Yuri Manga: Kai to Alternarock (貝とオルタナロック)

September 28th, 2017

Nako’s Kai to Alternarock (貝とオルタナロック) has the English subtitle “The key to her room will be opend by her music” which nicely, if inaccurately sums up the story. Alternarock is short for “alternative rock.” Kai is a shell, a symbol that is relevant to the story. An Alternative rock guitarist does get the protagonist to come out of her shell, but it still wins this year for the most awkward title to explain in English. ^_^

Makino is an asshole boss. Intolerant, rude and impatient, she treats the people in her department poorly as a course of matter. She’s a mope and a grouch.

And yet, Seo just can’t hate her. Seo isn’t trying to play Makino, she’s not trying to seduce her, she just wants her miserable wretch of a boss to enjoy something. Seo invites Makino to see her play with her band live and somehow or other, something starts to crack in Makiko’s thick and bitter exterior.  And almost without either of them realizing it, they are kind of an item. The big boss, an old friend of Makino’s, is pleased to see her friend less unhappy. It takes some time before Makino finally comes clean about the personal history that has made her so unhappy, but of all people in the world, Seo is the last to judge Makino poorly.

Sadly we don’t get to see Makino at work after she open up, but I’d like to think she isn’t any different. ^_^

This manga is pretty well-used plot for an office romance in manga, but I don’t know, I still kind of like it, as unrealistic as it seems to me. (Maybe not to you, but you haven’t had my bosses!)

Nako’s art is not complicated, but not precise, either, with very light use of tone. It’s easy to follow, but then this is a mostly “talking head” manga and didn’t need complicated backgrounds. I quite liked that the manga was preachy about the evils of smoking and drinking. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Character – 8 Seo’s sincerity won Makino’s heart and mine
Story – 8 Nothing new, but that can be okay, too
Yuri- 6
Service – 0

Overall – 8

Yay for Yuri about adults adulting! More please!

I would like to dedicate today’s review to our first-ever Kami-level Patron here on Okazu, Ivan L! With his and your help we’re just about in range to pay our Guest Reviewers. Thanks to all the Okazu patrons! We can’t do it without you.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Sailor Moon S Anime , Part 2, Disk 2 (English)

September 25th, 2017

For the first time ever, I’m going to say hands down, the Blu-Ray is better. Watching Sailor Moon S, Part 2, Disk 2 on BD was…fun. The colors are super-saturated, and the animation is as good as the animation ever was (which is to say, not really all that good.) It was good enough, however, that we commented that the Blu-Ray made a difference and we never do that. Sound quality was, again, really decent and overall, the technicals were solid enough that we never once had to think about them for being intrusive or annoying.

In Part 2, the story is getting both sillier and more serious at the same time. We lose Eudial and pick up the delusional Mimete, with her creepy cormorant Daimons. In Mimete’s world, pure hearts are only had by celebrities, so she’d get along famously in 2017.

The Outer Senshi have settled down into full-time brooding, as Sailor Moon herself is getting used to a powerup. I particularly like how they don’t sit down to have any sensible conversations about the situation. Chibi-Usa is the only one who can cross lines, and that’s only because no one takes her seriously. 

Hotaru gets a creepy power-up, then the pathos is laid on with a trowel. I don’t get Kaolinite treating Hotaru so shitty. You’d think…but, no. 

In one of the most eye-opening episodes we both saw something so Ikuhara we started to laugh. It’s funny to see a beloved director’s visual tic so obviously on display.

We’re about to get into the darkest moments of the series and I find I can’t wait to watch it. 25 years later and I’m still a huge fangirl…which is why I’m as excited as I am to say I’ll get to see the new Sailor Moon store in Harajuku! Yay! I’ll be in Tokyo for Comitia and will save my yen for all the Sailor Senshi goods. ^_^ 

Ratings:

Art – 8 
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri –  2 A bit muted this disk
Service – 3 

Overall – 8

I’m also keeping my fingers crossed for an interview that will interest you all at AnimeNYC. Say a little prayer.

Thanks very much to Viz for the review copy! I just love it to pieces.

 

 

Posted in English Anime, Sailor Moon | 2 Comments »


New! Okazu Patron-Only Content on Patreon

September 24th, 2017

Today I hit a major milestone in what I’m calling the “Big Book o’Yuri” – the definitive book on history, influences, key series, definitions, and random things I want to write about, etc, etc. This monster project, which is going to cover approximately 100 years of the genre we love is halfway done! Yay! (mind you, halfway not counting formatting, citing, editing, images, etc….)

In honor of this momentous occasion, I am working on my first-ever “Patron Only” content! Get this glimpse of the definitive on Yuri book by subscribing to Okazu! All patrons who are subscribed at any level will get a peek behind the screens at some of the newest content on October 8th.

Your patronage makes it possible for me to do the work of writing what will be the most comprehensive book about Yuri ever. Every dollar helps and will get you a look at brand-new, non-Okazu content.

Subscriptions over $5/month get a badge and mention on the Okazu Hero Roll, chances at special patron-only Lucky Boxes and my sincere thanks!

I hope you’ll support this work on Patreon!

Posted in History of Yuri | 3 Comments »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – September 23, 2017

September 23rd, 2017

Yuri Manga

Seven Seas has licensed a kind-of-Yuri manga-ish title, Hungry For You: Endo Yasuko Stalks the Night by Flowerchild. It’s a Young King title, so I feel not particular hopeful that it’ll be good, but I’ve been wrong before. ^_^

Kusanagi-sensei ha Tamesareteiru. (草薙先生は試されている。) is a Yuri 4-koma gag comic that follows a teacher, whose school love’s daughter falls in love with her when she’s in Kusanagi’s class. You can read at least some of it online (in Japanese) for free.

Comic Natalie has the news of a Onee-loli Yuri anthology with familiar names like Namori, Itou Hachi and Takemiya Jin called Parfait. (パルフェ おねロリ百合アンソロジー)

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Support Yuri News and Reviews –  Subscribe to Okazu withSubcribe with Patreon

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Yuri Anime

Crunchyroll has added the first of Bee Train’s “girls with guns on the run” anime trilogy, Noir and circus-themed Kaleido Star to their catalog.

Card Captor Sakura – Clear Card Arc will be premiering on Japanese TV in January, Crunchyroll News reports. Check out the promotional video.

CR News also has a report on some speculation about a Gai-Rei-Zero animation in celebration of the anime’s 10th anniversary.

 

Events

Tomorrow in Tokyo, Japan will be 2OL, an event for Yuri starring adult characters. Keep an eye on the Twitter hashtag #2OL for related posts.

I’m doing another lecture up at Harvard on October 26. Not sure if this will be open to the public or not. Check back for details.

I expect to be attending Anime NYC as press. This is this event’s first year and I’m very hopeful it will be successful. It’s a general “anime’ event, so I don’t expect anything of Yuri interest. November 17-19, 2017, Javits Convention Center.

And Comitia is coming up on November 23 at Big Site in Tokyo. I am very much hoping to be there.

 

Live-Action News

YNN Correspondent Brendan B wants you to know that “Apparently Fun Home is getting a Japanese production, with former Takarazuka star Jun Sena playing adult Allison. That’s some casting!” That will be amazing, yes. ^_^

Ciara Pitts wrote up a list of New And Upcoming Lesbian Movies Out In 2017 And Beyond which, sadly, left out the one movie I’m looking forward to the most – Signature Move, which will be coming to Amazon Video in 2018.

Takarazuka is gearing up to do Moto Hagio’s Clan of Poe and the first look at the lead is absolutely grin-making.

Check out the digest video of the the final Sailor Moon Musical ~Le Mouvement Final~.

Saki – Achiga Hen will be getting a live action drama and movie. About girls playing mah jong. Riveting stuff, eh? ^_^

The live-action Futari Monologue is not Yuri, but definitely looks interesting. It’s streaming on Youtube according to ANN.

 

Other News

The Center for LGBTQ studies of NYU have open Fellowships you can apply for. If you are creating work with LGBTQ themes or doing research on those works, take a look!

Yesterday on Twitter, Tagame Gengoroh-sensei, creator of My Brother’s Husband, tweeted that he’s done a second jacket cover for the BD/DVD edition of Oscar-winner movie Moonlight, for the Japanese release. Check out his tweet for the image!

 

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find.Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

Posted in Yuri Network News | 2 Comments »


LGBTQ Manga: Otouto no Otto, Volume 4 (弟の夫)

September 22nd, 2017

Tagame Gengoroh-sensei’s Otouto no Otto, Volume 4 (弟の夫) completes the series in Japanese. This final volume is exactly as it should be, tying up the loose ends of Yaichi’s inner story in a very satisfying and wholly unpreachy way.

You may remember from Volume 3, Yaichi receives a call from Kana’s teacher. As we feared, he is calling under the guise of “concern” that there is a gay man in her household. Yaichi’s transformation from a man who does not say what he thinks about saying, to a man who says exactly what he thinks about saying in 4 pages is magnificent. As he leaves the teacher’s office, having made it plain that the teacher’s “concerns” are neither legitimate nor appropriate, the sun breaks past the clouds and shines upon him. I said it didn’t preach – I didn’t say it doesn’t visual allegory all over the place. ^_^

As the last remnants of Yaichi’s bias slips from him, he asks Mike to share some of his life with Ryouji. For the first time, Yaichi faces the brother he knew – and wanted to know – nothing about. When he sees Mike’s parents in Mike and Ryouji’s wedding pictures he feels stupid for not being there. To make up for it, Yaichi takes Mike with himself and Kana to clean his parent’s grave so, he says, he can introduce Mike to them before he leaves. It was a really nice touch. 

Kana’s issues with her friends are cleared up, and there is a nice little digression about Romeo and Juliet that makes up one of the nicest moments of the book. There’s also time taken to deal with the local gay kid’s story, and let us know he’s in an okay place emotionally.

Watching Yaichi accept Mike fully was exactly as heartwarming as one might expect. ^_^ And one hopes that this manga was able to shepherd other Japanese men through the process with Yaichi and, maybe, help a few young people to find a way to talk to their families. For that alone, this would be a an important book, but it’s also just a really good read. Tagame-sensei deserves every award this series gets.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 10
LGBTQ – 10
Service – 2

Overall – 10

We don’t yet have a date for the final omnibus volume of My Brother’s Husband by Pantheon – as soon as I do, I’ll post it!

 

Posted in LGBTQ | 4 Comments »