Yuri Manga: GUNJO (羣青), continued

October 24th, 2011

It’s been a while since I talked about GUNJO (羣青), hasn’t it? The first volume was brutal and awful and wonderful and the second volume was, as I keep saying, like eating the most delicious razor blades ever.

And now, as the story approaches an end, I want to talk about it once more. Now, while it’s still in that Schroedinger’s Cat phase of not being over, but already ended. (It has to be ended, or nearly so, just because of the publishing schedule of magazines.)

As I read each new chapter, I find myself scanning the faces of the woman who was abused and despised by everyone ever who was supposed to have loved and cared for her and the only person who ever actually did,  wondering how this series could end without them both dead, wondering if they will ever be free, wondering if they will ever smile again, wondering if I’m as or more pathetic than they to even think that they might.

Look at the scan above. (I left in all the ghost images from the pages in front and behind this tableau, because this is what the pages look like when I read the chapters in the magazine.)

“Hey!” says the brunette, who Japanese fans call Megane-san because she wore glasses.

“…Mm?” says the blonde, called “Sensei” by Japanese fans because she was a vet, before she became a criminal.

There they are, facing each other down, having survived so much together and yet not together at all. The brunette gets angriest when the blonde shows her any kindness, the blonde gets angriest when the brunette becomes self-deprecating. Neither can let each other go….neither wants to be left alone….neither wants to be with the other. They are suspended in a relationship so intimate that they loathe each other for it, but when they think about it a little, they don’t dislike each other at all.

Where can this series go? I have absolutely no idea. I sit around sometimes and try to predict the end. Will Megane-san give herself up, and let Sensei return to what’s left of her life? Or maybe they will die in a freak accident, solving the entire problem? Or maybe they will be free, after all, the police haven’t caught up to them yet….maybe they can escape…and then I slap myself for being a fool.

You don’t know what the brunette says next. I don’t know what will happen next. Like every chapter of GUNJO, this one keeps us suspended on a knife bridge, spikes on one side, swords on the other. This moment is not a breath of fresh air – it’s the moment before the breath is punched out of us.

GUNJO has been the hardest thing I have ever read in my life. I love it to the point of incoherence.  It’s long moved past being about a lesbian, and I don’t even know what it’s about anymore…other than life and death.

However it ends, no matter how much it hurts (and it will, of that I have no doubt,) I’ll still consider this one of the greatest stories I have ever read in any language. Thank you Nakamura-sensei. Thank you for GUNJO.

要約:これまで読んできたあらゆる言語の作品の中で、最も優れた物語のひとつ (要約/翻訳 |小松さん)

Posted in Gunjo, LGBTQ, Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »


Yuri Network News – October 22, 2011

October 22nd, 2011

Yuri Events

On October 29-30 Yaoi Yuri Con will be held in Lyon, France – their first ever, how cool for them! If someone attends, please feel free to write up a report!

And Yaoi and Yuri Con in The Netherlands returns for March 2012. This con has been around a few years and every time I’m in communication with these folks, it just gives me a sense of energy and joy. There’s some great grounded, creative energy behind this con.

Someone recorded the NYCC 2011 Panel: XX Women in Queer Comics,so you can listen to it and be wowed by the stories by Jennifer Camper, Joan Hilty, Abby Denson and Kris Dresden. Thanks to the folks at Gay Nerds.com for putting this up!

Pop Culture News has filed a report on the It Gets Better (With Comics!) panel from New York Comic Con.

And thank *you* all for your contributions to the CBLDF at NYCC: They raised over $12,000 towards the legal fees of Brandon X with your help.

***

Yuri Manga

Morinaga Milk is participating in a Yuri anthology: 百合缶Feuille.

YNN Correspondent Anon-kun wants you all to know that Rakka Ryuusui (落花流水) Volume 6 is out. He also reminds you about Hidamari Sketch (ひだまりスケッチ), Volume 6 and suggests a new series for fans of the above, Whip Note (ホイップノート).

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Yuri Anime

YNN Correspondent Katherine H has this to say: “It turns out that a fall series that recently premiered, Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon has a Yuri couple. It’s a trashy series, but it’s a trashy series with a surprisingly nice couple. (Admittedly, I’m a little bowled over because I didn’t expect anything from this season beyond the one-sided crush going nowhere on Working!! season 2 and the creepy one-sided crush in Shinryaku!? Ika Musume.)”

and she add this for good measure:

“Just wanted to mention that’s there’s supposed to be a canon Yuri side character in this season’s Ben-to. I haven’t seen it myself. More satisfyingly, Saber, the cool, iconic female fighting character in Fate/Zero, is being slashed by some fans with a character named Irisviel for her debonair suit-wearing kakkoii-ness in episode 3. They will never actually get together, but it still makes F/Z more fun to watch.”

***

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 | 14 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Girls Love – strawberry milkshake

October 21st, 2011

In the beginning there was Yuri Hime and from Yuri Hime came Yuri Hime Wildrose, a series of “ecchi” (by which we mean “porn”) Yuri manga by artists that contributed to Yuri Hime or their cell-phone manga. Yuri Hime Wildrose was rendered into two “best of” collection called Remix disk A and disk B. (My review of the remix issues has links to all the original Wildrose volumes,as well.)

Now the series has been rebranded, again, as Girls Love. (Volume 1 review from March)

For readers, there isn’t a really significant difference between the Wildrose volumes and Girls Love – creators and content remain roughly the same. In this volume, Girls Love -strawberry milkshake- , we’re getting some of the best of the creators, including Nanzaki Iku’s ShizNat clones, (here called Youko and Hitomi), Amano Syuninta, Mikuni Hachime and others, each with a relatively “Plot, What Plot” one-shot that starts with attraction, moves to sex and ends with love.

It is this last that sets these stories apart from poorly concocted “PWP” stories. There’s nothing at all wrong with a story in which the story is merely the frame for the sex, but it’s infinitely more appealing (to me, at least) when actual caring and affection accompany desire.

I didn’t love every story in this collection, but I liked at least half, which is a pretty big leap from the distate with which I regarded most of the Wildrose volumes. In short – there were more adults, less school settings, more genuine affection and even a serious couple (thank you, Nanzaki Iku.)

Ratings:

Art – Variable, but let’s give it an 8 because most of these creators are good at what they do
Characters – same, 8
Story – N/A
Yuri – 9
Service – 8

Overall – 8

If you’re in the habit of looking for “ecchi” Yuri – i.e., you’re looking for lesbian porn, but don’t like saying it that way – I can actually recommend this volume. Far fewer distressingly drawn breasts than usual and some couples that I actually wanted to see together.

小松さんの要約: 大人の話が増え、好きな作品が半分になっただけでも、Wildroseよりは向上。

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Yuri Manga: Mizu-Iro Ether (水色エーテル)

October 21st, 2011

Mizu-Iro Ether (水色エーテル), by Kurokiri Misao, is a rather typical set of “Story A”-type Yuri stories that trace schoolgirls’ loves.

There are two stories that have some unique qualities, although one, in which a girl falls in love with a mermaid, was a tad too Disney princess for my taste.

The second story in the collection, “Kono Mune no Hana” starts with the story of Yuka and her friend Sayo who are (obviously, to our eyes) in a relationship. We’re not the only ones to whom it is obvious; Yuka’s grandmother also can see what’s going on and, in a very unsubtle way, is trying to explain to the girls that this is not forever. We learn that Grandma once has a school love of her own, Yukue and, although they genuinely loved one another, when they graduated, they went their separate ways, married, had children and even now have not spoken to one another again since. Reading this story, I was strongly tempted to scream at Grandma, and tell her things were different now, but alas I remained three-dimensional. The story left me feeling more bitter than sweet, but it made me think once more how much things have changed – and how much they have not. Luckily for us, and for Yuka and Sayo, Grandma ends the story thinking much the same thing.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 6
Yuri – 8
Service – 2

Overall – 7

The collection as a whole is not significant. The territory in most stories is well-trodden, the conclusions all have been come to before. With the exception of Grandma’s past (and, mind you, Grandma maybe goes back to mid- 20th century Japan, now, not early 20th) and the mermaid, nothing was unique. If what you like best is that schoolgirl setting and lives and loves of teens, this will make good reading. If you’re looking for something significant, give this one a pass.

要約: 典型的な10代の少女達の関係を描く平凡な内容、という評価ですね。(要約/翻訳 |小松さん)

Posted in Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Kill Me Baby/ Baby, please kill me (キルミーベイベー) Manga, Volume 1

October 19th, 2011

Volume 1 of Kill Me Baby/ Baby, please kill me (キルミーベイベー) is a 4-koma comic with an exceeding simple premise: School student Sonia is a professional assassin, and her classmate Yasuna wants to be her friend. This leads to 14 million ways in which Yasuna almost gets killed by Sonia. For instance, Yasuna touches Sonia on the shoulder, and has her arm broken by Sonia. Or Yasuna throws an eraser at Sonia, and has knives thrown back at her.

They are joined periodically, and for no particular reason, by Agiri, who is a ninja. She is frequently drawn appearing hanging from the ceiling, also for no reason.

Anyone who is a fan of Noir will probably instantly liken Yasuna’s basic character design to Kirika and therefore Sonia’s to Mirielle, but personality-wise, they couldn’t be more different. Sonia is taciturn and humorless, Yasuna is goofy and endlessly incompetent.

Kill Me Baby is about to become an anime. I hope they consider doing the super-short Morita-san ha Mukuchi treatment on it, because seriously, there’s one joke here.  It’s a mildly amusing joke – you keep hoping that Yasuna will break through Sonia’s seriousness and maybe they can become friends…but, by the end of Volume 1 they don’t. I’m reading Volume 2 and basically nothing has changed. It’s fun for a few pages, then it gets repetitive and I stop. Then I pick it up again in a few days. Personally, I can’t imagine 22 minutes of this one joke staying “heh”-worthy in anime form.

The one joke is the only joke, so there’s really no storyline to speak of, and the characters don’t develop or change – with one exception. Yasuna begins to study self-defense. It doesn’t help her, but now she can at least *try* to fight back.

There is no Yuri, either real or imagined. One might, if one were truly desperate, concoct a story about why Yasuna is so determined to be Sonia’s friend, but one would be working way too hard. It’s a mildly amusing story idea, good for a “heh” or two, then a few days off.

Ratings:

Art – 4
Story – There isn’t any, but the Setup is a 5
Characters – 5
Yuri – 0
Service- 1

Overall – 5

Unless something significant shifts in Volume 2, I won’t review that…but I’m still reading it. There’s also a Volume 3, in case you find this setup hilarious.
Posted in Miscellaneous | 5 Comments »