Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru, Volume 4 (羽山先生と寺野先生は付き合っている)

June 30th, 2021

We last left Asuka and Saki celebrating their first anniversary.

Volume 4 of Hayama-sensei to Terano-sensei ha Tsukiatteiru (羽山先生と寺野先生は付き合っている) begins with a class trip to Okinawa, and a new friend of an older woman who is visiting to get together with the love of her life.

In a moment of free time, Asuka find the courage she lacked in the last volume and you know what? I’m not going to wholly spoil this, but I will absolutely tell you that is 100% valid for my last review of Pride month. ^_^ No, they don’t say they are lesbians, but there are family members and life choices that will be dealt with.

Because then, on our last day of June, we have an adorably sweet and affirming Lesbian wedding, with vows and tears and two women who decide to make their lives together as wife and wife. Their society might not agree, but their families and friends sure do. Then we get an extended honeymoon night scene of intimacy.

This final volume of Pikachi Ohi’s lovely little Yuri romance between two adults ends up on happy tears and moving forward…and another couple that won’t surprise anyone who has been reading since the beginning. ^_^

 

Ratings:

Art – 9
Characters – 10
Story – 9
Service – 7 When we finally get to the sex it does feel a bit more salacious than usual.
Yuri – 10

Overall – 10

Thankfully for all of us, Volume 3 of Our Teachers Are Dating! is out now in English, and Volume 4 is on the way, so you too can bring in a heart-warming spring 2022 filled with Yuri weddings.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »


Marvel Voices #1: Pride

June 28th, 2021

The week after DC announced their Pride anthology this year, Marvel jumped in to say that they would be launching their new “Voices” series with a pride issue as well! My feelings about this were ambivalent. I will remind you that for my first two decades of life I was a hard-core Marvel fan. I have recently sold all the comics that no longer sparked joy, but I retain two long boxes with my whole Defenders run and my Thor and key issues that I have loved for years. I wanted so much to love this issue, and I knew I would not. Why? Because Marvel feels and sounds and produces and creates like a company that is putting out stories that aren’t theirs and so, they kind of don’t get how this works, really.

Marvel definitely got top notch talent to write and draw this issue, so much love to the creators – they really put their heart into the work. Voices #1: Pride had some really terrific art, especially. But….

I know what it is…but who is it for?

Honestly, I was hoping to read a bunch of cool stories about queer characters  – whether I knew them or not  and by doing so, get to meet them. Instead I found myself neck deep in “explaining how it feels to be not-straight/cis 101” and “performative teen trauma 102” and “woops, this is all the intro this character’s gonna get.”

You shouldn’t need wikipedia open to enjoy a 8 page comic.

The layout is all wrong. The book begins with factoids about every one of Marvel’s breathrough first “whatever” and later, mid-book, actual issues are cited, without them being referenced in the initial discussion….in fact, there’s no continuity from the one to the other, which would have been a nice touch. “XYZ happened! Whoooo us!!!!” and no hint of “For where it happened, look on on page 18.”

My favorite story is heavily laced with irony for me, as I historically absolutely do not like the X-Men franchise on account of working at a comic shop in the mid 80s and having to tell the same guys every single week on Thursday, “No, I don’t read X-Men” as they stood there for hourssssssss trying to convince me to read X-Me on the busiest day of the week.  X-Men fans in the 1980s came in 2 types – one of them was cute little fae, looking for something gayishishish to hang on to and the other kind asked me every single Thursday if I read X-Men.

Anyway, I really liked the X-Men/famous detective fanfic crossover “Grey Ladies”by Tini Howard & Samantha Dodge with Brittany Peers on colors. ^_^

And, in the end, that was why the book did not uplift me. It was all short scene-fanfic. Not a fully developed story in the lot. I know it was a lot to ask, but I would have paid twice as much for one whole story.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Outstanding in places
Story – Okay for what they were, and you kind of have to know the characters and their circumstances for it to work.
Queer – Yes, but yeah, as a comic nerd I’m not comfortable with all my heroes being cool club scene – kiss randos in the post-HIV, post-pandemic, post-Pulse, post I’m a fucking old grumpy nerd wolrd.
Service – A wholly reasonable amount of cheese and beefcake and I have no complaints, honestly.

Overall – 6 It could have been so much more. But attaboy Marvel, this is exactly the kind of self-congratulatory thing I expected. Adequately done.

If you feel that this deserves a deeper, much more abrasive dive, check out this fabulous Twitter thread in which Zoe does it better than I could ever.

…and I want to be very clear about this…Bobby Drake never “came out.” He was outed and I am still extremely pissed off about the choice by Marvel. It was not admirable.

Lastly, I bought the America Chavez cover….she’s not in the fucking book. SMDHaM

Posted in LGBTQ, Western Comic/Comix | 1 Comment »


NO STRAIGHT LINES: The Rise of Queer Comics

June 27th, 2021

It’s the final Sunday of Pride month. NYC is gearing up for a virtual Pride Parade, which is being televised and sponsored and a real Queer Liberation March at which police and corporations are not welcome. Compton and Stonewall and all the other early protests were, after all, protests against police violence, specifically.

So I can’t think of anything better at all to celebrate this day, than to talk with you about NO STRAIGHT LINES: The Rise of Queer Comics.

In 2013, the wonderful artist Justin Hall curated a book called No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics. It was absolutely compelling reading. As I said in my review, I couldn’t put it down.  And while Justin was working on it, he was speaking with a bunch of folks including force of nature Jennifer Camper. It occurred to her that she lives in a time of miracles – all the first wave Gay Comics artists were still alive and reachable and so she reached out and created the Queers and Comics events in 2015, 2017 and 2019, for which I never wrote up a report, bad on me, but I was there for one day and ran a panel! As Jennifer said at the first event, she wanted to create an archive by and about queer comic artists while we had the chance to talk with the folks who were there. The was a bit prescient because after the 2017 event at which Howard Kruse was keynote speaker, he passed away and we only have those panels on page and film left of him.

Honestly, one of the greatest honors of my life has been to be a speaker at these events, and meet the women who are the early lesbian comic artists, just as meeting some of the earliest Yuri manga artists has been so important to me.

Justin teamed up with director Vivian Kleinman to create this film that took that idea a step further. They focused on five pioneers of queer comics, and let them tell their stories for us to enjoy. Alison Bechdel (Fun Home), Jennifer Camper (Rude Girls and Dangerous Women), Howard Cruse (Gay Comix), Rupert Kinnard (B.B. And The Diva) and Mary Wings (Come Out Comix).  Their stories are glossed by younger queer artists who talk about the effect that art had on their lives and their works.

My wife and I rented the movie on the Tribeca Film Festival website. We both thought it a terrific watch. There were some touching moments, a few tear-jerkers and a lot of joy and laughter. Thinking back now on those moments that became so…historically important….its always fun to remember the people doing them are people. People you can be just like and do your own thing, too. ^_^

Tonight NO STRAIGHT LINES will be closing out the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco, and I have to stop typing as I am absolutely awash with so many memories of these people and their work and our shared experiences. Keep an eye out for screenings near you on their website. As soon as this has a more general release streaming or on video, I’ll be sure to let you know.

For those of you who read Okazu…this is our history. You should know it. These people are our groundbreakers, you should know them. The fact that so many of them are still here and still telling their stories just highlights the point that we live in amazing times to be a fan of queer comics.

Ratings:

Overall – 10

Celebrate our Pride Month, support a queer comic artist today!

Posted in Comic Essay, Documentary, LGBTQ, Live Action | 4 Comments »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – June 26, 2021

June 26th, 2021

Yuri Events

I’ll be hitting the virtual con circuit in the next few weeks, catch me on Discord this weekend for CasaCon:

8PM EST June 26 for What Goes Into Manga Editing and Translating?

2PM EST US June 27 for the “Secret History” of Yaoi and Yuri.

and I’ll be joining Anime Lockdown on July 10, at 3:30 PM for the first Yuri panel I have done since 2019, How It Began, How It’s Going 100 Years of Yuri Anime. I’m super excited, and wow has a lot changed in 2 years.

Anime Lockdown has a bunch of great stuff – don’t miss Emma Wolfe at 11am when she talks about The Rose of Versailles!

And speaking of Rose of Versailles, I had a chance to chat with the delightful folks of Third Impact Anime about Pride and RoV!

And I’m not the only one out there, Saturday Dentition talked with the lovely Kit and Sarah from Tomochoco on their Yuricast this week! If you’re looking for some fun, take a look at this Yuri trivia game created by Tomochoco’s Kit and YuriMother Niki. ^_^

One more piece of excellent Tomochoco news….they’ve announced an upcoming interview with I’m in Love With the Villainess creator inori-sensei. How awesome is that? Send them questions and they’ll do their best. In any case, make sure you tune in when that is posted. I’m super stoked for them.

August 14th will give you a chance to talk with me, James Welker and Verena Maser about global Yuri fandoms on our upcoming Yuricon anniversary event.  Details TBA next month.

If you’re in or near the Tokyo area on September 20, 2021, you’ll have a busy day, with two great comic events happening. Girls Love Festival will be back in Asakusa, and Comitia will be at Big Site. Both those will be in-person, but I’m a good while out from being inside a building with other people. ^_^;

The winners of the 3rd Pixiv Yuri Short Story Contest are online and available for you to read (in Japanese) for free! You may remember I reviewed the 1st contest winners collected volume and was honestly impressed.

 

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Yuri Manga

By popular demand, we’ve got a few new titles up on the Yuricon Store!

Odoriba ni Skirt ga Naru (踊り場にスカートが鳴る) is a lovely and delightful manga by Uttan Yuu, from Comic Yuri Hime about ballroom dancing, body image and self-esteem. Honestly, I love it so far.

I’ve had a number of folks ask me if I’ll be reviewing Kakeochi Girl, Volume 1 (かけおちガール) and the answer is…I really don’t know. My to-read piles are way backed up. So if you have purchased the book from a legitimate source – not reading scanlations – and you want to do a review, contact me and let me know. This story is about a grad student who encounters her high school love who broke her heart and, their relationship picks up once again.

Watashi no Oshi ha Akujyaku Reijou., Volume 2 (私の推しは悪役令嬢。) is out in Japanese! Claire and Rae throw down during exam time. Will Claire beat Rae? Hahaha, no…Rae is the protagonist of the game!

There’s a ton of Yuri manga news from Japan, but I’ve got a blistering weekend of work ahead of me, so here’s a thing I really want you to take a look at – Uyanotsuki by Kuzushiro  – you can read the first three parts in Japanese on Comic-Days.com!

COLOR_Les’s Mage & Demon Queen is back for a Season 3! Check out the Season 3 Trailer on Webtoons and catch up with where we all left off.

 

Yuri Anime

Netflix has picked up the first three seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal, with a premier date of July 1.

ANN’s Alex Mateo has the news that Blue Reflection Ray anime will not be getting a physical release in Japan. Funimation is streaming it for an English-language audience.

Also from ANN, Kim Morrissy, has a roundup of a panel with Junichi Sato at Annecy 2021 about making anime for girls and women. He’s got some serious street cred in that regard, so give it a read!

Kara Dennison wants us to Feel the Drama with These Takarazuka Inspired Anime Series on Otakusa Magazine.

 

Other News

If you frequent the Japanese Bookwalker digital manga site, you’re in luck! Bookwalker is running a Yuri Day special through July 1! Eligible items are available for up to 20% off and up to 30% coin back!

Irodori doujinshi site is also participating in Yuri Day Festivities with up to 50% off selected titles.

Latoya Pennington has a look at The Transformative Legacy of Magical Girl Manga over at Games Radar’s GR+.

Hikaru Utada came out as non-binary with an extremely touching video to celebrate this Pride Month. Lynzee Loveridge drops the details on ANN.

 

Become a YNN Correspondent:  Contact Us with any Yuri-related news you want to share and be part of the Yuri Network. ^_^

Thanks to our Okazu Patrons who make the YNN weekly report possible! Support us on Patreon to help us give Guest Reviewers a raise and to help us support Yuri creators!

Posted in Yuri Network News | No Comments »


The Rose of Versailles, Volume 5

June 25th, 2021

Today we look at what was, until 2015, the final volume of the grand historical epic The Rose of Versailles, by Riyoko Ikeda.

After the death of Lord Oscar François de Jarjayes, one might expect a final volume of tears and recrimination as the republic she died for turns to wholesale slaughter and a new threat of empire…buuuuuut……..no.

The chapters that comprise The Rose of Versailles, Volume 5 were written a decade after the original story ended and involve Oscar and André as the comedic sidekicks to Oscar’s precocious niece Loulou de Laurencie. These 10th anniversary chapters are an epic unto themselves, known as “The Great Detective Loulou.”

Loulou (and her doll, which functions as something between a backpack and hammerspace) turns out to be incredibly perceptive. Significantly, Oscar recognizes this and after the first adventure, in which Loulou cracks a group of jewel thieves, she takes Loulou’s antics very seriously. Loulou’s influence continues to expand to André, then Rosalie and beyond. It’s a good thing, too, because Loulou proceeds to stop a human trafficking ring and an illicit drug ring.

A little side story here… translator Mari Morimoto and I had a days long conversation about exactly what drug it might have been. I think it was cocaine-laced laudanum based on the chronology and supposed effects. (Heroine wasn’t common for another few decades and opium created a lassitude that any reader of Sherlock Holmes will be acquainted with.) But it’s all speculation and we’ll never really know what Madame Heberra was selling. ^_^

Ironically, the was the first volume of the series I worked on. Mari asked to bring me on since we had been discussing the series already and she wanted someone she knew. It was a lot of fun working on these chapters with her too, as there were so many things that were really left way up in the air after those incredibly detailed, historically accurate earlier volumes.

You might ask at this point if this is where we are meant to leave it all. After all that emotion, all those tears, we’re just walking away on a bunch of stories about a child genius? No, actually. Because in 2015-18, for the 45th anniversary of the series, Ikeda-sensei drew another 4 volumes, all of which I have reviewed here, in fact. I will spoil nothing, except to say two things: 1) I had completely, totally forgotten the one thing at the end of the story and OMG, and; 2) Even as I edited these chapters for the final volume for UDON, I found myself tearing up at Rosalie. Hopefully you will, too.

I don’t know when the final volume will be released, but as soon as I know, I’ll be sure to tell you!

I want to thank all of you who have picked up these books and enjoyed them so much. And my heartfelt thanks to Udon, to Erik for trusting me with these, to Mari and Jocelyne for being awesome to work with and Jeannie Lee, for low-key killing it doing the lettering. Honest to god, she did an outstanding job, matching the s/fx to the shape and feel of the original, and you should notice this kind of artistry.

I’m going to leave you with one more anecdote. After I got the chance to work on this series, I was in Japan, at Mandarake in Nakano, as one does and I saw something I had never, ever before seen – three whole issues of Margaret magazine when Rose of Versailles was running! I was gobsmacked. I grabbed them all and gave Mari and Erik one each as thanks, and kept one for myself.  Here is why.

This is the moment when Oscar, having found and lost her true love, throws herself at the Bastille, to join him as soon as possible. So….yea. I have this volume. It lives on a set of shelves I cleared for the entirely of the Rose of Versailles kanzenban, reference materials, mooks, magazines and…this magnificent collection. It’s just so lovely, I can’t get over it.

Not gonna rate this one, just want to bask in the glow. ^_^

Tell me how much you love this set in the comments!

 

Posted in English Manga, Riyoko Ikeda, Rose of Versailles | 7 Comments »