My-Hime Manga, Volume 2 (English)

February 11th, 2009

The cast of characters grows, the battle rages and, unexpectedly, there’s at least one something that we can twist into a Yuri-ish thing in Volume 2 of My HiME.

In Volume 1, as you may remember Tate, the least interesting character since Tenchi learned that a peaceful life will never be his, with his magical ability to call disaster and calamity from the heavens down upon himself and everyone around him. By which I mean he’s the most important person in the story.

After formally introducing Nao, Mikoto and Akane, an inexplicable duel pops up between Natsuki and Haruka in which they are each meant to represent their own team of HiMEs but is, in some more nefarious way, the by-product of Chairwoman Mashiro’s meddling. Nagi appears, has his name spelled two different ways, is waved over everyone’s head as a threat, then disappears. And finally, with a lot of sound and fury, Midori arrives.

(Thanks god for Akane, who remains the closest to a normal human. It’s good to know that at least one HiME isn’t completely broken.)

Shizuru’s affection for Natsuki is set on the back burner of the story, taken out only to provide a light Yuri coating to the two panels they spend in each other’s company.

But the big fight between Haruka and Natsuki offers a pleasant dollop of implied Yuri, when it quickly becomes a battle between Natsuki and Mai, who can’t play nice and share Tate, and Haruka and her own beloved key and another HiME in her own right, Yukino. Since we’ve already seen some less-than-subtle sexual implication about HiMEs and keys, we can draw our own conclusion about Haruka and Yukino. I’m sure you all know what my conclusion is. ^_^

In a few places in this volume, I found myself completely befuddled by either the story or the translation of the story but, after a moment, when I realized that I really honestly don’t care at *all* what the story itself is, it was a fine volume. Good luck if you do actually care what’s going on. My takeaway was that the writer didn’t really know what was going on, either and was making it up as he went along. ^_^ (My wife says, “Good for him for filling a book with derivative fluff!”)

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 6
Yuri – 3
Service – 5

Overall – 6

Many thanks to today’s sponsor and brand new Okazu Hero, Katherine H.! Your heroic efforts will be eternally memorialized on the Okazu Hero Roll – and email me for your very own Okazu Hero Badge!

Posted in English Manga, Mai Hime | 2 Comments »


Yuri Drama CD: Blue Drop, Lovers Side

February 9th, 2009

Blue Drop: Lovers Side Drama CD is a voice renactment of two of the chapters from the first volume of the Blue Drop manga, with an extra story for good luck.

For newcomers to the story, our world has been invaded and subjugated by an alien race of females who are, since there are only females, lesbian. The aliens uses children as test subjects for reasons that are entirely obscure and probably pretty annoying if we knew what they were. And the resistance is constantly after these kids, usually to eliminated them.

The first story “Kami no ko” is also the first chapter of the manga, in which we follow the short, poignant and ultimately, tragic relationship between Mami and the boy she’s always loved, Ryouhei. Unfortunately for her, Ryouhei is an alien and is about to leave, probably to die. Mami and Ryouhei sleep together before they say goodbye, the result of which is a child. All of this is the same as in the manga, with the addition of a female classmate of Mami’s confessing her feelings for Mami to her, then asking her out. Mami is forced to say no because of her feelings for Ryouhei.

The second track, “Kaijin” again, is almost exactly the way it appears in the manga. Kyomi befriends, then resents Rumi, and belatedly learns that Rumi is a weapon against the Kaijin. She is able to save Rumi once, but ultimately loses her before she can express her feelings. The drama CD once again adds a little extra to the story; this time, continuing the conversation when Rumi reappears several years later. “Rumi” is now a construct created by the combination of weapon and the Kaijin that she was sent to neutralize. She finds Kyomi sitting at the waterside, and explains that she is not exactly the Rumi Kyomi remembers, but she knows everything Rumi knew – and she knows how she felt about Kyomi…. The story trails off there, with a distinct feeling of possibility.

The final track is an original story that did not appear in the first volume of the manga, but Bob assures me that it was an extra in the Tenshi no Bokura series. “Tenshi no Itazura,” tells the story of Hana. The track begins (again) with a classmate, Tomo, confessing her feelings to Hana, but Hana is conflicted because she has a crush on Saki-sempai. Even though Saki-sempai is currently an alien, she’s still cool, and her blue eyes are so beautiful. Hana apologizes to Tomo, and pursues Saki-sempai. Saki, an alien, is “afflicted” with alien desires and is more than glad to have Hana. She visits Hana at her home and kisses her. Hana realizes, too late, that she really doesn’t feel “that way” about Saki-sempai. Saki-sempai backs off and tells Hana to follow her true heart’s desire. The next day, Hana finds Tomo and tells her that she likes her, too.

The extra in the CD insert is a short manga of the scene between Hana and Saki drawn by Yoshitomi Akihito – completist fans (I mean you, BobBQ) will want to own it. ^_^

While the Drama CD definitely injects extra Yuri into an already Yuri-riffic series, it doesn’t add much to the story – and before you ask, no Yui.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 5 I pretty much find almost all Yoshitomi’s manga characters to be entirely cookie-cutter.
Yuri – 6
Service – 4

Overall – 6

It was pretty challenging trying to decipher the quasi-military/scientific terms and I pretty much failed completely to do so. ^_^

This DCD was slightly better Yuri-wise than the manga, but overall, less satisfying than the manga and nowhere as fun as the anime. Nonetheless perfectly pleasant for an hour’s worth of entertainment. ^_^

And thanks to the obsessive fans who helped me fix the errors in this review!

Posted in Drama CDs & Audiobooks | 10 Comments »


New York Comic Con 2009 Report

February 8th, 2009

I had a hilariously funny dream last night. (Actually, I had two, but one wasn’t relevant at all to this blog.) I was at a con, doing a “panel” – by which I mean I was being grilled over hot coals by fans who wanted external validation and entertainment. Typical Yuri panel. Time was up and I had another panel to do, so I told everyone to come with me and we’d keep going. Everyone did. So, the room is *packed* when I come in and step on the stage. I say, “Whatever you think this panel is, it isn’t going to be that.” And people start looking like they want to leave. Some people are egding towards the door. Finally I say, “Anyone who wants to leave, go ahead and leave, it’s okay” and like 90% of the audience start to leave. At which point, someone hits the music, and a solemn march, something like Pomp and Circusmtance kicks in and, while I laugh hysterically from the stage, those people file out.

So, NYCC.

You may have heard that Saturday sold out. There was a short period of time where the halls were really full and it seemed it, but other than the places where people stopped traffic to take pictures (please, American cons, can we PLEASE have staging areas for this and not allow people to block traffic?) and people just stopping in clumps and talking, it wasn’t too bad. Having survived Comiket, this was a piece of cake. :-)

As usual I went to no panels, Industry or other. A zillion anime/manga journalists (see below for likely suspects) will report on those, and I always find them boring as hell.

I love the Exhibitor’s Hall, because it reminds me that not only aren’t American Comics dead, but also Indie comics are more alive than ever – and there’s still an awful lot of people selling vintage American comics. Although few are selling Golden Age these days. Mostly Silver Age and the years I collected which are now called Bronze Age and Copper, which I think is stretching the metaphor and starting to seem a bit ridiculous. Personally, I vote for the Metal Men schema: Gold, Silver, Iron, Tin, Lead. :-) Also, collectors are even more constipated now – they don’t just bag and board a comic, they have them authenticated and sealed permanently in plastic. Uh, guys – the joy of a comic is in the *reading* of it….

For myself, I switched my role there three times during the day. I entered the con as a Publisher. My first pass through the Exhibitor’s Hall was as a Publisher, stopping and speaking to several other of the manga publishers there. Not all of them were there and not all of them were relevant to what I needed to do, but it was a nice way to “graze” my way through the EH. I spent some time speaking with with Stephen Robson, the publisher of Fanfare/Ponent Mon, who you might know as the publisher of the translated edition Kiriko Nananan’s Blue. For my Spanish-speaking readers – there is a Spanish-language version of this, as well. They are not a “manga” publisher so much as a publisher of sequential art, and the quality of their books is unlike anything else being published right now. There’s good, there’s really good – then there’s Fanfare.

There were a number of mainstream book publishers present as well, not just Hatchette/Yen and Del Rey, but also Tor/Seven Seas, Penguin/Scholastic and about a dozen others biggish and smallish. Most had at least *something* comic-y, but a few really didn’t, but were pushing speculative fiction of all kinds. (I only heard Twilight mentioned twice during the day, so I lose on that to the other journalists who were counting. ^_^)

After completing my spin through the EH as a publisher, I changed caps completely and joined the guys at Media Blasters. I switched on vendor mode and started to sell like a maniac. No particular reason why, I just thought it would be fun to sell their porn. :-) “So, what are you into, MILF, bondage, demons?”

Obviously I also sold their Yuri and Yaoi – and was totally in Fury mode for the kid who told me Kannazuki no Miko is a beautiful romance. And for the guy who kept asking about the Yuri in series where the Yuri is in only your head. It’s okay to make it up – really, but it’s actually NOT THERE. When he asked me about the Yuri in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (we were at the Yen booth) I think the flames shot out of my head visibly. Back at MB, I had a great time selling the Yaoi. “What’s good?” they’d ask. “No clue! This one has a pretty cover.” I’d reply cheerfully. Everyone seemed happy with what they got in the end.

Two of the folks who had attended my Ghost in the Shell lecture at the Brooklyn Museum recognized me and stopped by and we chatted for a while, which was really lovely. And talented Yuri Monogatari artist Jess B dropped in, as well.

After putting in a stint with the good folks of MB, I switched official hats for the last time, and joined a bunch of the Anime/Manga bloggers and journalists. Mangablog‘s Brigid Alverson, Mangacast‘s Ed Chavez, Animealmanac‘s Scott VonSchilling, Anime Vice’s‘s Gia Manry, manga.about.com‘s Deb Aoki, Kethylia’s Livejournal Casey Brienza and many other great folks. You *should* be reading these folks if you care about anime and manga. It was a perfect cap to the day and leads to another great story…

While I was selling at the MB table, I just happened to be standing in front of the Bible Black series. Everyone likes Bible Black, so it was selling pretty well. This man comes up and says that because he’s Japanese, he has a question. He wants to know the issues and complexities of translating something like that. I tell him that, of course, translations will differ with translators and editors, how much time there is, etc. I also mention that there is difference in Japanese and American bedtalk, so usually American translations go with sense over meaning for that kind of thing. Sound effects don’t map directly, either for manga. Then I smiled and said, “But you know, when it’s demon rape, does it *really* matter what they are saying?” He laughed and bought the DVD.

Okay, so later, I’m talking to the A/M bloggers and tell them this story, Brigid Alverson shoots back, “Do they use honorifics? You have to call him ‘Tako-san’ the first time he rapes you – you can’t just be familiar, you haven’t been properly introduced!” Which absolutely slayed me.

Most importantly – thanks to Mari and Stacy for their delightful company for dinner.

The 2010 NYCC will be in October, so there’s a 19 month delay until the next one. A lot of things are going to change between now and then. It will be so very, very interesting to see who is still standing when the smoke clears!

Posted in Events | 7 Comments »


Yuri News This Week – February 7, 2009

February 7th, 2009

Another quiet week in the news, and I’m at NYCC today, so I’m keeping this short.

Yuri Manga

Erin wants you to be ready for the spring releases of Yuri Hime comics collections. April 18th will see the release of Fujieda Miyabi’s Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan (Chatting At The Amber Teahouse) which will also be available in a special edition with Drama CD. Sweet Peach! will make its debut and there are second volumes of both Hanjuku Joshi and Gokujou Drops in your future, as well.

As you know, I can’t stop talking about Gunjou. This time I told the folks at Afterellen.com. The response was a staggering silence. Post a comment and push the thread back up into the sight of people who need to know!

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Yuri Anime

Johann is excited that Animax-Asia reruns Maria-sama ga Miteru this Sunday. Back to back episodes, 11pm (GMT+8).

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Other News

GLAAD has announced finalists for their annual Media Awards, which includes a “Best Graphic Novel” category – apparently this year you needed to be working for DC or Marvel to nominated. Tell them about Yuri.

Speaking of nomination, nominees for best lesbian blog of the year, the Lezzie award, is open to the public. Naturally, I hope you’ll nominate Okazu along with your other favorite lesbian blogs. :-)

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I want to take a moment to thank all my new Okazu Heros and Superheros – your generosity is simply staggering. It’s going to take me ages to get through all this, so if I don’t review your sponsored item right away, it’s not because it didn’t arrive! It’s just that I only have so much time in the day. :-)

I’ll report back Sunday on NYCC (no Twitter from my phone, no lol) – see you then!

Posted in Fujieda Miyabi, Yuri Network News | 1 Comment »


Yuri Manga: Maka-Maka, Volume 2 (English)

February 6th, 2009

makamaka2In Volume 2 of Maka-Maka, Jun and Nene continue on their happy adventure together having intimate contact in public places, and becoming closer on emotional level.

Nene and Jun are happiest together, although they both have boyfriends. These, we are told repeatedly, suck as lovers. (We can probably take for granted that they suck as human beings, as well.) But that’s okay, because they have each other. And in between getting fondled at a restaurant or in a clothes store changing room, Nene is letting Jun touch even more intimate parts of her emotional life. Jun, very much the tachi of this couple acts, from time to time like she takes Nene for granted, but she also opens up to the other woman in a way she would probably never do with a boyfriend.

We learn about their respective childhoods, their first time with a man, their hopes and dreams, their fears and weaknesses.

But mostly, we watch them have sex. ^_^

Depending on your particular set of turn-ons, very hot sex.

As with the first volume, the reproduction is top notch. Color covers, protective obis that hide secret covers on both sides (hint: in the shower, they’re nekkid) double-sided insert poster and excellent reproduction of the internal color pages – all reproduced beautifully – with metallic inks on the cover even. The translation is smooth, makes perfect sense and gives each character a voice of her own. Phew.

Interestingly, Maka-Maka was listed on the manga.about.com poll for best josei series. I spoke to Deb about it because it is not really josei at all. It was drawn by a man, for a men’s magazine as an adult comic for men. You know – the whole lesbian sex/male gaze thing. But let’s face it, the distinctions of genre that are absolutely rigid in Japan (god help you as an adult male buying a magazine for young women, or vice versa) fail completely when manga reaches the market here. At least half the people who bought this book were women, likely more than half. It’s being sold as a “Yuri” manga here, not an “adult manga for men,” which makes me think that if the western manga market survives this economy, I *strongly* recommend rethinking the whole shoujo/shounen/josei/seinen genre scheme completely. I think western publishers should focus on subject genre (scifi/fantasy/mecha/guns/romance/sex) and age appropriateness, which is bollocks but necessary here. In any case, I agree with Deb – list it on the josei list because here in the west, at least, it’s a manga as much for woman as it for men.

The end of this volume is particularly Yuri-fan friendly, as Nene and Jun make a very public statement about Sex. Life. And Communication.

I can’t tell you why exactly, but for whatever reason I like the English adaptation better than the original. Frank, you did a fabulous job. If there were an adult manga award, I’d give it to Media Blasters for Maka-Maka. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Characters – 9
Story – 9
Yuri – 9
Service – 9

Overall – 9

When I read this volume originally, I remember being turned off by the excess of bodily fluids, but reading it this time, it didn’t strike me that way at all. No idea why.

And let me once again thank Media Blasters for the first copy of this book off the printer. It doesn’t mean I’ll give you a better review, but you do get a bigger smile of thanks!

Posted in English Manga, Maka-Maka | 14 Comments »