Naruto Shippuuden - As the End Draws Near

Warning - Spoilers through Episode 379 of Naruto Shippuuden.

I got caught up on Naruto Shippuuden this morning. I don't think I've ever watched 12 episodes of anime nonstop before, that was quite the experience. :-D

A lot happens in episodes 368-379. They're still fighting the Great War involving the five Ninja Nations, and including practically everyone who ever died in Naruto via the Reanimation Jutsu (I thought Itachi defeated that jutsu, but Orochimaru conveniently resurrected it to bring back the four deceased kages). I am completely over this jutsu, as it's been dominating the series for the last year or two. Honestly, why not bring back Neji who just died, or Obito whom Kakashi just defeated, while you're at it?

The reanimation device aside, Naruto Shippuuden hasn't missed any marks. These episodes have been some of the best for emotional moments (with one BIG exception - discussed below).

Something I've really appreciated about Naruto Shippuuden as it approaches its climax is how Kishimoto included the grown-ups as part of the main story, particularly Kakashi.

Who knew that one of Kakashi's back stories - that of his childhood ninja team and his teammate Obito - would be one of the main drivers of the conclusion to Naruto?

Kishimoto could have focused exclusively on Naruto and his friends, but he wisely made the conclusion to Naruto one in which the adults are indispensable. Adults have the long perspective on life, including regrets and second-guessing their decisions, as well as moments of realization that can be exquisite. The ending to Naruto would have had much less impact had the story been just about teenage ninjas. By including the adults, Kishimoto has given the ending depth and gravitas. The story of Konoha is Naruto and Sasuke, but it's also Kakashi and Obito and Rin, as well as Tsunade and Jiraiya and Orochimaru.

The one misstep was in episode 372, "Something to Fill the Hole," in which Sasuke appears on the battlefield to throw in his lot with the five Ninja Nations including Konoha.

In story time, Sasuke has been gone from the village for four years. For us in the viewing audience, in real time, it's been more like nine years. Nine years of waiting to see Naruto and Sasuke together again in a real way, and... the moment fizzled.

Seriously. Sasuke suddenly appears in the middle of his old schoolmates, and there's about a minute of reaction from everyone, played mostly for laughs. Which is fine - I had no problem with them doing it that way.

But at that moment, Naruto is crouching on the ground while Sakura stands behind him healing his wounds. He's not even standing when he sees Sasuke again, and the two barely make eye contact. I do get that Naruto probably intuitively felt him coming and wasn't surprised, but still, the action doesn't even pause. And Naruto's reaction is merely along the lines of, Oh good, Sasuke's here.

I don't read the manga, but this is one of those times when - if this exactly followed the manga - I don't even care. Give us more than this, if we've been waiting this long for the two to fight side by side again!

I did catch that Sasuke isn't on the up-and-up, and that he's plotting something further. But even with that, the moment when he and Naruto saw each other again after so long was an anti-climax when it should have been played huge.

Despite my disappointment with this missed moment, I'm still an enormous fan of this series and this universe. Naruto is the finest example of serial storytelling I've ever seen. I can't think of another universe where you feel you know this many characters this deeply, and the setting is so different from our own world and yet so believable and all-encompassing. I'm both sad knowing it will end soon, and thrilled that it's been such great entertainment for this long.

Summer Season 2014 - Reviews

This summer’s season of anime was better than I'd expected at the outset. Of the four series I enjoyed the most, three were complete surprises.

First, as to the series that are continuing. I’m on episode 5 and finally enjoying Sailor Moon Crystal. Since it’s the original magical girls anime, now I see where certain conventions of that genre came from, like the moment when the girls “power up,” announcing their special names and striking a pose. ;-)

I’m most intrigued by Tuxedo Mask (I keep wanting to call him Tuxedo Moon), and apparently his story gets told next in episode 6, so I’ll look forward to that.

I’m still watching Yamishibai S2, those little five-minute paranormal creepfest episodes. I’m currently behind on Naruto Shippuuden by about nine episodes, so I’ll have to block off time for a marathon. And Crunchyroll is such a one-stop-shopping experience these days with all their licenses that I’m behind on Space Dandy S2, which I have to keep remembering to watch on Funimation.

I watched the first episodes of Shonen Hollywood and Zankhou no Terror and then got swamped by my writing schedule and never continued with either, though both looked decent. They’ll go onto my on-hold list rather than the dropped list, because I may pick them up again in future.

Bakumatsu Rock ended on the same wild note it played through the whole series, with the bad guys setting up gigantic speakers all over Japan to hypnotize the populace with their dastardly “Heaven’s Song.” Of course Ryoma-kun and his merry band of rockers save the day at the end...

Haikyuu deserves its own post and I’ll write one at some point. I’ll just say here that it’s an example of how a sports anime can be good even if you focus solely on story and character growth at the expense of fan service (there is none) and the fan pandering that you see in most other sports animes.

I continued to enjoy The File of Young Kindaichi Returns this season in its second cour. Some of the crimes Kindaichi solved this season were quite dark and brutal, which slightly dampened my enthusiasm for the show, but it was still good.

Finally, the four that rocked me this season.

The one of the four that didn’t surprise me was Love Stage, which of course I loved. :-)

Love Stage was a sweet BL series. I hesitate to call it yaoi: it’s a soft and fluffy love story with only light touches of angst here and there. Compared to heavier stories like Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi or Junjou Romantica, Love Stage was like a spring breeze.

And it was so funny. It was more of an outright comedy with a BL romance pairing than it was a BL story with some comedy. Love Stage made me laugh out loud many times, which puts it right up there with Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun this season.

If you want to dip your toes into yaoi/BL waters, Love Stage is a perfect introduction to the genre.

There’s still one more episode left of Nobunaga Concerto, but this show rapidly grew on me this summer and I can already say – along with many commenters on Crunchyroll – that this was the most underrated series of the season.

A time-travel historical story done as a straight-up drama, Nobunaga Concerto has a beautiful look even though – or perhaps because – it’s entirely CGI. The main character, modern schoolboy Saburo who finds himself subbing in for the real Nobunaga in the Warring States era, looked at first like he was going to be obnoxious, but he settled down and became a complex and engaging character in a solidly-told story.

Like Nobunaga Concerto, I threw Dramatical Murder onto my watchlist at the last minute, not expecting too much of it. It became one of the series that I always made sure to watch each week despite having a busy schedule this summer.

Dramatical Murder is based on a video game. Set on the island of Midorijima sometime in the future, the main character is Aoba, a young man who can’t remember too much of his past.

Aoba works in a junk shop and has one good friend, Koujaku. Midorijima is run by gangs who play a virtual fighting game called “Rhyme.” The real controller of the island is a dictator named Toue, who rules from his futuristic tower in the center of the island.

Each person has his own “All Mate,” an AI computer built into what look like pets. Aoba’s All Mate is Ren, a small blue dog whose pink tongue perpetually hangs out.

The episodes seem unrelated at first as the show follows one character’s path from the video game and then another’s. But eventually the greater story unfolds, and then you’re hooked.

Actually, I got hooked early on by the great character designs, fantastic costumes, cute AI pets and generally hip and cool presentation of this universe. Dramatical Murder initially comes off as a Durarara or K type of anime, too-cool-for-school and style over substance. But like those other two series, it builds to a mystery that has you impatiently looking forward to each new episode. There were some deep and poignant moments too. It’s a much better show than you’d think just from its description and I recommend it.

And finally, the series I enjoyed the most this season.

I always watch anime series about mangakas because I find the manga industry fascinating. With Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun I also got a great comedy series, which I wasn’t expecting.

Petite red-haired Chiyo Sakura has a crush on the stone-faced Umetarou Nozaki. Her crush turns out to be a professional manga artist despite still being in high school, and Chiyo begins assisting him with his art work.

She meets his other part-time assistants like Hori, the talented but short actor in the school’s drama club, and Wakamatsu, who plays on the basketball team.

There’s plenty of comedy just between Nozaki and Chiyo with his manga work and her crush on him, but what really made the show funny were the gender reversal pairings of Hori and Kashima, and Wakamatsu and Seo.

Hori is the drama club’s director, and he’s constantly frustrated in dealing with Kashima, a tall glamorous girl the other girls call “Prince.” Their relationship involved so much gag violence, confusion and misunderstanding that I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a romantic pairing or not. They either liked or hated each other – I couldn't tell which – but they couldn't let go of each other.

The funniest couple was Wakamatsu and Seo.

Seo is one of my new favorite female anime characters. Totally lacking in grace or the decorum that young women are supposed to possess, she’s loud, insulting, physically violent and clueless about others. She also has a beautiful singing voice, giving her the nickname “Lorelei.”

Wakamatsu, on the other hand, is Mr. Nice Guy to the point of insipidness, and Seo’s victim. She targets balls at his head during basketball practice and harasses him until he can’t take it anymore and asks Nozaki for advice.

He finally decides to challenge Seo to a duel on the school roof, only to say things and take actions that make it seem he’s in love with her instead. At one point, his voice rising hysterically, Wakamatsu accuses Seo of throwing balls at him, and making him carry her stuff home from school, and then taking him to a family restaurant and treating him and giving him gifts and...

... At which point Nozaki, hiding and listening to this, thinks, “Actually, I think she likes you.” Seo is like the boy who picks on and teases a girl because he doesn’t know any other way to show his crush. It’s a truly funny role reversal and even better in that neither seems to get that they do, in fact, like each other.

Compared to the two supporting couples, Chiyo and Nozaki were almost dull, but still funny. I did appreciate how Chiyo is still in love with Nozaki at the end, despite experiencing his weirdness and weaknesses close up. ;-)

Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun is now on my anime DVD to-buy list.

Yaoi Con 2014 Report - The Land of Female Gaze Fiction

Yaoi Con 2014 was held at the Hyatt Regency SFO from September 12-14, 2014.

Just FYI, in case you’re here for cosplay photos, I took no cosplay photos and few photos of anything else. Not as many people cosplayed as usual and it was a pretty low-key convention this year in many respects.

I didn’t attend the opening or closing ceremonies, and found the panel offerings this year to be fairly predictable. I did see a shift to more panels about cosplay and about webcomics, especially how to make and publish your own.

On Saturday, I spent most of the afternoon with friends that I don’t get to see often, and after lunch we attended a panel presented by four female webcomics creators.

All were smart young women who talked about being working artists, starting your own website, the Bechdel test and other issues. As Wikipedia explains, "The Bechdel test asks if a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. The requirement that the two women must be named is sometimes added. Many contemporary works fail this test of gender bias." More comics, particularly indie comics, are meeting that standard these days, but obviously many more traditionally haven’t and don’t.

Later, I watched the live action movie Ooku in the viewing room.

Ooku is the alternate-history story based on Fumi Yoshinaga’s manga in which a plague has killed most of the men in Edo-era Japan, and women are in control of government and society.

The Ooku is the royal stable of beautiful men that serves as the female Shogun’s own to draw her mate from. The protagonist is a young samurai from a penniless family, played by Kazunari Ninomiya.

Ninomiya played the Tokyo baker drafted into the Emperor’s Imperial Army in Letters from Iwo Jima. He’s also a former boy band star. Cute rather than handsome, Ninomiya is fascinating to watch. He has an open face; all his emotions are transparent. You can almost read his thoughts. It’s very effective. Whatever he feels, you’re feeling it too.

The role reversal in Ooku made you think, and resonated deeply, as particularly shown by the audience's response to the Yoshiwara scene in which women gather at windows to watch scantily-clad men display themselves for their viewing pleasure. The women customers laugh, point at and make comments about the men, who are forced to take it with a smile.

The audience reaction to this scene was hearty laughter. Since Yaoi Con is attended mainly by women, gay and bi men and trans people, this audience quite understood the power reversal and how the men were marginalized and humiliated by this treatment.

I suspect that if straight men were to watch this scene, they’d feel uncomfortable and any laughter would be of the nervous variety. ;-)

The Ooku stable of men made a similar statement. Women are frequently criticized for being petty and unable to work together, but the scenes set in the Ooku clearly showed that men in the same circumstances (i.e., gender-oppressed and disempowered) would react in exactly the same way, with the added horror of gang rape thrown in just because they can.

Ooku is well worth watching and I highly recommend it.

The Bishonen Auction is Yaoi Con’s big event. Most years I stick my head in the ballroom door and watch for a few minutes, then leave. It’s a long event, with an MC and skits and musical acts in between each “bishonen” (usually attractive but decidedly non-exotic American guys with not much air of mystery, btw =D) doing his singing/dancing/stripping thing to the screams of several thousand women.

I had a bit of an epiphany during the Bishonen Auction. Men might criticize this harmless and entirely voluntary three-hour role-reversal event for objectifying men—as if women aren’t objectified every second of every day of their lives. It occurred to me that we were participating in a female gaze event on a large enough scale that it could be termed tribal in nature. And yet we were only a few thousand, in a single hotel ballroom, on one night out of an entire year.

The person who received the greatest cheers at the auction was Reika, the Japanese cosplayer guest of honor. Reika sang and had a long line of fans follow her out of the ballroom at the end of her act.

I’ve always informally gauged Yaoi Con attendance by the Bishonen Auction audience, since it’s the main event of the con and virtually everyone attends. By that standard, it looked like the attendance was about the same as it was in Long Beach in 2012, i.e., good but not the largest attendance ever.

Sunday morning, I hosted a panel on Kuroko’s Basketball, just a fan get-together thing. I gave out a lot of prizes and a good time was had by all. =D

I was thinking about the female webcomics panel and the Bishonen Auction when I made my final go-round of the dealer’s room and artist’s alley on Sunday afternoon and talked to the women who presented the webcomics panel the day before, as well as to other small publishers. I also chatted with Fred Lui, who has been my editor/point person at Digital Manga Inc. for the six years I’ve freelanced there.

It’s my impression—not based on anything Fred said, just based on my observations—that DMI is moving away from yaoi and toward hentai. If hentai is doing well for them, I can’t argue with that. But Digital Manga pioneered the yaoi genre in America, and if they’re letting go of what built their business I think it would be a shame.

I remember the days of Rachel and Erica at Digital Manga. These two young women, one Asian-American and one African-American, were the panel presenters for DMI at cons in the mid-2000s, and they were live-wire enthusiastic promoters of yaoi before most people even knew what yaoi was. The first DMI panel I attended was at Anime Expo 2006 in Anaheim and I’ll never forget the new experience of sitting in a room full of yaoi fans who screamed at each license announcement.

This year, the small publishers in the dealer’s room that I spoke with were selling a variety of stories mostly in the fantasy or erotica genres, with the only common denominator being the m/m pairing. Dreamspinner Press, one of my m/m romance publishers, was also there. It made me think about what yaoi is these days exactly. If you say that what you write is yaoi, does that make it yaoi?

I’ve never felt like my own m/m writing fit easily into any of the standard categories. It’s not slash because it’s original characters in an original universe. It’s not Jim and Bob meet and fall in love as in contemporary m/m romance. The closest definition my work falls into is probably yaoi, as I often have an Asian main character in a fantasy setting and much of my inner artistic landscape is inspired by anime.

And yet, what I write isn’t yaoi, not really. I think what I write can more accurately be called “female gaze fiction.”

The term “female gaze” means seeing the story and characters through a female lens, and creating stories that show what women want to see. It might be easier described as everything mainstream entertainment doesn’t offer. Movies and TV are designed for the male gaze: action movies, buddy movies, war movies, scenes where the woman is nude but the man is not, stories where the woman is only a love or sex interest, and on and on. Nearly everything we view is male gaze.

Which makes slash, yaoi and m/m romance all the more important, because they’re all female gaze works.

My m/m story Aftermarket Lover is about a sex robot who was built without sex organs—he could be a servicing partner but not experience sexual pleasure himself. It may sound odd, but when I wrote that story I was thinking of female circumcision, where women in severely male-dominated societies are circumcised so that males can satisfy their own desires without having to deal with a woman’s desires.

And Rebellion, the first novel in the trilogy I’m writing, is set in a post-apocalyptic rural queendom where women dominate government and society. The idea came to me partly as a response to my own discomfort at writing m/m romance where women are never the main characters. The society is also post-racial, meaning there is no racial discrimination at all anymore.

I only realized in the middle of writing Rebellion that I had constructed this female-dominated post-racial world because I wanted a fantasy setting where someone like me—a middle-aged Asian female—could walk into this society in the next moment and play an important role in that world. And I was tired of stories where men were the main characters and women were again on the periphery, even if I was the one writing them. ;-) In Rebellion, the female characters are very important, even if they’re not involved in the main romance, which is male/male.

My point is that I think “female gaze fiction” is what describes my work, as well as the work of many female writers and artists today. So I don’t have to wonder if my stories are yaoi or m/m romance or any other category. It’s female gaze fiction, period. And something this older feminist is proud to write.

Supporting the Industry - What I Did in August 2014

In August, I saw the Naruto - Road to Ninja movie that played in U.S. theaters for one week.

Road to Ninja was apparently the highest-grossing Naruto movie in Japan when it was released in 2012. It's been a long time since I've seen a Naruto feature film and this one was really good.

Warning - Spoilers for the last few years of Naruto Shippuuden, including Tobi, Naruto's parents, etc.

Road to Ninja is set late in the Naruto Shippuuden timeline. Naruto, Sakura and Sai return to Konoha after a successful mission, and Naruto and Sakura are by themselves that evening when they are attacked by Tobi.

Tobi uses his swirling Tsukuyomi genjutsu to send Naruto and Sakura into an alternative-universe Konoha where Sakura is the hero of the village and an orphan, while Naruto's jonin parents Minato and Kushina are still alive.

In this universe, Naruto discovers his name is Menma. He and Sakura find that all their friends are different, with most sporting personalities that are the polar opposite of who they are in the real Konoha. Sasuke is a preening ladies man who tries his pick-up lines on Sakura, Hinata is a snarling biker-chick type, Sai is a horrible landscape artist and so on.

Naruto and Sakura work to undo the genjutsu and return to their Konoha, but Naruto's resolve is tested when he experiences the comforts of everyday family life with Minato and Kushina, the life he was denied as an orphan.

Road to Ninja starts with some of the funniest scenes in Naruto you've ever seen, as Naruto and Sakura are blindsided by their familiar-but-completely-off friends. Even Kakashi and Guy have switched personalities, with Guy now the serious and reflective one while Kakashi is all gung-ho and genki. ;-)

(Later, even when the storyline turns serious, the joke continues as the Akatsuki show up at a crucial moment to save Naruto and Sakura, having been paid by Tsunade to do so. They're mercenaries - a gang of thugs for hire. =D)

I liked seeing Sakura in the spotlight again - we haven't seen enough of her in recent Shippuuden seasons. And Naruto's struggle to not get sucked into life with this version of Minato and Kushina is quite poignant.

By the end of the story, both Naruto and Sakura learn more about each other, and Naruto realizes that the grass isn't always greener. It takes all of one's experiences in life to be the person you are today - the losses as well as the triumphs.

A final note: Naruto - Road to Ninja was screened in the English dub version. It's been ages since I've seen - or rather heard - the English dub cast, which I've always thought was one of the best dub casts in anime. It didn't detract at all from my viewing experience. Road to Ninja is well worth seeing if you're a Naruto fan, even in dub.

Rebellion - Book 1 of The Califia Trilogy - New Release

I'm pleased to announce the release of my latest book.

Rebellion is the first novel in The Califia Trilogy. The second novel, The Hunt, will be released in early 2015.

The book is now available at Amazon and other booksellers. For more information and to read an excerpt from the book, please visit Rebellion's All Romance Ebooks page:

Rebellion - All Romance Ebooks