Blogspotlight: The G-Empire

The Yuri heaven of the OG-Man at YuriNation is up next in the first blogspotlight of 2014.

Question 1: Could you tell the readers a bit about your blog? What can we find on your blog?

“The G-Empire is a blog dedicated to yuri (more romantic than sexual) and slice of life genres of anime, but more emphasis on the former. It’s also home of the G-Views, which is just a fancy term for my anime reviews. I also do episodics of whatever anime interests me. It can also be shows without yuri in them. I love both yuri and SoL but those are not the ONLY genres I watch.

I sometimes talk about and review video games (Mainly JRPGs) and post news updates on games I am interested in. The genres I like are fighting, JRPG, platformers…basically anything but military themed first person shooters.

Back to yuri. I talk about and promote anything related to yuri anime and yuri manga. I was planning on including live-action yuri but there are other sites that have those covered.

Finally there’s the “piece de resistance” of my blog: The Yuri Anime List and Yuri Manga List. There’s also the Yuri Manga Corner where I review certain yuri manga. The Yuri Anime list contains any and all shows with potential yuri content in it. It can be both canon and subtext. It does not matter if the couples are real or not. As long as there are girls/women who have crushes or fall in love with other girls/women, even girls/women whose relationships are so strong that they may as well be future lovers, it counts. All that is needed are the right hints. The anime are then graded from 1 to 5 with 1 being 100% yuri and 5 being complete subtext that requires viewers to use their imagination.”

Question 2: What made you decide to start your own blog?

“I began my internet “animeniac” career like most spunky youngsters did, by joining a forum site. I joined Crunchyroll and slowly formed the first G-Empire. Sadly it collapsed due to miscommunication with the people I befriended there. I then began writing fictional stories like “The Bizarre Adventures of Chuck Norris” and “Chaos Worlds” (Basically what Adventure Time ended up becoming. AT is what I was aspiring to create with CW.). I joined Generationotaku and Animeforum.org.uk and had a better time in those forums than CR. The G-Views came soon after and I had moderate success. Eventually I noticed several anime blogs dedicated to specific topics and the like. One that caught my eye was Michirumagazine, a Spanish yuri blog and the source of many of my ideas. I would say MM is the main inspiration behind my creating this blog.”

Question 3: How did you get in touch with anime and other Japanese media?

“I began watching anime before I even knew what anime were. Shows like Voltron, Sailor Moon, Dragonball, Samurai X, Kaleidostar etc. It wasn’t until my adolescence that I learned the difference between Cartoons and Anime. I enjoy watching both Western and Eastern animation but Japanese animation has improved more than Western Cartoons for me. Manga I discovered around the age of 14 during my second year of high school (or 8th grade). I learned about the differences from high school friends who knew more about them than I did.”

Question 4: What is the element that you like most in anime?

“1: Less talking anthropomorphic animals, more human shaped beings.
2: Despite the anime universe being centered around high school, there are stories that take place in other worlds or dimensions.
3: Less restrictive and bound by censorship than Western media.
4: Anime relies less on vulgar language and more on physical humor when dealing with naughtiness.
5: Anime scientists’ never ending research on breast physics. It is astounding research worthy of respect.
6: More female protagonists. They aren’t always perfect or feminist approved but I identify more with them.
7: The unlimited power of moe and how it can be used as a lethal weapon or an endless supply of “squee!” inducing bliss.”

Question 5: Do you have a specific genre you love to watch?

“Besides slice of life, there’s sci-fi, action-adventure and fantasy. I watch other genres less frequently than the ones I mentioned.”

Question 6: What is your favorite series? Can you tell us what made it so special?

“-Strawberry Panic: First 100% yuri show I’ve ever watched.
-Kannazuki no Miko: Chikane and Himeko’s relationship is one of the best yuri has to offer.
-Samurai X: Favorite shounen anime of all time.
-Hidamari Sketch: Favorite slice of life anime of all time. This show also made me a fully fledged SHAFT studio fan. Nisemonogatari made me angry at SHAFT and broke my faith in them for an entire year but my rage has subsided and the hatchet’s been buried.
-Currently my favourite overall anime of all time is Mouretsu Pirates. This show has EVERYTHING I like about anime. It is like it was made especially for me. It is the one anime I can proudly call, PERFECT!”

Question 7: What do you dislike in anime?

“-Het-harem because they all look the same, even when the girls are given a fresh coat of paint. Nothing changes. The same can be said for other genres but het-harems are where the tropes and clichés bother me most of all.

-Mecha anime that do not have a female protagonist. Gundam Wing, while not a bad show, ruined mecha shows for me forever because I now have a suspicion that 95% of robot pilots are emotionally whacked pessimists.”

Question 8: Your blog revolves for a great deal around yuri. What makes Yuri so special you want to blog about it?

“Because they’re often given a romantic development that can sometimes exceed hetero romance. By this, I don’t mean that there aren’t het romances that aren’t as impact worthy, because there ARE. My point is that the romance between two women amazes and mystifies me, at least the ones on screen. I don’t know how it goes in real life, scratch the “coming out of the closet”, meet the parents and acceptance phases, but when it comes to media (usually animated or manga form) when the lesbian character isn’t a joke meant to mock homosexuality or the victim of the dark ages trend (A period in time when lesbians often ended their relationships prematurely, were insane psychopaths or were killed off for shock value), they usually have an interesting romantic story to watch. In short, yuri romance makes me go doki doki more than any other romance on television or books…most of the time.”

Question 9: Many yuri centers around younger girls. What do you think about this?

“That’s a tough one to answer. The following is all speculation:
1: the belief that epic adventures, personality growth, coming of age, sexual urges, period when love is strongest, all of these take place in high school (Sometimes middle school).

2: High school settings sell more in the anime and manga market than any other.

3: Some infatuation with animated/drawn adolescent and teenage girls in Japan. I don’t think yaoi is safe from these either as most yaoi pair up seniors with teenage or adolescent boys.

I, like the more serious nation members, would also like to see more adult yuri couples around the ages of 20 and up, like Psycho-Pass’ Shion and Yayoi, but until that time comes I’ll take what I can get and make the best of it. On the bright side, adult couples and serious yuri stories are still going strong in the manga sector.”

Question 10: Your blog is around for quite some time now. Did the anime blogging community change or are there trends you’re noticing?

“Hmmm. The more anibloggers I met, the clearer it became that a running trend was how people’s preferences became more serious as they grew older to the point of setting the “measuring stick” very high and having a serious outlook on what constitutes as a “good anime”. That’s what I noticed anyway. Other than that, pretty much the same. ”

Question 11: What does the future hold for your blog?

“Look for some lesbian Webcomics or graphic novels to review. Other than that, keep doing what I’m doing and share my passion for yuri with the rest of the world as best as I can, hoping to encounter and befriend as many yuri nation members across the globe as possible. My “job” is to promote the beauty of yuri and focus on the romance rather than the sexual. There are VERY few exceptions like the Sono Hanabira series or rare “decent” yuri hentai like Kuttsukiboshi (not a hentai but very sexual) or Shoujo Sect.”

Question 12: To make this post a little more personal. Can you give us a random fact about yourself?

“I’m an optimistic person. I always look for a bright side in most things in life, including what I watch or do. I like to believe the world is full of joy and happiness and people have to look in the right place to find said joy and happiness.
Also I’m a 6 foot tall hairy Sasquatch who likes to think out loud and ponders random stuff while jogging or running.”

I want to thank the G-empire for participating and starting off the blogspotlight series for this year. Be sure to give his site a visit!