Yuri Manga: Golondrina, Volume 5 (ゴロンドリーナ)

April 27th, 2015

Golondrina5In Volume 5 of Golondrina, (now available on the Yuricon Store along with the rest of the series) Chika finds herself doing well enough as a matador. She’s regularly being awarded by the crowd, but she’s hit an emotional wall that seems insurmountable. She no longer wishes to seek death, but she’s not finding any joy in life, either.

Not able to find herself, Chika ends up in Madrid, at an anti-bullfighting rally, run by a famous singer, Jora. Jora is…Amazonian. Tall and physically dominant, Jora is a presence both on the musical and political stage. She invites Chika to a live show and to join her afterwards. Chika does, losing herself in this strong presence.

Her lack of drive is noticeable to those around her. Sechuu confronts her. If she doesn’t respect herself and the task she’s undertaken, he’s outta here. She pulls herself together, a little, but now she’s living a double life – matador by day, Jora’s paramour at night and neither role truly suits her.

It’s Vincenze, after all, who helps her find the will she’s been lacking. His right side is still paralyzed, but there he is in the ring, practicing. The sight galvanizes Chika, making her realize that there is something about this life that is worth living for. She returns to Jora, during a rally against bullfighting and confesses to the crowd who she is and what she’s learned. The crowd boos, Jora slaps her, admits she’s been sure that Chika was a bullfighter and they part. When Jora and Chika first slept together, Jora asks for Chika’s real name – Chika tells her that everyone calls her Chika. As they part for the last time, Jora asks her name once more, and Chika, smiling, says “La Golondrina”.

I’ve had a complicated reaction to this series. I love the art and the storytelling, but not so much the subject matter. It’s not the violence that bothers me, but the lack of consent. Two people fighting is one thing – they both know why they are here. But I feel as if I am a hypocrite if I dislike bullfighting as much as if I like it. I can see the art and the beauty in it, just as in any sport. I just wish the ball one kicked around weren’t alive. While I’m glad to watch two humans fight, you won’t catch me near a bullfighting ring ever.

On the minus side, Chika never got fangirls in the audience, but on the plus side, she had a lover who wasn’t a jerk to her and helped her discover something important in herself, so I consider that an overall win for Yuri readers and for this series.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 1
Service – 4 Nudity and sexual situations, subtly rendered

Overall – 9

I’m fully a est em fan now. I’ve even started picking up some of her BL series just to have the pleasure of looking at her art.

Posted in Est Em, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Second Eureka “Yuri Culture” Article on the Yuricon Essays Page!

April 26th, 2015

eurekaTerribly exciting news today. The second translated article from Eureka magazine’s “The Current State of Yuri Culture” issue is live and public on the Yuricon Essays Page!

Thoughts on the Representation of Yuri Fandom in Kurata Uso’s Yuri danshi by James Welker, translated by him and published with his permission. I found his take on the subject fascinating (As you will see when you read the article, we had discussed the topic while walking around Girls Love Fest together.)

We have one more essay coming up and I promise you, it’s excellent. Get early access to the article and any other Yuri essays we’ll post  by becoming an Okazu Patron. Even a dollar a month gets you early access and special contests and other Patron perks. (We’re just a few dollars a month away from $400. Your support will go a long way to helping us get our work done!)

Eureka‘s “Current State of Yuri Culture” issue is available on the Yuricon Store on the Yuri Literature page , along with other Japanese and English fiction and nonfiction to help you along in your Yuri research.

Thanks again to Prof. Welker and enjoy his thoughts on Yuri fandom!

 

Posted in Yuricon | 2 Comments »


Yuri Network News – (百合ネットワークニュース) – April 25, 2015

April 25th, 2015

YNN_MariK

We’re starting off today with some time-critical news.

A new Yuri Anthology out of Europe is down to the last few days of crowdfunding and they can really use our support –  Freya Anthology is planning on being 300 pages as a physical book. I’ve already chipped in for a copy – they are shipping anywhere in the world. and they are getting very close to their goal, so if you can, this sounds like a great way to support Yuri globally!

Time is running down on registration for the upcoming Queer & Comics conference in NYC, May 7-8. I’m going to bang this drum every single chance I get for the next two weeks. If you are into LGBTQ comics and can make this ground-breaking event, do! Alison Bechdel and Howard Cruse are keynote speakers. Really…do not miss this opportunity!

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Roundup from the Field

YNN Correspondent Alex has this to say that – the creator of Kuttsukiboshi, Primastea before he worked under that name, also has made a very very short and simple animation Docchi mo Maid (どっちもメイド); “silly, stupid, with Yuri in it (a little bit, gags and fanservice).” It appears to be on YouTube at least in part.

From YNN Correspondent Day, “Triage X (トリアージX) isn’t a Yuri anime, but (and unsurprisingly), it does have some eau de Yuri in the mix. I’d describe the show as Weiss Kreuz but with medical professionals/assassins swapped for the florists/assassins of WK, and with a whole hell of a lot more boob/butt/crotches fanservice. In episode three, a rival, unassociated assassin, Chikage, is introduced, only for the lead female, Mikoto, to befriend her in school (without, of course, either cottoning on to their assassin identities). The two get a bit touchy-feely-gropey, there’s a brief fantasized shot of them embracing while naked, probably orgasming, and some blushing. Other Yuri-type content includes subtext between one of the female doctors and her assistant, as well as the same female doctor and a couple of minor character nurses. The show itself is garbage, although I’m enjoying it a horrific amount – tons of fanservice interspliced with stabbing, shooting, burning, etc. of sleazy bad guys (and its all men so far who’ve been slaughtered in various manners). I will add the caveat that there are some threats of sexual violence in it, although the would-be rapists all get the crap kicked out of them and are killed before they can follow through on those threats.”

Senior YNN Correspondent Grisznak has this exciting news to share; Polish company Kotori announced that they have the license for Iono The Fanatics. First volume will be published in August, the second in October in Polish.

YNN Correspondent Jin wanted to make sure we all knew that Hanamonogatari: Suruga, has some Yuri feelings and little to no fan-service.  Jin says, “There was indeed Yuri feeling and tension, also I saw the ending credits even featured a type of classic Yuri tribute as a mini story.  For some who were not aware they may find it interesting.” The series is currently available on Right Stuf as a Blu-ray set.

I want to recommend the not-Yuri, but exceedingly excellent read, The Evil Queen, by Jessi Sheron. I picked up a copy at MoCCA and found it so good, I asked my wife to read it. (You know I never do that.) She also thought it excellent. Luckily for all of us, you can read the whole thing as a webcomic on Jessi’s Tumbr.

We’ll end up with this analysis of  Yuri Kuma Arashi which was an excellent read and wholly at odds with my feelings. A fantastic and very positive perspective!

Next week we’ll be back with a pile of upcoming Yuri releases, so see you then!

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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 | 8 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Comic Yuri Hime, March 2015 (コミック百合姫 2015年 03月号)

April 23rd, 2015

downloadIf you’re a regular reader here, you’ll know that I haven’t been really happy with Comic Yuri Hime this year. Too much pandering to the low and uncreatively-minded, too little actual girls in love with each other and almost no creative content.

So you might imagine how surprised I was to be able to say that the March 2015  issue of Comic Yuri Hime, (コミック百合姫 2015年 03月号) was very good. Like…actually really “Good” with a capital “G” good, meaning that, while I personally didn’t like everything, they are stretching the genre a bit again, so that it’s not the same one story over and over.

The magazine did not start off well for me, with a cell phone “comic” of two girls in maid costume and cat ears, so I was not feeling open-minded when I started reading. But, I was intrigued with the opening manga chapter “12bun no Etude” which began as a track club story that segued into a band story, with strong overtones of the few good bits of Sora no wo to. Trumpets, but I’ll be magnanimous and forgive that. ^_^

It was “Shoujo Shikaku” that blew me out of the water. I hated it, but it’s the first horror comic we’ve seen in the pages of Comic Yuri Hime in ages. I hated it precisely for the reasons I’ve discussed; the balance of power is held by someone other than the protagonist and the scales are balanced against them. It was also full of service-y creepiness, which is not to my taste, but as much as it is not at all for me, I was glad to see horror in the magazine once again. It’s seemed to me that recently manga magazines are finally finding their way back to horror stories after decades of sort of avoiding them.

I was a little disappointed in Ohsawa Yayaoi’s newest which, although it was about two adult women, went over some well-trod material and ended up being a watered down What did You Eat Yesterday? Waste of a good character. I hope we see more/better from this setup.

“Chou Chou Nan Nan” from Takemiya Jin came to a climax that was not unexpected, but still was sweet.

In “Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san” an actual for real Yuri couple finally appears and it’s Ryuuzaki Otome and and Torao Mari. Okay by me.

“Tsuki to Sekai to Etoile” also comes to a kind of climax and for the moment, everyone is playing nice. That was a nice change of pace. ^_^

Aoto Hibiki’s “Yurino-onee-san” (which could also be read “Yuri no Oneesan”) was also a refreshing change of pace. Told from the point of view of a young boy, about the two women who live next door, Yurino and Miyako, we get to see Shintarou recognize what their relationship is, how it works and how much it means to them. He’s  a good kid and his fresh eyes give us a chance to understand that love is love. It was sweet.

Then we come to “Love Desu,” again by Kuzushiro-sensei. In start contrast to the horror story, this ridiculous thing pits two evenly matched, psychotic and violent people in a deadly love/hate relationship. This time one gets stabbed, but she’s the one who gets the kiss, so by the standards of this story, I think she won this round. ^_^ Again referring back to my discussion of violence – they are evenly matched and fully aware of what they are doing. This series is, therefore, perfectly enjoyable to me.

Last, but not least, was “Kanaete! Yuri Yousei” by Minamoto Hisanari-sensei. I think, honestly, he’s hit his pinnacle here. It’s all the moe he could ever want, and an actually amusing story about an old Yuri trope. I actually laughed at out loud at it. And what a perfect way for me to end this issue.

Except that it wasn’t the final chapter in the issue. Instead, we had a chapter of the Yuri Danshi side-story “Ore to Yuri”. Oh well.

As always I’ve left a number of stories out, and I’ll never talk about “To Lie Anguru” which I want to burn with fire, so if you’re not moved by these, trust me, there’s plenty of Yuru Yuri and other moe comics to be found.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

For the first time all year, I can actually say I enjoyed an issue of Comic Yuri Hime. The May 2015 issue has already been released and July is available for pre-order. All of these – and any back issues that still exist  –  are available on the new Yuricon Store in the Japanese Manga Section  – just click C in the alphabet header, or search for it by name!

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Ikkitousen Xtreme Xecutor Anime, Disk 1 (English)

April 21st, 2015

IKKIXXI want to talk today about violence in comics. In particular, my love of violence in comics. Over the years, I’ve been really upfront about how I love fighting comics and animation and characters that beat the crap out of each other. Not surprisingly, I’ve received a lot of shit for it and I understand why, so I want to talk about what I mean when I say, “I like violence.”

To me there is a clear and important line between a fight between equals and an abusive situation  – and that line is the balance of power. Horror as a genre has never appealed to me, because there is always a presupposition of a power imbalance. The stalker, murderer, evil thing has the power and the rest of the cast are victims running away from or forced to fight against the character(s) with power. I suppose that a lot of people enjoy horror because at least one victim wins, usually by gruesomely destroying the bad guy. It’s not my cup of tea. Neither are portrayals of abusive situations. These are not entertainment for me.

I prefer a consenting human, who has chosen their situation, to step into a battle with a fairly matched other consenting person. Even if the fighting itself is not “fair”, the presupposition is that both fighters know what they are getting in to. (This is all relevant this week, by the way, I’ll be referring back to this conversation later, so keep it somewhere you’ll remember to find it. ^_^)

In the meantime, today, we’re going to talk about Ikkitousen, one of the honestly crappiest series I’ve ever enjoyed. My review of XX back in 2010 said this, “In Ikkitousen: Xtreme Xecutor, we pretend that Ikitousen:GG never happened and go crawling back to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms with our heads down, asking humbly for it to take us back.”

And that’s pretty much exactly what happens. Where I was wrong was on the lack of service. The TV release may have had less service, but as this is the “home theater” version, we are forced to to do the tits and crotch dance repeatedly, endlessly, pathologically. I will never have anything but utter pity for folks that actually find this stuff titillating as it’s so boring and pedestrian. You have the whole Internet to be pervy on. Go find something interesting.

So, post the Battle of Red Cliffs that was sort of recreated in Ikkitousen: DD, in the Romance of the Three Schools, a tournament of fighters is announced (again). Someone claiming to be Kentei (again) is setting Fighters up (again) this time to get at the leaders of the three schools – all of whom do not attend for separate reasons. Sousou can’t fight or Cao Cao will take over his body again, Ryuubi can’t fight or her Dragon will go out of control and Hakufu misses the boat because she’s an idiot. This leaves their champions to duke it out with the new crazy fake-Kentei and the not-quite-as-crazy sisters from Nanban. Mouyuu is notable (to me) for being voiced by Toyoguchi Megumi (Sei’s voice actress from Maria-sama ga Miteru) and for having an fetching eyepatch. Put her in some decent clothes and she’d be perfect. ^_^

I’m not going to get into the plot particularly, but I very much like that the characters are extremely aware of their histories and that when Bachou Mouki arrives, they are all instantly convinced that a new recreation of an ancient battle is on the table. Kanu and Ryomou seem to be the most tied into historical awareness – another thing that makes the two of them awesome characters.

There’s a lot of talking in this volume as we set up the fights, but I’m gonna give the story its props, the final episode on this disk ends with a fantastic scene as Hakufu and Gakushu save Ryuubi and company’s asses. I really like Gakushu. He gets the second most “aww”s from me after Ryomou. ^_^

In conclusion, Ikkitousen XX is a hideous perversion of the Chinese epic with gross amounts of service and every once in a blue moon, a terrific fight sequence that makes it all worth watching, if you like watching people beat the shit out of one another. Which I do*.

Ratings:

Art – I guess it’s okay, but why bother? 7
Story – Weirdly 9. The story is actually why I watch it.
Characters – Also weirdly 9.
Service – 10 I can’t complain, because it is what it is, but snooze.
Yuri – 2 It’s there, but all pushed to the background.

Overall – Let’s say 8 if you’re me and 2 if you’re sensible.

*After watching fantasy fighting in Ikkitousen last night, I tuned into UFC to watch a really excellent real-life MMA fight between Paige Vanzant and Felice Herrig at the end of which both I and the live audience were on our feet for Vanzant’s efforts. Two equally matched fighters, both of whom go into it knowing what they are doing, makes for an amazing bout.

Posted in English Anime, Ikkitousen | 1 Comment »