Vertical Announces Princess Knight

January 27th, 2011

Princess Knight, by Tezuka Osamu, is being published by Vertical.

To say that this is a “long-awaited” announcement is sort of an understatement. Start saving your money now, seriously, because I expect everyone who calls themselves a Yuri fan to run out and get this. No exceptions, no excuses. If you can afford a pizza, you can afford this book. (If you really can’t afford this book, ask your library, nicely.)

Princess Knight, aka Ribon no Kishi （リボンの騎士）is one of the seminal works of Yuri fandom. Tezuka’s visible influences include Disney’s Snow White and Takarazuka, and this series set the bar for notable later girl-princes such as Lady Oscar in Rose of Versailles and Tenjou Utena in Revolutionary Girl Utena.

If you have been paying the least bit of attention to the manga and Japanese lit worlds, Vertical’s other two announcements will be pretty big news, as well. So this was a great off-season announcement for all of us.

Posted in Miscellaneous, Ribon no Kishi / Princess Knight | 9 Comments »


UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie OVA Collection, Season 3 (English)

January 26th, 2011

UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie: Seasons 3 & 4 (The OVA Collection)I‘ve been pretty spotty reviewing here this week. I bet you thought that when I came back it would be for something full of awesome and love, didn’t you? But, no, instead I return to you with a review of full of Kaishaku. Sorry.

I bought myself the UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie OVA Collection for reasons that I’m sure made sense at the time, but which I can no longer recall. Having purchased it, I supposed I’d better watch it. Well, I watched Season 3.

I’ve stopped caring that Kaishaku’s work is really bad, honestly. I’m resigned to the fetish du jour construction of their stories.  There were even moments where I liked an angle, a scene, a character.

But look, let me say this plainly and get it out of the way, because I find the thought burdensome and want to shed it. When Kazuto kisses Val-chan and she turns into Valkyrie, every time I think – this is what pedophiles see in their heads. That this innocent child is somehow an actual willing, equal partner in this relationship. And this thought really makes it hard for me to ever like this series – even though Kazuto’s relationship with Val-chan is, in and of itself, innocent. Kazuto is clearly in love with Valkyrie, and treats Val-chan as a daughter and that is that. Kazuto’s worst behavior with Val-chan is that he spoils her a little.

But less and less is the story about Kazuto and Valkyrie at all. In Season 3, it’s almost an aside to the main plot of whatever episode. Whether it’s a cat maid superhero or one of Valhalla’s 4 million princesses showing up for a visit (and crashing into a building to do so. When Rika commented on the fact, I was amazed they bothered to address the issue at all) Valkyrie and Kazuto’s impending, oft-delayed wedding seems tagged on as an afterthought.

Among the many Princesses who show up for an extended visit is Pharm, who crashes into the local school and inexplicably becomes a teacher. Pharm is representative and enthusiast of the girl-wearing-glasses fetish. This episode is laden with Yuri service that doesn’t quite go anywhere, but it was kind of weird and silly. We learn at the end of the episode that Pharm has a crush on Valkyrie. That too is kind of weird and silly. Most of this series is kind of weird and silly. And every once in a while, it almost becomes likable.

Ratings:

Art – Nothing like Kaishaku’s – 7
Story – There is very little story – 5
Characters – Variable, averaging out at 6
Yuri – 4 for Pharm
Service – there are not enough numerals, nor spaces to hold them

Overall – 5

So if you like Kaishaku generally, or think you might if they stopped beating up their women all the time, Season 3 of Valkyrie is not intolerable.

Posted in English Anime | 6 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari, Volume 3 (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり)

January 24th, 2011

Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) is making a valiant effort to stay relevant in the Yuri magazine game. At Volume 3, it has yet to really build character, but it’s trying, I think. Both older sister magazines, Comic Yuri Hime and Tsubomi have some big hitters on their team, but little sister Hirari is not backing down from the challenge.

And so Volume 3 begins with Hakamada Mera as leadoff batter. Certainly Mera is a big(gish) name in Yuri, but her stories are more bunt than single. In “Salomelic” a dark, potentially gloomy girl with the word “black” in her name, whose interest is witchcraft is befriended by a shiny, happy “light” girl. They become friends and somehow, we’re to understand that it’s more.

And that, in a nutshell is the single biggest problem I have with Hirari. The stories are mostly sweet and frequently end with two girls as friends or two friends renewing their bonds of friendship. So rarely is there more than hand-holding, that I’m often hard pressed to see this as “Yuri,” as opposed to nice story about girls who are friends. And when they go past friendship, it’s mostly an uptick in heartbeat and “what is this feeling?” I’m not looking for hot lesbo sex, but there’s so much more variety and depth than this in a relationship, it seems such a waste to keep pitching the same one pitch over and over.

Probably the best story in the book for me was “Pulchrima” by Fuji Koyomi. Her style is quite reminiscent of Hakamada’s, but the characters were not. Of all the stories, this was the one I am absolutely able to say is “Yuri.”

The other story that stood out of the pack in a good way was “Under One Roof” by Fujio. (There were a few that stood out for not particularly good art or confused story telling, but I don’t feel like being a drag and either you’re buying this or you’re not. It’s not likely that you’re waffling on Volume 3 of an anthology.) This story, which is well down the batting rotation, sets up a situation with a young woman getting a roomshare with another woman who – gasp! – likes women. I’m hoping future chapters remain peppy.

I’m torn between wanting to kick Hirari in the ass and root for it like the underdog it is, but right now, it’s just not really ready for the big league.

Ratings –

Variable – 6

Posted in Hirari, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Yuri Network News – January 22, 2011

January 22nd, 2011

Yuri Manga

YNN Correspondent Bertie L wants you to know that the second (middle) volume of GUNJO is hitting the streets on January 28th. I saw the cover and tears sprung to my eyes. No fooling.

The first Omnibus of Card Captor Sakura is finally, almost reluctantly, making its way to people. If you have never read this charming shoujo series  by CLAMP, I really hope you’ll take this opportunity to do so. Tomoyo was a Yuri poster child for many years, before we had the glut of Yuri characters we have now. CCS captures most of the best of CLAMP’s skill at artistry. If you like Tsubasa: RESERVoir Chronicle, it’s also nice to see the origin of two of the major characters before they were completely reimagined by their creators.

***

Yuri Anime

Anime licensing firm Plus Licens has just inked a deal that will bring the Sailor Moon anime back to the Nordic countries, Eastern and Central Europe. The deal includes TV and DVD rights. In other news Kodansha USA sent back a recording of crickets when asked about the possibility of a US revival. No, not really, I’m joking. I know that Kodansha USA is actually working on stuff here – just not that. (Back channel info, you’ll have to trust me.)

***

Other News

Many of you have probably heard about the devastating floods in Australia. To raise money for some victims, a number of people on LiveJournal have decided to do ad hoc auctions of anime and manga related goods. I received an email about this, which I thought I would share with you. Before you join any auction, please be responsible and read what they are doing, decide if you want to go this route, or donate through a major charity.

Just a heads up for folks who are unaware of the flooding – the affected area is the size of France and Germany combined. Think about it for a second.

Here’s the news and links YNN Correspondent Socchan sent us:

There’s a good three fandom-centric auction-style-things open on LiveJournal to help raise funds for Queensland, Australia, which is undergoing some severe flooding right now. Offers are anything from fanfic to vids to plush dolls to homemade soap and beyond, with a wide range of fandoms. There’s no “organized by fandom” list yet that I know of, so anyone interested would have to do a bit of digging, but there’s a number of people offering something for any fandom or specific fandoms, with or without actual Yuri. If anyone’s had a burning desire for something specific, Yuri-fandom-wise or similar, and wants to contribute to a good cause, this is a great opportunity. A lot of bids start as low as a dollar too, and offering is still open, so people strapped for cash (like me) can still contribute.

Auction locations/options:

* The community qldfloodauction, which has both a lightening round for more immediate donations and a regular round for longer-term projects up
* User waltzmatildah’s Flood Relief: Fic Fundraiser Challenge (focus on fic, but apparently open to other stuff?)
* Community owemebreakfast’s Queensland Flood Media Fundraiser (just graphics)

***

Yuri Event

If you’re going to be in or near Kyoto in March, drop by the 5th Girl’s Love Festival to nab yourself some Yuri Doujinshi.

***

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 »


MMF: Karakuri Odette Manga (English)

January 21st, 2011

Karakuri Odette Volume 1This month, the Manga Movable Feast is taking on a series that I personally consider to be one of the most enjoyable shoujo series I’ve read in the past few years. Along with the recent The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko, I consider Karakuri Odette a do-not-miss series for fans of shoujo manga who nevertheless crave something a little different from energetic, clueless girl is in love with jerky, but noble, guy.

Odette is a perfectly normal girl. She wants to make friends, she wants the people she cares about to be happy. She wants to be cute. She wants her battery pack to have a cute cover. The only difference between Odette and any other girl her age is that she was not created as an act of love between a man and a woman in bed, she was created as an act of research by a man in a lab. Odette is a robot, or android, if you prefer.

Odette’s story is not Pinocchio’s, however. While she definitely seeks to better understand the human experience, she does not desire to “become a real girl.” It would be a redundant wish because, as we see time and time again, she is already a real girl and the fact that she is an artificial/created intelligence changes nothing about that.

Karakuri Odette is not just a story about a robot girl being more human that the humans around her. (And even if it was, it would be delightful anyway.) By being so *real*, Odette actually does turn someone around her into a real person. Not Chris, her foster-cousin, another robot brought into the story as a weapon, but integrated into the family circle. Not Shirayuki, a self-ostracized girl who has never been able to relate to other people on account of the fact that she can hear their thoughts. No, the person Odette has the most profound effect upon and humanizes the most is her father, Yoshizawa-hakase.

To illustrate this, let me sum up a number of their conversations from various chapters into one whole conversation.

“Professor, I want to go to school.”

“Okay.”

“Professor, I want to be able to eat.”

“Okay.”

“Professor, I want to go to go shopping for cute clothes.”

“Okay.”

“Professor, I want a cell phone.”

“Absolutely not. You don’t need one.”

Can I get some raised hands from people who had that conversation with their fathers? Anyone? I thought so.

In Volume 5, it all comes to a moment in which, after asking for a cell phone again, Odette says something viciously and the Professor responds with “how dare you say that to your father!” (I’m working from the Japanese version, so my apologies if this differs from the Tokyopop translation. I haven’t gotten that yet.)

While fellow androids, the emotionally stunted Grace and haughty Travis call their creator “Papa,” it is Professor Yoshizawa who declares loudly that he loves every last screw in Odette.

Odette is just a perfectly normal girl, who is fundamentally different from everyone else, but is allowed, encouraged and supported by the people around her to be exactly who she is.

In honor of this month’s MMF theme, and the inspiration Odette is to me and hopefully to a lot of “different” people, I declare today “Odette Day.” For today, we won’t care if there are jellybeans in our eggs. For today, we will treat everyone as if they don’t have bad intentions. For today, we will be okay with being not like the other kids. For today, we’ll cover our insulin pumps and asthma inhalers with a cute fleece cover. For today, it’ll be okay to be different.

Happy Odette day to you all.

Posted in English Manga, MMF | 1 Comment »