Battle Club Manga, Volume 3 (English)

June 11th, 2008

 I want to review something today about which there is little to say. There is very little to say about Battle Club, Volume 4. There is this to say, at least – thanks to Dan again for sponsoring this review!

In this volume Tamako continues to battle enemies both external and internal, with progressively less and less clothing, until she faces her greatest enemy, herself. The coach continues his exceedingly long piss, so we get a chance to do a bunch of flashbacks to Tamako’s mother and learn the secrets, such as they are, of the guilt Tamako carries. But no one cares, which is good, because it’s not really very interesting. Like the men in the series, most of the readership is looking at Tama’s tits and crotch. All very fascinating.

Shiba arrives just in time to get a nosebleed at the sight of Tama’s breasts, which is about all the Yuri you get. Higuchi also shows up, to heal her wounds and fear of fighting, but she continues to be lesbian in name only.

And that’s basically it. The translation still plays fast and loose with the original text – so much so that even though I have not actually read the original text in Japanese , I can guess that they didn’t say the things that are on the page. It’s okay, like the “plot,” the “dialogue” is really not interesting and definitely not why one reads this book.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 1
Characters – 4
Yuri – 2
Service – 10

Overall – 5

Mokichi gets stronger too.

Thanks to Dan P. for providing this piece of “entertainment” and distraction!

Posted in English Manga, Ikkitousen | 1 Comment »


Burst Angel Infinity OAV Anime (English)

June 10th, 2008

Much thanks to Daniel today for providing another Sunday afternoon’s worth of great entertainment and incidentally sponsoring today’s review!

As I wrote, in my initial review of Burst Angel Infinity OAV, screencaps make up for a LOT of nothing. ^_^

The story follows Jo and Meg post them meeting, and pre them hooking up with Amy and Sei-who-is-not-named-Beth. (And really, the ONLY reason I’m reviewing this OAV again, is to be able to type that once more. ^_^ And now that Tokyopop is cutting back, who knows if they’ll ever get the BA manga out, so this may be my last chance.)

The adventure itself is much of a muchness. Jo and Meg come back to visit one of the street urchins that Meg ran with previously – as we know from the episode where we learn how they met. It’s Shirley’s birthday, Meg wants to get her a present, so they need money. Of course the whole thing spirals out of control immediately and Jo is forced to do something she just hates – beat the crap out of people and shoot them.

The final credits run alongside a recap of Jo and Meg’s meeting and initial adventure and at the veeerry end, there’s a supershort clip of Meg full of awesomeness she absorbed from Jo’s scarf. (which was her scarf originally, but obviously it picked up awesome from proximity to Jo, so when she got it back at the end of the series, it confirmed awesome upon her. I’m sorry that they didn’t make a whole story with awesome Meg – the short looks way better than anything with Shirley. But that’s just me.

Of course we’re also watching the miniscule moments of tenderness between Meg and Jo, which completely confirms the obviousness of their relationship. lol Don’t get me wrong, I think they are a couple. I just also think that this anime makes us work harder at it than necessary. ^_^

Extras were kind of dull for me, not being a mecha fiend, but if you like them, there’s a retrospective of all the exciting robot designs in the series.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 3
Service- 4

Overall – 7

As I said the first time, if you like the series, this OVA is at least as good as some of the better episodes.

Posted in Bakuretsu Tenshi, English Manga | 2 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Shiroi Bara no Otome

June 9th, 2008

Everything about this manga, the cover, the title, the unadulteratedly derivative setup, told me that I would not like it. It practically screams “another crappy Maria-sama ga Miteru rip-off!” Well, you know what? It wasn’t *nearly* as bad as I thought. ^_^

Shiroi Bara no Otome is the first Josei Marimite rip-off that I’ve read. That alone sets it apart from the rest of the massive pack full of second-string derivative works that are mostly targeted towards guys.

Hanaguchi Yoshiko is a transfer student into a high-end private school for girls. Like most of these in manga, it is an elevator school, so students that have been in the system from a younger age are given preference over outside students – and it is harder to transfer in at high school than middle school. Yoshiko is a writer – she even won a literature award a a young girl…a memory that haunts her to this day.

When she transfers into this garden of privilege, she basically ignores the crap the other girls pull on her, because she thinks they are a bunch of losers. She wears earphones and writes and doesn’t care if anyone likes her or not. When someone tries to bully her, she’s right back in their faces, because she doesn’t care. So of course, by her third year, she’s the school hero. All the underclassman admire her brazen strength of will.

Yoshiko finds herself befriended by the star of the school, the impossibly rich, beautiful, perfect, popular, etc, etc, Takamiya Tsukiko. And then she finds herself being manipulated by two-faced Tsukiko. Yoshiko is not an idiot – she recognizes what’s going on *instantly*. And then she does something I have never ever seen in a manga – she decides to let Tsukiko fuck with her, because she thinks it will make a great story.

It was an amazing moment. Yoshiko’s like, yeah, this is *drama* – let’s see what crap she’ll dump in my lap. And Tsukiko pulls out the stops, seducing Yoshiko at one moment, abandoning her to the wolves the next. When an off-hand accidental observation draws both the school bully and Tsukiko in for questioning about being at an American GI bar in the harbor, Yoshiko lies to save Tsukiko. The bully, Fujiwara, says she’ll regret it, but Yoshiko won’t – it’s become another chapter in her book.

Tsukiko is always seen with rich boy Yuu three paces behind her. Yoshiko and he become close and end up sleeping together. Yoshiko leaves him a note chiding him for sleeping with someone else when he loves another woman. This is followed by a very funny scene, as Yoshiko accidentally meets Fujiwara in a store, and worries that the other girl might notice something different about her, because, you know…. Fujiwara says no, but once she’s off-scene, you can hear that she’s whispering gossipingly to her friends. ^_^

Because Yoshiko sees right through Tsukiko, she can see that there’s some real issues there with trust and friendship. She learns that Tsukiko had a childhood friend for years and years, all through school. Because she felt that her friend had betrayed her by falling for another student in middle school, Tsukiko manipulated them both into an attempted love suicide by taking pills. They survived, but moved away. Tsukiko has never apologized. Yoshiko makes her face her beloved friend and deal with the consequences. I particularly liked that the friend was visibly unattractive and gloomy in every picture and flashback, and when we see her now she looks like a not-particularly-attractive girl who has grown into herself just fine. The other girl in the attempted suicide has a boyfriend now, but in my imagination Sonoda goes home to a loving girlfriend.

Yoshiko leaves the school at graduation with no regrets, and Tsukiko looks like she’ll be able to move on, too.

Yuri is typical girls-school akogare, some handholding, the attempted love suicide and one or two sexual-tension filled embraces and scenes. That was enough, really. Any more would have been overkill.

I was expecting all the same-old same-olds, but the fact that Yoshiko entered into them with eyes and brain wide open changed *everything* about this story. No, the girl did not get the girl – and thank heavens for that, it would be an awful match. But the reader did get a good story and that’s all I care about.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 8
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 2 (Private school + girls = zOMG Yuri!)

Overall – 7

This is good, precisely because it is a Marimite rip-off that is not full of service.

Posted in Yuri Manga | 7 Comments »


MoCCA Report and Egregious Self-Promotion

June 8th, 2008

As expected, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art event was fabulous. I never fail to have a good time there – the level of creativity and passion and attendee engagement is much higher than the usual con at which the attendees expect to be entertained, rather than be part of the entertainment.

As always, my sincere thanks to David Stanley and Prism Comics. I cannot say enough good things about these people. Every time I’ve had the pleasure of their company it has been a genuine pleasure. Thanks to Peter, for finding good coffee, to Chris and his boyfriend Chris and special thanks to Kate Fitzsimmons of Girlwonder.org/Four-Color Heroines for hanging out with us all day and keeping us company. And also for having the line of the event – Is it so much to ask that a manga have a couple whose lives *won’t* be ruined by them having sex? lol

We were right next to Jennifer Camper, who was selling her cool new mylar-covered artbooks and her fabulously funny comics. Abby Denson’s Dolltopia 2 is out! Got a couple of copies of that. Spent some quality time busting J.D. Glass’s chops – she got posters made for “Sakura Gun,” her American Goth side story which will run in Yuri Monogatari 6, and X, her next novel. (Which is my favorite so far, fyi.) And it was a pleasure to see Allan Neuwirth and Ivan Velez again.

Oh, oh, oh! I got to meet Mariko Tamaki, author of Skim, which I absolutely adored. If you haven’t, you should definitely read it.

Here’s the self-promotion bit. The Prism Comics Guide 2008 is now in print and its chock full of GLBT-themed comics by many talented artists. And coincidentally, it contains an article by me on Yuri (I know, can you believe it?) Right now you can only get it by having your local comic book store order it from Diamond. But soon it will be on sale on the Prism Comics shop. Support independent GLBT comics and get the Guide!

Kate (thanks Kate!) gave me a copy of Comic Foundry, a new comics culture magazine which, I have to say, seems pretty cool. Volume 1 includes a glossary of manga/anime-related terms, which includes Yuri, and lo and behold! ALC’s books are recommended. Who knew? A nod of appreciation to the CF folks for that.

Before I wrap up, I have a few more names to drop – hello to Margeaux and the Comics Alliance folks, Eve is once again starting up Blood and the Art of Baking, a Vampire lesbian baking adventure comic I quite like, and great big thanks to translator extraordinaire Mari Morimoto, reviewer and writer Casey Brienza and brilliant journalist Kai-Ming Cha, all of whom I got to spend some quality time with and as always, laughed my ass off, traded good gossip and had some fun. :-)

Seriously, IMHO, MoCCA is the best comic show of the year. See you at the MoCCA Art Festival, 2009.

Posted in Events, LGBTQ | No Comments »


Yuri News This Week – June 7, 2008

June 7th, 2008

We’re trying something new this week. This is pre-recorded programming. Cool, huh? Even as you are reading this post, *I* am in NYC at Puck Building, joining the fab folks of Prism Comics for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Art Festival today. If you are in or near the NYC area, drop by. It’s an amazing event full of amazingly talented independent comic artists from all over. The MoCCA event is a don’t-miss event if you like comic art!

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Yuri Anime

It’s pretty much the all Mai edition this week! First off, Bandai has announced that they will be releasing all four of the Mai Otome Zwei episodes on one disk. In the past Bandai ran into some serious clashes with the fans over Japanese-style DVD releases (two TV episodes or one OVA per DVD.) In this climate of contracting markets and struggling anime sales, it’s nice to see that they’ve gotten a clue.

Speaking of Mai devoted reader Eric P. points out that Bandai has announced a new Mai HiME series, starring a girl named Mao. There’s not much more info available, but I expect it to be the same service with a light negligee of plot that the rest of the series wears. :-)

While I’m beating the Mai series to death, I just want to say that I have added the Mai HiME/Mai Otome/Destiny Light Novels to the Light Novel Page on the Yuricon Shop. I had no idea how many Mai novels there were!

And for those three of you who were wondering if there’d *ever* be a new Mai Otome ~ S.ifr, the answer is – yes. Look for episode two of that OVA to arrive sometime in July.

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Yuri Manga

Speaking of July, you can look forward to a new edition of Yuri Hime Wildrose coming out that month. (Yes, yes, pun intended.) Look for more girls who are not lesbian having sex with other girls, even though they don’t quite know what girls do in bed. This will be released on the 18th, the same day that the next Yuri Hime magazine hits the selves.

Looking for a quick fix of 4-koma goofiness with a light flavoring of Yuri? Rakka Ryuusui, Volume 3 is already on sale in Japan. Get your fill of kyuudo klub komraderie and inexpressible puns. :-)

Here’s an interesting piece of news – Hayate x Blade is switching not only magazines, but publisher as well. Up through Volume 9 it will continue in Mediaworks’ Dengeki Daioh, but as of the September issue, which ships in August, it will be running in Ultra Jump magazine and the collected volumes will be printed by UJ Comics. How interesting…. Makes you wonder what went on there, doesn’t it? LOL It was reported on Hayashiya Shizuru’s blog. (Thanks to Erin, btw, who made me *read* what it actually said, because when I scanned it the first time, I completely missed what she was saying. lol)

Also of note, creator of Yuri OEL manga Steady Beat, Rivkah, has some very interesting things to say on her Livejournal about the reorganization of Tokyopop and what it means for the third and final volume of her story! She includes some of the pencils from the climax, so definitely check them out.

And Sean reminds me that Strawberry Marshmallow, Volume 5 is shipping next week. For all us Miu fans.

And for those who have Internet Explorer, don’t mind downloading Digital Object Reader and can navigate basic Japanese, Young Gun Carnaval has been made into a free manga distributed through Flex Comics’ Yahoo Japan site. I’m told there’s Yuri in the novels. I don’t know if there actually is. There are girls who kill people. That’s good enough for me. :-D

For fans of Mnemosyne, there is a manga for the series “Daughters of Mnemosyne Manga: Miss Black” running in Comic Valkyrie. Has Yuri-service just like the anime. :-) I’m not sure at this point if it is a one-shot or not. I’m sure someone will weigh in with details.

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Other Yuri News

There is a very interesting blog which I have mentioned before – Ultimo Spalpeen – which follows the American anime and manga industry in Japanese for a Japanese audience. The writer, Komatsu-san, has been a terrific supporter of Yuri in general and Yuricon, ALC and Okazu in specific. Last week he emailed me with a question about the title of my Light Novel, Shoujoai ni Bouken. He asked me if I knew that it wasn’t quite right Japanese. I told him my little secret about the titles for SnB and the sequel Saiyuu no Ryouko, i.e., SnR. I *chose* to use not-quite-right Japanese for the titles on purpose, since it always fascinates me that so much anime/manga/doujinshi use English in a way that is not-quite-right. lol We had a long conversation about the whole thing and he’s transcribed the entire thing in Japanese for his readers. Thank you, Komatsu-san for all your support!

Now on to much more important things, like Strawberry Panic fighter jets!

Anastasia Moreno posted on her Manga Gunkan blog that Friend of Yuri, soulassassin547 realized, after learning that Ana is a ex-Marine who translates Strawberry Panic, that Astrea Hill would be the natural location for an air base. To that end, he designed the StoPani fighter jets…and one special Lillian squadron. (Commander “Ice Queen” Ogasawara. Swoon….)

Also from Ana’s blog, this Pixel Maritan AMV. The song is from the CD that accompanied the book I reviewed. There are subtitles in English, so you can enjoy it fully. You all have to watch – this way you’ll get a feeling for how insane this series really is. I believe Ana told me that she wrote the English lyrics for this song. My favorite line is “Let’s beat those evil fuckers now!” (Yay!)

Last up, a non-Yuri item, but it may be of some interest to readers here – and feel free to pass it on to other MLs and groups you know of:

The Kurodahan Press Translation Prize

It gives us great pleasure to announce the Kurodahan Press Translation Prize, awarded for excellence in translation of a selected Japanese short story into English. We hope that it will be possible to continue this prize as an annual event.

Kurodahan Press was established to preserve and circulate contemporary and historical observations of Asia, and to produce informative and entertaining translations. The Japanese literary world needs no help from us in producing outstanding works, but they cannot be introduced to a broader, global audience without skilled translators capable of rendering delicate nuances and atmospheres into another language.

The Kurodahan Press Translation Prize is held to help locate and encourage these translators.

The short story to be translated is 笛塚 by 岡本綺堂, and is about 9500 characters in length.

Submissions will be accepted through September 30, 2008, Japan time.

Three judges will select the winning entry (alphabetical order by surname):
– Juliet Winters Carpenter, Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts
– Meredith McKinney, Visiting Fellow, Japan Centre, Australian National
University
– Royall Tyler

The winning entry will receive a cash prize, and an additional payment for first English publication rights in the upcoming kaiki anthology. Submissions will not be returned, but translators will retain all applicable rights to their work.

For additional information and a complete contest package download, please see our website:http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/khpprize/

or write us at:

Kurodahan Press
3-9-10-403 Tenjin
Chuo-ku, Fukuoka
810-0001 JAPAN

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It’s been a long post, but finally, that’s it for today! See you next week!

Posted in Comic Yuri Hime, Events, Hayate x Blade, Mai Hime, Yuri Network News | 8 Comments »