Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – September 9, 2017

September 9th, 2017

Yuri Anime

YNN Correspondent, Beatriz M. wants you to know that she recently hosted a Revolutionary Girl Utena podcast about which she says, “We get deep, we get gay, and we continue to ask, “What does this mean, Ikuhara?”

 ANN Reports that the Aria dub kickstarter has reached it’s all-series dub stretch goal.
 
Kimono-wearing fox-eared girls populate Amano Sakuya’s Konohana Kitan manga, running in Comic Yuri Hime which will soon have an anime of it’s own. (Continuing Ichijinsha’s trend of picking the stories I like least to make into anime. At least this one is genuinely Yuri, I just don’t much like animal-eared characters.)  ANN has the report.
 
Rose of Versailles is getting a game and an animation based in a high-school setting from Otomate, a romance game company. We totally needed that.  (Now I think about it, I may have a Berubara Gakuen doujinshi somewhere. ^_^.)
 
ANN also has a report for an anthology dealing with Gender Identity Disorder being published in Japan called My Husband is Too Attractive! I Entered the Family Register of a Hot Guy that Used to be a Woman.
 

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Yuri Manga

We’ve added  Hitoto’s Shuumatsu Nani Shi ni Ikou? (週末なにしにいこう?) to the Yuricon Store.
Also added is Momono Moto’s collection Yuunagi Mabrette Perfect Volume (夕凪マーブレット完全版), which is especially interesting as it is the first collected volume from Galette Works, the publishing team that is putting together the Galette Anthology of which Volume 3 is also up on the Store.
 
 
Other News
 
Brigid Alverson has a great article on how LGBTQ comics are becoming de rigeur for school and public libraries in Just Another Day in an LGBTQ Comics for School Library Journal.
 
From Smithsonian Magazine, the National Museum of African American History and Culture explores the long legacy of women who shaped the feminist theory in #APeoplesJourney: African American Women and the Struggle for Equality.
 
The James Tiptree Foundation has opened submission for their 2017 Fellowships for folks researching or creating  work exploring gender and sexuality.
 
The folks at Anime Feminist are putting together a list of feminist resources in regards to anime and manga. Bookmark their page and let them know if you have any suggestions!
 
Toyoake City in Aichi prefecture has declared support for LGBT people. Not so far a step as marriage, but a step nonetheless.
 
 

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 | No Comments »


LGBTQ: Steven Universe, Season 6

September 8th, 2017

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In Season 1 of Steven Universe we met and learned about the Crystal Gems, friendly alien invaders from space. In Season 2 we began to really understand their history. Season 3 deepened our understanding of all the series’ characters and Season 4 brought the first major plots to fruition…and expanded our cast. In Season 5, Steven and we begin to understand that Rose Quartz was not necessarily the beacon of Good that she had been held up to be. As we learn about her flaws, Rose becomes exponentially more interesting.

In Season 6, we begin, at last to put all the pieces we’ve been given into some kind of picture. And the picture we’re getting is nothing like the one we expected.

We’re introduced to Blue Diamond in person. With the chance to directly compare her and Yellow Diamond, we start to get a little bit of a picture of an imperious royal class that understands little and cares not at all about the beings it rules. We spend a lot of time in space this season since, realistically, having neutralized The Cluster, any further contact with the Diamonds would have to be in space or on Homeworld, or Earth would be at risk. Space it is, then.

Several really significant things happened this season – Greg was introduced to just how vast the story in which his son is embroiled actually is. Steven is now very visibly showing signs of super strength, and becoming more confident with his powers. We visit Homeworld and learn that in a strictly defined hierarchy, there’s still an outcast underclass. Amethyst meets her family and finds that she’s just one of the gems after all.  I learned about Holly Blue Agate , a stone I had never heard of before. (Fairly remarkable, as I’ve been collecting semi-precious stones for decades…) and Lars…well…no,that’s a spoiler, I will not spoil.

We get to see that both Yellow and Blue Diamond have genuine affection for Pink Diamond (and I can’t help but wonder what White Diamond, who has never once been mentioned, but whose symbol we’ve repeatedly seen, is like.) In fact, during “What’s the Use of Feeling Blue,” we get the distinct feeling that Yellow Diamond surprises herself when she speaks of missing Pink Diamond.

But once again, the climax of the series is unexpected in ways that we couldn’t even have predicted. Once again we learn that the truth isn’t what we we were told it is, and it isn’t what others think it is, either. So…what is it? The fan theories are flying, thick and fast. ^_^

The last significant thing that happened is that my wife is hooked. Hah. ^_^ Now I can obsess and she’s totally into it. Gotcha. Hee Hee. Hee.

Art – 8
Story- 10
Characters – 10
Service – 1 on principle
Queerness – 7 Fluorite is a lovely nod to polyamory.

Overall – 10

Can’t wait for Season 7. Seriously.

Posted in English Anime, LGBTQ, Steven Universe, Western Cartoons | 4 Comments »


MURCIÉLAGO Manga, Volume 3 (English)

September 7th, 2017

In Yoshimura Kana’s MURCIÉLAGO, Volume 3, we take a good, long, detailed look into the darkness of obsessive psychopathic murderers…and don’t really do much of anything with the information. ^_^

First, Kuroko deals with the Skin Collector, a man who skins his female victims and we learn, both in real time and from his exposition, that his daughter Ringo shares both his skills and his predilections for killing. In her case, her Daddy issues go rather deeper than usual. The author takes pains to show us how happy the families Ringo destroys are so, long after we’ve put the book down, we can feel crappy about enjoying it.

While Kuroko is finishing off Ringo’s father, the police are sharing a bit of exposition, to indicate to us what we must have surely recognized…Kuroko and Hinako are both not functioning within what society considers normal parameters. The specifics are, as yet, left hidden.

Which segues us nicely into the hidden realms of the Elder Gods, and the amusement park based on H.P Lovecraft’s Chthulu mythos. It’s sort of a given that among my friends, that everyone goes through a Lovecraft phase, at least in a sort of secondhand osmosis kind of way. Not all my friends have read the original or derivative works, but enough of them have that we just don’t really notice any inclusion of Lovecraft’s work as something notable. It’s more like…duh…of course it’s there. Which is part of why I forget to mention the inclusion of it in this series. It’s like…duh, of course the mascot at the amusement park would be Shoggoth. (Well, arguably, I would have chosen, Nyarlathotep, and no, not because of the Nyarko-san anime, but because of a bumper sticker on a car of a friend of mine from like 25 years ago.)

So, after we visit the hidden depths of the Elder Gods and the inside of Kuroko’s mind, we turn our attention to other, somewhat lower, places. One of Hinako’s old college friends shows up, worried about her sister, who has joined a religious cult. Faced with the idea that “Virginal Rose Academy” is an all-female cult, full of cute girls, run by a buxom young woman, Kuroko is all in.

Ratings:

Art – 6 Not likely to get better
Story – 7 Still horrible violence with some silly violence, but there sort of was a story, so that’s good
Characters – 8 Hinako fascinates me….
Service – 10 Creative, awful and pervasive
Yuri – …wait for it…. 

Overall – 8

This is an excellent volume of a really strange manga, with violence, amusingly deranged Edwardian fictitious mythologies, action, more violence and some other bits of violence for color. Next volume, there will be consensual lesbian sex, as well. Let’s look forward to Volume 4!

 

Posted in English Manga, MURCIÉLAGO | 1 Comment »


Hayate x Blade 2 (Nyan), Volume 5 Manga (はやて×ブレード2 5)

September 5th, 2017

In Hayate x Blade 2 (Nyan), Volume 5 Manga (はやて×ブレード2 5), the Ultimate Hoshitori continues moving inexorably towards a climax that will, in some ways, have to be forseeable, and others that cannot be.

While the various members of the white-uniformed Tenkuu dorm take on their counterparts of the black-clad Daichi dorm, and the various members of Hajime’s “Black Group,” among others, Hitsugi waits for any of the combatants to reach her – and make no mistake about it, she wants them to reach her and to face her and Shizuku in combat.

We get to see Jun and Yuho reaching a new peak of skill as they beat the loathsome Hideko and her sad little partner, Rosana. And we get to see Akira and Sae pair off in front of Hajime and Shingetsu, which really would be an amazing fight, if we’re allowed to see it.

But. Really, all our attention is turned to Nagi and Hayate, who face off alone. They battle their inner demons, their feelings about themselves and each other and neither can defeat the other…so Nagi decides to sit and wait for their shinyuu. Unfortunately, Kanae and Ayana are running late because they have been hijacked by the psychopath Thelma and her partner Rui. To defeat them, Kanae and Ayana are forced to dig deep. So deep, that Kanae carries an battered Ayana to the ground where they will be fighting one another. Props to Kanae, because she makes Ayana get up and enter the battleground on her own feet. At last, with minutes left in the round, the battle we all need to see is going to begin – Nagi and Kanae vs Hayate and Ayana.

The extra chapter follows the gang involved in a goofy- and extremely personal – trivia contest. It seems a bit rigged as Hitsugi declares them all losers.

We’re still at 34 main characters (32 fighters, Nagare and Taiyou, Nagi and Hayate’s parents,) for this volume, but it’s shockingly easy to follow who are what and where. As I’ve said before, one of the amazing things about the art in this series (not the most amazing…the most amazing thing is the the actions scenes are followable,) is that one never gets confused at who is who. The characters designs are that unique and identifiable. No mean feat for a book consisting of nearly 3 dozen identically-uniformed people fighting.

This volume was an edge-of-the-seat page turner for me. I’ve been waiting for Nagi and Hayate to fight (and, presumably, work through whatever baggage Nagi is carrying) for volumes. Kanae seemed just plain goofy at first, as we were seeing her through Nagi’s eyes, but we can see that she and Nagi have become a strong partnership in their own right and I feel positive about the four of them fighting now.

Another great volume, deeply embedded in the intense the blood, sweat and tears relationships of sisters-at-arms, with the physical comedy of a Three Stooges episode. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 10
Characters – 10
Yuri – 0 Hayate picked up the Yuri ball, but Ayana spiked it at her head. Jun is left merely honestly admiring her “princess,” Yuho.
Service – 4 For me, the blood sweat and tears *is* service and this was a bloody, sweaty and teary volume.

Overall – 10

Posted in Hayashiya Shizuru, Hayate x Blade | 2 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Apron to Kase-san Special Edition with Animation Clip Blu-Ray “Kimi no Hikari” (「エプロンと加瀬さん。」特装版 アニメーションクリップ「キミノヒカリ」Blu-rayつき)

September 4th, 2017

The 4th volume of the Kase-san manga from Hirari Comics, Apron to Kase-san,  is available in two editions. The Regular Edition contains the manga alone, while the Special Edition includes a Blu-Ray of the 6-minute animation Clip, “Kimi no Hikari” (which is still up on Youtube for you to enjoy.) (「エプロンと加瀬さん。」特装版 アニメーションクリップ「キミノヒカリ」Blu-rayつき). I’ve watched the animation clip a dozen or more times this summer working on presentations and at panels, but watching it on Blu-Ray was, for the first time ever for me, a “wow!” moment. This was animated to be seen in high-resolution on a large screen on Blu-Ray. It looks and sounds amazing.

The Special Edition comes in a fetching box with the cover art from the 4th volume. It includes the Blu-Ray and a color pamphlet of the production notes and character designs for the animation clip. It also includes a short doujinshi “An toki no Kase-san” with a few adorable Kase and Yamada moments seen from Kase-san’s side.

Apron to Kase-san, the fourth book in the series, marks a subtle shift in the story. Up until now, Yamada has, to some extent been watching her relationship with Kase-san as if she wasn’t herself involved. In part, because it all seems so…fantastic…and in part, because of her own self-esteem issues. In Volume 4, this has changed and we’re allowed to see to what extent, specifically that has happened. 

Yamada’s still pretty humble and enthusiastic, but she’s started to find her own ground. She’s taking credit for her own hard work…and when she feels that she’s being teased too much by Kase-san’s former track sempai, she finally stands up for herself….and forces the sempai to back down.

For her own part, Kase-san is still trying too much to protect Yamada, leaving her vulnerable in other ways. But what has made this relationship work from the very beginning is the honesty with which Yamada and Kase speak to one another. So, when they speak of living together in Tokyo after graduation, we don’t cringe that they will be bringing a mess of communication baggage with them. Instead, we’re pretty convinced this is going to work. 

I’m thrilled to see the series be so successful even after the magazine it ran in ceased publication. Shinshokan has always been open to trying new things, even back when JManga launched. I think the success of Kase-san post-magazine life, is a significant change in the way manga is going to be read and sold. Online distribution for the chapters, with both physical and digital distribution for the collected volumes should satisfy most readers.

And, as we reported on YNN this weekend, we’ll be getting a new animation clip in 2018! The folks at the Official Asagao to Kase-san website are bilingual so do send them a message on Twitter or Youtube to let them know how happy you are for this news! (YNN Correspodent Verso points out, correctly that the announcement states that there will be new “animation,” the word “clip” is not used. They also do not say an “anime,” (or ONA)  so I presume that we will be getting another extended music video with highlights from Book 2, as this one had highlights from Book 1. It’s very likely I am wrong, but I will hold on to my assumption until more details are announced. ^_^)

Ratings:

Art – 8 Takashima-sensei’s art has really grown in confidence
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 8
Service – 5
Physical Extras – 10

Overall – 9

I don’t think I’ve ever rooted so hard for to characters (and a manga series) to succeed as I have for these two.

Posted in Kase-san Series, Yuri Anime, Yuri Manga | 4 Comments »