Umesato the Third! Manga, Volume 2 (三代目は梅くくり!)

April 18th, 2013

If  you’re a fan of Girl’s Ride, hapless thieves or vaguely futuristic settings and happen to have an obsession with drawings of girl’s butts, Umesato the Third! Volume 2 (三時代目は梅くくり！) has something for you. In my review of Volume 1, I covered the basics of the setup: Kukkuri is an extraordinary schoolgirl, surrounded by sidekicks Hana and Niki-ne who aid and abet her in her hijinks as master thief, the third of her name.

Fans of Isomoto Tsuyoshi will appreciate the art and the carefree nature of the story. Like Sei and Nan, Kukkuri, Niki and Hana are not weighed down by life drama. You might also like the DIY steampunk/futurist technology, like the Tin Man-esque  Yuuji-san and the helmet that takes Hana’s brain over and causes her to attack Kukkuri.

The plot is classic “wacky thief is wacky,” complete with cops running along after them, like Lupin, St. Tail and so many thief series before it.

Yuri is, as it was in Volume 1, Kukkuri’s extreme physical snuggliness with Niki and Hana’s raging crush on Kukkuri. Like the rest of the story, it is playful, rather than deep. And it would be more than good enough for me, but the tortured anatomy just to allow ass/crotch shots sucks away the fun.

Ratings:

Art- 6
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri- 4
Service – starts 4, but ends at like 8. …the fuck?

Overall – 6

I like the series, but the service destroyed my interest in reading Volume 3. And since clearly, as the thing went on, the editors insisted on more service, I think it’s just a good idea to stop here.

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Support Your Local (Yuri) Artist

April 17th, 2013

Our own Rica Takashima has new art project – Aliens in New York and she needs our help! If you’ve ever enjoyed any of her Rica ‘tte Kanji!? comics, or any of her work, please consider donating and helping her reach her funding goal. Visit her project on Artspire to donate. Why “Aliens”? Here’s a comic that explains where the concept comes from:

aliens

I’ve already donated. This is her masterwork project and I want to see it happen as much as she does. ^_^

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Next up is a piece of Whoo-hoo! news! “Your Hair” by Niki Smith, originally published in Yuri Monogatari 5 (of which there are very limited amounts left, so get one soon before it’s all gone!) is now available on Comixology for 99 cents. Check out the newly drawn, moodily colored version and support Niki in her work. ^_^ Niki also draws In Maps & Legends. You should check that out. Not Yuri, but wonderful!

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Also on Comixology, Issue 4 of Bandette by Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin. Paul says of this issue, “Yes, that’s right, Bandette # 4 is up and ready for your reading pleasure! What waits within? Will there be a fight? Looks that way! Could there also be… a mysterious woman?” ^_^ He had me at “fight,” but “mysterious woman” is always a plus!

Let me just end with a bit of editorializing. Honestly, when I was a child I presumed by now we’d be using our taxes to fund art, scientific research and space exploration, not wars. Since our governments are still busy play war games, as a non-artist I’m using my money to fund the arts, since it gives us all so much pleasure. I hope you’ll consider doing the same. Thanks in advance!

art

Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Yuri Anthology Dolce Due (百合アンソロジー dolce due)

April 15th, 2013

Almost a year ago, I noted that the Yuri anthology field in Japan was holding steady – and indeed, showing a little growth. Comic Yuri Hime and Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari are still in print, Tsubomi is still updating regularly as a digital comic and Enterbrain’s Yuri Anthology Dolce  must have done well enough, because they released a second volume, Yuri Anthology Dolce Due (百合アンソロジー dolce due).

Like its predecessor, the stories in here are more for the Yuru Yuri crowd, than the Collectors crowd. We have stories about schoolgirls in school clubs, schoolgirls who fall for their best friends, schoolgirls and teachers, schoolgirls, schoolgirls and more schoolgirls…and one random drunken OL story which really stands out because it is the only story in which both characters are not in a school uniform.

The cover art was a “really?” moment for me, as my first thought was, “They got Hibiki Reine to illustrate the cover? No way! …Yes way. The dustjacket and actual book front cover are full color Hibiki Reine works. You remember, she was the original cover illustrator for Yuri Hime, right?  Aside from being the artist for the Maria-sama ga Miteru novels, she set the artistic pace for many of the early Yuri Hime artists. Here, she’s done a sweet duet of a girl and her loving maid and I wish that sentence didn’t make me sad. (-_-); But it does.

Dolce due does not suck, but it’s twenty steps back into the bad old days of Yuri anthologies about girls vaguely kinda liking other girls. It’s so 2003, it’s almost nostalgic. But not in a good way.

Ratings:

Overall – 6

Come on, Enterbrain. You can do better than this.

 

Posted in Yuri Anthology, Yuri Manga | 8 Comments »


Live Action: Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah Ze Moveeh

April 14th, 2013

zaturnnahToday is a “something completely different” kind of day. Yesterday, I watched a movie so special that I wanted to tell you about it right away. Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah Ze Moveeh is like everything you’ve ever seen, only better. ^_^

Ada is a transsexual living in Manila. After her boyfriend takes her money and dumps her, she decides to move to a small town to leave her bad memories behind. With her best friend Didi and her her niece Aruba she opens up a salon, where she tries very hard to not fall for the local hunk, Dodong.

And then she’s hit in the head with a pink meteorite. Didi convinces her to swallow it to gain power (she saw it in a comic book) so Ada does…and transforms into the superheroine Zaturnnah, played wonderfully by Zsa Zsa Padillah, who matches her body language to Ada’s and boy can she sing!

Did I mention this was a musical? Oh yes. It is.

Ada is played by BB Gandanghari – formerly known as Rustom Padilla, a hunky lead actor who, in 2009, came out as transsexual and changed her name. She’s utterly fantastic in every way as Ada. Sensibly, Ada wants to avoid having her heart broken again, and  is convinced that Dodong is only in love with Zaturnnah. In the meantime, as Zaturnnah, she’s busy saving her village from threats like giant frogs, zombies and aliens.

The movie was fun and all, right up to the aliens, where it was catapulted into my personal list of “thank the gods I am alive to see this.” The alien queen, Queen Femina, is obviously a Psychotic Lesbian – with a properly tragic backstory. She and her Amazonistas were…I’m running out of superlatives for this movie. Let’s just say if they made figurines of Queeen Femina and her Amazonistas, I would *so* own them.

Didi is a perfect sidekick – she reads comics, so she *gets* what it’s all about and makes sure Zaturnnah has a suitable costume (and one for herself.) Plus she’s got “comedic sidekick” written all over her. She’s a frickin’ hoot.

You’re probably wondering if Ada and Dodong get together. Of course they do (!) and it was an adorable end scene, with all the townspeople singing and dancing and fireworks and flowers and hearts everywhere. Totally “Awwwwwww….”

I found you the full trailer. Watch and enjoy.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

This movie is, apparently, based on a wildly popular Filipino graphic novel of the same name (which looks spectacular, too.) If any of my readers from the Phillipines have read it, please let us know how it is!

Many, many thanks to Donna for finding this. You are the Master of movies. I loved it. ^_^

Posted in Live Action | 13 Comments »


Yuri Network News (百合ネットワークニュース) – April 13, 2013

April 13th, 2013

YNN_MariK

Miscellaneous Extremely Important Things You Should Not Miss

Comic Natalie reports that Japanese Fashion Magazine TokyoViVi, Volume 3 includes Sailor Moon‘s Usagi and Chibi-Usa in a “fashion shoot.”

Yesterday on Twitter, Japanese novelist Mori Natusko (several of whose books I have reviewed here) mentioned that a current NHK drama Amachan took a turn for the Yuri as main character Haruko falls for a pretty girl. She was so surprised, she said, that she stopped raising her mug to her mouth and it just hung there midair, as she watched. ^_^

My WSM hero, John Scalzi, has written another fabulous post on How to Be a Good Fan, which discusses what makes a fan a fan and not just a consumer.

Josh Lesnick (creator of Girly), has a new webcomic that does not suck. No pun intended, although pretty unavoidable with the title being You Suck about a succubus and the horny, yet clueless, girl she falls for….

Tamako Market’s newest novel comes with an augmented reality cover. Honestly, this is the first use of AR that makes some sense to me. ^_^

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Yuri Anime

Funimation will be streaming A Certain Scientific Railgun S, so it’ll be free, with region restrictions. It begins April 14th – that’d be tomorrow. Better clear your schedule, Bruce McF! ^_^

Crunchyroll has picked up Yuyushiki, a story about a bunch of girls in the data processing club. Yeah, it sounds like every other 4-koma and it has some Yuri-service I presume, since it’s been on the Japanese Yuri blogs since day one (but with pretty low Yuri scores, which is why I presume its service or implication only.)

Brand-new YNN Correspondent Vivi C wants you all to know that Attack on Titan, “has a Yuri character called Ymir and the official website pretty much confirms that she is in love with another girl called Christa . …I don’t know if they’ll play such a big role in the anime. Putting the Yuri aside, I think the story’s pretty fantastic and worth taking a look at :D” Well, who could say no to that? Attack on Titan is streaming (legally, for free, with region restrictions) on Funimation’s website.

The Nozomi/RightStuf release of Tezuka’s classic, Part 1 of Princess Knight is up for pre-order and will make it’s debut on June 4th.

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Yuri Manga

From YNN Correspondent tanbishugi on Twitter, German Yuri fans have something new to look forward to, as Takahashi Itsumi’s Yuri Pirates  manga, Love Flag *Girls has been picked up by EMA and is scheduled for a summer release.

Amano Shuninta’s Yuri Manga: Watashi no Sekai o Kousei Suru Chiri no You na Nanika (私の世界を構成する塵のような何か), Volume 2 streets next week. Given how much I have sitting here, I’ll get to it sometime in July. Waaah~ I wanna read it *now*!

I know I’ve told you this before, but Fu~Fu, Volume 2 (ふ~ふ) is also coming out next week. ^_^

*2* new books by Morishima Akiko are on the way – Hajimete, Kanojou to. (はじめて、彼女と。) and Onna no ko Awase (女の子合わせ).

But wait, there’s more, Material Candy (マテリアルキャンディ) by Kurokiri Misao, and Ookita Hiroko’s  Tsuki to Supon (月と泥 ) are slated for May releases.

The second volume of Morinaga Milk’s Himitsu no Recipe (ひみつのレシピ)  and Hakamada Mera’s Eden no Higashitotsuka (エデンの東戸塚) will hit shelves in May, as well.

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Manga Scholar Matt Thorn shared this on his Facebook, with the message, “今日も叡山電車の「百合」トレーンに乗って。 Riding the “Yuri” train again today.” With his permission, here’s a glimpse into a KR Comics campaign in Kyoto. Click for full size. Thanks, Matt!

Yuri train

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That’s a wrap for this week! 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 »