Yuri Manga: Otome Ouji ~ Joshikou Manken Host Club

January 14th, 2010

When I first came across Otome Ouji ~ Joshikou Manken Host Club (乙女王子~女子高漫研ホストクラブ~), I laughed. After all, when you buy a series called “Maiden Prince – Girls’ High School Manga Research Society Host Club” you pretty much have to know what you’re getting in to. Unfortunately, the heroine, Hinoya, doesn’t. ^_^

Hinoya enters Momohana Girls’ High School looking forward to joining the manga club, because she was very active in her middle school club and enjoyed it quite a lot. To her disappointment, she finds that the Momohana Manga Research Society meets in a dilapidated (and possibly toxic) shed on the roof. The club is run by a sempai named Kondou; Utagawa-sempai and Akira-sempai are the sole members. They have no materials, no ambition and, as the story opens, they learn that they have no budget. The VP of the student council arrives to let them know, and soundly denounces them for sucking.

Kondou reacts with cleverness – if they find out her weak point, maybe they can convince the VP to come around. They learn that she loves boy idols and decide to open the manga club up as a host club.

Their first attempt fails so horribly that the VP decides to disband them utterly but, after some research, they transform themselves and their shed. Utagawa-sempai is transformed into Marcello, Hinoya is the cute boyish Michel and Akira, whose silence seemed off-putting as a girl becomes the enchantingly silent Rodriguez. The shed is likewise transformed into an intimate and luxurious setting. Their efforts pay off as the Council VP announces that she’s secured them funding – as long as she has exclusive rights to time with Rodriguez.

As the Host Club becomes more and more popular, the VP is having major issues. She’s starting to get jealous of the girls paying attention to Akira. Eventually she confesses that she wants to go out with her. With the others as shadow chaperones, Akira and the VP have a date together that ends with the VP confessing her feelings for Akira. Akira accepts the feelings but says that she doesn’t want to be lovers – she’d really like to be friends, though. The VP and she embrace and head off – as friends – to finish their date.

The Manken Host Club celebrates a successful school festival, but find themselves called to the Student Council’s office immediately after. Nervous, they get ready to be told they are being disbanded after all. The Council President shows her true colors when she tells them that they can continue…but they have to let her join, she says, wearing a decidely Rose of Versailles-esque uniform. Insert silly noise of your choice here.

This one-shot volume was fun. It was funny, a teeny little bit touching and overall extremely goofy – exactly what one would expect from a manga with such a silly title. The whole thing felt like exactly what it was – a tapenade made from popular memes du jour, tossed in the blender with a few handwaves, mixed on “wtf” setting, taken with a grain of salt.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

You get exactly what you pay for with this manga – so if what you want is a revisit of everything that’s popular all together at once, executed with some smarts and nerve, then this is a great choice for some light comic reading.

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Visual Novel: Aoi Shiro Guest Review by Mara

January 13th, 2010

It must be Wednesday, because we have a Guest Review! Today I welcome back Mara, who will once again be reviewing the Anime/Manga/Choose Your Adventure/PowerPoint hybrid known as a Visual Novel. Enjoy!

It is a sign of success when a visual novel makes the port from PC to console. This is because the game in question must have significant appeal when you remove the erotic content (none of the console makers allow it). But when a game makes the leap the other way, from console to PC, the reasons are less consistent. In the case of Aoi Shiro it was a couple of extra scenes and some more event CG in an already CG-heavy game.

Aoi Shiro is a game by Success who previously brought us the Yuri visual novel Akai Ito – both games are set in the same supernatural universe. The main character this time is the serious kendo team captain Osanai Syouko who is played with surprising flexibility by Noriko Hidaka.

The plot of Aoi Shiro follows Syouko as she heads to a summer training camp with her kendo team. Their location, a Buddhist shrine on the southern coast, invokes sad childhood memories for Syouko. The exact nature of these memories takes awhile to become clear as Syouko seems to be cursed with a memory that makes any act of deep recollection EPIC in a clumsy attempt to give these events additional gravitas.

Regardless of this, Aoi Shiro has a pretty decent plot for a visual novel that really hangs more on the ‘visual’ aspect than the ‘novel’ aspect. When the characters are voiced and have animated sprites that blink and are lip synched to the lines, it becomes clear where the money went.

Regardless, Aoi Shiro has plenty of fun scenes where we get to know most of the characters pretty well and come to like their eccentricities. The many eating sequences stand out as they set the rhythm for each day of the story and there are some truly inspired conversations, such as the finer points of Zen vegetarianism.

Sadly, three major heroines can not share in these scenes and so feel underdeveloped. For example, when we are solidly on Nami’s route and she gets her voice back and begins to develop a personality, Syouko’s sudden gushing crush on her is rather jarring. Indeed the characters rarely discuss their feelings for each other and the short time span of the story (only 4-5 days) means that the endings for each route feel ultimately unfulfilling and do not resolve any of the romantic possibilities.

Although the stories may be low on Yuri the heroines themselves are not, as each fills a specific Yuri archetype, and does so very well. The stand out star heroine, however, is easily Kohaku, the deliberately androgynous, efficient, prideful and damn cool oni that kills off mooks by flicking stones as though she was playing marbles.

Kohaku is played by Kei Mizusawa, who plays her with a nice aggressive tone, and has easily the most ‘Yuri route’. It is in this route that Syouko expresses most strongly reciprocated romantic feelings. A route where we can leave our Yuri goggles on a very low setting and still be satisfied.

While many routes feel very watered down or evasive towards the end Kohaku’s at least feels like a “And that’s how we met” story that couples might tell you at their wedding…if they fought oni for a living.

But, having only one route that has a solid Yuri feel to it is a tad disappointing for a game of this pedigree. Even then there is the ‘grand route’ that we must thus assume is cannon, as all the mysteries and problems are solved. In this route, however, Syouko is not pared up with anyone although it does progress down Nami’s route for a while it is clearly everyone’s story and, so, there is not any time for any romance as the plot about summoning a demonic storm god takes priority. But it is a bit depressing that after all those routes where Syouko ‘got the girl/sister/rival’; the route that is considered the ‘true ending’ has no really romantic scenes at all.

While it is depressing that a game that clearly markets itself and is considered a Yuri game has very little Yuri content Aoi Shiro is still a very good visual novel. The artwork is undeniably beautiful to look at and the story has wonderful characters that each make the best of their short time in the limelight. I cannot recommend this game enough.

Ratings:

Art – 10 (It’s like an inverse Umineko)
Story – 6 (Rushed at the conclusion)
Characters – 9 (Everyone will latch onto one or two heroines)
Yuri – 3 (But Kohaku gets a 7)
Service – 4 (There’s an onsen at the shrine, you don’t say?)
Loser fan girl – 4 (The antagonist and the worlds most awesome Buddhist monk)

Overall – 9

It is the game equivalent of fireworks. A few beautiful explosions that leave your jaw hanging open, you just wish that there was one more or that they lasted just a bit longer

Erica again: First of all, thank you Mara! This really interested me, as I have read all of the Aoi Shiro manga, and I’d say that it’s pretty equivalent. Too many characters left undeveloped, too many opportunities for relationships squandered and too little Yuri, after a lot of Yuri-ish set-up. So, once again, thank you for the review and another glimpse into a piece of the Yuri puzzle that I don’t cover.

Posted in Guest Review, Louise P, Yuri Visual Novel | 6 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Sora-iro Girlfriend

January 11th, 2010

Hiromi is a tomboy. She prefers pants to skirts, likes to be physically active and, as a child watching Ribon no Kishi, she wanted to be that Princess Knight.

When a beautiful, but somewhat brusque, new student transfers into her class, Hiromi finds herself defending, then befriending Juli. Juli calls Hiromi “Romeo” and casts herself as Hiromi’s Juliette.

Hiromi is disturbed to find that she is on the one hand, caught up in Juli’s apparent delusion about them as a couple, while on the other, having actual feelings for the other girl. Juli’s behavior is not in any way helping as she alternately voids Hiromi’s boundaries while simultaneously drawing clear battle lines around the two of them, cutting Hiromi off from the rest of her friends.

When the school festival rolls around, it’s no surprise that Hiromi is Romeo and Juli is Juliette in their class play. Hiromi finds herself increasingly uncomfortable being cast as a “prince” by the people around her, even though that was what she wanted for herself as a child. She does want to be with and protect Juli, but she also wants to be seen as Hiromi and not some construct, “Romeo.”

During the death scene in the play, Juli kisses Hiromi, who reacts wth surprised violence. Mortified, Hiromi stays home from school until her best friend Maki comes to collect her some days later. She finds Juli has become the center of a storm of harassment and abuse in her absence. When Hiromi shows up, Juli’s emotional damn breaks and Hiromi rushes to hold and comfort her. The rest of the class can only watch as Hiromi and Juli become an actual couple, despite the rumor and innuendo.

Juli’s behavior is no less delusional, but now Hiromi is willing to give in more, since she’s decided that she definitely wants Juli. After Juli tearfully admits that she’ll be moving away at the end of the year, Hiromi and she spend the night together.

After graduation, Hiromi transfers into a new school – a traditional private girls’ school. Her boyishness is no less popular that it was, but she’s resigned to it. She’s told that a new student is transferring in but when she hears a shout of annoyance, disbelievingly, she runs into the next classroom to see Juli sitting there, her hair shorn – a way to keep Hiromi with her while they were apart. They go running out of the room to find a quiet place where they reuinite with a kiss.

So, yes, this had a happy ending, but it wasn’t all that enjoyable. Juli’s lack of respect for Hiromi’s boundaries and manipulative behavior made it hard for me to ever really believe she was in love with Hiromi. Instead, I kept feeling as though she never really saw the real Hiromi at all and was only in love with the Romeo she’d made up in her head. Hiromi’s feelings were equally as difficult to accept, because I can’t be really happy about her falling in love with someone so high maintenance and, well, crazy. I’ve seen this in real life and yes, the relationship can go on for decades, but it isn’t going to be pretty…and everyone around it is *doomed.*

Just about the only thing I really liked was the balance in the beginning scene, as Hiromi is told of a cool new transfer student by her friend Maki and the final scene in which her new henchgirl in the new school tells her about the cool new transfer student.

Sora-iro Girlfriend (空色ガールフレンド) is another collection of a Yuri Hime cell phone comic. Unlike the others, it’s low on the sex, but makes up for it with no-less-creepy-for-being-realistic Lesbian Drama.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 5
Characters – 5
Yuri – 8
Service – 2

I’m not loving this batch of the cell phone comics. This manga was the best of them…. /sob/

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Poor Poor Lips, (プアプアLIPS), Volume 2

January 10th, 2010

In Volume 1 of Poor Poor Lips (プアプアLIPS), we met Okashi Nako, a young woman who is struggling with crippling poverty and Otsuka Ren, the Lesbian owner of a crystal shop at which Nako is employed.

Volume 2 starts with a slightly tiresome series of gags in which we reaffirm that Nako is so poor she has no phone, has never seen a computer and, with no TV or radio has no knowledge of the Internet. But this is not just random wallowing as we learn, because it shows us that despite her poverty, Nako is endlessly positive and is a little worried that Ren spoiling her will lead to her no longer being able to live happily.

Things come to a head when Ren invites Nako to accompany her to Nagoya for a crystal show. They stay at a top hotel and Nako really starts to worry about being able to remain comfortable with her real life. She asks Ren to stop spoiling her, which precipitates a horrible misunderstanding during which Nako goes missing. When they are reunited, Ren embraces Nako tearfully and begs her to allow her to spoil her, because she really likes Nako. Nako, finding an unexpected warmth and comfort in Ren’s arms, gives in.

Nako starts to worry about her feelings for Ren, but Ren is glad to offer whatever would make Nako happy, and so they begin to embrace in public.

In Volume 1, we also met one of Nako’s former classmates, Fukui, who runs a cake shop down the street. He likes Nako and worries that she’s being seduced by the evil lesbian. He makes himself tiresome and insulting, but Nako defends her relationship with Ren and, in any case, only likes Fukui for his cakes.

All of this becomes really important when Ren’s mother invites her home to attend a O-miai. Ren tells Nako that her mother knows that she is a lesbian but, frankly, doesn’t care. Nako offers to come with Ren and pretend to be her lover to convince her mother to back off.

Ren’s mother quizzes Nako and eventually says that, if Nako is truly a good lover for Ren, she’ll stop asking her to get married. They continue their play acting – which for Ren is getting closer and closer to being truth. Nako won’t back down even when a private eye follows her, and when Ren’s mother offers to pay off the enormous debt the death of her parents left her with (thus explaining her ongoing poverty.) When Nako remains steadfast, Ren’s mother sends them a message that she can see that they mean a lot to one another, but she really doesn’t buy that Nako’s not in it for the money – so she cuts Ren off.

Ren closes the store and moves in with Nako, and learns just what it means to be poor. What she would have fed her cat as a snack is suddenly dinner for both of them. But she also learns about Nako’s life and all the people in town who help her by saving the ends of vegetables and the crusts of bread for her.

Fukui continues to be annoying but he relents enough to hire both Nako, as a chef, and Ren, as a salesperson. And, as much as he blusters and carries on, it’s Ren that Nako looks at when she’s happy.

And it looks like we’re going to get a Volume 3.

Sorry for the long synopsis – but I think it’s really worth taking time to talk about this manga. It was a series I was very opposed to, because of the loli look to it, but the first volume very much surprised me – and Volume 2 has really blown me away.

Ren is portrayed realistically. Yes, she likes Nako, no she is not jumping her. Her feelings are real, are complex and for her, her friendship with Nako is more important than any fictitious relationship she might wish for.

Nako’s poverty explained (pretty much what I guessed) was one thing, but the whole storyline with her asking not to be spoiled, then accepting Ren when she was cut off into her life was…well, really good.

Fukui is horrible, but he represents the everyman perspective, spewing every nasty, tedious thing there is to say about lesbians, only to be shut down by Nako’s support of Ren. By the time he repeats himself the thirtieth time, he’s starting to look pretty obnoxious in the face of Ren and Nako’s friendship.

Will Volume 3 bring Mom around and put Ren and Nako back into their real lives? I really hope so. I will certainly get it because wherever the story goes, it’s sure to be surprisingly good.

Ratings:

Art – 6 for me, 8 for people who like the style
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Yuri – 7
Service – 3

Overall – 9

This makes my third license request for the year – Yen, *this* is a good 4-koma. Please bring it over now, thanks.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 9 Comments »


Yuri Network News – January 9, 2010

January 9th, 2010

The even-year effect is in place and Yuri is pretty thin for the new anime season, but don’t fear, there’s plenty of stuff for us to read!

Yuri Manga

Number one most “Yahoo!” news of the day has to be that the first volume of Gunjo is slated to be out in February! I don’t have a link to order it yet, but when I do get one, you can be sure I will be flogging you all to do so. If you have never before ordered a Japanese comic and are not sure why you would ever order one, I implore you to buy this manga. Nakamura-sensei has taken so many risks to make it, and it is so extraordinary in every way. please, please save up your pennies and buy Gunjo!

My copy of Rakuen Le Paradis arrived and, at first glance, it appears to be competing with F Erotics, the magazine that runs Aoi Hana. I say this because there’s an odd variety of stories that don’t quite seem to target men or women, but simply “adults who like reading romantic manga.” Rakuen doesn’t have the off-beat feel of F, but it looks and feels nice – and adult. While Kowo Kazuma’s (Junsui Adolescence) first story is boy/girl, both Takemiya Jin and Nishi UKO have Yuri entries. Can I just say how excited I am to see two of my absolutely favorite doujinshi artists doing work in a magazine for adult readers? I’m so happy for them.

YNN Correspondent Katherine H. is excited to let us know that not only is the first volume of the Canaan manga out at the end of this month, a Light Novel is already out. Her reaction is, “Hmm, most light novels are pretty embarrassing to read,” and “Hehe, Canaan and Alphard are on the cover. Together.” Mine is that Canaan will make a better LN series than a comic and I’d look forward to an extension past the anime storyline if they get there.

Second license request for 2010 – Canaan anime, please. Funimation, this time I’m looking at you.

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Yuri Drama CD

Katherine also points out that a To Aru no Kagaku no Railgun Original recording is up for preorder, as is a new Canaan DJCD.

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Snatches of Yuri

Samurai Age – Koiseyo tatakau otome-tachi! looks like another light novel that will eventually cross my desk here. High school girl samurai fighting and some Yuri-ishness. Gosh who could possibly want to miss that? (This would make a great off-year Yuri anime if anyone cared to bother.)

Yuri H-game fans can throw their money at R18 and R18!, Volume 2!

I admit that the title, Hyakku Ryouran Sengoku Otome appeals to me. Something about girls fighting and Yuri. Sheesh, I’m predictable. :-)

On the other hand, Hyakuen! does not hold any appeal for me, so those of you who mostly disagree with me, probably should take a look at it. lol What does interest me is that this book is a collection of a GanGan Comics series that ran online.

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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 Gunjo, Yuri Network News | No Comments »