Eureka Magazine – Current State of Yuri Culture ( ユリイカ 百合文化の現在)

November 23rd, 2014

Eureka-12-14The December 2014 issue of Eureka magazine (ユリイカ ) is entitled “The Current State of Yuri Culture” (百合文化の現在). It is the first collection of essays specifically about Yuri as a genre, that I am aware of in any language. To say that this is a ground-breaking look at Yuri is absolutely reasonable.

But, more importantly, it is a stunning collection of people who are immersed in creating, studying and promoting Yuri and, as such, it’s going to be an amazing read. I’m practically bouncing out of my skin with anticipation for this collection! If you are interested interested in the study of Yuri, this magazine is going to be a must-have.

To give you a hint of why I’m so damn excited, I’ve decided to translate some of the contributors/contributions, as listed on the official Seidosha website, so you can see exactly what has me jumping around my house. My translations, as always, are approximate, rather than definitive. This is the first time I’ve ever attempted to translate writing at this level, and these titles (and punctuation) were…difficult*. Thanks to James Welker for some help with this – and please feel free to suggest better translations. ^_^

Eureka December 2014

The Current State of Yuri Culture

[The Soul of Girls Novels]

Looking at Maria-sama ga Miteru: A Place Where “Sisters” Sigh – Konno Oyuki, transcribed by Aoyagi Mihoko

A Symbol of Partial Destruction: Yoshiya Nobuko and the Community of Yuri Desire – Kawasaki Kenko

A Viewpoint of “Suddenly [there was] Yuri”: Tawada Youko, Yoshiya Nobuko, Miyamoto Yuriko –  Kimura Saeko

From Yoshiya Nobuko to Himuro Saeko:   Genealogy of Novels for Girls  and “Pride” – Saga Keiko

Yuri as a Liberated Zone – Nakazato Hajime

 

[The Tangent of Being “Realistic”]

The Representation of Women’s Relationships: Notes of A Look Around at Lesbians –  Horie Yuri

Yuri-Lesbian Controversy Battle Picture Scroll – Makimura Asako

 

[Her Friendship, or Love, Possibly]

Love of /for a Woman, The Issue of Observation in Yuri – Amano Shuninta, transcribed by Aoyagi Mihoko

“Yuri” in the Past: How Has Manga Drawn “Women’s Love”? – Fujimoto Yukari

Girl’s  Breakthrough – Kawaguchi Harumi

Japan, Fertile Ground for the Cultivation of “Yuri” – Takashima Rika

read between the lines – Nishi UKO

It’s The Same Story, So Why Does It Taste Like Alienation?: Analysis of the Movie Version of LOVE MY LIFE – Mizoguchi Akiko

 

[Intersecting with “Yuri”]

If It’s Love, it’s Necessary: About Her and Her and Him Depicted in Kanojo to Camera to Kanojo no Kistesu  – Tsukiko, transcribed by Tamaki Sana

Yuri: A Genre Without Borders – Erica Friedman translatd by Shiina Yukari

Thoughts on the Representation of Yuri Fandoms in Yuri Danshi by Uso Kurata – James Welker

The Blooming of a Variety of Yuri Is Good, I Want To See Yuri the Color of Blood – Tamaki Sana

The Dust Which Constitutes The World of Manga. Can We Draw A Border Around Yuri? – Hidaka Toshiyasu

 

[Girl(s) Whereabouts]

Looking Everywhere for Yuri – Ayana Yuniko, transcribed by Kitsukawa Tomo

Pretty Girl Fighters Shouting Out, And Then Yuri – Ishida Minori

Freeing the Inner Girl: Simoun and Solidarity in Loneliness – Ueda Mayuko

Your Pain Is Mine, The Joint Struggle – The Tranquility of (Magic) Girls – Sugawa Akiko

 

[NO YURI, NO LIFE]

In Order to Categorize Yuri Culture: A Guide to Works, People and Media – Aoyagi Mihoko, Tamaki Sana, Nagato Yuusuke

 

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Being included in this volume with a number of my favorite writers, artists and scholars = Squee. >_<

 

* This took me about 4 hours, no fooling and that’s just for the titles. I cannot imagine how hard it would be to translate academic articles.Thanks very very much to Shiina Yukari-san for translating my article. I know I’m in good hands with her.

Posted in History of Yuri | 18 Comments »


Yuri Network News (百合ネットワークニュース) – November 22, 2014

November 22nd, 2014

YNN_LissaYuri Manga

To celebrate the publication of Volume 3 of Saburaouta’s Yuri Manga Citrus, Ichijinsha has created a Promotional Video. Volume 1 of Citrus will be released in English by Seven Seas next month (Amazon preorder/RightStuf preorder) , so this is good timing for them, as well. ^_^

YNN Correspondent Emily-chan has checked in once again to give us some exciting news. “Miyabe Sachi will be releasing a volume of a Yuri gourmet manga called Manpuku Yuri (満腹百合)…. It will contain all seven chapters; the last one is running in this month’s issue of Comic Ryuu.” The book doesn’t have an affiliate link on Amazon Japan yet, but I’ll keep my eyes open for it. Food and Yuri, sounds perfect. ^_^ Thanks Emily!

YNN Correspondent Shannon L is pleased to report that the French-language comic, Infinite Loop, that we reported on last month has gotten an English-language publisher. IDW will be releasing this time travel and lesbian romance comic in April 2015. Watch here for pre-order linkage. ^_^ Good catch Shannon!

Makimura Asako (author of Yuri no Real) and Koike Miki have an intriguing comic essay volume titled Doukyonin no Bishoujo ga Lesbian Datta Ken (同居人の美少女がレズビアンだった件). (The Incident of the Cute Lesbian Housemate).

Rakuen Le Paradis Volume 16 (楽園 Le Paradis) hit shelves on October 31. And The January volume of Comic Yuri Hime hit shelves this week.

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Other News

Speaking of comic essays, Yuri Manga artist Aoki Mitsue has written a comic essay, Chuugaku Iranai. Futokou no Musume ga Koukou ni Kougaku Suru Made, about her daughter being a truant from school and getting her to a phase where she could graduate.  (中学なんていらない。 不登校の娘が高校に合格するまで )

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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 | No Comments »


Cream Lemon Escalation Figurine Set

November 21st, 2014

The other day, when I reviewed the Takahashi Makoto Artbook, Akogare,  I called it an OMG and I promised I’d tell you the most WTF thing I found in Mandarake this time.

Well…this has got to be the most OMGWTFBBQ thing I found on this trip:

clef

It’s a Cream Lemon Figurine Set that includes two Cream Lemon Escalation figurines: Rie and Naomi-oneesama in full BDSM gear. I didn’t know my eyebrows could go that high onto my forehead. ^_^ Of course I nabbed it right away!

I managed one more OMG thing from Mandarake, but that’ll wait until another review. ^_^

Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Bousou Girlsteki Mousou Renaiteki Suteki Project, Volume 2 (ボウソウガールズテキモウソウレンアイテキステキプロジェクト(B・G・M・R・S・P))

November 19th, 2014

BGMRSP2I’m going to give in to an uncharacteristic fit of pique in today’s review. The next few sentences should be read as if I am metaphorically gripping this manga around the throat and shaking it comically.

Dear, Bousou Girlsteki Mousou Renaiteki Suteki Project, Volume 2 (ボウソウガールズテキモウソウレンアイテキステキプロジェクト(B・G・M・R・S・P)),

You are supposed to be a harem battle, why are there so few harems and no battling? Arrrgggghhh!

I was so excited at the idea of two competing top stars, each with their own harem, but instead you give me a passive-aggressive love triangle story with the whiniest and least interesting character as the lead? Pfui. Bleah.

***

Okay, got that out of my system.

In Volume 1 of Bousou Girlsteki Mousou Renaiteki Suteki Project, we are introduced to perfect ojousama type Beniko and dashing otokyaku type Aoi and we were promised a “harem battle.” Instead, we have Beniko being basically the only person in the school unable to see that she and Aoi like each other. Well, Beniko and one of her admirers…who is heading for a rude and unhealthy crash.

Beniko’s attempts to be pissed off at Aoi (who really spends a lot of time being annoying) comes to a halt when the Student Council President recruits/blackmails Beniko into joining her “Black Lily” harem. Beniko can tolerate that, but when the President attempts to seduce Aoi into her harem, Beniko loses her mind. Aoi, on the other hand, just says “No thanks.” From that point on, we’re just watching Beniko scream until she catches up with the rest of us and realizes she likes Aoi.

The book that comes closest in “loudness” to this book is Zombie-Loan. Everyone screams, there’s a lot of noise, but not much actually happens. In fact, the plot isn’t so much “things happen” as “a thing is attempted, then wackiness ensues and it doesn’t happen.” Just like Zombie Loan.

I admit it…I’m disappointed. I had hoped for an honest-to-goodness two equal top stars battle it out with their harems for supremacy comedy and instead, I get a manga that is full of tears and screams and severely lacking in humor other than obligatory punchline “Ehhhhhh~~~~?!?!?!?”. Pfui.

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – 3
Characters – 3
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 3

I’m sorry to say, I think I’m done here. Call me when you get a real harem battle together. I like Kawai Roh-sensei’s stand-alones much better.

Volume 2 is also available to Japan-based buyers on Kindle.

 

Posted in Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »


Western Comic: Tomboy

November 18th, 2014

tomboy Graphic Memoirs are a bit of a conundrum to me. They are super popular, often incredibly well executed and yet, as I read them I often feel a sense of intense boredom, as I might if anyone were to tell me their entire life story in a monologue, without any kind of break.

Tomboy by Liz Prince hit me square in the middle of my problem area. Prince’s art is quite good, but her life…was my life. I already knew about the feelings, the gender expression issues, and the teasing. Although the details were different, the substance is the same. I wouldn’t bore anyone else with those details – at this point they are 40 years old anyway, what’s the point? So, reading about Prince’s experience with a gender expression at odd with society’s expectations was, for me, a trifle exhausting.

Two things made this book pop for me. The rare moments when Prince stops telling the story to comment on it were exceptional. It’s the adult voice looking back at the child that interested me most. I dealt with 13-year old issues at 13, it’s hard to be terribly enthusiastic about that now. But 31-year old Liz Prince commenting on things that were incongruous…“The irony of being called a farmer while wearing a suit jacket and carrying a leather satchel briefcase was lost on me.”…that was worth reading!

The second stand out feature was, honestly, the very end of the book, when she suddenly realizes that, although she thought she was telling a story about her life and the guys she looked up to and wanted to hang with and be with, she has a sudden epiphany that the story is equally about the women in her life. The girls she emulated, adored, befriended, who guided her and gave her the chance to become who she is. As I read that bit, I – for the first time in my life – had my life flash before me, in a series of memories of all the girls I looked up to, who broke my heart before I knew that was what was happening, who were my best friends until they weren’t and those who were there for me when no one else was.

In that one moment, this book went from good to excellent. Because while I don’t expect everyone to care about me, or my childhood, Liz Prince quite literally pulled it whole out of my brain and laid it out for me to see.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – My life, my friends, my experiences and me. 10
Service – 1 on principle
LGBTQ – 5 the narrative is wholly about being gender non-conforming

Overall – 8

So, from one tomboy to another (and who also gets mistaken for a guy about half the time) – Thanks, Liz Prince. Let’s climb a tree together one day. ^_^

Posted in English Manga, Western Comic/Comix | 1 Comment »