Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue
Part 1
This week, I’ll be running over a few Yuri titles which are, as I say above, old, new, borrowed and blue. Call it a “theme week.”
First up, today, something old. And now I’m torn, which of the many, many old series that I’ve grown to love, do I review?
Let’s start with this one:
Ace wo Nerae!, (Aim for the Ace!), from 1973. This is probably one of the oldest truly *shoujo* anime out there.
Ace wo Nerae, adapted from the popular manga of the same name (another Margaret magazine Yuri classic!) is the story of Oka Hiromi, a first year student at Nishi High School. Hiromi, like many other girls in the school, deeply admires Ryuzaki Reika, known as “Ochoufujin,” the shining star of the girl’s tennis team. Ochoufujin, along wth the other upperclassmen, make up an unbeatable women’s tennis team which has attracted over 100 first-year newbies – including Hiromi and her friend Maki. Hiromi is happy as a clam to be near to her idol, Ochoufujin, and even get the occasional kind word from her, but everything changes the day the new coach shows up.
For some reason the new coach sees potential in Hiromi that no one, not even Hiromi herself, can fathom. He singles Hiromi out and begins working her mercilessly, even replacing one of the ace upperclassmen with a terrified and, subsequently, harrassed, Hiromi.
Ace wo Nerae will immediately remind viewers of another Margaret manga classic Oniisama E (Brother, Dear Brother) since the character designs and direction for the anime were done by the same people; and the plot is the usual shoujo fare of the seemingly average girl being catapulted into the rarified world of the great ones in her school. The biggest difference is that in Ace, Hiromi finds herself not only capable of handling the stress, but grows to be a very strong person and a very strong tennis player, as opposed to just growing up a little as a result of her experiences. We actually get to see her game improve over time and, as she matures and becomes the player the coach knew she could be, she steps into a position as one of the team aces.
In terms of Yuri, Ace definitely straddles the line between adoration and romance Because this manga and anime are from 1973, the Yuri is encoded in small, subtle things. You won’t see tearful confessions of love, much less a kiss or anything, but watch Hiromi carefully, as she dresses to bring flowers to Ochoufujin…or if you can find it, there’s a wonderful screencap from the Ace wo Nerae movie, as Hiromi and Ochoufujin head off to America together (a code in itself, really, as America is always seen in lesbian fiction as the place to escape to to be together.) Hiromi is wearing a three-piece white suit and tie, her hair has gone completely masculine. She looks about as butchy as someone could possibly have drawn a girl in the early 70’s.
As a representative of early Yuri, Ace wo Nerae is a spectacular example, but expect a fair dollop of cheesy-ness, as the character designs, music, art, etc are all over 30 years old. The op art graphics and laughable opening theme are delightfully retro now.The most important thing is that the characters are genuinely likeable and their motivations fathomable. I give this one a strong recommendation, if you want to see where many of the conventions of Yuri come from.
Ratings:
Art – tough to call, because it’s so dated. For its time, 7
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Character Design – 8
Music – Makes me giggle every time I hear it, 6
Yuri – 2 Negligible, but not not there.
Overall – 8
As always, for updates on Ace wo Nerae and other classic anime and manga, join us at the Yuricon Mailing List.
Not gonna lie, you have a lot of anime on your list of “””””””yuri”””””” but at the end of the day, are being pushed as slight shoujo-ai when the meaning of that word was love like sisters or best friends and not romantic at all. I have watched all episodes of this and the fact that you have this hetero story as even remotely a potential mini baby shoujo-ai is disheartening.
Hi Shay, this review is 16 years old about a series that is, now in 2020, 50 years old.
Time (and ongoing efforts by many people, including myself) has changed many things…including the way we interpret Yuri. Back in 2004 when I wrote this review all the Yuri that now exists was not yet even conceived of. I was looking back at an anime that was already 30 years old then, and finding some good to enjoy.
Shoujoai never meant “like sisters.” In the early 2000s, it was common for fans for what we now call Yuri to make a distinction between romance stories (shoujo-ai or shoujoai) and porn (Yuri), like a kind of rating system. This started in the late 1990s on Usenet where American fans used the phrases shoujo-ai and Yuri and shounen-ai and Yaoi. So around 2003-4, this was pretty common terminology online. I hated it. Shoujoai and shounenai wer used in Japan by pedophiles and I didn’t want them to to be used here, so I started making a push for “Yuri” to be used, as it historically had connection to the lesbian community. In 2005, when I ran Yuricon in Tokyo, we all agreed that we’d use “Yuri.” ^_^ As we all did, the older terms feel out of favor.
So you’re reading something which is now a historical and linguistic relic. Look at it again and think about how different things were 16 years ago! Lucky for you, there’s a genre now that is all Yuri and you can enjoy those series. I and lots of other people worked hard to get us here. You’re welcome. ^_^
Hi,Erica-san
I found this article through a Google search for the word “Aim for the ace”, “yuri”.
Because I describe the yuri between Reika and Hiromi on “X” (Twitter).
They do not have a clear yuri relationship in the original story, but the two sisterhoods are described throughout the story. Perhaps the distinction between sisterhood and romance between women is ambiguous, isn’t it? (Yukari Fujimoto recently wrote about this.
Just for reference only… https://webheibon.jp/rival-and-sisterhood)
And as a freedom of expression, I depict them in a romantic relationship (love affair).
In Japan, Reika and Hiromi are often talked about on social networking sites, “They’re Yuri-like, Ha-ha!”
However, there is no fan fiction group for these girls (not very Sailor Moon, Lady Oscar or Utena!).
Maybe “Ace” is so old that it has been buried among the large number of yuri manga today. I am very sad about that, but I am proud to be the only one to express the relationship between Reika and Hiromi.
I was very happy to find this article on your blog, even though your book “By Your Side” did not cover “Ace”.
And I was encouraged!
Indeed, as you appreciated, the level of Yuri in “Ace” is low(2), ha-ha.
Also, I was very surprised to learn that you introduced this manga to Billie Jean King! For a long time I also wanted to know if she knew that she appeared in “Ace”.
I used Internet translation, and I’m sure my English sentences are terrible, I’m so sorry!
Thanks for reading my poorly written message.
Thank you for your comment!
Please keep Hiromi x Reika couple alive in your heart for all of us. ^_^
Thank you so much! Eｒica-san!