Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – June 6, 2015

June 6th, 2015

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Yuri Webcomics

YNN Correspondent Kimber Stormer wanted to share the news that the first Italian Yuri manga-novel Orange Cream by Scarlett Bell and Aeryn Sun, is now available in Spanish and English. The tropes are strong with this one, but the art is nice.

You are *so* going to want to read Mahou Josei Chimaka, available complete and free on Sparkler Monthly! What happens to magical girls who don’t beat the bad guy?

If you enjoy it as much as I did, you can buy a digital copy or pre-order the print version on the Sparkler site.

LGBTQ Comics News

Publisher’s Weekly is getting into the Pride month spirit with 13 Great LGBTQ Comics.

At CBR, Brian Cronin takes a look at the history of Trans characters at DC and Marvel.

DC Comics put together a video history of LGBTQ characters in their comics.

A Mighty Girl has put together some girl-focused LGBTQ reading, as well. Including a couple of graphic novels in the mix.

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Sailor Moon

Check out the poster for the third new Sailor Moon musical, for your first glimpse of Sailors Uranus, Neptune and Saturn.

Yuri Anime

All three Madoka franchise movies are now available on Netflix – both subbed and dubbed versions.

Yuri Live-Action

Remember the Youtube series Carmilla? YNN Correspondent Shannon L. wants you to know that there is a second season on Youtube!

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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 | 10 Comments »


Sporadic Reviews For Reasons

June 5th, 2015

I like to think of my readers as friends and I know that over the years I have had the chance to actually meet and befriend many of you. (Not “befriend” Nanoha style, although I’m open to that, too. ^_^) And for that, I am very thankful.

Today I’m going to let you into my house, in a manner of speaking. My wife and I are having a bathroom ripped out and replaced. This means several things for us for the next month – loud noises while I’m trying to work or write from in my own house for days on end. Showering at the gym, and people walking in and out all day. Plus, the fascinating process of seeing nearly 100 years of cobbled-together plumbing and building choices, starting with the room not having plumbing, then having plumbing and completely different codes for building, then newerish plumbing and codes, and now…from galvanized steel to Pex.

As you might imagine, this has made my days challenging, so if I don’t write a review for a few days, it’s only because this is consuming me.

Should this kind of thing fascinate you, here’s the link to the renovation photoset on Facebook. You don’t need to be on FB to see it. Or, as I like to think of it, “what happens when an early 20th century house with World War II-era plumbing meets the demands of the 21st century?”

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Posted in Miscellaneous | 5 Comments »


Western Comic: Strong Female Protagonist, Volume 1 (English)

June 3rd, 2015

SFPV1Not too long ago, Alison Green was a “superhero.” That is to say, she is a “biodynamic” person, whose chromosonal instability gives her what we refer to in common parlance as “super powers.” But, honestly, Alison’s had enough of “fighting crime” with her super strength because it really isn’t helping anything. She’s as likely to destroy a building while saving the people inside…and she’s sick of it.

So Alison chose to unmask herself and try to be normal. It’s not working all that well, but she’s doing her best. She’s always done her best – at being a good guy, at being a good person, and it’s becoming more and more obvious to her that doing her best just isn’t really enough.

And with this, my dear readers, we are introduced to  Volume 1 of Strong Female Protagonist by Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Ostertag, the first collected volume of their ongoing webcomic which was funded through a Kickstarter campaign.

If there is a single word that I would use to describe this series, that word would be nuance. Alison is old enough and smart enough to see all sides of the issues her biodynamic powers bring up…and she’s intelligent enough to see that there’s not all that much that separates her from the bad guys.

It’s not an easy read, especially in places where Alison is brutally honest about the not-always-positive outcomes of her exploits as Mega Girl. The chapter where she learns that an erstwhile ally is making a sacrifice that is almost inconceivably horrible and sublime is especially difficult. But that is exactly why you all ought to read this comic. These characters are human, whatever their powers are.

The comic has one tic I’m still not entirely sure if I liked or not. Author and artiss comment on individual pages at the bottom. In some places it feels comfortable, like we’re in the middle of a conversation, or as if I’m listening to the commentary track, in other places it catapulted this reader out of the action and actually ruined the flow of the story. This kind of light commentary worked well in light moments, but was slightly intrusive in the heavier moments.

I did not actually expect any LGBTQ content, but there is some. While Alison is not gay, the most complicated character in the volume, Feral, is. She hit on Alison when they first met, and although it didn’t go anywhere, she still quite likes Alison. In a surprising use of this old chestnut, the well-worn trope adds to Alison’s respect and affection for Feral, rather than diminishing it. (Thinking about it, it recalls to mind Paula from Red Garden and her unreturned, but also unscorned affection for Kate.)

Overall, however, the entire story is so tightly told, so well-rendered, that I was enrapt, and read it in one sitting. Refreshing, nuanced, smart and emotional, Strong Female Protagonist is the superhero comic we need.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Solid, pleasant, easy to follow
Story – 10 Exceptional in concept and execution
Characters – 9
LGBTQ – 3

Overall – 9

This comic understands the human condition and nuance and does a stellar job of balancing the beautiful and the ugly. Most importantly, it doesn’t jettison the happy just to wallow in the gritty.

Posted in Western Comic/Comix | 7 Comments »


LGBTQ Manga: What Did You Eat Yesterday, Volume 3 (English)

June 1st, 2015

41yIg-UGuKLYou know how it feels when you’re watching TV, say, with someone – like a parent or friend, who isn’t quite convinced that you’re getting life right, and you see a report on something you really care about or identify with, and the report is about the atrocious behavior of your in group and it makes you die a little inside, like when you’re explaining the importance of a LGBTQ Pride parade to a relative and the news report keeps showing gusy with massive codpieces in assless chaps or  you’re talking about your days in a fraternity and how meaningful it was and the news is rehashing some horrible hazing incident?

This is a little bit how I feel reading What Did You Eat Yesterday? Volume 3 by Yoshinaga Fumi. The main part of the story revolves around a family crisis for Shiro, and Kenji is so supportive and understanding that I started to really warm up to them as a couple. Look, I said, to myself, Shiro is acknowledging Kenji’s understanding and affection, look. They obviously really care deeply for one another.

Then a chapter with Kayoko, Shiro’s partner in spending cheaply, pops up and Shiro and Kayoko both basically admit that they don’t really *like* their partners, but think breaking up would be a pain in the neck and I find him obnoxious all over again. Worse, as the volume pages close, we’re treated to Shiro admitting flat out to us that he doesn’t really love Kenji, even while Kenji is basking in what he perceives as an act of love. Blecch.

I know that it’s kind of nice to see a gay couple with a more three-dimensional relationship than just sex, but good heavens, Shiro’s a jerk. He’s a jerk to his coworkers, mostly because he’s socially awkward and self-absorbed at the same time, but his relationship with Kenji is a flat out lie.

I am really struggling with this series. Everyone else seems to love it, seeing something that I am not seeing in it.

By the end of this volume the food didn’t even sound good anymore, I was so put off by the lack of genuine affection Shiro has for this guy who thinks he loves him. And there’s a pull quote by someone I happen to know raving that this was one of the “nicest depictions of a couple who just happens to be gay.” Sure, if you ignore the fact that Shiro is lying about his feelings.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – Started at a 8, but 5 by the end
Characters – Kenji is an 8, Shiro is a 5
LGBTQ – 8
Service – 9  The food is the service

Overall – Halfway through, this score was an 8.  Then…

Kenji: I feel so loved!

Shiro thinks: Actually when you put it that way, it’s not strictly true, but…oh well.

Overall – 4

I am apparently alone in thinking this but, screw you Shiro.  Kenji go find a nice guy who loves you.

Posted in LGBTQ | 11 Comments »


Okujou no Yurirei-san Side A; Mou Hitotsu Yuritopia (屋上の百合霊さんSIDE A もうひとつのユリトピア)

May 31st, 2015

Originally released in Japan in 2012, Visual Novel Okujou no Yuri Yurei-san is an extremely popular Yuri series.

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As you know, I do not play VNs  – and I now understand why I don’t. /blink/

 

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It’s not the “game” aspect that bores me, it’s the excruciatingly slow reading mechanics. /unblink/

 

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Having to page forward after every sentence makes me want to stab my eyes out with frustration. /blink/

 

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The two or three facial expressions that change back and forth seem as ridiculously silly to me as me posting my own face at the end of every single sentence in a review. /unblink/

 

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Not every sentence needs an illustration. Much less the same illustration repeated over and over. /blink/

 

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And, so, as much as the story in Okujou no Yurirei-san seems kinda cute. I just can’t bring myself to attempt it. I already know I’ll get 5 minutes in and want to scream.

The thing is, the series is extremely popular in Japan. In fact, it’s spawned several Yuri-only doujinshi shows of it’s own…called “Yuritopia,” for obvious reasons, as you will see.

Okujoumou1In the VN, at a elite girl’s school,  Shouka Kokonotsuboshi Joshi Gakuen, Yuna is able to see the ghosts of two girls who watch over the school. They were in love, but were not able to be together in life, so in death, they long for the school to become a Yuri Utopia, i.e., “Yuritopia.” During the course of gameplay, several couples are formed, to bring the school towards the Yuritopia they desire.

In the first part of this two-manga set, Okujou no Yurirei-san Side A; Mou Hitotsu Yuritopia (屋上の百合霊さんSIDE A もうひとつのユリトピア) we meet Shiori, a quiet, unassuming student, who is friends with one of the original game characters, Maki. The school festival is coming up and Shiori does not want to be dragged into acting in their class play so she, Maki and Hina (who also appears in the VN) all volunteer to work on the set.

But the conflict of the story lies in Shiori’s fractured relationship with her childhood friend, Mako. Mako has already confessed her love to Shiori who, in a panic, ran away. She hasn’t been able to face Mako since.

Hina, who is on track team with Mako, can see the problem immediately. She encourages Shiori to make up with her friend. Shiori tries, but when Mako again confesses, she again runs away…even though this time, she’s not at all upset.

As the festival nears, Shiori learns that Hina and Yuna are an item, and at the festival meets Maki’s lover Miki (one of the VN couple plotlines). Having heard about the two ghost girls on the roof, Shiori pulls herself together just long enough to let Mako know she likes her back. The two ghost girls appear, glowing with joy, as another couple is added to their Yuritopia.

There is nothing “wrong” with this book, per se. Itou Hachi’s art is moe, but not at all in a fetishy way, the story is comfortable and untroubling. The only thing that strikes me as weird, is that in Yuritopia there are no men of any kind. Not so much as a male teacher or parent. There is, in fact, only one adult shown in the entire volume, a female teacher in one panel. All other parents or teachers are off-stage voices and no one in the audience for the play is an adult. It’s a clear indication that, like Thomas More’s Utopia, this is a not-place. Nowhere real, not obtainable, not really even all that desirable, Yuritopia is a fantasy only.

Interestingly, these volumes are being put out by Hirari comics and I’m betting Ichijinsha’s kicking itself in the butt for not grabbing up the idea. ^_^) Go Hirari!

Ratings:

Art – 8 Cute, without being teeth-grittingly sugary or in any way creepy
Story – 7 Predictable, but still nice, as one might expect from such a series
Characters – 8 Likable, a little thin in development as one might expect from such a series
Yuri – 9
Service – 1 Pleasantly free of thigh-staring

Overall – 8

Like the ghosts watching over the school, we can be perfectly happy for these not-real girls in their not-real world. ^_^ At least Yuritopia is fill of cute, happy Yuri couples.

Posted in Kindred Spirits / Okujou no Yurirei-san, Yuri Manga | 16 Comments »