Light Novel: R.O.D., Volume 7

July 19th, 2011

R.O.D. Volume 6 ended with Yomiko in a precarious position. Quite literally, in fact, as she had been captured and put in a giant birdcage in Dokusensha’s Headquarters.

So of course, it’s no surprise at all for Read or Die,Volume 7 to open with Yomiko in her apartment in Jimbochou, rolling around in a pile of books; specifically the series that she she has been reading steadily for four days.

Wait, what?

After about 10 pages of detailed explanation about the “Zoolander Saga,” the scifi series in which Yomiko has immersed herself, I suddenly thought, “Am I reading the right book?” For some reason I expected Volume 7 to pick up at the end of Volume 6. But, no. Volume 7 is a gaiden, a side-story, as we would call it, that has nothing at all to do with the main plot.

Volume 7 continues on its merry way with a convoluted and utterly unfunny scenario in which Yomiko bathes in a large barrel on the roof of her building and is likely seen in her birthday suit by a neighbor who has nothing else to do during business hours.

Thankfully this ends and we’re left with Nenene and Yomiko taking a walk to the most secret store in all of Jimboucho, and thence to a bookstore where, through complications of plot, they end up running the store for an afternoon.

It is Nenene who gets to be cool this volume, taking out a disruptive creepy dude in the store, and garnering applause from the bookstore patrons.

This is followed by a short coincidence that ties the book up neatly and is notable for including the October 1972 volume of Shounen Jump, the significance of which I don’t know, but I bet the author does.

The final pages cover the tragic story of Dokusensha’s paper user Ou-En and his doomed little sister, the death of their parents and how he ended up at Dokusensha.

And so, this volume comes to a close after having been alternatively cute and frustrating  for a little over 200 pages and still, somewhere, Yomiko sits on a perch in a cage in Dokusensha’s HQ, faced with the choice of marrying Faust or being killed by him.

As a  side story, it was cute, but I felt like it was a whole-carbohydrate meal and I was craving protein. IMHO, any volume of R.O.D. without Yomiko going all paper master and kicking ass, is not the greatest use of a volume of R.O.D.

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – Silly, but it had room to be awesome and just wasn’t – 5
Characters – Nenene – 7
Yuri – 2
Service – 7

Overall – 6

Next volume, we return to our original programming.

Posted in Light Novel, R.O.D. | 1 Comment »


Wandering Son Manga, Volume 1 (English)

July 17th, 2011

Wandering Son, Volume 1 is my vote for manga most likely to cause a quiet revolution without becoming a best seller.

As you know, if you pay attention to any manga news at all, Wandering Son  by Shimura Takako, is the story of two young people as they realize and deal with the fact that their gender does not match their bodies. In Volume One, we are introduced to the cast, and to the general situation in which Shuuichi and his classmate Yoshino start to deal with puberty and the disconnect they feel about their selves and the bodies in which those selves reside.

This past week I was pleased to be part of a discussion of this book at the Manga Out Loud podcast. I hope you’ll listen to it, as we discuss both the book and the anime in some detail.

The story itself is gentle…as I say in the podcast, almost tentative. This territory is difficult for many people to accept and the manga audience is not, for all that it enjoys stories of gender switching as comedy, as socially liberal as many might think. Shimura takes her time…and ours…to introduce the idea that a body may not be the right one to be in.

As a result, Volume 1 might feel a bit timid to those readers who are more used to Aoi Hana. Having just come off reading Volume 6 of Aoi Hana, I found myself a little surprised at the tentativeness of these first chapters…and then suddenly I realized that this manga is nearly ten years old. The strength Fumi shows was not born overnight and Shuuichi and Yoshino are younger than she is. After talking with the folks on the podcast, I realized what a profound revelation this series will be to people for whom this is an entirely alien discussion. And I’m utterly blown away by how deft and masterful Shimura has become in the last decade.

In conclusion, I’m going to cheat and quote Ed Sizemore from Twitter, when he said, “Wandering Son doesn’t just open up doors of perception for me, but makes me want to learn more about the real life experience of transgender people. To see world through their eyes so I can relate to them better.”

There will be no Wandering Son cosplayers, you won’t find Wandering Son figurines or headbands at conventions. But in these pages, Shimura can bring the thoughts and experiences of the transgender community to people who have never before thought about life from Shuuichi’s or Yoshino’s perspective. That is the revolution contained in the pages of Wandering Son.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 0

Overall – 8

I hope you will all consider buying a copy of the manga for your library (or request that it buy a copy, if it still has the budget to do so.) Let’s change the world, one manga at a time – starting with this one. I’ve already got a copy for my Libary. ^_^

Posted in English Manga, LGBTQ, Shimura Takako | 16 Comments »


Yuri Network News – July 16, 2011

July 16th, 2011

Yuri Anime

Goods distribution company Great Eastern has listed a number of Sailor Moon goods as “coming soon.” Phew! My Sailor Moon shrine hasn’t had any new items added for years!

The anime for Ray, by Blue Drop creator Yoshitomi Akihito has been licensed by Maiden Japan for released by Section23. There was a little Yuri-service in the manga, but I don’t know if there is any in the anime. It might be worth watching to find out. ^_^

For those of you who might be interested, Kiddy Grade has been added to Netflix Instant.

***

Yuri Game-Related News

Good news for Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo fans. AXYPB has gotten permission to announce an officially endorsed Sono Hanabira-related story, tentatively titled in English Music Box of Memories, to be included in the Xenocross anthology..

***

Other News

More bad Sukeban Deka news. The director of the popular television show, Tanaka Hideo, has passed away.

Takarazuka Revue will be doing a stage rendition of Ocean’s Eleven. Who wouldn’t want to a see a Japanese-language musical of Ocean’s Eleven?

It was my incredible pleasure to be able to do a podcast on Manga Out Loud about Wandering Son/ Hourou Musuko with Ed Sizemore, Johanna Draper-Carlson, David Welshe, Phillip O’Connor this week.I hope you’ll take a listen to our incredibly long, wide-ranging conversation, in which I mention Aoi Hana about 7 thousand times as a desperate plug to get it licensed here. ^_^

***

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 »


Yuri Manga: Renai Manga ( レンアイマンガ )

July 15th, 2011

Sometimes when you pick up a book, what you want is to slip into a comfortable story and just…relax. Renai Manga (レンアイマンガ ) is that story. This manga is the equivalent of a pair of comfortable slippers.

New manga editor Haruka has just been assigned to her favorite manga artist ever, Kuroi Ritsu. Kuroi-sensei’s manga, “With You” motivated her to turn her life around. When she finally meets shut-in, mopey, entirely unfashionable Kuroi-sensei, Haruka is in for a bit of a shock.

The shock only lasts a very little while and Haruka finds herself taking care of Kuroi-sensei, until she’s faced with a second shock….when “With You” was in production, the current managing editor of the magazine was Kuroi-sensei’s editor…and, Haruka can’t help but wonder if Kuroi-sensei still has feelings for her former editor.

Of course, we can see that they’d make a great team, if only they could breach the gap between them…and they do when it comes to light that Kuroi-sensei’s good luck charm and favorite fan letter was written by none other than Haruka! Shocking, I know. ^_^

In the end they get together and are all adorable together and we really wish we’d get to see the story from this point forward, but we don’t, as it draws to an adorable, totally comfortable, totally predictable end.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – 2 Kuroi-sensei needs a better bra

Overall – A warm, fuzzy, comfortable 8

Posted in Tsubomi, Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Manga no Tsukurikata (まんがの作り方) Manga, Volume 5

July 14th, 2011

Before you even ask, yes, I’m just torturing myself by continuing to read this series. ^_^;;

In the first four volumes of Manga no Tsukurikata (まんがの作り方), we were introduced to Kawaguchi, a former mangaka who decides to take up the pen again, Morishita, a famous manga artist in her own right, and who is in love with Kawaguchi, and Takeda, who is a great admirer of Kawaguchi and of Sachi, Morishita’s professional penname.

In addition, we encounter Kawaguchi’s younger brother and her editor who seems to be seduced by the same glamour that Morishita is affected by. I call it a glamour because the Kawaguchi we’re seeing has…well…nothing going for her. She’s not too smart, not terribly creative, kind of lazy and yet, everyone loves her.

In response to importuning from her editor, Morishita decides to move to Tokyo and somewhat inexplicably Takeda decides to go with her. In the beginning of Volume 5 Kawaguchi visits them. In the early pages of the volume this panel appears:

For any number of reasons I think it a perfect analogy for the entire series.

In any case, Kawaguchi visits Morishita and Takeda, and we get to watch her reaffirm that she likes having Morishita around, but still doesn’t actually love her.

The rest of this volume is taken up with Takeda’s crisis of identity as she finally, painfully comes to terms with the fact that Morishita is her favorite manga artist, Sachi and while she adores Sachi and is thrilled to be able to help Sachi by doing housework and cooking for her, she really cannot stand Morishita.

And, erm…that’s about it for this Volume.

So, hey, more happened than in previous volumes, so I guess that’s good.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 3
Service – 1

Overall – 6

It always feels like this series is going to do something…and then…it never does.

This volume comes packaged with a short original doujinshi, “Ryuuna to Ichiko” in which a house fire brings a “cool” girl closer to the “nerdy” girl in class.

Posted in Hirao Auri, Miscellaneous | 4 Comments »