life relationships…so I kind of want them to get together. Plus, the doctor is really a cool old lady! ^_^

Makki asks Alpha if she can get a job at the shop, but Alpha has nothing for her to do. While watching Makki, Alpha finally feels exactly what the passage of time *means.* I think she gets a little more human, too, because of it. Although her appearance hasn’t changed, this is a different Alpha than we met at the beginning of the series. She is most definitely more mature. A flashback to when her owner left really heightens the change in our lovely protagonist.

Meanwhile, back in the big city, Kokone has also grown up a little. She’s made friends with a human and she has begun to develop her own quirks. We spend a chapter watching her watch a sea of grass from an abandoned building. (Again, sunset stuff – you have to see it to appreciate it.)

No friends are left out of this volume – Alpha meets Maruko (the third female android in the series,) suddenly, and learns – to Maruko’s mortifcation – that the artist is, by day, a waitress. Maruko and Alpha have a conversation about Kokone which makes it clear that Alpha knows perfectly well what Kokone feels for her…and Maruko knows too. (I like to think that Maruko gives up on Kokone right about this point. ^_^)

This volume definitely feels more mature, more stately, than the first 11. There’s even *more* of a twilight feel to the stories and a little of that beautiful melancholy that the Japanese treasure so much. It brought tears to my eyes several times, to be honest, and I think we can safely say that the series is winding down slowly. But I admit to harboring a secret desire that the artist never, ever stop writing this. It is the *best* series, bar none, ever made. For my money, YKK completely transcends the medium and is art at its purest.

While Alpha and Kokone never meet in this volume the conversation with Maruko, IMHO, places the period on their relationship. It is apparent to *everybody* that Kokone is in love with Alpha. And for her part, Alpha cares deeply for Kokone. I think that’s as far as we’ll ever see it go…but, you never know!. Anyway, it’s not our imagination. Either that, or Maruko is imagining it, too. ^_^

Ratings:
Art – 10
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Yuri – 7

Overall – 10

If you’re not in love with Alpha, you’re not paying attention….

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Yuricon Announces "Yuri-Only" Event in Japan!

December 15th, 2004

Yuricon, a celebration of shoujoai and yuri in anime and manga, is pleased to announce a special yuri-only event on April 16th, 2005 in the heart of Tokyo’s Shinjuku district!

Meet Japanese fans of yuri, enjoy conversations and panels with popular yuri artists and buy yuri manga and doujinshi at our all-yuri comic market, in an informal and fun setting in the Shinjuku Nichoume on Saturday, April 16th, at Advocates, from 12-5! Cosplay your favorite yuri characters, display your yuri art, and then come karaoke with us until dawn. Rica Takashima, creator of ALC Publishing’s Rica ‘tte Kanji!?, will be our special guest at this historical all-yuri event!

Join Yuricon for the Yuri Revolution tour in Tokyo, April 12-17, as we visit popular tourist, shopping and anime/manga sites around Tokyo. To “register” simply join our Yuri Revolution Mailing List.

For more information about the Yuri Revolution event and tour, please visit the Yuricon Calendar of Events or email us at [email protected].

***

What do we mean by yuri-only?

Many anime and manga events in japan are organized around a single series or genre. These are known as “whatever-only” events. For instance, if an event was only for fans of Maria-sama ga Miteru, the event would be advertised as “Marimite-only.”

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Carmilla, Issue 5

December 14th, 2004

It’s lesbian, its Yuri, but I still don’t get it.

Carmilla magazine took up the slack in Japan’s lesbian community, even as Anise was failing.

Where Anise was a sort of light-hearted look at the lesbian and bisexual community in Japan, there’s an edge to Carmilla that I just don’t really “get.” In my opinion, it reads like a parody of a lesbian magazine written by gay men.

Like its predecessor (and the lesbian mag before that, Phryne,) Carmilla runs reviews of lesbian/gay/bi/trans hotspots, parties, movies, books, etc. There’s some short manga series – all of which seem to be BDSM-heavy, with lots of bondage, rape and animals – and a few short stories, which I’ve never had the fortitude to try and read. And there’s always, as seems inevitable in Japanese lesbian magazines, interviews with various couples. I cannot, for the life of me understand why people give a rat’s ass about two other people who are not them, but it’s a thing. I get over it.

Overall, there’s an, I don’t know exactly, hardcore drag queen-type sensibility to the magazine that kind of puts me off.

Now, to be fair, I do not regularly read *any* lesbian/gay/bi/trans magazines, not since my free subscriptions at my last job dried up. But while I may be bored by one of the major English-language lesbian mags, Carmilla leaves me feeling…icky. I had read Issue 2 way back when Rica Takashima had brought me an issue as a present, and it hasn’t changed much by Issue 5, which I read last week. So clearly, this is what the mag is, and any problems I have with it are my own. Deep in my heart, I wish for a magazine that reviews art/music/books/films without the usual “Oh look! It has a lesbian in it! We must all rush and support it, even though it bites!” attitude. Interviews with people are usually, tedious. Skip ’em. Give me stuff to watch and read and drop the rest. You know…like this blog! ^_^;

I can’t really rate this, as everything in the mag is variable, but overall, I don’t care for it too much. It makes me long for Anise.

Posted in LGBTQ | 1 Comment »


Ikkitousen, DVD Vol. 2

December 13th, 2004

I’m getting used to the panties – what does that say about me?

Last night, about 2/3 way through Volume 2 of Ikkitousen I started to laugh uncontrollably at the complete and utter trashiness of this story. I blame my Dad, because he has such crap-tastic taste in porn. I guess some of it rubbed off – lucky me.

Like the first volume, Volume 2, comes with a lovely reversible cover – Ryofu on one side (above), Kanu on the other, and a two-sided pencil board which depict these two fantastically competent and combative women after they have had frontal lobotomies and are now completely submissive. It’s probably just me, but I think that they are *way* sexier when they look like they could kick my ass. The mini-poster inside the case is nice, but not exceptional.

I was all ready to bitch about the 3-episode volume, but you know, the Japanese version has 2 episodes per volume, so it’s a much worse deal. Do I care? No! Dammit – this series is 13 crappy episodes! Sell it as a 2-DVD set, with a box and all the pencil boards, for pity’s sake. It’ll cost you less to print, you can gouge us for the box and boards and we’ll all be happy. Plus we won’t have to wait obscene amounts of time for all the volumes to come out. Duh.

The translation was a little tighter this time, which was good. No honorifics at all, except for, get this…Mou-chan. I was so happy that they translated that the right way. And Oba-san was turned into “Aunt Goei” so I guess that was reasonably close. Interestingly, they did not bother to translated the Chinese title “Sho Haou” that is given to Hakufu. It means, roughtly, “Little King of Fighters” or something roughly equivalent. The fansubbers had called her the “Junior Lord of Lords”.

As for content, I wasn’t kidding when I said that this anime is trash. I mean, really – it’s trash. The Fighter’s Grand Tournament has begun, by Imperial Order from Enjutsu, who remains icognito (for good reason…). Hakufu, who is clearly unprepared wants to fight anyway, while Koukin annoyed the living daylights out of me by trying to micromanage Hakufu’s every action and word. By the end of the DVD, more than anything else, I wanted someone, preferably Ryomou, to pound the daylights out of Koukin – what a jerk that boy is. And a hypocritical prude. Get *over* it already – the girls have breasts and asses, yes. Now move on.

Speaking of Ryomou – we learn that she did indeed have a life previous to this DVD and was, indeed, wearing the eyepatch before then as well. Her sempai was paralyzed and blinded in a previous Tournament. So much for Ryomou’s rich backstory. She then toddles off to a dark wood where she meets, fights and is defeated by Ryofu. Ryomou is further humiliated as Ryfou, having paralyzed her, then rapes her. But it’s all in good fun, you see, because Ryofu is really just a dedicated and omnisexual follower of Toutou. Ryofu is also impossibly stacked. She must have those things crazy-glued into that jacket.

Anyway, up from the beating she’s given Ryoumou, Ryofu goes off to have sex with Saji – and for a change we get to see him give her a good time. ‘Bout time, too.

In the meantime Hakufu destroys an entire school’s Fighters because she goes all dragon-postal.

After finding her determination (mostly to get back at Ryofu), Ryomou beats a team of Fighters on her own, then goes on to have a serious kick-ass fight with Kanu Unchou, who complete outclasses my poor Mou-chan. Even after Ryomou breaks her arm (I’m pretty sure that the arm would have been dislocated at the shoulder before it broke, but I’m just being picky,) she’s outfought. Kanu could and does, kick her ass with, literally, one arm behind her back. Hakufu give Kanu a bit of a whooping, but Kanu retires, covered in sweat and glory, leaving Hakufu’s school up one in the ranking.

Which brings us to the leaast interesting character in the series – the guy in charge. We are supposed to see Toutou as some incredibly powerful, seriously heavy juju kinda guy? I don’t see it. He’s a bore. I support Ryofu’s determination to oust his lazy-ass ass. And his favorite pillow, Bunwa? Is she a threat? Why>? All she does is suck up to him – in several different ways. Wow – getting service, scary.

In the end, Ryofu confides in her loyal lackey Chinkyuu that she’s going to be the top dog and, as is always appropriate with Ryofu, they celebrate by having sex. Whee! Much better!

So, yuri-wise, this volume is about as good as it gets. Ryofu does Ryomou (and damn I wish they would have gotten together for real…) and then Chinkyuu. Go Ryofu!

Ratings:

Story – 6

Character – 8, except Koukin and Toutou, who are 1’s

Art – 6

Yuri – 9

Music – 2 (Let’s talk about the utter suckiness of the opening theme, shall we?)

Fanservice – 10

Overall – this is a 6 at best, but I kind of like it anyway.

Ultimately, this series is about three things: fanservice, fighting, and fanservice. If you’re not into these, don’t bother.

Posted in Ikkitousen, Yuri Anime | 2 Comments »


Yuri Shimai on the Yuricon Shop!

December 10th, 2004

Yuri Shimai 5 is in, and it was great! So great, in fact, that I’ve decided to make it easier for you to buy Yuri Shimai directly through the Yuricon Shop.

Yuri Shimai is – just to be clear – in Japanese. :-) And you would be purchasing through Amazon Japan. But, on every page on Amazon JP, there is a link (at about 2 o’clock on the page) that says “Display this page in English.” It will change all the buttons to English and it will make purchasing your copies a little easier. They do ship internationally and I think they have excellent overall service and prices.

I *will* be doing a thorough review of this volume – it really was quite excellent. I hope you all buy yourselves a copy and then drop by the Yuricon Mailing List and share your thoughts on it.

While you’re at the Shop, don’t forget to check out ALC’s 100% yuri manga (on sale right now) and our yuri-themed gifts as well. Get what you *want* for the holidays, for a change – get some yuri!

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