Fujoshi O'Clock: The (Rather Late) September Edition

October already? Oh, dear...

Fujoshi O'Clock is a monthly feature at Nagareboshi Reviews which focus on boys' love/yaoi news, reviews, and meta. The feature also puts a spotlight on trans/bisexual/genderqueer manga/anime news and articles. For yuri/shoujo ai, see fellow bloggers Yuricon and Yuri no Boke for a more thorough examination of the girls' love genre.

Articles for September: 

• Oguie Maniax, with news for Genshiken fans: a Hato Kenjirou fanzine is going to be a thing. Unfortunately, it looks like submissions are already closed.
• DMP will be adding 24 yaoi/BL manga titles to their digital collection --- authors include Ootsuki Miu, Lily Hoshino, Psyche Delico, and Ayan Sakuragi.
• Two interesting essays from s.e. smith that might be of relevance to those who read/watch anime/manga with trans characters: is objectifying trans women the only way cis people can relate? and what would an ordinary trans narrative look like?.
• The cast for the Hetalia stage musical has been posted; the musical is called Hetalia ~Singing' in the World.
• The anime film for the Dokyusei/Classmates series is now set for February of next year; it will be based on the Asumiko Nakamura manga by the same name.
• Foreign Policy writes about Japan's trans-friendly comic book revolution, citing Wandering Son's popularity as an example.
• Found on Twitter: the animated school system that every good fujoshi wants to enroll in. 

Reviews for September:

• Slightly Biased Manga looked at: the seventh volume of Ai No Kusabi's light novel series; the fourth volume of Earthian by Yun Kouga; the fifth volume of the Junjou Romantica manga. 
• Experiments In Manga read Dr. Makumakuran and Other Stories by Takeshi Matsu, which looks like gay manga in the genre of the Massive anthology.
• BookDragon reviewed volume eight of Wandering Son and volume nine of What Did You Eat Yesterday?, the foodie BL manga by Fumi Yoshinaga.
• Manga Xanadu also looked at the What Did You Eat Yesterday? manga, reviewing volumes six through nine in one post.
• Fandom Post reviewed book one of Our Kingdom by Naduki Koujima, a throwback title to early DMP years.

Fujoshi O'Clock (4/19/14)

What time is it? It's . . . Fujoshi O'Clock, the biweekly feature at Nagareboshi Review, when I bring to you the latest fujoshi-related news and reviews and various shiny BL-flavored things. Why? Because rotten girls need love too!

This week on Fujoshi O'Clock:

• Something for the swim team otaku out there: the Free! anime was the top favorite at the fifth annual Boys Love award, beating out such titles as Kuroko's Basketball, Yowamushi Pedal and Hetalia for the gold. For fujoshi-favorite manga, manga-ka Kou Yoneda dominated two of the top three titles.
• Oguie Maniax is still bringing the Fujoshi Files and nearing a neat one hundred. This week, it's #95 and Kondou Mayuka from the Onii-chan no Koto nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakarane! anime/manga.
• French speaking otaku on Twitter will want to pay attention to Yaoi Cast, a French-language fujoshi-friendly Twitter feed that shares a lot of BL/yaoi related news and images.
• The nominations for the Eisner Award were recently announced. Among the manga titles included is the Heart of Thomas by Moto Hagio, published by Fantagraphics.

Reviews:

• OASG reviewed volume one of Rensou by Yusura Ai, a historical boys' love set during Edo Japan and centered on a traveling Kabuki troupe and their newest member.

Am I missing your blog? Got some awesome fujoshi-related news and reviews you think deserve a shout-out? Poke me with a link and a bit of description over at my Twitter: @theseventhl. I'm always on the look out for more BL love!

Happy Birthday, America!

Again, Nagareboshi Reviews - an American based blog - is posting on the Fourth of July, that one holiday in the United States where we celebrate our independence from England with loud fireworks, grilling, and lots of alcohol (and apparently a Twilight Zone marathon, if you're the programming director at SyFy).

Last year I was posting about my top five American characters in anime, and number one was Alfred F. Jones a.k.a. America from Axis Powers Hetalia. And today is his birthday yet again! He's looking pretty good for being around 230 years old. You can read more about his character on his Hetalia Archives page, or watch his antics with his fellow countries at the YouTube channel for Hetalia: World Series.

Geez, Alfred's character songs are so annoyingly him, aren't they? And really catchy! Which is no surprise since Katsuyuki Konishi (America's VA) is a pretty good singer. Hamburgers and UFOs for everyone!

The Story So Far: Axis Powers Hetalia

Axis Powers Hetalia volumes 1-3

Art/story by Hidekazu Himaruya

Published in English by Tokyopop & Right Stuf

Think of it like WWII, except every country is a pretty boy instead. A hilariously stereotypical pretty boy. America loves burgers, Russia is into the vodka, and China has pandas and a wok. It is centered mostly around Italy, who has both a North and South character. The Hetaria portion of the name is probably mocking Italy, as Hetare means 'Useless'.

(Source: MangaUpdates)

Axis Powers Hetalia is a divisive series and it's pretty much everywhere nowadays. Readers either love it to death or hate it with a burning passion. This series has dominated anime conventions, flooded Tumblr, invaded the cosplay and fanfiction communities, and made Funimation and Tokyopop mucho dinero. There's something about all these young men representing foreign countries that make the fangirls go absolutely crazy.

 It certainly helps that for the most part, all the characters in Hetalia are bishonen (I don't know about Turkey, though, having never seen him without his mask; he seems to be the Kakashi of Hetalia) or bishoujo. And history becomes 100% more interesting when pretty faces are involved.

My Top 5 Favorite U.S. Characters In Anime

For those who have somehow avoided the fact of this day so far, July 4th is a national holiday for the United States of America. It is the day when the Declaration of Independence was signed, thus making this the country's birthday in a sense.

Basically, it's a holiday used as an excuse to barbeque, get drunk, and set off fireworks (although recent hot weather has put a damper on fireworks in a lot of the country). It's something I'm sure a lot of anime fans are also taking part of today.

It would not seem like a day an anime blog would post about - there's nothing inherently anime related about it - but I'd like to take the time to talk about five characters from anime who are American and are also awesome. It's always amusing to see anime take on American culture, even more so when they add a character to the cast that is from the U.S. So naturally, today is a good day to talk about them!

Feel free to add your personal favorites in the comments. I know I've skipped a few obvious ones, I'm sure!

PR: Right Stuf To Rerelease HETALIA AXIS POWERS Manga

Right Stuf, Inc. is pleased to announce that, through a special arrangement with Japanese publisher Gentosha Comics and TOKYOPOP, manga fans will be able to purchase HETALIA AXIS POWERS, Vol. 3, in English-translated, book form for the first time ever, in addition to reprints of the manga series' first two volumes, exclusively through Right Stuf.com.

The first print run of Hetalia - Axis Powers, Vol. 3 will be available in late June 2012.

- This initial print run will feature an eight-page color insert from the original Japanese print edition of the manga. (The future print-on-demand edition of this volume will include these pages but reproduce them in black and white.)
- Quantities of the first print run will be limited, and pre-ordering is highly suggested.
- For a limited time, fans can pre-order Hetalia - Axis Powers, Vol. 3 for $10.99 per copy. (This is a savings of more than 30% off the $15.99 SRP.)

Hetalia - Axis Powers, Vol. 1 and Hetalia - Axis Powers, Vol. 2 are each available immediately.
- These print-on-demand editions will feature a color cover and black-and-white printing on high-grade, 70-pound, bright white paper. (Pages that were originally presented in color will be reproduced with black-and-white printing.)
- Each volume has a retail price of $15.99.