To all of you who are or will be in the NJ/NYC area this week:

You are cordially invited to join Rica Takashima and friends for the Opening
Party at the Fort Lee Library on Thursday, March 8 at 7PM for the Celebrate
Women! art exhibit. The exhibit will be at the library through the month of
March.

If you are interested in coming, there is more information on Aozora Art's Event
page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/383710244972917/

I'll look forward to seeing you there!\

Cheers,

Erica

Hello -

Just wanted to let you know that we've moved to the wretched Timeline format on
Facebook because they were planning on moving us to it with or without our
cooperation. It looks like MySpace, IMHO, so I apologize in advance for it. ^_^;

In the meantime, we've added a lovely new cover image, with design elements by
May Young, which match our new Yuricon.org redesign. I hope you'll drop by and
take a look and if you're on FB, of course I hope you'll "Like" it and be part
of the community there!

https://www.facebook.com/YuriconALC

Cheers,

Erica

Hi all -

Yaoi and Yuri Con - YayCon - in the Netherlands is still looking for submissions
to their AMV contest. I hope some of you Yuri AMV folks will consider submitting
an AMV to them - and feel free to spread the word on any other AMV communities
you know!

Check here for guidelines: http://yaycon.nl/

Cheers,

Erica

JManga  wrote me last night to let me know that Poor Poor Lips, Morita-san ha
Mukuchi and all the other Takeshobo books they have are now available for global
access.

And, they have more in the works. ^_^

If you're still running into any trouble accessing PPL or Morita, please let
JManga know and they will correct it.

I am determined to keep up the pressure until every Yuri fan in the world can
read manga freely on JManga. ^_^

Cheers,

Erica

--- In Yuricon@yahoogroups.com, Grisznak <grisznakiw@...> wrote:
>
> Thanks for your work, Erica. I'm not sure if Jmanga will be the same for
> manga as Crunchyroll is for anime, but it's definitely step in the right
> direction.
> cheers
> Grisznak

That is exactly their goal. My goal is to make sure everyone in the world gets
to read Yuri manga if they want.

Thank you and everyone who wrote in to let them know you were interested.
Volumes 1 and 2 are availablenow, Volume 3 should be available at the end of the
month - I hope you enjoy them. ^_^

Cheers,

Erica

We have a new essay on Yuricon - this on is by Katherine Hanson of the Yuri no
boke blog. More to come this weekend as I clear the backlog.


The Evolution of �gRecognition/Assertion of a Lesbian Identity�h vs �gAkogare�h
in Manga - Yuricon

http://www.yuricon.com/essays/lesbian-identity-in-manga/

Cheers,

Erica

I was reading Vivid and Force one right after the other and it suddenly dawned
on me that the concept of "family" is deeply embedded in the Nanoha-verse. So, I
wrote a little thing about it on Okazu, for fun:

http://okazu.blogspot.com/2012/03/concept-of-family-in-magical-girl.html


Alternative Families(especially the kind with two mothers!) have definitely
become one of my manga/anime "hooks". ^_^

Cheers,

Erica

New Essay on Yuricon: The Impact Of Globalization On Yuri And Fan Activism by
Yaritza Hernandez.

http://wp.me/P1sSlv-d0

In this 2009 paper, awesome Yuricon member Yaritza Hernandez takes a look at
Yuri, and how fandom drives expansion online. Darn cool reading material. I'd
love to see an updated version that included JManga. ^_^

Cheers,

Erica

Hi all -

As you can see I'm putting up some essays that are long overdue, but I just
wanted to remind all of you that the "What Yuri Means to me" project is
on-going. Drop by the What Yuri Means To Me Project page
(http://www.yuricon.com/essays/my-yuri/) and take a look at what we have.

There is no right or wrong way to contribute to this, so if you'd like to have
your history as part of the official archive, just put your thoughts down in an
email to us and we'll add you in!

Cheers,

Erica

Thanks for reading the essays.

When a community ages, one of the things that happens is that is starts to wish
it had collected the stories of those people who were there at the beginning.

It's my desire that we not lose these stories before we have a chance to want
them. So, if we all put our stories into the archive, when historians looks for
them, those stories will be there. ^_^

Cheers,

Erica

--- In Yuricon@yahoogroups.com, Grisznak <grisznakiw@...> wrote:
>
> Thanks, It was nice to read 'em, interesting things, I have to say. Being
> yuri fan since many years, I'm always curious what makes other people being
> interesting in yuri manga/anime.
> cheers
> Grisznak
>
> 2012/3/13 EricaF <anilesbocon01@...>
>
> > **
> >
> >
> > Hi all -
> >
> > As you can see I'm putting up some essays that are long overdue, but I
> > just wanted to remind all of you that the "What Yuri Means to me" project
> > is on-going. Drop by the What Yuri Means To Me Project page (
> > http://www.yuricon.com/essays/my-yuri/) and take a look at what we have.
> >
> > There is no right or wrong way to contribute to this, so if you'd like to
> > have your history as part of the official archive, just put your thoughts
> > down in an email to us and we'll add you in!
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Erica
> >
> >
> >
>

We have something new and exciting planned!

Here's the background: Yesterday I did a guest lecture at the University of
British Columbia by Skype and a friend on FB asked if I recorded it. I don't
know if you know this, but I can't stand video. Not videos of me, not watching
videos in general. I am just not a visual person; I far, far prefer word. So,
no, there was no recording of the lecture.

But, I'm also very involved with Social Media and I know how much other people
love video and how likely they are to share them. And I want to do something for
Yuri fans who can't come to my lectures and panels. So, I came up with an idea.

A one hour Livestream "Erica Answers Your Questions About Yuri" - for all of you
who wished you'd made a Yuri panel, but couldn't.

We'll be soliciting questions ahead of time and take questions during the
webcast, as well.

Look for more detailed announcement on Okazu on the weekly Yuri News Report this
Saturday. ^_^ We'll probably hold the first session in mid-April, after I've had
a chance to recover from my trip to The Netherlands for Yaycon (Yaycon.nl).

I'll do my best to time it so the maximum number of people can "attend."

Cheers,

Erica

Hello all -

I'm starting my week off with two articles that are must-reads:

Roland Kelts pens his final "Soft Power, Hard Truths" Column for the Daily
Yomiuri about women in the anime industry, with a profile of a independent anime
creator Yamamoto Soubi:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/T120312003791.htm

This article illustrates something I say all the time - do it yourself! Don't
wait to be discovered. The barriers are lower than ever before, so if you want
to create...get out there and create. ^_^

And Dan Kanemitsu puts his fingers on a few key points about the anime and manga
industries. If you want to know what's going on "in the industry" read this. Dan
is probably the one guy who can communicate this best as he is involved in the
industry at several levels.

http://dankanemitsu.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/analysizing-the-state-of-the-anime-\
and-manga-industry-in-2012/

Key point for us is that the overseas market is not nearly as large or important
as it thinks it is and therefore the anime/manga industry is still really about
Japanese economics. Overseas market is loud - but only speaks to itself. Japan
can't hear you on forums or Facebook. The only thing they see is sales numbers.
For instance, when the Fate/Zero boxset was priced at $400 USD, fans here
basically said, "forget that." In Japan, it sold 43,000 copies. The difference
between US and Japanese fans? 17,200,000 yen, over $200,000 in sales ^_^;;

This is not to say we have no voice, but our voice (sales) are a mere whisper.

Anyway. Enjoy the articles - these two guys are tops on my must-follow list
about anime and manga. They are both incredibly nice people and very interesting
to talk to - you can find them both on Twitter, where they are totally
approachable: @RolandKelts and @dankanemitsu

Cheers,

Erica

I cannot believe I am about to type this.

This is not rumor and I have done some due diligence, and this appears to be
actually legit: Oniisama E, (Dear Brother) Ryoko Ikeda's classic high school
drama...has been licensed by streaming site ViKi.

http://www.viki.com/channels/5849-dear-brother

I will say four words about it words: Sainte Juste. At last.

Cheers,

Erica

--- In Yuricon@yahoogroups.com, Grisznak <grisznakiw@...> wrote:
>
> You made my day. Probably best yuri anime ever... Finally.
> cheers
> Grisznak

Now *that* puts a smile on my face! I love making people's day. ^_^

Cheers,

Erica

Hi all -

Quick public service announcement. If you are having trouble with ViKi (or
JManga or any other platform) please contact the *platform* directly - sending
me emails about it is pointless. I'm not working for these companies, I only
report the news, so I can't help you with payment or technical issues. You need
to contact the company that runs the site. There's almost always a way to
contact them on the site itself.

Secondly, someone wrote me this morning *demanding* an explanation about a point
of translation on ViKi. First of all, demanding is a terrible habit and makes no
friends. If you have a question, ask politely. I'm only a human and don't really
owe anyone anything. ^_^ I provide info because it makes me happy to do so.

As far as nitpicking translations go, that's just icky behavior. Let's drop
that, okay? Translation is hard, language is complex and we all disagree
sometimes. It doesn't make us look cooler to show how much we know by
nitpicking. ViKi's translations are crowdsourced, so there is likely to be
mistakes from time to time. Write them and let them know, politely.

What made this even more exhausting was that the translation was perfectly fine.
In Episode 5 of Dear Brother, Fukiko-sama refers to a "Kanzen", that block with
pins used in Ikebana, to hold flowers. It is translated as "frog." Well, yes,
that is actually correct in English. It is very often referred to as a "frog."
So the person demanding my explanation might be surprised to find that the
problem is not in the translation, but in her lack of knowledge about Ikebana.

My point is to not make fun of the comment, but to point out that *sometimes we
don't really know what we're talking about*. ^_^ I include myself in that, of
course! We are all human and we can't know everything about everything. So, five
seconds of research on a search engine under the word "kanzen" would have turned
up the fact that it *is* called a frog in English - and that would have
explained that.

So, hey, let's all stop being so darn angry all the time, so demanding,
dissatisfied and suspicious all the time, so neurotic. Fandom has more anime and
manga in more forms that ever before. Let's take a moment to be HAPPY, shall we?
We can enjoy what we have, hope for more and all work together to make it even
better.

Cheers,

Erica

I know, I know, shut up already about JManga. Well, they are the ones most
actively pursuing the Yuri audience, and I just report the news. ^_^

Starting March 22 and going through March 28 JManga will be holding a Yuri
promotion, 100 credits back with every title and sign-up bonuses:
http://www.jmanga.com/list/genre/seinen/yuri

Cheers,

Erica

Black Rock Shooter final episode has aired. What did you think of the series?
(No spoilers for folks who haven't seen it, please.)

http://ch.nicovideo.jp/channel/blackrockshooter


Cheers,

Erica

--- In Yuricon@yahoogroups.com, Katherine Hanson <smithie_28@...> wrote:
>
> Wasn't bad, but didn't impress me either. It entertained me for about 25
minutes a week for 8 weeks, but ultimately didn't leave much of an impression
for better or worse.

I felt the same - it took a sharp turn away from the plot as it had developed
just towards the end there, and ceased to be about what it was about. Instead, a
rather tedious moralistic viewpoint was substituted for the actual plot. The one
twist was good, but it sidetracked the story and it ended...ineffectively...I
guess is the word I'm looking for.

So, not bad, but ultimately less creative and bold than it could or should have
been. For an anime with a similar background set-up I thought Madoka was
superior.

I have to say I'm really getting tired of anime that uses the victimization of
young people as a driver for the plot, without *ever* considering blaming the
adults who victimize them in the first place. UGH. Much like "Harry Potter,"
"Matilda," or "James and Giant Peach," neglect and abuse are portrayed as
y'know, the thing that makes the protagonist want to escape, but never as an
actual crime.

Cheers,

Erica