The Difference Between Things

January 3rd, 2010

Much of what goes on here at Okazu is me distilling long hours of thoughts about various things into semi-coherent posts. Today’s post is some more of that.

The Difference Between:

Service and Sexy

Service is, plain and simple, flashes of cheescake or beefcake that appeal to the Lowest Common Denominator in the audience. When the boys are ripped and the girls are busty, the majority of people who watch things for the images are “served” these to keep their attention.

Sexy is more complex. It may be as simple as secondary sexual characteristics prominently displayed, but it can be as sophisticated as personality, interests, pheromones and other less quantifiable qualities.

Let’s put it this way – if you’re talking about bust size of a fictional character then it’s service. Also kind of sad. :-)

Porn and Erotica

I’ve talked about this before. I have a working definition for the distinction. Porn is when there is an implicit recognition that there is a third party acting as voyeur. When the character in the doujinshi looks at you when s/he climaxes, it’s porn.

Erotica is when the characters are engaged in one another fully. The reader/watcher isn’t part of the story, either explicitly or implicitly. In this sense, erotica is more creepy than porn. lol

Engagement and Entitlement

Engagement is when a fan wants to be part of the series they love. They engage in the series enough to want to create work related to it, or cosplay the character, or even, yes, translate the story if it’s not licensed.

However, when that engagement turns negative, it turns into entitlement. Entitled fans would prefer legit companies go broke, so they can get their entertainment for “free,” since they aren’t the ones losing money. Entitlement often begins with the words, “There ought to be….” or “Why can’t they just…?”

Pretty Boys (Bishounen) and Pretty Girls (Bishoujo)

Pretty boys are cool and show it by being mean and uncaring. Pretty girls want to help and show it by putting up with pretty boys. Pretty boys are ambiguous, tortured and inconsistent to the point of having split personalities. Pretty girls are submissive and will never tell pretty boys to fuck off already.

Japanese Fans and American Fans

Japanese fans are used to being part of groups. They want to show their loyalty to the seiyuu, the studio, the writer, the series they love. They will stand in line for hours to get rare items, they will spend money to get stamps to get the limited edition giveaway. Japanese fans are more disciplined and polite, but since they keep quiet, they are kind of “creepy” creepy.

American fans are younger than Japanese fans, not particularly interested in showing loyalty, or caring about the larger group. They will cheerfully buy or download bootlegs if they don’t have money to buy the items legitimately – and will argue that because they wouldn’t have bought it anyway, then it’s not really stealing. American fans are loud, obnoxious, run around waving weapons in crowded hallways and are obviously having lots of fun buying junk.

Audience and Market

Audience is the number of people who say they like a thing. Market is the number of people who will buy that thing to actually support it.

In terms of Yuri, the audience may be thousands and thousands of people – but the market is a tiny percentage of that. If a company spends 10K to get a book out and makes 6K in sales, that’s just not sustainable. Publisher margins are *small* even in mass market publishing. In manga, they are ridiculously small. In Yuri, there’s still just not that many people buying the books. Sure, 10,000 people might be willing to download a scan – i.e., the audience, but maybe only 1500 of those will be the market and buy the book they say they like.

Objective and Subjective

There is no difference. Unless there are agreed upon universal measurements (say, temperature or weight) there is nothing truly objective.

Everyone’s perception is subjective. Objective is a word that is used by people who disagree with you to convince themselves that you are wrong. ;-)

***

What other differences between things can you think of?

Posted in Now This Is Only My Opinion | 15 Comments »


Yuri News Network – January 2, 2010

January 2nd, 2010

Woah….2010. Wow, does *that* feel weird. It’s been almost 10 years since I decided that world needed a community specifically for fans of Yuri that celebrated lesbian love and life, as opposed to lesbian porn. What a crazy, unbelievable decade it’s been, let me tell you!

I don’t know what 2010 will bring us, of course; whether we’ll be scraping the bottom of the barrel for our Yuri, or climbing to new heights. I do know that I *hope* to be able to hold a 2010 Yuricon event – but don’t expect a “con” as you know it. You must know by know that I encourage thoughtful discussion and critical thinking, but not running around the halls screaming. :-) Think Yuri-conference, rather than Yuri-convention.

There are a lot of things going on behind the curtains at Yuricon & ALC Publishing. Sometimes things we’re working on never make it to the light of day and so it looks like we’re going nowhere, but I promise you that that is not true. Right now we’re working on a long-overdue update for the Yuricon site. Because so many things have changed since we last redesigned it and because we’re trying to make the new site sustainable for some time to come, it’s not an overnight process. We just finished one contest (2009 AMVs) and will shortly be announcing a new one – one that will quite literally change the image of Yuricon. :-) And there are some other things I just can’t tell you about, although I wish I could. If, when, these projects come to fruition, you’ll know.

I do want to share this – today, to my shock, I learned that the founding of Yuricon made Afterellen’s Best. Lesbian. Decade. Ever. list. Of course I started to bawl immediately. I’ve received way more kicks than kudos in this past decade, so that, along with a number of other things recently, made me feel really good about starting off on another decade of trying my damndest to bring Yuri to America in a sustainable, intelligent and empowering way.

As I said, I don’t know what the next decade will bring – but if it’s as rewarding, frustrating, amazing and challenging as this last decade, it’s going to absolutely kick ass.

So Happy New Year my friends, my Yuri Network. Welcome to a whole new decade, just waiting to be filled with good thoughts, creative work, original ideas and Yuri love. :-)

***

Yuri Manga

The new year gets off to a thoroughly average start with announcement of a new franchise extender, Mai HiMe EXA. The manga has shifted out of Champion Red to Dengeki Daioh, so I might start picking it up again. Of course I’ll let you know what I think.

For those of you who like pink-cheeked women who bathe a lot, Cassiopeia Dolce, Volume 2 is just around the corner, and will hit the shelves on the 18th.

Also on the 18th, Ichinjinsha will release Yuru Yuri, Volume 2 and Konohanatei Kitan.

Comics212 reports that “The dude who does the fun and porny colour manga series MAKA MAKA and animation studio Madhouse have teamed up to do a full colour miniseries exclusive to America. That’s…pretty awesome. Apparently it involves a new take on vampires, wicked looking guns, and disaffected badasses. For people who like this sort of thing, this is the single best thing of the year.” Well put, Comics212, well put.

***

Yuri Anime

Not content with announcing a new TV series, Shin Koihime Musou also announces a new OVA which, like the previous OVA, is an alt-fic of this alternate universe.

***

Quiet week this week, but you have to expect that.

I’ll spend the next few days be catching up on some of the new anime that’s come out recently – reviews to come.

Thank you all for your support, your help and here’s wishing us all a great decade of Great Yuri!

Posted in Yuri Network News, Yuricon | 8 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Comic Lily, Volume 1

January 1st, 2010

I’ve been agonizing over the spiritual symbolism of my first post this year.

Do I pick something tried and true and beloved, knowing that it will start the year off with warm fuzzies and a comfortable frame of mind?

Do I pick something not so good, as I frequently do? Since I end the year with the best, I like to contrast that with something laughably bad to start the year off with a snort and a reminder that we’re not out of the woods yet.

Do I pick something indifferent, to attempt to not be symbolic at all and because aside from what convention says, today is just another day and not at all symbolic?

Do I pick something new to start off the New Year and Decade with a thrill at the start of a new venture?

Or do I grab something random off the pile and hope I can make some symbolism soup out of it?

How about All of the Above? :-)

Yuri Manga Anthology Comic Lily has all of the qualities listed above. It is a new venture, that treads comfortable territory and is at times good, indifferent and bad.

The anthology cover gave me no hope that it would be good but, the first two stories, while not being original in any sense, had really strong art. The third story was both good art and an okay story, after which the anthology sort of lost me in the welter of loli, maids and other things that I find less than compelling. None of it was kill-me-now terrible, but none of it was standout wow, either.

Anthologies are difficult creatures – the publisher wants to provide great stories and art, but there’s a limited pool of people who can fulfill the requirements at any given time. And what you like and what I like may be (often are) different, so a good anthology has stories that cover a wide range of tastes. That means that out of ten stories, most people will only really like one or two. It makes it hard to judge an anthology without bias.

Knowing what it takes to put an anthology together, knowing that many of the best artists in the field are already working for other collections and knowing the many – often mutually exclusive – pressures are involved in an anthology, I’m going pretty easy on this one. This is not Tsubomi, which hit the ground running with experienced and well-known names and has only just started to blossom (yes, pun intended). Comic Lily, is more like Eternal Sisters (pre-Ichijinsha) or Yuri Monogatari – a sincere collection made with love. A veritable Great Pumpkin of Yuri. ^_^

So, no, it’s not stellar, but it’s not stab-my-eyes-out horrible. It’s the first volume of what I hope will one day will grow up into a fine Yuri anthology series.

And I guess that answers my question above huh? This year starts with…hope. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 6

Thanks to Okazu Superhero George R. who took some suggestions from my Amazon JP Wish List in order to sponsor this first review of the new year!

Posted in Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Happy New Year from Yuricon & ALC Publishing

January 1st, 2010
Posted in Miscellaneous | 5 Comments »


Top Ten Yuri of 2009

December 31st, 2009

We’ve had plenty of build-up, let’s jump right in to

The Okazu Top Ten Yuri of 2009

10) Hayate x Blade & Maria-sama ga Miteru

Neither series is heavy on Yuri, but they are heavy on everything else that makes a story compelling. The Yuri is merely the spicy mentaiko on the top for flavor. ;-)

Hayate shows that manga can be dorky good fun without losing anything in translation and Marimite shows that shoujo can be profitable even in anime, now can we *please* just accept that and move on? Both Seven Seas and RightStuf have shown us repeatedly that there *is* a successful way to balance fandom needs and market forces.

There’s still more of both on the way for 2010, so we can look forward to a few more hours in the company of what I consider to be some of the best characters in anime and manga today.

9) Morishima Akiko

Morishima-sensei is not on this list for her art, really. She’s here because she is pushing hard to bring stories of adult women who love women into the Yuri world. In her most recent collection, Rui-iro Yume, she says specifically that she asked the editors at Ichijinsha if she could drawn more stories about adults. The fact that that is still revolutionary is both annoying and enthralling. lol (“You got your lesbians in my Yuri!” “Well you got your Yuri in my lesbian manga!”)

I look forward to a 2010 filled with Yuri – with actual lesbians – because of Morishima-sensei.

8. Octave

I’ve already said everything I had to say about this series in the Top Ten Yuri Manga list. It’s about adult women, it’s real and realistic, it hurts when it’s supposed to and feels good when it’s supposed to. More great characters…another great Yuri title.

7. Twitter/Okazu Readers

Twitter was the rising star on the manga/anime stage this year. It got off to a bang with great manga journalists leading the way and hasn’t slowed down since. It is *the* place to be for intelligent manga and anime conversation. Even more importantly, it’s blurred the boundaries between the Japanese Yuri community and the American one. A space that is egalitarian, open for global communication and on 24/7 – Twitter may be the field of gold for us Yuri fans. ;-)

I mention my Okazu Readers nearly every year and every year it bears repeating – YOU make my Top Ten List once again. You challenge me, you support me, you are my heroes (sometimes, my villians,) you make me laugh, you are the reason I bother. For everything you have do, are doing and will do, you make my Top Ten Yuri of the year.

6. Crunchyroll

I know that Crunchyroll is not universally loved. I know that European Yuri fans, particularly, often feel left out by them. However, in 2009, Crunchyroll made a concerted effort to promote, support and provide Yuri anime to an English-speaking audience. They didn’t hide it, or pretend it was something else than it was; they put it out there as Yuri and promoted it to the Yuri – and lesbian – audience.

I should probably note that it this is the second conflict of interest on the list for me, but I don’t care – even without me, Crunchyroll is promoting Yuri. That should be worth *something* and in this case, it’s worth 6 on my Top Ten. :-)

5. Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan

This series had an obscure beginning in a not-well-known Yuri doujinshi anthology, and appeared more as an element in other series than as its own entity for years.

Then, all of a sudden, it was a thing! There was a whole story, with a beginning, a middle and a (somewhat inevitable) end. It has its own spin-off, “Pink Princess” and Drama CDs and finally, a whole collected volume of work, with more to come. I’m an unrepentant Fujieda fangirl, with a fetish for his calendar art. :-) I was so happy to get this volume and all the Drama CDs (whee!) that it made number 5 on this year’s list!

4. Yuri Hime/ Yuri Hime S

I don’t love everything Ichijinsha does. In fact, I’m pretty critical of a lot of it. Beyond the service and the moe there is, all too often, stuff that makes me feel downright icky. But there is no doubt that the money and effort Ichijinsha has put behind it’s two Yuri publications, the book signings, the advertising in their other magazines and their promotions at Comiket, are working. They are slowly, surely increasing the size of what will always be a niche of a niche.

For all their efforts, for all that they have done and for the pleasure 8 times a year of reading Yuri Hime and Yuri Hime S, Ichijinsha and their Yuri magazines are Number 4 this year.

3. Sasamekikoto

I wrote a while back that Umberto Eco defined anything as “literature” that escaped the confines of its original media. In a sense, any successful manga series is forced to do that, as the company seeks to expand the franchise. Drama CDs, toys, anime, all push the manga further along into the realm of literature, as long as the audience buys in.

I really wasn’t sure the audience would buy in with this series. It was a bit too self-consciously “for the fans.” It was a bit annoying, a bit hopeless. But with the advent of an anime, in which the comedy (especially the physical comedy) translated well, and the following expansion into anything the company could expand it into, Sasamekikoto has moved a little closer to “literature” than it was at the beginning of the year. Will it stand the test of time – I rather think not. But it certainly made a splash this year, and so it’s #3 on this year’s list.

2. Aoi Hana

Let’s be honest, shall we? I’m biased. Where Sasamekikoto is a parody and a comedy, Aoi Hana is a romantic drama that is serious, without taking itself seriously. It can lighten up and laugh, too. Where Sasamekikoto is written by a man for an audience of men, Aoi Hana is written by a woman for an audience of…whoever. I’m biased, yes.

I enjoy Sasamekikoto, but I think Aoi Hana is “Art.” Quietly drawn, beautifully rendered into anime, even the music is appealing to me. For me, Aoi Hana was “literature” when it was born, before anime and Drama CD pushed it into new media. Once again, I’m moved by a character-driven manga. Shocker. :-) Moved enough to call Aoi Hana the second best Yuri of the year.

Which leaves us with only one thing left that could be better.

My Number 1 Yuri of 2009 is….

1. Gunjo

It didn’t make the Manga list only because it wasn’t collected. I still believe that one day you too will be able to read this story. You might not like it as much as I did, probably not, because my “like” for it is inexpressible.

This intense story of a woman escaping an abusive life accompanied by a woman who threw *everything* away to be with her, is…indescribable. I have never, ever read anything like it.

It’s dark, it’s ugly, it’s violent and dysfunctional. It’s beautiful, sublime and magnificent. In the middle of ridiculous unreality, it’s totally real. Surrounded by pain and suffering is tenderness. It’s about love and not about love, all at the same time.

Gunjo blasted into my world with the manga equivalent of a serious beatdown. I never quite recovered and I keep coming back for more. :-)

Gunjo is my absolute Best Yuri of 2009…and possibly, Ever.

***

And with that, we bring this amazing year of Yuri to a close.

I wish you all a happy, healthy New Year!

Posted in Now This Is Only My Opinion, Top Yuri Lists | 11 Comments »