Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – July 18, 2015

July 18th, 2015

YNN_Lissa

Quick datadump this week, my brain is leaking out my ears. If you follow me on FB, you know why. ^_^

I found this month’s copy of  MdN Design & Graphic magazine that had a Takako Shimura character and a girl on the cover. It turns out to be, as translator Simona Stanzani put it so succintly, “a ‘visual collaboration’ between Shimura Sensei and the idol Rina Ikoma.” Ikoma is a current member of idol group Nogizaka46.

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Zac Bertschy of ANN has an interview with Lauren Landa and Erica Mendez, who play Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus in the new Viz dub of the original Sailor Moon anime. He jumps *right* in with the “cousins” fiasco and moves on from there. Interesting read!  And I am motivated for the first time ever to watch a dub. I’m looking forward to Landa and Mendez’ performance.

ANN also follows up on our big question about Sailor Moon Crystal with a look at the “See You Soon!” message at the end of the final “Black Moon” arc episode. Will we get a third season? We don’t yet know, but there’s still hope.

We’re only a few weeks away from the Yuricon Store Grand Opening. We’re going to be doing some contests as part of the celebration. One of them will be for Okazu Patrons only, so if you have *ever* though about subscribing to Okazu, now would be a swell time. You’d be getting us closer to our launch goal and give yourself an extra chance at winning a contest!

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Rica Takashima’s article for Eureka magazine’s “Current State of Yuri Culture”, Japan: Fertile Ground for the Cultivation of Yuri, is live for all on the Yuricon Essays page! It’s thought-provoking and a completely different perspective than we might expect. If you do any writing on Yuri, please let us know the citations, or let us have a copy of the article, so we can keep Yuricon the most  comprehensive site for Yuri research!

Comic Natalie writes that the September issue of Comic Yuri Hime will have a 10th anniversary special “petit” Comic Hime edition application. I find this to be a bit wanky. For the last bunch of years, they’ve sold their “Saiyuri Hime” book at Comiket, and now they are just selling the same thing as a 10th anniversary special. Way to be uncreative, folks. If it were me, I’d do a retrospective of the last ten years with all the artists contributing a comic or a message…but it’s not me.

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 | 1 Comment »


Akuma no Riddle Manga, Volume 2 (悪魔のリドル)

July 17th, 2015

AknRd2In Volume 1, we met Haru who is being targeted by her classmates who are all assassins and Toukaku, the assassin who becomes her bodyguard. In Volume 1, none the questions we have were answered. This continues to be the case in Akuma no Riddle, Volume 2 (悪魔のリドル).

I have not done a word-by-word comparison of the manga and the anime, but they are extremely close enough for me to say, this is a manga adaptation of the anime, rather than a story on it’s own.

By the end of Volume 2, we have little insight into the school, the class, the reasons for targeting a student or Toukaku’s motivations. We do, however, have a few more poignant stories which highlight the motivations of the classmates targeting Haru. Some stories are ridiculous, others melodramatic, but this manga is never about Haru,  just as dog racing isn’t about the rabbit. We’re supposed to be paying attention to the hapless assassin members of Class Black and feel bad for them.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – If you like sympathizing with killers – 7, if not  – 4
Characters –  7 The violins are heavy here
Service – 2
Yuri – 1  We are told that this is a “Yuri” series but, like the anime, it’s hard to see

Overall – 7

In actuality, the only character I feel bad for is the teacher. He’s a simple creature and all this confuses and upsets him.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 3 Comments »


Sailor Moon, Season 1, Part 2, Disk 1 (English)

July 15th, 2015

SMS1P2At the end of a long day of tile cutters and sanding and drilling and sawing in my home,  I really want to chill with a relaxing TV show. Sailor Moon, Season 1, Part 2, Disk 1 is not that show. ^_^

Usagi is, as the intro of the show now states, “figuring it out.” But this disk starts in a brutal place, as Nephrite, who is showing signs of being a decent being, is killed. Killed, horribly and pointlessly, although not quite *as* pointlessly as Jadeite.  This means that Naru becomes the focus for a little while, as Usagi does her best to be a good friend. Remember, it is this friendship that gives Usagi the first real taste of what being a “soldier for love and justice” means, so Usagi hanging on and being there for Naru while she works through everything, is critical to us being able to like her.

At last, we add Sailor Jupiter. It’s always hard for me to pick an Inner Senshi I like best, but Makoto is usually my first choice, then I say, “well, Ami’s adorable and I like Rei, and Minako’s a goof” in that order. So, yeah, she’s  my fave. ^_^ Her appearance is steeped in the tropes of the gang-girl yanki she was originally meant to be. All that was shed in favor of the uber-girly flower shop, or perhaps bakery, owner she turned out to be. But still I love Makoto’s first few minutes on screen. ^_^

Now we’re up to four Senshi, but it’s not getting any easier…and Zoisite seems to be slightly more intelligent than his predecessors. We also get a hint of his and Kunzite’s relationship. We’ll never see it without kid’s anime filters off, but it’s obvious to all of us even the bad guys know some kind of love.

We’re about to head into what I think the slowest bits of the season, but when Usagi and Rei aren’t bickering, she doesn’t whine quite as much. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 5  I didn’t say “god, look at that art” as often this disk
Story – 7 Nephrite ftw
Characters – 7 They are starting to seem more like “friends”
Yuri – 1  Makoto is a girl magnet, even if they never show that. ^_^
Service – 1 on principle

Overall – 7

The monsters of the day designs are so 1990s.

Many thanks to Viz Media for the review copy. Despite my first sentence, it is a pleasure being able to rewatch this series.

Posted in English Anime, Sailor Moon | No Comments »


Yuri Essays: Chisai Yuri Mitsuketa (小さい百合見つけた)

July 14th, 2015

cymAyana Yuniko (綾奈 ゆにこ) has worked on the scripts for a number of anime series, including Aoi Hana/Sweet Blue Flowers. In addition, she has written a series of “Yuri essays” which are not “about” Yuri, but are instead little vignettes of Yuri-ish moments that she felt or observed. These essays have been collected into an interesting, if odd, little volume, Chisai Yuri Mitsuketa (小さい百合見つけた).

Ayana’s scenarios range from two girls having an intimate moment while flower viewing, to a rather amusing outing she and several other otaku-types took to Enoshima to Aoi Hana-scene spot. We learn that she’s quite taken with girl idol groups and, as a typical Yurijin (“Yuri person,”  a word I’ve decided today we should use for all Yuri fans, ^_^) is prone to seeing Yuri wherever there are two girls being cute at each other. ^_^

In addition to Ayana’s essays, there are short comics by Aoi Hana‘s Shimura Takako and Philosophia‘s Amano Shuninta, as well as illustrations and a short comic by HEERO.

I described this book as “odd.” It was. I enjoyed it, but was never really sure if I was meant to be taking any of these vignettes seriously. When I learned that these essays were originally written for a Newtype web magazine column, they made a lot more sense, playing to the sensibilities of Japanese Newtype magazine readers who, along with having their antenna set to oversensitive, like the Yurijin they are, would also care about idol groups and schoolgirls sharing ice cream. Oh, well, that makes perfect sense now.

Ratings:

Essays – Variable, I’d say 7
Art – 9

Overall – We’ll average it out at 8

I wouldn’t call this compelling reading, or a must-have, but if you’re a Yurijin, too, you might find it entertaining. ^_^

Posted in Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


YNN Addendum, Part 2 (It’s all Good News this time)

July 13th, 2015

lokcdhI promised to let you know if there was any more good news out of San Diego Comic-Con…and there was!

First, many congratulations to the folks who work on The Lumberjanes, for their well-deserved Eisner awards. Yes, plural. The Mary Sue has the story. I’m gonna say it…if you are an Okazu reader, definitely, positively, check out The Lumberjanes. It’s wonderful and wacky and magical and adventure and gods and monsters and bears and summer camp. In other words, it’s great. ^_^

Also squee-worthy, and also from TMS,  is the announcement of a Legend of Korra comic from Dark Horse Comics that will be focusing on Korra x Asami. I’m gonna swoon.

Lastly, not a SDCC news item, but extremely exciting, on Yuricon we have a third article from Eureka magazine’s “Current State of Yuri Culture” issue – Rica Takashima’s Japan: Fertile Ground for the Cultivation of Yuri. This pointed and grounded perspective on the origin of “Yuri” is unlike anything else you’ll read. Now available to the public, it can be accessed by anyone!

Doing your own Yuri research? Check out the Yuricon Essays page for all the available English-language research on the topic. And if you’ve written your own, do let us know, so we can add it to the citations!

And that’s a wrap for the news this week!

Posted in Yuri Network News | 4 Comments »