Yuri Doujinshi: Touhou Project (東方Project) Guest Post by Mara

October 16th, 2013

TPimagIt is once again Guest Review Wednesday here on Okazu and this time, we have yet another special treat! Guest Reviewer Mara wrote me to suggest that he provide an overview of a series that has had way more longevity and breadth than I could have ever imagined – Touhou. I’ll editorialize after the post, so take it away, Mara! /applause/

Touhou Project (東方Project) is a shooting game that stands out by being more about dodging bullets than shooting them. Set in a fictional part of Japan called Gensokyo; the Touhou games mostly follow Reimu, a shrine maiden, who is dragged into solving supernatural incidents. Produced by Team Shangai Alice, run for the most part by a single person who trades under the moniker Zun, Touhou has enjoyed unusually high successes.

With success comes a large fandom and in my small opinion Touhou fandom is the most productive fandom in the world. I say this with absolute certainty that I am wrong. There are so many fan communities that are larger, older and have far more cultural clout than Touhou.

Still I believe it would task you to find another fandom responsible for not only fan produced comics and fiction but video games, music remixes, fake manzai competitions, anime and more. The level of fan involvement in Touhou is staggering for such a niche series.

This leads me to two important points. Firstly, that one does not need to be a big fan of shooting games to enjoy the Touhou fandom, you can enjoy all the jokes and story of Touhou though fan-produced work. Secondly, Touhou while not taking place in a fantasy all-female world, does take place in a fantasy world where, if you want to be an important character in the games you had better be a snarky cool woman.

So when you combine the two reagents of a highly creative and productive fan base and a huge cast of varied women Yuri is not far behind. Thus it is not surprising that there is a sizable segment of the Touhou fan base who ‘ship two (or more) characters together and go so far as to produce doujinshi. Doujinshi that is readable and enjoyable even to those who have never played a Touhou game.

That is where this article comes in. To a person with no starting point, Touhou can seem an inscrutable mess, full of in-jokes and an indecipherable collective understanding of the characters within it. So to help those who may want to get into Touhou without playing the games I have created the following list of doujinshi circles that someone new to Touhou might like to try.

This list contains circles that produce comics and also fulfill two other criteria:

1: Have produced at least two Yuri (according to the Okazu definition) Touhou doujinshi at the time or writing that I have physical evidence of.
2: Have a working web presence I can provide a hyperlink to so that you can search out and buy their work legally.

The name of the circle should be hyperlinked to the circles homepage, or what passes for one. Followed by what parings the circle prioritizes, if any. Also those names are also hyperlinked to a wiki page about that character so that those of you just starting can get a feel for them.

Because we are dealing with doujinshi here do not click any of the links to a circle’s web page if you are younger than the age your country requires to view adult content. There was no way for me to check each circles output to a level that would be without doubt, also that would exclude some good comics so please be responsible and age yourself the appropriate amount before visiting those links.

Atmosphere
Keine X Mokou
First off we have a comedic circle. Atmosphere pairs the Keine and Mokou characters in a kind of domestic teasing relationship. Where one tries to be romantic and everything just spirals out of control with over-reactions abound. Very good circle as far as art and writing goes but they need to experiment with their panels more as there are shapes other than rectangles.

Canary and Swallow
Everyone X Mystia
Marisa X Yukari
Mostly cute stories paring someone up with Mystia. They even produced a two part story that pairs Mystia and Alice. Sadly in my collection except for one book that pairs Marisa and Yukari none of these stories have much substance despite being technically apt as comics.

Chihagura
Kaguya X Mokou
Now this is more like it. If there is one problem with fan created content is the desire to keep the same tone throughout the whole work. Chihagura bucks this trend were a single book can have a few jokes but also a very romantic or sad element that runs through them too. They also never permanently stable the label of ‘Uke’ or ‘Seme’ on any of the characters they use that makes for far more possibilities and ensures each book is different.

Honey Sakura
Reimu X Cirno
This circle’s main achievement is a long running series named Cirno and Reimu’s 1-2-3. One of those love stories where everyone is blushing and working out their feelings rather than acting on them or living with them. Still very well executed and genuinely pleasant work. Not my cup of tea but I would be at a miss to not include it.

Ichinose
Marisa  X Alice + lots more
Artwork so cute it might give you toothache but a genuine sincerity and a good long running series that pairs Marisa and Alice together very well. Gets a bit to angst filled for its own good and should have more payoff after the climax considering how sugar sweet the art is.

Personal Color
(Should be Colour)
Various
One of my favourites on this list and highly recommended. Personal … Color (ugh) has the three technical aspects of comic creation down. Their work has no real deficit in writing, artwork or composition. They also manage good adaptations of the more serious back stories without losing themselves in angst completely. They only downside is that overt romantic tones must take a back seat in a few of their longer stories and must thus rely on references that would only be noticeable to fans of that paring to begin with. But some of their shorter releases are more direct romance stories.

Pigeon Blood
Meiling X Sakuya
A circle almost entirely dedicated to this paring and very good at it. Not their only output but I have only bought their books that ship Meiling and Sakuya. Because of this we do get a fantastic sequence of standalone stories that show these two characters in many different situations and most crucially many different points of their relationship.

Pure
Everyone in the Scarlet Devil Mansion
Two of the artists in this circle also work in Frontier Aja who made the Koumajou Densetsu games. Touhou fan games with Castlevania’s mechanics. Their output is thus rather small but worth mentioning because what comics they have released are one: very funny, two: contain truly beautiful artwork and three: knowing about the early work of Minakata Sunao will allow you to look really ahead of the curve once Riddle Story of Devil comes out soon.

Shako
Yuuka X Alice
Now if there is one circle that provides the stories I wish for more of it is Shako. While they actually produce a lot my collection of their work is dominated by the books that pair the characters Yuuka and Alice. These three books do not merely pair these characters but show them start then build and continue an actual relationship. It also uses the characters and their back stories in a way that someone unfamiliar with Touhou cannon can understand. Easily my most highly recommended circle on this list.

Vivit Gray
Mokou X Keine

Again a favourite circle of mine that focuses on a favourite paring of mine. Both the art and the stories manage that difficult balance of being cute without going too far and becoming ‘cutesy’. Even better for you beginners they have released an omnibus addition of most of their Mouku X Keine stories. It includes their multi part ‘how they got together’ story and a few other short comics.

That is the end of my list. If you know of a circle that you feel should be mentioned I am sure everyone would like to hear about it in the comments. I hope this list can provide you with some entertaining manga at the very least.

***

Erica here: Terrific overview, Mara, thank you very much. In my opening statement I said that this series has more longevity than I would have imagined. Well, that’s not some kind of crazy accident. While the doujinshi fanbase grew, the anime/manga store chain Tora no Ana took notice and invested in the series. For a while Touhou dominated an entire floor of their Akihabara store, in fact.

Touhou is now an established sight in doujinshi sections and goods stores and I don’t see it going anywhere for a while. ^_^

 

Posted in Ashley P, Guest Review, Yuri Doujinshi | 6 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Himitsu no Recipe, Volume 2 (ひみつのレシピ)

October 15th, 2013

In Volume 1 of Morinaga Milk’s Himitsu no Recipe (ひみつのレシピ), we met Wakatsuki and the President of the Cooking Club, on whom she has a raging crush. The feelings appear to be almost entirely one-sided, however and, as we head into Volume 2, Wakatsuki’s delusion about the two of them is clearly headed for a fall.

The problem is two-fold. One, the previous president of the club has taken to returning from time to time and it is quite obvious that the current president has deep admiration for her sempai. Wakatsuki sees the older woman as a rival.

More importantly, Wakatsuki is not a member of the cooking club because she enjoys cooking or wants to learn to do it. In fact, she’s a hot mess in the kitchen  and manages to sabotage nearly every meal with stereotypical “bad cook” tropes such as replacing sugar with salt. Sigh.

There are other only moderately funny scenes on top of this, culminating in the cooking club reluctantly eating crickets for a meal.

But Valentine’s Day saves the story, as Buchou offers to help Wakatsuki make chocolate and they exchange feelings and sweets. As the book closes, Wakatsuki tells the club in the most transparent way that her lover’s identity is a secret. I imagine no one was fooled.

As I said in my review of the first volume, this is not Morinaga-sensei’s strongest work. It’s not terrible, but there’s no self-awareness, no honesty, no real connection between the two. And as I worked on my lecture for Kanagawa U., I realized that that’s what I’m looking for in my Yuri – honesty.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 4
Characters – 5
Yuri – 6
Service – 5

Overall – 5

It won’t kill you to read this, but I’m glad Seven Seas went with Gakuen Polizi for their next Morinaga title instead.

Posted in Morinaga Milk, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Whispered Words, NYCC Friday Report

October 14th, 2013

nycc-logo-2013-loWith Herculean effort, I managed to spend Friday at New York Comic Con. This is the second year in a row life has thrown spectacularly bad timing my way in regards to NYCC. Last year you may remember I was in the hospital, and this year I flew in from Japan the day it began. As a result everyone I spoke to was doing a slow spin as we stood there. ^_^

My main reason for being there was to discuss the upcoming release of Sasamekikoto in English as Whispered Words. To that end, I sat down with Robert McGuire of One Peace Books and GEN Manga.

One Peace was created in 2006. They distribute globally. Recently they brought over the long-running manga Crayon Shin-chan and have the title Black Bard coming soon (which thrills my wife no end.)  Robert says that they were actively looking for a Yuri title and Media Factory, publisher of Black Bard, made it possible for them to get Sasamekikoto. (For those of you not familiar with the series, I have an entire category on the topic, but be warned the anime is no longer available on Crunchyroll and the manga reviews will contain some spoilers.)

Robert confirmed that they’d be publishing the book in three 3-in-1 omnibus volumes. The first omnibus is scheduled for Spring 2014, the next is scheduled for Fall 2014 and the final one for Spring 2015. Editorializing a tad here, I think omnibus format is a great choice for the release. The price point for the pre-order on Amazon is a mere $12.43, and if the last two follow suit, you’ll have all 9 volumes for about $30 over a period of only a year.

When asked about e-formats, Robert replied, “One Peace plans to convert it and distribute to all major digital stores, kindle, nook, apple, etc.” I know I’m really pleased about that. I genuinely like reading comics on my tablet. In many ways, it’s the perfect device for them.

So, good price point, good value, good schedule and multiple formats. If the quality of reproduction is good – and I have every expectation that it and the translation will be – this could set a benchmark for Yuri manga in the west.

Robert and I spent a lot of time talking about being small press publishers and we discussed GEN’s plans a bit. Like ALC, GEN deals directly with the manga artists and does some really interesting doujinshi anthologies and individual volumes. Robert gave me and I read VS Aliens on the way home, which starts off as a kind of creepy story, but ends up as a utterly grin-making cheezeball romance. ^_^  GEN is broadening their focus a bit, as well, with an upcoming BL release, and they are continuing with their anthology, GEN Manga.

Robert assured me that One Peace is interested in other Yuri titles, so we’ll be talking again. (Additionally, we floated the possibility of a promotion here on Okazu, so keep your eyes peeled for that. ^_^) Robert assured me that One Peace intends to publish the whole series, of course, but it’s really up to the readers to make it successful enough to continue. Pre-orders go a long way to making bigger print runs possible, better longevity and more availability. (And let me take the opportunity to thank all of you who ran out and pre-ordered the first volume when I announced it! You are awesome super-fans. ^_^)

Thanks to Robert for taking time out to speak with me about Whispered Words. We’re all looking forward to it. ^_^

Moving on, in their pre-con industry conference, ICV2 reported that, generally speaking, comics sales are stable to good in America and that manga is filling up a good chunk of slots in the best selling comics lists. I urge you to look at the September best seller list. The mix of manga, superhero comics, indie and even comic strips looks…dare I say it?…healthy. Notably, Alison Bechdel’s stunningly fabulous autobiographical comic, Fun Home, is on the list, no doubt driven by news of the musical based on the book.

Walking around NYCC, the top cosplayed anime/manga series was definitely Attack on Titan. Which brings me to…

I had a chance  to speak with Ben Applegate at the Kodansha booth for a very long time. We discussed the good timing of both anime and manga for Attack on Titan being simultaneously available – something that rarely happens in the west –  and how that’s helped the series popularity. But, Ben made the point that the real reason the series is popular is that it is full of great characters – including, he feels, a strong lineup of female characters and androgynous /gender ambivalent character Hanji. I promised him I’d read it and let him know what I think.

I then attended one panel – CBLDF presented Carol Tilley’s discussion of the infighting, rivalries, misrepresentation and general bitchiness that led to Frederic Wertham’s infamous anti-comics screed, Seduction of the Innocents, and the Senate subcommittee hearings that led to the gutting of the American comic industry and the creation of the Comic Code.This panel was fantastic. You can read Carol’s article about her research on BoingBoing and I urge you to do so. Although the Comic Code is history and the CBLDF owns the rights to the name and images, the reputation comics acquired has lingered. In the 50s, the Senate went after publishers. In the 70s and 80s, lawmakers went after comics retailers and now, readers can find themselves targeted. Just in case you think that we’re done with that nonsense, I remind you of the September House hearings on videogame violence and the (non-existent) link to mass shootings.

The rest of my day was taken up with people. I was able to meet briefly with A Case Suitable For Treatment’s Sean Gaffney, Comic Fusion Owner Stacy, and an old friend of mine from high school whom I have not seen for 30 years. That was kind of amazing. ^_^

Had a lovely, dishy discussion about comics with  First Comics publisher Ken Levin, who was responsible for bringing manga classic Lone Wolf and Cub to the USA.

And I met up with and had many discussions with vociferous campaigner for diversity and equality in American superhero comics and in the comics industry, rabid Stephanie Brown fan – and my dear friend –  KyraX2, the infamous Batgirl of San Diego Comic Con. Time with her is always well spent. We debated much about our roles as women with opinions on the Internet and cognitive authorities. She is a much, much nicer person than I am, and wants people to communicate better. I suggest matches to the death. ^_^

My day finished off with an unspeakably good dinner and conversation with Manga Bookshelf‘s Melinda Beasi and Mangablog‘s Brigid Alverson.

For any one of these conversations, it would have been a great day – for all of them, it was a brilliant blur of mad genius. Short as it was, my attendance was highly productive both personally and professionally. I sincerely hope that next year I can make it there for more than one day and hopefully get a few more interviews for you!

Posted in Events, Sasamekikoto | 4 Comments »


Back from Japan. Off to NYCC!

October 11th, 2013

nycc-logo-2013-loI’m going to drag my jetlagged butt into New York Comic Con this afternoon, so if you see me, say hi! No giveaways this time, sorry, too tired to carry myself, much less a bag full of crap. But I’ll do more lucky boxes soonish, so you’ll be able to get random wonderfulness that way, promise. ^_^

I hope to see some of you there!

Posted in Miscellaneous | 2 Comments »


Princess Knight Anime, Part 1 – Disk 3 (English)

October 10th, 2013

Disk 3 of Princess Knight has a few notable qualities. For one, Prince Frank steps up his courting of Knight and, as a result, he comes across as rather gay to my 21st century LGBTQ-filtered mind. ^_^ I actually quite like those moments. ^_^

In Episode 14, Knight fights Satan, which makes me laugh on principal, but Satan’s Daughter does not profess her love for Knight, which would have been icing on the queer cake. Oh well. ^_^

But what I really wanted to talk about is Episode 15, in which Knight dresses up as a sheep-looking goat in order to save a bunch of sheep-looking baby goats being raised by a female wolf (with long black feminine hair), in order to protect them from the big bad wolf husband. If that isn’t worth watching, I just don’t know what is.

 

Ratings:

Art – 4
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Baby sheep-goats and their mommy wolf – 10

Overall – 7

Posted in English Anime, Ribon no Kishi / Princess Knight | 1 Comment »