LGBTQ: Tokyo Bois!

July 3rd, 2012

Tokyo Wrestling is a LGBTQ bilingual web magazine run by Yuki Keiser, with a strong focus on Japanese lesbian life, events, fashion, etc and genderqueer identity. Tokyo Wrestling’s been a strong media voice for lesbian women in Japan, involving themselves in events, and giving voice and vision to artists, writers, and other women whose stories should be heard. You can find Tokyo Wrestling on Facebook and Twitter, as well. (No worries about language, Yuki speaks English.)

Last year Yuki published a book of photography by Tosaki Miwa called Tokyo Bois, pictures of androgynous, boi-ish and genderqueer lesbian woman in and around Tokyo. It took me a long time to finally order the book, and for that I’m very sorry, it’s really a delightful book.

There is some English translation in the book, excerpts from interviews have been translated, and the full text is also available in Japanese. But the real draw of this book is in the photos themselves. Here are the bois of the Japanese lesbian scene hanging out, dancing, partying and – most importantly for me – enjoying the company of their girlfriends. Of all the pictures, those in which two women are seen having fun being together are my favorites. ^_^

In fact, my very favorite picture of the book is Yuki herself with Syd Blakovich, defying every “known” about Japanese couples – they are touching, they are smiling, there is no doubt we are seeing a public display of affection here. (For the record, anime and manga is largely WAY behind the times on this, Only otaku have so much emotion invested in the simple holding of a hand, non-otaku folk do it all the time. I’ve seen many young couples on the streets of Tokyo…gasp!…touching.  Remember, anime/manga fans = largely conservative, often socially backward. Don’t think anime/manga is an accurate representation of life. It’s always life as seen through a distorted lens.)

If you’re sitting around thinking that every Japanese lesbian is a lipstick lesbian, or that Japanese lesbians are always hiding from the world behind other relationships, let Tokyo Bois remove that old-fashioned idea from your mind. This book is about youth, about freedom, and about the desire to live with honesty. This book is a sign that the future will look different than the past – and thank heaven for that.

It’s a fantastic book and has made me very, very happy.

Ratings:

Overall – 10

Posted in LGBTQ | 6 Comments »


Summer Reading: Carmilla

July 1st, 2012

Carmilla, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, predates Bram Stoker’s Dracula by a quarter of a century, making it responsible for all sorts of horrid literary abominations that came after it. (The book is in the public domain and there are all sorts of hideous abominations of people who have decided to sell it anyway, so I’ve chosen to not use any covers or pictures of any of them. Ask your library, or use the link to read it on Project Gutenberg.)

I have to disclaim before I review this novella – I do not much really care about vampires.

Long before shiny hollow-chested lads, vampires were pale and tragic. They were undead that did not go to high schools, but haunted large Eastern European houses, and had odd habits that somehow made no one suspicious. They were accompanied by long, complex sentences  that were nearly impossible to follow, but also, somehow, kind of funny.

Carmilla is this kind of vampire story. The story begins, as many Victorian stories do, with a letter found by one person retelling the correspondence of a third person to the person who wrote the letter…just in case someone might read it afterwards and wish to understand, of course. My memory is chock-full of this third-hand correspondence as a plot driver.

The correspondence is from a young woman, writing about extraordinary circumstances that occurred to her a decade earlier when she was in her mid-teens. Extraordinary circumstances that brought her into acquaintance with a pale, tragic and odd girl of (apparently) the same age called Carmilla. What happens is a very Victorian version of physical and sexual relations between the girls, accompanied by repulsion/desire that would be comfortable for many a manga/anime fan. Very Goblin Market-y.

The story works because the set up, as absurd as it is, fits the parameters needed – our unnamed protagonist lives in an alpine castle with her widower father, and has little contact with anyone in the nearest town, so she and her father are intelligent, but naive. The villagers are, as villagers must always be, utterly gormless. Warnings must be pointed, but obscure, and the end comes, as it must, in a catacomb or similar setting.

The one thing that really did not work for me was the use of the word “vampire” as a kind of climax. And, I realize that this is exactly why I don’t like vampire stories – the build up is just like pushing air into a balloon – tragic Carmilla, weird habits, nightly visits, dreamlike lassitude, kisses and embraces….each puts increasing tension into the story. But as soon as someone comes out and says, “It’s a *vampire,* it’s like someone pokes a pin into the balloon and all the tension just psssshes out. Oh well.

I’m rather more disappointed that there doesn’t really seem to be a good…anything of Carmilla. Carmilla shows up in Vampire Hunter D with bad hat syndrome, like an Amano Malificent. Looking around the web I’m seeing lots of unattractive 30 year olds with blood on their mouths, rather than pale, beautiful 16 year olds. Clearly the world needs this as a manga, not by Amano. ^_^ Maybe by Kouga Yun or, no, wait, Shimizu Reiko. Yeah, that’d work.

In conclusion, Carmilla is a GREAT idea. Now I wish someone would execute it better.

Posted in Queer Fiction | 12 Comments »


Bodacious Space Pirates Gets Film Project

July 1st, 2012

Not from Anime Expo, (and many thanks to YNN Correspondent Cryssoberyl for the heads up) announced after the final episode aired, Bodacious Space Pirates is getting a Film project.

Nice….!

Posted in Bodacious Space Pirates | 2 Comments »


Funimation Licenses Jormungand, Ikkitousen GG, XX and more

July 1st, 2012

The news is in from the Funimation panel at Anime Expo – Funimation has secured the rights to Ikkitousen GG and XX and Jormungand. They have also licensed Michiko to Hatchin, which was a really interesting anime that kind of slipped under most people’s radar and Blood-C among other titles. For the full press release, check out Funmation’s site.

Posted in Yuri Anime | 2 Comments »


Yuri Network News – June 30, 2012

June 30th, 2012

Yuri Anime

The big news from Anime Expo this week is Nozomi/RightStuf’s announcement of the Aoi Hana anime.

A number of people commented that TRSI also took a moment to announce a new imprint of simple, budget packaging, “Lucky Penny.” Some of you have put those two facts together and come up with a conclusion that is not far off the mark. The Japanese release of Aoi Hana was…basic. There was no boxed set, just individual, highly priced disks. There were never any physical extras, and I know that TRSI was concerned about charging artbox set prices for no-artbox sets. So, we aren’t missing anything…there wasn’t anything to get in the first place. Congrats to TRSI for this exciting license and a great way for us to feel good about buying it.^_^

Feel old – the Sailor Moon 20th anniversary event will be held on July 6, with Mitsuishi Kotono and Furuya Tohru (Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask.) The event will stream live on Nico Nico Douga.

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Yuri Manga

Mariko and Jillian Tamaki’s Skim, is now out in Japan as Girl (ガール).

Utena co-creator Saito Chiho  plans to draw a manga adaptation of the Torikaebaya in Flowers magazine. (You might remember the Torikaebaya from Mari-sama ga Miteru, where Yumi and Yuki played the the twin siblings who switch court roles in Heian Japan.)

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Other News

New interview with Rica Takashima! More insight into her work ethic and what she’d like to accomplish..

RightStuf is holding a 25th anniversary contest. People at Anime Expo this weekend can drop by their booth for a postcard on which is a code, which may lead to fabulous prizes. Or, if you’ve got an order coming in from TRSI, you’ll get a postcard with your order. For those of us neither at AX, nor with an outstanding order, you can use the entirely old-fashioned method of sending an S.A.S.E,  a Self-addressed Stamped Envelope (do folks under 30 even know what those are?), the standard of all contests of my youth, and they will snail mail you a postcard at letter rate…wait for it…so you can scan in the QR code or enter the numbers in their website! This is a level of pointless complexity that I haven’t seen since the 1980s, when I had to cut out a piece of paper to certain dimensions and write my name and address in block letters of a certain height in order to win a piece of glass that was roughly diamond-shaped. Anyway, while I applaud TRSI for coming up with a contest that rewards fans, I’m enthralled by the execution, which tries and fails to mesh 20th century policies with 21st century technology. I’ve sent my S.A.S.E. and expect to receive a piece of glass roughly shaped like a diamond in the mail. ^_^

Here’s a link that’s worth reading, even if maybe you don’t agree with all the entries. It’s focused on western comics, so we can all feel a bit bad for them, since we’ve had Haruka and Michiru for 20 years! Comics Pride: 50 Comics and Characters That Resonate with LGBT Readers

Anime Expo is happening this weekend, and SDCC next, so I’ll just post news as it lands, if anything new and exciting comes up.

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That’s a wrap for this week.

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Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

Posted in Yuri Network News | 7 Comments »