Yuri Manga: Eternal Alice Rondo, Volume 3 (English)

March 27th, 2008

Perception without conception, is blind; while conception without perception is empty – Immanuel Kant

Volume 3 of Eternal Alice Rondo Key Princess Story slams us smack dab into a wall of the same theme, if you will, with which we were beaten soundly about the head and shoulders in Kannazuki no Miko – obsessions are bad.

Speaking as a person whose life is, at this juncture, greatly enriched by an obsession, I’d like to clarify that. *Bad* obsessions are bad. Good obsessions are easily rationalized as dedication, specialization and/or subject expertise. ^_^

In the case of the characters in Eternal Alice, obsessing about your best friend who never notices you, or your inexplicably adopted otaku half-brother or your dead best friend you accidentally killed while playing hide-and-seek or power or a fictitious character means you will be attacked by girls with questionable fashion sense and their own boring obsessions.

…that’s the lesson I got out of this book, anyway.

(The wife says, “woo-hoo! sign me up!)

That, and Aruto may die a raging bore, but not a virgin. Go, all you otaku – if Aruto can get some, surely there’s hope for you! Ignore the fact that he is a badly-conceived 2-dimensional drawing. Pretend he is real – then you will be just like him pretending Alice is real. Isn’t that ironic?

The art in Volume 3 is a train wreck, what passes for the plot is a thorn whip of angst and the characters become less and less interesting as we learn more about them.

There’s Yuri. Kirika and Lorina aren’t actually in love, but since they obsess so intensely over one another, they are no doubt paired in most readers’ minds. Kisa still has the hots for Kiraha. And Mika and Suwa, uh, yeah, them too.

Oh, and according the the color page, Kirika wears underwear. Were you as worried as I was?

Ratings:

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

Overall – 4

I just finished re-reading the Kyoshiro manga yesterday. I can’t help but wonder if the artist half of Kaishaku went and got some art lessons or something – it’s miles better than this.

I find it eternally amusing that fangirls get angry with me for hating Kannazuki, which I don’t, and liking Kyoshiro, which I don’t, but only the fanboys seem to care about Alice.

Posted in English Manga, Yuri Manga | No Comments »


Yuri Manga: Yuri-iro Rasen

March 26th, 2008

You know what’s really cool? When you pick up a manga that you’re sure is pretty junky and it turns out to be pretty good after all.

Sadly, this was not that manga.

Yuri-iro Rasen, (Lily-colored Spiral) is pretty well named. It’s not really a Yuri manga so much as an H-manga with Yuri flavoring.

The first two stories involve the not-particularly creative use of school classrooms, infirmaries and schoolgirls with penises. It’s not that these are bad stories, it’s just that they are not good, either. The art is pretty meh, and the sex worried me a bit. Kind of the worst of Yuri and BL all rolled up together into one very not good thing.

The next several stories involve an anxious girl, her boyfriend’s confusingly vague hints about sex play and her far more imaginative female friend who offers to help her figure it all out. In the first chapter, Takaki’s boyfriend says he likes “abnormal” sex which, after Takaki and Mura explore a few options, turns out to be nothing more than “without socks.” When he suggests a little “cosplay” Mura explains what “costume play” really means as she helps Takaki find her inner maid. All he meant, however, was that he wanted Takaki to wear her school uniform. Finally, when he asks if they can do it outside, Takaki objects – mostly so he doesn’t realize she’s wearing long underwear. Mura decides to teach her the joys of outdoor sex anyway, so they both end up with colds. Takaki’s clearly meant to be seen as an idiot for staying with the guy, since he has such a limited imagination.

The last stories involved animal-eared lolis so, while they are Yuri, I simply refuse to read them as a matter of principal. The idea of them having sex is just about as exciting to me as watching two stuffed animals on top of one another and considerably more repulsive. I abstain, courteously.

Ratings:

Art – 4
Story – Other than the slightly amusing middle arc, 3, the slightly amusing middle arc, 5
Characters – 3
Yuri – 9 for sex, 1 for everything else that makes Yuri appealing.
Service – at least four different kinds of 10

Overall – 3

I had Yuri-iro Rasen on my list of Yuri to look for when I was in Tokyo and I didn’t actually expect to find it, so it surprised me when I did. I was slightly more surprised when I read it, since I was reminded that one of the core identifiers of “service” is that something like this passes for “good Yuri.” Ignore the other reviewers, they are wrong. ^_^ This manga is firmly on the “crappy crap” side of the board. Once again, having low expectations is likely to save your sanity.

Posted in Hentai, Yuri Manga | 6 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Battle Club, Volume 1 (English)

March 25th, 2008

Women’s crotches are endlessly fascinating. Or so I assume from the variety and sheer number of crotch shots in Battle Club, Volume 1.

Interestingly, while women’s crotches are absolutely riveting, men’s are apparently unworthy of scrutiny and are therefore pixelated or avoided at all costs.

Even more interestingly, while it is perfectly acceptable to look at women’s crotches, it is unacceptable to become aroused by doing so. If you are aroused, you are labeled as a pervert.

The conundrum appears obvious to me – why torture yourself with something that you can’t enjoy? Sounds like some kind of self-flagellating, mortifying of the flesh thing. In a way, it sort of does explain alot about why prostitution is illegal and why you guys seem to like your fun on the down low. I’ll leave it to others to delve into how sad that is.

Instead, I’ll cover the plot of Battle Club: This manga is about two members of a high school wrestling club, one male and one female, both of whom believe they are the protagonist of the story. The female protagonist, Tamako, is a clumsy, zealous and kind-hearted girl who is impossibly strong and getting stronger, by taking regular beatings from her even more impossibly stronger sempai. The male, Mokichi, is a mealy-mouthed asshole who gets beaten up a lot because he’s an asshole. And, we are assured repeatedly, (although we never see it, see above) he has a teeny dick.

Each chapter follows one or the other in their completely absurd, panty and crotch-shot filled shenanigans which include…not really all that much. Fighting, mostly. Including fighting with a “confused” shark. Lots of service, obviously.

Yuri comes in two flavors in Volume 1. The first is the Vice-Captain of the wrestling team, Higuchi, who is (totally incorrectly) labeled a lipstick lesbian when she first appears, and who openly gropes Tamako at every opportunity while they wrestle. (Like a lipstick lesbian would *ever* wrestle. Pfft. Another manga company that is fail when it comes to properly translating something lesbian-related. ALC is still the only company who can identify a lipstick lesbian and tell the difference between one and a Yuri character.)

The second flavor of Yuri is Shiba, a member of the Karate club whose impossibly strong attacks have no effect on Tamako. She finds herself sexually fantasizing about Tamako (which immediately makes her a pervert, by the rules set out in fanboy-land,) and even making lunch for her. Shiba’s thrown off the Karate team for failing and when they ruin the love-love lunch she made, she’s completely unable to cope with Tamako’s kindness towards her. She runs away, “unable to face her first crush.”

This series is by Shozaki Yuji, the creator of Ikkitousen/Battle Vixens – the story here is thinner than Tamako’s panties. This is absolute 100% crap. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the 15 minutes it took me to read it, because it is such *utter* crap that I found it amusing. I think it makes a fitting beginning to “crappy crap” week here at Okazu.

Ratings:

Art – 7 creative, in its own pervtastic way
Story – 1
Characters – 3
Yuri – 6
Service – Infinity

Overall – 5

Don’t have high expectations. Don’t have *any* expectations. Then lower that a little and you’ll probably find Battle Club not so bad. ^_^

Posted in English Manga, Ikkitousen, Yuri Manga | 5 Comments »


Anime Boston Roundup

March 24th, 2008

Anime Boston was a wonderful time and a pleasant, successful con. :-) I really don’t have anything to add to the last two posts except this:

My sincere, undying and eternal thanks and love to Bruce, Sean, Serge, Donna, and Kelli, for everything. You guys are beyond awesome. There is no way I would be able to one fifteenth of what I do without you all.

I bought only one thing at the con, and it’s total crap. lol So, when I’ve recovered, I will begin a “total crap” week here at Okazu, to clear my review pile of some of the crappy crap I have sitting there taunting me, and dump it on you to deal with. :-)

Posted in Miscellaneous | 3 Comments »


Anime Boston, Day 2

March 23rd, 2008

The day started early, with a visit with a bunch of manga bloggers, arranged by Brigid Alverson of Mangablog. Had a nice chat with those folks, about various authors, and comments from fans and other blog-y type stuff, then had to run to be there for the DR opening.

The crowd was pretty unique, as compared with most other cons I’ve been to. For one thing, I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many people in costume ever at any other con, as I’ve seen here. It’s like every third person is in costume!

We had great, enthusiastic people at the table today. Lots of them – it was really stunning how many positive, supportive folks came by. My super special thanks to Ashara who was *amazing* at lending us a helping hand.

Never, ever have we had a more receptive, fun and open-minded Yuri panel audience. You guys were *fabulous* – we all said so after it was over. Everyone laughed at the right places, which makes us all happy. We described a couple of Yuri series that hardly anyone has ever heard of – and everyone was so happy to learn about them. (And, the guys at Media Blasters tell me that their Yuri titles were selling like hotcakes, so you Anime Boston folks are really putting your money where your mouth is, which is awesome.) Seriously – one of the best crowds ever.

I did two slides for the panel, because I knew I’d want to get all the Yuricon/Okazu URLs up and because I knew I’d get a question about my screensaver ‘o Yuri. “Where did you find all these lovely pictures?” it went this time. So I wrote up a slide:

2chan

4 chan

7chan

23chan

zammel.kir.jp/lesles

jfgiktx

I’m sure people thought I was kidding about some of those.

We had a visit from Ted, sponsor of so many of the reviews here! He hung out with us, and we took him to dinner with us where we all had a great time over Mexican and drinks.

So, despite the shortness of this post, it was a reallllly long day, full of lots of good and pretty much no bad. I call this day a total win.

Sunday, last day of the con ahead – let’s see if we make it three for three for the win. ;-)

Posted in Miscellaneous | 6 Comments »