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Posts Tagged Boys’ Love/Yaoi

Review: Ze (Vol. 01)


Manga-ka: Yuki Shimizu
Publisher: 801Media
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: February 2009

Synopsis: “Left destitute and alone after the death of his beloved grandmother, Raizou Shichikawa accepts an offer to live at the palatial Mitou home in return for his services as housekeeper – but there’s something very strange about the Mitou family. Odd pairings exist within these walls, and the occupants’ behaviour seems beyond Raizou’s understanding. Raizou does take a liking to his ill-mannered roommate, Kon, however, and his interest leads him to discover the truth: the people he works for aren’t exactly human!”

As a fan of Yuki Shimizu’s Love Mode (recently released by BLU), I was excited to hear news that 801Media had licensed another of her series. Eager for more of the character-driven drama that I’d enjoyed in her work previously, Ze naturally become a book high on my list of to-reads. Not only does Ze showcase Yuki Shimizu taking another go at a story hefty with characters, but she also takes a slightly different turn with the addition of supernatural elements.

Read more…


Kuri’s Overview of Animaritime 2009

Animaritime 2009

Animaritime is fan-run anime and gaming convention that has taken place in New Brunswick, Canada for six years. Each year it grows with more events and more attendees and this year was certainly no exception. With over 1000 attendees, Animaritime enjoyed its highest attendance numbers yet and brought with it a whole lot more of the fun, activity and lack of sleep that staff and attendees alike have come to expect. I myself am a three-year attendee and two-year staff member, with no plans on stopping being either anytime soon.

You can check out Animaritime’s forums if you’d like to learn more about the convention, including people’s thoughts, photos and videos of the recent event. For the curious, Animaritime’s official photographer also has lots of photos for online viewing. Under the cut I share some of my own experiences at Animaritime 2009 which happened earlier this month, including a short peek at some new purchases and a mish-mashed overview of my panels.

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Manga Bargains, Yaoi Not Actually

Unrelated Manga Guy

Though it’s already been covered at a variety of sites already, never hurts to spread the word, right? Aurora Publishing has sent out e-mails outlining some financial difficulties that have them cutting prices on their books to sell off some old stock. By contacting them directly at e-tung@aurora-publishing.com, you can purchase any of their titles prior to January 2009 for $4/US a book and anything more recent than that for $8/US a book. Snow has some recommendations as well as shipping cost information (for American customers at least), and Kris shares her thoughts on the tone of the e-mail itself.

 Also on the note of good bargains, the online store BookCloseOuts is currently selling all their Tokyopop backstock for a mere .99 cents a piece. A great way to cheaply grab some of their older series and even a few of their newer releases (such as Tactics volumes 1-5).

Yaoi Press is excited to announce that one of their artists, Rhea Silvan will be attending as a guest at 2009’s Anime Central convention. They’re also now offering their KOSEN’s Yaoi playing cards as rewards for purchasing through their all-yaoi online store, EverythingYaoi, which has lots of boys’ love stuff currently on sale. They’ve also begun posting amusing weekly strips that parody scenes from their books, a feature they’re calling Yaoi Not Actually.


Review: Hero Heel (Vol. 02)


Manga-ka: Makoto Tateno
Publisher: DMP/June
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: July 2008

Synopsis: “After resorting to out-and-out blackmail to satisfy his desire, Minami realizes his failure to live up to the hero he portrays on television – but the damage may already be done. In real life, he and his co-star Sawada now resemble the arch-enemies they play on “Trans-Dimensional Warriors Airguard.” Despite the show’s success, the icy air between Sawada and Minami is starting to become noticeable. Enter Takagi, an ex-boyfriend and former co-star of Sawada’s, who joins the cast to play a special guest role. Will Sawada and Takagi’s complicated history create even more tension on the set?”

The trials of volume one have left Minami torn, struggling to move on from his desires for co-star, Sawada. After a one-night stand, Sawada tells Minami that he has no interest in him and only slept with the co-star because it’s sex and Minami had been so persistent (resorting to blackmail). In attempts to distract himself, Minami becomes involved with another actor on the television production. Cue the arrival of Takagi, a kind and talented actor who was also Sawada’s previous co-star and lover.

Read more…


More Prizes for DokiDoki Purchasers

Doki Doki Raffle Contest

On top of the initial offer for those who place orders for the upcoming Doki Doki books, today Digital Manga posted about a raffle where readers can win even more prizes. Lucky ducks!

From now until March 30th, those who order (including those who’ve already ordered before now) volume one of Train Train and Princess Princess Plus will be entered in a raffle to win one of the following:

7 shikishis signed by both Mikiyo Tsuda and Eiki Eiki
10 copies of Princess Princess vol. 1 signed by Mikiyo Tsuda
10 copies of Dear Myself signed by Eiki Eiki (18+ members only are eligible for this prize)

You can see examples of these prizes on their blog. Image previews of the previously announced promo items, ‘fukuseigenga’, have also been posted.

So as if the books themselves weren’t awesome enough! I’m jealous I can’t order from Akadot retail myself (American shipping prices and custom charges = no-no for me). So everyone order and enter and know I wish you all luck as a Mikiyo Tsuda and Eiki Eiki worshipper fan ;)

You can read a full press release about the raffle here.


Digital Goes Live, Viz Takes To The Sky

Yukikaze

A few things of note today while I attempt to finish one of the way-to-many partially finished reviews sitting on my desktop :)

 Amazon.ca has a listing for Kambayashi Chohei’s science fiction light novel, Yukikaze. As there’s no artist listed, I’m making the assumption it’s the light novel and not a manga (not sure if one exists?). New news, old news, either way it’s good news for fans like me! I absolutely loved the anime and have awaited the day I’d get a chance to read the original novel. According to Amazon, that day will be January 19, 2010.

 Freelance manga adapter, Ysabet, has a LiveJournal post with a credits correction pertaining to the upcoming volume two of Shinobi Life. Contrary to the book, adaptation credit goes to her while the translation was done by Lori Riser. Also, Ysabet lives in the same city as me so how cool is that? Pretty darn cool because Halifax is awesome like that.

 Speaking of LiveJournal, Digital Manga has taken to the community site with two accounts for its imprints: one for June Manga and another for 801Media. They also have another account, june_manga_chat, where they invite questions and discussion pertaining to their titles, while the other two accounts seem primarily for newsletter and preview-type posts. (Source: The Yaoi Review)

 And speaking of Digital Manga, their imprint 801Media has recently announced the winners of their 801-chan Contest. Entrants were invited to script short 4-panel strips as seen in the back of their books starring the imprints mascot characters. Six winners were chosen (including myself, yay!) and they’ll all have their scripts drawn into the full-colour strips by the original artist and the strips will then be published in future releases. Congrats to all the winners!


The Yaoi Doctor Is In, Another from CMX

Gay's AnatomyRightStuf has a listing for a new yaoi manga being published, tentatively, May 27, 2009 by Kitty Media: You Higashino’s Shihaisuru Yubisaki (and/or possibly its sequel one-shot, Kogareru Yubisaki).

“Dreamy neurosurgeon Tsuda is in a passionate relationship with fellow doctor Shiraishi. But when a steamy new patient shows up and wants to play doctor with Shiraishi, their love is put to the test!”

The translated name? Gay’s Anatomy. Oh Kitty Media, you’ve been having fun with your translated names recently haven’t you?

On a semi-unrelated note, Mangachat left a comment on my recent post regarding some CMX possible licenses, to point me at The Lizard Prince by Asuka Izumi, another CMX listed title that’s recently surfaced on the online retail website.

Not that I can complain about more manga but does anyone miss the days when manga acquistions were more exciting? Or should I say announced before discovered atleast.


Review: Dash


Manga-ka: Isaku Natsume
Publisher: DMP/June
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: December 2007

Synopsis: “Akimoto has just started his high school career at Miya High and is burning with enthusiasm; he is overjoyed to finally be able to meet his long time Judo idol Saitou! Akimoto has watched Saitou ever since his middle school days, but the real Saitou isn’t matching up to the Saitou of Akimoto’s dreams. Foul mouthed, with a bad attitude and superiority complex, Saitou has decided to use Akimoto’s admiration against him and turn him into his slave. Saitou also hides a dark secret, and when it’s revealed, what will Akimoto think of him then?”

In Dash, we’re introduced to Akimoto, a high school freshmen with a love of Judo. Attending his school as a senior is Saitou, Akimoto’s idol after watching him flawlessly win a Judo competition a few years ago. Eager to get closer to him and see him in action again, Akimoto tries to befriend Saitou, and it works to a point, but there barely seems enough room for Akimoto next to Saitou’s ego.

Read more…


New Manga Titles and YouTube Advertising

As I work on a round-up post of Animaritime 2009, I’ve been making the manga blogosphere rounds to see what goodies I missed over the weekend.

On the manga licensing front, there were a few new titles I came home to read about:

Deka KyoushiBrigid has information about five new yaoi titles from NetComics and Ed over at MangaCast posts about new listings in Diamond previews: Peach! by U-Jin, put out Aurora Publishing, and Fujita Maki’s Trill on Eden being put out by GoComi. Trill of Eden is a title first spotted on Amazon in December.

Lys-chan found some new CMX titles on Amazon which she posts about on her LiveJournal: A Tale of an Unknown Country by Natsuna Kawase and Oh! My Brother by Ken Saito. I also came across a listing for Deka Kyoushi by Tamio Baba (pictured at left).

And though I didn’t have time to post about it before heading out for convention-y goodness, Digital Manga has a post about YouTube manga previews they’ve put together as promotion and preview for several of their recent and upcoming boys’ love releases. These titles include the previously released Black Sun and the long-awaited sixth volume of Our Kingdom.

Taking a brief moment to catch up on the anime-world in Canada, those who watched the premiere of Pretty Cure on YTV over the weekend have good things to say about it, including a pleasant dub job and, from what they can tell, no edits or censoring. I can’t wait to catch an episode but the 7:30am and 4:30pm on Fridays showtimes are likely going to make this a difficult thing to manage. Darn you work and school!

On the less positive anime front in Canada,  Bandai Entertainment’s free YouTube streaming of Gundam 00’s first couple of episodes isn’t available in Canada. Phooey. Then again, Code Geass did become available to us eventually…

And to finish this round-up post with something else anime-related (crazy, no?), I have to post a link to ANN’s news that Takako Shimura’s Aoi Hana is getting an anime. I love the manga so I’ll definitely be adding it to my short of list of animes I look forward to previewing when they become available.

Keep your eyes peeled in the near future for a post about this past weekend’s Animaritime including a quick peek at my newly acquired swag, which will be a very good indication of the reviews you can expect to see here at Kuriousity over the next month or so :)


Review: Mr Flower Bride


Manga-ka: Lily Hoshino
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: March 2008

Synopsis: “The powerful Souda family is big on tradition… and to Shinji Souda’s dismay, the tradition they’re keenest on involves him marrying a boy! And not just any boy, but his classmate Aoi Uno, who doesn’t seem to be at fazed by the news of their engagement. With their attitudes at odds, are Shinji and Aoi headed for a lifetime of unhappily ever after?”

Family customs step up to create some seemingly unlikely couples here in Mr. Flower Bride when the unexpected announcement of a male birth leads to a kick-in tradition that demands every young son in the family be married off to another man.

Read more…


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