The Great Manga Gift Guide Project

November 25th, 2009

Last week, the New York Times posted their Graphic Novel Gift Guide and to no one’s surprise there wasn’t a single manga on the list. (Seriously, NYT, it’s totally cool that your GN guy doesn’t read manga – no one is saying that it’s not. Can you just PLEASE also hire someone who cares about manga to be the one to write about it? Thanks, we really appreciate it.)

In response, David Welsh of Precocious Curmudgeon came up with the idea of the Great Manga Gift Guide. Reviewers and readers will be posting their suggestions for great manga gifts on Thursday. (That’s Thanksgiving in America, for anyone who doesn’t get the timing. This day is traditionally followed by a day of crazy sales frenzy on consumer goods.) This will give us manga readers some things to be thankful for. :) David is even willing to devote space on his site to folks who would like to participate who don’t have blogs of their own.

Because one of the most amazing things about the Anime/Manga scene on Twitter is that is has allowed many of the bloggers to communicate easily, I and a number of other bloggers jumped on the Great Manga Gift Guide bandwagon. Here is a not-comprehensive list of some of the folks that are participating. Tomorrow and through the next week, drop by their blogs and see what they have to suggest! Also search Twitter for the hashtag #gmgg for others bloggers I’ve missed. I’ll add people as they let me know that they are going to be part of the guide.

David Welsh – Precocious Curmudgeon
Deb Aoki – Manga.about.com
Melinda Beasi – Manga Bookshelf
Lori Henderson – Manga Xanadu
Lissa Patillo – Kuriosity
Alexander Hoffman – Eye of the Vortex Onlin
D. Orihuela-Gruber – All About Comics
Sean Gaffney’s Live Journal
Ed Sizemore – Comics Worth Reading
Jason S. Yadao – Otaku Ohana
Mizzelle – Golden Age Girl
Ysabet McFarlane – Cat Named Segue
Brigid Alverson – Mangablog
Emily’s Random Shoujo Page
TangognaT
Linda-animemiz’s scribbling
Scott Green – Ain’t It Cool News Anime
Japanator
Robin Brenner – No Flying, No Tights
Katherine H – Yuri no Boke
Julie – Manga Maniac Cafe
Satoshi Miwa
Kate Dacey – Manga Critic
Lexi – Poisoned Rationality
Angela – FlowerStorm

Of course, I will be doing a Yuri list, because we should all run out and buy Yuri for at least one friend for the holidays. ;-)

If you’d like to join the Project, just add your link to the Comments and we’ll look forward to reading your guide!

Posted in Gift Guides | 9 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Assistant Denki Keika, Volume 2

November 23rd, 2009

Well, now. If you thought Assistant Denki Keika, (アシスタント伝奇ケイカ) Volume 1 was odd, you’d be right. Volume 2 is off the rails.

Tamae is in a match to see who is the best person for an assistant mangaka position. Her competition is a normal guy and some freaky alien who communicates by placard and says her name is Omugai Shoujo. After they all participate in a round of Kokurri-san (think Ouija board and you’ll get the point) they call up a vengeful spirit who chased them all out of the house. Relaying this to Keika, Tamae learns that Keika’s afraid of scary stories.

Tamae and Keika fight off an evil presence in their apartment, which turns out to be their boss…only it’s not really…wooooohhhhhh~~~

They hit up a sex club in order to “do research” and Tamae ends up with some good ideas for Keika, if not her manga.

And then the story gets weird.

Attacked by the forces of evil, Keika is saved by Omugai Shoujo, who Keika recognizes as her older brother (this is not a typo. Brother.) Omugai Shoujo says that they’ll never meet again as they part. Bets?

Tamae is attacked and saved by the motorcycle riding woman from the previous volume. The upshot – Tamae gets a new sex toy to try out on Keika.

After a chapter in which we follow the little cross-dressing guy from the first volume, and which ended rather happily ever after, the war really kicks in. The forces of evil gun after Keika hard, involving nearly every single character in the book so far, and they are saved by…Omugai Shoujo. Seriously…not even gone two whole chapters!

We get a break and follow Keika and Tamae to a hotel with the loudest people in the universe. They don’t get much work done because of the noise, and then they don’t get any work done as they become the source of the noise – if you get my meaning.

An apparent climax (herhn herhn) approaches as Keika is abducted by the evil baddies only to be brought face to face with their leader – her father. Oh yes. This war against assistant manga artists is a father’s disappointment in his daughter’s choice of occupation. All the characters from all previous chapters rolls out to save her from a fate worse than fate. The final pages finds Tamae, now an established mangaka, and her assistant, Keika, working harder than ever.

I really don’t even know what to say about this. It’s…strange. Strange in a totally strange way. Strange in a no-matter-how-hard-I-try-I-can’t-picture-an-editor-and-artist-having-this-conversation way.

Aside from strange, it’s kind of fun and kind of disturbing. Keika and Tamae are definitely, positively a couple. I like that. I’m having a hard time with the rest of it. ^_^;

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 5
Characters – 7
Yuri – 9
Service – 10
Strangeness – 154

Overall – 6

Today’s review marks a first! Today, we thank Okazu Superhero Ariel D. for being the first ever person to sponsor a review from the Amazon Japan Yuri Wish List! For that act of crazy generosity, Ariel, you go right on the Superhero list – I’ll email you your badge asap. Thank you, thank you!

Posted in Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »


Dragon Sister Manga, Volume 1 (English)

November 22nd, 2009

I don’t know about you, but I really can’t get enough of the atrocities perpetrated upon Romance of the Three Kingdoms in anime and manga. Unlike, say, Alice in Wonderland – which is already seriously WTF, Romance is staid and serious and political. So when anime/game/manga people rework it, it’s like dyeing Guan Gong’s beard hot pink.

In Dragon Sister, Volume 1 the story is pretty much left alone, except for one small thing…all the great heroes are turned into women. Unlike Koihime Musou or Ikkitousen however, we’re actually given a reason for this. To wit, the three Zhang brothers, leaders of Huang Jin rebels, are given magic that they decide they will use to save their land. In the course of their deep meditation upon this magic, one of the brothers decides that the best thing would be to turn all the heroes into women. Of course this backfires, turning them into women.

From there, the story remains surprisingly true to the original. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, both of whom are female, meet an uncommon common guy named Liu Bei and the three swear brotherhood under the peach tree.

But, in order to gain status for Liu Bei, whose leadership of an irregular force is dissed by the loyalist army, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu sell themselves out to Dong Zhou, who plots to kill Liu Bei in the middle of the battle so that she can keep them.

The art is very person-focused. There’s little background art and the action is a bit hard to follow, but the approach is soap opera like, anyway – lots of people talking about things, and little happening. Everyone is cute as opposed to cool and there’s a lot of posing going on.

Yuri is mostly in Dong Zhou’s open, lustful, desire for Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Lust for power, lust for women, 6 to one, half dozen to the other.

And yet again, Guan Yu is shown with a interest in Liu Bei that’s less like sibling and more like love. I am so going to have to re-read this epic, because the idea of making Guan Yu have a thing for Liu Bei makes me laugh. It’s almost enough to make me want to write a BL Romance fanfiction. Almost. Don’t get your hopes up. lol

Ratings:

Art – 7 The cover is worse than the interior art
Story – 8
Characters – 8, even if they are caricatures of themselves
Yuri – 4 Predatory lesbian could have been *way* more predatory.
Service – 4-ish The heroes all have breasts, yes, but it’s not like they are flashing them.

Overall – 7

It’s not like this is *good* really, but compared to other Romance versions where the heroes are large-breasted women, it at least keeps close to the original story!

Many, many thanks to Okazu Hero Martin S. for sponsoring today’s review. I’m always happy to see what nonsense can be done with the Romance.

Posted in English Manga | 9 Comments »


No News Report This Week

November 21st, 2009

Just wanted to let you know that there will be no News Report this week. I’m beat.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a review. I just need a day or two off to recharge and work on other projects. Instead, I’ll leave you this:

This week, we submitted Yuri Monogatari 6 to the Lambda Literary Awards.

YM6 Video Trailer Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yli_kPSVkFs

Yuri Monogatari 6 on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/bgnvut

Yuri Monogatari 6 on Yuricon Shop: http://tinyurl.com/alcpub – Holiday Sale is still ongoing, so get yourself copy of what is sure to be the winner of the Lammy for Best LGBT Anthology!

Posted in Yuri Monogatari | 1 Comment »


New Anime Season Autumn 2009: Shin Koihime Musou

November 19th, 2009

Quick, name an all-female anime/manga version of the Chinese Epic, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. No, wait – quick, name three.

Last year we were ‘treated’ to Koihime Musou, one of several gender switch versions of the historical epic Romance. This year we have the debatable pleasure of a sequel, Shin Koihime Musou, currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

The sequel begins with the appearance of the real Ryuubi since, as you may remember from last season the guy we thought was Ryuubi was not. The real Ryuubi is a bit of a ditz, but is, of the entire cast, probably the most sane.

Having thus met the third of their triad, Kanu and Chouhi renew their vow of sisterhood, just in case we forget the whole vow under the peach tree thing.

The three, and a few of the others, head off to something something which in this case is get Ryuubi’s sword back, have adventures and eat – a lot. An inordinate amount of time is spent watching the travelers eat. In the meantime, the story veers off to follow three sisters who turn themselves into pop idols through magic.

There’s also a mad dash to squeeze in a bunch of new characters, to round out the cast.

Sei’s Yuri quotient has dropped significantly along with her screen time – one of the side effects of too many characters, so older ones are used less effectively.

For Yuri we’ve got Kakuka who is obsessed with Sousou and frequently has explicit fantasies about her. (Please note: “Perverted” does not apply. Sexual fantasies are not “perverted.” They are completely normal. I’m freaking sick and tired of seeing the word “pervert” misused to describe a person having a fantasy. Not having sexual fantasies is far weirder than having them.) I’m really rooting for Kakuka in this. I think she and Sousou would make a fun couple, much better than Sousou and Kanu.

This season is no better or worse than the first season. It’s all much of the same – silly things that have nothing to do with the Romance take center stage, while important political things are pushed to the background. Breasts still bounce, clothes are still silly, the writers are clearly hungry and stuff happens.

For what it is, it’s fine. I turn my brain off and watch the pretty colors move around the screen. :-)

Ratings:

Art – Meh, but what can you do
Story – It’s in there somewhere I’m sure
Characters – There’s a lot of them
Yuri – Go! Go! Ka-ku-ka!
Service – Are Us

Overall – 7

I *really* don’t remember Guan Yu falling for Liu Bei in the original. But it’s such a prevalent theme in these anime/manga/game bastardizations that I’m now beginning to wonder if I was just blind to the obvious. I’m going to have to re-read that and see if I can read between the lines more. :-)

Posted in English Anime | 10 Comments »