Amongst Us, by Shilin

November 18th, 2020

Shilin is an artist I have been following for many years. I began reading her epic fantasy Carciphona a decade ago. I was delighted to have picked up a couple of her art books at TCAF; I have reviewed Toccata II here on Okazu.

Last year, Shilin ran a Kickstarter for a collected volume of the alt-universe versions of her Carciphona protagonist Veloce, and antagonist, Blackbird.. I jumped right on that, because the story is fun, but what keeps me coming back is Shilin’s gorgeous artwork.

In Carciphona, Veloce is a deeply emotionally wounded sorceress, a woman who has been used and abandoned by her society and family. Pulling the strings to get Veloce to join her is Blackbird, who is a spirit who does not much care for humankind and thinks Veloce ought not to either…and she has a legitimate case. But Veloce has been befriended by some humans who believe in her and she’s fighting with them to protect humanity, even if the humans don’t appear to appreciate that music at all. The magic in this world revolves around music, which makes for some really lovely “battles.”

Amongst Us is a fun fanfic of an intense series and makes a physically beautiful “real-world” counterpart to the dramatic Carciphona. It’s also a lot of fun to see a creator playing around with her characters in a completely different oeuvre. You don’t need to have read Carciphona to appreciate this alt-version, which is an added bonus. In this alternate reality Veloce is a cellist with a tendency towards the melancholy (appropriate for cellists, I always think) and Blackbird is her flightier conductor girlfriend. It’s presented as a goofy slice-of life comic with very little real conflict, however Veloce and Blackbird are at each others’ throats constantly, which is perfectly natural for them. ^_^ 

You can enjoy the Amongst Us on Webtoons. The comic has been adapted for reading in book format, which is always more work, but gives the pages an appealing look.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – A goofy 8
Characters – 8 Divorced from their origins, they still seem pretty intense. ^_^
Service – 0 That postcard of Veloce in an evening dress was smokin’. But no, not really.
Yuri – 10

Overall – 9

Another simply gorgeous work by Shilin. This is now available on Shilin’s shop, thanks Sylvie for the link!

Posted in English Manga, Gag Comics/4-koma, Yuri Manga, Yuri Webcomics | 2 Comments »


MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 17 (ムルシエラゴ)

November 17th, 2020

As a series, Yoshimuraka’s MURCIÉLAGO has had, shall we say, a plethora of service for fans who like their pleasures low. Obscenely well-endowed women occasionally engaged in unrealistic lesbian sex and extreme violence with an eye to the grotesque and horrible. This is not a series I ever “recommend.” I simply acknowledge that I find it entertaining, and everything else is left up to individual tastes.

We’ve sat through any number of totally not-at-all-okay versions of violence, most of which has been directed at totally not-okay victims with some mostly unnamed collateral damage. Children and adults in this world are all likely to be broken and mangled emotionally. And there is a lot of sexual implication, and sometimes actual sex, all of it between consenting partners…which is pretty much the only thing that is not creeptastic here.

Now here we are, at MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 17 (ムルシエラゴ) and we’ve been given a new way to be made wholly uncomfortable. Because now we have a killer who is visibly sexually excited when he commits acts of violence with a fencing saber. Whee. Just what I definitely really never needed. ^_^ To counter this new craven service, we have a new hero…a member of Chiyo’s family organization, Senpachi, who decides that its his goal to keep Chiyoko safe by getting rid of this dude.

While we’re focusing on Chiyo-chan, our bonus chapter this volume is some less-terrible lesbian sex, in which Chiyo gets to see heaven in between Kuroko’s legs. So there’s a thing I can leave you to think about. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – Because it’s gotten better, it’s actually messier than usual. More detail, means more gore.
Story – Yeah…no
Characters – Senpachi’s cool, emotionless old Yakyuza guys are boring.
Service – We are literally staring at this guy’s crotch constantly and it’s not serving me, I’ll tell you that.  (-_ -)
Yuri – Not-ugly lesbian sex, so that’s a win.

Overall – ?

I don’t even know how I could possibly score this. It is a thing I am reading. ^_^

Posted in MURCIÉLAGO, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau, Volume 3 (ささやくように恋を唄う)

November 16th, 2020

It’s not like Takeshima Eku’s high school love story is groundbreaking. It’s not that it’s game-changing. It’s just that this story is so pleasant and full of such pleasant characters, that it’s a joy to read.

Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau, Volume 3 (ささやくように恋を唄う) finds us (pleasantly) back at the beginning of the story where we started. Yori is helping out the SSGirls band for a performance once again and, this time, she’s even gone so far as to write a song – a love song, no less.

Himari, who was moved deeply by seeing Yori-sempai on stage that day, is ready now to give her an answer.

When the music starts, any lingering doubts are dispelled by the notes of the guitar and the beat of the drums. Himari wants to call what she feels “love.” So she answers Yori, at last -yes, she “likes” her and yes, she would really like to go out with her. The situation may be similar as the opening of the story, but neither Yori nor Himari are the same person they were when they met. Now they really have a chance to be happy together, because they are happy with their selves.

In the final pages, a rival band pops up, so we may actually have a bit of a story after the story and wouldn’t that be even more pleasant!

I really like Takeshima Eku’s art, and the writing and, honestly, all the characters. Even when we’re playing dress-up with Yori and Himari, there’s a noticable absence of creeper gaze. We never have to look around whatever has been shoved into our face to see the story, the emotions or the characters.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8 There isn’t really a “story.” It’s pleasant.
Characters – 9
Service – 10000 where the “service” is two girls who are having a great time as they learn to love one another
Yuri – 8

Overall – 8

I’m delighted that you all can read this series and enjoy it with me. Whisper Me a Love Song, Volume 1 is out now from Kodansha!

Posted in Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Happy Go Lucky Days

November 15th, 2020

“My first kiss was with a girl.

Her name was Yuri-chan. It sounds like a joke, but it’s not.”

These are the opening lines of Happy Go Lucky Days, the anime movie based on Shimura Takako’s manga Dounika Naru Hibi (どうにかなる日々). The movie was originally supposed to have had a spring 2020 release, but due to COVID-19 delays, it was pushed back to autumn. The Asian Pop-up Festival streamed it with English subtitles. The opening 8 minutes of the movie are still on Youtube on the Cinema Today channel for you to enjoy.

The story is a loose conglomeration of scenarios that revolve around love and sex and romance. The first scenario follows Ecchan, who dated the above-mentioned girl named Yuri in high school. Years later, she’s attending Yuri’s wedding and finding herself crying in the bathroom, where she encounters Aya, who also has dated Yuri, in college. Motivated by their common ground of annoyance with Yuri, they end up sleeping together, then just being together, in a way that feels comfortable and not forced at all. Yuri’s marriage has done something good for them, at least. ^_^

The second scenario follows Sawa-sensei, a man who feels very closeted to me, as he navigates a confession from a student and need for affection.

The third scenario is my least favorite. Sayoko was thrown out of her house for doing a porn video and is staying with neighbors. Her overtly sexualized behavior and speech fucks around with Shin-chan who is only in 5th grade. He and his best friend and ultimately girlfriend Mika, are made aware of sex because of Sayoko. We watch as they navigate puberty…something I’m not really all that interested in doing.

The team at Pony Canyon for this movie was the same as brought us Asagao to Kase-san, so the animation was very pretty, although the scenery and content was less well-served by the animation. Hotel bathrooms can only be lovingly animated to a very limited extent. ^_^; 

The content is in exactly the space that Takako-sensei really sits most comfortably, as characters become uncomfortably aware of their sexuality (or, in other of her works, gender.) It’s never a wholly pleasant journey, but it’s not unpleasant, either. It always feels a little like she’s trying to figure something out, or standing outside, looking in on people’s inner thoughts, trying to work out something in herself.

In this case, I found myself relieved that the initial scenario was not unpleasantly complicated and we’re left thinking that it could be a happily-at least for a normal course of time- after. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8,8,6
Characters – 8
Queer – 8 in the first vignette, and yes…but, for Sawa-sensei. He’s questioning more than queer. Let’s give him a 5.
Service – Yes. Sex and sex adjacent stuff. I’d give it a 6.

Overall – 8

Happy Go Lucky Days was pretty and the lesbians are okay. ^_^

Posted in English Anime, Shimura Takako, Yuri Anime | 2 Comments »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – November 14, 2020

November 14th, 2020

Yuri Light Novels

Manga Planet has announced an exciting new license for 7 “Super light” Yuri novels from Parsola, featuring art by popular Yuri creators Akiko Morishima, and Hiromi Takashima, as well as Kitao Taki and others. These all were serialized on the Yomuco platform. These super light novels are formatted for mobile reading, with a few lines of text on every page, and color illustrations. I recently reviewed – and enjoyed! – the first “volume” of Girls Love of the Dead, here on Okazu.

Nio Nakatani (Bloom Into You) and Hitoma Iruma (Adachi and Shimamura) are teaming up again for a new LN called End Blue (エンドブルー) about two former lovers who meet for a second time. It’s very cool to see them teaming up again. Their work on the Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka light novels was pretty terrific.

 

Join us for our Okazu Patron holiday party – support Okazu on Patreon!

Yuri Anime

Via YNN Correspondent Megan, Vlad Love creative team interviews are going up on Youtube.

We’ve got the Battle Athletes Complete Collection up on the Yuricon Store. This classic series is awkward and often servicey…and it contains some obnoxious stereotypes, but the primary Yuri love triangle is right out in the open and  Mylandah and Lahrri’s burning desire for one another might be worth it. YMMV.

Adventure Time : Distant Lands – Obsidian is absolutely the Marceline x Princess Bubblegum story we need! It’ll be running on HBO Max. Give the trailer a look – it actually tempts me to add yet another stupid streaming service just for that.

HIDIVE is streaming Yuri anime Fragtime.

Via Chris Beveridge at the Fandom Post, ARIA The CREPUSCOLO‘s first trailer is on Youtube.

 

Yuri Manga

New on the Yuricon Store is  Hana ni Arashi, Volume 7 (はなにあらし), the ongoing charming romance of Nanoha and Chidori may have finally hit a snag with a rival for Nanoha’s affection!

Via Comic Natalie, Yuri manga Yume no Hashibashi (夢の端々),  Volume 1 and Volume 2. YNN Correspondent Megan has this to say about this two-vol historical Yuri series: “…this one follows two young women in post-war Japan up to the Reiwa era. The story begins with one of the women, now an old lady, visiting the other at home, though she doesn’t seem to remember her. Back in the 70s as teens, the girls attempted a 心中 (lover’s suicide) together. Later, one of the girls is entered into an arranged marriage, while the other girl arranges one last trip for the two of them before the marriage.”

Via Yuri Navi, we have news of a Yuri android manga, Tengoku no Nakoniwa, by Hirono Tsukiko. You can read the chapter on Comiplex, in Japanese.

Reminder that you can still get a piece of Yuri manga history! Grab WORKS, by Eriko Tadeno and Yuri Monogatari Vols. 3,4 & 6 for $25 – with free US shipping, from our friends at Cheapmanga.com with the code ALC2020!

 

Yuri Visual Novel

Curse of Kudan, fully voiced, available in English, Chinese and Japanese, is up on the Yuricon Store. This occult-ish Yuri story from SukeraSparo looks interesting, I’m reading the manga as it runs in Comic Yuri Hime.

 

Yuri Event

Girls Love Fest looks like it’s going ahead in February.

 

Other News

Once again via Megan, we have the pretty spectacular news about Kodansha’s licensing Boys Run the Riot, a story about trans kids by trans creator Keito Gaku. Adriana Hazra has details of the story on ANN.

Translator Jocylene Allen talked to the folks at Manga Mavericks about her work on Shiminami Tasogare: Our Dreams at Dusk.

Via the Yuri/GL Phillippines group on Facebook, namori-sensei posted this delightful reaction to seeing Yuru Yuri characters plastered around Shinjuku, advocating for social distancing measures.

Seven Seas has teamed up with Bookwalker Global for this month’s licensing survey. Make suggestions and get a coupon for Seven Seas books on Global Bookwalker! Do Yuri, get a coupon! ^_^

 

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news with your name and an email I can reply to – thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network! Special thanks to Okazu Patrons for helping us reach our 2020 goal of giving guest writers a raise and helping us support queer creators!

Posted in Yuri Network News | 14 Comments »