Takarazuka Revue is Coming to New York City

January 22nd, 2016

TKinNYCIt’s not new for Takarazuka to send a troupe abroad. They’ve done performances in Hong Kong, Seoul and have visited Europe and the US before. But it’s the first time that I’m aware of that they are coming all the way to New York City.

Takarazuka will be performing the musical Chicago at Lincoln Center in New York City in July 2016.

The performance will be in Japanese with English supertitles. This is an amazing opportunity to see the excess that is Takarazuka in a glitzy performance of a popular Broadway musical. I’m almost sorry it’s not something original, but this is way more likely to sell.

I’m really dying to see how full (or not) the theater will be. It’s such a weird low-culture mashup, it’ll be fun to see who turns up for it! Ticket packages go on sale to the public on January 28, and are on sale to members now. Individual tickets will open up for sale on April 11. (Call to buy, the online cart system is fubar and they’ll charge you fees whether you call or go online.)

This is too good a chance to pass up. Go see Takarazuka live!

Posted in Events, Takarazuka | 11 Comments »


Himawari-san Manga, Volume 6 (ひまわりさん)

January 21st, 2016

Himawarisan6If you, like I, enjoy the occasional manga in which nothing at all happens, and everyone’s drama is very small and very personal, and most of it is just plain nice, then you too will enjoy Himawari-san, Volume 6. In previous volumes, we met high schooler Matsuri who has become a little besotted with the introverted bookseller across the street from the school. Under the name “Himawari-san” taken from the bookshop’s name, that bookseller who kept to herself almost to the point of being  a shut-in, has changed with Matsuri’s influence. In Volume 6 we see that Himawari-san isn’t the only one who has changed over time.

The book begins with a look back at Himwari-san’s older brother, now a successful author. He tells us of how his life was positively affected with he was encouraged by the former Himaari-san.

We then segue into Matsuri’s final high school festival. Her friend Rikka is a talented fashion designer and she gets a chapter, in which it appears that Fuuko, Matsuri’s younger sister is also starting to find herself. But it is Matsuri who interests me most, as she’s almost relegated to a supporting role in this volume. Not because she’s not important…but because she is. We see how Matsuri has influenced the people around her, Fuuko, Rikka, her friend Ami and most of all Himawari-san herself.

Himawari-san, who began this series extremely introverted, has grown. She looks at Matsuri differently now, and the girl looks back at her differently. They don’t necessarily share the same feelings,  but their affection for one another is obvious. For the first time, one imagines that maybe they might, one day, be a good couple, and that they already make a good partnership.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 3
Service – 1

Overall  – 8

Matsuri’s graduation is just around the corner and I have to admit, I wonder what will happen.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »


LGBTQ: Okaasan Futari Itemo Iikana!? (お母さん二人いてもいいかな!?)

January 18th, 2016

2momsIf you read a lot of manga, especially shoujo and shounen manga, you’ll have encountered author’s notes and quite possibly you’ll have thought something like, “Really? You’re writing a note to millions of fans and all you have to say is that you like jelly?” But, when you think about it, we all know manga creators are put through a grinder of deadlines and appearances and it’s probably not all that surprising that they have relatively bland personal lives. If you’re out partying, you’re not at the drawing board, so…. But yeah, it would be nice sometimes to know a little more about the manga artists we love. Maybe the name of their lover, or about a hobby besides drawing manga.

In Okaasan Futari Itemo Iikana!? (お母さん二人いてもいいかな!?), Nakamura Ching-sensei, writing here under her real name, Nakamura Kiyo, gives us an  unprecedented honest and intimate look at her personal life. She lives with her wife (in name only, as Japan does not legally recognize same-sex marriage), Satsuki, and is stepmother to Satsuki’s three sons.

The book takes a good hard look at Kiyo’s and Satsuki’s relationship, opening up a few cans of worms along the way. We learn of Kishie-san, Nakamura-sensei’s deceased first wife, and about abuse in Satsuki’s  and Kiyo’s past (Of which we knew some from Dare mo Korinai.) This books includes thoughts about the tentative legal standing their relationship has and the importance of acceptance by the people around them.

But mostly, this is a book about life with a wife and three sons. An intimate, sometimes touching, look at the personal life of a lesbian couple in Japan today, and an extraordinary look into the life of a favorite manga creator.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

In places this volume is very difficult, in others triumphant…just like life.

Posted in Comic Essay, LGBTQ, Nakamura Ching | 5 Comments »


Western Comic: Mean Girls Club

January 17th, 2016

MeanGirlsClub-364x493 You know who they are, those femme fatales who drink the tears of their victims and lie and steal and do drugs and cause mayhem…they are the Mean Girls Club. They wear ridiculously slinky dresses, beat up old men and nurses and shoot truckers to steal their truck. We all know their names…Blackie and Pinkie and Wendy and Wanda, Sweets and McQuaalude. They are the Mean Girls Club.

Ryan Heshka’s Mean Girls Club is a short, adorably, ridiculously amoral tale of 6 absurdly terrible people, with no plot per se except them being extremely amorally terrible. It was a blast. Hot pink, white, black and gray pages leave one with the impression that the story is a tale of what happens when a bunch of biker’s tattoos come to life and have some fun. ^_^

The book is part of Nobrow’s 17 x 23 project, which was developed to give young graphic artists a chance to tell their stories and springboard to other work.  I will definitely give a few of these a chance. You know how I like to support new artists.

Ratings:

Art – 7 Pinups gone wild
Story – 9 Drinking, drugs, beating the innocent, breaking into hospitals
Characters – 8 McQualuude’s a secret softy
Service – 1 Slinky dresses and decolletage
Yuri – 0 But you can tell they all have the hots for Pinky (in my imagination, but look at the way Wendy clings to her on the cover.)

Overall – 9

At under $6, this swanky 24-page firmcover doujinshi would make a great gift for the bad-girl lover in your home. It hits shelves in February.

Thanks ever so much to Nobrow Books for the review copy. I loved this book!

Posted in Western Comic/Comix | 1 Comment »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – January 16, 2016

January 16th, 2016

YNN_Lissa

Yuri Game

The super popular and much anticipated Yuri game from Japan Okujou no Yuri Yurei-san,  licensed last year by Mangagamer as Kindred Spirits on the Roof is now available for pre-order on the Mangamer site!  Help Yuri ghosts Sachi and Megumi build a Yuritopia at the school they loved when they were alive.

This is pretty much the biggest Yuri game release in the west to date and the game was ridiculously popular in Japan when it came out there, so this is big news for us!

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Yuri Anime

Also very big news, Crunchyroll News reports that Crunchyroll has added Shimura Takako’s Aoi Hana/ Sweet Blue Flowers back to their streaming catalog!

ANN has some fun oldie-but-goodie news, too –  Crunchyroll has added added the old favorite baseball series with a smidgen of Yuri, Princess Nine!

Also from ANN , the first commercial for Mahou Tsukai Precure and news on Urobuchi Gen’s new project which is still unknown, but the addition of Yuri/lesbian sub stories has been a feature of his recent work, so it’s worth keeping an eye on. ^_^

Yuri Manga

The March 2016 issue of Comic Yuri Hime hits shelves this week in Japan. (コミック百合姫2016年3月号)

Morinaga Milk has a news series Hana to Hina ha Houkago (ハナとヒナは放課後). First volume was released this past week. Looks like fans of her schoolgirl Yuri will be very happy.

Other News

YNN Correspondent David M wants to remin you that the city of Takarazuka will be offering same-sex union certifictes in 2016 and a bunch of other folks want you to know that the Takarazuka all-female musical review troupe are taking a swing and a sing at the life of Abraham Lincoln. I want to remind you that this will almost surely include cringe-making use of blackface. (-_-);

It will be a smart entrepreneur who runs themed wedding packages to Takarzuka city, with fantasy costumes and a big wedding and not one mention of the Takarazuka Revue, or their legal dept. will come down on them like a ton of bricks. ^_^

Know some cool Yuri News you want people to know about? Become a Yuri Network Correspondentby 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 | 9 Comments »