Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – September 15, 2018

September 15th, 2018

Top news this week is the relaunch of Yuricon.com! We originally started just around 20 years ago as an online mailing list for fans of a genre that didn’t have a name. We fought for recognition for our genre and spent many hours talking about Yuri anime and manga. Now Yuricon members are taking it on the road running Yuri lectures, writing articles and promoting Yuri all over the world. Drop by and see the new, streamlined Yuricon site!

Yuri Manga

Azumakawa Miso’s Pixiv Yuri comics have been collected into a single volume of 40 shorts, covering the good, the bad, the bitter and the sweet of Yuri couples in Totsuzen Yuri (突然の百合).

The newest of the Eclair collection, Eclair rouge Anata no Hibiku Yuri Anthology (エクレア rouge あなたに響く百合アンソロジー) hits Japanese shelves at the end of this month.

Via YNN Correspondent Alextasha , Volume 4 of Pulse by Ratana Satis is available for Pre-order!

YNN Correspondent Mariko S wants you to know about a “series called Lily Marble by Kisugae that I like – it’s about a gym called “Fitness Club Lily” and the Yuri hijinks the various staff members get up to.” You can read it on the publisher’s site (in Japanese) for free.

 

Yuri Anime

Via YNN Correspondent robin from cyberia, the Asagao to Kase-san Flower Edition Blu-Ray with desktop calendar (あさがおと加瀬さん。」Blu-ray Flower Edition(初回限定生産)(オリジナル卓上カレンダー付き) is up for pre-order available from Amazon JP! It’s slated for a November release. There is also a DVD version available, but…for possibly the first time ever, I actually recommend the BD.  The Blu-Ray set includes extra disks with audio dramas and cast talks. I have not yet confirmed whether it has English subtitles. 

 

Yuri Events

Via YNN Correspondent Serena, the Yuri/GL Phillipines group will have an exhibitor’s table at Cosplay Mania in Manila on September 29-30. Drop by to meet a great group of Yuri fans!

From Yuiko on Twitter, the office-romance focused Yuri doujinshi event 20OL is happening once again on September 16 in Nagoya, Japan.

 

Other News

YNN Correspondent Serena also noted that webcomic site Lezhin has apologized to creators after an earlier scandal regarding blacklists and unfair payments which affected the GL section of the site very heavily.

Queer-friendly, female-focused magazine Sparkler Monthly is running their 6th annual Kickstarter campaign. 

One of my favorite comics series for kids, Hilda, is getting a cartoon on Netflix. Check out the trailer on Cartoon Brew and this guide to the graphic novels.

I’m probably preaching to the choir here, but it seems to me that if you don’t want your online group to be understood as a campaign of harassment and intolerance, then maybe you ought not to name it after a previous campaign of harassment and intolerance. JA Micheline discusses Comcsgate in, what is in my opinion, the definitive article on this particular incarnation of angry men angry at women, people of color and LGBTQ folks existing, in Comicsgate is the latest front in the ongoing culture wars for The Guardian.

No podcast this week, I seem to have run myself ragged. ^_^ But do feel free to send me questions you’d like me to address on the next YNN Podcast!

 

Become a YNN Correspondent by reporting any Yuri-related news to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com with your name and an email I can reply to! Our YNN podcast is now available, in which I take a look at some key news items this week..

Got questions about Yuri? Write in and ask and I’ll do my best to address them on the Okazu YNN Podcast!

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

Posted in Yuri Network News | 2 Comments »


Yuricon.com Site Renewal

September 14th, 2018

It’s been almost 20 years since I jokingly started an online community for fans of Yuri anime and manga. Our first name was Anilesbocon (Animated Lesbian Convention), a name taken with permission from an Utena fanfic by Dreiser, Scenes From an Elevator. I designed and coded the page in state-of-the-art Photoshopped tile background and drop-shadow text. The original design, which stuck around through 2000, is lost to the oubliette of floppy disk backups and webhosts that no longer exist, which seems utterly suitable for it. ^_^

In 2001, our home page first featured Yuricon mascot, out lesbian pop idol Yuriko, taking on the task of welcoming visitors!  The art was by my wife, who had no idea what she was getting into. ^_^ 

 

In 2002, we celebrated an official 1st anniversary for Yuriko, who was had just met her soon-to-be lover, award-winning writer Midori. Kelli N. did the art for me and this is still one of my favorite pictures by her. ^_^ (Yuriko famously cannot cook.) In 2002, I launched Okazu, as well, to follow the progress of our upcoming event, Yuricon.

 

By 2003, we were kicked into high gear for the first Yuricon event. Merisusan drew my absolute favorite picture, Kelli colored it and we had our Yuricon 2003 poster, with Yuricon mascots Yuriko and Midori!

After we wrapped up with Yuricon 2003, Kathryn Williams drew Yuriko with a previous lover for our home page. For the next couple of years, visitors were greeted by “Yuriko, With Love.”

 

By late 2004, Internet fashion had changed significantly, so we revamped the page completely to suit the new standards, with more dynamic content in the side bar. Note the use of Merisusan’s Yuriko and Midori in the left sidebar, please. ^_^ The right-hand sidebar was update regularly with new news.

The site stayed that way for the next 6 years, through Yuricon 2005’s Yuri Revolution event in Tokyo, the main years when we published manga as ALC Publishing, Onna! with Shoujocon and 2007’s  Yurisai event. Phew!

As the 2010s dawned, I was working furiously with May Young as a designer for the second time. We tested out Drupal and a bunch of other backend solutions, and we developed a wholly new look for Yuricon.

The site was transitioned to WordPress (thank you gods for WordPress!) in 2014, with the same basic scheme, but finally(!) the Internet had caught up to my vision of dynamic, on-the-fly content. (When I explained what I wanted to the web developer to do in 2004, he just stared uncomprehendingly at me, then mansplained why it would never work for 2 hours. Whee.)

After all these years, we had kept Kelli N’s “I Love Yuri” logo as the primary image. I still wear that logo proudly. ^_^ We also kept May’s art for the header for the 2014 update, although it’s more understated.

We closed ALC Publishing and Yuricon events because the world had changed and the things we wanted to accomplish had, as well. There are more manga publishers putting Yuri out in English than ever before, which is great. There are more Yuri and Queer manga-friendly events, too.

We have spent a lot of time in the last couple of years developing the Yuricon Store into the massively comprehensive place it is for getting Yuri manga and anime, and the Essays page to the definitive list of articles and research on Yuri and related topics.

In the meantime, I had *finally* completed and posted the sequel to my novel introducing Yuriko, Shoujoai ni Bouken. Saiyuu no Ryouko is a second novel about Yuricon mascots Yuriko and Midori.

And we’ve worked tirelessly to update and streamline our Yuricon communities. We sunsetted our old Yahoo Groups mailing list, revamped our Yuri Studio Youtube channel with original content, and developed our Yuricon community on Facebook. I have a number of resource lists, as well a Moments in Yuri page on Twitter. We opened a Patreon for Okazu to help support on-going development…and this year we’ve created a new Discord channel for those of us who just want to chat in real time.

It’s 2018. Yuricon.com has transitioned many times. Now we’re working on a new, more streamlined version. We’re going to focus on the Store and the Yuricon Essays page, the two largest ongoing projects we have. We’re adding new research material and new items all the time! And we’ve revamped the site search so it’s even more robust than ever before. You can search for media in Japanese and English, use our descriptive tags, categories or browse sections alphabetically. Phew. There is an updated look at the current online Yuri (and queer) manga and comics landscape on the Links page.

It’s been fun going backwards and seeing where we started and how far we’ve come. And now I invite you to take a look at the newest incarnation of Yuricon! 

It’s still a work in progress, but we hope you enjoy the new streamlined look! 

Posted in Yuricon | 1 Comment »


Yuri Manga: Oya ga Urusainode Kouhai (♀) to Gizoukekkonshitemite (親がうるさいので後輩(♀)と偽装結婚してみた。)

September 13th, 2018

Today we’re looking at Oya ga Urusainode Kouhai  to Gizoukekkonshitemite (親がうるさいので後輩(♀) と偽装結婚してみた。) by Kodama Naoko. Compared to her last series, NTR: Netsozou Trap, this isn’t problematic at all, but that doesn’t meant there aren’t problems! ^_^;

Machi is a fairly typical office worker. She’s got a male co-worker who keeps regaling her with tales of domestic bliss with his girlfriend and questions about her own future. Doesn’t she want to get married? Machi doesn’t particularly want to get married, but her parents aren’t listening. They are pounding her with eligible men and demanding she do the right thing. Machi is painfully aware that her parents have always demanded she do what will embarrass them least and she’s always acquiesced. But not this time.

Machi’s roommate and kouhai, Hana, thinks she has a solution. Shibuya is now offering same-sex partnership certificates. If they sign up, then Machi’s parents will have to get off her back, right?  Unsurprisingly, Machi’s parents do not feel that this acceptable and they are instead very rude to Hana, which finally forces Machi to take a stand. She demands her parents apologize to Hana, and the two women leave. 

But if the idea of a fake same-sex marriage of convenience isn’t going to bother us, then the idea that the actual relationship between Hana and Machi is horribly unfair, is just fine. (-_-) 

Because Hana is actually in love with Machi. And Machi is, but has no idea she is. Yes, she likes that Hana is there when she gets home, that there’s food and companionship. She’s pleased that Hana’s design business is taking off, but she’s taking her time figuring out that Hana means more to her than just a roommate. 

It’s not until Hana goes out to drink and speak with a former girlfriend that Machi finally groks her own feelings. But now, she’s got to cope with the embarrassment she’s feeling. She’s legitimately embarrassed at how’s she treated Hana, BUT, because if Kodama-sensei can’t make us feel uncomfortable, she’s not doing her job, apparently, Machi’s even more embarrassed because she’s has no idea what a same-sex relationship should be like. When Hana starts to make love to her, Machi immediately reacts with detachment, so Hana backs off. Hana’s the real hero here – she understands Machi in a way that Machi herself has no clue about. And, unlike “nice” guys everywhere, she’s very clear right from the very beginning about her interest in Machi, so there’s no confusion AND she accepts Machi’s boundaries without question.

Slowly, Machi unravels her discomfort, her embarrassment, her emotional armor and Hana’s perfectly content to be there with supportive love. As the story ends, we can see them with a relationship that is no longer a sham.

A second story about an athlete in a slump and the best friend who is there for her is nice, and reinforced the problematic narrative of “just wait and eventually they’ll come around to noticing you.”

I enjoyed this volume, despite the fact that the plot drivers aren’t really appropriate in the real world. 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 9 for Hana
Service – 2 Some light romance/sexual discomfort
Yuri – 7
LGBTQ – 4 Mention of the real-world same-sex partnership certificates, but no discussion around it

Overall – 7

In comparison to her previous work it was a light-hearted gag, a comedy movie, a lark. 

Posted in Kodama Naoko, Yuri Manga | 4 Comments »


Sailor Moon R Movie and Sailor Moon S Movie Double Feature (Guest Review by Pat M)

September 12th, 2018

It’s Guest Review Wednesday and today I’m pleased to introduce you all to a brand new Guest Reviewer and long-time friend, Pat M! Pat’s giving us a two-fer today, after watching both Viz’s releases of the first two Sailor Moon movies in the theater last month. Please welcome our dear friend Pat and sit back and enjoy the double feature!

 

The Sailor Moon R and S movies recently hit theaters in a limited release by Viz. Sailor Moon is one of my favorite anime of all time, so I rode the nostalgia wave to a nearby theater to watch the double feature with subtitles.

Sailor Moon R Movie takes place after the second season of the same name. Sailor Moon S takes place after the third season of the same name.

In the Sailor Moon R movie, the gang are enjoying a day out at the botanical garden when an alien materializes before them and speaks directly to Mamoru. It turns out that Mamoru met Fiore when they were children. He gave Fiore a rose before the alien left Earth. It was an act of kindness that stuck with Fiore, and drove him to search out the most beautiful flower worthy of his new friend. This is Sailor Moon, so the flower that he finds naturally turns out to be an energy sucking evil monster that causes him to have plans of world destruction. He’s also very attached to Mamoru, and does not appreciate the fact that Usagi declares herself Mamoru’s girlfriend. Sailor Moon and the gang have to stop Fiore from destroying the earth with a giant seed-shaped asteroid that is on its way to spread evil flowers everywhere.

Both the movies are from the 1990’s. On a technical level, I think that Sailor Moon R had a better transition to high definition video and audio. The animation was smooth, and the sound was fairly good for something that wasn’t mixed with today’s digital audio in mind. I always mention the high production value of the R movie. The visual quality is higher than any of the other Sailor Moon movies. This is also the movie that has the song “Moon Revenge” in it. It’s a high power song sung by the whole cast, and it’s worth watching the movie for.

Unlike the other movie, Sailor Moon R does not resemble the TV series feel. The characters seem more serious. There is much less slap-stick humor. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Watching the R movie again after so many years reminded me of why Usagi is such a powerful character; she can’t bear to see anyone in pain. This is the driving force behind her character. Usagi is frequently the focus of slap-stick humor in the show. It’s nice to see a story in which she gets to display a maturity that makes it believable that she could grow into a legendary leader in the future.

The first major fight scene in the movie has always been one of my favorites. It takes up a good amount of time, looks great, and is brutal. The monster isn’t just weird, it’s creepy. It’s also important to note that the R movie gives us a rare glimpse into Mamoru’s past. Even Usagi admits that she doesn’t know much about his life before they met.

Sadly, there is no Yuri in the Sailor Moon R movie.

Art: 9
Story: 7
Music: 9 – Moon Revenge!
Characters: 7
Service: 2
Yuri: 0 

Overall: 7

 

In the Sailor Moon S Movie, Luna, the cat who told Usagi about her destiny to become Sailor Moon, stumbles around with a fever on her way home. She is saved from being run over by a nice scientist who happens to work in an observatory and is obsessed with the moon. In her delirium, Luna falls in love with him. Around this time, a frozen alien woman who resembles Elsa Gone Bad shows up and is intent on freezing the Earth. She’s after an evil crystal that Luna’s scientist found. It’s been sucking away his energy and turning him into a really rude and cranky guy who lashes out at everyone but Luna. Bad Elsa wants the crystal because it’s a piece of her comet and she can’t freeze the whole earth without it. I think that she just wants a bling broach for her open gossamer shirt, but who says that both reasons can’t be true. Luna wishes she could be human and spend time with her scientist, but alas, she’s a cat. Everyone shows up to save the world and blast Bad Elsa back to Arendal (or wherever she went after Serenity blasted her from the Moon Kingdom the first time).

The Sailor Moon S movie did not fare as well in the transition to high definition. There were several scenes in the movie that looked as if they had characters added to the cells after production. The lines for the additions were much thicker and darker, so they stood out in sharp contrast to the rest of the cell. These were almost always during crowd or street shots, but they were really jarring at whatever pixel depth the theater showed the film in. The animation quality for the movie was a step up from the show, but nowhere near the quality of the R film. Sound in the S movie was not consistent. There were times when one track would be very low, but another would blare loudly. An example of this is when the Outer Senshi first transform. The music was loud, but the dialog during it was so quiet that I couldn’t hear it at all.

Sailor Moon S felt much more like the TV show. Rei and Usagi fight like they always do. Chibi-Usa and Usagi are ridiculous to the point that they actually trick a monster into looking the other way as they escape just by pointing in unison in that direction. There’s also a romance in the form of a story for Luna that lasts from the beginning of the film to the end. While it isn’t as high on my list of Sailor Moon songs as “Moon Revenge”, “Moonlight Destiny” plays at the end and is a lovely song.

The Outer Senshi are in the S movie, so technically there is Yuri just by their presence. There is only one scene that I can point to as a Yuri moment, and it is so short that if you blink you’ll miss it. During the first café scene where Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna are hanging out, one of the Snow Dancers crashes through the window and Haruka wraps her arm around Michiru before diving out of the booth with her.

Art: 6
Story: 5
Music: 7 – Moonlight Destiny
Characters: 8
Service: 2
Yuri: 3 (1 for Haruka, 1 for Michiru, and 1 for Haruka protecting Michiru) 

Overall: 6.5

Thanks Pat! I really appreciate the overview. I’ve noticed that sound is always a huge problem with these remastered versions…and it’s really apparent with large screens and good sound systems. (Some of us may remember the issues we had with sound on CPM’s version of the Revolutionary Girl Utena Movie. ) These movies have not yet had DVD/Blu-ray releases, but as soon as they do I’ll provide links for you all!

 

Posted in English Anime, Guest Review, Sailor Moon | No Comments »


Yuri Manga: Junsui Luminescence (純水ルミネッセンス )

September 10th, 2018

This week, I posted a discussion on the Okazu YNN Podcast about “problematic” themes in Yuri. ^_^ Topping that list was stories in which teachers and students become a couple. Two series I noted as examples in which we were presumed to – and want to – root for the couple, were Hanjuku Joshi (半熟女子) by Morishima Akiko  and Junsui Adolescence (純水アドレッセンス) by Kazuma Kowo. As I say in the podcast, “In series like Hanjuku Joshi and Junsui Adolescence we’re put in the position of rooting for the couple and, realistically how awkward is *that*?” ^_^;

In honor of this theme, I couldn’t think of a better manga to review than Kazuma Kowo’s newest volume, Junsui Luminescence (純水ルミネッセンス).

In Junsui Adolescence we met Nanao, a high school student who falls hard in love for the school doctor, Matsumoto. Nanao is very determined about her interest and her desire and Matsumoto just cannot not be swept off her feet.  They get together by the end of the first story, but what happened to them had to wait ten years to be told in the Perfect Volume, (the review of which is linked to above.)

But first, in Junsui Luminescence we are treated to “Rakuen made, ato…” a series of in-jokes in the form of short-shorts about Nonko, a doujinshi artist and her #1 fan, and lover. Nonko draws BL doujinshi of Rakuen-kun and other male characters from Rakuen Le Paradis magazine. Non-chan and her lover (whose name, I believe, is never given) are super dedicated to getting her work out to events, and equally as committed to testing out plot ideas. They are, overall, a very cute couple, but the story is clearly written for fans of her work from Rakuen Le Paradis. The doujinshi bits are a bit funnier if you know that Rakuen-kun is Nakamura Asumiko’s titular character for an ongoing series in the magazine and that Kazuki and Nagai are from Mizutani Fuka’s Love at Fourteen. 

In “Junsui Adolescence,” the final chapters of the series, (which was originated in Yuri Hime magazine 10 years ago,) Nanao is a senior, and she and Matsumoto are lovers. But. Matsumoto can’t keep her hands off Nanao in school and even though she is well aware that she’ll destroy her life if they are discovered, she doesn’t stop. And so, they are discovered. But the teacher who discovers them is Matsumoto’s friend and promises to not tell.

Whew…talk about problematic! Our skin rightfully would crawl if this was a real story, but here, we’re supposed to be happy about it! Ouch.

So Nanao enforces an embargo until she graduates – no anythinging until that’s over. Immediately Nanao becomes depressed, and avoids Matsumoto, because she hates seen the doctor being cheerful with the other students. Nanao’s friends can see that something’s up. She finally admits that she’s keeping a secret from them but doesn’t say what. In the meantime, her friends are fantasizing about wedding dresses and the future. Nanao decides she wants to marry Matsumoto, but gets a very tepid response to the idea. 

Nanao’s down in the dumps, but as she passes the doctor’s office one day, Matsumoto drags her in and starts to kiss her. Nanao points out that Matsumoto is the one risking everything here, and the doctor agrees, but say she’s been so lonely…. Nanao is actually kind of happy to know she’s not been alone in being miserable. 

Nanao makes herself plain – yes, she wants to marry Matsumoto. She wants plans a trip during spring break to be their honeymoon, before she graduates.

In the end of the volume, we see them for a few pages as Nanao’s grown up. The Perfect Volume ended with the image of the two of them in wedding dresses, which we see here, as well. We then get two new chapters. One, in which Nanao finally confesses her secret relationship to her 4 friends, only to learn that two of them guessed and the two of them were a couple all along (which I guessed). And the two that guessed had all the makings of a couple themselves.

Just to make sure this book is theme appropriate, the final pages show us Nanao and Matsumoto once more, this time in bed. The school doctor has her calendar marked for that trip, and we see Nanao, looking more mature than we’ve ever seen her, thinking, “I want to become an adult.” Well…..okay, thanks for that one last kick in the pants. ^_^;

Ratings:

Art – 9 -Kazuma-sensei’s art has improved so much in a decade
Story – “Rakuen made” is a silly 7 and “Junsui” is a fine, but problematic 8
Characters – 9 Although I sometimes really find Matsumoto vexing
Yuri – 9
Service – Um…yes. The whole premise is creepy service. 

Overall – 9

So yeah, this series is problematic up the wazoo, but I still like it anyway and I’m glad Matsumoto and Nanao get together. So there.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »