New Season Anime Autumn 2004 Ryuusei Sentai Musumet
There are so *many* things that are awful about
Ryuusei Sentai Musumet, I'm at a loss where to begin.
I had high hopes for this anime, I really did. The logo is very
Charlie's Angels and I hoped for something that was self-consciously kitschy and satirical. Unfortunately, what I ended up with was something that was just dull. Oh, it *tries* to be kitschy and satirical...but fall short, and ends up being the kind of thing that loser fanboys make Beavis and Butthead noises about, while entirely missing that *they* are the ones being made fun of.
Musumet starts with three color-coded girls: Kurenai (red), Aoi (blue) and Midori (green). They live in a lab/HQ/complex along with an older guy who was Kurenai's father's best friend, a repulsive midget child, a requisite flaky, yet super genius inventor
megane girl and a competent and probably homicidally frustrated blonde second-in-command. A random male classmate (who appears to be in a completely *different* anime most of the time,) finishes the lineup. The supporting cast are, apparently, three sisters, one who is half American and speaks highly amusing Jinglish/Engrish, one who is half Chinese, who is too cute to be as offensive as the normal Chinese stereotypes are usually, and one who is, inexplicably, half Brazilian (?) and seems to function in an expository manner most of the time.
In every episode, thus far, a random handsome guy has turned into a very stupid Monster of the Day, and been defeated by one or more of the Musumet girls - usually by the girl that liked him. Utterly yawn-making.
The satire portion of this series has been limited to
henshin scenes in which only the helmet transforms and a few gags - mostly predictable, a few midly amusing. The self-conscious quality is completely missing...even the fanservice lacks irony.
And irony is what this series so desperately needs. Instead of being a funny parody of the sentai genre, it reads like one more of a zillion lame-ass fanservicey shounen attempts at magical girl. I anticipate tentacles any day now, in the same way that I anticipate a cavity at my next dental check up.
There is NO yuri here. The first three episodes were virtually dedicated to proving how heteroesexual these three girls are. I was *so* hoping for a Kate Jackson-like character, who was if not gay, at least cool and competent and slightly butchy...but no.
I can't imagine a plot ever developing, either. What would they do? Why would anyone care? And yet, there was the vaguest hint at the end of the fourth episode, that a plot is forthcoming. I shudder to think.
Ratings:
Story - 3
Characters - 4
Art - 3
Music - 8, because it's appropriately cheeseball
Yuri - 0
Overall - a lame, limping 4.
It's series like this one that make me wonder *who* all these utterly pathetic cretin fanboys who are targeted are? I mean, if *I* thought this series was great, I'd be worried about me. On the whole, if I want crap, I'll stick with the likes of
Lingerie Soldier Papillon Rose - now *that's* quality. LOL
New Anime Season Autumn 2004 - Mai HiME
Mai Hime feels like a game that has been turned into an anime, or an anime that will shortly be turned into a game.
Tokiha Mai seems to be a reasonably normal young lady. She and her sickly younger brother are traveling by ship to go to an exclusive school. On the way, a young girl is rescued from drowning by Mai. She is followed by an older girl who seems to be trying to kill the young girl. Mai finds herself involved in a huge fight that ends up destroying the ship.
In the next few episodes, as we rush to introduce every one of the gazillion characters in the cast, we learn that Mai has special powers, as do many of the girls in this school - including both the young, feral Mikoto and uber-cool, Kuga Natsuki. Mai learns that, along with Mikoto and Natsuki, she is a HiME (Highly-advanced Materalizing Equipment...which makes about as much sense as it sounds) and is prone to manifesting shiny energy bands about her limbs, floating and shouting "Arrrrh!" as she pours forth magical/bad science energy and defeats the whatchamcallit bad ceature which, in this case seem to be called Orphen.
There's lots of
Digimon-type creature fights in this anime, which are good, if you like the kid-and-his or her-monster-type story. I do, so I'm happy enough.
And the characters aren't bad. Mai doesn't have too many bad habits yet, nor much of a personality, really. But Natsuki's bad-ass-ness and uber-cool, which is probably masking social retardation of immense proportions is fun - and she rides a motorcycle, which automatically means she's a lesbian. You know the rules. :-)
Mikoto gets lots of fanservice yuri groping in, but she's so feral, it means about the same as if your cat sticks his claws in your chest.
There's a ton of suggestive undertones in the three girls' interactions with some of the older characters, particularly Shizuru - who is either quite hedonistic, or just loves teasing poor Natsuki to ruffle her. Either way, Shizuru is currently my favorite character.
The most open yuri in the series is the entire closing credit sequence - and that may or may not have anything at all to do with the actual story. The jury is still deliberating.
There seems to be a character stereotype for anyone and everyone in this series, so if you don't mind watching a show in which character development will take place between giant creatures fighting, and a plot that is clearly a marketing tool for a game, you'll like
Mai HiME just fine.
Ratings:
Story - 7
Characters 8
Art - 7
Music - 7
Yuri - 6
Overall - 7
Goofy fun with yuri subtext - turn your yuri goggles way up and see what happens.
New Season Anime Autumn 2004 - Ririkaru Nanoha
Mahou Shoujo Ririkaru Nanoha, i.e.,
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha has, quite literally, reinvented the wheel.
Young Nanoha find herself filling the role of collector of magical items when her predecessor, upon being defeated, turns into a ferret. Nanoha inherits both ferret and magical wand and heads off to collect the whatevers which appear to be Miyazaki demon-y things that have invaded the immediate area...one at a time.
Nanoha defies mahou shoujo convention by having not only *two* completely functional parents, but an older sister and brother - and he has a completely functional girlfriend, the older sister of Nanoha's friend Suzuka. It's all *so* functional and normal that I find I spend every episode waiting for the other boot to drop. :-)
Nanoha's two friends, the aforementioned Suzuka and Arisa provide the only glimmer of yuri hope in this completely normal, without any weirdness (except for the creatures attacking the town that no one ever notices) series. Yes, I know they are young, and *yes* I know that I'm being silly, but I feel that Arisa and Suzuka, when off camera, are likely to be holding hands and proclaiming their like for each other.
The plot has not quite developed yet in the mere four episodes I've seen, and the cast of characters is hardly complete - the
official site has a rather large page devoted to the myriad people we should expect to see. It looks as if we're in for about another four major players (some of whom actually looks lightly older than 9 and vaguely more interesting to me) to be introduced before things take off. In the meantime, we watch while Nanoha collects whatsits with the help of her highly merchandisable wand Raging Heart...or not, as she's foiled by her mysterious counterpart in black and *her* highly merchandisable wand, Bardiche. Honestly, I find the wands to be the most intriuiging characters.
Will this become another
Card Captor Sakura? I can't say for sure - CCS didn't take off until Episode 8, but the art in CCS was alot nicer than in
Nanoha. and the voice cast was miles above any other in quality. OTOH, I'll keep an open mind. With one exception - the hair in
Nanoha drives me batty. They all have early 80's tufts that swtich from side to side depending on the angle we see them at. Even the ferret. (OK, not the ferret, but everyone else.) Also, I'm at a loss to explain why everyone in Suzuka's family has lavender hair, including the maids. Other than these minor gripes,
Nanoha is just fine.
Ratings:
Story - 6
Characters - 7
Art - 5 (that hair really gets me)
Music -6
Yuri - 0
Overall - 6
Everyone is so *normal*...it's creepy.
New Anime Season Autumn 2004 - Uta-Kata
This week's reviews can all be subtitled "Looking for yuri in all the wrong places."
Uta-kata is one of the several magical girl series that premiered this season that don't *really* quite seem to be for girls at all. But, then, I'm not sure who this series is for. (A common refrain this season, I'm sorry to say.)
The plot is thin - Normal girl Ichika finds that her phone charm, given to her by two mysterious pretty boys, is not what it seems. Each charm has several gems - when each gem turns a color, Ichika is granted the blessing of a god and a really, really ugly outfit to transform into.
The blessing is accompanied, one assumes, by the powers granted by the god...but so far I've seen very little by way of powers. Instead the uneccesarilly full frontal henshin seems to give Ichika little more than a reason to play dress up and glow a bit. I will freely admit that I am watching this series raw, and so am, perhaps, missing major plot complications...but I doubt it.
The two mysterious
bishounen seem to know what's going on, as does the creepy-cool older neighbor lady who is clearly involved up to her arched eyebrows...but we, the audience have been, so far, kept out of the loop. Ichika's mysterious magical friend is NOT a stuffed animal/cute creature, at least. Instead we have an aquamarine-hared girl, Manatsu, who *also* knows what's up, but won't tell Ichika because...I have no idea. I don't ever understand the ole "withholding information for your own good" plot complication.
Again, assumably, when all the gems have activated on the two charms (which, placed together would make a yin/yang symbol - very significant, I'm sure) we'll be graced with a plot...or, at least, we hope.
The supporting cast in this anime is legion. Ichika defies all the usual magical girl stereotypes by having two parents and a gaggle of perfectly normal friends - complete with their own in-jokes, the one thing I actually find enjoyable about this series. I expect her friends will be either be entangled in her magical girl career, or provide the ballast to keep her normal...either one would work in this situation.
I've seen folks implying some kind of relationship between Manatsu and Ichika, but I think they must have their yuri goggles turned WAY up to see anything there. In fact, so naive, bland and clueless is Ichika that I'm kind of inclined to think that Manatsu would have to have her pinned to the bed and naked, with her tongue half down her throat to gain her attention - or mine.
As you can see, I am not overwhelmed by this series. The best thing about it is the phone charm, which I would quite like as a toy. :-)
Ratings:
Story - 5
Characters - 7
Art - 6
Music - 6
Yuri - 1. but only if your REALLY work at it.
Thus far, it has the feel of an exceptionally uninspired bishoujo game. I hope I'm wrong and it blossoms into "Ooh, cool!" but I'm not holding my breath.
Yuri Anime: Stratos 4, the overdue review
Stratos 4 is deservedly obscure anime.
I was suprised to note that I have never even *mentioned* it in this blog, and yet I clearly remember watching it all. It wasn't bad enough to be good, nor was it good. It just sort of..was. I have yet to buy the DVD and I'm fighting hard with myself about it. I kind of don't want to spend the money on such a lame story, but the yuri is *way* over the top and funny.
In the near future, the earth is threatened by constant waves of meteors, so an elite force (primarily consisting of sexy young women,) has been created to destroy the meteors before they threaten the planet. These so-called Comet Blasters are "the" elite pilot force, full of young, beautiful things who are superstars to their millions of fans.
Stratos 4 follows four girls, Shizuha, Ayamo, Karin, and Mikaze, as they train to be Meteor Sweepers - a sort of space cleanup crew that blast leftover meteor fragments left over from Comet Blaster missions...essentially, they get to follow the elephants. Everyone dreams of being a Comet Blaster, but only the best Meteor Sweepers ever even get a chance to try out.
Mikaze is our nominal heroine - from a long line of pilots, she feels a great deal of pressure to succeed but is, as usual, an idiot savant, showing only barely passable skill in everything until an emergency makes her mad piloting skillz appear. Sure, she saves the day, but she's a danger to those around her. She and Shima-chan from
Stellvia would make an exciting air show, that's for sure.
While non-yuri fans may be watching Mikaze and her trials and travails as she tries to keep her unpredictable skills under control, yuri fans will be watching Miharu, the uber-sexy Comet Blaster as she seduces all the women under her command, and Karin, Mikaze's friend, as *she* fights off an unnatural passion for Mikaze that has begun to possess her.
Which brings us to the bit that actually makes this series worth watching - while the main plot is complicated by a government conspiracy that threatens to ground the girls just when they are needed the most, *we're* watching this strange-o case of viral lesbianism spread through the secondary cast. And that's *exactly* what it is - a space virus spread by kissing (and, one hopes, by passionate sex). It appears initially to affect only women, but in the end we see some guys too. However, we are spared the sight of any of the lovely Comet Blaster ladies actually kissing any those whatsits without the chest handles.
*Of course Miharu and the rest of the CB ladies aren't gay - silly yuri fan, what *were* you thinking? They are all possessed by the evil space virus. Miharu is really in love with her old flame, a loser mechanic who has the super-duper special prototype Spaceship That Will Save Us ALL (TM) in his garage.
And Karin isn't a lesbian either, of course. In a feverish battle with her virus-borne lesbian pathogen, she realizes that she loves Mikaze too much as a friend to want to have passionate sex with her...or something like that. She overcomes her unnatural tendencies to return to being the bland and uninteresting character she was previously, with moderately more lines, and Mikaze and her posse roar off to save the day from space viruses, lesbians and sexually frustrated Comet Blaster babes.
Is this a good series? I don't know. Fans of space opera may enjoy it. All I remember was thinking, "Uh-huh." A lot. The fanservice was of the panty variety and, IMHO, quite utterly dull. Because we *needed* to see them on their rockets from the back looking forward. Yup.
I'd be THRILLED to hear dissenting opinions, so if you liked it, join us on the
Yuricon Mailing List and let us know!
Ratings:
Art - 7
Story - 6
Characters - 7
Music - 6
Yuri - 6
Overall - 6
* This line was paraphrased from a parody of
Boku no Sexual Harrassment called
Boku no Sucky-Sucky. The original line is from one of the salarymen (who isn't gay, he just prefers sex with men) about a group of women sitting at another table. The salaryman says something to the effect of, "Oh look! It's a group of those, whatsits, with the chest handles." This line slayed me and is now a standard around the house.
Kannazuki no Miko - New Yuri Anime Season Autumn 2004
So, I got good news and bad news, which do you want first? :-)
The new anime season is well underway in Japan, and I notice that almost everything I'm watching right now is
shounen, that is, targeted towards a male audience. Even the magical girl anime (which are legion this season) seem to be made much more for the boys than the girls - there's a hard line to the art, and a hard edge to the fanservice, which is looking a little desperate these days. It's almost as if all the anime running now is an allergic reaction to the slow pace, soft focus and emotional content of
Maria-sama ga Miteru.
The yuri out there looks a little thin right now - unless you're one of those folks who holds that two women or more in any series, in any set-up, equals yuri. Even wearing the yuri goggles, there's not a whole lot o'hope for us yuri fans. (On the other hand, there's plenty of stuff to watch if you're just into girls, period. But I will get to that later on.)
The front-runner right now in the yuri category is, hands down,
Kannazuki no Miko. Based on a manga series drawn by Kaishaku, the artist team who created
Steel Angel Kurumi and
UFO Princess Walkure, we are certainly in for loads of yuri fanservice, with or without the goggles.
Before I get into the, haha, plot, I want to discuss a totally irrelevant thing - the romanization of the series' name. The official website romanizes it as "Kannaduki" and I've seen "Kannadzuki" as well as my preference, "Kannazuki." Here's why they are *all* right:
The second character in the first word is "tsuki," the moon. As a second character this is *usually* romanized into "zuki", as in Mizuki. But it is more properly "dzuki" since the "ts" of the individual form of the word would mutate into the softer "dz" for a combined use. BUT - and here's where it gets complicated - the Japanese rarely acknowledge the existence of paired consonants, so they ignore the second consonant of the pair, leaving us with a "d". Hence, all of the three spelling variants are correct. But I personally prefer, "zuki" because that's how the combined "tsuki" is most commonly spelled. Got it? Good. :-) Now, on to the actual story.
This anime has a very strong yuri beginning, which bodes badly for the rest of the season. LOL Dark Chikane and blonde Himeko not only share a birthday, they seem to share an affection for each other. They also, surrprise, surprise, share a fate. Cool, rich, uber-competent Chikane is a priestess of the moon while bubbly and sweet Himeko is a priestess of the sun. They will be combatting the forces of darkness in the form of 8 stars, the first one of which turns out to be their friend and close companion, the uber-competent, popular boy Ookami Souma (and what a name to live up to that is!)
The first episode nets Chikane a long look at Himeko's chest, a gratuitous grope and in the last moment, a big-ass kiss. Souma may be Himeko's champion and protector, but it's Chikane's arms Himeko falls into at the least little thing. And so far, this seems to be the pattern in every episode, which works for me. :-)
Plot-wise, this anime is downright silly. Magic, schoolgirls and mecha *can* work fine together to make a colorful anime, but I'm not sure they work well together to make a good story. My initial read of this is that Geneon and Gainax got together to "fix" the problems in Marimite - you know, like not enough fanservice and no mecha. LOL
Chikane and Himeko are Hatsumi and Hazuki (there's that "-zuki" thing again) from
Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito look-alikes. It would be nice to see Chikane get the girl where Hazuki failed. And there is no doubt at all in my mind that Chikane and Himeko actually have the hots for one another. Chhikane acts all cool about it, but she's overtly burning for Himeko. And I don't think Himeko would kick Chikane out of bed, if you know what I mean. She was surprised to be kissed, but she's not complaining, either.
The bad guys are laughable, but the nun with the glasses is hot, and Corona, the idol-type bad girl, is voiced by Ueda Kana, Marimite's Yumi. :-)
So - storywise, this'll get repetitive by ep. 8 - asssuming you don't think it already is by Ep. 3 - and if it lasts longer than 13, it'll be boring as hell, but I'm going to watch because I live in hope that Chikane and Himeko will, hahahah, live hapily ever after. LOL
Ratings:
Art - 7 (the still art for this is *gorgeous* but the anime is messy)
Plot - 4
Characters - 6 (Other than Chikane and Himeko, it's like watching Gundam or Transformers, with cardboard cutout characters and mecha)
Music - 6
Yuri - 9
Overall - a shaky 7
Yamibou meets Gundam - there's very little here for an intelligent audience, but I like it anyway. It's like a pleasant temporary frontal lobotomy. :)
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Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD: Ibara no Mori
The fourth Maria-sama ga Miteru Drama CD set,
Ibara no Mori! Whee!
This two-CD set covers the third novel of the series,
Ibara no Mori/Shiroki Hanabira, which correspond to Episodes 10 and 11 of the first season of the anime - in other words, Sei's lesbian angst arc.
I now have a complete Yamayurikai set of dolls on my desk at work. I feel better about that. LOL (Youko has a really strange look on her face, like she's about to say something...Sei just looks smug, like she's gotten away with something and you'll find out later - to your chagrin.)
The first CD in the set is
Ibara no Mori, aka
Forest of Thorns. There's a fair bit of conversation that was left out of the anime and Yoshino is WAY over the top a few times, but the manga is closer to the drama CD than the anime was. There's STILL stuff missing from the manga, but nothing important. Nonetheless, the Drama CD makes a nice addition to the level of detail, as always. The voice performances are, as expected, very good, but...
The second CD is
Shiroki Hanabira, which means
White Petals. This is almost exclusively voiced by Toyoguchi Megumi, as Sei narrates the story of how she fell in love with, and lost, Shiori. To say that she does a superlative job is a wild understatement. I was simply breathless during some of the scenes. In fact, I think I can say that this Drama CD may well be the best voice acting I have ever heard *ever* in any medium.
Shinohara Emi was simply amazing as Youko - much better than she was in the anime, and the Former Rosa Gigantea was voiced by one of the most skilled seiyuu in the business, Takayama Minami. She was superb. Nakagawa Akiko was much better in this CD as Shiori than she was in the anime - I expect it's because she has a bigger part, and we get to know her better. My jaw was hanging open all through the second CD of this set. It was simply brilliant. This was 10's all the way around.
The *only* complaint I can even find to have on this set was the
Foley. The sound engineering was simply awful, especially in the second CD. I don't know if they were so enamored of the voice acting that they forgot to do it until the last second or what, but I have honestly never heard such bad Foley outside an incredibly low budget kung-fu flick.
Ratings:Character - 10
Story - 10 (to be fair, teen angst doesn't *usually* appeal to me, but done this well...)
Voice Acting - 10
Yuri - 10
Overall - 10
If you can understand even a little Japanese, you should get this CD set. This is *the* must-have Marimite item so far.
Tags: Drama CD, Yuri,Maria-sama ga Miteru, Forest of Thorns, Ibara no Mori, Sei and Shiori
Yuri Manga: Free Soul
Back in June, I reviewed
Free Soul, by Yamaji Ebine.
Last week, I received the collected edition of this series and let me just say that it is a definite must-have, all the way around.
The story hasn't changed since June, but my reading of it has, so please forgive me as I go over it once more. The first time around, I began reading it in
Feel Young magazine at the sixth chapter, and so was unaware of several issues. Most importantly, Angie, the black, skinhead, lesbian, jazz singer (very like
Me'shell NdegeOcello) whose story fills the book, is not real, but a construct of the heroine's imagination. Keito is a mangaka who spends much of the book writing and drawing Angie, speaking to her - and learning from her - as she deals with her own real-life problems.
Keito's story begins shortly after she has run away from home at the age of 22. Her mother, a bitter woman, was extremely unhappy to learn that her daughter is a lesbian, so she has left. Keito meets Rui, an unconventional 80-something author, and is taken in by her. Keito does go back to talk to her mother, but her mother is never fully reconciled to her daughter's "lifestyle." Keito's father, divorced from her mother some time earlier, seems a pale and shadowy man - he apears primarily to be told by Keito that it is not his fault that she is gay.
Keito, despite her less than happy family life, is a pretty cool kid. She gets a job at a jazz music record store and fits in quite happily among the primarily black male clientele.
At the record store Keito meets Niki, a bisexual trumpet player for a funk band. She loses her heart, but Niki explains that she's not at *all* interested in having a relationship - but is perfectly willing to have sex. Keito's pain as she fails to win Niki is touching but not traumatic, and her quiet triumph as she regains Niki is enjoyable but not ecstatic. As always Yamaji Ebine's work slides by comfortably, with a realistic and mature atmosphere - without hysterics or melodrama.
Yamaji Ebine's art is stellar - everyone who sees it is moved by the simplicity, starkness and fine line work. I have, to this day, never seen anything else like it. As is also usual with a Yamaji story, the background music is jazz and blues.
What can I even say about the "yuri quotient"? It's a 100% yuri story - written by a lesbian mangaka for an audience of adult women, about a young lesbian who falls in love with another woman. Period. With a sub-story about a lesbian jazz singer and her philosphies on life and love.
Ratings:
Art - 10
Story - 9
Characters - 9
Yuri - 10
Overall - a very strong 9.
If you aren't reading Yamaji Ebine's work...you are seriously missing out on the best yuri being published in Japanese right now. Run, don't walk, to
Amazon Japan and buy Yamaji Ebine's work. You won't regret it.
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Yamaji Ebine, Free Soul
Yuri Manga: [es] ~ Eternal Sisters Yuri Anthology
Another anthology about schoolgirls,
[es]~ Eternal Sisters is yet another entry in the field of pleasant, harmless and variable
shoujoai manga that are cropping up all over the place.
Like
Yuri Shimai and
Yuri Tengoku,
[es]~Eternal Sisters focuses on cute, sweet relationships between girls in junior high and high school. Expect lots of blushing, some embraces and few kisses in these 200 pages.
The art ranges from quite professional to "Aggh! What's that?!" but the stories are vaguely similar - in feel, if not in execution. Almost all of them focus on the moment of revelation, either one character realizing for herself, or both characters realizing the extent of their feelings, but little beyond that is touched upon.
What *does* make
[es] stand out are the personalities of the characters involved. The couples themselves bear no relationship to one another. The first story, "Love Lunch" which starts out with two roommates who act like a married couple, gives the anthology a strong beginning. "Croquis," later in the book, has another stand-out couple - cool, competent and pretty Sada, who is at a loss to understand why she is friends with incompetent, clumsy and plain Hayase. In the end, Sada is forced to confront her feelings - but it is Hayase who forces the confrontation. This was probably my favorite story in the collection.
Of course
[es] has one of every usual sterotype necessary to round out such things - hyper-genki best friends, cuddly child-like best friends, wolf-like best friends, reticent, blushing best friends, longing, sighing best friends, etc, etc.
While
[es] isn't going to make any new trends, it's enjoyable enough for what it is. It has the same layout problems and high quality of publication as
Yuri Tengoku, but on the whole the art is a little less loli and a little better. Of the two, I think this one is marginally better. Like
YT, if sweet stories of schoolgirls in love that go nowhere is your thing, this is a winner.
Ratings:
Art - 5-9 depending on the story
Story - 5 nothing groundbreaking here.
Characters - 7
Overall - 7
I wish that there was something in between this kind of go-nowhere story and full-blown craptastic hentai. Other than
ALC Publishing's yuri manga, there *still* isn't anyone doing the kind of thing I really want to read. So, until someone else does it for me, I guess I'll just have to keep publishing the kind of yuri manga I really want! :-)
Tags: Yuri, Yuri Manga, Yuri Manga Anthology ,Eternal Sisters
Yuri Anime: ROD The TV DVD Volume 2
I have managed to watch, at last,
ROD The TV, Volume 2.
Wow, is this series every bit as good, if not better, than I remembered it from the first time! It really is a must-see for anyone, except for, perhaps, those who only like shoujo.
First the technicals - the DVD comes with the reversible cover, which seems to be standard practice these days. This makes a nice mini-poster, which I saved. I purchased the box for this set, which I now regret for various reasons (some of which I detailed in my
review of Volume 1 on 07/08 and 07/12.) As a result I am missing the first package insert which seems to have character and story comments. I'm always a fan of creative liner notes and commentary, so I'd like to see more of this. In addition, the DVD includes a two-sided pencilboard with obligatory sexy picture of, this time, Maggie, which appealed to me more than Michelle or, heaven help us, Anita. But that's a personal taste issue. Now, if they have sexy pencilboard pictures of Nenene and Nancy - *then* I'll be a happy girl. :-)
There were four episodes on this disk, which seemed like too little, but that was mostly because the story is so damn good I'm always left wanting more. This volume almost exclusively focused on the three sisters, developing the characters quite alot in a short space of time. Maggie turns out to be more competent than she first appears, Michelle smarter, and Anita more human. In retrospect, I can see many things that I missed the first time around, which just make the story more interesting - especially in regards to the sudden development of the sisters into more fully developed characters.
As always, the stories switch back and forth from "domestic" to "foreign", each story focusing on a particular set of relationships, with Anita becoming more and more the main character. And most importantly, the tension is beginning to grow, as clues are handed out so subtlely we don't really know we've seen or heard one until after the fact.
The art is so variable on this series - I don't want to say that animation is "bad", because sometimes it is amazing...but the people often suffer while the backgrounds remained highly detailed.
In terms of yuri value, this volume is pretty high. On the comedic side, Nenene has chosen Maggie as her butt-girl, forcing her to cater to the cranky writer's whims. On the drama side, we're getting slow burning embers turning into flames between Anita and Hisa. An aborted confession gives us Hisa's point of view, but for the moment, Anita's feelings aren't fully expressed. (Next volume will bring both out into the open, only to be parted. Boo hoo.)
Let me once more discuss translation here. The honorifics issue aside, this was one of the best translations I've ever seen on a US-release anime. This story is, by no means, easy to convey. It's a fairly complex set-up, and the characters are deep, devious and contrived in turn. The translations by the fansubbers were fair to good, but I have to say that this translation is simply much, much better. The concepts being discussed are easier to follow. What is lost in the translation of names and honorifics is simply overridden by the terrific voice acting work of the seiyuu.
Ratings:
Story - 10
Characters - 9
Animation - 6-8, depending on the scene
Music - 8
Yuri - 8
Overall, a solid 9. This remains a must-have for yuri fans, and anyone who likes a really well-constructed story.
And it's only going to get better.... ;-)
Tags: Anime, Yuri Anime, ROD, ROD The TV, Read or Dream
Events: Yuri/Yaoi lecture in Tampa, Florida on 10/9
AnimeNation is hosting a lecture on Saturday, October 9 at 2PM.
I'll be speaking about the current state of yaoi and yuri in Japan and America, specifically focusing on publishing ventures here in America, like
Be Beautiful,
ALC Publishing and Drag Queen Manga.
AnimeNation's retail store is located in Tampa, Florida - here's the
map and directions.
I hope that you'll all come, visit with me, and pick up some yuri and yaoi manga and anime (I'll be glad to make recommendations!) from the folks at Animenation. I'll see you there!
Don't forget to visit the
Yuricon Events page for information on this and other events for yuri fans, including Yuricon's Yuri Revolution event in Tokyo, Japan, April 2005.
Events: Yuricon announces 2005 event in Tokyo!
Yuricon, a celebration of shoujoai and yuri in anime and manga, is bringing yuri back home with the Yuri Revolution event in Tokyo Japan!
On April 12-17, 2005, Yuricon will be sponsoring mini-tours and shopping trips around Tokyo, followed by the first all-yuri event to ever be held in Japan! Join us as we meet Japanese yuri fans, and well-known yuri artists in the Shinjuku Nichoume. Bring art to display in our exhibition space, all the Japanese you can manage to make new friends and your singing voice, as we karaoke the night away.
For more information on the Yuri Revolution event, or Yuricon, email us at yuricon@hotmail.com or visit our web site at http://www.yuricon.org
Be sure to join us, if you can!
Yuri Anime: Azumanga Daioh Vol. 4
To save you time:
If you have *never* heard of
Azumanga Daioh, you can find some information on it at the
official ADV site.
The short version: It's a story about a bunch of loopy girls in school with a few loopy teachers. It's funny as hell.
If you have heard of
Azumanga Daioh but don't know why yuri fans should care, read my
original review of the yuri content first.
If you know about
Azumanga Daioh and are just considering buying the US released DVDs, you might want to read my initial reviews of
Azumanga Daioh Vols. 1,2, 3.
Which brings us, at last, to
Volume 4. I picked this up in time to keep me company on the train back from a work-related conference in Washington, DC. It was the perfect anime to watch on the ride home, since it appears to be the funniest volume so far...or so I inferred from my continuing hysterics for well over an hour. In fact, I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.
To start, this is a 5-episode volume. I think that that should be the standard for a DVD, personally, with 6 from time to time as a bonus. Reversible cover seems to be the standard now - I approve. (Especially when one has gone and bought a box for the set - the reversible covers end up like little mini-posters that have some actual "keep and enjoy" value.)
Story-wise, Vol. 4 has alot to recommend it. It is, for one thing, insanely funny, and full of abundant cuteness provided by Chiyo-chan. On the down side, there's a lot of Yomi-bashing, for some reason, which bothered me the first time around and isn't any less irritating this time. I don't really understand why fate keeps crapping on her, when Tomo is so wretched, but there you go, another mystery of life unsolved. But overall, this has been the best of all the volumes, with, perhaps (depending on who your favorite character is...) the very best yet to come.
The animation remains the same as the first volumes, of course. The DVD includes those amazingly detailed liner notes, but no toy surprise which was a bit of a bummer.
The sound quality kept fading in and out for me, but might have been any number of problems, including the earphones I was using, so I won't hold that against the DVD itself.
And the translation is, at least, consistent. The honorific "-chan" is left as is, the others are ignored or translated according to some arcane alchemical formula which, assumably, is understood by the translators, (who feel that "Miss Yukari" can be an appropriate translation for "Yukari-chan", "Yukari", "Yukari-sensei" and "Sensei." Do not ask me to explain - I do not know.) Remember kids - fill in those market research cards that come with the DVDs! (Dear ADV, Please leave the honorifics alone. Thanks very much, Love, Erica.)
So, I'm looking forward to the next DVD, as always, and have found that embarrassing one's self by busting a gut in public is totally worth it when you are watching something as truly hysterical and wacky as
Azumanga Daioh. :-)
Ratings: Remain the same as previously. Overall 8, a must-have.
Oh, since *this* is the disk where Kaorin gets the rainbow jets and wedding bells (when she is recruited to do a 3-legged race with Sakaki-san,) maybe we'll jump the yuri rating to '8' too. :-)
Erratum: One of the liner notes in the first disk has a comment by a staffer that, after Chihiro's first scene (she's the classmate being helped by Chiyo-chan in the beginning,) she becomes background noise and kind of disappears into the story, never to be seen again, except maybe for one line. I am glad to report that he was wrong. I have been rooting for Chihiro since then, looking to see if she comes back and she does - repeatedly. She and Kaorin made the penguin costume Chiyo-chan wears, and she is also supposed to have been Kaorin's 3-legged race partner. So,
gambare Chihiro! Don't disappear! lol
Tags:
Yuri Anime,
Azumanga Daioh
