Battle Athletes Victory, Volume 3

June 10th, 2005

Okay, so I was going to do a review of something new-ish, or maybe some cool news, but last night I sat down to do some work to the dulcet tones of the third DVD of Battle Athletes Victory subtitled “Tragedy and Triumph.”

And by the end of the disk I was sitting there repeating, “Oh my god, this so *SO* gay” over and over and over. So I thought I’d share with you. ^_^

If you haven’t watched (or heard of) the Battle Athletes OVA and/or Battle Athletes Victory – you really should give them a try. Neither are as spectacularly wonderful as the still untranslated manga, which I reviewed previously, but still – both are about as Yuri as one can get without it being actually “lesbian.”

First the down side – the main character is more of the “idiot savant” type that I don’t care for. Of practically suicidal low-esteem, Kanzaki Akari waffles from hugely incompetent to impossibly brilliant in a way that bodies just cannot support. So forget realism. And she’s a whiner. The worst bit is, that with the beginning of each arc in the anime, we are subjected to the very same self-esteem issues and behaviors as we did in the previous one, rendering the first volume of every arc dull and irritating. But the ends, in this case, are totally worth the means. In fact I don’t own the first volume of this series and am not going to bother reviewing the second, because I have a low tolerance for whining. But from this point on, the anime gets better in many ways – and is abysmal in only a few, so it works out to be a series totally worth having.

Other than Akari, the characters in this series are mostly all strong women who are driven by the need to perfect themselves in their chosen endeavor, which happens to be sports. (In fact, I find it hard to watch this anime sitting on the couch. I have to get up and exercise while watching, or my brain explodes…).

So, where’s all the Yuri? All OVER the place. In the early volumes Akari follows her mother’s dream and enters into athletic training. She becomes friends with Ichino and, almost immediately, becomes dependent upon her. I won’t kill the plot entirely, but let’s just say this – this DVD is *filled* with Ichino and Akari longing for each other and striving to be together. The climax of the DVD, which is the climax of the this portion of the storyline, is one gigantic confession of love between the two of them – followed by a scene so romantic that Ichino’s kid brother even comments that they are acting like lovers. Trust me. No one could watch this and not see it.

There’s a side thing that will never happen between Ayla and Jessie as well, which has about 30 seconds total to spring to life, falter and fail, which I thought was brilliant. It will be echoed again later in the thing between Mylandah and Lahrri (which, amazingly, will not fail, but I get well ahead of myself.)

Because I know what’s coming up, I’m all gung-ho about watching the rest of this series again. At least Kris isn’t in the sort of denial that Ichino is – she knows Yuri when she sees it too. ^_^

Okay, so, the anime never quite will go as far as the manga, where Kris and Akari kiss in front of the whole world, but its still damn gay.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 8
Music – 7

Overall – 8

It’s not the greatest series ever…but oh my god, it’s *so* gay. ^_^

6 Responses

  1. No Make Girl says:

    Okay, I’m definitely dropping by a bookshop and getting the manga tomorrow. Tide me over until Yuri Shimai, uh, Hime, comes out

  2. Anonymous says:

    You know something this and Stellvia push all my rights bottons… they are cute and entertaing the same way…

    Another thing the whole Ayla Jessie thing is a great( in a not Yuri way) foreshadowing of Lahrry and Mylandah, and what they are in relation to Kris and Akari.
    That made no sense!! O_O

  3. punistation says:

    Uh-oh. I tried BA before, but stopped after 1 OVA episode because I couldn’t stand Akari’s existence no longer. That was years ago.

    I heard the TV series was better. Is BA: Victory another way of saying BA: The TV Series? If you had to choose between OVA or TV, which is the more satisfying watch?

    Kisses XXOOXX
    Jen

  4. Jen – They are each a little different, and each have problems. The OVA is shorter and there’s Kris.
    The TV series (BAV) is longer and there’s Ichino and Kris, but alos has an alien invasion and a really dumb ending. Both have crazy Mylandah. And unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do about Akari.

    I like them both, but for different reasons. The Yuri quotient on BAV is higher, if that helps.

  5. Anonymous says:

    But Crazy Mykandah is a lot better in the TV series.
    And she get Larrhi…

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