Light Novel: Maria-sama ga Miteru ~ Little Horrors

January 6th, 2010

High school, among other things, is a series of mortifying moments. Between hormones, life roles and adults being adults, there’s just about no day that goes by when a high school student doesn’t wish that the earth would open up and swallow them at least for a little while.

For Arima Nana, the day described in Maria-sama ga Miteru – Little Horrors (マリア様がみてる―リトルホラーズ) is one of those days.

Nana has entered Lillian Girls’ School in a slightly unusual position. Before she even enters high school, she is Rosa Foetida en Bouton. Not only does she start her high school career as a member of the Student Council but, because of her family and her famed kendo skills, she’s slated to be one of the highlights of the kendo team in time.

So, when the team calls a meeting and her onee-sama, Rose Foetida herself, younger sister of the former captain and third-year member of the team doesn’t show – the earth could not open up fast enough.

Little Horrors appears to be the story of Nana, as she runs around the school, looking for Yoshino. She starts in Yoshino’s classroom, and then tries the Rose Mansion. Noriko joins her as they broaden the search and finally Touko adds her help. When they finally find Yoshino, Nana and she get into a bit of an argument, as Nana explains that she was subject to mortification as a result of Yoshino’s absence. Yoshino, by way of explanation, tries to explain that she didn’t want to stand in Nana’s way in the club.

But all this takes a quick back seat to the real issue – because they find Yumi and Yoshino in the bottom floor of the Rose Mansion, barely containing a leaking pipe. The three en bouton jump in to relieve their onee-sama.

Time passes. Noriko goes off to find a teacher, Yoshino leaves to make her appearance at the club meeting, Touko leaves to go to the toilet. One little, two little, three little Lillian, four little, five little Lillian girls, Nana sings to herself.

Nana and Yumi, alone in the first-floor room, have a conversation in which Yumi was…my god, she was Rosa Chinensis! Youko could not have been more sensible, encouraging and supportive.

And then…the noise starts. Stomp stomp, clap. Stomp stomp clap. the noise comes from the second-floor council room. Yumi and Nana stare at the ceiling and finally Yumi tells Nana to go check, she’s really okay by herself.

Ambivalent about what she might find there, Nana ascends the stairs.

Before I tell you what she found, I ought to point out that this was all in the “ribbon” story – the bits that ties the actual stories together. The actual short stories were all about non-Yamayurikai characters including, as I predicted, the vile twins who seduced then threatened a teacher, and a marginally interesting story about a girl who wasn’t sure if she really was a girl or was an old guy dreaming he was a girl. There was also a completely forgettable story about a girl who becomes friends with the girl who sits beside her in class – while the girl isn’t actually there. -_-; And even more forgettable, a story about a girl who makes up a ridiculous sets of lies that all turn out, through painful contortion of the plot, to end up being true.

But, back to Nana. Slowy, slowly, she reaches out to open the door and slowly, slowly, she enters and suddenly…Pop! The sound of party crackers sound and lo and behold! the whole thing was a setup for a surprise party to welcome Nana. The plan was created by Yoshino – fake a leak to keep Nana out of the second floor room and give everyone a chance to gather there before her. :-)

As a bonus, Yoshino comments that she did indeed make the kendo club meeting where her rival, Tanuma Chisato was voted in as the new club president and she, busy with Yamayurikai duties as she is, was asked by Chisato to be the club vice president. Yoshino was mortified, of course, but that’s high school for you.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 4-7
Yuri – .5
Fan Service – 12? (Noriko-sama! Touko-sama! Squee!)

Overall – 7

In the Afterword, Konno-sensei mentions that her editor referred to this book as Variety Gift IV. Heh.

Posted in Light Novel, Light Novels, Maria-sama ga Miteru | 3 Comments »


Rakka Ryuusui Manga, Volume 4

January 4th, 2010

Last month, the criminally intelligent and funny Kate Dacey added a few new items to her Manga Hall of Shame. Among them was 4-koma series Lucky Star. Among her many – and all completely valid – criticisms was the plaintive request, “Dear Manga Publishers: Please stop licensing 4-koma titles. Most of the translated material in this format is at best dull — wait, was that a joke? — and at worst incomprehensible…”

I wish I could disagree with her but, despite the ridiculously large numbers of 4-koma series I follow, I can’t. Before you get all bent out of shape about it, consider this:

4-koma are the equivalent of “comic strips” here in the west.

My gut tells me that few people would rush to read “Blondie” or “Sally Forth” if they were translated into Japanese for much the same reason 4-koma fail to be hysterical here – sitcom-itis. Each character has one, maybe two qualities, each of which is rendered down into a joke or visual gag. The sum of the plot is three or four situations into which this 2-dimensional (both figuratively and literally) ensemble is thrown, with resulting yucks and heehaws. The only way to change the dynamic is to add characters or props.

This is not to say that *all* American comic strips are bad, nor is it to say that all Japanese 4-koma are impenetrable or unfun. Realistically though, even a lot of the ones I like are not that great. :-)

Which brings me to the subject of today’s review, Rakka Ryuusui (落花流水), Volume 4.

It’s not bad…but it ain’t great. Here are my reviews for Volume 1 and Volume 2. I never did get Volume 3, in which I apparently missed nothing because the main topic of conversation in Volume 4 is…allergies. Yes, still.

It’s both funny and really, really boring all at once. Animal allergies, pollen allergies…I sympathize but seriously, how many comic strips about high school girls’ post-nasal drip can one read before the glamor wears off?

What passes as Yuri in this series is taken up by Akatsuki who idolizes and follows around Yu, who suffers allergies. And Akiho still has a crush on her sempai.

The only real downside to this particular series of comic strips is that while I tuned in to read about the allergy-suffering of the Kyuudo club while wearing cool hakama and carrying cool weapons, I’m subjected to them suffering allergies while wearing bathing suits and… horror! cheerleading outfits. It was unforgivable. They can be as sniffly as they like – while doing archery. Once they stop that, I’m outta here.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 2
Service – 4

Overall – 6

Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments »


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 »