Yuri Game: Sapphism no Gensou

October 10th, 2009

Brain is a bit melty today, so it is with great relief pleasure that I welcome Guest Reviewer Ashley for today’s post! And even better, because as you know I don’t game and have no interest in games, Visual Novels or anything similar. So what a genuine pleasure to be able to provide you all with a review of the Sapphism no Gensou game that came out a few years ago and is undeniably Yuri. Take it away Mara!

Personally I do not comprehend the thinking behind same sex schools. Most of all I disagree with the argument that they somehow protect their students from something. But to each their own.

The school from Sapphism no Gensou on the other hand, I get. Not content with the usual standards of security a private school, the H.B. Polestar is a giant ship that sails an undisclosed course across the ocean to provide the best and most luxurious education for the daughters of the elite. Think a floating Ashford academy and you will not be far off. This is the absurd and fun setting of Sapphism no Gensou a visual novel by Lair-soft who since have done nothing else of note although they have kept with the theme of an unusual setting in nearly all their games.

This game’s unusual setting is home to a powerfully diverse cast, and not just diverse in the usual visual novel model of: ‘girl for every taste so we maximise sales’ way. The main character Anri, some sort of experimental fusion of Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena) and Tamaki (Ouran Host Club), deserves mention for not only being out but also deliberately going to this closed-off all-girl school so that she has the highest possible number of girls to hit on. Such openness and self-confidence are refreshing in a female main character in general, much less a Yuri main character. So much so that I overlook Anri’s massive ageism as a required character flaw (she gets over it anyway).

Anri is not alone in this story – besides the three main heroines, who are for the most part the dullest characters; there is Anri’s pre-existing, pre-Iono harem. These characters deserve an article all to themselves mainly because half of them are completely bonkers. For example there is Nicolle, the long-fringed daughter of an Italian mafia don who talks machine gun fast and has a serious gambling ‘interest’. Kanae, Anri’s sempai and incredible computation genius, who is addicted to coffee and goes into withdrawal if she misses her regular fix. Anne Shirley, the daughter of a Columbian drug lord, who constantly offers the rest of the cast giant fistfuls of ‘medicine’ and talks to spirits invisible to everyone but her, and the player.

I could go on forever.

For the most part the entire cast is made up of fantastically far out individuals with suitably silly dialogue; each scene with them is a treat. It is a good thing that the supporting cast is so amazing, as the three main heroines about which the three main story routes revolve are the dullest cookie cutter characters that could hope to disappoint you. This is almost appropriate though because the main story is utter crap.

Simply put, the writers seemed to have deliberately picked the only form of a closed circle mystery that could completely turn one’s stomach. A series of sexual assaults have been committed on board the H.B. Polestar and in this all female environment immediately the out lesbian is inaccurately labelled as the suspect. So much so that the onboard authorities decide to expel Anri regardless of her guilt so that they can escape charges of incompetence themselves. If this summary so far has not made you throw up then let me close it by saying that we are treated to one of the assaults as the opening scene of the game in an act of Somme-level idiocy by the designers.

This half of the story is so at odds with the pleasant atmosphere of the other half that I am truly convinced that Sapphism no Gensou was written by two completely separate groups who then shuffled their scripts together before sending it off to the producer. It is a real shame because this game does have some greatness that is not totally obscured by the crap that makes up the rest.

Luckily, the idiots who wrote the rape half of the game were fired for the special DVD edition of Sapphism no Gensou. This version comes with a whole game’s worth of extra short stories and scenes that expand on the all of the characters with further disregard for being disgusting in preference for being silly. All the characters get at least one including the main character and the old lady who founded the H.B. Polestar.

If you are a complete collector like myself then you should buy the DVD version of Sapphism no Gensou as the extras make it more than worth it. However I cannot recommend such a game generally when there are other, better, Yuri visual novels out there.

Art – 7
Story – For the main story: 3 For everything else: 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 10 (a massive neon 10 advertising a swimsuit maid cafe)

Overall – 8

I truly liked this game but I cannot recommend it to others for the same reason I would say that you should not become friends with a racist just to borrow their car.

Thank you for reminding me just why my aversion is something to treasure and nurture, rather than get over. ^_^ And thank you for today’s review! As I’ve said many times, if you, dear reader have a Yuri game you’d like to review, please contact me. Legitimately purchased copies only, no downloaded or pirated games, please.

Posted in Ashley P, Guest Review, Yuri Game | 6 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Tsubomi, Volume 3

October 8th, 2009

Yet again, I find myself almost completely forgetting every story mere days after reading the third volume of Tsubomi.

Really, it’s not that they are particularly bad or anything – they just have almost no substance. And the continuing saga of two older (barely pubescent) sisters who lust after each other’s younger sisters is so…ugh…that the fact that it starts and ends every volume does not help at all. In my desire to wipe these stories out of my mind, I seem to lose grasp of the rest of the content, as well.

Tsubomi is settling into an even fetishier space than Yuri Hime S. With a high percentage of May-December stories (she says euphemistically) and a lot of simply nothing stories I strongly feel that a number of talented artists are having their time completely wasted on stories that do nothing to showcase their skills.

Morinaga Milk’s story is wallowing in a space where nothing at all is happening, and Kurogame Kenn’s story pretty much looks like everything else he’s done. No one is pushing to do anything other than retread the same old tired tropes. I don’t know if this is a good thing for the artists – it’s pay after all – but as a reader it’s really annoying me.

The two stories I have the most hope for are Horii Kyosuke’s (of Junk-Lab/Raku-gun, an artist I really like) “Pedal ni Nosete” and the ongoing saga of Hotei and Ebisu in which nothing happens, but at least it’s not happening to adults.

Ratings:

Overall – 6

I’m edging closer to giving up on this magazine…unless at least one story has some sticking power.

Posted in Tsubomi, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


Shelf Porn, Okazu Edition

October 7th, 2009

No, I am not avoiding doing a review. If anything, I really need to do a review, because I have piles all over the place. But no. I am weak. Jason Thompson said that he would like to see my shelf porn and, weak-willed fangirl that I am, I obliged. I’ve always avoided this, because my collection is spread out through the house. Now, here’s selected pieces of it.

This picture is the one shelf I have of English-language manga. The bottom shelf is two books deep. I don’t keep much of the English stuff I read, because I prefer to read in Japanese. Not because I’m a purist (although I am) or elitist (guilty as charged) but because it takes me way longer to read it in Japanese and so I feel like I get my money’s worth. :-)

Click on the pictures to see a bigger version, but don’t come whining to me when it’s just a bigger version of my crap piled on a shelf. lol

This is a picture of my old shelves. These came built-in to the room and every shelf except the bottom one is two-deep. The top shelves are mostly my wife’s stuff, with some of mine mixed in.

The middle two shelves have a lot of Yuri, a lot of other and a lot of really other. And some of my slightly less beloved anime.

The bottom shelves are my art books, and random items that had no home that fit there back in the day when there was room on that shelf.

There’s no rhyme or reason here. Just a lot of books. I can *usually* find everything I’m looking for. Except when I can’t.

 This is my beloved new set of shelves, built for me by my father-not-in-law and covered with all the things I love so much I want them practically within arm’s reach of my sofa.

As you can see, I’m way out of space, but I don’t want to go two deep yet. I’m just not ready to go there.

Also featured on these shelves is my filthy little habit of collecting 4-inch plastic dolls and other random goods.

What you can’t see at all in this picture is that the bottom row on these shelves has all the Yuri Shimai/Hime/HimeS and Monogatari volumes. Tsubomi sits awkwardly above them, because it doesn’t really play well with the others.

This isn’t the greatest picture, but you can just about make out all the Yuri anthology mags, and the talking Kero-chan my wife bought me years ago for my birthday and the Asamiya Saki figurine she got me for another birthday (standing in front of my original run of Sukeban Deka, of course.) I even unboxed the Sachiko and Yumi mug Bruce broughtback from the Maria-sama ga Miteru event last year in Japan, just to  incite jealousy share.


These innocuous looking piles are my Mist and Morning 2 collection. I just don’t have anywhere else to put them. :-(

These next two pictures are the pride and joy of my collection. These are my doujinshi bins. They are labeled because we brought them all to the Yuricon 2007 Yurisai event. I love my doujinshi. Thanks to contributions from Hagiwara Mami-san, James Welker and Rica Takashima, my historical collection is probably pretty priceless. (Because who else would *want* them? lol)

That’s it for my collection. My wife has her own shelfporn, but I’m not sharing her dirty secrets with you. This is the bulk of my collection, although you really never see the stuff in the back of the two-deep shelves. You’ll just have to imagine. :-)

I hope you enjoyed this tour of my collection. The gift shop is just around the corner. Please come back soon!

10/8: Whoo-hoo! Jason T. responded with a fabulous bit of double entendre’: “Thank you for sharing! It’s even bigger and more impressive than I imagined! :)”

Posted in Now This Is Only My Opinion | 10 Comments »


Fantitlement, A True Story of Manga Fandom

October 7th, 2009

With sincere apologies to everyone that really does support the manga industry, I offer for your entertainment and amusement, Fantitlement, Volume 1, a story of Fan Delusion.

Posted in Now This Is Only My Opinion | 10 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Sasamekikoto, Volume 5 (ささめきこと)

October 6th, 2009

In Volume 4, we left Ushio and Sumika not actually saying anything important to one another. Now, in Volume 5 of Sasamekikoto (ささめきこと), the walls between them are not getting any easier to get past.

In fact, it’s safe to say that this entire volume follows two young women who have something *incredibly* important to say to one another, who both find a myriad of ways to not say anything at all.

They smile at one another, and pretend that there’s nothing wrong, but they both hate it. They hate what it’s doing to them. Even more – they hate what it is doing to the other. They can *see* that the other one is suffering, but they are completely paralyzed and unable to say anything that needs to be said. They each hate the fake smiles and brave face the other wears. Most importantly, they each blame themselves for the other’s unhappiness.

Most fans will find this volume frustrating, but it serves two distinct purposes. The first, and most reality-based, is that it indicates that the series is in for a longer haul. No longer is this the goofy love-comedy of two girls in love but who can’t figure it out. Now it is a longer series, full of do-ra-ma, about two girls who are in love but can’t figure it out. Since we’ve made it to 5 volumes, I’d expect at least a few more tear-soaked volumes before it all gets settled.

The second purpose is that the story has, in effect, to be rewritten. The first three volumes were silly. They set up a bunch of untenable Yuri tropes that, one at a time, have been set aside for the more realistic, more dramatic “real” story line. In this volume “Akemi”s modeling career comes to an end, and all the characters but a few – including the actual lesbian couple, who can see the problem easily enough – seem to shift back slightly to allow room for the full-on misery of Ushio and Sumi simply not talking about what’s on their mind.

In the middle of throngs of people, even standing right next to one another, Ushio and Sumi are lonely. Right now they are struggling to find who they themselves are and if they can do that, then they might be able to find one another. Or, well, that’s what I’d do if I were writing this manga.

This series is becoming better on the one side, because it’s dealing with the real gap between knowing what you want and being able to accept that that is what you want, in a world that does not approve of such things. On the other, it’s really annoying because I hate mopey characters. ^_^;

However, I’m more than willing to give Ushio and Sumi some time to get over themselves. I eagerly look forward to the next volume in which I think a *terrible crisis* will rear it’s ugly head. ^_^

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

More volumes means more teenaged moping.

Posted in Ikeda Takashi, Sasamekikoto, Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »