Jormungand Manga, Volume 9 (English)

July 20th, 2012

Jormungand, Volume 9 is no more “Yuri” than any of the preceding volumes, but there is something of note for all of us Yuri fans. I’ll get to that in a sec.

First, and way more important, Volume 9 is a more in-depth look at the past and inner life of Wiley, Koko’s demolitions expert. Wiley is ex-military, extremely smart and, like all of Koko’s team, just ever so slightly broken. His past is, for me at least, not nearly as interesting as his present.

Volume 9 ends with Koko contacting Karen, Mildo, Schokolade and Dr. Miami. Koko seems to be planning something far, far larger than just another arms sale…something that will change the game here permanently. Or so it seems, but in reality, it’s probably just the author creating a reason for all the chicks in the series to team up… ^_^ I’m not complaining.

What might make some of our ears prick up is this:  Now that Valmet has finished putting her past behind her, she’s much more open about her desire for Koko (not that she was particularly closeted about it…but now she’s totally overt.) And, for the first time, Koko seems perfectly comfortable throwing some tinder on that fire. It’s not like the two of them will go anywhere, but, I dunno, I kind of like looking at Valment blushing when Koko complements her on something butchy. It warmed the cockles of my heart.

Because this is Jormungand, there’s lots of presentiments of important things afoot without any actual information and some people die. A perfect way to end my week this week. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 7
Yuri – 3
Service – 4

Overall – 7

(No, I never did review Volume 8. There really wasn’t even the teeniest grain of Yuri to hold on to in that volume. This time we got groping instead.)

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Jigoku NEET Manga (地獄ニート)

July 16th, 2012

In 2005, I wrote a review of a manga called Ultra Sword by Hayashiya Shizuru. It was a series based upon demon rape and violence. I thought it was…not too bad, considering. Well now, more of her stories from Hot Milk comics have been collected into a volume called Jigoku NEET  (地獄ニート).

The title comes from the first half of the book, in which we follow the slacker daughter of the King of Hell as she and her sister are exiled to earth and refuse to become productive members of society. Instead, they lay around and whine, go around naked when it’s hot, accidentally burn their house down and end up homeless and naked in a park. When the younger sister dies, she ends up in Heaven, where she becomes an angel. To save her younger sister, Sangaria, Jingaria the older sister, leads the legions of hell against the angels. Sister takes on sister and in their final battle, they end up sending themselves to a desert island somewhere, where it can be just the two of them, naked, forever. This story actually made me laugh out loud in places.

Oh yeah, it’s that kind of comic.

This is followed by attempted rape by a spirit in a hospital who is thwarted by a very attractive hermaphrodite, a disturbing story about two bunny girls and wacky life with a Christmas fairy.

The title story was so wackadoodle that in comparison the rest were pretty weak, but it really didn’t matter. I’m not the audience for Hot Milk Comics. Presumably, they really like these kinds of things. More importantly, I really hope Hayashiya-sensei has a lot of fun creating them.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – /coughcough/
Characters – 7
Yuri – 6
Service – there are not enough numbers

Overall – 7

One reads this kind of thing because one is a Hot Milk Comics kind of person, or a Hayashiya kind of person.

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Summer Reading: Anne of Green Gables

July 15th, 2012

Next to Alice in Wonderland and  Little Women, there probably isn’t  another piece of western girls’ literature that has been as picked over in anime and manga as Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. And after reading it, I think I know why. I’ll get to that in a second.

Anne of Green Gables occupies a space smack in between The Little Princess, which is a purely wish-fulfilling Cinderella-like fantasy and the Little House series in which a smart, hardworking young lady makes good by being smart and hard-working. The story starts off as a bit of fantasy and ends with Anne succeeding through hard work and smarts.

But that’s starting from the end, let’s start from the beginning. Anne of Green Gables is about an orphan girl, Anne Shirley, who is mistakenly sent to a brother and sister in rural Canada. After some initial problems, Matthew and Marilla decide to keep her. The story follows Anne from 11 years old, when she arrived on the Cuthbert’s farm, to 16 years old, when she makes a decision to not leave to go to college, but stay and teach in a local school.

There were some tough bits at the beginning of the story, as Anne tries to not tell Marilla of any neglect or abuse she might have suffered, and there were some bits in the middle when Marilla, particularly, was pissing me off with her puritan stance on life, but of course, as this is a girls’ book, Anne comes out okay in the end.

As I said, I was able to see why Anne of Green Gables is (relatively speaking) so popular in Japan. It has all the qualities of Class S Japanese literature. A young girl, forging a deep emotional bond with another girl and, through the use of her own wits, skills and perseverance, rising to the top of her class and her society. For those of us interested in Yuri, although the book made light of it, the scenes where Anne and Diana vow their friendship to one another could be as romantic as anyone could wish.

This book was the last of the holes in western lit that I needed to fill for myself. If you have a suggestion of any late 19th – early 20th century western literature, that is relevant to Yuri or shoujo, go ahead and suggest it in the comments. I may well have read it already, but if I haven’t I’ll consider it. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – Really hard to say, I didn’t hate it, it wasn’t badly written, but I can’t say I liked it, either. Let’s go with my default average  – 7

Posted in Queer Fiction | 9 Comments »


Yuri Network News: July 14, 2012

July 14th, 2012

It has been a very long week, so you’re getting another random dump of news items.

San Diego Comic-Con is on this weekend and we have a few announcements trickling out of the event:

Jmanga has announced that their iOS and Android apps will be available in October.  They officially announced manga titles from Ichijinsha’s Comic Yuri Hime, Gateau and Comic Zero Sum magazines. The Comic Yuri Hime titles are Yuru Yuri by Namori, Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu by Zaou Taishi and Eiki Eiki and Sora-iro Girlfriend by Rikachi. ALC is working with JManga on these titles, so look forward to them! (I’m hoping if they do well, we’re likelier to get some of the titles we want next round. ^_^) Jmanga is also hosting a translation contest – top prize is a trip to Japan, runners-up get an iPad. If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at translation, give it a shot!

Also from SDCC, artist Colleen Doran has this to say on Twitter: Advice no one in Artist Alley ever seems to get: you don’t chase Hollywood. If Hollywood’s not chasing you, it ‘aint happening.

UDON Entertainment is putting out a whole line of artbooks, including a R.O.D Official Archive.

Japan’s NHK Network ran a segment on Morinaga Milk’s Girl Friends last night on their art and culture show MagNet, as part of their “Girls Manga” discussion.

Kashmir’s nonsense manga Yuriseijin Naaoko-san (Alien from the Yuri planet, Naoko-san) is getting an “animation novel” – what we used to call an OVA.  There is some mild Yuri in the series – it’s all gags and nosebleeds, mostly.

***

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!

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Yuri Manga: Sailor Moon, Volume 6, (English)

July 13th, 2012

You may have noticed that, although Sailor Moon has been out in English for some time, I have not yet written a review of it here. There was no ulterior motive, it’s merely because the first 5 volumes in this edition have no Yuri. It’s not until we reach Sailor Moon, Volume 6, that we’re turning our sights here on Okazu towards it. This is the beginning of what is referred to by fans of the series as the ‘S’ arc – a phrase that comes from the third season of the anime, Sailor Moon Super, or Sailor Moon S. (Those of you familiar with the series knew that, but there may be readers who have never read the manga or watched the anime before – after all, the series is 20 years old. That explanation was for them. ^_^)

Usagi is about to have a moment of unadulterated happiness with Mamoru when they are interrupted. Usagi feels as if, whenever they get a moment of complete quiet for themselves, it’s doomed to be brief. And she is completely correct, as a new enemy appears. With shared dreams and visions of destruction…and vague words about the “Talismans”, the Senshi are once again called upon to protect the Earth, this time from a group with  the ominous name Death Busters.

It’s very hard to read this volume of manga and not flip back and forth in my head to the anime. Eudial’s appearance made me laugh out loud…but there’s no reason why that should be, she’s merely another bad guy to be defeated here. Nonetheless, when she showed up, I immediately flipped over to the Eudial of the anime, who was one of the greatest bad guys in the history of anime, with her terrible driving, her migraines and the best Monster of the Day ever, Doorknobder. (Go ahead, let’s say it and get it out of our systems, shall we? “Doorknobder Desperate Attack!” Okay, there, we can move on now…)

But this is not the anime. The tension is deeper, the bad guys are far more ominous and the good guys are, as well. When Haruka and Michiru arrive, it is impossible for us or the Senshi to know if they are friends or enemies. And they appear, perhaps, to be playing a third side. Haruka gets close to Usagi and Michiru seems to have her eyes on Mamoru, but in their private time they seem to be a couple. Who are they? What do they want? Whatever it is, they know a lot more about the situation (we think), as they carry two of the Talismans.

Haruka is first presented as a guy, but when she’s seen in women’s clothes, then later as a Senshi, she’s understood to be a woman. Usagi will ask her which she is and unhelpfully, she will respond with a question, “Does it matter?” It doesn’t really, but it does matter that Haruka and Michiru are older, sexily hyper-competent and don’t know as much as they think they do about what’s going on.

Artemis and Luna offer useless information (as they always do) about the mysterious new Senshi that have appeared. (I am, and always have been convinced that the only one of the Senshi team with any brain cells to rub together is Diana.)

And what is the role played by the sickly girl, Hotaru?

We don’t really know by the end of this volume. Which means we want to get the next volume. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Loser FanErica – 127

Overall – 7

I am reminded that the origin of the Yuri helicopters was Sailor Moon. (I should have remembered that Strawberry Panic! had no original elements of its own.)  Phew!

Posted in English Manga, Sailor Moon | 1 Comment »