Yearning for Yuri: Kindred Spirits on the Roof

I said in my post on Their Story that I would be branching out beyond the narrow band that is yuri manga, into works that are yuri-adjacent, or not manga. Today’s post is looking at an example of the latter; Kindred Spirits on the Roof, a yuri visual novel released by Liar-soft in 2012 as Okujou no Yurirei-san. Kindred Spirits is a great VN and one of my favorite yuri works, and I’m excited to get into why that is.

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New Game!! is the Best Sequel I’ve Seen in Years

I don’t think it’s all that controversial to state that New Game!!, the second season of the 2016 Kirara adaptation, is a significant improvement over the first season. That’s not a jab at the first season; I had a great time with it, and it made it on to my 2016 top 10 list. But the second season goes beyond the first in many places. It doesn’t simply settle for being more of the same; it takes everything a step further, in the process becoming a significantly better show, not merely a slight improvement. It’s hard to cover every way in which it’s improved, but I’ll try.

My Favorite Ships Part 3: The OTPs

Here it is, my final ship post. It’s quite a bit longer than the others despite there being fewer ships, though that’s not much of a shock given how much I like the ones on here. This is also where some of the more ship-heavy fanbases ended up so people might actually disagree with some of these, so hopefully, everyone reading this shares my opinion, haha. Anyway, let’s get started on my final one of these.

Yearning for Yuri: Candy

I said early on in these that I had a bit of a preference for shoujo-style yuri manga. Shoujo is, of course, the demographic from which yuri first emerged, and it’s had a notable effect on the genre in positive and negative ways. In modern times shoujo yuri tends to carry many of the genre’s more appealing elements without much of the problematic ones. The works I’ve covered have gravitated towards shoujo, largely because I’ve only written about two works with male authors, but I haven’t focused on something that’s really deeply shoujo since Kase-san. Today that changes, as I look at Candy by Yuhuko Suzuko, a female shoujo mangaka.

[Updated with Video Script] Hitagi Rendezvous and the Importance of Screentime

Monogatari’s main story arc has come to an end with the release of Owarimonogatari 2. Of course, this ‘End Story’ isn’t the true end of Monogatari; there are plenty more books left to be adapted, and evidence points towards the idea that plans are already in the works. But we’ve now seen the end of Koyomi Araragi’s final year of high school, and with it, the end of an era. This story that’s been going on for more than 8 years has finally ended, and it’s done so in great fashion. The ending feels utterly conclusive, and though I’m certainly eager to see the coming stories, I’d be willing to accept it if we stopped here.

My Favorite Ships Part 2: Unforgettable Ships

The first of these got a positive reaction and I was eager to write this one, so after only one day here’s the second of my three favorite ship posts. This one’s a bit longer despite having fewer ships, largely because I care more about them, so I expect the next one to be even longer. Enjoy!

My Favorite Ships Part 1: Ships I Really Like

I’ve made some pretty self-indulgent posts on here in the past, but this has to be the peak. In this three-part series, I’ll be listing all my favorite ships, describing why I love them, and basically just wasting the time of anyone who reads this. This first post is on ships I like a lot but don’t frequently think of. The second will focus on some of the ships I think of more often, and the final post will focus on my absolute favorites. Anyways, I don’t know why you’d read this, but if you do, I hope you enjoy. Also, almost none of these are straight, so be aware of that.

Yearning for Yuri: Their Story

So far I’ve only been covering yuri manga, a distinctly Japanese genre in a Japanese medium. That’s fine, and there are plenty of great yuri manga, but if I limit myself purely to Japanese works and to manga then I’ll be leaving out a lot of good content. Yuri is a popular genre among queer women and people all around the world, and it’s had an influence on girl-girl works from many other countries. This week I’ll be looking at Their Story, or Tamen de Gushi, an excellent Chinese webcomic by Tan Jiu.

Princess Principal isn’t Yuribait: Why You Need to Quit Saying Subtext

Princess Principal is, up to this point, one of the best anime of the season. It’s a show that understands its own absurdity and willingly engages with it, allowing it to pull off wacky episodes without seeming out-of-place. At the same time, it succeeds in its job of endearing the viewer to its characters, who are all sympathetic and likable. It’s set in a fantastically detailed world with a real sense of scale to it, something that’s often hard to find. And it does a great job at balancing some level of camp with a strong level of emotion, something that’s always worth appreciating when accomplished. When you combine these elements with its visuals and music you get a fairly unique tonal experience that you can’t really find in most other anime. In short, the show has a lot to like. One element that endears me to it is the presence of yuri, but unfortunately, that isn’t without its drawbacks.

Anime-Original Content is Actually a Good Thing

Anime-original content gets a bad rap. It’s understandable why; years of boring filler and awful original endings have poisoned the well, leaving anime fans suspicious of adaptations which aren’t panel-for-panel and word-for-word. But as understandable as the resistance to anime-original content is, it’s wrong-headed. Direct adaptations may be preferable to butchered, poorly written original material, but a truly tailored adaptation will be the best option any day of the week. Good creators can imbue their own touch into the material, making mediocre works great and strengthening already strong works.