Yuri Manga: Tetragrammaton Labyrinth, Volume 6 (English)

September 6th, 2009

In Volume 6 of Tetragrammaton Labyrinth, what was always implicit becomes finally explicit.

As Angela, Meg and their allies face the evil, insane and powerful Gilles de Rais, and find that their own power comes up short against his, he raises the issue that has been the leitmotif of this entire series. Killing the living, raising the dead and stealing souls, he attests, is not for personal power. No, he commits heinous acts of brutality for *love.*

It will come as no suprise that this fails to convince Angela to sympathize, but it brings up the obvious. De Rais asks Angela if she has anyone to love – truly love – give up her life for love. Well duh, dude.

The final acts play out exactly as one expects. The good guys peel off one at a time to fight the bad guys, so we can be sad at our losses and the final confrontation has reversals and lots of screaming and blood and severed limbs. And, the ultimate sacrifice, as Angela gives up everything to keep Meg at her side.

In the final pages, Angela and Meg get to acknowledge in death (or undeath) what they could not in life and their love, which was always the unstated obvious is now, at last, just obvious.

And no one lives happily ever after.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 7

For a manga that was built around loli and guro among other things that aren’t my schtick, it had a pretty decent ending.

Once more it is my great pleasure to thank Okazu Superhero Eric P. for sponsoring today’s review! This volume was the best of the series, I think. ^_^

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »


Yuri Network News – September 5, 2009

September 5th, 2009


So much great Yuri news this week!

Yuri Anime

November is going to be a bang-up month for Yuri fans, with Sasamekikoto in Japan and El Cazador here, and now we have yet another thing to look forward to: Arca Jeth (and many other people!) want you to know that Sentai Filmworks announces that they’ll be releasing Blue Drop in November as well. It’ll be coming out as a season box set, for a reasonable price. Can’t ask for better. :-)

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Yuri Manga

YNN correspondent Sean G. is pleased to note that the new Udon Press editions of the Silent Mobius manga has begun. Volume 1 is out, and full of Rally Cheyenne goodness.

And in case you hadn’t heard the news, Dark Horse will be putting out a Cardcaptor Sakura and Magic Knight Rayearth in omnibus editions.

Also in November, Sylwia says that the Comix Grrrlz website is publishing their first Polish lesbian comic book anthology. Their project is not concentrated on manga style arts. “We want to publish a book contains different art styles and different views at sappho themas (also from male perspective).” Release date will be in November. As soon as they can, they’ll put a page up on the website for sales. Keep an eye open for this, as it joins the Dutch Open-Minded collection as the second European Yuri doujinshi.

YNN Correspondent Katherine H. reports that Volume 1 of Naomura Tooru’s Shitsurakuen is coming out on September 18. Fans of Utena should take note, because it has some similarities.

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Yuri Drama CD

Katherine also joyously proclaimed to the Yuricon Mailing List that a Aoi Hana Drama CD is on the way.

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Other Yuri News

Simon B says that Animate says the Aoi Hana fanbook has been delayed to the 8th.

Prism Comics is proud to announce that it’s accepting submissions for the 2009 Queer Press Grant, with a deadline of October 1, 2009. The annual grant was established by Prism Comics to assist in the publication and promotion of LGBT comics. Deadline October 1, 2009 See their website for details.

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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.)

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

 

Posted in Yuri Doujinshi, Yuri Network News | 4 Comments »


Aoi Shiro Manga, Volume 2

September 3rd, 2009

In the Jive edition of Aoi Shiro, the focus is squarely on the game characters, as opposed to Ichinjisha’s Yuri Hime edition of the story, in which the focus was on two almost irrelevant characters and was so tepidly Yuri that it failed to capture my interest.

In Volume 2 of the Jive version of Aoi Shiro, Yuri takes a back seat to Action and Mystery and other capitalized selling points.

Shouko, captain of the kendo club, is drawn into an ever-deepening mystery regarding Nami, the child she found on the beach. Her own childhood memories, Nami’s unusual dress, and a giant Bull-Demon all collide in what probably makes a pretty good game and makes a reasonably good manga. This is all made even more interesting by a suit-wearing Onee-san type from Shouko’s past and a guardian with one good eye-type from I have no idea whose past. And Nami transforms into someone older and less whiny.

It’s all full of shiny action and stuff. I’d go so far as to say it wouldn’t make a bad anime, probably. Better than most games that go to manga or anime, for sure.

I have never played the game, of course. Have you ever wondered about my disinterest in games? It’s not just RPGs or computer games I feel that way about – I don’t play card games or board games or games of chance. They simply bore me and always have. After I learn the rules, I have no interest in doing the same things over and over and over. It’s really nothing personal…except that I note that I have lost some very talented writers and artists to gaming, so in that sense it is personal. But for myself, I’d just rather spend my time translating a book, or publishing, or reading, or just about anything. The only game I ever enjoyed playing with another person was Knock-hockey, because none of the kids my age understood the concept of angles and I usually won. ;-)

Anyway, if you liked the Aoi Shiro game for itself, there is a very good chance that you’ll like the manga. If you liked it for the Yuri, the manga will disappoint, as there is so little that even Yuri Goggles fail to make it obvious.

Shouko and Nami have some kind of bond…it could be anything at this point.

There’s a bonus Akai Ito story in this volume, which positively reeks of the smell of Yuri, without actually having any. But it’s not bad in and of itself. It’s creepyish and horror-y, without being a horror story.

The biggest selling point is definitely featureless moe girls with weapons.

Ratings:

Art – Other than the character designs 8, the characters are so simplistic 6 is being generous
Story – 7
Characters – 6 but I feel like we’re not being given a chance to really know or like them
Yuri – .5
Service – 1 on principle, but really hardly anything

Overall – 6

And once again, I give my sincere thanks to Okazu Hero and good friend Komatsu-san. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this. ^_^

Posted in Miscellaneous | 10 Comments »


Hidamari Sketch Manga, Volume 4 Guest Review by George R.

September 2nd, 2009

It’s Guest Review Wednesday once again on Okazu and once again, it is my sincere pleasure to welcome George R. for this week’s guest review!

The fourth volume of Aoki Ume’s Hidamari Sketch manga (ひだまりスケッチ) came out in Japan this past January. I was a bit slow in picking it up, but am glad that I did. It doesn’t have a deep involved plot or more than hints of Yuri, but then again Hidamari Sketch never has. If you’ve liked the previous manga, light novels, or anime, you’ll probably enjoy this as well.

Ume-sensei has a strong cast of characters already and we can again enjoy the amusement in their daily lives. But she doesn’t make them carry the entire load in this character-driven manga. The first extra we meet is Yuzawa Arisa, a senior art major, who is the only one left in the art room to answer Yuno’s phone which she forgot there. She can’t resist Yuno’s cuteness and has her pose for a sketch.

The end of the school year brings exams and Yuno does poorly enough to need to take a supplementary test on English grammar. Everyone offers their help, each in their own way, and thanks to that she scores 100% on the retest.

A new school year brings new students to Yamabuki-high, and two new freshman neighbors to Hidamari-sou. The landlady talks the Hidamari-four into help clean their rooms before they move in.

Nori moves into room 103 and adds a modern touch, bringing her computer and the internet to Hidamari-sou. Her computer-related interests are incomprehensible to the other residents, but they accept and welcome her all the same. She also becomes a good friend and supporter of the other new resident.

Nazuna is a polite, timid girl who moves into room 203 next to Miyako. She had lived in the area, but had to move when her father’s job transferred him elsewhere after she was accepted to Yamabuki. She feels unready to live on her own, being bad at cooking and cleaning. Yuno gets the chance to grow, as she learns to support Nazuna like the others supported her last year. When Nori wants to put up curtains, Nazuna is able to direct them to the local “I’m Home” [Depot?] to get them. Ume-sensei is able to show humor in this simple shopping trip, though perhaps Miyako with a chainsaw is more frightening than funny.

The volume ends with an extra chapter of “ordinary manga,” instead of the usual 4-panel. This tells of Natsume’s entry to Yamabuki-high, and how she met Sae on her first day there a couple years ago. She finds that Sae’s confidence, looks, lifestyle and career make her irresistibly cool, and so develops a huge crush on her. When she finally gets the courage to go talk to Sae again, she finds Hiro already talking with her about what to make for dinner. Sae’s easy thanks and offer to accompany Hiro grocery shopping on the way home shatter Natsume’s dreams, though not permanently. Previous volumes show us that Natsume continues to carry a torch for Sae.

This volume offers the humor and double-meanings I’ve come to expect from Ume-sensei. What Yuri can be seen centers around Sae, in either her relationship with Hiro or Natsume’s crush on her. I think the level of Yuri peaked in volume 3, with this one returning to that of the first two.

Over time Ume-sensei’s art style has grown on me, or maybe I’ve come to see it as the natural way to depict these characters I’ve come to like.

Did this volume blow me away? No, but that is also not the style of Hidamari Sketch. Did it give me a wonderful time with my “old friends” at Hidamari-sou and added some new ones to the group? You betcha! Did I enjoy it? Definitely. Several times I was glad not to be drinking while reading, as spraying manga with milk from your nose is not a good way to take care of it, or any other book.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 6
Characters – 8
Yuri – 1
Service – 1

Overall – 7

I hope that Yen Press will continue on and translate this volume as well. There’s really just one way to encourage them to do that, and that’s for all of us to show them it’s profitable by going out and buying the first three.

Absolutely agreed George. Our support for this genre must be expressed with $ or we’re just killing the thing we love. Thanks again for a loving look at this gentle slice of life comic!

Posted in English Manga, Guest Review | 5 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Tenbin ha Hana to Asobu, Volume 1

September 1st, 2009

In Volume 1 of Tenbin ha Hana to Asobu (天秤は花と遊ぶ), Yohko is a transfer student into the elite Lotus Girls High School. She’s tremendously energetic and, it turns out, athletic, but she’s not clueless or clumsy. She’s just not elegant. Certainly, not as elegant as Shuu, the lavender-haired beauty who takes Yohko on a tour of the school.

Upon meeting Shuu, Yohko’s reaction is rather unusual – she claims to smell blood and asks Shuu if she’s hurt. No, Shuu answers, but looks like there’s something more to behind it.

Shuu shows Yohko around, but after hours Yohko realizes she’s forgotten something, and runs off to the the infirmary where she comes in on Shuu apparently drinking the blood from the school doctor’s neck. The school doctor confirms what Yohko thinks she just saw – Shuu is a vampire. Not only is she a vampire, but at the moment she is genderless. Depending on whether she drinks more male or female blood, when she turns 18 she will become male or female.

Yohko promises to protect Shuu’s secret and with it, Shuu. She attaches herself to Shuu’s hip, despite Shuu’s protests. The next time Shuu starts to feel weak from lack of blood, Yohko offers herself without reserve.

Now Yohko and Shuu are inseparable, even when rumors start to spread through the school. There’s something going on, the students whisper to one another between Shuu and the school doctor. And there is – he’s her older brother.

There’s a short story in which we learn that of the many girls who fawn over Shuu, there is at least one whose feelings go deeper than just admiration. But it is Yohko that Shuu relies on and it is Yohko she misses when she’s not around. And, she confesses to her brother, something weird is happening – recently, Yohko’s blood is starting to taste…good. Her brother reassures her that that is normal for someone she loves. Loves? Loves?! Shuu is very concerned but, as the book draws to a close, that may not be her worst trial – it appears that someone has learned her secret. Oh no, Volume 2 where are you?

When I mentioned this book a few weeks ago in the “Snatches of Yuri” section of the news report, I said I wasn’t sure whether I liked it or not. Honestly, I’m still not sure. It’s not that surprising that the Next Big Thing, i.e., vampires, appeared in Yuri. (In fact, I’m reading *another* Yuri title right now with a Goth-Loli loli schoolgirl vampire and as you can imagine I’m just loving it….) I neither like nor dislike vampires, so that isn’t helping. The first time around, I was leaning more towards dislike and this time around I’m leaning more towards like, I guess.
If you like both vampires and schoolgirl Yuri, this would probably be an okay mix.

I’m still on the fence. I guess I’ll see what Volume 2 brings.

Ratings:

Art – 7. Typical moe.
Story – 6
Characters – 7 Yohko is a little atypical – smart and energetic and competent
Yuri – 3, with potential
Service – A surprising 1 Hardly any underwear at all, Poor FanBoys

Overall – 7

I do think it’s interesting that “Story A” has been done so many ways now that Yuri is starting to branch out past it, and bring in other ways to tell the same story differently.

The title is really odd, btw. “Tenbin” is scales or a shoulder pole used to carry heavy things. The image I get is a scale or shoulder pole with two baskets overflowing with flowers. I assume it is some literary reference I am not getting.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 1 Comment »