Vampire Princess 吸血姫(ヴァンパイア・プリンセス) Manga

October 3rd, 2011

Many of you know Kakinouchi Narumi’s work, even if you don’t know you know it. Vampire Princess Miyu (both TV and OAV,) on DVD and Juline and Shaolin Sisters in manga, have made it to English. In Japanese she’s done a great number of series, including the obscure Utahime Fight!, which I reviewed back in 2005 and the art for the Case Files of Yakushiji Ryouko (薬師寺涼子の怪奇事件簿), which I am currently reading, having gotten more volumes at Book-Off in Tokyo (and my gosh, if there was the least little bit of Yuri in it, I would be reviewing it here so fast it would make your head spin!)

But what Kakinouchi-sensei is best known for is Vampire stories. Along with Miyu, you’ll find Vampire Princess Yui, and Dahlia the Vampire in her bibliography. And as much as vampires rarely do it for me, I love the hell out of Kakinouchi-sensei’s vampires. Which brings me to the subject of today’s review, Kakinouchi-sensei’s newest series, done in conjunction with her husband Hirano Toshiki, Vampire Princess. (吸血姫 – ヴァンパイア・プリンセス)

Have I ever told you about my Yuridar? I have ridiculous Yuridar. I can stand in front of packed shelves of books and reach out and pull a few off and pretty much guaranteed, they’ll have some Yuri in them. (This works for other things too, like always knowing when there’s  book by T.E. Lawrence in a store.) I saw this book all over Tokyo, but kept resisting it, until the pressure became too much and I caved. So very, very glad I did.

In a small town in the late Meiji period, in a girls’s school, a young girl named Sakura is drawn into the mystery and horror that is the life of her classmate Yuu. Yuu, it turns out, is a vampire and Sakura becomes her servant and partner in her complicated life.

Like all of Kakinouchi’s work, the setting is sparse, but clothing, hair and movements are dramatic, with great sweeping lines that fill panels and pages. Also in keeping with her style, all the females are well-put together, and the vampires are seductive and beautiful in their unworldiness, without being shiny or idealized. It would be very easy to read Yuu as simply a member of Japan’s nobility, using and discarding commoners as she needs. However, there’s something more than just base need in Yuu’s relationship to Sakura – and it is this “something more” that comes so close to being Yuri. Many of Kakinouchi’s Vampire Princesses seem to ride that line between feeding/seducing that Bram Stoker was trying to gross us out with, but only succeeded in making vampires cool and sexy, instead. ^_^ Yuu is both cool and sexy and Sakura is a (mostly) willing partner.

In a world that uses Twilight as a benchmark for vampires,  I’m all for Yuu’s classic inhuman gaze and the sweeping movements of her kimono.

Ratings –

Art – 9, but I’m a Kakinouchi fangirl, YMMV
Story – 7 It’s vampires, there’s really not much else you can do with that
Characters – 7 Same
Yuri – 5, it’s all vampire feeding stuff, but still, sexy is sexy
Loser FanBeing – 5

Overall – 8

I’ll definitely be getting more of this series, and hoping that one day she just jumps the fence and our Vampire Princess and her girl live happily *ever* after.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 5 Comments »


The Yuricon 2011 Yuri AMV Contest is ON!

October 2nd, 2011


The last few years have been good for Yuri anime. There are a lot of series that came out (sadly, some went away just as quickly.) And to celebrate this great bounty of Yuri, we here at Yuricon and our video channel Yuristudios are having an AMV Contest!

The rules are different this year, and there’s some special Judges Challenges, so please read the rules carefully and follow them exactly. 2011 Yuri AMV Contest Guidelines.

We’re looking forward to seeing some great Yuri AMVs!

Posted in Yuricon | No Comments »


Yuri Network News – October 1, 2011

October 1st, 2011

Yuri Manga

From YNN Correspondent Tomo K. “This month’s Good Afternoon (a bi-monthly Kodansha magazine) has a story with a Yuri twist. Asou Mikoto’s ‘Rouji Koibana’（路地恋花)  has a woman prosecutor eloping with a bride (her ex-colleague) on the bride’s wedding day, sort of like the movie The Graduate. The manga features various Kyoko craftsperson at work and love, and this is the first time a woman who declares “I only like women” has appeared.” I don’t know about you, but this is right up my alley. Thanks Tomo!

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Not-Yuri Anime (but sort of related)

Gokujyouu manga is getting an anime. All I have to say is Noooooooo!!!!!

The Ikkitousen Shugaku Toshi Keppu Roku Promo on Crunchyroll  goes a whole 44 seconds before we see Ryoumou’s underwear. That’s got to be a record.

4-koma series about a high school girl who is an assassin and the classmate that tries to understand her, Baby, Please Kill Me! is also getting an anime. (I read the manga, but there won’t be any review, there really wasn’t even fake Yuri to latch on to. Nonetheless, a silly, entertaining 4-panel manga.)

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Other News

Fujima Shion’s Fantastic Lolita, which is set in Ikebukuro, and provides an action filled romp around the maid cafes and Sunshine 60-dori is available as an e-book. I was given the pleasure of reading an early manuscript of this novel and it was a lot of fun. If you can read Japanese, I recommend it.

It’s official: I’ll be working with Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at New York Comic Con, to help promote awareness of freedom to read issues in the manga community. They can use volunteers, so if you care about your right to read whatever the hell you want, join us at Table 1158 at New York Comic Con and help Comic Book Legal Defense Fund protect your freedom to read! Conveniently, Table 1158 will be near both Prism Comics and GeeksOut, so you can buy great LGBTQI books, then drop by CBLDF to donate to support the freedom to read those books.

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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 »


Yuri Anime: Yuru Yuri Guest Review by C. Banana (English)

September 30th, 2011

One of the great joys for me as curator here at Okazu, is when our readers escalate into advocates and reviewers in their own right. It’s been my pleasure on multiple occasions to present to you reviews by readers who have decided to commit themselves to a higher level of engagement. Today’s Guest Review is especially wonderful, as it was written by long-time Okazu reader and commenter, C. Banana, someone whose views rarely match mine, but whose perspective I appreciate.  CB is writing about Yuru Yuri, a slice-of-life anime available legally and for free on Crunchyroll. As the first “Yuri” anime from Ichijinsha (publisher of Comic Yuri Hime magazine) this is a significant anime for Yuri fans. The story is a very understated “wacky adventures of four girls goofing off.”  As this was a series I myself did not enjoy, CB offered to step up and write a review for us.

Please welcome our newest Guest Reviewer with all the warmth I expect from the Okazu audience!

Ah, the Yuru Yuri anime series. By my own anecdotal evidence, this would seem to be the most polarizing series among Yuri fans. Considering that it seems to have beaten the polarization of Kannazuki no Miko, it’s quite an accomplishment. I seem to fit in between those who adore and those who despise the series as Yuru Yuri’s episodes for me, ranged between mediocre, alright, and pretty decent. I really didn’t have that strong a reaction to any of the episodes. The fanservice, while not something, I would seek out really didn’t bother me.

One good quality of Yuru Yuri is that while it is definitely in the moé slice-of-life comedy genre, it does mix it up enough to not feel like a rehash of others. In some episodes, it follows more of sitcom formula than a slice-of-life formula, and its wacky hijinks are played up more than in most other shows of the same ilk. Another thing is that some of the characters were allowed to have traits that escaped from moé templates. Also, while not as self-aware as their manga counterparts, the cast is certainly more self-aware than the characters of other moé series. Of course, for better or worse there’s also the fact that the Yuri fanservice is up a couple of notches compared to something like K-ON! or A-Channel.

The Yuri, as a whole in the series, is actually a notch higher than it was in the manga. More effort is put into the characters being portrayed as having genuine crushes rather than it being just some random Yuri gags. However, the sparse development in any of the relationships will definitely turn many Yuri fans off of the show. Himawari and Sakurako in particular would benefit from some character and relationship development rather than being stuck in their double tsundere gag.

Kyouko definitely steals the show for me. She got the most laughs with her suitably punchy and absurd theatrics. A lot of the time, you’ll be wondering why the other characters are friends with her since she’s really a big jerk (but admittedly that’s part of the joke). Kyouko’s character does underline the fact that the show places wacky hijinks as its highest priority. However, the humour taken overall can be a bit hit and miss. It’s not briskly paced enough to be a laugh riot and sometimes relies a bit too much on slapstick.

Overall, while the show has some good qualities going for it, it would need better comedic pacing and/or character development to get closer to being one of my favourite shows. The show definitely leaves itself open for having iterative seasons so if the show is reasonably successful, I’ll likely sign on to the next season to see if show builds on itself or stagnates. From my point of view, it could go either way.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 8

Overall – 7

Erica here. Thank you so much for the review of a series I wish I could like, but have never been able to. The superficiality of the comic doesn’t stand up to too much analysis, and any anime that included underwear gags in the first 10 minutes has already lost my attention. It is obvious that Ichijinsha is putting money and effort into promoting this series which both pleases and distresses me. I’m not seeing polarization in the fandom here, though. Mostly I’m seeing the same kind of ambiguous “it’s okay” that this review expresses. I’m in a minority (as always!) in feeling very negatively towards it.

Nonetheless, we should acknowledge that Crunchyroll did as decent a job as I’ve seen on the localization, and they have made it available as widely as they were allowed, so each of us can decide for ourselves what we think of it.

Once more, thank you to C. Banana and to all of our Okazu Guest Reviewers!

Posted in English Anime, Yuri Anime | 7 Comments »


Yuri Drama CD: GIRL FRIENDS (ドラマCD GIRL FRIENDS-ガールフレンズ)

September 29th, 2011

Because manga is primarily a visual media, I’m always fascinated by the transition of a manga story to Drama CD. Where something like Maria-sama ga Miteru is primarily communicated in words, a story like GIRL FRIENDS is first and foremost visual. And this manga, as good as it is, would  probably make a relatively dull anime, as most of the “action” exists only in interior monologue.

The GIRL FRIENDS Drama CD (ドラマCD GIRL FRIENDS-ガールフレンズ)does a decent job of balancing story framework and character development and, as a result, becomes something slightly different than the manga itself.

The manga starts off, (if you recall from my review of Volume 1,) as a catalog of fashionable girl interests. Hair, nails, clothes, etc., are the primary focus, and Mariko’s interest in Akiko grows from that. Because we’re listening to the conversations on the Drama CD, rather than watching the girls shop, the chapters feel very much like a tutorial. Bearing in mind that the manga ran in Comic High, which is generally targeted to men who want that glimpse behind the gauze curtain of “girls’ life,” this works amazingly well.

Let’s take a step back to the story itself to understand why. Mariko is a quiet, introverted girl. She is studious, has no real friends and generally lives a life of the mind. You know the type – reads during homeroom, lunch and any study periods. She is us. When Akiko breaks past her shell, Mariko finds herself dragged into a world she knows *nothing* about. This is a world in which girls talk about hair, clothes, fashion models, makeup colors and the like, endlessly and with actual interest. Mariko isn’t interested, per se, in the new fall colors for makeup, but her new friends’ interest interests her.

These sections of the Drama CD are the absolute best tutorial on what average girls like that I’ve ever heard. Because there are no visuals, and the spoken words have to provide the actions as well as the words, the dialogue very much sounds as if Mari is receiving training on “How to Be a Girl, 101.” Mariko even considers this, towards the end, as she’s rapidly slipping into “more than friend” feelings for Akiko. She recognizes that she never really had any girl friends before and never really had been socialized, so, she may be overreacting to just having a friend….

As in the anime, it’s the night of the group date that changes everything, irrevocably. After falling apart watching Akko with the guys, Mariko and Akko end up at Akiko’s place. After Akko drinks too much and falls asleep, Mari kisses her, then spends the rest of the week excoriating herself for it. Even after Akko laughs it off, Mari-chan realizes that her feelings aren’t just friendship.

The Drama CD comes to an end, as Mariko admits to herself that this is, quite probably, love. So, this CD covers chapters 1-10 of the manga.

There’s still a fair dollop of silly service in this story. Perhaps in some circles it is common for girls to kiss one another and feel each other up, but I can tell you that that never happened with any group of friends I had growing up. And we were on all sorts of sports teams, camp, school gym, which meant dressing and undressing in front of one another. No groping, peeking, breast size comparison….none of that ever went on anywhere I was. So, I’m still marking all that in the fanservice column as something things boys would like to think girls do.

The CD technicals were quite good. Everyone did a very decent job of voicing their characters. It was all very natural. I found Mari’s interior monologues (which were absolutely necessary to the story) a little cringe-making at times, but that was also necessary to the story. There is one short extra comic insert in the CD case, no cast talk track, though.

Noticably, this was a really long Drama CD. I had to drive quite a distance yesterday and listened to this CD for most of the trip there. Easily an hour, probably more. That was a pleasant surprise, as Drama CDs more commonly tend to be in the 30-45 minute range.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I wasn’t sure how well this story would translate to Drama CD (I think some series are more suited than others, obviously) but overall found this to be a more than acceptable adaptation of what I considered to be a very good manga about first love.

Posted in Drama CDs & Audiobooks, GIRL FRIENDS, Morinaga Milk | 5 Comments »