Love Live Anime, Second Season (English) Guest Review by Day

June 22nd, 2016

LLSIPS1Annnnddd…..it’s Guest Review Wednesday! Today we have an encore from Day, who wanted a chance to continue to look at a popular idol anime. Take it away, Day!

The second season of Love Live! School Idol Project opens in the wake of the failure of our heroines to make it to the Love Live, but with the future bright as their beloved school’s been saved. Things are looking even brighter, though, when it is announced that there will be a second Love Live held during the school year. Despite some initial doubt, the girls soon plunge into preparations, knowing that with a change to the rules they’re up against the formidable A-RISE if they even want to qualify for the finals.

For the most part, the second season of Love Live exacerbates the first season’s problems, in that it is largely about the bland adventures of some generically cute high school girls rather than about the idol competition it’s named for. Despite introducing a more clearly defined competitive structure, the overall focus is weaker, with time set aside for dire material like dieting. And while characters sometimes acted in ways that didn’t quite add up in the first season, here they become frequently unmoored from anything approaching believable behavior in service of the particular fetishes of viewers. Previously level-headed people like Honoka’s mother and sister behave like there’s a cancer diagnosis when Honoka gains a few pounds, while we learn in another episode that sixteen year old, elite student Maki still believes in Santa Claus.

It’s odd, then, that among all the dreck we get, are the two best episodes in the series. The latter of these is an episode which features one of the idol performances, something which is nearly derailed by bad weather. While intellectually there’s never any doubt that they’ll overcome the obstacles, the show does manage to infuse some sense of tension. It also finally integrates the idol group into the broader school community in the course of resolving the tension, as their schoolmates pitch in to help get the girls to the performance venue on-time.

The other is focused around Nico, who is turns out has been leading a life of rampant lies at home so that her younger siblings think that she’s a very famous solo idol. This has involved Nico resorting to amateur photo-manipulation, and claiming that the other girls are all back-up dancers. While the show takes pains to have it all end with a smile, the whole situation is a bit creepy and works to demonstrate just ultimately how damaging Nico’s flaws are.

But, this leaves us with eleven episodes otherwise. For the most part, they’re merely dull, but there are also sequences, even entire episodes, which are simply horrible. I made reference to dieting previously, and an entire episode is devoted to this when Honoka gains roughly four and a half (invisible) pounds. There’s also the girl who believes in Santa Claus, and a girl who nearly faints when the other girls start discussing their lack of romantic experience and who covers her faces and shrieks when there’s kissing in a movie.

Speaking of which, while the visual fanservice is fairly low, this sort of foolishness in which high school girls were apparently raised in a hermetically sealed, eternally-pre-1950 environment is rampant. And that *is* fanservice, as the target audience is made up of men who demand that their idols, fictional and not, be unworldly and eternally virginal, tainted not even by a passing interest in boys, even as the lyrics they sing often are romantic (when one of the girls suggests writing a love song, everyone gets indignant and claims that they’ve never done a love song before – which is blatantly false – and that it isn’t true to the group).

However… something interesting happened when this franchise made it into English-language fandom. While the usual suspects clamored, a lot of women and girls got into Love Live, including ones who hadn’t previously been into anime. And, of these women and girls, a lot of them are queer. And… I’m one of them! I think the TV anime for the franchise is terrible, but I love the queer fandom surrounding it and the other bits of the franchise like the mobile game. Fans invest a lot of time into creating vibrant personal works that imbue the cast with depth they never are granted in the official canon, and full of expansive possibilities; for me, that’s what makes Love Live worth it.

Yuri for this season is… well. I want to say “higher”, but that isn’t quite it. None of these girls are kissing, none of them are declaring their love, none of them are coming out of the closet… Shipbait is happily provided for those who would ship, but it’s a lot of clattering over gestures that don’t read as particularly queer if you take off the Yuri goggles. I was a high school girl myself not too terribly long ago, and I can tell you that gushing at a friend about their cuteness while trying to encourage them is, if anything, more common among straight girls (an established heterosexual identity means not typically having to personally worry about homophobia, after all). So, sure, this season delivers potato-sharing, declarations of cuteness, happy tackling, etc., but it’s all still firmly in the land of suggestion rather than confirmation.

Ratings:

Art – 8 (the animation gets a slight kick up)
Story – 3
Characters – 6
Yuri – 2
Service – 6 (primarily it’s the pandering to fetishes about purity and ignorance I complained about)
Overall – 4 (but worse than the first season)

Erica here: Well thank you Day, and I agree with you completely that the hermetically sealed virginal idol is irrefutably a form of fanservice. I also agree with Mariko that sex and sexiness are not always service.

In my definition, service is catering to fandom fetishes – like making a the redhead, twin-tailed girl passive-aggressive, when the story would fare as well with her merely being competent and uninterested (and would include less shouting.) It’s “service” in the sense that it ticks off a checklist item for fans and is a form of “just add water” character development for lazy writers. Bouncing boobs aren’t the only form of service in anime.

Posted in English Anime | 3 Comments »


Interview with Josh Kaplan, Creator of Highway Blossoms

June 21st, 2016

key-art-with-solid-logoYesterday, I had a chance to read through the new Yuri Visual Novel, Highway Blossoms. And I generally found it to be good. Today, we welcome creator Josh Kaplan to Okazu to discuss the game. Welcome Josh!

———————–
Are the any Japanese VNs that inspired HB? And what artistic influences inspire you, personally?
———————–

For me at least, I generally take more inspiration from regular novels and fiction than anything else, if only because I read more books than I do VN’s. In particular, I love young adult fiction, and I think that HB fits under that umbrella. Recently I’ve been devouring just about everything by Siera Maley, and I also love The Gravity Between Us by Kristen Zimmer. There’s a doujin Yuri VN by Cosmilica, called Love, Guitars and the Nashville Skyline that is currently being localized by our publisher, and it also includes a lesbian pair on a roadtrip through the US. At the time that we started planning Highway Blossoms, though, we’d never heard of it. I’m looking forward to reading it, though, and the developer of that one is very fun to talk to.

I asked Syon, the other writer and the director for the project, and he said his biggest influence was the anime Trigun, as well as the film and novel Holes.

———————–
Haha, so the whole desert location is sort of baked into Syon’s references then. ^_^

 The idea of the road trip is uniquely American. You’ve said elsewhere  that you’ve been to most of these places. Was it your intention to inspire fans to visit these places? It does seem a bit of  travelogue. ^_^
———————–

I wouldn’t say that it was our intention to get people out and visiting these places, but it’s definitely a happy side effect. Hell, I was getting some wanderlust just as I was writing. We’ve had a number of fans say that they’re inspired to take a roadtrip now, though, and I think that’s awesome. We actually have a couple ideas to reward people who do go out and see these places after they read HB, but we’ve gotta see if they pan out, first.

———————–
You mentioned in the Yuri Nation interview that you’re consuming a fair amount of contemporary lesbian work. What themes did reading/watching that inspire you to cover? I notice, for instance, that Amber starts out the story having had girlfriends already, so that “coming out”, which is so often a major theme in lesbian literature and entertainment is skipped over almost completely.
Is there anything you definitely did NOT want to do in the narrative?
———————–

We specifically wanted to avoid the “b-but we’re both girls” trope that dominates most Yuri media. Not to belittle the difficulty and courage it takes to come out, but simply because there’s a lot of stories that deal with that out there already. Throughout the entire thing, nobody gives a second thought to the fact that the two girls are in a relationship – and that’s how we think it should be. Sadly, we know it’s a little idealistic right now.

———————–
Music is a huge part of this story… do you have a story behind the music you mention in the narrative?
———————–

The music that Amber listens to and talks about were meant to characterize her Grandfather more than anything, and the kind of person that he was. It’s also supposed to set Amber apart a little bit – she’s never heard of any of the bands that Marina likes. But as for those artists having personal significance to us in real life? Nah, not really.

———————–
I thought the sex scene interesting, rather than sexy, per se…what was your thinking behind the way that was handled? 
———————–

Having the sex scenes be a part of character development and not just fanservice was definitely intentional. Especially with the first one – it sets up a lot of important things that happen later. You can also see how Amber misinterprets some of what’s going on or just assumes things about Marina that aren’t quite true. The second sex scene is definitely a happier, lighter one and is supposed to be kind of silly, not just erotic. Both as consumers and developers, we prefer sex scenes that feel like they mean something, rather than just being tossed in there.

———————–
What themes or messages do you hope folks will take away from playing Highway Blossoms?
———————–

Like I mentioned, I think the big theme is simply that “love is love,” no matter who you are or who you fall in love with. Recent events have been a tragic reminder that not everyone is on the same page there yet, but I hope that every day we get a little bit closer to that. There’s also the recurring notion that everyone deserves to be happy, and that you deserve to allow yourself to be happy.

———————–

Any last thing you want to say to fans?

———————–

I’d just like to emphasize that 2016 has been and is a great year for Yuri media in the West. Aside from HB, there have been titles like Starlight Vega, Rising Angels, and A Little Lily Princess, that have all had releases this year. There are also some interesting looking upcoming ones like Alpha’s Adventures. I know that HB isn’t for everyone, but hopefully all Yuri fans will find a new game that they love this year.

I think that’s just about everything. I’ve said it a lot, but thank you! =)

Thank you Josh and best of luck with Highway Blossoms and future projects!

Posted in Interview, Yuri Visual Novel | No Comments »


Yuri Visual Novel: Highway Blossoms (English)

June 20th, 2016

key-art-with-solid-logo2016 has been a year of surprises for us here at Okazu. Among the many firsts, was the very first time I managed to get through a Yuri Visual Novel, with the extraordinary Kindred Spirits on the Roof.  Since then, I’ve had a number of opportunities to try out other Yuri VNs, but so far, being compelled to complete a story has eluded me. You know how I am. ^_^

Imagine my pleasure, then, when Highway Blossoms, from Alienworks and Sekai Project became the second Yuri VN I completed! High praise indeed, since I’m such a curmudgeon about the VN format. ^_^ I was provided a beta version of the game by co-creator Josh Kaplan – we’ll be talking to him later in the week.

The story has a unique setup – Amber is escaping dealing with the death of her grandfather who raised her, by traveling to California in his old RV. On the way, she picks up a hitchhiker, Marina, who involves Amber in a treasure hunt and a life-changing set of experiences.

Right off the bat, being freed from the confinement of a school setting was refreshing. The backdrop of an RV road trip was both uniquely American and a little nostalgic. Most Americans my age remember a great deal of their childhood spent on highways going somewhere or other. ^_^

The dialogue is some of the least awkward I’ve read in a VN, although I am already exceedingly tired of the cynical/naive  pair that seems to be common in VNs. I know that writing original characters is hard, but I have to say, I think folks who work in visual novels make it seem a little bit harder than it actually is. ^_^; Luckily for us, both Amber and Marina develop quite a bit during the course of the story.

I’d like to give the writing some props here, as that is, by far and away, the thing that keeps me interested. The achievements have no meaning to me and I find the whole unlocking-an-image-as-a-reward really exhausting and unmotivating. On the positive side, Amber is presented to us as a woman who has had girlfriends in the past, and is apparently well past discomfort with that, generally. Her feelings around Marina are, specifically still a bit of an issue, but it’s not that she’s attracted to Marina that’s the problem, it’s the relationship she’s created with Marina in her head that is the issue. Later in the story, we catch a throwaway side character flirting with Amber and it doesn’t faze her at all. Apparently fandom has embraced that pairing, as they do so often with the unlikely.

The treasure hunt, which seemed silly on the face of it, became a terrific lead-in to a tour of American western landmarks. I quite liked the travelogue bits and think the story could have stood up to a few more cheesy bits of Americana. ^_^

Acting as foils to Amber and Marina, are a trio of characters that I can honestly say added almost nothing to the story except a trio of characters. I wish so desperately they were written like really decent humans, rather than stereotypes. Again, I appear to be alone in this, but the screaming was so very unneeded to move the story or character development along. Every scene the “trio” showed up, I unconsciously rewrote in my head to make shorter and more meaty. They could have functioned as society, as foils, or even enemies, but ended up more often just being tropes.  The few times they actually added something to the story I was relieved. And they did, ultimately add to the story…they just could have added so much more.

The romance developed rather naturally, along with the story. A few of the scenes were genuinely touching and sexy. There is a voluntary patch that can be added in to supply adult scenes. They didn’t add anything specific to the story, but weren’t terribly written, which was a relief. There was one oddly realistic moment in the sex scenes, that was kind of dumped in our lap, but never dealt with, that I honestly had no idea what to do with as I read. It’s left hanging, unresolved and while real, felt out of place.

But these are small nitpicks in what is otherwise a very satisfying narrative. Individually, weak elements might be weak, but as part of the whole, it hung together rather well and I was actually moved to finish the darn thing.

In Louis’ review of Starlight Vega he discusses the place of sprites in the VN mechanism. I have to say, I found the transitions here much more natural….but I am still befuddled at the refusal to take a half second and simply draw the characters more naturally in keeping with the text. “X puts arm around Y”, could really just be a still of X with their arm around Y and I will forever not understand why it isn’t. I still find the 2-Dness of the characters awkward and in some places, laughable, specifically when they are being flipped back and forth to show them “looking around.” Coulda just turned their head, but nope. I’ll never fathom this, apparently.

There is no gameplay as such. You receive achievements as you complete scenes. There were a few goofs in the beta version, the journal entries were misnumbered and I was unclear on the meaning of some of the achievements, but Steam assures me I gained them all. Phew. The achievements have rather cutsey names and so am not sure what some of them actually refer to in the story.

The soundtrack is worth mentioning and while I personally often turned it off, because I read faster without the distraction, the fact that it was original music that suited the tone and location of the story was fun and impressive. The soundtrack is available for purchase as a separate download and I can definitely see folks wanting that on its own.

The art is generally good and has moments of excellence, with one exception. There is literally one scene that was clearly put together by a different team and was glaringly not as good, but all the main art pieces were lovely and a few worth adding to my Yuri screensaver. It was in the art that you could clearly still see the Japanese VN influence.

So…was Highway Blossoms good? I’d say yes.

Ratings:

Art – 8, with one scene as an exception
Story – 8 Generally satisfying
Characters – 9 They grow on you, which is a sign of good storytelling
Yuri – 10 Yep
Service –  5 There are the optional sex scenes, but they are surprisingly not skanky or service-y

Overall – A solid 8

If you are looking for an entertaining, and pretty chunky Yuri Visual Novel, I’d recommend Highway Blossoms for a nice bit of storytelling, freed from almost all of the most stifling tropes of Japanese media. And, at the moment it’s 15% off on the Steam store, which makes it a steal at $8.49 for decent bit  of content and a few hours worth of fun.

Check out the trailer if you haven’t already and let me know what you think in the comments!

Posted in Yuri Game, Yuri Visual Novel | 12 Comments »


Drama CD: Kindred Spirits, Playing Girlfriend (English)

June 19th, 2016

KindredSpirit_DramaCD_vol1_1“Koibito-gokko” is not all that positive a phrase. It’s used somewhat disparagingly, to diminutize and dismiss same-sex love, especially between girls. To be told that you are pretending to be lovers, because of course you can only really become lovers with a boy, is just not a nice thing to say.

I’m gonna be honest that when I saw that the first Kindred Spirits Drama CD was called “Koibito-gokko” 「恋人ごっこ」, I was not leaping to get it initially. But after listening to and thoroughly enjoying the Second Drama CD and being reminded that this series has yet to let me down, I decided to give it a try.

Kindred Spirits, Drama CD 1, Playing Girlfriend was, despite the title, very cute.

The story follows Yuna’s classmate Ano, as her annual existence as an object of worship by other students has become more stalker-y than she’s comfortable with. Her friends. Yuna, Hina and Nena suggest that if she pretends to have a lover, her fans will back off. Because Ano cannot decide which of the three would make a better fake girlfriend, they all decide to try it out.

Another cringe-worthy plot and I just had to trust to the writers that they’d make it worth my time. And so they did.

Ano’s lunchtime escapade with Yuna was absolutely darling. We spent a little time just listening in as they discussed their future plans. It was plain up a bit of hanging with characters we like for a little longer, with nothing creepy about it.

Hina is next, and she gets a chance to impart some genuine wisdom at Ano and listeners, the crux of which was “If you really like someone, you don’t stalk them.” Thank you, Hina.

Of course, before we went into the Nena and Ano scenario, I knew that this was where it was most like to be a bit service-y, as both Ano and Nena remain unpaired in the original game, are both friends and are both geeks, although in different ways. Nena did not disappoint. She played Ano beautifully and really had a little fun at her friend’s expense without hurting her at all. It was nice to remind ourselves that Hina and Nena are both observant and Yuna’s very realistic…and that Nena had a wicked sense of humor.

Ultimately, Ano pulls herself together and develops a plan to help herself and her fans…with her friends’ help.

Like the Second Drama CD, Friendship Plans, this was purchased from Mangagamer’s site, and came in the form of two downloads. A Drama CD with original seiyuu, and subtitles over images, and a second download with CD inserts, images, credits and extra voice tracks, wishing you a good morning, good night, kitchen timer and the like.

Ratings:

Story – Despite a icky title, it was an 8
Characters – 10
Overall – 8

The DCD ties together two little loose ends from the game; Ano’s helping Yuna, and the fact that fans paired Ano and Nena, and gave them a story that was both satisfying and not at all cringe-making.

At this point, I’m just now all in for anything these writers throw at me. I trust them implicitly to not let me down.

Posted in Drama CDs & Audiobooks, Kindred Spirits / Okujou no Yurirei-san | 2 Comments »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – June 18, 2016

June 18th, 2016

YNN_MariKAnother amazing Yuri-filled news week!

Yuri Manga

From YNN Senior Correspondent Grisznak, we have more excellent news -Polish publisher Dango have announced that they will release Kimi Koi Limit by Momono Moto in November. I hope the Polish Yuri fans are taking advantage of all these great releases! And I hope you get the sequel, Rainy Song, as well.

Thai Yuri Manga Lily Love (which I reviewed in 2015) is now available in English in print! Preorders are being taken now! and the new edition will include a few extras beyond the Thai edition.

***

Support Yuri News and Reviews! Subscribe to Okazu on

Subcribe with Patreon

***

Yuri Visual Novels

Roadtrip-themed Yuri Visual Novel Highway Blossoms has been released on Steam. I’ve just started it, so review to come soon. ^_^ 15% off if you buy now!

YNN Correspondent Jamie wants to remind everyone that  Love, Guitars, and the Nashville Skyline, another Yuri visual novel about a road trip through America, from Cosmillica, is currently being localized by Sekai Project. 

Yuri Drama CD
Mangagamer has released the third Kindred Spirits Drama CD. This one following the Maki and Seina and Matsuri and Miyu couples. Get Rain Kick for 15% on Mangagamer or Steam.

Yuri Cartoon

By Daniel Errico, the same creator who brought us the adorable gay fairytale, Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived, comes a brand new lesbian-themed Hulu fairytale cartoon, Rosaline, which was darling and you should totally watch it right now!

 

LGBTQ  News

The 2nd biennial Queers & Comics Conference will be in San Francisco, April 14-15, 2017.  They are seeking proposals for panels or workshops. LGBTQ cartoonists, editors, publishers, scholars, etc. – don’t miss this amazing event! Proposals for panels are due JULY 1, so get them in! Queer Cartoonists of Color, Transgender Cartoonists and Queer Women Cartoonists are encouraged to submit proposals.

For your summer reading, check out this list of 10 Classic LGBTQ Novels to not-miss. Jane Rule’s Desert of the Heart is highly recommended by me.

HumbleBundle has put together a special pride month special of LGBTQ graphic novels for you to enjoy. Get a bunch of comics I’ve reviewed like, Infinite Loop, No Straight Lines, Wandering Son  and other LGBTQ manga classics like Heart of Thomas and Massive. Pay what you can for more than $200 worth of LGBTQ comics and manga!

 

Yuri Essays

We’re going to wrap up today’s report with some personal good news. I have had my first ever article for an academic journal approved for publication. Yayyyyy!

“On Defining Yuri” is slated for inclusion in Transformative Works and Cultures, No. 24, “Queer Female Fandom,” guest edited by Julie Levin Russo and Eve Ng, which will appear on June 15, 2017. Finally! a definitive look at why there can never be a definitive look at Yuri. ^_^ When it’s published, I’ll be sure to include a link to it.

 

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 »