by | May 21, 2013

New Direction! Bechdel Testing Anime and Manga

As you might have noticed, I am not so great at reviewing things. Probably because I don’t have the (required?) degree backed by years of study. When I sit down in front of the computer, even if I had a pretty good in-depth analysis, it seems to go right out of my head, so I’m changing direction.

I’m just going to Bechdel Test everything I read and watch. The criteria are three simple yes or no questions:

1. Are there at least two women in it?

2. Do they talk to each other?

3. About something besides a man?

It comes from the general trend in all media that women are simply seen as extensions of men rather than their own selves. A woman tends to be defined by the roles of mother, sister, daughter, wife, and reflected through the lens of male characters.

I’m not saying all stories have to be feminist stories. I have varied ideas of what constitutes a “strong female character.” I think this will be an interesting topic to explore.

I probably won’t Bechdel Test yaoi manga and anime for obvious reasons.

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by | April 14, 2013

An Exercise in Depression: Goodbye Jmanga

This is old, old news by now. Jmanga is shutting down for good. It’s awful news, since they ran a cloud-based system, meaning that no manga bought will be kept. Most of the manga available probably won’t see the light of day in the States again either, unless there’s some new initiative or a daring e-publisher.

I spent most of today reading the rest of my random purchases that I hadn’t gotten around to before. I didn’t want May to come around and they be gone forever. I think I may be worse off than if I hadn’t read some of them, however.

Pride and Twelve Hour Ruler were pretty damn good, and I would love to read more. So was Edo Nekoe Jubei Otogizoshi. Heck, for the last one mentioned, I’d gladly pick up Japanese editions just because I like the art so much. Who knew you could portray so much emotion on the face of a cat, along with inspiring a possible cosplay no one will ever guess? Crazy for You only had one more volume to be complete! One volume! As for the rest of what I bought, fortunately Girlfriends is pretty available in a print edition (I think/hope), and the rest were just random harlequin/weird/trashy things I will never read again anyway.

So farewell, Jmanga, and thanks for introducing me to Edo Nekoe Jubei Otogizoshi. Maybe someday I’ll learn Japanese so I can just read from the source!

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by | April 6, 2013

That Naka-Kon Experience

I’ve been going to Naka-kon almost since it began. I missed that first one, which was just a free day (or weekend) event held at KU. I did go the next year though, and every year after. Some things change, and some things don’t. There’s progress, and then there’s disturbing possible trends.

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This year’s Naka looked to be the biggest yet. The main guest of note was Nobuo Uematsu, famous for composing the soundtracks to various Final Fantasy games. Kyle Hebert and Greg Ayres made return visits this year, joined by Tony Oliver and Richard Epcar. The musical guest was blue chee’s, a multitalented female pop/rock/idol group.

So what did I think of this year’s Naka-kon? It really depends on which day you’re talking about. Continue reading →

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by | February 27, 2013

The Earl and the Fairy (anime)

I fell in love with the Earl and the Fairy manga from Viz, reading all four volumes in about a week. Looking around online, I found out there’d been an anime for it back in 2008, so I decided to check that out.

Did it live up to my expectations? Continue reading →

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by | February 17, 2013

Skip Beat volume 30

Skip Beat has been running for at least 30 volumes now, and it shows no sign of concluding any time soon.

Let’s revisit the plot in the beginning, just for fun. Kyoko Mogami gave up finishing high school to move in with her boyfriend, Sho. She works many part time jobs in order to help support the fledgling rockstar as he begins to make his name, until he betrays her. Then Kyoko swears to get her revenge on him by entering showbiz and passing him in terms of popularity.

She decides the best way to achieve revenge is to join the talent agency that’s directly competing with Sho’s agency. In the process, she meets Ren Tsuruga who strongly disapproves of her motives for working in the business. There’s a lot of history between them that Kyoko is completely unaware of.

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by | February 7, 2013

Madoka movies vs Madoka series

I went backwards with Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I watched the first two movies, then I watched the series.  By the time I watched any of it, I had been well past spoiled by the internet on all the mindtrip things that happen in the series, but the ending was still a surprise luckily.

When the movies came around to Kansas City, I jumped at the chance to see them. Really I’ll watch just about any anime movie on the big screen whenever the opportunity presents itself to me. I enjoyed the movies and wondered about what differences there might be between movies and series. So I watched the series afterward.

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by | January 25, 2013

The Very First Ahn!Con

I wish the name for Kansas City’s new resident yaoi convention wasn’t so…embarassing. I guess I fall short as a fujoshi.

I was pretty excited to hear about a yaoi-centric convention in my area, and also a little scared. I tend to think (probably unfairly) that yaoi fans are scary people. Unfortunately, I paint fans like myself with the brush of those weirdos at conventions that carry paddles. I do know that there are plenty of fans that are polite and pretty reasonable.

Anyway, Ahn!Con was held at the Ramada by the river, which is where Motaku got its start. It’s a pretty small hotel. Saturday, usually the big day for any convention had a pretty dedicated little crowd. It had a pretty good showing. Unfortunately I could really only go one day and all the interesting panels were either Friday or Sunday. Next year I may just go for the three day pass and see what happens. I did pick up a yaoi sci-fi webcomic book, so I’ll be checking that out and reporting on it…sometime. Don’t expect that any time soon, I have quite the backlog.

Hopefully Ahn!Con will be a yearly event. I also hope more people show up next year so I don’t run into that guy that doesn’t shower so often.

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by | January 21, 2013

An Evening with Mick Foley

I’m a bit of a homebody. I go to work, I go home. That’s about it for me 90 percent of the time. Weirdly, whenever I have weekend plans, it always seems like I have plans filling the entire weekend, not just part of it.  The weekend before last is an excellent example. Friday night my husband and I went to see Mick Foley’s stand-up act, and then Saturday I checked out the first yaoi convention in my area (Kansas City). Next post will be about Ahn!Con.

Recently Mick Foley (the wrestler who’s also known as Cactus Jack, Mankind, and Dude Love) has been pursuing some success as a comedy act. It makes sense. My favorite things about him as a wrestler have been the extremely goofy storylines and things he’s done. Mick’s a talented individual. Not only is he a wrestler, he’s been a bestselling author, and now a comedian too.

We went to Stanford and Sons, which is now located in Legends, which is a sizable shopping area in Kansas. My husband tells me that it used to be located elsewhere. We arrived well ahead of time so we wandered around, and found the T-Rex cafe, which I definitely plan to visit once it’s warmer. It looks like a fun place to eat. As the time to the show wound down, we went back to Stanford and Sons to wait for the doors to open.

Their lobby is pretty small. It got packed quickly. It was easily the longest 20 minutes of my life. Mind you, I’ve been in lines tons of times, and been in places with lots of people, but I’ve never had to spend so long packed up so tight before. Once the doors finally opened, we got to auditorium which was pretty nice! It was spacious, but the farthest seats were still pretty close to the stage. I didn’t feel like we were terribly far away, having bought the cheapest tickets.

The first act was….I forget his name. I am terrible with names unless I write them down or look them up later, and Stanford and Sons website isn’t very helpful. It only lists the main act for the night. I do know that he was a Kansas City native, a pro wrestler and pretty funny.

The next act was Christine Stedman. (I did find her on the website!) She is hilarious. I was skeptical after hearing that she was on a Nick at Nite show, cause late night or no, it’s still Nickelodeon. I was completely wrong. She really had a way with one-liners and puns that had me doubled over for almost her entire segment.

Last but not least was Mick himself. He entered, then asked the audience to sing his entrance music so it’d feel right for him. His portion really flew by, and was more him telling wrestling stories than making jokes, but it was fascinating to see him up there talking. After the show he did a meet and greet, and I have to say that Mick is one of the nicest people I have met. Definitely recommend it if possible. I got a shirt signed and a phone picture with him, making Mick the most famous person I have met.

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by | January 7, 2013

Ichigenme…The First Class is Civil Law volumes 1-2

My only previous experience with Fumi Yoshinaga’s work has been Antique Bakery, which I will be completing soon! I also picked up Ichigenme in a sale. There were more of her works available but I thought it best to limit my exposure for now. Just in case I got tired of it.

Ichigenme is the story of two students studying law in a multi-year research course called a zemi. Tohdou is the son of a politician and a smiley goof. His love interest is Tamiya who is super serious and also the only person that actually works in their class. The zemi they attend is known as the easiest one.

Tohdou is interested in Tamiya early on, but Tamiya doesn’t reciprocate, mostly because he is straight. What’s really nice is that Tohdou lets that go. He’s pretty content to love from afar and start befriending Tamiya instead of immediately raping him as happens in so many yaoi manga. This was a sweet manga. I especially like how Yoshinaga is able to convey so much with just facial expressions. I do wish she didn’t constantly draw guys that appear to be grumpy and/or scowling.

The second volume takes place some time after the first volume. Tohdou is getting ready to start his own company and Tamiya is now a law professor. Tohdou’s younger brother and another law professor at the same college, Ito. It’s fun to see how the elder Tohdou and Tamiya’s relationship has progressed, and the side story fits in well with the world already created. There is some really interesting angles used in scenes, and more great facial expressions. It gets darker at the end with the younger Tohdou’s escapades from high school into early college.

All in all though, the story is sweet and the characters are enduring. I especially liked the elder Tohdou. It’s always fun to have a goofy emotional character in romantic stories, helps to keep the mood a bit lighter.

I will definitely have to check out more of Yoshinaga’s work in the future.

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by | January 5, 2013

The Earl and the Fairy

Oh my gosh, I love the Earl and the Fairy! I’ve read all four manga that Viz released, and according to wikipedia, looks like that’s all I get. That sucks! I want more. It does say it’s ongoing though, and there is definitely plenty of light novel material to be adapted. I have my fingers crossed.

The Earl and the Fairy tells the story of Edgar Ashenburt, a possible criminal who seizes Lydia Carlton to help him claim the title of the Blue Knight Earl. Lydia is a fairy doctor, one of the few humans who can see and interact with fairies. This manga really seemed like it was tailored specifically to me: it has fairies and fairy lore, a pretty feisty heroine, a suitably devious and mysterious guy, and a talking cat! A talking fancy cat.

I love that Lydia is very decisive. She makes her decision and sticks with it even when she knows that Edgar is lying to her. She is a compassionate young woman, despite being ostracized because of her hair and her chosen profession. Edgar is a twisted, yet noble young man with obvious designs on Lydia. Their relationship is a lot of fun, and kept me engaged throughout the manga. Unfortunately it looks like four volumes is all there is of this.

I’m just going to have to cross my fingers and hope someone translates the light novels sometime (there’s 29!). In the meantime I have to go check out the anime. I definitely recommend reading the manga if you like fairies, Victorian England, and feisty but compassionate heroines.

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