Yuri Network News – August 8, 2009

August 8th, 2009

It’s a lazy summer day, let’s start off with news for the lazy!

Yuri Anime

The Anime Network has announced that in celebration of National Lazy Day on August 10, they are offering all of its online content, including “premium” content, for free. There a number of Yuri offerings in their catalog – they are an ADV company after all.

YNN Chief correspondent Sean G also wants to add that ADV has added Revolutionary Girl Utena to their Anime Network Cable VOD, Satellite VOD
Also from Sean “per Right Stuf’s site, a My-Otome Complete Collection box is out 10/20 as part of the ‘Anime Legends’ series. Run time seems to suggest this is just the TV series, not including the OAVs.”

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Snatches of Yuri

You probably dont even remember this manga, but almost exactly a year ago, I reviewed a title called Kaprekar, about two girls who are so close that when they kiss they become a magical being and defeat the bad guys. It’s up to Volume 3 now. The girls really love one another. They kiss and defeat magical beings. And they are still in debt. The end.

For those of you who just can’t get enough of that good ole’ not quite ambiguous Yuri in Light Novel form here’s another series for you – Otome Unmei Ayameno, which appears to be about school girls. No, really.

Don’t think the moe crowd is being forgotten yet. Your love of toddler-esque art is still the meme du jour. Enjoy yourself with >Sekai Seifuku Kirara Jogakukan, a series about Yuri among schoolgirls…etc, etc.

Another Ryuu magazine comic series (Ryuu is right up there with Mangatime KR for having loads of Yuri or Yuri-ish stories) Hinagiku Junshin Jogakuen is more of the same but different. It’s also getting a *lot* of play on the Yuri blogs, so I’m guessing it might be closer to having some actual relationship.

If I’m reading this right, Deragui is about a high school girl who falls for a girl who likes to eat a lot.

As an aside, some years ago I stopped reading mysteries when I noticed that all the detectives now needed a “hook.” This one was “ex-cop with a dark past” and that one was a “cookbook writer who just falls into trouble” and I gave it all up as a bad job. Yuri is sort of heading in that direction now. There’s *so* many schoolgirl Yuri stories that it’s in that “vampire schoolgirl Yuri” and “girls with names that are colors Yuri” phase. :-)

Just to change the pace, Fura Furu, while the series seems to be about girls, not women, does not appear to be a typical Yuri schoolgirl story. In fact, it looks kind of intriguing. The first volume appears to be hard to find, so I’m linking to the second volume, which is available. It’s a Mangtime CR 4-koma, so you know basically what it’ll be like.

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That seems like enough for today. The sun is shining, the air is clear, I don’t want to spend all morning writing this report. :-)

Remember, send in a news item to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com and become a YNN correspondent. We couldn’t do it without you!

Posted in Revolutionary Girl Utena, Yuri Network News | 11 Comments »


Hitohira Manga, Volume 3 (English)

August 7th, 2009

In Volume 3 of Hitohira, the spotlight remains firmly on Mugi’s transformation from a pathologically shy girl to one capable of dealing with being in the public eye. But even Mugi’s new pair of wings doesn’t mean she’s always going to be able to fly.

Although they had their triumph, Nono’s renegade Theater Group does not get enough votes to survive and is formally, and tearfully, dissolved. But, what Nono could never get while it existed, she finally gains as it is disbanded, and the two theater groups celebrate Christmas as one. Nono and Mirei look forward to their own parting from their precious kouhai, knowing they did everything they could to have the best possible time during their high school years. Although they have not yet left the story, exeunt Nono and Mirei.

The spotlight shifts slightly now, allowing another character to enter from the wings. Mugi’s friend, benefactor and protector, Kayo, tells her something that will completely derail Mugi’s new-found freedom. She had hoped she could share it with her dear friend, but instead learns that Kayo is leaving to go to school overseas. Even after Kai intervenes, hoping to force a climactic confrontation, the denouement of this volume arrives with no resolution.

Now that Mugi is no longer a simpering whiner, I’m so much more able to enjoy this story. Of course, I wish it were really about Nono and Mirei, but it’s not. And this crisis with Kayo will be resolved with the usual last minute confession/forgiveness/farewell but, even as predictable as this plot complication is…it’s still pretty all right.

So, nothing new in this theater of the non-absurd, but nothing hideously absurd, either. From its birth where I felt it was an irksome manga about a annoying girl, it has left its chrysalis to become a nice manga about a nice girl who is only occasionally annoying as the plot requires. ^_^

Ratings:

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

Overall – 7

Once again it is Okazu Superhero Daniel P who has sponsored today’s review, so once again he is the recipient of my sincere thanks. Become an Okazu Hero yourself by sponsoring a review and join the Okazu Hero Roll!

Posted in English Manga | No Comments »


Gunjo, Chapters 10-13

August 6th, 2009

I haven’t talked about Gunjo (new spelling courtesy of the editors of Morning 2 magazine) in a while. It’s not because it stopped running, although there was a hiatus for a bit of the spring.

It was because, simply, I couldn’t. I could not write about what is arguably the most amazing story I have ever read, bar none.

I tried to verbalize why this was yesterday to the wife and began to cry, because I just couldn’t talk about it.

I last left you after the two protagonists spend a night of loss, love, passion and pain, after we get a glimpse into the lives they’ve put behind them, and watch as the blonde’s former lover is forced by her sheer misery to come out to her parents – who kinda knew and, really kind of liked the blonde.

That’s when this story went from really amazing to sublime. And that’s when I became incapable of writing about it.

The morning after, the protagonists, whom I have given the horrible nicknames BL (Blonde) and BN (Brunette), walk away. I mean that literally. They take a look at the blood they’ve left on the sheets and the towels, and the destruction they’ve caused in the room during their various tantrums, and they drop their purses, and every yen they have on the bed…then they walk away. And almost immediately, a policeman sees them and calls out after them.

They run. They run hard, suddenly realizing that they want freedom…and, when a train nearly hits BL and BN leaves even her shoes behind to run fast enough to save her, they realize that they want to live.

They spend the night wandering in the cold rain. BN is shoeless, and getting a cold as the night wears on. Almost immediately, before they’ve even been able to taste it, their freedom swirls away down the sewer. This was a 72 page chapter – it was indescribable. I felt utterly exhausted and breathless after reading it. They are clearly at their end of their very short ropes, when BL finds a coin and uses it to make a phone call.

She calls her brother. He’s amazed to hear from her and comes to get the two of them. As it happens, it’s her nephew’s birthday so, while BN huddles miserably in the car, BL spends a few happy hours with her brother’s family, coming out to him and his wife. “What’s it like, being a lesbo?” he asks, then apologizes.

BN, filled with misery and self-loathing and a head cold wants out. But BL is driving them both – somewhere.

And here we are, waiting on what will probably be the penultimate or ultimate chapter. I still don’t know how this will end, but I have no doubt that it will be epic. And beyond that, I await – as I hope you do – the collected volume with bated breath.

This really is not Top 10 for 2009 material – this is Top Ten for my entire life material. I’ve never loved such loathsome people so much.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 10
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 1

Overall – 10

Posted in Gunjo, LGBTQ, Yuri Manga | 9 Comments »


Yuri Drama CD: Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan ~ White Engage

August 5th, 2009

It has been previously established that the Ame-iro Kouchakan rates very high on the ‘ole Yuri-o-meter. In fact, it seems to draw female couples like bees to lilies and yes, I’m mixing my metaphors, thank you.

So, it will come as no surprise that Mana-chan-sensei from the earlier mini DCD, “Pink Princess” has taken to doing her work at the Amber Teahouse. The Yuri atmosphere is perfect for her to get in the St. Lotecia groove. She loves watching Seriho and Sarasa dance around each other, She loves to love/hate her devoted editor Shiko and she just loves Yuri. And so we find ourselves in “White Engage,” the Drama CD that comes with the deluxe edition of Volume 1.

The conflict here is small. And predictable. A sudden wrench is thrown in Mana-chan’s and Shiko’s working relationship that causes a crisis between them. Seriho and Sarasa are able to help the two of them work it out. They do work it out, rather creatively, I thought. And with a wonderfully voice acted kiss. Tamura Yukari gets extra super-duper shiny stars from me for making it sound like a good kiss.

Their reconciliation brings about a conversation on weddings. Which in turn brings about a conversation about Sarasa and Seriho being engaged. Sarasa is speechless and Seriho is puzzled, until Mana-chan calmly points out that Seriho *did* ask Sarasa to stay by her side for 50 years and what do ya call that if not a proposal? Seriho is surprised, but not at all unpleased to think of it that way. Okay, then. They are officially engaged. ^_^

Haru is tortured by just about everyone when they learn that an underclassman has confessed to Hinoka. “Yosh, yosh,” they all pat her shoulder to comfort her, completely ignoring her protestations of really not caring at all. Even Seriho pats her comfortingly and they all laugh at her when she insists on this facade that is probably totally true.

The bonus talk track was win. Mizuki Nana and Yukana sound crazy blushy embarrassed as they discuss how crazy, blushy embarrassed this whole script made them. This is followed by the other actresses talking about the whole love-love atmosphere, and how the girls-only love story made them feel. Since they have all now done this a number of times, it wasn’t possible to fall back on the usual trope-y comments, so there’s an air of yes, well, we have to actually talk about this a bit, this time. It was fun.

The packaging for the CD is quite lovely – and includes a nice little extra manga. The CD is once again decorated to look like a lace doily. I do have an issue with the lack of stability in the packaging – the CD keeps falling out. Not a huge thing. Also, there’s was an odd glitch when I first listened to the CD, in which the tracks played in reverse order. I took it out and put it back in and it was fine but still…totally surreal there for a bit. Oh, and the end of the extra manga had the most lovely picture of Mana-chan-sensei and Shiko, so I added it here. Click the pic for the full size version. (This is in part for my wife who wanted a copy.)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 1 (For all the Fujieda fans who are all REALLY nice guys who like cute things.)

Overall – 9

And there you have it. An hour of Yuri fun at the Amber Teahouse. What more could we ask for, really? ^_^

Posted in Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan, Comic Yuri Hime, Drama CDs & Audiobooks | 10 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime S, Volume 9

August 4th, 2009

Yuri Hime S, Volume 9 (コミック百合姫S (エス)) is…Yuri Hime S.

I keep wanting to like it, I really do. And mostly I kind of sort of enjoy it. But it is not for me and I am reminded repeatedly of the fact as I face chapter after chapter of stories like “Yuru Yuri,” “Love Cubic,” “Minus Literacy,” “Cassiopeia Dolce” and the new series “Konohana Teikitan.” They are simply not for me. Like or not like is beside the point. I’m the older sister reading a younger brother’s Yuri and just not feeling it.

It’s not even that the golden allure of schoolgirls’ thighs are nothing to me, it’s just that there’s nothing *happening* in these stories, because the fetishism fills the pages so full with cat/wolf/elf ears and bathing suits and underwear that the characters don’t have any time to develop. Take “Shingami Arisu,” a story that had a pretty bloody opening in which our protagonists meet over a murder. Well, in this next chapter…our protagonists meet over a murder. It was pretty much the same *exact* chapter all over again.

Or take “Flower Flower” for instance. In the beginning Nina was tsundere, Shu was all sincere and hopeful and her sister was kind of weird. Now, Nina is intermittently tsundere, Shu is all sincere and hopeful and her sister is really weird. There’s been almost no progress or change.

Many of the stories feel less like a story and more like a story idea repeated over and over.

Which is not to say that there aren’t some good stories here.

Uso Kurata’s “Apocalypse” is pretty standout. Two classmates play an MMORPG and find that their characters’ relationship is several step ahead of their own, but their feelings for one another are totally in sync.

Natsuneko offers a nastly little BDSM short that I would have liked more if it had more body to it.

Orange and Yellow, by Hiyori Otsu was an entirely predictable doofus best friend story that was made enjoyable by the art.

And most standout for me was the massive multi-crossover chapter by Fujieda Miyabi in which characters from Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan, Kotonoha no Miko to Kotodama no Majyo to, Iono-sama Fanatics (unnamed, because the characters are owned by another company), Alice Quartet and “Otome-iro Stay Tuned” all meet for tea. It’s noted that the Amber Teahouse seems to be REALLY popular with female couples….

Overall – 7

It’s not awful, really. I just keep hoping for better and getting more baths. Sigh.

Oh and utter fail is Yoshitomi Akihito’s “Futari to Futari” which is a rehash of the same story he’s doing for Tsubomi. He’s getting paid twice for the same story, what a cunning plan. Snooze.

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Yuri Manga | 8 Comments »