Yuri Manga: Gunjou, Chapters 3 and 6

May 9th, 2008

Back in March, I reviewed a new non-moe Yuri manga series by Nakamura Ching, Gunjou. After I posted my review, Nakamura-san offered to send me a back issue of Morning 2 – the magazine in which Gunjou runs – which I of course accepted with great joy. And just yesterday, I received my copy of the current issue of Morning 2, to get the next chapter.

I love this manga with all my love.

It is not cute. It is not adorable. It it not moe. It *is* stunning. So, with my apologies to Nakamura-san for the hideous nicknames, I’d like to tell you all about the new bits.

Chapter 3 covers a tale from BL and BN’s high school days. The brunette, BN, is a champion runner, but wears a crappy pair of beat up cleats. The blonde, BL, is hanging around, and the track club is creeped out by her because she’s, you know, *lesbian,* but BN tells them that she’s just a nice person and to stfu, thanks awfully. When the team captain tells BN to get new cleats or else, BN and BL go to a store where BN attempts to steal a nice shiny new pair. To stop her from being arrested, BL offers to pay for them (she’s a rich ojou-sama,) but BN tells her to take the cleats and shove them.

BL visits BN’s house and learns that she lives in a crappy shack with a drunken and abusive father. At the end of the chapter, BL offers to *lend* BN the money, so she’ll stay in school and keep running. We see them 5 years later, as BN – now sleek, happy enough (we think) and married – pays back every yen. BL leaves, putting down exactly half the bill for their coffee – a beautiful and subtle touch. We go back to the present, with the two of them on the run, and we learn that BN still has that 550 yen in her wallet.

In stark contrast to Chapter 3’s happy ending, chapter 6 is BRUTAL. They take a hotel for the night, but BN gets weird about sleeping in the same bed as BL, so they get separate rooms. We learn from the news that the police know BL did the murder and that the two fugitives are being sought. BL can’t sleep, so she goes out. We see BN looking in the mirror at her body, which is covered in bruises. Since they have been on the run for a month – at least some of those bruises are probably not from the dead husband…. BL grabs a taxi to go back to the hotel. The taxi driver solicts a hand job, which BL does, flashing back and forth the whole time to the murder. She leaves the cab and when a fortune teller approaches her and tells her that she’ll get married, she goes postal on the lady, who asks for forgiveness as she reaches for a stone to bash the crazy, violent woman on top of her.

BN notices BL’s not back and eventually finds her, trying to kill herself by hanging herself from the bathroom door. BN takes her back to her bed, while BL flashes back to the murder and to their school days where she first met BN and they became friends . BL has a complete emotional breakdown to match her physical beating. As the chapter comes to a close, BL tells BN that instead of killing her husband, it would have been better if she had killed BN. BN goes out into the hall and cries.

There is just nothing about this series that is Akihabara. But, in between the severe mental unbalance, the extreme violence and the raw, unsexy sex, there are moments of such intense tenderness that they quite take one’s breath away.

The Yuri actually identifies as lesbian, so perhaps this is a lesbian manga, rather than a Yuri one. BL is quite obviously hopelessly, dangerously in love with BN…and BN is suffering from all kind of mixed emotions, compounded by the fact that they are both just so very broken that a normal relationship seems impossible for either of them. And, despite the fact that this manga perpetuates the murderous lesbian trope, I think it completely transcends the stereotype.

Gunjou is not a “good” manga – it is a “brilliant” manga.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 5
Service – 2

Overall – 10

I recently learned that gunjou, which translates to the color Ultramarine, is considered to be the most highly revered blue hue in the Japanese artist’s palette.

Once again, thank you Nakamura-san, for the issue of Morning 2 and for creating such a magnficient manga.

 

Posted in Gunjo, LGBTQ, Nakamura Ching, Yuri Manga | 5 Comments »


Pretty Face Manga, Volume 1 (English)

May 8th, 2008

After wallowing in the tragedies of Confidential Confessions I felt the need to read COMEDY! Unfortunately, all I had was Pretty Face, Volume 1. ^_^;

No, it really is a comedy and if I had any humor in me at all, I would surely be doubled up in laughter at the endlessly amusing plight of a bad-ass punk guy who was severely injured in an accident and awakes to find that a helpful plastic surgeon reconstructed his face and upper body to resemble that of the girl whose picture he carried in his pocket. (The wife says, “Because I always carry a picture of myself, just like Paris Hilton.”)

I will give props to the author because at this point, he comes up with one of the most utterly absurd plot devices *ever* to get the punk dude to be able to go back to school – the girl he likes had a twin sister who disappeared some time ago, and now everyone thinks *he* is the sister, returned at long last. Shades of The Return of Martin Guerre…not.

So in Pretty Face, Volume 1, everyone thinks Rando is really Yuna, including and especially Yuna’s sister Rina, who is so excited to have her sister back she wants to sleep with her and bathe with her and rub her naked body all over her, and other sisterly things. Yuri in this volume is by implication and incest-flavored, like Rando imagining himself with Yuna’s face and Rina kissing.

It’s been a long time since I read this series in Japanese, but I vaguely remember that another female character falls for “Yuna” in later volumes, and there’s more fake Yuri there.

Technically, this may be the best reproduction I’ve ever seen out of Viz. (Does that make you think, “Oh, what a shame”?” It does me, lol) The tones are clean, the art is clear and it’s very easy to follow the crazy action scenes.

Pretty Face is not intellectual comedy. It’s physical gags and face faults and the thrill of watching a cute girl kicking ass mightily, with a frisson of Yuri-ish sort of romance. And lots of penis jokes.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 5 They are pretty much one-trick ponies in this volume
Yuri – 3
Service – 7

Overall – 7

My deepest thanks to Ziggr for sponsoring today’s review~!

Posted in English Manga | No Comments »


Burst Angel Anime, Volume 6 (English)

May 7th, 2008

My biggest complaint about the previous volume of Burst Angel was that the winning formula – i.e., Jo and Meg being the point people – was sort of dropped and left behind as the plot flailed around in a Jo-focused sort-of-back- and sort-of-present- story.

Thankfully, Volume 6 recaptured what made the early episodes work, so we get to wade about in a pool of satisfyingly standard tropes of action team anime, with a decidely Western flair.

First, having resolved Jo’s personal arc, we must face the inevitable Storm before the Calm, as the team is dissolved for political reasons. As is typical in this particular plot complication, the characters, despite their personal bonds, shoot apart like shrapnel. I don’t know why that is, but it is a requirement that we all go bara-bara. Jo and Meg take to the road, Amy does Amy things and Sei-who-is-not-named-Beth does Sei-who-is-not-named-Beth things.

Jo and Meg face one more crisis, as Maria returns (another standard, which I mentally refer to as “Can’t keep a good bad guy down”) and in a lovely fit of Yuri, she kidnaps Meg, because she wants her for herself. There’s some lovely sexually suggestive stuff in there, before Jo shows up and beats the crap out of Maria in a nicely animated fight. (A trope my wife has just named “Get your hands off my Betty!”)

Meg has a chance to have her own moment of Yuri where she confesses her feelings to a sleeping Jo, kisses her and promises to protect her forever, thus notching up the Yuri without making any committment at all.

Akane returns, as the wildcard cowboy who rides in for the last battle; a nice touch, as it’s a classic tactic for Westerns.

And there’s the standard emotional parting scene where Jo leaves Meg behind before the final showdown. Also a classic Western moment, reflected beautifully by the music.

Last thing I noted was a convention of mecha/sci-fic/cyberpunk anime – the main brain to which all other brains are connected, is inexplicably wired to explode when something something something. Whose idea was that? Imagine if Google did that with their servers…. Seems to me to be a *really* bad idea.

So, the final volume returns to the classic Western roots it sort of vaguely nodded towards in the beginning. It really worked, I think. This wasn’t a deep look at anything particular, it’s not “slice of life,” or “drama,” or despite fans’ insistence “romance,” – Burst Angel is a pretty standard action anime, with strong ties to conventions of good, ole’ American Westerns. For a decent live-action analogy, I recommend Silverado which contained many of the same tropes and was about as satisfying to watch as any Western I’ve ever seen. Plus, the cast kicks. No giant weaponry though, unless you count Danny Glover’s shotgun. :-)

In the end, we get a teeny little brief glimpse of Meg’s future, which I really would have prefered to be her present, but oh well, it’s nice to know that Jo’s scarf bestows +10 competence on the wearer.

Extras as always – the American cast commentary, the Japanese radio dramas and a nifty book full of nifty facts and pictures. Extras aren’t crucial to me, and they won’t save a bad anime, but it feels nice to have such a *chunky* set of extras for this series. It’s the best of both worlds – something for the intellect and something tactile to enjoy.

Ratings:

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

Overall – 8

Overall, a fun series that would make really good background images on a big screen during a party. :-) My thanks to Ted the Awesome for sponsoring today’s review!

Posted in Bakuretsu Tenshi, English Anime | 9 Comments »


Free Comic Book Day Report

May 7th, 2008

Probably should have written this up Sunday, but was too tired from having fun on Saturday with the folks at Comic Fusion in Flemington, NJ. :-)

My deep and sincere thanks to Bill and Stacy, for being genuinely fabulous comic book store owners. In all seriousness, I’ve never been in a store that is so welcoming of men, women, kids and families. Everyone who walks through the door is treated like a friend – and there’s very little of the clubhouse atmosphere (I mean that figuratively and literally) one finds in many other stores.

There were three indie artists at the store, cheerfully drawing pictures of anything or anyone for anyone who asked. (Thanks Glenn for my spiffy picture of Yuriko!) Kids got figurines as extra gifts and there were free posters, so most people ended up with a pretty good pile of get. :-) I was pleased to note that the number of kids who came in and were polite and interested (and interesting) significantly outweighed the number who had issues and made me want to slap their parents. lol

The folks who helped out for the day, Dave, Beth and John, were also really nice and Beth and John were fetching in their costumes. The kids who came in in costume were adorable…of course. One little Wonder Woman gleefully told me that her father said that if she didn’t wear the costume, he would. We all giggled at how silly Daddy was. He would have looked *terrible* as Wonder Woman. Stacy told me that her favorite moment was when John’s two kids (all dressed up as various iterations of Iron Man) were asked by his wife ” Okay kids, blast Mommy!” so she could get a picture. lol

There was a lot of camraderie and fun, and Bill and Stacy were consummate hosts (as I know, because Stacy has been the consummate host in our Dealer’s Room for Yuricon events, as well) and really – it was a lovely day.

Comic Fusion is pretty much the nicest, friendliest comic and collectible store I have ever been in. Which is totally due to Bill and Stacy being two of the nicest, friendliest people around. (Stacy’s from California, she can’t help herself. lol)

Here’s what I always say – if you’re going to buy stuff anyway, why not do it from friends? Comic Fusion will order pretty much anything, and if you can’t find your fave manga, games or figurines at the book store, or you’d rather support a great local store than a monolithic corporation, visit Comic Fusion online or in person, and buy from friends.

Thanks again Stacy and Bill – I had a blast!

Posted in Events | No Comments »


Confidential Confessions Manga, Volume 4 (English)

May 6th, 2008

Back in the bad old days of Yuri, in between the frantic melodrama of the 70’s and this current decade, (and with the exception of Sailor Moon) it was fairly common in manga to find lesbian love paired with mental unbalance. Confidential Confessions, by Momochi Reiko is a series that allows us to wallow in the depravity of “true” stories and incidentally, see some crazy lesbians.

You know the television show that’s on WEtv (which as you know, I like to refer to as the “Violence Against Women Network,”) High School Confidential? This manga was written 10 years ago – and it’s the exact same stuff. Teenage pregnancy, abuse, drug use, etc. Freaky, huh? Guess good girls in bad trouble still appeals to some.

In Volume 4, we “deal” with a number of unpleasant issues; institutionalized abuse of female students; prostitution; bullying; and, in “Forbidden Kiss,” a lesbian love affair complete with insane jealousy, a knife and an ambiguously asexual ending.

The author’s notes dramatically explain that all these terrible things go on, and she feels that, by telling these stories, she’s bringing these issues to people’s attention, so the bullying and abuse and prostitution will stop. She doesn’t mention the lesbianism. If I was young and had read her story, I might have been tempted to stop being a lesbian. Those girls were *crazy*! ^_^; This is the same tone of slavering “concern” with which WEtv deals with the same issues in their show – oh, how awful, isn’t it just terrible what happened, did you hear, I know I was shocked too.

The art in Confidential is decidedly old-school, and in a way it made me nostalgic. If you like the dredging up of sleazy “true” stories, then you’ll be happy to note that the series is 6 volumes long and there’s a second series, Confidential Confessions: Deai, as well. So plenty of teenaged girl misery and abuse for you to bathe yourself in and either feel better about your own life, or get secretly turned on, or whatever floats your boat.

While I do love me my Evil Pycho Lesbians, I’m less moved by this kind of teenage pathos. But, if you love tabloid drama Confidential Confessions is certainly dramatic. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – N/A
Characters – N/A
Yuri – 6
Service – 5

Overall – 7

A tip of the hat today to Ted the Awesome for sponsoring today’s review! (You may have noticed that I haven’t added anything recently to the Yuri Wishlist. That’s because I’m positively *drowning* in things to review and want to make some of it all go away before encouraging you all to throw more on top of an already untenably large pile. When these piles are gravitationally stable again, I’ll add more stuff to the wishlist! Thanks, everyone, for your support!)

Posted in English Manga | 4 Comments »