Otaku Champloo

Tag: yamashita tomoko

  • 34. The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window

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    I have my fair set of expectations when it comes to my favourite authors. The fact that I consider them my favorite entails a kind of resonance, a hive mind of sorts where you just know what kind of title to expect whenever they release new works. As such, when I got one of Yamashita Tomoko’s newest titles this year, The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window (Sankaku Mado no Gaisoku wa Yoru), I was expecting some kind of emotional turmoil. Except, as with everything Yamashita Tomoko has done in my life, she takes a different turn and gives me a bit of a fright when she brings these two ghost hunters in this title.

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  • #801MMF – Fujojocast no. 1: Not enough BL in the world!

    Right-o! Put three fujojos in a room and they talk about pr0n. Even in a skype chatroom.

    For the 801 MMF, I’m happy to share some time with Anne Lee from Chic Pixel and Jocelyne Allen from Brain vs. Book to talk about something close to our hearts: Boy’s Love Manga

    Anne Lee’s translated a number of titles for DMG and she’s currently doing her PhD on Boy’s Love. Jocelyne Allen is also a translator for Sublime but she’s got a roster of BL titles under her belt. On the other hand, I’m just a BL fan. lol. Well, Anne and I move around the same academic BL circles, so we get around.

    Either way, for this podcast, we’re doing an overview of BL and prattle on about sound effects in BL and all that jazz!

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download

    OP & ED – Splash Free! from Free!

    The Fujojocast Podcast Index

    00:00 – 2:30 – Introductions
    2:36 – Beginnings with BL
    9:20 – Elements of a good BL/yaoi
    15:30 – Translating cultural nuances in BL
    25:00 – Notes for cultural nuances in BL
    28:00 – Anne’s Favorite Authors: Est Em, Basso, Yoshinaga Fumi
    33:00 – Jocelyne’s Favorites: What Anne Said, Kumota Haruko
    36:00 – My favorite: Nakamura Asumiko and why we can’t bring some of her works here
    39:00 – Yoneda Kou
    40:00 – Inoue Satou and Male BL Artists
    41:00 – Gengoroh Tagame
    42:00 – Ten Dance by Inoue Satou
    44:00 – Craziest BL stories that you’ve read
    Jocelyne – Incredible Kintaro
    Anne – Equus
    Khursten – Chintsubu
    50:00 – Vibrator Company
    52:00 – Hey, It’s Me
    53:00 – Things to look forward to in BL
    01:02:00 – BL going mainstream
    01:05:00 – Kusama Sakae: The Match Seller, The Bed of my Dear King
    We had so much fun doing this podcast and I’m personally considering doing this quite regularly. I better invest on a good mic! 😀
    If you guys have topics related to BL that you want to hear about, what would be the topic? I’d love to hear from you and hopefully maybe invite you to talk about your feels for the next Fujojocast! 😀

  • #801MMF Spotlight: BL’s New Wave

    When a couple of Japanese BL scholars went down to Manila, I spent a good week with them – interviewing local female artists and getting to know BL fans in Manila. During down time, they had a chance to ask me, “What kind of BL do you read?” And as with everything that involves my feels, it was hard to say a proper answer and went on to say the names of the authors I love: Yamashita Tomoko, Nakamura Asumiko, Kumota Haruko, etc. As I go down the list, they were completely unfamiliar with the names until I said “Est Em” and one of them interjects, saying, “Ah! So you like New Wave works!”

    “Eh? New Wave?”

    “Yes. New Wave.”

    Back then, I had no idea if they meant some 80s music movement but I silently nod until months later, upon reviewing for this MMF and the Fujoshi Bible, I’ve been reminded of the term New Wave. It seems this New Wave is sweeping the future of BL.

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  • 2012 manga were awesomesauce

    Wow. What a year.

    As compared to last year, 2012 was good to me — very good to me.

    However, because it was good to me, it also meant it ate my time. Lots of my time. Particularly, my champloo and manga reading time. In terms of my time for this blog, I didn’t fulfill my wonderful spotlight series monthly. Nor did I even continue the columns I wish to continue! I wish I can do more and please don’t blame my tumblr habit. ; 3; It’s easier to reblog than write. My life in tumblr is filled with likes, porn, and tons of reblogs. But yes, in general, I have nothing but my life to blame on why I didn’t get things up to speed. At the very least, I was happy that I managed to host my first MMF quite successfully.

    Despite this madness, 2012 was still a great year of manga. Here’s a list of 12 mangas I read in the last year. They’re not necessarily manga released in 2012 but they are all amazing manga that I’ve discovered and love this year. In no particular order, here are my favorite mangas read from last year.

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  • Spotlight: Yamashita Tomoko

    Spotlight: Yamashita Tomoko

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    Just where did January and February go?!

    I promised myself in my last spotlight that I will make a point in writing 12 spotlights for this year, but here I am in March writing my first spotlight! Que horror!

    That said, starting the spotlight again is a lot better than not ever continuing it at all! I’ve really loved writing and sharing why I love a particular author (or series) and hear why people love them as well. More than that, March is a special month for me. It’s only in March where I get to be a little more selfish about my tastes.

    I’ve decided that March is the month where I get to write authors that have driven me crazy or have puzzled me entirely. Last year, it was Nakamura Asumiko’s mesmerizing eyes. This year, it is the mystery of Yamashita Tomoko — a rising star in manga who is both amazing and cruel.

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  • Sneak Peek at 2011 Manga Taishou List

    Sneak Peek at 2011 Manga Taishou List

    It’s Manga Taishou season again and I haven’t even started reading Therma Romae (once… I find my copy somewhere). Out of all the award ceremonies, I tend to enjoy the selection in Manga Taishou because these manga do not disappoint at all. Some awards tend to let some title win awards in order to boost its popularity. I honestly don’t know how some of these awards go behind the scenes, but yeah, so far, some winners are rather questionable. I cannot say the same for Manga Taisho though. When I look at their list, it all boils down to which manga were most amazing in the past year.

    The list of the nominees is out and here’s my two cents on who have a shot of bringing home the Manga Taisho… well, at least those that I have read…

    Otoyomegatari. The Bride Stories by Kaoru Mori. A very strong contender and quite popular to both critics and fans. I have full faith that there’s a high chance that Mori-san might bag this one. Can’t say much about the committee but if they gave it to Therma Romae last year, they might give this eclectic beautiful title a chance. I mean for chrissakes, she’s holding a kind of antelope on her shoulders. I’m quite sure the expectations will be high on this one.

    Sangatsu no Lion. March Comes in Like a Lion by Chica Umino. This is quite an interesting tale and it’s one of those heartwarming stories that you can’t stop reading. The shougi is a nice extra but it ain’t anything like Hikaru no Go. This might have a good chance and I’m trying to think if there was something amazing that happened since its last nomination. This is Chica Umino and if you’ve read Honey and Clover, you can imagine the pace of this story. Between this and Otoyomegatari… my bet’s on the latter.

    Omo ni Naitemasu by Akiko Higashimura. Filling in the loss of the amusing Himawari in Morning is her new work Omo ni Naitemasu. My friend and I have been fans of Himawari and we were hoping that this title would follow. While the humor is there, the plot in itself is a little difficult to swallow. The female lead is a mistress/muse to an artist and sometimes you just want to whack her head for longing such a horrible man. It’s a cohesive story but not exactly the best of the lot.

    I think what I love more about looking at the list is the number of titles I have yet to read. So far, these are the ones that caught my eye.

    Don’t Cry Girl by Tomoko Yamashita. This girl’s a BL artist and I enjoy her work immensely. I’m not exactly sure what this title is – if it’s a seinen or a josei. Either way, it looks interesting.

    I am a Hero by Kengo Hanazawa. I’ve been trying to find this comic but it often escapes my mind. Maybe I should give it a shot next time.

    Un chocolatier de l’amour perdu by Setona Mizushiro. It has macarons on the cover. While it’s quite josei-ish in art… it looks yummy.

    Hana no Zubora Meshi by Masayuki Kusumi & Etsuko Mizusawa. I doubt this manga is about food but that girl on the cover looks like she’s enjoying what she’s doing (with those morsels of rice all over her face.) It looks yummier and maybe… just maybe… I might get to enjoy this one.

    I wish all of the nominees good luck and I can’t wait to hear the results of this one!

  • Stalking mangakas

    I am shameless. Very shameless indeed.

    I have been wanting to do this for the longest time but it’s only this afternoon that I actually managed to add some of my favorite mangakas over twitter. I was hesitant at first and added only those that I really really liked. And while I liked them, I realized I started to stalk their lives a little more. The way that Est Em has been wandering around Europe has been inspiring me to travel and Tagro’s crazy antics just… really proves to me on how perverted he can get.

    Nonetheless, it’s an interesting glimpse on their minds and if you want to keep up on their projects, it’s nice to see whether they’re wasting their time or hasn’t seen a ray of sunshine. Sometimes, they like to post about their food and it makes me incredibly hungry. Especially Tagro. I honestly read a little of HenZemi, but I like looking at his food posts.

    I got the list online from Tanbishugi and am following the following mangakas:

    • @zi38 – Miwa Shirow
    • @TAGRO – Tagro
    • @hikakom – Hikaru Nakamura
    • @wakasugi_k – Wakasugi Kiminori
    • @est_em – Est Em
    • @enneono – Natsume Ono
    • @okamarble – Okama
    • @korinntonn – Ueda Rinko
    • @beef_or_beef – Yamashita Tomoko
    • @Takashigee – Shigeyoshi Takagi
    • @levizo – Aoi Levin

    Naturally most of their tweets will be in Japanese, but for those who can read, it’d be quite interesting to see the lives and preoccupations of your favorite mangas. (And what they’re doing when they’re slacking off!!!)