Yuri Manga: Girl x Girl x Boy Otome no Inori

September 22nd, 2008

All too often, stories with love triangles are unsatisfying.

It’s natural for us to pick the pair we want to succeed and find any other form of resolution irritating. We often wish no one settled with anyone, rather than the “wrong” couple work out.

Girl x Girl x Boy is the story of a love triangle with a satisfactory ending.

Fuuka is in love with her best friend and classmate Riri, who protected her, when they were younger, from the bullying of the boys at school.

One of those boys, Itta, was the one of the worst bullies – Fuuka can still remember how cruel he was to her. So she is not pleased at all to have Itta transfer into her high school, be seated next to her – and worst of all, confess that he likes her!

Fuuka’s having a hard enough time with that, but when Riri admits that she likes Itta, it’s just intolerable.

The story follows the three of them as they try to maintain balance between their mutually exclusive likes and dislikes. As a result of that balance, they pull together as friends, but the specter of sexual attraction doesn’t ever truly go away. It comes to a head in an abortive attempt at a threesome in a hotel…something that splits them up as friends, and destroys the possibility of them becoming lovers in any combination.

Itta breaks the impasse by reminding the girls how much fun they had as a trio of friends. He asks Fuuka and Riri to recapture that feeling between them, because he’s transferring to another school. His announcement forces Riri to deal with her fears about Fuuka’s and her feelings, ultimately bringing the two girls together. When Itta returns, he admits defeat in love, but insists on reestablishing his place in the triangle. The end of the book sees the three of them as friends, but Riri and Fuuka as a couple.

There were some decent things about this book. Fuuka’s feelings for Riri start out as an extension of her gratefulness for the other girl’s protection. I was concerned that this was too fragile a feeling and it would be destroyed by Riri’s waffling, but ultimately, Fuuka’s feelings grow into a more mature love.

For her part, Riri is the one torn by her feelings of love for another girl. Reticence takes a hold of her as she watches a show on gay people who have had to give up all hope of family life in order to be with their lovers. She’s just not willing to do that. And so, she chooses Itta as a way to avoid dealing with it.

Itta starts off as a total jerk – not taking no for an answer, being obnoxiously persistent, the usual. But ultimately, he ends up being the most honest of the three. His feelings for Fuuka aren’t complicated by concerns about society’s approval, but he does fight a cool sempai off – going so far as to scold the sempai for almost outing Riri and Fuuka.

I can’t say I really *liked* this book. It wasn’t bad in every way – in fact, it wasn’t bad in any way. The art was okay, the story was okay, the relationship ended in the way Yuri fans might hope, but nothing really stood out, either. It was a pretty predictable tale from start to finish.

When I think about Girl x Girl x Boy I feel like I didn’t like it. But when I take a second to really consider it, there wasn’t anything objectionable. So, I guess it’s more that it had no oomph, and that all the tropes have been covered by stories I liked better.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 7
Service – 2

Overall – 7

As a fairly realistic expression of the feelings of two babydykes, it was totally satisfactory. As entertainment…it was totally bland.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 7 Comments »


Yuri News This Week – September 20, 2008

September 20th, 2008

A happy birthday to two of the most important men in my life, Ed. Ed and Dad. You all owe my father, btw. It’s from him that I get many of the interests that make me the reviewer that I am. He fostered my love of comics, action flicks, sports and soft-core crap. lol Thanks Dad, and happy birthday!

Yuri Anime

By now many of you will have heard the big news…The 4th anime season of Maria-sama ga Miteru has been announced. Last Monday was the Autumn Lillian Festival where it was announced that the new season will begin in *January*. I have already been asked if I’m anticipating it – of course the answer is yes, but probably not as much as the rest of you. I now have to contend with the issue I feared all along – I’ve read the novels. I know what’s going to happen and have my own ideas about things. But, provided we get Shouko, and you get to see some of Touko’s true self, I’ll be happy.

Fans of Lucky Star will be want to view the online streamed “promotional video” (in the real world we call that a “commercial”) for the upcoming OVA. This OVA is rumored to be Konata x Kagami friendly – I note that the promotional art accompanying the above article has whichever one of them it is holding leeks, a popular Japanese Yuri meme. Before you write and express that you were right and I was wrong, let me remind you that I have never watched the series and have no opinion about it whatsoever. I do not see an overt K x K pairing in the OVA as validation of your interests, but as a catering to it in order to separate you from your money. Just wanted to be clear on that. Should it be true that they are paired in the OVA, my opinion will be that I am pleased that the collective whim of fandom has once again triumphed to put another Yuri couple on the map. :-)

***

Yuri Events

Next Saturday, September 27, I will be at *two* events. In the early afternoon, I will be attending the Morris County Author’s Day at the Morris County Library, one of the best county libraries evar. I invite you all to come, get your books signed by the authors, ask us for advice, get advice which will not be of help to you, and check out the really excellent graphic novels section in the library (which is rather heavy in Yuri, due to yours truly. Whenever I review an English-language manga that I do not need to keep by my side, I donate it to the library. Everything but the crap. I encourage you to do the same. Libraries need and want your help.)

Immediately after the library event, I will wing my way over to Manhattan and the New York Anime Festival. I and Sean Gaffney will be running the Yuri Panel at 8PM on Saturday. It says in the program book that it is an 18+ event, but that is wrong. I’ve asked for and gotten permission to make it more open. The bottom line is, I don’t want to talk about sex – and especially not with you people. Anime and manga, yes, absolutely. We’ll talk about that till we’re hoarse. :-) Sex? No.

Also Maiden’s Garden, the Yuri doujinshi event, is coming up in Kyoto. As always, you can find all the latest Yuri Events on…the Yuri Events page on Yuricon!

***

Yuri Manga

Friend of Yuri Eric P wrote in to let us know that he’s seen a preview of Hayate x Blade in his newest issue of Anime Insider magazine. He says it looks pretty funny. It is funny – and I can promise you that the second volume is even funnier. ^_^ (Off-topic, Eric also wrote an Evangelion review that has recently been posted on Anime News Network, so congrats, Eric!)

Yuri Hime S is once again out, this time accompanied by two collections, Hanjuku Onna by Akiko Morishima, and Gokujou Drops, by Mitsukuni Hachime. (Late breaking news. Erin tells us that these collections have been delayed and are now slated for *next month*. Thanks for the heads up!)

***
Snatches of Yuri

Ririi no Kago (Basket of Lily,) looks to be a collection of stories about Girls’ Love. It is not a “lesbian” collection, a reviewer tells us, but it’s a good collection. This is a book, not a manga, fyi.

And one more book for the pile of novels that I will never get to, Yoshiya Nobuko’s Kuro Shoubi (thanks for the correction, Komatsu-san,) (Black Rose) tells the story of a young woman who goes to teach at an all-girl’s school and a student who falls in love with her. For what it’s worth, I am once again tackling Yaneura no Nishoujo, but Akiko is such a mopey girl. In the last scene she actually sat there for like 20 pages whining to herself. Ugh.

Hakamada Mera’s manga series Akatsuki-iro Senpuku Majyo (The Hidden Witch of the Dawn, I guess I’d translated it as) is much like the more well-known Last Uniform series, only this series takes place at a school of magic. Stories of friendship, love and Yuri, so pretty much the same old-same old in a different series.

***

That’s it for this week. More already on the horizon, so come back next week for more Yuri News!

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Hayate x Blade, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Yuri Network News | 7 Comments »


Yuri Anime: Simoun, Volume 5 (English)

September 19th, 2008

Sometimes, the worst part of a choice is the time before the decision is made. The doubts, the waffling, the feeling of “what if?”

In Simoun Volume 5, all the choices are made, the cards are dealt and the fate of not only the Sibylla of Chor Tempest, but all the people whose lives touched theirs, is decided.

I don’t think I breathed once while watching this volume.

There are many people who did not enjoy Simoun. It was non-linear. There were giant holes in the construct of the world in which the Sibylla lived (although if you like your worlds tidy, I can’t *imagine* that there’s too much anime that suits you. Maddening inconsistency is about the only constant.) We never really learn the answers to a lot of our questions.

Honestly, I can’t imagine caring a damn about any of that. This series has beautiful art (with the exception of Nevril’s sex-doll mouth,) amazing characters, fantastic music, a terrific plot. And…above all…it made me realize exactly what I think makes a good story.

To me, a *good* story travels a considerable distance in character development from the moment we meet the character to the moment we last see him or her. If the characters grow, change, respond to circumstances and learn from their experiences and choices – that is a good story. If the character starts the story and ends it roughly the same, I might enjoy it, but I won’t consider it *good.*

So, Strawberry Panic (anime), for instance, isn’t *good* by my standard; Nagisa and Shizuma do change a little bit from the beginning of the series to the end, but not a lot. Neviril and Aeru travel astronomical units by comparison. They pretty much reverse roles completely from the beginning of the anime to the end.

Yun, who comes to Chor Tempest seeking absolution for not dying with her previous Chor finds her absolution in saving one woman. And the rest of the Sibylla face what they thought they wanted, and found out what was really important to them after all.

If Simoun was too hard to follow or just annoying to you, I won’t try and convince you to watch it. But there is *no* doubt in my mind, that this will be the best Yuri Anime once again this year for me. (With at least two Yuri couples and as many as four if you have no pride. ^_^)

The Director comments were particularly interesting this time. The director says that, at the beginning of the volume, when Aeru confronts Neviril about her feelings, he (the director) had ceased to think of them as two girls. Also the Animation Director commented that she felt that Yun was in love with Onashia, which I completely agree with. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 2

Overall – 9

Technical – 9

Couldn’t ask for better.

Posted in English Anime, Simoun, Yuri Anime | 12 Comments »


Battle Club Manga, Volume 6 (English)

September 18th, 2008

While Battle Club is in no way a “Yuri” manga, Volume 6, the last of the translated volumes, has a pretty big chunk of Yuri.

Ostensibly, the story is still about Tamako’s quest to gain strength and skill through wrestling, but since the book starts with their teacher Tondemon disappearing, we pretty much abandon that quest to wallow in cosplay, lesbianism, tragic tales of the past, trap-infested obstacle courses into mansions of the rich, ghosts and other completely real things.

For those of you who read Battle Club for the plot, you’ll be pleased to note that for all that these stories are pretty much unrelated to the wrestling club, in their own way they have *more* plot than the entire story up to this point.

The rest of you, which is to say, all of you, will be pleased to learn that there’s plenty of service in both quantity and variety. For the purposes of this blog post we’ll stick to the Yuri.

After Mukoda is defeated by Tondemon-sensei and Tondemon disappears, we turn our attention to Shiba, ex of the Karate club and supposed lesbian. She starts the chapter off by an extended fantasy about sex with Tamako, followed by a string of circumstantial circumstances that, lo and behold! are exactly like her dream. Only she doesn’t get to have sex with Tamako.

Later, as Wrestling Club Captain Taiki reflects on his past and how he became a cross-dresser (although not as to the origin of his large rack of lamb) we get a glimpse of the (of course) lesbian feelings heaped upon the (of course) receptive captain of the Black Cat High wrestling club.

I’m fascinated at the eroticization of wrestling. Although I don’t find it half as appealing for myself as someone just seriously putting the beatdown on someone, I can kind of see where people are going with it. And this manga takes it to such utter bizarre extremes that it ultimately would have to be read as a comedy, even if it weren’t also full of ridiculous gags, puns and purely comedic scenes. I wonder if that makes Battle Club the first erotic wrestling comedy in manga? Probably not, what was I thinking?

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 2
Characters – 3
Yuri – 6
Service – a zillion

Overall – 4

I don’t have anything left to say about this manga except my thanks to Everett L. for his sponsorship of today’s review!

…oh wait, yes I do. When Shiba joins the wrestling club, they spell her name wrong on the name plaque in the dojo. D’oh!

Posted in English Manga, Ikkitousen | No Comments »


Okazu Reader Survey Results

September 17th, 2008

I promised this a while back. Here’s the data from the Okazu Reader Survey. I’ve left out the specifiv qualitative responses, because I want to collate them a bit before giving you a list of your own top sources. In the meantime, enjoy!
Survey Statistics
 
Viewed 428
Started 300
Completed 299
Completion Rate 99.67%
Drop Outs (After Starting) 1
  • Average time taken to complete survey : 4 minute(s)

What gender do you identify as?
Frequency Analysis
Answer Count Percent
20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
1. Female 217 73.06%
2. Male 77 25.93%
3. Transitioning/Other 3 1.01%
Total 297 100%
Key Analytics
Mean 1.279
Key Facts
  • 98.99% chose the following options :

    • Female
    • Male
  • Least chosen option 1.01% :
    • Transitioning/Other
Confidence Interval @ 95% [1.226 – 1.333]

n = 297
Standard Deviation 0.472
Standard Error 0.027

What is your age?
Frequency Analysis
Answer Count Percent
20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
1. 13-18 39 13.13%
2. 18-25 139 46.80%
3. 25-35 75 25.25%
4. 36-45 25 8.42%
5. 46 and over 19 6.40%
Total 297 100%
Key Analytics
Mean 2.481
Key Facts
  • 72.05% chose the following options :

    • 18-25
    • 25-35
  • Least chosen option 6.4% :
    • 46 and over
Confidence Interval @ 95% [2.364 – 2.599]

n = 297
Standard Deviation 1.033
Standard Error 0.060

Where do you live?
Frequency Analysis
Answer Count Percent
20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
1. Africa 1 0.34%
2. Asia 22 7.41%
3. Australia 14 4.71%
4. Canada 22 7.41%
5. Europe 30 10.10%
6. Japan 2 0.67%
7. Latin America 8 2.69%
8. Mexico 3 1.01%
9. Pacific Rim 0 0.00%
10. United Kingdom 11 3.70%
11. United States 174 58.59%
12. Other 10 3.37%
Total 297 100%
Key Analytics
Mean 8.623
Key Facts
  • 68.69% chose the following options :

    • United States
    • Europe
Confidence Interval @ 95% [8.233 – 9.013]

n = 297
Standard Deviation 3.431
Standard Error 0.199

What, if any, sexual orientation do you identify yourself as?
Frequency Analysis
Answer Count Percent
20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
1. Lesbian 87 29.39%
2. Gay 3 1.01%
3. Bisexual 77 26.01%
4. Straight 94 31.76%
5. Queer 12 4.05%
6. Other 23 7.77%
Total 296 100%
Key Analytics
Mean 3.034
Key Facts
  • 61.15% chose the following options :

    • Straight
    • Lesbian
  • Least chosen option 1.01% :
    • Gay
Confidence Interval @ 95% [2.858 – 3.209]

n = 296
Standard Deviation 1.540
Standard Error 0.090

How often do you read Okazu?
Frequency Analysis
Answer Count Percent
20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
1. Once a week 74 24.92%
2. 2-4 times a week 92 30.98%
3. 5 days a week or whenever you update 131 44.11%
Total 297 100%
Key Analytics
Mean 2.192
Key Facts
  • 75.08% chose the following options :

    • 5 days a week or whenever you update
    • 2-4 times a week
  • Least chosen option 24.92% :
    • Once a week
Confidence Interval @ 95% [2.100 – 2.284]

n = 297
Standard Deviation 0.810
Standard Error 0.047

When was the last time you bought a Yuri anime or manga?
Frequency Analysis
Answer Count Percent
20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
1. Within the last week 72 24.24%
2. Within the last month 101 34.01%
3. Within the last 3 months 56 18.86%
4. Within the last year 47 15.82%
5. I dont buy anime or manga 21 7.07%
Total 297 100%
Key Analytics
Mean 2.475
Key Facts
  • 58.25% chose the following options :

    • Within the last month
    • Within the last week
  • Least chosen option 7.07% :
    • I dont buy anime or manga
Confidence Interval @ 95% [2.336 – 2.613]

n = 297
Standard Deviation 1.217
Standard Error 0.071

What do you like about reading Okazu?
Frequency Analysis
Answer Count Percent
20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
1. Reviews of English Anime and Manga 217 16.16%
2. Reviews of Japanese Anime and Manga 248 18.47%
3. Yuri News Report 207 15.41%
4. Insights and Opinions 209 15.56%
5. Snarky Humor 200 14.89%
6. Lesbian Perspective on Yuri 185 13.78%
7. Links to Anime and Manga on Amazon and Amazon.co.jp 54 4.02%
8. I really wish I didnt have to, but youre the only game in town. 10 0.74%
9. Other 13 0.97%
Total 1343 100%
Key Analytics
Mean 3.615
Key Facts
  • 34.62% chose the following options :

    • Reviews of Japanese Anime and Manga
    • Reviews of English Anime and Manga
  • Least chosen option 0.74% :
    • I really wish I didnt have to, but youre the only game in town.
Confidence Interval @ 95% [3.513 – 3.717]

n = 1343
Standard Deviation 1.904
Standard Error 0.052

Is Okazu your only source of anime/manga news?
Frequency Analysis
Answer Count Percent
20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
1. Yes 77 25.93%
2. No 220 74.07%
Total 297 100%
Key Analytics
Mean 1.741
Confidence Interval @ 95% [1.691 – 1.791]

n = 297
Standard Deviation 0.439
Standard Error 0.025

Do you attend anime/manga events:
Frequency Analysis
Answer Count Percent
20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
1. Once a year 88 29.73%
2. Twice a year 24 8.11%
3. 3-5 times a year 18 6.08%
4. Im an insane otaku and attend every event I can get to 6 2.03%
5. I dont attend anime/manga events 160 54.05%
Total 296 100%
Key Analytics
Mean 3.426
Key Facts
  • 83.78% chose the following options :

    • I dont attend anime/manga events
    • Once a year
  • Least chosen option 2.03% :
    • Im an insane otaku and attend every event I can get to
Confidence Interval @ 95% [3.219 – 3.632]

n = 296
Standard Deviation 1.812
Standard Error 0.105

Posted in Okazu News | 6 Comments »