Yuri Network News – May 5, 2012

May 5th, 2012

Happy Children’s Day!


Yuri Manga

In a slightly different take on JManga, Michelle and Melinda over at Manga Bookshelf take a look at some of the Yuri titles on their Off the Shelf: BL GL Bookrack column.

From Dan Kanemitsu on Twitter, The Witches of Andorra, a spinoff manga of Strike Witches by Togeshi Nogami has been released on Nico Nico Channel’s Kadokawa Magazine in English.

The July Comic Yuri Hime  (コミック百合姫) is up for pre-order. It will be released on June 18th.

My Pure Lady, Volume 13 has a story about an affair between two women. No clue yet about quality and I’d guess not a happy ending.

And there’s a new Yuri anthology on the block, Yuri Anthology – dolce (百合アンソロジー dolce). The name alone leads me to believe it’s by the folks that brought us Feuille, Petale, etc.

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Yuri Event

The Live Online Yuri Panel last weekend was a total hoot. All 5 parts of the Panel have been uploaded to Yuri Studio channel on Youtube and to a dedicated page on Yuricon. We’ll definitely be doing that again. In fact, we already have a question or two for the next time. Go ahead and send your questions in to us at yuricon at gmail dot com – use the  subject “Yuri Panel.”

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Yuri Anime

YNN Correspondent Steven D sent us this kind of amazing news: “I’ve been watching Nyarko-san: Another Crawling Chaos on Crunchroll and it’s with mixed feelings that I bring it to your attention that there is, technically, Yuri in it. For clarification’s sake I say “technically” because they’ve given genders to unspeakable horrors from beyond the stars. Both Nyarlathotep (Nyarko), described by Lovecraft as a “mad faceless god” and never having a consistent form, and Cthugha (Kuko), described by Lovecraft as a ball of living fire, are personified as teenage girls and Kuko is in love with (read: obsessed over) Nyarko (who is in turn obsessed over Mahiro [the boy who suddenly has girls living at his house]). So yeah, the Yuri in the show is the creepy/obsessive kind, though it is used as a mirror for Nyarko’s own creepy/obsessiveness towards Mahiro instead of being just for fan-service. To it’s credit Mahiro’s classmates (because of the inevitable transferring into his class by Nyarko and Kuko) don’t bat an eye at Kuko’s declaration that she’s Nyarko’s wife and Nyarko’s objection towards Kuko’s advances never go into “but we’re both girls so we can’t” territory. Hence mixed feelings.The thing this show’s best at though is draining away the sanity of its viewers.”


For more mixed feelings, I also suggest watching Jormungand on Funmation’s streaming channel. (You will need to register, but that’s all.) Stylistically, it’s just like the manga, so Valmet’s feeling for Koko are intact.

The trailer for the second season of Yuru Yuri anime has gone live. “Mixed feelings” seems to be the anime theme of the day.

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Yuri Doujinshi

Steven also wants you all to know about a doujinshi buying service that is importing doujinshi (as opposed to illicit downloads,) called Doujinpress.The stock is heavy on the Yuri. They are based in Sacremento, California and seem to be attending some local events there, if you want to see what they have aside from shopping online. They also have a printing service, which is a cool feature.

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Other News

ANN reports a cyber-crane game launched in Japan that charges 100 yen for a go at prizes from Nanoha, Strike Witches, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, among other Yuri-friendly series through a browser. I’m gonna guess that it’s Japan-only because shipping the prizes overseas would be very expensive. ^_^

There’s this thing called the Aniblog Tourney that pitches various blogs against each other. This week Okazu is one of the blogs and if you aren’t opposed to voting in kind of meaningless polls about such things, please vote for Okazu!

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That wraps it up 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.

Posted in Yuri Network News | 8 Comments »


Yuri Artbook: Enus Collection 1999-2003

May 2nd, 2012

Back in 2006, I reviewed a series called Transistor ni Venus. The series was a romp through the universe with super spy Enus, who was the best kisser in the universe and had the blessing of the Goddess that anyone protected by her would remain unharmed.

The series was a hoot, full of Enus kissing pretty young men, and lots and lots of girls and women. There was action, too. Nothing about it was less than fun, but one of the most appealing features for me, was the art. Enus and all the other female spies were drawn by creator Takemoto Izumi with a distinctly pin-up sensibility, but without that Femme Fatale “bad-girl” vibe so often attached to “strong, female” characters.

To make things even more appealing, there was an artbook of the series. So, today, from my wildly obscure ephemera collection, I want to introduce you to the  very, very obscure Enus Collection (イーナスコレクション ) 1999-2003, by Takemoto Izumi. (The link leads to an Amazon JP listing, but most of the sellers are ship to Japan only. You’ll need to have a buyer if you want this.)

These are just two of my favorite pictures.

To be fair, not all or even most, of the pictures are Yuri in nature. Many of the pictures are Enus posing, often in cosplay. But a few of them are classic pin-up poses which really appeal to me. Enus wasn’t a hard ass, but she was a very competent character, and so, on my personal list of faves.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Yuri – 7

Overall – 9

Posted in Yuri Artbook | 6 Comments »


Jormungand Anime (English)

May 1st, 2012

Many thanks to Mara for pointing out at Sunday’s Live Online Yuri Panel that the Jormungand anime had begun streaming. It’s available for free (supported by commercials) with English subtitles on the Funimation channel.
The Funi channel requires registration before you can watch anything. As much as I don’t love commercials or registering, if this gives me a chance to watch Jormungand for free, legally I think it’s a fair deal. ^_^

If you’ve been reading the manga, you know what to expect and, pleasantly, that’s exactly what you get. The anime is an animated version of the manga, not some mangled other story with barely any relation to what we know. Koko Hekmatyar and her band of cheerful cutthroats are still unapologetically arms dealers; many guns will be shot, people will be knifed and blood will spurt. But it’s all in good fun.

Bizarrely, I actually mean that. What makes the manga series work for me is the sense of humor Koko and her group have, and how they don’t make excuses for what they do. They are a family of a sort, and they are resolved to be the best they can be. As I wrote in my review of Volume 2 of the manga:

There’s a certain amount of philosophical rambling I’m willing to put up with in stories of people with no ethical underpinnings. It’s interesting to watch authors struggle with the “why” someone would do something so awful and interesting to see that they often have to create a kind of cheerful nihilism to explain it, so that their characters remain likable while slaughtering people.

This is captured perfectly by the anime. Artistically, the series looks more like the manga than maybe I’d want, since the manga is frequently drawn pretty sketchily, but it means that we know what blacked-out eyes and crazy looks mean.

Voice acting is just exactly what I want from the series. Itou Shizuka is using her Nadie voice with an edge of crazy and Valmet is voiced by Ohara Sayaka, who has played many of our favorites, Layla Hamilton in Kaleido Star, Alicia Florence in Aria and is now also popular with the Yuri crowd as Irisviel from Fate/Zero. More importantly for us, the Yuri inherent in Valmet’s character is left firmly in place. Mildo is creepily interested in Valmet, I have no doubt Schokolade will be gay as a pride parade and Dr. Miami will also have a serious interest in Koko. It’s just that kind of series. ^_^

Ratings:

Art- C’mon, seriously? You are not watching this for the art.
Story – Guns shoot bullets, people die horribly. You smile.
Characters – They are all broken, but they smile an awful lot, too – mostly while shooting things.
Yuri – Valmet is in love/lust with Koko
Service – Depends. No moe here, so that’s a 0. Weapons fetishtry – 1000000000 Valmet has large breasts and is hot for Koko – 6

Overall – I like it 8, but I’m probably never suggesting it to someone other than my Dad. ^_^

Posted in English Anime | 6 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Hana to Hoshi / Flower and Star（花と星)

April 30th, 2012

One of the things we don’t quite yet have in Yuri manga is a full blown love-hate rivalry on the field of athletic competition. With Hana to Hoshi /Flower and Star (花と星), we’re a little closer than we were before.

Hanai Sawako was a prodigy in competitive table tennis as a child. Faced with her first major loss, it broke her and she fled the sport. Now, years have passed and she’s ready to enter high school as a normal girl. On her first day, however, she sees a spectre from her past, the one girl who destroyed her careeer, Hoshino Shiori. Completely freaked out, Hanai-san feels her ideal world crumbling when she finds herself sitting next to Hoshino in class.

To make matters inexpressibly worse, when Hanai-san attempts to wake a sleeping Hoshino up in class, Hoshino gives her a sleepy smile…and kisses her.

Hanai-san is so put out by this that she can’t reconcile her feelings of distaste for Hoshino with ever-increasing like for the girl. All she wants, she’s sure, is to just avoid her completely…until an upperclassman informs her that there is a table tennis club at school and she’s paralyzed with fear. Hoshino steps up and explains that they – neither of them – will be joining.

The story shifts at this point, away from Hanai-san’s internal struggle to reconcile her image of Hoshino past and present, to a surprising backstory between Hoshino and the upperclassman. As Hanai-san starts to understand that their relationship is far more intimate than she realized, she now has the deal with a third, competing, feeling. Jealousy.

For some reason, despite the fact that she’s pretty unrealistic, I really like Hoshino. Something about her un-real reactions to things appeals to me. Hanai-san was harder for me to like, but I came around after the first few chapters. Her incompetent bumbling is a little obnoxious, though.

What will become of the two of them? Will they manage to be friends or is it destined for more? We still don’t know, as the story continues in the pages of Tsubomi magazine. But of the stories in the magazine, this is one of my favorites.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 1

Overall – 8

It’s right on the edge of a sports story and I have the perfect ending in mind for it. We’ll see if the creator, Suzukin Kalio, has the same ending in mind. ^_^ I sure hope so.

Posted in Tsubomi, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Yuri Anime: Bodacious Space Pirates (English)

April 29th, 2012

Back in February, I was persuaded by longtime Okazu reader, Cryssoberyl, to watch a new anime called Bodacious Space Pirates. Due to the salaciousness of the name I was a little hesitant, but was quickly absorbed in what I consider to be a very fun story. I did my preliminary review at that time.

Another reader, Helen, pointed out that Jenny and Lynn were a couple and another longtime reader, DezoPenguin, pointed out that they are a couple in the novels…and when they director said there’d be no romance in the series, fans were devastated that that meant Jenny and Lynn too….

(These two paragraphs are a perfect example of why I value my Yuri Network so highly! I didn’t know any of this, and was glad to learn it all from you.)

The upshot of all of this? Well…the director lied. And gosh I am so happy to say that. ^_^

In episode 17, Jenny and Lynn are reunited in front of the Hakuoh Yacht Club, acting as provisional Bentenmaru crew…with a kiss. Actually two kisses, just to make the point. ^_^

 
And, as service-y as it was, Jenny is dressed as a bride because she was supposed to have been married and Lynn is dressed like Lady Oscar because the director is not a moron. ^_^
 
I have been enjoying the heck out of this series as it streams (free! legally! on Crunchyroll) and I had every intention of buying it when Sentai Filmworks releases it on DVD. (Can I be cynical again? Who wants to bet that Sentai licensed it because of the title and will be disappointed….?) ^_^ Now, even moreso, for obvious reasons.
 
In any case, Bodacious Space Pirates is now a Yuri Anime and has pretty much entered the race for Top Yuri Anime of 2012.
 
Ratings:
 
Art – Generally meh, exceptionally bad for this episode, but whatever
Story – Fun, with a light coating of awesome
Characters – Fantastic and getting better
Yuri – There’s Yuri! Squee!
Service – 1 and that’s why I say…
 
Overall – 10
 
Two anime ratings at 10 in a row? I’m getting soft.  ^_^
Posted in Bodacious Space Pirates, English Anime, Yuri Anime | 12 Comments »