Ichiroh Manga, Volume 1 (English)

September 14th, 2009

When Yuri Network Correspondent Sean G. drew my attention to this manga, he did it in the least appealing way, much as he might have introduced me to a creepy relative. “This is Aunt Claudia. We have to invite her.” ^_^ So, while it wasn’t high on my list of manga to read, it went onto the list and eventually, onto the pile of things to review.

Ichiroh, Volume 1, follows the life of Nanako, a girl who fails to get into college, her friend Akane who shares her fate and friend Shiino who makes it in. These three are surrounded by other one or two joke characters that fill out the cast of this completely typical wackiness-filled 4-koma manga.

As with most 4-panel strips, the comedy relies on goofy, abnormally extreme behaviors, puns, and exasperation on the part of the non-comic characters. If you’ve read any other 4-panel, you’ve read this one. In fact, other than the translation being in actual fluent English, it’s not that different from Lucky Star.

There was one thing that bothered me. Nanako is a serious, level-headed studious girl. Who, for no apparent reason, doesn’t make it into college. Everyone around her is driven by an Id-obsession. Greed, Lust, Power, Sloth all make frequent appearances. And yet, the other people seem to do fine. While Nanako, who only wants peace and quiet and a decent grade is forced to suffer for their sins. When she nearly fails a mock exam after studying diligently, I almost gave up on the manga. Shades of Azumanga Daioh‘s Yomi, who is one of the smartest in the class suddenly, for *no* reason fails to pass the exam, while hyperactive and not all that bright Tomo gets in. Thankfully, the near-failure turns out to be a computer grading glitch. In reality, she did very well. So, I continued reading.

The Yuri is confined to the meaningless bleating of Nanako’s friend Shiino who, as Sean says, “lusts pointlessly” after Nanako. She is joined in her repesentative of a popular fetish act by Nanako’s older brother who also bleats after his sister.

I didn’t dislike it nearly as much as I expected to. If anything, I found it surprisingly not terrible, only a little exhausting. If the world of 4-koma manga are the cast of Peanuts, Ichiroh would be Frieda.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 4

Overall – 7

Completely coincidentally, today’s sponsor is once again Okazu Superhero Dan P. It’s not on purpose, really. He sent me a lot (that’s how one gets to be Superhero, after all) and I happened to have been picking his off the pile quite randomly. No favoritism meant or implied, I assure you. (Check’s in the mail, right Dan?)

Posted in English Manga | 2 Comments »


Yuri Network News – September 12, 2009

September 12th, 2009

Lots of Yuri News this week!

Yuri Anime

Animevice reported that He is My Master is going to be showing on Anime Network Online and out on DVD, and Ultraviolet 044 (yes, *that* Ultraviolet – based on the crap movie, and wasting starring the voice talents of Paku Romi) will be getting a US DVD release. If you aren’t following Animevice on Facebook or Twitter or on the site directly, you’re missing some extremely otaku-tastic news, btw. Highly recommended.

Aoi Hana on Crunchyroll has ended for those of us who purchased subscriptions, and will end next week for the remainder of viewers. I cannot express how much I liked it. Yes, there were a few changes from the manga – in every case for the better, I thought. From beginning to end it is one of the best anime I’ve seen in the last few years and an exceptional example of schoolgirl romance Yuri. The 11 episodes covered three volumes of manga and, as of yet, there are only 4 volumes out so it may be some time before we learn if there will be a second season. However, I want to address a question I keep getting about this anime. There’s a alot of confusion about this.

Crunchyroll *is* the official licensor of this series – for streaming only. But that does not make them less a licensor. (Just like Funimation holds the streaming rights only to Air Master right now. You wouldn’t write Viz and ask them to license that, would you? Because even if you wanted them to, Funimation is the license holder and therefore more likely to get it to DVD than some unrelated company.) As the primary licensor of Aoi Hana, it is CR who has the best ability to *obtain* the DVD rights to this anime.

No one has DVD rights at the moment.

What I am suggesting is that people who would like to see a DVD release of AH should let CR know that there is a *market* for it. (I.e., that you will be willing to buy DVDs should they become available.)

It seems to me a much better chance of getting DVDs by asking CR to find a way to make them available, either through licensing, POD or partnering, than to ask some other company that has absolutely no relationship with the anime to suddenly put money up to distribute DVDs for it.

If you do send an email to CR, I suggest you put in a line that you *understand* that CR does not currently have the DVD rights, and would the person who gets this email forward it to the guy in charge, so he can tally up what kind of interest there is.

The dub cast for Rin – Daughters of Mnemosyne has been announced by Funimation.

***

Yuri Manga

Erin S points out some objectively Good News – a number of popular Yuri doujinshi artists are involved in a new anthology from Hakusensha called Rakuen (Paradise). Among the list are several of my personal favorites, including Nishi UKO, whom we have featured in the last few Yuri Monogatari volumes. This anthology is due out at the end of October – as soon as I can, I’ll put up a link for ordering it here and on the Yuricon Shop. I am also interested in the entrance of yet another publisher into the genre, with such clearly doujinshi circle choices. I bet they were recruiting at one of the last couple of Comiket. I approve, of course and am very much looking forward to seeing this. It’s much more to my tastes than Hobunsha’s Tsubomi.

And objectively Bad News. For a lot of reasons, which she has detailed on her blog (in Japanese), Nakamura Ching has announced that the serialization of Gunjo has been suspended and there will be no collected volume from Kodansha. Many thanks to all the Japanese readers and friends who told me about this, including Nakamura-sensei herself. We’ll keep our thoughts positive and see what the future holds.

***

Yuri Events

Please join me at NYU on Wednesday October 21 from 5:30-7pm at 60 Washington Square South (Room Number to be determined), in New York City, for what is going to be an *incredible* panel on Queer Manga. I will be joined by Ivan Velez, June Kim, Mari Morimoto and Hiroki Otsuka. I’m going to do a 5-minute overview and then turn it over to the panelists. Interestingly, the panelists represent Bara, Bian and Queer manga, while manga created by and for straight members of the opposite sex as porn are pretty much not represented at all. It should be a really interesting conversation!

For our friends in Japan, the all-Yuri doujinshi event, Maiden’s Garden 4 will be held in Kyoto on Novermber 8.

The success of Maiden’s Garden and Girls’ Love Fest, along with a third publisher entering the Yuri field with an anthology, (not to mention the mainstream women’s and anime magazines reporting on the genre that we’ve covered in previous weeks) is more indication that the Yuri wave is finally building towards a self-sustaining model. We’re nowhere near that yet, but give it a few more years. 2003 was when Yuri Shimai and Yuri Monogatari were launched. I’m willing to bet that ten years after that, by 2013, our genre will be an established feature of the manga landscape. Will anime follow? I don’t know – there’s not that much really decent Yaoi anime, but that’s very much because it’s a given in Japan that women will buy manga and novels, but do not buy anime. Could Yuri shift that, because the audience is split between men and women? Possibly. It remains to be seen.

***

And 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.)

Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

Posted in Yuri Network News | 8 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Hakodate Youjin Buraijou Himegami, Volume 5

September 11th, 2009

Demons, women, women demons and women who fight demons. It’s a much of a muchness in Hakodate Youjin Buraijou Himegami, Volume 5 (箱館妖人無頼帖ヒメガミ).

Having defeated the evil, demony, well-endowed, cross-dressing French proprietor of the Black Widow brothel, Himeka has been indulging in some well-deserved snuggling with Hyou, despite Hyou’s reluctance. Once the marks of her curse recede, Hyou uses that as an excuse to escape from Himeka’s clutches. (What a maroon, as Bugs would say. Himeka’s also well-endowed with full lips and soft skin. DUH, Hyou.) Himeka is making no bones about her interest in Hyou. We’ll just have to imagine that she wears the girl down eventually.

In a long, drawn out bathing scene (where we see Hyou, Himeka and her Himegami sisters Ranka and Aika – but not Kirika – naked, without seeing anything at all, which is kind of an art in itself, I think) we learn that Hyou’s “miburo,” the marks on her back that indicate the presence of the Youjin, the power that forges the Himegami’s transformations and the power that the evil Frenchwoman held are all related, in a sense.

Having invoked her, it’s no surprise at all that, when a new enemy appears, it’s just the same enemy all over again – apparently they didn’t kill her enough.

More importantly, this time she uses the Himegami’s power against them, forcing Hyou to save Himeka this time. Yay

Oh – and Hyou’s beloved dead teacher turns out to be the Himegami’s not-quite-as-dead-as-Hyou-thought teacher. In the final scene, Hyou joins the ranks of Himegami at Himeka’s side. Just to put a period on it, Himeka tells Hyou she loves her, to which Hyou replies in time-honored Han Solo fashion, “I know.” We’ll have to imagine the celebration on our own, because the story really, truly comes to an end there. ^_^

This was brain-crinkling nonsense, but I just adored it. I wouldn’t actually recommend it to anyone who isn’t me and there’s no hope that it would ever be licensed because it’s dire. But if I hit the lottery on Monday, this series would be second on my list of things to throw money at. Because it’s dire, but fun!

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 8

Overall – 8

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4

Posted in Yuri Manga | 4 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Linkage

September 9th, 2009

“Do you remember, the moment your love first began?”

Thus begins Linkage, the collection of Yuri Hime stories by Kurata Uso.

These stories are linked only by their exploration of that one moment, when two people realize that they share the same feelings as one another.

Two office workers who misunderstand their importance to one another, a young flutist and the woman who loves her, a rebellious schoolgirl who falls for a blind girl, two sisters who have always been close, and an AI researcher and her creation. None of these really has any ‘link’ to one another. The links are forged between the women in the relationships, and between them and us as we watch their love blossom into something real.

There’s little here that stands above and beyond the Typical “Story A,” really, except that that characters are well drawn and well conceived. Despite the fact that only one of them even acknowledges the difficulty of the admission of loving another woman, these stories are pretty darn good.

The best, if over-sentimental, story follows rebel-chick Keiko and her gradual fall into love with blind, brave and honest Haruka. It was sappy – good heavens it was sappy. It not only involved brave, plucky handicapable Haruka undergoing dangerous surgery, but ends with Keiko’s softer, gentler side being praised by the rest of the class. Who could stay dry-eyed in front of a thing like that?

Yes, this is a collection of girl meets and girl likes and other girl likes her back the end, stories. Don’t look for more beyond that or you will be disappointed. Nonetheless, there is at least a little variety in age and circumstance and, the whole office affair and Yoshino in a suit to start the book off works for me.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Stories – Average 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – 7
Service – 1

Overall – 8

I would very much like to see a longer story by Kurata. I think there’s some solid story-telling potential in there, and hope to see something beyond just a one-shot.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 5 Comments »


Click Manhwa, Volume 3 (English)

September 7th, 2009

It’s a full-on “stress about your gender” a-thon in Click, Volume 3.

Joonha, now trapped permanently in a woman’s body, is not one whit less gynophobic than she was a a guy. Men’s bodies, she says, “sure are strong and beautiful,” while women’s bodies are “impossible to move around in and annoying as hell.” Yep, you sure gotta like Joonha, especially if you’re into whining and self-loathing.

And then there’s Heewon Jun who, in frustration at her unresolved love for Joonha, has taken to being the meanest, most violent, crude girl she can be. She smokes, she uses physical violence and she curses up a storm. And she’s brought to a screeching halt when her friend from her former school points out the obvious and tells her that the guy she’s in love with…is a woman. Obviously. Duh. I mean, no guy would wear a skirt, right? It could be fun and Yuri-ish if she decides she doesn’t care. I foresee “funny” sexual harassment.

Then there’s Joonha’s actual real love of her life, her old and dearest friend Jinhoo, who is relieved and pleased to see his best friend – but not so much to find out that Joonha will not tell him why he left school.

And finally, there’s Taehyun, living a triple life of privileged wealth, Robin Hood businessman and tough-guy slacker all at once. He and Joonha actually make a good couple, but unless Jinhoo dies, it’s unlikely that they’ll ever be together. Actually, even if Jinhoo dies. *Especially* if Jinhoo dies. The author is bummed that none of the fans of the comic seem to like Taehyun and I’m with her. He’s the only character who accepts Joonha for what she is *right now.*

As a comedy, this is high melodrama. As an action story it’s silly. As a cross-gender morality play it’s dismal. As a cast of self-flagellating adolescent characters beating themselves senseless upon the altars of their own misery it’s just fine and dandy. ^_^

Ratings:

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

Overall – 7

Once again, the “pigeon of thanks” wings its way to Okazu Superhero Dan P! Thank you for sponsoring today’s review and letting us all whack ourselves over the head with Korean gender switch “comedy.”

Posted in English Manga | No Comments »