Yuri News this Week – May 2, 2009

May 2nd, 2009

Time to hit the boards in search of Yuri!

Yuri Drama CD

I was taken to task for not pointing this out eralier, but I haven’t been taking my omniscience pills so, belatedly, here is news of the Rakka Ryuusui Drama CD.

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Yuri Manga

Gokujou Drops, Volume 2 is out from Ichijinsha on May 18. The next volume of Hanjuku Joshi is planned for an August release.

Erin S. wants to assure you that you orders have not been “canceled” (which is what the helpful folks at Amazon JP tell you, when they mean “delayed”) and the Ame-iro Kouchakan Kandan manga (with or without Drama CD) will also be out on May 18.

She’s also glad to be able to say Zaou Taishi and Eiki Eiki will have a new series in Yuri Hime magazine starting next issue (issue 17, due out July 18).

And she continues with more on the Yuri Himefront – another cell phone manga (set in the Heian period; could be interesting),Aishiwo tome: kimi ga kokoro ha by Takahashi Itsumi, are both due out that day, too. Several YH books are due out on June 18: Creo the Crimson Crises/ Volume 2 (which will also have a special extra in the next issue of Yuri Hime S, a Kurata Uso collection (yay! says Erica,) a Natsuneko collection (double yay!, says Erica), and a Yoshitomi Akihito collection.

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Yuri Events

Saturday, July 11 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm Friend of Yuri Katherine will be be hosting a “Yuri 101” panel at the Yasumicon anime convention being hosted by Florida International University in Miami.

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Yuri Anime

Anime Network (the TV cable network, not a typo of ANN) was thrilled to announce that both Maria-sama ga Miteru and Aria will be added to their schedule. I have no idea at all if this is the dawn of a subbed-anime cable station, but I have to admit, *I’m* far more likely to subscribe if they offer more subbed anime.

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We’ll call it quits here, but be sure to drop back in next week for even more Yuri News!

Posted in Yuri Network News | 3 Comments »


Maria-sama ga Miteru Special CD, Volume 1

May 1st, 2009

Such voyeuristic joy, such pure pleasure, such girly, giggly, sweets and flower-filled minutes pass as we once again enter the second-floor meeting room of the Bara no Yakata and spend time with the women who bring the Rosa Chinensis family to life as they discuss important things like who gets the chocolate, the strawberry or the pumpkin flavored sweet.

No seriously, that’s the kind of thing we listen to when Itou Miki (Sachiko,) Kugamiya Rie (Touko) and Ueda Kana (Yumi) get together to chat about everything an nothing for the Maria-sama ga Miteru Special CD, Volume 1.

They discuss the 4th season, and Touko’s character development. They discuss the novels (Kana is clearly the group authority on this, having clearly read them all) and about the New Year’s Eve event.

The drama portion of the CD is “Chocolate Portrait,” the story of how Shouko and Tsutako met. The entire story was dramatized – if anything was cut, I was completely unaware of it, it was so small and inconsequential. To say that this story is wonderful is really an understatement. IF there was any couple in the whole of Lillian that I could ever call a “couple” in the romantic sense, it would have to be Tsutako and Shouko. They fit together beautifully. Shouko is sweet, polite and a little bent, while Tsutako is just about the most social, functional and fun sociopath I’ve ever read. ^_^ Together they make a pair so awesome that they can’t be beat.

The last track on the CD is “Oshiete, Oneesama,” in which the same series of questions are asked of each guest – which character would you want for a sister, a daughter, a friend, (if you were male, of course) a bride, a soeur. Everyone wants Yumi for a friend, and Shimako for a daughter. ^_^ And mostly, although not all the time, whichever guest it is wants their character’s soeur for a soeur. Kugamiya Rie did not deviate too much from the norm.

Up until this CD, the DJCDs have been anywhere from 25-35 minutes. This “Special” CD is about an hour long – the “Chocolate Portrait” drama is a good 30 minutes plus, so it’s good entertainment value for your money.

Ratings:

Overall – 9

When I listened to the Winter Special DJCD, I said it was the best I’d listened to so far, Well, this one was better. ^_^

Posted in Drama CD, Drama CDs & Audiobooks, Maria-sama ga Miteru | 3 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Zombie-Loan, Volume 2 (English)

April 30th, 2009

As the curtain rises on Zombie Loan, Volume 2, Michiru has had to face the worst crisis of her life – a life already filled with far too many crises. Left alone by the death of her parents, she is being raised by her Aunt and Uncle who, she is sure, love her more for her enormous inheritance than herself. At school she is a doormat and is walked over by even those she considers friends. Life is bleak enough that she considers dying….until she actually does.

Michiru encounters two strange, unpleasant, but somehow admirable young men and slowly, she is introduced to a world in which zombies walk. Unfortunately, it is our world. Her ability to see the markings that indicate that a person is a zombie makes her – for the first time in her life – an important person. And in that small thing, she finds meaning. When she is killed, Michiru signs a “zombie loan” contract and is ressurected, to work off her debt by identifying zombies.

On the good side, Michiru gains some strength and purpose to a previously mopey life. On the bad side, chapter after chapter is filled with OMG, WACKY, CRAZY THINGS AND VIOLENCE! to the point where I was like, enough already.

Case in point. In the last chapter, Michiru and Koyomi are sent to go buy furniture. First, Koyomi spends the money on clothes for them, then OMG, WACKY, CRAZY THINGS AND VIOLENCE breaks out and in the end, the furniture is not bought.

This kind of thing is basically every chapter. Eat lunch? No, because OMG, WACKY, CRAZY THINGS AND VIOLENCE will make sure that Michiru does not get to eat lunch. Or clean her room, or…anything. Nothing normal will ever happen because of the wall of crazy-wacky-violent that springs up like an invisible fence everytime Michiru turns around.

There is Yuri. As in the anime, Michiru’s dormmate Koyomi has within her another personality, Yomi. Yomi’s ability to call forth the sounds of supernatural beings is also unique and valuable, so despite the disinterest in Koyomi, she’s kept around as a container. Yomi is also sexually attracted to Michiru – or so she says as an excuse for some light sexual harrassment. But, you know, by the end of the volume I kinda think she actually does like Michiru.

Nothing will come of it, of course. It’s service and no more. But with OMG, WACKY, CRAZY THINGS AND VIOLENCE happening every 30 seconds the occasional warm embrace isn’t a bad thing for Michiru or for us.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7 (I’m hoping this goes up as an actual story develops)
Characters – 7 (which is up one from the first volume)
Yuri – 6
Service – 4

Overall – 7, with potential.

I didn’t hate Zombie Loan by any stretch but if you, like me, need a respite and a balm at the end of this volume, let me recommend Walking Man by Taniguchi Jiro. An adult manga for adults, about a man who takes walks. That’s it. Nothing else. It was wonderful. My deepest appreciation and thanks to Deb Aoki who sent me a copy so that I could also become a convert and proselytize this book.

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | 3 Comments »


Out of Office

April 28th, 2009

I’m out of town for a few days on some family business. No updates ’til I get back. Enjoy re-reading a few of the past updates while I’m gone!

Ta~

Posted in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »


Tetragrammaton Laybrinth Manga, Volume 4 (English)

April 27th, 2009

When it comes to Tetragrammaton Labyrinth, Volume 4, you may find the air redolent with the smell of lilies. But when you investgate further , this series remains mostly nioi-kei. Which is not to say that it’s not fun and games in this intensely violent and blood-spattered volume.

Angela and Meg are bound by a deep, irreversible magical and emotional bond. As long as Meg needs Angela to exist, she will. It is this and this alone that keeps Angela alive when she finally confronts the beast who robbed her of her humanity. And it is this that most readers will assign the value of “Yuri.”

The cute little girl torture continues and the the source for so much of it is revealed to be the much maligned Gilles de Rais, either a child torturer and rapist or a scapegoat for the politically motivated destruction of the Templars, depending on which side you are on. This de Rais is a child rapist and torturer sating some demonic need in the readers who like to read about stuff like that, then project their self-loathing onto the bad guy. (Just a guess, but…)

The torture continues with the story of Trude and her pathetic, half-demon, guro-fodder sister and their tragic and unfulfilling story in the middle of which is a scene that undoubtedly Angela x Meg ‘shippers point to as a “see?” moment. ^_^

The end of the volume brings no resolution, of course, but Team Us is finally together, with mostly all our body parts and we’ve got the Big Ass Powerful Weapon (TM) with which we will “uncover the secrets of this place!” I look forward to the “secrets” since this series has freely borrowed from any number of semi-legendary/semi-historical things and I’m simply aching to know what gets plundered next. ^_^

And to see more demonic blood shed, of course. That goes without saying.

…and to smell more of the scent of lilies in the middle of all that blood.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 8

Overall – 7

Today’s review was brought to you by Okazu Superhero Bruce McF. Thanks very much sir, for allowing us to wallow knee-deep in gore, pathos and Yuri.

Posted in English Manga | 6 Comments »