Digging the (Anime/Manga) Twitter Scene

August 2nd, 2009

If you look on the right-hand sidebar of this blog, you will see a number of links that lead you to social media spaces of varying kinds. Yuricon on Facebook, my profile on Mixi, the Yuricon Mailing List and a number of other spaces. Today I want to talk about Twitter.

Yuricon on Twitter is a bit of a mixed fruit crepe. In the AM, I tend to focus on Business, and in the evening I switch over to my jaunty Yuri anime and manga cap. In between I sprinkle a helping of LGBT issues for flavor. So far, no one has complained about the multi-tweeting. In fact, it has worked nicely to get Yuri into the hands of Twittering Lesbians, and LGBT issues on the plates of Anime/Manga fans.

And then there’s the Social Media piece. It fills my every tweet, really. I explain the hows and whys of social media, the whos and where and like so many others, the don’ts.

As you may remember, last December I opened Yurikon LLC, the promotion company behind Yuricon & ALC Publishing, for business as a social media promotion company to any and all niche businesses. I spend as much time on Twitter as I can, sharing expertise as a social media specialist, a Yuri anime expert and as a Publisher. And today, I wanted to write a bit about the anime/manga scene on Twitter. Because you may not yet be part of it – and you should.

First of all, many of the manga and anime companies are on Twitter:
Funimation
Tokyopop
Viz
Right Stuf
CMX
Yen Press
Yaoi Press
ALC Publishing
DMP
Udon
GoComi!
Vertical

Thanks to Isaac Alexander for these additions:
ToeiAnimation
Bandai Enterntaiment
Urban Vision Entertainment
and a host of other small, niche and indie comics and manga companies.

The best part of following these companies is not just that they announce specials, releases, sales, etc, or things going on at their event booths, but that they will respond to questions directly. So far, all of the anime/manga companies on Twitter have been very open to discussion and responsive to questions from both press and fans. It’s really a wonderful feeling to know that your question is not lost in the depths of nowhere and that you have a very good chance of getting a response reasonably quickly.

Seven Seas, ADV and Media Blasters are not on Twitter. Their absence is becoming more noticeable every day. I cheerfully hold out a hand of social media savvy to them – if they want help setting something up and maintaining it, drop me a line. They *need* to be there, since everyone else is.

When I say everyone, I don’t just mean the companies. One of the things that makes the Twitter space really stand out for anime/manga fans is that the space itself was essentially defined by the people who got there first – the journalist/reviewers:
Deb Aoki
Brigid Alverson
Kate Dacey
David Welsh
Melinda Beasi
Robin Brenner
Ed Sizemore
Johanna Draper Carlson
Scott Green
Scott VonSchilling
Gia Manry
Kai-Ming Cha
and so many more that I cannot even begin to mention them all.

The point is that, the level of conversation was so intelligent, so educational that when the companies and fans started to discover the anime/manga scene on Twitter, it was already past the usual kinds of “zOMG!” and well into smart, critical discussion of issues. It was here, in this environment, that the “Women Make Comics” T-shirt project was developed. It is collegiate, without the sophomorics – but not without humor. These people are all really funny. Smart funny. Snarky, smart funny. Just the way I like ’em.

And what happened was, when fan bloggers started to join the Twitter crowd, they found themselves being held to a level of critical thinking and journalistic integrity that was much higher than what they were used to. These bloggers are thinking harder, deeper and better about the stuff they watch and read right now – and it shows in their blogs.

I came up with an idea – #mangamonday. Deb Aoki, who probably does not realize that she’s a kind of godmother to the anime/manga Twitter crowd, but is, suggested that #mangamonday be used to recommend manga we like to one another. it’s not a place to suggest scanlations, but manga in either Japanese or English that really are worth your (and others’) time and money. I know I’ve certainly read a pile of stuff I never would have otherwise – and so has my wife. It’s true that most of the other companies recommend one of their own books (ALC does not) but still, sometimes that gets conversation going and is worth the eye-rollingness of it.

Some of the folks who read this are already on Twitter. Some of you will not think this is worth the chat-room madness of Twitter. But I can absolutely guarantee that, if you like your conversations about anime and manga to range broadly, deeply and weirdly, you will dig the Twitter Anime/manga scene. It’s one of the best online cocktail parties I have ever attended. ;-)

I’m not saying Twitter is a superior communications platform, by the way. I *am* saying that the people listed here are superior people and we’re damn lucky that they like anime and manga. :-)

See you on Twitter – and don’t forget to say hi to me @Yuricon!

Posted in Microniche Marketing | 8 Comments »


Yuri Network News – August 1, 2009

August 1st, 2009

As Yuricon is about to turn 9 years old, and Okazu 7, I’ve been thinking about what we’ve accomplished so far and what there is still yet to do.

In many ways we have no influence over what happens in Japan, of course. Other than perhaps buying so much Yuri that we actually become a blip on their market radar. In subtle ways, however, we are making some changes. How Yuri is (or is not) marketed, how well it does here and how likely a company is to pick it up – these things are still up to us.

Most importantly, we’ve changed how the anime world perceives us, Yuri fans. We’ve been covered by The Advocate, Afterellen, Curve, The Blade, The Examiner and countless blogs and online magazines. We’ve run events in two countries and presented on three continents.

All of this is because of you – my readers, my Heroes and Superheroes, my friends and the YNN Correspondents and reviewers from all over the world who have made these past nine years been the most amazing of my life. August 5th is Yuricon’s and Okazu’s birthday. Happy Birthday to us. Happy birthday to you. Let’s head into Year 10 knowing that we’re going to do some incredible things in the days ahead!

Before I forget – I’ll be keeping the YNN logo contest open until August 20th. So send in your logo ideas for our Yuri Network News!

***

Yuri Anime

Katherine has been sending weekly updates from the website about the Sasamekikoto anime to the Yuricon Mailing List. Seiyuu have been announced, and the date for the premiere of the anime is now listed as October 7th, at 26:20. She also was excited to report that the theme song will be performed by Kiyoura Natsumi, who performed the opening themes for Spice and Wolf and Sketchbook ~full color’S~.

The new anime Canaan will be getting a series of three “movies” this fall, which will simply be a rehash of the anime season, sans credits, I’m thinking. Read the ANN article and decided for yourself. ^_^

New Queen’s Blade Second Season Trailer is up for your viewing “pleasure.”

***

Yuri Manga

Not only is the second volume of Hanjuku Joshi, Morishima Akiko’s cell-phone manga series coming out this month, so is a collection of her Yuri Hime stories, called Ruri-iro Yume. Of course we should buy both, since Morishima-san is a really awesome person.

And at last, we have links to Kimochi no Katachi, the new name for the two-volume collected set of the Tact doujinshi by circle Sakuraike. These were some of my very first ever original Yuri doujinshi and, despite the fact that some of it may seem a bit dated now, I think the series will hold up well as a collection.

Speaking of the Yuricon Store, I’m trying to add books as they come out now, since Japan is popping them out faster than I can mention here.

And finally! Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan shipped and it is quite wonderful.

***

Other News

A new Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha game for the PSP has been announced, as has the fact that it will be set in the As time frame, so the lolicon won’t whine.

New York Anime Festival is coming up and I’ll be there, wandering around talking to folks and generally avoiding the programming (as I do) wearing a “Women Make Comics” t-shirt. A number of the anime/manga bloggers from the Twitter scene will also be wearing these. Join us~ Join us~! Support women in comics, with money to good causes and with a statement that is incontrovertibly true – Women Make Comics!

I also want to thank everyone who subscribed to Crunchyroll for Aoi Hana – the numbers are good, and that and that alone, will convince them to get more Yuri. So spread the word and spread the Yuri love!

***

We’ll wrap this up for the week – as always, to become a YNN correspondent, you need only send us news items at yuriconat gmail dot com. It’s that easy! Thanks to everyone who does send us news – you’re our priceless Yuri Network. ^_^

Posted in Yuri Network News | 5 Comments »


Maria-sama ga Miteru Special CD, Vol. 3

July 31st, 2009

You know you’re really an otaku when you generalize “spending time with characters we like to spend time with” to “spending time listening to the people who play those characters talking about cake.”

Welcome to the second-floor council room at the Rose Mansion of Lillian Jogakuen and the quite meaningless, giggle-filled Maria-sama ga Miteru Special CD Volume 3, in which Ueda Kana (Yumi), Noto Mamiko (Shimako) and Shimizu Kaori (Noriko) discuss absolutely nothing of importance at all. And cake.

Let’s get the most important thing out of the way first – the fairy cakes were delicious. I know you were worried.

Shimizu-san calls Noto-san “Oneesama” which makes Ueda-san squeal with delight. They answer questions in a Newlywed Game-like game called “Soeur no Kizuna” – in which they are supposed to see if they know how each other will answer. Shimizu-san comments on how intimidating the script for this Drama was, since she’s never had that many lines in a row before….and how this is the first major piece of recording she did without much interaction with Noto-san.

And the radio drama is one of my favorite side stories, in which en Bouton Yumi and Noriko find themselves bonding over rain, teruterubozu and white ponchos. “Hitsuji ga Ippiki Saku Koete” is a great story, full of WTF moments, as seen through the eyes of public school girl Noriko as she enters the Wonderland of Lillian.

So, the big question is – how close are “Noriko” and “Shimako” in the sister’s bonds game? Pretty close, although the questions are really silly. I would have probably answered similarly, too. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 9

Not *quite* as amazing as the last one, but that’s no fault of the CD itself, it’s just that Noriko and Shimako come in second place for me to Tsutako and Shouko. In every other way, this Special CD is totally grin-worthy.

Posted in Drama CD, Drama CDs & Audiobooks, Maria-sama ga Miteru | 1 Comment »


Yuri Manga: Tsubomi, Volume 2

July 30th, 2009

I was about to sit down this morning, at an obscenely early hour, while the sun rose into my living room (bringing light and heat, but not joy) when something important happened.

I picked up my copy of Tsubomi, Volume 2, (つぼみ) all ready to damn it with faint praise – how the stories were like eating Spicy Thai potato chips – pretty good, sort of painful and, after a while, you can’t really taste them, because you’ve gone numb. I opened the magazine to realize that if I did so, I’d be lying.

Because the stories weren’t like eating Spicy Thai potato chips (recommended by the way) they were like that hard candy your grandmother had in a dish on the living room table. They were candy, it’s true, and they were different flavors, but somehow they just never satisfied your craving for sweets.

I was going to rag that Volume 2 was just like Volume 1, sort of bland and the same. I was going to hold up one solitary story, “Hotei and Ebisu” as an example of the only different story in the book. But when I started to flip through it, I saw any number of not-schoolgirl stories. Easily a half dozen or so. Why didn’t any of them stick in my head?

Perhaps I was so charmed by the name of the above story (named for two of the 7 Lucky Gods, patrons of mine) or perhaps I wiped the rest away with my usual disdain for Story A. Or, perhaps, I read them when I was dead tired and simply forgot they existed.

While Tsubomi, Volume 2 is not a pinnacle of the art form, I don’t want to do it a disservice by painting it as bland, either. There are, in fact, stories of adults and young women and sisters, yes, and a step-mother and her step-daughter. There are friends and lovers and more than friends, less than lovers and “S” and others.

As I pondered this today (while I wrestled with a complex periodic safety update for the health authorities,) it came to me what the real problem is here. It’s obvious that the stories are not the same and, really, they aren’t even all that similar. The problem lies not in the execution, but in the intent. Most, if not all the stories in Tsubomi live in that ambiguous, tense space before anything is said, through just after something is said, or at least admitted to self. So few of these stories go on to portray a “couple” in any way that resolves itself in my head as life as a “couple,” that all of these vaguely-not-quite-together non-couples all begin to blur.

Nonetheless, after a second read through, I note some stories that begin to stand out. I also notice that many of them include a relationship which would be considered um, illegal, here in the US. I don’t mind May-December relationships, but I prefer the spring chickens to be out of the egg. If you will.

Anyway, upon sober reflection (hey, who knows, maybe my first time through this volume was accompanied by one girly drink in a bottle too many….) Tsubomi Volume 2 is tilling different ground than Yuri Hime. It remains to be see if I genuinely like the garden being planted, or not.

Ratings:

Overall – 7

I’m not throwing it out in disgust, I’m not giving it a place of honor. Let’s see where we are in three months, shall we?

Posted in Tsubomi, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Chicago Examiner Interview

July 30th, 2009

Jolie DuPre of the Chicago Examiner asks me all the right questions in today’s Interview of the President of Yuricon & ALC Publishing.

(If you’ve been a fan for a while, you know all this. Still, check out the interview and bump Jolie’s ratings, will you? Also, feel free to send this link to your friend who doesn’t “get” Yuri. lol)

Posted in ALC Publishing | No Comments »