LGBTQ Manga: The Bride Was a Boy (English)

June 24th, 2018

In The Bride Was a Boy, author Chii takes us on the cutest possible journey through her own life as a transgender woman. She addresses not only issues that she personally had to deal with, but the way she would like readers to understand how she uses various terms and concepts, as well as broader understanding of terms in the gender, sexual and romantic minority lexicon. 

But, as the title might indicate, the story is not focused on her transition, per se, although that plays a role, but on her meeting, falling for, and eventually marrying her now-husband, known endearingly as Boyfriend-kun, then Husband-kun. Both Chii-sensei and her husband come across as lovable and charming. She notes that nothing is perfect, much less their relationship, but you just cannot stop grinning through this book. ^_^

The greatest strength of the story (also arguably, its biggest weakness,) is the relative simplicity of the narrative. A surface reading might lend a reader to imagine that,  it all that seems really starightforward and it all went well that trans folks have it well in Japan…but that is not at all the reading that this book deserves. It’s pretty obvious that the journey is not all that easy, but Chii-sensei is not interested in an emotionally complicated narrative here. She doesn’t shy from explaining the difficulties she faced, neither does she wallow in them. She *wants* us to like her, her husband and root for them both all along in their journey. And so we do.  ^_^

Ratings: 

Art – 8 So cute!
Story – Hopeful, tempered with reality
Characters – 9 Adorable
LGBTQ- 10

Overall  – 9

It’s not wrong to want a happily-ever-after for transgender people and during this particular Pride Month in the USA, I am pleased to be able to recommend this charming comic essay to you all. ^_^ Thanks to Seven Seas for the review copy! It was a genuinely delightful read.

Posted in LGBTQ | 5 Comments »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – June 23, 2018

June 23rd, 2018

An extra super-duper long YNN today. Check back in at the end to see why!

Yuri Anime

As the prophecy foretold, Anime Expo, July 5-8 in Los Angeles, will include a premier of the Asagao to Kase-san OVAhosted by both the director and producer. Check out the ANN report for details. 

Both Animage and Newtype magazine July issues spends some time giving coverage to the movie.  

Of all the interviews and articles I’ve mentioned here in support of the movie, the oddest and least apparently relevant so far has to be this interview with AKB48 member Okada Nana, who assures us that it doesn’t matter if its girls in love. Well, that’s settled then. ^_^

Funimation slams back onto our radar with complete DVD/Blu-ray combio boxset releases of the entire Mai HiME collections, My Hime, My Otome and My Otome: Zwei + My Otome 0: S.ifr! All the Shizuru x Natsuki, Chie x Aoi, and Haruka x Yukino for the win!

 

Yuri Manga

My Pride Month Manga recommendation list is still going strong onTwitter! This past week included not-manga suggestions that I thought folks should really not miss. ^_^ (In case its not that obvious, I’m trying my damnedest to give you a variety of genre, age, subject and publishers. Unlike my usual capricious choices, this one has been curated within an inch of it’s life. ^_^ If you value the effort, please consider spending a buck or two a month to support Okazu!

Do you remember that Yuri manga I mentioned last week called Yurikabe (ゆりかべ)? I thought it was about “kabe-don”, you know when people box someone in on a wall? I was soooo wrong. The wall is a Yuri matchmaker! It’s nuts. And great. Check out Seta Seta-sensei’s wacky story on Sukima for free (in Japanese).  My wife reminds me that one of my favorite youkai is Nurikabe, so perhaps this is his lesbian cousin. ^_^

Galette magazine is looking for Yuri doujinshi artists to contribute. They are very clear that they do not provide editorial support or take non-digital submissions, but if you’re interested, check out the guidelines on Galette [meets].

Nishio Yuhta’s After Hours, Volume 2 is now available in English from Viz!

In Bakejyou! ~ Youkai Gakuen Youkoso~ ( ばけじょ! ~妖怪女学園へようこそ~), 4-panel gag comic, Azuki enters a high school for youkai. 

Sakura Minori is an average girl, why is she so popular with the other girls at this rich girls school? Find out in Minori to Hyakunin no Ojousama ( みのりと100人のお嬢様 ).

Mushroom Girls In Love, about the valiant fungus-girl Arriala, fighting to rescue her love, will hit English-language shelves in July. Bruce would have been so pleased (and puzzled).

Shiori o Page-tachi ( しおりを探すページたち) from Comic Yuri Hime magazine is a belated entry to the Yuricon Store. And sweet slice-of-life Yuri, Tsurezure Biyori ( 徒然日和 ) joins it.

 

LGBTQ News

Have some queer news for Pride Month. ^_^

Do you want more comics about lesbian witches? I know I do! Then check out I am Hexed Kickstarter for the comic by Kirsten Thomas!

Sapporo, Japan has issued cards proving LGBT partnerships for use in emergencies, the Kyodo News Agency reports.

Meanwhile, Mainichi reports that Sexual minorities seek recognition of same-sex partnerships from 23 municipal assemblies. 

The Japan Time says that high-profile Japanese businesswoman Katsuma Kazuyo has come out as being in a same-sex relationship with political activist Masuhara Hiroko. 

Syfy channel‘s official Twitter account did a quick tweet with 5 queer comics creators whose names and work you should know!

Here’s a first for Okazu…Good Morning America(!) has an article on the 27 countries where same-sex marriage is legal. It’s a start.  I never expected to ever mention GMA here, for sure. ^_^

 

Visual Novel News

Studio Élan’s first Yuri Visual Novel Heart of the Woods demo is available on Steam and itch.io. 

Aikasa Collective has entered the Yuri Visual Novel market with Mizuchi (白蛇心傳),  a supernatural fantasy, inspired by the Legend of the White Serpent. 

 

Other News

Deb Aoki takes a look at the growth of the English-language manga market for Publishers Weekly in A New Golden Age for Western Manga.

Rachel Thorn has a new article on her blog called The Rise, Fall…and Rebirth…? of Shōjo Manga, in Japanese.

 

Okazu News

After several months of frenetic events and paneling, I am taking a well-deserved extended vacation from Okazu for a few weeks. I have a bunch of reviews lined up to post while I’m offline, I expect/hope/desire to get one last YNN report out this month. For the first time ever, we will have a Guest YNN Editor! I know you all know Louis P for terrific Visual Novel reviews. Louis has kindly accepted the charge of filling in here for at least one YNN Report in July. So please appreciate the effort, the time and thank them. I know that I’m ecstatic over this. I’ve never had anyone to step in on YNN before! Whee! I will be intermittently online, but mostly, I’ll be out having fun, so you go have some summer fun too. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks. 

Check out the Episode 2 of our Okazu News Analysis Podcast now on Patreon!

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!

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

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Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime July 2018 (コミック百合姫2018年7月号)

June 21st, 2018

The July issue of Comic Yuri Hime was so good, I read it twice. I’m following more stories and liking them more than I have in some time.

Hisona’s “Goodbye Dystopia” remains the standout series for me, although it turns away sharply from the apparently abandoned, overgrown (post-apocalyptic) world it had inhabited to a thriving town, a mall, shopping for shoes and an Internet Cafe. It was so stark a change that it took me aback quite a bit and I had to reread it to make sure I was not imagining it. ^_^ So, they are doing walkabout in our world, then?

“ROID” by Shiroshi was poignant, as Anna encounters a used and abused robot and helps him, only to have him rebel against the First Law of Robotics and force her to save his abusive master from certain death. Anna has to confront the needs of self-willed AI beings and the limitations of being built, rather than born. I fucking love this story.

“Yurikkon” by Hisakawa Haru follows the two little girls from the end of the last chapter through their mother’s divorces, reunion and eventually marriage, and the not-sisterly love that they feel for one another. The next story will follow someone returning home from abroad hoping to pick up where they left off.

I still have no idea at all what “Prison Town e Youkoso” by neji is actually about, but I’m happy wansdeing the strets with Akari, who seems as puzzled to be there as I am.

“Kimi ha Shoujo” ended suddenly, strangely and incongruously, with a shift into the future and the city, dragging the entire story with it. I’m sorry that that Nanatsufuji didn’t have time or means to give it a better ending.

Hamuro Kei’s “Tsurezure Biyori” was a nice episode in a young couple’s life, rather than a dramatic moment.

And, among the one-shot,s was a story by Tanaka Rin, whose work I haven’t see since 2012! I was unsurprised to see it was a creepy Yuricest story. That’s what she does. ^_^; While Usui Shio’s “Jewel of You” tells a story of unrequited love that becomes requited. Classic stuff. ^_^;

Ratings:

Overall – 9

The August issue of Comic Yuri Hime has hit shelves and I am heading right to the next chapter of “2DK Pen, Mezamashitokei!” ^_^

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Yuri Drama CD: Jitensha to Kase-san (自転車と加瀬さん)

June 20th, 2018

The Asagao to Kase-san movie is still in theaters (and has added some new theaters this week, which will be getting it in July). It’s really all kinds of wonderful. Typically anime OVA/theatrical releases hit theaters for a week, then go straight to DVD. This Blu-Ray is available at theaters with proof of a ticket. In fact, they’ve had to restock theaters. So, wow! 

Earlier in the year when the tickets first hit the stores, our YNN Kase-san Correspondent Verso S kindly offered to buy one on my behalf so I could have the Drama CD which was one of the very first rewards for ticketholders. ^_^ Never beyond abusing a friendship in order to get a Drama CD, I jumped on that. (The ticket itself went to the lovely Uchida-san from the Yuriten to thank her for her help.)

Jitensha to Kase-san (自転車と加瀬さん) is a 20-minute long voice drama version of the first two chapters of Asagao to Kase-san, (published in English by Seven Seas as Kase-san and Morning Glories). Yamada is voiced by Takahashi Minami and Kase-sen by Sakura Ayane.

The story is told from the point of view of Yamada as she notices and begins to have feelings for Kase-san, the school’s track star. It’s pretty much told word for word, so if you’re familiar with the source material, it’s a simple and entertaining listen. 

Ratings:

Art – 7 Adorable SD characters adorn the disk in a clear jewel case
Voice Acting – 10 They sound perfect, I couldn’t ask for better.
Story – 7 
Character – 8
Yuri – 6 First love is sweet, but I’ll never quite *like* it. I always feel a bit squicky when I’m in a high schooler’s head as she notices another girl romantically or sexually for the first time. ^_^;
Service – 2 

Overall – 8

As an appetizer to the movie it’s perfect. The voices fit the characters well and all I want to do now is get my hands on that Blu-Ray! Right now it’s only available through 3rd party sellers for usurious rates and against the whole point of it being available to ticket holders. As soon as it gets a general release, I’ll get you a link.

Posted in Drama CDs & Audiobooks, Kase-san Series | No Comments »


MURCIÉLAGO Manga, Volume 10 (ムルシエラゴ)

June 19th, 2018

Giant shark. Murder. Kidnapping. Creepy priest/nun combo. Lovecraftian chapter title. Excessive seafood consumption. Did I mention a Giant SHARK? MURCIÉLAGO , Volume 10 (ムルシエラゴ) has it all…depending on your definition of “all,” obviously. ^_^

After a little soujourn in school designed only to contain a peeing one’s self scene, news of a 7-meter shark has Hinako bouncing out of her skin to see the wonder. So the gang packs up and visits the aquarium. Hinako consumes a great deal of seafood in the cafe, while Chiyo and Kuroko have a surprisingly romantic moment together. Then the giant shark coughs up a hand and dies, so that’s the end of that. 

The dead shark leads the (what’s a good nickname for a Scooby Gang, only full of murderers, yakuza and the criminally insane?) gang on a mission to a fish market, to track down the ship that caught the shark where we meet Suiren, an attractive young female fisher on the lookout for her missing father.  And, the uber-creepy priest/nun son/mother combo at the local church who are clearly part of the kidnapping of random people in the local area. 

Kuroko’s vaguely interested in the murder of the left-hand’s owner, but she’s very interested in Suiren, so away we go! We get some quality time with police pathologist Yuria, and the whole package is tied up with the Lovecraftian title “The Deep Ones” for a satisfying whole…depending on your definition of “whole,” obviously. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – Well, it’s not getting worse
Story – 8
Characters – 8, although Hinako has been given an extra helping of weird along with her maguro
Service – 4 Shockingly low for this series
Yuri – 7 Chiyo and Kuroko’s moment was so sweet…until the shark yacked up the hand and died.

Overall – 8

Not *quite* as awesome as Giant Snakes, but Giant Sharks are cool too. ^_^ 

Posted in MURCIÉLAGO | 4 Comments »