The Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san anime has come to an end, which brings this season’s Yuri anime to a close. I gave this series a first look at the beginning of the month, and I find that there are few things left I want to say about it.

First, the quality of the animation dropped off pretty sharply toward the end, but the style really never looked anything like the manga art. I expect Kuzushiro-sensei’s scratchy, loose style would actually be too difficult to animate as is.

The Yuri is actually upped a notch for the anime, in that what gets stretched out over 3+ volumes of manga is condensed for the anime. So we’re getting selected moments where Nejoyama-san is forced to recognize her actual feelings, and she and Inugami-san argue about how much they love each other.

The very last episode hints at the later plot complication of Ushiwaka’s continued attempts at seducing Inugami – something that’s easy to overlook, since Ushiwaka is presented at first as a bit of a doofus, but as the story goes on, it is becoming increasingly obvious that she’s not at all unaware of her looks or how she uses them. As the anime ends, I’m finding myself wanting to revisit the manga and watch more closely Ushiwaka and Nezu’s relationship. It initially appeared that Nezu was the more worldly of the two, but I’m rethinking that now. ^_^ In fact, they may well be the best couple in the series.

My last thought was that I actually really liked the hyper-peppy, goofy, catchy little end theme.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6
Character – 8
FanService – 6
Yuri – 8 I’m going to call this an 8, despite there being so little overt love-love, for the two implied couples made more obvious.

Overall – 8

I genuinely found the Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san anime to be non-taxing and quite entertaining, with more Yuri, both actual and service, than Riddle Story of a Devil. And, after the trials I went through dealing with Funimation’s maze, Crunchyroll has become a veritable haven for just clicking and being able to watch anime. Thumbs up, Crunchyroll.

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The third disk of Rose of Versailles, Part 2 is brought to you by the word “clusterfuck.”

The slope towards the Revolution has become decidedly slippery. The strongest leadership is on the side of change, and the status quo just crumbles in the face of it. Perhaps, it is hard for us to understand how significant this was. Kings were not just rulers, like Presidents and Prime Ministers, who are expected to be human and flawed – they were practically gods on earth. The idea that the King of France was not a good leader seems almost obvious from our perspective. For commoners and landed classes to fight back against the established order was fairly significant.

As France descends into chaos, we’re watching Oscar, tortured by the old order and yet, not part of the new. Her life is in a tailspin, as she realizes, for the very first time,, that she has feelings for Andre’, and cares more about the health of France than about following orders. “Watashi no Andre’!”

Rosalie is back for a brief moment, so we know that she is, finally, happy.

In addition to the suffering on the macro scale, we’re getting little dollops of personal suffering on top, just to add a piquant taste to the general misery.

On the positive side, I spend a lot of time, while watching this anime doing historical research. I’m a bit more grounded now in bits of the history of the French Revolution than I was when I started.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters 9
Yuri – 0
Service – 1 (on principle)

Overall – 8

Dear gods, this series is just about all I can take in terms of drama and human suffering. No wonder I avoid watching the evening news. If I had to watch current stories like this, I’d be a wreck.

Before I finish up for today, I just want to do a piece of Okazu News. Amazon has taken a stance that is decidedly anti-publisher, anti-competition and frankly is plain assholish. So, where I can do so, I’m moving my affiliate links to RightStuf. For our purposes, this means mostly English-language anime box sets and manga. RightStuf has competitive pricing and, so far, good customer service. Japanese manga and other items will probably still have Amazon links, but where I can, I’m moving us over to TRSI. If you want your purchase to be on my affiliate code, use this link when you’re shopping and this link when you’re searching. If you’re looking for a direct link to an item, please feel free to write me and ask!

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I have a complicated relationship with the Sailor Moon Super S arc. In one sense, it’s 90% about Chibi-Usa, and her struggle with not being as grown up as she desires to be (the plight of most humans until 35 or so when it switches to wishing they were younger than they are.) 5% of the story is the complete and total damseling of Mamoru and the last 5% is a fantasy about a decidedly adolescent ideal of the future. The Outer Senshi are most notable by their absence until the very end…and yet it is the Outer Senshi that are the catalysts for what passes for “growth” here in Volume 7 of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Perfect Edition (美少女戦士セーラームーン).

Each one of the Inner Senshi go through a crisis of confidence when they are unable to transform. In the middle of a fight against the Dead Moon Circus, each is visited by vision of Setsuna, Haruka or Michiru, reminding them of their skills, strength and responsibility. When their own will appears to them (as a kind of miniature self) they find their new power and transform.

When last of all, Minako is suffering from her crisis, we turn to the Outers’ new home life. It has been 6 months since they vowed to raise Hotaru as a family. Haruka and Michiru appear to the public to be a married couple, but in reality, they and Setsuna are equally involved in Hotaru’s parenting.

It’s been six months, but Hotaru looks 4 or 5 years old when we first see her, reciting W.B. Yeats’ The Second Coming (a poem that is often on my mind these days for these lines:

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.)

As Minako finally gets the boost she needs to take her rightful place as leader of the Senshi, Hotaru awakens as Sailor Saturn once again, and mobilizes the Outer Senshi to join the fight against Queen Neherenia’s Dead Moon Circus.

There’s a surprising depth to this volume, if one cares to parse it. The Lemures don’t just suck away energy this time, they contribute to a general lack of caring and we physically see Azabu-Juban getting dirtier and more run down as people become more selfish and angry.  The crises the Inners have begin with their inability to transform, and it might seem obvious that their older role models provide them with new confidence, but in each case it is from within themselves that they find the spark to power up.  This is a clear lesson  - mentors are great, but you have to find it in yourself to grow.

Even Chibi-Usa who originally resents Usagi for being what she desires to be, learns that she has to change from within to become that ideal.

My sympathy for  both the Amazon Trio and the Amazoness Quartet is higher reading the manga than watching the original anime, most probably due to the compressed time we spend with them.

I’ve always said I like Super S the least but, after this volume, maybe my opinion has softened on that. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Yuri – 2 (Haruka and Michiru married. What a lovely thought.)
Service –2 On principle

Overall – 9

In advance, let me wish you all a happy International Sailor Moon Day tomorrow!

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Sailor Moon News

Happy International Sailor Moon Day. ^_^

If you have not yet watched the premiere of Sailor Moon Crystal, you can watch it on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Neon Alley, or Nico Nico Douga (where it will be available in 10 languages: English, French, Dutch, Turkish, Traditional Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Bahasa Indonesian, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese and Bahasa Melayu.)

The Sailors Uranus and Neptune figurines have been debuted and they look great! As *soon* as I have affiliate links for these, I promise I’ll post them. ^_^

Victoria McNally continues her A Ridiculously Comprehensive History of Sailor Moon with Part 3: Tales from Fandom.

Banpresto and Galaxxy have teamed up for some Sailor Moon goods to be included as lottery prizes.

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Live Action News

YNN Correspondent Bea P. found yet another fun Yuri-ish  live action series! She writes in to say:
I just stumbled across a live action trailer and from the looks of it, it features two Yuri plotlines. It is called Houkago Lost「放課後ロスト」and is divided into three episodes, each with its own plot (how they tie together remains to be seen).  Episodes 1 & 3 seem to revolve around two relationships.

Episode 1 is about a student named Yuuki who often skips school. One day she becomes interested in Ayuki, the class representative. Initially, I thought this plot would just be about the subtext but the two shared a quick kiss. Yuuki is played by Honoka Miki, who played Yumi in the Maria-Sama live action film and is starring in another Yuri live action film, Shishunko Gokko (which we mentioned in May on YNN). Episode 3 is about Rika who meets a girl from another class, Yuu. They begin to spend time together as a friendship forms. Again, I thought it would just be subtext but they too have a kiss scene, or what looks like the beginnings of one.

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Yuri Manga

You remember Morishima Akiko-sensei’s project Yurikuma Arashi that was being created in conjunction with Ikuhara Kunihiko? Well, now you can read the first chapter over at Gentosha Comics’ e-reader! It’s in Japanese.

YNN Correspondent Grsiznak has this terrific news to share: Polish doujinshi company The Cold Desire started presales of their Yuri Manga Anthology. It’s officially on sale in July. Yay them! ^_^

New YNN Correspondent Jyun K has two new Yuri manga series to tell us about: “Lily” by Sazanami Chima  (リリィ /小波ちま) from Manga Time Kirara Miracle and comedic Yuri manga “Shinozaki-san Ki wo Ota Shika ni!” (篠崎さん気をオタしかに!) – click the link to read the manga in Japanese.  Thanks for the heads up, Jyun!

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Yuri Anime

YNN Correspondent Emily H wants us to know that Yuri anime (and my Best Yuri Anime of the Year twice) Simoun is streaming on Hulu.com. If you missed this amazing series when it was released, do go watch it now. It’s absolutely terrific.

And thanks to YNN Correspondent Cryssoberyl for the heads up that the upcoming  Sabagebu! anime is going to be well worth our time. I enjoyed the manga quite a bit, so I’m looking forward to the anime! (And the manga is getting a 2-issue shounen-style spin-off in Morning magazine, which I’m hoping might up the Yuri a bit.)

Yuru Yuri‘s next OVA is getting a theatrical release in Japan in late November.

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Other News

Scholar Sophie Winter is continuing her series on depictions of women in comics with Realism versus idealism: sources find different ways to female empowerment in comic book culture. 

Former Takarsienne Higashi Koyuki and her wife Hiroko, the two women who had their ceremony at Tokyo Disneyland, were featured on a on Japanese TV show about married couples . The trailer is notable for referring to them as 婦 婦, wife and wife. ^_^ I’d love for that term to enter the vernacular.

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That’s a wrap for this week! Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge. Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

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RightStuf has pre-orders up for the original Sailor Moon anime. The prices are very decent.

The DVD set is just over $30. This comes with no physical extras, and video extras are Convention Featurettes (Short Version).

The Combo BD/DVD set is $57 and will come with a coin of Sailor Moon’s first henshin brooch, and her transformation phrase an 88-page, full-color premium booklet, all housed in a shimmering chipboard artbox. Special Features: Dub Recording Behind the Scenes, Art Galleries, Convention Featurettes (Extended Version).

While I think the coin is a bit meaningless (no coins in the series, so why a coin? Marketing folks at TRSI, we fans like to get stuff that’s related to the series if possible,) it still seems a good deal for a BD set and artbox.

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If you, like me, have been impatiently waiting for the next installments of the wonderful series The Legend of Bold Riley, written by Leia Weathington and drawn by a number of artists, your wait is over! Three new issues have been released following our favorite dashing adventurer!

In Issue 1,  The Talking Bone, Riley encounters a bone that regales her with a tale of love lost. So, of course, she wants to reunite it with its love and, of course, it’s more complicated than it seems.

Issue 2, Warp and Weft, finds Riley sleeping on a moor alone. And, as everyone knows, when you sleep alone on a moor, strange things happen to you. In this case, Riley meets an old woman whose tapestries tell stories, of the past and maybe the future.  I was fortunate enough to receive a reviewer’s copy of this and Zack Giallongo’s art is perfect for the story. In many ways, it reminded me of the opening to the quite epic anime Erin, (which if you have not watched is absolutely worth a watching. It’s streaming on Crunchyroll.) And the cover (pictured here) makes Riley look so darn cool.

In Issue 3, The Lion Jawed, having left her grief behind her, Riley encounters more visions and a new purpose, as she heads off to find adventure (and beautiful women) in Kabumzala.

As sword and sorcery short stories go, I find Bold Riley to be just about perfect. Each artist gives me the sensation of listening to well-known stories told by different storytellers.  The only thing missing from the series at this point is a Pirate Queen to be Riley’s frenemy. ^_^

One of the million things I love about Northwest Press is the variety of formats their work is available in. Paper pamphlet comics, e-book, PDF, iPad ePub and CBZ…and each linked issue has a few pages up for you to take a look at before you buy. The collected volume should be out next holiday season, but throw a few bucks NWP’s way and get more amazing LGBTQ comics now.

Ratings:

Art –  is always dependent upon your taste
Story – 9 I love this stuff
Characters – 9 I love this stuff
Service – Variable

Overall – 9 for Lesbian Adventurer.

Seriously, I love this stuff.

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Staring at the cover of the July issue of Comic Yuri Hime, (コミック百合姫), I was a loss for words. Apparently no one involved with this picture had ever been or knew a baton twirler. Ain’t no way I’d be that close to someone who was just learning basics…and definitely not in my uniform. ^_^; (I remember how hard those rubber ends were very well.)

And away we go into a Kuzushiro-sensei heavy issue, with several stand-alone stories and a new chapter of “Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san.” The last of the stand alone stories appealed to me greatly, as a simple meetup between two friends becomes a destructive battle in public over a momentary misunderstanding – it was very amusing. ^_^ An added bonus in this volume is a limited edition cover to Volume 3 of Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san.

Minamoto Hisanari’s contribution was absolutely wonderful, as a woman who works in costume doing tokusatsu roles is truly her lover’s hero.
“Vespa” comes to a climax that, for once, seems to actually pluck the main charcters out of their terrible situation with a big ole’ handwave. There’s a short piece by Kawai Roh that is set in the floating world of the Edo period but manages to still be healing rather than destructive.

Takemiya Jin’s “Chou Chou, Nan Nan” takes a quick turn to resolving one of the three couples, but more is to come, so we’ll see if this is where it stays. Chisako’s “Honey Switch” was a sweet little office romance.

And it looks like “Yuri Danshi” has come to the end of it’s lily path filled with passionate delusion. Gosh I hope so. I also hope they use the space it opens up for something good now. Thanks.

There are, as always, many more stories and articles, but these are the ones I found most notable in this now-nearly 700-page anthology. It’s pretty clear that moving to a bimonthly format hasn’t hurt Comic Yuri Hime at all. For which I am grateful.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

The good is very good, the bad is merely okay. It’s running just over 50% good. ^_^

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In Volume 8 of Manga no Tsukirikata (まんがの作り方) something happens, but it’s too late to salvage this series.

First Masato suddenly develops a cute sempai, although he never seemed to belong to a club or anything. There’s a lot of talking about making manga and deadlines, but not that much doing of it. We stop all the talking and not doing that much to play some ping pong…then suddenly we learn that Morishita, surrounded as she is by a guy hopelessly in like with her, his talentless and graceless sister with whom she is hopelessly in like and Takeda who hates her, and both Kawaguchis, but admires her professional alter ego, admits to being in a professional slump. Imagine that.

Having admitted that, the manga artists all decide to reapply themselves to their work, no one pays any attention to Masato and Kawaguchi asks Morishita to go out with her, probably for real this time. Maybe. We hope.

Just in case we enjoyed any of this even a little, the extra story is about a girl who becomes famous showing off her underwear, but is surplanted in popularity by a girl who shows her bra to make us hate ourselves all over again.

8 Volumes of this “Yuri” manga without so much as the scrapings of actual emotional connection. It’s not even worth excoriating.

Ratings:

Art – Mostly competent
Story – Nonexistent
Characters – Hesitant
Service – Extant
Yuri – Irrelevant

Overall – Thank the gods that’s over.

But still, many thanks to Okazu Superhero Dan P. for making it possible for me to finish this thing. How does a series so boring get 8 volumes?

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Yuri Anime

Sabagebu! anime is upon us and Crunchyroll News has the previews and some cast updates and is streaming the anime for your viewing pleasure. The anime is only remotely like the shoujo manga I read, so I assume it’s closer to the spinoff version running in Morning magazine. It’s still fun and Sentai Filmworks announced the license for the series at Anime Expo.

We’ve got some of the staff information on Psycho-Pass 2, now, but I still say that we really shouldn’t expect a lot on the Yuri side without Fukami Makoto on board.

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Sailor Moon News

Viz announced the dub cast for the original Sailor Moon anime series at Anime Expo.

Friends in the Los Angeles area, if you can, make it over to Meltdown Comics for a multi-artist Sailor Moon art exhibit the week of August 16th. Send us pictures!

If you deeply cared about the hack job DiC made of the original Sailor Moon dub, check out the dub director’s tell-all book.

The Sailor Moon Musical:  La Reconquista  DVD  trailer is now a thing you can watch! The second musical, Petite Étrangère is so far scheduled for an August premiere.

And, honestly I wanted to know this, so I thought maybe a few of you did, too. The simulcast in 10 languages on NicoNicoDouga had 1 million views in the first two days.

The next high-end accessory from the Sailor Moon money-raking-in team are some lovely Senshi-themed rings.

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Yuri Manga and Comics

Sparkler Monthly is making Denise Schroeder’s adorable little Girl-Meets-Girl comic, Before You Go, available on Kindle, as well as still having some paper copies left. Let’s sell this baby out, so we get more Yuri.

Kawai Roh’s new Yuri manga collection Mikansei Girl (未完成ガール), hits shelves next week.

Solomon Fletcher introduces his new comic, The Forest, about “two queer witches who perform a spell together to save a forest”.

The team that brought you Princeless has page from a new title – Princeless: The Pirate Princess up on their Tumblr.

Comic Flapper is starting up a Yuricest series that reads in Japanese Saiyuri no Imouto ha Tenshi-san, and in English, An Angel Who Has Swooped Down Was My Little Sister.

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LGBTQ Event

If you’re in the San Francisco area this weekend, check out GaymerX, the queer gaming convention. And don’t miss our friend and friend of Yuriko, Regina Buenaobra who is going to be on several panels!

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Other News

Jamie Lynn Lano, who is an absolute doll, has officially published her memoir, Princess of Tennis, which tells of her time assisting the mangaka who creates Prince of Tennis, on her way to becoming a successful manga artist. It’s great stuff, especially if you’re hoping to get work in the Japanese industry.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Silent Mobius, creator Asamiya Kia is debuting new manga series Silent Mobius QD, which will run in Monthly Young Magazine.

Hentai website Fakku has contracted with Wani Publishing (who is responsible for Ikkitousen, among other series) for h-manga online publishing. Whether we actually ever get Onegai Suzune-chan or other actually Yuri manga, remains to be seen.

Oh, look, there’ll be a sequel to that amusingly awful live-action series,  Innocent Lilies.

Take a look at this cute comic on Sailor Moon/Thor/Brave hair issues.

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That’s a wrap for this week! Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge. Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

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A lot happens in Volume 3 of  Saito Chiho-sensei’s Torikaebaya (とりかえ・ばや ).

Sarasojuu’s friend and peer, Tsuwabuki, has fallen for Sarasojuu’s wife, Shinohime. Alone and unable to understand why her husband does not make love to her, Shinohime falls willingly into his arms.

Both Tsuwabuki and Shinohime are overcome with shame and can’t face Sarasojuu, who is, obviously concerned and confused.

And then, Shinohime is found to be pregnant. Sarasojuu is shocked. Clearly, Shinohime is sleeping with another man, and who can blame her. Sarasojuu visits her father, proposing that Shinohime be told the truth, but he puts the cabosh on that, pointing out sensibly that, if the truth were spoken out loud, even in secret, it would spread fast.

In the meantime Toguu-sama is heading to the mountains taking Suiren with her. Suiren probably doesn’t realize it yet, but  we can see Suiren is falling for Toguu-sama, and it’s kind of cute, but of course there’s the whole gender thing complicating matters.

Toguu-sama allows Suiren to invite Sarasojuu to the mountains to accompany their party. In the mountains, the two siblings meet the master of the mountain, Yoshinomiya who instantly sees who they truly are. Returning home, Sarasojuu “forgives” Shinohime and eventually comes believe that the father is Tsuwabuki.

In the capital, the Mikado learns of a city warehouse that is not releasing rice to the people and decides that what they need is the return of Yamato Takeru, a hero from the ancient epic Kojiki, to enact the Mikado’s will.  (As an aside, Yamato Takeru is known to have hidden by disguising himself as a woman. This indicates to me that Saito-sensei is having some fun with this story, about a boy who is really a girl (physically), who is playing a boy dressed as a girl.)

Sarasojuu and Tsuwabuki perform their roles and the warehouse is opened (shades of Mito Koumon there, honestly, with the officials overturning their sake bowls in shock at their appearance.) Afterwards, they are greeted by Shikibukyo-no-miya who blatantly claims Sarasojuu for his evening’s entertainment. To save his friend from this odious man, Tsuwabuki volunteers himself to be the priest’s sex toy. They return to the capital and finally, Sarasojuu is able to confront Tsuwabuki about being the child’s father. Now that the child is born, Sarasojuu offers to divorce Shinohime so Tsuwabuki can raise his daughter. They argue and, as the book comes to an end, Tsuwabuki discovers the truth about Sarasojuu’s body.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 9
Service – 3
LGBTQ – 5 This volume was very Victor/Victoria.

Overall – 9

A lot happened in this volume….and how it will turn out I have no idea. I’m on pins and needles here. I probably won’t get  to Volume 4 for months. Arrghh!

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The cover of Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari, Volume 13 (ピュア百合アンソロジー ひらり) is a bit of a tease, as it shows the characters from Amakure Gido’s Shuden ni ha Kaeshimasu, which is over and done with. :-( But it’s still a cute picture.

The lead story by Itou Hachi, “Haru no  Minuet” is a lovely story about a girl who becomes close with a hearing-impaired classmate. I’d love to see more Yuri stories that include issues of ability (and, gosh, folks, if you’re drawing/writing Yuri or lesbian-themed work, let’s get some diversity in there!)

In “Taiyou to Kaze-san,” Yamada and Kaze get to spend the day together in the pool. This series is so sweet it hurts.

I adored Shimano Yae’s “Makoto Gohan” for many reasons, none of which will be surprising. An adult woman, in a long term relationship with another women who communicates her love through food. This is my life and it made me extra happy to see it in manga form.

In Morishima Akiko’s “Shoujo Paradigm” Masami and Midori need to work out just exactly what their relationship is, really.

Morinaga Milk’s “Ohime-sama no Himitsu” takes a turn. As Miu and Fujiwara-sempai decide to give their relationship a real go, Fujiwara’s fans desert her for another cool sempai-type, Hirozawa, since Miu has Fujiwara wrapped up. Fujiwara is clearly happy with their new course, but Miu is starting to think she’s holding everyone back from being happy….This series started out a s bit of fluff, but I think we’ll get at least one solid volume from it, and with the new chapter, I’m really hoping for  two and a decent story. It definitely has potential.

What do you do if the person you didn’t know you liked tells you she has a girlfriend? This is is what Akuta Fumie asks in “watashi no sukina anokonokoto.”

“Under One Roof” continues to roll around in the same scene over and over as Miho comes home to her landlady’s gay friends over for dinner and innuendo once more, but it works for me. ^_^

As always there are many other stories and artists of note in this issue and surely there will be something  that will appeal in this solid Yuri anthology magazine.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

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Taking the weekend to do nothing and rest. See you next week!

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For the purposes of classification on this blog, I call Yurikago no Otometachi (ゆりかごの乙女たち) a “Yuri” manga, but it is more properly an “S” story. The volume rides a thin line between pulp and realistic and, surprisingly, manages it quite well.

It is the Taisho period and more and more Japanese men are being drafted into  the country’s war efforts. Tamaki is a serious young woman who has no female friends and, even at the girl’s school she attends, is considered a rich girl, an ojou-sama. She receives a letter from an upperclassman asking her to be her little sister and has to have “S” explained to her.

By chance, Tamaki meets Yukiko, another girl in the same year as she and they hit it off as friends. The upperclassman Takaki rejected comes back to taunt her, but Yukiko steps in and protects Tamaki. Tamaki’s feelings for Yukiko are deepening, although she has no words for them.

Tamaki’s world is shaken when she sees two boys kissing in an alley and even more so when it turns out that the “boys” are two girls who disguise themselves to give themselves the freedom to go to the cinema unaccompanied. The two girls are upperclassman Kinuko and her lover Yoshino from Tamaki’s school.

Just as Tamaki is really starting to understand her feelings, real life intrudes. Tamaki is given the chance to skip a year of school and go straight to advanced education (what would probably now be a junior college) but the war is taking more and more men, and Tamaki will have to leave school, as her father has been drafted.

Tamaki misses her opportunity to tell Yukiko how she feels, and everything is lost in the subsequent life changes. Tamaki sees Yukiko with a young man, a suitor or fiancee’. Tamaki seeks advice from Kinuko, but finds that Kinuko has broken up with Yoshino, because the younger girl is too serious and their relationship cannot be sustained beyond school. As they speak of it, Yoshino runs up to confront Kinuko, followed by Yukiko in pursuit, trying to stop her. Tamaki tries to slow Yoshino down, but finds herself cut across the hand by Yoshino who is holding a knife. Yukiko catches up to Yoshino and is stabbed in the scuffle.

Kunuko’s family pays everyone off to get them to forgive and forget. Tamaki, who has been there waiting for Yukiko to recover has not yet seen her friend. It’s not until that nice young man comes with a gift for Yukiko, asking Tamaki to take it in for him, that she sees her friend. She leaves, but Yukiko wakes, hears her voice and comes out of bed, fever and wound and all. Finally, they see each other again and, even as they admit that they wish they could be together forever, they separate with a patently false promise to meet again.

Tamaki learns that the young man who has worked for her father is off to Hiroshima, and while Yukiko returns to the bench at school where she and Tamaki met, Tamaki leaves, promising to never forget her.

I’m not going to lie, this was a sad book, but it was well-drawn and well-told and, as I say, rode the line between melodramatic pulp and a realistic story beautifully. For something that tells an S story with an overt acknowledgement that the story inside the cradle is not the real story at all, Yurikago no Otometachi is a sad, but extremely well-executed -look at a same-sex romance in an age that had only S relationships.

Ratings:

Art – 8 Clean, easy to follow, pleasantly free of allegory
Story – 8, sad, but realistically so
Characters – 8 (except, perhaps, Kinuko, who seemed a bit forced)
Yuri – 7
Service – 1, on principle only

Overall – 8

I read stories like this and mentally rewrite them set in our current time with a different ending, to make myself feel better. T_T

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In Volume 1 of Itazura Choucho, we met Nanoha and Sakura, two young women in a performing arts school who have an intense relationship with each other and with their chosen means of performing. In Volume 2, each get a coach. Sakura’s is a traditional oni-coach whose demands threaten to tear her and Nanoha apart, while Nanoha faces a crisis with her own abilities.

And, in Itazura Choucho, Volume 3 (悪戯ちょうちょ), it’s all going to come to a head. As the big competition approaches, Nanoha is unable to sing at all, and Sakura has been playing piano at a wine bar to get past the stress of performing in front of an audience. More importantly, she finds that people are responding to her piano-playing  positively.

Sakura forces Nanoha to respond to her feelings, Nanoha admits that not being able to sing makes her feel unable to respond. But Sakura’s playing reignites Nanoha’s love of music and she finds her voice again.

But peace is not yet their lot. Circumstances pull them apart one last time and instead of working together for the competition, they find themselves competing against each other. This time, it’s Nanoha’s coach to the rescue, and Nanoha finds her center. When the competition comes, she stands on the stage and sings, a capella. Sakura is sure she can hear a message for herself in the words. When it’s Sakura time to compete she blows the audience, the judges and Nanoha away with her passion and skill. The butterflies of Chopin’s Butterfly Etude fill the auditorium.

In the final pages, Nanoha and Sakura part, so Sakura can study overseas, but knowing that they will not be parted for long because they love each other.

I wasn’t really sure how to approach this series originally, but  I’m glad I stuck with it. Ultimately, it was more about finding one’s self and understanding one’s own passion than about love, but the love is a pleasant by-product. I came to enjoy the art, which visually communicates many emotions, especially for the performance scenes, although some of the faces started to break up towards the middle of this volume.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 6
Service – 1

Overall – 8

If you’re interested in checking out this series as a whole, there is a 3-comic set for sale, and for those of you with Japanese kindle access, there’s a Kindle version, as well.

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Lots of stuff happening these convention days! If there’s a bunch of announcements later this weekend, I’ll do a follow-up post.

Sailor Moon News

I hope you’ve all been enjoying the new Sailor Moon anime as much as I have. ^_^ If you are, ANN mentioned the first new Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Crystal Visual Book (美少女戦士セーラームーン Crystal 公式ファーストビジュアルブック) out from Toei Animation, and I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love the lyrics to the OP, Moon Pride (out on CD and Blu-Ray or CD only. I’m planning on/hoping to pick it up when I’m in Japan.) Here’s the Moon Pride music video/OP for your viewing pleasure.

San Diego Comic Con is in full swing this weekend and already we’re getting some Sailor Moon sign there, as well. Check out this Mary Sue report by Victoria McNally with all of the S.H. Figuarts Senshi figurines (except Pluto, since she’s not out yet)!

Speaking of which, the Sailor Uranus figurine is finally up for pre-order on Amazon. (Not yet on TRSI. I’ll get you that link as soon as I see it there.) It’s slated for release in January 2015. Sailor Neptune is expected in March 2015. Arrgh, so long to wait!

Viz is getting into the Sailor Moon swing of things, with a clip of the new, much improved, dub.

Don’t know if you’ve seen these, but there is a lovely line of Inner Senshi-themed accessory rings, as well. I sob at the thought of the amount of money I am going to spend in Japan this October.

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Yuri Manga

Comic Natalie reports that digital comic magazine Comic Meteor‘s Yuri comedy series Buchou ni Igen ha~, is coming to an end with Volume 3. ( Here are links for Volume 1 and Volume 2)

Seven Seas’ English edition of Gakuen Polizi, Volume 2 by Morinaga Milk-sensei is up for pre-order, with a long lead time before it’s April 2015 release date.

Kämpfer Volume 1 is also available now in the Kindle Store.

Quick reminder that Whispered Words, Volume 2 Pre-order is up on Amazon, not yet on TRSI, with a release date in November 2014. I can assure you that the quality is much improved from Volume 1.

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Random Things of Interest

More info on Japan’s most famous badass female warrior, Tomoe Gozen, with a nice collection of art and media.

A comic about gender roles that is basically exactly what I hear in my head. Thank you, Holly Robin, for expressing my confusion about people’s confusion.

Check out this series from The Mary Sue on “Princess” Tropes in media.

ANN has a link to the second Official Rose of Versailles Trivia Exam.

Heidi MacDonald has a really interesting discussion of women comic readers in the days before, during and after The Comics Code in The Secret of Comics History That People On The Internet Don’t Want You to Know!

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Live Action Yuri

Yet another girl group, Nogizaka46, has a long music video/short movie that has a light Yuri frisson. Here’s Muguchi na Lion (Silent Lion).

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That’s a wrap for this week! Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge. Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!

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When you pick up a manga by Takemoto Izumi, you can be sure of several things: The girls will be cute, the guys nice; the lead character will be odd, but charming, and; there will be cosplay, however thinly veiled the reason. The one thing you cannot be sure of is…a plot.

And so it is with Kokome Futeiten (ここめ不定点), a slice-of-life story set in a high school, starring Mugihatake Kokome, an unusually petite first-year, who is constantly mistaken for an elementary school student, and her friends Yukari, who looks positively adult next to Kokome, and the manga club president who actually is an elementary school age student in high school, Mimika.

Days pass quickly in this school, with many dress up scenes, visits to Comiket, and various club and school activities, as long as they afford opportunities for silly gags and cosplay. These include the spreading of memes and trends among the middle schoolers, the short-lived trend of calling Kokome “Kokome-sama”, and settling on “O-kome-chan,” and Kokome’s fame as a voice in the anime club’s hand-made anime.

Yuri pops up late in the manga when Mimika starts kissing her friends hello, apparently after the fashion of a classmate who is a Russian transfer student. Kokome looks forward to her kiss the next day and is bummed when Mimika says the teacher put the kibosh on the habit.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 5
Characters – 7
Yuri – 1
Service – 1

Overall – 7

There’s nothing here that you couldn’t show an 11-year old, but also it’d be a rare 11-year old that found it amusing….this kind of comic is the purview of adults looking back with sienna-tinted nostalgia on school life.

Volume 14 of Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari is the final volume of the magazine.

According to Comic Natalie’s report, a few additional collected volumes will be released after suspension, including Morishima Akiko’s “Seijun Shoujo Paradigm” (聖純少女パラダイム) and Kari Sumako’s “Watashi no Iyana Tomodachi” (私の嫌いなおともだち（仮）).

Currently on sale from Hirari Comics is Takasaki Hiromi’s Obentou to Kaze-san. (おべんとうと加瀬さん。) and Kazama Ayami’s Hoshi wo Futari de (星をふたりで)。

There’s a sense of creeping irony here for me, as I just recently pronounced it apparently stable. After 13 volumes, I finally relaxed and expected it to be sustainable for a bit. Still 5 and half years and 14 volumes is a good run and everyone who worked on it should be proud of their work.

Now we’re back to just one Yuri manga and there’s definitely room for more in the market. A number of my favorite manga artists are shifting back to doujinshi work. I hope someone will step up and start another Yuri magazine. I’m available, if they need help. ^_^

Volume 2 of Marine Corps Yumi, (まりんこゆみ) written by our dear friend Ana Moreno, with art by Nogami Takeshi, picks up where Volume 1 left off, with Nipponian high school grad Yumi deep in the middle of boot camp to become a Marine in her quest to become President of the United States of Amerigo.

Boot camp is a series of painful, exhausting, mind-fucking, embarrassing and demeaning tasks. Sounds like loads of fun, doesn’t it? ^_^

The first half of the volume details the hundred different ways recruits have their minds and bodies beaten and bruised, but it’s in the second part of the volume that we see who stands tall at the end.

The final part of the manga details the three-day “crucible”, the world’s toughest final exam that no “tough mudder” race can ever truly approach in intensity. Everything the recruits have learned in the last three months is tested, while they themselves are pushed to breaking.

Rita Fernandez is, of course, born to be a Marine. Donna King turns out to pretty smart, despite all her best effort at hiding it, Linda Crawford is a solid team player. Yumi isn’t the brightest bulb in the box, but she’s got “gambare” and persists though everything. And, in the end, as the sun rises on our team and they pass the final trial, there must have been something in the ink, or maybe my allergies were acting up, because my eyes just kept on being kind of teary.

Ana has been all over media recently. Nico Nico Douga did a broadcast with her and Nogami-sensei and it was awesome to hear her talking about her experiences as a comic artist, Marine and author on the Deconstructing Comics podcast. I really recommend listening to this, to get an idea of her process and what to expect in Volume 3. And, of course, you can read this comic for free online in Japanese or English. (Catch up now in English and get those hankies ready for the end of the crucible!)

For those of us here, who love stories of women teaming up, getting stronger and succeeding against great odds, this is probably the most realistic story we’re going to read that actually has those qualities that we love so much in our fiction. I want to take one last moment to note again that Marine Corp Yumi is the most racially diverse manga (without scrunchy-making stereotypes) I’ve ever read. And there’s plenty of stupid physical gags to keep us laughing. (And, if you ask her nicely, maybe Ana’ll add in a lesbian Yuri-lover to counter Donna’s scrunchy-making stereotypical BL fujoshi-ness. ^_^)

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8 How about the dust in here, my eyes just won’t stop weeping
Characters – 8
Yuri – 0 (so far)
Service – 4 There’s definitely some service in those hills

Overall – 8

I’m reading the Japanese comic online, so I know what’s coming, but I can’t wait for Volume 3! I’m definitely one of the military otaku this comic targets and that makes me a little uncomfortable. ^_^; Next life, I’m going to be a Marine, dammit.

Many, many, many thanks to Ana for this review copies and extras that went out to some lucky folks with the last contest!

It’s about midsummer here, and the weather has been unnaturally pleasant, so I’ve been outside playing, rather than curling up in the A/C. As a result I’m hugely behind on my reading, but…no regrets. Getting to take long walks in the Northeast woodlands of the USA is as good for my soul as reading comics. ^_^

But, when I get a chance to read a really unique, fun, kid-friendly,  girl-friendly comic, you just know I have to share it with you!  Thanks to the fantastic Tucker Stone at Nobrow Press, I had the chance to read the delightful Hilda and the Midnight Giant.

Hilda and her Mom live outside the town. They seem to have a comfortable relationship, and Hilda is studious and dedicated. When it turns out that she and her mother are living in the middle of a civilization of small, invisible people, Hilda has to figure out how to make peace between her and and entire race of beings that consider her their enemy.

As Hilda wrestles with the politics of her neighbors, she also discovers a giant occupying the same valley. Her inquiries take her from the mayor of the local town through which she and her mother have been walking to the king of the civilization, while she tracks down the giant who comes by at night.

The adventure is, in a word, strange.

You could make a case for it being an allegory about people sharing space on the planet, but that’s not really what it’s about at all. ^_^ Hilda learns about bureaucracy and how being in the right place at the right time is as good as dedicated effort. It’s a life lesson that would serve many a young person well and for that reason alone, I’m inclined to recommend this book. But more importantly, it’s a rollicking, rattingly tale of little people and giants and has a wholly unexpected end. Really unexpected.

Luke Pearson’s writing is great. Hilda is a smart kid, she asks a lot of questions, but mostly the right questions…and she really processes the answers, to  come up with well thought out solutions. Mom speaks to Hilda like she’s a smart kid, so there’s none of that creepy condescending tone with which adults so often address kids. The art is, for lack of a better word “cartoony.” The giant is a tall, hairy column, the little people are small capsule-shaped creatures.  There’s no complex artistic rendering here, just straightforward, simple comic art. It’s the story that carries you along.

If you know a young comics reader, or a a child that you’d like to turn into a comics reader – especially if they love fairy-tale-like stories – this would be a great place to start them. Hilda isn’t a superhero, but she sure saves the day.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 9
Character – 8

Overall – A solid 8 and I hope to be able to read some of the other Hilda books in the future.

Yuri Manga

Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari is ceasing publication immediately, with the shipment of  Volume 14. My copy arrived a few days after the announcement broke. :-(

est em has announced that she’ll be wrapping Golondrina up with Volume 6, now that Ikki magazine is closing shop, ANN reports.  This tale of a young lesbian training to be a matador has thrilled and fascinated me. I can’t wait to see what will happen. There’s always a chance it’ll come out in English. Viz has the Ikki licenses, but there’s other possibilities as well.

Amano Shuninta’s philosophia doujinshi series, has been collected into a single volume and, along with, Mani’s Girl @ Girl, Bousou Girlsteki Mousou Renaiteki Suteki Project, Volume 2 (ボウソウガールズテキモウソウレンアイテキステキプロジェクト(B・G・M・R・S・P)), and Tsuki to Sekai to Etoile, Volume 3,  (月と世界とエトワール) will get a release this month from Yuri Hime Comics

Kämpfer Vol. 2 is now available from DMP on their emanga platform or Kindle.

UDON Entertainment has announced the license for the Kill la Kill manga. I’m reading the first volume in Japanese right now and with the 20 pages I’ve read it seems pretty exactly like the anime.

Takemiya Jin tweeted a link to her new doujinshi titles on Comic Zin. She’s got 5 new ones this year.
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Yuri Novel

Mori Natsuko has a new lesbian novel and this time, it’s illustrated by none other than Morishima Akiko. You can bet I’ll be getting Atashi no Kanojo (あたしの彼女).

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Other News

YNN Correspondent Grisznak spotted these Riddle Story of a Devil goods and wanted to share the news with you.

Japanese publishers are finally announcing a more global push to stop anime and manga piracy.  Manga-Anime Here is a visual site that helps fans find legit sources for the anime and manga they love. It’s not organized well, but the idea is a good one, I think.  Getting a  librarian to organize it would be a great idea.

Folks interested in LGBTQ life in Japan, might want to take a look at Coming Out Letters (カミングアウト・レターズ),  which is a collection of letters from students who are coming out and their parents and teachers to whom they are confiding.

The transcript of the Making A Living in Manga in Japan panel at SDCC, moderated by Deb Aoki, with panelists Lilian Diaz-Pryzybl, Felipe Smith and Jamie Lynn Lano is up on ANN. If you have any interest in becoming a manga artist, or in the industry in general, this is well worth reading.

Bleeding Cool has coverage of the first SDCC panel on Trans issues in media.

Did I post this yet? Well, if I did, I’m posting it again: Check out this magnificent “ninja techniques” video with two high school girls that is really a C.C. Lemon commercial. It’s a hoot.

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That’s a wrap for this week! Become a Yuri Network Correspondent by sending me any Yuri-related news you find. Emails go to anilesbocon01 at hotmail dot com. Not to the comments here, please, or they might be forgotten or missed. There’s a reason for this madness. This way I know you are a real human, not Anonymous (which I do not encourage – stand by your words with your name!) and I can send you a YNN correspondent’s badge. Thanks to all of you – you make this a great Yuri Network!