#correctly cited yuri

[prokopetz]

This comic's Wikipedia article at the time of this posting contains absolutely no information about its actual subject matter other than the fact that it's yuri, and the yuri has a citation.

[victusinveritas]

Soviet linguist, epigrapher and ethnographer Yuri Knorozov, who was particularly renowned for the pivotal role his research played in the deciphering of the Maya script, the writing system used by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica, 1971. His cat, Asya, was credited as co-author on most of his research--if she was not credited by publishers, Knorozov would bother them until they issued an apology and correctly cited her valuable research.

[burnouts3s3]

Maria-sama Ga Miteru, a blu-ray review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.) Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP):  99 USD How much I paid: 69.99 USD, the Pre Order price Animation Studio: DEEN Original Localizer: Nozomi Entertainment Licensed and Localized Currently by: Sentai Filmworks Audio: Japanese Audio with Subtitles Number of Episodes: 39 Episodes and 5 OVAs equaling a run time of 1237 Minutes. Length per Episode: 25 Minutes on average. 21 Without Intro and Ending song. Length per OVA: 50 Minutes on Average Number of Discs: 8 Blu Ray Discs Episodes per Disc: Seasons 1, 2 and 4: Episodes 1 through 9 on the 1st Blu-ray Disc. Episodes 10 through 13 on the 2nd Blu-ray disc as well as “Don’t Let Mother Maria Know”, funny ‘outtakes’ of the characters in Chibi From. Season 3: OVAs 1 – 3 on 1st Blu-ray Disc. OVAs 4-5 on 2nd Blu-Ray Disc. Aspect Ratio: 4:3 for Seasons 1 and 2. 16:9 for Seasons 3 and 4. Are there plans for a DVD release?: A DVD release of the series exists from Nozomi Entertainment. Does this come a digital voucher to redeem?: No. This only has the Blu-ray discs. Also on: HiDive, Sentai Filmwork’s Streaming Service. Bonus Features: Clean Opening Animation, Clean Closing Animation and “Don’t tell Mother Maria”, ‘outtakes’ of the characters in chibi form. Notable Localization Changes: Onee-sama, a popular phrase Yumi addresses Sachiko with, has been translated into “Dear Sister” (which is more or less the same thing). Honorfics such as –san or –sama have been omitted in the subs or changed. (For example, when a character refers to Sachiko as Sachiko-sama, the subs translate it into “Lady Sachiko”). Make of that as you will. My Personal Biases: I actually reviewed Marimite a long time ago on this site. I still hold fond memories of the show to this day.

My Verdict: A long running staple of the Shoujo genre and said to have kickstarted the Yuri trend that gave us Kannazuki no Miko, Strawberry Panic, Aoi Hana and Sasameki Koto, Maria-sama Ga Miteru still holds up to this very day. And thanks to Sentai Filmwork’s ability to print it on Blu-ray, now even newcomers can enjoy the quiet campus of Lilian Academy. Buy it! Maria Sama Ga Miteru, a blu ray review

“The Maidens who assemble in Mother Maria’s Garden have such angelic smiles that today, too, they pass through the tall gate. Their pure bodies and minds are wrapped in dark colored school uniforms. The pleats on their skirts shouldn’t be noticeable. Their while sailor collars should always be tidy. Walking slowly is preferred here. St. Lilian’s Academy is a Garden for Maidens.”

Our Protagonist, Yumi Fukuzawa, is a freshman in St. Lillian Girls’ academy, an all-girls Catholic School. One day, while praying in front of the Virgin Mary, Mother Maria, someone comes up to her. It is none other than the school’s idol, Sachiko Ogasawara. While Sachiko fixes Yumi’s collar, Yumi’s friend, Tsutako, takes a photograph and blackmails Yumi to get the scoop. While Yumi goes to the Yamayuri council, which acts as the governing body for the school, Sachiko storms out of the room and trips on top of her. Sachiko attempts to make Yumi her petite Souer. Through the Souer system, upperclass girls can make a lowerclass girl their ‘sister’ by handing them a Rosary. If the underclass girl accepts, they become partners and look after each other until graduation. While seemingly innocent at first, the system can lead to all sorts of conflicts and misunderstandings but also joy and laughter. This is the story of how Yumi first accepts Sachiko’s Rosary and ends when she eventually bestows that rosary to another.   I really love Yumi as a character. While she does act as the ‘ordinary outsider’ meant to be the audience Point of view character, there’s a charm to Yumi. She’s actually very quick on her feet, eager to help and very kind and friendly. She does make mistakes but there’s a very human quality and the small moments where she shines (initially rejecting Sachiko’s rosary, practicing her routine to impress the graduating Seniors, helping out during the school festivals, standing up to some rich snobs) that really makes her shine. (Though I will give some credit to Yumi as she manages to possess proper hand eye coordination and inner ear balance that her successors Himeko Kurusugawa and Nagisa Aoi seem to lack.) In some ways, Sachiko was the inspiration that lead to the creations of such characters such as Shizuru Fujino from My-Hime, Chikane Himemiya from Kannazuki no Miko and Shizuma Hanazono from Strawberry Panic. On the surface, Sachiko is a cold, stern and almost unbendable force of nature, bent on getting her way. However, slowly but surely, Yumi melts the icy exterior to find the human underneath. (It also helps that Sachiko occasionally is the butt of the joke at times, such as, being her first time at a fast food restaurant, she remembers to order correctly and pay the server, but forgets to pick up the food). Among my favorite characters is the adorably lovable Satou Sei, a senior of the school and the canon lesbian of the show. Sei is often flirtatious but also very humorous to boot.  There’s a sort of fandom clash as many people ship Sei and Yumi together and Shimako and Sachiko together.  (There’s the implication that if Sei had not picked Shimako to be her petite seour, she would have picked Yumi and Sachiko is jealous of that fact since she wanted to give Shimako her rosary first, but Shimako refused her). Rounding out the cast are Rei and Yoshino, a Kendo Senior and her sickly cousin who might switch the idea of a tomboy on its head and Touko, Sachiko’s cousin who’s prickly exterior might hide someone much more vulnerable and Noriko, a girl who might share a love of Buddhist statues the Shimako does. A lot of people cite Maria Watches Over Us (or Marimite for short) as the revitalization of the Class S genre, which focuses on romantic friendships between school girls. A lot of people have pointed out that the genre has had its fair share of negative stereotypes and doesn’t exactly portray a healthy or realistic relationships for young queer women. But, I’ve always stated I would rather have a problematic show that affects me emotionally over a well-meaning show that has a good social message but leaves me cold. Of course, the show is self-aware of its genre roots and occasionally pokes fun at it. (At one point, Yoshino does the ‘rich girl laugh’ with another person and all it does is draw unwanted attention from passerbys). If there’s definitely a weak spot to the series, it’s definitely the animation. Panning shots and freeze frames are all present here, but the direction is solid enough where you’re enjoying it even when you notice the stitches and seems. (It’s an early 2000’s show centering about the school lives of ordinary girls. What were you expecting, Darling in the Franxx?) Granted, Season 3 is when the animation quality (as well as the aspect ratio) picks up but even the older seasons are passable and enjoyable to watch. What sells the show isn’t necessarily the animation, but character interactions with one another. Those looking for Women Love Women relationships probably aren’t going to find it here, but it did lead to the inspiration for other works to tackle. Each movement, each subtle touch or facial reaction or slip of the tongue feels weighty. You can tell there’s so much more being said than what’s on the screen and the characters missing or picking up on those subtleties really is the highlight. Season 3 is where the show changes format from a half hour episodic series to an hour long OVA (Original Video Animation) format and they play out more like self-contained movies than a series of over-arching episodes. And yes, the blu-rays also include “Don’t let Mother Maria Know.”. These are a series of humorous shorts included with the original DVD releases that contain cartoonized versions of the characters engaging in very silly behavior and outtakes. 

After Nozomi Entertainment sold the rights off, Sentai Filmworks bought them and did a pretty good job localizing the show. The show contains no English Dub, but translates the Japanese text to pretty close to its original source material. One thing to note is the lack of honorfics. Honorfics are titles one refers to when addressing another person, like –san meaning Mr. or Ms. in English. “Onee-sama” is translated to “Dear Sister” while “Sachiko-sama” is translated to “Lady Sachiko”. (Though for some reason, Kashiwagi’s nickname for Sachiko, Sacchan, is kept in). CAVEAT: There’s the implication that Maria Watches Over Us feels dated in its depictions of girls’ relationships and class differences and promotes not quite so healthy relationships. But, had it not been for Studio DEEN and the characters of Yumi and Sachiko, we might have never gotten Himeko and Chikane or Shizuru and Natsuki or Fumi and Akira or Kazama and Sumika or Kase and Yamada or Touko and Yuu. Hell, even Flip Flappers did a parody of Marimite for an episode. With Nozomi Entertainment selling off the rights (as well as Seasons 2 and 3 DVDs being sold for outrageous prices), Sentai Filmworks has done the anime community a service by preserving this work and making it available to Western audiences. So, it all but depresses me to know that this great work will go unnoticed while the inevitable fans order the next Umaru merchandise instead. If you have enough of an attention span to watch a show that doesn’t have constant explosions, fanservice or attack names being shouted out, it’s definitely worth a look see. Of course, speaking as someone who binge watches Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure during his off hours, I enjoyed every bit I had with Maria-sama ga Miteru.

Verdict: Buy it!

[yuriplisetsky-rp]

Why Otabek Altin Is Not A Dark Horse

by #1fsingfan Tuesday, November 28, 2017 

Why Otabek Altin is not a “Dark Horse” – and why anyone who still thinks so is an idiot. 

First of all, for the casual fans, who is Otabek Altin? He is 19 years old, from Almaty, Kazakhstan. He has trained all around the world, though in the past couple of years, he has come back to Kazakhstan to train full time. He made his senior debut at the 2016 Four Continents Championships at the age seventeen, where he won the silver medal. A month and a half later, he won the bronze medal at the World Championships behind Russian Legend, Viktor Nikiforov, and his longtime rival, Christophe Giacometti of Switzerland. 

That should have put him on the map, yes?

Only no, when he took gold at the NHK Trophy the next year, after taking silver at Skate America, people said he won it “as a dark horse”, meaning a skater who is not necessarily expected to do well but comes out of nowhere to perform above expectations. Why, though? Oh, because it was a fluke, right? He had just turned 18 after all, even if he was the Reigning World Bronze Medalist. This qualified him for the Grand Prix Final, though, where he ended up placing fourth behind Jean-Jacques Leroy of Canada. 

Let me stop there. He was robbed. I know what you’re going to say. “JJ has a higher base value.” This is true. “JJ’s free program scored much higher than Otabek’s.” This is also true. The free programs were scored and ranked correctly. However, the scoring in the short was not. JJ was overscored significantly, but because the results are finalized nothing can be done about that now. However, if the shorts had been judged correctly, not only would Yuuri Katsuki of Japan have won that day (that’s another story for another day, though) but Otabek Altin should have won the bronze.

However, he didn’t – he was fourth. That is nothing to sneeze at. It was one place above Christophe Giacometti, yet no one really seemed to talk about Otabek after that. He won the bronze at Four Continents behind Jean-Jacques Leroy and Yuuri Katsuki, before placing fourth at Worlds behind Katsuki, Nikiforov and Altin’s friend and future boyfriend, Yuri Plisetsky of Russia.

Still, a season and a half of top-level results should have been enough to remove from “Dark Horse” status, correct?

Wrong.

During the talk about the current season, the Olympic season, no mentioned except as “oh yeah and by the way, there’s Otabek Altin in the mix.” But why? He had been continually placing well, yet no one really seemed to think he was a threat. Despite beating some of the skaters that were being talked about, he was being kept in “Dark Horse” status. This never made sense to me, but I am but a silly fan, not an expert, so what do I know? 

Then, Viktor Nikiforov withdrew from Rostelecom Cup. One month prior to his Grand Prix return, the 28-year-old four-time Olympic medalist announced he was having knee issues, and withdrew, also citing needing to make sure he was fresh for the Olympics – which is going to be his last. That left the “gold medal” up for grabs, and who won? 

Altin did, of course. Yuri Plisetsky had a terrible showing, placing sixth, while his boyfriend won the event. People were shocked. Sure, Plisetsky should have pushed him, but shocked that Altin had won? No. Despite all reports coming out of his rink in Almaty saying that he was adding jumps, using his own music, and working to increase his component scores, no one seemed to expect him to win.

Why? They shouldn’t have been.

This weekend happened, and Altin handily beat Reigning World Champion, Yuuri Katsuki. Everyone was shocked, despite Altin’s score from Rostelecom not being that far off of Katsuki’s from NHK. Why? I have no idea. I wasn’t shocked at all. I was one of the few who predicted that Altin would win if you remember, and people said, “Yeah, he’s good, but he can’t beat Katsuki.”

Well, he did.

Yes, Katsuki’s program component scores are still higher, but not by as much as they were last season, and their technical skills are on par. However, even Katsuki was surprised when Altin beat in the short program. You could see him saying to Nikiforov, “Wait, did he say second?” He was less surprised after the free program, though.  What did the articles say about his win, though? “Altin Upsets Katsuki”. It was in every single article. It was an upset because Altin was still considered a “Dark Horse”.

Oh, and have I mentioned? His score at Skate America is the highest score so far this season, and only five points off of Viktor Nikiforov’s World Record from the 2015 Grand Prix Final. His short program is only a few points off of his boyfriend’s World Records.

Well, maybe this will get all of you to pay attention. He’s won both his competitions in style and beaten the Reigning World Champion and Olympic Favorite. Can he win the Grand Prix Final? Yes, you bet he can. With Plisetsky out of commission, the only person who can beat him is Katsuki. Could he win Worlds? Olympic Gold? Fuck yes he could. Maybe now everyone else will see his potential, too.

Personally, if you still think he’s a Dark Horse and that he can’t dominate this season, you’re a fucking idiot. He’s a favorite in every competition he goes into, and it’s about damn time everyone starts thinking that way, too.

[lia-nikiforov]

Rather than replying to every single reblog I’m just gonna tag y’all here because there’s a huge misunderstanding going on and maybe some folks weren’t here to witness some of the most inane highlights of fandom history

@rollychan @dragonkrz @three-cheers-for-supernatural

The reason a whole lot of us are so intolerant on this whole topic is because, back when fandom was teeny tiny thing, the Yuri on Ice wikia admins decided that they wanted to spell Victor’s name with K on the wiki.

Now, idk about y’all but I’ve always thought of fandom wikis as somewhat reliable sources of information, specially for minor details that you won’t find in the wikipedia. They’re meant to be sources of objective, official, canon information. They’re associated to wikipedia by name after all.

The reasons the wiki cited to spell it wrong in spite of all official sources and media using Victor were

a) It might be a mistake, other characters’ names have been changed (JJ, Guang-hong, Sara)

b) It’s more correct Russian

c) It’s culturally appropriate and more respectful

d) The writers are Japanese so they don’t know how to romanize/don’t care

But here’s the thing

a) Victor’s name was never changed. It was obviously intended like that from the start.  Never has any official merchandise or outlet displayed Victor’s name spelled in any other way than VICTOR.  As @fencer-x​ has said, it’s meant to allude visually to the word VICTORY.

b) (gonna steal this reply to save typing)

A lot of Russian and otherwise slavic folks obviously have no problem spelling it correctly. There are in fact, real life Russian men called Victor with C. So this argument has no grounds whatsoever.

c) For all their claims of moral highground and cultural accuracy, none of the people who do this seem to acknowledge that 

 C.1) “Axel Lutz and Loop” are not proper Japanese romanizations of such names (their names are even written in Kanji for fuck’s sake). The correct romanization for these names as per regular Japanese phonetics should be “Akuseeru Ruutzu and Ruuppu” See anyone spelling it like that? Yeah, didn’t think so.

 C.2) Otabek Altin isn’t a proper Kazakh name. The name Otabek is Uzbek. The “culturally appropriate” spelling would be “Atabek Altyn”. For some reason the people claiming to be more respectful of real life spelling never seem to argue for Otabek’s cultural identity

C.3) As per the Russian government’s current romanization rules (they change somewhat frequently) Yuri Plisetsky’s name should actually be selled Yuri Plisetski. Again, no one’s defending that appropriate Russian spelling

d) Do I even need to explain this. It’s so disrespectful, rude, condescending and borderline racist to say that because they’re Japanese they don’t know how to romanize. A lot of people will use this argument and it reeks of disgusting Western conceit I don’t even know where to get started. But as @fencer-x has also explained before, if this were a case of “lololol Japanese can’t romanize”, then his name would be written with a K. Because in Japanese the ク in ヴィクトル is 99.9% of the time romanized to K. The fact that they went with a C couldn’t be more obviously deliberate.

As the show started to grow in popularity, people who didn’t know how to spell it turned to the wikia... and got tricked into believing the K spelling was the official one. This continued for months. When GSC on facebook wrote Victor with K and got called out for it, people cited the wikia as “proof” that the K spelling was the correct one. People started claiming the K spelling was the correct, canon spelling.  A good handful of us had repeated bouts with the admins and wiki community asking them to change it but they refused for a very long time. I was called a nazi and ableist slurs, my blog was stalked and some of the admins even made a “secret” blog post to mock me for the crime of wanting a source of official information to give correct information. 

Eventually, by some miracle that I still don’t fully understand, the admins of the wiki changed their minds and finally changed Victor’s name to the correct spelling across the site and everyone lived happily ever after.

The damage was of course already done and the K spelling was already widespread over the fandom but what’re we gonna do about it at this point, except hope it fades away eventually like Raito and Rivaille did. None of us is like actively hunting down people who spell it with K or going to people’s blogs and attacking them for their incorrect spelling or w/e. But I hope you can understand why it’s a touchy and borderline intolerable subject for a lot of us. The fact that some people choose to  knowingly spell it wrong to “take a stance” (there’s a fucking tag on AO3 for “Victor with K” is2g) is just the cherry on top of a mindnumbingly nonsensical debate that should’ve never existed to begin with.

[5-nin-de-arashi]

RULES: 1. Answer the new questions given by the previous person 2. Write 11 new questions 3. Tag 11 people

I have been tagged by @lets-share-neen

1. What book are you currently reading? (If you’re not a reader, what show/movie are you watching lately?)

Currently reading a few different books but mostly reading Crazy Rich Asians. Tv show I semi recently finished watching yoi and I keep rewatching random episodes whenever I have time. Not really watching anything new atm. 

2.  If you were granted three wishes, what would they be?

1. Give me a metabolism where I will never gain weight. 2. Give me clear skin for the rest of my life. 3. Let me be Arashi’s manager but like without the stress of manager duty lol 

3.  Cite four books you consider your favourites, and why.

aghhhh i’m blanking on all books I’ve ever read. I read a book about a year ago but I forget what it was called. Basically it was about a lady and her family who gave up sugar for a year and how it changed their lives and it was really interesting. Bridget Jones’ diary is hilarious both book and movie and will forever be one of my faves. I really enjoyed itsuka tiffany de choushoku wo. It’s a manga which later turned into a drama about a girl who loves breakfast and she goes to different breakfast places in tokyo and I feel like I can mega relate because I love breakfast too haha. And I can only think of 3 books that were really good atm 

4.  As a child, what were your favourite pastimes?

Playing with my neighbour. We always were outside doing jumprope or chalk or playing hide and seek with the other kids on the street. Just classic kid games. Playing house was an all time fave as well (do kids even play games anymore or is it just their phone/ipad?)

5. What are your fandoms?

Arashi fandom and a tiny little bit of yuri on ice fandom. other things/people I like but not enough to fully join the fandom

6.  Are you allergic to something?

Cats

7.  Tell me two facts about your home country.

Canada is turning 150 in exactly a week. Poutine (when made correctly) is heavenly and yes that is a fact. 

8.  A character from a book/show/movie that shouldn’t have died?

MICHAEL FROM JANE THE VIRGIN OH MY GOD I AM STILL IN TEARS FROM THAT (I hope this isn’t some kinda spoiler for anyone who reads this)

9.  Favourite ship?

I have way too many. Top 3 at the moment are Victuuri, Ohmiya, Otayuri 

10. Do you believe in love at first sight?

I’m not sure. I’ve never been in love in general but I feel like I could fall victim to love at first sight because I can develop a crush on someone mega hard and mega fast. But I wouldn’t consider that as love at first sight though. Maybe if the right person comes along I might. But that’s only really based on looks isn’t it? You can’t fall in love with someones personality at first sight cause you don’t even know them. 

11.  If money didn’t matter, what would your dream job be?

Probably like a travel blogger. Dream would be to simply travel the world and stay at posh hotels and eat delicious food and experience life in all parts of the world. 

New Questions! 

1. Is there any day from the past you would want to re-live? Why? 

2. What is something you’re very proud of?

3. If you could only eat one certain food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

4. If you won 10million dollars, what would be the first thing you buy with the money?

5. Do you have any unpopular opinions?

6. Would you rather go far out into space, or the deepest part of the ocean?

7. Favorite food that’s only available in your country?

8. What people have had the greatest influence on your life?

9. If you were given the chance to live forever, would you?

10. Are there any cultures that fascinate you?

11. What made you start a tumblr account? :) 

I am tagging: @yamakaze-arashi @sakuraisumbrella @niji-tan @sakuraisumbrella @ninomi21 @chesutoberry @nihonarashi @arashifandom @captain-snen @nino-chan @tegosaur