Yuri Drama CD: Blue Drop, Enemies Side

November 2nd, 2009

What you’ve all been waiting for! (Admit it, you were…) A Blue Drop Drama CD that deals with everyone’s favorite half-alien lesbian, Yui and her on-again, off-again, wish-I-could-love-you-but-have-to-kill-you relationship with Misato-sensei right out of the first volume of the Blue Drop manga.

Having recently slogged through a number of near-identical stories by Yoshitomi Akihito, it was instantly apparent that the stories in this Drama CD are probably his strongest ever. Yui is a sloppy drunk, a letch and a goof, but she’s honest and gentle and cares. Misato is also a letch (because being an alien means you’re not just lesbian, you’re a carnivorous consumer of women with no self-control) who is actually quite sympathetic.

Their story centers around Shouko who has been injected by Misato’s serum and is (temporarily) an Issejin. The resistance makes themselves odious, the humans aligned with the aliens make themselves moreso and it’s left to Yui to protect Shouko from pretty much everyone.

In between the story, we learn dribs and drabs about the alien invasion, why the water is not safe for humans and other backstory stuff – and we learn about the poignant, unresolvable relationship between Misato and Yui.

If you are a fan of the first manga volume and have even the most basic Japanese skills, you will definitely want to get this DCD. If you have little Japanese, this is not the series you want to be practicing with – there is a lot of fake/technical and military terms. But, if you’re familiar with the manga and can understand a basic school-day conversation, you’ll be able to make it through those conversations with some little difficulty.

I was surprised at how…sloppy…Yui sounds. She sounds like she’s faking about 80% of what we hear, which totally works for the character. The story between her and Misato desperately needs a sequel. Something after all that rebellion stuff is resolved.

And it nicely whetted my appetite for the upcoming Blue Drop TV series release. ^_^

Ratings:

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

Overall – 7

There’s an extra comic that’s a continuation of the extra from the previous DCD about a girl whose Isseijin sempai has introduced her to traditional Japanese bondage, starting something she can’t control. Hah.

Posted in Drama CDs & Audiobooks | No Comments »


Yuri Network News – October 31, 2009

October 31st, 2009

Happy Halloween!

Yuri Anime

According to Anime News Network, Pre Cure Fresh anime is being made into an Online Game, which mimics the “anime’s world of Clover Town, and users (primarily children) can create their own avatars to experience life there and interact with Love Momozono, Miki Aono, Inori Yamabuki, and the other anime characters.”

***

Yuri Manga

From Sylwia, we get a link to a Polish lesbian comic book anthology – this anthology contains nine stories and one pin-up, all about lesbian love, life, coming out and other things. All the authors are from Poland. The official relase date will be 20th of November. We’re looking forward to seeing it, Sylwia!

And finally, there’s a link for Rakuen Le Paradis – and at least a few of the stories are Yuri. I’m so hoping it’s a cut above Tsubomi, that’s for sure.

***

Other News

Anime News Network also reports that the 5 actresses that voiced the “Inner Senshi” of Sailor Moon, will be reuniting for an event to celebrate the DVD box release. How I wish I could be there….

Writers Residence did an interview with me as an editor, about query letters and rejection and all that kind of reality stuff.

***

Snatches of Yuri

In case you haven’t had a chance to wallow in Amano Kozue’s newest Yuri Goggle-busting manga full of women who are affectionate, but not romantic,
Amanchu!, Volume 1 is out and ready for you to enjoy.

Gakko No Sensei – I’m super lazy today, but I’m pretty sure this is about a girl who likes her teacher. I could be wrong, but I’m too lazy to actually read the description. Update: I was indeed wrong! Wai tells us that it’s about three girls who *become* school teachers and it is indeed Yuri. Thanks Wai!

Bamora has high school girls on the cover. I’m guessing at least one likes the other.

***

That’s a wrap for the 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. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge.

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

Posted in Yuri Network News | 1 Comment »


Yuri Manga: Hinagiku Junshin Jogakuen, Volume 1

October 30th, 2009

Hinagiku Junshin Jogakuen, Volume 1 is the story of Ami, a smart, beautiful, elegant, rich girl who collides in the hall with sweatpants-wearing, geeky-looking Yui and falls madly in love. It comes as a great shock, therefore, to find that Yui has been in her class all the time.

Yui is smart, she is definitely a geek, and she works very hard at a part-time job, but that none of that explains the incessant slamming into people. Nor does it explain why other people slam into Ami, too. Nor does it explain why, after Yui and Ami become friends, and Yui affects Ami’s life by introducing her to rice balls and to the world of part-time jobs so she makes her own friends and money, why the manga suddenly explodes into a few final chapters about things like bathing suits, cosplay and aliens. I kept waiting for Dondi and shady underworld figures to show up just to complete the “wtf” factor.

The basic plot of the first 4/5 of this volume go like this: Yui slams into Ami, with an onigiri in her mouth. Yui *loves* onigiri. Ami spends a LOT of time in this volume obsessing about rice balls – wondering what they are, trying them for the first time, trying to make them, having her cook make them, all in an attempt to get closer to Yui. Of course, if Ami just *asked* if she and Yui could be friends, it’s obvious that Yui would be glad to comply.

When Ami takes over for Yui at her part-time job selling fried things at a convenience store in what were really the best chapters, a whole new world of relating to people opens up for Ami. She never really gets her wish to get closer to Yui the way she’d like, but she gets something more important – self-reliance.

This volume of manga is silly and repetitive. It’s a sit-com in which the “sit” is Yui slamming into Ami. But despite that, it has some genuine charm. And just about the time you think it’s time for the story to progress a bit – Aliens. Cosplay. Bathing Suits. The usual.

Ratings:

Art – 7 4-koma cute, you know the type
Story – 5 I’m being generous. There actually isn’t any story
Characters – 7 There is some character development, instead of a story
Yuri – 4
Service – None, until the final chapters, then 5

Overall – 6

I wish the author had had the opportunity or balls to move the story forward. I would have liked to see Yui clue in a tad. But, should you be willing to wait it out, there is a Volume 2 out and who knows, onigiri might lead to love after all.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »


Lesbian Novel: Songs From the Other Side of the Wall

October 28th, 2009

Today falls under the “now for something completely different” category. But first, let me tell you a story.

When I first started writing Yuri fanfiction, I was pretty much one of a handful of women writing in the genre and, as far as I can remember (which isn’t very far,) I was *the* out lesbian doing so. So, I got a lot of emails from people – women who were happy to see stories by a woman, not some nerdy teen boy, etc and also from guys who wanted my feedback. Many of these guys wrote to me to tell me how other people said “they wrote women well.” I almost invariably disagreed, because any writer who sees his or her characters as “men” or “women” is probably too caught up in gender roles to write anyone well.

So, when recently I received a message on Facebook from Dan Holloway asking me to read and possibly review his lesbian novel, Songs From the Other Side of the Wall, I cringed. Years of reading sad attempts at “realistic” lesbians written by men made me reluctant to read this. I told Dan that I would read the book with one upfront condition – if I hated it, I would not review it, because no one would gain from me skewering it. If I did not hate it, I *might* review it, but no promises. Dan was totally cool with that. And he never once said he “wrote women well,” so I had some hope.

Songs From the Other Side of the Wall is a *very* good book.

6 pages into it, I was really, really enjoying it. The main character was likable, real and yes, I would have her over for lunch.

The story follows Szandrine, (don’t roll your eyes – there’s a reason for her name,) a young Hungarian musician, after the loss of a dear online friend and his sister, with whom Szandrine had fallen in love at first sight.

Dan’s writing is convincing – Szandrine is mature for her 17 years, but still 17. Her poetry, songs and writing ring absolutely dead-on true for her personality and age.

The story travels in intent, and often location, all over Europe, which I quite liked. But above all what holds this book together is Szandrine; her loves, her likes and dislikes, her quirks and even her stupid skinny jeans. lol

It’s a rather complicated story, and not perfect – there about three handwaves too many to be perfect. There was one instance – one in the entire book – where the author’s voice overshadows the character’s – easily ignorable. And honestly, I didn’t love the ending. I didn’t like where it had been going, and I wasn’t thrilled with where it ended up, but I never once thought about stopping reading. Overall, a great read. Thank you Dan, for being brave and sending me this book. And for writing women well. :-)

Ratings:

Story – 8 Good story, but too many handwaves
Characters – 9 Very real people
Lesbian – 10
Loser Anything – .5, because chances are without pictures, they couldn’t follow it.

Overall – 8

Now, here’s the best part – you can read this book too. For free. Dan is offering his book as a free PDF download on his website. If you like it, I ask one thing from you – when it becomes available in print – buy it. The hard copy I received is a softcover trade book of decent quality. Definitely worth a buy.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Songs as much as I did.

Posted in LGBTQ, Novel, Queer Fiction | 4 Comments »


Anti-Yuri Manga: Maria Holic, Volume 1 (English)

October 27th, 2009

I want you all to know that I REALLY tried. I took a deep breath, smiled and prepared to do my very very best to approach Maria Holic Volume 1, with an open and cheerful mind. It is absolutely obvious that Maria Holic is meant to be read as broad parody of Yuri tropes. (Yes, yes, pun intended.) What it is, however, is broad and crude.

Kanako is attending a very elite all-girl’s school where she hopes to become closer to the memory of her late mother who was a student there, and to find a soulmate, because she is attracted to women. Kanako is portrayed as a typical “onnazuki,” a person who likes women, but is too hapless and hopeless to get a girlfriend. Kanako falls for practically every girl she sees, which is both cute and sad at the same time.

Because this is not a romance, but a “comedy,” Kanako immediately falls into the clutches of physically cute, but emotionally sadistic Mariya, who is really a boy cross-dressing for reasons not yet mentioned. (I know they will be. I’m reviewing *Volume 1*.)

Kanako blunders around the school both befriending and be-enemying various characters, and generally making a fool of herself for our “entertainment.” The people around her act in ways that make no sense, except that they are meant to be exceedingly broad parodies of typical Yuri tropes, and so act like those tropes unrestrained by sense or sensibility.

I want you to know that I did my best to not read more into this manga than was warranted. I will *not* rant about how Maria Holic is not only anti-Yuri but anti-woman. I squelched that pretty hard as I sat there gritting my teeth, feeling more and more cranky as I read.

I will not talk about how a feminist reading of this volume made me want to grab up my friends Mr. Knife and Mr, Hot Tar and take them trick-or-treating with me, because that would be me being ridiculous and you’d all take me seriously.

What I will say is this – I found the anti-lesbian “humor” painful. At one point, Mariya calls Kanako “lesbo girl” and it really, really upset me. It was meant to be hurtful to Kanako. We’re supposed to find humor in her reaction to this. But, when in a single panel she pleaded with her dead mother (or the Virgin Mary, it’s really moot which,) “why is everyone picking on me?” I lost it and started to cry. If you found that line funny, I hate you. It’s as simple as that. It wasn’t funny, it was cruel. Bullying is not amusing.

When I reviewed the Mariaholic anime, I said that the anime was, at it’s core, about the emotional torture of a young lesbian. I can see that the manga is not quite that – it’s colder, more dispassionate. Where Sasamekikoto plays with typical Yuri tropes in a goofy way, drawing on their faces, if you will, Maria Holic is more mean about it – flipping up skirts and then saying *we* overreacted.

Ratings:

Overall – For me, it’s in negative numbers. Too many tears, too many nosebleeds, too much pain.

The very worst thing about this series is knowing that, instead of finding love in a healthy relationship, Kanako will be fall prey to Stockholm Syndrome, and Mariya – who is loathesome – will become progressively more sympathetic until we can justify what will clearly be an unhealthy, unequal, unreasonable relationship. Once again, it is Mariya on the cover, not Kanako. And that says everything there is to say about this series.

Thanks to Okazu Superhero Dan P. for sponsoring today’s review!

Posted in English Manga | 90 Comments »