Fujoshi O'Clock: August Edition

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.

It was actually quite difficult to keep up with the reviews this month, so only articles again.

But do visit Slightly Biased Manga, as I think Connie has been the best at steadily posting yaoi/BL reviews at a good clip this past month. See also a review of the Betrayal Knows My Name series over at No Flying No Tights.

But other than those!

Here are the articles for August:

A Little Aside About Doujinshi

I keep seeing the accompanying image being dandied about the Internet as why Japanese fan comics, aka doujinshi, is the greatest thing ever and totally perfectly legal or something. After seeing a 'life facts' Twitter post it, I figured it was time to say something. Not because it's wrong, but it's a bit simplified. And it's not even a matter of the 140-character digit - the image is contained in a link!

First of all, something that is not clarified with this image: doujinshi aren't being sold side by side with the materials they are inspired by. They are sold in their own marketplaces, separate from commercial fare. Some major stores do carry doujinshi, but in separate areas. The Fate/Zero fan comics aren't being sold next to the original light novel.

Second, I cannot for the life of me think of anyone who is making a profit from selling doujinshi. A lot of manga-ka use doujinshi as a springboard to launch their original content. Most doujinshi-ka do it for the love of the series their comics are based on; whatever sales they make usually go towards covering the expenses of production and probably paying any assistants involved with the comic. So companies aren't so quick to come after someone who, after covering costs for supplies, printing, assistants, convention fares, and gas money, has barely any cash left over to buy some convenience store onigiri.

Favorite Anime Fandom Moments of 2013

Relevant photos be damned.
Have a random and very pretty Pet Girl of Sakurasou image!

I honestly don't finish enough anime series in a year to warrant any sort of 'top 5 anime' list, unlike other animanga bloggers who can polish off series on a monthly basis and have a great, diverse list. So I'm looking back at moments in anime fandom from 2013, where industry and otaku have come together to make everyone happy (or, in the case of moment number one, is just an event that made all otaku happier - and safer- because it happened).

Feel free to include your own favorite moments in the comments!

Manga Review: Neon Genesis Evangelion Comic Tribute

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Comic Tribute
Authors/Artists: Listed below
Editor: Young Ace Magazine
Dark Horse Comics
156 pages

If you thought Evangelion's characters have a tough time in the anime, wait until you see what happens when some of Japan's most unhinged manga artists get their ink-stained hands on them! Neon Genesis Evangelion: Comic Tribute is an officially authorized one-shot anthology of parody stories assaulting Evangelion from all directions. Inside, Mine Yoshizaki (Sgt. Frog) leads a band of manga pranksters including Hideki Ohwada (The Legend of Koizumi), Yun Kouga (Loveless), Nawoki Karasawa (Sake Jock, Super Cruel and Terrible Tales of Manga-ka), Yoko Sanri (B Gata H Kei: Yamada's First Time), ComiPo! mastermind Keiichi Tanaka, Rui Takato (Cynthia the Mission), Astroguy II (Queen's Blade Struggle), Kotaro Yamada (The Sacred Blacksmith), Sessyu Takemura (Domin-8 Me!), Jun Abe (Portus) and Tony Takezaki (Space Pinchy. A.D. Police). Also contains contributions from normal people, like Rikdo Koshi (Excel Saga). (Source: Dark Horse.com)

I never thought I'd be reviewing a doujinshi collection but that is exactly what Dark Horse Comics has presented us: a collection of doujinshi shorts centered around Neon Genesis Evangelion, written and illustrated by a wide variety of established manga-ka (although most of them are better known in Japan than in the United States). Dark Horse seems to be the place to go for Evangelion spin-off manga since Viz has the actual manga firmly in its grasp for eternity. Honestly, as far as short collections go, it's not the worst but it certainly won't appeal to everyone, especially casual fans who aren't tuned in to every reference and in-show nuance of Evangelion's ever-growing canon.