K-ON! Manga, Volume 3 and 4 (English)

December 19th, 2011

Volume 3 and Volume 4 of K-ON! primarily deal with the girls’ second and final years in high school. They perform at the school festival, spend lazy days avoiding practicing and drinking tea, busting each other’s chops, and having fun together. They hug Azusa, they pick on Sawako-sensei, they sometimes even study a bit or practice a song.

I said of the Japanese volumes that they were, like Mugi’s tea and cakes, light afternoon refreshment, not meat and drink.

There is no substance here, no wisdom for the ages, except perhaps that high school days don’t really change much when you look back at them, no matter where you’re from. I mean, yes, I must have done a ton of homework – I remember having homework to do every day. I remember filling out college applications too. But when I think of high school, the things I remember are not homework, tests and papers, but things like memorizing Little Riding Hood’s dialogue with the Big Bad Wolf…in German. (“Aber Grossmutter, warum hast du so grosse Augen?”) I remember the smell of the pool at 6AM for Swim Team practice, and the junkie in homeroom asking me what I was “on” because I came in every day as a freshman late, with sleep deprivation and eyes red – and me, answering honestly, accurately and ironically, “I’m on Swim Team.”

I remember being locked out of the band room after returning home from a football game, so the Marching Band amused ourselves by playing our halftime show for no one but ourselves…and probably putting in the best performance we did all year. I remember making a Black Forest Cherry cake for the school festival. I remember that me and Shelly put a lot of schnapps in and it was the first cake to sell out. Also that we drank quite a bit of the schnapps as we made it.

I remember one of the club members being verbally attacked by some woman on 42nd street when I was president of the German club and we went to Yorkville for a field trip. I can still see the look on his face. Poor kid. I have no idea if he turned out gay or not, but that woman sure thought he was then.

Mostly I remember my time with the people, good, bad and indifferent in Marching Band. Most of my days and nights were filled with hanging and working and being with those people. Amazingly, I look back at that time and realize I still keep in touch with several of them. That’s kind of weird to me, really. I say this without irony – I lack nostalgia.

So, nothing deep or meaningful in K-ON!, no. Except a lot of memories and some good times with friends. Which, when you look back at it from 30 years later is really the most meaningful thing about your years in high school.

Yuri? Well no, but hey, I got together with my band sempai, so maybe your fantasy about Ui and Azusa can come true too. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 8
Characters – 10
Yuri – 0
Loser FanBeing – Infinity. You are either besotted or you are wrong. ^_^

Overall – 9

Can I just say one thing before I wrap up here? Mugi is the greatest character ever. MugiMugiMugi!
Okay, I’m done now.

Wait, one more thing…I can’t wait to see the sequels.

Many, many thanks to the Okazu Heros Tricolor Cavy and an unknown sponsor. Thank you, your sponsorship of reviews here is very much appreciated by all of us!

Posted in English Manga, K-ON | 3 Comments »


Top (?) Ten Yuri Anime of 2011

December 18th, 2011

I hate doing this list. Have I ever mentioned that? Yuri and anime don’t mix well too often. The best Yuri manga will never, ever become anime and the anime that is popular that includes Yuri is so…blecch…most of the time.

This year I give up. This isn’t a top 10 list, it’s 10 series of interest – for one reason or another – to the Okazu audience list. I’m not even saying they are Yuri series. It’s just things that some Yuri fans might care about, or not.

As always, feel free to tell me how wrong I am in the comments, you always do. (^_^)b

10. Koi Hime Musou – This is on the list to round it out to 10 and because there is a smidgen of Yuri in it. It sucked in every other way.

9. Sound of the Sky Yeah, there’s pretty much no Yuri here that we didn’t make up in our heads. So sue me. Moe fans liked it, wrote and drew lots of pictures and stories that paired characters up and it made them happy. So shut up with your sensible objections.

8. K-ON! Same as with Sound of the Sky, the Yuri here is entirely in ours and Mugi’s head. But it’s a sincerely adorable story and if it makes people happy to see Ritsu and Mio as a couple, who am I to stop them?

7. Fate/Zero No Yuri here either, but I DO NOT CARE. Saber was made to look extra butchy cool and be all knightly at Irisviel. This is my kind of service. There is no other reason I even bothered watching this, so it works for me. The animation for this series is super swell, if that kind of thing is important to you.

6. Digimon Tamers – On Hulu! I was so inordinately happy to see Ruki again, I creeped myself out a bit. Seriously, if you haven’t seen this, watch it. It’s really quite excellent. Good story, great characters and Ruki’s got to be one of the best babydykes in all anime.

5. Wandering Son – This story isn’t Yuri, it isn’t lesbian, but of definite interest to anyone interested in LGBTQ stories which, I’m pretty sure I can say the Okazu audience is. This series probably wins on storytelling for the year, overall. It was overlooked by way too many anime fans both in Japan and the west, but it was a genuine masterpiece about gender and sex and sexuality.

4. Yuru Yuri – I can’t really like it, I don’t get why anyone likes it, but sales tell me I’m wrong, wrong, wrong. Yuru Yuri is the first “Yuri” anime made as such, and I’m very glad for Ichijinsha that it’s so popular. I just wish it was good.

As always, when we come to the top three, I don’t expect anyone to be surprised.

Here are what I consider to be the Top Three Yuri Anime of 2011.

3. Revolutionary Girl Utena – Juri was, for many Yuri fans, their first “Yuri” character. Her one-sided relationship with Shiori colored a whole generation of Yuri fans’ perceptions. And for so many people who watched the series, Utena and Anthy’s relationship, as complex as it was, was wonderful and remarkable. And then they drove off into a blue sky kissing, naked and seriously, it changed a lot of things in anime.  Thanks to Nozomi/RightStuf we can experience the whole thing again and it’s just as wonderful and remarkable this time around.  For a purely compelling narrative, I consider this series to be a masterwork.

2. Mawaru Penguindrum – While not technically *better* than Utena, Mawaru Penguindrum is new, is just as compelling and is wholly, uniquely Ikuhara. The fact that ten years after Utena changed everything, Ikuhara is back, doing it again and being just as compelling, means we really need to pay attention to this guy. he’s no fluke. He’s not afraid to consciously embrace Yuri tropes like predatory lesbians, Takarazuka, Rose of Versailles and then stand them on their heads in a way that actually makes the series more interesting, not less. I’m very much hoping that someone will license this, because everyone who likes anime should watch it – it’s really made for anime fans. Much like my number one choice for the year.

(This series has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks for 2012, so look for pre-order info in our Yuri Network News posts.)

And here we go….the number 1 Yuri Anime for 2011 is…

1. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica – This series also took well-known tropes and turned them inside out. We all know magical girls, but we don’t know anything about magical girls, this series says flat out to us. I’m very interested to see how it does in sales here in the west. If you haven’t already put this on your 2012 to-buy list, let me suggest you do.  With insanely popular moe design, with a return to really good storytelling (something way too many anime avoid) this series carried itself consistently all the way through a story that was visually interesting, well-written and made sense.

This series is licensed and released by Aniplex in English in 2012.

I don’t think there’s any question that the number one Yuri Anime of 2011 was Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica.

Posted in Top Yuri Lists, Yuri Anime | 22 Comments »


Yuri Network News – December 17, 2011

December 17th, 2011

Hello Yuri Network! Some fun news ahead.

Yuri Drama CD

Katherine H. wanted to remind you that, should you buy the second volume of Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan, with the Drama CD, Blue Christmas, (which was great! Review forthcoming) there is a second bonus Drama CD, Maple Carol (which was also great!)

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Yuri Anime 

Namori’s Yuru Yuri is getting a second anime season. I’m not surprised and again note that this was, clearly, exactly the right series for Comic Yuri Hime to pick for it’s anime debut. The manga has gone on 8 volumes, so clearly there are people who like it. Nothing else in Comic Yuri Hime has run more than 3 volumes.

The English dubbed trailer for the Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica anime release is up for your viewing pleasure.

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Yuri Manga

Tomo K writes in to let us know about Matsumoto Tomoki’s プラナス・ガール “Prunus Girl.” She says ,
“The manga takes place in a senior high where boy meets girl, but girl turns out to be an 男の娘(a male who looks/acts totally female). In Vol. 2, the boy’s junior high friend transfers, and she declares to everyone that she likes girls.

In Vol. 4, the girl’s ex-gf transfers to the school as well, chasing the ex, and demands to know why the ex dumped her. In the end the two get back together, and the second girl declares that she’ll make her dad accept/congratulate them, no matter how many years it takes.

The series runs in Square Enix’s Monthly Gangan Joker.”

I wanted to mention a series that just started in Shodensha’s Feel Young magazine with a Yuri one-shot. Motomachi Natsuo’s 蜜ノ味 “Mitsu no Aji.” Aida is a plain-looking office lady, but after she meets a beautiful woman at a bar, and they begin a love affair, she begins to blossom. When she asks if they can move in together, the other woman says say yes but, when Aida-san goes to visit he that night, she learns that her lover has left without a word. Aida-san moves on with her life, but retains fond memories and a few relics in gesture and speech of the woman who changed her life.

Comic Yuri Hime, January 2012 volume (コミック百合姫) is available. New cover art, new cover story. No more girls with guns.

Tsubomi (つぼみ), Volume 15 is out now, with cover by Kurogane Kenn.

A third collection has been added to the 百合缶 series: Mielle, Feuille and now Petale. I’m not honestly overwhelmed by these. The first two are very generic Story A collections, we could be back in 2004 reading ES~ Eternals Sisters.

On the other hand, I know I’ve mentioned this, but really, run out and buy Takemiya Jin’s Seasons. Just do it. Don’t argue with me. I started reading it last night and it may well make it to my end of year Top Ten List.

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Other News

ENJOY-12-2011In other news, a Japanese-language magazine published in the NYC metro area, ENJOY, ran an interview with me in the December issue. Yuri Manga and festive meatloaves must have made an entertaining read.

This was the best interview I’ve ever had. Some items of note – we do discuss lesbian characters and stories, I talked about my “5th column” of manga magazines that don’t fit the 4 typical demographic categories.  And when I said “my wife” it was translated as「ワイフ」which was both funny and enraging. ^_^;;

If you can find a copy, and can read Japanese, take a look. It was a good time.

***

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 | 3 Comments »


Girly Comic, Volume 3 (English)

December 16th, 2011

girlyset-caseVolume 1 was getting Otra and Winter sorted out as a couple and Volume 2 was them dealing with being a couple…so what on earth could Volume 3 of Girly even be about?

That’s a darn good question and the book itself had a really hard time getting around to answering it.

Volume 3 starts with 4-color pages, that probably took a very, very long time to draw, and the art is actually quite decent. But you know, I don’t look at the art in a comic, except as an afterthought. (I know, I know, reading the words first, then looking at the pictures is a really strange way to read a comic, but it’s what I do. So sue me.) So the art is sort of wasted on me when the story is focused, basically, on there being no story. Or, no story as far as we, the readers are concerned. There *is* a story of course, and eventually we get around to being told it, then it ends and we all have a good laugh and move on.

Volume 3 has some of the best individual comics Josh drew for Girly. I probably laughed out loud while reading this volume more than I did for CuteWendy and the first two volumes combined. Otra and Winter’s relationship has settled down so, when Gelady shows up with a pretty intense crush on Otra, we’re never really worried for an instant, and neither is Winter.

I like the idea of HappyCo., as the bad guy. I know they’ll be back. Steak was a terrible idea and someone should have stopped Josh from bringing him back..surely he has friends who could have warned him?…but what was a terrible plot idea did genuinely create the best line of the entire volume, when the entire campus of Cutetown U. mobilizes to stop Otra and Winter from looking for a girlfriend for Steak. “We’ve been doing this for 10 minutes!” made me laugh for an hour.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 9
Service – 5

Overall – 8

So, while not the best start out of the gate, probably the best writing and art overall, both separately and together.

Posted in English Manga, Western Comic/Comix, Yuri Webcomics | 1 Comment »


Batwoman Comic, Issues 1-4 (English)

December 15th, 2011

As a present for being a good girl all year and working hard at my three jobs, I bought myself a tablet as a replacement travel computer. Objecting as I do to Apple’s content-censoring decisions, I chose a Samsung Galaxy Tablet, which is now named Tabibito.

I spend the first few days getting the hang of the interface, downloading a few apps and rearranging the screen the way I like it. You know, normal stuff. Once I got myself up and running, I loaded up with a bunch of books – first things first. (Over My Dead Body by Nero Wolfe and The Calculus Diaries by Jennifer Ouellette, in case you care.) Then I decided that, if I had the chance, I’d try my hand at reading Batwoman as a digital download.

As I’ve said before, I never was a DC comic reader. And I’ve been out of American comics for a very long time now. This was as much a way to test out the tablet as to read the comic, but what the heck, while I went through all the steps, I might as well get a review out of it. ^_^

Comixology punted me to the DC app which was a no-brainer to download. In fact, all the downloading so far has been so painless, I kind of don’t really believe it’s working until I try it out. Obviously, I had to register to buy and download.

I found Batwoman, Issues 1-4 with a simple search and downloading was maybe two or three clicks. Overall, the app issue was simple, straightforward and painless.

Opening up Batwoman, Issue 1, I knew going into it, the art was very detailed, and the panel structure was crazy paving. The cover and those few pages that were laid out in regular panel format looked absolutely breathtaking. Most of the book, however, is 2-page layouts with irregularly shaped panels (including one pretentious Bat-logo shaped layout which made me stabby.) These presented no problem and gave me a chance to test out resizing, and layout on the Galaxy. Both get top marks from me – there was great sensitivity to touch, I rarely had to fix a resize and it was very intuitive. Layout on the tablet was instant, from landscape to portrait with no fuss.

Story-wise, this arc instantly held together better than that in Elegy, although there still are a few holes. Kate Kane, socialite and wastrel, is out training with Bette Kane, her cousin and sidekick, Flamebird. Kate’s manner is imperious, commanding Bette with little context. Bette is impetuous and the setup was foreshadowed pretty heavily. Worse, later on Batman comes around to warn Kate to keep Bette under wraps. Ow ow ow! Keep that foreshadowing stick off my head!

Kate is apparently seeing Detective Maggie Sawyer who, as a smart, competent cop, was the only other really big hole in the story so far. That Sawyer hasn’t even vaguely considered that Kate might possibly be Batwoman strikes me as strange. Their relationship is pretty decent and I have no qualms about them together, except for the one thing I really can’t get past. Kate’s hair is unnaturally red (which I approve of) but she has a really ugly hairdo. And her skin is unnaturally white. With that hair and that skin, I can’t help but think that making love to her would be like making love to Ronald McDonald. Ick.

The badguy is a mythic watery temptress that allows for some very lovely visuals, although succubus-esque behavior of evil females is really tired.

In Volume 4, the foreshadowing stick lands hard and the thing that Kate was warned to not let happen happens. Which brings me to the only really major issue I had with the series. In Volume 4, there is a very beautifully drawn sex scene between Maggie and Kate. In black and white, it’s artistic, understated and erotic without being porn-y. Unfortunately, it floats above a very unappealingly rape-ish assault on Flamebird. The action isn’t rape-like at all, but the language is. I realize this was meant to be ironic, but it really just came off as a cheap shot.

Nonetheless, the sex scene itself was really nice. I liked Maggie more after volume 4 than I did when I first saw her in Volume 1, and seeing that she really cares for Kate made them completely work for me as a couple.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 7 (needs time to develop)
Characters – 7 (same, not sure if I can like them yet)
Lesbian – 10
Service – 7 (fair amount of T&A pandering)
Tablet reading experience – 6 not quite as natural as paper

Overall – 7 I’m willing to give it time.

I still am not a fan of the super-saturated colors of modern comics, and really am distressed by Kate’s skin tone, but other than that, I have to say that Batwoman, so far, is pretty good.

Posted in English Manga, LGBTQ, Western Comic/Comix | 12 Comments »