All I want for Christmas is for you to buy my manga

Hello hello! I'm writing from my snazzy new apartment while sitting in my snazzy new sofa... Everything is so snazzy! We were finally able to put up our holiday decorations (including a mini fake IKEA tree), so I'm finally able to get in a festive mood.

That aside, I'd like to take the opportunity to announce my very first published manga translation! Tweeting Love Birds is a boys' love manga about a guy who loves baseball... It was a bit of a pain to translate, considering I don't know baseball terminology in English, let alone Japanese, but it was still a blast to do! And the story isn't so centered around the sport that people who aren't interested in it (like me) can't enjoy it. It's quite funny! I'm not nearly so eloquent, so here's the summary my awesome editor whipped up:

"Ohtaka is pissed! University baseball is not what he expected, and it’s all because of Tweetie, the odd little person who blithely chirps and constantly circles in his tall shadow. Everything Tweetie does only deepens Ohtaka’s scowl. His irritation skyrockets when Tweetie demands Ohtaka stay in the baseball club for his sake and steals Ohtaka’s first kiss!

When two people from Tweetie’s past are thrown in Ohtaka’s face, his agitation suddenly turns territorial--and he’s not sure why...

Will Ohtaka figure out this unfamiliar game that plays for keeps? Get ready for a fast pitch of romantic comedy and surprising love in Tweeting Love Birds!"

If you're at all interested, you can check out a sample of the Kindle version over at Amazon. Even if you don't have a Kindle, I believe you can download the Kindle reader and read it right on your PC/Mac! And if you're so inclined, I would love love love it if you could support me and my group (Twitter @BLBangBang). If you're more of a Nook kind of person, it's available for that over here!

Of course if you do decide to purchase said manga, please let me know what you think! And tell me that you bought it so I can shower you with lots of love. If you're at all on the fence about starting a new series, don't worry, the story ends at volume 2. After my current project I'll be jumping right in to volume 2, so you should expect to see that out in the next couple of months!

In other news, one of my very favorite craft bloggers, an Aussie lady currently living in Japan known as Hello Sandwich, is in a gift wrap challenge over at the Martha Stewart blog! Wow! If you could be so kind and head over here to vote for her, that'd be great! She really deserves to win; she has such great style sense and her projects are both simple and a lot of fun. Thanks! Be sure to check out her blog if you're into crafty things, too! 

A Call for Localization: Kuma to Interi by Basso

I was surprised and delighted to find that this month's Manga Movable Feast was to feature one of my favorite artists, Natsume Ono. If you haven't yet heard of the Manga Movable Feast, it's basically a week-long virtual book club held by manga bloggers once a month. Some great content has been contributed so far this week, and I'm excited to dip toes in the water and join the party!

Natsume Ono is most famous in the West for House of Five Leaves and Ristorante Paradiso, two enthralling and expertly-crafted manga series. Little known outside of Japan and her ardent international fans, however, is her work under the pen name Basso (sometimes written BASSO). While some manga artists might choose a pen name to hide their identity, Natsume Ono's style is so distinct that one would be hard-pressed not to recognize her (though there is a noticeable difference in the style she employs as Basso). To the contrary, I see Basso as a way for Natsume Ono to clue her readers in on the content of the manga before they read a single page. For you see, Natsume Ono's pen name Basso is exclusive to her boys' love titles.

As basso, Natsume Ono has published a plethora of boys' love manga, but today I would like to focus on one of my favorite collections of BL short stories, which happens to be basso's Kuma to Interi ("The Bear and the Intellectual"). Kuma to Interi is a collection of short, interconnected stories that all share a few common themes: Italy, men, suits, glasses, politicians, and gelato. One of the most delightful segments of the book is the section devoted to stories centered around the theme of gelato –– they're short but sweet, with a hint of melancholy, just like the iconic Italian dessert they were inspired by.

You won't find any traditional BL in Kuma to Interi, much like the rest of Basso/Natsume Ono's works. Her characters range from grey-haired politicians to gangly waiters, and the erotic content is much more fluid and real than most BL. An interesting example of this is the first story, Conte, which contains a "reversible" couple –– BL is so set in the seme/uke (top/bottom) dichotomy that they actually have a word from when a relationship deviates from that stereotype. Kuma to Interi is refreshing in its raw, non-idealized look at life and relationships, and is one of the most satisfying BL short story collections you can read.

Probably my favorite page in the whole manga.

Or could read, if it were localized in English! I'd argue that above all of Basso's BL titles available, Kuma to Interi would be the best place to start for any publisher looking to jump into Natsume Ono's BL manga library. Fans of her work will undoubtedly be delighted to see that she gives the same depth and care to her BL stories as she does her more mainstream work, and BL manga aficionados looking for a change from the overwhelming bishonen fare now available in English will both find much to like about Kuma to Interi.

I know I'm not the first person to put out the call for Basso's works to be localized into English, so somebody make it happen! I'd love to see more people read this collection. For now, I'll tantalize you with gorgeous pages like this:

Dissecting the 'Beyond the Labyrinth' trailer

So, this entry is going to be pretty much word-for-word from a news piece I posted recently over at Video Game Writers, but as much of my Japanese game coverage often does, it seems to have gotten lost in the pile. I think I have a few readers here who I think would appreciate my insight on the Beyond the Labyrinth trailer, which was just released yesterday. I've not only watched it but have also provided some translations for it, since it’s Japanese-only. It doesn’t seem like much, but I think an understanding of what’s being said actually gives you a lot to think about in terms of what the gameplay will actually be like. Feel free to watch the trailer and then read the translation! It makes more sense that way rather than the other way around:

Finally, some more news surfaces on tri-Ace and Konami’s intriguing 3DS game Beyond the Labyrinth in the form of a trailer. Unfortunately, the trailer doesn’t feature all that much except for some text and dialogue in Japanese, along with a few shots of the game’s mysterious female protagonist. Not much is said in the dialogue and text, but the “conversation” highly suggests that the girl in the game will actually be “interacting” with the player.

The trailer opens with a girl calling out “Is anyone there?” and is followed by text on the screen answering her call. She then says “Let’s go!”, leaving the “text” to wonder where they are going. The girl appears to, in fact, be talking with the “player,” rather than another character in the game, and even interacts with the 3DS system by talking directly at it and even shaking the screen at one point. Here’s some of what the other text in the trailer reads:

A magnificent world beneath the earth. 

A mysterious girl in a labyrinth. 

An adventure full of riddles. 

But what could it all mean? We’ve been told previously that Beyond the Labyrinth is going to be a dungeon RPG, but so far there has been no hints regarding what the actual gameplay will be like, and whether there is a battle system. If we could hazard a guess, it more resembles an ICO-esque puzzle adventure, at least in terms of aesthetics. Perhaps the player will be guiding the female character much like Ico guided Yorda through the Castle in the Mist? Or are there remaining characters that are yet to be revealed? We should hear more at this year’s Tokyo Game Show in September.

Ok, well, I haven't translated *all* of it, because the beginning is mostly the girl going back and forth with the on-screen text saying "Is anyone there?" "Yes, I'm here." "Let's go!" "Where are we going?" "Come on!" "But where are we going?" ... Nothing too exciting. I think the main thing to take away from this trailer is that there is some kind of interaction between the girl in the game and you, rather than characters in the game (though there may be other in-game characters). I have to say, I'm intrigued!

And yes, I suppose that would be me using the royal "we" in that write-up...