Archive for the Yuri Manga Category


Yuri Manga: Free Soul

January 21st, 2004

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue
Part 2

I want to tell you today about something new.Very new. Very, very new. And because it’s a josei manga currently running in josei monthly magazine Feel Young Comics, I have never seen mention of it anywhere – but you *should* know about it.

Free Soul, by out lesbian mangaka Yamaji Ebine is, perhaps, the first mainstream lesbian manga running in a monthly comic magazine, with openly gay characters and fairly explicit lesbian sex. This is as yuri as shoujo yuri gets, by which I mean, its 100% yuri. No punches pulled, no holds barred. No encoding, no symbols, no subtext. This is a story about a lesbian, by a lesbian, with lesbian sex. You see why you need to know about it? :-)

Free Soul is the story of Keito, an  aspiring mangaka. At some point in her life, she met a woman called Angie – an African-American lesbian singer – who radically altered her life. In homage to Angie, Keito has been searching for people who knew her, to learn more about this woman who affected her so strongly. As she meets these people, she relates them and their stories to what she knows of Angie, collecting all these stories into a manga. As the story progresses, so does Keito’s manga.

In a sense, Free Soul is a meta-story, the story about the creation of a story.

As she researches Angie’s life, and interacts with the people who knew her, Keito finds herself attracted to more than a few of the women she meets. But it is Nikki, a mysterious and evasive, but incredibly sensual, woman who captures Keito’s heart. Nikki is the “free soul” of the title. She can’t be pinned down and, for all the time they spend together, Keito knows almost nothing about Nikki’s life or nature. Nikki’s open sexuality and desire for Keito make this one very hot manga series, but Keito’s reactions are very down-to-earth and realistic. I give this the very highest recommendation I can give to yuri fans – you *need* to get this manga. Not only will your purchase make a point (hey, publisher – this rocks!) but you’ll be supporting one of the few out lesbian mangaka in the business.

Yamaji Ebine’s characters are very real, their stories believable, their reactions make sense. Very few conventions of shoujo manga apply here, even her art style is pared-down and minimalist. You’ll never find bubbles in the background, but you will be given a strong background music track – Yamaji-sensei’s writing is bound to western jazz and lesbian/bi singers and artists. Musical artists and their albums appear
over and over in her writing, giving it a smooth, mellow sound (especially if you know the music.)

Free Soul is on-going, but the author favors pleasant – if occasionally ambiguous – endings, so it is unlikely to end tragically, another quality that sets her work apart from earlier yuri entries. Yamaji Ebine is a name you’ll see here quite often, so keep your eyes open for her work!

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9

Overall – 9 out of 10.





Yuri Manga: The New Hana no Asuka-gumi

January 14th, 2004

Everything old is new again!

Part 2

Here’s another old series that’s been resurrected for a new audience…the original shaped an entire genration of girls in the mid-80’s…hopefully the new iteration willl do the same!

Atarashii Hana no Asuka-gumi (The new Hana no Asuka-gumi) is one of several excellent manga series running currently in
Feel Young Comics monthly magazine. I’ve raved about this series before, and the plotlines and character relationships are very complex, so I’ll attempt to keep this short, but will probably fail. :-)

Kuraku Asuka is an uber-cool 14-year old girl who hangs out on the streets of
Shinjuku in Tokyo. Her best friends are the members of the local gang; the Shinjuku Omoteban or Outside Group, while Asuka herself was once part of the Uraban or Inside Council that runs all the gangs of Tokyo. The leader of the Zenchuu Uraban, or Central Inside Group…i.e., the folks in charge, known as Hibari-sama, once upon a time, had fallen in love with Asuka and named her “Minister of the Left,” an important post in the organization. But Asuka was in love with, and being manipulated by an older girl, Yohko, who was an outsider to the organization and quite sociopathic. Asuka rejected Hibari, Yohko ultimately died and the series ended after 37 volumes of manga (Asuka Comics,) 2 anime OVAs, three-seasons of a TV show, and half a dozen drama CDs. Now, Hana no Asuka-gumi is back and I think it’s worth following. For one thing, there was quite alot of yuri subtext, which became overt text in the original. The fact that it’s running in Feel Young, which is a josei manga magazine (for older female readers) gives me hope that there will be more subtext than ever. Certainly the world of Asuka is primarily a girl’s world – there are a few guys with minor roles, but that’s about it.

In mostly every arc, you can expect:  lots of internecine rivalry between the area gangs and Asuka; Asuka rescuing a damsel in emotional and sometimes physical, distress; lots and lots of fighting; cool conspiracies as Hibari tries to either get Asuka back, or get revenge upon her.

The yuri subtext lies mainly in the two dysfunctional relationships Asuka has with Hibari and Yohko. Hibari (whose face we never see, and who carries a broken doll around) treats Asuka like a toy to be dressed up and, of course, undressed. In the original story, there was NO doubt that Hibari desired Asuka. In the end, it was on Hibari’s bed, as Hibari lay above her, that Asuka rejects Hibari and the Zenchuu Ura for the last time.

Yohko’s relationship with Asuka is a more complex. In some way, she does love Asuka, but her own twisted nature makes her unable to express it in any way, except by emotional manipulation. Yohko is *not* a nice person. Asuka openly tells Yohko twice that she loves her, but it only enrages Yohko. For the most part, the only way they can express their emotion is by fighting physically -at least this way they can touch each other. Yuuki (one of the few boys in the story) comments quite calmly to Yohko that its obvious that Asuka is really in love with her, so its not just me reading into it. :-)
And, for the record, he uses the word ai (love) not suki (like/love.)
Bear in mind that throughout this story. Asuka is 14 years old, with intimacy issues, while Yohko is 18 and a sociopath…there’s no way this relationship could work. :-)

Asuka is way too cool for her age, and her friends in the Omoteban are a blast: Miko (Yohko’s half sister) is whacked and funny;  Hime is composed and beautiful in a way that *no* 13-year old ever is. :-) The New Asuka has brought back all of the old characters, including alot of the smaller roles, the area gang leaders, the women of the Ranjuku Detention Center, and all of the Zenchuu Ura, including the incredibly hunky Kazuga (Hibari’s Aide-de-camp.). So there are plenty of uber-cool women to watch for.

The new series seems to be post-Yohko, but I live in hope that she will appear, if only because every other arc in the entire Asuka universe had Yohko at the center of it.

The author has her own website which has downloads, games and other Asuka-related stuff. You can find that all at
Takaguchi.net, along with info on the author’s other popular series, some of which are yaoi.

Ratings: Art: 8 out of 10, the old series was a little cleaner than the new (but the new characters look more their age). Character: 10 out of 10. You don’t get better than Asuka! Story – 8 out of 10 for now, since the arc is developing slowly…. Yuri: 2 out of 10 so far – no Hibari/Asuka, no Yohko/Asuka…only the hint that Hibari has a new favorite. Overall – 7 out of 10.

And, as always, you’ll always be kept up to date on any new yuri-ness on the Yuricon Mailing List!





Yuri Manga: YajiKita Gakuen Douchuuki

January 13th, 2004

Everything old is new again!
Part 1

Yes, now that all the otaku of my generation have grown into curmudgeonly old farts who now edit the magazines they once read as kids, you’ll be seeing more and more “revivals” of series from the 70’s and 80’s. Face it, when they remade Beverly Hillbillies into a movie, you just *knew* we were doomed, right? Well, in the case of anime and manga, this isn’t such an evil trend. Here’s a title that you should keep on the lookout for, with great characters, Yuri sub- (and sometimes, overt-) text and action-filled plots:

YajiKita Gakuen Dochuuki, (Yaji and Kita’s School Diary) is a manga series from Bonita magazine from the early 80’s. This was one of Bonita Magazine’s most popular series ever, with Kita consistently topping the “most popular character” category in the annual poll.

I can believe it.

Yaji and Kita and their adventures parody two comedic figures from Japanese literature who wandered from town to town, encountering bad guys and generally making fools of themselves. In this iteration, they are two schoolgirls who wander from school to school, fighting the bad guys and generally saving the day. Shinokita Rei (Kita-san) is a butchy, serious blonde girl, with a penchant for rescuing (and becoming the object of affection for) lovely young ladies and Yajima Junko (Yaji-san) is a tall, lovely brunette girl with a impetuous nature and a habit of rescuing (and becoming the object of affection for) beautiful boys.

In practically every arc of YajiKita, you can be sure of a few things –  the Yakuza will be involved, there will be much fighting, Yaji and Kita will be inutterably cool, the girl will fall in love with Kita and the boy with Yaji. The girls are all doll-like and beautiful and the boys are all *so* pretty. And Kita looks incredibly hunky on her motorcycle….sigh. YajiKita is running once again in Mystery Bonita magazine, so keep your eyes peeled for the collected volumes! I promise to report as soon as I’ve managed to take a look.

Ratings:

Art – 8 out of 10. It’s very realistic and clean.
Story – 6 out 0f 10 for realism, but 10 out of 10 for fun.
Character design – 10 out of 10 for Kita alone. ;-)
Yuri – 6 out of 10 – lots of fun service, little substance.

Overall – 8 out of 10





Yuri Manga: Air Master

November 17th, 2003

Air Master is a decidedly Seinen series about a former gymnastics star turned street fighter. Don’t look for complexities of plot here, kids – the fights *are* the plot. Despite the silliness of the basic story, I cannot recommend Air Master enough to anyone who doesn’t mind sheer mindless violence and some explicit sexual situations, not all of which are pleasant.

Aikawa Maki, aka “Air Master” is a 16-year old transfer student to Tomato Girl’s High School. She’s befriended by Yuu, Michiru, Renge and Mina at a local game center. Yuu, a kogal, picks a fight with two guys who are gaping at Mina’s enormously oversise breasts, and ends up on the ground, beaten and bloody. Renge, an immature, repulsive whelp, can only cry, but Maki steps up and beats the heck out of the guys – securing her a place in street fighter history, and four lifelong friends.

Each of the girls is a blast, with perhaps, the exception of Renge who is *so* horrible and repulsive, that she becomes funny in an appalling way. Yuu is, as I mentioned, a kogal, and proudf of it, while Michiru is a pretty normal, responsible girl and Yuu’s best friend. Mina is described as a “real live rich girl.” She goes to a different school than the others, but has been Yuu’s friend since childhood. Almost immediately, Mina takes a liking to Maki, but after Maki saves her from the mashers…Mina’s like turns into a crush, which quickly escalates into full-blown love and lust. (Some of the most fun scenes are those where Mina indulges in fantasizing about what she’d do with Maki if she had a chance.) Maki eventually comes to return both emotions, but don’t expect it to be played for anything but giggles and fanservice – this is a *really* seinnen manga.

There is a surprising amount of genuine character development, considering the point of the manga is the fighting, and with the exception of one really awful character, everyone is pretty likeable – Maki’s opponents tend become her allies after she defeats them, in fine old fighting manga tradition.

The biggest downside is the art, which is REALLY bad. But the story and characters more than make up for it, IMHO. 19 issues are currently available, as is a 27-episode anime (which I’ll review next month), so don’t hesitate – go find a Kinokuniya or other manga store or click the picture above for the Amazon JP page, and order Air Master today! You’ll be glad you did.

Ratings:

Story- 8
Art – 2
Characters – 10

Overall – 8





Yuricon News and new Yuri Manga!

June 19th, 2003

Yuricon ga owatta!

Well, it’s all over, except for the odd cleanup (and getting all these damn boxes out of my house!) but I don’t have my con report yet. Today’s entry is an advertisement for ALC Publishing’s second shoujoai manga title:

Rica ‘tte Kanji!? is now onsale!

Rica written by Yuricon 2003 Guest of Honor Rica Takashima, tells the tale of a delightful young Rica, come to Tokyo for the first time. We follow Rica as she makes new friends, explores the Nichoume and falls in love. Rica is a funny, charming tale and should not be missed by any fan of shoujoai manga.

Rica ‘tte Kanji!? is available online at the Yuricon Shop. Look for it at the Anime Castle, store in NY, as well!

Next time: Con Chair’s Report