Yume no Hashibashi, Volume 1 (夢の端々 上)

March 25th, 2021

Yume no Hashibashi, Volume 1 (夢の端々 上) is a story told by leaps backwards in time, of a relationship between two women that would never have been allowed to thrive.

The book begins in 2018, as Kiyoko, who is 80 years old, lives with her daughter and granddaughter. She is visited by an old friend, Mitsu. They talk about what might have been and part, promising to meet again. Some short time thereafter, Kiyoko learns that Mitsu has been killed in an accident.

From there on, we look backwards at their lives; specifically, at the points where they might have been able to make something happen, but couldn’t, and at one passionate night spent together. Kiyoko – who sees no other path possible for herself – marries. Mitsu who decides on a career, deals with all the obstacles for a woman who decides to have a career rather than a family.  This volume ends in 1961, but that is not where the story begins. 

This is the first of a two volume set that will end where the relationship began, with two young women who could not be together. It’s historical, and sad, and interestingly, rather than beautifully drawn, with deep emotion covered by banal words. Volume 2 will plumb the depths of their relationship and the choice that sets the events of volume 1 in motion.

It’s not a happy story, as you might imagine, but one I think is worth reading, particularly if you are younger and never experienced the almost-complete inability to maintain a same-sex relationship that existed in the 20th century for most women. We celebrate those people who manged it, but for many – probably most – it was not a tenable solution. Women were not allowed to have credit cards without a male signatory during my lifetime. Even if they worked. This reality might seem unbelievable, and that is exactly why this story ought to be read.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – This is tough to score. It’s told well, but is painful to watch. 7?
Characters – 7 Kiyoko is mopey, but we understand why
Service – Not really
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7

While we in 2021 look forward to a new world in which all of this is alien and inconceivable, it’s important, I think, that we remember what those who oppose our existence would like to return to. This world may be imperfect, but it would have been kinder to Kiyoko and Mitsu than the one they had.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 7 Comments »


Otherside Picnic, Volume 4

March 24th, 2021

At the end of Volume 3 our protagonists, Sorawo and Toriko have managed to free themselves from the clutches of an Otherside cult centered around the figure of Toriko’s mentor, Uruma Satsuki. In doing so, they uncover the cult headquarters, a remote building complex called The Farm.

Otherside Picnic, Volume 4 begins with Toriko and Sorawo accompanied by members of the DS and military contractors to clear the Farm of cult-built gates to the Otherside. This gives us a lot of space to encounter weird and threatening situations, and the general aura of not-rightness that contact with the Otherside brings. Sorawo asks DS to gift them the Farm, so they can manage it – and not incidentally, have a salary for doing so. She and Toriko provisionally get control of the Farm, and they hatch a plan.

But first, there some stuff going on that they have no idea what to do with, so they are avoiding what is happening to them…and what is happening between them. First and most pressing, it has been more and more obvious to me and to Sorawo, that the Otherside is targeting her, personally. Originally, she thought it was because of Satsuki, but she’s gone and it hasn’t gotten better. More phenomena are directed at Sorawo, specifically, and it’s clearly linked to her past. Every moment we get more of Sorawo’s backstory, everything about her makes more and more sense. And holy shit.

The second matter is no less pressing. As Sorawo and Toriko relax at a hot spring resort, they get very close to addressing what is building between then, but an Otherside phenomena occurs – a scene which is in my opinion, one of the very best in the books to date. Great use of everyday creepyness to create the Otherside’s signature threatening aura.

At last it is time to put their plan into action – Toriko and Sorawao plan an overnight trip on the Otherside. The preparations were actually quite interesting; soothingly banal, which was was a perfect setup for the final scene of this book in which all of the many issues mentioned here collide in an eerie grand finale. With the sole exception of Japanese writers’ newest grotesque body fetish – which I can live without ever encountering ever again – this ending was as least as least as strong as the Kotoribako and, like that ending, will undoubtedly send us into a whole new direction with the story. Miyazawa’s narrative arcs are tight here. shirakaba’s art in this book is way less goofy and much more moody…I like it. Translator Sean McCann and editor Krys Loh do a fantastic job of communicating unreal, not-things in a way that are the right kind of inexplicable. 

Ratings:

Story – 9
Character – 9
Service – 7 – Onsen bathing and /spoilers./
Yuri – 7

Overall – 9

Now this story is really ready to begin. Otherside Picnic is a beguiling tale of personal trauma intertwined with paranormal horror.

Otherside Picnic is available on Kindle, Global Bookwalker and wherever J-Novel Club books are sold. ^_^

Posted in Light Novel, Otherside Picnic | 4 Comments »


How Do We Relationship?, Volume 1

March 22nd, 2021

Miwa, like many young women, has come to college and hopes to fall in love. Also like many young women, she’s a bit unsure how to go about that. When she meets Saeko, the two of them start hanging out. They enjoy each other’s company. Miwa is introduced to Saeko’s circle – a group of folks working on becoming a band.  Saeko and Miwa are hanging out so much, that Saeko finally suggests that they just…date. And so they do.

But it’s not all smooth sailing. They don’t quite seem to be matching up; neither their physical needs, nor their communication styles are in sync. They both have some baggage too, before they can make this work.  In How Do We Relationship, Volume 1, Miwa and Saeko take their first steps along a path for which they cannot see the destination.

Tamifull’s art has a great feel of being grounded in reality – and even more appealingly, so does the writing. Both Miwa and Saeko are someone we might know,  folks we might have hung out with at school…or have been ourselves. ^_^ I remember those days in college when my relationships with other people were tenuous enough that I didn’t know who to rely on.

This story, while it is a romance, it is really a story about communication. Will Saeko and Miwa be able to work things out and communicate? I don’t want to jump the gun, but with five volumes already in Japanese and a 6th on the way, we can at the very least guess that they might. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 6
Characters – 7
Yuri – 9 / LGBTQ – 5
Service – 4

Overall – 8

If you like stories of people figuring out stuff beyond just “do I like her?” and how to navigate within a more complex society than high school, How Do We Relationship, might just be the narrative you’re looking for. I will want you, however, it will be a bumpy ride. ^_^

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


AND THEN: A Girl-Meets-Girl Short Film

March 21st, 2021

In the middle of spring 2020, Jenn Ravenna Tran launched a Kickstarter for a short film And Then, which she described as “A Girl-Meets-Girl Short Film Set in Tokyo.” As a backer on Kickstarter I received a cut of the film, which is slated for an Autumn 2021 public release. Now that I have finally had a chance to watch it, I wanted to tell you all about it!

And Then begins with Mana, played by Erika Ishii, who receives something in the mail that reminds her of her time in Tokyo. We then flashback to that time, as she wanders the town, sketching and experiencing life there. Mana runs into Haru, played by Rina Hoshino. The story follows them as they criss-cross in and out of each other’s lives. As the braid grows tighter, they are brought together.

The Kickstarter had stretch goals to send the crew back to Tokyo to film more footage, but the pandemic brought that to a halt and instead the money was used to support the crew who had lost work because of COVID-19.  Ravenna managed with the footage that had been previously  filmed…and we get enough of a sense of place that these establishing shots feels only slightly abbreviated. These shots are filled with the kind of colorful nightlife street scenes one expects from a story about “Tokyo.” I found myself nodding and grinning as Mana walks the streets, wanders into a shrine, or a cafe. Shibuya Scramble, Tokyo Tower at night, Kamniarimon, it’s all the warm, welcome, typical visual shorthand of “Tokyo.” 

The relationship between Mana and Haru works beautifully, even with such little dialogue and a short time to develop.  Hoshino and Ishii do a great job with few words. The only weakness comes at the end, as they part with a finality that simply makes no sense for the 21st century.

I’ve written about this before. When I reviewed Dear Brother in 2015, I referenced a movie called Stella Dallas in which being divorced was a reason why a mother could never see her child again. In 2018, I talked about this kind of disconnect with the end of After Hours. We have communications devices that allow us global, near-instant access, it’s hard to imagine a reason for such an abrupt separation without, say, exchanging LINE info. That said, since this movie is excellent, I will allow this. We will sketch in a subtextual reason that makes their parting more immediate and permanent and we will accept that it exists.

I have rated this story as Yuri rather than as a queer movie because the relationship is not explicitly about queer identity (although they do dance together at reknowned lesbian bar GOLDFINGER in one scene.) More importantly, the “girl-meets-girl” of the title puts this safely into our genre standard. ^_^

As a short movie, it has a pretty substantial feel and it absolutely makes me want to know what happens after the credits roll. That’s the finest compliment I can give a narrative – I want more. ^_^

Ratings:

Cinematography  – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8

I’ll of course keep my eyes open for a public release – and I hope, when you are able, you’ll take a moment and enjoy And Then.

Posted in Live Action | 2 Comments »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – March 20, 2021

March 20th, 2021

Yuri Live Action

The trailer for Netflix’ live-action movie of Nakamura Ching’s GUNJO, (羣青) Ride or Die, now has a subtitled trailer. Rafael Antonio Pineda has the details on ANN. I have only one complaint and only folks who have read GUNJO might be able to guess it. Even in that teeny trailer I can see some of what scenes have been chosen – and changed.  This clearly is not going to be the same story as the manga, but I hope it will be a good story!

 

Events

Today, at 1PM EST US, I will be on the Let’s Play channel on the Okazu Discord, Join us for a walkthrough of the Yuriten Yuri art exhibition and store!

YNN Correspondent Mariko S. wants you to know that the  Tokyo House Party team has an event series with Japanese performing artists to discuss gender roles in Japanese theater and Takarazuka Revue on Saturday, March 27th at 6:00pm

 

Support Yuri News, Reviews, Videos and Interviews! Become an Okazu Patron! 

 

Yuri Manga

Some new stuff added to the Yuricon Store:

Ana C. Sánchez’s manga-inspired Alter Ego, which I reviewed this past week.

A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow, Volume 7, will be reaching us this May.

This summer will see Denpa’s Volume 1 of Vampeerz: My Peer Vampires, a schoolgirl vampire romance by Akili I have been reading, but have not reviewed. Not sure why Denpa didn’t think we’d get the pun. It’s, uh, pretty obvious? ^_^;

I’m looking forward to reading Ikeda Takashi’s Futari ha Daitai Konna Kanji, Volume 2 (ふたりはだいたいこんなかんじ). Volume 1 was pleasant.

Non-linear love tale about two women whose love was never going to be allowed to flourish, in Yume no Hashibashi, Volume 1 and Volume 2 (夢の端々). This series starts in the present and looks back at a love that began in the Showa period.

Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei, Volume 1 (転生王女と天才令嬢の魔法革命) looks like it could be a fun Isekai story about revolution and magic.

Crowd-funded Yuri manga magazine Galette, No. 17 (ガレット No.17) has hit shelves in Japan.

 

Speaking of the Yuricon Store, we’re still doing a deep clean – beginning with the English Manga section, kind of sensibly. ^_^We’re fixing broken links and some front and back end problems. To do this, we’ve lost the ability to search by alphabet, but the search function is working better again. Let us know if there’s a feature you’d like to see! We’re planning a move to a new theme sometime this year and have plenty of room to look into new features. Right now the default is alphabetical, but you can change the default to recent and see what we’ve new products have been added.

Because we’re looking at a new theme, it might be time to run a new Yuriko and Midori art contest. ^_^

For fans of idol Yuri, you might want to take a look at Oshi ga Tonari de Jugyou ni Shuuchuu Dekinai! (推しが隣で授業に集中できない！) by Tsutsui Tetsu and  Sugawara Koyubi, about a girl whose favorite idol is in her class at school. Sample chapters in Japanese are available online at Comic Days.

The first volume of the manga version of SukeraSparo’s Yuri VN, Kudan no Folklore, (クダンノフォークロア 特装版) is being released with a special edition, that includes a remastered HD version of the main story, an original soundtrack, and the ability to download some extras!

 

Yuri Anime

Alex Mateo on ANN reports that Funimation will be streaming the Blue Reflection Ray anime.

Alex also has the news that Crunchyroll will be streaming Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S. I know a bunch of folks who will be pleased about this. ^_^

Also on ANN, Rafael Antonio Pineda has details about the second season for Yuri-adjacent anime My Next Life as a Villainess. ^_^ I’m caught up on the LNs in English. It still remains goofy fun and basically stays Yuri-adjacent.

 

Other

Via YNN correspondent Farfetched, “Global BookWalker is doing a 70% (!!!) coinback on any light novel released before Feb 24th!” This includes many Yuri manga and LNs, Farfetched point out, like Sayaka, Otherside Picnic, Adachi and Shimamura and Girls Kingdom.

YNN Correspondent Evie is excited that the folks who brought you Yaoi Crate are looking into creating a Yuri Crate service that they are planning on launching relatively soon. I’m iffy about these services, because they provide a few bucks worth of content for a lot of money.  Our Lucky Boxes are the opposite, where I overfill boxes with stuff. Admittedly, I don’t send them out every month, either. ^_^

 

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

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Posted in Yuri Network News | 2 Comments »